Called to Communion - 1/20/21 - with Dr. David Anders

including planned parenthood the nation's largest abortion provider i'm theresa tomio and call to communion with dr david anders starts now what's stopping you from becoming a catholic why can't women become priests 1-833-288 ewtn stop i don't understand why i have to earn salvation to a 1-833-288-3986 what's stopping you this is call to communion with dr david anders on the ewtn global catholic radio network everybody welcome again to call to communion here on ewtn the program for our non-catholic brothers and sisters are you yourself a non-catholic perhaps you were an active catholic years ago fell away from the faith for whatever reason and now you're thinking about the catholic faith again perhaps uh the faith of your youth but you've got some questions that you would really need to get answered we are here to help you uh also maybe you've never been a catholic in your whole life uh and you too have some questions about the catholic faith or maybe you have no interest in the catholic faith and you'd like to tell us what is keeping you from becoming a catholic maybe you can't stand this particular thing or this particular belief love to talk about all that here on call to communion here's our phone number eight three three two eight eight ewtn that's eight three three two eight eight three nine eight six you can also uh listen uh to us pretty much anywhere in the world and if you're listening outside of north america please dial the u.s country code and then a special number just for you 205-271-2985 you can also text the letters ewtn to 5500 wait for our response and then text us your first name and your brief question message and data rates may apply and of course you can always shoot us an email ctc at ewtn.com while the a team is in place charles berry our producer also ryan penny our phone screener and jeff burson on social media if you want to ask a question via youtube or facebook because we're streaming there right now just put that question in the comments box jeff will shoot that to us here in studio one i'm tom price along with dr david tom how are you today very well how are you my friend i'm doing decent thank you had a wonderful uh little little bit of time away uh in cincinnati this week uh got to uh go to a beautiful mass at a very old church like from the 1840s i think it was and uh you know got to see friends and family there fantastic and i'm sure you had a great weekend as well it was pretty nice you know we had some halfway decent weather in alabama after a lot of cloudy days so that was nice very cool so i've got a wonderful email here from a gentleman who wants to be known as raleigh that is short for rolando raleigh says dr anders i'm writing to you from the other side of the world in asia from the philippines as we celebrate our 500th year of the catholic faith in our country my question to you today is about popular piety that is very prevalent in our country particularly those promoted by our spanish colonizers many people are tagged as fanatics and touching holy images and attending feast days like the black nazarene or the santo nino celebrated this month in january so my what is the line that separates popular piety with idolatry sadly our catholic piety has been founded on the animistic religion of our pre-spanish ancestors i feel that is a very thin line and so i hope that i can know it well such that i may be able to educate those who may be willing to listen thank you so much raleigh in the philippines yeah thank you so while we're talking i'm going to attempt to turn to a passage of the catechism of the catholic church that i think is very relevant here i'm going to share it with you all right this is from paragraph 2111 in the catechism superstition is the deviation of religious feeling and of the practices this feeling imposes it can even affect the worship we offer the true god meaning you could worship god the real god and do so in a superstitious manner for instance when one attributes and this is the point you have to pay attention to when one attributes and importance in some way magical to certain practices that are otherwise lawful or necessary so when somebody engages in what's a lawful practice and popular devotions popular party or lawful but but takes them in a magical way all right to attribute the efficacy of prayers or of sacramental signs to their mere external performance apart from the interior dispositions that they demand is to fall into superstition so according to the catechism what constitutes a sort of a magical approach to prayer or the sacraments or devotions is to think that by the mere by the mere performance of an outward gesture or ritual without any kind of interior disposition that that will just magically transform me or bring me some sort of supernatural power that's that's what to these things in a superstitious kind of way right because the sacraments themselves which are the most efficacious signs we have in the catholic faith do they they're they're they're objectively valid exoplaty through the ministry of the celebrant they are objectively valid but they only take effect in us they're only subjectively effective in us if we bring faith hope and charity to their to our participation well you know you don't have to have charity to get baptized you just have to have faith uh it creates charity but you know the eucharist for example if you don't have charity in your soul it's not going to do you any good right no matter how objectively valid the sacrament is we have to have that proper disposition to be evenly transformed and participate in that grace even more so with the sacramentals and with the devotions so that's really the line in the sand d are you treating them like magic or are you seeking in these things to actually be inwardly transformed and become like christ in your character raleigh thanks for listening to us in the philippines and thanks for your question here's one now from marcy a family member is a very active catholic in the laity he took a course online on how to perform a marriage to two non-catholics he actually did so at an outdoor ceremony well as a catholic should he have done this and is that marriage valid there was a certificate issued and two witnesses thanks marcie yeah so you know let's let's take an analogous situation could justice of the peace who was catholic preside uh or witness the the vows of two non-catholic people who wish to confer marriage on one another in order to have a legal contract and the answer to the question i think is yes all right provided that the people who were who were conferring marriage on one another were not catholics right because see if it were if they were catholics they'd be bound by canon law they'd have to follow canonical form they would have to have that marriage uh performed in the presence of a catholic priest or deacon a minister of the church in order to have canonical form but you know like two two pagans don't have to get married in front of a catholic priest in order to have a valid natural marriage and if civil law requires uh you know a third party witness who's authorized by the state to do that justice of the peace or whatever that guy could be catholic and stand in that role as long as he's not representing that this is somehow a sacrament which you you know wouldn't necessarily be very good hey lines are filling up very quickly here we have uh one line right now available for you at eight three three 288 ewtn that's 833 288 3986 it's the wednesday edition of call to communion here on ewtn stay with [Music] us tonight on ewtn live brian b song and jonathan fuquay bring philosophy faith and reason together in an enlightening discussion with father mitch on the next ewtn live ewtn live with me father mitch pacquiao tonight at 8 pm eastern on ewtn tv and radio almighty and ever living god heavenly father faith tells us that nothing happens apart from your ordaining will or permissive will and that you never permit an evil to take place without some greater good coming from it we ask you o lord god for an end to the coronavirus pandemic for the healing of those infected with the virus and for the blessed repose of the souls of those who have died from it we ask this through your son our lord jesus christ who lives and reigns with you and the unity of the holy spirit one god forever and ever amen he is only one of four popes honored as the great matthew bunsen and the doctors of the church saint leo the first was pope at a time when roman civilization was being overrun by barbarian armies he stood as a light in the darkness and even saved the city of rome from destruction by attila and the huns leo died in 461 for more about the doctors of the church visit doctorsofthechurch.com [Music] it's called a communion here on ewtn our phone number 833 288 ewtn that's 833-288-3986 want to tell you about a beautiful item available right now from ewtnrc.com it is a holy family statue a tender hand-painted statue of the holy family made of a resin stone mix it's designed to look like a wood carved statue it's about eight inches high and it's available right now at ewtnrc.com there's free standard shipping available for online orders of 75 or more standard shipping in the continental us only use the code free at checkout again check out the holy family statue available right now at ewtnrc.com before we go to the phones david we might put a little ps on that uh fellow a an active catholic who performed a marriage ceremony for a couple of non-catholics probably not a great idea not recommending it i mean the question you know could the marriage be valid the answer is yes but uh you know i mean i'd i'd rather our catholics not run around you know performing a bunch of jungle weddings fair enough let's go to the phones right now if you're ready at 833 288 ewtn we begin with matthew in palm bay florida listening on divine mercy catholic radio hey matthew what's on your mind today hey thank you for taking my call i just had a question where are the moral boundaries for purchases that you make um like let's say if you went out to buy an iphone and you see that you know tim cook or someone they maybe they donate to planned parenthood or something like that should you no longer buy an iphone or should you also be worried about small things like yeah sure appreciate the question so so i you know we cannot if you if you exercise so much scrupulosity over whether every transaction you engage in might at some you know degree of removal participate materially and evil you would more or less have to remove yourself from the economy because you you i mean you can't you can't bank you can't you can't you can't make a purchase without touching some stream of economic activity that's that's it's doing something you'd rather it not do right and when we're when we are sort of remotely cooperating in evil but through no intent we don't want to do evil it's just we don't seem how we can turn and function in society without touching something that's what we call remote material cooperation and evil and when there's a proportionate reason you can you can engage in this kind of activity now certainly if if you as a conscient with as a catholic with a conscience and to care for the common good you're looking at two or three different products and you're you know largely indifferent to the product i mean you just go serve your needs no matter what and you feel like well you know if i buy this product from this company maybe they contribute to pro-life causes and i'm buying this product from that company and they are contributing to abortionist causes well i think i'm gonna go with the pro-life company well that's a that's a reasonable decision that you can make right and that would be you know be care and concern for the common good expressed in your activity but sometimes you don't have those kind of choices and uh and you're you're all right you know i mean actually just today before i came on the show my wife was on the on the horn with our cell phone company trying to negotiate our bill down a little bit because one of my kids let the data run uh-oh and uh but it's uh it's actually a pro-life uh phone company that portion of our money goes to support pro-life causes we don't have to do that but we thought you know money's got to go somewhere might as well help pro-life absolutely matthew thanks so much for your call that opens up a line for you right now at 833 288 ewtn that's 833-288-3986 here is pete now in tyler texas listening on siriusxm channel 130 a first-time caller hey there pete what's on your mind today hey thanks for taking the call and really appreciate all your answers so far on the show very uh very well articulated and very clear so thank you yeah i have a no small question to to throw at you uh but it was prompted by the uh the pre-roll promo which is is salvation earned or is it received yes both a little bit yeah i'm going to dig down i'm in a dead house so so here's what sacred scripture sacred tradition and the catholic church teach uh when we talk about salvation well ultimately we're talking about the reward of heaven i mean that's what we're aiming for that we would be with god forever now obviously nothing that i can do is proportionate to that reward you know i mean if i even even if i'm mother teresa and i've helped you know a thousand poor people off the streets to die in dignity what a noble thing to do well is that worth an eternity of unending bliss well i mean it's a finite good yeah and an infinite reward so it's not proportionate i mean the reward just way outstrips the goodness even though the goodness is pretty good it may be not proportionate to to an everlasting bliss so there is of course an element of of divine condescension and benevolence towards us that we that we cannot possibly merit okay um and uh and yet god has set the world up in such a way that he he offers that disproportionate reward in recompense for things that we do and the the element of merit that god will reward our virtuous activities all through the sacred scriptures beginning with the teaching of jesus in the new testament christ says you know when you pray pray in secret and your father who sees you in secret will reward you when you give alms give alms in secret and your father will reward you when you fast fast and secret and your father will reward you saint paul says in romans 1 to those who by patient endurance in doing good seek glory honor and immortality god will give eternal life roman excuse me revelation chapter 20 this depiction of the final judgment when the book of life is opened and men are judged according to their deeds god gives eternal life to those who've done good and punishment to those who've done evil i mean over and over again in scripture eternal life is the reward for virtuous activity now you say all right well i got a problem i'm not very virtuous and i try real hard and i'm still not very virtuous am i out of luck well no you're not because according to the catholic faith in sacred scripture none of us none of us by nature by you know from birth are doing what we ought to be doing we all need an inner transformation we need conversion we need rebirth saints jesus says unless a man is born again he will not enter the kingdom of heaven it is not born in the natural way of a mother and a father but born spiritually and that spiritual rebirth comes about by god's initiative so it's entirely a work of god's grace that he reached down into our hearts and change us and turn us to himself through the sacraments of the catholic church and through faith baptism and faith are the doors into the into the life of grace now that grace once received which comes to us entirely well gratuitously it's grace that grace once received through no merit on our part begins to change us and work on us and the inside and and turn our character to that of christ and then what does god do he rewards the very things he gave us freely saint augustine would say lord you crown your own gifts so he gives us that ability to cooperate with christ to live charitably to live virtuously and then he rewards the very thing that he gave us freely so is it all from god yes but do we freely participate and cooperate and does god reward that cooperation answer also yes so you say salvation a gift yes is it response to our merits yes but they're merits that god has made possible in us supernaturally by grace pete is that helpful for you it is thank you i i appreciate it greatly you are most welcome you have a wonderful day it is called a communion here on ewtn we have one line open right now at 833 288 ewtn that's 833 288 3986 let's go to uh mike in cleveland listening on the ewtn app hey mike what's on your mind today hi this kind of ties in with the last caller i'm trying to understand justification is work uh faith plus good works and my question is i understand the faith part i don't understand the good works part okay thanks i appreciate the question so first of all i think it's helpful to get clear on what saint paul actually says in the book of romans chapters 3 and 4 in galatians 2 3 and 4 when he says that we are justified by faith and not by works of the law because that's those five chapters of the bible are a real stumbling block to a lot of people right in understanding the rest of the bible and the rest of sacred tradition on the nature of salvation and here's the mistake that a lot of people make they they think and this is of course martin luther introduced this idea that when paul says we're justified by faith and not by works of the law they they imagine that paul is excluding moral activity from the question of salvation it's faith not moral activity or moral behavior and that of course is not true because i mean all the other chapters of the bible do nothing all day long except exhort us to moral behavior and the teaching of jesus of course is is is about nothing else hardly except just this nonstop uh exhortation to uh to a renewed virtuous life in our interior that would be you know have poverty of spirit and hunger for righteousness and be pure of heart peacemakers and meekness and you know persecuted for righteousness sake fasting and secret and giving alms and to the poor and making recompense for sins and being humble jesus's teaching is just replete with moral demands so we can't read paul that way what is paul actually talking about when he says that we're saved by faith or justified by faith and not works of the law well the context of these letters is the controversy of acts chapter 15 when gentiles come to jesus do they have to follow the mosaic code do they have to circumcise themselves and their children and and follow the laws of kashrut and avoid eating pork and these kinds of things those are the works of the law that paul has in mind and what he answers is no no you're not you're not counted a member of god's covenant family because you have adopted the mosaic code no the gospel has opened up adoption in christ to the whole world regardless of their ethnic status in christ is no longer jew greek slave free male or female all right and the law of course made those distinctions the law of moses made those distinctions in christ the barrier wall of hostility has been broken down that's what ephesians says chapter 2 and 3. so we're justified we're made right with god not in virtue of the mosaic code but in virtue of our faith in christ now how does faith in christ make us right with god how does that actually happen and what paul says is that it's it's the law was written on tablets of stone but by faith the holy spirit comes and writes them on our hearts we're given new hearts circumcised in our hearts romans 2 25 to 29 says that the real jew is circumcised in the heart and in such a person who has that new heart the righteous requirements of the law are fully met so if i have faith in jesus and i'm baptized and i live in him then i'm born again and i'm given a new character a new heart and and love is now the active principle of my life and love fulfills the law i love god and love neighbor and i've done what's needful i don't have to worry about circumcision and new moons and sabbath days and avoiding bacon you know i love god and love neighbor which comes to me through faith and i've met the requirements of the law all right appreciate your call mike it's called a communion here on ewtn we're going now to susan in manchester england a first-time caller hey there susan what's on your mind today thank you for taking my call i am i just wondered what the advice would be i was born and brought up as a catholic in ireland and then um left the church at university age and from then on i had a very um bad life really and then i married an anglican but did not bring my children up as catholics and now years later i'm divorced those children are in their 40s two of them i'm in my 70s and i'm looking back and i have returned i've been converted back thank goodness thank god but there's a lot of not good things i'm very worried about my children's salvation particularly one thing which is that i was dealing in the occult quite a lot and i i just didn't heed or really understand the danger so i invited forces into what was not of a faithful marriage anyway as in when i say faithful catholic sacramental marriage so my children have been very um you know attacked i would say by these influences so now at this stage what can i do they're adults i do tell them about going back to the faith but they kind of close they just think i'm overdoing it but as i get older i realize time's running out and i'm i'm you know i'm praying but i just don't know what else i can do yeah yeah and i see your situation thank you susan i can tell this is weighing very heavily on your heart and i'm so sorry and you have my my concern and our prayers uh i'd like to say a few things to you first of all you said that you'd lived a bad life so have we all so have we all we've all lived a bad life we've messed this life up you are not in consequence a bad person because you've done bad things does not make you a bad person you're a beloved child of god your life has meaning and has infinite merit and value and god loves you and i think you're a good person and you're because you're aiming in the right direction and you're trying to do the right thing and none of us can control none of us ha we don't write our script even you know god has got providence in control of all things and in in the province of god he chose to use even your bad choices to bring about the good that you're presently enjoying in your life because he cares for you and he cares for your kids and uh and so you know first of all trust in god's goodness and providence because he's brought you to where you're supposed to be that's not without his guidance that those things have happened um and i've got more to say but unfortunately here comes the music i'm gonna have to put this on hold yeah uh sit tight there susan we're gonna continue this call with you uh in just a few moments so uh don't go away we also have lots more coming ahead straight ahead here on ewtn's call to communion [Music] the words of blessed carlo agutis our goal must be infinite not finite the infinite is our homeland heaven has been waiting for us forever now there's a fast and easy way to get in touch with ewtn the ewtn everything number call 1-800-447-ewtn to get the latest information on programming special events pilgrimages and more our ewtn family viewer services representatives are ready to help you with whatever your needs may be the ewtn everything number 1-800-447-ew [Music] 60 seconds with archbishop fulton j sheen how does god know well god does not know the way we know we know by looking at things god knows by looking at himself we can get a faint idea of the way god knows from an architect before an architect puts up a building he can tell you if he is the designer the size of the building its dimensions the location of each room its height the number of elevators it will have and so forth how does he know all of this before the building is built because he is the designer of the becoming of the building now god is a cause too but god is not just a cause of the becoming of the universe he's the cause of the very being of the universe the people you know and trust are on ewtn long-distance relationships of all types can be difficult to maintain share your wisdom tomorrow on take two with jerry and debbie on most of these ewtn stations now more of call to communion with dr david anders [Music] it's called a communion here on ewtn glad you could join us on this wednesday afternoon tom price here along with dr david anders before the break we were speaking with susan in manchester england uh she has come back to the faith in her 50s however there have been affairs occult practices along the way she's very concerned for her children yeah thank you so you know before the break i was saying just because we've done bad things in the past doesn't mean we're bad people and and you know the fact that you care and that you want to do the right thing shows that god's at work in your life and we don't understand god's providence why he touches us at the times of our life that he does and brings us to himself everybody has a different story and uh and we are just grateful that the lord has seen fit to give us his grace and help us seek a better way and trust that if he can if he can work on us he can work on our kids too who he loves far more than we do um you know i also think that uh that whether it comes to your children anybody else we can't get in there and trust me i've wanted to do this as a parent but it doesn't work we we cannot will on behalf of another each one is responsible for his own free will and you know i can i can i can lay a road in front of you but i can't make you walk it and uh uh but i can change me i can't change you but i can change me i can change the way i communicate with you i can change the way i communicate with myself and uh it you know the if i if i it seems paradoxical but sometimes when i if i give up trying to change another person and just work hard on changing the way i relate to that other person and and accept you know accept god's providence in their life that they are where they are and i and i've got to be okay with they are where they are and god is in control not me let me work on me that actually has more of an effect on changing the other person than knocking directly on the door so you can still knock on the door of heaven you can pray for your kids you can love them you can have the mass said for them uh you know you could have word about spiritual influences you have deliverance prayers said for them all right and there are even some uh kind of minor exorcisms that priests who are not full-fledged exorcists can can say and there you know there are there are lots of resources books of deliverance prayers and so forth that you can get a hold of if you think that's something that you need to be involved in but you pray for your kids and have sacrifices the sacrifice of the mass made for them and but most importantly love them be patient with yourself work on you um and uh and surrender them to god's providence and mercy because he loves them and cares for them more than you do more than i do yeah god bless you susan and we'll be praying for you and for your kids as well thank you so much for your call let's go now to uh joyce in parish florida listening on siriusxm130 a first-time caller hey there joyce what's on your mind today hello yes i do have a question for dr andrews so um i'm a baby of our i'm the baby of five children and we all are um baptized catholic however when it came time for me to go to do my communion my mom we didn't i didn't do it i went to sunday school and everything and she said well at that time you didn't have to do the rcia classes you were automatically able to go to communion and so we moved away and i never did it or you know i never went to um to communion or anything like that and then now as i'm older i want to get back into the catholic religion um but i don't know whether or not i actually could go um have communion um i did take the classes online but i don't know if i have to have a sponsor or to be blessed by it okay so let me ask you a couple of questions so you you were baptized did you say that you had or had not made your first reconciliation first confession i have not no because my mom okay so what you need to do um is uh i would i would go make an appointment with your parish priest and explain this situation to him say i was baptized catholic i i was never confirmed i never made my first reconciliation and i never made my first communion and i'd like to complete that chris that catholic initiation i'd like to receive those sacraments and and and be fully incorporated into the church and then you just do whatever he tells you and different priests are going to handle your situation in little different ways depending on their parish and you know as you mentioned it may or may not he may or may not direct you to join rcia uh probably not is my guess and probably just if you've already had instruction in the faith and you know the faith and you're ready to profess it he might just let you profess the faith and then and then and then administer celebrate these other sacraments with you um but uh you just take it to the church and and do what they tell you and you do need to do these things you can't go to communion till you've been to confession um and you want to get confirmed so just make an appointment lay it out in front of the pastor and he'll take care of you there you go joyce appreciate your call thank you so much for it let's go to uh tony now tony's in seattle listening on the great sacred heart radio a first-time caller hey tony what's on your mind today hey there earlier today on a question about redemption you had mentioned uh doing a couple of virtuous acts versus an infinity in bliss well i have questions on how that works on the flip side you know in anyone's lifetime they can only have the capacity to commit finite sin yet they'll end up in hell if they don't have jesus as their savior and so the punishment seems to be out of proportion to the offense and especially since god is a god of perfect justice i i don't i can't reconcile those two points okay yeah thanks appreciate the question so let me let me qualify one tiny little remark that you made about you know if a person doesn't have jesus as his savior then he is going to be consigned to hell and and there's a sense of which i think that's true and there's a sense in which i think that's not true god is not going to send you to hell because of your failure failure to affirm a an article of faith like just by itself like some someone's for example someone who's ignorant of the christian faith and has not you know consciously expressly affirmed jesus is my savior that person is not going to be damned simply in virtue of that omission right because that happens through no fault of their own uh sin is a conscious act a rational act well it's irrational but involves you know the misuse of our rationality in rejecting what we know to be our rational good right and uh we're all familiar with this concept whether we're christians or not there are times that we do things that we know are not in our moral best interest or the best interest of our neighbor and we do them with impunity and we have the freedom to do otherwise and we know we're doing wrong and we do it wrong anyway that's sin all right that's what we're sent to hell for now the redemption is offered to us in christ is a way to rectify that situation to to change our wills towards god and to consistently love and will the good and it's in virtue of that union with the good that that perjures into eternal life and is the experience of the beatific vision i mean god is is the good god is that by which all good things are good and whether someone is consciously a christian or not when they consistently perseveringly will the good and will to be united in the good god rewards that decision by extending and prolonging and deepening it into the beatific vision now in the same way when someone consistently and perseveringly and freely rejects the good god says okay fine i'll give you what you asked for and so you know the the christian writer c.s lewis once said in the end there will be two kinds of people those who say to god thy will be done and those to whom god says that will be done yeah you know those whom god allows to have what they have chosen which is exclusion and rejection of the good now i'm with you when you say well i'm i'm trying to get the sort of mathematical proportions straight in my head this is a mystery to me well me too actually i mean i i find it i find it a mystery on the order of transubstantiation or the two natures of christ and it's i find it difficult to rationally get my head around but it is helpful to me uh two things one this idea that you know hell is my own freely chosen position of rejecting the good and god honoring my choice and also when i approach any dogma of the catholic faith whether it's hell heaven christ the eucharist the catechism tells me that the dogmas are are lights that illumine my path they are uh they they give me a frame of reference for thinking about my my spiritual and moral life and as such hell though a mystery stands in front of me as a as a potent sign and symbol of the finality and importance of my moral actions as a scourge as a warning uh that guides me in my in my own choices and reminds me not to get off the path and so it has a function in the christian life that exceeds my rational capacity to grasp all right and we do appreciate your call tony it's called a communion here on ewtn be sure to join us tonight 9 p.m eastern for ewtn news nightly with tracy sable she'll be covering the swearing-in of president biden and i'll bring you a special report on president trump's final hours at the white house again that's tonight 9 p.m eastern on ewtn radio and television before we get back to the phones david we just heard from aaron uh checking this checking in with us via facebook he says i'm a long time listener i listen to your program while i'm out on patrol i am a rural county deputy i grew up as a baptist i am now attending a methodist church just wanted to let you know i really appreciate you all and the information that you provide as i am exploring the catholic faith and that's from aaron well you just made my day aaron how about that so much very cool here is bernadine now in spokane washington listening on sacred heart radio bernadine what's on your mind today good morning uh gentlemen um thank you i was a caller yesterday dr anders bernadine and i uh we were i was the last one and i was asking a question that i met a young woman uh probably in her early twenties who was um she's helping me get flames from my pictures in the michael's store and uh um i had a sacred picture i was doing and we got to talking about faith and she said she was catholic and but not practicing now but as i spoke to her about you know faith and how great it is to have the lord and especially in the eucharist and all that she was listening deeply and says i'd like to talk to you some more um so i'm asking um i'm older person and i'm 81 but i i need i need that help of uh of a gentle book you know and maybe give her to read to encourage her back to the faith and um so you know one that comes to my mind um off top of my head is the the story of a soul by saint therese of lizzie oh yeah and many people have found that book be quite accessible uh although although the spirituality is profound uh the language is accessible and and you know it's written from the heart from a young woman about this woman's age who was struggling to live a virtuous christian life of course she succeeded heroically and became a saint but that's a that's just a all-time favorite and a classic um you know what's really really approachable um is uh some of the books by uh by saint uh teresa of calcutta mother teresa i mean if you read her sings they're almost they're almost like little little apothecans little epigrams you know they're like a paragraph long and um and but they're inspiring and oftentimes you'll find collections of uh of uh mother teresa that uh are interspersed with photographs of the the sisters that work with the poor and for somebody who has you know kind of very little direct familiarity with the church and it's and it's works of mercy that sometimes that's just a very endearing approach to to not not a few people have become catholic just from the holiness of mother teresa um you know i i like to dive in the deep end of the pool personally and when it comes to catholic literature i think the greatest book ever written was the confessions of saint augustine um that's definitely not you're asking for sort of a shallow end of the pool introduction that that ain't it right yeah but in terms of you know someone who really wrestled with all of the big questions of the faith uh philosophy science history personal sin temptation pride relationship problems abandonment adultery ambition the government you know you name it yeah he's in there with you and the answers that augustine gives are perennial so those are some thoughts bernadine thanks so much for your call and and as you were mentioning this and i'm glad you brought up mother teresa uh there is a museum there is a mother teresa museum on the campus of ave maria university in ave maria florida now i don't know if it's open to the public now it may be closed that you know because i'm skipping a jump from bernadine in spokane washington well sure it's right next door yeah just just pop on over to maria florida well i'm mentioning this for bernadine and for any of our other listeners who who have a have a special attention special attraction to saint mother teresa all right let's go on to steve now steve is in wichita kansas listening on catholic radio network hey steve what's on your mind today uh yes first i want to thank you for your show it's a fantastic show and i've often thought of and of the words of pope john the 23rd who i believe and i'm kind of paraphrasing i think he he mentioned during the council opening up the doors of the the windows of the church so that's fresh air in this show it's exactly that to me and my question i was reading uh the gospel of john this morning chapter four and you know the the woman at the the well the samaritan woman who jesus kind of well i say cokes but he he encouraged her you know to converge in overtime and she did you know through that encounter she converted uh but i was wondering if say she uh would have wanted to follow jesus after you know he stayed there a couple of days in samaria with as the town came out to to hear him uh if as a samaritan she would have been able to follow him because uh you know samaritans and jews didn't have anything to do with each other and i was thinking of peter you know as he followed jesus at a distance into the courtyard how he was recognizable by his galilean accent so would she have been able to follow the lord back and follow him closely or yeah thanks i appreciate the question so first of all it's important to recognize that among the company of the disciples that followed christ everywhere were many women so it wasn't a male only kind of thing and uh and in fact they were they were the primary financial backers of jesus's ministry luke chapter 8 says that mary magdalene and others went along with christ and supported the apostles in their public ministry out of there out of their resources so um uh that's still often the case you know yes when i when i look at who's supporting the ministry of the church a lot of times it's women and and they're the ones that are that are you know giving their time and their resources to support the ministry of the church and it was so back then as well so the being a woman would have would have nothing to do with it um i think what's maybe a little bit more pertinent christ of course opened opened the door into a covenant relationship with god to the whole world irrespective of of ethnicity or family of origin and that is the whole point of the gospel in fact that we're no longer you don't have to become a jew in order to in order to belong to the god of abraham we can come in through christ and so that was the ultimate aim of the gospel but in the in the time of jesus's earthly ministry he made it clear that that he was called first to minister to the jews because they were the the ethnic children of the promise uh to whom the messiah was offered and it's into that patrimony of abraham that gentiles are ultimately called and it's conspicuous that christ called jewish men to be in the number of the twelve and there was a deep symbolic significance of that you know when when christ was baptized in the jordan it was like all of israel passed again through the jordan river and the people of god was reconstituted on new lines no longer just on ethnicity but but this renewal in the holy spirit and jesus goes and calls 12 well 12 is a highly significant number it's in imitation of the 12 tribes of israel it's like jesus's refounding reconstituting the people of israel on a new basis he gives out the new law as opposed to the mosaic code he gives out the sermon on the mount written on human hearts and not just on tablets of stone and in all of that was necessary that the times would be fulfilled now when the messiah was crucified raised from the dead then of course it gets thrown open to the whole world and pentecost is the sign of that so uh you know jesus he could have called samaritans and gentiles into his inner circle from the very beginning uh but but he he chose first to do it with the children of israel and then after his resurrection to throw it open to the whole world so you know what what might the samaritan woman have followed him well there were those that jesus said no go back home to your family and say how much god has done for you the gerasine demoniac was one who christ cast out the demons and he says i want to come follow you and jesus says no you go home take care of your folks let them know how much god has done for you but you better believe he was the first one in the door when they opened the churches after the restriction absolutely steve thank you so much uh for your call and uh just got a little uh update here from our very own jack williams who says due to the covet 19 restrictions the mother teresa museum i was talking about earlier is closed until further notice well we hope that that uh doesn't last forever you know restrictions didn't mean a lot to mother teresa no they didn't she just forged you know there was a at one time um when lebanon was racked with civil war and they weren't let anybody in and out she said i want to go in there and get all the kids out yeah and the officials said we're not going to let you in and she said well what if the what if there's a ceasefire and they said okay if there's a ceasefire we'll let you in she's okay i'll just ask our lady for a ceasefire and she did there was and she went and got the kids and went out gotta love it here is uh mary now in palmer massachusetts listening on siriusxm 130 mary what's on your mind today hey thank you for taking my call um earlier i i i've listened to catholic radio in the past but it's been a while i heard someone talk about being saved as a catholic i don't believe that i'm saved and the protestant definition so do catholics believe in being saved of course absolutely but not but you're correct not in the way the word is often used in protestant circles so here's the major difference between the protestant catholic view of salvation and life in christ and we'll use a fancy word okay the fancy word is imputation an imputation just means that you count something as being the case even though it isn't actually the case so for luther martin luther founder of protestantism he thought that that god would look at christians and see righteousness even though they stayed sinful let me say that again luther thought that he could stay objectively sinful he could do bad things he could his will could be all corrupted and not love god and not love neighbor but if he had faith god would look at him as if he were righteous as if he were righteous even though he remained objectively sinful and this would happen luther believed because he would be god would impute to martin luther the righteousness of christ he would count jesus's obedience as if it were luther's and then he would be merciful and clement to luther even though luther remained objectively sinful luther called this simultaneously just and sinful he compared it to being like a dung heap covered in snow inside he's all corrupt and nasty but on the outside god looks at him and sees lily white and so he lets him into heaven that was luther's position now later protestants thought that this happened in a in a momentary transaction you know that one minute you're alienated from god and then the next minute you have faith and all sudden boom god says i accept you no matter what you do you're in you're safe you're good don't ever worry again and that's how they understand salvation this kind of one-time crisis event happens in an instant you're not necessarily changed permanently but god just regards you as okay now you're on my team okay it's like shirts and skins i pick you all right and you're just on god's team and that's just where you are okay that's the protestant at least some protestants view it's not the catholic view catholics definitely believe in salvation salvation means we get to heaven we make it we get there right but we get there by cooperating with god's grace and by changing but we actually have to cooperate we actually have to engage in moral behavior with god's help and we actually do merit salvation with god's help we actually do good works that god rewards that he recompenses and if we persevere like that until the end jesus says whoever perseveres to the end will be saved then we're saved all right mary thanks so much for your call i think we have time for one more chris is in grants pass oregon listening on roku chris we have about a minute what's your question today thank you for taking my call and uh also you know in regards to susan a couple of callers previously callers um i would like to offer to her if it's okay with you to offer her children up to god we had a daughter that believe me it was just horrific into a lifestyle that was just horrific and you know i offered her up to god and our daughter is back with us has been now for many many years is doing very well and i you know praise god praise god every day for that amen absolutely you know uh chris i love to ask well absolutely and i wish we had time to get to your question about indulgences uh because that's a very important thing and and i think a lot of people don't understand it especially uh those who are not catholics and even a lot of catholics don't get the whole indulgences uh attitude of the church so if you would please call us back tomorrow and we will put you at the head of the line and you can ask that question regarding indulgences and and that'll be that uh and chris thank you so much for your call wow a fast moving hour here dr david andrews thank you so much for it tom thank you so much and uh appreciate your kind words there about mother teresa she was fantastic she was the stuff the stuff definitely don't forget we do the program monday through friday here on ewtn radio 2 p.m eastern is our live broadcast with a encore of that same show at 11 p.m eastern if you missed it also it's always available online by going to ewtnradio.net ewtnradio.net check it out the podcast you can even subscribe to it and it'll be sitting there in your inbox whenever you wish on behalf of our fantastic team here behind the glass i'm tom price along with dr david andrews thanks for joining us see you tomorrow right here on ewtn's call to communion god bless hey y'all this is father mitch pack

Channel: EWTN

Views: 3,553

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: Catholic, EWTN, Christian, television

Id: _1wBRq1mevo

Length: 54min 15sec (3255 seconds)

Published: Wed Jan 20 2021