CALLED TO COMMUNION - Dr. David Anders - June 2, 2020

and with dr. David Enders starts now what's stopping you from becoming a Catholic why can't women become priests one two three three two eight eight EWTN I don't understand why I have to earn salvation one eight 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 everybody welcome to the Tuesday edition of call to Communion here on EWTN this program unlike any other program on the radio dial because it is a Catholic show for non Catholics in other words if you're not a Catholic at least not a practicing Catholic these days and you have a question about the Catholic faith we're here to answer those questions and here is our contact information first of all the phone number eight three three two eight eight EWTN that's a toll-free eight three three two eight eight three nine eight six if you're listening outside of the US or Canada please dial the u.s. country code and then two oh five two seven one two nine eight five 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 and of course you can always email us CTC at ewtn.com as the address CTC at ewtn.com Charles berry our producer Ryan appending is our phone screener and we have Jeff person on social media he can pass on any questions you may want to pose via YouTube or Facebook live because we're streaming there right now I'm Tom price along with dr. David Anders hey Tom Orion well I'm doing great how are you my friend you know I'm doing all right I'm glad to hear that so yesterday yesterday on the show the Monday program we took an email question from Ken this is what Ken said and you answered this question Ken said my friend is gay he currently lives with another man he wants to become a Catholic is it possible for him to do so and what is your advice to him so you answered that question ken wrote to us again today and he said first of all thanks for answering my question yesterday here is my follow-up question I want to ask the again regarding his friend if he can become Catholic can he become Catholic even if right now he's choosing not to give up his lifestyle and he doesn't know for sure if he can live a chaste life so there you go Thanks those are those are sort of two different things mm-hmm this out we all have to live a chaste lifestyle the question of can we do it is a bit on the complex side right because at one level the answer is No none of us can none of us can right to actually live the life of virtue is is beyond us you don't have the strength to do it and you know one of my we've got one off I'd probably my favorite Catholic from history theologian Father saint doctor of the church is was a bonafide sex addict and that would be st. Augustine of Hippo well if you read Augustine's Confessions you see the signs maybe we would we would we would label that condition today because a Gustin he didn't just turn to sexual encounters for pleasure but he turned to it with a kind of obsessive interest and compulsiveness and he tells us in the confessions he talks about what he was trying to do he's really trying to palliate his emotions deep profound emotional wounds and to seek love to find meaning and connectedness but he confused passion and pleasure with real commitment and I mean these are telltale signs of an addictive personality right and he talked about how he was really was the slave of his addiction how much it conquered him and and then when you read through the whole course of his life you begin to find how he found hope and healing and he learned how to have real human connectedness and real meaning in his life by turning his life over to Christ into the gospel and was able to go back over his past life integrate all his old experiences and his hurts and pains in light of what he knew and I actually was studying this particular issue in Agustin this year the question of did Agustin regret did he happen this something that people who Russell with addictions and stuff have to be a lot of times they do have a lot of regrets and what I found when I posed the question to the text was that Agustin experience flow of agony of soul when he was caught in the addiction but from the point of view of the post-conversion Agustin he doesn't express that contempt of himself he in fact sees the whole process that he went through as as pedagogical and and God being at work in an unseen way in his life to bring him to the hope and healing that he that he presently enjoyed at the time of the writing of the takes of beautiful text about healing from all of the wounds and addictive personality and these kinds of things but the the pinnacle for him was his recognition that he couldn't think his way out of the box you know he couldn't think his way out of the box and he discovered plate in his philosophy and it sort of gave his soul wings he could conceive of the immaterial God and the beauty of a lifes are freed from slavery to passion but he couldn't do it he could see the good they hadn't actually accomplished right and as far the 12-step people say you know you you you recognize that there's a power to restore you to sanity that's not you yeah is outside of you and then turn your life over to God and and and make those confessions in those reparations seek those means of grace so none of us have what we need to live that kind of chase life without the grace of God and and freely admitting that is critically important to the process of becoming a Catholic the guy that says yeah I'm gonna become Catholic because I've got all it takes right I can do this morality thing I got that sucker beat well that's actually a heresies called the heresy of Pelagianism right and anybody who comes to the Catholic Church has to begin from the position of this thing's got me beat I'm powerless to fix this I need God reached out to fix this but you've got to make that resolution you have to you have to decide to step on to the path of vulnerability of humility of openness of confessing faults making reparation recognizing you need for grace and your inability to do it on your own and and the end the fear you know I may stumble I may fall yeah that's real that's real for every one of us I have the fear that I'm gonna stumble and fall and guess what there's something for that's called confession you know I go every week because I stumble and I fall but I want to stay on the path Christ said he who persevered to the end will be saved and and let's take some baby steps that's one day at a time one day at a time you let's let's do the job that's in front of you let's do it today let's stay in the sacraments we're not gonna worry about tomorrow except when tomorrow comes with Jesus has today's got enough problems of its own yeah amen to that all right very good can we hope that is a helpful for you and for your friend and on behalf of David and myself thank you for reaching out on behalf of your friend very noble thing to do all right we're gonna get to the phones at a moment here talking with Susan in Gainesville Florida we've got a line for you if you have a question for dr. David Andrews the number eight three three two eight eight EWTN if you have a question for dr. David Andrews eight three three two eight eight three nine eight six the Tuesday edition of call to Communion here on EWTN to stay with us the EWTN home video highlight for June is living the scriptures with Mother Angelica these vintage Mother Angelica episodes will profit your soul and cheer your spirit each episode demonstrates mother's insights wisdom and humor which beautifully penetrate her reflections on the old and new testaments order your DVD set at ewtn our see.com 24 hours a day seven days a week or call one eight hundred eight five four six three one six the reason for our hope with father Larry Richards do you know Christ do you know him intimately like you know your wife like you know your best friend like you know your children and if the answer in your heart of hearts is no I haven't a clue then you haven't even begun yet to live the purpose of your life and that's what needs to start happening you got a deal with that question it's the most important question of your life and again it's gonna take you time you know how do you fall in love with anybody those of you who are married you didn't get married to your wife by meaning her once and giving her 45 minutes to an hour once a week you spent time with her you got to know her so the same thing has to happen with God you gotta ask that question and it's gonna take your time but you got to do it you got to answer that question my thing is always seek truth because truth will always lead you to God one of the great weekend shows here on EWTN is dr. dr. if you've never heard it we certainly recommend it the great program brings you discussions of practical and current medical topics obviously the pandemic is on everybody's lips these days the doctors were way ahead of all this and they always focus on the dignity of the human person body and soul it's got to be a good show it just won a Gabriel Award and we're very proud that we're having it right here for you on EWTN so do check it out Saturday morning 11:00 a.m. Eastern on EWTN radio if you're ready now let's go to the phones at eight three three two eight eight EWTN would begin with Susan in Gainesville Florida listening on Sirius XM channel 130 hey Susan what's on your mind today hi good afternoon and thank you so much for your show and everything that EWTN does it's really a blessing thank you um I've I always wondered this and reading an acts last week I always read the mass readings every day and they talked about the Pharisees and hedron's you have the Levites who I guess are the temple guards priest the high priest and the argument between the Pharisees and Sanhedrin my question is what is the hierarchy who's the top dog who's in charge and were they elected are they presented as a family so exactly who is everybody and how do they fit yes so so when we pick up the New Testament we actually actually this is true the Old Testament as well a lot times when we open the scriptures we we start reading about family squabbles and feuds and institutions that are not explained in the text they're presumed in the text and they're presumed that the that these things are familiar to the reader and they're not familiar to us and we have to do some work to figure them out so when we step into the New Testament we encounter a lot of groups that are not even mentioned in the Old Testament Pharisees are not are not a group mentioned in the Old Testament and and so that they're not there's no provision made for them in say the Mosaic law and Pharisee ism is a result of the exile into Babylon 586 the kingdom of Judea was conquered by Babylon the Northern Kingdom of Israel had been conquered in the 8th century by Assyria and had gone away and so the remnants of that Northern Kingdom were the Samaritans who the Jews in Judea didn't think much of they didn't think they were real Jews weren't really practicing and so they kind of wrote them off in Judea was sort of the last bastion of and they're in minds of fidelity to the covenant with Israel and Abraham but anyway they got conquered in 586 they get carried off to Babylon and in Babylon they had to confront a problem which is ok how do we continue to worship the God of Abraham when we no longer have access to the temple temple get swept right we're in exile we're not in the ancestral land that was the land of promise what does it mean to be a child of Abraham in this context and they still had the law but a lot of the law was structured around our relationship with the temple what but no temple all right and a lot of the the prescriptions about ritual purity particularly as it pertained to priests and Levites had to do with purity visa vie the temple sacrifices and temple liturgy so an ideology emerges that says we may not have the temple and we may not have anything for the priests to do but we can take this this attitude of purity we can turn it around for the examination of our own lives and we can we can attempt to live like a set apart purified people in such a fashion that will atone for the sins that led to the exile and if we do a good enough job of it God will remember the Covenant he'll bring us back from the Exile he'll restore the fortunes of Israel and and thus was born the rabbinical tradition which was this sort of heavy duty commentary on the law of Moses in seeking to apply it to the context of daily life daily life of Jews in exile now that ideology came back when when Judea was restored the temple was rebuilt and it never went away and so then you have sort of two different ways of thinking about Jewish identity that are both in play in the time of Jesus you have the sad you see and view which is the restored temple and the restored temple sacrifice and the priesthood but Jen you have this pharisaical view which is no we really have to kind of double down our on our own lives live in the kind of way that would invite God to come back in and participate and vindicate us and it was exacerbated because the Sadducees it wasn't her the the temple priesthood was a was a hereditary physician was associated with the aristocracy and and so they these were the elites these were the cultural elites of the day and is often the case with cultural elites they were into all the latest ideologies and the best universities and sent their kids to Harvard where they got funny ideas right and and so there was a tendency among the Sadducees to conflate the practice of the faith with with Hellenism with Greek philosophy because that was the that was the way of things the Sadducees said look you guys are keeping us in a state of perpetual exile we may we may be back on the land but we're still under the thumb of of the foreign invaders took us a while to get rid of the Greeks now we've got the Romans on our back and all your sacrifices all day and long are not getting the job done God's not vindicating us because because you guys have mixed in all this Hellenism and you're living this worldly and ungodly life and it's just kind of a you're doing sacrifices but the rest of your life is a mess we we Pharisees are the guys that are really carrying the torch for fidelity to the God of Abraham by the purity of our lives and and and that was the group that st. Paul was born into right and it's one of the reasons that he persecuted the Christian Church he said you guys are just messing up the waters even more you're keeping God away even more than the Sadducees are because you're mixing and all this Jesus stuff we got to get rid of you now what is Christ's perspective on all these guys they were all wrong they were all wrong none of them not none of them are like the representative of God's point of view none of them are they're all wrong now you know the temple sacrifices the temple priesthood was a divine institution God established that in the law of Moses but that doesn't mean that Christ vindicated the Sadducees he thought they were all washed up - they had completely wrong ideas about the end of time in particular and the Pharisees also were wrong because they thought that they could compel God to fidelity by the ritual purity of their lives and and the the message of the gospel was entirely other namely no God has to come do a work in you that's the promise of the New Covenant right that God would write his law in your heart place it in your mind the new law summed up in the love of God and neighbor it exemplified in the Sermon on the mountain the Beatitudes that you will receive by faith through grace in me that's the right path that attitude makes me sad you see we had a song about that it's you're really us I don't want to be a sad you see because they're so sad you see I want to be a Pharisee because they're they're not fair you see oh great stuff I just want to be a sheep ba ba ba ba alright thanks so much for your call and 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 a quick question here from Edmond watching us on Facebook could you please explain the difference between a confessor and a spiritual director yes sure well thank you so let's divide the Christian life really into two domains okay the moral domain and and the mystical domain of the life of prayer and so theologians talk about ascetical and mystical theology and you know st. Paul tells us that greater than seven that we have to purify ourselves of everything that would that would that would corrupt our flesh or spirit and and that's really the domain of confession right we're we're we're recognizing our faults we're making confession of our faults were receiving forgiveness for those sins God's actually reconciling us to himself in the confessional and then giving us grace to continue that battle and to continually purify ourselves and that's it that's a necessary essential part of the Christian life but it's not the whole show because like you know you you you you purify a vessel so that you can put something in it right you know you want to have a meal that's right and and the meal is the interior relationship with God that takes place in the union of the will with God like the possession of God in your soul that's the end result that takes place in the domain primarily of prayer and that's what the spiritual director is principally concerned with the spiritual director is looking at the totality of your relationship with God in the context of your prayer life and you can get quite fancy with it now most people don't need this but you know for contemplative religious for example this is absolutely where you should go um the Catholic Church says that there are three distinct stages in the life of prayer there's the the purgative stage which is I'm ridding myself of sin and attachment to sin there's the illuminative stage where the Holy Spirit begins to really move in a supernatural way in my life a way that that that that transcends nature and I begin to have motions of the soul that are really God's activity in me and that's what we call contemplation and then and then there's the unitive way after we've passed through deep interior trials including what John of the Cross calls the dark night of the soul you come into this profound union of the will with God and and that's it's that's the path that everyone is supposed to follow it's not just for contemplative religious everyone's supposed to follow that path but most people don't know about it and and most of us are stuck in the purgative way for a very long time right and so the kind of the fine-tuning of spiritual theology may not always be appropriate for everybody at every stage like not everybody needs somebody that knows about the unitive way but that's the ultimate goal of spiritual direction is to help guide you in the life of prayer through the three ages of the interior life all the way to union with God that's a very special work and they're they're actually priests who are trained specifically in this discipline specifically in the discipline of spiritual direction in the context of the church's mystical theology that is distinct from the work of a confessor who's simply there to take somebody from mortal sin bring them back on to the path absolve their sins restore them to the life of grace and then get them back into the life of prayer and that's the that's the confession does that I mean does more than that but that's the root of why we have confession a spiritual direction is a whole whole nother animal and a lot of times like if you go to the seminary they don't want your confessor in your spiritual director to be the same person really and yes and I have had relationships of spiritual direction with priests who were and were not my confessor mm-hmm and they're they're distinct ministries and at different stages of my life I have found it advantageous to have them United in one person and I have found them advantageous to have them disentangled right depending on where I was in my own journey I say but it does not have to be the same person okay good to know Edmund thank you so much for your question thanks for watching us today on Facebook back to the phones right now here on EWTN is called a communion at eight three three two eight eight EWTN here is Steve in Kendallville Indiana listening on the great Redeemer radio hey Steve what's on your mind today well my question is I'm thinking I'm on my way to being Catholic but and excuse me sex their seconds and I've you know I've been listening to the program for a couple years and I've been you know reading a lot of books on church history and Catholicism so I'm pretty convinced of the states and and the other day Baptist minister moved into my apartment building in I met him and he asked me if I would come to a Bible study with him in about 15 other different Protestants from different denominations and I said well I would have to look at things through a Catholic perspective and he said well we're not going to look through anything through a perspective we're just going to read the Word of God and so I don't know if I should go or not or I wasting my time or I was hoping dr. Andrews would help me yeah thanks I appreciate the question first of all he doesn't he means well but he's not telling the truth because it is impossible to approach any text without a perspective of course so the idea no perspectives well he's got a perspective let me tell you what his perspective is first of all he believes that the Bible is the sole rule of faith and that God gave us the Bible as an instruction manual on the Christian life both of those statements are false and so he cannot possibly interpret the Bible correctly he can't possibly do it because he does not know what the book is he is wrong about the nature of a book that doesn't work if I want to know how to fix my car and I pick up a cookbook I'm not going to be able to get the answer out of the cookbook you've got to know the kind of book you're holding in your hand that's not the kind of book the Bible is the Bible is divine revelation to be sure to be sure and it was given to us for edification and prayer and reflection and meditation and to help us be united to God to be sure and it stands at the heart the church's worship to be sure but it is not a comprehensive manual on the Christian life nor was it ever intended by God to be that and when Jesus gave us instructions on how to comprehensively understand the faith and he did he told us how to do it he did not point us to the Bible he pointed us to the teaching authority of the Catholic Church into the Catholic community and her traditions that's the norm of the Christian life the Bible fits into that larger picture and can only be understood properly in that larger picture so the this idea that we're not gonna we're not going to have any preconceived notions is just false false false he's got preconceived notions coming out of his ears all right secondly he he has some very preconceived notions about even even then within the text the right way to understand the text so when when when Jesus says unless a man is born again of order in the spirit he cannot inherit the kingdom of God I guarantee you your Baptist guide does not think that Jesus says what he means that he's not talking about water he's not talking about baptism when Jesus says unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink your Baptist friend doesn't believe that Jesus said what he meant meant what he said but he said eat food that's what he said and guess what he means to I could go on all day as to whether or not you should go I'll come back after the break and talk about that all right Steve said tight we'll continue your call on the other side of the break we also have a line open for you if you have a question for dr. David Andrews eight three three two eight eight EWTN call now father Wade manesis the father himself gauges his son capital G as the most perfect one to act in his stead he whom the father himself sent into the world the leading Catholic voices are on EWTN radio you know one of the things that struck me when I went a mission in Haiti was the peace that people had there and it didn't seem to make sense because life was so constantly scary I mean guys we're dealing with interruptions in our supply chain right now and it's scary to people like where's the toilet paper right but people in Haiti and in other countries live like that their entire lives they make all sorts of plans that are all tentative because I think I'll be there five o'clock but if a car breaks down the road there's no tow truck to come get it I might be there tomorrow right but while that's unstable it also brings about an amazing piece of soul because people are used to surrendering to being focused in the present moment cuz it's all they have you know there's a hidden blessing in this difficult time for us brothers and sisters but I think God is forcing us to focus on being present to the moment you can't make all sorts of plans for what's happening next week or next month because the moments what you have but God is there in the moment for more text Chris at four four one four four this is Krista fanuc on ewtn radio next time long EWTN live discover new ways to assist your parish during a pandemic as father James Mallon offers advice and resources to Catholics who want to help on the next EWTN egapp you can live with me father Mitch Pacwa tomorrow at 8 p.m. Eastern on EWTN TV and radio hi this is sy Kellet later today on cap against was live we've got him for two hours Tim staples open forum don't miss it Kathy gansters live 6:00 p.m. Eastern on EWTN radio now back to call the communion dr. David and hey glad you're with us here for the Tuesday edition of called the communion on EWTN there's 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 before the break we were talking with the Steve in Kendallville Indiana a Baptist minister who lives in his apartment building has asked Steve to come join a Bible study that he's holding there in his home and we talked a little about all that you know yeah is it gonna be a waste of his time or not so the you know the the guy's premise was that we're not gonna let you import the Catholic point of view because we're not going to import any points of view and I hopefully took that that assertion to pieces and that makes me understand that I'm not dealing with a straight shooter I'm dealing with an ideologue who's blind to his ideology but as you say he probably means well I'm sure he does I'm because I used to be that guy sure I used to be that guy and and it would be much more honest for him to say you know come on and and I won't I won't seek to impose some sort of ideological straightjacket on your contribution and and we're we're open to learning from the Catholic point of view that's not the guy's position at all no it's not he thinks he's got a lock on it and he's there to proselytize the Catholics oh my next thing is probably probably because I used to be that guy you know he's he has an end goal in mind which is to draw you into his point of view draw you into his interpretive scheme for understanding the Bible with with proselytism in view he wants to get you out of the Catholic thing and into the Baptist thing and and maybe doesn't but like I grew up I live in Alabama we're like you know 99% Baptists down here my grandfather was a Baptist I mean I grew up with this and that's that's more often than not the mindset Catholics are objects of conversion they are not subjects of religious or spiritual insight or wisdom from whom I have something to learn that's how I grew up thinking I have nothing to learn from my Catholic that's what I thought well the only the only thing the Catholic is good for us to make another Baptist that's the way I grew up thinking so that's and that's most of that could very well be his point of view I got no time for that I got no time for that and you know if the only reason that I personally me David would go to something like that is if I felt like that we could have an open and honest dialogue about fundamental matters in in terms of our religious differences and where we had agreement and tried to like discuss openly the different paradigms that we both brought to bear on understanding the text to know why they were so different and to deal with those questions of difference in a respectful way and and further mutual understanding that that would be worth doing all right but that's probably not where this is coming from mm-hmm secondly you know you mentioned that you are young in your Catholic faith you have not yet even been formally received into the church you've got so much to do right in developing your own Catholic formation that you know and you've got limited time so I would invest for me I would invest that time in exploring the resources of Catholic biblical study either on your own or in a Catholic group and and and there are plenty you know st. Paul Center agustin Institute EWTN father Mitch's show Catholic Answers Catholic Answers you know Scripture and tradition vwt and programming I mean there's so many things you could do with your time too too deep and you're understanding the Bible from within the context of the Catholic faith go read Agustin's commentaries you know I'm sure anything that that's how it's been my time all right Steve is that helpful for you sir god bless you David you've participated in debates over the year have you not over the years where you've where you've debated with with non Catholics how has that experience how was it for you do you do you feel like there was honest sharing and and you know breaking down a barrier or two here and there okay so some some debates might include that the ones that I have engaged in have have not and I have a memorable experience of actually debating a Protestant on the doctrine of Sola scriptura and I worked my tail off in preparation for the thing and I felt like the other guy saw it as an opportunity to proselytize Catholics and and because we were in a largely Catholic audience and he just he just completely evaded every point that I tried to raise for conversation and was sort of shooting at the audience his sort of evangelistic pitch and dodged the whole question of the debate and I left feeling deeply unsatisfied not so much that I had won yeah is that like I was like you come for a fencing match and and he thinks we're bowling it was just like yeah we weren't even talking on the same level at same language what is even same debate did you call him on it did you say sir you didn't answer this this this or this or did you just let it go oh it did I did and his response was to kind of roll his eyes and shrug and go can you believe this guy oh and great but the funny thing was he was a prostitute become Catholic and I was a Catholic become I'm sorry he was a Catholic he'd become proudest I was a Protestant who become Catholic okay and we both told our stories in the context of the thing and at the end this kind of little old lady came up and said I can't tell if you're a Protestant or you're okay something's wrong with this with this medium with this genre yeah of discussion and and you know and I think a lot of times in debates people are out to score points mm-hmm and and so you can you raise a question you raise a point that that is difficult to answer and because you're in a you know you're in a polemical competitive context you know you want to evade and deflect rather than really engage sure because you want to win your goal is to win not necessarily to attain truth and that's the difficulty with debates of course understood hey it's called to communion on this Tuesday afternoon 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 let's go to Jason who is listening in Missouri on the EWTN app hey Jason what's on your mind today yeah I was wondering how does one go about like opening cannon log not being followed and you need it enforce how do you go about getting that in force okay thanks appreciate the question well the first thing is if you're not a cannon lawyer and you believe that there is a cannon that's not being enforced it needs to be enforced you'd better make sure you know what you're talking about all right because cannon law is dicey and there are cannons on the books that are habitually not enforced habitually and it's not like pathological like they're not enforceable in principle oh really yeah and I've had conversations with candidates about this I'm not gonna name any because I don't want to open a can of worms okay but there are actually provisions in the case law you know in in in legal systems you know you have statutory law which is what's written down mm-hmm and then you have the case law which is the interpretation of those of those statutes over time as courts have made decisions and both both come into play in understanding how to enforce and interpret the law and so there's a rich sort of case law tradition under girding the way canon law functions and if you don't know that if you're not current on the on the debates and the history and how these things have actually played out in real time a lay person like me can be really really dangerous with a copy of the code of canon law because I'll pick it up read it go well it's just here it is in black and white we're supposed to be doing X and there's often a lot more to the story you don't know hmm and you it doesn't break down over ideology so sometimes you know like if you're if you're hard on the left or hard on the right and you have an ideological outcome that you're looking for in the law that accords with your way of seeing things uh-huh you go to the Canon you go up here's a way to beat my opponent over the head with a stick right I'll make sure somebody does this and I've got this agenda and you find out that like look people have canonists who know what they're up to regardless of their political position left or right I'm gonna tell you buddy of the things a lot more complex than you think so first of all really make sure you know what you're talking about all right secondly there are some cannons that because of non enforcement are basically dead letters alright and it's not there are reasons that are thick in the interpretation where they're not enforceable so you really got to know that but if but but you know if it really is a cannon it really does pertain it really ought to be enforced you know if you have a cause of action right if you personally have a cause of action you can sue right I mean if your canonical rights have been violated uh-huh you can sue you can sue for damages you can sue for relief just like you can in civil court and so you go out and you get yourself a canon lawyer and there are pro bono canon law firms that will represent you and and and you sue for damages or relief just like you would in civil court you can do that fascinating all right Jason thank you so much for your call we hope that's helpful for you it is called 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 Eric is watching us on YouTube right now he says the book of Matthew chapter 19 verse 28 mentions judging the twelve tribes of Israel what does that mean okay thanks well there's two ways we can understand the text they're not necessarily in conflict that both may pertain so so you remember when John the Baptist said do not say for yourself that we have Abraham for our father because God can raise up children for Abraham from these very stones yet bring forth fruits in keeping with your repentance and you know the Lord is coming with his his winnowing fork and fire and he's gonna burn up stubble and hay in chaff and all that good stuff and so the the the the historic nation-state of Israel and the physical progeny of Israel of Abraham will stand under God's judgment and st. Paul talks about this right in in the book of Romans in particular so chapters 9 to 11 and so there's a real sense in which people who've inherited the promise of Abraham at a sort of literal historical genealogical way bear responsibility for that sublime destiny for which they will answer to God but it's also true Paul teaches this as well that we Gentiles who have been called into the patrimony of Abraham by faith in Christ are also part of Israel but we're in there as as as you know a wild olive chute that's been grafted into the branch but we are we're part of that patrimony of Abraham and as such we also will stand under judgment the judgment seat of Christ so you can take this either in the the literal sense of Abraham's physical descendants or all of those who participate in the Covenant of Abraham by faith both groups will stand under Christ's judgment and in the final judgment one of the glories of the Apostles and for that matter of the Saints is that they participate in in the execution of the judgment of Christ and one of the glories of the church st. Paul says and what is this first Kathina 6 I think that we will judge angels and he means here the fallen angels and and think about that right so this disc guy has been on your heels for you know 79 years giving you hell literally trying to drag you down with him and then finally in glory right the resurrection of the Dead you get spiritual vision you turn around and you see that mean sucker who's been after you you know for 79 years of your life trying to draw you to hell and you go I am done with you buddy and you kick him in the metaphorical teeth alright that's that's part of what the Last Judgement brings the opportunity to turn around and kick the devil in the teeth and say I'm done with you you're out of here you lose beautiful appreciate that it is called a communion here on EWTN if you have a question for dr. David Anders lying open for you at eight three three two eight eight call now eight three three two eight eight three nine eight six well I don't have to tell you that there's some very big news stories swirling around these days and also don't have to tell you that there are some news sources that are rather on the sensationalistic side if you don't want any of that if you just want to know what's this what's a straight deal what is the real truth I would recommend Catholic news agency CNA it's the only fast reliable and free Catholic news source that brings blogs stories opinions and more to your fingertips for all the latest Catholic news visit catholic news agency dot-com catholic news agency dot-com it's an online service from EWTN news called a communion here on EWTN on this tuesday afternoon tony is watching us on youtube right now tony says the Apostles Creed states quote he descended into hell is there a scripture reference for this when I interact with Protestants yes there is first Peter chapter 3 verse 19 20 by which he also went and preached unto the spirits in prison so and that goes into more detail of the talk about who those spirits in prison are and so there's a scripture representing that no we're talking here about Christ the descent of the hell is not a descent to the hell of the Damned it's not the hell of the Damned it's the abode of the Dead and hell is a is an analogous where it's an ambiguous word in the scripture can refer to a number of realities one of them is the Hell of the Damned but one of them of course is just is just the abode of the dead and Christ goes and liberate the righteous souls of the Old Covenant because until the Ascension of Christ the Ascension of Christ is what opens the path to the beatific vision we ascend with him in his sacred humanity and until then that was not available to the human race and and Abraham and Moses in those fellas we're at the in the limbus of the father's which is a place of happiness but not the full reward of the beatific vision now you know you when you when you you set the question up by saying when I interact with Protestants that presumes that you've got to prove Catholic doctrine by scriptural quotation now look I'm happy to provide scriptural quotation to back up Catholic doctrine I'd do it all day long but you cannot presume that you cannot limit yourself to the content of the Bible to prove Catholic doctrine because Jesus forbids that way of operating all right I mean let me say that again Jesus positively prevents us from limiting ourselves to the content of the Bible he makes drastically different provisions when Jesus made provision for handing on the faith he told us to go to the oral tradition of the Catholic Church as our final authority as interpreted by the Apostles you say where did he do that well look at Matthew 28 Christ says to the 11 to the eleven go and teach them everything I've commanded you and I will be with you to the end of the age whatever you bind on earth is bound in heaven whatever you loose on earth is loosed in heaven whoever hears you hears me whoever rejects you rejects me whoever sins you forgive or forgiven whoever sins you retain and retain what are they to teach everything he commanded them how much of that did Jesus write down none he he delivered to them an oral tradition a deposit of oral teaching gave it to specific authorized individuals with a promise of divine assistance until the end of the age if we want to know the Christian faith there is no other comprehensive finally authoritative source other than the teaching tradition of the Catholic Church and so you must make that point you cannot let the other guy set the agenda by saying show me in the Bible where that happens maybe it's in the Bible maybe it's not doesn't matter that's not the rule of faith given to us by Jesus exactly hey Tony thanks for our check today on YouTube we do appreciate hearing from you here's a question now from David who says in the st. Faustina's diary Jesus instructs her to tell us to save souls by praying and suffering in this regard I found several books and DVDs on suffering but I would like to know if you have any specific recommendations particularly one that includes prayers on suffering and again that's from David yes thank you so the first of all this theology is grounded in Scripture find it in Colossians chapter 1 when Saint Paul says I fill up at my own flesh what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ for the sake of his body the church and and the idea that God would be Clement and merciful to one person on behalf of the prayers and merits and sufferings of another thoroughly biblical idea going all the way back to the Old Testament but it's really clearly stated there in st. Paul now how do you do this in a way that's not served neurotic right because there's the temptation to say well maybe fact go walk on tax then you know then my grandfather will jump out of purgatory and and that's not a very healthy way of doing it right the truth of the matter is that we all suffer everyday in a myriad of ways some of us more than others and and we learn to accept what happens to us as coming from the good hand of God the will of God and we learn to conform our will to reality prayer and and the life of the Christian faith is about coming to embrace a reality including suffering and we say with Jesus not my will but thine be done or with the Blessed Virgin who says be it done to me according to thy word and as we do this as we live a life of surrender to the will of God including the trials and tribulations and sufferings that we undergo this kind of self surrenders meritorious is valuable God smiles on it's like Jesus says you know you fast and secret you pray and say give alms and secret my father who sees in secret will reward you and the value of that suffering can then be directed to the good of the universal Church I think the most sublime teaching on suffering and its integration into the life of prayer comes from the great mystical theologians Teresa of Avila and John of the Cross and and so they will give you they they're you know they're not gonna let you get away with the neurotic stuff right they're really gonna show you how to bring this thing in to the root to heal wounds in your own heart to bring you Altima towards that love and union with God that is the end of all religious life David thank you so much for your question let's go to Tommy now Tommy is in Graceland Louisiana listening on Catholic community radio a first-time caller hey tell me what's on your mind today I want to first go ahead and thank y'all for having the show thank you see all the time my question is about the book of Genesis in the Bible the other night I was listening to a father preached about the kerygma and he was speaking about the book of Genesis and how we shouldn't read it and interpret it literally so I was wondering if dr. Angeles can speak to that and tell me how should we interpret the book of Genesis yeah thanks very appreciate the question well it all depends on what you mean by literally that that's that's the kicker right there it means what you mean by literally because the the church tells us that we should attend to the literal sense of the text but literal means the intent that the sacred author had in writing it that's what literal means so for example if if if Jesus tells a parable and his intent in telling the parable is to illustrate something about the spiritual history of Israel and its relationship to the Gentile followers of Christ and that's a that's a theological intention right he's teaching an abstract theological message and he tells about fictional characters right literal doesn't mean imagining it there really was you know this particular prodigal son that particular father that particular older brother these are allegorical types in the story that stand for right Israel the Gentile convert the penitent and the merciful father who is God right that's the message we're supposed to take that's the literal sense of the parable not you know that there were these guys that you know you knew their address down the street in Jerusalem right so what's the literal sense of the book of Genesis now though the way the Catholic faith has read this book from the beginning is that the literal sense the intent of the sacred author in writing the Genesis narrative especially chapters 1 to 11 is to to locate to situate our relationship with God to locate our relationship with God in the context of human destiny right and the origin and destiny of the human person and so there are some things we can see about the narrative that that that really bring this out one of them is that over the course of the creation these six days God seems to be creating creatures in the order of their power of self-determination right so they're you know those that have greater self movement come later in the story the pinnacle of course being the creation of the human person who has the power of reason intellect deliberation and self-determination to an imminent degree and in that respect God then declares they are in the likeness and image of God and then the the tests that set up for the human person is how will I with this freedom with this rationality how will I then figure the nature of good and evil the path that I should follow is it something that I can manufacture for myself or is it something that I have to receive as a given and and you know that's that's the challenge of modernity and of every age right a lot of people today in the world that say look I can make the good whatever I want it to be whatever satisfies me I can rewrite reality biology society you name it according to my idea of what's good that's the temptation we're called to resist in the book of Genesis but rather to receive good as a given when we confront the material reality that God made goodness is written into the fabric of the creative universe but it's a goodness I have to receive right I have to be open to have to come to sanity and wholeness to receive that this is the message of the book of Genesis and the rest of the Bible is the working out of the process of that salvation in Christ that enables us to do what Adam and Eve did not do st. Irenaeus said that we regain in Christ what we lost in Adam namely to be in the likeness and image of God tell me thank you so much for your call we could not get to Nick in Indiana Nick please call us back tomorrow or on the day of your choice and I promise we will put you at the head of the line hey dr. David Anders a fast moving hour thank you sir thank you Tom we do the program Monday through Friday here on EWTN radio 2:00 p.m. Eastern live on the air for you and then with a encore at 11:00 p.m. Eastern also for the same day and a best of show on sundays at 2:00 p.m. Eastern on behalf of our fantastic team behind the glass I'm Tom price along with dr. David Andrews thank you so much for listening see Ann

Channel: EWTN

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Length: 53min 56sec (3236 seconds)

Published: Tue Jun 02 2020