In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, amen.

My Lord and my God, I firmly believe that you are here, that you see me, that you hear me.

I adore you with profound reverence. I ask your pardon for my sins and the

grace to make this time of prayer fruitful. My immaculate mother, St. Joseph, my father and Lord,

my guardian angel, and to cede for.

With your permission, Lord Jesus Christ, truly present with us in this meditation.

The topic of our conversation with our Lord is interior struggle.

And I want to begin with words of Jesus that probably put his listeners on edge or left them befuddled and perplexed because he addressed a big crowd that wasn't a

select crowd. Anybody who showed up heard heard this this is in the sermon on the

mount for I tell you unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and

Pharisees you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

We've heard this many times,

but let's just detain ourselves.

A Pharisee ostensibly lived the Ten Commandments, the moral law.

Even though that's the normal way to live, the great majority don't live the 10 commandments.

They get a C average. The multiples of three get the great majority of people. They had, at least looking at externally a robust spiritual life.

They prayed a number of times a day.

They fasted.

They gave arms.

That must have been discouraging to hear from jesus that unless you go beyond

those role models of the jewish people you can't be on my team you've got to go way beyond them

your holiness has to go way beyond someone who fast who who gives money, who lives the moral law, who prays a number of times a day.

...