72 What Keeps You from Loving? Is it Really Only Your Vices? (Spoiler Alert: No!)

1. The Pitch -- Opening
    
   1. Set the Scene Two Great Commandments
       
      1. What is the whole point of your life? What is your mission and purpose? What is the most important thing for you to do?  Really think about that for a minute.  What is your ultimate goal on this planet as a Catholic man or woman?
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      1. All of us serious Catholics want to love God and neighbor.  
      2.  36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?” 37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets.” Matthew 22:36-40
          
         1. Mitch and Sri CCSS  "Together, the two love Commandments sum up the Ten Commandments, three of which delineate our responsibilities toward God and seven of which concern our duties toward others."  
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      4. Luke 10:25-28  25 And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 He said to him, “What is written in the law? How do you read?” 27 And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul [being], and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.” 28 And he said to him, “You have answered right; do this, and you will live.”
      5. Highest obligation of every person.  
      6. Romans 13:8-10  8 Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. 9 The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not kill, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this sentence, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.
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3. The Hurdle -- a problem we're all facing.
    
   1. Simple, right?  But it's not that simple.  
      1. My Catholic Life  
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With this statement, Jesus gives a complete summary of the moral law found in the Ten Commandments.  The first three Commandments reveal that we must love God above all and with all our might.  The last six Commandments reveal that we must love our neighbor.  The moral law of God is as simple as fulfilling these two more general commandments.

But is it all that simple?  Well, the answer is both “Yes” and “No.”  It’s simple in the sense that God’s will is not typically complex and difficult to comprehend.  Love is spelled out clearly in the Gospels and we are called to embrace a radical life of true love and charity.

However, it can be considered difficult in that we are not only called to love, we are called to love with all our being.  We must give of ourselves completely and without reserve.  This is radical and requires that we hold nothing back.

1. And that's the kicker -- to love God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind.  With all of us.
    
   1. Think about what that means.  
      1. Pablo Gadenz  CCSS Luke   "The idea is that the commandment to love God embraces every aspect of one's being."  
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   1. Every fiber of our being, every last little bit of ourselves.  
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   1. If we really think about this commandment -- what are the implications
       
      1. To love God in every internal experience -- every thought, emotion, body sensation, intention, impulse attitude, belief, assumption, every desire -- every internal phenomenological experience oriented toward loving God.  
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      1. That requires harmony inside.  
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      1. That requires interior integration for Catholics
          
         1. And Interior Integration for Catholics just happens to be the name of this podcast. 
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         1. And this whole podcast is all about helping to you to get so much closer to loving God and neighbor and yourself with your whole heart, your whole soul, your whole strength and your whole mind, with all of you -- and that is the whole mission of our online outreach Souls and Hearts at soulsandhearts.com
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5. Intro -- Welcome to Interior Integration for Catholics
    
   1. I’m clinical psychologist Peter Malinoski and I am here to help guide you toward  loving God, neighbor and yourself in an ordered, healthy, holy way.
       
      1. And how do I do that?
          
         1. By focusing on your natural level impediments, your psychological obstacles to tolerated being loved and to loving God, neighbor and ourselves in the best ways possible
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         1. That is the mission of this podcast -- it's all about your human formation and what you need  on the natural level going forward in your life.  
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         1. John the Baptist is the patron saint of this podcast because he prepared the way for the Lord.  
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         1. I'm here to help you get ready by shoring up your natural foundation for the spiritual life 
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   1. This is Episode 72, entitled What Keeps You from Loving?  Is it Really Only Your Vices?  (Spoiler Alert:  No!)
   2. Chess analogy -- so the two great Commandments are both simple and complex -- like chess.  
      1. One Level -- Chess is a simple game -- the rules are really clear and can be learned in five minutes, and the trickiest part of the rules is castling -- rook/king switcheroo thing.  Or maybe the en passant pawn capture.  
      2. On another level, chess is complex -- people spend their professional lives learning to play.  Grandmasters learning into old age.   
7. Love Your Neighbor as yourself
    
   1. We are supposed to love ourselves
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   1. Command is not to love our neighbor more than ourselves
       
      1. Not because Jesus is lax:  Mt. 5:48 You, therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
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   1. No one can love you in lieu of you.  
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    1.  Doesn't make sense if you think of a person has having monolithic, homogeneous personality -- no space for relationship there.  
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    1. In order to love ourselves other and God, we need interior peace.  
       1. Fr. Jacques Phillipe:  Searching For and Maintaining Peace
           
          1. It is of the greatest importance that we strive to acquire an interior peace, the peace of our hearts.  p. 5
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          1. The more our soul is peaceful and tranquil, the more God is reflected in it, the more His image expresses itself in us, the more His grace acts through us.  p. 5
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          1. Quoting St. Seraphim of Sarov "Acquire interior peace and a multitude will find its salvation through you.  p. 8
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          1. p.11 Very frequently, spiritual combat consists precisely in this:  defending one's peace of heart against the enemy who attempts to steal it from us. 
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          1. p. 12.  The first goal of spiritual combat, that toward which our efforts must above all else be...