Fr Dan Reehil - The Secret Behind The Relationship God Desires With Humanity!

Added: 2026-06-01

[00:00:05]Thomas Aquinas is arguably the greatest theologian the church has in the last 2,000 years.

[00:00:12]Um the great Dominican saint lived in the 13th century, had profound revelation about God and experienced God in in a profound way and it was incredibly intelligent, but had wisdom about God, which is a God gift. And he wrote volumes. I mean massive amounts of of an opus of work, the greatest of which is probably the Summa Theologica, which is basically the summary of theology of the Catholic Church in all its ways, shapes, and forms.

[00:00:46]But after all that writing and and study, he one day had a mystical experience of God.

[00:00:55]Where he had a glimpse into who God really is in his substance, and it frightened him.

[00:01:03]Because he said, "The awesomeness of God is so far beyond anything we can imagine."

[00:01:09]And so he went to burn all of his writings, including the Summa.

[00:01:14]He said, "This is straw. It It It doesn't come close to describing who God is." And his superior said, "Well, I understand you're having a moment, but we're going to hang on to these just in case." And you know, all these centuries later, the church is so thankful they weren't burned.

[00:01:30]And this man realized this.

[00:01:36]In understanding a deeper glimpse into who God is, he went to confession every day of his life before he celebrated the mass.

[00:01:45]Every single day.

[00:01:48]Because he thought, "I have to be as holy and pure as I can be if I'm going to hold God in my hands."

[00:01:56]Now, I'm not promoting this.

[00:01:58]I don't want people going to confession every day. It wouldn't work for me at all.

[00:02:06]Uh it was different back then. He was living with a hundred monks who were priests, so it was easy to go to confession every day if you have a hundred priests living with you.

[00:02:14]There's just one of me in Murray County, so we're going to once a month is good.

[00:02:20]But having try to understand that what he was saying is what we know about God is infinitesimally small compared what to we don't know about God and about his greatness, his his wonder, his splendor.

[00:02:36]And understanding that I want you to just sit with that as I go into my next point here. So, you hear it said all the time, life isn't fair.

[00:02:47]Right? I mean, most of us know this.

[00:02:49]Life is not fair.

[00:02:51]You know, people amazingly good and holy people sometimes get get the worst uh deck dealt to them in their [snorts] life and it's very difficult because again, we don't understand the cross as well as we should. But that all aside there's one place where everything is fair.

[00:03:11]It's hell.

[00:03:13]Hell is fair because we all deserve to be there.

[00:03:17]So, if you wind up in hell, that's justice. We deserve hell. We are not good enough for God.

[00:03:26]We don't deserve him in his greatness.

[00:03:31]It is only by Jesus Christ and his precious blood and his passion, death, and resurrection that we have been restored to a place where we can even approach heaven.

[00:03:41]It's because of Jesus.

[00:03:44]People always say to me, "The God of the Old Testament seems very unhappy and angry compared to the New Testament God.

[00:03:51]Are they different? No, it's the same God.

[00:03:55]But there was no appeasement of God's wrath before Jesus.

[00:04:00]Jesus took all the sins of the world to himself and literally appeased the wrath of the Father for the sins of mankind.

[00:04:08]So, we owe Jesus everything.

[00:04:12]And today when we acknowledge this event, this birth uh not the birth, but his baptism, John's baptism was a baptism of repentance, remember? This isn't the sacrament yet.

[00:04:26]What did Jesus have to repent of?

[00:04:28]Nothing.

[00:04:30]Nothing.

[00:04:32]This was a ceremonial ritual that he performed for our benefit, not for his own.

[00:04:39]It's sort of similar to what Mary did after on the eighth day after the birth of Jesus, the women would have to go be ritually washed and offer their child to the Lord in the temple, the firstborn. She There was nothing to wash her from.

[00:04:54]She's full of grace from her conception. There was nothing else she needed. But she goes through the ritual because she's a good Jewish woman and wants to uphold the law even though she did not need to do that. Similarly today, Jesus did not need to be baptized, but he does it. Why does he do it? For a couple of reasons.

[00:05:12]First of all, he's trailblazing for us the sacrament of baptism. Where the head goes, the body will follow.

[00:05:20]And so he does this for us as an example, as a witness of what we should be doing. When he gives the command, "Go out and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit."

[00:05:32]But more importantly, it was the Father's will that he be revealed in this moment because this is the first time we're going to see the Trinity revealed and able to be seen or heard with our senses, okay? They're never separated by by their substance. Their substance can't be separated. It's one God.

[00:05:55]But in this moment, the three persons are revealed. Jesus and the man, the dove as the spirit comes down and descends upon him, and the voice of God the Father proclaims, "This is my beloved son, in whom I'm well pleased."

[00:06:06]All three are manifesting to us in order that we know who Jesus is.

[00:06:12]This is my This is God, the second person of the Trinity.

[00:06:18]So, when we think about our own baptism, it's so incredibly important we understand the gift of baptism.

[00:06:25]It literally changes us.

[00:06:28]It changes Your Your soul is changed with a mark that is never removed, that claims you for God.

[00:06:39]Without it, we would not be children of God. So, we have to discern between the difference between being crea- a creation of God versus a child of God.

[00:06:49]All peoples are created by God. In fact, everything was made by God except God himself. So, when he's making creation, when he's creating the universe, if you recall, how did he do it? He spoke it into existence.

[00:07:05]The Father spoke the Word, who who would become Jesus, and the power of the Spirit, and everything created. Let there be light. There was light.

[00:07:14]Let there be a firmament between the waters, and there was the firmament. Let there be stars in the sky and and a moon and a sun, and boom, they come into existence.

[00:07:24]Let there be vegetation, and there come the plants. Everything comes by God speaking it into existence until he gets to man.

[00:07:34]When he gets to man, it says he formed him with his from the earth of the ground by his hands, and breathed life into him through his nostrils through the Holy Spirit.

[00:07:46]So, man was different from the beginning. We were not just spoken into existence. He crafted us himself.

[00:07:52]So, we are much different than the rest of creation. That's important to know.

[00:07:57]And just the fact that he created us means we're special. The fact that he made us in his image and likeness is a step beyond. None of the animals can say that. Noth- nothing The angels can say that cuz they have his They have the ability to reason, to think, and to uh then act on what they come up with as the right choice.

[00:08:20]But, we're the all We're a hybrid. We're not just spirit, we're not just matter, we're both, matter and spirit.

[00:08:29]And so, it's really good to be created by God in his image and likeness. So, all people are good by the very fact that they're made by God in his image and likeness. That is not to be argued.

[00:08:38]Even the worst person on the planet is a good because of that piece of of truth that they were made in his image and likeness.

[00:08:47]But, does not compare to being a child of God.

[00:08:52]So, Adam and Eve, they were created by God, but they were not children of God.

[00:08:56]They walked with him in the garden.

[00:08:59]But, they were not his children.

[00:09:02]Only by baptism do we become children of God.

[00:09:06]Literally children. What Jesus is by his very nature as a child son of God, we become by grace.

[00:09:13]And when God looks at you, the imprint of Jesus is on you. He sees you, but he also sees his son Jesus in you.

[00:09:23]And his love for you is that much more the greater for those who've been baptized into his likeness of his son.

[00:09:30]So, baptism is tremendously important.

[00:09:33]We can't underestimate what it does.

[00:09:36]>> [crying] >> When we baptize when I baptize children here, I always make the point of telling the other siblings who are old enough to understand and the parents as well. You know, this is a very special day.

[00:09:49]Do you like birthdays? Yeah, the kids always say, "Oh, we love birthdays." Why do you love birthdays? Well, there's a party.

[00:09:54]We get to have fun. We get to have cake and ice cream and all these good things.

[00:09:58]Yeah, but you're celebrating what? Your new life. You came into the world and we're so happy you did.

[00:10:05]Today just as important, perhaps even more so, because today you become a son or daughter of God.

[00:10:14]And so put this day on your calendar and hit repeat every year.

[00:10:18]You get to have now two parties a year, one for your birthday and one for your baptism. Oh, the kids love it.

[00:10:24]They don't forget. They might forget the day, but they don't forget that and they're always going, "When is the baptism day when we have the party?"

[00:10:32]And you should do that.

[00:10:34]It's that important. I was back in '65, I was born on August 4th.

[00:10:39]I did not know till my reversion to the church that that day is the feast day of St. John Vianney.

[00:10:45]He's the patron of all priests.

[00:10:48]Who would have known?

[00:10:51]Barack Obama is also August 4th, so it is it's not that important.

[00:10:59]My baptismal is August 29th, the feast of John the the Baptist beheading.

[00:11:06]So, I have that to look forward to.

[00:11:08]Um but you should know the dates. It's important. You The more you know about your the life of faith and and the dates have significance. They really do.

[00:11:17]Um and then you have extra saints you can call on who is like your baptismal day named saint. So, it's very important.

[00:11:25]Now, in not the gospel account today, but in Mark's, which is year B, next year we'll hear it. There's a unique detail in something that happens. It says the heavens were torn open or split open when the spirit descended on Jesus like a dove. Mark's language is very important that we we listen to that. It was split open.

[00:11:53]What he's trying to say was before this there was a barrier between us and the Father.

[00:11:59]And in this moment the heaven splits open and the Father enters into the picture to let us know that because of his beloved son, there's going to be a new relationship between us and the Father because of Jesus. Not from today, but from what will happen during the passion.

[00:12:20]And if you look to the passion, it's the second time in the gospel where you hear very similar verbage.

[00:12:26]Because it says that when Jesus died the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.

[00:12:34]Top to bottom, meaning it was ripped open by heaven.

[00:12:38]Not by man.

[00:12:40]And this separation between God and man is over. You see at this point, up to this point the Jewish people, in the temple they had three chambers. And as you get closer to the center, less and less people were allowed in. So in the center, only the high priest could enter the the the Holy of Holies.

[00:12:58]He could enter one day a year to offer the prayers on Yom Kippur, atonement day.

[00:13:04]And he there was a whole ritual with that. He would tie a red rope to his ankle because if he was not ritually clean, if he didn't do the purification right, he was struck dead upon entering the Holy of Holies.

[00:13:17]Okay, now you got a dead high priest.

[00:13:19]Who's going in to get him out?

[00:13:21]I'm not going.

[00:13:24]So they tied the rope and they pull him out so they wouldn't have to send somebody in. I mean, that's how serious they took this.

[00:13:31]However, when we think of veil, I mean, we're many of you probably thinking like some of the ladies have on those veils, or perhaps like the Chanel scarves that are like micro thin. You know, you take a little sword and whoosh, it's just cut it in half.

[00:13:45]No, that's not the veil in the temple.

[00:13:48]The temple veil was 60 ft high and 30 ft wide and 4 in thick.

[00:13:55]This thick.

[00:13:56]It was woven of ropes.

[00:14:00]It was impossible to break.

[00:14:02]You could not tear that apart. It took 300 priests to lift it when it had to be moved cuz it was so heavy.

[00:14:09]Okay, so now think about the fact that it's ripped from the top to the bottom with nobody touching it. Literally God himself tore that open to let us know, this barrier between us is over because of my son.

[00:14:26]We are now in communion with each other because [snorts] of Jesus.

[00:14:30]It Is it all making sense? Like now we The word communion's important. We are one together.

[00:14:36]That's why we call it holy communion. He brings us together to the Father.

[00:14:43]If you've ever noticed the words of the mass, the prayers of the mass, who are they all to?

[00:14:53]Anybody?

[00:14:54]>> The Father.

[00:14:55]>> To the Father, you're paying attention.

[00:14:57]A+.

[00:14:58]They're to the Father through Jesus.

[00:15:03]He brings us to the Father. That's his mission in coming to Earth was to get us back to the Father.

[00:15:08]But who gets us to Jesus the quickest?

[00:15:11]>> Mary.

[00:15:12]>> Blessed Mother.

[00:15:14]Her role is to get us to Jesus. He came through her to us and he wants us to go back to him through her because when we do, we get to him quicker and we go a lot deeper.

[00:15:26]It's all one big family working in harmony when everything is working in in accord with each other. And this is the way he wants it to work.

[00:15:34]So, it's it's so important that we understand the events of his revelation. You know, the the first being born was when we first see him come into the world, but really nobody understands his identity at that point, but probably J- his mother and father.

[00:15:51]Maybe Joachim and Anne.

[00:15:54]And then the wise men come and we start to see there's something different about him. The people are coming from foreign countries to give him gifts. They call him the king and they bow down before him. First revelation or epiphany of who he is.

[00:16:08]Today, we see this in God the Father calling him the son, second epiphany.

[00:16:12]The third epiphany would be the wedding at Cana.

[00:16:16]When he turns the water into wine and the scripture says at that point, they started to believe in who he was.

[00:16:23]Because he does his first public miracle and they go, "Wait, this is something different.

[00:16:28]This is not regular ordinary person."

[00:16:33]So, when we look at him now, hopefully through the eyes of Thomas Aquinas and start to understand the magnitude, the greatness, the awesomeness of this God.

[00:16:44]We start to understand the greatness of what he did for us.

[00:16:48]Cuz none of us deserved heaven.

[00:16:50]We don't deserve it because of original sin.

[00:16:54]But he restored us.

[00:16:56]And through this great restoration, we now have access to him. We have access to his son. We have access to the spirit.

[00:17:03]We have access to heaven.

[00:17:05]You died 2,100 years ago. It was hopeless. There was no heaven open.

[00:17:10]There was no Messiah. There was no Jesus. There was no mass. There there no Eucharist. There was nothing. It would have been a dreadful time to be alive.

[00:17:20]And yet today the churches are regularly empty.

[00:17:24]I was just reading in the from a Pew the Pew Research Center, the Pew polls.

[00:17:30]47% of Catholics made their first confession at seven and never went back to confession.

[00:17:40]Is that shocking?

[00:17:41]47% of Catholics only made their first confession and never went back.

[00:17:45]And many of them left the church all together. So, there's a vast misunderstanding of what is available through the Catholic Church and through Jesus Christ. And we are the ones who have to go out there and tell everybody about it.

[00:18:01]It's don't leave it up to the church.

[00:18:03]Meaning the leaders, the priests and the bishops and the cardinals.

[00:18:07]Uh that's not working.

[00:18:09]It has to and it always was meant to be that the people would be so enriched and filled up through the sacraments, through the mass, through the homilies, through the relationship with Jesus, and they would go into the world and be the salt and be the light.

[00:18:23]That's what we're called to be. Jesus said, "You are the salt. You are the light. Go out there.

[00:18:27]Let everybody know about Jesus, what he did."

[00:18:31]It's the greatest story ever told and it's not told often enough, to be honest.

[00:18:37]And so you see, our life is one conformed to Jesus Christ, giving glory to his father, and expanding his kingdom for all to come in.

[00:18:49]You know, all are welcome.

[00:18:51]But you're only welcome if you're going to live and abide and love Jesus with the dedication and love of the greatest of disciples. That's what he's calling us to be.

[00:19:01]Love him as the greatest disciple on the planet and tell everybody about him.