CALLED TO COMMUNION - Dr. David Anders - December 27 , 2019

what's stopping you from becoming a Catholic why can't women become priests one eighty three three two eight eight EWTN I don't understand why I have to earn salvation one eighty three three two eight eight three nine eight six why do I need to confess my sins to a priest what's stopping you this is called to communion with dr. David Anders on the EWTN global Catholic radio network it is Friday it's the Friday edition of call to Communion here on EWTN a very Merry Christmas to all of you if you're just joining us for the very first time this is a radio program for non Catholics so if you're hearing EWTN perhaps for the first time maybe you've been listening to us for many years but you've got some questions about the Catholic faith you personally are not a Catholic golly this is your show here's our phone number eight three three two eight eight EWTN that's eight three three two eight eight three nine eight six if you're listening to us outside North America you're welcome to dial the u.s. country code and then two oh five two seven one two nine eight five now you can also text the letters EWTN to five five zero zero zero wait for our response and then text us your first name and your brief question message and data rates may apply you can always shoot us an email CTC at ewtn.com is the address CTC at ewtn.com and that covers all the basics here rich Jessi is our celebrity producer today delighted to have him on the Jo B Charles is off away somewhere Ryan Penney is our phone screen or Jeff person is handling social media he'll pass on any questions you may want to pose via YouTube or Facebook because we're streaming there right now you can just put your questions in the comments section Jeff we'll shoot that down to us here in studio one i'm tom price along with dr. David Anders Tom how are you today doing okay how about you my friend you know I am grateful to be Catholic and that is a great attitude to have bah well it's it's everything in the world to me you know I was thinking recently about this pew research study where they said Catholics tend to hear the shortest homilies yeah you know and I thought that's two opinions on whether that's a good thing or a bad thing right you know but one thing that statistic does not communicate to you is you cannot squeeze the value of the sacred priesthood just through the homily because you know one of the this is this is the essence of Catholicism that Christ is mediated to us through multiple forms the sacraments the person of the priests the intercession of the saints all of these tangible tokens and realities that bring us the grace of Christ and and you can't communicate all that just in mere words and and when you are in trouble where you are in trial when you are suffering there is nothing like the presence of Christ's minister in your life bringing you the sacraments and being to you the face of Christ's mercy I could never go anywhere else but the Catholic Church it's golden it really is well we're getting up some calls screened right now at eight three three two eight eight EWTN that's eight three three two eight eight three nine eight six in the meantime here is an email from Laura in North Ridgeville Ohio she normally listens to us through the EWTN app no Laura says I have heard dr. Anders discuss penal substitution very often and I know that it's not what Catholics believe so I'm wondering about a line in the hymn How Great Thou art here's the line and when I think that God his son not sparing sent him to die I scarce can take it in would that be incorrect for Catholics to sing would it be heresy should we be singing it in church thanks Laura okay thanks so just the line that you cited merely indicates that God sent his son to die on the cross which is true but that's true the the death of Christ was foreordained by God for the salvation of the world so that's not what's at issue what's at issue is how does the death of Christ save us how did God intend the death of Christ for our salvation yes but in what manner and what sacred scripture teaches and what the Catholic Church teaches is that Christ's death was a martyrdom Christ was a righteous and holy person who did not deserve to die but he followed his own divine command he turned to the other cheek you know someone says go one mile you go too right he surrendered himself to the hands of ungodly men out of love for Humanity and suffered an unjust death willingly and that that there was a his death was a martyrdom that was meritorious and pleasing to God and so God rewards Christ for his great merits by pouring out on the church the gift of the Holy Spirit Redemption grace and sanctification now that's not the way some Protestants understand the death of Christ they don't look at Christ's death as a meritorious action that wins the the reward of divine grace and forgiveness instead they consider the death of Christ to be an expression of God's wrath as God is actively punishing Christ for sins that he did not commit that and this is the Protestant view at least the Calvinist view they understand that God imputes the sins of believers to Christ so that Christ is punished for since he didn't commit and then he imputes the righteousness of Christ to believers so that they are acquitted on behalf of righteous deeds they never did and the Catholics look at that conception of the atonement and they say well a number of problems with this first of all it's God didn't reveal it that's not the way scripture depicts the death of Christ or the nature of our Redemption but it also implicates God in injustice the Calvinist view does because it suggests that God punishes the innocent and acquits the guilty and that is pretty much what an unjust judge does right I quit the guilty and punish the innocent and we don't want to implicate God in injustice it so it also supposes the very bizarre doctrine of the Trinity because on the Calvinist view the Son of God is at enmity with his father but that makes no sense within a Trinitarian theology where God is perfect union right and the son of the father and the son are one essence and and and the holy spirit the perfect expression of the love of father and son so there's no internal division in the Trinity in that way so the Calvinist view is just wrong all-round just wrong all around the Catholic view sound biblical rational and oh so salutary all right Laura great question thank you so much for it we do appreciate hearing from you and from all of our other listeners who like to email us and you can do that by sending your letter to CTC at ewtn.com CTC at ewtn.com in a moment here we're going to be going to Cincinnati to talk with Karen listening on Sacred Heart Radio we will stay in Cincinnati and talk with Norah so a couple of calls to T us up there you know what the the Friday show tends to move rather briskly so you may want to call in early eight three three two eight eight EWTN that's eight three three two eight eight three nine eight six it's the Friday edition of call to Communion here on EWTN stay with us I [Music] would always hear from different people at non Catholic churches that Catholics were going to hell or that they really didn't know who the Lord was the Catholic Church is not all what people say it is I mean it's completely different there's so many stereotypes it's very possible to know the Lord and it's very possible to have a relationship with God in the Catholic Church I believe I was born into the Catholic Church and that's where I belong if you've been away from the Catholic Church visit catholicscomehome.org this is Dale off quest with a Chesterton Christmas minute are you worried about the war on Christmas don't be GK Chesterton says Christmas is the irresistible festival further those who are afraid to be festive is the spectacular festival when almost everyone lives and acts poetry instead of just a few people writing it it is the ancient festival a Trinity of eating drinking praying that to modern seems irreverent because the holy day really is a holiday no matter what happens this Chesterton the great majority will go on observing Christmas Day with Christmas gifts and Christmas benedictions and they will continue to do it and suddenly some day they'll wake up and discover why want more than a minute visit us at Chesterton dot org be sure to join us over the weekend for EWTN bookmark with Doug Keck this weekend Doug interviews and father Joseph Mary Wolfe right here from EWTN he's our chaplain and he'll be talking about what is heaven a great show check it out on Saturday afternoon 4:30 p.m. Eastern right here on EWTN radio and before we go to the phones dr. Anders this is this is actually a little out of the normal purview of the show but I did want to tackle this email from Nina who says dr. Anders I listen to you all the time on call to Communion thank you for your work I've come back to the church after 18 years of Evangelic ilysm evangelicalism yay I'm home so I'm just wondering what caused you to become a vegan I'm almost there but I'm having difficulty giving up dairy any advice I got to tie this around with the Catholic faith if I can to make it somewhat relevant he's modest you know my my path was that I just got really really sick very sick and I mean so sick that I was making a few trips to the hospital and and I actually passed out one time on the floor of my office at work and I couldn't think and my brain was clogged and I had lutely no energy and I went to the doctor and I said I think I'm gonna be dead in the next ten years I mean I'm not that old but I feel like I'm got one foot in the grave Wow and so you know we ran some blood tests and whatnot and the result of all that was that he advised me under doctor's orders that I should adopt a radically different diet and I fought always ate healthy so I did and I gave up all animal products and all processed foods so I don't eat sugar white flour I don't even eat oil I just eat whole fruits and vegetables and nuts and seeds and grains and legumes and that kind of stuff and I got better I got a lot better and and I spent about him about a solid year because I'm kind of an obsessive sort of guy just reading everything I could get my hands on about nutrition and nutritional science and because I'm a historical kind of guy I also read it through the lens of the Catholic faith and I began to think a hard about you know look you don't have to do this there's nothing there's no moral imperative that you eat like I do but there are there is a lot of precedent for it actually in the Catholic tradition and all the way back in Clement of Alexandria who's a second century church father in his book on the teacher he advises people to stay off of processed foods believe it or not believe it or not yes you know if you if you eat the grain make sure you eat the husk and the kernel and everything don't just don't just you know don't just eat though in the fluffy part basically did you take all the nutrition out of it you read the Desert Fathers or st. Thomas Aquinas and John cash and all the rest of them and they they really advised people rule chapter 39 at the Benedict and rule particularly an example advise people to eat sparingly to eat primarily vegetables and to avoid those kind of foods that tend to craving because they have a spiritual aim in view which was you know you don't want to kind of feed that part of your appetite that's gonna tend to lust or dissipation which basically means they offer saturated fat sugar and salt more or less sort of thing so that's what got me into it and the question was it difficult yeah the first week was really hard and when I when I laid off the dairy I used to eat a ton of yogurt I got really sick I mean like even sicker I felt like almost almost in dairy withdrawal for about two or three days and had terrible headaches and dizzy and then but once that cleared up man it was like somebody lit a rocket under me and my energy level went up 500% I lost 20 pounds all my numbers you know came into line and so do I like the taste of meat I love it but do I want to feel as bad as I used to feel I do I want to stay alive you know so if your health is better than mine maybe you don't need to think about this but if you're in my shoes it benefited me now I'm not giving nutritional advice I'm not a nutritionist and I'm not a doctor I'm just talking that's the question about what I did and why that's what I didn't that's why and I'm so glad that you brought the the Catholic lens into the interview giving up meat and and other luxurious items and eating sparingly and fasting and I only eating like once or twice a day these have always been a part of Catholic penitential practice and all Catholics are actually obligated to eat sort of like this a couple times a year right for sure and many religious orders have historically habitually eaten this kind of way you know the Benedict ins would eat once or twice a day mostly whole grains and vegetables why I thought it was conducive to a better prayer life all right Nina thank you so much for your email if you'd like to send us an email for a future show the address CTC at ewtn.com if you're ready now let's go to the phones at eight three three two eight eight EWTN speaking of meat we're going to the land of Skyline Chili and talk with Karen in Cincinnati listening on Sacred Heart Radio hey Karen what's on your mind today hello gentlemen Merry Christmas my question is I really want to be a saint my dilemma is I'm very devout to the Blessed Mother and Jesus but I am post-abortive and I've been to all the project Rachel stuff you could ever imagine I've helped out in pregnancy centers to help other women save the baby so I shared my story with some individuals I'm concerned about when I die and I stand before the Lord and you have to give an account of everything in your life and I've been to confession but I still feel like no amount of reparation on this earth could I possibly do sorry to make up for that yeah I don't know is it possible for somebody like me to obtain sainthood and - am I gonna have to rehash all this with Jesus I die if I been to confession I'm so confused Oh Karen Karen thank you so much for calling and I I am so sorry I'm so sorry for your suffering and I can tell it's just palpable it's just real I mean it really is powerful in your life and I'm so sorry and our prayers are with you and our hearts go out to you but please have courage because you have raised concerns that you need not be concerned about no one will have to answer to Christ for sins that are forgiven right when you when you when in the confessional when when the priest absolves you in Christ's name those sins are is far away from him placed as far away from him as the East is from the West and that's that's not what you're gonna face on the day of judgment you know on the day of judgement the righteous and that's you that's you Karen you're the righteous will receive only commendation and praise Vica judgment can go two ways it can go well done good and faithful servant and it can go not well done but in your case it's well done why because the past is done away with its abolished and it you are absolved in Christ no longer even remembers that you know private revelation from Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque but yes a private revelation you don't have to believe it if you don't want to but she you know had a vision of our Lord and she said I don't I don't know if this thing is for real or not is this really Jesus who's appearing to me and she said okay I'll ask him something that only Jesus would know and so she says to the apparition okay if you're really Jesus tell me what I said in my last confession and Christ answers her and says I don't remember beautiful what and that's the truth of the thing you don't answer for that it's done it's done alright and and remember st. Paul felt just like you do he felt just like you do he said he said I am the worst of sinners why did Paul think he was the worst of sinners because he murdered Christians he was a murderer multiple times over putting Christians to death he said I am the worst of sinners but Paul is a glorious Saint he is a glorious saint enjoying the vision of God and nothing in your past nothing in your past can keep you from the joy of heaven and what you are suffering now is is a deep wound right it's a wound it's it's it's pain and it's remorse and it causes you just infinite levels of anxiety well guess what not only is that pain itself not a sin but it becomes for you an occasion of merit right because when we when we are confronting the trials and sufferings and tribulations of our life including mourning our own past mistakes write those things in the soul that has Grace and you have grace I would venture to say become for us occasions of merit as we join them to the sufferings of Christ so far from going the wrong way I mean it looks to me like you're headed at a hundred miles an hour in the right direction right us and you are beloved of God you are beloved of God and he one of the ways you can know that with the certainty is that you're in the sacraments and that's God touching you that's God reaching out to his daughter laying hands on you and loving you and absolving you in the person of his minister and and nourishing you on his very own body and blood and Christ says if we eat his flesh and drink his blood we have life you've got life you've got life you've got life so have have courage take hope you're on the right path caryn one thing and then we'll have to let you go here thank you for your call I would refer you to yesterday's open line Thursday with father Larry Richards he was telling a story about someone that he was hearing her her confession and the woman was saying well I've confessed this and I understand that but I feel like and then he stopped her right there he's and basically saying it doesn't matter you know you're obviously your feelings are important but if you've been forgiven you've been forgiven so the point of all that was don't give too much weight to your feelings because if you have been forgiven as David is saying you are forgiven move on with your life Karen thank you so much for your call and that opens up a line for you now at eight three three two eight eight EWTN that's eight three three two eight eight three nine eight six called a communion on this one at this Friday after Christmas Day but we're still in the octave of Christmas so we will say Merry Christmas to Nora also listening in Cincinnati on Sacred Heart Radio hey Nora what's on your mind today hi Merry Christmas and thank you for taking my call thank you because I am a devout Catholic and I married into a Catholic family they were actually they left the church years ago and now all their children are agnostics or atheists married with agnostic atheist and my question is the few times that I've tried to reach out and just openly talk about God and strength that God can give us to just put everything into God's hand I'm just it seems i'm like i'm shut off and and i've actually been asked to just respect that they do not believe in god and and and i can understand it actually husband i understand it but on the other hand i don't understand it and so how what would you recommend you know of course i pray for them but what would your grand man when you're actually just asked to do not talk about god or any share anything about god yeah that's a tough one and i relate because i've been in similar situations so you know i think the I think the request is kind of illegitimate and and unjust because it's born from this mindset the idea is that we a theists or agnostics we're operating kind of in the normal world of common ground that everybody shares and you you theists are coming along in your you're bringing in this extra item right and imposing it on us when we should be just left in our kind of rational neutrality and that's a lot of people think that like you know that theists are kind of bringing something to the table that's an imposition and the Christopher Hitchens who was a famous atheist who died several years ago wrote a lot of books about atheism and attacking religion he used to put it this way he would say you know you can't you religious believers you guys don't do anything good that I can't do as an atheist you know I can feed the poor you feed the poor you build a hospital I build a hospital your faith doesn't add anything it's just an imposition so it's useless now there that that that whole way of looking at it is so wrong headed from multiple points of view one way is that the the theist doesn't just bring an extra item to the discussion the theist has a whole conception about like how the world is even intelligible why things like science or philosophy or ethics even makes sense because they're grounded in a in a series of causes and effects going back to a first principle and that first principle is God on whom the intelligibility of the whole show depends and so you're like you're telling me I can't talk about the meaningfulness of the universe I mean give me a break right your position is the one that's irrational you're just asserting that you know there just happens to be all this floating space dust with no explanation and we're all floating spaced us and we're devoid of meaning and purpose and value all right but but like what does it even mean for you to ask me to respect your values if your position like can't even justify the existence of values right I mean so it's just meaning and then the other response is but my faith does bring something substantive to the table right that your that your position can never bring and that's transcendent hope that's transcendent hope because if if there's no God if there's no meaning and if there's no purpose then faced with tragedy faced with the inevitability of our own death or the death of our loved ones there's literally nothing there can only logically be despair and so I am bringing it's like asking somebody you know don't don't share good news right I prefer to live in my in my nihilistic misery right so it's an illegitimate question it's an illegitimate request however they're making it and you've got to deal with them relationally so the the the direct approach is not working that's evident so you know maybe you can start thinking about coming at it at oblique angles and if you've if you feel inclined to dialogue with them on questions of meaning and value you might you might have to find a kind of oblique way to do it you know sometimes when I'm dialoguing with atheists who are very touchy about religion well maybe you know maybe we can have a conversation about something like human rights maybe we have you know we touch on something that that approaches transcendent reality as a way of trying to open that door and show a lot of goodwill and a lot of patience and a lot of forgiveness and a lot of charity and win-win their friendship and their trust along you know with praying for them but sometimes this is a long long road to hoe and you may have to stay at it for years before they come around Nora thank you so much for your call we hope that is helpful for you in a moment we'll be talking with Joyce in Toledo also Joe in Walla Walla Washington listening on KHS s have a couple lines open at the moment if you want to grab one the number eight three three two eight eight EWTN that's eight three three two eight eight three nine eight six it's the Friday edition of opava a call to communion here on EWTN father Larry Richards God is the god of life God is the God of love so when we conform our life to his life in his will it's always life-giving always the leading Catholic voices are on EWTN radio it's time for family man with dr. Gregory Papa anxiety disorders affect 20 percent of Americans and many take anti-anxiety medications in an attempt to find relief but surprisingly a new study from the University of New Zealand examining the effectiveness of different types of anxiety therapies found that compared with using medication alone to treat anxiety or even medication combined with therapy anxious patients who received cognitive behavior therapy alone experienced the most relief of all three groups the study found that anxious patients can tend to lean too heavily on medication to help them feel calm and because of that can struggle to develop the skills therapy could otherwise afford them by contrast patients who receive counseling alone work harder to learn skills that help them create a more peaceful life if you're suffering from anxiety but not currently receiving counseling contact a faithful therapist who can make sure you're getting the best care possible dr. Craig pop but you can call me family to discover more ways faith can enrich your life visit Catholic counselors calm check out EWTN official YouTube channel just follow the link on our homepage at ewtn.com or go to youtube.com slash EWTN watch EWTN live shows or today's homily from the daily mass click the upload button to see our most recent clips you can also find all of EWTN youtube content by clicking the playlist button it's all on the official EWTN youtube channel at youtube.com slash EWTN visit today hi this is sy Kelly join us later today on camping answers live for two hours of questions and answers from the catholic perspective about life's most important questions God began was live 6:00 p.m. Eastern on EWTN radio now back to called the communion with dr. David Anders [Music] it's the Friday edition of call to communion here on EWTN we do have a couple lines open if you want to jump in at eight three three two eight eight EWTN that's eight three three to nine no I left part of it out eight three three two eight eight three nine eight six there we go all right in a moment we're going to get to Joyce in Toledo but first this question from Jamie or Jameer Jumeirah I can't quite tell anyway I checking us out today on YouTube from Chandler Arizona this person says I cannot be Catholic because the Roman Catholic Church uses the argument that Peter is the rock to which Jesus referred as evidence that it is the one true church Peter being the rock is the incorrect interpretation of this verse even if Peter is the rock in Matthew 16:18 this is meaningless in giving the Roman Catholic Church any authority scripture nowhere records Peter being in Rome Scripture nowhere describes Peter as being supreme I'm sure you have something to say about that David thanks so a lot of things to say first of all why do you presume that every dogma of the Christian faith must be documented in Scripture I don't remember Jesus ever making that a rule of faith making that a criterion of judging the truth of his doctrine that it be represented in the Bible particularly in the the Bible of Protestants of the 66 books of the Protestant Canon in fact Jesus very often even contrasts the authority of his own moral teaching with the literal text of the Old Testament you have heard that it was written but I say to you is a very common motif in the teaching of Christ and and when when Christ makes provision for handing on the faith he doesn't actually direct us to the 27 books of the canonical New Testament never mentions those what he gives us instead is the authority of teachers he says to the eleven in Matthew 18 go into all nations and teach them every I have commanded you that's oral of course and I'll be with you to the end of the age and st. Paul likewise adverts to the tradition he received from the Lord that he hands on to the Corinthians in his letter to the Corinthians so no no reference to a body of literature as being the the criterion of of Catholic faith an orthodoxy or Christian belief but rather to an institution on this rock I will build my church and the gates of Hell will not prevail against it whatever is bound on earth is bound in heaven so so if the Bible you know God forbid vanished from the face of the planet which you know God's not gonna let happen but if it did it's not like the integrity of the Christian faith would go away because everything that sacred scripture teaches is also conveyed to us by sacred tradition and everything that sacred tradition teaches in addition to Holy Scripture is also conveyed in the same manner and so we have that certainty of faith so Peters being at Rome I would agree with you you you can find hints of it perhaps in the New Testament but ultimately we rely on sacred tradition for that teaching it's clearly evident of course in the writings of the second century father's like Irenaeus all right now I'm having a hard time with your judgment that Christ did not convey any special authority on Peter you said even if he is the rock that Christ identified so I'm wondering what the value then would be in giving Peter the keys to the kingdom of heaven which of course is a reference to Isaiah 22 and the executive authority of the prime minister of the Davidic house or the power of binding and loosing which we know from rabbinical tradition is the power to admit or to exclude right and we can see that in Matthew 18 actually being implemented over the discipline of excommunication as well so kind of looks to me like Christ gave Peter some some pretty hotshot authority right and of course doesn't make any provisions for any other kind of authority other than apostolic authority with Peter correctly identified me grammatically thou art rockin on this rock I mean it's a yeah you gonna have a hard time persuading me that that's not that that's not the identification there and a number of Protestant scholars over the years who are kind of straight shooters on the exegesis admit yeah yeah we may not be Catholics we may not believe in papal primacy but we we admit that Matthew 16 really is about st. Peter okay and we thank you Jameer so much for your checking us out today on YouTube you know that being said throw one last thing out here okay a lot of people come to the Catholic faith because they're persuaded of the truth of the papacy see it in the scripture they see it in history and go yep that's a good reason to be Catholic I'm will be Catholic and I know people to become Catholic for that reason it's not actually how I became Catholic right so I what brought me to the Catholic faith was when I began to explore the writings of the fathers about the nature of grace and forgiveness and the sacraments the saints in the moral life and I began to see that the Catholic faith offered a far more compelling account of the relationship of nature to grace and of humanity to God one that respected the integrity of my nature is created by God but calling me to a transcendent dignity in the life of holiness and the virtues and it validated many natural goods but also called me to experience supernatural goods and I saw those Goods exemplified lived out in the lives of the saints who were heroic and admirable characters and I said I want that that's that's the kind of life I want to live I want to live that kind of overcoming life and that was so different from the lives of the founders of my Protestant tradition Luther and look ya'll forgive me this is just my private judgement I kind of think he was a neurotic nutjob to be honest with you who was probably bipolar and suffered from obsessive-compulsive disorder and had a deeply apocalyptic view of history and really didn't care if the walls came tumbling down because he was expecting the end of the world and and of course the fruit of his Reformation was was centuries of warfare and bloodshed and division Calvin who was in my judgment a deeply arrogant man powerful hubris who never admitted admitted personal fault and constructed an entire theology to justify his own authority to interpret the Bible Authority for for the citizens of Geneva and the wider Protestant world so they were they were not Saints they were not holy they were they were embittered in polemic political men and I contrast that with the example of the greatest Catholic theologians who were not out to build their own house but were out to build the house of God and I just said I've got to go be Catholic it was only then that I said no how do I make sense of this papacy business and I thought you know their papacy has this one value to it for this very evident to me all these truths that I've just found in the Catholic Church of virtue and holiness and the sacraments and grace in the moral life they've been reliably handed down through tradition in you know uniformly and without change because of the papacy so whatever else may be going on with the papacy good Pope's bad Pope's you know weird Pope's dumb Pope's smart Pope's it has done its job insofar as the integrity of the tradition has in fact been maintained that's its job that's its job and it's done its job could I accept that it's gonna take faith like reason can't come to this street or all right but on the authority of God yeah I think it's reasonable I can I can accept it David thank you for your PS on that I do appreciate that called a communion here on EWTN let's get back to the phones and talk with Joyce in Toledo listening on Annunciation radio hi Joyce merry Christmas to you and what's on your mind today well Merry Christmas do you guys do thank you I just got a simple question actually I think when you go to Mass and after communion and we know before communion I think it is yes that we I'm not going to say it right but where we say this saying okay my mind is leaving me here only say the word play the word and I shall be healed myself shall be healed uh-huh where okay so we're you know why would we say that when we could have to go to confession I mean he can't you know I guess I'm confused why we say that I got sure great I really appreciate the question so of course this text is an allusion to Matthew chapter 8 verse 8 when Jesus comes to the Centurion and or excuse me the Centurion comes to Jesus and says my servant is sick and Christ has all come heal him and the Centurion says you don't even have to do that don't even come under my roof but just give the word and my sin my servant shall be healed and Christ says okay look guys this this this Gentile Centurion has got more faith than Israel that's that's that's to be commended right and he praises the faith of the Centurion so it's an illusion it's not an exact quotation it's an allusion to this text and let's look at some of the parallels right so first of all the Centurion has is praised for having faith that Christ can perform miracles at a distance and and and without the evidence of the senses he is he's certain that Jesus has this power well at the heart of the consecration of the Eucharist in the mass we are called to exercise this kind of faith right that we we believe not because I ears are icy or our nose smells or our tongue tastes or our hands can touch but simply in virtue of the word of God right on Authority alone we believe something that transcends the ability of the senses to perceive namely the transubstantiation of the elements the body and blood of Christ the bread wine becoming body and blood of Christ and our faith is like the Centurions the Centurion is also a type he's he's like a symbol for the believing Gentile right that comes into the people of God and and most Catholics are of Gentile stock and we we are the nation's that God has called to worship the God of Israel and and so we imitate the faith of the Centurion right now your statement is really about well if I'm if I'm absolved of my sin well then why would I pray for the healing of my soul well the the absolution in the confessional our sins are forgiven our sins are forgiven but the work of actually being morally conformed to Christ and purging from us the remnants of concupiscence and pride and and and and and weakness and malice these wounds of original sin in our soul that doesn't all come to us in an instant so you know I can have I can have an immoderate attachment to sensible Goods right that's concupiscence I could I can desire too much to eat the wrong thing or you know to have the wrong kind of activity or whatever it might be that doesn't mean I'm sinful like I may not be doing those things but I have these II moderate tendencies in me and those can be a field they can be healed in the grace of God and the habits of a holy life can begin to heal those and make us conform more and more to Jesus and and it's in the mass it's in the mass that that this kind of sanctity is is most effectively offered to us the proper reception of Holy Communion the proper participation in the mass is the most efficacious means of attaining to that kind of sanctity but that well forgiveness happens in a moment that that moral healing and that transformation into the likeness and image of Christ is something that happens over the course of the Christian life we do appreciate your call Joyce thank you so much for it it is called a communion here on EWTN as we're getting very very close to the new year of 2020 if you're considering possibly a unique setting for spiritual renewal in the new year you might consider the shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament where you can visit the final resting place of Mother Angelica the foundress of ewtn and you can tour our EWTN campus it's only an hour away start your Catholic pilgrimage today with EWTN you can just do that by I'm making a quick phone call at two oh five two seven one two nine six six or go to ewtn.com slash pilgrimage we have a whole pilgrimage Department and there are wonderful people they will make you feel right at home and just love to love to show you this that on the other whether it's at the shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament or where we do our work here at EWTN would love to see you here as soon as you can make it let's go back to the phones right now and talk with mmm let's see it's Emily coming up next in Greenwood Nebraska listening on YouTube a first-time caller hello Emily what's on your mind today oh we just lost Emily hopefully that she'll call back what's go now to Joe and Walla Walla and listening on KHS hello Joe what's on your mind today hi thank you for getting my call I have it's just a real blessing that I got this got through during the Advent I've called several times after listening to people talk and I I want to get back to the lady that I'm 71 years old and I'll try to be as quick as I can to get to my question but my mother is a Jehovah Witness and she's always saying to me how can you be a Catholic how can you feel anything when I you know I'm an old lady I've been married five times I've and I just recently found out I work with children and young girls girls at-risk teenagers with with abortion issues and I just recently found out that I thinking back thinking back I didn't they told me I was having a menstrual extraction they call it so I wanted to get it out there when they tell you you're having a mental extraction it's an abortion and they somehow lie to you and make you feel better but my my question is I I just feel like the worst person in the world I'm a prayer mom I'm very active in my Catholic faith and I listen to these precious little children you know memorizing their prayers and and I think there is just no way that I can be forgiven for all the things I've done and that's my question is it a sin to question because I've confessed I don't know what I'd do without my priest Catholics are so lucky to have confessions so much is it a sin to doubt Thank You forgiving thank you thank you so much for the question and I'm so sorry I'm so sorry for what you've gone through and what was done to you sounds to me like you were deceived and based on your description of the variance I don't think you had any culpability and that at all because you were you were lied to about what was being done to you and so I don't you're not you're not culpable for something that you don't intend but even if you were even if you were so let's let's look at what forgiveness means right because this might be helpful to you if if my if my wife gets mad at me because I do something to offend her and I come back and say I'm sorry and maybe I you know bring her a present too and she says it's okay I forgive you I I know if she means it I know if she means it because like if I'm still getting the cold shoulder you know 12 hours later I know we got some work to do but right but if she's you know she turns and gives me a hug and a kiss and we go on as normal I know I'm forgiven like it's water under the bridge and it's gone right well well what happens when God forgives us forgiveness is the restoration off a broken relationship right when God forgives us the delightful thing that God can do that we can't do is God can reach in and change your heart and and make give you a heart for himself and that is an evidence that you are in fact reconciled to God because see like here's the difference between somebody who's in grave sin and somebody who's in the state of grace person in grave sin doesn't want God they don't along God they want sin that's why they're in sin person who has grace what's God because that's what grace does in your heart it turns you from sin to God so the fact that you're asking the question means you want God but that wanting is itself an evidence that you've got him it's an evidence it's not you know we don't we never have absolute certainty that we're in the state of grace but the church teaches we can have we can have profound hope and we can have a reasonable moral certainty that we're in the state of grace and one of the ways we do that is I want God I want God and that is the gift of God to me right and and he's touching you in the ways that you identified he's touching you in the person of his priest right well that's that's not nothing that's huge I mean he speaks for God he stands in the place of Christ and when he says I forgive you that's Christ forgiving you and so the very fact that you're there a indicates that you want it and then when he says back to you I forgive you and then gives you Holy Communion and the mass like that's him that's him being reconciled to you you say you know is it yes is it a sin to doubt look it is it is not a sin to be human it is not a sin to be human it is natural for people you know in our present state of fallenness to to worry and to operate under conditions of anxiety and uncertainty and this is kind of the lot of human beings right it's one of the crosses that we that we deal with but what you've described to me is not is not the sin of doubt it's just it's just the frailty of woundedness that Christ has come to heal beautiful Joe thank you so much for your call we hope that's helpful for you we were able to get Emily back on from Greenwood and Nebraska sorry that we had a little disconnect there Emily what's on your mind today hi no worries I'm I'm a Protestant learning about the church and I'm an RCIA right now and my question is about the Eucharist and adoration would it be considered idolatry or worshipping of a graven image just for the fact that didn't do this establish communion just for us to eat his body and drink his was not to pray to a great question kind of start great question so in in the Gospel of Luke chapter 24 after Christ had risen from the dead and he appeared to his disciples while he was blessing them he left them was carried into heaven and they worshiped him alright we read that the disciples worshiped the risen Christ now would you consider it idolatrous for the disciples when they were physically present to Jesus as he had risen from the dead and was getting ready to ascend into heaven would it have been idolatrous for them to worship the god man present there in front of them no absolutely not because he's God right he's God and the fact that he was physically present to them was just an added bonus that was just a gift he didn't have to be physically present some he made himself the word became flesh and dwelt among us made himself present as a condescension as a grace as a gift well the Eucharist is this memorial of Christ's presence it is Christ making himself present to the church in in a real way his his true body and blood with us and with his body and blood you have you have his divinity along for the ride because you can't have the body and blood of Christ without having his divinity as well and just as it's not idolatrous to worship the risen Christ present to you in his visible flesh with all of the properties of you know his normal mode of being nor is it idolatrous to worship the body blood soul and divinity of Christ present to us in the Eucharist the only difference between Luke 24 and the Eucharist is the the mode of his appearing because in the Eucharist you have the true substance of his body blood soul and divinity but without the properties that normally attend a physical body so we don't have a dimension and we don't have color we don't have to smell and all those things that would be that would that would flow from the essence of his person but you have the true person you have the true person now what is the value of Eucharistic Adoration outside of the mass it's precisely this that it Orient's us far more powerfully to the proper reception of communion in the mass Eucharistic Adoration is not something that's radically separated from Communion or the mask it ultimately orders us to a more devoted participation in the mass right and this is why we kneel during the mass because God Himself is coming among his people in a true substantial way in the Eucharist and we adore and we adore and failure to adore would be great in piety absolutely Emily we hope that's helpful for you thank you so much for your call it was very good I think we have time for one or two possibly more calls here as a Kelly now in Loveland Colorado listening on Catholic radio network Kelly what's on your mind today I have a son that we had lived with me and we somehow because of the experts we didn't have anywhere to live well now I do but he won't talk to me he's mad but he he could get my emails and see them and I I'm wondering how I can I've had a lot of people pray and it's not singing to happen but but God has answered everything except this and I'm wondering what can I say to him or what can I do what do I need to do for God to get him let's come back home okay yeah Kelly I am so sorry that you're experiencing this and I can tell you that I understand from personal experience in a very profound way the suffering that you're going through as a parent I understand and people who haven't gone through it don't understand I understand here is the truth you cannot compel his will and God won't compel his will and and you you you can pray for him you can offer for him you can suffer for him you can be available to him you can affirm your love and forgiveness for him but neither you nor I can ever know at what moment he will in fact turn and the truth is it could take your whole life and perhaps even your death before he turns back maybe it'll happen tomorrow maybe it'll happen in 30 years we don't know in the meanwhile your love and your fidelity and your forgiveness are valuable and they help him they are they help him but we have to trust we parents have to trust in the mercy and the Providence of God and we have to surrender our children I know how hard this is to his care it's not easy it's not easy at all going going down this road we will certainly keep you in prayer Kelly could not get to Margaret in Lapeer Michigan which is too bad I really want to take that call I know she's gonna ask it I want to talk about it yeah Margaret call us back if you would on Friday on Monday and we will put you at the head of the line no matter when you call dr. David Andrews I hope you have a wonderful weekend thanks Tom looking forward to our next get together our program has heard Monday through Friday 2:00 p.m. Eastern here on EWTN radio with an encore at 11:00 p.m. Eastern and a past up show on sundays at 2:00 p.m. Eastern on behalf of rich Ryan and Jeff I'm Tom price a wonderful weekend we'll see you next time here on EWTN is called a communion god bless

Channel: EWTN

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Keywords: Catholic, EWTN, Christian, television

Id: -gZSGTvulC0

Length: 54min 1sec (3241 seconds)

Published: Fri Dec 27 2019