Why me, Lord, what have I ever [singing] done? To be worthy of one of the pleasures I’ve known. Tell me, Lord, what did I ever do to be worthy of you and the kindness you’ve shown? Lord, help me Jesus. I’ve wasted it. So help me, Jesus. I know what I am. And now that I know that I’ve needed you, so help me, Jesus. My soul’s in your hand. Try me, Lord, if you think there’s a way I could ever repay all I’ve taken from you. Maybe Lord, I could show

what I’ve been through myself on my way back to you. [singing] Lord, help me. Jesus, I’ve wasted it. So help me. Jesus, I know what I am. And now that I know that I’ve needed you, so help me, Jesus. My life’s in your hand. Jesus, my life’s in your hand. The guys bet me I wouldn’t be able to sing again. Another Merl Haggard song for you. So, there you go. But I just wanted to let you all know that Jesus is is with us and he’s he’s always calling us uh to something deeper. Uh he’s giving us grace so that he can save our souls, but that we could use that to help save others. So, we see that on display in the readings and especially on this Father’s Day weekend. Jeremiah is going through a terrible period of anguish. He’s struggling. Doesn’t feel like he’s deserved what he’s been given. But through his his own union with God, his reliance, his trust, his surrender to God, he’s able to be this great prophet for the other people. And of course, Jesus then is telling us not to be afraid in the gospel. You know, when we talk about fatherhood or motherhood or any sort of way of teaching or bestowing something on someone, there’s usually three levels. There’s the the very basic kind of biological level of fatherhood, just someone who can produce a child. Then there’s like the natural level of fatherhood, which is a little more obviously than just producing a child. It’s raising the child, providing for it, and so forth. But then there’s the deepest level, which is called spiritual fatherhood or spiritual motherhood. where you’re not just taking care of the body, but you’re taking care of the soul. You’re training someone how to how to be healthy and well in life, how to how to experience real peace and freedom, ultimately how to know Jesus Christ. That’s what is a real spiritual father, real spiritual mother does. And that’s the crisis we have today. anyone can just produce a child and then most people can take care of a child but to really take care of a child’s soul and even if you’re not a mother or father we can all be be spiritual mothers or spiritual fathers to really tend to the soul and that’s what Jesus says don’t be afraid of someone who can kill the body that is natural fathers are okay but be afraid of someone who can kill the soul we need these spiritual fathers so we pray for that grace to be real spiritual fathers and mothers the graces that we’ve been given by our own spiritual fathers fathers and mothers, may we hand that on and may the the kingdom of God continue to come about. Amen.