Called To Communion - 8/30/17- Dr. David Anders

becoming a Catholic why can't women become priests 1-800 five eight five nine three nine six I don't understand why I have to earn salvation one eight hundred five eighty 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 called the communion this is the program for our non Catholic brothers and sisters if you've got a question about the Catholic faith maybe you just don't know who to turn to or maybe that's whom I'm not sure about that but I am sure that this program has helped an awful lot of folks to better understand the teachings of the Catholic faith and we are here for you today and every weekday Monday through Friday at 2:00 p.m. Eastern we also have an encore for you on Sundays so here's our phone number one eight hundred five eight five nine three nine six one eight hundred five eight five nine three nine six if you would prefer texting we can handle that as well 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 again the phone number 1-800 five eight five nine three nine six Michael McCaul is our producer Matt Kaminski is our phone screener he'll we'll get you on as quickly as possible Jeff Burson is our social media guy he's handling all of the new medias for us so you can also ask your question via Facebook live or YouTube whatever you want we are here for you I'm Tom price along with dr. David Andrews hey Tom how are you today I'm doing very well and I have some very exciting news I already do this congratulations to EWTN opening its first studio and office in the United Kingdom this is so cool it's been in the works for some time now we finally online we had the studio dedication a couple of days ago it's in a converted home located in the historic village of walls Ingham very close to London home of one of the most important pilgrimage sites of Europe the Shrine of Our Lady of wallingham which dates to n61 that is a long time ago our new facility we're very excited about it it will help the network expand its capacity to produce programming for its European channels as well as incorporating UK content to other channels around the world I think they even are going to be putting in some radio facilities as well so please keep this newest EWTN facility in your prayers it's a very cool thing ah well you know I can't wait we can go do the show from the London studios that would be awesome or Walsingham studios yeah yeah yeah so we got an email here and we'll beginning to the phones in just a moment at one eight hundred five eight five nine three nine six a woman named PD rather upset about one of our programmes she says that she recorded the programme presumably the TV version a few days ago that aired well actually back in late July she says the question was to explain predestination and freewill in the Catholic Church versus Reformed Christian churches and she was very upset about all this she says I always believed God loved all of his children and would give them salvation even when they lived horrible lives but confess their love for Jesus on their deathbeds however the answer you gave was contrary to what I believe don't all of his children have the same ability to be given eternal life in heaven apparently not David's response was something on the order of God determines to give efficacious grace sufficient for salvation to those he foresees will be saved but doesn't give it to everyone everyone will receive sufficient grace but not everyone will receive efficacious grace I must not be understanding how can a loving and just God not give efficacious grace to all of his children who invite him into their hearts what's the difference between the two Grace's what is meant by everyone receives sufficient but not efficacious if sufficient grace is not enough to win salvation what's the point of it what does sufficient grace do what is the difference between salvation and eternal life as those terms were also used in this response please help me I'm really desperate thank you PT PT thank you so much and I'm so sorry we don't mean to distress anybody that's not what we're about on the nose so so the the Catholic doctrine on predestination and of course predestination I mean this is not something we're making up this is a biblical concept in the move of Romans chapter 8 there are two references to those whom God predestined to salvation do using explicitly the term predestination and of course the the 9th to 11th chapters of the book of Romans are all about the election of Israel Jacob I have loved Esau have hated that's the phrase that Paul exegetes in light of the the the call of the Jews and their unique status in the world as the sign and instrument of God's work and salvation to bring the light of Christ of the whole world then of course the calling of the Gentiles into that by God's predestinated grace this is the whole the whole second half of the book of Romans deals with this question in a book of Ephesians also chapter 1 verse 5 and verse 11 we also read about God predestined to salvation those whom he foreknew in Christ and so forth so this is a biblical doctrine right and we're not making this up now there are the the the nature of your distress suggests to me that you're missing a key distinction all right you pictured for us a person who is crying out to God for mercy and imploring him for the forgiveness of his sins and then God sort of turning a blind eye to that alright now that that misconstrues the way the Catholic Church understands the doctor predestination so let one of the places where this was dealt with in a magisterial way mm-hmm was at the the Council of Orange in the 6th century called to handle the heresy of semi-pelagianism don't worry about what that is for right now but let me just read you one of the canons from the council of orange and this was canon number 3 we read the following if anyone says that the grace of God can be conferred as a result of human prayer yeah but that it is not grace itself which makes us pray to God he contradicts the Prophet as air or the Apostle who says the same thing I have been found by those who did not seek me I have shown myself to those who did not ask for me okay and let me unpack that for you please what the Canon says is it is not the case here we are in our broken nature yeah we cry out to God and then he responds to our cry by giving us grace that's that's not how it works when we're crying out to God that is itself an effect of God's grace it's God who initiates he's the one moving towards us and out the stirrings in our heart of desire and hope for God and hope in repentance and and seeking a relationship with him that itself is the work of actual grace God reaching out to us and drawing us to himself Christ Jesus himself says in John chapter 6 no one can come to me unless the father draw him now this is John chapter 6 verse 44 no one can come to me unless the father who sent me draws him and I will raise him up on the last day all right now so so this is a this is a comforting doctrine it's not one that it shouldn't frustrate us or leave us forlorn alright because it tells us that the work of salvation is not in our hands it's in God's alright and and so all of the good works all of the penitence all of the faith all of the hope all of the repentance that that you're identifying well the scripture says and the Catholic faith teaches well that's showing that God's already at work in your life he's already there so don't worry so this is a hopeful doctrine very good PD we hope that's helpful for you and you be sure and stay in touch with us okay when we get back we'll be talking with Peggy in Toledo got a line open for you as well one eight hundred five eight five nine three nine six is that number 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 called to communion with dr. David Anders on the EWTN global Catholic radio network [Music] celebrating 100 years of Fatima with Monsignor Charles Pope on July 13 1917 our lady spoke to the children at Fatima and she said continue to pray the rosary every day in order to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war then a difficult request not a complicated request and yet did we do it do we pray the rosary every day Our Lady makes this simple request and she says that it will make great differences that Wars will end that conflicts will be resolved and that conversion of sinners will be obtained if praying the rosary can end a war how much more so and it also and conflicts within us in our families and among each other prayer changes things do we pray the rosary every day a simple request of our lady pray the rosary every day join EWTN as we celebrate the 100th anniversary of Fatima visit EWTN calm / Fatima the Holy Fathers prayer intention for the month of August is that artists of our time through their ingenuity may help everyone discover the beauty of creation EWTN news nightly with Lauren Ashburn if you're a Catholic and you're watching cable news or network news you're getting your news on the Internet how often do you read Catholic based stories not that often here at news nightly you can get the national news with a Catholic perspective and it is so valuable for Catholics to be able to see the world through that perspective EWTN news nightly with Lauren Ashburn weekdays at 9:00 p.m. Eastern on EWTN radio this is John at Ben Kovac host of women of grace hello this is Cardinal Donald Wuerl of the Archdiocese of Washington this is Gloria Purvis host of Morning Glory thanks for listening to the EWTN global Catholic radio network 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 get to the phones at one eight hundred five eight five nine three nine six we begin with Peggy in Toledo listening to us today on Annunciation radio hey Peggy what's your question today well my question is I had an incident I'm Kat um like Catholic priest earlier this week I have a friend that she lost her husband and everything and and I knew the I went was heard to the priest and was talking to her and you know and he was saying about you know like heaven is not it's just like there is a it really doesn't have like you know a backyard pool and all this you know and you're not going to have a mansion like that you know but and I and it's like you're just gonna be in God's presence that's it and I'm like well you know in the Bible it says you know that there are many men in his father's house as many mansions and I will go to prepare one for you and if it wasn't true I would not if I wouldn't say it if it wasn't true that's what it says in that scripture I pretend those two things around the woman anyway and he just looked at me like here's amazing I even knew that and I'm like hey and I said you know I go what amazes me about the Catholic churches a lot of people there's a lotta I mean I don't see a lot of scripture reading you know like well I got people to take bringing a viral search a lot of them don't yeah I don't see if there's a lot of people that don't that don't even know I'm it's only what the priest says in the daily Mass that they that they that they hear they don't they don't read their Bible they don't they don't have Bible study very much i the what the one that's in my area doesn't and I'm just amazed I just I don't know why that is I appreciate the comment well I got several things to say and I'd like to circle back around at the end to the doctrine of heaven if I have time but first let me talk about the use of Scripture in the Catholic Church so I'm a Catholic and I feel like I have a pretty decent grasp on Scripture I mean I've read the Bible from cover to cover a couple times and studied the ancient languages and I've read a lot of commentaries and so I feel pretty comfortable with Sacred Scripture and I know a lot of other Catholics that know it'll heck of a lot better than I do Mitch Pacwa he's he's under me encyclopedia of Scripture knowledge and I believe it I've met lots of Catholics like that and of course when I go to Mass we have more scripture read to us in Mass than in any Protestant Church I've ever been in in my life you know I've known of Protestant pastors who great guys I mean I like him to death but you know they've of one guy who got an entire career a Baptist preacher who made an entire career out of John 3:16 for God so loved the world he sent His only begotten Son you know any same sermon you know thirty years and Admiral age as his congregation comes from the Deacons come to and they say pastor we love you to death and we love your preaching and we love John 3:16 do you think he could preach on another text next week he says absolutely I'll do it he comes back and preaches on John 3:16 I mean you know you can get a lot of mileage out of John 3:16 sure and and I've been in Protestant churches where the pastor something he may read one verse of the Bible and then he'll talk about it for forty-five minutes well in the Catholic Church that's not the way our lectionary lectionary means the this the cycle of readings that we go through in the year we usually on a Sunday morning will start out with a rather lengthy passage from the Old Testament and then will recite a psalm one of the Psalms and Tiffany you know back and forth back and forth and then there'll be a reading from one of the epistles that st. Paul's epistle or st. Peter's epistles or maybe from the book of Hebrews perhaps the book of Revelation um and then and then we'll read sometimes very long passages from the Gospels so the whole thing takes quite a good bit of time and and and quite frankly I've never been in a Protestant church where there was anywhere close to as much scripture eating in the actual worship that's true of the church and then in the daily life of the Catholic faithful there's a prayer called the Liturgy of the hours and and it's seven times a day the Catholic who takes up this practice and all priests do and monks and religious student laypeople are invited to is there is a prayer through many many many Psalms of the Psalter 150 Psalms of the Old Testament which is the largest book in the Bible and the most quoted book of the Old Testament in the new okay did you know that in the New Testament the book and the Old Testament a quote the most often is the Book of Psalms I didn't know that so there's a there's a very very rigorous engagement with the Psalms that goes on seven times a day and not the Psalms only but also canticles from these are you know hymns and so forth in Scripture from the prophets or from the Book of Daniel and so forth and then many of the New Testament hymns like the Benedictus of Zechariah or the the nuke dimittis that's the the the prayer of the of the prophet Simeon and the New Testament when he sees the the infant Messiah or the Magnificat that Mary praise my soul magnifies the Lord these things are recited and committed to memory and so the the Catholic life of prayer is in fact absolutely inundated absolutely dripping with Scripture from start to finish and has been for 2,000 years and you read some of the great homilist the preachers of the Catholic tradition like Saint Agustin you read his sermons and and boy I can't keep up with the guy I mean he's and you know he's preaching without notes he's preaching before Google you know he's got the whole thing committed to memo and many of the ancient monks in the desert the Egyptian monks had the entire Book of Psalms committed to memory okay and and so the capsule egg has a very rigorous a robust relationship with the Bible and always has for 2,000 years but let me speak to the question of well why don't Catholics bring their Bibles to mass because the mass is not a Bible study all right mass is not a Bible stay it's a very different thing from a Protestant worship service and not all but in many Protestant worship services the point of Sunday morning is to be informed it's to be instructed from the Word of God the pastor is there to read the text and to interpret it and to apply it to your life and they do so some of them very skillfully and it's out of and I can appreciate that okay that's not what Catholics go to Mass for we get that other places all right the reason Catholics go to Mass is to offer sacrifice you know the Prophet Malachi spoke about the New Covenant when all of the Gentiles would offer a pure sacrifice to God all right we oh god worship we O God worship and worship entails sacrifice st. Paul says in Romans 12 offer your bodies as living sacrifices this is your rational act of worship that rational religion requires the gift of self and the gift of sacrifice to Almighty God not only privately but corporately as a corporate body and that's what the mass is Jesus Christ is made present for us on the altar all right through the transubstantiation of hosts and chalice into his body and blood and these these gifts are then offered to God in reparation for sins and for the reconciliation of all of humanity in fulfillment of the words of Christ this is my body given for you this is the chalice of the New Covenant in my blood poured out for you do this in memory of me that's why we go to Holy Mass in all of the readings and the prayers to be honest with you are so many embellishments of the central Rite of Holy Mass which is the offering of the body blood soul and divinity of Jesus on the altar in reparation for the sins of the world and so we're not there to engage in a Bible study and the point of the homily is not simply to do the exegesis of Scripture right all right in the way that it is in a in a Protestant Church we do our Bobby studies at other times during the year now if you know the times during the week now if you find a Catholic who doesn't know their Bible well too bad for them too bad for them all right but it's not because the tradition doesn't convey it teach it or admonish us to learn it and there are many many great Bible studies out there oh sure there are yeah yeah so Peggy we hope that's helpful for you do call us anytime our phone number 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 Tom is watching us right now on Facebook live tom says a man told me purgatory can't be real because Jesus is very clear - what he does to the lukewarm and giving them a second chance isn't it what do I tell him thanks so much completely agree with you purgatory is not a second chance for the lukewarm okay not what it is Catholic Church has never said what it is all right they'd never said that no excuse me the Catholic Church never said that's what it was it does say what it is purgatory is not a second chance for the lukewarm purgatory is for those who die in God's friendship those that have loved God and loved neighbor and fully met the demands of the law without doing that we not going to heaven right all right but but those of us who die even in the love of God may not have made sufficient reparation for the sins that we commit in the flesh true in reparation for sin is necessary in the order of justice and love and so even those who die in God's friendship may see may yet have it's a satisfy divine justice to make reparation for sin or perhaps perhaps they they haven't been adequately purified from their attachment to temporal goods hmm all right and some purification is necessary through suffering but they've loved God and loved neighbor and they've met the demands of the law they're not lukewarm otherwise they wouldn't be going to heaven and all those in purgatory go to heaven Tom thanks for your question thanks for checking us out today on Facebook live here's our phone number 1-800 five eight five nine three nine six one eight hundred five eight five nine three nine six naomi is watching us right now on YouTube she says what is the knowledge of good and evil if God gave Adam and Eve a special type of knowledge why is it why it was wrong to learn about the knowledge of good and evil was God trying to protect them thanks okay so we're really talking here about the experience all knowledge of evil okay all right not the theoretical knowledge of evil all right God God didn't give they didn't eat the the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and suddenly have like this perfect philosophical understanding of the you know of the problem of evil no no where this is really a metaphor for it I mean engaging evil directly for experiencing evil and we've all seen this I mean it's a it really becomes a paradigm for understanding the whole nature of human life so I remember story my father told me when he was a little bitty kid he had an aunt with a wood-burning stove and his aunt and his mother and all the grown-ups said Lois don't go near the wood-burning stove and he thought he'd show them so he spread his fingers out and got closer and closer and closer and they said don't touch it if you touch it you're gonna get burned and he gave him this kind of ride knowing look and he went up and he touched it and he burned all ten fingers and they let it happen they let it happen yeah he never touched it again and he learned to listen to his mother into his aunt's and to obey them all right he he had a theoretical knowledge of evil they explained it to him he wanted experiential knowledge of evil and he got he paid for it now and he was never touching wood burning stoves after that I believe that lesson he always gave me he was a corporate lawyer when I grew up you know what the lecture I always got was what's that never cosign alone that's good advice that's what I always got grown up some kids get like stay away from drugs and alcohol I got never cosign alone okay I wish my dad had taught me that what about Tom price yeah well that's another story our phone number one eight hundred five eight five nine three nine six let's go to Alyssa in Jacksonville Florida listening to us on Queen of Peace radio hey Alyssa what's on your mind today oh hello good afternoon father I was just calling today about basically about the Trinity I have a friend of mine and she is a Jehovah Witness and basically we'll scare some shear scriptures and she was so I guess she was kind of surprised about my I would say I have a knowledge about the Bible but just might fit in general and I just find out recently that she was kind of pushing the Jehovah Witness on me and she was agreeing about the Trinity and how it was created by somebody it's not like directly from the Bible and I was just sitting there like so angry how dare you question my religion kinda and I want you to just more knowledge what kind of books should I look and and so that I would know how to respond to that more accurately okay thanks so much really so several things I'd like to say first of all if I'm speaking to have a job as witness and they begin to argue with me about my faith from the Bible all right the first thing before I begin to answer them the first thing I'm going to do is I'm going to say okay Jehovah's Witness friend of mine why do you think that reading the Bible is the proper way to answer religious or theological questions who told you that who told you that book cut and that's a question they've never asked it's a question they've never examined because the truth of the fact is is that Jesus himself never says to us if you want to know the content of the Christian faith study the Bible he doesn't say that instead Christ gave to the Apostles to the eleven he says go into all nations and teach them everything I've commanded you and I will and I'll be with you forever all right I'll be with you to the end of the age and they commands them to baptize and in what formula does he command them to baptize in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit the Trinitarian formula so in that very same passage of Matthew 28 not only is the Jehovah's Witness appeal to scripture undermined but their interpretation of Scripture is undermined all right now so that's the first thing all right hey if you want to know the Christian faith you go to the church Christ founded not to the watchtower society interpreting a text that was never meant to be our rule of faith but as for scriptures defending the dogma of the Trinity there are many many more than the one that I just cited but here comes the music we'll have to do that another time Melissa thank you so much for your call we hope that is helpful for you call us back sometime our phone number here one eight hundred five eight five nine three nine six we have a line open for you right now one eight hundred five eight five nine three nine six this is called a communion on ewtn Anna Mitchell I had this formative experience during one Sunday Mass in the Easter season in seventh grade during the Gloria I remember having this sense of the Phil if you can imagine what it must feel like to be a cup being filled with water that's how it felt it started at my feet and it moved up my body and I've come to believe that that was the Holy Spirit and I can really trace my zeal for the faith back to that moment the sunrise morning show Monday through Friday at 6 a.m. Eastern on EWTN radio hi I'm Teresa Tomeo host of Catholic connection with another media minute here on EWTN teens today are more depressed have higher rates of suicide and hang out with friends less often than teens in earlier years that's according to one researcher who has blamed the rise of these problems on smartphones according to a recent article in the Atlantic by a top psychology professor at San Diego State she says she's noticed a number of stark behavioral changes in teens since smart phones became popular and she argues the rates of change are the sharpest she's seen in research and data from the 1930s onward she says they're much less interested in driving teens reported feeling lonely a lot more often the rates of depression and suicide have skyrocketed she says since 2011 and the more time they spend looking at screens the more depressed they say they feel and she also adds there's not a single exception among any age group I'm Teresa Tomeo with another media minute here on EWTN [Music] 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 knew from EWTN publishing now available at ewtn are si.com 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 good news here you can help the victims of Hurricane Harvey in Texas through a special fund set up by the Knights of Columbus go to KOF c.org KOF c dot o-r-g and please click the box marked help hurricane victims right up there at the top of their home page k ofc dot o-r-g this is called a communion here on EWTN our phone number 1-800 five eight five nine three nine six and we've got here a question from samuel who is watching us right now on youtube samuel says if there is time could dr. Andrews please address the nature of heaven going back to that earlier call oh yeah absolutely so we had a caller that was referencing Jesus's farewell discourse in John when he says in my father's house are many mansions many rooms and I go to prepare a place for you and so forth right and as our caller took that to mean that in the next life in glory that you know I think we're kind of checking into the celestial Marriott or something and we all get our I don't know it's kind of how it sounded yeah we have palaces and swimming pools and tennis courts that's these least those images that she referenced now the truth of the matter is is we don't really know if there are tennis courts and swimming pools in heaven okay the the what we do know with certainty is what the glory of heaven consists him okay and and principally st. Paul tells us in 1st Corinthians 3 tene that it's the vision of God now some people hear that and they go well that sounds kind of boring you know it sounds like an eternity in an art museum okay and that's a that's a very poor analogy because that's not the kind of vision we're talking about we're talking about the kind of vision st. Paul says that when we will know fully as we're fully known alright this is the kind of knowing not just the knowing that we achieve through the senses but the kind of deep intuitive knowledge that we have through intimate relationship okay so the the knowledge that I have of my wife's mind right would be an analogy now but it'll be even closer than that'll be more like the knowledge I have of my own mind okay right now we don't know God that way at all we know God through faith we know God by inference through the light of reason we can reason to God as the calls from the effects all right in the same way that if a baseball comes through my window I know that you know some kid in the yard probably hit it yeah all right but I don't see the kid I just see the baseball that's how we know God by reason all right and then I can know him by faith and the things that he conveys to me in the way that I might know say a friend who wrote me a letter all right and sent me tokens of his love and affection but don't have my friend present sure all right um but when we have God in heaven we'll know God it will know God as intimately as we know the content of my own mind all right and I'll know him in an analogous way to the way I know my wife that kind of loving intimate union now in in knowing God in that way again you don't think of God limited in the way in which knowledge of human person is limited all right because God is infinite and his mind is utterly unlike ours utterly unlike ours it'll be and he is the source of everything that is he's the source that all that is good all that is true all it's beautiful so to really know the interior life of God is to know and to experience the goodness and the beauty of all things which is why the knowledge of God in heaven is the fulfillment of all desire so it's very different from just a day in a museum yes indeed an eternity in a museum now we'll also be embodied we know this from the doctrine of the resurrection but our bodies will be glorified as Christ's body was glorified so it'll be luminescent in glory all right so I won't have these bad knees anymore okay well I Karen you think about swimming pools and tennis courts I have no idea all right but it doesn't matter because I'll have the greatest of all things the fulfillment of all desire which is God himself yes indeed this is called a communion here on EWTN our phone number one eight hundred five eight five nine three nine six hey what is stopping you from becoming a Catholic have you considered the Catholic faith and then you decided yeah not going to do that we'd like to know why one eight hundred five eight five nine three nine six patrick is listening right now in Columbus Ohio on st. Gabriel radio the big old 50,000 watt blowtorch there Patrick what's on your mind today well I have a friend who asked me a question one day and he says you know he he went to 204 different pastors you know non Catholic and he got you know they can anyways long story short he says what's better day to worship Saturday Sunday and he also has made a comment about Easter tried to explain that to them a little bit but uh basically I answered you know every day you know it's not easy but we would be known by our works you know in our faith so is there a question Patrick yeah why is the better day that worth of Saturday or Sunday oh why why why is it division so much thank you appreciate it I got I got a real good friend that does it works it's Terry and takes a whole day off yeah sure sure okay well so the Scriptures tell us to pray without ceasing that's right the scriptures do not tell us to limit ourselves to one day of the week but in fact pretty constantly and the example of the Apostles we read about in the book of Acts was that they were praying constantly where when Peter was in prison we read that the church was praying constantly to God for him okay and in the Jewish liturgy prayer worship was not one day a week worship was every day all right and and we read about the ninth hour as the hour of prayer all right and and we know that the Apostles we read the for instance that they went up to the temple at the hour of prayer and that's in the Jewish liturgy they would gather and pray the Psalms every day okay and and again in the Jewish liturgy vices are being offered in the temple every day yeah right Christians are to worship God every day now there is something special about the first day of the week it's not the only day that we worship but the first day of the week is the day on which Christ rose from the dead and so from a very early period from in fact the Apostolic era the church would gather on the first day of the week to celebrate the resurrection of our Lord to read the scriptures together the especially to offer the Holy Sacrifice of the mass and and and together as a community but we don't we don't cease to worship God any day of the week that's it and Patrick was was correct when he said that absolutely to his friend he nailed it Patrick thank you good job appreciate your call our phone number here one eight hundred five eight five nine three nine six one eight hundred five eight five nine three nine six got an email from Dave and Columbus who says hi dr. Anders was the Exodus Pharaoh's freewill impinged upon or abrogated when the Lord quote hardened his heart nope no nope nope God's the God determines God determines to make use of human freedom okay all right and so you know and I've used this analogy many times before in the air I may I may very well know oh you know earlier I spoke about my my father and when he was 3 years old yeah that wood burning stove you know my my mother my grandmother and my great aunt certainly did not compel my dad to touch the wood-burning stove no and yet they absolutely knew that it was going to happen they absolutely knew it was going to happen then therefore knowledge of that did not cause it to happen all right but they certainly could have orchestrated events to prevent it yes all right and in fact what they did provoked it to happen nor did they intend that my father burned his fingers but they did intend that he learned a lesson about obedience and about hot wood burning stoves which he did all right and that's the way the Catholic faith conceptualizes God's providence as it concerns human freedom and in particular the human free choice of the will towards evil God does not direct the evil God does intend to bring good out of evil and God intends to make use of even human free actions to bring about his his absolutely providential will that is in control of everything there you go appreciate that here's our phone number one eight hundred five eight five nine three nine six called Communion and progress here on EWTN let's go to pj in annapolis maryland listening to us on Sirius XM 130 PJ what's on your mind today okay sure hi I had a brother-in-law who's not Catholic but he asked me what the difference was the main difference says it's all the same only one God and all those good things and I said to him all the two things that I would do I would say is makes it very different to me as one I don't go to a service to hear the homily I go to the service to honor God and and absorb the word and the homily is part of it but even if the homily is boring no offense to any priest this on the show sure that's not why I'm there and the other is Holy Communion which I believe and as a Catholic I believe we have the only true body and blood of Jesus Christ so that's what I said if the different the main difference is I mean you know we all have what the same books in the gospel and things I just wanted to make sure that I shared that and I suggested that he talked to a priest friend of his or somebody to get more detail was I right or wrong critical or PG thank you so much thank you everything that you said is correct everything you say that's correct I might add a few other things okay so let me begin with with the st. Paul tells us in the book of Ephesians chapter 3 verse 10 that it was in the plan of God hidden for all ages he created all things that through the church I'm quoting now through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known right the Scriptures tell us that the church that visible society founded by Christ is inaugural to God's plan of salvation Jesus said to st. Peter you're Peter and on this rock I will build my church and the gates of Hell will not prevail against it and I give to you the keys of the kingdom of heaven and whatever you bind on earth is bound in heaven whatever you loose on earth is loosed is heaven all right and so on and then and then in in in chapter 18 of the Gospel of Matthew says to all the apostles the same thing what are you bind on earth is bound in heaven all right and then he gives instructions about people perhaps even being ejected from the Fellowship of the church through disobedience until they come to repentance so we see there that the church founded by Christ intended by Jesus is a visible society that you can be in or you can be out of in Saint Paul says the same thing 1st Corinthians 5 he talks about judging those inside the church and kicking people out if they're not living in a quarter of the truth of gospel until they come to repentance and then and then they're confessing their sins in being sacramentally forgiven because Jesus gave to the apostles the power to forgive sins he says whoever sins you forgive my forgiving whoever sins you retain or attain so the visible society of the church founded by Jesus intended by him is integral to God's plan of salvation for the whole world Ephesians 3:10 tells us that so the church as the means of grace in the salvation of humanity is there intended by Christ why why does God intend what is Christ intend a visible Society in that way well one reason is he wants us to have the fullness of the truth about God and human life the fullness of the truth Jesus told the sure she told the apostles in Matthew 28 go into all nations teach them everything I've commanded you and I'll be with you to the end of the age promise of divine assistance given to the Apostles and their successors to teach the full truth about Christ and God and the means of grace and the moral life and the way of salvation now outside the Catholic Church we don't have certainty about these things I mean all you got to do is look at the tens of thousands of different denominations that differ from one another on substantive things really not just not just you know crazy stuff but they differ on what is murder what is what is human sexuality what is the value of human life what's the meaning of life what's the nature of the moral life and these are fundamental differences between Protestant denominations and those that don't hold to the authority of the Catholic Church within the Catholic Church we have certainty about the fullness of the truth about God and the moral life and the spiritual life in our reconciliation with him yet within the Catholic Church we have the fullness of the means of grace see where God wants us to come to holiness all right not just to know things about him but to be made like him st. Paul says we have the mind of Christ we carry around in our bodies the death of Christ that the life of Christ might be made manifest in us we conform ourselves to Jesus this is arduous and difficult we need help divine help which is called grace and that's conveyed to us through the sacraments we die with Christ in Baptism st. Paul says in Romans 6 to rise again with him to new life sacrament of reconciliation forgives our sins gives a subjectivist surance that they are forgiven the Eucharist as you correctly identified the body and blood soul and divinity of Jesus is given to us for food for our souls and not only as a sacrament but also as a sacrifice Christ commands us to offer the sacrifice of the Eucharist of the mass in reparation for the sins of the world this is our spiritual act of worship Paul tells us in Romans 12 to make sacrificial worship to God all right outside the Catholic Church we don't have that in its fullness all right and then of course we have the unity of the church visible in its governance an organization in union with the Pope and all the bishops throughout the world that is the mind of Christ in John 17 he's praised that all of those who believe in him will be manifestly and visibly one can't do that without a principle of authority to unite under what you know what flag are we going to salute if there's no flag there's no standard raised Christ gave us that standard in the teaching authority of the church so we can all rally around that same flag if you will which is the Eucharist in Christ all right the bond and source of our unity in them so that we can be that signed and instrument to the world of reconciliation of Jew Gentile slave free male-female all things reconciled in Jesus visibly and manifestly so so that the world will know that he came forth from God this is called a communion here on EWTN PJ thank you so much for your call and we're waiting for your call now five eight five nine three nine six you know back in the early days of EWTN even then when we were just on cable TV just getting started in radio Mother Angelica would say you know what we've got to be where the people are so from that day to this day we have always explored new media new ways of getting the good news out to everybody so that brings us to 2017 one of the newest ways of getting EWTN is with Amazon fire TV do you know what this is it's a little device it allows you to instantly stream EWTN to your TV set now to get EWTN on your Amazon fire TV all you need is number one high-speed Internet connection Wi-Fi whatever a TV set and the Amazon fire TV player you can get that probably at a lot of electronics places you can buy it online the important thing to remember here a wtn is everywhere this is called a communion here on EWTN we have an email here from Reed in Lubbock Texas who says my friend who is an animal lover asked me does the commandment thou shalt not kill pertain to not killing certain animals as well as non killing humans what all circumstances does this commandment include or cover thanks again from Reed thanks the prohibition against murder covers the killing of humans only okay alright only humans are made in the likeness and image of God right and now that doesn't mean that we can treat the animal world of the natural world just can't just with what callously without concern because this is all given to the human person for our flourishing and the environment the natural environment is the common patrimony of the human race and so you know we all haven't mean we all love kangaroos well maybe not actually I know in Australia sometimes the Kangaroos can be a nuisance right but in theory we all look angry oh sure about Wallabies they're invalidly cute they're great okay all right no koala bears who does yeah we all love koala bears it would be a tragedy if we lost koala bears to the world I mean that's my per if that God has a sense of cute you know that he makes koala bears right so if I kill all the koala bears and I'm depriving all of my fellow humans and all of my progeny down to the generations of the great good that is you know the glory and the beauty of a koala bear right it's not murder to kill the koala bear but it would be an abuse of of nature and the common good if I wanted Li destroyed all koala bears okay very good this is called a communion here on EWH is I'm not so sure about Oh baby and in the south it's you know some days are really tough with with the roaches that carry off your car down here they they will they will here's one from Sean who says can we look at the commandments as given by Christ as seen in the sermon and throughout the Gospels as well as in the epistles as works requiring faith to prove to preform if so can works if obeyed as taught by Christ and His apostles be inseparable from faith if such works are inseparable from faith might we understand Paul's use of the word faith as such works of faith in most everywhere he mentions faith Godspeed Sean that's a little confusing I understood the point okay all right Thanks so you're drawing the distinction between in classic Catholic theology we talked about fides informa and and have formed faith and unformed faith okay formed faith is faith working through charity versus faith is not working through charity kind of a Saint James speaking about faith that does not work through charity says faith alone does not justify even the demons believe and tremble and such so such faith will not save us okay faith simply means assent to what God has revealed belief that what God has said is in fact true all right and that kind of faith that kind of intellectual assent is necessary all right it you know I can't I can't strive to please God if I don't believe that God exists that he's revealed things about his will to me and so forth I have to have that at least that unformed faith to know where to aim all right right but that kind of faith doesn't save me it's faith formed when charity that saves all right and why is that well Paul tells us in Romans 2 verse 13 that hearing the law doesn't justifies it's obeying the law that justifies us all right by which will be declared righteous but apart from grace nobody can obey the law the law is too difficult to obey without grace it's impossible for us without grace how do we get grace well faith is the means to obtain the grace that brings with it that that sanctification that love of God should have brought in our hearts by the holy spirit by which we really fulfill the divine command to love God and love neighbor so faith and faith is the is the conduit if you will faith in the sacraments of the conduit and repentance for the grace that brings the love that satisfies the divine law this is called a communion here on EWTN let's get to Alex in Columbus Ohio listening to Saint Gabriel radio Alex what's on your mind today hi I just had a question I kind of recently found my faith and I just was wondering I kind of was on the other end of the spectrum for a while and didn't believe in anyway there's all these they people have found texts recently that say that Jesus wasn't the son of God and that he was just sort of a prophet of God and I was just sort of wondering how you can reconcile that fact if you know the Bible says that he was the son of God well why are there conflicting texts I suppose is the question oh sure because I appreciate the question Alex because there are many writers of texts who are wrong and that continues to be the case today and if I go into Barnes & Noble or books-a-million or do they still have books a million I think workers bookstore whatever and I and I go through the religion section and start pulling books off the shelf you know I bet you close to a hundred percent of those books are going to be erroneous on some fact of of morals or theology or metaphysics or whatnot with one exception that's what if I pull the Bible off the shelf is going to be correct right yes but but human authors are human authors and they make mistakes and just because a human author it was five hundred years ago where a thousand years ago or two thousand years ago doesn't preserve them from error and in the first and second century there were a lot of people who opposed the Catholic faith and and spun out their own interpretations of the life of Christ that were flat-out erroneous we call them heretics and the church condemned to those erroneous theories about Jesus and how do we know that I mean how do we know the truth about Christ wills because Jesus himself first of all he taught the truth about himself demonstrated it by his miracles above all his resurrection from the dead as in historical event that's ascertainable through historical research and media and then transmitted that truth about himself to his apostles and the Apostles to their successors the bishops and it's been handed down by apostolic succession and tradition for 2,000 years and that very same church founded by Christ to whom he gave the promise of divine assistance I'll be with you to the end of the age and whatever you bind on earth is bound in heaven has been teaching the full truth about Jesus for 2,000 years and it's been correcting and anathematizing era error alright and continues to do so to this day so it to be a Catholic is to be a Catholic rather than something else right if you're Catholic you're not a Buddhist or a Muslim or a Protestant or something else and so the every affirmation of the Catholic faith entails a denial of its opposite and in every age there's some different alternative to the Catholicism in the second century one of the big alternatives to Catholicism was Gnosticism and the Gnostics taught that Jesus was you know some sort of spirit God and there were two gods and all this kind of wacky stuff about the body and matter and the spirit of the Catholic Church said nope not to that in the fourth century if you're a Catholic you're a Catholic rather than an Aryan Aryans were guys that taught that Jesus was kind of a little bitty God he was like God with a small G and the Catholic Church said no peas all the way God not little bitty God with a small G in the 16th century you were a Catholic rather than a Protestant today you're probably a Catholic rather than a materialist or a naturalist or a humanist or a New Ager or whatever it might be so there's always some position out there contradicting Catholic truth claims that doesn't count against the truth of the Catholic faith that it's it's it's presupposed by the truth of the Catholic faith being a Catholic necessitates that one reject whatever is contrary to Catholic faith Alec thank you so much for your call appreciate that Dan is in Sioux Falls South Dakota listening to us on the lam Catholic radio Dan what's on your mind today hey dan dan dan and Sioux Falls are you there right here yeah go right ahead we got about one minute what's your question hi perfect I'm just looking for a more palpable explanation of why the Eastern Orthodox faith did not mind what the Catholic faith I appreciate that thank you so much so the Eastern Orthodox Church developed initially the roots of Eastern Orthodoxy are within Catholicism of course there was one holy catholic apostolic church spanning the whole Christian world for quite a long time and and of course it's not just Latin and Greek but we're also looking at Coptic and an ethiop ik and Syriac and Chaldean and Sarah malabar and all these churches across the ancient world that were in unity with the sea of Rome and but because Constantinople as the seat of the Eastern Empire was very powerful and influential the patriarch of Constantinople had great prestige and not and to be honest with you the Easterners looked at the Latin West is kind of hillbilly Hicks ma'am and so there was a division that began really for cultural and political reasons and and then it just kind of reified it kind of conquer sized in the Middle Ages and and the story is long and we're the music's running so I'm not going to be able to finish the story right now but basically there have always been Eastern Christians in union with the sea of Rome whether Greek speaking or Syriac speaking or Arabic speaking okay we're really talking about a subset of the Eastern Church those that refuse obedience to the sea of Rome and I think ultimately the reasons are cultural and political rather than theological although theological justifications for that separation has been haven't spun out very good Dan thank you so much for your call sorry we couldn't get to John and Indianapolis John calls back tomorrow dr. David Andrews thank you my friend thank you Tom and we'll see you tomorrow right here on call to communion I'm Tom price have a great day god

Channel: EWTN

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Length: 54min 18sec (3258 seconds)

Published: Wed Aug 30 2017