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I know I don't need to but that's okay
I'm gonna do it anyways nope
gonna do it anyway nope
clap hi my name is father Mike Smith and
this is essential presents so I don't
think it's too much of a stretch
to say that we're in the midst of a bit
of a crisis man in fact you know you
kind of pick your crisis right now we
have a we have an epidemic of loneliness
among people particularly men we have an
epidemic of meaninglessness among so
many people uh particularly men we have
an epidemic of a loss of purpose and
Direction among so many people
especially men we have a loss of even a
sense of God and a sense of the fact
that he actually has commissioned every
Christian every baptized Catholic into
the world to like have a vocation we
have a crisis of not knowing who God is
not knowing the heart of the father
and this is not just
situational not just occasional
this is kind of pervasive it's cultural
so in this kind of world sometimes we
can be tempted to just say oh my gosh
what do we do can't do anything
but there are some people who recognize
these things right there's some kind of
people who come Among Us and they're
like you know what you can do something
about this
um it doesn't have to be overly
complicated it doesn't start with a a
massive movement it doesn't start with a
organization it doesn't necessarily even
start with
um here's a new rule a lot of times what
it starts with is it starts with an
individual maybe it even starts with a
group of friends who come together and
say can we do something not massively
huge but can we do something small in my
own life and I do something small in my
own life
that will remedy some of these things
you know a bunch of years ago there were
some young men they were seminarians um
some of them seminaries have gone on to
become priests and some of those men
discerned out some are single and some
are married now with raising families
but these young seminarians these young
men with maybe a priest or two kind of
guiding them they recognize this crisis
they recognize that here we are in a
seminary full of men but we don't have
any close real close Brotherhood we here
we are in a seminary full of uh guys who
are praying but you know do we really
experience that encounter with the Lord
here we are as men striving for freedom
in Jesus but they found themselves still
slaves to so many of the things that
enslave all of us whether that be
technology whether it be pornography
whether that be um a sense of again
meaninglessness
comfort and they said
how would the Saints react they asked
the question how would the Saints
respond to this
and they didn't ask the Seminary for
like can you create a program for us
they didn't you know write to the pope
and say hey what are the new rules what
they did was they said let's study the
lives of the Saints
how could we incorporate into our lives
these practices that the Saints would
live that brought them to from a place
of Slavery to a place of Freedom that
brought them from a place of of death to
a place of life like in the Old
Testament like when the people of Israel
the children of Israel were enslaved in
Egypt and God brought them from that
place of slavery and death to a place of
freedom and Life In The Exodus so what
they did is they made a decision
it was just at first a decision for
themselves
they called it Exodus 90. and they said
great for for three months for 90 days
we're going to come together as brothers
and we're going to share life in a
unique way that we're not doing yet
we're going to pray in a way that maybe
some of us aren't doing yet
we're going to um intentionally
eliminate some things in our lives that
we realize have kind of addictive
qualities to them again whether that be
the internet would that be entertainment
or certain kinds of music
we're gonna
actually even make ourselves slightly
uncomfortable on a regular basis we're
going to deny ourselves on a regular
basis so as we experience just some
Freedom that I can realize not only
experience freedom but also I realize I
have a strength to be able to say no to
myself and I can offer that up for my
brothers and I can offer that up for
people the people I love unite that with
Jesus so what they did was they came up
with a list of things they thought would
help every one of them so Exodus 90 was
born
it's going on from those humble
beginnings of these seminarians with
maybe a couple priests to now men across
the country and around the world will
typically beginning in it may somewhere
around January after the new year
in a way that the 90 days leads up to
Easter Sunday so you have 40 plus days
or so of Lent and you have 40 plus days
or so before that that add up to the 90
days and Men again it's incredible
incredible every men from from high
schoolers to grandfathers have come
together from from single men to married
men to priests to seminarians like all
these people everyone in between have
come together and said okay here's what
we need to do I'm going to adopt some of
these aesthetical practices right some
of these decisions to deny myself I'm
going to adopt this cycle of prayer I'm
going to adopt um this Brotherhood
and these are going to be kind of the
buckets these are gonna be kind of the
keys that I'm going to use
to have that Journey From Slavery to
Freedom a journey from from sorrow into
Joy even if it's a little difficult so
what are some of the practice practices
what are some of the the practicals they
would do well
um on one hand they would say okay uh
this is the big one for so many people
we're gonna take cold showers now when
they first came up with the literature
they said cold or lukewarm showers so
since I remember that when I first read
it I'm like I'm doing the lukewarm
showers I know at the same time just
cold showers cold showers whenever you
take a shower it's cold
um also uh there's days of fasting
Wednesdays and Thursdays so they would
have the normal like two small meals
with one regular sized meal with no sack
it's no snacking in between for those 90
days
um no sugary drinks or no pop or in
other places of the world they call it
soda pop
um
other practices
um abstaining from meat I think on
Wednesdays and Fridays there would be
practices about identifying some of
those snares for a lot of guys whether
that be entertainment or music or
Internet and they said okay so no
entertainment
um no music unless it lifts the soul to
God and no use of the internet unless I
need it for school or for work that's
just in limiting this because why
because we're so distracted we're so
distressed by all these things
they also said you know what as men we
want to be strong so there was a
commitment to a certain number of hours
of working out exercising
per week also the striving after eight
hours of sleep which is really
remarkable again that's about punishing
oneself it's about living in a healthy
way like living freedom to be able to go
to sleep on time
is a gift but it's also takes it takes a
lot of self-control
in that there's also times for prayer I
think it was something like 20 minutes a
day that's all reading through their
Reflections the book of Exodus and some
Reflections on the book of Exodus if you
can go to Daily Mass to do that if you
can pray Rosary to do that and then
lastly something that people often miss
is this is not just about like white
knuckling something it's not about like
can you do it can you survive the 90
days of Exodus 90 that's not what it's
all about it's yes about some Freedom
it's a yes it's about like growing in
your prayer life yes it's about being
able to say no to myself so I can say
yes to the Lord yes it's about offering
up so much sacrifices for the people
that I love and for the Salvation of the
world but also there's this thing called
Brotherhood
so every Exodus 90 person has an exodus
90 group or a fraternity some brothers
that they're meant to check in with on a
regular basis at least once a week with
even some fun things they would do like
like in a social way where they're not
just like being honest with each other
although that's very important but also
kind of sharing life with each other
sometimes people when they miss they
miss that part they can do like
dependencies and they can do
um the cold showers and they can they
can hopefully go to sleep for eight
hours a day
but there's something about okay will I
be honest and vulnerable with the men in
my Exodus 90 group that Brotherhood
remember as I said there is a crisis of
loneliness crisis of friendlessness
crisis of meaninglessness among so many
of us men and women
Exodus 90 is when a man realizes that's
part of my life
I can do something about this I don't
need someone else to make a program but
here is the decision because xs90 isn't
really a program as much as it is an
opportunity
it's an opportunity for men to come
together and say we're tired of being
slaves we want freedom we're tired of
living a life of meaninglessness I want
purpose I'm tired of living my life
isolated and alone I want Brotherhood so
here's my invitation this upcoming
January actually before January my
invitation is to start putting the word
up maybe even go to exodus90.com and to
check out their website and to see hey
are there any guys in my life who would
be willing to take this journey this
journey of 90 days with me 90 days of
Brotherhood of Prayer of asceticism 90
days of freedom 90 days toward freedom
and to ask some of those guys
now it can be daunting
but
you don't have to be daunted
it might seem extreme but listen it's
not extreme he's basically living I mean
we really think about this
all those penances all that is
asceticism
it's not going to hurt you
it's basically living like most of
humanity lived for basically the history
of humanity it's basically living how
most of the world lives right now as it
is so it's not going to hurt you
it might actually help you anyways
that's what I'm saying pray about it
talk about it maybe invite someone to do
it and then commit to it for all of us
here since princess my name is father
Mike God bless
[Music]