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Helping Young People Navigate The Pain Of Life
Episode 1511th May 2021 • The Catholic Teacher Podcast • Jonathan Doyle
00:00:00 00:09:37

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In today's episode I share an important quote from Jordan Peterson's new book. It's a useful insight that helps us to remember that our efforts to share our faith with students are never in vain and can have far-reaching impact.

Transcripts

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Well, Hey everybody, Jonathan Doyle with you.

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Once again, welcome back to the Catholic teacher daily podcast.

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Hope you're doing well.

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Hope we can bring you something.

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That's a bit of a blessing for you today in this crucial, precious vocation that

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you have in the lives of young people.

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It's a bit sad here.

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In the, uh, in the Doyle household at the moment.

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Um, uh, my son has gone on.

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He's gone on year six camp for three days, four days.

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So were all the rest of the family and the other kids were.

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Noticing last night that, uh, We just don't miss him.

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And I was thinking what an incredible thing it is as a parent really.

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And I think we can forget this as educators.

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It's an incredible thing to hand over your child to interest your child.

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Into the care of other people.

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So never forget that, uh, what a precious and a special vocation it

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is that you have where these adults.

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Uh, in trusting you with their child.

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And let's never forget that what that really means that we are.

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Discharging this very special ministry in the lives of families and parents.

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It's a really precious thing today.

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I want to talk to you about.

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A quote that I came across, uh, this morning I, uh, was

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here early in the studio and.

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I've been reading Jordan Peterson's new book.

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Uh, called beyond order.

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Many of you be familiar with him.

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I like his work for many reasons.

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I think he's a, not only is he a prodigious intellect.

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But he's somebody who especially recently has endured an enormous

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amount of suffering, both physically in his own health and, uh, in

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that of his family as well.

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And.

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So often, like to say that you can trust people who've suffered, you can

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usually trust people who've suffered.

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And why is that?

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Because.

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Usually, if people have been through suffering, one of

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two things tends to happen.

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They either get cynical, nihilistic and potentially vicious in

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terms of they become deeply disillusioned and angry at life.

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And that channels out in, on their relationships and a

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whole bunch of other things.

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I don't say that judge mentally.

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I just say that as an observation of life.

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But there are other people who enjoy suffering and it changes them.

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Let's never forget the central motif of suffering in our Catholic faith that we

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have a God who enters into human reality.

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And doesn't just wander around like sort of magically granting wishes and

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blasting Roman legions into oblivion.

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He's a God who enters into the reality of human suffering.

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And he weeps over the pain of other people's lives, you know, and when

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Lazarus dies, you know, that famous two line sentence, Jesus wept,

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you know, that he felt our pain.

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And he takes the pain of creation and, uh, upon himself and suffers.

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And so the, his, his, his suffering is ultimately.

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Trends formed into the great victory of Easter.

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So let's never forget that, uh, that suffering in all our own lives has such a.

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An incredibly important role, if it is.

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Surrendered to God.

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And.

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That we learned to trust him in the midst of deep suffering.

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Very hard to do.

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Isn't it.

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It's a definitely.

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Easy to talk about, harder to live.

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We've been, uh,

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In our own community.

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We, we recently had the tragic loss of a, of a young student.

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And, um, just seeing how that suffering has impacted so many people,

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obviously the parents and family, but.

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So many other people who've journeyed along.

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That, um, that suffering is something we would never choose, but, uh,

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well, the, the things that God can do through the tragedies of life,

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So on that today's quote comes from Jordan Peterson's new book and it struck me

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this morning when I came into the studio.

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And it's just this, he says, unless you make a connection.

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To the transcendent.

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You will not have the strength to prevail.

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When the challenges of life become daunting.

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One more time, unless you make a connection to the transcendent.

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You will not have the strength to prevail.

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When the challenges of life become daunting.

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So I like this.

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He's, he's making the point for us that.

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That in the absence of a transcendent reality in the

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absence of a relationship with God.

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Then the difficulties and suffering of life can seem very, very arbitrary.

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They can seem very unknowable and unsearchable.

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And I think we're left very much on our own as kind of cosmic orphans.

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And as I said before, I think that leads to nihilism, to despair, to rage.

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To avoidance.

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I don't know if this is drawing a long bow, but it's interesting

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to know that, um, you know, one of the biggest challenges.

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Uh, facing Russia.

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Is alcoholism.

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It's one of the biggest causes of death.

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I think it's like right up there now.

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It's like, although, you know,

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In the top two to three causes of death in, uh, in Russia.

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And it's interesting, cause it's a nation that had a very, very deep

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Christian past that, which was course, which was of course overwhelmed.

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By the, um, the communist revolution in 1917, and then it's enjoyed.

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Do you know, decades.

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Oh, really?

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Uh, you know, a century now of, uh, Of Marxist scientific materialism.

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And I often wondered when I sort of came across the stats on alcoholism there.

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If.

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If you remove the transcendent, if you remove the people's connection

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to the divine, to their history, to their heritage, to their faith.

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And then life is hard because life, especially in, you

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know, in Stalinist, Russia,

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Was was difficult and unpleasant and, you know, lacked beauty and

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synthesis and joy and community.

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And I wonder if that's why so many people turn to the avoidance.

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Of alcoholism's just a thought, just interesting in our own cultures

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that, uh, what do we do with the difficulties of reality when we

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don't have a transcendent, God.

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To fall back upon.

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To pray to, to talk with.

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To seek that he'd carry us.

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So what's this got to do with Catholic teachers?

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Well, I think that the fragility, the emotional, psychological fragility of

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many young people, not all, cause I know some of you will hear this and say, but

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you know, you know, tons of young people that are really resilient and I agree.

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But I think statistically, at least if we look at the mental

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health measures, this is a cohort.

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Historical moment for young people where anxiety and depression.

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Uh, a very significant forces.

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So here's the link I want to make.

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And I've really covered a few topics in this short podcast today.

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But I want to say this to you that.

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Every way in which you help them to know.

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God to know his son.

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To learn about the provision of the holy spirit, every way in which you do that.

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You can never know the buffer that that may give them against the

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vicissitudes of life, the difficulties and hardships that will come in

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their life because they will come.

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So helping young people to have a deep spirituality, a deep

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awareness of, you know, God and his action in scripture and people's

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relationship with him and hardship.

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And even just the central motif of Christ himself and his trust in God.

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On the cross.

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Can give them a buffer, psychological, spiritual buffer that, you

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know, you're never going to see probably the full results of that.

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But I just want to be a voice today reminding you and encouraging you

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that it's a unique and precious and special thing that you do.

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Particularly in this cultural moment where, you know, we're living in

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this highly technocratic culture.

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Where, you know, rates of narcissism and self-absorption and distraction

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through technology and social media.

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Can be highly problematic for young people.

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So you may, we'll be giving them tools and grace.

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That is going to be extremely important in their lives.

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So do not be afraid to preach Christ and him crucified do not be afraid to

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speak to them of the love of a perfect father, even though for many of them and

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for a significant number of us, we may not have experienced perfect fathering.

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We can still find the courage as educators to speak that truth,

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to reality in their lives, and to create the experiences of prayer and

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liturgy and silence and sacrament.

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That will buffer and strengthen that.

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Internal transcendent compass.

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All right.

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There's a lot in that.

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That's it from me today.

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Unless we make a connection to the transcendent.

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We will not have the strength to prevail when the challenges

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of life become daunting.

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So God bless you, everybody.

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Thank you for listening.

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I'd love.

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If you could make sure you've subscribed to the podcast.

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If you could share this with a few other teachers and of course say everything else

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is on the website@onecatholicteacher.com.

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My name is Jonathan Doyle.

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Thank you so much for what you do every day.

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God is outrageously proud of you.

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He sees everything you do.

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And he thinks you're doing a pretty fine job.

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So you can take that to the bank.

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I bless everybody.

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This has been the Catholic teacher daily podcast.

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And I'll have another message for you.

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