Called To Communion - 8/28/17- Dr. David Anders

what's stopping you from becoming a Catholic why can't women become priests one eight hundred five eight five nine three nine six I don't understand why I have to earn salvation 2805 eight five nine three nine six why do I need to confess my sins to a priest what's stopping you this is called to communion with dr. David Anders on the EWTN global Catholic radio network hey everybody welcome again to call to Communion the program for our non Catholic brothers and sisters if you've got a question about the Catholic faith and you're not a Catholic yourself this is a great place to get that question answered 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 type person you can text the letters ewtn two 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 again the phone number 1-800 five eight five nine three nine six we'll be getting to the phones in just a couple of seconds here Michael McCaul is our producer Matt Kaminski is handling the phones I'm Tom price along with the very sleepy the very weary the road the road traveler dr. David Anders so but to grateful very grateful I mean you had a fantastic weekend in San Antonio visiting the great folks there talking and then all of a sudden the the bottom drops out well well we had we had a number of kind of doozies that hit all at once of all I had I had agreed very happily agreed to go speak at the fullness of truth conference in San Antonio yeah probably a year back I don't remember when we made that those plans and so I was scheduled to fly into Houston Texas on Friday Houston Texas Texas on Friday right exactly and in fact we did alright so but I got up Friday morning thinking this is a little bit earlier than IC and but we we beat the hurricane by about five hours got into Houston change planes flew to San Antonio and in the rain course followed us and deluged us and Ciena day but we had a wonderful conference and then got to San Antonio having a nice time and then found out that my wife had had a health crisis while I was gone and found herself in the emergency room in the hospital so had to make some arrangements and hop on a plane and come back earlier than I had otherwise anticipated so you know we chased a hurricane and then chased an emergency room but it's kind of been one thing after another you look a little sleepy I'm a bit sleepy are you sure you're up to do the radio show I tell what let's take it at half-speed today I'll just talk slow our first email or is not kidding I'm will make this the benedictine radio show today you know I told you we dropped Justin off it one of my sons it has Benedict in school a couple of weeks ago we went to Mass there is beautiful beautiful Mass and I've determined that Benedict ins know how to do liturgy very very well but indirectly and that's okay and that's okay that is we often if the diocese here in Birmingham we often host conferences at the local Benedict and monastery I say local it's a you know it's our out of Birmingham and it's a wonderful place to have retreats and so anybody ever wants to go to st. Mary's Abbey head on up there it's a great place you can spend a weekend there with the monks and pray and go to Mass that's awesome all right but anyway so we had a conference up there the schools at a conference and we had you know the schedule blocked out for when we're gonna have mass and have various talks and breakout sessions and so forth and they all the people show up at Mass and you know father Abbot says Mass and he's like I know what the schedule says but y'all gonna be here a while okay all right sure takes precedence and that's and that's what you do please know that we're going to be keeping your wonderful wife in our prayers the radio family we were praying for you guys this morning we'll continue to pray and and hope that everything works out okay for her thank you very much appreciate Lee let's kick it off now with an email here from Toni in Louisville who says dr. Andrews you have said that love cannot be commanded only elicited please explain this in reference to Jesus's words a new commandment I give you love one another oh yeah absolutely okay so let me let me put that context that remark in context of course you can command love of course you can commit command love and we have a moral obligation to love I'm morally obligated to love my wife all right and I'm moral obligation to love you I'm moral obligated to love my enemies all right if I fail to do that do so I've sinned all right and perhaps mortally sinned and could go to hell for it in fact if I don't love I am gonna go to hell all right but the command itself does not elicit love hmm you said I'm saying yeah I mean I can tell you all day long love me love your neighbor love God and the fact that I command you is not going to compel your will to obedience sure you see you have the the the the actual act of love must be elicited with your free cooperation that's what I mean when I talk about love can't be committed of course you can command it all day long usually can't compel it I can't force you to do it by commanding you but God who loves us first and shows demonstrates his love and that he sent his son to die on the cross for our sins showing us eliciting our love our free loving response and then moving us to do so by the gift of grace through the Holy Spirit that's the way love is elicited in the human heart okay hope that makes sense to you and appreciate your email here's one more before we go to a break and get to some of these phone calls we do have one line open though one eight hundred five eight five nine three nine six one eight hundred five eight five nine three nine six here's that email and this is an emailer from San Antonio he wrote this last week and he says blessings see you in San Antonio dr. Andrews I was listening to Guadalupe radio last Monday they were talking about how we could make a reparation for other people's sins I know that we can pray for others to amend their ways we can pray for mercy on behalf of others but can we actually make reparations for somebody else's sins how is that so yeah absolutely of course we can and that's a that's a deeply Catholic in biblical doctrine I find it out throughout the Scriptures and usually you think about the whole dynamic of one person the righteous interceding praying in fact acting on behalf of the wicked and God being merciful to the many on behalf of the righteousness of the penitence of the few that's a very biblical doctrine we find it of course in the fall of Adam we're all implicated in the all about him even though we're not personally culpable we we bear the fruits in our own lives of Adam's sin we loss of sanctifying grace the loss of the preternatural gifts and so forth and the promise of redemption is that in one man all human humanity will be redeemed in the new in the new Adam who is Christ but then we find that it's not only an Adam in Christ but in in in in myriad in countless other ways we see that relationship of of mutual accountability and responsibility playing out so think about the narrative between Abraham and God about the city of Sodom Abraham asks God will you destroy you know the entire city if we can find ten righteous people and God says well for the sake of the ten I'll spare the many you say or the sin of Aitkin in in in the Old Testament and in in the books of Moses when akin sends and God holds all of Israel responsible until they identify akin and he you know so and so forth and I'm trying to think of other I mean they're plenty there are myriad examples okay but since I'm going at half-speed today I'll stop there that's that's where we'll leave it appreciate that very much thank you Tom and hopefully you got to see dr. you know Colossians Book of Colossians st. pospos thinking of what Jumpman st. Paul says I fill up in my own flesh what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ for the sake of his body the church even in you're sleep-deprived condition you are still knocking it out of the park you're hey when we come back we'll be talking with Bonnie who is driving through New York right now I have two lines open at the moment one eight hundred five eight five nine three nine six we'll also get to some text that you've sent in this is called a communion here on EWTN sharing the fullness of the Catholic faith one eight hundred five eight five nine three ninety six this is call to communion with dr. David Anders on the EWTN global Catholic radio network [Music] Teresa Tomeo how many people know that dr. Bernard Nathanson who was one of the premier people pushing out some of that false information that's still used today by the abortion industry became a Christian and then also came into the Catholic Church and became an amazing pro-life activist before he passed away a few years ago and talked about how they were able to get the media to buy into their message Catholic connects him with Teresa Tomeo Monday through Friday at 9:00 a.m. Eastern on EWTN radio podcasting is an easy way to automatically receive your favorite EWTN programs on your mobile device visits ewtn.com slash podcast and enjoy your favorite EWTN shows on your mobile phone right now celebrating 100 years of Fatima with Monsignor Charles Pope in August of 1917 our lady said to the children at Fatima pray pray very much and make sacrifices for sinners for many souls go to hell because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them we live in times where many people think nobody's going to help but the children actually saw hell our ladies showed them hell and that there were many many souls there we have to accept that sadly many have chosen against God can we pray for their conversion Our Lady simply says pray pray many souls go to hell because no one prays for them are we willing to pray for them do we have the same urgency that our lady and our Lord for the souls who are on that wide road leading to damnation pray for them every day our lady asked us pray for the conversion of sinners join ewtn as we celebrate the 100th anniversary of Fatima visit ewtn.com / Fatima this is Colleen Kelly mast hello this is Archbishop Charles J Chaput the Archbishop of Philadelphia Pennsylvania this is Katharine Feltner host of EWTN pro-life weekly thanks for listening to EWTN radio what's stopping you from becoming a Catholic this is called to communion with dr. David Andrews one eight hundred five eight five nine three nine six if you're ready now let's go to the phones at one eight hundred five eight five nine three nine six we begin with Bonnie who is driving through New York right now Bonnie what's on your mind today hi there yeah I was just listening on the show we were on a run a road trip so we are pulled over but and I guess my question is I believe the Bible is a hundred percent the Word of God I consider myself born-again Christian where I believe you know salvation is grace through faith not of work so that no one can boast from Ephesians 2:8 and 9 and you know I have other verses that I you know hold hold on to so I guess my question is in terms of and I'm not a Catholic I you know never received communion through the Catholic Church or anything like that so my question is is according to strict Catholic doctrine like what is like written down you know in terms of Catholic doctrine as a born-again Christian you know who believes that Jesus Christ is her Lord and Savior what is my or someone else's best-case scenario in terms of salvation and worst case scenario in terms of strict Catholic doctrine okay in current in terms of strict Catholic doctrine by the book written down as you articulated that's what we're all about on EWTN what does the book say okay we're by the book kind of folks we would say that the case scenario for you is a life of ever never-ending bliss and happiness in the vision of God all right so that that's what God has ordered your life to right for eternal salvation through grace by the death and resurrection of Jesus and the way the Catholic Church understands non-catholic Christians is that you most certainly have access to a a large chunk of the deposit of faith you know Christ revealed many things about the life of faith and grace in him and not all of those things are contained in the Bible the Bible is part of a larger body of tradition I mean the reason that we have a Bible is that the Catholic Church in the fourth century authoritative Lee determined the contents of these sacred books ruled some out of the Canon put some in the Canon that's that's why the Protestant church has a Bible they inherited it from the Catholic Church and it was the authority of the Catholic Church promulgating that that gave it to the world the same fathers of the church and the councils that articulated the contents of the Scriptures handed on other things about sacred tradition about the the sacramental life and the communion of saints and so forth the authority of the bishops and all the rest of it and Protestants of course don't share that the fullness of the faith with us but they have a lot of things in common and and they have some of the sacrament so Protestants generally speaking have access to the grace of baptism for instance they have the sacrament of holy matrimony marriage many of them do um and these things are means of grace they're means of grace and through participation in those means of grace a Protestant can come to holiness and to in come to the life of faith and forgiveness of sins and eternal salvation now access to the means of grace an access to truths about God do not guarantee the salvation of anyone not even Catholics so on on by the book strict Catholic doctrine not all Catholics go to heaven not not all believing Catholics go to heaven Catholics that practice the faith we receive all the sacraments you know and live in the church don't necessarily go to heaven all right even more so not all Protestants go to heaven and certainly you know those that are outside the household of faith altogether are not guaranteed salvation how do we how do we get to heaven this is the real ultimate question all right what is what are the Scriptures what does the church teach about how we get to heaven well st. Paul as I'm sure you know says in the book of Romans chapter 2 verse 13 he says it's not hearing the law by which you're justified rather it's obeying the law by which a man will be declared righteous right Romans 2:13 to obey the law to become righteous now as I'm sure you're also aware none of us obey the law right none of us come into the world with with the grace and virtue necessary to love God and love neighbor right that's why Christ dies he dies to win for us the forgiveness of sins and the gift of the holy spirit and Paul again tells us in Romans 225 229 that the outpouring of the Spirit which comes to us by faith sheds God's love abroad in our hearts our hearts are circumcised and if we walk with the spirit the fruits of the Spirit and manifests in our life love joy peace patience kindness goodness and so forth then we fully met the demands of the law we've loved God and love neighbor and merit eternal salvation and but that comes to us as a gift of grace it's not that we're not nothing in ourselves nothing in our nature apart from grace can compel God to save us God has to reach down and do the saving it's a work of grace in him so the difference between the Catholic understanding of salvation and the Protestant understanding Catholics believe that yes salvation comes to us by grace through faith but that grace that grace that comes to us through faith actually renovates our lives all right in such a way that God can say to us in justice and in truth well done my good and faithful servant you have in fact love God and love neighbor and we derive that doctrine from the Scriptures all right because every time we see the question of our future judgment right whether it's in Romans 2 or in revelation chapter 20 or Matthew 25 all these passages about the judgment we never read that we are judged by anything other than our works all the Scriptures tell us that we're going to be judged by our works but at the same time they tell us that that just the the mere imposition of the law is not sufficient to produce those works nobody can keep the law without grace but went through faith when grace is given to us the love of God has shed abroad in our hearts Romans 13:8 tells us that the love of God and may is the fulfillment of the law and that's what's given to us by faith through grace so when Jesus says blessed are the pure in heart for they will see God blessed are those persecuted for righteousness sake for yours is the kingdom of heaven blessed are the meek blessed are the peacemakers this is the life of grace that is transmitted to us through faith by which God can then declare injustice and truth well done good and faithful servant can that be given to a Protestant believer absolutely it can be all right but Christ delivers to us the fullness of the truth and the fullness of the means of grace in the Catholic Church and so a Catholic is at an objective advantage right in having more access to truth and grace right and so you know take a Protestant like Martin Luther for instance Luther who I mean not he had a good will he wanted to do the right thing I'm not knocking him for that but Luther once wrote to his friend Philip Melanchthon he said go out and sin boldly he said send boldly if you commit adultery or fornication or murder ten thousand times in a day Luther said it won't affect your standing before God it won't affect your justification before God well that's a very dangerous doctrine to hold because it contradicts the express will of God in the scriptures the teaching of Jesus and and in st. Paul as well all right so a Protestant who really believed what Luther taught really believed I can go commit adultery or murder ten thousand times in a day and did so with impunity well obviously he's at a disadvantage right he's at a disadvantage and then and then you know so another thing what happens if he does let live that way and his conscience begins to gnaw at him but he doesn't know how to make a good act of contrition he doesn't know how truly to repent of his sins right in a way that he's determined not to do them again all right well a Catholic has an advantage in that situation because Jesus said to the church in John chapter 20 whoever sins you forgive a forgiven whoever sins you retain a retained and and st. Peter says to the to the crowd at Pentecost he says repent and be baptized for the remission of your sins the promises for you and for your children so a Catholic knows he can take that that uneasy conscience to the sacrament of confession or if he's never been baptized to the sacrament of baptism and received the objective promise of the forgiveness of sins all right Perry Miller was a great storia NIF Puritanism he once said the Protestants save may have saved man from the treadmill of penances and indulgences but he cast him on the iron couch of introspection all right and Luther you know he could never find that peace of conscience even up unto his deathbed he turned to his friends and he said tell me I'm gonna go to heaven tell me God will be gracious because he didn't have that faith in the objective word of promise that Catholics have when the priest says i absolve you of your sins in the name of Father Son and Holy Spirit what a tremendous source of hope and encouragement that is for the Catholic that's why we invite all people and to the fullness of the truth in the Catholic Church we call them to communion with Christ and the church we don't despair of their salvation outside the church but there's so much more for them available in the church that Christ founded on a great call thank you so much for it please keep listening to ewtn catholic radio our phone number here one eight hundred five eight five nine three nine six couple lines open one eight hundred five eight five nine three nine six here's a quick text from John who says how do you harmonize Colossians 2 verses 16 and 17 with the Catholic doctrine of holy days of obligation okay sure so in Colossians 2 st. Paul says let no man judge you with respect to new moons and Sabbath's and so forth okay well what's the context of this passage well I'm in most of st. Paul's writings if you want to know what Paul is about all right yeah there's one question you have to ask what does this have to do with Jews Gentile and the Mosaic law with that that is the question that animates 98% of st. Paul's theology he was the Jewish apostle to the Gentiles and the controversy of the first century church was when a Gentile comes to faith in Christ what do you do with him do you impose the Mosaic law on him do you circumcise him do you make him keep the laws of kashrut yes to keep kosher do you make him follow the Jewish feast days and so forth and of course the official ruling of the Catholic council of Jerusalem in Acts chapter 15 all right governed by the the princes of the church appointed by Christ and their successors was that no you the Gentiles do not have to follow the law of Moses in order to be a part of the people of God all right does that mean right to that principle that the law of Moses does not bind the conscience of Gentiles alright there's justification and salvation is not dependent on following that law does that mean that the church has no authority note no juridical authority to impose obligations no it doesn't mean any such thing all right st. Paul excuse me the book of Hebrews commands us obey your leaders in the church okay it says do not neglect the assembling of yourselves together well how you gonna do that hmm how are you going to effectively assemble as a community without a principle of authority saying hey guys we're gonna get together on I'm not you know Monday at 5 o'clock all right I mean it's not can't be every man for himself otherwise you cannot have corporate worship there must be a principle of authority to determine where and when and how and with whom we're gonna worship and the public worship of God is one of the principal duties of the virtue of religion so so the holy days of obligation are Mithen the purview of the church's jurisdiction but unlike the Jewish law I mean the church can decide what isn't isn't the holy day of obligation right and and from time to time they switch it around yeah you know I mean what ascension Thursday gets moved to Sunday and just another story very good hey thank you so much for your text John we do appreciate that this is called a communion here on EWTN Jacob in Dayton listening to us on the blowtorch there st. Gabriel radio Jacob what's on your mind today hey dr. David Anders I just wanted to thank you so much for that last call I have heard you give description of Catholic justification and faith and works a dozens of times that I've heard it once and it's always been great but that's got to be the best one I've ever heard from you well you too thank you so much so my question today for you and I think this is right up your alley I am working some timeframe with talking with the Calvinists that I work with and he's a really great guy and we've had some nice conversation but one thing we've been working on lately is the topic of a hierarchical church and I've mentioned doing things like Offices of Bishops that are discussed in the New Testament but haven't really been able to make a a lot of headway I was wondering if you could give me some advice for setting up a doctrinal hierarchical Church based on the Church Fathers and especially on Scripture alright thank you very much I really appreciate it so so first of all it's amazing to me that a self-proclaimed Calvinist would deny that the church is hierarchical because Calvin his master Calvin had an extraordinarily hierarchical view of the church and and so I mean this is so well documented I mean jaunty McNeal Drake Calvinist Presbyterian scholar of you know American scholar has essays on Calvin and the doctrine of Episcopalian ISM in some of my research I've documented that Calvin in fact acknowledged the office of the ancient office of the patriarch at the authority of canon law if you read the ecclesiastical ordinances of the city of Geneva the Eldon all cyclists eke which is well documented in the in the Calvin literature you'll find that Calvin in fact contradicting Calvin was a crime in civil law in Geneva most people could be like civilly prosecuted in Jerome bowls akin 15:51 was threatened with execution because he stood up in a public gathering on a weekday and contradicted Calvin's doctrine of predestination while Calvin had a robust option of ordination he did actually believe in a form of apostolic succession though it wasn't the Catholic doctrine of apostolic succession Calvin ascribed prophetic authority to himself and said that if you disagreed with his teaching then you were not among the elect it's one of the reasons that he got so much opposition in the 1540s and so I would start with you know Calvin himself book four of the Institute's where he says that outside the church there's no salvation and the true church is with him all right and that the church's mother of us all and we don't obey the authority of the church Reid you know his his his his treatise on the Lord's Supper that he wrote in 1540 where he talks about the need for absolute uniformity and doctrine across the Christian world and the principle of authority to establish that so for Calvinists deny to deny that the church is hierarchical is just bizarre to me all right now the doctrine of apostolic succession that's a different question which Calvinists do dissent from now comes to scripture references and defense of the hierarchy that's gonna have to come back after the break don't go away Jacob we'll come back to you right after the break we'll also be talking with Jonathan in Sandusky Ohio Jeff and Worcester Mass and lots more here on this edition of call to Communion one eight hundred five eight five nine three nine six is our number do stay with us be right back more to life with dr. Greg and Lisa pop checked more to life is about living the Catholic difference in our marriages our families the way we approach life in general it's about celebrating life and our Catholic faith and discovering all the ways God wants to bless us and help us be a blessing to others more to life with dr. Greg and Lisa pop check weekdays 10:00 a.m. Eastern on EWTN radio [Music] Christ is the answer with father John Ricardo John chapter 11 verses 21 to 26 this is the story of Lazarus Lazarus has died Lazarus is one of his best friends just before this passage we hear the news that Martha and Mary send word to Jesus that the one you love is sick in the next line in the scripture is now because Jesus loved Martha and Mary and Lazarus he stayed where he was his friends in need he can heal they've seen him heal before and yet somehow because he loves him he stays and Lazarus dives and then Jesus shows up three days later and is greeted by Martha and Mary who confront him with the words Lord if you had been here my brother would never have died rather applicable for many of us in our lives we asked the Lord to do one thing because we're certain it is what we think is best when in fact he has something which far surpasses what we asked for challenges in waiting for that to happen we go through very trying times which often times makes us wonder does he really care EWTN teaching the truth for me what I tell people the best way to pray is to go to the Word of God because it's Jesus you're encountering the Living God every time you go to his word and you always ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you his word and speak to your heart and then you read the Word of God until he takes a 2x4 and whacks you over the head and then you stop you listen and you respond to that first EWTN live truth live Catholic 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 coming up in a couple of hours it'll be crested in the afternoon at 4:00 p.m. Eastern in the first hour dairy a little talking about her book from Islam to Christ one woman's path through the riddles of God also Steven Baskerville talks about the new politics of sex the sexual revolution civil liberties and the growth of governmental power always a fascinating ride with al Kresta each and every day Monday through Friday that is 4 to 6 p.m. Eastern Time here on EWTN radio so before the break we were talking with Jacob in Dayton all about st. Gabriel all about how we address the concept of a hierarchical church hierarchical Church thank you very much as doctrine and not man-made yeah sure so he he said that he was in dialogue with a Calvinist friend of right and I was he kind of got me riled up because see I I wrote my doctoral dissertation on Calvin's doctrine of the church more or less and and so I'm keenly aware of how hierarchical John Calvin the Protestant believed the church to be like like most of the Church of the Reformers of the 16th century and because they saw these things so well embedded in the scriptures one last you know if I'm talking to a Calvinist and they making the claim that the church is in hierarchical I'm tell them you know just go look at any of the secondary literature on your guy Calvin like Benjamin Charles Milner's book Calvin's doctrine of the church or if you read French Alexander Hagen oh Sh his book Calvin Taylor's yonder vaguely a Jew mini style which is a fantastic if you happen to read French a fantastic defense of Calvin's view of the hierarchical Church now that being said why did Calvin and many other Protestant reformers like the Catholics believe the church to be hierarchical well because scripture says it's hierarchical and I mean just throw out a few test cases look at Acts chapter 14 what are the Apostles do after they make converse well the Scriptures tell us they appoint the word they appoint priests uh-huh they they're not Damac democratically-elected they are appointed by the Apostles average at 14 all right look at st. Paul at his letter to the Titus he says in Titus 1 verse 5 and following he says Titus this is why I Paul all left you in Crete that you might amend what was defective and that you Titus might appoint elders in every town as I directed you If any man is blameless the husband of one wife and his children of believers not open to the charge of being profligate for a bishop and overseer and episkopos as God's steward must be blameless and not arrogant a quick tempered Ted I'm fed up that he has to hold sure to to sound auction as Talt that he might be able to give instruction in sound auction and to confute those who contradict it all right there we have it right in the Epistle as the st. Paul the principle of apostolic succession I Paul leave you Titus to appoint other guys to the office of episkopos to Bishop so that they can do the same if you dare you know make order and so on and so forth miss it's there it is in the Bible there it is for that matter it's in the Protestant tradition too it's not really until you get I mean Baptists are a different story but I mean within the reformed tradition go read the Westminster Confession for crying out loud there you go it's not the Catholic hierarchy but I mean the principle of hierarchy is very biblical very good Jacob thank you so much for your call we appreciate that one eight hundred five eight five nine three nine six is our number here at call to Communion on EWTN let's go to hutch Jonathan in Sandusky Ohio listening to us on Annunciation radio hey Jonathan what's on your mind today hello there I was actually just calling in I come from a Protestant background my dad is actually the pastor of a baptist church up in Kalamazoo Michigan uh-huh and I was listening to what you were saying and I definitely agree with you and the fact that you know saving faith is definitely shown by our actions and and that is a great indication of people who have definitely chosen to follow Christ I couldn't help but notice that you did say that you know we are saved by faith through grace correct all right to me yeah and it sounded to me like you know in I think it's the Ephesians 2:8 and 9 that it is says you know we for we are saved by grace through faith and that it is not of works lest any man should boast is something that I had ingrained in me and memorized from a very young age I thought that was he there there is a little bit of a difference between by grace through faith and by faith through grace I kind of wondered what you're responsible for that okay thanks I really appreciate it so a lot depends on what you mean by works or st. Paul means by works in the context especially not only Ephesians 2:8 and 9 but he amplifies that doctrine of course in Romans 3 and 4 in Galatians two three and four okay before I address that question I would also like to point out that scripture clearly tells us that we will be judged according to our works and you know one of the classic texts of course the great white throne judgment in Revelation chapter 20 where st. Paul excuse me were st. John writes that I'm time that I'm reading okay and I saw the dead great and small standing before the throne and books were opened also another book was opened which is the book of life and the dead were judged by what was written in the books by what they had done okay Jesus tells us the same thing of course in Matthew 25 when he says many will come to me on that day so the Lord Lord now say away from me I never knew you because you didn't you know feed the hungry clothe the naked give drink to the thirsty and so on and so forth when did we not do these things Lord as often as you did not do them to the least of these my brother and you didn't do them to me st. Paul in Romans chapter 2 tells us to those who by patient endurance and well doing seek for glory honor and immortality he'll give eternal life but to those who were factious and don't obey the truth but obey wickedness they'll be wrath and fury and of course in Romans 2:13 is st. Paul that says it's not those who hear the law who are righteous but it's the doers of the law who will be justified and that's the same Greek word just for justification that we find is justification by faith and not by works okay so so clearly whatever st. Paul means by your saved by grace through faith and not by works it does not exclude the principle that we are judged according to our works absolutely manifestly biblical and there's no passage of Scripture anywhere in the Bible that says we're judged by anything else so we're never we're never accounted righteous we're never judged in Scripture by the imputed righteousness of Jesus all right that's that's something that Luther and Calvin read into the text as a way of trying to explain the doctrine of justification by okay but the text itself never envisions us being judged by Christ's righteousness that I says were judged by our own works but so how the when do we make sense of this text when st. Paul says that we are saved by faith and not by works of the law we're not saved by works of the law the airgun namu in Greek okay well look at Romans chapter 2 especially verses 25 to 29 where st. Paul says he Jeff hey if she's just told us what I saved by the works of the law he says the Spirit of God circumcised is your heart so that the righteous requirements of law uses a different Greek word the de Cobb matzah to namu the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the spirit all right works of the law Aaron Amin who do not save us but the spirit circumcising our hearts causes us to obey the dukkha matzah to namu the righteous requirements of the law then he unfolds that in Romans chapter 8 verses 3 and 4 where he says the Spirit shed abroad in our hearts causes us again to walk in the spirit to fulfill this time he eases the sink the the de koma namu okay the works of the law righteous requirements of the law uh-huh alright who are these people that keep the righteous requirements of the law he says that those who have love joy peace patience kindness goodness the fruits of the spirit manifest in their life so what's the dynamic how does it work right God gives the law he gives the law to Moses you know love God love your neighbor don't commit adultery don't murder all the rest of it okay but we're wounded by original sin we come into life breaking these commands all right without grace we're toast oh yeah so he sends his own son to die for us to merit for us forgiveness of sins and the gift of the holy spirit shed abroad in our hearts by faith we believe Christ the gift of the Spirit is given to us and our hearts are renovated by grace the love of God shed abroad in arts Romans 5:5 and that love is in fact the fulfillment of the law Romans 13:8 does come to us by faith you bet does attempt to come to us by grace you bet but is it the imputed righteousness of Christ that saves us scripture doesn't say so scripture knows nothing of this imputed righteousness scripture knows actual righteousness as our lives are transformed Paul tells us that we died with Christ in Baptism and are raised again with him to new life are we saved by faith yep we saved by grace yep but it's a faith that transforms us inwardly not that we're merely accounted righteous but actually made righteous so that when God judges his by our works their works done in grace san agustin would say god crowns his own gifts he rewards us for what he works in us but it's what he works in us truly not fictitiously not by imputation not merely forensic ly but actual inward transformation as we have st. Paul tells us the mind of Christ and become like him Jonathan we hope that clarification is indeed helpful for you thank you so much for your call here's our phone number 1-800 five eight five nine three nine six one eight hundred five eight five nine three nine six are you familiar with the National Catholic Register you know you can get it in two different flavors you can go online for the very latest news you can also get a lot of great in-depth stories by reading the print edition of the National Catholic Register some of the stories we're following today how father capodanno brought Christ to the battlefield a very heroic chaplains story written by Joseph brownish and excellent stuff also the church extending its prayers and help actual help tangible help to the victims of Hurricane Harvey a super story from your own EWTN news and on and on and on you can't beat the National Catholic Register it is indeed America's most trusted Catholic news source so for the latest issues people and events shaping the world as we know it visit NCL and see register.com i almost also might put in a plug for our weekend program that we do along with the National Catholic Register and that is register radio it airs every Saturday and every Sunday check wtn radio dotnet four times in your area this is called the communion here on EWTN glad you could join us today Jeff is listing in Worcester Mass Jeff we are coming to your area for the EWTN family celebration are you aware of that Jeff and Worcester are you there yes I am we hope to see you at the EWTN family celebration we're coming to mooster fantastic what's on your mind today Jeff okay please bear with me I'm trying to explain my situation what's happening is I'm a Protestant I have a good friend that is a Catholic he is he was so far from the church three or four years ago and he's come so far he back to the church he goes to church every week he he's the Bible he prays he's a lot better person than he used to be but he experienced the setbacks like recently he went for a new job prepared for it and he said to me I'm gonna leave this in God's hands while he failed miserably and that's happened a few times and he just takes once that point two steps back he's trying to convince me to go this route the Catholic group but I don't know why I should what I see him experience these things okay thanks I appreciate it Jeff thank you so much so Jeff are you a believer in Jesus I am yes okay was Jesus perfectly obedient to the will of the Father Jesus was not perfectly obedient to the will of his father Jesus was this video yeah no I'm sorry I misunderstood the question you're right Jesus was perfectly obedient to the will of the Father he says I came not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me not my will but thine be done so Jesus was a perfect person he's a perfect human alright he lived a life of perfect virtue did things go well for Christ materially no it did not they did not they absolutely did not and does he call us to imitate him are we to take up his cross and follow him he wants us to yes yeah exactly so so Jesus tells us that the Christian life will will be replete with suffering all right the the Prophet says of Jesus that he was a man of sorrows Isaiah 53 says he was a man of sorrows and familiar with suffering right and none of the holy righteous people of Scripture were immune from suffering st. Paul said he'd suffered enormous ly he'd been beaten and shipwrecked and you know it in fear for his life and on the high seas and all the rest of it been bitten by serpents and had to climb out of windows at night to escape he died the death of a martyr in prison Abraham had it all going for him in life you know he had wealth and power and he was living with his kinsfolk and God says leave everything and go off into the middle of the desert in the middle of nowhere and be a wanderer and become a nomad people of Israel he left wandering in the desert for forty years I mean you know Moses had to flee to Midian and it was in fear for his life um you know the prophets worst book of Hebrews tells us they were sawn in half they were lowered into wells they had to you know run for their lives I mean Elijah asked to hide up in a cave in the mountains to get away from a hab I mean so so the the life of holiness is is difficult and challenging but the the the proper disposition of course in the midst of all that is to be like the Blessed Virgin Mary who says be it done to me according to thy word like Jesus you know not my will but thine be done all right now and and the the promise of eternal life is that we will come to we will be Friends of God the love of God shed abroad in our hearts Christ says if you love me obey my Commandments my father and I will come to you and make our dwelling with you now friendship with God that's this that's inestimable nothing compares to that no rich is no success no health no worldly glory can compare to the love of God in the friendship with God which will which will pour juror into eternity this life is not the horizon of our life all right we this life ends and the next life goes on forever and so we can say you know as a as a Catholic saint named Josephine vaquita who I love to quote she lived a horrific life she was a slave she was abused she had all kinds of horrible things happen to her all right and and yet she looked just like st. Paul she looked back on that life of abuse in her and she said my life is good my life is good because know that I am loved and I am awaited by that love I have a hopeful expectation of eternity with God and if I had to do it all over again I would live the same life because through this suffering I came to know Christ Jesus my Lord absolutely Jeff we really appreciate your call thank you so much we'll be praying for you and for your friend there our phone number 1-800 five eight five nine three nine six when I get to a couple of these texts sandy says why is it that some Protestants are adamantly against the perpetual virginity of Mary yeah thanks okay so that's a good question and in the 16th century and the 17th century Protestants confessed the doctrine the dogma of the perpetual virginity of Mary even vehemently anti Catholic Protestants like Francis turreted who was one of the successors to Calvin in Geneva no friend of the Catholic Church man writes on the dogma of perpetual virginity and says I just can't find it in me to deny this doctrine because it's so well attested it's universally in my name by all of the fathers and all of the early church so so it's this is not something that all Protestants have have come to now I think in the modern era and I'm gonna speculate here okay I'm gonna speculate well so there's an explanation that is given and I don't necessarily think it's the cause okay you know I think there may be more to it sometimes they'll say well I don't see this deduction in Scripture well Catholics do see it in Scripture but that's another question alright and they say if I don't see it in Scripture I don't have to believe it well that's a that's a silly principle because Protestants believe all kinds of things that are not well established in Scripture right but secondly I think the their macness is more to the point there's been a shift in the Protestant ethic on sexuality especially in the last hundred years that that comes to see sexuality is something that is uh that is an unqualified good provided it be confined within the limits of holy matrimony and there's this attitude that that you know it would be somehow unjust to imagine a person who was validly married that didn't consummate that marriage okay and and there's little appreciation I think for the for the value of perfect chasity which is of course something that Jesus and Saint Paul both exemplified Christ you know of course didn't marry he tells us in Matthew 19 that there are those who actually make themselves eunuchs he says for the sake of the kingdom of God Paul tells us the same thing he says some people marry and you know so they have these they don't have the gift of perfect chastity but it's better that you do like like me better better that you live this life of perfect Jessie perfect consecration of the will of God but he tells even the married he says don't don't you know don't come together in the marital embrace all the time he says you have to hold off for a while why to give yourselves to prayer alright so there's something there's something even even though it is a good you know pizzas are good no but if I live for pizza I'm not gonna no god no all right and human sexuality even with marriage is good all right but it's not the end of marriage all right there's something greater especially in sacramental marriage that greater good is the knowledge of God the perfection of the human personality even through suffering all right and that requires chastity but I think a lack of appreciation for that makes so kind of it kind of exacerbates that that that resistance to that to that biblical and traditional doctrine mm-hmm and then finally I think that they're Protestants that just have a knee-jerk reaction against all things Catholic I mean I know when I was in the protestant seminary and we would debate doctrine and theology you know kind of a kind of a debate stopper is if you could say well we can't go down that rabbit trail because that leads to Rome oh that must be wrong you know so if something is just characteristically Catholic it just must be wrong automatically Wow appreciate your text there sandy and thank you so much for it David is listening to us in Emmitsburg Maryland on Guadalupe Radio WM ET David what's on your mind today so I wanted to ask why is it that we pray for other people and I want to be specific about it you know like if someone is sick then we pray for them to get better but it's not as though prayer is some kind of magic currency with God so why is it that we pray for that other person okay thanks well I appreciate the the distinction because prayer is not magic all right and it is it is imprecation it is it is request it is petition all right and we pray because we believe that God answers prayer and because scripture commands us to pray all right and but we leave the results in God's hands now you know pastor friend of mine has a wonderful saying I really love he says God always answers prayer but he answers with one of in one of three ways he says yes not yet or I have a better plan love that and that's why it's not magic right because we're not we're not we're not bending God's will to ours it's rather God who makes use of human prayer to bring about the purposes that he's designed okay very good appreciate your call there David this is called a communion here on EWTN Liliana is watching us right now on Facebook live in Athens Greece about that Liliana says is it a mortal sin not to go to Mass on Sunday let me let me frame my answer this way going to Mass on Sunday is a serious obligation it is a and and to fail in that is a grave error okay okay um but that is different to speak about something as a serious obligation all right it's different than two to declare that anyone that violates that is personally culpable for mortal sin because the Catholic Church tells us that for me to actually lose the grace of God in my soul mmm it's not enough for me simply to contravene a commandment I have to do so with impunity alright and and sometimes I may not do it with impunity so for instance I may not be in complete control of my faculties maybe maybe for whatever reason I you know I'm out of my head and I don't have I really don't have free will well I'm not morally responsible for things that I do when I'm out of my head that's trying maybe I don't fully understand my obligation to go to Mass no that does it cause it to cease to be something serious right now I mean to take an analogy if I have a bad infection and I don't understand that I need antibiotics alright I'm havin done anything sinful by neglecting my antibiotics but I could still die that's true right and mass is there to heal our soul so I may not I might not be culpable for missing mass that doesn't mean that no harm is done to me I hear the means of grace for me to be saved I neglect them to my hurt whether or not God holds me morally responsible for that or not well that's that's for God to judge but the obligation to go to Mass is a serious obligation and I would say if somebody fully understanding that Christ instituted the mass for the sake of our salvation that the church has authority to - to compel her children to worship in a corporate way on the on the Lord's Day the day in commemoration of his resurrection as a community and if for me to thumb my nose at that with impunity alright and with with my eyes wide open and freedom of will I would venture to say yes that could be a mortal sin okay very good Liliana thanks for checking us out in Athens I think that is very cool here's one now from Johnny watching us as well on Facebook a friend of mine takes mortal umbrage with the church over the claim that the church either hid or was slow to respond to claims of abuse as with so many he is difficult to respond to with facts because he's so angry your thoughts well I take mortal umbrage with that - sure I mean what'd he want me to say Catholic hierarchs have done atrocious things wrong is wrong wrong is wrong now you know so now having said that yes me back up when I became Catholic I came Catholic in 2003 2002 was the nadir the low point of the church's PR in North America near the abuse crisis rough time how much did knowledge of that and of course I was fully aware of it how much did that impede me or stop me from becoming Catholic not for a second absolutely no effect on it why not alright did I not think it was horrible course I thought it was horrible alright it's because I wasn't joining like the Church of the abusers I was joining the church that Jesus Christ founded that includes not only horrible sinful hierarchs right but also san agustin and st. Catherine of Siena and st. Francis of Assisi and st. Dominic and st. Monica by the way and today the gustin's feast day sure is hallelujah I love Augusta incredible that's the church up with the Apostles and the martyrs that's the church I'm joining you ever listen to the Canon of the mass the Eucharistic prayer who do we invoke not the central hierarchs that covered up abuse we invoke the saints that's who I'm going to mass with so we pray for the souls of those who are suffered we pray for the souls of those who've sinned all right but we seek to imitate the Saints not the bad guys yeah it's all in it's the old saying it's all in how you look at it okay okay well I mean clearly these are the people that we need to emulate because the church is full of sinners and and really always has been I am so sorry we couldn't get to Connie driving through Michigan Connie please call us back tomorrow also James in Columbus couldn't get to you either but there's always tomorrow like the song says dr. David Andrews thank you my frantic stop please know that we'll be praying for your wife Jill and a hope that she's better real quick appreciate that absolutely my thanks also to Michael McCall Matt Kavinsky and everybody else doing a super job behind the scenes here at EWTN you know we do the program Monday through Friday at the same time 2 p.m. Eastern with an encore on Sundays at 2:00 p.m. Eastern Mar producer Michael picks out the best of the week sometimes that's a pretty tall order just to pick out the best one I'm Tom price we'll see you tomorrow right here on call to communion have a great day god bless

Channel: EWTN

Views: 2,379

Rating: 4.7142859 out of 5

Keywords: Catholic, EWTN, Christian, television

Id: Gy1PhSs7FYs

Length: 54min 7sec (3247 seconds)

Published: Mon Aug 28 2017