Hi, my name's Father Mike Schmitz and this is Essentially Presents.

Presents.

What am I? Monsignor Shay?

Gosh, I don't know how to start this.

Well, actually I do. Sorry, yes, I don't. No, I do. Okay, here we go.

I've been thinking about this a lot lately. The concept of loyalty.

Number one, loyalty is a good. It's actually a virtue.

At the same time, there are limits to loyalty. Here's like, you know,

a mafia movie or TV show or something like this where you have people who end up doing crime

on behalf of the family. We got to do it for the family. Or you have people who are covering up a

crime for the family. And you think like, no, that's being loyal. That's, that's being

faithful to your family. That's, that's, that's being loyal to your kin, right? That's,

in so many ways, in that particular context, it's depicted as this is the right thing to do.

Or I guess if you've seen any of the Fast and Furious movies, it's all about family, right? right. Loyalty is a good. It's a virtue, but there are limits to loyalty. So why is loyalty

a virtue in the first place? I think for many, many reasons. It knits us together. If I can make a

commitment to my family or to a group of people, that can make a commitment to a cause

or even a commitment to my country that transcends my emotions, that transcends my whim, right?

Transcends my feelings, that transcends circumstances where I can say I will be,

I'm part of this family, even when I don't feel like being part of this family. Or I'm going to be

that steady, loyal friend, even when you're making demands on me that I'd rather you weren't making

demands. Or again, I can be loyal to my country, even if the country says, okay, we need you to serve in this way or that way.

Like, there's something really, really good.

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