A pastor asked a neighboring pastor to cover the Sunday 12:00 Mass. She said, “I’d be delighted.” So, the visiting priest gets up there and begins his homily, and goes on and on and on and on and on and on and on, and all of a sudden, from the back of the church, the pastor yells out, “Amen, Pharaoh!” The visiting priest just keeps going on with his homily, and hears a few minutes later, “Amen, Pharaoh!” Priest keeps going on with his homily, and a third time, the pastor in the back of the church yells out, “Amen, Pharaoh!” And the visiting pastor is taking this all in, or the visiting priest, finishes the Mass, goes to the back and says to the pastor, “Why’d you keep yelling out, ‘Amen, Pharaoh’ “during my homily?” The pastor said, “What I was trying to tell you was, “let my people go.” I promise to let you go within a half hour, all right? Today’s gospel clearly speaks to me one powerful message, the consequences of fidelity and faithfulness to the Lord is this: We must be different. We must be different. There’s a beautiful story that captures reality. Everyday, Maria accompanied her friend, Janet, to the newsstand. And Janet would always receive the newspaper from the newsman. And Janet would always, everyday, be very courteous and kind and say, “Good morning, how are you?” The newsman always, everyday, very gruff and discourteous in return. So everyday, Janet put the money down, “Good morning, how are you?” “Ra-ra-rough”, the guy was gruff in return. So the two ladies are walking to the street one day, and Maria once asked Janet, “Are you always so polite to him everyday, “you put the money down? “Everyday I say, ‘Good morning, how are you?’ “Everyday he’s always so gruff and mean to you in return. “Everyday he’s gruff and mean.” And she said, “Why are you always so nice to him, “he’s always so gruff and mean to you?” And she said, “Because I’m not gonna let him decide “how I’m gonna act. “I’m not gonna let him decide how I’m going to act.” What does it mean to be a follower of Jesus? We need to sense the value of our own selves. We need to sense the value of others. Thomas Merton, the well known Trappist monk once said, “We’re not at peace with others “because we’re not at peace with ourselves. “And we’re not at peace with ourselves, “because we’re not at peace with God.” Don’t ask yourself, “Does God have a place in my life?” Ask instead, “What place does God have in my life?” Not always a popular question by society’s standards. It may even cause division and rift. Remember this, no one can go back and start a new beginning, but starting today, you can make a new ending.