hey everyone. God bless you. I'm not in the studio right now because I just came home from a preaching trip in Ohio, which was fantastic, a great blessing. I entertained some questions from the scads of young people I was interacting with this weekend. It's a set of questions that I think many priests are getting all across the country, all across the West, frankly. And it comes mostly from young men who I'm very proud of, who are exercising their strength and their determination and their focus to become solid churchmen. They're building their lives, they're abandoning the godlessness of our falling society and of the secular globalized nonsense that they see all around them. And they're building their lives on the love of God and on the fear of the Lord and His holy commandments. They're getting catechized, getting baptized, and brought into the church in very large numbers all over the West. Bravo, bravo. I was listening to St. John's first epistle this morning where he commends

the young men, and he says, I write to you, young men, because you're strong, and you've overcome the evil one, and must continue to overcome the evil one. A common question that I've been receiving for a number of years from these young men—you may be one of them—is born from their discernment that a greater percentage of men are becoming Orthodox Christians in the West than women, and they're concerned because they want to wed. They want to find a fine woman who shares their values upon which they can build a life that is pleasing to God and build a family. And so, the question that came many times again that I want to address before it's gone out of my mind is, What should we do? How can we find a fine woman when the percentages are higher of men than of women who are pouring into the church? Well, first, let me say this: Don't be discouraged. Don't be discouraged. The percentages are reversed in non-Orthodox forms of Christianity.

In the West, Protestant Christianity has become a woman's thing. The feminization of Christianity has a long history now in the West, and the numbers are atrocious. Both Roman Catholicism and Protestantism have really lost men tremendously by the feminization of their the compromises that they've made with the world, which men who are serious find offensive and discouraging, disheartening. My second encouragement is to focus on yourself, to absolutely focus on yourself. Don't become over-worried, overwhelmed by worry about how you're going to find a wife. It's my thought, and I think it's well-founded, that the more you build yourself, the more you make yourself a solid, honest, sincere, believing servant of Christ. Where you come into the church and you take up your position as a young man in the church, you adopt your ministries, you find ways that you can be of service to the old and the young, to men and women in your church, you are going to be

blessed by God, and if it's your call to be married and not to become a monastic, the Lord God is going in His great Providence to find a woman, and He's going to bring her to you like a magnet. Like a magnet, I'd like to call this reflection, this encouragement, treasure hunting. Look, you young men have already made the decision to search for the Supreme treasure. Remember what our Lord says in Matthew 13 when He's giving His Parables, and He says the kingdom of God is like a treasure hidden in a field that a man finds and goes and sells everything that he has so that he can obtain this treasure. Or it's like a pearl, and the Pearl Merchant's searching for it, right, diving deep, and when he finds it, it's the most precious thing in his life. This has been your life. You've made great strides to obtain The Treasure of treasures, which is the faith of the one Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, to become a member of the body of

Christ to root yourself in a kingdom that has no end, to become a child of God by Grace. You've done this, you've done this, or you're doing this if you're a cuman now. So, you know what it's like to search. Just think of the efforts that you've gone through. So many of you, you've traveled far and wide to visit parishes, to go to monasteries. You've purchased books, you've invested money, you've spent much time reading. You've come to the church and gone through lessons. You've laid a good foundation, and you've begun your life. That's what you did, and no one had to tell you that that was the right thing to do, to find your treasure, to find the church, the Priceless kingdom of God. None of you, I hope, have any regret in doing that, except maybe that you want to be even more zealous and even more devoted. In the same way, seek your second treasure. The second treasure, if you're called to marriage, is to find a woman who loves.

God a woman who will follow your leadership and collaborate with you in the service of our Lord Christ and in devotion a life of Devotion to the kingdom of God seeking first the kingdom of God and his righteousness above everything else don't worry don't worry take the same efforts the same prayerfulness uh the same intensity learn to fast about matters that you're of great of great concern to you learn to fast about them make this uh need big read the paracesis to the mother of God and ask the Virgin the holy virgin to help you in your quest to find this second treasure which is a a Pious spouse go treasure hunting visit other parishes go to places where Pious Orthodox people are where Pious Christians Gather in in groups that are about service and about serving the kingdom of God there's tons of them sit down and write a list of uh those organizations places groups where you can meet other devoted believers who you could mix with and find your spouse those that you love your parents

your grandparents, your godparents, your brothers and sisters who are older than you in the church. Ask them to pray for you and to keep their eyes out for you and trust the Lord. Go treasure hunting, brothers, with the same prayerful devotion that you went supremely treasure hunting for in finding the church. This is better than being frustrated or throwing your hands up and saying, What are we going to do? No, no, no, no, no. Don't doubt. Don't doubt. The Lord arranges everything for his sons. He arranges everything. Trust the Lord. Take care of your soul, which is the number one thing. Build yourself as a mighty house so that when a woman meets you, she'll know, she'll be able to come and be, she'll find shade under your paternal wings, under your loving husbandly care and affection. Do that, and you'll have an answer to your quest, which is how I can find myself a wonderful wife. May God provide all, may he bless you, and give you the kingdom. Hey, everyone, I hope

you've been enjoying this video. I'm making this short addendum the next day because this morning in the New York Times was an interesting article about exactly what I was speaking about: the preponderance of young men in Generation Z establishing their faith and a much smaller percentage of women self-identifying as religiously devout. This is the first time that there have been more men identifying that way than women in demographic history. That means you're going to have to lead your compatriots, other young women. You're going to have to lead them, you who are young men, and you're going to have to teach them. And I'd like to suggest an excellent book that I read this weekend while I was traveling by Carrie Gress, The End of Woman: How Smashing the Patriarchy Has Destroyed Us. It's an excellent overview of the rotten roots of contemporary feminism and a great catechetical source for you and for you to help your loved ones understand how to be a traditional woman. God bless, Patric Nectar.

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Treasure Hunting

Treasure Hunting

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