Become Who You Are
What’s the meaning and purpose of my life? What is my true identity? Why were we created male and female? How do I find happiness, joy and peace? How do I find love that lasts, forever? These are the timeless questions of the human heart. Join Jack Rigert and his guests for lively insights, reading the signs of our times through the lens of Catholic Teaching and the insights of Saint John Paul ll to guide us.
Saint Catherine of Siena said "Become who you are and you would set the world on fire".
Become Who You Are
#519 The Last Supper and the mockery in Paris France. Let's take a Biblical look at the events of the Last Supper and compare them to the opening ceremony of the Olympics.
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The Last Supper and the mockery in Paris France. Amazing that this is what France put out to showcase its culture to the world. Let's take a Biblical look at the events of the Last Supper and compare them to the opening ceremony of the Olympics.
Has the world forgotten the sacredness of the Last Supper? This episode of "Become Who You Are" confronts the mockery of this holy event at the Paris Olympics and examines the profound spiritual and cultural implications of such an affront. Join Jack as he reflects on France's spiritual heritage as the "eldest daughter of the Church" and how its recent actions highlight a significant moral decline. We discuss the societal chaos that stems from rejecting Christian values, contrasting the sacrificial love of Christ with the self-destructive paths of hedonism and selfishness that plague modern culture.
In this deeply reflective episode, we explore Jesus' teachings on the "bread of life" and their connection to Old Testament traditions. We delve into the Last Supper, where Jesus established the Eucharist, presenting himself as the ultimate sacrificial lamb. Our journey continues with a poignant reading from the book of Revelation, reminding us of Christ's imminent return and the eternal fulfillment found in his sacrifice. This is a call to understand the true purpose of the Eucharist, the ongoing spiritual nourishment from the Mass, and the urgent need to remain righteous amidst a declining moral landscape. Tune in for a compelling exploration of faith, redemption, and the transformative power of Christ's love.
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for joining me. This is jack riggard, the host of the john paul to renewal centers become who you are podcast. I was getting ready for mass and, as I always do, I read the readings. They're coming up for the mass in the morning just to prepare for Mass and as I did, it was the feeding of the 5,000. And as I was thinking about that, this gross mockery of the Last Supper from the Olympics came into my mind and I thought, you know, this would be a great time to go through. John Jesus is talking about the Eucharist and also bring it into the Last Supper. What was going on at the Last Supper? Just to remind ourselves of that event and the anti-event that the Olympics was attacking. So let's put this all in context, if you don't mind.
Speaker 1:At the opening of the Olympics in Paris, france and you think about this France is going to put its best cultural foot forward. It wants to show the world what it's like and it left nothing to the imagination but mock Christ at the Last Supper as he instituted what, as he instituted the Eucharist and the Mass. So consider this A final throwing away of culture and its people. That's what it looked like to me, and so it's nation. It's like it's just put the last stake in the tomb, last stake in the heart of mankind. There in France this is France she was called the eldest daughter of the church at one time, so this is important. This is an important sign to all of us, and it showcases the fallen culture as the eldest daughter of the church, a sign that we are no longer a God-fearing nation, a sign to the world that we are no longer a God-loving nation. Remember that it's French culture that gave the world, to a large extent, the dignity of the individual human person, human dignity, human freedom, that we're all created in the image and likeness of God. We all have a right to an education, health care, property, a better life. All of this came out of Christian culture.
Speaker 1:Now consider this why my Christianity and not some other religion like Islam? Well, you know. First of all, we know that Islam wouldn't put up with it. But, even more importantly, the core reason that the world always attacks Christianity, and probably the Catholic Church even more so, is because Satan knows where the truth resides. Take out Christ and the church and you take out human beings, created in this image and likeness. This, in turn, puts the whole culture in moral decline and then the nation will follow it. God, who brings in everything that's true, good and beautiful, especially the beauty of love, the beauty of love and the goodness of love in the world. And you can twist it and turn it around, you could see what happened here, and the result is a culture and a nation, instead of true, good and beautiful, of lies, evil and profanity of beauty itself, and especially the beauty of love, the beauty of our human sexuality, created to be an expression of the inner life of the Trinity, itself right, the life of a child in the womb, marriage and the family that brings that possible. So, in making visible the anti-sign, this is an anti-creation, but what better way to express it? After a nation has accepted abortion and all these gender ideologies, what's the next thing, of course and it's simultaneously of course is the attack on Christ, the bridegroom and his bride, the church.
Speaker 1:And at the Last Supper, where Christ instituted, what again? The Mass, the Eucharist, the food from heaven. And what happened right after that? Right after that Last Supper, jesus would suffer his passion, death, his life, giving his life to overcome what Sin and death, exactly what was shown on that ceremony of the opening Olympics. You know where does all that lead? All that hedonistic sexuality, the selfishness, using people just for momentary pleasure, it all leads to sin and death. Where is it all going? It's going nowhere.
Speaker 1:And Jesus comes in at the Last Supper to give us food from heaven that would take us all the way into our eternal life, and after Mass, to celebrate this event all over the world. What did Jesus do? He gives us the Mass, the Eucharist, so that we have this to the end of the age. And what again did they do at the opening ceremony at Paris? The anti-sign? A gross mockery of that event, a mockery of Jesus Christ as he prepares to make the supreme sacrifice of what? Of his body and blood, his love. This is a love story. To pour himself out like a bridegroom would pour himself out to his bride. This is my body, given for you, the sacrifice. And again, let's remember what that sacrifice was. It was to destroy the power of sin and, ultimately, death. The power that pours out at each and every mass to all of us, the power to be free. The ultimate freedom is not freedom to sin and murder and destroy and to twist and distort our sexual passions into anything, but the power to give us a love in the truth and to be able to live truth in love, to be united to one another through him who humbly gives himself away. What To serve and not to be served the opposite of selfishness that's what love is.
Speaker 1:So the Western world, including France here, obviously thought it was okay to give us the right to murder a child, the right to render marriage meaningless it doesn't mean anything to anybody the right to use children to further these sexual ideologies, right affirming a gender care and all these things that we're doing to our youth. Because the world has rejected the truths of the Catholic faith. We see the breakdown across the world as it falls further and further into chaos. Take out Christ and the church and it follows that murder and chaos will follow Moral degradation. You know this moral decline and the world is under the spell of the evil one. When God is forgotten, the creature itself grows unintelligible From Gaudium et Spes. This week we had another example of the. It's almost like we're under some kind of a spell right the human mind and the heart by the mystery of evil, and you saw this with the opening of the Olympics Last week or so it was immediately following the assassination attempt on Donald Trump and we saw the withdrawal, people saying I wish he would have been shot.
Speaker 1:The only problem with that assassin he didn't kill the president. This is how we act. Whether you like Trump or don't like Trump, this is a human being. See, once you destroy the child in the womb, once you render marriage without any meaning, this is where we all come into the world, the Imago Dei, then it doesn't matter, right, it will kill anybody. The vitriol and the hatred is amazing. Witnessing this, somebody wrote the laughter and the swearing, the laughing, the mockery that Donald Trump didn't get shot. She said I felt like I had entered a dystopian twilight zone. Isn't that what we feel? So evil across the world is accelerating into the final days.
Speaker 1:And what can we do? I think it's good to go back and see exactly what Jesus was doing, because, at the end of the world, it's our faith in Jesus Christ that will save the world, nothing less. He's the way, the truth and the life, the one who brings us life and frees us from the number one enemy of true human flourishing. What is that? Liberation from sin, liberation from everything that was showing at that ceremony. So let's take the opportunity to look back at today's gospel, where we had the feeding of the 5,000. And you'll note here that this is the Jewish feast of the Passover, where we sacrifice. The Jewish people sacrifice the lamb to be saved. Well now, jesus is that lamb. This is what's happening at the Last Supper. It's a new covenant. He now is the sacrifice, he himself is the priest and he himself is the victim, the sacrifice that will be offering himself up for the salvation of the world. This is what's happening at each and every Mass. So let me go through that. It's so powerful.
Speaker 1:So I'm going to read you from the reading just from today, just from today, which is the feeding of the 5,000. I want to take that right into John 6. It goes right into Jesus' teaching on the Eucharist, which happened at the Last Supper. So I'll take you just through a little bit of Luke, which you could go to any of the Synoptic Gospels Mark or Matthew 2, to read about that. I'm just going to pull one from Luke about the Last Supper and then just to finish with the very last chapter, the very last paragraphs, I should say, of the last chapter of the book of Revelation, the very last book of the Bible, because this all ties back in together. So the feeding of the 5,000.
Speaker 1:After this, jesus went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias, and a multitude following him, because they saw the signs which he did on those who were. Jesus went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias, and a multitude following him, because they saw the signs which he did on those who were diseased. Remember, jesus comes in and he heals. He heals your body, but then he always says what? Go and sin no more. It's not just your body, it's your body and a soul. We're united, right, we're a united body and a soul.
Speaker 1:So Jesus went up to the hills and there he sat down. Now the Passover listen, now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand. So this is what's coming the Passover is coming and Jesus tells them all to sit down. I'm going to go just a little bit ahead. And there was a lad there who had five barley loaves and two fish, but there were so many people. Jesus said make the people sit down. Now. There was much grass in that place, so the men sat down, a number of about 5,000. So if it's 5,000 men, then you have women and children. This is a big crowd.
Speaker 1:Jesus took the loaves when he had given thanks. He distributed them to those who were seated, so also the fish, as much as they wanted, and when they are filled, he told his disciples gather up the fragments left over, that nothing shall be lost. So they gathered them up and filled 12 baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves left by those who had already eaten. When the people saw the sign which he had done, they said this indeed is the prophet who is coming to the world. Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, jesus withdrew again to the hills by himself.
Speaker 1:This is not about earthly power. Jesus makes this clear. He saw that they wanted to make him king. He's the king of the universe, he's the king of eternity, he's the king of love, of truth, of goodness, of beauty. He does not want earthly power, and so when they're going to make him king, he disappears. Well, here's what happens. They find him.
Speaker 1:And so when they found him I'm skipping to John 6, verse 25, when they found him on the other side of the sea, the people said to him Rabbi, when did you come here? And Jesus answered them truly. Truly, I say to you you seek me not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of man will give to you, for on him has God, the Father, set his seal. Then they said to him what must we do to be doing the works of God? Jesus answered them this is the work of God, that you believe in him, who he has sent. So they said to Jesus then, what sign do you do that we may see and believe in you? Which work do you perform? They always want a sign, right, always want another miracle. He just fed the 5,000. That's not enough. It'll never be enough until we go to our hearts.
Speaker 1:So here's what happened. They said to Jesus and this is so important because after the Passover of the Jews, right in the Old Testament, what happens? They're led out to the desert where God feeds them. With what? Manna? The bread, the bread. God feeds them himself with the bread of life.
Speaker 1:So our fathers, they say to Jesus, ate the manna in the wilderness, as it was written. He gave them bread from heaven to eat. Now listen to this. Jesus says to them truly, truly, I say to you it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven. My father gives you the true bread from heaven, for the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. And they said to him Lord, give us this bread always. And that's exactly what he's going to do. But he has to first teach them a little bit. Now I'm going to read all of this them a little bit Now. I'm going to read all of this, but you should read all of it.
Speaker 1:So Jesus said to them I am the bread of life. He who comes to me shall not hunger and he who believes in me shall never thirst. But I say to you that you have seen me and yet you do not believe yourselves. This is what we're seeing, the anti-sign of this. They're thirsty. All those people at the stage, all those people in their culture, all anti-sign of this. They're thirsty. All those people at the stage, all those people in their culture, all those people in nature are thirsty. But when they no longer see God, they try to fill themselves. What Full of selfish, hedonistic pleasures, right To try to stuff themselves anywhere they can, and they'll distort anything to get a momentary pleasure, something that they think they're going to find. Well, this is Satan twisting and distorting.
Speaker 1:So Jesus says to them, truly, truly, I say to you he who believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness and they died. This is the bread which comes down from heaven that a man may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread which comes down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh. And then they say to him it's impossible. So they dispute among themselves about this, and so they're arguing.
Speaker 1:The Jews said how can this be that a man could give us his flesh to eat? They say the same thing that when you first describe this to somebody, they go what are you talking about? So Jesus said to them, truly, truly, I say to you unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day, for my flesh is food, indeed, and my blood is drink, indeed. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me and I in him, as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father. So he who eats me will live because of me. This is the bread which came down from heaven, not such as the Father's died. He who eats this bread will live forever.
Speaker 1:This he said in the synagogue, as he taught at Capernaum Whoa, he's teaching about the Eucharist. It's so powerful. So this leads us then to the Last Supper. So let me just take you to the Last Supper. This is what Jesus is doing. He's establishing the Mass and the Eucharist so that we have it forever. Jesus says there let me just read you a little bit he institutes well, I'm going to go back and just go to.
Speaker 1:This is Luke 22, verse seven, because it's preparation again for the Passover. Remember when Jesus fed the 5,000, it's the Passover. Then he talks about his sacrifice. It's going to be his sacrifice. He's setting us up for this. He is the bread of life.
Speaker 1:So then came the day of unleavened bread. Unleavened bread, getting ready, isn't that what the host is. That's why we have unleavened hosts right, this is what we do. And go and prepare the Passover. And he tells the disciples about a room that they'll find, et cetera, et cetera, and get ready for the sacrifice. This time it's not going to be a lamb or unleavened bread. This time he is the sacrifice, he is the sacrificial lamb, the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.
Speaker 1:So Jesus institutes the Eucharist here, and this is the Last Supper, this is what's being mocked. And when the hour came, he sat at the table and the apostles with him, and he said to them I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer, for I tell you I shall not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God. And he took a chalice and when he had given them thanks, he said take this and divide it among yourselves, for I tell you that from now on, I shall not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes. And he took bread and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them. This is my body which will be given up for you. Do this in remembrance of me. And likewise the chalice after supper, saying this chalice which is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood. Do this in memory of me. He's the sacrificial lamb. He is what I'm going to mass to receive. You know it's a powerful thing we become. You know we're fed with heavenly food and there's a mass going on every moment of every day across the world bringing this life to people.
Speaker 1:Let me just finish up with the very end of the book of Revelation. So this is Revelation 22, the last couple of paragraphs, and this is written also by John. I, john, am he who heard and saw these things. And when I heard and saw them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who had showed them to me. But he said to me you shall not do that. I'm a fellow servant with you and your brother and the prophets and with those who keep the words of this book. Worship God.
Speaker 1:And he said to me do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near. Listen to this. Let the evildoer still do evil and the filthy still be filthy and the righteous still do right and the holy still be holy. Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense to repay everyone for what he's done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end. This is Jesus Christ. Blessed are those who wash their robes that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates. Outside are the dogs and the sorcerers and the fornicators and the murderers and the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.
Speaker 1:I, jesus, have sent my angel to you with this testimony for the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, the bright morning star, the spirit, the Holy Spirit and the bride, the church right, the church, the bride of Christ, say come and let him who hears say come and let him who is thirsty come, let him who desires take the water of life without price. I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book if anyone adds to them, god will add to him the plagues described in this book. And if anyone takes away from the words of the book, of this prophecy, god will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city which are described in this book. He who testifies to these things says surely I am coming soon. Amen, come, lord Jesus. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with all the saints, amen.