Cedric Pisegna - The Power and Wisdom of God (01/24/2026)
Hi, I’m Father Cedric Pisegna, the host of «Live with Passion». I’m so glad that you decided to join us today. I want to proclaim to you from the first letter of Paul to the Corinthians, this is chapter 1 verse 23 and 24. «We preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews, folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than people, the weakness of God is stronger than people». I’m creating a series, and it’s called «Be Fruitful,» and I talk about fruitfulness as being your relationship with God and having a personal relationship.
I talk about fruitfulness as improving as a person, growing in character. And I talk about fruitfulness as becoming all that you can be, realizing your potential. The number one thing to be fruitful means is to come to eternal life, and that’s my desire for you. I want to make sure, as a Catholic priest, I want to make sure that you have eternal life. That’s the fruitfulness. That’s the fullness of fruitfulness that the Bible talks about. I’m a Catholic priest, as you know. I’ve been a priest for over 30 years, and in one of the Vatican II documents, Vatican II happened back in the '60s, it was a huge revolutionary console in our church, and one of the Vatican II documents that are very important in our church talked about priesthood, and it talked about the primary duty of a priest.
Now, what would you think the primary duty of a priest is? You might think to hear confessions, that’s important, to preside at Mass, the Eucharist, that’s important. Perhaps you might think the primary duty of a priest is to call meetings together and help the community to form, that’s important, too. Or maybe to raise funds, that’s important, but it said in the documents that, and I agree with this, the primary duty of a Catholic priest is to proclaim the gospel of God to all. The primary duty of a priest isn’t even to preside at the Eucharist, it’s to preach, it’s to proclaim. I remember I was watching a film one time of a group of seminarians back in the 1960s, they all had buzz cuts, and they were all in training to become a priest, and somebody put a mic in front of one of the young guys and said, «Hey, why do you want to be a priest»? And he smiled, and he said, «Because I want to save souls».
And I thought that was so good. The motto of my ministry, «Touching lives, saving souls,» this is what really matters. When we talk about fruitfulness, it’s our soul, our being, our innermost person that needs to be preserved for eternal life. And that’s a mouthful, that word «eternal life». And this is why I became a priest, because I wanted to preach and proclaim what I received, and you can’t give what you don’t have. And what I received was at the cross, Jesus, we heard Paul talk about Jesus, he said, «I preach Christ crucified». The power of God, the wisdom of God. It was Billy Graham that said there’s inbuilt power in the gospel, and I believe that faith comes by hearing, that’s right from the Scriptures, Romans, and as we proclaim the gospel, that power of God will touch you.
The kerygma of the early church, that’s a Greek word, kerygma of the early church, that means the message of the early church was eternal life. That God sent his only Son, that whoever believes would have eternal life. And that kerygma included the way to eternal life was forgiveness. When Jesus rose from the dead, he told the apostles, «Proclaim everywhere that I have been raised from the dead. My suffering was for the forgiveness of sins». I remember I was talking about that one time, and a woman who said she was reading the catechism, and the catechism is great, the Catholic Catechism, and it has a lot of truth. It has the fullness of truth we believe in.
Many however, rules and regulations and commandments, and she said, «Father, I was reading the catechism, and I felt so burdened by my inadequacies and my failures. But then you talked me off the ledge when you proclaimed forgiveness». And that’s right, none of us can totally follow the precepts, the commandments, the laws, if you will, completely and perfectly. And we all need that mercy and that forgiveness. That’s the heart of the gospel. Another person that was watching me on Facebook talked about how they kept thinking about their past, even though they were following Christ and trying to do the best that they could.
They kept thinking about the failures of the past and how they hadn’t lived up to the gospel, and the guilt that they had. And then as I proclaimed forgiveness, they were able to lay their burdens down. Right now as you’re watching, lay your burdens down. Experience the forgiveness, the mercy of God. I want you, and I’m praying for you, that you will, through this program, put you in touch with eternal life. That’s why Jesus came. And he came not just for people to go to church, of course, he came for everybody, hopefully to bring you back to church. He came to bring eternal life, and that’s agape, unconditional love. He loves us just the way we are.
In addition, the gospel means eternal life, a new quality of life, knowing that you’re gonna go to heaven, but it also means God working in our lives right now. Wanted to tell you about a story that touched me from the Old Testament. It’s a story about Elijah. He meets this widow, and he says, «Give me something to eat,» and the widow says to him, «I’ve only got a little flour in a jar, and a little oil in my jug. I was going to prepare a small meal for myself and my son, and then I was gonna go die». And Elijah says, «Well, you give me something, and you will see the abundance and the blessing of God, and your jar will never be empty, and your jug will never go dry». That’s exactly what happened. She prepared him a little meal, little bit of bread, a little bit of water, and there was a multiplication of blessing. And that’s exactly what the gospel is all about.
And if you believe, and if you receive the blessing, maybe you feel empty, or you feel dry, you will experience abundance. I love that saying that says be kind to people, because everybody that you meet is going through a hard battle, so true. Maybe you’re feeling empty right now, you don’t feel like you’re close to God, or you’re feeling dry in your prayer life. People are struggling, and they’re hurting, and they’re empty, and they’re dry and going through sufferings and difficulties, and then the blessing that Elijah offered that widow, and it all multiplied. She was able to have food for her son and herself for a whole year, and she didn’t want to die anymore. She received the abundance and the blessing. That’s exactly what a Catholic priest does. That’s exactly what the gospel is, it’s the blessing of God.
The abundance of God, the grace of God that comes to people, as a Catholic priest, I’m always blessing people. If you’re Catholic, you know how we do it, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, the Lord bless you. And there’s that blessing of Aaron, the great high priest from the Old Testament, and he said, «The Lord bless you and keep you. May his face shine upon you and be gracious to you. May God’s countenance be lifted up upon you and give you peace».
That’s exactly what priests do, the priests of the Old Testament, the priests of the New Testament. We are mediators. There’s one mediator, Jesus, but we are priests of the new covenant of Jesus Christ, and we mediate that blessing of God to you. And I’m praying as you’re watching this program right now you will sense this enduement, this grace, this blessing of God upon your life right now. Maybe you feel like the widow. You feel like you just want to die. You can be lifted up. That’s why we preach. We preach to lift people up, to make you fruitful, and to bring you into a personal relationship with God so that you can have eternal life. That you know the power of the cross. Simply receive, believe, and receive.
I belong to a religious community, you can see by my habit here, I’m a religious priest, there are different types of priests, diocesan priests, they stay in a certain locale, and religious priests. And then there’s different types of religious priests, because I know that many of you aren’t Catholic that are watching my programs, and you’re not quite familiar. But you’ve all heard about Jesuits. Pope Francis, for example, is a Jesuit. That’s a religious community. You’ve heard about the Franciscans, founded by St. Francis of Assisi. They are a religious community in the Catholic Church. There’s Dominicans, there’s Servites, and there’s Passionists, Redemptorists, and all kinds, thousands really, of religious communities in the church. And Passionists, I’m a Passionist. We have a dedication to the passion, that’s what this sign means, the passion of Jesus Christ. That’s our first vow, to proclaim the passion.
That’s exactly what Paul the Apostle was doing. We preach Christ crucified. That’s kind of our foundational verse for the Passionists. We were all founded by different saints in the Catholic Church. For example, the Jesuits founded by Saint Ignatius of Loyola, Franciscans founded by Saint Francis of Assisi. The Benedictines founded by St. Benedict, and the Passionists founded by Saint Paul of the Cross. Paul preached about what really matters. He wasn’t just trying to entertain people, or tickle people’s ears, or just bring people to church and to get money for the church as I was saying. No, he was a hunter of souls, and what he gave them was salvation through the cross. You see, the primary duty of a Catholic priest is to proclaim the gospel, the kerygma, and the message is eternal life, forgiveness, God lifting you up from your dryness and your emptiness. And that’s what my ministry is dedicated to, that’s what this is all about.
Paul the Apostle, «We preach Christ crucified, the power of God, and the wisdom of God». Now, Paul learned this. He went to Athens one time, this is from the Acts of the Apostles, and he was gonna give these philosophers on the Areopagus where he was preaching, that’s right there in Athens, the Areopagus. I studied in Athens and learned about it. And he was preaching about the Resurrection, tryin' to give them something new, and they kinda looked at him and said, «We’ll hear you again sometime about this, Paul». It was one of his failures, it didn’t really work out for him. His preaching didn’t have all that effectiveness. Next place he went was Corinth, not too far from Athens. And he said, «I wanted to know nothing among you, except Christ and him crucified».
See, that’s what matters, the cross and the Resurrection of course. But it’s that cross that forgives us and brings us power and salvation. Here I am, a teenager, 18, 19 years old, and couldn’t help but watch TV. When you’re watching TV, you couldn’t help come into contact with Billy Graham. I remember being so intrigued by him. In fact, years later I can look back in retrospect, and say that one of the reasons why I became a Catholic priest was because of Billy Graham and his preaching, his integrity, the beauty of the message that he proclaimed. And I would watch his crusades on television, and I could see thousands of people gathered there. Billy preached the core message of the cross. He would always talk about Jesus crucified, the salvation of our souls, the forgiveness of our sins, why? Because he realized that that’s what really matters.
That’s the heart of the gospel message. And he cut out all the fat, and he got right to the heart of it all, to the core message of Christianity: forgiveness. And I was always amazed how hundreds, if not thousands of people, when he gave the altar call, would get up out of their chairs and come forward. I know that many of you already go to church, but I remember it his crusades he would turn around and he talked to the people in the choir. He’d say maybe you’re a member of the choir, but you need Christ. Get up and come to Christ. What he was saying was that just because you go to church doesn’t mean that you know Christ. And I’m not pooh-poohing church, of course I want everybody to go to church, and worship, and build community, and contribute, and also use your talents to help other people. But the bottom line is, is that going to church doesn’t save you. It’s an expression, hopefully, of your salvation.
And I remember how they would get up out of the choir, and come to the front, and give their lives to Christ. I’ve read his magazine, «Decision Magazine» talked about how people would come forward, maybe ten years ago, and now they’re deacons in the church, or leaders in the church, or pastors of the church, or involved in the church in different ways, because their life was touched and changed. That’s what I’m hoping for you. Whether you go to church or not, that you will simply surrender. There was a beautiful song that they used at his crusades, it was called «Just As I Am,» and the words are, «Just as I am without one plea, but that your blood was shed for me. And that you bid me to come to thee, O Lamb of God, I come, I come».
And I think it’s significant that that song was sung all the time, «Just As I Am,» because many people today are addicted, many people today are stuck in habitual sins. People today are struggling with anger and feeling distant from God, and the song doesn’t say when you get it all together, then come. No, the song says just as you are, with your addictions, with your broken relationships, with your sinfulness, with your hurting person. Just as you are, come and he will receive you. Jesus will accept you. He will love you. He said whoever comes to me, I won’t cast you out. He said, «Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy burdened, and I will give you rest». Come to me, all you who are burdened. Burdened with guilt and shame of the past, or whatever it is, simply come, surrender your life to Jesus right where you are. Give your heart to him, and I pray that you will experience the blessing of God.
I pray, Heavenly Father, for everybody watching this program right now, that they will know your unconditional love for them. That you created them to live forever. I am praying that they will become fruitful and know eternal life. And that from this moment on, things will be different. Maybe their jar is empty and their jug as dry, but there will be a filling, and a new moisture, an abundance, a saturation, and may you know the blessing of Almighty God. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Another influence on me was Bishop Fulton Sheen. Bishop Fulton Sheen was the Catholic version of Billy Graham. He was a bishop in the Catholic church back in the '60s, and his program that was airing on television, he was a media missionary, was opposite many secular people that were famous at the time, and he was actually getting better ratings than them. Bishop Sheen’s program was called «Life is Worth Living,» and that’s so true. Life is worth living. In his program, he proclaimed the same thing, that Jesus died for us, and he rose for us to bring us eternal life. In his book, «The Life of Christ,» Bishop Sheen talked about how the cross lay over the crib. That Jesus was the only person ever born to die.
Think of that. The reason, the meaning, the purpose that Jesus came into life, he was born to die, to bring us eternal life. The cross is the core message of Christianity, and that’s what I proclaim. Touching lives, saving souls. There was a revivalist years ago, his name was Billy Sunday, he used to have these tent revivals, and people would come and give their lives to Christ and come to salvation. That’s what churches are all about, they should be all about. That’s what preachers should be preaching. Remember, the primary duty of a priest is proclaim the gospel. And that’s what evangelists are all about. Evangelist, that word means evangelion, that means gospel, people who proclaim the gospel.
«How beautiful are the feet of those who proclaim good news,» that’s right from Isaiah. Anyway, Billy Sunday was preaching one time, and they had a great revival, thousands of people in the tent, people came forward and were saved, and it was beautiful. And then after the service, they were cleaning up and a man comes, he was all bent out of shape, he comes running up because he missed the service, and he goes, «Billy,» he says, «What do I gotta do to be saved? What do I gotta do to be saved»? And Billy Sunday looked at him, and he said, «You’re too late. It’s too late». He said, «What»? he said, «What do you mean it’s too late? What do I gotta do to be saved»? He said, «It’s too late, you’re too late. You can’t do anything to be saved. Everything’s been done for you on the cross, but you can, right now, believe and receive». I love that, because many people think that they can earn it, or merit it, or deserve it, or there’s something that they can, some kind of good work that they can do.
Now, I’m not saying don’t have good works, because good works are a part of faith, it’s two sides of a coin. You believe, you have confidence, and you have good works. I call it the works not of the law, the works of faith. And he was saying, «What do I gotta do»? And Billy Sunday was saying, «Believe, simply believe, trust. Trust in God for salvation». And that’s what I want for you as you’re watching this program. Saint Paul of the cross, the founder of the Passionist community, used to point to the crucifix. Now, the crucifix doesn’t have any power. It stands for, it is a metaphor, it is an image of Jesus crucified.
Remember, it was his once-and-for-all sacrifice that saves us, and the crucifix shows that. And also, what we do at Mass as Catholics remembers that. That’s that dynamic remembering of the cross. We celebrate at every Mass the passion of Jesus. And he pointed at the crucifix, and he said, «The cross is the miracle of miracles». People are looking for miracles, the cross is the miracle. And then he said, «It’s the most overwhelming work of God’s love». How do you know that God loves you? A lot of people don’t feel it. Simply gaze at a crucifix. And then he said, «Everything can be found in the cross,» what everything?
Mercy, forgiveness, the blessing of God, the goodness of God. I think you understand the message that I’m proclaiming to you today. It’s the core message of Christianity. The reason why I was ordained a priest, again, not to entertain people, not to pack churches, not to make a lot of money, because I’ve professed a vow of poverty. Just like that young man that I talked about back in the '60s with the crew cut, why did you become a priest? To save souls. I don’t do the saving, Jesus does the saving, I help bring people to Jesus. I want you to be fruitful. I want you to bear the fruit of having eternal life.
And in order to do that, you can’t earn it, you don’t deserve it, and you’re never gonna be able to merit it, you simply believe. Remember in the desert the snake was held up, and whoever looked at it was healed. And Jesus said, «Just as the snake was lifted up in the desert by Moses, so I must be lifted up that whoever believes may have eternal life». This program is a special program all about faith, faith in Christ crucified, the kerygma message, the core message of the Catholic Church, the core message of Christianity. I pray that you will believe and receive, and may the blessing of Almighty God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit descend upon you, remain with you, forever and ever, amen. Don’t just live, live with passion.