CALLED TO COMMUNION - Dr. David Anders - June 3, 2020

and call to communion with dr. David Anders starts now what's stopping you from becoming a Catholic why can't women become priests why do Catholics 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 call to Communion this is the program for our non Catholic brothers and sisters indeed a program on Catholic media radio television for non Catholics because we know there's an awful lot of people in our audience radio and television who are not currently practicing Catholics and that's great we are glad to answer questions that you may have about the Catholic faith here's our phone number eight three three two eight eight EWTN that's eight three three two eight eight three nine eight six if you're listening to us are watching us outside the US and Canada please dial the us 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 for those of you watching us on TV today I'd love to hear from you here is our email address for those of you watching TV today CTC at ewtn.com CTC at ewtn.com all right we have the best team in broadcasting here to take your calls our producer Charles berry also our phone screener Ryan Penney and Jeff person on social media Jeff will 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 at least twelve feet away from dr. David Anders um how are you today doing very well how are you sir all right thanks glad to hear it we're gonna lead off here with a question from Nigeria this is awooga who asks this question was William Tyndale by the Catholic Church from translating the Bible to English and is he the first to do that also does the Catholic Church have any connection with his death thank you awooga and again that's from Nigeria no thanks he would appreciate the question first of all no the Catholic Church did not stop William Tyndale from translating the Bible into English he succeeded in translating the Bible into English in England and for that and and other types of agitation he was opposed by Henry the eighth the Protestant King of England who initiated the Reformation in that in that country and he got in a lot of trouble with Henry who was Protestant not a Catholic monarch because he opposed Henry's divorce that was the basically the breaking point between between England and and Rome and so he had to flee England to get away from Henry the eighth not not Catholic authorities but Henry the eighth and Henry had it out for him and so he had spies all over Europe looking for Tyndale and they eventually tracked him down and and betrayed him to Imperial authorities the Holy Roman Emperor Charles v who was happy to have him executed on a charge of heresy now to put that in in historical context you could get or you could get tried and put to death for a charge of heresy in any country in Europe Protestant or Catholic in the 16th century so you know John Calvin famously consented to burning the heretic Servetus at the stake in Protestant Geneva in the 1550s and before then he tried and failed to have a fellow by the name of Jerome Bocek executed because he dis had the temerity to disagree with John Calvin on matters of theology so Catholics were not the only people that were engaged in heresy hunting Protestants were doing it as well that doesn't make it a good thing I'm not justifying it but to put you know to kind of we understand today this would be a horrible thing to do but at the time you understand there was no there was no state in Europe no government that did not conceive of the of their country's constitution as grounded in religious principles and so the reason that heresy was prosecuted by government and not by the church the civil punishment for heresy was a civil crime right a crime not not a not a sin that was punished by the church is because it was regarded as socially revolutionary and destabilizing to the monarchy and to the constitution of the country and historically particularly in England Bible translation would you asked was Tyndale the first no he's actually not the first Bible been translated English many times by different people portions and all of it was that the some of the promoters of English Bible translation before their Reformation in England had also specifically connected that practice to an ideology of social revolution in the overthrow of Kings Wow so so John Wickliffe who who was an early Bible translator in England also explicitly taught that if monarchs are not in the state of grace that that Christian citizens are under no obligation to obey them and should repel against them well so these are these are closely allied notions in English religious history so it actually kind of gives a little more context to why the Protestant King King or the eighth had it out for Tyndale now you know from my point of view today I'm sorry Tyndale was executed and we ought to have lots of Bible translations not necessarily ones done by 10 Dale but we want the Bible to be widely available that's why the Catholic Church was the first agency to translate the Bible into the vernacular and has been doing that for 2,000 years very good and we'll go thank you so much for for your email and thanks for listening to us in Nigeria quick question here from an anonymous texter how can missing mass be a mortal sin priek Ovid 19 and then somehow magically be declared not to be a sin during this pandemic okay sure thanks I appreciate the question so there they're two types of law that we need to be concerned with in answering this question there are there's the there's the natural law and then there's positive law what's the difference so the natural law is the law that is written into the fabric of our being written into our Constitution by God's design and it would correspond to those things that are naturally good for us you know in the totality of our person so you know things like the habit of Justice for example or fortitude or temperance and fidelity courage you couldn't legislate those things away they're naturally good for a human person there's no there's no regime in which it's good for a person to be a coward and unjust and intemperance and so forth right right positive law is law that is written by an authority promulgated by an authority like for example the speed limit in the United States mm-hmm we're driving on the right side of the road as opposed to the left in positive law there's nothing about the specifics of the law per se that are demanded by nature but they're an attempt to implement principles that are in the natural law let me bring this back on the other side of the break to answering your question about Sunday obligation okay for our anonymous texter a please sit tight we will finish that question and much more right here on call to communion right after our break our phone number eight three three two eight eight EWTN that's eight three three two eight eight three nine eight six four call to Communion stay with us [Music] how should we pray the disciples asked our Lord that question and he gave them the Our Father or the Lord's Prayer but he also gave them the liturgy which is the most privileged form of Prayer in the Catholic tradition especially the Holy Sacrifice of the mass we can pray with the whole church in the Liturgy of the hours or the Divine Office and we should also pray in our own private room our secret chamber as Jesus says and then our Father who sees us in secret will reward us coming up later today on Crysta in the afternoon Saint John Paul the second wrote an encyclical called the totem sent or that they may be one its focus was Christian reunion he knew that division in the body of Christ was an impediment to the expression of the gospel dr. Mary Healy joins us to talk about what acumen ISM looks like today for Catholics and other Christians Cresta in the afternoon 4 p.m. Eastern on EWTN radio 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 c.com 24 hours a day seven days a week or call one eight hundred eight five four six three one six it's 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 so to get this very interesting text that came in from an anonymous listener who said how can missing mass be a mortal sin pre covet 19 and then somehow magically be declared not to be a sin during the pandemic so we answered the first part of that but you were yes so I began by saying you have to understand the difference between the natural law and positive law and the natural law are those things that we have to do because they they accord with our nature right there they're written into the fabric of our being by God's creation and and failure to live in accord with the natural law is necessarily to bring unhappiness and pain and suffering on ourself in this society positive laws are some Authority has promulgated a law for the for the sake of the common good and you know things like drive on the right side of the road or don't go more than 55 miles an hour there are elements of positive law now to be a just law the positive law has to fit with the natural law so if you write a positive law that contradicts the natural law that's an unjust law so if somebody tried to promulgate a law for example famous letter from the Birmingham jail pointed this out that said you have to be racially prejudiced segregate people didn't treat them in a humane way and we used to have that on the books and in the United States and Martin Luther King jr. said doesn't accord with the natural law unjust law got to get rid of that positive law okay but most of the time you're positive laws are gonna fit and they're an attempt to put policy into something that actually promotes human welfare so with a case of with the with the demand to worship that we should worship God and offer him sacrifice is of the natural law that's of the natural law we have to worship God and offer him sacrifice give our lives to him if we would flourish and be happy and that fulfills our nature and our transcendent longing and our need for connection to to the eternal to the immutable God who made us and who is our Father that we have to do that right that we have to do it on this specific day in community is the church has the authority to promulgate positive laws prescribing the specific acts of worship of the church right and it's good that the church do that it's good that the church have laws about worship so that we can act as a community so that we can come together as a community and share in the common worship of the church and so the church can declare holy days of obligation we should all come together on Thursday you know and celebrate or Sunday obviously that's a good thing and it fits with the natural but the specific prescription of what day an hour is of the positive law and it can be changed it can be suspended or dispensed in also in the interests of the common good so we're not doing away with the obligation to worship God and offer him sacrifice what we're doing the church is doing is given the specific historical circumstances is abridging or changing or dispensing elements of the church's positive law about the celebration of the mass to serve the common good okay well we thank you so much for your text and if you would like to send us a text we're always ready for that just text the letters EWTN to five five zero zero zero and we will take it from there if you're ready now let's go to the phones at eight three three two eight eight EWTN we're gonna begin this time with Greg and Darien Connecticut listening on Veritas Catholic radio one of our rather new affiliates hey there Greg what's on your mind today Howard thank you so much for taking my phone call dr. Andrews I so appreciate your your show and you've really encouraged me in my journey to increase my holiness and spirituality just want to say that I think now so I am a Catholic practicing so I'm but my question is you know it sometimes gives me a little a little twinge of doubt and um you know I I would love to hear your your take on this but it's it's the Nicene Creed it's the Apostles Creed and we mentioned the name and and the person Pontius Pilate and I thought you know in this beautiful prayer it just popped into my head you know once you know while I'm praying the rosary or whatever and I'm thinking all these wonderful you know we mentioned the Holy Spirit and God and Mary and and then here we go when we mentioned Pontius Pilate and I'm thinking I you know I understand why the process of making the Nicene Creed the Creed you know what we want to say when we we profess our faith but but what was the sense of naming this person this dark person in that in our Creed yeah I think it's a great question and I think there's a good answer to it I really appreciate it and I understand where you're coming from so you know in when when Jesus meets pilot John chapter 18 mm-hmm and Pilate says oh you're a king are you jesus says yes but my kingdom is not of this world and this is a critical aspect of the Christian faith there are other faiths there are other faiths that believe that salvation or however you want to conceive of our relationship to God is something that can believe that can be or ought to be implemented by civil authority that you can legislate your way to heaven right or you couldn't fight your way to heaven or you can you can conquer your way to heaven that some sort of civil activity organized by civil authority can be the path to salvation and the Christian faith says no no it's not that simple right and and the problem is its it salvation is not a matter of having the right public policy it's it's a matter of having the right heart it's a matter of being changed interior ly so that in our character we are like God and become like God and you can have you can have outstanding doctrine you can have how standing laws you can have outstanding architecture and yet your heart can be utterly just riveted with greed and lust and pride and hatred insecurity and fear and you can do all kinds of damage even through good institutions and that's the problem that needs to be healed and that's the problem that's healed by the gospel right and and so Christ says my kingdom is not of this world and he's saying no definitively to that way of conceiving of salvations not by imperial conquest or legislation but by gentleness and meekness and hungry and thirsting for righteousness that will be brought to our eternal dwellings now so by naming Pontius Pilate the Creed draws to our attention that it is precisely the civil authority that set itself against the kingdom of God and that remains for us a stark warning against the temptation to believe that political ideology will solve our human problem political ideology will not solve our moral or spiritual problem it will not do it not any I don't care what ideology it is it's not gonna solve it and remembering that the civil authority can can be the great opponent of the kingdom of God very very hopeful reminder I think another reason it's good to have Pontius Pilate mentioned in the Creed it reminds us that that these are not just archetypal events that take place in some mythic time you know we don't believe in in the death and resurrection of Jesus in the same way that the Greeks would believe in the story of Hercules and his apotheosis you know they couldn't they couldn't give you a date on time line when those things happened or when he did his 12 tasks or whatever these are just myths located in some mythical time you know once upon a time kind of thing right Jesus did not live once upon a time Jesus lived in a specific time we can locate on a calendar in a time in a place under a specific civil jurisdiction that of the Roman Empire and it's in its conquest of Judea and that guy and the Creed draws the specificity and the historical reality of Christ's death and resurrection poignant ly to our attention so for both of those reasons I think is very helpful to think about Pontius Pilate and the third one is not all of us are called to civil leadership only a few of us will you know be called to be judges or governors or presidents or monarchs or whatever but if that's you watch out buddy yeah watch out because we all have a little Pontius Pilate living inside of us better believe it Greg is that helpful for you yes so much thank you so much dr. Andrew thank you appreciate your call Greg 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 it's called a communion here on EWTN we got a question here from take young listening on YouTube from Seoul South Korea David take Jung says my Protestant friends tell me that nothing can stop them from earning their salvation saying that even if they die without confessing accidentally before death they assure me that they can be saved 100% of the time on what basis do they claim this and what is the Catholic perspective of this claim hey thank you so much I really appreciate the the question and love to get a question from Seoul yeah when I was in college and seminary a Christian college Christian seminary had many many great friends Christian friends from Korea that came to study in the seminary and and great lot of them Presbyterian great-great Presbyterian Christian folks who were members of a Korean church yes yes I'm not going to embarrass myself by uttering my few words of Korean that I know you know what I still stacked my stock my refrigerator with lots of kimchi very good so love that stuff and in some great respect for the the church in Korea Protestant and Catholic and all the good that it's done but I'm aware right I'm aware of the Presbyterian and Baptist heritage Pentecostal too for that matter that's so prominent in in the expression of Christianity in in twenty eight twenty first century Korean history and your question is where does the basis for this claim what comes from those traditions right it comes from Presbyterian tradition Lutheran tradition Baptist Pentecostal traditions and ultimately can be traced back to Martin Luther the Protestant reformer who began the Protestant Reformation now as you know from reading the Bible in the book of Romans and the book of Galatians st. Paul teaches us that a man can be justified by faith and not by works of the law that's what he says he says were justified by faith and not by works of the law now what's he talking about what's he talking about the question that Paul was answering was what do you do with Gentile converts who who become believers in Jesus at a time when the church was predominantly Jewish do they have to follow the law of Moses do they have to circumcise their kids and and avoid eating pork and you know worship on the Jewish holy days they have to do all that stuff that Jews did those things that marked them out from the rest of the world as Jews and the answer of the gospel is no no see the reason that a Jew needed to not eat pork and circumcise his child and so forth it was the way of identifying that he was a participant in the Covenant that God would had made with Abraham and then of course had had ratified again with Moses in giving that law it marked out Israel from all the rests of the world distinguished the Jews from the Gentile in fact and that was its purpose to mark Israel out as a holy people set apart from God but the promise of the gospel is that the God of Abraham will now become the property if you will the common good the patrimony of everyone do or Gentile through faith in Christ and so Paul says no you don't have to follow the law of Moses because that's that was designed to separate Jew and Gentile now because of the New Covenant because of the Messiah we're all one in Christ male-female Jew Gentile free slave we're all one in Christ you don't have to follow the law of Moses that's what he says justified he's talking about how how are you marked out as belonging to God we are marked out not because you circumcise your kids book as you have faith in Christ now that's the Catholic position you are a Christian you are a member of Christ's body the church in virtue of your faith right and even if you send mortally you don't stop being a Christian and you don't stop being a member of Christ's body however you might will you will be still in really big trouble all right you'll still be in really big trouble because just because you're a member of the body of the church and you are and that's a tremendous benefit you still have to walk in step with the spirit sure and that's why Paul goes on to say okay you Christians okay you people who've been reborn in Baptism you must exhibit love charity and joy and the fruits of the Holy Spirit and avoid fornication and adultery and factions and murder and hatred and drunkenness and if you don't if you don't avoid those things he says those things if you do that you're not going to hear at the kingdom of God and and so we believe Christ we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit God's love is poured into our hearts and because of God's action in our heart we are able to love God and love our neighbor and therefore be saved but you cannot be presumptuous and say well just because I have faith and faith alone I don't have an obligation to walk and step with the spirit Paul says the opposite if we don't walk in step with the spirit we will not inherit the kingdom of God all right very good and we thank you so much for that it is called communion here on EWTN or phone 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 gonna try to get this one in it occurred to me Thomas yes I never I never explained why Luther got that wrong oh okay yeah I just gave you the Catholic point of view who thought that when Paul said were justified by faith and that works of the law he thought that meant that that gives us a pass on moral behavior really yeah he forgot about the Jew Gentile thing is ah Paul must be saying we don't have to do good works it's not what Paul says it's not what Paul says I explain what Paul meant okay very good here's a quick question from Bradley watching us on Facebook right now which Bible translation is the most accurate to the original biblical languages of Greek and Hebrew seems to me that once every five or ten years a new translation comes out the claims it is the best okay thanks so the reason for that is twofold right first of all people have different translation philosophies about what a translation ought to do some people aim for strict formal equivalents where it's you know word for word just uh just almost a literal word-for-word translation Locke's test yeah right and but in doing that right you may actually lose the flow of the language because if you know about translation you know it's it's very hard to go word for more it and really retain the sense so there are other people that aim for what they call dynamic equivalents which let's figure out what it means and put it into those kinds of words that would be that would be understandable to people but that's a much more sort of freely interpretive way of operating so do you go for readability or do you go for for you know literal fidelity and then the English language itself changes you know every couple of decades new expressions old ones drop out and so what counts as contemporary or colloquial changes a very good hope that helps you Bradley stayed with us we've got lots more straight ahead on this edition of call to Communion dr. ray guarendi be grateful what you came to the faith when you did let the children see what mom is like now compared to how they were raised before mom and dad to face the leading Catholic voices are on EWTN radio father Benedict Groeschel I don't think people should have negative fears of God but I think you should get a lump in your throat you should feel excited suppose I was going to take you and introduce you to the Pope or to the president of some country or something you might get a little lump in your throat oh forget it every day you I live and move and have our being in the presence of God these are the class of feelings we should have and we should have them to an intense degree if we really had the sight of Almighty God these feelings are the feelings which we shall have that we realize his presence and in proportion as we believe that he is present we shall have them and not to have them is not to realize not to believe that God is present to us the people you know and trust are on EWTN he was a Pope a saint and a Doctor of the Church Matthew bunsen and the doctors of the church pope st. gregory the first the great is one of only four popes honored as the great among his many achievements was sending missionaries across northern Europe especially st. Augustine of Canterbury who brought Christ to the people of England in a Punnett Pro Gregory called the English people angels he died in 604 or more about the doctors of the church visit doctors of the church calm hi this is sy Keller later today on Catholic Answers live a discussion about approaching Pride Month as a Catholic with father Philippa Chauncey Cathy answers live 6:00 p.m. Eastern on EWTN radio now back to called the communion with dr. David Anderson [Music] glad you're with us here for call to communion 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 get back to the phones right now and talk with Dixie who is in Stockport Ohio listening on the EWTN app hey Dixie what's on your mind today hi my question is about a resource I'm looking for to give to a girl she was my husband I dumped my son took her in and he just never was happy she had a baby when she was 15 and he 20 now and so he was with her for a couple years but I just you know with the tattoos the piercings I mean she's becoming a nurse he's better he's very intelligent I just think she's searching looking for God doesn't realize it and I just wanted to know what clever resource you might recommend a book of some sort Wow you know this these kinds of questions I love to give people books it's always hard to know the book to give to a specific individual because folks are so different in what they're receptive to right mm-hmm and you know what you described is someone who's had kind of a maybe some rough experiences in the past sounds like you may be culturally they're pretty far from the Catholic faith but they have a you know seeking searching temperament and an intelligence and being capable of grasping some things about the faith so you know I personally I find the work that that Bishop Robert Barron does in translating the faith into the language of the contemporary culture to be very very useful and this isn't the book but he's been an awful lot of time doing things like offering commentary on popular film he'll talk about the latest Marvel movie you know and then show how that connects to the faith and you you know you've got to find a bridge you've got to find a bridge you know for somebody who's deeply intellectual um I love the book the experience of God by David Bentley Hart the reason I love it is because he's really trying to get people to consider the question of God as a serious question but he's not getting you all the way to Catholicism he's back to an orthodox theologian but he does a great presentation on why it's reasonable to believe in God in a way that I think is accessible to folks from lots of different traditions and cultural points of view so that's a great book Edward phasors book 5 proofs for the existence of God would be another one someone else who spent a lot of time trying to write in a way that's accessible to culture is dr. Peter Kreeft from Boston College and who's written more books than I have digits to count with right on a thousand different topics but all of them related to the faith and trying to make the faith rational and and understandable so those are some good places to start absolutely a Dixie thank you so much for your call and by the way if you are interested in following up with the materials from Bishop Robert Barron his website is word on fire o our G word on fire dot org and he has written books but he's also done video series that have been carried on on national television he's done all sorts of things and he's right there as you say in you know where everybody is in the culture especially for young people I think they find it very attractive so great great resources for you there thank you so much for your call here is Mary now in Richmond Virginia listening on YouTube a first-time caller hello Mary what's on your mind today I'd like to know how many seminaries are ordaining priests and they're not within a diocese because they are upset with Pope Francis wouldn't that be a fizzle yeah sure thank you so if if there are priests that are being ordained without without the Pope's permission that would be a very bad thing the whether or not whether or not we would define it as a sysm in the church is a little bit dicey er right and there are there are definitely groups that would be schismatic we understood as schismatic others to whom the church has not applied that term and you know and particularly particularly with groups that that sort of conceive of themselves as being sort of radically committed to tradition like they they think they're more Catholic than the Pope that kind of attitude there's a bunch of those and they they have the same problem that the Protestants have which is they can't agree among one another right because they've separated themselves from the source of the church's unity which is the sea of Peter so you know how do you count them and and you know some of them are pretty large and have a lot of group members and some of them you know are like some guy who lives in the Midwest and think he's the Pope and his Curia consists of his mother is great aunt and it's three uncles you know I mean I mean that you there's there's lots of them and they splinter into factions so you can't really count a mom yeah okay well we thank you so much for your call Mary that opens up a line for you right now if you have a question for dr. David Andrews love to hear from you 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 just got a text from Matthew he says this is rather technical here David how do we reconcile monogenesis and polygenesis as found in the encyclical human a generous to the book of Genesis and scientific evidence of human life yeah thanks very much so define the terms mono Genesis means that the human race is descended from a single pair Adam and Eve if you will know Polly Genesis means that the origin of the human person is more complex and there's a wider gene pool that would have included you know many more so pre hominid ancestors into that whole package and the problem is from a Catholic point of view that if you look at the genetic and archaeological and anthropological evidence we can only detect polygenesis in the scientific data we can't we can't locate you know a mono genetic origin for the human race doesn't mean one doesn't exist but we can't we can't tease that out of the data and at least this my understand the science not being an anthropologist myself but that's the way I've read the data and that seems to be the scientific consensus but not only the Genesis narrative but but but even the Pope would suggest that we have to hold to mono Genesis so how do we reconcile that rationally well what Pius the 12th said in his encyclical you monogenesis generous is that it is acceptable for Catholic theologians and scientists to speculate about human origins in a way that would allow for biological evolution he's not saying you have to hold this he's saying that you can you can play around with it you can look at the evidence you can talk about you can think about it you can reason your way through it you can you can deal with the strong evidence for human evolution but he gives this warning he says look not because of Genesis not because of Genesis but because of the book of Romans because of the New Testament because of the Christian doctrine that Christ is the second Adam that we die an item and reborn in Christ there is a strong parallelism right in the doctrine of redemption not so much the doctrine of creation the doctrine of redemption that would seem to require mono Genesis so the Pope says okay all you catholic scientists and theologians be sure to respect that parallelism that would seem to demand mono Genesis now how do you work that out into a coherent theory well there are basically two approaches that we find in the theological literature today among people who care about the teaching of the Pope one of them is to say all right the Pope says we must hold two mono Genesis and so our only wiggle room is with the scientific theory and so the sort of the probably the dominant theory on that interpretation is that God plunks down a soul into two people from a larger population of pre-adamite hominids all right so you that that that accommodates the problem that solves the problem you've got the poly genetic evidence poly genetic background but God basically singles out two of them to be infused with with a rational soul to become human beings and they become the progenitors of the human race that's that's one way of handling it there's a guy named Kenneth Kemp who has an article available at Notre Dame website I think that takes exactly that line right and it's just an attempt to reconcile all this data there are several theologians that take a slightly different interpretation of humanity generous and it goes like this as long as we can come up with a theory that respects the parallelism between Adam and Christ because that was what motivated the Pope in his in his saying to really privilege mono Genesis then we've think we've maintained fidelity to what the encyclical has asked us to do those guys and women are a little bit more willing to play around with polygenesis as a as a as a possibility and so the work is done more on the side of how can we keep that parallelism between Adam and Christ built into that theory Nicanor austria kayo dominican theologian eastern province has a website called two mystic evolution to a mystic evolution that also Bagley Bagley can't think try to think of Bagley's first name a theologian teaches at the Catholic Seminary in New Orleans can it takes that line as well so those are some some Catholic names on both sides the try to work out this question all infidelity to the Magisterium very good hey thank you so much chef for your question it is called a communion here on EWTN bag low bag low you gotta thanks yeah I'm gonna look it up but I think that's bad you said badly you know one thing that we like to stress on this program and others here on EWTN that with God you are never alone EWTN proves that by bringing you a live Eucharistic Adoration feed every day so you can come spend some time with our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament we are streaming live Eucharistic Adoration from our EWTN Chapel the Our Lady of the Angels Chapel every day from 9:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Eastern 9:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Eastern if you want the web address here it is EWTN dot-com slash Catholicism slash adoration very simple to get there EWTN dot-com slash Catholicism slash adoration and you are as they say good to go back to the phones right now here on EWTN s call to communion let's go to Chris in Mesa California listening on the EWTN app hey there Chris what's on your mind today hi I'd like to ask dr. Andrews this rough rather than trying to focus on how of the liturgy will affect us personally but rather on what we see perceived to be reverent SSPX masses versus say a church that's very close to us that has all kinds of questionable liturgical implementations etc would it be equally as as appropriate to go to the sspx Mass on Sunday or would it not be okay thanks I appreciate the question so first of all I would like to suggest that that reverence cannot be identified simplistically without word form to me that seems to be the clearest one of Jesus Christ's clearest teachings that that you know he says to the Pharisees you guys tithe mint Dylan human but you neglect love and justice and mercy and these kinds of things reverence cannot be reduced to outward form again in John chapter four the woman at the well the Samaritan woman at the well you Jews say we're supposed to worship over here we Samaritans say you're supposed to worship over there we have a disagreement about the right who's correct yeah and Jesus says you got it all wrong yeah the father seeks worshipers who will worship Him in spirit and in truth that's that's oh that's a worship that is written on the heart by the Holy Spirit st. Paul tells us in Romans chapter 12 he says your spiritual act of worship logic a lot really this worship in spirit and truth is to offer your bodies as living sacrifices and then the rest of the paul line epistles unpack what that looks like and really if you can't break down paul's ethic across all his letters i think he puts kind of equal emphasis on really two priorities one of them is that you live in peace with your brothers and sisters in Christ don't form factions and care for the poor that is an enormous emphasis in Paul's letters in fact the entire book of 1st Corinthians is taken up with that question don't say I follow Peter in our Apollo so I follow Paul we follow one Christ agree on everything for a screen thien's 1:10 all right you've got to live at peace in humility in love with your brothers the other one is sexual purity Paul puts a huge emphasis on sexual purity another thing that comes out in 1st Corinthians so the loving peace humility charity purity these are the kinds of things that go into the worship of God in spirit and in truth and outward form is is is not a sufficient designator for reference reference is a virtue that adheres in the will and in the heart not in a form now that doesn't mean that forms are unimportant forms are important and and the church has specified forms for our worship so that we can have a common worship so that we can worship together and worship God together right and and so we should be obedient to those forms because they're promulgated by divine authority because the church has the authority to promulgate liturgy the rubrics for the mass a code of canon law for the sake of the common good now you know when when some group says we're going to we're going to be disobedient we're going to be disobedient we're gonna separate ourselves from the from the unity of the church because we have the most pure form is that reverent worship is that reverent worship that's the question hey Chris thank you so much for your call we do appreciate that call to Communion here on EWTN back to the phones in a second here David just sent us a text via YouTube why do Catholics follow certain parts of the law of Moses for example the Ten Commandments but not others such as dietary laws how do we decide well you don't have to decide that's the easy thing about being a Catholic Church has already conveyed these things to us by sacred tradition you don't have to do any deciding well the Ten Commandments are of the natural law I mean you could you could you could have never encountered a Bible had never seen one in your life and and you would not need to find a Bible in order to know that murder is wrong st. Paul tells us in Romans chapter 1 that these things are written into the very fabric of our being right there of the natural law and so we we do them not because they're in the law of Moses but because they're written into the law of nature by the eternal mind of God and you know st. Paul tells us that in the end at the end of the day if I can use that expression there are only only two commands love God and love your neighbor the rest is commentary right the rest is is playing out how to actually do that and the Ten Commandments give that by way those priorities by way of negative don't do this don't do that don't do this don't do that don't kill him you don't lie to him don't steal his wife you know don't long after his new Tesla that he just got the the new law given by Christ Christ explicates this positively hunger and thirst for righteousness be a peacemaker right be the kind of person who mourns for real loss right the loss of purity the loss of innocence be you know be someone who's willing to be persecuted for righteousness sake he puts a positive spin on and then he demonstrates it by his own divine example right living the kind of life that we ought to live if we're really gonna love God and love neighbor okay hey thank you so much for your question David we do appreciate that it is called the communion here on EWTN glad you're with us here is Carolyn now Carolyn is in Kemp lund Indiana listening on Sirius XM 130 hey there Carolyn what's on your mind today hi I am kind of an awesome all question it's my understanding that the main punishment in hell is separation from God right correct so but we're also told that in God we live and move and have our being which i 100% believe okay the question is if the souls in Hell are totally 100% cut off from God and in him we live and move and have our being how could my soul still exist once they're in hell yeah thanks they're not 100 percent totally cut off from God you you you put your finger right on it so we can talk about God's presence in a number of ways right several different modalities if you will one of them God is present to us by His omniscience right God God is as everywhere in so far as he knows everything down to your secret thoughts God is present to us everywhere by His omniscience God is present to us everywhere by his power right by his providential power by his control of the universe all the way down to the level of human decision-making not that it gets rid of our free will but he's involved even at that level of our conscious thoughts so that he makes use of our free decisions to bring about his the out folding of his purposes God is present to us by his immensity now this is a cool one right this is a really neat way in which God is present what does that mean for God to be present to us by his immensity and this is really acts 17 the one you just quoted about in him we live and move and have our being well you know when st. Agustin first heard about the the omnipresence the ubiquity of God he thought well God must be everywhere the way a gas is diffused in a rim right he thought of it kind of spatial extension so that there would be more of God in an elephant than in a mouse but that of course is not what we mean by God being everywhere all of God all of God is wholly present to every distinct moment of time and particle of the creative universe also there's not more of God in an elephant than in a mouse God is entirely present in the being of the elephant and he's entirely present to the being of the mouse and to down to the smallest atom insofar as he maintains that being in existence he is giving it existence through his almighty power through his presence at every distinct moment and every distinct part of that of that creatures being and and all of these are ways in which God is present in hell God certainly knows what's going on down there God certainly in control and God is causing hell to be it has no debt has no existence independent of God okay here are some other ways in which God is present to us all right that are peculiar to the just God is present to us in our souls by sanctifying grace if we are redeemed in Christ and that is a participation in the divine nature in a creative manner in our soul all right the the souls in hell do not have that they are not in sanctifying grace their wills are not United with God they hate God and it is a source of great suffering to them now in this life we also have God by His sacramental presence in the Eucharist in the next life we will have him in the beatific vision in which we see God in his essence and he will be to us the satisfaction of every desire the souls of the Damned will certainly not have that either they will not have God in their souls they will not enjoy the beatific vision they will not possess him in that way as the satisfaction of every desire in fact they'll be left yearning and craving and longing with the knowledge of the ultimate unfulfilled expectation Carolyn thank you so much for your call we do appreciate that we just heard from a cat cat is watching us on youtube today cat says is depression sinful since anger tends to follow so closely behind okay thanks but neither depression nor anger are necessarily sinful right so anger is an emotion depression is an emotion and God gives us emotions for positive reasons right they're there they're good things that both of these emotions can do so we talk about anger in in st. Thomas's language as you know irascible appetite it's when you rise up against something that would pose a good and you can do the arduous good and you fight against that obstacle so there's righteous anger right when you're some obstacle to achieving some some good maybe some injustice in the world or something you can you can get angry about that in a righteous way go dude good thanks so it's not necessarily about you know depression is a is a complex often bodily phenomenon and can be a response to to profound loss Jesus says blessed are those who mourn minus-- is a reality of the human life go read Psalm 88 this has become one of my favorite Psalms it is the darkest Psalm in the Bible you say how can this be your favorite so cuz is so realistic the psalmist writes is someone who is utterly bereft who feels abandoned by God abandoned by his friends he ends by saying my one companion is darkness this is a psalm an inspired song written by a holy soul who is utterly bereft depressed feeling alienated and lamenting right but what does he do with that emotion so the emotion itself is just the struggle that he's confronting what does he do with it he turns it into us home and gives it to God right and and you know being in love with God does not entail that we always have happy clappy emotions it means that we live in the sight of God we bring our interior struggles to God we make them known to God we express them to God in a cry of pain joy sorrow love hope expectation confusion we bring those things into our relationship with God and let God redeem them and make something out of them it ain't easy no it's not easy I'm not saying it's easy but no it's not a sin to be to have these these these hot these damaging emotions so if you're living it you want to give it all back to God you want to give it back and you know stay in the sacraments so another piece of advice is stay in the service again and again and again and again and again don't just just keep coming back just keep coming back absolutely well we do appreciate your text cab and from everybody that we heard today heard from all kinds of people in all kinds of ways over the phone texts emails you know Facebook YouTube love to have interaction from everybody every day that we do the program which is Monday through Friday right here on W TM hey dr. David Andrews thank you sir oh thanks Tom we do the program as I say Monday through Friday 2:00 p.m. Eastern on EWTN radio with an encore at 11:00 p.m. Eastern and of course you can check it out anytime you wish at ewtn radio dotnet on behalf of our great team we've got Charles berry we've got Jeff person we've got Ryan penny how can we go wrong now we've got you thank you so much I'm Tom price along with dr. David Andrews thanks for joining us see you next time right here on EWTN scroll to Communion god bless heyo this is father Mitch Pacwa Oh

Channel: EWTN

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Length: 54min 12sec (3252 seconds)

Published: Wed Jun 03 2020