Called to Communion 102319

this is an EWTN news link I'm Teresa Tomeo from a Catholic connection the Polish Bishops Conference asking Pope Francis to name saint pope john paul ii a patron of Europe and Doctor of the Church the request made on the Saints at feast day arguing that groundbreaking decision of his pontificate influenced the course of European and world history Pennsylvania observing a day of remembrance this weekend on Sunday the one-year anniversary of a deadly attack on a Pittsburgh synagogue the shooting at the Tree of Life left eleven worshippers dead and the governor signing a proclamation which also orders state flags on Commonwealth facilities to be flown at half-staff from sunrise until sunset on Sunday and former President Jimmy Carter hospitalized after falling in his Georgia home doctors say he suffered a minor pelvic fracture and they expect him to recover it's the second time this month the former president has been injured in a fall at 95 for more news of the catholic perspective is at EWTN news calm I'm Teresa Tomeo and call to communion with dr. David anther starts now 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 I have to turn selfie one eight three 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 everybody welcome again to the Wednesday edition of call to communion here on EWTN this is the program for our non Catholic brothers and sisters those of you who are looking for answers to why does the church believe this and this but the church does not believe this and this here's our phone number eight three three two eight eight EWTN lines are open right now eight three three two eight eight three nine eight six are you listening outside of North America perhaps you're in England perhaps you're in Australia who knows where you are you know where you are so if you're outside of North America dial the US country code and then 205 two seven one two nine eight five you can always text the letters EWTN to five five zero zero zero wait for our response and then text us your first name and your brief question message and data rates may apply again the phone number eight three three two eight eight EWTN our Charles Barry is our producer we also have mmm let's see I think we have Ryan penny handling the phones tomorrow's gonna be a different day today it's a normal day so Ryan is handling a call screening Jeff person is not doing social media today Charles who do we have on social media today Charles is handling somebody's handling social media will figure it out whoever that person is they will send us anything that you may want to post via YouTube or Facebook and we'll get those transferred right away Michael Burchfield is handling social media all right now we're now we are good to go I am Tom Price along with dr. David Anders hey Tom how are you today my friend hanging in there thank you glad to hear that it's kind of exciting around here we've got all of our I mean if not all a whole lot of our EWTN radio affiliates from coast to coast even some from other countries who are here in Birmingham today at this moment they are at the shrine in hanceville on their one day retreat and then tomorrow it'll be live broadcasting from the Hyatt Regency we'll also have all sorts of seminars and how to's all day long on Thursday and Friday always a good time yeah and and you'll be there tomorrow I'm coming and we'll be broadcasting live from the Hyatt Regency at this same time tomorrow so be sure to tune in we'll begin here as we're getting these calls screen here is an anonymous text why does the Catholic Church teach that salvation can be merited when Titus 3:5 specifically states that we can't yeah thank you I appreciate the question so why don't we read Titus 3:5 okay okay he saved us not because of righteous things we had done but because of his mercy he saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit so in this text the salvation to which st. Paul refers is the salvation of being brought from the kingdom of darkness mm-hmm into the kingdom of God's beloved son through the washing and renewal and rebirth in the Holy Spirit and he metaphor of washing here clearly indicates baptism elsewhere Paul's very explicit about this in Romans 6 for example he says we die with Christ in Baptism and are raised again with him to new life right or in Galatians chapter 3 he says as many people as are baptized have clothed themselves with Jesus so here we are yes washed renewed reborn in the holy spirit saved from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of his beloved son so what do we do now now that we're here well one of the things we need to do is stay here Hebrews chapter six actually anticipates the possibility that we might not what if we don't actually persevere and remain within the household of faith and we go back to weigh how we were living before well in such an instance the sacred writer of Hebrews says no sacrifice for sins remains and st. Paul also anticipates this again in the book of Galatians where he says if you go back to how you were living before fornication adultery hatred of parents disobedient of parents that kind of thing then you will not he says inherit the kingdom of God now so what are we supposed to do well Christ tells us he says if you pray to your father in secret your father who sees you in secret will reward you if you give alms in secret your father who sees you in secret will reward you in fact if you give even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because they belong to me you surely would not lose your reward Jesus who tells us about reward now merit and reward are just analogous concepts I mean that merit is like that the fact that I received some recompense for my good deeds Jesus teaches very explicitly that you will receive recompense for your good deeds and in fact be punished for your bad deeds of Matthew 25 many people will come and say Lord Lord now say I never knew you because you didn't feed the hungry clothe the naked but others will feed the hungry clothe the naked and they come all right thank you for your text we appreciate that here's one now from Mike who says kind of hilarious to answer this in less than two minutes why does God being a good and just God allow people to suffer people have been wondering that for since the dawn of time I think yeah exactly because it's through suffering that we become detached from the world and learn if we are cooperating with God's grace to desire God alone and to depend on him entirely and it's in this way that he saves us from ourselves from our own disordered affections and through the path of suffering we come into contemplative union with God now that's not a guarantee that suffering will have this effect on you but suffering is the opportunity to get the job done and the correct attitude is the one that the Blessed Virgin Mary had be it done to me according to thy word your will is good Lord whatever you will you will for my good my benefit my salvation so I need to believe that I have to have faith in that and and then cooperate with the Holy Spirit's action in my life and see this suffering as an occasion for growth and holiness okay thank you Mike for your text Nancy's watching us on Facebook right now Nancy says what is up with Catholics and all their feasts yeah thanks appreciate it so the earliest feast in the church is Sunday right and we read about in the New Testament of the early church would gather on the Lord's Day the first day of the week the day that Jesus sell a rose from the dead to celebrate his resurrection from the dead and we read in this very early in the second century the church also began to celebrate in particular the day that the Paschal mystery of Christ's Good Friday Holy Saturday Easter Sunday on an annual basis as well and there are other events from the life of Jesus and the Saints that we celebrate as like you know birthdays and a family pretty awesome there you go Nancy thanks for checking us out today on Facebook in a moment we'll talk with Adrian and Colorado Springs couple lines open for you right now eight three three two eight eight EWTN that's eight three three two eight eight three nine eight six here's a thought from mother Angelica's perpetual calendar you must read the scripture every day and see men of faith and how they exercised it God is terrifically demanding anybody that waters down the gospel so that it is easy to forget that's not the gospel mother Angelica's perpetual calendar features an inspirational message for each day of the year it's available from the EWTN religious catalogue at ewtn our c-calm father Benedict Groeschel I must tell you that from what I observed from very young people all of these blasphemers all of these mockers are in for a tough time because the devil bites his own tail and I find among young people a growing reverence and longing for God I find decline in the cynicism and skepticism around because it had to destroy itself no one can live on being an enemy of God it's too crazy it's to observe it's too dark it's too bleak God is beautiful God is holy why in the world mock God the people you know and trust are on EWTN you'll want to join the backbone of EWTN the Holy Sacrifice of the mass live from Our Lady of the Angels Chapel you'll hear it tomorrow morning and every morning at 8 a.m. Eastern right here on EWTN radio and television very blessed to bring you the mass every day and matter of fact our own Monsignor Charles Pope was the homilist today for the mass he is here in town for the radio conference able to use him bring him in I believe Deccan Herald Berg severs was also count celebrating in his a deacon role this morning as well so a great broadcast of a Mass this morning if you're ready now let's go to the phones at 8 3 3 2 8 8 EWTN we begin with Adrian in Colorado Springs listening on Catholic radio network Adrian what's on your mind today actually had a concern at work my manager recently hired somebody that's going through transition a male that now insisting that he be called she and by a different name and he had a meeting with all of us and he told us you know he expects us all to be professional and you know call this person as they choose to be called what happens tomorrow when he chooses he's fluid and I have to keep going back and forth or I'm not sure how to be loving while also you know standing forfor what a Catholic is in the middle of this so I was hoping you can yeah like me thanks I appreciate the question so it is it is unfortunate that this question be construed as one of Catholic identity or religious freedom for speech that's unfortunate because you don't have to be Catholic to know what a man is this is a question of this is a human question about the meaning of language and biology which is which is falling down obvious and we know what the words male and female mean and when that when the cattleman goes to breed cattle he does not stop to ask the bull what it would like to be called before he mates it with the cow he knows how to tell the difference between the the male and female cow and and and thus with all sexually dimorphic species is this these are what the words mean alright and and so it's an offense against my own not not just my religion but my rationality it's it's like you know 1984 when the character is how many fingers do you see I see five fingers quack try again okay I see three right answer no it's not there's no reason it's just coercion right and and so we're being coerced into into uttering absurdities that contradict evidence the evidence of our senses and it's not only Catholics who are offended by this it's anybody who who who believes that we can discern reality right but nevertheless that's the situation increasingly that our culture was putting us in so what to do about it well first of all when you are addressing a person directly in the English language the second person singular pronoun is not gendered right you does not have masculine or feminine gender attached to it correct so I don't see that the question need arise when you're talking directly to this individual and of course you can be all kinds of charitable and all kinds of deferential and all kinds of friendly and amicable and all the rest of it and and and be as open and human and obviously this is a person who's deeply wounded and hurting profoundly and may also be very touchy and might be looking for a fight and so you need to be as Jesus says as as innocent as a dove but as crafty as a serpent if you are referring to this person in the third person mm-hmm I think if I were in your position there's just me I would try really hard not to use a pronoun well Smith over there says the copier is not working okay I mean I would try to do that personally right and you know the the individual in aisle six I mean just and this just me right because I it just it's just a grotesque offensive my humanity all right I I identify as a rational human being and this is a fence about how I identify myself which is someone who has a capacity to discern the difference between men and women all right Adrian also if we can add a little PS here please keep this this co-worker of yours in your prayers absolutely all right appreciate your call Adrian that opens up a line for you now at eight three three two eight eight EWTN that's eight three three two eight eight three nine eight six it's called communion here on EWTN Jamie sent us a text I was raised Baptist and Catholic all right in the Baptist they speak heavily about feeling God talking to you and feeling his love I have never heard that from the Catholic Church I am so glad you raised that question um that's because you can't feel God can't do it it's not possible because God is not Material God does not have a body and I mean I can reach out all day long and flap my hands around that I'm not gonna bump up against God not in that way that's not the kind of thing that God is I can I can reason about God as the ground or first calls our first principle of all things but the only thing I have empirical access to are the material things that he's made now I might have feelings about God I might for example consider the beauty and the majesty of the created world and be filled with awe and that would be a proper response religious all to the to my reasonable conclusions about God's nature based on what he's made and so that's a religious emotion that's appropriate but it's not a direct experience of God's essence and and the feelings themselves by the way are not spiritual because feeling takes place at the level of our sensuality and really at a biochemical kind of level and it's something that we share with animals so I I've had this dog named smudge smudge is a Havanese I've got three heavy knees smudge has the lowest IQ in the bunch and she startles easily right at anything and if I make a sudden movement smudge will will freeze like stone terrified staring at me right she she has passion sinned emotions they're very evident she kind of wears them on her furry little muzzle for all the world to see um and and yet she's not a spiritual being she's not made me a likeness and image of God she doesn't have an immortal soul right and so when she has these emotional responses there's no indication of particularly or miraculously working her emotional life there is biological reactive phenomenon and there's an aspect of the human person that's like that as animals as biological creatures we have a motivational system of aversion and attraction that's grounded in our biology and it's one of our lower faculties that doesn't distinguish us from animals and is not that in which our imaging God's likeness consists the highest part of the human person is our rationality our intellect and our rational appetite or our will which is enables us to deliberate and choose between goods conceptualized as goods and there are choices in our in our intellection take place in the context of our emotions and our passions but are distinguishable from them and our moral responsibility does not consist in the depth of our effectivity so for example I have a very strong emotion to do or not do something irrelevant to any consideration of whether that is that is a morally good act a man might have a strong effective inclination to cheat on his wife the fact that he has strong emotions about it doesn't make it justifiable it's wrong right yeah he may have absolutely no desire to go home to his wife it's still the right thing to do you've got to go home to your wife right so the fact that that Catholics don't make a whole lot out of an emotional encounter with God is because that's not primarily how God is encountered now God could if he wants to come down and directly move us in our emotional life all right it's just that that's not how he's revealed to us that he primarily intends to touch us to the extent that he does it's often by removing from our experience or our awareness experiences of sensible consolation so Jesus of course is our model and in all of Christian life what kind of emotional experiences did Christ if my soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death that's what Jesus said Gospel of John he said I am deeply troubled to the point of death but what shall I say father saved me from this hour no for this reason I came right so if you really want to follow Christ in your emotional life then you ought to sign up for the experience of profound desolation crushing sorrow complete and total alienation because that's what Jesus went through and anyone who loves as profoundly as Christ loved is going to experience that kind of desolation for the same reason because you'll love someone who rejects you yeah all right and we thank you Jamie for your call or your question rather it is called a communion here on EWTN or phone number eight three three two eight eight EWTN that's eight three three two eight eight three nine eight six couple lines are open for you right now Lisa just sent us a text she says my agnostic friend says if Jesus was real and if drinking to drunkenness is a sin why did Jesus change water into wine which is odd since the guests were drunk by the end of a feast that seems like a contradiction so why did Jesus change water into wine okay first of all there is no indication from the gospel account that the participants in the feast were drunk after the feast all we know is that the master of the feast said generally speaking at wedding feasts by the end of the feast people are not able to tell the difference between good wine and bad that's that's all that's and that that's it he doesn't actually say that nobody there knew the difference right just that in general one couldn't tell the difference between good wine and bad by the end of a feast there could be a lot of explanations for that phenomenon only one of which is inebriation right so there's no actual indication that anybody there got drunk second of all what the Catholic Church means by the sin of drunkenness is the the loss of our rationality are our ability to control ourselves right so again I you know I'm not I'm not a big drinker but I think that I would probably not care that much between like a 95 red wine and 85 sooner then I would become inebriated sure right okay so I just I just don't see that the premise of the question is evident at all from the text but let's assume for the sake of argument that somebody at the wedding feast at Cana got blasted is Jesus at fault for that no he's not at fault for that I mean like what if Jesus had you know made a knife to cut the wedding cake somebody took it up and stabbed his nephew you know I mean like Jesus isn't responsible for used to have been your nephew just cuz he leaves a knife on the table that's right but the ultimate purpose why in fact did Christ change water and want as a sign of his messianic identity because he took these jars that were used for Jewish ceremonial washing that had this barren water in it and he turned it into flowing wine and so it's a symbol of the relationship of Christ to the old to the mosaic code that he takes what was a barren empty symbol and infuses it with the spirit of grace so that the law now is written not simply on tablets of stone but on human hearts all right when we were in Cana a couple of years ago we got to see probably not one of the stone jars but certainly a Stone jar that was purported to be about the same size as big yes I'm like ah 150 gallons I'm like 180 gallons of booze that Jesus very serious pretty serious let's go to Alex right now in Rio Grande New Jersey listening on domestic church media Alex what's on your mind today yes how are you David Anders my question to you is you know since I sometimes have a hard time getting to church on Sunday and we me and my wife and the kids made a commitment to go on Saturday because of my schedule being Friday Saturday you know is that I don't know how to put it with that stove got to be a good you know path towards heaven because of me or held against me I'm sorry being held against me because I don't go to church on Sunday instead I go to church on Saturday are you going on Saturday night to the vigil mass I would say like during the daytime he thinks that's when we go you know okay so most most Catholic parishes in the United States offer a vigil mass on Saturday night that is the same liturgy as the one offered on Sunday and it satisfies the obligation to go to Sunday Mass alright now it like Saturday morning Mass is is the mass for Saturday but you can actually attend the mass for Sunday on Saturday night and it satisfies your Sunday obligation but one way or the other we are obligated to fulfill that that requirement of the church that we worship with the people of God once a week on the Lord's Day which is you know sundown to sundown in celebration of his resurrection so that we can share in the corporate worship of the church because we're members of a body we're members of a society we're not just individuals on our way to heaven but we're there going as a group right and and so that that corporate worship is an important part of Christian identity Alex thanks so much for your call glad you're listening on domestic Church media a long time very important partner with EWTN radio appreciate your call in a moment we'll talk with Roseanne in North Carolina couple lines open available for you right now eight three three two eight eight EWTN that's eight three three two eight eight three nine eight six [Music] Raymond Arroyo we need ewtn radio for the reason that mother angelica founded this enterprise she saw this as a holistic approach reaching the whole person bringing them truth and life the leading catholic voices are on ewtn radio this is Mike and Alicia hernán with a messy family minute when you have a fight with your spouse or I mean a discussion with emotion it's very easy to have tunnel vision and to make the goal of communication getting our way because of course we are right and they are wrong the reality is there are many things couples need to decide that aren't moral issues but instead credential judgments often we can become obsessed with making the perfect decision but we all need to remember that at the end of the day even if you have a smarter idea than your spouse it's better to be wrong together than right alone the goal of communication and marriage is not about being right or even simply being understood but it's about achieving unity we need to trust our spouse and listen with an open heart and being willing to see from a different perspective becoming a better listener with your spouse will actually make you a better person for more insights visit us at messy family minute org when I begin my prayer time I always enter into it with the expectation that God wants to teach me something and it has to start with my willingness to share my heart with God not just say words at him so whether I'm using more formal prayers or a more conversational style of prayer I have to bring my heart and my life and my real self to God and by having that dialogue we're able to enter into a deeper relationship and he's able to show me how to use all the events of my life in to draw closer to him hi this is Janet Williams you don't have to be a woman to enjoy women of grace tomorrow at 11 a.m. Eastern here on EWTN radio now back to call to communion with dr. David Andrews [Music] the Wednesday edition of call to communion here on EWTN several lines are open right now if you've been wanting to get through to dr. David Andrews here is your chance eight three three two eight eight EWTN is the number eight three three two eight eight three nine eight six by the way our email is always available CTC at ewtn.com CTC at ewtn.com back to the phones right now for Roseanne in Banner Elk North Carolina listening online to the EWTN app a free download hey there Roseanne what's on your mind today hi I just wanna say I'm a huge fan dr. Anders I listen every day and agree almost 100% and this topic that I'm talking about now it's not that I disagree I just want to make a clarification when you were talking to the caller about feeling God yeah you can't physically feel God that is true he is not a solid substance you know I totally agree with that but and I don't know what the Baptist mean by feeling God either I'm not going there but God does give people consolations that manifest as their experiential they are feelings and Teresa of ávila and Saint John of the Cross and you know the whole Carmelite concept of contemplative prayer it is experiential and you do feel something and it's not emotion it's directly tied to a spiritual a true spiritual constellation and I was wondering if you could talk a little bit about spiritual consolations because I I don't recall you doing that ever it is some people would call it healing although it isn't really a feeling absolutely I really appreciate the question and and clarification so let me let me make a few statements about this first of all the way the question the previous question was framed to me was about feeling God and you you said you weren't gonna say anything about what the Baptist's mean I will say something about what the Baptist's mean because I grew up in the Evangelical Protestant world and familiar with this kind of disposition and there's a strong sense a strong implication in a lot of Protestant worship and especially in the charismatic and Pentecostal tradition but also in Baptist tradition to a certain extent that one can infer from emotional experience the activity of the Holy Spirit in one's life and so that might take the form of an assertion like the following man I could really feel the spirit moving today at church wasn't the Spirit of God moving at you know today and the worship service and what they what they really experience is heightened or elevated emotion that's what they experience mhm I'm not saying that's good or bad it just is but then to infer from that God was at work in our lives is overstating the evidence it's overstating the evidence maybe God was working in your life maybe he wasn't that's just not the kind of evidence when you want evidence of the spirits activity in our life sacred scripture points us to virtues not to feelings so let's get around to what the Catholic Church tells about religious emotion feeling consolation desolation jonatha cross spiritual experience the interior life these kinds of things so the language of consolation and desolation comes to us from the from the spirituality of Ignatius of Loyola in particularly Spiritual Exercises and Ignatius points to a very common fact in human experience namely that we tend to sort of go back and forth between an experience of consolation and desolation and the spiritual life consolation would be kind of a sense of sweetness and prayer drawn to divine things a desire to pray a desire to see God a willingness to make resolutions to improve ourselves in spiritual life and so forth and desolations would be those movements of the soul they're contrary to they would be moving too low and earthly things a disinclination to pray maybe I discussed with divine things discouragement those kinds of experiences but here's the point that Ignatius makes both of those can concur with in or cannot yet can concur with in a soul walking with God a person can be in the state of grace growing in prayer growing towards God and have the experience of desolation so one does not infer from desolation that one is far from God similarly one can have an experience of consolation one could have sort of elevated emotional experience in the context of prayer and yet be deceived about one spiritual state so desolation and consolation is the context in which our spiritual life unfolds and and Ignatius gives very very wonderful guide guiding rules and principles for understanding how to operate under these two conditions but never says like the the experience of one or the other is proof that God is either present or absent to you right then that's the wrong kind of inference now let's change gears and talk about the Carmelite spirituality of John of the Cross streets of Avila it is it is absolutely essential to the spirituality of John in the cross Jonathan that when one passes into the beginnings of the contemplative life into the illuminative way that the path into the illuminative way the beginnings of contemplative prayer happen through the dark night of sense not the dark night of the soul but the dark night of the sense when God deprives the soul of all spiritual consolation of all of all sensible questions say all sensible consolation gone no warmth no issue Khushi's no fine feelings aridity aridity and so the thing that makes it on earth across so revolutionary and so helpful is if you grow up in one of those traditions that teaches you you know if you experience a rib well something's wrong with you or maybe God's not pleased with you or God's not at work in your soul no actually Jonathan Cross is teaching is that sensible aridity is absolutely necessary for union with God and and it's one of the reasons why you have to have a very talented good spiritual director who can tell the difference between spiritual aridity and say something like depression who can sort that all sort that out and so so is there an experiential aspect to the depths of the interior life absolutely but does it equate to say warm pious or happy or comforting religious emotion not at all not not I mean those those can happen but there's no one to one correspondence at all in the context of the spiritual life and and there's a document from the Vatican about this is very helpful some aspects of Christian meditation came out from the congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith under the pontificate no I'm sorry was it when I guess Cardinal Ratzinger was the prefect at the time as one bit him in the 80s mm-hm and if they're warning actually against improper applications of Eastern spirituality and techniques to Catholic spirituality particularly those forms of meditation or practice that would encourage a person in a certain kind of quality of emotional experience and the document makes this exact point that it would be entirely inappropriate to conclude from a certain kind of emotional experience that one did or did not actually have the Spirit of God hmm I mean yes can God move move in your emotions either positively or negatively absolutely but the psalmist says incline my will oh Lord a psalm 119 incline my will Oh Lord according to your statutes all right and Roseanne thank you so much for your excellent call it is called a communion here on EWTN eight three three two eight eight EWTN as our phone number eight three three two eight eight three nine eight six here is Vanessa Vanessa's in Seattle listening on Sacred Heart Radio she's a first-time caller hey Vanessa what's on your mind today hello Tom and dr. Anders thank you for taking my call sure I really appreciate your ministry I heard the call this morn Illya about transgender and I have a niece she is 14 and she is claiming that she is now a boy and my sister insisted that all of us family eject her as a boy and I don't know I need your help with that and as far as her picking communion is that allowed allowed what what should I do okay thanks I really appreciate this question very much so this is dangerous the situation that your niece ISM and the the data the scientific data on this experience of gender dysphoria in the young is that most young people who who experience gender dysphoria the sense of like dissatisfaction with one's biological sex and wishing that one were the other biological sex they will grow out of this most of them the vast majority of the cases grow out of it a phase it's a phase yeah exactly and and the however our culture has been caught up in an ideology that somehow or another the the the self determined identification is like that's the most important thing and then everything biology facts data all that is trumped by just my assertion that I am a certain way that that takes priority well that's that's a that is a lunatic position to take because you wouldn't apply that criterion to any other assertion if I say I'm Napoleon you are under no obligation to treat me as Napoleon right and and and yet here in this instance somehow another that that that declaration is understood to be sacrosanct it doesn't make any sense right and there's a there's a psychiatrist Johns Hopkins University who was involved early on in sex reassignment surgery at that school and then came out later in opposition to it because he saw that the clinical results were not what they needed to be to justify the the the operation fellows name is Paul McHugh and so you might get some good resources out of the Q's writings to suggest to your relative that maybe the most compassionate thing is not to totally own this identification by the fourteen-year-old another organization within the Catholic Church that's very helpful here is the courage apostolate that provides support and resources to individuals and families that experience either same-sex attraction or gender dysphoria or what-have-you and you know if I if I were able to have a conversation with the young person and it was I'd have to be so compassionate so understanding so tolerant so deferential just so sensitive so it's probably not gonna happen but if I could win an opening and at INTRUST and vulnerability and and all of that to have a genuine conversation I think I would ask a young girl who said she was a boy what do you mean by that what does that mean what does that mean and it's very hard to make sense out of that assertion in any way other than I wish I were a boy and that just means I'm not happy I'm not happy and so your heart breaks and you're compassionate and you're loving alright and that's the proper response to take one of compassion and love and generosity and forgiveness and openness and an accompaniment now what about the question of Holy Communion that's that's I don't know if the church has actually addressed that in a in in terms of the Congregation for Sacred Liturgy and what's appropriate now there is information from the Vatican on this from the Sacred Congregation for Catholic education not liturgy document that came out in the spring called male and female he created them and it's a now the gender ideology and how we are to handle it particularly in the context of Catholic education and in that document is very clear that the church regards gender ideology as a false and harmful ideology and that we have to well with accompaniment and compassion be very clear on what both religiously philosophically and scientifically the facts are about the human person and we ought not to go along with the premises of gender ideology now you know as one who's not a pastor and doesn't have to make these judgement calls it's tricky because obviously if I'm a pastor I'm not going to exclude somebody from Holy Communion because they are suffering from a psychological neurotic condition all right certainly not okay um however if someone is sort of parading a harmful ideology in a very public way on their shirtsleeves so to speak in a way that contradicts the truth of the human person and and resists instructions to do otherwise well that could be an occasion for scandal right but the question of figuring out like the individuals culpability and and like are they responsible for their actions and all of this and they need God's grace that's just that's just so way above my pay grade I'm just gonna wait for Cardinal Serra and the Congregation to talk about what to do in that circumstance sounds like a plan we do thank you so much for your call Vanessa this is called a communion here on EWTN want to let you know about one of the other radio services from EWTN and that is our great network EWTN radio classics if you've never heard it you want to check it out it's our 24/7 teaching and devotionals channel from the ewtn archives which are as you might imagine after all these years pretty voluminous featuring great shows and talks from Mother Angelica Archbishop Fulton sheen father Benedict Groeschel and so much more we even air the rosary I think three or four times a day including a special rosary just for kids check it all out EWTN radio classics you can listen to it online at EWTN Anette you can also hear it on the EWTN app and on your favorite smart speaker we'll go back to the phones in just a second here question here though from let me scroll up just a little bit and quickly click look like yeah this is from a Nathaniel listening to us on YouTube right now Nathaniel says you say that humans are only male or female what about X X Y people isn't gender driven by dozens of biological factors and any combination of them can be wired differently than the others yeah thanks I appreciate the question so first of all what I actually I don't actually think I made the statement people are only male or female I don't think I said that I'm in fact I'm sure I did not okay what I did was as I said gender ideology is wrong and the claim of a man that he is a woman is an offense against my rationality and I ought not to be compelled by law or culture to say otherwise or act otherwise that's what I said I did not raise the question at all and I'll raise it now about whether or not there can be borderline cases in biology in biology yes now there are borderline cases in biology we've known about that since Aristotle there are two-headed turtles for crying out loud right there are there are borderline cases that possess that in in which there is some kind of abnormality that deflects an individual of a species from a type but the reason that we recognize them is borderline is because there's a normative type you only know that a two-headed turtle is odd because turtles are supposed to have one head and you only recognize a chromosomal abnormality because you know what normal chromosomes are like now in the specific instance that you protect you named the X X Y chromosome which i think is a description of Klinefelter syndrome I'm not a geneticist and I would not claim to speak with any kind of expertise on the subject as a as a geneticist or as a physician but I I think that this is a condition of someone who's biologically male who inherits an extra chromosome and in consequence has things like low testosterone and reduced muscle mass and facial hair and body hair right so I don't think the claim is that people with an X X Y chromosomal type are biologically female know they're there if I'm wrong you jump on me okay but I think these are these are men who have a chromosomal abnormality that they experience as the kind of wound or deficit or damaged system so to speak right so what would I like to contend for as a rational person not that everybody Falls always without exception neatly into these two chromosomal types of xx and XY without any borderline cases not saying that but there are normal types there are unambiguously men and women and it doesn't reduce to my own subjective sense of myself there are biological realities that we can refer to an advert to and when someone is evidently biologically male and all that is being asserted is some ineffable invisible subjective sense that that in Ewa bulette ineffable invisible subjective sense that cannot in any way be verified empirically all not to control our sense of ourself or our sense of our culture or sense of our neighbor and it certainly ought not to be compelled in law Nathaniel thank you so much for checking us out today on YouTube David did you get the memo that today was gender day we're gonna be talking about gender all day long I I did not remember okay well apparently some people did it is called a communion here on EWTN Kelly is checking in from Columbus Indiana listening on Sirius XM 130 Kelly what's on your mind today hi I am NOT gonna be talking about gender oh okay so dr. Andrews I was just curious if you know offhand the title of the document that you referred to when you were talking with the woman about Carmelite spirituality I know it very well the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith on October the 15th 1989 published a letter to the bishops of the Catholic Church on some aspects of Christian meditation that's the title yes if you want to look it up on the Internet you can simply look up some aspects of Christian meditation and you will find it very good Kelly thank you so much for your call Jonathan is in Dublin Ohio just outside of Columbus listing on st. Gabriel radio the blow torch Johnathan's the first time caller hey Jonathan what's on your mind today my question is basically evolved Christian religions branches teach that the only thing you need to become a Christian is to accept that Jesus died on the cross and rose three days later then why are there so many branches of Christianity and if there is a reason why should cap Catholicism be follows I really appreciate the question Jonathan I do not agree with the premise of the question that I I don't think it is the case that all forms of Christianity teach that the one requirement for a relationship with Christ is inviting them into your heart I don't think that's what all Christians teach and I don't think it's correct I don't think it's what Jesus himself taught so if you read the words of Christ and I would encourage you to do so start with the Gospel of Matthew and read your way through the teaching of jesus from matthew through the Gospel of John you'll find that Jesus says an awful lot about how we are to imitate his character and to obey his teaching and that we are his disciples when we live as he lived which includes following him in the way of the Cross taking up our crosses and following him until death and that the one who follows him who will be rewarded by God has a certain kind of character is his poor in spirit meek merciful hungers and thirsts for righteousness is pure in heart does not lust after another in his heart does not give alms or pray in public to be seen by men these kinds of dispositions right and Christ also intended that those who would follow him in this way would be gathered into a visible community that he called the church he spoke about it in the Gospel of Matthew chapter 16 he says I will build my church and he builds it on st. Peters as your Peter and on this rock I'll build my church and so we have a visible society of people to which we belong and it's a group that Christ believed you could be excluded from because in Matthew 18 he gives instructions for how you can be excommunicated from this from this body of people and he gave this body of individuals formal rituals that would mark them out from other people and and three that I'll mention right now were a baptism the Lord's Supper or the Holy Sacrifice of the mass and the Sacrament of Penance and the promise that the Apostles would would be able to forgive sins or retain them in Jesus's name so this is a very different world that Christ talks about from this business about inviting Jesus into your heart and when when Jesus does talk about dwelling in your heart he attaches conditions to it so in John chapter 14 he says if you love me and keep my Commandments love me and keep my Commandments then my father and I will come and make our dwelling within you he doesn't say I will come dwell in you if you invite me into your heart he never says that he says if you love me and keep my Commandments I will come and my father will come and we'll make our dwelling within you so what Sacred Scripture teaches about the identity of a Christian is one who heeds the teaching of Christ follows his example unto carrying of the cross lives in the community of the Christian faithful called the church and obeys Christ's Commandments and in this way comes to have Christ the Holy Spirit and the God the Father indwelling within him that's not what lots of Christian denominations teach so where did they come from that was your other question right well that church that Christ founded is the Catholic Church it's the one that's been around for 2,000 years all of these other institutions were break aways from the Catholic Church as they denied one or other aspect of Jesus's teaching and they taught instead the traditions of men all right Jonathan excellent call do call us back another time we'd love to hear from you dr. David Andrews thank you sir thanks mom be looking forward to working with you tomorrow at the only the Hyatt Regency we're going to be broadcasting virtually all of our daytime shows from morning glory all the way through Creston in the afternoon from the Catholic radio conference tomorrow at the same time so do check us out on behalf of Charles Ryan and Michael Burchfield I'm Tom price here along with dr. David Andrews see you tomorrow here on EWTN s called to Communion have a great day and God bless heyo this is father Mitch Pacwa open line Wednesday is next on EWTN radio now not only can you watch EWTN anywhere but anytime with EWTN on demand get on-demand access to more than 12,000 EWTN programs including live shows and specials [Music]

Channel: EWTN

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Length: 55min 24sec (3324 seconds)

Published: Wed Oct 23 2019