Editing Fast Fridays: 30 Minutes for God (section)

== Friday, Aug 30: Staying faithful in a sinful world ==
While struggling to avoid sin in ourselves, here we are living in a world that not only denies God but forces its godless ways upon us. How do we navigate our faith when sin is at every corner? 

See [https://www.facebook.com/stmaryfred/videos/1140152623748540 this homily] on the [https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/082924.cfm Memorial of the Passion of Saint John the Baptist] ([https://bible.usccb.org/bible/mark/6?17 Mk 6:17-29], reading starts min. 16:00) by Fr. Kevin Dansereau from Mary of the Immaculate Conception Catholic church in Fredericksburg, VA. Some notes:

* Herod cared more about saving face in front of the court than doing the right thing
* Herodius leads others to temptation and sin, the reverse of John the Baptist, who led others to Christ
* John was martyred for defending marriage
** like the Diocese patron Saint Thomas More, he stood up for the truth
* sin wants us to compromise our faith
** asked Thomas More just to sign a piece of paper, not a big deal
* people love the Church as long as we stay quiet
* it is our time now to stand up for the truth, marriage, life
** to have courage
** to care more about truth than the crowds
** Herod got acclaim and applause, but handed over his soul
* we need to be strong witnesses and not just buddies
** try to get them to heaven
** they will get mad
** but they will be grateful from heaven
** true freedom as children of God, free from sin. 
----We discussed the world around us, which threw us each into a reflective moment of where we are, who is around us, and how do we get past its temptations, diversions, and deviations from the Lord.

Justin, the youngest among us, recommended prayer.  

And this leads to our next topic: intercession.