CALLED TO COMMUNION - Dr. David Anders - January 16, 2020

from becoming a Catholic why can't women become priests why did Catholic worship Mary why do I need to confess my sins to a priest where is purgatory in the Bible I think the Pope has too much authority what's stopping you you are called to communion with dr. David Anders on the EWTN global Catholic radio network everybody welcome again to called a communion this is the program for our non Catholic brothers and sisters and if that's you if you are not a Catholic maybe you were a Catholic years ago a practicing Catholic but fell away from the faith for whatever reason maybe you've never been a Catholic but you two have questions about the Catholic faith and that's why you're tuned in today we're glad that you're tuned in and we're glad to give you a venue if you will to get some of those questions answered here's our phone number eight three three two eight eight EWTN that's eight three three two eight eight three nine eight six you can also 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 now if you're listening to us outside the US and Canada please dial the American country code and then two oh five two seven one two nine eight five and for those of you watching us today on TV you can participate as well the email address ctc at ewtn.com CTC at ewtn.com Charles berry is our producer Ryan a penny is our phone screener and we have Michael McCaul handling social media today he'll be glad to pass on any questions you may want to pose via YouTube or Facebook live we're streaming there right now along with all of our other great platforms I'm Tom price along with dr. David Anders hey Tom how are you today fantastic how are you my friend I'm doing pretty well thanks we have a very interesting question that just came in and an email from Phillip Phillip says I listen to replays of call to Communion on my rides home from my second job most nights thanks for all that you do I am 40 and I've had an interest in creative writing since the age of 11 now that I've returned to my Catholic faith and have explored a deeper I'm wondering how to write my favorite fun genres including crime and mystery and action-adventure without offending God what guidelines should I follow and how should I discern thanks Philip yeah I really appreciate the question well I think the best way to do this would be to model yourself after really really outstanding Catholic writers who have done what you want to do well so some of the names that would come to mind would be people like Graham Greene Evelyn Waugh GK Chesterton and j.r.r tolkien all all do what you're talking about here in United States we get Flannery O'Connor yes Walker Percy I mean is that the list if you look up in famous Catholic novelists and writers the list is is very very long and Catholics make wonderful art so model yourself after the greats know me basically you know you don't have to be deliberately salacious or to treat themes that are not edifying and and this is the work of creativity right I mean the the the range of possibilities is infinite and in the list of things that you can't do is fairly finite all right well we thank you so much for checking in with us today Phil here's one now from Anne Marie who says why do we look to Saints and then try to be perfect this sets one up to never really be satisfied thank you for the question don't think I agree with the premise of the question I think that the only satisfaction that's really satisfying eternally satisfying is precisely in our imitation of the Saints now the the the ideal of perfection was set for us by Jesus who said be perfect as your father in heaven is perfect and he doesn't command anything he doesn't provide the means to accomplish and so the doctrine of grace gift of grace and the teaching of the church and accompaniment of the sacraments and the mystical life are the path to achieving that perfection and you know we're not going to get there in entirely necessarily in this life but that that is the path of the meaning full life humanity humans are created for a reason st. Agustin says famously our hearts are restless you've created us for your cell phone and our hearts are restless until they rest in me and and that's where satisfaction is found right not in just pure autonomous choice without any sort of determinant object or direction but a path is laid out for us to transcend in happiness and living that is how we grow in satisfaction as well as in holiness and ultimately into the life of heaven all right and Marie thank you so much for your email here's one now from Zack if a person says prayers make sacrifices for the salvation of souls and the reparation of sin what exactly does that do also can that change the particular judgment of another person yes I I think he for the question now prayer is efficacious this is a cardinal doctrine of the Christian faith prayer has in effect God Dane's to make us participants in the distribution of His grace mm-hmm but he but we don't necessarily know how right so we have to trust in God's providence that the merit of our prayers will be disposed of in the best possible way the way that most accords with the will of God how that interacts with the freewill of other humans again is something that escapes our capacity to know so you take someone who prays for their wayward child for instance for decades and decades and seems to see no fruit well they may they're at risk of becoming discouraged you look up and you see someone like Saint Monica who did this and the fruit of her prayers was the conversion of san agustin which didn't happen overnight which didn't happen overnight and and her prayers were instrumental and bringing that about well you know God doesn't have to share with us the mysterious workings of grace human freedom and divine providence he just calls us to fidelity to trust into hope knowing that that he'll make the use of our prayers that he intends to makin that no prayer is ever wasted can our prayers affect the particular judgment of another human being well so to be sure they can affect that indirectly right insofar as our prayers may be instrumental in bringing a person to holiness or in preventing them from sin then if God judges the soul on the basis of that you know of the life that they've lived in which grace brought instrumentally through our prayers had an effect then that will indirectly benefit them on that last judgement actually you know in in second Maccabees chapter 12 and also in in what is it 2nd Timothy chapter 1 when Paul prays for Anissa forest he he prays that may God show him mercy on that day right so there there there is a kind of scriptural warrant praying that God not mete out the exactitude of the law so to speak when he judges human souls how that plays out in the divine economy we've got to leave that up to God sure Zack 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 in a moment we will get to the phones here at eight three three two eight eight EWTN that's eight three three two eight eight three nine eight six it's called a communion here on EWTN stay with us [Music] this is a messy family minute with Mike and Alicia Hernan very often parents contact us for advice on disciplining their kids children are raw personality when they're born and it's the job of parents to shape them into civilized human beings moms and dads need to create expectations structure and rules to teach kids how to respect other people but those rules need to be enforced within a relationship a good maxim for parents to remember is rules without relationship breeds rebellion the first step in disciplining our children is to invest in our relationship with them this is true if your child is 4 or if they're 14 fill up their love tank learn how they tick recognize their amazing this will open their hearts to the guidance that only you can give as a parent visit us at messy family minute org to access our discipline guide and other resources designed to encourage and inspire Catholic parents like you EWTN helping people grow and their love and understanding of God I just want to share that five years ago my lovely warrior princess and saint of a wife and I decided to adopt a little girl through foster care she is the perfect round out of our family of three boys and he and her yes there are challenges very grateful live Catholic it is called the communion here on EWTN we would love to hear from you what is keeping you from becoming a Catholic those of you who are watching or listening today and your and you're thinking golly I the Catholic faith intrigues me but there's this one thing that I really need to get settled in my head so what is that one thing give us a call at eight three three two eight eight EWTN that's eight three three two eight eight three nine eight six here is jordyn now in Ridgewood New Jersey listening on Sirius XM 130 hey Jordan what's on your mind today hey thanks for taking my call my question is how do we show God that we love Him yeah thanks I appreciate the question so st. John writes about this in his first epistle and particularly in Chapter two when he says we know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands and this is his command that we love one another anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or a sister is still in darkness but anyone who loves their brothers and sisters lives in the light and there's nothing in them to make them stumble so Jesus in John chapter 14 says if you love me and keep my Commandments my father and I will come to you make our dwelling with you so we love God by loving what God loves we love God by loving what God loves and God loves the world and siress the world to be saved and so we will good to our brothers and sisters for God's sake and that's how we that's how we fulfill the command to love God by loving what God loves okay Jordan thank you and by directly thanking praising of course God and worshiping him as well as well I'm glad you did Jordan thank you so much for your call that opens up a line for you right now at eight three three two eight eight EWTN that's eight three three two eight eight three nine eight six called a communion here on EWTN here's an email from Patsy who says my eight year old daughter asked me how do we know God is alive and real and how do we know the Bible was from him yeah think so the question how do we know that there is a God and that he's alive and real is because the things that we experienced in the world whether they be dogs or cats or trees or first grade teachers or radio hosts or cups of tea none of those exist because of themself they exist because they were brought into being they were caused and and you you can ask a question about the things that caused them immediately immediate explanation for their a well did the thing that calls them exists of itself in from eternity well no it was probably caused too and you can sort of trace that line of causation of cause and effect backwards and it can't it can't go on forever you can't just have a whole universe of objects none of which contains within itself a sufficient explanation of its being until you arrived at our first calls a a that in virtue of which hmm that in virtue of which the aware the explanatory buck stops and that's simply what we mean by God now how do we know that God understood in that way is the author of Holy Scripture well we know it in an indirect way here's the indirect way we we encounter Jesus Christ in history the man Jesus Christ who lived in history who lived an extraordinary and supernatural life who claimed divine authority and demonstrated divine authority by his actions in particular the miracle of rising from the dead Christ in turn establishes the Catholic Church and grants to the Catholic Church authority to teach in his name with divine authority the Catholic Church then informs us that the Scriptures come from God so we know on the authority of the Catholic Church and we know the authority of the Catholic Church on the authority of Christ Himself who we encounter first as a historical person whose authority is demonstrated by miracles fulfillment of prophecy and the like and it is also confirmed within the testimony of our own hearts as we come to know and obey Him and our lives are intimately transformed as he promised they would be how do you get through to that to an eight year old yeah that's so you know you take out some of the theses and we could eliminate the elaboration and just affirm the theses so we know God from his effects from the world that he made that needs an explanation he's the explanation and we know the authority of the Bible because Jesus rose from the dead established the church and the Church teaches us that the Bible comes from God very good alright it is called a communion here on EWTN we have a line open for you right now at eight three three two eight eight EWTN that's eight three three two eight eight three nine eight six let's get to this question here from Brian who emailed us Brian's kind of on the fence here he says I joined the Catholic Church in 2004 I left the Catholic Church over the past few years because of my Catholic neighbors who committed a mortal sin against me and my family my experience in joining the Catholic Church is not a good one I'm not in communion anymore with the Catholic Church I'm thinking about returning to the Protestant side of the Christian faith in the near future any thoughts there for Brian yeah thanks I appreciate the question so what if what if the Apostles had taken that attitude mmm-hmm what if Christ had taken that attitude well God gave me this commission but you know these guys he stuck me with these twelve fellows they really mistreated me so I'm just gonna I'm gonna hang it up and go back to Pharisee ISM what if the apostles had said you know Jesus settled us with this dude Judas and James and John sit at his right hand left hand to me what is all that about you know and here comes Peter like dancing off to Antioch and doing weird stuff you know I don't like these guys I think I'm gonna you know head on back to the fishing hole mmm what if they had done that right now look Catholics do bad things they're not unique in that they're not unique in that and you you could you have the privilege of being mistreated everywhere sure right now I'm very sorry you had that treatment I'm very sorry you have that treatment but is that a sufficient motive or a sufficient rationale on which to base your decision to to affiliate with the Church of Christ founded or not right does does the New Testament itself suggest to us that communion in the body of Christ will be free of social conflict in human error and sin on the contrary the the the the text of the New Testament most given over to questions of say pastoral ministry in the context of the local congregation is first Corinthians what a mess they had in Corinth all right if you were just going to make your decision based on sort of an empirical analysis of the conditions in your local community you'd never be Catholic on the basis of what you found in Corinth mmm all right that's not how we make this decision so the the the foundation of our unity in Christ as Catholics in his Christians is his presence for us in the Eucharist that's that's the bond of our Christian Fellowship does it happen that grounded in that Eucharistic Fellowship Christian's can express love and friendship and affection to one another all day long all day long is there any guarantee that they'll always do it well no no all right but we want Christ given to us in his fullness and so we go to the Catholic Church because it's the church that he founded that contains these sacraments in the reality of his presence and then and then we seek to cooperate with that grace and to become Saints ourselves so we won't be the sort of person on account of which others will leave the church Brian we hope that's helpful for you thank you so much for your email back to the phones right now at eight three three two eight eight EWTN here is moyses in gardena california listening on Sirius XM 130 first-time caller voices what's on your mind today oh I wanted to ask about the reading first reading today said that the Israelites had lost the battle against the Philistines and ended up losing like thirty thousand men was and they had the Ark of the Covenant I thought that when they had the Ark of the Covenant they couldn't lose yeah thanks well the readings today would suggest otherwise wouldn't they right so the physical possession of the Ark of the Covenant did not guarantee military victory even less did it guarantee spiritual salvation to the people of Israel and God is quite emphatic in fact with the Israelites that their their material loss and their geographic losses military losses flow from their disobedience and and on a number of occasions God threatens to wipe him out and preserves only the the sliver of a remnant remnant in in whom he is faithful to his promise to Abraham but many many occasions they they suffer his retribution mightily yeah and st. Paul says that these things were written as a warning to us on whom the end of the ages have come moisés thank you so much for your call it is called a communion here on EWTN our phone number eight three three two eight eight EWTN that's eight three three two eight eight three nine eight six right now we're going to go to an after-hours call that we received from our listener comment line my name is Sam I'm from Evansville Indiana nowhere in my King James Version Bible does it say that a person should pray to Mary she was selected by being pure to give birth to Jesus to the Christ that she's a human being and when she passed away is just like my mother who is a good stately Christian my mother is in heaven as well as I'm sure Mary is but Christ that the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit can hear air a human being cannot and the adage that you need to pray to Jesus's mother so that the cross you said who is my mother to get her to go talk to Jesus and maybe persuade him to answer your prayer Jesus would not allow a human being even if it was the one that gave birth to him on earth to sway his opinion and I'm continue that she's not supernatural and she cannot hear a prayer okay thanks a lot of things to unpack here let me begin with your opening salvo nowhere in my King James Bible so of what significance is that why even assert that why why does the comprehensive teaching of the King James Bible why is that relevant in this case why did Christ ever say when seeking to discern matters of Christian doctrine consult the King James Bible no never said that did he say consult any translation of the Bible no no he never said that when Christ made provisions to hand on the faith commanded the Apostles to teach do you say go into all nations and hand out the King James Bible nope go into all nations and hand out the Greek Bible no he didn't say it what do you say so go into all nations and teach everything I've commanded you did he write it down no it's all oral oral tradition how did he want his teaching his oral tradition be handed on did the teaching office of the Apostles he entrusted an oral tradition to a body of authorized individuals with a promise of divine assistance I'll be with you to the end of the age whoever hears you hears me whoever rejects you rejects me what have you bind on earth is bound in heaven what have you loose on earth is loosed in heaven so first thing I want to say is if we want to understand matters of Christian faith and doctrine Jesus himself never directs us to the King James Bible or any other collection of canonical books as the be-all and end-all of defining Christian faith but rather to the living teaching office of the church guaranteed by His divine authority that's number one so even if it were the case which I don't concede even if it were the case that some Christian doctrine could not be found in the Bible that is not a sufficient reason to reject the doctrine the question is does this doctrine come to us by divine authority either through Sacred Scripture or through sacred tradition and if the answer is yes then you got to believe it regardless of the source of Revelation you got to believe it if God's revealed it God reveals it through sacred tradition you got hold it through sacred traditions so clearly we got the overwhelming weight of Christian tradition in favor of the invocation of saints and angels and invocations of their prayers overwhelming testimony of sacred tradition in favor of that but I contend we also have Scripture let me begin to unpack some of the scriptures first one you said well God wouldn't be swayed by human prayer on another's behalf that was part of your argument if Mary or anybody else prays it's not gonna sway the mind of Jesus really what about Genesis 18 I'm gonna wipe them all out Abraham says God what if I can find ten righteous people God says oh okay you find ten righteous I won't wipe them out fine I'll do it Exodus 32 God says I'm wiping them out Moses says eek don't wipe them out what about your promise to Abraham oh okay I won't wipe them out it's plenty of scriptural evidence yes of God willing to take into account human righteousness and human prayer the righteous on behalf of the wicked what about second Creon second Kings chapter 13 throw a dead man into the cave with with the bones of Elijah he bumps up against Elijah's relics up he gets resurrected how through contact with the Saints relics go to Acts chapter 19 handkerchiefs touching st. Peter and the Apostles carried to the sick they get well what about Colossians chapter 1 st. Paul says I fell upon my own flesh what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ for the sake of his body the church what about Revelation chapter 5 verse 8 Revelation chapter 8 verse 3 where Sacred Scripture teaches that the saints and angels in heaven offer our prayers to God they're not just praying for us they're involved in actually sort of shoveling our prayers in front of the divine presence I think you're on a roll here as it also teaches clearly in second Maccabees 15 Tobit chapter 12 verses that you don't like but I understand that because you're not in your King James Bible but nevertheless the intercessory power of the Saints very evident in Sacred Scripture yes it is alright well we thank you so much for that phone call in a moment we'll be talking with Connie in Aldie Virginia we do have a line open for you if you have a question for dr. David Andrews eight three three two eight eight EWTN that's eight three three two eight eight three nine eight six it's called a communion here on EWTN stay with us [Music] father Benedict Groeschel no Catholic can support the Borgia and the Catholics are responsible to take serious action against legalized abortion the leading Catholic voices are on EWTN radio looking for a 20/20 few on how Catholics are voting in the upcoming election EWTN news and real clear opinion research are partnering to bring you clear and concise data on where the nation stands on issues candidates policies and more by surveying Americans including Catholics like you and it's available now at EWTN viewers comm forward-slash poll living the Beatitudes with father bjorn blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God while purity is an important virtue a lot of times we can confuse this beatitude for discussion about sexual morality the be pure in heart is to be completely focused on and in love with God God has given us an invitation deep within us to share in his own divine life but it's important that we choose to focus on him and respond to that invitation in a homily on the Mount of Beatitudes in 2000 st. John Paul the great says that we are called to have an urgent response to choose between life and death in one of the earliest known Christian documents on morality of the D decane it says there are two ways one of life and one of death and between the two ways is a great difference God has called us to be focused on him and his blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God EWTN live truth live Catholic are you thankful for your job we want to hear why or why not on tomorrow's take two with Jerry and Debbie now back to more of called communion lines are open here on EWTN s called a communion at eight three three two eight eight EWTN that's eight three three two eight eight three nine eight six here is Connie now in Aldie Virginia listening on Sirius XM 130 a first-time caller hey Connie what's on your mind today hi good afternoon thank you for taking my call sure I have Protestant friends and they ask why I pray to Mary and what can I explain it to them yeah thanks I appreciate the question so I I think it is best to start with a question that is easier for them to answer and then easier to answer to Protestants and then work your way towards marrying specifically so the first thing I would like to dialogue with your friends about is is it okay to ask another Christian to pray for us can I ask my friends could you ask your Protestant friends to pray for you and would they do that of course they would I don't know any Protestant that doesn't believe in intercessory prayer now what do they think that accomplishes well I think they would probably acknowledge that prayer is one of the ways that God wills for us to express our love and care and solicitude for one another and that it's his it's his condescension his providential condescension that he he chooses to associate our prayers in the outworking of his providential plan for our salvation and so we ask our friends to pray for us they ask us to pray for them and in Scripture of course is replete with this kind of intercessory prayer and in the last phone call I referenced as an example Genesis 18 where Abraham pleads with God on behalf the people of Sodom and God hears Abraham's prayers this is okay for the sake of ten righteous people I will not destroy all these wicked folks a case of God regarding the righteousness of the few on behalf of the many who are wicked and answering invitations and prayers intercessions so they would concede that all right so then you go the next step okay well if you recognize that there's value in asking other Christians to pray for you would you concede that there might be value in asking dead to Christians to pray for you and and pause for a minute on whether or not there's any scriptural warrant or evidence that that they in fact hear such prayers but just in principle what if if they could hear our prayers would it make sense to ask Christian Departed if you ask your living Christian friend to pray for you why not ask Christians in heaven to pray for you wouldn't the logic be the same that it's an expression of our of our solidarity our love our community with one another in the body of Christ that we pray and intercede on one another's behalf wouldn't the logic apply in the same case the the only difference is that one guy's alive one guy's dead but everybody's alive to God right that's what Jesus says mm-hmm everybody's alive to God so wouldn't the logic be the same well yeah of course it is so now is there any evidence that the dead in Christ are actively engaged in an intercessory way with us loads loads of evidence that they are and and again I've just cited it but I'll cite some of them again the clearest comes in Revelation chapter 5 and Revelation chapter 8 where the Saints and the angels are depicted as offering our prayers to God not not just praying for us but actually offering our prayers to God Tobit chapter 12 second Maccabees chapter 15 very explicitly teaching the intercession of saints and angels on our behalf so and then also second Kings 13 Acts chapter 19 as evidence for the the intercessory power of the relics of the saints so that's plenty of scriptural warrant for the idea that the Saints are involved in intercessory way on our behalf just like our living fellow Christians are why can God hear our prayers directly of course does God answer our prayers directly of course so why ask your friend to pray for you because God wills for us to be bonded to one another in charity and prayer is how we come to bear one another's burdens and care and love for one another and that's the motive it's the mobis charity right it's just kind of like you know I might ask my two kids to work together to do some chore they're probably less effective together right but they're working together you know I'm a scam involving them both in something to help them build solidarity and community right um now what about the Blessed Virgin specifically she in heaven yes so there's a whole host of Marian dogmas and and to make the case for those as yet another step but simply to pray to the Blessed Virgin for her intercession it's sufficient to understand Mary as as part of the company of heaven in one of the Saints and if they've got that much then then they can concede that it is appropriate to play to pray to the Blessed Virgin Eva is it's appropriate to pray to st. Francis of San Agustin or Saint Thomas now what about those Mary and dogmas well look wasn't it Mary under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit who declared all generations will call me blessed how many people get to say that she hurt her identity among the Saints is unique because she alone was the mother of God there you go Connie we hope that's helpful for you next time you have that chat with your friends it is called a communion here on EWTN we're going now to Jonathan in Columbus Ohio listening on st. Gabriel radio Jonathan what's on your mind today oh yeah thanks for taking my call I have been I've been a Protestant for a few years and I have been looking into Catholicism considering converting and I have a friend who is a Catholic and he'd I guess my question is what exactly how exactly how much I guess authority does the Pope have and he again I don't know too much about this but he was telling me something about the Pope the current Pope is much different than the last Pope on certain issues so I guess I was wondering if the different opinions on certain things sure I'm with you I'm totally with you totally with you so so the Pope's Authority can be understood in in a couple different ways first of all the Pope has a like like every bishop has the charge of teaching the faith and and like every bishop the Pope does that all the time all right and he preaches homily in church and you know he goes around gives talks and exercises his ministry of the Bishop of Rome just like my bishop does in Birmingham and he's charged with Christ with teaching the faith and when he's operating in his ordinary ministry like that just like my bishop he can do that well or he can do it badly and it's a responsibility you know st. Paul says about the Apostles in 2nd Corinthians is it how are men to regard us he says as as as servants of God entrusted with the mysteries of Christ and then Paul goes on to say look you Corinthians I don't really care if you like me or not because God will judge me and that's every bishop has that position right he's been given a charge he can do it well he can do it badly and he'll have to answer to God for what he's done and and in that respect well the Pope is is has an authority that the other bishops don't he also stands under God's judgment and has a responsibility for which he will answer and we can clearly look down through history and see examples of popes who in that ordinary ministry have done a good job or a bad job and some of them have even have even in in some matters lead people astray through their own irresponsibility so you know there was a pope named liberius during the Arian controversy of the 4th century which was the biggest doctrinal controversy to hit the church and liberius has often been faulted not for teaching error or he didn't teach error but he didn't come out hard enough in favor of the truth and he was kind of a politician and he was trying to please both sides and he would you know he was trying to split the difference and he just wasn't standing up hard for what he ought to and he's been faulted for that own aureus the first did the same thing centuries later during the so-called mono thelight controversy where he gave cover to some people that he should have caught condemned john xxii in in the 14th century is another example of someone really egregious example actually of somebody who really in his ordinary teaching didn't do a great job and in fact a catholic theologians at the time had to stand up and go hey Pope John you're not doing right you need to get you need to come clean on this issue and he eventually came around right so you know when the pump operates that way just kind of as an ordinary ministry he's the Pope right so you know if if Pope Francis came on this radio show where Pope Benedict or Pope John Paul I'm shutting up I'm not talking I'm letting him answer the questions and somebody asks him a question I'm like he's Pope he's answered I'm done I'm out here and that's that's that's right just like when I go to my mass if I go to my church my parish and my priest is asked a question or answers a question or preaches a homily not my job to tell him how to do his job he's the priest not me he has the authority to teach the faith not me he's got the last word I'm done right but that fact alone just that ordinary teaching authority doesn't mean that he necessarily always does it well or says it what exactly how it should be said and there can be differences of opinion about pastoral ministry and things like that so when is the Pope absolutely absolutely correct when does he teach without error and you know that it has like he's not making a mistake of eating contrite that is when he teaches a Dogma in faith or morals to be held definitively by all the Catholic people that happens rarely on average probably about once a century and the Pope generally labels that going in yeah it's like big flashing neon light I infallibly define right right and when he does that then he cannot make a mistake in doctrine he you you can argue that he could he could might phrase it better mm-hmm right he might maybe he did it on Monday and he should have done it on Tuesday all right so not not all of the circumstances of that are guaranteed be guaranteed to be perfect but the actual teaching itself will be preserved from error right so that's that that's the Pope's teaching authority no when it comes so there's a there's a there's a lot of room there basically is the question if let's say you see two different popes and and they nuance a question in two different ways that's not a problem for a lay Catholic understanding of papal authority and the way I've described it uses plenty of room to kind of negotiate them know they've Pope has another kind of authority that's his authority of jurisdiction that's his authority to rule the church and then teaching Authority or infallibility doesn't come in it's a different kind of authority says executive authority in judicial authority so you know if the Pope says hey guess what I'm declaring a new Marian feast day we're gonna celebrate the Feast of Mary the mother of the church which he did by the way Pope Francis did that yep that's not a question of true or false it's a question of yes or no and he's got the authority and the answer is sir yes sir right because he's got the authority to do that where the Pope says you know I'm I don't like this guy's Bishop I'm putting that guy's bishop he spoke he can do that that's right yes sir Pope that's right you said it we're doing it maybe I like the bishop maybe I don't doesn't matter he's Pope he's got that authority okay great question Jonathan thank you so much for your call we hope that you again another time called a communion here on EWTN I want to tell you about something wonderful that we offer to you and it's absolutely free and that is wings which is our weekly e-newsletter it'll hit your inbox generally on Thursday mornings stay great way to stay up-to-date on everything going on in the EWTN universe not only books and art and CDs DVDs from our ewtn religious catalogue but also blogs and EWTN bookmark news events it is all right there plus what's happening on ewtn radio and television so do check it out sign up for wings our weekly e-newsletter by going to ewtn.com click on the three little lines up in the upper right corner and then look for the word wings put the put your email address in and you are as they say good to go it is called a communion here on EWTN let's go to Rachel now in San Antonio listening on Sirius XM 130 hey Rachel what's on your mind today but my husband he has been we were Catholic youth Catholic you still got little holding the family anyway we met we did the Catholic Church before Earth by clearing a date we did the to service they insisted on denominational service followed by mass murder or Portuguese or whatever and then sometime after we got married he's not that just like asking him to go to die and we just went math which makes a waiver and then eventually Linwood evolved after week we talked laws that he has a lot of questions basically he was growing closer it means me towards tastic back for his catholic big and he was message he became really good friends they're free to talk to him a lot and I started receiving who we need again but anyway so that recently it kinda came out like a friends gathering when he was talking to one of my friends this was all very charitable treating the way she made in town but she mentioned that already but he mentioned it happening that he was attending the Catholic Mass at me because it may be happy and he wanted to make me happy and did she made it sound like that was like the only reason that he was coming along with me so I guess my questions later on top that is like how to pray about it should I address that with him or not or try and find more details and also the really reason why it's kind of weighing on me is because lately I've noticed that before he stopped attending his services and end the mass he was very vivacious in his face and he would come to me with all these exciting things he had learned or written and outwardly was very excited about his faith in God and stuff and then since we were just doing the mass and he's been quieter and hasn't been more outgoing and talking about faith and just oh I didn't know if that you were related or not and just kind of looking for a direction to go from here okay yeah thanks I really appreciate the question a lot of threads here a lot of threads so obviously you know the situation much better than I do but it sounds to me for one that this man like a lot of people has waxed and waned in his affection for his religious practice and and all of us experienced this there are times of our life's where you know we're where we go to Mass when we go to church or we read scripture we pray because we are just inflamed with a sense of closeness to God and a desire to do his will and there are other times when quite frankly we may go simply because we're trying to put a good face on it for the people around us for whom we know that's important I don't think there's a human being on the planet who hasn't experienced this kind of up and down in the spiritual life and their motives maybe go from being you know more passionate for God - more mundane mm-hmm that's not unusual and and in fact a st. Ignatius of Loyola basically wrote a whole spirituality around the recognition of these states that he called consolation and desolation and so my first thought is that even if he represented this to your friend that doesn't necessarily signal some sort of profound crisis in his interior life it may just he made how to have the conceptual tools to understand mm-hmm that he has passed from a state of consolation to a state of desolation and and guess what consolations around the corner all right so that's I'm not secondly there are there are many worse motives to go to mass than a desire to make your wife happy like for example maybe a desire to make your wife mad that'd be a worse motive violently and and many men I believe have come to salvation ultimately out of an initial desire to make their wife happy or to make mama happy right it's not a terrible motive it may not be the best motive it's not a terrible motive third you don't really know what he said and if he said it you don't know whether he really meant it you know sometimes people in a context will say something that is a half truth because they're under all kinds of maybe psychological pressures of the moment maybe he felt put-upon maybe he felt pressured in some way maybe he felt a guilt trip maybe he felt some criticism you don't know what could have motivated that and so maybe maybe in a half-baked kind of way without a lot of reflection he said something that maybe he thinks and his more grumbly sort of moments but it doesn't really express his a real inner heart in the matter here's another possibility maybe your friend misrepresented him could be and I don't know what her motives would be it could be sincere could be insincere right and so I guess my takeaway from all that is I don't think it's as big a crisis as you may be worried about and a my my gut tells me I leave it well enough alone and not push it with him directly I wouldn't confront him with this hey are you only going to mass for me because like I want him to keep going to mass for you all right I don't want to make an issue out of it he's where he needs to be ease in mass and the fact that he's been to confession I mean this is outstanding it's it's much better than him not going right and and and like my motives aren't always pure your motives aren't always pure right and and the communion that we have in the church in the body of Christ what we call the internal forum that's the that's the the sphere of activity that is the private conscience revealed in the confessional with the priest mm-hmm that we don't we don't get into another person's internal form the confessor does right we deal in the external form the the objective community of the church and if he's actively participating in that objective community and following the teaching of the church and active in the sacraments you know and and seemingly living a virtuous life well we'll leave it at that now if he's doing something scandalous that's different you can admonish objective scandal mm-hmm you know but in terms of trying to judge the quality of his interior life I'm gonna leave that between him and his confessor so what should you do if you're concerned about his interior life well for one why don't you lovingly ask for more collaborative prayer life you know hey could we you know we used to pray together every morning we don't pray together anymore and then we can start praying together a day again every day what would you like to pray honey what's your favorite devotion yeah can we do that together I would really recommend father Tim Gallagher's books and retreats and conferences and tapes and CDs and podcasts on Ignatian spirituality of consolation and desolation his book on the discernment of spirits and he has others on the same theme maybe give yourself an education in spiritual consolation and desolation and and and see if that might be applicable to let's I know it's applicable because it's applicable to everybody see maybe that's hey maybe we can go take a weekend and go to a Tim Gallagher a retreat on on on spiritual consolation and desolation there you go Rachel thank you so much for your call let's go now to David in Columbus Ohio listening on Sirius XM 130 David what's on your mind today I guess my question is about confession I'm an older guy and I remember as a kid you know we would have confession on Saturdays for like four hours and you could go in and spend a little time and reflecting on things and now it seems like confession is a half hour before Mass and there's 20 people in line and you feel like you know you got about a minute to get your stuff out and to me it's just become kind of meaningless and I just quit doing it because I don't feel like either I or the priest can devote the time to my issue okay thanks I got a couple things to say one is I'm sorry that's the case in your parish right that's it I don't find that to be universally the case every place that confessions are heard and you travel around quite a bit I travel around quite a bit and you know I myself blessed to be able to go to confession any day of the week at EWTN you can you can pick a Thursday you can pick a Monday because Saturday and and there are often lines right even random tires of the you know of the day and there are there in my parish if you don't show up I mean I think what confessions start about what is it three o'clock I think so yeah and if you show up at 2:30 you will necessarily wait the half hour before confession start mm-hmm but if you show up at 3:00 you're gonna be there till 4:00 at least because the line will be out the wall you know and I know other parishes the same so it's not universally my experience I think nationwide though I think there's been a decline in people going to confession why I think the the the interior sense of sin and and the insistence of priests on the importance of confession has also gone down and so that's why I mean I think that's this a sociological explanation now in your own case I would exhort you do not give up confession because other people have given up confession do not give up confession because someone else has devalued it even if that someone else is the priest because the value of the sacrament does not depend on your having 15 minutes of the priest time at all at all it depends objectively on the validity of the his absolution mm-hmm and on the depth of your own contrition so you the work that needs to happen is not the 15 minutes in the confessional it's the 15 minutes before the confessional when you make a good examination of conscience when you go into the confessional rather than giving him a whole personal narrative you just need to articulate the known moral sins and kind and number but if you're if you're contrition is sufficient and his absolution is valid then grace has been communicated and good has been done and and you must never give that up this is our lifeline to grace in our soul and I don't care if the guy next door has given it up it's not I'm not responsible for his soul I'm responsible for mine absolutely David thank you so much for your call I'm sorry we couldn't get to Patrick in Arizona also couldn't get to a Hilary in Cortland New York please call us back on our next show or whenever you choose let us know that we couldn't get to you on upon a particular day we'll put you to the head of the line dr. David Andrews thank you sir thanks Tom we did the program Monday through Friday 2:00 p.m. Eastern right here on EWTN I'm Tom price along with dr. David Andrews you have a wonderful day see you next time on EWTN it's called a communion you

Channel: EWTN

Views: 2,384

Rating: 4.7647057 out of 5

Keywords: Catholic, EWTN, Christian, television

Id: CY0NT3m1no8

Length: 53min 59sec (3239 seconds)

Published: Thu Jan 16 2020