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Live with Passion with Father Cedric

Cedric Pisegna - Grow Old Gracefully

July 6, 2025 | 28:25

Cedric Pisegna - Grow Old Gracefully
Father Cedric Pisegna is a Catholic priest. His program will inspire and encourage you to Live with Passion.
#WordofGod #Faith #Wisdom #SpiritualGrowth #TrustGod #RelationshipwithGod #Compassion #Strength #Grace

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Live with Passion with Father Cedric | Cedric Pisegna - Grow Old Gracefully | July 6, 2025
  • Father cedric pisegna: are you getting older or growing older?
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  • ♪♪♪
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  • Cc by aberdeen captioning 1-800-688-6621 www.abercap.com
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  • Father cedric: welcome to "live with passion!"
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  • I'm father cedric pisegna.
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  • I'm producing a series about "grace," and i want to talk
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  • With you about "growing older gracefully."
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  • This comes from luke chapter 2, "when they had performed
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  • Everything according to the law of the lord, they returned to
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  • Galilee, to their own city, nazareth.
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  • And the child grew, he became strong, filled with wisdom.
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  • And the favor of god was upon him."
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  • "jesus grew in wisdom, in age, in favor with god and man."
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  • Jesus grew, intellectually, physically, spiritually,
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  • He developed.
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  • He was morally perfect, but he had to grow just like all human
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  • Beings have to grow.
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  • This is the way god designed life, god designed it, in his
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  • Wisdom, about growth.
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  • If you look at vegetables or fruits, they start with a seed,
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  • And then they grow.
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  • If you look at animals, they start with an egg, and then
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  • They grow.
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  • As you look at human beings, starts with an embryo, and then
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  • We grow, and we grow all throughout life.
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  • We grow, we develop, we mature.
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  • This is crucial, this is the meaning of life, this is what
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  • We're involved in, this is god's plan for us, to grow,
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  • Develop, become.
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  • ♪♪♪
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  • Father cedric: i remember i wanted to get on television
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  • Right away way back when i was ordained a priest about
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  • 31 years ago.
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  • I wanted to get out there and proclaim the gospel to everybody
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  • But i wasn't ready, i needed to develop, i needed more
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  • Experience, i needed stories, i needed wisdom.
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  • And god knew that, and he didn't just throw me out there and say,
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  • "get there on tv and preach to all the people," he let me grow
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  • And develop.
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  • We are all needing to grow.
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  • And perhaps your destiny, fulfilling your destiny means
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  • That you won't be able to fulfill it until you grow,
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  • Intellectually, spiritually, experientially.
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  • We all need to develop and grow.
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  • I saw a bumper sticker one time and it said, "be patient with
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  • Me, god's not done with me yet."
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  • And that's so true, god is at work.
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  • God is the potter, we are the clay; god's working in
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  • Our situation.
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  • Be patient, patience is one of the things that we need to
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  • Grow in.
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  • Paul the apostle said to the philippians, "i haven't arrived
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  • Yet, but i press on."
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  • Paul hasn't arrived and we haven't arrived either.
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  • If you're in the ocia program, in mistagogia, it's further
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  • Learning, further growth.
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  • And it's the same way, as christians, we're on
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  • A pilgrimage, we're on a journey of learning and growth; really
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  • Important that we develop, we become.
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  • We're all in process.
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  • I sign some of my books with, "god is interested in
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  • Progression, not perfection."
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  • We strive for perfection, but it's progression that god
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  • Is after.
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  • Life is about changing and about moving, that's what a dance
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  • Choreographer said, "life is about moving, life is
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  • About changing.
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  • When people stop changing, they die, they stagnate,
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  • They're stuck."
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  • Life is about continuing the process, and progressing
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  • And going forward.
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  • I was driving one time down the street, big white letters, i see
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  • The word "school" right there on the pavement, and i thought to
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  • Myself, "i've been going to school all my life: travel,
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  • Formal education, meeting people, going through life,
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  • Learning, reading, watching, listening."
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  • We're all going to school.
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  • Saw a bumper sticker one time and it said, "the truly educated
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  • Person never stops going to school."
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  • One of the ways that we develop is by our intellectual
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  • Development, and that's crucial, reading books, going to school,
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  • Formal education, learning from life, growing older, crucial.
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  • I had formation in my education as a passionist.
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  • For those of you that don't know, i'm a religious priest,
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  • A catholic religious, we're called passionists.
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  • This is my religious habit.
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  • I've been a passionist now, at this filming, for 38 years, and
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  • I've been a priest for 31 years, and we go through
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  • A formation process.
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  • And i go like this because, like the potter and the clay, i had
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  • To be formed, intellectually and spiritually, and
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  • Relationship-wise, morally.
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  • And you go through the process of being formed, and the
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  • Passionists have a beautiful process, great education.
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  • I studied philosophy, studied in the novitiate spirituality; in
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  • Theology school, i studied all kinds of theology, moral
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  • Theology, sacraments, liturgy, preaching.
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  • Then finally, i was ordained back in 1991, but my formation
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  • Didn't stop there, my formation continued, learning from life,
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  • Reading books, listening to people, learning from
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  • Experiences, travel.
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  • And then of course, i went on a sabbatical to rome, spent some
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  • Time there studying.
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  • This is called ongoing formation.
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  • Isn't that life?
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  • Ongoing formation, ongoing conversion.
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  • We are all in process, growing, under construction, becoming,
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  • Realizing our destiny, realizing our potential.
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  • My programs, i want them to be educative for you.
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  • I got a letter from a man that said, "in all my years of
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  • Catholic education, i haven't learned as much as from your
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  • Programs, father cedric," and that made me feel really good.
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  • One thing my programs do is they educate, i cover a variety of
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  • Different topics, i'm teaching about grace right now and i'm
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  • Trying to help you to grow.
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  • I want you to be saved primarily, come to eternal life,
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  • I want you to have a deep personal relationship with god,
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  • And one of the areas that i stress and really accentuate
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  • Is your growth process, your change.
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  • If you're addicted to something, i want you to come into recovery
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  • And be free; if you're stuck in a certain area, i want you to
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  • Move forward, but especially, i want you to grow as you are
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  • Aging, and that's what we're concentrating on right now.
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  • God is involved, he intervenes in our life.
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  • That's called actual grace, where he is the potter and we
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  • Are the clay, he is sovereignly involved in our relationships,
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  • Our experiences, trying to help us to grow so that, there's
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  • A purpose to all this by the way, so that we will be ready.
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  • And i go like this because we're all gonna stand before the
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  • Beatific vision of god and we must be ready, and our growth
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  • Process, realizing our potential, becoming all that we
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  • Can be gets us ready.
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  • There is purpose and meaning to life.
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  • No matter how young you are or how old you are, it's really
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  • Important that you get ready.
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  • I remember one time when i was in rome, we took a side trip
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  • To florence.
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  • Florence has the great museum, if you will, the academia, and
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  • In the academia are some of the works of michelangelo, who did
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  • That beautiful statue of david.
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  • I remember, we went and saw some other statues that michelangelo
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  • Sculpted and they were called the "unfinished slaves."
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  • There were four statues in this block of granite, each one had
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  • A different block, and they were in various states of getting
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  • Free from the block.
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  • You could see the arm protruding, the face beginning
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  • To come forth from the block of granite, but they
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  • Were unfinished.
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  • Some historians think that michelangelo simply didn't have
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  • Time to finish the statues and that's why they're called the
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  • Unfinished statues, but some scholars think that michelangelo
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  • Did that purposely to depict that all of us are unfinished,
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  • We're all in process.
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  • With his artist's genius, his sculpting genius, he was
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  • Depicting the human condition, that we all need to grow and
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  • Become, and if you will, get out of that stuck block of granite.
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  • ♪♪♪
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  • Father cedric: everybody's getting older but not everybody
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  • Is growing older, and that's my hope and prayer for you,
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  • That you will grow older.
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  • And what do i mean by that?
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  • You grow when you don't stay stuck, when you're motivated to
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  • Change, when you don't allow addictions or habitual sins to
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  • Dictate your life.
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  • You grow when you develop virtue, when you have a positive
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  • Attitude, and when you deepen your relationship with god.
  • 00:10:48.564 --> 00:10:53.769
  • And everybody's getting older, the culture, the world is
  • 00:10:53.769 --> 00:10:58.774
  • Getting older, but i want you to be growing older.
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  • This is the purpose, the meaning of our life, to grow.
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  • What about being positive?
  • 00:11:07.083 --> 00:11:09.118
  • Really important, one of the aspects of growing older.
  • 00:11:09.118 --> 00:11:13.956
  • I went on a retreat one time, this is years ago, been a priest
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  • Now for 31 years, as i film this.
  • 00:11:18.861 --> 00:11:22.164
  • I went on a retreat, praying and deepening my relationship with
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  • God, thinking about my ministry.
  • 00:11:26.102 --> 00:11:28.404
  • And i remember praying, i said, "lord, thank you for the
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  • Ministry you've given me, and i preach parish missions around
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  • The country.
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  • Thank you that people are coming in such large numbers, for
  • 00:11:35.945 --> 00:11:39.115
  • Giving me enthusiasm and giving me the grace to preach."
  • 00:11:39.115 --> 00:11:44.520
  • And then i thought, "lord, the reason why they're coming in
  • 00:11:44.520 --> 00:11:48.124
  • Such large numbers is because i'm young and i'm enthusiastic,"
  • 00:11:48.124 --> 00:11:52.394
  • And i said, i remember praying, "what's gonna happen when i get
  • 00:11:52.394 --> 00:11:54.930
  • Old, is it just going to peter out?"
  • 00:11:54.930 --> 00:11:57.767
  • Then i went back to my room and i read a scripture, it was psalm
  • 00:11:57.767 --> 00:12:02.304
  • 92, verse 14, "the righteous will bear fruit in old age,
  • 00:12:02.304 --> 00:12:09.512
  • Ever full of sap and green."
  • 00:12:09.512 --> 00:12:12.915
  • And that gave me such hope that efficacy in ministry isn't just
  • 00:12:12.915 --> 00:12:18.687
  • About being young.
  • 00:12:18.687 --> 00:12:21.056
  • I thought about how maybe as i grow older i'll gain wisdom and
  • 00:12:21.056 --> 00:12:24.994
  • Experience and stories, and get even better.
  • 00:12:24.994 --> 00:12:28.664
  • And now here i am, 30 years later, and that's exactly what's
  • 00:12:28.664 --> 00:12:32.701
  • Been happening: i've gained experience and wisdom, and now
  • 00:12:32.701 --> 00:12:36.806
  • God has opened the door for me to get on television on many
  • 00:12:36.806 --> 00:12:40.843
  • Platforms, several networks, you know, proclaiming the good
  • 00:12:40.843 --> 00:12:45.114
  • News everywhere.
  • 00:12:45.114 --> 00:12:46.448
  • I want to tell you that the best is yet to come.
  • 00:12:46.448 --> 00:12:48.217
  • Think about abraham, he was old when god used him, moses was old
  • 00:12:48.217 --> 00:12:53.289
  • When he led the people out of egypt, noah was old when he
  • 00:12:53.289 --> 00:12:56.592
  • Saved the human race.
  • 00:12:56.592 --> 00:12:58.594
  • Be positive, be optimistic, be full of hope, that's what it
  • 00:12:58.594 --> 00:13:04.266
  • Means to grow.
  • 00:13:04.266 --> 00:13:06.669
  • Of course, virtue is important.
  • 00:13:06.669 --> 00:13:09.205
  • When i talk about virtue, i'm talking about things like
  • 00:13:09.205 --> 00:13:13.342
  • Patience, compassion, justice, love, mercy, these are virtues.
  • 00:13:13.342 --> 00:13:22.985
  • Saint thomas aquinas said, "you get virtue by doing virtue."
  • 00:13:22.985 --> 00:13:28.224
  • You ever hear the weightlifters?
  • 00:13:28.224 --> 00:13:29.558
  • "no pain, no gain."
  • 00:13:29.558 --> 00:13:33.229
  • It's the same way in our life, if you wanna grow, you gotta
  • 00:13:33.229 --> 00:13:35.464
  • Become virtuous.
  • 00:13:35.464 --> 00:13:36.899
  • We know what the culture's like, it's, "a culture of death," st.
  • 00:13:36.899 --> 00:13:40.870
  • John paul ii called it.
  • 00:13:40.870 --> 00:13:43.906
  • But we're different than the culture, we are a people,
  • 00:13:43.906 --> 00:13:47.109
  • "peculiarly god's own," the bible says; we are
  • 00:13:47.109 --> 00:13:52.414
  • Of a different spirit.
  • 00:13:52.414 --> 00:13:54.717
  • I was riding with one of our indian priests, we have
  • 00:13:54.717 --> 00:13:58.554
  • A foundation in india, some of our priests have come here to
  • 00:13:58.554 --> 00:14:02.091
  • The united states, passionist priests.
  • 00:14:02.091 --> 00:14:05.094
  • And i was riding with him and we were going out to dinner, and i
  • 00:14:05.094 --> 00:14:08.664
  • Couldn't help but notice he was driving so slow, people were
  • 00:14:08.664 --> 00:14:13.736
  • Passing us on the left and the right, and i'm thinking to
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  • Myself, 'cause i'm more of a type-a personality, i just want
  • 00:14:15.804 --> 00:14:19.008
  • To get there.
  • 00:14:19.008 --> 00:14:20.442
  • And finally i said something to him, i have a pretty good
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  • Relationship with that priest, and i said, "why are you driving
  • 00:14:24.079 --> 00:14:27.616
  • So slow?"
  • 00:14:27.616 --> 00:14:28.984
  • And he looked at me and laughed, and he said, "i haven't always
  • 00:14:28.984 --> 00:14:32.021
  • Been that way."
  • 00:14:32.021 --> 00:14:33.355
  • He said, "i used to always be in a hurry, and i stopped playing
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  • That game, now i drive at my own pace, the pace that's safe and
  • 00:14:36.792 --> 00:14:41.797
  • Right for me."
  • 00:14:41.797 --> 00:14:44.166
  • And i thought to myself, "wow, i haven't arrived there yet, but
  • 00:14:44.166 --> 00:14:48.704
  • How beautiful to see somebody who's not letting other people
  • 00:14:48.704 --> 00:14:51.507
  • Determine who he is."
  • 00:14:51.507 --> 00:14:54.176
  • The speed on a road: because everybody's going fast doesn't
  • 00:14:54.176 --> 00:14:57.780
  • Mean that you have to go fast.
  • 00:14:57.780 --> 00:15:00.749
  • Patience is a virtue.
  • 00:15:00.749 --> 00:15:03.652
  • And then, what about compassion?
  • 00:15:03.652 --> 00:15:07.423
  • My parents died some years back, my dad about 20 years ago, my
  • 00:15:07.423 --> 00:15:12.094
  • Mom about eight years ago.
  • 00:15:12.094 --> 00:15:14.863
  • I presided at the funeral mass, mass of resurrection, and i have
  • 00:15:14.863 --> 00:15:22.604
  • To tell you, they were my best friends, i was absolutely
  • 00:15:22.604 --> 00:15:27.443
  • Devastated by the loss of my dad and my mom.
  • 00:15:27.443 --> 00:15:30.846
  • They died of older age, it was their time,
  • 00:15:30.846 --> 00:15:35.017
  • But still, i lost them.
  • 00:15:35.017 --> 00:15:36.785
  • Well, early on in my priesthood i used to talk to people at
  • 00:15:36.785 --> 00:15:41.523
  • Funerals or people that have lost loved ones, showed some
  • 00:15:41.523 --> 00:15:45.294
  • Sympathy and compassion, but nothing like i have now.
  • 00:15:45.294 --> 00:15:49.765
  • Why?
  • 00:15:49.765 --> 00:15:51.100
  • Because i've been through it, i have experience, and
  • 00:15:51.100 --> 00:15:54.370
  • I've developed compassion, that means to suffer with.
  • 00:15:54.370 --> 00:15:57.639
  • And the only way, not the only way, but one of the major ways
  • 00:15:57.639 --> 00:16:00.642
  • That you get compassion is by going through things in
  • 00:16:00.642 --> 00:16:02.945
  • Your life.
  • 00:16:02.945 --> 00:16:04.279
  • That's one of the meanings of suffering, that, as you suffer
  • 00:16:04.279 --> 00:16:08.784
  • You develop compassion for other people.
  • 00:16:08.784 --> 00:16:11.186
  • One of my friends, he's a passionist priest, developed
  • 00:16:11.186 --> 00:16:15.824
  • Tinnitus, tinnitus is that ringing in your ear.
  • 00:16:15.824 --> 00:16:21.563
  • He's had to go to counseling, he's been to the best doctors
  • 00:16:21.563 --> 00:16:26.802
  • About this, and what he needed to do was to develop something
  • 00:16:26.802 --> 00:16:32.041
  • Called habituation.
  • 00:16:32.041 --> 00:16:34.777
  • Habituation is the process of adapting to the sufferings in
  • 00:16:34.777 --> 00:16:38.280
  • Your life, and it's been very difficult for him and he hasn't
  • 00:16:38.280 --> 00:16:42.551
  • Arrived yet because it's hard, it's hard to sleep, it's hard
  • 00:16:42.551 --> 00:16:45.954
  • To wake up, it's hard to do anything when you've got this
  • 00:16:45.954 --> 00:16:48.791
  • Ringing in your ear like he does.
  • 00:16:48.791 --> 00:16:51.060
  • But he said, "cedric, the number one thing it's done for me is
  • 00:16:51.060 --> 00:16:55.130
  • Develop compassion for other people who are suffering."
  • 00:16:55.130 --> 00:16:59.368
  • And that's what your sufferings do, they teach us compassion,
  • 00:16:59.368 --> 00:17:03.005
  • And also flexibility, adaptation.
  • 00:17:03.005 --> 00:17:06.375
  • I've traveled for many years on the road as a missionary, i call
  • 00:17:06.375 --> 00:17:10.245
  • Myself "gumby," if you remember "gumby," the cartoon character.
  • 00:17:10.245 --> 00:17:14.583
  • That's because i've had to be flexible, sometimes i get a
  • 00:17:14.583 --> 00:17:19.655
  • Small bedroom that's very noisy, with a hard bed; other times,
  • 00:17:19.655 --> 00:17:25.160
  • I get a suite, it's very quiet, got a tv in the room, opulent.
  • 00:17:25.160 --> 00:17:33.335
  • Paul the apostle said, "i know how to abase and abound," he was
  • 00:17:33.335 --> 00:17:38.607
  • A missionary, "i can do all things through christ who
  • 00:17:38.607 --> 00:17:42.077
  • Strengthens me."
  • 00:17:42.077 --> 00:17:43.712
  • So your sufferings have meaning, and grace dictates that christ
  • 00:17:43.712 --> 00:17:48.917
  • Will strengthen you, help you to be content, god's grace is
  • 00:17:48.917 --> 00:17:53.755
  • Sufficient for you no matter what your circumstances are.
  • 00:17:53.755 --> 00:17:57.192
  • And you can learn from your sufferings compassion and
  • 00:17:57.192 --> 00:18:01.697
  • Adaptation and flexibility, these are all virtues god wants
  • 00:18:01.697 --> 00:18:07.236
  • From us, and hard to get when you're young but as you're
  • 00:18:07.236 --> 00:18:10.005
  • Growing older you can definitely develop them.
  • 00:18:10.005 --> 00:18:13.041
  • And then what about your relationship with god?
  • 00:18:13.041 --> 00:18:15.978
  • We're talking about growing older, being positive,
  • 00:18:15.978 --> 00:18:19.148
  • Developing virtue, developing your relationship with god, this
  • 00:18:19.148 --> 00:18:23.752
  • Is practically what it means to grow older, certainly
  • 00:18:23.752 --> 00:18:27.689
  • Intellectually, spiritually, morally, physically we all grow,
  • 00:18:27.689 --> 00:18:33.562
  • Especially spiritually, really important.
  • 00:18:33.562 --> 00:18:35.564
  • I remember my aunt val, she lived to be 90 years old, and
  • 00:18:35.564 --> 00:18:41.570
  • I went to visit her and spend a little bit of time with her,
  • 00:18:41.570 --> 00:18:44.740
  • Said, "father cedric, i don't understand it, i'm the last one
  • 00:18:44.740 --> 00:18:47.376
  • Left in the family," of her sisters and brothers, my dad was
  • 00:18:47.376 --> 00:18:50.646
  • Her brother.
  • 00:18:50.646 --> 00:18:52.481
  • "i don't understand why god still has me here, he must have
  • 00:18:52.481 --> 00:18:55.384
  • Something for me to do."
  • 00:18:55.384 --> 00:18:56.718
  • That's what a lot of people say as they get older, they say,
  • 00:18:56.718 --> 00:19:00.155
  • "god must have something for me to do."
  • 00:19:00.155 --> 00:19:01.723
  • Now here she was, 90, she could barely leave the house, and i'm
  • 00:19:01.723 --> 00:19:04.326
  • Thinking, "what would god have for her to do, there's pretty
  • 00:19:04.326 --> 00:19:08.297
  • Much nothing more that she can do," so this is what i told her,
  • 00:19:08.297 --> 00:19:11.500
  • I said, "aunt val, it's not so much what god wants you to do as
  • 00:19:11.500 --> 00:19:16.038
  • What god wants to do in you."
  • 00:19:16.038 --> 00:19:18.774
  • Did you get that?
  • 00:19:18.774 --> 00:19:21.643
  • It's very profound.
  • 00:19:21.643 --> 00:19:23.612
  • It's not so much what god wants you to do, it's what god wants
  • 00:19:23.612 --> 00:19:27.916
  • To do in you.
  • 00:19:27.916 --> 00:19:30.586
  • Wow.
  • 00:19:30.586 --> 00:19:32.354
  • Growth, development, but especially developing your
  • 00:19:32.354 --> 00:19:37.926
  • Relationship with god.
  • 00:19:37.926 --> 00:19:39.328
  • As you grow older, you have more time to read, more time to watch
  • 00:19:39.328 --> 00:19:46.168
  • Good religious programs like this, more time to pray, more
  • 00:19:46.168 --> 00:19:50.172
  • Time to pray for others, now is the time that you have.
  • 00:19:50.172 --> 00:19:55.377
  • When you were busy you were saying, "i'm too busy," when you
  • 00:19:55.377 --> 00:19:57.312
  • Were young you were saying, "i'm too busy," now's the time
  • 00:19:57.312 --> 00:20:00.315
  • Where you can be with god.
  • 00:20:00.315 --> 00:20:09.992
  • ♪♪♪
  • 00:20:09.992 --> 00:20:23.839
  • Father cedric: that's what it means to grow older: virtue,
  • 00:20:23.905 --> 00:20:27.876
  • Being positive, developing a relationship with god.
  • 00:20:27.876 --> 00:20:32.514
  • Now i've met a lot of passionists in my life, that's
  • 00:20:32.514 --> 00:20:35.584
  • Religious priests that live in our community, i've met hundreds
  • 00:20:35.584 --> 00:20:41.189
  • Of passionists, and let me say this: some of the men that
  • 00:20:41.189 --> 00:20:46.895
  • I've met, as they got older, are cynical, negative, and not
  • 00:20:46.895 --> 00:20:55.804
  • Happy; some of the men, though, that i've met are gracious,
  • 00:20:55.804 --> 00:21:03.178
  • Happy, and very gentle and very kind.
  • 00:21:03.178 --> 00:21:07.282
  • You can tell that they've grown older and they're not bitter,
  • 00:21:07.282 --> 00:21:12.788
  • And i'm not saying that as an indictment on any person or
  • 00:21:12.788 --> 00:21:16.091
  • Religious life or priesthood, absolutely not, this is the
  • 00:21:16.091 --> 00:21:20.028
  • Human condition, some people are simply getting older, and some
  • 00:21:20.028 --> 00:21:24.433
  • People are working at their lives and growing older.
  • 00:21:24.433 --> 00:21:27.836
  • I have a saying in my ministry, and i love this, it's the
  • 00:21:27.836 --> 00:21:30.739
  • Foundation of my ministry, "who you are is god's gift to you,"
  • 00:21:30.739 --> 00:21:35.777
  • We're talking about grace, "who you are is god's gift to you,
  • 00:21:35.777 --> 00:21:39.181
  • But who you become is your gift to god," and life really is all
  • 00:21:39.181 --> 00:21:44.219
  • About becoming.
  • 00:21:44.219 --> 00:21:46.521
  • Diminishment, as we grow older there's diminishment.
  • 00:21:46.521 --> 00:21:49.591
  • I remember i had to get a partial knee replacement and my
  • 00:21:49.591 --> 00:21:52.828
  • Right knee about 5-6 years ago, as i got older, and it
  • 00:21:52.828 --> 00:21:58.967
  • Devastated me.
  • 00:21:58.967 --> 00:22:00.335
  • I've always been so athletic, and i would look, i'd be driving
  • 00:22:00.335 --> 00:22:02.504
  • Down the road, i'd be looking at people and they're out there
  • 00:22:02.504 --> 00:22:04.973
  • Running and everything and i couldn't do that anymore.
  • 00:22:04.973 --> 00:22:07.676
  • And i gained a little bit of wisdom, this is what i heard:
  • 00:22:07.676 --> 00:22:10.512
  • "cedric, instead of concentrating on what you can't
  • 00:22:10.512 --> 00:22:12.814
  • Do, concentrate on what you can do."
  • 00:22:12.814 --> 00:22:17.919
  • And i can do a lot, i just can't run anymore, i was focusing on
  • 00:22:17.919 --> 00:22:22.824
  • That, that's part of negativity.
  • 00:22:22.824 --> 00:22:25.861
  • People get forgetful, i'm starting to experience that
  • 00:22:25.861 --> 00:22:29.998
  • A little bit, you've got to be humorous about that, you've
  • 00:22:29.998 --> 00:22:33.235
  • Gotta have some kind of sense of humor, like the man who was
  • 00:22:33.235 --> 00:22:36.405
  • Pulled over for speeding.
  • 00:22:36.405 --> 00:22:37.739
  • And the officer came up to him, knocked on the window, "why were
  • 00:22:37.739 --> 00:22:39.908
  • You speeding?"
  • 00:22:39.908 --> 00:22:41.476
  • And the older man said, "officer, i wanted to get there
  • 00:22:41.476 --> 00:22:45.247
  • Before i forgot where i was going."
  • 00:22:45.247 --> 00:22:48.683
  • Gotta have a sense of humor about the whole thing.
  • 00:22:48.683 --> 00:22:51.553
  • And then i think about my sister, she has an auto-immune
  • 00:22:51.553 --> 00:22:54.589
  • Disease, and for some time in our life we did not get along
  • 00:22:54.589 --> 00:22:58.693
  • All that well.
  • 00:22:58.693 --> 00:23:00.028
  • Well, that auto-immune disease softened her, she has to have
  • 00:23:00.028 --> 00:23:03.565
  • An infusion of blood every month; she became more humble.
  • 00:23:03.565 --> 00:23:09.604
  • I love what it says in the bible, that, "god resists the
  • 00:23:09.604 --> 00:23:13.742
  • Proud but he gives grace to the humble."
  • 00:23:13.742 --> 00:23:16.812
  • You know what humus soil is?
  • 00:23:16.812 --> 00:23:19.414
  • It's that black, rich soil that is fertile and able to receive
  • 00:23:19.414 --> 00:23:26.922
  • The seed, and bear fruit and growth.
  • 00:23:26.922 --> 00:23:31.860
  • Humble people are open and receptive to grace.
  • 00:23:31.860 --> 00:23:37.999
  • Sometimes, for most of us, it's the sufferings in life
  • 00:23:37.999 --> 00:23:43.638
  • That bring humility, they open us up to more.
  • 00:23:43.638 --> 00:23:49.644
  • ♪♪♪
  • 00:23:49.644 --> 00:24:05.126
  • Father cedric: even though you have challenges in your life,
  • 00:24:09.364 --> 00:24:11.766
  • Even though you may have some relationship problems,
  • 00:24:11.766 --> 00:24:15.003
  • The meaning of it is to help you to grow and to trust
  • 00:24:15.003 --> 00:24:18.540
  • God even though.
  • 00:24:18.540 --> 00:24:20.675
  • It's crucial.
  • 00:24:20.675 --> 00:24:22.477
  • I want you not just to get older, i want you to grow older.
  • 00:24:22.477 --> 00:24:27.415
  • You can do it.
  • 00:24:27.415 --> 00:24:28.783
  • Be positive, develop your relationship with god, be the
  • 00:24:28.783 --> 00:24:33.955
  • Best that you can be, be strong, and watch what happens.
  • 00:24:33.955 --> 00:24:39.227
  • And here's a saying that i love: "who you are is god's gift to
  • 00:24:39.227 --> 00:24:42.964
  • You, but who you become is your gift to god."
  • 00:24:42.964 --> 00:24:47.335
  • Don't just live, live with passion.
  • 00:24:47.335 --> 00:24:52.474
  • Father cedric: i received a letter from a woman:
  • 00:24:53.775 --> 00:24:55.410
  • "dear father cedric, i just finished a second reading of
  • 00:24:55.410 --> 00:24:58.780
  • Your book, 'you can change.'
  • 00:24:58.780 --> 00:25:00.215
  • I've been delivered from compulsive overeating.
  • 00:25:00.215 --> 00:25:03.818
  • Thank you for making god's grace real."
  • 00:25:03.818 --> 00:25:06.555
  • That's exactly what i'm trying to do, make god's grace real.
  • 00:25:06.555 --> 00:25:10.025
  • You want to grow older?
  • 00:25:10.025 --> 00:25:11.359
  • Try reading, reading is very important.
  • 00:25:11.359 --> 00:25:14.529
  • I wrote a book called "live passionately," where i try
  • 00:25:14.529 --> 00:25:17.832
  • To help you to make sense out of your suffering.
  • 00:25:17.832 --> 00:25:20.602
  • This book will also talk about how to be saved, but suffering,
  • 00:25:20.602 --> 00:25:26.374
  • The meaning of suffering in helping you to grow older.
  • 00:25:26.374 --> 00:25:30.278
  • In fact, it was the first book that i ever wrote.
  • 00:25:30.278 --> 00:25:33.181
  • Anytime you purchase any of my resources like the dvd of this
  • 00:25:33.181 --> 00:25:37.285
  • Program, the cd of this series, or you purchase
  • 00:25:37.285 --> 00:25:41.556
  • "live passionately" or "you can change," any of my books, it
  • 00:25:41.556 --> 00:25:45.527
  • Supports my programs so that i can reach out all
  • 00:25:45.527 --> 00:25:48.997
  • Around the world.
  • 00:25:48.997 --> 00:25:50.332
  • Thank you, thank you, thank you in advance.
  • 00:25:50.332 --> 00:25:51.866
  • All you have to do, go to my website, frcedric.org, call that
  • 00:25:51.866 --> 00:25:56.538
  • 844-father-c number, or write me in houston, texas, 77024.
  • 00:25:56.538 --> 00:26:02.911
  • Thank you in advance.
  • 00:26:02.911 --> 00:26:04.245
  • Don't just live, live with passion.
  • 00:26:04.245 --> 00:26:07.015
  • Female announcer: god's grace is at the heart of the bible.
  • 00:26:07.015 --> 00:26:09.651
  • God has lavished grace upon you so that you can be saved
  • 00:26:09.651 --> 00:26:14.122
  • And become all god created you to be.
  • 00:26:14.122 --> 00:26:17.058
  • Right now, simply call, write, or go online, and order series
  • 00:26:17.058 --> 00:26:21.663
  • 900 dvd or cd, as well as the book father talked about.
  • 00:26:21.663 --> 00:26:26.301
  • Because of these programs, people everywhere are
  • 00:26:26.301 --> 00:26:29.471
  • Discovering god in fresh new ways.
  • 00:26:29.471 --> 00:26:32.374
  • Every purchase supports father cedric in his god-given mission
  • 00:26:32.374 --> 00:26:36.111
  • To touch lives and save souls.
  • 00:26:36.111 --> 00:26:38.980
  • Father cedric is a catholic priest with a professed
  • 00:26:38.980 --> 00:26:42.217
  • Vow of poverty.
  • 00:26:42.217 --> 00:26:43.585
  • Be assured that the money from your purchase and donations
  • 00:26:43.585 --> 00:26:46.955
  • Will be used to produce and air "live with passion!"
  • 00:26:46.955 --> 00:26:50.592
  • Right now, simply call 844-father-c, that's
  • 00:26:50.592 --> 00:26:55.397
  • 844-328-4372, a kind operator is waiting for your call, or write
  • 00:26:55.397 --> 00:27:03.071
  • To father cedric, 430 bunker hill road, houston, texas,
  • 00:27:03.071 --> 00:27:07.909
  • 77024, or log onto frcedric.org and order online;
  • 00:27:07.909 --> 00:27:14.683
  • Simple, easy, and secure.
  • 00:27:14.683 --> 00:27:16.685
  • May you receive god's abundant grace.
  • 00:27:16.685 --> 00:27:19.854
  • ♪♪♪
  • 00:27:19.854 --> 00:27:22.657
  • Male announcer: made possible by the friends and partners of tbn
  • 00:27:22.657 --> 00:27:26.695
  • And "live with passion."
  • 00:27:26.695 --> 00:27:30.000