CALLED TO COMMUNION - Dr. David Anders - May 22, 2020

startsnow what's stopping you from becoming a Catholic why can't women become priests one eighty three three two eight eight EWTN I don't understand why I have to earn salvation one 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 hey we made it it is Friday and this is the Friday edition of call to communion here on EWTN the program for our non Catholic brothers and sisters if you've got a question about the Catholic faith you're trying to figure things out we are certainly glad to be a resource for you here's our phone number and we do recommend that you call early because the Friday shows they tend to stack up pretty quickly and then it might be hard for you to get in if you're calling a little bit later on so call now if you've got that question for us and here's the 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 outside of North America please dial the u.s. country code and then 205 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 also there's also email of course CTC at ewtn.com is the address Charles Barry our producer Ryan Penney is our phone screen or Jeff person is on social media Jeff will pass on any questions that you might want to pose via YouTube or Facebook live because we're streaming there right now I'm Tom Price along with mr. Friday dr. David Anders Tom how are you you always have that happy look on Fridays ah well you have a happy look most days to be quite honest about it what are your big plans for this pandemic weekend well you know it's been it's been domestics for the last two weekends in a row I might be stuck with stuck with domestics again but maybe I can take a break and do something else hopefully so we're gonna lead off here with an email is these calls are coming in this is from Wayne who says how do I answer a Protestant who claims that Mary is not a co-redemptrix or Co mediate ryx because first Timothy 2:5 says that there is one mediator between God and man and that is the man Jesus Christ what say you okay thanks very much so I you know the doctrine of Mary as co-redemptrix is not a doctrine that I would be willing to go to the mat over with a Protestant right because it's not a dogma of the Catholic faith and and and of course the phrase itself is ambiguous and has been variously understood by Catholics themselves so I just wouldn't I wouldn't may not there are other things I'd like to argue with Protestants about that would not be the one that I would put forward okay um nevertheless Neverland let me defend the title under at least one description okay mm-hmm st. Paul tells us 2nd Corinthians chapter 5 he says we have become Christ's co-laborers as if God were making his appeal through us all right Abraham tells us tells God God affirms in the book of Genesis will you punish the innocent along with the guilty God says no for the sake of the ten righteous men I'll save all the wicked st. Paul tells us in Colossians ones I fill up in my own flesh what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ on behalf of his body the church I could point to many other texts as well that demonstrate quite quite evidently that God will have mercy be Clement to the many on behalf of the righteousness on account of the righteousness of the few that's a biblical principle and and it would be safe from the old testament to the new none of those none of those realities conflict with the unique mediation of jesus why were the men of the old testament righteous why was Abraham righteous why was Paul righteous because of the atoning death of and the grace of God that he won for the Saints but when we are holy when we are righteous if by God's grace we are such then our prayers are most efficacious and we have an instrumental role not just the Blessed Virgin but all Christians have an instrumental role in distributing the grace of God through the church to the world now if that's true of the holy Saints like like st. Paul or Abraham how much more the Most Blessed Virgin Mary true okay well we thank you so much for that question here's one from Dayanara who says did John HUS and John Wickliffe ever say anything about the deutero canon and whether they thought it was canonical also why did the Holy See charge a fee for bishoprics in the Middle Ages okay so with respect to the first question HUS and Wickliffe would both have received and accepted the deuterocanonical texts of the Old Testament as inspired Scripture and in fact in the extant versions we have of the of the Wickliffe English Bible from the 14th century they include those texts with no commentary or emendation at all that would suggest any other any other understanding of them other than inspired Scripture now there are a lot of reasons for that I mean first of all this is the received Canon that the Catholic Church's has always received as Holy Scripture but also the kinds of questions that emerged in the Reformation that would have led to those sorts of questions had not yet emerged hmm yeah in anybody's mind in in in 14th century England or Bohemia so I mean the primary reason that Protestants rejected the deutero canon were theological they didn't like their doctrines but but there were also some textual critical reasons that they considered it as a question in the science of text criticism and and and and there didn't really emerge until the Renaissance and so just wasn't an issue for for Wickliffe or HUS with respect to why would the with the Holy See have charged money for for ecclesiastical office this is actually a sin and crimes called cemani and it's against Church law but hey even even members of the hierarchy have been known to send from time to time and I think the motive is fairly obvious to make money make money yeah Wow so there it is okay well Dayanara thank you so much for your email and if you would like to send us an email for a future show here is the address CTC at ewtn.com CTC at ewtn.com during the week Monday through Friday we generally answer one or two possibly three emails per show and then every so often generally about once a month we will put together a mailbag program so that our mailbag a folder doesn't get too overly full and we'll answer all kinds of questions and we've got one of those coming up on Memorial Day so be sure and tune in for our mailbag edition of call to communion here on EWTN radio all right as promised we're gonna get to the phones there's just a second here oh not that one we're gonna play that one whoops yeah it's all falling apart so that's okay in a moment here we're going to bring on Michael in Ave Maria Florida and lots more and our phone number is eight three three two eight eight EWTN that's eight three three two eight eight three nine eight six I told them not to let me at the controls here it's called a communion here on EWTN do stay with us the leading catholic voices are on ewtn radio we've started doing these shows call-in if you're an atheist callin if you want to redefine marriage those are the kind of shows that make very engaging radio we're gonna continue to try to reach out to the fringes and find those people who fundamentally disagree with us and we're gonna continue to create shows they're gonna reach out to those people to draw them in to the fullness of the truth Catholic Answers live tonight 6:00 Eastern on EWTN radio people always ask me father how should we pray well there's several ways we can do it but the most important is through the power of the whole Biron we have to pray from our heart we have to pray honestly and sincerely we have to allow the Holy Spirit to work through us so that we're not just simply saying words but we're saying words that can actually change us prayer if it changes us then we're doing it right [Music] looking for a 20 20 P you on how Catholics are voting in the upcoming election EWTN news and real clear opinion research are partnering to bring you clear and concise data on where the nation stands on issues candidates policies and more by surveying Americans including Catholics like you and it's available now at EWTN news.com forward slash poll we have a very timely edition of Catholic cafe for you tomorrow afternoon at 4:00 p.m. Eastern Deacon Jeff Drew zimsky discusses returning to church what's it gonna be like after you know sitting it out for all these weeks and sometimes even months maybe you have been you know participating via a live streamed Mass but it's just not the same of course so here you are now actually walking back into a physical Catholic Church and and taking place physically in the Holy Sacrifice of the mass what is that all gonna be about check it out it's a wonderful program the Catholic cafe with deacon jeff tomorrow afternoon at 4 p.m. Eastern right here on EWTN radio all right if you're ready now let's get to the phones at eight three three two eight eight EWTN we begin with Michael in the beautiful Ave Maria Florida listening on Sirius XM channel 130 hey Michael happy Friday what's on your mind today thank you for taking my call and dr. Andrews thank you for your beautiful ministry you've taught me and I'm sure all of your listeners so much thank you very much thank you my question I have heard some priests say that if one was to die immediately after coming out of confession they would go straight to heaven but I also understand a little bit about the concept of temporal punishment and indulgences and all of that and those two things seem to contradict each other in my mind so could you please explain that or clarify it yeah your your your intuition is correct those two things do contradict themselves in your mind and mine and most other people's as well because there is there is the element of penance and so what we can say with certainty is when we've been validly absolved we're forgiven and our right relationship to God is restored but that that does not remit the the debt of temporal punishment that we owe to God and that is in part what the penance assigned by the priest is meant to accomplish but of course purgatory also is appointed for that end if we have not done sufficient penance in this life so if you die after your validly absolved and you don't and acquire any other mortal sin then sure your your your your salvation is assured but you know you you may have to you may have to go through purgatory on the way mm-hmm does that make sense to you Michael yes it does and how would a plenary indulgence then affect that okay sure so if you actually obtain a plenary Abdal Junt meaning that you've you've applied the adults to your case you've met the requirements for that and you have no attachment to sin then you would have all temporal punishment due to sin remitted in your case and you would in fact go straight to heaven now you know it's not safe to presume that I had no right it's not safe to presume that and keep in mind that one of the requirements for obtaining plenary indulgence is that you have no attachment to sin now that's that's a really good goal right let me let me go through life without attachment to even venial sin if you can you can just stick on that stay there then you know sure thing off you go if you go alright Michael thank you so much for your call that opens up a line for you right now at eight three three two eight eight EWTN that's a three three two eight eight three nine eight six the Friday edition have called a communion here on EWTN bradley's watching us right now on Facebook he says someone told me that they had proof that the whole Bible wasn't written until the six hundreds and was written in Persia not the Holy Land how do we as Catholics even begin to discourse with arguments that are so far-fetched and outlandish without offending their intelligence thanks Bradley you show me the evidence yeah yeah show me your evidence show me your evidence that's what you do you say show me your evidence and if you're gonna show me your evidence and you have to give me the dignity of allowing you to show you mine sure and that is an absurd claim it's an absolutely absurd claim I mean we have we have entire codices that's that the entire collection of the canonical texts bound under one cover that we know are from Late Antiquity like the code s codex Vaticanus for example so named because it's held in the Vatican which I you know I believe dates to the fourth century which is still you know later than you'd like for your earliest manuscripts but it's a good bit earlier then then the text that your fellow is alleging definitely all right Bradley thanks for checking us out today on facebook called the communion here on EWTN let's go down to drew in Vermont listening on the tune in radio app hey drew what's on your mind today yeah hi guys doc last time I called you I was calling about idolizing Karate as a Catholic and oh yeah called about yeah I'm calling about a little more of a somber matter uh unfortunately my mom passed about four weeks ago I'm so sorry Thanks thank you doctor appreciate it um a couple things you know I I'm dealing with it as best I can she didn't want any mass or anything said I'm gonna have a mass that for her I got her you know anointing of the sick and such and I got some time with her Bradon you know the rosaries and all all four mysteries and Divine Mercy chaplet before she passed and but she wants to be cremated and basically have her ashes dispersed into the ocean so I guess my question is one my brother's going to handle that but - as a Catholic can I attend that and what's my role in that and my other question is just dealing with people that know me personally and professionally just kind of an indifference to what I'm going through I've had people that came up and were very sympathetic immediately and I've had other people that act like nothing's going on in my life and they as a Catholic how do I respond to that I mean a part of me is kind of like well you know just I don't want to grin and bear it but you know you know Jesus suffered and died for us and Mary lost her son and you know she suffered and they kept moving so I just you know fall down 7 get up a kind of thing or what okay I really appreciate the fact that you called I really I'm glad you called and I feel like you know you called once before on an issue that to some people might seem fairly idiosyncratic but boy it spoke to me because it spoke to something in my own personal history and and this is another one of those times right where I feel like you're not out there in in in left field I'm right there with you right I lost my father two months ago and and what a hard time it's been what a hard time it's been so this is a very personal question to me and I'll tell you my own prayer right now the one that I have in my heart is Psalm 88 Psalm 88 if you read Psalm 88 man it's a heck of us home it's it's God you have put me in the lowest pit in the darkest depth your wrath lies heavily on me you've overwhelmed me with all your waves and taken from me my closest friends made me repulsive to them I'm confined and cannot escape my eyes are dim with grief I'm not going to read the whole thing but the last line is just a doozy all day long they surround me like a flood have completely engulfed me you've taken from me friend and neighbor darkness darkness is my closest friend Wow and there's no happy ending to that song and is no request either no there's no invocation there's no imprecation there's no and it's all going to work out in the end it's just a heartfelt broken lament of someone who has experienced extraordinary loss pain and darkness and is bringing that into their relationship with God and I I mean this is this is where I am okay this is what I think you do I think you acknowledge I think you acknowledge where you are you acknowledge the profound loss the confusion the loneliness and not just the loss of someone that you love but like you've already described you don't feel like you can connect with another human being right now because nobody else knows what you're going through and you're you're you're not only alone in the sense of being physically alone but you're alone in your grief and I think what you do is you you everybody else may have been lost to you it feels like in this moment you bring that grief in that sense of alienation into your relationship with God like the psalmist did and you tell God this is where I am this is where I am and that's it that's it you just state it you just state it to God as a fact because living in the sight of God is really the essence of the Christian life we're living in a consciousness that God is there and that he knows what you're going through and that you're gonna you're gonna take account of that fact in your own self conception I one of the most fruitful confessions ever had in my life it's one of the ones most memorable I don't remember what I said about my confession but I run with the preset it was the simplest piece of advice I'd ever had in my entire life but it was so profound he gave me my penance and all that and then he said unite yourself to God that was it you know yourself to God and I thought that's so true button to remember in every moment in it and to bring the fact of God into my consciousness of my situation and that's it is a profound place from which to live one's life more recently I had a another confession and which a lot of this stuff came out via my own sense of loss and alienation priest said to me wise priest he said prayer is about learning to accept reality Wow you know i mean magic's about trying to bend reality into my will prayer is about bending my will reality the reality of God's providence the reality of God's plan and goodness and and how many of the Psalms are like that how many of them are just a just a taking stock of the fact that this is the world that God has given me and I have to find that there's meaning and purpose and value in it because God says him because he is good even when I don't feel it in my own interior or emotional life and you can also take some solace in identifying with other great Saints who've had serious similar experiences of loss and loneliness and alienation mother Teresa of Calcutta comes to mind as someone who lived a profound interior darkness for many many years and of course you know did great things nobody knew about it and no one knew about it yeah exactly so she was utterly alone in her in her darkness and in her loneliness now with respect to the question of your mom's cremation I assume from what you said that this is something over which you have no control so your brother's gonna do it and it's really out of your hands well there you go it's out of your hands right I mean if it were if we're up to you you would want to have a Catholic burial in a Catholic funeral you're gonna do what you can you're gonna have a mass said for the repose of your soul and no one can stop you alright you can go do that that's fine and you should in terms of the burial situation if that's out of your control then you bear no responsibility can you go yeah you can go of course you can go because you're you're there to mourn your mother in whatever way is permitted to you and if this is the only way that's permitted to you then that's what you're that's what you're going to have to do you know I think it's a shame you know and you're going to be deprived the opportunity to to visit or grave so I don't know at what point this is gonna happen but my counsel to use before it happens you go take what keepsakes and mementos that you can right now and so you'll have something there some tangible point of reference I think about her pray for her seek her intercession even and and perhaps you know maybe a lock of her hair oh good I had something to keep it in you know actually did that took a lock of my father's hair for that well after he died right after 9 good man so but I feel for you um my heart goes out to you and what you're going through so sorry for your loss drew and thank you again for your call it is called a communion here on EWTN we do have a line open for you if you have a question for dr. David Anders on this Friday afternoon 8 3 3 2 8 8 EWTN that's eight three three two eight eight three nine eight six let's go to the beautiful town of Sparta Illinois and Jim listening on covenant radio hey Jim what's on your mind today I was talking with my godson who's the same age as me 63 today and he's got Parkinson's disease and he was like he normally gets the host when he does communion in his mouth okay well they're changing this without the virus and all and now he has to put it this hand and we were talking he says if he was to drop it it'd be sacrilegious and stuff and I said no maybe you can just pick it up put it right in your mouth and I'd like you to answer that question and what if you drop the wine to what was in there yeah okay sure yeah thank you thank you so so it dropping hosts happens it happens it's unfortunate it's one of the reasons is one is that'd be one of the motives for receiving on the tongue right to try to prevent that but when it happens we do what you said I mean you immediately take up the the sacred host and you consume it and any particles that may have become dislodged you make sure you grab those two and you consume them and if you think there is a risk of spilling the precious blood then I would advise against taking it right it'd be better not to take it because you can receive in one kind and that's just fine now in in your in your god son's case you know there might be a couple alternatives one would be to just talk to the priest privately outside of mass and say look this is an issue everybody else can receive no problem on the hand and and there's not much risk of dropping out Parkinson's disease don't have fine motor control this is a this is a greater risk for me than somebody else can we make some provision in my case you ask your bishop I mean the priest can simply appeal to the bishop and Bishop may have said you have to give rabbi communion on the hand you know X Bob and then they could you know they could make some special provision for him because of his situation and you know I mean that that's just think about that thank you so much for your call Jim and David you've probably seen instances where someone does accidentally spill the precious blood and it's like the mass stops yes the priest comes over he isolates the area he's going to clean up and spend as much time as necessary to make sure that that is totally cleaned and then the area avoided at all costs sure but you know now that you mention it let me go to that question about sacrilege all right what is done without intent is done without blame mmm all right provided you've taken the proper precautions and you've you've done which you can do if something happens that you do not intend that is an accident we're not morally responsible for that right right okay and that's a that's a good thing to keep in mind all right it is called a communion here on this Friday afternoon looking forward to hearing from you if you have a question for dr. David Anders our phone number eight three three two eight eight ewtn that's eight three three two eight eight three nine eight six looks like we have one line open right now so I do give us a call if you've got that question standing by for dr. David Andrews in a moment we'll be talking with Helen in Edmond Washington we'll also talk with Deborah in Boise Idaho listening on one of our longtime affiliates there's salt and light radio looking forward to hearing from you on this Friday afternoon if you can get in here's our phone number eight three three two eight eight EWTN that's eight three three two eight eight three nine eight six for the Friday edition of call to Communion stay with us Monsignor Charles Pope healthy cultures esteem age the holy crown of wisdoms gray hair in some cultures you know younger children if they're expected to stand up in honor of elderly people the leading Catholic voices are on EWTN radio he is honored by the church as a saint with the title of the seraphic dr. Matthew Bunsen and the doctors of the church one of the greatest theologians and Francis mystics in church history Bonaventure also wrote a biography of st. Francis that was commissioned by the Franciscans themselves it took the Saint and true mystic to understand a true Saint and mystic he died in 1274 for more about the doctors of the church visit doctors of the church calm hello family our world has been turned upside down by the corona virus pandemic concern for our loved ones economic uncertainty and of course social distance it's easy to understand why there's such great anxiety and fear in the world I'm convinced that God is using this moment to bring us closer to him and to strip away the distractions of our normal daily lives and that he is calling us to place our trust in Him in this difficult moment EWTN is a great spiritual resource that can help you your family and friends make sense of the chaos of course EWTN is where you can turn for Mass every day in addition to our television and radio channels you can also find the mass live Eucharistic Adoration the rosary and other devotions on our web and video on-demand platforms and of course EWTN news we'll continue to provide you with the latest updates on the pandemic as well as other current events around the world from a Catholic perspective please know that we're praying for you and let's also join together in prayer for our EWTN family around the world thank you and may God bless you how aware are you of your mortality do you make regular visits to the cemetery we want to know how you pay respects to those who have passed on on Monday at 12 p.m. Eastern now back to call to communion with dr. David Anders [Music] glad you're with us for the Friday edition of call to communion here on EWTN let's get right back to the phones and talk with Helen in Edmond Washington listening on the great Sacred Heart Radio hey Helen happy Friday what's on your mind today how the current calendar started actually wondered why they would dated EP and a you know before and after quite sure I can't actually tell you the exact moment in time when that dating became current my guess is it was probably sometime in the Constantinian era but but Christians would have dated events from from our Lord's life very early because they understood the coming of Christ to be really the the reestablishment of the world misses a game change this was the game changer in human history the Incarnation and and of course you know why would we date them that way we this reality is one way before Christ comes another way after and of course an ad stands for Anno Domini in the year of our Lord I wish I could tell you about when when that actually became sort of common practice and in in Christendom I can't actually give you a date I have to go look that up okay and Helen thank you so much for your call here is Debra now in Boise Idaho listening on salt and light radio a first-time caller a Deborah what's on your mind today I have a question regarding the Holy Spirit I used to be Protestant and all the time I was a Protestant I thought that everything jesus said to the disciples about the Holy Spirit is for everybody and now this Easter I became Catholic and now I'm wondering if in the Catholic tradition not everything is for everybody what the Holy Spirit gives if there is a differentiation between the priest or the priest gets from the Holy Spirit and what everybody else gets from yeah thank you very very much I really appreciate the question well of course there's a difference of course a difference because Jesus is speaking to different audiences when he makes these when he makes these remarks and one example that comes to my mind most evidently is after his resurrection before the Ascension when he appears to the eleven and he he breathes on them he physically breathes on the apostles and he says receive the Holy Spirit whose sins you forgive are forgiven whose sins you retain are retained and so that was a gift that he gave particularly to the Apostles and they - you know from the promise of Christ to their successors through the sacrament of ordination I don't have the power to forgive or routine sentence I'm not an ordained priest and nor am i a bishop but he did give that to the Apostles and to their successors and that the collaborators with them the priests you know we read in Acts chapter 14 that the Apostles are the ones that appointed priests in each of the churches that they established and so Christ sending the Apostles the Apostles sending their successors through the power laying on of hands so absolutely yeah that's that's that's that's reserved to priests and of course all the powers that would flow from ordination and in particular in particular the power to can fact the Eucharist is something that only an ordained priest has and I don't have it and palm doesn't have it you don't have it now you know there are things that that some laypeople get from the Holy Spirit that priests don't get at least in the Latin Rite in the Latin Rite of the church most the vast majority of priests don't share in the sacrament of matrimony very few do but most don't if you were if you have the valid sacrament matrimony you receive from the Holy Spirit the grace to live the sacrament of matrimony worthily now priest doesn't need that grace if he's not married he doesn't need the grace to live the sacrament of matrimony worthily right okay he's not married similarly a priest receives the grace from the Holy Spirit to to live the Sasser total state the priestly state in worthy manner I don't need that grace because I'm not an ordained person right and then there are charismatic gifts special gifts right that that might be distributed in ways that would be not essentially related to one's marriage or ordination right so you perhaps something like the gift of healing some individual might have a supernatural charism for healing priests might have that so my la person so maybe a religious and that would just be a charism that that individual had for the building up of the body of Christ in the church not everybody would have it st. Paul says not everybody has these charism some people do some people do all right well yeah thank you so much for your call Deborah called the communion here on EWTN David we heard from Mary watching us on YouTube and she wants to comment on the earlier call that we had from the fellow who just had a death in the family you remember all that Mary says I have suffered this way for four years since my husband died you just keep going but you become a constant memorial to the person who was gone a friend suggested I do snip a little bit of his hair I did it I wear it and I'm very glad that I do I really appreciate that yank you you know I am I am NOT a poet nor the son of one I'm a particularly bad poet but I found in the days after my father's death and around that time that I could find no words to express what I was going through other than poetry so I wrote some particularly bad poetry that was particularly heartfelt and poignant because I just had to express it and I couldn't express it any human and I could only express it in metaphors because I couldn't I couldn't get there and but in one of them I became very conscious of that one aspect that you're speaking of that that you know I I in a sense my sonship was taken away because my father was taken away and I thought what can I do here to recapitulate this or to or to recapture and I thought only by trying to be my father to my son's beautiful if I can live his Grace's live his virtues that he gave to me in in my own fatherhood as a memorial to his memory and you do try and you do well try I I see it in your own family called a communion here on EWTN let's check out an email here this is from an anonymous person watching us on YouTube this person says I would become a believer in a flash if for one moment I thought the biblical stories were true however it doesn't seem possible so how can I believe okay which biblical stories and what do you mean by truth let's see there's the rub right no no you know I mean there are plenty of stories in the Bible that I'm quite certain we're not meant to take as as as historical Chronicles right I mean most evidently the parables most definitely the parables all right but you know start flowing out from there in concentric circles there are other narratives in scripture that that become sort of harder and harder well perhaps easier and easier but still somewhat difficult to say well how am I am i exactly supposed to take this as a straightforward historical narrative now there is a priest sorry not a priest he's a layman at Benedictine college I believe believe his name is Ramage I think it's Matthew ramage who has an interesting book on the dark passages of the Old Testament which are some of the hardest to swallow really you know some of the more difficult narratives and I won't I won't give the secret away I'm not going to go into it right now because he has a number of theories but some of them I think might speak to your concern about the the rationality of accepting a kind of straightforward literal understanding of some of these texts so you might look up Ramage's book on the dark passages of the Old Testament and remember that this the dilemma that you have was the same dilemma that st. Augustine had its Augustine but one of most brilliant philosophers in the history of the Western world and probably the most important theologian in Western Catholic history born to a Catholic family at least to a Catholic mother very intellectual guy grew up and he read the Bible and said I can't believe this I can't believe this it seems to conflict with everything I know about Natural Science you thought that was a new problem fourth century right and he stayed that way for quite a long time right and in fact he he went over to the mana Keys for a number of reasons one of them is they claim to be able to give him a completely comprehensive and fully rational account of the physical order and you know they had a lot of sophisticated argumentation that wooed him for a while mm-hmm they also gave free rein to his can keep a sense which which didn't hurt whoops and we see that dynamic today also don't we we see people who claim to be able to give a completely comprehensive and rationalistic account of the physical universe while at the same time giving you a free pass on the indulgence of your passion sounds like a pretty common motif like intellectual history and and then of course Agustin found a couple things he found first of all that living with his passions in that way did not bring him happiness mhm in fact it made him miserable secondly he found out that the man Aquis promised to give a fully comprehensive rationalistic account of the physical universe they'd sold them a bill of goods that they actually couldn't do it and and their theories fell apart and the same thing happens with the materialists today they claim to be able to do it but there's so many things in the reality that contradict the materialist hypothesis and so the thing falls apart under its own weight and then finally he encountered ambers of milan bishop ambrose st. ambrose who said buddy that's not how we read the bible and he he he introduced him to the allegorical interpretation of the old testament and said there's a catholic way of reading the bible and it's not the way you're reading it and and when he put those lenses on all of a sudden the text of scripture had a whole new significance and meaning for him and so my I would suggest to you that before you throw out the Catholic point of view because of a naive difficulty with the literal sense of the Scriptures actually learn what Catholics think about biblical interpretation okay thank you so much for that question and the book the devil was referring to dark passages of the Bible engaging Scripture with Benedict the 16th and st. Thomas Aquinas and that's by Matthew Ramage so there you go appreciate that it is called a communion here on EWTN if you're looking for a true news source that you can trust 24 hours a day seven days a week do check out Catholic news agency it's the only fast reliable and free Catholic news source that brings blogs stories opinions and so much more to your fingertips and if it's an opinion they will label it as an opinion you don't have to guess is is this fake news it's just somebody's conjecture no it'll be labeled as opinion so for the latest Catholic news visit catholic news agency dot-com catholic news agency comm an online service from EWTN news back to the phones right now here is corporal lee at fort campbell Tennessee listening on wlh n hey there corporal Lee what's on your mind today how you doing and I want to thank you for taking my call my call was concerning paddy and it's coming out of Deuteronomy 22 to 28 and it was saying that you bring your firstfruits to the low earth there and if this place was too far away you could sell them and bring them to the house and brain it did happen other pets bring him to the house of the Lord and it's meant and strong drink and what strong drink allowed in the house of the Lord okay thanks yeah I appreciate the questions so first of all understand that the dinner do turner Deuteronomic law was the civil law and the and the ceremonial law for the nation state of israel and that that the totality of that law as a civil law code does not bind the consciences of christians and this the the the church has been emphatic about this from the very beginning they actually held a council on this very question in Acts chapter 15 we read about it and the Apostles decided by divine inspiration the Mosaic law was not to be imposed on Gentile converts to the Christian Church not any of it right not not the ceremonial aspects not circumcision not the dietary laws and not and of course not the the system of taxation and tithing that would have supported temple sacrifice and in civil government and what not that was that was all prescribed for the nation of Israel and the New Covenant is under a completely different basis and it's not a law written on tablets of stone but a law that is written on the heart in the outpouring of God's Spirit and it can be summed up in two precepts the love of God above all things and the love of neighbor as oneself and if you want to see what that looks like in real time well we look to our model and the life and teachings of Jesus to see what that kind of love looks like and of course you know Jesus was willing to do things that offended Jewish sensibilities at the time and he said you know the Sabbath has not made man is not made for the Sabbath but this habit for man and so forth so at least when it comes to the question of tithing what we carry over from that within the Christian Church is the principle that it is right to support the temporal needs of the church and of course the Apostles did that they would take collections as they travel throughout the ancient world in particular in support of the poor in Jerusalem what Paul admonished the churches when he traveled was he said set aside something for the poor but you decide how much you decide how much to set aside and let everything be done freely and generously and not under compulsion right and and the Lord loves a cheerful Giver and you know of course John the Baptist gave a pretty exacting standard of what that kind of love might look like you got two coats give one you know which is a lot more than 10% right but if essentially you know according to your generosity and according to need and so what the Catholic Church does is they a little bit loose on this the Catholic Church says you know tithe is a is a is a good rule of thumb but it's not a legalistic standard right and and you know we would ask maybe you could give 5% to your local parish 5 2% some other ministry or charitable good work all right but you know you you give us you need you give as you can and as your heart moves you um you know motivated ultimately by love now with her question with respect to the question of fermented drink see one of the reasons that we don't apply this tithing text sort of literally to the Christian Church is that there's no mandate in Deuteronomy to tithe income right to tithe monetary income wage income it's actually a tithe on produce well if that was all I was at man I wish the government would level Livie that tax I'm here I mean I can't even get a tomato to grow in my backyard you know I'll give you a tithe and squirrels yeah and it was just produce and and not everybody had produce you know and not everybody was owned land or whatnot um but of course when it comes to produce you can't grow grapes and preserve them in the ancient Near East without them fermenting it's not possible I mean go try go take a bunch of grape juice and you know dump it in a in a in a carafe or something and leave it in in in Judea for you know a couple of months and see if it doesn't you know ferment its gonna ferment and so this is part of you know this is this is gonna be part of any kind of traditional agrarian society is going to be fermented drink and it's part of human history and culture throughout the world and attitude yeah of the Catholic Church is all things are good and to be received in moderation in moderation and we shouldn't be drunk on wine but alcohol is actually used in the most sacred act of Christian worship which is the consecration of the Holy Eucharist bread and one becoming alcoholic one it has to be alcoholic doesn't have alcohol it's not valid matter mm-hmm alcoholic wine and bread becoming the body and blood of Christ appreciate your call corporately and thank you so much for it it is called a communion here on EWTN question here from Bob watching us on YouTube he says I hear some people say Holy Spirit others say Holy Ghost is this just a semantic difference or or is there a substantive difference oh thanks no substantive difference at all it's it's just it just is a matter of convention mm-hmm ghost of course is a more as a more ancient word that's closer to the saxon roots of the english language and more like the german Geist and and then spirit is a more Latinate word coming from the latin spiritus but they mean exactly the same thing okay very good and one here from Ricardo Ricardo also watching us on YouTube was the Canon of Scripture of the Old Testament closed during the time of Christ as Christ himself mentioned the blood of Cain to Zechariah in Luke 11 49 through 50 okay thanks I appreciate the question so there was no authoritative Hebrew Judea nor Jewish Voice on this question at the time of Jesus and divergent canons of the Old Testament competed with one another according to the different sects of Judaism and of course the question of the biblical canon I mean as a distinct sort of issue in theology is not one that Jesus directly addressed in his in his in the ministry that is recorded for us in the Gospels now there are some there are some hints and implications that he he was aware of the fact that there were different candidates because when he argues with the Sadducees he only argues from the Torah the five books of Moses that the Sadducees recognized as canonical when he argues with the Pharisees he takes account of the Pharisee achill cannon but he never he himself never articulated a standard you have to go with one versus the other now we we did articulate a standard in the sacred tradition that's been handed down to us orally through the Apostles it's just not in the written Gospels mm-hmm and and that standard is the ecclesiastical canon of the Catholic Church and and in fact this very question is one that st. Agustin raised in the fourth century of course he was one of the bishops of the church that was responsible for the synod's that officially declared the Canon of the Bible for the Catholic Chur and in his book on Christian doctrine and he actually says when when you have a question about biblical manuscripts and manuscript traditions you must default to the Septuagint version of the Old Testament even over the Hebrew that was that was a gustin's point of view because the Septuagint is the ecclesiastical text it was the one that's been received by sacred tradition from the Apostles and so is the fact of ecclesia of ecclesiastical reception ie oral tradition that was the was the normative the norm of the criterion recalled oh thank you so much for checking us out today on YouTube called a communion here on EWTN let's go to Cindy now in Dallas listening on Sirius XM 130 Cindy what's on your mind today thank you so much I've got a question several years ago we had a visiting priest at our parish and he said something that he didn't that there was no such thing as purgatory anymore and I've never not believed in purgatory but I have recently found a wonderful author named Susan Tassone II and I've been reading some of her books and I heard about Gregorian masses can you explain that in fact that my my father passed nine years ago a devout Catholic and my mother eight years ago and I just arranged for a month of Gregorian masses for each of them this late in the day but anyway could you explain more about the green masses and well sure sure thank you I appreciate the question first of all a priest that denies the dogma of purgatory has committed what the code of canon law refers to as the crime of heresy because purgatory is a dogma defined by the church most most authoritative lis at the Council of Trent and the canonical definition of heresy is the obstinate denial of a dog that's been proclaimed by the church now you know we'll give the guy the benefit of the doubt perhaps he is ignorant of the fact seems hard to believe but maybe he's ignorant of the fact that purgatory has been defined as a dogma in which case he would only be guilty of material heresy and not formal heresy so I'm not kind of saying thing about the state of his heart or soul but he's factually incorrect and on very very very thin ice over a very hot pit yeah right so it's a dogma of the faith with respect to Gregorian masses this is a Trajan tradition that goes back into the late 6th century of simply saying a series of designated masses for the repose of the soul now you know in this a pious tradition associated with it now this is I'm give you my view okay my view any kind of pious practice or devotion anyone right that is that is believed to have a kind of determinate efficacy simply in virtue of the mechanical repetition is a kind of superstition right in the Catechism says in paragraph 21 11 that even the sacraments of the church cannot be approached alt not to be approached in that kind of superstitious way that that just in virtue of the mechanical action without the proper disposition that they will necessarily be effective in us for salvation that's a superstition we have to bring faith and charity contrition to our reception of the sacraments even those that are objectively valid EXO praya barat Oh will only be effective in us insofar as we bring the proper disposition and and and so and that's true for devotions even more so right and when it comes to the efficacy of a mass the charity of the priests of the celebrant has an effect because it is the prayer of the priest together with Christ for a particular intention st. Thomas talks about this and the Summa the two different priesthood different charity their prayers will be more or less effective in consequence of their charity so these are this a good practice it's a pious one my wife is a big fan of Gregorian masses loves to Commission them on for the repose of souls and for special intentions and so you know we've involved this this this practice in my own home but they should not be regarded superstitiously as a kind of get out of purgatory free card hmm okay very good and Cindy thank you so much for your question and we really do appreciate your call check it in from ballast at Dallas what am what a beautiful town got a lot of family in Dallas and always enjoy my time there as we're heading out the door David a quick note here from Terry watching us on Facebook she says you know I can't wait to be able to take the Holy Eucharist again thank you for bringing me back to the church oh thank you thank you isn't that awesome well a fabulous week of shows dr. David Andrews thank you sir and have a wonderful weekend as he's typing I was typing thank you so much we do the program Monday through Friday here on EWTN radio at 2 p.m. Eastern with an encore at 11:00 p.m. Eastern we also bring you a best of call to communion you can hear that Sunday at 2 p.m. Eastern right here on EWTN radio on behalf of our great team Charles and Jeff and Ryan I'm Tom price along with dr. David Andrews we hope that you have a wonderful weekend as well we'll see you Monday right here on EWTN s call to Communion see you then god bless

Channel: EWTN

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Id: apYHtjyBa_g

Length: 53min 59sec (3239 seconds)

Published: Fri May 22 2020