{"id":974,"date":"2016-11-18T11:24:56","date_gmt":"2016-11-18T16:24:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/praymoreretreat.org\/?page_id=974"},"modified":"2022-02-24T08:44:36","modified_gmt":"2022-02-24T13:44:36","slug":"living-redeemed-people-broken-world-advent-2016","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/praymoreretreat.org\/living-redeemed-people-broken-world-advent-2016\/","title":{"rendered":"Living As A Redeemed People in A Broken World &#8211; Advent 2016"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div align=\"center\" class=\"youtube-responsive-container\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/L_5KtW5j8J0?rel=0&amp;modestbranding=1\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen=\"\" width=\"1000\" height=\"564\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-heading\">Summary<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n\n\n<p>Dr. Scott talks about different relationships we have as humans, and emphasizes on the most important relationship of all, our relationship with God. He also discusses the meaning of the world that we live in today, and the importance of having a steadfast faith to Him.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Thank you for watching and participating in this retreat!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Not Registered, yet? Don\u2019t miss the rest of the talks! Register for the Pray More Retreat!&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-horizontal is-content-justification-center is-layout-flex wp-container-core-buttons-layout-1 wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link\" href=\"https:\/\/praymoreretreat.org\/2016-lent-retreat\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>Click Here to Register!<\/strong><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-heading\">Downloads<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Audio MP3<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/praymoreretreat.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/09%20-%20Scott%20Powell%20-%20Living%20as%20a%20Redeemed%20People%20in%20a%20Broken%20World.mp3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Click&nbsp;here&nbsp;to download audio file.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Printable Study Guide PDF<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/praymoreretreat.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Living-as-a-Redeemed-People-in-a-Broken-World-Study-Guide.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Click here to download the printable study guide.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Printable Transcript PDF<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/praymoreretreat.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Living-as-a-Redeemed-People-in-a-Broken-World-Transcript.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Click here to download the transcript of the video presentation.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-heading\">Reflective Study Guide Questions<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>\u201cTo live without faith, without a patrimony to defend, without a steady struggle for truth \u2013 that is not living, but existing.\u201d <\/p><cite><em>Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati<\/em><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>The four fundamental relationships for man\u2019s life are the relationship with God, the relationship with ourselves, the relationship with one another and the relationship with animals and nature. Are these four relationships in harmony in your life? Where do you see an imbalance of harmony? What would you do to make these fundamental relationships more balanced in your life?<br><br><\/li><li>According to the speaker, the key to Christianity is that our senses deceive us. Our world often looks so broken that we think we don\u2019t know if good or evil is going to win in the end. However, as Christians we don\u2019t need to ask if evil is going to win in the end because Jesus has already defeated evil. What are ways that your senses have deceived you into despair about the disarray of our world? How have you seen that your senses deceive you? How have you seen our redemption even though the world often doesn\u2019t feel redeemed? What are ways that you have experienced living in the world and saying, \u201cThis is good. I understand my place in the world\u201d?<br><br><\/li><li>What does the world gain by your hope in this broken world?<br><br><\/li><li>As God created us for to be in communion with Him, He also created us to have human and spiritual companions. Who in your life now, and who in the past, has been significant in your becoming who you are today? Who have you companioned \u2014 children or adults \u2014 on their faith journey? How have you done it and how has it affected your life?<br><br><\/li><li>Are you \u201cattached\u201d to the brokenness of our world and its allurements so that you neglect to make the needed changes in your life to get closer to God? What steps can you take to avoid getting caught up in the brokenness?<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-heading\">Text: Living As A Redeemed People in A Broken World<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p>Hello everybody. My name is Scott. And today I want to talk to you about brokenness, and specifically about broken relationships. But maybe not relationships in the way that you might be thinking about them. Before we do that, let\u2019s start in prayer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Opening Prayer<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p><em>In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. \u201cTo live without faith, without a patrimony to defend, without a steady struggle for truth, that is not living, but existing.\u201d A quote from Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati. Lord Jesus, You gave to Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati a zeal for understanding the reconciliation that You\u2019ve offered to our world, an understanding of the brokenness of our lives, and the people around us, and the world that we live in, but an understanding of what You\u2019ve done about it. And we pray that we might be inspired by him, and by his life, and by what You\u2019ve done for us. I pray that You would be with all of the people listening to this video and this recording. Please be in my words. Let me not say anything that\u2019s outside of Your will. And we pray all these things through Christ our Lord. Amen. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Going Back to The Beginning<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-ast-global-color-8-color has-text-color\">Well, I want to start by acknowledging that we have a problem. In our world, there is a pretty profound divide. And there\u2019s lots of divides we could talk about. You can talk about political divides, you can talk about divides between people, and families, and our friends, and coworkers, and the media. There\u2019s all sorts of conflict and brokenness in relationships that you could probably think of. But, to understand what I mean by that, and what the church means when she talks about our brokenness, I want to go back to the beginning, and one of the things that Jesus <a href=\"https:\/\/praymoreretreat.org\/the-joy-to-be-loved-healing-2020\/\">loved<\/a> to do in his teaching and in his preaching was to go back to the beginning. So, if you were to open up your bible to the very first pages, the first lines, what Genesis says as it commences is: \u201cIn the beginning, God.\u201d \u201cIn the beginning, God.\u201d Now, that sentence is going to continue and show the things that God did and created, and eventually he\u2019ll create human beings, and plants, and animals, and dinosaurs, and everything else. But before all of that, it says \u201cIn the beginning, God.\u201d Before there was anything, before there was us, before there were animals, there is God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-ast-global-color-8-color has-text-color\">Well, who is God? Well, the God that we believe in as Catholics, and that we profess, is a God that is so real and so substantial that the very word that God speaks is actually another person. We call It the second person of the trinity. We <a href=\"https:\/\/praymoreretreat.org\/jesus-call-discipleship-advent-2016\/\">call Jesus<\/a> sometimes the Word of God, right. Because he was proceeds from the Father. And just as the words that I speak aren\u2019t totally separate from who I am, so God the Son is not separate from God the Father. They\u2019re united. God the Father, who loves God the Son, God the Son who receives that love, gives it back to God the Father. And we believe that the love between them is so real and so substantial that it too is another person, the Holy Spirit. And so, at its <a href=\"https:\/\/praymoreretreat.org\/fathers-heart-lent-2018\/\">heart<\/a>, God is relationship, he is communion, he\u2019s a community of persons, which is sort of what it means when we\u2019re told that we are created in the image and likeness of God. We\u2019re made for relationship; we\u2019re created out of the relationship that is God for the sake of relationship. Loving one another, pouring ourselves out, receiving love, giving it back, this is who <a href=\"https:\/\/praymoreretreat.org\/renewing-covenant-god-lent-lent-2018\/\">God<\/a> is, this is who we are called to be. So God is relationship, and that is what we\u2019re made for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Four Relationships<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>Now, at the very beginning, again, if you go back to Genesis, if you were to read the creation story, there are 4 initial relationships that we read that mankind was supposed to be a part of. They were supposed to be a part fundamental to his life. And&nbsp;<em>the Catechism of the Catholic Church&nbsp;<\/em>actually talks about this. Those 4 relationships that we were made to live within are, number 1, humans were created to be in a relationship with God, a relationship that was good, and sensible. And it made sense. I mean, I don\u2019t know about you guys, but so many days \u2013 I try to pray every day \u2013 but there\u2019s so many days that I\u2019m doing my prayer, and I\u2019m trying to do my thing, and I just really wish I could hear a voice back. Just something saying \u201cYes, God, I can hear you. I got it. Cool. You\u2019re good.\u201d But we don\u2019t hear those things. Or maybe you guys do, but I don\u2019t. I don\u2019t hear a tangible voice back, I don\u2019t get a phone call on my phone from God saying \u201cYeah, it\u2019s me. I hear you. I got you. I\u2019ll take care of you.\u201d I mean, I believe it. I believe that God is there. I believe that he hears my prayers. But it\u2019s hard. There\u2019s a veil over us. But in the beginning that wasn\u2019t so. We could see God clearly. It made sense. That relationship didn\u2019t have to be questioned. So we were made for a relationship, a good relationship between ourselves and our God. That\u2019s number one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">We Were Meant To Be Holy<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-ast-global-color-8-color has-text-color\">Now, number 2, human beings were meant to be in a relationship with ourselves. We were meant to be holy. Remember, Genesis says we\u2019re created in the image and likeness of God, and that meant if Adam&#8230; Adam and Eve didn\u2019t have mirrors, but if they had a mirror and they looked in that mirror they would have liked what they saw, because they\u2019d recognize \u201cYeah, I\u2019m good. I\u2019m holy. I am in the image and likeness of the God who I also know.\u201d But how many days do you wake up and you look in the mirror and you\u2019re like \u201cMan, I just don\u2019t know if I like what I see. I struggle with these things, I wrestle with that stuff, I was a jerk to this person.\u201d We do stuff that we know we\u2019re not supposed to do. We fall to <a href=\"https:\/\/praymoreretreat.org\/overcoming-shame-and-sin-lent-2021\/\">sin<\/a>. It\u2019s called concupiscence, and it means that we\u2019re drawn to things that are not good for us. But in the beginning that wasn\u2019t so. We understood ourselves, we did what was good for our lives, we were holy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Relationships With One Another<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>Number 3, we believe that human beings were meant to be in a relationship with one another. Adam and Eve were meant to be in a life-giving relationship. I love the story of Adam and Eve because I was really terrible during like high school and college and stuff at dating. I have a wife now, praise be to God, but I was a terrible dater. And I loved the idea that Adam and Eve were just created in a marriage with each other, and they didn\u2019t have to worry about all the games and stuff that goes into that. But it was a good relationship, and they were called to give themselves to one another, and it made sense. There wasn\u2019t war, there wasn\u2019t strife, there wasn\u2019t fighting, there wasn\u2019t bickering. Humans and their relationships with one another were good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Relationship With Creation<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>And then lastly, number 4, human beings were called to be in relationship with the rest of creation. With the world of nature. Adam in Genesis is called to go out and name all the animals. And in every ancient society, naming something implied a relationship with it. Adam is called to be God\u2019s representative on earth to the world of nature, to the whole of creation. He\u2019s meant to be a steward. All 4 of these relationships were created to be in a harmony with one another. The Catechism actually speaks about them as harmonies, and a priest friend of mine actually calls them \u201cThe 4 harmonies\u201d. Because that makes sense. And if you know anything about music, when one part of a 4-part harmony is off, the whole thing is off. The whole thing just doesn\u2019t sound quite right. Now, there\u2019s a hierarchy to these 4 relationships, right. It\u2019s because we are in relationship with God that we\u2019re able to have all those others. Because God is God, and we are united in relationship with Him, I can be holy, and I can be in relationship with the people around me, and I can understand my role in the created world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Fall<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-ast-global-color-8-color has-text-color\">Well, a professor of mine during college once said \u201cEvery great story has got to have a great problem.\u201d Every great story has got to have a great problem. And the great story of our salvation, the epic of the bible, begins pretty early on with a pretty big problem. And it is the fact of what we call \u201cOriginal Sin\u201d, which is sometimes called the *Brrr* the fall, right. We took a nosedive. Human beings were meant for these relationships, this harmonious reality, but then we fell. And that Original Sin, you know, it\u2019s really not about the fruit; it\u2019s about the fact, and the Catechism is clear on this, the Catechism says \u201cMan let his trust in his creator die in his heart.\u201d He let his trust in his creator die in his heart. God said \u201cAdam, Eve, I love you guys. I want you to have everything you need. I want you to have happiness, and <a href=\"https:\/\/praymoreretreat.org\/choosing-joy-advent-2020\/\">joy<\/a>, and live this fruitful life. Just <a href=\"https:\/\/praymoreretreat.org\/trusting-in-gods-will-lent-2020\/\">trust<\/a> me on this one thing. Don\u2019t do this. Trust me, it\u2019s for your own good.\u201d And what Adam and Eve could not do was trust God. They break trust. They listen to the voice of the serpent, they eat the fruit, they do what he asked them not to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And as soon as that trust is broken, that first relationship, human beings and God, as soon as that is now damaged \u2013 it\u2019s not obliterated, but it\u2019s damaged \u2013 there\u2019s a lack of trust now. As soon as that happens, you can watch the other 3 relationships begin to unravel. And all of a sudden Adam and Eve, remember, they recognized that they\u2019re naked, which means there\u2019s something internally, there\u2019s something about myself that I\u2019m kind of ashamed of. I\u2019m not comfortable anymore. And Adam and Eve realized \u201cOh, I\u2019m kind of uncomfortable with myself.\u201d So they cover up because, simultaneous while there\u2019s something in themselves and they\u2019re ashamed of, they also don\u2019t trust the other person. They cover up. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-ast-global-color-8-color has-text-color\">St. <a href=\"https:\/\/praymoreretreat.org\/st-john-paul-ii-holy-eucharist-advent-2016\/\">John Paul<\/a> II talked about this in his theology of the body. But there\u2019s this sort of simultaneous, like, \u201cI\u2019m ashamed, I need to cover up because I don\u2019t trust the other person to look at me in the way that they ought to look at me. I realize I can look at the other in a way that\u2019s selfish, and that is not good for that person. If I can look at them in a way that\u2019s actually not okay, they can probably do the same to me, so I don\u2019t trust them.\u201d So the interpersonal relationship, that\u2019s breaking down as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And you remember the story, God comes and he finds Adam and Eve, he comes into the garden and he says \u201cWhere are you? Where are you?\u201d They\u2019ve hidden from him. They hid from themselves, from each other, and now they\u2019re hiding from God. He says \u201cWhere are you?\u201d And he finds them, and he says \u201cWhat have you done?\u201d And as soon as he asks that, they begin to play the blame game. Remember, Adam was like \u201cWell, the woman made me do it.\u201d And she\u2019s like \u201cthe serpent made me do it\u201d, and then they ultimately blame God. \u201cIt\u2019s the woman who you gave me. It\u2019s your fault.\u201d Really. And the blame game gets passed around. Interpersonally, things are really a mess.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And then finally, God gives the punishments for these Original Sins, or this Original Sin, and the punishment that he gives to Adam \u2013 and that\u2019s going to be the key that\u2019s actually drawn out through the rest of the bible, even in the New Testament, it\u2019s called the Sin of Adam. Even though Eve was the first one to eat the fruit, it\u2019s Adam\u2019s sin, because Adam was called to be the steward and the safeguard of all of these things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>His punishment is now that the earth will oppose him. Creation itself is going to turn against him, and he\u2019s going to&#8230; He was always called to work; he was always called to be a gardener. The Catholic Church has this wonderfully rich tradition that\u2019s always suggested that work is profoundly good. Adam was called to do work; he was called to be a gardener. But now the work is going to be hard and laborious, and the ground will oppose him, and there will be thorns, and needles, and thistles, and blisters, and blood, and sweat, and everything else. Creation is going to turn against him. And imagine a world where we don\u2019t always trust God. Where we\u2019re ashamed of ourselves. We look in the mirror and we don\u2019t like what we see. We make choices that are bad for us. We fight and blame and distrust the people around us. And the created world just seems hard and unforgiving, and dangerous. I don\u2019t know about you guys, but I feel like you turn on the news and there\u2019s almost like there\u2019s a new natural disaster that\u2019s worse than all of the other natural disasters prior. It seems like creation itself is flipping out. Creation seems dangerous and threatening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So a world where we don\u2019t trust God, we make bad decisions, we fight with the people around us, and the created world kind of freaks us out. Does that sound like the world we live in? Yeah, it sounds like it, but it\u2019s not the world we live in. It\u2019s not the world we live in. And I\u2019m stealing this line from a priest friend who really helped to form me on this idea, but he said once that we don\u2019t live in a broken world, we live in a broken but redeemed world. We live in a broken but redeemed world. Guys, this is the key to all of Christianity. We don\u2019t live in a world that\u2019s broken. And I know, I listen to a lot of news, I read stuff on social media, and listen to talk radio, and it seems like the world is utterly chaotic evil reigns. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But as Catholics and as Christians, we believe that Jesus, God, became human, He took on flesh so as to reconcile the broken relationship between human beings and God. He came to fix the first and most fundamental relationship. And if Jesus is God, and He came to reconcile human beings back to God, then that actually means, according to the Christian narrative, I can be the person I\u2019m supposed to be. I can be holy. I can make the choices and decisions that are right, that God wants me to have. I can live in communion with the people around us, around me. I can love my wife and my children, and be in communion with the people I work with and I see on the street. And I can actually live in the natural world that God gave us as a steward. I can look at the world and say \u201cYeah, this is Good. I understand my place in it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The key to all of Catholicism, the key to all of Christianity, is that our senses are actually deceiving us. We live in a world that looks utterly broken, that seems like evil is running totally rampant, that evil has won. We live in a world, quite frankly, where we don\u2019t always know, or we don\u2019t think we know, whether good or evil is going to win in the end. Do you ever see that? Do you ever feel that way? That you walk through life, and you listen to stuff on the news, and you pay attention to what\u2019s going on around you, and you wonder \u201cWow, is evil going to win in the end, or is good going to win?\u201d And as Christians, we don\u2019t actually have to ask that question. Jesus has defeated evil. He has trampled down death by death. The world just doesn\u2019t always feel like it. Really, we have a faith that teaches us our senses are deceiving us. This is a key to a lot of St. Paul\u2019s letters in the New Testament, trying to get his readers and his listeners to see the world is not as it seems. The world seems like Satan is in control, that evil reigns, that chaos is everywhere, but the reality is that Jesus has conquered all of that. The only power Satan has left is to lie to us. The power he has is to whisper in our ears and tell us that the world is totally broken, and is a disaster, and evil might still pull it off. And oftentimes we believe him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Living In Between<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>I know this great analogy that I heard once from Scott Hahn, but I think another bible scholar before him came up with. And it\u2019s an analogy that comes from World War 2. And if you\u2019re familiar with World War 2, you might remember there\u2019s this very critical moment in World War 2 between D-Day, which was the day that the war was actually won, and V-E Day, which was when everybody was kind of finally liberated, and everything was&#8230; you know, the beginning of the end. And between D-Day, when the war was declared to be won by the allied forces, the Nazis were defeated, and V-E Day, the time that people were finally emancipated from things like concentration camps and everything else, there was a lot of chaos in between. And when the Nazis were running the concentration camps in Germany and Poland and the rest, when they heard that the war was won, that they had lost, that the Nazis were going down, what did they do? Well, they didn\u2019t just go to everyone in the concentration camps and say \u201cWell, tough break. You know, I guess we lost. You guys are free to go.\u201d No, they tried to bring as much destruction and chaos and death as possible. Why? Because they knew that they had lost. They knew it was over and that their destruction was imminent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That\u2019s where we live. We live in-between the D-Day of the resurrection and the V- E Day of Christ coming again. We live in the middle, where the war is won, the final victory is sure, it\u2019s done, it\u2019s finished, but we haven\u2019t seen the full fruit of that, or the veil has not yet been lifted from our eyes. Our senses, brothers and sisters, are deceiving us. Christ has conquered the world. Sin is forgiven. The power of Satan has been stripped, other than the fact that he can whisper in our ear and lie to us, and tell us that evil is still in control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is a hard thing to live out, because really we\u2019re being asked to believe that our senses are wrong. But here\u2019s the way this actually works, and if you\u2019re a Catholic you should actually get this. There\u2019s another place where all the time you acknowledge that your senses are deceiving you. Every time you go to mass, every time you look up to the altar and you see a man in the vestments holding up what looks for all the world to be a piece of bread, and holding up what looks for all the world to be a cup of wine. And it smells like wine, it looks like wine, it tastes like wine, that looks, and smells, and tastes, and feels like bread, and you\u2019re being asked to suspend your senses, to cease to believe that that\u2019s actually bread and wine, to actually believe that it\u2019s taken on something new. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Have the Guts<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>It is now the God who created the heavens and the earth, it\u2019s the God of the universe. Your senses are lying to you. When you go out in the world, try to keep that in mind. If you have the guts &#8211; And it does take guts; faith is a gutsy thing \u2013 to believe to go to mass and say \u201cYeah, I believe that thing that looks like bread is actually the God of the universe, and I will receive Him into me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you can believe that, then you can go out into the world, you can look at the evil that is everywhere, the chaos that reigns, and the seeming victory of sin, and you can say \u201cNo, no, no, Christ is my victor. Those relationships in my life, my own brokenness, my relationship with God, everything in the world has been reconciled back to Christ.\u201d And our challenge is to look at the brokenness of the world, to look at the brokenness in ourselves, to look at the brokenness of creation, to acknowledge that Christ has died for those things, to look at the crucifix, to see him hanging there, and to say \u201cAmen. I believe. I believe that Christ is greater than what my eyes can see.\u201d And if we can get to that point, then I think we can give a hope to our broken world that the world has never known before. Thank you all so much. I appreciate you being here today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-heading\">About Dr. Scott Powell<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-media-text alignwide is-stacked-on-mobile\" style=\"grid-template-columns:24% auto\"><figure class=\"wp-block-media-text__media\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"310\" height=\"382\" src=\"http:\/\/praymoreretreat.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Scott-Powell-Headshot-1.jpg\" alt=\"scott-powell-headshot\" class=\"wp-image-965 size-full\" srcset=\"https:\/\/praymoreretreat.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Scott-Powell-Headshot-1.jpg 310w, https:\/\/praymoreretreat.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Scott-Powell-Headshot-1-243x300.jpg 243w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 310px) 100vw, 310px\" \/><\/figure><div class=\"wp-block-media-text__content\">\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/praymoreretreat.org\/speaker-dr-scott-powell\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>Dr. Scott Powell<\/strong> <\/a>is a teacher and Director of the Aquinas Institute for Catholic Thought, an outreach to the University of Colorado in Boulder. He has also been an adjunct professor at Denver&#8217;s Augustine Institute and has spent the last decade teaching theology and the Scriptures to groups of all ages. He and his wife Annie are the directors and founders of <a href=\"http:\/\/camp-w.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Camp Wojtyla<\/a>, a Catholic adventure program for youth, based in the Colorado Rockies. Scott also co-hosts and produces the popular Catholic podcast, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.lankyguys.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">\u201cThe Word on the Hill with the Lanky Guys\u201d<\/a>. He holds a PhD in Catholic Studies from Maryvale Institute\/Liverpool Hope University in England. Scott, his wife Annie, and two children, Lily Avila and Samuel Isaac, live near Boulder, Colorado.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"800\" src=\"http:\/\/praymoreretreat.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Living-As-a-Redeemed-people-in-a-broken-world-image.jpg\" alt=\"living-as-a-redeemed-people-in-a-broken-world-image\" class=\"wp-image-959\" srcset=\"https:\/\/praymoreretreat.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Living-As-a-Redeemed-people-in-a-broken-world-image.jpg 800w, https:\/\/praymoreretreat.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Living-As-a-Redeemed-people-in-a-broken-world-image-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/praymoreretreat.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Living-As-a-Redeemed-people-in-a-broken-world-image-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/praymoreretreat.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Living-As-a-Redeemed-people-in-a-broken-world-image-768x768.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"701\" height=\"316\" src=\"http:\/\/praymoreretreat.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/The-Pray-More-Retreat-image.jpg\" alt=\"the-pray-more-retreat-image\" class=\"wp-image-969\" srcset=\"https:\/\/praymoreretreat.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/The-Pray-More-Retreat-image.jpg 701w, https:\/\/praymoreretreat.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/The-Pray-More-Retreat-image-300x135.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 701px) 100vw, 701px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Summary Dr. Scott talks about different relationships we have as humans, and emphasizes on the most important relationship of all, our relationship with God. He also discusses the meaning of the world that we live in today, and the importance of having a steadfast faith to Him.&nbsp; Thank you for watching and participating in this [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":959,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","site-sidebar-layout":"no-sidebar","site-content-layout":"plain-container","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"disabled","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Living As A Redeemed People in A Broken World - Advent 2016 - The Pray More Retreat<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/praymoreretreat.org\/living-redeemed-people-broken-world-advent-2016\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Living As A Redeemed People in A Broken World - Advent 2016 - The Pray More Retreat\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Summary Dr. Scott talks about different relationships we have as humans, and emphasizes on the most important relationship of all, our relationship with God. 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