Called To Communion - 03/12/18 - Dr. David Anders - Understanding Confession and Mortal sin

what's stopping you from becoming a Catholic why can't women become priests one eighty three three two eight eight EWTN I don't understand why one eighty three two eight eight three nine eight six why do I need to confess my sins to a priest what's stopping you this is called to communion with dr. David Anders on the EWTN global Catholic radio network hey everybody welcome again to the Monday edition of call to Communion here on EWTN the global Catholic radio network now what is this show all about good grief well guess what it's not like any other show on EWTN or anywhere else up and down the dial this is a program for our non Catholic brothers and sisters those of you who are not Catholic maybe you were a fallen away Catholic maybe you've never been a Catholic but you have some interest in the faith maybe you're even thinking about becoming a Catholic well hey but then there's these questions that you need to have answered before you can make that final step cross over the goal line as it were so that is our whole reason to be here is our phone number if you have questions about the Catholic faith that we can answer for you eight three three two eight eight EWTN eight three three two eight eight three nine eight six you can also text the letters EWTN to five five zero zero zero wait for the response from us and then text us your first name and your brief question message and data rates may apply they they make me say that they forced me to say message and data rates by all rights I'm saying it right message and data rates may apply you know how this works anyway the phone number again eight three three two eight eight EWTN Michael Burchfield is our producer Matt Kaminski will be the voice on the phone the first person you speak with when you do call Michael McCaul is a handling social media for us today he'll be taking those questions that you posed via YouTube and Facebook I'm Tom price welcoming dr. David Anders Tom how are you today I'm groovy how are you I'm pretty groovy glad to hear that you had a good weekend my friend I had a sleepy weekend no you were knocked out on the couch miss that we know you were kind of doped up weren't you yeah sort of them perpetually insomniac is always tired and and I decided that you know it was a weekend I could take something to help me sleep and took this you know over-the-counter stuff and you know it worked all day Sunday all days okay right you know so still woke up early on Sunday morning but then I was the Lost Weekend kind of lost week okay well we'll hopefully get you revved up with some of these great questions here we have a question here from Beth in Texas she says back earlier this year on your February 5th mailbag show you discussed how a lay person may not extend a blessing during a liturgical service now I'm aware of this with regard to extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion but on the feast of st. Blaise which was February 3rd a female layperson was placing candles over the throats of the congregation and issuing a blessing as they processed up to the sanctuary area this was during the mass after the homily but before the Liturgy of the Eucharist so is this a different circumstance or was my throat blessing not efficacious just wondering thanks Beth in Texas okay thanks first of all we would I don't think we would ever I'm not going to say that a prayer is an efficacious right all right we're going to talk about whether it's liturgically appropriate okay or legal all right okay good and and I am NOT an expert on rubrics okay but I will say there is this difference in the difference is that in the blessing the feast of st. Blaise the candles that are used in the ceremony have been blessed by a priest okay all right so you know my lightsaber is charged up and you know I I I don't know what the rubrics say I don't know what the law is I know that it is an extremely common practice when you have a a lot of people for the fisa same place to bring in lay people and charge them up with the Blessed candles okay whether or not the The Seeker congregation on Divine Liturgy has a public statement on that is something I haven't looked for they probably do now the fact that something is common is by no means evidence that it's lawful and so that's where I would go I would go to the Sacred Congregation the Vatican de Castries that is in charge of issuing these directives and I would do a little research sounds good gotta is checking us out on Facebook gotta says what do you tell a Protestant who thinks every Pope changes the doctrine of the church I would say that the Protestant does not understand either the nature or the history of Catholic doctrine or dogma and and so I would say you know the one of the nice things about being Catholic is a lot of times the answer to a question in Catholicism is yes but or it depends on what you mean okay and the the dogmas of the faith okay these are the these are the things that unite us as Catholics that make us Catholic okay they they absolutely don't change and in fact the their formulation in classic creedal statements like the Nicene Creed are you know they're permanent Testaments to the to the enduring vigor and in integrity of the Catholic faith okay and we you know we're not making changes to the to the creed okay and and the same thing goes for the councils like the Council of Trent that has you know issued detailed numerous statements of Catholic dogma and if you pick up the Catechism of the Catholic Church and read through it which is the Catechism of the Catholic Church is not a dogmatic declaration okay it's not a conciliar statement but it is an authoritative representation of what the church believes and what ought to be set forth in the context of catechesis teaching people the content of the faith read through the sources that are referenced in the Catechism of the Catholic Church and you'll find constant I mean every page is just stick with footnotes references to sacred tradition to conceal your statements councils dogmatic declarations in the law okay now the application theologically all right of the dogmatic commitments of the Catholic faith to particular concrete historical circumstances must always change you know I listen to a lecture one time by Alistair McIntyre a great Catholic philosopher who who said the lecture was called Catholic instead of what and his point was that the Catholic part stays the same but the instead of what part changes in every generation you know whatever that whatever the sort of major cultural alternative is to Catholicism is going to differ in every age in every country and every civilization okay and so the answer that the church has to gives as it as it tries to make the faith intelligible to the wider world is going to be different all the time you know it looks very different to combat you know fourth century manake ISM and to combat modern you know neo-darwinian materialism even though they're gonna be commonalities analogies and the answers the form the answer takes is gonna have to change because the our interlocutor has changed right okay hope that's a helpful for you thank you so much for sending us that gotta and when we come back we'll be talking with Ashley in one of my favorite cities Panama City Florida we'll also be taking more of your texts your emails and there's open phone lines for you right now because it's Monday I'm starting off the week a little bit slow that's okay you've got an opportunity call now eight three three two eight eight EWTN eight three three two eight eight three nine eight six it's called a communion here on EWTN shearing the fullness of the Catholic faith 23 3 2 8 8 EWTN one eight three three two eight eight three nine eight six this is call to communion with dr. David Anders on the EWTN global Catholic radio network this is Matt Swain from the sunrise morning show howdy folks this is Jimmy akin all of us at Catholic Answers live and EWTN are praying that you and yours have a holy and blessed Lenten season podcasting is an easy way to automatically receive your favorite EWTN programs on your mobile device visit ewtn.com slash podcast and enjoy your favorite EWTN shows on your mobile phone right now this is life issues with Brad mattis president of life issues Institute if you need any more proof that Hollywood is out of touch with America the recent Oscars are more their audience continues to decline with good reason days ago they featured 10 activists on stage while the rapper common and singer Andra day sang a song promoting every current leftist cost including abortion on demand until birth outgoing Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards was one of those on stage at one point the rapper sang of taking Annie because God is great but then sang the praise of abortion it's painfully ironic that while both singers and several activists on stage were black and all taking a stand for the downtrodden Planned Parenthood targets the poor and women of color for abortion yes we're clearly in a cultural war like us on Facebook at life issues and stay informed more informed than you've ever been what's stopping you from becoming a Catholic you are called to communion with dr. David Anders to a8 ewtn one eight three three two eight eight three nine eight six if you're ready now let's get back to the phones here at eight three three two eight eight EWTN we begin with Ashley in Panama City listening to us on Guadalupe radio hey actually what's on your mind today hello there I'm very excited to be able to ask you this question my boyfriend I've been together from about three and a half maybe four years and last night I attended his Catholic Church for the very first time and it's very beautiful on the inside and I enjoyed it but I I understood very little of what was happening I'm hoping for a referral for something just the absolute beginner and a thought I don't understand I really don't even know they Eucharist wonderful thank you so much so you're looking for like for published resources you want a book recommendation is that was the absolute beginners okay so I think there there are two places that you might you might start one of them is a book by Scott Hahn H Ahn the title of the book is the Lambs supper L AM B apostrophe s supper okay the other one is by Edward 3s RI and the title is it's a biblical walk through the mass isn't that the title I believe so I think both of these are available at the ewtn religious catalogue now if I might while I've got you on the air I'm not just gonna leave you with two books I want to talk to you just a little bit about the mouth and of course the foundation for the mass is the institution of Christ that Jesus gave us the mass and there are many places in the Bible that talk about the mass Luke chapter 22 is one of them the account of the Lord's Supper when Jesus met with his disciples and he took bread and said this is my body and he took a cup a chalice of wine and he said this is the the cup of the chalice of the New Covenant in my blood do this in memory of me and st. Paul in the book of first Corinth in the New Testament you go back and reread first Corinthians speaks about this and he says the tradition that I received from the Lord I hand on to you namely on the night that he was betrayed he took bread and so forth and then Paul says as often as we eat this bread or drink this cup we proclaim the Lord's death until he comes okay and of course so Paul what he is writing the letter of first Corinthians it has points points or as a reference to an institution that existed before his letter right the liturgical celebration of the mass is something that predated the writing of the Bible and Paul identifies it is really the principal form the principal means of proclaiming the death and resurrection of Jesus this this this ritual that Christ instituted st. Paul says this is what we do having received it from the Lord and this is how we proclaim the death and resurrection of Jesus the mass came before the Bible that's a very important point now if I might also unpack a little bit the words of Christ when he says this is the cup of the New Covenant in my blood what is he talking about there well a covenant a covenant is a sacred bond a sacred bond between two parties and in the ancient world they didn't have written constitutions like the American Constitution you know you had monarchies yet feudalism you'd have of Lord neva soul and the way they would bind themselves in a relationship of unity and mutual support the Lord to protect the vassal the vassal to serve the Lord would be by way of a covenant they would make certain solemn promises to one another and they would ratify the Covenant with sacrifice they would slaughter an animal and they would ratify it with a sacrifice and God represents himself in the Bible is establishing a covenant relationship to his people and we see that in many places one of them is in the book of Exodus God establishes a covenant with the people of Israel and in exodus 20:4 Moses says slaughters an animal sprinkles the people with blood and says this is the blood of the Covenant now you have to do all the words of the Covenant you have to obey all that God has commanded you gives us to the people of Israel as he Institute's the Mosaic law the law this is law you're familiar with and the life of perhaps your Jewish friends and they avoid certain foods and and you know perform certain acts of worship and so forth and obey the Ten Commandments and all the rest of it but in the Book of Jeremiah meant written long after the time of Moses Jeremiah looks forward to a time when he says there will be a new covenant this is Jeremiah 31 he says God will make a new covenant it won't be like the Covenant that he wrote on tablets of stone this will be a covenant that he writes on human hearts by his Holy Spirit and it will incorporate and I'm pulling in some other biblical prophecies here it'll incorporate not just Jews but the whole world right and that's the new covenant that Jesus refers to he says just like Moses said this is the blood of the Covenant Jesus says this is the blood of the new covenant the covenant not written on stone but written on hearts through the gift of the Holy Spirit and one of the one of the phrases that comes out of the mass as we speak of the masses the memorial of the death and resurrection of Jesus okay now the language of Memorial in the Bible doesn't simply mean calling to mind an event that happened in the past all right it's actually the language of sacrifice the Old Testament talks about a memorial offering being given to the Lord all right so it's a it's a sac it's a type of sacrifice that that represents and recapitulates okay the events of the past Cornelius in Acts chapter 10 is told by the angel your gifts in your sacrifices and your prayers to the poor I've come up before God as a memorial offering same word being used here okay so when Christ commands the celebration of the mass he has in mind more than just a symbol that would call to my events of the past he actually is exhorting us to participate in an action that presents to God in the present moment all right in a mystical way that is to say a way that escapes our rational understanding his very own body and blood this is my body this is my blood in reparation for the of the world so the mass is above all not just a commemoration but an active participation in the sacrifice of Christ we sacrifice our own lives we surrender our lives to God we want to be his children we want to obey Him in all things we render him do you worship and honor and praise with the most sublime sacrifice that there is the sacrifice of his only beloved son sent into the world for to save sinners to offer his own life as a sacrifice for son we enter into that mystery through the Holy Sacrifice of the mass and pray that the mystery of Jesus's death and resurrection would be recapitulated repeated renewed within our own hearts that we could come to imitate him in his virtues and his good works in his love and his charity actually that's an awful lot of information is that helpful for you thank you very much you are welcome and if you want to hear that again you can certainly check out the podcast go to EWTN radio dotnet EWTN radio dotnet we'll have that posted for you and a couple of hours after the show thanks again for giving us a call this is called a communion here on EWTN eight three three two eight eight EWTN is our phone number Brian is in st. Louis listing on covenant radio hey Brian what's on your mind today yeah someone is asking me they said talking about Catholicism they said well Catholicism is just another ideologies like all the others so what is first of all what is an ideology compared to the Catholic faith what's the difference I mean different thank you thank you thank you thank you I love this question what a great question okay so etiology is the word the word ideology is a modern term that comes out of the study of the of the French Revolution okay ideology means a theory about social relations a theory about social relations that is meant to prescribe all right a form of social or economic relationship as a kind of ideal type all right so let me give you some examples of historic ideologies all right the the the rash ideology of the French Revolution as a classic case in point the the French revolutionaries believed that if they could eliminate the influence of religion from the public sphere and instead enshrine the godess reason all right the principles of democratic and representative government that they could bring about kind of the perfect society on earth and if they had to chop off a lot of people's heads in the process that was okay outright and they did they chopped off a lot of heads including a lot of Catholics another example of a historic ideology would be the ideology of free market capitalism all right we find it in the wealth of nations by Adam Smith and Smith held that the ideal form of social relations is one in which there is as as little restriction on free trade and property ownership as possible and that market forces would lead to the most efficient distribution of resources in the greatest creation of wealth in society all right so we ought to we had a work in Smith's view towards towards free markets and the free exchange of goods and resources and guaranteed the laws of property ownership and so forth bring about the ideal society if we can do that Karl Marx is another example of historic ideology Marx of course rejected Smith's view and thought that the ideal Society was one in which the means of production were owned by the collective representatively through the state and that his famous phrase of course was from each according to his ability to each according to his need and that if the means of production factories farms and the like were actually owned by everybody collectively then nobody would be in poverty and everybody would have enough and nobody would lord it over his neighbor and of course the hundreds of millions that died in the 20th century in the Soviet gulags and and Pol Pot's killing fields and in the Cultural Revolution of Mao's China have put the lie to the claim of Marxism as an ideology Marxism has kind of a recurrent form in the modern world in the form of identity politics all right instead of the capitalist classes of the the bourgeoisie and the proletariat neo-marxists divide the world into oppressors and oppressed we have you know colonizers and those who are the beneficiaries of white supremacy or white white privilege I think is the term and then everybody else eivol marginalized groups and justice and society will be properly rendered when we when we can label everybody correctly according to their various identity groups and then parcel out access to political representation economic power or privilege or prestige or what have you according to identity group and if only we can do that then then of course will achieve the utopian state so any any sort of theory of human relationship that purports to organize society according to a particular pattern in order to bring about the best possible state of affairs that's what we mean by ideology okay now the Catholic faith uh is as far removed from that is the East is from the West that's pretty far as far removed from that as the East is from the West the Catholic Church adamantly rejects the idea that you can prescribe an a theoretical abstract statement of ideal human relationships that will perfect the human person or civil society alright and the classic Catholic position on this was stated by st. Augustine of Hippo in the fifth century in his book city of God and the whole argument of that book is that from the dawn of time to the end of time men are vitiated 'add by their evil motives their evil hearts that they will habitually abuse power no matter what their ideology and that that suffering and evil are a pervasive part of the human condition but that God has seeded throughout the human family in every culture in every age those who have sought to live just an upright lives as so much salt and light in in the in the body politic and in the civil community but their ultimate horizon is not this world but in the life of heaven alright the City of God and and that the two cities the city of man the world of ideology and political fan and conquests and the City of God the life lived with an eye towards eternity will forever coexist in intermingle and the church hopes to be an influence an agent for good in the world and to move people towards a more just inhumane social order without prescribing the exact form that that ought to take in any particular concrete circumstance and with the confession that will never get to the ideal form of human social relations because even if you could have absolute perfect knowledge which is impossible of every of every circumstance or condition known to mankind even if you could articulate the perfect theory of social relations which of course is impossible but even if you could it would still have to be implemented by human beings sure sure and we would always fall short so the the fact that there are Catholic monarchists Catholic socialists Catholic Republicans Catholic Democrats you know that there there are Catholics spread across the political spectrum holding divergent and mutually exclusive ideologies and they're all embraced within the bosom of the church's her children sometimes her rather foolish and naive and overly ideological children his testament to the fact that the Catholic Church is not an ideology at all Brian thank you so much for your call we really do appreciate that I want to in our closing moments here of this segment I want to let you know about something wonderful happening on EWTN television this weekend 2:00 p.m. Eastern on ewt it'll be a special program the 2017 ewtn catholic radio conference hosted by our friends father larry richards and dr. ray guarendi and i believe i remember who the keynote speaker at the radio conference was do you remember who that was david sister fella they gave 23 hours notice to ya then I remember that guy that would be you yeah be sure to check that out on EWTN television that was passed David yeah but you did a great job you really really knocked it out of the park check it out this weekend on TV Saturday 2 p.m. Eastern on EWTN television in a moment we'll be talking with John in New Mexico Sylvia in Vermont and hopefully lots more on this edition of call to communion here on EWTN - stay with us a [Music] meditation for the Monday of the 4th week of Lent brings us to a very beautiful account in the Gospel of st. John in the fourth chapter in the 46th verse now you must remember Jesus had not been well received in his own town of Nazareth but he had been received by the Samaritans a group of Semitic people that did not get along with the Jews and the Jews with them and so Jesus came to the little village that is very close to where he grew up to the village of Cana where he had changed the water to wine and an official it's not clear but generally people think he was not a Jewish official he was a pagan or a Gentile but he was a believer and he came and asked Jesus if he would cure his son jesus said to him trying him unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe but the official said to him sir come down before my child dies and jesus said to him go your son will live and the man believed the words that Jesus spoke to him and he went on his way and as it was going along his servants came and told him that the boy was healed and he asked him when and they said yesterday at the seventh hour the father knew that that was the hour when Jesus had said to him your son will live life is an ocean of painful mysteries no religion can give an adequate answer to that but there are times that mysteriously and without explanation God delivers a person from the laws of nature from the operation of natural laws and we rejoice but if we don't get what we're looking for we should remember the words of our Lord that this is an unbelieving generation and you see signs and wonders you do not believe say back to God Lord we believe I'm Brian Patrick tomorrow Gloria Purvis is back at Guadalupe studio father Thomas Petrie is our godly counsel and our guests include Stephanie gray for morning glory on EWTN radio now back to called the communion with dr. David Andrews what's stopping you from becoming a Catholic you are called to communion with dr. David Andrews - aw tn1 eight three three two eight eight three nine eight six all right back to the phones on this Monday of the fourth week of Lent can you believe that David fourth week of Lent already how are your wonder how are your Lenten promises going so far you know I made some personal resolutions and I've I've only come close to breaking that's good I made them reachable attainable well I made I made one thing that I was going to give up and I have successfully given that up and this other thing that I was going to adopt and I'm not doing so good on that although I I heard a homily this weekend I went to Mass and father said he asked somebody has you Lent going and person said how fathers going great I gave up carbs and I've dropped 10 pounds and he said it it's not about weight loss no no it's about God that's right try to keep that in mind Sylvia in South Burlington Vermont checking us out on the TV side today Sylvia what's on your mind today yeah good afternoon I was wondering how praying the rosary and the rosary itself in the know Venus to the Blessed Mother tying with Scripture and the Bible if it does thank you I appreciate that so the Bible tells us that the saints in heaven pray for us the book of Revelation chapter 5 the book of Revelation chapter 8 the book of Tobit chapter 12 the book of second Maccabees chapter 15 and other passages of Scripture tell us that the saints in heaven for us they pray on behalf of the church on earth the Blessed Mother is the most glorious of all the saints she's the only saint to whom an angel spoke saying hail full of grace now you think about how awesome that is most of the time when people see angels they're the ones falling on their knees and they are tempted to worship an angel the angel says nun I don't do that don't do that all right but with the Blessed Virgin Mary Gabriel says to her hail full of grace he's the one hailing her so right the all the Saints pray for us in heaven but none more imminently than the Blessed Virgin Mary and of course she herself prophesied concerning this and said all generations will call me blessed and she demonstrates to us that she is the perfect Christian disciple because she says to the angel be it done to me according to thy word now that's the call of all Christian discipleship that we would be able to say to God be it done to me according to thy word when we have or Jesus himself who said I've come not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me and remember also in the account of the wedding feast at Cana when she had to engage the world about her son her advice was do whatever he tells you so all the saints in heaven pray for us nun pray for us more efficaciously more powerfully than the all holy all chaste all pure all glorious Blessed Virgin Mary okay and she herself has said that all generations will call her blessed all right so when we pray the rosary or when we ask for the prayers of any saint we're simply doing what God would like us to do which is to cultivate friendship with the Saints because their prayers are more efficacious more powerful than ours st. James says and James chapter 5 that the prayer of a righteous man is very effective the prayer of a righteous man availeth much the Blessed Virgin Mary is as righteous as it gets because she has the fullness of grace doesn't mean you can't ask other Saints to pray for you doesn't mean you can't pray for yourself but you know you'd rather have you'd rather have her praying for you than otherwise so it's perfectly appropriate to ask her for her prayers now the rosary as a as a particular devotion is in the scope of Christian history relatively recent it's only about a thousand years old okay so in other words you know two string beads on a string you know and and count out ten Hail Marys and an our father and a glory be and to meditate on the mysteries that whole process is about a thousand years old no prayers to the Blessed Virgin Mary go back way way way earlier in Christian history all right we find we find prayers to the Blessed Virgin Mary way in the early history of the church okay but the rosary is such a little bit more recent okay however it was compiled by the church in her wisdom as a beautiful devotion to help us not only ask the Blessed Virgin Mary for her prayers mm-hmm but also to think about the holiness of her life and the life of her son Jesus so you know when you pray the rosary one of the things you do is you meditate on the called the mysteries but they're basically scenes episodes in the life of Christ in the life of Mary so that we might come to imitate their virtues all right and it also includes other prayers as well like the Our Father and the glory be and so on so in the prayer of the Rosary itself if you if you break down the words of the Rosary many of them are biblical phrases that we take straight out of Sacred Scripture hail Mary full of grace that's the angelic salutation the Lord is with you also in Sacred Scripture blessed art thou among women that's you know this is what is what st. Elizabeth says at the visitation yes blessed art thou my woman plus it is afraid to thy womb jesus holy mary well she is holy because she has the plenitude of grace mother of God the phrase mother of God is an ancient Christian term applied to the Blessed Virgin Mary to confess the divinity of Jesus if we believe that Jesus is God himself then stands treason Jesus is Mary is the mother of God Holy Mary Mother of God pray for us sinners we've already discussed how God desires us to ask the saints for their press please pray for us now and at the hour of our death it's very important that we remain in the faith until the hour of our death Jesus tells us in Matthew 25 he who persevered to the end will be saved he got a persevere you want to have grace to Suvir we want to ask the Blessed Virgin Mary and all the saints to pray for us that we might persevere now and up until the moment of our death Sylvia thank you so much for your call we hope that's helpful for you this is called a communion here on EWTN let's go now to John in Rio dough so New Mexico checking us out today online ewtn.com hey John what's on your mind today yes dr. Anders I have two grandnephews one seven and one not and they're being raised in a non-denominational Baptist environment and they have not been baptized and my question is if the Protestant view of original sin and the age of accountability puts a child's soul in peril okay thanks John well both of these children have attained the age of reason okay and st. Thomas teaches that even a child outside the Christian faith at the age of reason is could not consciously not consciously but in a very real sense is confronted with the choice for or against God for or against the life of Grace in the soul all right and and and so these children are already involved in the drama of moral decision-making and moral responsibility okay now they're in a better position than a lot of kids because even though they have not yet had Christian baptism they have they have learned some truths about God in his plan of salvation through Jesus and because of their Baptist Church all right they hadn't gotten the whole truth and they may have an admixture of error in there but they've got more truth about God in Christ in the moral life then say you know someone born into an atheist household okay and while there's no promise all right there's no there's no visible sign that can demonstrate that sanctifying grace has been made available to them st. Thomas teaches that that a child who reaches the age of reason who does not have access to the grace of baptism can receive the baptism of desire I by willingly desiring to follow God with grace through the mediation of a son Jesus to the best extent of their ability to understand no because they they don't have the sacrament we cannot presume that they have the grace of the baptism of the desire okay but neither can we presume that they lack it all right we would be more comforted we would have more certainty if they receive the sacrament of baptism now if they're Baptists they will I will Baptists are big on baptizing people at a certain age and so we hope that that comes sooner rather than later all right and then they'll have certainty about the grace conveyed to them in Baptism you know so it's better it's better yeah but we don't have to throw up our hands and despair either okay very good John thank you so much for your call this is called a communion here on EWTN our phone number eight three three two eight eight EWTN eight three three two eight eight three nine eight two six let's go now to Teresa who lives in my college town Cape Girardeau Missouri and checking us out today on the TV side hello Teresa what's on your mind today between the Catholic Church and the Protestant Church by that I mean there are thousands of different denominations of Protestant and Crash's each other and they certainly crash with the Catholic doctrine and so I was wondering if the Catholic is a person church still considered part of the body of Christ or is it kind of like I don't know an amputated limb okay thanks so I I think eat that the the metaphor that you have given and the and the the dichotomy that you suggested does not exhaust the possibilities I think we need to we need to look to a different metaphor to understand the relationships of Protestants to the to the body of Christ there are not 50,000 different churches out there there's only one church okay so we don't want to think about it in terms of what is the relationship of the Catholic Church to say the Presbyterian Church right there's only one there's no there's no say strictly speaking there's no such thing as the Presbyterian Church because there's only one church the church is the society founded by Christ to teach the truth to to sanctify its members through the sacraments to unite them together in one corporate body and to and as the body of Christ to be light and salt in the world to invite all people to salvation through Christ that's only one church that church exists in it's with all of its requisite parts and in its coherent organization in the Catholic Church under the headship of the Pope United with all the bishops celebrating the same liturgy throughout the entire world the Catholic Church that's where the body of Christ subsists that's the language the church uses in its fullness and plenitude all right and there are no other churches that's it ain't but one one church one faith one Lord one baptism so what we have to ask is what is the nature of the relationship of individual Protestants to the Catholic Church to the one Church all right and they exist in the answer to that is that they exist in a wounded condition as members of the one body of Christ the only one okay they they are as it were remote members okay they have elements of truth and sanctification but not the whole shebang okay they are united in a in a wounded way in a wounded way okay through no fault of their own all right now and so there you go now their their condition is is objectively a worse all right because they lack the fullness of truth about grace in the moral life they lack all of the means of grace okay and they certainly lack that visible unity in the body of Christ that's afforded by our you know common system of governance does that mean they're lost absolutely not okay and I you know I've met plenty of Protestants who get more mileage out of you know out of their one sacred of baptism some Catholics that I know get out of all seven sacraments yeah right and that's a great credit to the charity that they have in their souls towards God that they get so much mileage out of their one sacrament all right but think how much more they'd get out of seven yeah we got to get them all the way in absolutely appreciate you called Teresa thanks for checking in in Cape Girardeau this is called a communion here on EWTN one eight three three two eight eight three nine eight six there's a question from Abigail who's checking in today on Facebook she says what should we make of churches that either don't have a valid Eucharist or churches that believe that the bread and wine is only a symbol this kind of goes along with your previous question does God still use whatever their version of communion is to dispose grace in their life okay thanks we have no objective promise from God that he will do so all right okay when they celebrate an invalid Eucharist you know our communion service that they get one thing right all right so like take care of Baptists that say we don't believe this is really the body and blood of Christ we think it's just a symbol well concerning your own communion you're completely correct ma'am your own is just a symbol yes all right now here's the thing about symbols symbols can they should elicit within us a desire to be more closely United to God okay but in their case their symbol is not efficacious per se it's not efficacious XO praya barat oh okay it's not efficacious by the working of the work itself if it has any efficacy it's not there bare and empty sign it's the work of the Holy Spirit responding and in in growing the grace in the heart of that individual worshipper who asks God for mercy elicited that desire perhaps from his from his contemplation of that visible sign right okay so we certainly don't know that God has denied them grace all right but he's not it's not objectively on offer in their in their putative sacraments in the Catholic sacraments objectively on offer we have certainty that grace is there all right if we cooperate okay very good appreciate that and this is called a communion here on EWTN want to let you know if you love ewtn radio you may not be aware of our other radio offering and that is ewtn radio classics it is awesome 24/7 teaching and devotionals channel from our EWTN archives over 30 years of quality stuff and I gotta tell you it's like a who's who of Catholic broadcasting Mother Angelica Patrick Madrid father Benedict Groeschel we're we're featuring father John Ricardo seven days a week and his powerful teachings we've also got a whole bunch from father Larry Richards great great programming you can check it out a couple different ways go to EWTN radio dotnet click on the button that says radio classics you can also get us on the EWTN app you can also go you can say if you're sitting in your kitchen like I did over the weekend just say Alexa play EWTN radio classics and boom there you go so some wonderful things just for you from us here at EWTN do check out ewtn radio classics mark is listening to us in Bremerton Washington right now online ewtn.com hey Mark what's on your mind today today doing great good I'm a convert so I'm still kind of trying to figure out some things okay about so I'm the discussion about confession you know my understanding is that so basically hell bound until we confess and then when the stata great after that case after that but well we're what happens if we commit more when we confess on Wednesday commit a Molson on Thursday we can't get to confession until Saturday because it's not made of the elbow love seems that we're our only state okay let me let me put your mind at ease all right and I appreciate the question a lot the Catholic Church does not teach does not teach the confession is the only way to to rid ourselves of mortal sin or to return to the state of sanctifying Grace Church does not teach that okay if you were to commit a mortal sin on Wednesday and you had no possibility getting confession until the next Wednesday all right it's not like your salvation is completely up in the air until next Wednesday it doesn't work that way okay the model is King David you go back and read Psalm 51 David makes an act of contrition he confesses his sin to God he says against you and you alone have I sinned and done what's evil in your sight take not your Holy Spirit from me renew in me a right spirit and then I'll offer sacrifices on your altar david has an act of perfect contrition all right I'm sorry God that I have offended you but I've been a that I've lost your friendship that I'm alienated from you okay perfect contrition is that that that sorrow for offense against one whom we love imperfect contrition is I don't want to go to hell okay I don't want to go to hell is not enough of a contrition to obtain forgiveness of sins and the remission of the guilt of a writ of a mortal sin and restore fellowship but perfect contrition is Catholic Church says perfect contrition gets the job done so if you know you've committed a mortal sin you just immediately make it act of perfect contrition okay and and and dispose yourself to receive the sacrament as soon as possible alright and then you have a hopeful expectation of eternal life okay so what does the sacrament add to that picture well it adds it adds an objective word of promise to which Christ has attached a promise of accompaniment of assistance Jesus said to the Apostles whoever sins you forgive are forgiven period end of paragraph no qualifications so in the precess to you your sins are forgiven your sins are absolved i absolve you through the Ministry of the church you know with certainty that you're forgiven in your restored to fellowship okay you don't have that objective certainty from an interior act of perfect contrition so the sacrament adds the objective testimony of Christ's representative accompanied by a divine promise that's a tremendous psychological advantage right now the sacrament adds a couple other things too first of all the sacrament also adds your act of humility all right which is tremendously important for spiritual growth it adds the element of accountability which is even in the human realm is the most effective way to affect that's redundant and the most effective way to bring about personal change is through accountability right humility it adds examination of conscience which is self-knowledge is critical for growth in the spiritual life and then finally it adds that objective word of promise with Christ's promise of divine assistance whoever sins you forgive or forgiven and also it's required by the church's positive law the church says if we know we've committed a mortal sin even if we make a perfect act of contrition because of its salutary benefits it is necessary for us nevertheless to go confess those sins to a priest all right but not as a condition of salvation not as a condition as either so put your mind at ease don't be cavalier don't be presumptuous don't go run out now and commit a mortal sin and think you've got a you know you're good to go no that's terrible alright but go forth with confidence in hope knowing that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus mark thank you so much for your call let's go to Shawn in Lake Orion Michigan hopefully not in the lake but well you you know what I mean Shawn what's on your mind today yes sir thank you first of all I'd like to thank you so much you are such a wonderful wonderful asset to the body of Christ and I I'm very blessed by you every day thank you so much my question is Roman Catholics are allowed - are they allowed to participate in the mass and sacraments of a Chaldean Catholic Church yes a Roman Catholic can receive the sacraments in any Catholic Rite Chaldean Maronite Melkite ruthenian you name it there are about 23 Eastern rites of the Catholic Church and because they are Catholic we are communion with them so they may receive our sacraments we can receive theirs because we are all members of the one Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church no problem there thanks for your call Shawn let's go to Hoss checking us out on YouTube Hoss says how did st. Agustin fall for the lure of manna key ISM thanks in a couple of ways I really appreciate the question first of all san agustin who was raised by a Catholic mother st. Monica while a devout Catholic woman was not an intellectual and and so Agustin had a false understanding of Catholic doctrine particularly regarding the reconciliation of faith and reason and he like many people thought that Catholic faith required him to take a kind of fundamentalist interpretation of the Bible which conflicted as he understood it with the science of his day and so like many people his sense that the Catholic faith was irrational and that Scripture was irrational led him away from considering the Catholic faith as a possibility Gustin was also deeply concerned philosophically with the problem of evil alright to which the manna Keys offered a alleged solution the Manicheans also were a kind of philosophical rationalists and so they claimed to be able to explain not just the moral life but the physical universe in accord with the best in Natural Sciences so that appealed to his that that that that that intellectualist desire in him the Spock were then you know and the same reason he would left Catholicism he thought he would find that reconciliation and mantequilla ISM they offered a problem the answer an answer purported answer to the problem of evil which troubled him tremendously and then finally san agustin like to have sex a lot with people that he wasn't married to he was really big on that like a lot of young men and and mantequilla ISM gave him a way to rationalize his sexual indulgence in a way that the Catholic faith did not so he could he could indulge his passions gratify his intellectual vanity and and seemingly solved the problem the philosophical problem of evil that's one of those are the things that attracted him to man icky ism now it began to break down for him when he met Faustus the man icky and realized that the man knew about as much science as you could put in an egg and and that mantequilla ism philosophically did not work mm-hmm and he also began to feel within himself the spiritual longing for Redemption from this life of sin as it he found it increasingly less and less satisfying and manic he isn't promised him no escape from the burdens of the flesh and from slaver to his passions where as Christ did and then he met st. Ambrose well before that actually he discovered Neoplatonic philosophy which gave him a better way of dealing with the problem of evil uh-huh and and one that's perfectly consonant with Catholic faith and then he met Saint Ambrose who showed him that he had been reading the Bible the wrong way and introduced him to the allegorical reading of Scripture and then he found in Christ the solution to the problem of his moral dilemma and a freedom from his slavery to sin so he found in ultimately in Catholicism a more rational more liberating more it'll actually satisfying answer to the human predicament and and so he surrendered his life to Christ it was baptized by st. Ambrose came into the church and ultimately ended is one of the great intellectuals as well as one of the great saints of the Catholic tradition my personal favorite san agustin if you don't know the story go read his confessions great awesome awesome book the confessions absolutely and there you go Hoss Matthew also checking us out on Facebook we couldn't get to your question today we'll try to do that tomorrow dr. David Anders thank you my friend thanks Tom see you tomorrow at the same time here for another edition of call to communion I'm Tom price you have a wonderful day god bless

Channel: EWTN

Views: 2,532

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Keywords: Catholic, EWTN, Christian, television

Id: ar4DTtxd22w

Length: 54min 5sec (3245 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 12 2018