In Season and Out of Season

Announcer: Behold, I stand at the door and knock. This is In Season and Out of Season, a Bible teaching ministry with Father Tom DiLorenzo.

Father Tom DiLorenzo: Good day, it's Father Tom, and we do this broadcast live. We pray this prayer; it's the disciple's prayer. They asked Jesus, "Teach us to pray." And He said, "When you pray, you pray: Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name." First of all, we hallow the name of God. We praise the name of God, we worship the name of God. The name of God is holy. Hallowed be Thy name.

Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. I'm going to tell you, this is the will of God: that the kingdom would come, that the will of God would be done on earth as it is in heaven. And we are not even near that. We are not even near that. That God's kingdom would come in the Holy Spirit, that the will of God would be done in the Holy Spirit on earth as it is in heaven.

When we think about heaven, we think that there are no people that are sick. There are no people that are alienated. There are no people without homes. There are no people without what they need. They all go from glory to glory. And yet Jesus said that we should pray that the kingdom would come and the will of God would be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Now, I want you to know, when Jesus speaks, He means what He says and He says what He means. He just doesn't say, "Pray that the kingdom would come on earth as it is in heaven" because He had nothing better to do. He says it because that's His plan, and that the kingdom is in the Holy Spirit—the wonderful Holy Spirit. And there is no kingdom without the Holy Spirit.

Therefore, those that are led by the Spirit know what I'm talking about. At least we've experienced drops of the kingdom. At least we've experienced raindrops of the kingdom, if not the whole kingdom. We've experienced little bits of the kingdom. We've seen the sick healed. I was just told today that I prayed with someone and they were deaf, and their ear opened up. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

I remember the man that I prayed with that was going in for an operation. They were going to replace a bone in his head. And when he went back to have the operation, they opened him up and the bone was there. And they had the CAT scan that the bone wasn't there, and now it was there. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

This is God's will. This is how Jesus taught us to pray. And again, He wasn't speaking aimlessly when He spoke. He spoke what He meant and He meant what He said. And we are far from that in the church. How much of the church looks like the kingdom of God? How much of the parish looks like the kingdom of God? I'm going to tell you: Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread. Yes, we pray to the Lord for our daily bread, that God will give us sustenance, that we would have enough bread, enough food—not only food that we eat but spiritual food, psychological food, all kinds of food. We need our daily bread. We need the daily word of God that speaks to us because it's fresh bread, the bread of life.

Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And here we have the whole experience of forgiveness. Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. I want to tell you that when we hold unforgiveness, we do not hurt the person that we are not forgiving. We hurt ourselves.

When we hold unforgiveness, we are not hurting the person that wronged us; we wrong ourselves. When we hold unforgiveness, we are really putting the axe to our own heads. The first thing that Jesus said on the cross was, "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do." Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. That's the first thing Jesus said. Redemption could not have taken place if Jesus did not forgive us from the cross. Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.

And I'm going to tell you, I cannot forgive without the grace of God. I cannot forgive without the loving kindness of God. I cannot forgive without the covenant love of God. I must borrow the forgiveness of Jesus. And today I'm going to take you through an exercise that you repeat with me. We're going to forgive today in the name of Jesus. We're going to forgive today through the blood of Jesus.

This was given to me by a friend of mine named Roland and I want to use it with you because to forgive, he says, is divine mercy. What are we then to do? Forgive. And after we have forgiven, forgive some more. So pray with me: Lord, I forgive You. Oh yes, I forgive You. Not that You have wronged me, but I have held a grudge against You because I have been disappointed. I forgive You.

I forgive You that I have been disappointed. You have not acted as fast as I wanted You to act. You have not given me what I thought was mine. Lord, I forgive You. Tell Him: I forgive You for the relationships that I thought were good and they blew up in my face. Lord, I forgive You. Tell Him: for not getting the job that I needed, that I wanted. Tell Him: Lord, I forgive You for my life that has been so painful.

I forgive You. I forgive You that You have hidden from me when I have looked for You. I forgive You, Lord. I forgive You that You have taken someone close to me away; they've died. I forgive You that the sick in my life have gone. I forgive You. Young people that I prayed for were never healed. I forgive You, Lord. I forgive You because I love You.

I forgive You because, even though You can do no wrong, I expected something else. I forgive You. Come on. Lord, I forgive my parents. I forgive my parents. They were not perfect, but neither am I. I forgive them if they treated a brother or a sister more graciously than I. I forgive them. I let them go. I forgive my mother if she couldn't give me the love I needed as a baby because she was sick and depressed. I forgive my mother.

I forgive my father if he didn't know how to be a father. I forgive my father. And I forgive myself for holding things against them. I forgive. I forgive myself for holding grudges against my parents. I forgive them, Lord. I forgive them. I forgive them that they didn't bring me up to honor God in such a way that You were real, because they didn't know how. I forgive them, Lord. I forgive them in the name of Jesus. I forgive them through the blood of Jesus.

I forgive them. I forgive teachers, Lord. Teachers that said I wouldn't amount to anything. Teachers that didn't like me. I forgive them in the name of Jesus. And I send them to You. I send them to You and I forgive them. Bless them. I forgive them if they said, "Your brother was so smart and you're not like your brother." Well, I forgive them, Lord. I forgive them for comparing me and not calling me to be what I should be. I forgive my teachers.

I forgive the clergy. I forgive the clergy that when I went to them and had something exciting to tell them, they didn't want to hear it. Or when I was praying my confession, they closed the door in my face. Or when I went to confession, they made me feel like I was the worst sinner in the whole world. I forgive these priests. I forgive them. I forgive them, Lord.

I forgive people who have abused me, because Lord, I don't want to carry them any longer. People that have abused me sexually. People that have abused me physically. People that have abused me psychologically. Lord, in the name of Jesus, I let them go. I forgive them. I forgive them. I forgive those people I wanted to be friends with and they did not want to be my friend.

Lord, I let them go. I forgive them in the name of Jesus. I forgive them in the name of Jesus. I forgive them that You would give them blessings and that You would give them everything that they need and that You would make them know how much You love them. I forgive them. I do not want to hold them any longer. I want to forgive them and I do forgive them.

Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us and lead us not into temptation. God never brings temptation into our midst. He allows it, but He doesn't give it to us. But deliver us from the evil one. Deliver us from Satan. Oh Jesus Christ, keep him far from me because the word of God says: be sober, be watchful, for your adversary the devil goes about seeking someone to devour. Resist him steadfast in the faith.

Keep far from me the wiles of the devil. Keep far from me the wiles of Satan. Keep far from me the wiles of the evil one. Keep far from me the temptations that he puts into my mind for lust, for vanity, for acknowledgment. Keep far from me the sins of pride and arrogance, the sins of sloth. Keep far from me all the darts of the enemy.

For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Yes, Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Yes, pour out Your Spirit that Your kingdom would come and Your will would be done on earth as it is in heaven. Let me tell you this, my friends: the Lord's prayer is the perfect prayer, the perfect prayer, the perfect prayer. Pray it very, very slowly and meditate on the words.

Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. The Lord has set before us shepherds. I'm reading from 1 Peter 5: "Feed the flock of God which is among you." Not by constraint, but shepherds do it willingly. Not for gaining money, but be ready of mind. Neither lorded it over God's people; be examples of the flock. Lord, we forgive our shepherds that have not been examples of the flock.

We forgive our shepherds that have fleeced the flock and have not cared for the sheep. We forgive our shepherds for going after money and not going after souls. We forgive them in the name of Jesus. We forgive our shepherds for not preaching the word of God. We forgive them in the name of Jesus. For when the chief shepherd shall appear, you shall receive a crown of glory that doesn't fade.

And the shepherd will receive a crown of glory if they do not do it for gain, if they do not constrain the sheep, if they do not lord it over God's people, if they do it willingly, if they do it out of love. Oh yes, the shepherd will receive a crown. That's why we must pray for shepherds. We must pray for shepherds because shepherds will be held responsible before God, before God Almighty.

We must pray for them that God would touch their hearts, that they would repent of their sins. But we must not hold anything against them either because if we hold things against them, we carry them on our backs. I know the church has been in a bad light for a long time, but I'm going to tell you, people who have been abused need to pray for the grace to forgive their abuser.

And most abusers are not priests. Most abusers are not clerics. Most abusers are people in the family. Most abusers are people that teach, that deal with young kids, not priests. Yes, we have had priest abusers, but most abusers are found in the family. And to forgive them in the name of Jesus sets you free. Even if you don't feel it, you speak the word: I forgive. I forgive you in the name of Jesus. I forgive you for what you've done to me. I don't want to hold you anymore.

There was a man at one of our services; he was dressed in black. In the middle of the service, he said, "Every relationship I've ever had blew up in my face." I couldn't deal with him because it was in the middle of a healing service. At the end of the service, when only a few people stayed, there he was—the man in black. And I looked at him and I said to him, "Who abused you?" And he said, "A priest."

Here he was, all dressed in black like a priest, like he's carrying the perpetrator on his back. I said to him, "Today we're going to forgive this priest and you're going to get him off your back and God's going to free you and God's going to give you grace." And we prayed. We prayed a simple prayer: "I forgive that priest for abusing me. I forgive that priest and I let him go." And the peace of God came upon that man.

I tell you, I do not know how to forgive. We need the grace of God to forgive. We need to sit under the cross asking God to grace us with forgiveness. Forgiveness is not part of our life. Shakespeare said, "To err is human, to forgive is divine." And to forgive from our hearts is the gift that we ask of the Lord today. To forgive from our hearts is the gift that we ask from the Lord today.

Lord, there are so many people that we need to forgive. We need to forgive the bishops. We need to forgive the priests. We need to forgive ourselves for not being what we wanted to be, for disappointing ourselves. We need to forgive ourselves that we're different than other people, but we need to use that difference in a positive way. We need to forgive. And Jesus said, "Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us."

He will forgive us as we forgive. And forgiveness is not a feeling; forgiveness is a decision. To forgive everybody, to hold nothing against anybody, especially yourself. You've been involved in drugs, you've been involved in alcohol, you've ruined your family—forgive yourself. Forgive yourself. Holding that hatred towards yourself will do nothing for you or for anybody else. Forgive yourself.

Forgive your parents if they were alcoholics and drug addicts. Forgive them. Go under the cross. See the cross over your head and say, "I want to borrow Your forgiveness for my parents who were drug addicts, who were alcoholics. I want to borrow Your forgiveness. Forgive them." Forgive the one you married whom you loved and deserted you and had another relationship. Forgive him. Forgive her.

Oh please, don't hold them any longer. Forgive them. Give them to God. Don't carry them on your back any longer. Forgive them. Jesus, we ask for forgiveness for spouses—spouses that have betrayed, spouses that have had other relationships, spouses that have treated us like dirt. You don't have to live with someone who treats you like dirt, but you have to forgive them or you carry them on your back. Give us grace to forgive these people, Lord, in the name of Jesus.

The blood that Jesus shed for me, way back on Calvary. Oh, that blood that gives me strength from day to day, it will never lose its power. It reaches to the highest mountain. It flows to the lowest valley. Oh, that blood that gives me strength from day to day, it will never lose its power.

The blood that Jesus shed for me, way back on Calvary. Oh, that blood that gives me strength from day to day, it will never lose its power. That blood—give us grace to forgive through the blood of Jesus now, now, now. Amen.

The angel of the Lord declared unto Mary and she conceived of the Holy Spirit. Behold the handmaid of the Lord, let it be done unto me according to thy word. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

And the word was made flesh and dwelt among us. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen. I need to hear from people. I need to hear from you. You want me on in your area with broadcasts like these? I need to hear from you.

I cannot do this work without the donations that carry us. I am not paid one penny from this ministry. And the mailing address is: Father Tom, Post Office Box 602, East Boston, Mass 02128. I need to hear from you. Father Tom, Post Office Box 602, East Boston, Mass 02128. It's very simple. I need to hear from you so we can pay our bills. That's all we want to do is pay our bills. Father Tom DiLorenzo, Post Office Box 602, East Boston, Mass 02128. God bless you.

Announcer: Behold, I stand at the door and knock. This has been In Season and Out of Season with Father Tom DiLorenzo. And remember that this ministry is supported only by the donations of listeners. So please, help as the Lord leads you. Father Tom DiLorenzo, PO Box 602, East Boston, Mass 02128. In Season and Out of Season.