Deacon provides solution to America’s civil unrest： ‘Prayer, fasting, and a lot of work’
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Summary
Deacon Cody Miller shares his story of how he became a deacon, how he converted from a heathen to a believer, and how he was introduced to St. Louis De Montfort. Deacon Cody talks about how he came to know St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception and how it changed his life.
Transcript
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death of George Floyd. I have with me to discuss this Deacon Cody Miller, who
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you're going to love and hear all about in just a few minutes. Stay tuned.
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Let's begin, as we always do, with the sign of the cross. In the name of the Father, and of the Son,
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and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Deacon Cody Miller, thanks for being with me on the John Henry Weston
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Show. It is a joy to be with you, Brother John Henry. I've been a fan of yours for years, and it's like
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I'm a kid at Christmas, opening up his present, and in the present pops out John Henry Weston.
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So, Deacon Cody Miller, I know about you, but I'd like you to explain a little bit about your
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background, so that our viewers know who you are and where you came from. And I think the where
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you came from is particularly interesting. Well, I've been married for, it'll be 39 years
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this June, to the most wonderful woman on earth, Miss Cindy Miller, who we are partners together in
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our family business. And we have one son, he's an attorney, he works for a firm in Lafayette,
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Louisiana. And I've been a deacon since 1988. It'll be 31 years, come August the 27th, on the Feast of
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St. Monica. And I discovered St. Louis de Montfort in 1999. And it was an absolutely life-changing
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event. But before that, I was a heathen. I was a rock and roll musician with hair down to my shoulders,
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and headed to hell with both barrels and loved every minute of it. And right before I, when I got
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married, my wife married a heathen. And she was devoted to Our Lady ever since she was a little
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girl. And she kept praying to the Blessed Mother for her husband. But when she got me, I was not in
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the form I'm in today. But I guess she saw something I didn't see in myself. So after two and a half years
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of running from God, and my wife praying for me, every day, I had a conversion in 1988. And that's
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when I, I'm sorry, I had a conversion in 1983, when I made a really serious talk with the Lord. And I
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was knocked off on my horse by like St. Paul. Miraculous conversion right in front of church.
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1983. That was January of 83. January of, June of 83, I made a casillo. And that's what I call him to
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be a deacon. And I went to Loyola University for almost four years. And I was a day in a deacon in
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1988. And my wife and I have been in business. We believe it or not, we make air fresheners and
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sanitizers for a living. I have employees that we have a factory in South Louisiana. But, you know,
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I was a deacon for 12 years, and everything was going great. And then all of a sudden,
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when I was introduced by St. Louis, Marie de Montfort, by quite an accident, my life was changed
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forever. I was in Piggly Wiggly doing a demonstration of my air freshener. And I was selling like crazy. I
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had a bunch of people around the table. And I was demonstrating. I was spraying some garlic juice
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on some napkins and spraying my product on there to kill the smell. And we were like going gangbusters.
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And all of a sudden, in walks an old musician friend of mine with an elderly lady. And we recognized
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each other off the bat because we were in competing bands together. I played rock and roll music for
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years. And we saw each other and we recognized each other. He said, Cody. I said, Bill. Yeah. He
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said, what are you doing? I said, well, I'm here selling air freshener. And I said, well, are you
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still working with your, he repaired automobiles? He said, no, no, I sold my business. I'm taking care
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of my elderly mother. I said, oh, really? And then all of a sudden, out of the blue, he said, well,
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do you love the Blessed Mother? He knew I was a deacon. I said, well, of course I love the Blessed
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Mother. And then he said, well, do you pray a rosary every day? I said, well, no, not every day.
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He said, well, you don't, you don't love the Blessed Mother. And he walks away. And I said,
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well, I couldn't get him because I had to sell some air freshener in my table. So I said, well,
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he came in that same door. He's got to go out of that same door. I'm going to get him when he comes
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out. So he's going to the door. I said, hey, man, wait a minute. What do you mean? I don't love the
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Blessed Mother if I don't pray a rosary every day. And he looks at me. He said, well,
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you ever heard of St. Louis Marie de Montfort? I said, who? I said, you ever heard of the book
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God Alone? I said, what? He gives me a card, a business card. He said, you call me. You go to
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Crossroads, a Catholic bookstore, and you go get the book. Well, Brother John Henry Weston,
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that was in 1999. I go get the book. And I open it up, just so happens, on St. Louis de Montfort's
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most favorite work, True Devotion to Mary. And here it is. And my life was changed forever.
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However, the minute I opened that book, I became mesmerized with the spirituality of St. Louis
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Marie de Montfort. Now, I'm a professional recording artist and a singer. I had been praying
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for years, Lord, let me use my musical talents to praise and glorify God. Well, then when I got to
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studying St. Louis de Montfort, I looked in the book and I said, well, wait a minute. St. Louis was a
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missionary and a singer. And I said, well, here's a number in the book, Montfort Publications,
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Bayshore, New York. I said, let me call Bayshore and talk to a priest who's doing missions.
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As Divine Providence would have it. That was 2002. I talked to Father Roy Tivertick, still a dear
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friend of mine this day. He's an SMM, a Montfort missionary. And I told him what I wanted to do.
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He said, oh, Deacon, no problem. He says, I'll send you an outline of the missions that we give
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as Montfort's. So he sent me an outline of the missions that he and Father Fitzsimmons would give.
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And he said, here's a skeleton, put some meat on it. And then write back and forth to me,
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let me know what you got, and I'll coach you through the process. Well, March of 2003,
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on St. Joseph in Laurelville, Louisiana, I gave my first Montfort mission. And my life has never
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been the same. Like you, Brother John Henry, I know you have a great devotion to St. Louis and
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true devotion. I began to immerse myself in his spirituality. And today I have like four missions
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just on his work, like all of his works. And it's amazing how when you live this, my life would
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change when I studied this too. This is the new consecration manual that was released in 2012 by
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another Montfort, Father Hugo Lespe, who assimilated every consecration manual written by the SMM,
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the Montfort missionaries. And in 2012, we released this updated version, which is the gold standard
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of consecration. I've been teaching this work since 2012, but I've been teaching total consecration.
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I've ran, I guess, about a couple of thousand people through total consecration through various
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parishes in South Louisiana. So, I mean, it works. Montfort works. And of course, this book,
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this is a funny story about this book. This book is my mother-in-law's book that I got from her. I
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said, I will not marry your daughter unless you give me your copy of True Devotion to Mary.
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This is the first copy written by Father Faber in 1862. And this is, I guess this is my favorite
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copy because it's true to the original. The one in God Alone was the recent one that was done in 75.
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And I actually discovered a fourth version that the Legion of Mary publishes in Ireland. It's a
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paraphrase of all of them. So there's actually four translations of True Devotion to Mary. Really,
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it's an answer to what's going on today with all of these riots and all these killings and the
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melees of the world. This is the answer for our lay people to present an alternative way so that we
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can deal with this melees and this carnage of death and destruction by becoming victim souls and
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suffering and becoming victim souls and suffering and praying for the melees that's going on in our
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world. Absolutely. So this is the thing. We're in the strangest time because first we were hit with
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coronavirus and it seemed to do so much to people, especially people of faith, denying us the holy
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sacrifice of the mass. But we, many people, Bishop Schneider, Cardinal Burke, others have said that
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this looks like a chastisement. And one of the first things that we noticed was we weren't doing
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what is called for in a chastisement. We weren't turning back to God, repenting of our wicked ways.
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Yes. And so many people suggested that things might get worse, but that might've been hard to
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imagine only a few days ago. But yet we now have this much worse situation where it seems much of
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the media anyway has forgotten all about coronavirus because it's become about this unbelievable tragedy in
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the United States. First of all, with the death of George Floyd, the brutal, brutal death of George
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Floyd, and then followed on the heels of it, these violent demonstrations that are in turn killing more
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and more people. So this is absolutely unbelievable. In what way does true devotion provide an answer to
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any of this? What true devotion has done and has done and will continue to do since it was discovered
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in 1842 is form Mary's army to be the answer to the violence and the hatred and the vitriol that's
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ravaging our planet to actually become sanctified and glorified by Jesus through the living of true
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devotion to Mary. And it's, it's, it's a, it's a gift that has been hidden for years, but now
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is being discovered by so many young people in my working with young people at the collegiate level
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and, and the, uh, uh, elementary school level working with them in the legion of Mary to form little
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saints. I've seen a new generation that Mary is being formed, that is being formed by our lady who
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ascribe to Jesus and Mary through living true devotion to Mary. I've discovered a whole new
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generation who are hungry for Orthodox. They're hungry for truth. They're hungry for, for, uh,
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the Latin mass. They're hungry for absolute, uh, orthodoxy that has been articulated by Holy
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Mother Church for 2000 years. And these young people are not swayed by the, the satanic attacks.
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They, they are focused. They're young. They have energy. They believe they can make a difference.
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And working with these young people, I see, I have great hope for our world. Now it's bad. We cannot
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deny that it's bad, but good is never overcome by bad. Just look at, uh, what happened at Lepanto.
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I mean, by all practical purposes, they was lost and that, you know, through the intercession of our
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lady and the prayer and the rosary, this has been, uh, a gift to us as an example of when the chips are
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really down and our back is against the wall. Then we grab, then we go for our rosaries and we go for
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our penance. You know, what, what, what did it tell us, uh, in Fatima? Penance, penance, penance.
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I guess about a month ago, uh, the, the blessed mother laid upon my heart in my wife's evening
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prayer that we start, we started doing a rosary of just reparation again of the outrages committed
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against the immaculate heart of Mary and the sacred heart of Jesus. Because when you live the total
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consecration and you live true devotion to Mary, what happens is the Holy Ghost and Jesus
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and Mary anoint our everyday actions to where like you, like it's like winning the spiritual
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lottery. You give Mary a dollar. Okay. Here's my ticket. I'm buying into true devotion. I'm buying
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a total consecration. She said, well, great, John Henry and Deacon Cody, because you've had enough
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faith in me to give me all that you have. I will blow this up a billion times. It's like winging,
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winning the huge lottery. So the more people you got consecrated and you want more people you got
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trusting Mary for their life, you know, is going to build an army to, to be an answer.
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And it could get a lot worse, but when, when things are at its worst, that's when Jesus and Mary do their
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best. And it's easy to be, uh, have despair. But when you look to the history of how our lady has brought
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us out of so many, uh, consequences that seem impossible, when you, when you look at that and
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you apply that to your own spiritual life course, regular confession, holy mass, uh, praying, uh,
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prayers of reparation coupled with first Saturdays and first Fridays, this is the answer. Like,
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I, even though it looks bad, I have more hope and more joy than I've ever had before, because I realize
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that the more I give myself over to Mary, the more applicable she'll give those graces that come
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from her immaculate hands come to us who are fighting the good fight of faith, where one of us
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can do the work of a thousand people or 10,000 people, because we're laying, we, we, we standing
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in the breach for those who do not pray for those who do not love God. So I have more hope than ever,
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even though like it is dark outside, brother John Henry, the work you're doing and life side news,
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you, you have no idea, not in this life, the good that you're doing. Well, because it's, it's hidden.
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It's like a mustard seed. And here's an interesting thing. I think for most people,
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what the, the, what of what they can do is, is really missing. Where are they supposed to get
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to know what to do? So why don't you give me a kind of a prescription, if you were, about prayer,
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a daily prayer? How much time should we devote to prayer? What should we do about prayer? And is that
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itself a work? Is that, as you might say, enough people will say?
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It is. Well, first of all, you have to do the amount of prayer that,
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that gives to your state in life. Like, you know, one of the office of readings, he says a Carthusian
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shouldn't spend his time outside like a worker, and a worker shouldn't spend his time inside like a
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Carthusian. You have to tailor your spiritual life and your apostolic life to your state in life.
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And that comes, of course, through prayer and discernment. Like for every Catholic, if you will pray
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one rosary a day, just one. And you don't have to start off with one. Start off with a decade,
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and add a decade. And then first thing you know, you'll be praying a whole rosary every day. That
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rosary prayed with a soul that is sanctifying grace, and a soul that received the sacraments
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regularly, and a soul that is attuned to their surroundings of who's out there that need to hear
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the gospel. Who needs to hear the good news? Who needs to see my life in the example of one
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whose radiation comes from living a sacramental life is a powerful attractant for those outside in
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the world who are struggling? And of course, regular confession. For the ordinary Catholic,
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confession every two weeks, every month is good, but a good confession to where you make,
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you get yourself a good examination of conscience. And you go through your life through that two
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weeks, a month. Or if you're a cleric, a priest or a deacon, I recommend at least once a month.
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And to go through the mental inventory of how Satan is attacking you in your weaknesses. And all of us
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are weak. All of us have pressure points that Satan just knows how to push. And he knows how to get the
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best of us. But when you allow the sacramental life, which thankfully we're getting back into
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sync again with Holy Mass, that scourge from the pandemic that was foisted upon us has done irreparable
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harm to ordinary Catholics who felt their obligation of watching Sunday Mass on TV to really fulfill what
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what you're supposed to do. And it still is not back to normal. Right now in our own diocese,
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we can only have like 25% of the people. Some churches require Mass, some churches do not require Mass.
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And some churches in other areas around the country are still locked. So we have to overcome the
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the double whammy of our lady of being of the evil one who deprived of the sacraments and confession.
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So it is quite a few obstacles to overcome. But if we get back, if we can pray that one rosary
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with sincerity, with faith, hope and love, the rosary can be the hinge point for us to gradually come back
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and get to where we can have a vibrant sacramental life again through the church. But it comes with
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prayer, self-examination. It comes with study, action, and it comes with increased faith. You know,
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our lady's three attributes, faith, love, faith, purity, and faith, purity, and holiness. When we use those
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gifts from our lady and let her be in the driver's seat, so to speak, she can bring us out of this
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malaise, not only the pandemic, but also the Satan's unleashing of his fury on our world. We can come out of this
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stronger than ever. Because again, Mary will never be overdone by evil. You just have to not lose
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faith, have a prayer life, trust our lady, and to do what you can, and let the grace, sanctifying grace,
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do the rest. Absolutely. So what do you advise to people? So we've had all sorts of unbelievable
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events happen in the last few weeks. We've seen mothers and children left at home where their
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husbands are out there. They don't know what's happened to them. They're scared themselves. Their
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kids are sleeping with them in their own rooms. If they have guns, they're looking for them to be
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ready to defend themselves because they don't know what's coming. In those circumstances which are warlike
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and just absolutely crazy, and this is the middle of America, which is normally as peaceful as peaceful
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can be, is the message then still the same? Is it still just trust and hope in God? And what if
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happens the unthinkable that people do attack you, then what?
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Well, when you do get attacked and you do get attacked for your values and for your faith, know that
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that that's an instant ticket to heaven and that God will somehow use the evil to bring about a greater
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good. But it's hard to convince people of that when you're going through it. It's hard to see the
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sunshine when you're surrounded by clouds and doubt and fear. But what we have to do in our role
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as yourself as one of the voices on the media is always instill hope in people and myself as a deacon
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who more or less have a personal one-on-one touch to share with them how God loves them in spite of
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all of the pain and suffering. And to be a person that they can see that in spite of all the
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the cornage and the bad stuff, that we have not lost our faith, that we still have faith.
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We admit the problems, we admit what's happening, but we also present an answer to what's happening.
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Prayer, sacrifice, love, kindness, generosity, care for your brother, care for your neighbor.
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And when we allow that kind of attitude in a world that has lost its way, it cannot help but be a light
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and unattractive for those of us who believe the gospel, trust the gospel and act upon the gospel to
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actually let our life be a reference on the gospel. There are really no easy answers. It's just a lot of
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prayer and a lot of prayer and a lot of work. Ora et labora, like the good monks where I go on retreat every
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year, the Olivet and Benedictines. It's emblazoned everywhere. Prayer and work, that's just no substitute for
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prayer, work and faith and trust in God despite of all that we see. We have to believe what is unseen
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is making a difference. And the little tiny seeds that we plant here, we plant there, and the kind
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word, the kind gesture, the smiling face, the trusting face that presents an answer to the poison
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that's being injected into our world. And I think that that point is so important. We can't realize
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realize what is going to change people's minds, what is going to touch people's hearts. The very
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smallest little gesture, the very smallest little smile, the very, a certain word that you might say
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that you're inspired to say because you've given your whole life over to Christ and the Holy Spirit,
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you're open to him and he inspires you to say even one word or even one look or one smile
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or even one admonishment, perhaps. And they can be transformative, not through our own because
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Christ literally wants to work through us and with us. So that, I think, is such a valuable lesson
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that we're not even called to understand what we're doing when we're working for Christ,
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with Christ and through Christ to reach out to our brothers and sisters in this world who are often
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very hurt and messed up and need and want Jesus. So, okay, so we've got this, this understanding of
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we need to pray, we need to be in touch with our Lord, we need to be open to the gifts of the Holy
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Spirit so that God might work through us. You mentioned now a couple of times is sacrifice.
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And what is sacrifice? What are we to do? What are we called to do in that area?
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Yeah. Fasting. Not necessarily from food, but the things that you like.
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Reparation prayers. Do reparation rosary. Doing stuff you don't like to do with a smile.
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And I've got a really good suggestion to your readers. And it's one of the best suggestions that
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you'll ever see. And it's right here. Every Advent and Lent. This has been my guidepost for
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applying myself to the life of Christ. There it is.
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You can download it for free on, if you type in letters to the friends of the cross.
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You can download it. Just put 16 pages in your computer. And if you do this every Advent and Lent,
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your life will take a dramatic turn as one of the sacrificial souls for God to exponentially increase your own
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holiness by sacrifice and living the cross. Father de Montfort spent 30 days with the Jesuits.
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After he left the monastery, he says, I want to put down in pen and ink what my heart has been saying
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to you. I don't have much time for writing and you don't have much time for reading.
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He said, let the unction of the Holy Spirit be the engine behind this letter. Let the Holy Cross be my pen
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and your heart be my book to virtually engrave his message of living the cross.
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It has unleashed. It's so funny. I do ministry at the hospital. I preach a couple of days a week.
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And for the last two years, I've been encouraging my people in Advent and Lent to pick up, to copy it.
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And you'll be surprised. Last time I had them raise their hands at the hospital, I said, all right,
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how many of you guys have read Friends of the Cross? They put their hands up and their head down
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because it's so challenging that you can only get little pieces at a time. But that's all God wants
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you to get. He doesn't expect you to understand this fully because there's only one St. Louis de Montfort,
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okay? There's only one. And when he wrote that book, he lived it. Because if you study his life,
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as you well know, he was thrown under the bus many times. He was run out of town. He was poisoned.
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He was hated. He was maligned by the clergy. He looked like a bum. He had ragged clothes and would
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walk everywhere. But yet, his spirituality has lighted up the world. And what he wrote in these
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works is making sense. So when you take a work like that in True Devotion, and of course, Secret of the
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Rosary is another profound work. I actually have a whole mission I do on Secret of the Rosary,
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four nights of song and inculcation in the spirituality of Father de Montfort, going through
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the greatness of the Rosary, how St. Louis will take you by the hand and guide you through the
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great mysteries that are embedded in the Rosary, coupled with learning to accept your own cross and
00:27:57.060
to benefit. Believe it or not, Brother John, it's not the big crosses that are the most difficult. We can
00:28:02.820
usually accept them as the little ones that we have trouble. And what Father de Montfort teaches you
00:28:10.020
is how to benefit. He says like a shopkeeper. A shopkeeper in his business will make sure he sells
00:28:17.700
everything. Everything for profit. Well, what Father de Montfort wants to emblazen upon our hearts in
00:28:24.820
Friends of the Cross is use every tiny cross that comes to you every day, the little ones, like any
00:28:31.300
annoyances or anything that you stop and think, oh, that's a gift. Look at it as a gift and let it
00:28:37.940
shape you and form you. I have learned more about spirituality, studying Friends of the Cross and
00:28:42.900
I've studied almost any of his books. Now, True Devotion is great. Secret of the Rosary is great.
00:28:48.180
Love of Eternal Wisdom is awesome. His Prayer to Missionaries is a great gift to those of us in direct
00:28:54.500
evangelization on what to do, how to do it, and the power of an evangelist like you are. Like,
00:29:00.420
man, you got a worldwide platform. Brother John, you have been given a great gift through your worldwide
00:29:06.180
platform and plus the people that you've interviewed. My goodness. I mean, every time I look at the people
00:29:11.880
that you had on your show and I say, man, what the heck he's doing calling a Cajun deacon? I don't belong in
00:29:17.060
that bunch over here. That's way out of my league, you know. Or, you know, I say it in tongue in cheek.
00:29:23.780
Are you ready for this line, Brother John Henry? I'm the unworthy slave of the Southern Command
00:29:30.580
of the Montfort Missionaries in service to the Legion of Mary.
00:29:35.140
So, you know, if anybody would take up True Devotion to Mary and the Rosary, those two books
00:29:46.900
would enable those people who ever study it and read it and apply it, they will be so powerful in
00:29:55.540
the spiritual life that they will make eons of difference in our world. Just like, look what
00:30:04.020
the Blessed Mother's done in your life by applying True Devotion to Mary. If somebody would have told
00:30:09.700
you, John Henry Weston, that 25 years ago you'd have a worldwide ministry reaching millions of
00:30:15.620
people, you'd have said, yeah, I'm going to commit you to the nuthouse, right? Who would have thought it?
00:30:22.340
But yet, it's if you're living the total consecration and True Devotion that God uses you
00:30:28.660
and uses people like us, of course, in profound humility. Man, people in our stripe, you better
00:30:36.420
make friends with your knees and always be on your knees before God, because to whom much is given,
00:30:43.300
much is required. Particularly guys, they're good at praying, it's okay, but they pray and they think,
00:30:50.980
I want to do something. I want to be active somehow. And interestingly, although prayer is the
00:30:58.340
highest calling, there is an active life as well. And this is what I find so fascinating with what
00:31:04.580
you're doing in promotion of the Legion of Mary. And I want to stress before I say this, that it's not
00:31:11.220
the Legion of Mary that you've heard of and perhaps you've seen. Many of the folks who might be around
00:31:18.260
my age would know Legion of Mary is something where wonderful old ladies gather together to pray the
00:31:24.020
rosary together. And they go maybe to the old age home and and talk to people who were there. And
00:31:30.420
while that's all wonderful and good, it's a little bit challenging for young men. I remember going to
00:31:36.740
a Legion meeting when I was probably 20, 21 or so. And I went a couple times because I knew I was praying
00:31:44.740
the rosary. I knew it was good, but I could not sustain that. But you're doing and talking about
00:31:53.700
a wholly different kind of Legion of Mary. And what I love about it is it's very active and it has an
00:32:02.020
ability to transform the world in that way that most people think of wanting to do evangelization.
00:32:09.300
So please explain. Well, that is the heart of the Legion of Mary door to door, direct one on one
00:32:16.740
evangelization. That's the primary aim of the Legion. And of course, through the ensuing years, that has
00:32:24.500
kind of got pushed back to the the the the back instead of the front. But what what when I discovered
00:32:34.420
this word? Actually, a Montfort helped me discover this word, too. A Montfort has the pivotal
00:32:40.740
effect in my life, both in studying St. Louis the Montfort and discovering the Legion of Mary.
00:32:46.100
Matter of fact, Father Hugh, I'll tell you a quick story about how I got involved with the Legion.
00:32:50.180
Father Hugh, who wrote this book, The Total Consecration to Jesus through Mary, I had him in South
00:32:55.940
Louisiana. He was doing some retreats here in the Diocese of Lafayette and the Diocese of Alexandria.
00:33:01.140
And I had my only contact with the Legion of Mary was in 2009. They knew I had been studying St.
00:33:08.340
Louis the Montfort for years. They said, Deacon, can you come to St. Martinville and give us a talk
00:33:15.220
on St. Louis the Montfort? Because that's who's that's who we study in the Legion. I said, well,
00:33:19.700
I'd be glad to. So I go to give a give a talk in 2009 for the Legion on true devotion. And they give me
00:33:30.500
a gift, John Henry Weston. They gave me a handbook. And you know what I did with it? I went back home.
00:33:37.620
You see this? I used to have a secretary there. I went and put the Legion handbook in my secretary
00:33:46.660
and I'll never open it again. 2012, December the 12th, 2012 in Alexandria, Louisiana at Mary Hill Retreat
00:33:57.860
Center. You get it where I'm at? Mary Hill Retreat Center. Father Hugh and I are giving some talks to
00:34:04.020
the priest and the deacons. And for whatever reason, I had brought the Legion of Mary handbook. I have no
00:34:10.820
idea why. Then Father Hugh and I are talking. He said, oh, I see you got a Legion handbook. I said,
00:34:17.220
yeah. He said, well, you know anything about the Legion of Mary? I said, not really. And then he looked
00:34:22.500
at me with his quizzical look. He said, Deacon. I want two words that we deacons learn quick,
00:34:28.740
Brother John Henry, is yes, Father, as a deacon. I said, yes, Father. He said, don't you realize
00:34:34.820
realize that this book is this book embedded in it and that its ministry and its life is the engine
00:34:46.420
of the Legion of Mary? I said, you're kidding. He said, Deacon, I wouldn't kid you about something
00:34:51.940
like that. He said, why don't you read it? So, Brother Henry, I opened it up. Same thing with
00:34:59.780
true devotion. Exact same feeling. I opened up the Legion handbook and boom. That Holy Ghost took
00:35:08.420
that sword, baby, and he run it through the old deacon's heart. Boom. A whole new world opened up.
00:35:14.580
Then I said, oh, oh. Then I got to learn about this organization. I knew absolutely nothing.
00:35:21.140
Then I call up the woman who gave me the book. I said, listen, I just discovered this handbook of
00:35:27.060
the Legion of Mary. I said, who can I talk to to teach me about the Legion of Mary? She said,
00:35:31.540
look, you're going to go directly to the top, deacon. I said, what do you mean? She said,
00:35:34.660
we're going to send you to the Legion in Houston, Texas, which is a major part of the Legion. I said,
00:35:41.540
okay. So, it just so happens, Brother John Henry, boy, it's his divine providence. My son was going to
00:35:48.980
a university in Houston, St. Thomas University, to study his undergraduate for his law degree.
00:35:54.740
And it just so happens, the headquarters in Houston. Well, I was just down the street from
00:35:59.620
the headquarters. Then I started studying with the top, the president of the whole organization.
00:36:06.580
Then I started asking questions. Man, they must have thought I was crazy. I'd ask some questions.
00:36:11.220
I didn't. Okay. What about this? What about that? What'd you do about this? Then I came back to
00:36:15.940
Louisiana and started working at the local higher councils, touching base with them. Father Jason
00:36:21.540
Fredrin, who is a saint. He's our spiritual director of the whole Diocese of Lafayette.
00:36:27.140
Then I started going to the meetings and learning about how the Legion works, all the way from
00:36:33.140
Ireland, which is the headquarters, down to the various councils, up to the basic prayer group,
00:36:39.460
which is in a parish. And this took about a year and a half. And then the blessed man said, okay,
00:36:45.380
Deacon, now you've got to talk to the people at the top. You've got to go to the bottom. I said,
00:36:51.380
what do you mean? She said, well, you've got to go to the basic different units and you've got to
00:36:55.940
learn how to set this up and learn the dynamics of the meeting so you can apply what you've learned
00:37:01.700
through the years with St. Louis de Montfort and total consecration and re-infuse the Legion,
00:37:08.260
which brought them to the dance. Because this is sad, but I've got to tell you the story. Anyway,
00:37:16.740
2015, I'm in Ireland, headquarters of the Legion. I'm doing a retreat for 50 people
00:37:25.220
of the group directly attached to the headquarters of the Legion. So, man, I'm still pitching myself to
00:37:31.860
know this is real, because here in the audience is Frank Duffs, the founder of the Legion, his best friend,
00:37:37.940
and the Dunleavy, who's become a dear friend of mine. We talk all the time. And I thought I was
00:37:43.620
going to be, like, discover a great treasure trove of study. Well, I said, okay, how many of you
00:37:52.500
have read, are reading, and will continue to read True Devotion to Mary? Now, listen, this is in Ireland.
00:37:59.300
You know how many people raised their hand? No, how many? Three. I wanted to go hide like a roach in the
00:38:09.300
ground. I had opened up a can of worms. But you see, and that's endemic with all of the groups. They
00:38:18.820
got away from the basic spirituality, the door-to-door, the studying of this, this handbook,
00:38:24.980
the studying of True Devotion, and not doing this, total consecration. I discovered this was the
00:38:33.860
main defects of the Legion. Now, look, the Legion is still operating and doing well. But it was like,
00:38:40.500
okay, you have, like I explained to you before, the Legion of Mary is like a Ferrari, okay? It's a
00:38:47.060
Ferrari with 600 horsepower. You got this big race car that's ready to go run down the street at 220 miles
00:38:54.500
an hour. Well, you can take that Ferrari and go to your mailbox and back. That ain't what it's made
00:39:01.620
for. It's made to go on a road and run. That's what I discovered about the Legion. And through my
00:39:08.740
retreats throughout the country and almost every major council, I've been working with the presidents,
00:39:15.300
the vice presidents, the secretaries to get back to the basics that made us famous, just like a football
00:39:21.380
team. What does a football team do to be great? First of all, they study the opponent's moves, just
00:39:28.260
like we're studying what Satan is doing in our world. But then you go over those fundamentals over
00:39:34.740
and over and over and over, because it's the fundamentals that make the institution great.
00:39:42.500
Well, when you encourage them, you pat them on the back and you kick them where the sun don't shine
00:39:50.260
and tell them, this is what we have to do. Because the Legion of Mary was formed a hundred years ago,
00:39:56.180
brother John Henry Weston. It's the best kept secret in the church, but you have to run it according
00:40:03.380
according to this handbook. Look, that's gospel, brother. I ascribe to every principle. If you look
00:40:12.740
through this handbook, I've got six colors. I've been through this handbook 25 times.
00:40:19.700
How am I going to teach the officers of the Legion the basic fundamentals of our spirituality without
00:40:27.060
knowing it? Plus coupled with consecration, the monforsion, which is the engine of which we operate.
00:40:34.420
So I've seen a new breed of Legion members who, of course, I haven't been anywhere since this lockdown.
00:40:44.260
So I've been praying that, oh God, when we can have meetings again, that all of my folks are going to
00:40:50.100
come back so we can continue the education process to work with my people to get back to the basics that
00:40:58.420
made us great. I'll give you a perfect example of the power. Bentley Place. If your readers will
00:41:06.260
Google this and get a copy, it's called Miracles on Tap. I think I have a copy of it in my book. It's a
00:41:16.980
story of how the early years of the Legion, when they did what they're supposed to do, they cleaned
00:41:25.060
up the most horrible place on earth. It was so bad it made the Encyclopedia Britannica's worst places
00:41:33.300
in the world. Prostitution, murder, gambling, drunkenness, every vice, human vice that could be
00:41:41.540
talked about. It was there. Well, Frank Duff was working in the hotels in Ireland with the street
00:41:50.020
girls who were seeking to change their life. He worked with the street girls in different brothels
00:41:57.060
around the city, had a tremendous success with bringing them back to God by a series of retreats
00:42:03.940
that he worked. That's a whole set of miracles how that happened. But you got to get the book.
00:42:08.500
Get the book, folks. You'll never regret it. You can't put it down. It's called Miracles on Tap.
00:42:14.000
You just Google it and you can buy it. Well, Frank Duff had such success with rescuing the street girls
00:42:20.960
from a life of impurity. And what are we facing today, Brother John Henry? Impurity, licentiousness,
00:42:28.100
the degradation of women. You know, it's all there. Well, Frank Duff had such success,
00:42:34.280
Mr. Blessed Mother, patted him on the back and said, OK, Brother Duff, you've done good.
00:42:40.620
But there's a lot more work for you to do. He said, huh? He or she told him, you got to go to
00:42:46.540
Bentley Place and you got to clean that place up. No priest, no police would go there. The priest said,
00:42:54.100
listen, we ain't going there. We're scared. The police said, we ain't going there. We're scared.
00:42:58.000
Even if they had the guns, they wouldn't go in that place. So Frank Duff and 15 women,
00:43:03.960
they went in two years and cleaned that place up. It's like miracle after miracle after miracle
00:43:10.800
that happened. The only time a priest went in there was to hang a crucifix on the wall
00:43:16.780
and reclaim that place for Jesus and Mary. Now I'm thinking, now listen, if those miracles
00:43:24.660
happen, and that's only one set of miracles, I'd be, I could keep you here all day to tell
00:43:30.780
you about the other stuff, but this is just the biggest one. Miracle after miracle happened. I'm
00:43:36.080
thinking with my old Cajun mind here, well, if that kind of power was given to the Legion of Mary
00:43:42.720
with some women who, no education, just souls who trusted Jesus and Mary, if they could do those
00:43:49.280
kind of miracles, why cannot we do those same kind of miracles right now in the USA? Why?
00:43:59.820
And I think this is the key because we have actually now got a Bentley place on every street corner.
00:44:07.640
Oh my God, John Henry, you hit the nail on the head, brother. And if we can get the young people,
00:44:14.040
that's why I'm so excited about working with my young people at the collegiate level and the young
00:44:19.240
families, like your friend, my mutual friend, Dylan Seymour, who I love to death. That boy is a leader
00:44:26.440
of 40 families of Latin mass people who are on fire. Well, if we can channel that fire with training in
00:44:35.120
this, and we can get a group on fire and let this spread to the whole diocese. Well, here we have
00:44:42.040
Bentley place soldiers at our command, brother. There it is. And if it worked, then it's going to
00:44:49.140
work. Because Frank Duff, when he started the Legion, it was all young people, you know, because
00:44:54.680
they have, they have, they have youth, they have looks, they have a, they think they can make a
00:45:00.360
difference. People my age, you see, brother Henry, I'm calling for forgiveness right now. It's my
00:45:06.140
generation that caused all this mess. They're hippies. I'm making a public confession on
00:45:11.960
John Henry Weston. Through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault, my generation
00:45:17.880
screwed it up. But hopefully, we can train a new generation to straighten it out. And we
00:45:24.500
can. Because I see the hunger in those young people, brother John Henry. I work with those
00:45:29.280
young priests on fire. I see their zeal. I see their courage. And look, when I'm with those
00:45:35.100
young kids, brother Henry, they make the old Deacon feel 25 years old. You know, at my group
00:45:41.020
at the college at UL. Man, look, I got one girl that's so red hot, I got to follow around
00:45:45.540
with a fire extinguisher. She's a freshman. Her name is Camille. Her first name is Camille
00:45:52.800
Harrington. That young lady, every time we have that meeting, the prayer meeting at the college,
00:45:59.000
she inspires me. I mean, she is so on fire. Mary has just taken her little heart, not only
00:46:04.320
her, but all of those young people. My president, my vice president. And I'm looking at this,
00:46:09.500
and I'm looking at those people, and I'm looking at me. I said, Lord, I'm one lucky deacon to be
00:46:14.980
those kids' spiritual directors. And I'm also a spiritual director for a much larger group of six
00:46:20.200
prayer groups. And then I work with Father Vidrine in the diocesan level. And we actually had
00:46:28.080
the director of communications film us, film a meeting, and she filmed each one of those kids
00:46:36.040
sharing a testimony. And as soon as she edits it, I'm going to send it to you so you can see.
00:46:41.600
Look, I'm an old deacon. Say, ah, deacon, you're old. You're old for the dirty. But if they hear the
00:46:45.300
young people giving those testimonies about how Mary has changed their life, I think we can reach
00:46:52.820
Amen. Amen. Amen. Well, I think we have our marching orders.
00:46:58.940
You know, we have a real opportunity here, since we have a Bentley Place now on every street corner,
00:47:05.420
we have a real opportunity to evangelize. And so we have a book, or a, what would you call it,
00:47:13.080
a guidebook, if you will, to reach people for Christ through His Most Holy Mother, the most effective
00:47:18.480
way ever discovered to bring Christ to people through Our Lady. So, Deacon Cody, as we're
00:47:26.040
closing off, let us know how people can get in touch with you. Where can they read about you and
00:47:32.820
Yes. They can email me, dcncody at gmail.com. Or they can call me. Can I give my phone number?
00:47:44.660
I wouldn't do that. But definitely give us a website or something like that.
00:47:49.440
They can email me because, you know, like I said, I'm a recording artist. I have six albums
00:47:54.560
recorded. I'm working on the seven. Actually, I'm working on an album using some songs written by
00:48:02.740
Bill Peffley, who, amazing story. Bill Peffley, he and his wife were commissioned by Frank Duff,
00:48:09.560
the founder of the Legion, to spread the Legion of Mary in Philadelphia. He was a prolific songwriter.
00:48:16.020
He had a bookstore in Norristown, had tons of conversions, tons of priests that, because of
00:48:23.720
the Legion, became priests. And his wife, Mary Peffley, actually worked for Bishop Sheen. She was
00:48:29.940
his secretary. And they have a son who's the number one Legion priest in the country. His name is
00:48:35.300
Father Francis Peffley. If they type in Father Francis Peffley, he has a website with all kinds
00:48:42.080
of material that they can download for free about the Legion of Mary, about the greatness,
00:48:48.360
about stories, about miracles. I just gave y'all just like a tiny tip of the iceberg of what the
00:48:54.180
Legion has done through the years. That's a whole new world that's going to be opened up because Mary
00:48:59.680
needs more soldiers. But if they contact me, dcncody, c-o-d-y, gmail.com. We have a bunch of
00:49:09.100
Montfort books. I'm a Montfort distributor. We have a bunch of albums and retreats. And I'm
00:49:13.880
available for retreats and missions throughout the country, too. I have six complete missions.
00:49:20.320
My latest one, I didn't get a chance to give it. The COVID-19 killed my mission,
00:49:25.160
but it's the four last things, Brother John Henry. Death, judgment, hell, or heaven. I got four
00:49:31.820
source materials and put it together. Man, look, I was scaring myself putting it together. So I had a
00:49:38.840
good priest friend of mine. I was going to give it in his parish, but we got canceled. So right now,
00:49:44.360
that's the old-fashioned Holy Ghost revival that was done in the missions in churches years ago.
00:49:49.820
So instead of scaring the hell out of you, it scares the heaven into you.
00:49:57.560
Excellent. Excellent. Deacon Cody, I want to thank you for being with us on John Henry Weston's show.
00:50:03.140
And if you wouldn't mind, as we depart, if you wouldn't mind giving us all your blessing,
00:50:07.600
Oh, definitely. We're going to get with St. Louis. We got him here with us there, Brother John Henry.
00:50:12.460
Dear St. Louis, we thank you for this wonderful conversation with such a wonderful and holy man.
00:50:19.640
And Brother John Henry Weston and his family of correspondents and his worldwide outreach.
00:50:25.380
Lord, we're going to be greedy for Brother John Henry. We're not going to ask for a double.
00:50:29.440
We're not going to ask for a triple. We're going to ask for a quadruple blessing of the unction of
00:50:35.380
your supernatural grace on Brother John Henry and his family. Bless his wife and children and help him
00:50:41.320
to articulate what it means to be Catholic, what it means to be on fire with the love of Jesus and Mary.
00:50:47.120
And may the spirit of St. Louis Marie de Montfort emblaze himself in you, Brother John Henry,
00:50:53.460
and your ministry and your mission and your life. And may we all who are fighting the good fight of faith
00:50:58.420
be ever filled with hope and joy, even despite of all of the troubles, all of the attacks of the evil one,
00:51:05.980
that in the end, my immaculate heart will triumph. Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary,
00:51:13.220
that ever was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection, employed thy help,
00:51:19.360
or sought thy intercession, was left unaided. Inspired by this confidence, we fly to thee,
00:51:25.180
O virgins of virgins, my mother. To thee do I come before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful.
00:51:32.380
O mother of the world incarnate, despise not our petition, but in thy mercy hear and answer us.
00:51:37.740
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.
00:51:43.080
Brother John Henry, it was a joy. Thank you for being you and your wonderful ministry. I'm so honored
00:51:49.800
to have been a part of our outreach to our good folks, Brother John.
00:51:55.360
Excellent. Thank you, Deacon Cody. Thank all of you for watching. We'll see you next time right here
00:51:59.900
on the John Henry Weston Show. May God bless you.
00:52:01.880
Hello, this is John Henry Weston. I'd like to invite you to subscribe to the John Henry Weston Show
00:52:07.720
YouTube channel if you haven't already done so. There you will find all the past episodes and much
00:52:13.180
more. Thanks again for watching, and may God bless you.