Called to Communion - 10/28/19 - with Dr. David Anders

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 earn salvation 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 called a communion this is the program for our non Catholic brothers and sisters those of you who are looking for answers to questions that you've been may be walking around with for who knows how long years in some cases we are here to help you with getting those questions answered here's our phone number eight three three two eight eight EWTN that's eight three three two eight eight three nine eight six outside of North America that you'll want to dial the u.s. country code and then two oh five two seven one two nine eight five you can also 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 Charles Barry is our producer we also have Ryan Penney standing by as a phone screener Jeff person on social media he'll be glad to pass on any questions that you may want to pose via YouTube or Facebook we are actively streaming for you right now I'm Tom price along with dr. David Anders Tom how are you today I'm great you get your headphones figured out I'm you know five minutes into the job well Jack and Johnette were in here last and they they usually bring their own headphones hence that's why things were a little visit her headphones exactly right exactly alright well very good how was your weekend my friend uh it's a bit rough I've kind of laid out on my back all day Saturday except for the times I wasn't that's not good no it wasn't but I'm much better today thank you very much very glad to hear that we're going to lead off here with a question from Nick who says I know that the souls in purgatory cannot pray for themselves but can they prey efficaciously for other souls who are also in purgatory right thank you appreciate the question so we don't have a lot of Revelation on this issue right so and we in the church's dogmatic teaching on purgatory basically says it exists that's about what we know that's about it so we are left to speculate but let's speculate let's think about it what we know about the souls in purgatory all the souls in purgatory are in grace they're all united to God in charity that's how they are dear friends of God from their position we can infer it doesn't make much sense how could somebody be in the state of grace not have the indwelling Trinity Jesus says if you love me keep my Commandments my father and I will come to you make our dwelling within you Thomas tells us that that indwelling is the nature of the way that the beloved is in the lover and the known is in the knower so the souls in purgatory loving God loving Christ loving the church they're there they're willing what God wills why would they not be United him in prayer now they can't merit they can't merit nothing they do is going to increase their merit before God but if they're unite God in prayer of course they can ask God for things they can ask God for things and it stands to reason they would ask God for spiritual benefits for for other souls now you asked if they could pray for the other souls in purgatory hmm that's interesting never asked that before here's what my inclination is when we pray for the souls in purgatory our merits are applied to their case it's it's harder for me to see how how the souls in purgatory but the neck they don't have any merits any additional merits beyond what they might have merited in this life that they could then apply on behalf of souls in purgatory so it would just be petitioned for God's benevolence and I guess I guess they could and how that would actually work out on the dot divine economy is like way above my pay grade okay very good thank you so much for that here is a question now from Mike texted us he says I am a Latin Rite Catholic but have occasionally been attending a Byzantine Rite Catholic Church I was recently told I should refrain from taking part in Eastern traditions particularly the Lenten fast is there any reason I shouldn't participate in Eastern Catholic traditions even though they are in full communion with the Catholic Church I can think of no reason for you to refrain from traditions of the eastern Catholic churches except if something about those observances led you to dismiss your own canonical obligations as a Latin Rite Catholic I mean if you took the attitude well I'm doing this Eastern Rite thing I don't have to do this Latin Rite thing that I'm supposed to do then obviously that would be bad yeah but you know so they have slightly different rules of fasting and different feast days and so forth mm-hmm Luke is never wrong too fast never wrong too fast it's never wrong to celebrate a feast it's not wrong to celebrate liturgy I mean he's a part of the church's patrimony feed your soul it helps you grow closer to Christ I say go for it absolutely but just don't neglect your obligations under the law as a Latin Rite Catholic very good John sent us an email who says I often hear you talk about God's grace being the vessel for our love and good works can people receive this grace even without knowing it or without believing in God I'm just curious because there are lots of good people in the world who don't believe yet it would appear that they love and try to live good lives could you clear up for me what the difference is and why grace is so important thank you appreciate the question can you receive grace without knowing that you have it absolutely you can have grace without knowing that you have it in fact it's a doctrine of the Catholic Church that people who do have grace aren't certain that they do and every baby who's been baptized it receives the gift of sanctifying grace is United to God and charity and faith in its sole rehearsal and is not consciously aware of the fact so yes you can have grace and not be consciously aware of it and and you can be mistaken about it you can think you have grace when you don't now the question a cannon can someone who doesn't believe in God receive grace God has not revealed to us that he has any particular promises to attach grace to anything other than the faith and sacraments of the Church hmm however we know from Sacred Scripture and tradition that there have been graced individuals who were outside the boundaries of the Catholic Church so to speak but that's that's kind of extraordinary and so you can't bank on it now the inference so and so is a good person therefore they have grace can't do that can't do that first of all grace is a supernatural gift in our soul that that makes us like Christ and unites us to God so it Orient's us towards divine and supernatural life so someone who is not consciously aiming at eternity well that's one of the things that grace is going to make your soul tend to do sure right so just because someone is a humanitarian and has humane values not enough to infer from that that they are in the state of grace John thanks for your email phone lines are open for you right now eight three three two eight eight EWTN 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Thomas Aquinas known as the angelicum in Rome remains committed to preserving the heritage of the angelic doctor as a vital force and a living tradition and theological and philosophical scholarship in teaching classical Roman Catholic theology to over 1000 students coming from over 90 countries there are currently a hundred and thirty-five Cardinals and bishops who are alumni of our university serving the church throughout the world this is father Benedict Kroll the director of mission advancement for the angelicum in Rome learn more at Angelica mighty father John Ricardo when you and I come to Mass we're accustomed to thinking of the beginning of the mass what we call the Liturgy of the word at a time when someone or someone's they kind of get up they read from this book which most of us have limited understanding of about a people who we really don't grasp with names that are very hard to pronounce which we feel embarrassed about ringing out loud because you just know people are going who shealtiel for crying out loud you know when the Word of God has proclaimed at mass it's happening now it's an event the wondrous deeds that God has done in human history are being proclaimed in our midst now and to that you and I have to respond and we do respond we either respond with so what I don't care this is irrelevant to my life or we respond by saying yes Lord I believe this and I want you to take over more and more of my life the people you know and trust are on EWTN [Music] tonight on EWTN news nightly fascinating coverage Catholic Bishops across the Amazon call for the ordination of married men as priests and women as deacons what are we going to do about that what does the church gonna do about that we will find out lots more on the subject tonight on EWTN news nightly that's at 9:00 p.m. Eastern Time on EWTN radio and television it is called a communion here on EWTN phone lines are open for you right now eight three three two eight eight EWTN that's eight three three two eight eight three nine eight six if you have a question for dr. David Anders here's a rather lengthy one that we received from Andrew I want to make a good confession but I'm having trouble preparing myself I have a list of nearly 100 things to confess for most of them I am neither 100 percent sure their mortal sins nor 100 percent sure they are not mortal sins I know that I have to make an act of contrition for every particular mortal sin thus leading me to believe that the best thing to do is make an act of contrition for every sin however with such a great number that increases everyday this will be very difficult to do what should I do that's from Andrew you need to stop back up we examine what the Church teaches re-examine what sacred scripture and tradition teach about our relationship to God the Council of Trent taught that Catholics are obligated to confess their known mortal sins in kind and number not each mortal sin individually so let's say you you robbed a bank every day last week you don't have to go in and say and let's assume it was a it was a big bank and a lot of money so it's a you know grave matter now you don't have to go in and say well I robbed you know First National on Monday and second national on Tuesday and you know the bank of Wacka Wacka on Wednesday you don't have to do that you just say theft seven times and that does it now you're done let's say you've been knocking off banks every day if you're a regular Bonnie and Clyde you've been doing this for the last thirty years you don't know how many times theft lots and lots and lots of times and you're done Wow and you're done that's it that's all you have to do okay I mean you know that that's assuming that that's the only thing then you've got adultery in there murder apostasy you name it you know did this umpteen tops or a lot of tops or I don't even know how many times I mean when I made my first confession as a Catholic tried to make a general confession I had no instruction on the matter and I went in I really didn't know what I was doing and I just said to the priest never done this before kind of trying to figure it out be okay if I just went down the ten commandments he said yep I went okay check check check check you know and then I was done and look it's good to acknowledge your faults I mean this is why the church requires us to do this and we have to right let me get him specifically absolved and faults can be of different kinds but you have to delete have to differentiate otherwise you don't know what you need to fix in your soul to get right with God and Christ tells us that you know we can deceive ourselves about our moral state and people need to take the log out of their own eye before they go after their brother and so forth so it's you have to do that examination of conscience to know what you've got to work on but ultimately like the what's the rationale for this I mean how does it actually unpack in my spiritual life our relationship with God is nothing other than loving God and wanting what he wants and just like if you love your spouse right and if your spouse really wants to have roast beef on Tuesday night you're gonna go have roast beef on Tuesday night even if it's not your favorite thing out of love for your spouse and so we want to be united to God and have a relationship with God which means loving God and loving what God loves and and I need to know what the commandments are I need to know what the contents of the moral life are so I know how to align my life my my thinking with God so our hearts are one right but it's not because God is the celestial accountant who was sitting there with a ledger keeping track of every peccadillo of every committed and unless I go down my own ledger in my ledger matches his ledger and you know I make sure to you know check off box 50 for a then somehow I'm not reconciled no this is a this is a this is a love thing and you wouldn't want to be married to somebody like that who said ah well you know I said roast beef but she forgot to bring the Dijon mustard right no I mean it's a love thing so the idea is to get your heart right with God in the dimension of love and to the extent that said well it's the only way we disrupt our relationship with God which is through sin sin is just being deflected away from our greatest good which is God towards some creaturely good in an inordinate way and and going through the list of the commandments going through the you know the the capital sounds of the cardinal sins or whatnot helps us to focus in on those things that are serious impediments in this love relationship with with him who is all good and a good confessor will help John and Andrew along the way absolutely Andrew thank you so much for your email by the way if you'd like to send us an email for a future show the address ctc at ewtn.com CTC at ewtn.com it is called a communion here on EWTN or phone number eight three three two eight eight EWTN if you've been wanting to get in couldn't get in before you can get in today eight three three two eight eight three nine eight six here is a text from John why does the Catholic Church speak about grace as if it's some kind of substance that can be gained and lost doesn't that idea paint salvation as being based on sort of a leaky bucket theology yeah thanks I appreciate the question well actually the Catholic Church goes way out of it way way out of its way to specifically deny that grace is a substance that that precise hypothesis has been raised and rejected by the church grace is a quality not a substance and my love for my wife is not a substance like the way my dog is a substance or you know the the the red pair I had for lunch was is a substance my love for my wife is not of that sort my love it for my is a way in which I am it is a way of being in relationship to my wife it's equality in other words of relatedness grace is a quality of relatedness to God that's supernatural in origin it's one that he himself gives in the book of Romans Paul speaks of God's love being poured into our hearts right this infused love that God gives us for himself that that in turn qualifies everything that we do love is that that that Keystone virtue that ties all the other things together and the beautiful harmony and Orient's them towards God in our neighborhood now can you stop doing that of course you can you can you can be lovingly related to someone or even to God himself mm-hm and then because of your own obstinate ill-will you can stop doing that and be some other way and that's what we mean by mortal sin okay not a substance right John thank you so much for your text we do appreciate that called a communion here on EWTN eight three three two eight eight EWTN is our number eight three three two eight eight three nine eight six linda sent us a Fatima question David she says Our Lady of Fatima told us told the Shepherd children that her Immaculate Heart will triumph and that there will be a period of peace has this already come to me or are we now in that period presently yeah I have absolutely no idea no clue wouldn't even it wouldn't even dare to take a guess so when for several reasons first of all it's hard enough with the public revelation of the church the apocalyptic passages of the New Testament and like book of Revelation or second Thessalonians or Book of Daniel book of ezekiel to unpack what the sacred writer is talking about and and generally when you read those kind of texts the the most immediate spiritual benefit you can you can deduce is that God's in control bad stuffs gonna happen he's gonna win be faithful he understands these things these apocalyptic cataclysms characterised to a certain extent every Christians perience in every Christian age and yet you know Church will endure the faith will endure God's gonna triumph and when it comes to private revelations of Our Lady sometimes she's quite specific about what's gonna happen right with respect to say Soviet Communism and it spread throughout the world that that happened right that was pretty easy to pinpoint but when when revelations come in generalities like that well the very general that's the difficulty so how what's what's the take away confidence in God confidence in God and and weariness about the reality of sin and the danger of Sun and that's a perennial message that's not going away makes things a little easier to sort out doesn't know sure does Linda thank you so much for your email here's one now from Andrew clearly Jesus said to baptize in the name of the Father and of the son of the Holy Spirit while I'm currently teaching a friend of mine about Catholicism he is a Pentecostal I'm sure you're aware that he refers to acts where it says to baptize in the name of Jesus could you please explain to me why the Acts of the Apostles left out the Trinitarian formula sure well because first of all the Acts of the Apostles do not intend to give us a a complete rubric for the for the performance and celebration of the Christian sacraments that's not that's not the purpose of the book of Acts okay and in fact you'll note that when it comes to the how of the sacraments the scripture itself is largely silent on many of them it doesn't give us a precise formula right I mean the baptism before me is about the clear so we can get in in the institution by Christ but the best way to understand the passage in acts about the baptism of Jesus is that this is differentiated from the baptism of John we actually meet in Acts the disciples of John and the Lord's disciples asked them did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed what the Holy Spirit is this you're talking about well which baptism do you receive John or Christ's well we have John's oh well you got to get baptized with Christ's baptism it with you know in with the Holy Spirit and fire that he predicted oh okay alright we'll do that then they get the Holy Spirit things good so it's not meant to give us a formula or rubric for celebration but to differentiate the baptism of Jesus from the baptism of John okay very good call to communion here on EWTN lines starting to fill up right now but there's one for you eight three three two eight eight EWTN that's eight three three two eight eight three nine eight six here's one from Andrew a Catholic religious sister asked me if I know that God loves me and I said yes she thoughtfully replied that I was lying and that I didn't know I was lying I can see this maybe what is keeping me from having an intimate relationship with God hard for me to explain but is it like there isn't a thing in me that is worthy of God's attention how can I have a personal relationship or communion with God when I have this problem okay two or three different questions all tangled together yeah yeah the first one is I'm I don't know what your relationship is to the religious sister but just right off the bat when she says do you know that God's love you loves you and your answer is yes and she says no you don't you're lying I would I that makes me feel very odd it does right unless you have some very intimate kind of spiritual direction relationship with this person who knows your soul better than you know yourself I'd be pretty wary of somebody telling me that they knew that I didn't know that God loves me notwithstanding my testimony to the contrary that that's just a weird way - very odd now the second part of your question seems to imply that to have an authentic relationship with Christ it's necessary to have some sort of powerful subjective affective sense that God loves me in a way that transcends what is available to me in the public revelation of the church I don't think that's true in other words like you have to have some overwhelming emotional response oriented towards your own relationship with God seeming to claim seem to testify in the way that kind of oshika she's you'd get around your wife for example I that's that's God telling me he loves me I don't think that's true at all I don't think that's the way the thing works if it were then we could all just discount the holiness of Mother Teresa who's a very good example of someone who never had that yep and she spoke all the time to her spiritual director about how to the end of her days she lived in the kind of continual darkness of spirit and almost under despair means she never committed the sin of despair because then she would be a saint but she was very very very down on herself in her spiritual life in her situation and lived this kind of an abject emptiness and yet she was a tremendously holy person so you don't have to have that that interior oshi cushy to have a powerful relationship with God bringing you to holiness so let's unpack some of the things Christ says about being related to him first of all we have to obey his teaching I mean that's like a number one when Jesus commissioned the disciples he didn't say go make disciples and make sure they get bushy Khushi's and feel me he said go teach them to obey everything I've commanded you so number one in a relationship with Christ is obey His commandments regardless of how you feel and in fact in the parable of the workers in the in the field all day he says the proper disposition is I'm just an unworthy servant doing my duty right that's that's number one number two uh imitate his example on to martyrdom Christ says in Matthew 16 you have to take up your cross and follow me otherwise you can't be my disciple and expect persecution expect to be hold up in front of synagogues and Kings and to be beaten cursed and reviled for my sake in the same way they treated the master of the house I'm not going to treat the servant any less so follow Christ in the way of martyrdom that's another one we have to follow Christ then we have to die to ourselves and be born again in him that's affected in is primarily by baptism but we also cooperate st. Paul speaks in 2nd Corinthians 7 about mortifying ourselves of every impurity of flesh and spirit that's very necessary for having real proper saving relationship we've got purifying ourselves mortifying ourselves of every impurity of flesh and spirit obedience imitation recreation all right and then in the way of sacrifice st. Paul says we have to offer our bodies as living sacrifice that this is our spiritual act of worship not having like divine oshi Khushi's but offering our bodies as living sacrifices all right and we could go on this there's more going on we could talk all for an hour about what it means to have a relationship with Christ as a Catholic but subjective interior of motion is not the top of the list and so you can't infer from your lack of such an experience that you don't have a good relationship with Jesus okay Andrew thank you so much for your email if you'd like to send us an email for a future show that address CTC at ewtn.com hey we've got sold out phones in a few moments here we're going to get to a France Francesca in Wayne New Jersey a first-time caller we'll hopefully get to a whole bunch more in the next half hour here on EWTN it's called to communion if a line becomes available grab it at eight three three two eight eight EWTN dr. ray guarendi be grateful what you came to the faith when you did let the children see what mom is like now compared to how they were raised before mom and dad came to the faith the leading Catholic voices are on EWTN radio this is a messy family minute from Mike and Alicia Hernan the deepest desire for many of us as parents is to pass on a faith to our children and to do that parents need to be very intentional first we need to look at ourselves and live our faith authentically because more is caught than taught most kids especially teens sense hypocrisy quickly so we need to live a life of humility by asking for forgiveness acting with charity and loving generously next create a unified Catholic culture in your family we are called to be in the world but not of the world so we cannot be afraid to be countercultural and last don't protect children from every failure because suffering brings maturity we need to remember that Christ promised us the cross but he also promised to be with us every step of the way when we teach this to our children we are guiding them into mature faith in Christ who will satisfy all the longing of their hearts for more information and resources visit us at messy family minute org prayer is an opportunity to spend quality time with God so pray from the heart let God know you trust him believe in him and most of all that you love him my favorite prayer that I say many times a day is Jesus I trust in you it is simple but as we know from st. Faustina it reaches his heart hi this is Janet Williams please join us for women of grace tomorrow at 11 a.m. Eastern here on EWTN radio now back to college of communion with dr. David Anders it's called a communion here on EWTN on this Monday afternoon if you're ready let's go to the phones now at 8 3 3 2 8 8 EWTN we begin with Francesca in Wayne New Jersey and as Francesca is a first-time caller hello Francesca what's on your mind today my question Jesus cried on the cross my God my God why have you forsaken me so if he was not later within why would he say that because he felt abandoned and the second part will be the purgatory now I was raised to Roman Catholic I was born in Italy so I believe in all that but lately talking to other people and reading my Bible I've discovered that I can find purgatory anywhere in the Bible there is no limbo there is no purgatory as I was taught and today you will be with me in paradise the thief cried on the cross so if there is a purgatory why didn't you go to purgatory quickly the thief you shouldn't went there but Jesus said no today you will be with me today so can somebody please clear that up for me yeah sure absolutely there's several questions to - um to get at here let me start with the cry of dereliction from the cross you'll note that Jesus was quoting Psalm 22 so you need to read the whole psalm you also note that the hour of Christ's death was also the liturgical hour of prayer in Jewish liturgy and when we meet the disciples in the book of Acts we read that they are going up to the end to the synagogue at the hour of prayer it's 3:00 in the afternoon when they meet the the fellow who wants to be healed or who wants money and Peter heals him so at the at the moment when Israel would speak to God in the language of the Psalms and many of the Psalms occur understood Messianic Lee Christ identifies with the Messianic character in Psalm 22 and thus establishes his solidarity with the suffering people of Israel so I mean he's quoting a song basically and he's identifying with the sentiment and the people who utter it and in the suffering servant of Isaiah 53 who of course is Christ in in the Isaiah literature the suffering servant stands in for Israel in its condition of alienation so Christ in the atoning death enters into solidarity with human suffering and alienation and he signals that by his quoting of this messianic Psalm which the Jews themselves were accustomed to pray right so it doesn't mean we shouldn't read from that any experience of alienation between God the Father and God the Son okay and such thing would be impossible within a good Trinitarian theology how can God be alienated from himself it doesn't make any sense um what about purgatory in the Bible well I'm gonna tell you what purgatory is in the Bible but before I do I have to suggest that the request is illegitimate so it would be irrational to restrict the content of Christian faith to only those things that can be fined and found in the Bible that that's not a rational principle there are lots of things in the Christian faith that are not found in the Bible and and and couldn't in principle be found in the Bible one of them is the proper list of biblical books right we know we know from sacred tradition which writings are to be considered inspired we don't know that from the Bible itself opened up the book of Romans and read for a list of canonical texts you're not going to find it the same thing with all the other books of the Bible all right there are things in the Christian faith that have to come to us from outside Sacred Scripture Christ never limited the content of Christian faith to the Bible in fact he never even mentioned the Bible in that context as a rule of faith to which the church should advert for answering doctrinal questions when he made provisions for handing on the faith he rather gave us his oral tradition 20 gave to the apostles to hand on didn't say worried about the Bible being our sole rule of faith so question the request is illegitimate nevertheless since it's a common one I'll still answer it because purgatory is in the Bible first of all by Sir by inference the way a lot of Christian doctrines or other way Trinity is in the Bible right the word Trinity is not found in the Bible but the reality of the Trinity is found in the Bible same thing with purgatory in the book of second Maccabees chapter 12 we read that the people of God Israel the Jews offered prayers and sacrifices on behalf of the debt you worry about it second second Maccabees chapter 12 mmm-hmm offering prayers on behalf of the dead makes no sense for those that are in heaven or help so we can reasonably infer some intermediate state from which the dead might benefit from our prayers and the practice of praying for the dead predates not only the writing of the New Testament but well it doesn't predates the writing the New Testament and it's been part of the church's liturgical practice from the beginning so there's scriptural witness for a practice that is himself that is itself earlier than the New Testament and has never ceased to be a part of the Christian faith so if Scripture and tradition they are bearing witness now let's talk about the principle of the thing which is also very evident in the Bible Scripture teaches us that after God forgives our sin we are forgiven and reconciled to him we still owe him a debt of reparation no place is this clearer than in the life and prayer of King David who is a type of Christ a messianic figure so on 51 is a good example David says God a sinned against you and you only and you don't want my offerings and sacrifices but renew within me a right spirit created me a clean heart reconcile me to you and then I will offer you sacrifices first let me be reconciled to you in charity after I've repented of my son then I'll make reparation and atonement and then in second Samuel 20 second several twenty-four David evidence is that spirit again when he says I refused to offer the Lord a sacrifice that costs me nothing he's already been reconciled to God he's repented of his sin and now he's gonna turn out and make make reparation we see this from human relationship all the time you offend your friend what are you gonna do first thing you're gonna do is you're gonna say I'm sorry they're gonna say don't worry about it forget about it and the next thing you're gonna do is you know hand over your ticket to the baseball game or go buy your friend a bar of chocolate or bet your wife you might bring your flowers you're gonna do something to make reparation after you've been forgiven that principle is clearly enunciated in Sacred Scripture and that is the principle at work in the dark number natori God forgives our sins or reconciles us to himself but if we don't make adequate reparation in this life we can make reparation in the next and that's a biblical principle the other one is the necessity of purity of heart in order to see God that's just the teaching of our Lord Matthew chapter 5 blessed are the pure in heart for they will see God Psalm 24 says who can ascend the Lord's Mountain or stand on his holy hill only he who has clean hands and a pure heart how do you get your heart purified suffering no other way Saint Paul says we reign with him in glory if we also suffer with him we don't suffer with Christ we don't reign with him in glory right that's how we go about purifying ourselves it's painful right to be purified maybe we don't get all that done in this life again we have a opportunity to do it in the next in purgatory there's a picture right it's a kind of allegory in the ministry of the prophet Isaiah in Isaiah chapter 6 he sees Lord a theophany high seated on the throne and he says up I'm unworthy can't do it can't draw near but he clearly was cuz God called him and he sees this image of the Seraphim with flaming coals and God sends the angel to touch him with his burning coals it's okay you're purified now come on do your job see that's a picture of what happens to us in purgatory mm-hmm all right and Francesca we thank you so much for your call it is called a communion here on EWTN let's go to Mike now and one of my favorite towns in the entire world I think and that would be Grand Forks North Dakota listening on the great real presents radio hello Mike what's on your mind today didn't you hear me sure can go right ahead Mike great you know that's a great answer for the last question I learned a lot from that thank you I'm so I'm still learning I'm still learning you know as I'm we all I don't know if I should feel this way but yesterday I was at a confirmation service at a Lutheran Church in town and I think of ELCA or whatever they are but they're recessional or bless him the thing was so two of those supercalifragilisticexpialidocious and it was very deleterious the Catholic Church they talked about you know the bowl of cake Catholic poles and excommunication and transubstantiation and it really really bothered me there it was a mockery in other words sounds like a mockery to me I wasn't Margaery well it sure was but they were kind of jumping around and they could sell it but you know what's the Congress weren't listening to it I mean they're just they want to get home and you know have the family gathering the verbage bothered me yeah I bugs me too bothers me too and I used to be a non Catholic and I ran around in circles where that kind of thing would have been done I never experienced it in the formal liturgy of a church however that's that's unusual and you know there's a passage in the Gospels of course where Jesus says don't cast your pearls before swine and I'm sort of thing you should chalk this one up to well gee I'm so glad I'm Catholic sure right well that's a very undignified way to try to worship God right by attacking in a in a sarcastic and satirical way the Catholic Church that doesn't seem like a very good way to worship God to me our phone screener Ryan says that Mike went on to say should I approach this Lutheran pastor at there at that church well is there any of any point to that you know the principle of admonishing the center or instructing the ignorant that we use is are we likely to be listened to well are you the best person to make the admonition and is it serious hey that's a judgement call you've got to make I mean it's somebody else is gonna speak to him about it is he likely to listen maybe if you said the pastor didn't seem that engaged the congregation might have been just something the choir director called for in a in a moment of levity without a lot of serious thought my experience of which is limited of ELCA Lutheran's as they're fairly ecumenically minded as a group and if you said you know I just want to let you know I'm I'm a Catholic and I have a friend who was being confirmed in your church and so I went to attend and there was this mockery of the Catholic faith for a recessional hem just wanted to let you know how that comes across like a deep disrespect of another religious tradition is that what you meant to give me okay cuz if not maybe you didn't know that was coming down the pike so just letting you know alright good advice there Micah thank you so much for your call it is called a communion here on EWTN interesting thing and you've you've probably run across this yourself when looking at social media whether it's well any of the social media sites that are out there you'll often see things that are kind of inflammatory or you're thinking well that's not true well take a look at what the source is what is the source that they're quoting if you want a source that you can trust you can trust anything that comes from Catholic news agency this is the only fast reliable and absolutely free Catholic news source that brings blogs and stories and opinions and so much more to your fingertips and you can trust siene for the latest Catholic news visit catholic news agency comm it's an online service from EWTN news so i know to put a button on it here i know that if i if i read something on social media and they're giving me a link to catholic news agency i can go who okay I know that this is legit very good it is called a communion here on EWTN and our phone number eight three three two EWTN here is her manie's or Herman s in Pittsburg California checking us out on EWTN television hey there what's on your mind today I wanted to know if a man and a woman it has been living together over 30-some years but they don't participate like in church or anything like that okay and so you've got a man one who live together and they don't go to church so what what what precisely would you like to know about this situation I would like to know God okay thanks so it depends on a lot of factors have this man and woman been married lawfully no okay well that's a problem right that's a problem you see marriage is very different from from a more casual union precisely because in a marriage a man and a woman make promises to one another of lifelong fidelity and they also do so in a public way because their relationship is not just a private affair but it has effects on the people around them but a lot affects on any children they might bring into the world and also their status in society how they represent the male and female union so it has it has public significance is not just a private thing between two people um so a couple qualifications let's let's say that a man and woman are living together for a long period of time and at some point in that relationship they conceived the intent of being faithful to one another forever and and admit of no possibility of defection and they articulate that intent to one another and you know they wake up one day and say you know we've been in this thing 15 years I'm in it for the long haul you can count on me I am NOT getting out of here and the other one says the same thing and they and also they intend to that relationship for the sake of raising a family if if God allows right if that's open to them and well that's that's that we're moving in the right direction now you say now it would be even better if they made those representations in front of witnesses and now we've got a public association of public bond that's you know been witnessed others if they're not Catholics it need not be done in front of a priest might do it in front of a justice of the peace perhaps maybe a minister of some other church but if they have that intent you say well you know we're not going anywhere we've been here 30 years we're in this thing for the long haul well why not go ahead and say it go ahead and state that intent verbally make those promises to one another and and do it in front of witnesses now if you're Catholic the witness needs to be a priest or a deacon of the Catholic Church if you're not Catholic doesn't have to be right and and now we're moving the thing in the right direction now there's another possibility maybe somebody's been in this thing for 30 years ignorant of their responsibilities before going and and they they didn't really know they had these obligations well God God judges souls based also on their intent and their degree of knowledge like if you really didn't know if someone really didn't know what they were supposed to do and was trying with seeking with a good will to do the right thing but was ignorant of the right thing for no fault of their own oh god it's gonna be more merciful to that individual now let's say you've got somebody who's in this thing for 30 years and they go out oh I see I I'm really it's really necessary for me to make a commitment of of lifelong fidelity I'm never gonna leave til death do us part you know what I don't really want to make that commitment well then that's then that's very different from marriage that would be very different from marriage because in marriage you're saying I'm in this for the long haul no matter what no matter what you get sick you go crazy I'm not leaving you that's the kind of commitment that stands behind a marriage and that and the closer to that you are well the more like marriage you are and that when you reach the point when you can say that out loud in front of witnesses well then you've got it you've got the thing Hermione's thank you some much for your call it is called a communion here on EWTN marries listening in Lancaster South Carolina hey Mary what's on your mind today yes let me first turn the TV off so I can hear you please be very helpful to find control oh I hate it when the remote control is buried under a newspaper or something like that you're going where is out no I've been in bed for seven years without so much stuff when it's bed I understand how can we help you today all right I want to know if a Catholic priest a Catholic doctor that when I was first pregnant and he I went to him because my aunt was a nun and she said he was a good doctor at the hospital where she worked and she said come to him and he'll treat you good and when I got to him we figure it out I was already five months five weeks back now I was three months pregnant and I'd go back every month and he never talked to me much hardly said anything and I didn't think too much of him and then finally what happened was I went to the office and I was I thought I was up to six months I was shelling already and when I left his office he said Mary when you get home call me but my husband and I had promised to take my mother and dad to a fancy restaurant to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary I do for you how can I help you I ain't checked first of all when I picked up the phone that night that this doctor you told me to call and he said your baby's dead I passed out or I dropped the phone my husband and you want to know if if I think you ask that you've called the call screener if it was okay for a doctor to surgically remove a child from the uterus that had already died and the answer to that question would be yes that's perfectly okay because that's very different say from an abortion because in an abortion the doctor is intending to end the life of a child right here we're talking about a child that's already has no life it's already died and so the doctor is just doing what's necessary to preserve the life of the mother that's right and that's perfectly acceptable Mary thank you so much for your call and let's go to Lisa now in River Ridge Louisiana checking us out today on YouTube hey there ELISA what's on your mind today hi I was wondering if there are levels in heaven yes there are thank you for the question so number of parables of our Lord speak about this you think about the parable of the talents and the guy who has you know 10 cities and the guy who has 5 cities and so forth and the the ultimate reward of heaven is the vision of God himself it's our intimate relationship with him that that is far more intimate and far more glorious than anything we would know in this life and our capacity to love God of course is merited in this life and so the difference between the Saints the great Saints and the lesser Saints differs from one another is star from star II and glory right you know some shine bright some shine a little bit and we'll all be filled to our capacity with God but some people's capacity will be greater than others and so some people's in everyone will enjoy God as much as it's possible for them to and far more than they could ever hope or imagine but some people's enjoyment of God will be that much greater because their capacity lovably that much greater the the degree of your love for God that you have in your soul at the moment or death will determine your eternity lissa appreciates your call let's go to Len now in Pittsburgh listening on Sirius XM 130 hello Len what's on your mind today hi there so my question has to do with denying communion to certain Catholics and my question has to do with the fact that Judis shared in the last supper with Jesus that Judas is arguably the greatest Center for having betrayed Christ and so if Christ was willing to share the last number with arguably the greatest sinner of all time biblical basis for denying Communion to Catholic with letters yeah thanks appreciate the question first of all the previous of your question is faulty because there's no evidence in Sacred Scripture that Judas received Holy Communion there's no evidence that he did or didn't it's an open question and theologians are dispute whether or not Judas was present for the distribution of Holy Communion but as to why should we exclude certain people from Holy Communion there's sound biblical teaching on this and good principle so Jesus himself gives instructions for excluding people from Holy Communion in Matthew chapter 18 he explains how you have to kick people out of the church if they are unrepentant and treat them as tax collectors and and Pharisees and whatnot in 1st Corinthians chapter 5 st. Paul also gives specific instructions for removing somebody from the Fellowship of the church and from the sacraments until they come to repentance and the reason is clear and this also is in 1st Corinthians it's that that that impious reception of Holy Communion reception of Holy Communion in the state of sin is bad for the soul it it does not please God and it does not sanctify the one receiving Communion in fact it it multiplies their condemnation it makes them more guilty and more hardened in conscience not the other way and so as an act of mercy it's just like you wouldn't give chemotherapy to somebody that didn't have cancer right you wouldn't prescribe drugs to someone who didn't who couldn't benefit from them you're you should not give the medicine of immortality to someone for whom it will not be good for someone who's solely it will hurt mm hm and and that's what the sacrament of reconciliation is for it is a judicial act on the church's part to validate that someone is in a good condition to safely receive Holy Communion so out of mercy now let's say for the sake of argument that Jesus did receive Holy Communion well compounded his guilt that's all yeah and and Christ knew from the very beginning who was going to betray him and and his decision to call Judas made possible Jesus's apostasy Jesus knew that was going to happen he could have he could have called somebody else but he didn't he called Judas yeah instead of him it would be better for him not to have been born pretty serious appreciate your call and a real quick question here from Justin watching us on Facebook could you please comment on the evil acts God commands people to commit in the Old Testament I'm in dialogue with a friend he has not convinced by apologists so I don't have enough time to go into this in depth there are a number of ways to deal with this first of all God doesn't command evil acts and that's the most important thing yes that's the most more God commands some acts in the Old Testament that are that are terrible punishments on others but he doesn't command evil acts all right secondly Catholic tradition has always read these passages also allegorically and almost all the sort of warfare texts of the Old Testament are read in light of the warfare that we now understand in light of Christ which is a warfare in our own souls against people and there are some other qualifiers we can put on it as well but I don't have time to do it oh well Justin we hope that's helpful for you and there's any place where he could go for a little more information on this um yeah there's a great lecture I was listen to quite recently actually by a theologian who teaches at Benedictine college and his name has just gone out of my head but it's on these difficult passages of the Old Testament and it was available at the two mystic Institute website a little poking around were located was all the best I've heard it was outstanding and already good in a minute all right forget next show I will Justin thank you so much for checking us out dr. David Andrews thank you so much sir thanks mom we do the program Monday through Friday 2:00 p.m. Eastern with an encore at 11:00 p.m. Eastern and a best of show on Sundays at 2:00 p.m. Eastern on behalf of Charles Ryan and Jeff I'm Tom price along with dr. David Andrews you have a great day see you tomorrow here on

Channel: EWTN

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Id: VlbsPAZMhRI

Length: 53min 52sec (3232 seconds)

Published: Mon Oct 28 2019