Called To Communion - 8/15/17 - Dr. David Anders

maybe you don't know exactly who to turn to you can turn right here here's our phone number 1-800 five eight five nine three nine six one eight hundred five eight five nine three nine six if you're a texture you can text the letters EWTN to five five zero zero zero wait for the response and then text us your first name and your brief question message and data rates may apply for some folks again our phone number 1-800 five eight five nine three nine six if you're watching us today on t v-- that's generally delayed about ten days or so but you can certainly send us an e-mail anytime CTC at ewtn.com CTC at ewtn.com michael mccaul is our producer Matt Kaminski is screening the phones for us today Jeff Burton is on social media so if you have a question you can also post it on Facebook live and on YouTube I'm Tom price along with dr. David Enders um how are you today I'm doing very well and we've got some great questions today already the phones are ringing and we got an email here from David who says I received a question from a friend in the UK who through my introduction to natural law has come to believe in God well that's great fantastic we she has done much reading and has asked me many questions I requires some help please with a recent question about the immortal soul she mentioned that this idea of the immortal soul came from the Greeks it is not mentioned at all in the Bible therefore we don't have one how should I respond again that's from David okay thanks so first of all the the argument the idea came from the Greeks therefore we don't have one is a non sequitur okay okay and the you know the fact that that's like saying well Corinthian columns came from the Greeks therefore we don't have anything I mean I just don't make any sense but nevertheless it's a it's patently untrue regarding sacred scripture so I'm actually flipping through my Bible right now looking for a text and I'm I'm miss gonna oh there we go there we go got it yeah so there are a number of places in the scriptures that speak about the immortality of the soul and and of course the immortality of the human person the book of wisdom of course Chapter two yeah that's what I'm trying to turn to you right now is a kind of paradigm example so the the here we go so the sacred writer actually contemplates the person that would say there is no immortality and life is just random you know confluence of particles so let's eat drink and be merry and gather rosebuds while we make uh-huh and the sacred writer responds this is thus they reasoned and they were led astray for their wickedness blinded them and they didn't know the secret purpose of God nor hope for the wages of holiness nor discerned the prize for blameless souls for God created man for in corruption God created man for in corruption and made him in the image of his own eternity but through the devil's Envy death entered the world and those who belong to his party experienced it for the souls of the righteous are in the hand of God and no torment will ever touch them there it is hope that's a helpful for you David we appreciate that here's one from Facebook John is watching us on Facebook live he says can any male Catholic become the Pope uh well okay all right it depends on in in in in which respect you're asking the question alright so the Pope has to be a priest and he has to be the Bishop of Rome alright and I would say my odds personally of being ordained to the sacred priesthood and being named Bishop of Rome are astronomically small all right there would have to be a nuclear catastrophe and I'd be like you know only you know the last male Catholic alive before that would happen alright so so in that sense no but potentially potentially you know barring any extraordinary impediments alright male baptized you know people milk male Catholics can't put could potentially be ordained to the sacred priesthood and they're also elevated to the Episcopal and therefore could be could be you know find themselves one day and to see if Rome but not very likely your odds are running a lottery your very good okay thank you John for your question glad that you're watching us on Facebook live here's a quick email from Ryan right here in Alabama in Tuscaloosa who says dr. Anders thanks for your show and everything that you do for the church while discussing the assumption of the Blessed Mother with my children I mentioned the fact that one of the reasons we believe she was assumed body and soul into heaven is because of the lack of relics of the blessed virgin I realized that this is just one reason but one of my children asked well hey what about Joseph's great question I don't know of any relics of st. Joseph so could he have also been assumed body and soul into heaven based on that same logic thanks again Ryan and tuscaloosa right thanks I appreciate it so I wouldn't say that we believe in the Assumption because that of the absence of relics all right but the absence of devotion to relics of Blessed Virgin is confirmation of the dogma that we believe on the basis of divine revelation and Theological reasoning right so the reason we believe in the Assumption is first of all because but most importantly God has revealed it through sacred tradition all right and this is a belief that's been celebrated in the church for 2,000 years of course it's been a liturgical feast since late antiquity and it was proclaimed as a dogmatic fact by the sacred Magisterium okay so that's that's that's why we know okay but but the the fact that there was so much devotion to the relics of New Testament saints in antiquity and in fact at the Council of Cal Seton the Roman Emperor shows up and he says you know I got all these relics of all these great guys but I don't have any of the Blessed Virgin can you get me some too they assembled father's and st. Juvenal who was president at the time said not gonna find any not gonna find any because we know she was assumed into heaven so there you have it it's confirming evidence but it's not the reason we believe it okay very good Ryan thank you so much for your email when we come back from our quick break we'll be talking with Richard in Columbus Ohio we have a phone line open for you right now one eight hundred five eight five nine three nine six one eight hundred five eight five nine three nine six this is called a communion on EWTN sharing the fullness of the Catholic faith one eight hundred five eight five nine three nine six this is call to communion with dr. David Anders on the EWTN global Catholic radio network new from EWTN publishing the four last things father Wade moniece's presents the truths of salvation this guide will help you become eternity minded in your daily life by demonstrating the reality of Hell dispelling sentimental notions about heaven and bringing to light key truths you need to know about death and judgment the four last things new from EWTN publishing now available at ewtn are c.com listen to ewtn radio day or nice audio on demand brings you your favorite EWTN programs prayers and devotionals instantly to you for free visit ewtn eps calm and get started today hi I'm Doug Keck and this is a EWTN bookmark brief I'm speaking here with Denise Bossert I just finished an interview on her book gifts of the visitation nine spiritual encounters with Mary and Elizabeth is the title so tell us Denise what's this book about the visitation I believe is a blueprint for evangelizing it our lady makes it look like it's what we were born to do because it is what we were born to do and we discover from her that the first thing she does after receiving our Lord is to go and share him with her relative Elizabeth so she is the Christ share the Christ bear and she calls us to upon receiving the Eucharist to be sent out to go out and share and bear Christ thank you so much Denise sponsored the book is gifts as a visitation nine spiritual encounters with Mary and Elizabeth published by Ave Maria Press available through the EWTN religious catalogue EWTN our c-calm look for the entire interview coming soon to EWTN on bookmark and this has been in WGN bookmark brief and thanks for joining us this is Bishop John brunt guard of the Diocese of Dodge City this is Colin Donovan vice president for theology this is father Larry Richards host of open line Thursday thanks for listening to EWTN global Catholic radio network what's stopping you from becoming a Catholic this is called to communion with dr. David Angela one eight hundred five eight five nine three nine six if you're ready now let's get to the phones at one eight hundred five eight five nine three nine six we begin with Richard in Columbus Ohio listening to us on st. Gabriel radio hey Richard what's on your mind today what is a little confusing to me is that several places in scripture it says basically if we repent and confess our sin that basically God no longer remembers that it is washed away so this is this is mentioned a couple times in Scripture so if that be part of Scripture how can there be a and you did that how can there be a final judgment yeah thanks I really appreciate the question so first of all if the final judgment god Christ will judge every human person good and bad okay and so there'll be a judgement of the righteous and of the wicked and the wicked of course will be condemned and to eternal Hellfire that's what the teaching of scripture says but among the righteous also there is something to adjudicate because the rewards of the righteous are not equal all right not every man will receive the same reward but be rewarded according to his deeds and much as I'd like to get the same reward that Mother Teresa has coming to her something tells me that I may be a rung or two below her when we get to the eternal glory all right you know assuming that I make it and and then st. Thomas actually in in speculating on this question and and in particular in his book the compendium of theology sometimes published under the title Thomas Kamik catechism and I'd recommend you take a look at I think his chapters 241 to about 243 he talks about the final judgment he actually speculates that there will be some of the righteous that won't be judged because there will be no admixture of evil in their deeds hmm right they'll they'll be so purified in the fire of cherry it'll just be like okay you're in you're in your head whoa got judge you you know and will that be the case I mean he's speculating but uh but there's still a need for a final judgment even for those who have been forgiven Richard thank you so much for your call that opens up a line for you now one eight hundred five eight five nine three nine six if you have a question for dr. David Andrews one eight hundred five eight five nine three nine six we go now to Jason and Western Kentucky watching us right now on Facebook live Jason what's your question today hi dr. Andrews I am a convert about six years ago from a more of a Baptist background and when I was coming into the faith I worked with a reformed Calvinist friend of mine and we would talk a lot about the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist and one of his issues with the real presence was the idea that Christ being spatially located in heaven was able to send his body and blood is actual presence to the author what he would say was is the Catholic Church was not providing a true distinction between the human nature and the divine nature of Christ and therefore we were running in the heresy denying to create the earliest Creed's and I remember that Luke I believe the Lutheran's and the Calvinists argue about this no Lutheran's would always use an argument saying that he that Christ communicates the divine attributes to the human attributes and I'm just wondering if the Catholic Church would say something similar to that okay thanks I really appreciate the question so it's interesting that your friend would utterly reject the doctrine of the real presence because his own founder John Calvin did not completely reject the doctrine of the real presence now he didn't believe in the local presence of Christ's body but he did believe that in Holy Communion the body and blood of our Lord were communicated to the communicant and a spiritual or mystical manners is sometimes called the mystical theory of Christ's presence and communion so clearly Calvin had more than a purely symbolic view of the holy supper and you can read about that in the Institute's of the Christian religion book for chapter 17 article 17 I think okay so you go look that up Calvin did believe in a modified form of the real presence now the error of course in your friends assertion is that he fails to distinguish the mode of Christ's real presence in the Blessed Sacrament confessed by Catholics all right Catholics do not believe that Christ is quantitatively present in the Blessed Sacrament all right what is the quantitative mode of presence well Tom Price he was sitting across from me at the table right now was present to me in a quantitative way alright he's there by extension so if I were to take a machete and chop him in half I'd have half a Tom Price over here and half a Tom Price over there not planning on doing that but I appreciate that okay and and manifestly Christ is not present in a quantitative mode so if I break the sacred species the hosts in half I don't have half of don't have his head and you know torso over here and his legs and arms over there it doesn't work that way I have the whole Christ present to me sacramentally under every particle of the host and every particle of the chalice we speak of Christ being present substantially in a substantial mode but not in a quantitative mode ie this is a mysterious mode of presence all right it's one that transcends human rationality all right we believe it on the strength of divine revelation that Christ said this is my body you didn't say this here is a piece of bread which wish if you receive in the state of grace and faith will communicate mystically my spirit to you from some trans local you know place in heaven as Calvin believe he says this is my body my flesh is real food so we believe on the strength of divine revelation not only in Scripture but 2,000 years of Christian history this is why Luther himself who was no Catholic he left the church continued to confess the doctrine of the real presence the bodily presence of Christ in the Eucharist and said that if we have even if we didn't have Sacred Scripture we have 1,500 years of tradition you know the universal confession of the Christian Church down through the world and it's a dangerous and horrible thing to reject anything that's universally affirmed by the by the faithful in that way would that Luther had been more consistent in that affirmation yeah so error in your friends in your friends reasoning now your friend accuses the Catholics of misstating or misunderstanding the nature of Christ's real humanity namely that has to be locally present all right but I think it's the Calvinist actually that has a faulty doctrine of the nature of Christ's humanity all right and Calvinism historically has been accused of coda tilting towards nestorianism all right and in and of course the the the 5th century heretic nestorius believed for instance of the Blessed Virgin Mary that it could be said that she was the mother of Christ but not the mother of God okay so he seemed to suggest that there was a separation between the divine nature of Christ and the human nature of Christ in some way maybe there's a moral Union or what if the nature of the Union is such that if I'm touching the hand of the physical hand of Jesus I may be touching the human Jesus but I'm not touching God that was notorious as view or seemed to be or it seemed to imply that well the the the Calvinist view would seem to imply something similar that I can have a communion with Christ spirit all right without his flesh being present locally locally to him in that sense okay well that that seems to partake of nestorianism okay Jason thank you so much for your call we do appreciate that one line open right now at one eight hundred five eight five nine three nine six David we're gonna go back about a thousand years for this question here from will who just sent us a text regarding the great sysm or schism some people would say who left the other was at the east leaving the West or the West leaving the East okay um III reject the way you framed the question all right all right because the the Catholic Church is not Western okay the or the Orthodox Church is not uniquely Eastern all right the question is about the the universal jurisdiction and primacy of the Church of Rome which is a Catholic doctrine that has always been confessed in the east and the West and the north and the south okay and so it's not only in the West that we find the doctrine of universal papal jurisdiction or the like faith we also find it among the Syrians we find it among the Arabian Christians we find it in the Byzantine East and someone like st. Maximus the Confessor we find out even in the canons of the Assyrian Church of the East the ancient Nestorian Church if you actually go look at their canons they'd forgotten about it but buried in their own in their own canonical texts as a recognition of the judicial primacy of the Bishop of Rome so this is not an Easter East or West doctrine this is a Catholic ie universal doctrine and so what happened in the 11th century was the patriarch of Constantinople not the Eastern Church because there remained and still remained to this day Eastern Christians that confess the doctrine of papal primacy but the patriarch of Constantinople rejected the primacy of the bishop or from the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Rome and of course that he that that sysm was not determinative for all of Eastern Christianity not even for all of Byzantine Christianity and it wasn't really until the 13th century that that that political break between the Byzantine church and and Roman primacy was solidified you know more permanently but even after that there continue to be Eastern Christians you know the Maronites Assyrian Syriac speaking Church that goes back of course to the Late Antiquity has never been out of fellowship with the see of Rome never failed to confess the doctrine of universal primacy of the Bishop of Rome in fact at the fourth Lateran council in 1215 there was a Maronite patriarch that was present okay hope that's a helpful for you will thank you so much for your text this is called a communion here on EWTN our phone number 1-800 five eight five nine three nine six we have a couple lines open at the moment one eight hundred five eight five nine three nine six Joyce is listening in Louisiana on Christ our King radio hey there Joyce what's your question today I had an RC ice our CIA students who contacted me I had taught him two years ago he wanted to know if the human race would still have existed if Adam and Eve had not fallen I thought they would but I told him I would check and get back to him yeah thanks I really appreciate the question so of yes absolutely we would have a human race if Adam and Eve had not fallen because for to being to begin with we'd still have Adam and Eve right because they they immortality was one of the preternatural gifts that they lost at the fall so they'd still be kicking around you know if they hadn't fallen but God also gave them the command to be fruitful and multiply and so presumably they would have done so and you know we'd have all these running around non fallen cousins would that be interesting it would indeed Joyce thank you so much for your call today glad you're listening to us on Christ our King radio one of my great affiliate partners here of EWTN here's a question now from Gina who says I love being Catholic and my question I was baptized to Presbyterian at birth I became a Catholic 34 years later do I need to confess any mortal sins I committed before I became a Catholic I have now been a Catholic for 24 years I have scoured the internet for this question and I get all kinds of different answers thanks Gina okay thanks Jay and I appreciate it so I presume that when you became Catholic you made a general confession upon entering the church okay at that time you would have confessed all your known mortal sins and kind and number that you had committed from your baptism up until your entrance into the Catholic Church if you did not do that if you did not do that on entering the church those sins were forgiven because in your subsequent confessions your omission of those sins was not intentional all right and so your firm purpose of amendment your desire to be reconciled to God your genuine contrition would suffice for the absolution to cover even those sins that you did not know you ought to have confessed however however you should if you've never made a general confession of your past life prior to becoming Catholic all right if you never did that you should still do it that is that is the appropriate disposition so I would that doesn't mean you're not forgiven I mean if you fall off the bus tomorrow you still go to heaven I mean don't you know you don't get neurotic about it okay but in terms of the proper spiritual discipline if if you haven't done that I would call up your priest and I would make an appointment I wouldn't just go in on a Saturday afternoon because it might take a little while you know your pending on maybe you were pretty saintly young lady and then not much to say but you know for most of us I mean you know mine was long okay you make an appointment so I want to make a general confession this is my situation and you just whatever you can remember you know whatever you remember what stands out kinda number sounds good Gina thank you so much for your email here's a question now let's go to jerod in Houston listening to us on Guadalupe radio hey Jared what's your question today hi so my question is how to best counteract in a quick way to anti-catholic crusade comments yeah thanks I appreciate it so the Crusades were defensive wars against Islamic expansionism of course with the Islamic empire began to expand in seventh and eighth century they conquered previously Christian countries from North Africa all the way into Persia and of course at that time that was the geographic numerical heartland of Christianity all of those countries that are historically Islamic today were at one time historically Catholic and of course Spain as well and and they were decimated by Islamic invaders that came in and imposed Sharia law and and prescribed and restricted the practice of the Catholic faith and imposed sanctions and and of course the Christian II remained their majority religion in Egypt even after the conquest up until the 10th century but she can only live under the oppressors hand for so long before it begins to you know dwindle and suppress the faith which is what happened in those countries and then the Islamic empire after they'd conquered Spain they began to press into southern France and the in the 8th century and they orally beaten by Charles Martel in the Battle of Toulon 732 and of course they eventually conquered Constantinople in the 15th century began to press in on on Eastern Europe all the way to the gates of Vienna the Turks would raid the western coasts of Italy and take Christian girls from their beds at night and sell them into slavery and they would become the sex slaves of the Sultan's and the wealthy in in the Arabian world and in the Turkish world st. Vincent de Paul himself the Catholic saint was once captured and sold into slavery in North Africa among the Berbers Wow and and he was he was a slave there and Algeria I think it was for a number of years you've heard about the Barbary pirates you know that they were running around in the Mediterranean attacking friendships capturing Christian women and men and selling them into slavery and in Europe was really caught in a vise grip between an Islamic empire that was massive and expansionist and had designs on the total conquest of Europe and of course long accents captured the Christian kingdoms of the Holy Land and and Christian Europe said if we don't do something and stand up we're gonna get wiped out I completely wiped out and every states were weird offensive Wars and that in that regard now as in every war of course there are always abuses in every war it's it's almost impossible to to prevent you know I guess the the term is collateral damage yeah and we're certainly not going to defend everything that happened in the name of the Crusades but in principle that's what they work Thomas Madden at Saint Louis University is a academic expert on the question of the Crusades so look up the new crit the new concise history of the Crusades by Thomas matin great Jared thank you that was a great question glad we could answer that in three minutes amazing when we come back we'll get to some more of your phone calls here at one eight hundred five eight five nine three nine six don't go away Raymond Arroyo part of the success we've had on the world over I attribute to the audience my relationship with Mother Angelica and her teaching me that when you sit with someone you talk to them and you create an environment where they will tell you things they wouldn't tell anyone else that ease that humour that warmth she gave me that and that's what I try to impart and make a part of every interview we do on the world over the world over with Raymond Arroyo Thursday 8:00 p.m. Eastern on EWTN TV and radio we need Catholic radio because we need the voice of the church in the public forum we live in a time that the secular voice dominates so thoroughly that we need to get that Catholic perspective out just as Fulton sheen used radio and TV in the last century we need to continue to use this means to announce the Catholic faith in the public for Bishop Robert Baron thinks Catholic radio is important so should you this is life issues with Brad mattis president of life issues Institute Ashley shafts is very close to her younger sister Hannah who has Down syndrome from day one Ashley told her boyfriend will Seaton she and Hannah are a package deal Ashley has always made sure Hannah was included in activities she will also be Hannah's guardian when the time comes her parents are unable to care for her so when will decided to propose marriage to Ashley he first got down on one knee before Hannah offered her ring and asked her to be his best friend forever after she said yes will turned his attention to Ashley offering her a ring and asking her to be his wife she was quick to say yes I'm guessing when Ashley and will get married Hannah will be in the wedding party grinning from ear to ear for more information visit our website at life issues org and stay informed more informed than you've ever been what's stopping you from becoming a Catholic this is called to communion with dr. David Angela five eight five nine three nine six a couple of lines open at the moment here one eight hundred five eight five nine three nine six if you have a question for dr. David Andrews 1-800 five eight five nine three nine six katie is watching us right now on Facebook live she says can you help me explain to a borderline anti-catholic our reason for believing the Assumption of Mary this woman of wants our explanation from Scripture and if it's not there in an obvious way than our reason no matter how logical and rational aren't good enough for her so please help us thank you okay thanks well I absolutely refuse to accept the premise of the question categorically alright and if it is foisted on me then I will turn the question around and ask my my my what's the word I'm looking for my inquisitors right there you go I'll ask my Inquisitor my interlocutor that's the word I was looking even that's my interlocutor can you can you give me a scriptural argument can you demonstrate from the Bible that I must derive my the doctrinal content of my Christian faith from the pages of the Bible all right and then I will secondly ask can you demonstrate what is the authoritative content of the Bible with reference to the Bible because the Bible doesn't come with the divinely inspired table of contents the only way we even know the contents of the Bible is from sacred tradition in fact the the preservation and the transmission of the Bible is itself guaranteed for us by sacred tradition so so the question is based on a false premise namely the doctrine of Sola scriptura which is radically unbiblical and the doctrine of the Assumption of Mary is one of those doctrines that we know pre-eminently through sacred tradition in the same way I should add that we know that the book of Revelation belongs in the Bible that's something that we know by sacred tradition all right but we know the doctrine of the Assumption primarily from sacred tradition and the teaching authority of the Magisterium there is however a fitting miss to the doctrine a fitting miss of the doctrine that we can reason to from the doctrines of sacred scripture okay and this is not a proof all right it is a theological reflection derived from the Bible and is the difference so scripture clearly identifies Mary as the second Eve we see Mary said in contra distinction to Eve typologically in a number of passages of the Bible like John to John 19 in Revelation chapter 12 where she is pictured as the woman of genesis 3:15 who does battle with the serpent and whose son who is the Messiah and reigns rules the nations with a rod of iron will crush the head of the serpent right and Jesus identifies it this way is the woman and woman behold your sign and so forth and and so she's also identified as the mother of all those who believe in Christ in Revelation 12 so she's the mother of God the mother of Christ she's also the mother of the church and so in her in her we see typologically represented the church purified all right the church made perfect if you will the angel Gabriel greeted her similarly under this title by identifying her as the one in whom in whom there is what the one who has been graced to the full kakarrot Amin a full of grace alright and the end of grace of course is to preserve us from sin and bring us to holiness in the life of heaven all right and you know Mary's not the only person that was assumed we look at Enoch in the Old Testament or Elijah and of course our Lord who ascended into heaven and so it's fitting it's fitting that the mother of our redemption the model the icon of Christian purity and chastity and holiness a perfect discipleship would imitate her son in her bodily assumption into heaven as a typology assemble an icon of the perfection and the exaltation of human life to to the divine nature that st. Peter promises those who partake of the promises of Christ will become participants of the divine nature so that's not a proof of the doctrine from Sacred Scripture but it is a rational reflection on the doctrine in light of Sacred Scripture the doctrine itself of course we know primarily from sacred tradition there you go Katie thank you so much for your text we hope that's helpful for you and for your friend as well this is called a communion here on EWTN our phone number 1-800 five eight five nine three nine six one eight hundred five eight five nine three nine six let's go to Mary in Cleveland listening on AM 1260 The Rock hey Mary what's your question today hi my question is what is the Catholic teaching on tattoos is it wrong if it is it is is it a venial mortal sin I'm receiving different answers and I just would like to know yeah thank you I appreciate it the church has no teaching on tattoos the church is silent on the question of tattoos and there are plenty of Catholics that have them and there's a theological principle at work which is that the whole law of God is summed up under the command that we love God and love neighbor alright and the Christian life far less than in the Old Testament is is not constrained by precepts in the way that the the life of the Jews was contained contained constrained by 613 precepts of the Old Testament do this don't do that wear this don't worry that the Jews were not allowed to tattoo themselves in the Old Testament all right but that whole sort of system that whole regime of Mosaic law was there temporarily as a sign and an indicator and a symbol and a pointer a pedagogue st. Paul says to lead us to Christ in whom we find the fullness and the sum of the law all of that is the love of God and neighbor written on our hearts so Christian life rather than being constrained by precept is constrained by the law of love and the practice of the virtues okay and st. Paul's principle was that he would he would be whatever he needed to be it needed to in order to reach all men with the love of Christ 1st Corinthians 9 22 to the week I became weak to win those that are weak you know I became what I could like a gentle to the Gentiles a Jew to the Jews whatever I needed to do so this is my theological reasoning here I'm not dealing with my own personal opinion not the teaching of the church but the way I would interpret that relative to tattoos is that you know you you you look at it's it's the virtue of prudence that guides your decision-making in this kind of matter so you know if I were going to be a Catholic priest or a missionary in some part of the country in some demographic where you know absolutely everybody had tattoos and I would just stand out like a sore thumb you know or a bear thumb I didn't have one well it might be prudent to get a tattoo in order to fit in you know this is a the matteo ricci the great jesuit missionary to China followed that principle as did Protestant missionaries like Hudson Taylor when they were evangelizing in the Far East to adopt the the dress and the mode and the habits of the people that they were ministering to in order to those kinds of things wouldn't be a barrier on the other hand if I were you know in the Upper Midwest and like Whitesville farm country or whatnot and everybody kind of looked askance at tattoos I might I might forego a tattoo for the very same reason because like st. Paul I want to be all things to all people that I might reach them with the love of Christ great question Mary thank you so much for your call we have a line open for you right now one eight hundred five eight five nine three nine six one eight hundred five eight five nine three nine six this is called a communion here on EWTN Marlene is watching us right now on Facebook what happens to people who never receive sacramental communion jesus said if you don't eat his body and drink his blood you have no life in you so what happens to those folks who do not partake okay thanks I appreciate it so I want to balance two considerations here on the one hand the Catholic Church takes utterly seriously the words of Christ that if you don't eat his flesh and don't drink his blood you don't have life all right and that's why viatical all right the the final consumption of the sacrament of holy communion before death is an extremely important part of the last rites and in Christian antiquity when penances were much much longer you know today you know I might get off with a Hail Mary or you know who our fathers or something and in the ancient church it was not uncommon for people to be consigned to penance for days months or even years especially for really gross and horrible sins like murder or apostasy they might be consigned to the order of penitence for years the canons of the Council of Nicaea specify and this was of course the practice that someone who was in the order of penitence and had been denied Communion for a long time whatever their state or condition if they were in danger of death they were to be readmitted to Holy Communion and given viatical so very very seriously the church takes this command of Christ that we have to eat his flesh and drink his blood at the same time there's manifest evidence in Sacred Scripture of those who confess faith in Christ and died in his grace and went to heaven without ever sacramentally Communion communing and the paradigm example occur st. Dismas the thief on the cross Christ promises him he's a first canonized saint in the church today you'll be with me in paradise he didn't go to communion that's true appreciate your text there and thank you so much for it this is called a communion here on EWTN our phone number one eight hundred five eight five nine three nine six let's go to Vincent now in rockville maryland hey there Vincent what's on your mind today hey Maurice god bless you all but my question is this I'd like to know how does the blood of Jesus Christ save us how is not the blood of Jesus Christ trampled upon from those who profess to have a monopoly on Christ when Christ died for all of us his book was just supposed to be distributed to all of us and even Christ's mother said listen to my tongue and how is it and I stated to know how is it that one of the most one of the most important principles of the Bible God's love letter that was given to all of us agreed not to be interpreted by anybody that one of the most important things it's called lo one spiritually not not verse lies but father and you folks call yourselves father why is it that the first the blood of Christ he died for all of us he was III is a free why is this still preach so that's all on that I'm not asking this to deal censor or I really want to know where you Catholics are coming from why you so trampled the blood of Christ through your act and I'm sure it's not how can you be so blind Thank You fans that I really appreciate the question he's great I really do and uh you know I got to be called blind at least once a day okay so yeah that's fantastic you know I every once in a while will get some really good insults on the air and we you know we always put out the question what's stopping you from becoming a Catholic yes I guess about a year to go somebody called and said well I've been listening your for six months now and you're what stopping me from like a little humbling somebody else my favorite one there's somebody called in once I notice is that this was on the internet and he said Anders is educated beyond his intellect why I was like wow that's a good one but today I'm I'm blind so that's okay nope I'll be blind today alright um I don't mind a good insult well Vince it first of all the blood of Christ saves us st. Paul tells us that the death of Christ was a sacrifice of atonement okay Romans chapter 3 says that Nelso in 1st John 2 we read that it's death was a propitiation for the sins of the whole world as you correctly identified in book of Hebrews of course identifies Jesus as the great High Priest and in light of whose sacrifice all the Old Testament sacrifices had done away with it's the sacrifice of Christ once for all for the remission of sin so we we fully confess and believe all of those things about the death of Christ now the question of the the the merits of Christ's sacrifice alright that wins for us the grace of redemption the forgiveness of sins the elimination of the Old Testament priesthood that's the question of what happened objectively on the cross of Calvary right but how do I make that sacrifice my own how do I appropriate it how do I receive the benefits of it because manifestly not though Christ died for all men manifestly not all men are saved because Jesus himself said in Matthew 25 and the last day many will come to him and say Lord Lord and he'll say away from me I never knew you and in Revelation chapter 20 we read about the book of life being opened and all men judged according to their deeds those who've done good merit enter into eternal glory and those who've done evil into the fire creator for the devil and his angels so manifestly though Christ died for all men not all men received the fruits of his Redemption how are we to receive the fruits of his Redemption well Christ Himself tells us whoever believes and is baptized will be saved this we said is in mark 16 and he goes on and says other things he says it yet he says he says if you eat my flesh and drink my blood you will abide in me and if you abide in me and my words abide in you you will bear much fruit and apart from me you can do nothing he gave a command to the apostles in the upper room on Holy Thursday when he said this is my body this is the cup of the New Covenant in my blood poured out for you do this in memory of me so it's Christ himself who establishes not only faith but a sacramental mode of communica mooning in the benefits of his death how do I make that sacrifice of my own through faith and the sacraments given to me by Christ why why would Christ set it up in that way because he said he wants me to abide in him the salvation that we hope for and enjoy in Jesus is not just a one-time event established by by you know by some act of faith or piety in the past it's an ongoing communion of love and friendship he says I no longer call you servants but friends friends well I don't want to see my friend once in 1972 at a Billy Graham crusade never talk to him again I want to abide in him and he gives us those means through the sacramental mysteries whoever sins you forgive are forgiven he says to the Apostles in John 20 whoever sins you retain are retained so this is for our good for our salvation for our nurture and fellowship in him you know human beings are made out of flesh and blood all right we're not just spirits floating along around so he gives us he gives us flesh and blood material means manifesting his presence to us he is God with us Emmanuel present to us in the sacrament of Holy Communion now with respect to the institution of the sacred priesthood it was of course Jesus who gave this command to the eleven do that do this in memory of me he wasn't talking to everybody it was Christ you said to the Apostles the eleven go therefore into all nations make disciples tell them everything I teach them everything I've commanded he now I'll be with you to the end of the age whoever hears you hears me whoever rejects you rejects me as the father sent me so I send you thou art Peter and on this rock I'll build my church the gates of Hell will not prevail against to give to you the keys of the kingdom of heaven what do you bind on earth is bound in heaven what have you loose on earth is loosed enough but it was Christ who established a sacred priesthood gave to them the mysteries of the kingdom gave them the promise in the command to teach and to rule to guide whatever you bind on earth is bound in heaven so we're following the words of Jesus here does that mean we hate non Catholics so we despair of their salvation absolutely not absolutely we believe in the universal salvific will of God all right and His grace is bigger than the church he's the one that established the church as the sign and instrument but if he wants to save he can save but we call all people to the fullness of the Christian faith established by Jesus too full communion and him mess what this show is all about we're all called to communion with Christ in the church that he founded the Catholic Church absolutely Vincent thank you so much for your call we do appreciate that our phone number here one eight hundred five eight five nine three nine six hard to believe if EWTN is now in its 37th year amazing being a twenty year employee myself I can remember working with Mother Angelica and I can tell you that mother was a stickler for several things truth love accuracy all these things are found up and down the dial with EWTN radio television but also some other things you may not be thinking of right off the top of your head the National Catholic Register EWTN news and what I want to talk about this time the Catholic news agency what is that what is CNA well it's the only fast reliable free Catholic news source that brings you blogs stories opinions and more to your fingertips each and every day so for the latest Catholic news visit catholic news agency com Catholic news agency com it's an online free service from EWTN news and I know the mother was a very very instrumental in getting that started so we're very blessed to bring it to you 24 hours a day this is called a communion here on EWTN fred is checking us out right now on facebook live he says what is the blessing that is spoken about in the gospel when Jesus took the bread and said the blessing oh thank you so there are you know in the in the Jewish Passover ritual there is Thanksgiving alright that's given to God and the the word Thanksgiving is Eucharist alright are you Chris try to remember the Greek I can't remember the declension but I mean the conjugation but anyway Jesus gave thanks and we find this Jesus taking bread and breaking it and giving thanks in a number of places and the Gospels one of them interestingly in John chapter 6 which is one of those kind of cryptic Eucharistic passages but teaches the doctrine of the real presence most manifestly Jesus begins that narrative by breaking bread and giving thanks and then he gives out the bread of life discourse um and so it's this you know the Eucharist itself is a sacrifice it's offered to God in reparation for the sins of the world and and it's also a Thanksgiving it's a Thanksgiving for all the good things the fruits of the earth including bread and wine which become for us the body and blood of Christ and all of the the graces that that come to us both in our material life and by way of the salvation he provides for us in the church very good here's one now from sherry who sent us a text does God love souls in hell okay good question good question so it under one description no and under one description yes alright okay so in a certain way God God everything that exists is good insofar as it exists and and it has a role or a function in the the plan of divine providence and of course the existence of Hell is not something that falls outside the scope of the divine plan or God's will or Providence God has to continually will the existence of hell even as he continually wills the existence of the material world and of the blessed in heaven so in in a in an extraordinarily restricted way all right so be careful what I say God God loves all things that are insofar as they are right he doesn't love them in so far as they deflect from the true good that is himself all right he doesn't love sin or evil all right but course sin or evil have no substantial being there they're a they're a deformation right they're there they're there a lack of substance they're a lack of of truth and right and good but things insofar as they exist he loves them but he loves the elect he loves the chosen he loves the redeemed in Christ in a more perfect way he loves them according as they are adopted into his family as children of God and been partake in a in a spiritual way of his very own likeness in nature very good hope that's a helpful for you sherry this is called a communion here on EWTN let's go to Holly now in st. Louis listening to us there on covenant radio Holly what's your question today hi howdy hi there hi I'm calling from st. Louis and I'm a relatively new Catholic up in a Catholic about three years learning a little bit about the church and I watched a movie last night but that was a documentary on some abuses that had taken place in the Catholic Church and I was so upset about it that I'm afraid to go to confession I'm getting very nervous about the church itself and I just wondered if you could provide some perspective for me yeah absolutely I really appreciate the question so let's talk about the first of all the question of abuses perpetrated by people that are responsible for the care of others all right in institutions around the world take for example the California public school system now there's a researcher at Hofstra University Carol shake shaft who studied this question and concluded that the the odds of a child being abused in the California public school system were a hundred times greater than the odds of a child being abused in the Catholic Church okay but I don't think you would probably be afraid to walk in a California public school maybe you would even send your child there I don't know perhaps you would perhaps you wouldn't but I mean I lots of people are willing to send their kids to the school system even though some small minority of kids suffer grievous harm right because that's just you know the author extraordinaire allele oh and there's a few bad apples in every bunch right but a lot more bad apples there than in the Catholic Church I know people that have been sexually abused by their therapists in counseling all right that's horrible that's a terrible thing I mean absolutely execrable it's awful I know of a person in the mental health profession who was a pedophile and and deliberately placed himself in the orbit of a boys boarding school in order to prey on the kids there and he drew them into the into counseling therapy in order to in order to abuse them absolutely terrible are we going to throw the entire profession of counseling and psychology and psychiatry under the bus because somebody takes advantage of that relationship of trust in order to abuse and so it the the the rate of abuse by clergy either in the confessional or out of it is can with the rates of abuse that you find among professionals and responsibles in you know the teaching profession of the counseling profession or in other religious bodies around the world clearly abuse is a terrible and awful thing but it is not limited to the Catholic Church and it is not more prevalent in the Catholic Church than it is in other places why does it get disproportionate media attention in the Catholic Church and why does it why does it seem to be so much more prevalent well the two reasons one of them is because the Catholic Church is a great big fat political target because the Catholic Church stands for say the dignity of the human person and sexual purity and cleanliness and and resists the tyranny of the dictatorship of relativism right there's a tremendous motive to try to establish the church or paint the church's hypocritical and it's in its moral stance so that's one reason all right another one has to do with the church's juridical structure and and this is a one of the tragedies of the abuse crisis in the Catholic Church was that a very small number of abusing priests were protected by members of the hierarchy who would move them around from parish to parish to avoid detection all right there's no good excuse for that there's no good excuse for that and there is however an explanation and the explanation is that there was a I think a lack of understanding on the part of the clergy about the the persistence of the likelihood of abuse and what was required you know in propriety and so forth and of course we have a much better understanding in justice and in psychology today no excuse for it but that's the explanation I myself am a convert to the Catholic Church I entered the church in 2003 I have been to confession more times than I can count I have gone on average I'd say once a week since I became Catholic I have gone to confession sometimes more than once a week and I don't think I've ever gone more than a month without going to confession when you average it all out I'm sure it's about once a week I have certainly never been solicited in the confessional or abused in any way on the contrary I found it to be the single most helpful thing apart from the Eucharist about my Catholic life it is an Abbe solutely essential part of my spirituality and I would not go without it ever I find it of inestimable value and I may shock you here I would even go to confession to a Catholic priest to a priest that I knew to be a bad guy I'd rather go to a saint right but if I were you know on a desert island and I had to go to a real so-and-so or to nobody at all I would go because it's Christ ultimately who absolves me in the person of the priest it's not his personality that I'm there for it's the authority conveyed to him by the church to act in the person of Christ to resolve my sins and that no one can take away Holly thank you so much for your call I would say two things as an addendum there number one don't be afraid of the confessional absolutely as David is saying number two not all documentaries are created equal you can trust what you see on EWTN television here what you hear on EWTN radio can't say that I've ever about every channel up and down the dial hey dr. David Andrews thank you my friend thank you Tom thanks also to Michael McCaul Matt Kavinsky and Jeff person doing a super job behind the glass we do the program each and every monday through friday 2:00 p.m. Eastern with an encore on Sundays at the same time 2:00 p.m. Eastern I'm Tom price have a wonderful day see you next time right here on call to communion god bless [Music]

Channel: EWTN

Views: 1,280

Rating: 4.818182 out of 5

Keywords: Catholic, EWTN, Christian, television

Id: C3nCSPqfEZA

Length: 53min 34sec (3214 seconds)

Published: Tue Aug 15 2017