Called to Communion with Doctor David Anders 03/01/21

within the republican party i'm theresa tomio and call to communion but 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 hey everybody welcome again to call to communion here on ewtn it's the program for our non-catholic brothers and sisters those of you who have questions about the catholic faith we are here to answer those questions at 833 288 ewtn that's 833-288-3986 if you're listening to us outside of north america please dial the u.s country code and then 205 271-2985 you can also text the letters ewtn to 5500 wait for our response and then text us your first name and your brief question message and data rates may apply you can also shoot us an email if you prefer that ctc at ewtn.com ctc ewtn.com a great resource there for all of you watching on tv today all right we are ready to go here charles berry is our producer we also have ryan penny as our phone screener and uh jeff person on social media if you want to pose a question via youtube or facebook live we're streaming there right now jeff will pass on that question of yours to us here in the studio if you put that question in the comments section he'll see it he'll shoot it over to us i'm tom price along with dr david anders tom how are you today very well how are you my friend oh you know i'm doing decent for this damp day we're having in alabama it is rather rainy but we're going to get through it interesting question here from victoria she sent us this email to us hello i am a college student in minnesota at the university of saint thomas and i've always wondered why women aren't allowed to be priests it seems silly in the 21st century that this is still a rule i once heard it was because jesus was a man so priests have to be men well that's ridiculous if that's why so please i would appreciate an answer on this because it really bothers me thanks victoria hey victoria thanks i really appreciate the question and i'm sorry that bothers you so uh the the short answer is that that men are ministerial priests in the catholic church for the same reason that men are fathers and not mothers right i mean it would be i can't be a mother a woman can't be a father and the priest's role with respect to the liturgical community is that of a father to a family or a bridegroom to a bride and uh and that's the reason why and uh you know the point you you raised about christ being a man and only appointing male apostles that's also true and so there is no precedent in christian tradition for the ordination of women uh not in canon law not in liturgical history not in theology not in sacred scripture so it's a universal practice of the church going back 2 000 years and the theological reflection on that patrimony reveals you know these deeper truths about the role of the priest in the liturgical community now that being said that being said we need to specify women baptized women in the catholic church are priests they're priests according to their baptism baptismal priests the primary office of a priest is to offer sacrifice now the ministerial priest in in the liturgy effects the sacrifice of the mass right it's the offering of the whole church but the ministerial priest through the power of consecration affects that sacrifice but the whole church offers men and women alike men and women alike offer and of course we all offer the gift of our very lives saint paul says we should offer our bodies as living sacrifices that this is our spiritual act of worship to worship in spirit and in truth that the father seeks and and and men have got nothing on women on this business and and this is why the holiest of all catholics of all human beings of all creatures is a woman yes and down through history women have been imminent in sanctity in authority in teaching uh in in in in rural and government uh in all kinds of modes of life both within and without the the operation of the church uh and uh uh and and have their their mark on the people of god is incalculable and inestimable and essential sometimes women can do things by way of power and authority that men could never do and i you know i think two women that come to my mind one of them is saint catherine of siena and she marched into avignon and gave the pope what for sure you need to get back where he belonged go back to rome and now you know i tried that they would have you know run me out on a rail yeah right yeah saint catherine could do it somebody a little bit more close to home around here at ewtn's mother angelica right grown men would quake in their boots tough lady right of course you know i don't need to tell you about her personality so uh yes women teach yes women govern yes women rule yes women uh lead yes women have a a prophetic charism in the church um and uh and women can do things that men could never do and of course they also have a gift john paul referred to it as the like that that that feminine charism that gift of their maternity which of course can be their literal biological maternity but there's also a kind of uh feminine personality an attitude of care and solicitude towards the human person that uh that is unique and it's special and that men profoundly need to humanize them you know and they need somebody to tell them to you know get their head out of the football game and out of the car engine or out of the highfalutin theology book and you know attend to the people in front of them and a lot of times it's the women who who have that gift both in the institutional church and in the family and in society absolutely victoria thank you so much for your question here's a quick one now from dustin and fargo please speak to the argument against the catholic church in regards to how saint jerome translated the latin vulgate protestants claimed there were obvious errors that jerome made and they used this claim against the infallibility of the magisterium yeah so that would be a real category mistake because no one has ever claimed that saint jerome's translation of the bible into latin was somehow protected by the charism of infallibility in from conceived as infallibility in in like a linguistic skill all right so what the church has said with regard to the vulgate is that it is authorized like it's safe yeah you can follow the vote you're not going to get into theological error if you follow the vulgate so in that sense you know the common sense of the faithful is protected by the charism of infallibility reading the vulgate you're not going to rush off into nestorianism or something uh but infallibility does not mean that you know saint jerome got all his declensions right you know i mean like it doesn't it doesn't extend to that kind of stuff got it okay although he did get his declensions right glad to hear that lots more straight ahead on this edition of call to communion here on ewtn do stay with us this is father donald calloway from the marian fathers of the immaculate conception as we are in our season of lent let us remember that the lord's love for us is everlasting that he offers to us a time of grace a time of prayer a time of penance a time of almsgiving so that we can have transformed hearts so that we can grow in virtue read the scriptures be a little more devoted in your prayer life and watch the change and transformation that happens in your heart i'm evangelist elvida king a priest for life with pro-life update christ said blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter every kind of evil against you falsely on my account rejoice and be glad for your reward is great in heaven so many pro-life leaders i know including myself have been falsely accused in public of advocating or even doing violence pregnancy centers which compassionately serve parents and their babies every day have been falsely accused of deceiving the public activists who try to change the laws have been falsely accused of opposing democracy the litany goes on and on and proves that pro-life people are living this beatitude they should rejoice for their reward in heaven indeed is great the children who cannot know how much pro-life people love them cannot repay them they will be repaid for the resurrection of the just i'm evangelist alvita king on the ewtn global catholic radio network [Music] it's called a communion here on ewtn we have open phone lines for you right now if you have a question for dr david anders 833 288 ewtn that's 833-288-3986 call now ryan will get that call screened asap we'll get to you on the air just as quickly as we can interesting question here from gerard who sent us this email you often talk dr andrews about how we will see the beatific vision in heaven well if that's the case what does jesus mean when he says about those who are reviled for his sake that your reward in heaven will be great luke 6 23. now does that mean they will see the extra strength version of the beatific vision or that there may be a swimming pool attached to their mansion or that they will get lots of extra harp lessons which do you think jesus means that's from gerald oh that's a great question thank you so all of sacred scripture is pretty clear that there are that there are different degrees of reward in heaven and and so we won't all have the same the same experience what we will all have is we will have will be utterly filled utterly satisfied but your capacity if you will your receptivity to that will be determined by the degree of charity in your soul in this life so it's the difference between filling a coffee cup to the brim and filling a swimming pool to the brim if you want to go back to your swimming pool analogy yeah okay well we thank you so much for that gerald thanks for your email by the way those of you watching on tv today if you'd like to send us an email for a future show here's the address ctc at ewtn.com ctc at ewtn.com lines are open here on call to communion 833 288 ewtn that's 833 288 3986 amber sent us an email i went through rcia in 2003 but i left the church in order to practice islam how do i rejoin the church after so many years of denying it also because i have a mood disorder and no religious catholic family or friends i'm worried i could be led astray again maybe the church is not for me what say you okay thanks so the answer to the first question depends on how far you made it through rcia if you were actually received into the church and given the sacraments of initiation you were baptized major or if you weren't baptized if you're already baptized if you made your first confession received your first eucharist and presumably confirmation then you're catholic and the church views you as a catholic and you would just be a catholic who didn't go to mass you know since 2003 and and and so you would just go to confession you'd say you know bless me father i've sinned it's been 17 years since i've been to confession and in the meanwhile i did this this this and this and then you're good to go right i mean yeah they do that all day long they're very good at that now if you didn't if you weren't received into the church and you just made it halfway through rca we just finished the process that's simple yes just finish the process go back you know pick it up where you left off and come on in it's great uh the question of having a mood disorder and fearing being led astray so um i'm very sorry about the mood disorder um uh i'm sympathetic i don't think that since since you're we're not guided in our determination to become catholic by the ups and downs by the vagaries of our emotional life it's really not a problem i mean it's a problem for you subjectively it's a difficulty that you live with but it doesn't really affect your ability to make a rational act of faith and divine revelation you believe that christ founded the church and he gave tokens and signs of his divine authority to the church and instituted sacraments that's a rational decision on your part to believe in the credibility of divine revelation and to surrender your life to christ in the catholic church and that's going to be true it's true on you know wednesday when you're feeling great as it is going to be on thursday when you're feeling lousy sure and uh you know i'm i'm i'm not diagnosed with a mood disorder but i'm a kind of up and down neurotic sort that has good days and bad days and the one thing that i find to be constant in all of that is you know when i'm in a great mood i'm in a great mood super happy that i'm catholic and when i'm just an awful terrible mood and everything seems awful and you know just going to you know where in a handbasket i'm glad to be catholic right it's true whether i'm up or down it's that bedrock isn't it that's right it really is amber thank you so much uh for your email we do appreciate that if you're ready now let's go to the phones at 833 288 ewtn we begin with suzanne and ipswich south dakota listening on the great real presence radio hey suzanne what's on your mind today hi um i had a question from someone the other day asking about um like the difference between um just being a martyr and a canonized saint it came up in relation to a 14 year old martyr from mexico from the cristero war and um that he was a martyr he died for the faith and he was canonized as saint so um being a martyr does not necessarily mean that you are i think a canonized thing am i i just i just want to clarify that with you yeah thanks i appreciate that so if we give our lives for the faith and that's the ultimate act of charity that's the ultimate sacrifice uh that's pretty good ticket to heaven honestly you know if you give your life for the faith um you you really mean you really have loved god above all things it's hard to think what else could it mean to love god above all things if you literally give up all things give up your whole life for god out of love for god i mean that's that's kind of the ultimate sacrifice so that's that's taking you to heaven um uh but that's not the same thing you so you are a saint right if you die a martyr for the sake of the faith for the love of god you you're you're you're you're in heaven so therefore you're a saint that's not the same thing however as being a canonized saint recognized as such by the catholic church in the reason the church has a process of canonization it doesn't it doesn't pull people out of purgatory and send them to heaven like they're already in heaven that's the point the church is recognizing a few souls whose lives were exemplary and who ought to receive some sort of public recognition as a model of holiness for the rest of us so the church can't possibly canonize everybody that's in heaven we don't know everyone that's inhabit there's no way we could possibly do that but uh you know on a fairly regular basis some select soul who maybe had a really powerful influx in their diocese or their neck of the woods uh their calls you know get sort of run up the flagpole if you will and and vatican takes notice and says yes this person would be exemplary for the rest of the people of god we should investigate their life and see if we can't set them forth in this sort of public way and then they can be added to the church's liturgical calendar and you know celebrated with a feast day and and then the church by doing this permits their veneration throughout the universal church now let's say you have somebody that's just a someone who's holy widely believed in their own community to be a saint um well it's that's perfectly reasonable you know i mean are there folks in my own life who were unknown to the whole church but known to me and known to a handful of others that we think are very holy and i would seek their intercession and prayer but it but it wouldn't be appropriate for me to set that person up as if their their their public veneration was something that all catholics were obligated to do right that's a private theological decision on my part my own prayer life that i'm permitted to do as a catholic but in order to be put forth publicly for the entire universal church it requires a declaration from the magisterium all right suzanne is that helpful for you all right very much thank you you're most welcome most welcome and that opens up a line for you right now at 833 288 ewtn if you have a question for dr david anders 833-288-3986 call to communion in progress here on ewtn radio here's an interesting question from christine watching us right now on youtube why in the apostles creed does jesus have to go to hell if he died to save us and what happened during the third day that he rose and what happened on days one and two yeah thank you very much appreciate the question so very important to specify when we say that christ descended into hell we do not mean that he experienced damnation we're not saying that we're not saying that he experienced the hell of the damned christ went to the abode of the dead that's different and so the word hell there's been ambiguous and he would he did so to liberate the righteous souls of the old covenant who were waiting for the coming of the messiah and uh and also out of solidarity with the rest of us right because the suffering of christ's human soul and human body uh he entered into the experience of humanity he recapitulated it in fact in order to redeem it and make all things new and so he he was exposed to the full horror of of human he himself did not sin he was innocent but he was he sort of the full brunt of human evil was poured out against him and the suffering that is the lot of mankind he underwent and death is the separation of soul from body that's what it means to be dead so his physical body was in the tomb uh his uh his human soul descended to the abode of the dead and then when he was resurrected he ascended into heaven and made the way open to heaven for all the rest of us including those those uh those righteous dead now it's important to remember that in the separation of christ's soul from body he didn't he didn't stop being hypostatically conjoined to the divinity the hypostatic union is the union of the divine inhuman and jesus and that's so so complete so thorough that if you touch the corpse of jesus in the tomb that's god's corpse if you touch the human soul of christ descended to the dead that's god's human soul he didn't stop being god completely in the totality of his person right in that in that separation of soul and body so it really is the god man who comes into earth who's incarnate of the blessed virgin mary lives a complete human life from from from cradle to grave and to burial and to resurrection to recapitulate that experience as the new adam and create a new race of spiritual people in him through baptism christine thank you so much for your question via youtube here on ewtn's call to communion our phone number 833 288 ewtn that's 833-288-3986 another question here from youtube from logan logan says it's my understanding that a marriage held by two baptized people is valid in the church even if they were non-catholic but does it change anything if one of those two people were anointed with oil in lieu of baptism okay thanks so a little bit of clarification the the valid baptism emphasize that word the valid baptism of any excuse me not baptism the valid marriage of any two baptized people is is automatically a sacrament okay but what counts as a valid marriage depends a little bit on whether or not you are a catholic so for example if two baptized presbyterians val promise themselves in marriage to one another in front of a presbyterian minister the catholic church recognizes that as a valid christian marriage and therefore it's sacramental if two catholics pledge themselves to one another uh in in the presence of a catholic minister priest or deacon the church recognizes that as a valid marriage and thus it's automatically sacramental if they're both baptized however a catholic is obligated by canon law to make those promises of marriage in front of a priest or deacon a minister of the catholic church unless they are dispensed from that obligation so if a catholic goes off and says those vows in front of the presbyterian minister with the presbyterian that's not automatically valid right unless they get a dispensation um and uh and so that's the it's the the valid marriage of two baptized people is automatically a sacrament now the question about what if somebody's anointed with oil and not baptized well then they're not baptized so it's it could be it could be a valid marriage but it would be a valid natural marriage and not a valid sacramental marriage okay appreciate that thank you so much for your question here's one now from basil in california who says hey dr anders my question concerns confession when confessing impure sins some of which can be very perverted and embarrassing how much information do you have to give to the priest i was told by an rcia priest just say you are guilty of sins of impurity in mind and deed with yourself and or others i'm asking for a friend and again that's from basil yeah thanks appreciate the question so what the council of trent demanded of us and was that we make an annual confession of sins uh known mortal sins in kind in number that's it kind and number now there may be occasions when particularly if your confessor you're in a kind of regular relationship with this confessor and they're sort of also functioning as a quasi-spiritual director and maybe you're seeking to overcome a habitual sin then more more context and detail might be necessary or might be helpful i should say for purposes of accountability and also sometimes a priest might inquire a little bit more detail in order to judge the gravity of the fault right because you know you you somebody says well i'm guilty of sins of impurity that could mean a lot of different things to different people oh yeah and there could be some massive difference in gravity and uh and so in order to ascertain the gravity the priest might ask for a little bit more detail but the uh but the principle is uh known mortal sins in kind in number okay very good in just a moment we're going to get to uh betty in columbus i want to give you that phone number again eight three two 288 ewtn that's 833-288-3986 quick question here as we're heading to break this is from zach if god created our world and universe through the big bang out of nothing what surrounded the initial existence of material that it could expand into if our universe is expanding what does it expand into does it overtake and fill nothingness as it expands okay so you are now asking a physics question from a non-physicist okay uh but i can give you a partially metaphysical and partially physics type answer um i think the question is is uh is implies a misunderstanding of the claims behind both creation x and yellow and the big bang which is that time and space are creatures and uh and so it's a mistake to conceive of the thing is like you know there's an empty space in which god makes space hmm you said i'm saying yeah you know i mean and the the insight of the big bang cosmologists is that space is bounded and uh and so it it's hard to get your head wrapped around but the idea of there being space outside of space is kind of a contradiction in terms i'm so confused appreciate that you're a good man you took a swing at it anyway well you know it'll be for somebody else to judge whether we hit the ball good job in a moment we will get to betty in columbus ohio listening to us today on saint gabriel radio there's a line with your name on it 833 288 ewtn for call to communion al cresta johnette williams father robert spitzer you'll hear the leading catholic voices on the largest catholic media network in the world this is the ewtn global catholic radio network 60 seconds with archbishop fulton j sheen it must be understood at the beginning that the eucharist may be considered either from the point of view of a sacrament or from the point of view of a sacrifice in order to understand this distinction because it is rather a technical one we go back to the analogy of nature every day of your life you partake of certain food the products of wheat vegetables fish meat they all enter into the sustenance of your life they nourish you they feed you but have you ever thought of this other side before they can ever nourish you they must be submitted to some kind of sacrifice before they can be the sacrament of your physical life they must die or be sacrificed the people you know and trust are on ewtn there was no single event it was more gradual you know eventually you just don't go one sunday and then you don't go two sundays in a row then went through a divorce and ended up being a single parent if i didn't have church or god i i would be back at that lonely stage that trouble stage whenever you get anxious and worry about things you just know that jesus has it under control if you've been away from the catholic church for any reason visit catholicscomehome.org tomorrow on more to life not alone but lonely are you feeling disconnected from the people in your life we'll help you create stronger connection that's tomorrow on more to life now back to call to communion [Music] it's called a communion here on ewtn glad you could join us today our phone number 833 288 ewtn that's 833-288-3986 all right as promised here is betty now in columbus ohio listening on the blowtorch saint gabriel radio hey there betty what's on your mind today my um uh first off i just don't say god bless you both thank you so much for having this program and let me on um so i've been on adoration lately and um it's brought up this conversation with my boyfriend he goes why are you even going to the church i converted in 2016 um after practicing for a long long time but then i finally got my finally got my conversion done em and um so i'm not a i'm not a credo catholic so i don't really know how to answer it i keep coming back and telling him all the good things about the church and all the reasons that i converted that he's very concerned about the scandal that's in the church and just like knowing of you know things that have gone on with you know priests doing things so i don't know i just i don't know i just don't know how to answer him sure well you know even in your question you've already implied something of an answer and thank you by the way for the question it's a very good one yeah you said that what prompted this discussion was that you were going to the church because you worshiped were you wanted to worship christ in the blessed sacrament and the holy eucharist what does that have to do with scandal nothing nothing at all you know when i became catholic i'm also a convert what really drew me into the catholic church was the church's intellectual and doctrinal tradition this tremendous wisdom tradition going back 2 000 years of all these wise holy saintly men and women who have reflected on what it means to be a human being in the sight of god and a follower of christ and when i became catholic i thought man this is the greatest stuff since sliced bread i mean i i get to go to church with saint augustine with st thomas was saying teresa with saint catherine of siena i mean these guys are my friends now they're praying for me i'm i'm you know i'm worshiping the same christ in the same way that they did and you know their teaching and their lives and their companionship and their intercession is so enriching to me that it's just transformed everything and and the very same eucharistic lord that saint augustine received 1500 years ago 1600 years ago i now receive and uh that's why i became catholic and you know look i mean i got plenty of scandal you know i'm i'm a pretty lousy guy in my own right you know i got enough problems on my own i became catholic you know saying gk chesterton once said you know when they asked him why did you become catholic he said well to get rid of my sins of course and that's you know we're sinners that's why i'm catholic right i want the grace of god to help me overcome my own my own faults my own my own imperfections and so if i look around the other catholics around me whether they be clerics or not clerics and i go well you know you're pretty lousy guy that would kind of disqualify me right for becoming catholic i mean i that's why i became catholic because i'm a pretty lousy guy and i need i need some work i need a lot of help and i don't expect to get it from the holiness of you know some particular scandalous cleric i mean that's you know it's too bad for him i mean he's missing out he's not taking advantage of the graces of the catholic church and maybe he'll go to hell you know the church doesn't say that her clerics are necessarily holy it says the gift of holiness is made available to them right you know and if they don't choose to lay hold of that and live the faith and practice it and acquire virtue and practice asceticism um you know so that the grace of god can flow if they you know take on the mantle of catholic priesthood and authority to exploit people or or you know for self-aggrandizement jesus actually has a word for them he says better to be thrown into the sea with a millstone and tied around your neck so he he anticipated jesus himself anticipated that some people would follow him in positions of leadership and they would do a lousy job of it and he said uh well let me tell you what's going to happen to you guys you know but that's that's not what draws us to the church we nobody becomes catholic because of the holiness of the i mean like there are holy priests don't get me wrong but like it's not the holiness of every individual priest for which i become catholic i become catholic for the holiness of christ made available to me in many ways one of which is through the hands of the cleric who affects the sacraments and you know the beautiful thing in my life is when i go to the eucharistic adoration chapel it doesn't really matter to me who consecrated that particular host he might have been a great guy could have been a saint could have been a scoundrel it doesn't really matter you know it's kind of like when the plumber comes to fix your house and he gets the pipes working like you know i mean i hope he's a nice guy at the end of the day the pipe's going to work there you know and the priesthood is a is an office it's a vocation it's a calling in the catholic church and powers are given to the priest in the same way that you know tools are given to the bomber and and he can use them effectively but he has an obligation to use them worthily but i'm not responsible for whether he uses them worthily he's responsible to god and if he uses them in an unworthy manner he might go to hell and it'll be worse for him in hell i mean the other souls in hell and the demons in hell will go up there's that priest because once a priest always a priest you go to hell a priest you still be a hell and you'll still be a priest in hell and the demons and the damned souls will go yeah that guy really blew it betty thank you so much for your question it was excellent this is called a communion here on ewtn hey let's go to a frank right now in fort washington pennsylvania listing on our longtime partner ave maria radio frank what's on your mind today hi thanks for taking my call um i'm not entirely sure how to pose this question but it's it's about the problem of evil um so in the brothers karamazov they they talk about there's this one scene where they talk about this girl who was being essentially abused and you know the one brother says to the other that in a perfect world uh at the cost of abusing a child would you do it and the brother says no and so this is the problem with the problem for me because so often what i hear is the christian will say something like well you know there could be a justification in the infinite universe with the infinite god but but that would imply that we have a god who sacrifices little children to perfect worlds and uh that disturbs me and um i'm and and it feels like christianity would commit me to the idea that no suffering ever has been ultimately unjustified and then am i on the side of the stuff i i don't know if i'm really getting at my question very well but do you see what i'm getting at yeah sure i do i do understand the question let me try and come at it from a very different angle if i can i think being a christian uh you you talked about the problem of committing you to the idea that god sacrifices children in the interest of perfect worlds or something like that but being a christian also commits you to the idea that there is evil and that evil is really evil and it's really atrocious and that it's really it's really intolerably absurd all right what are your alternatives to that all right so let's say you're a naturalist and you think that the only thing that there is is that which can be seen and felt and tasted and smelled and measured right um just just the just the the extension of the physical universe well in such a world there really can't be evil there can be suffering yeah but can't really be evil it's not really metaphysical evil in a in a purely naturalistic universe because you know what we call evil is just it's just you know the the biological neurological aversion that we have uh you know to uh to certain destructive forces right and there's no more it's no more evil that a human being torn lin from limb then a rock be crushed because sinch essentially basically we're all just the same thing we're all just just you know continuous matter the other alternative is you know maybe you have a a kind of a duelist universe in which there are two competing eternal forces light and dark you know spirit and matter you might call them good and evil but what what sense can you give to the notion of evil if evil is is just co co-eternal with some other principle well evil is just the side of the universe i don't like you know but it's it's it's still there like competing alongside god right well you know you know why pick one over the other you could be darth vader and just say well hey the dark side is more powerful right he used to tell me i'm wrong right it's not can't really call it evil not in the not in the sense of the kind of atrocious absurdity that we feel intrinsically it ought to be just thrust away and destroyed not that kind of metaphysical sense of evil so what's the catholic view on the thing well the catholic view is that is that reality as such is good to be to exist is to be good and to be intelligible that it makes sense that i can that i can that i can grasp reality in a concept right if imperfectly and uh and and that the goodness of anything is to is to realize the truth of its own nature the truth of its own being which ultimately is a participation in the ultimate truth the ultimate good that is god and an evil rather than being an independent substance like the dualist holds is really the privation the the loss the lack of of being of truth and goodness it's deflecting away from the realization of our true nature somehow right like if i'm supposed to be rational and free and loving and kind if i fall away from those things that really are contrary to my natural good natural purpose then that's what we call evil it's not a substance it's sort of the lack of a thing now keep in mind if what that implies that says that if you know if to be is to be intelligible to be good to to fall under a concept to be graspable for there to be a purpose and end a goal of life and of the universe itself and evil is a deflection away from that kind of non-being that in a sense evil itself becomes unintelligible it becomes the ultimate absurdity the ultimate irrationality and then it's it's that much more deplorable right because there's there isn't a sense no justification for it there's it's literally that that has no good reason yeah that's precisely what makes it to be evil right which is why the saints like augustine and thomas would say that that sin is nothing other than irrationality and that to be good to be virtuous is to be fully rational to fully realize our nature as beings created in god's likeness and image with this gift of of rationality and freedom the ability to participate more and more fully in the ultimate goodness that is god and and so you know the intelligibility of the universe there is this opportunity to participate in that ultimate rational being that ultimate goodness that is god himself and through these you know these these this progressive layers of growth and virtue and holiness through the free exercise of my own will and intellect growing more and more into him and uh and is that a story worth telling well yeah it is it's a story quite beautiful all right frank is that helpful for you yes thank you you are most welcome appreciate your call it is called to communion here on ewtn fascinating uh text that just came in here this is from debbie watching us on youtube debbie says catholicism is intriguing to me but all the scriptures and are not not scriptures sculptures robes rituals grandiose gold and bronze objects those are a turn off to me i crave god these objects are distracting to me any advice there hmm yeah thank you appreciate the question so you know the the embellishments the adornments that you find occasionally and not always in the church are there to help us realize the solemnity of the forms that we celebrate because these were given to us by christ you know jesus is the one that gave us the sacraments he gave us baptism he gave us confirmation he gave us confession he gave us above all himself in the holy eucharist and uh he gave us himself in his word and especially in the gospels and these are the elements of the liturgy that we adorn right precisely because we think they're divine and uh you know it's it's possible to celebrate a kind of bare bones liturgy with with little in the way of adornment um and uh but you know but to but to strip all adornment from the church and the liturgy you know as if the sacraments were just ordinary things would be a grave injustice sure and uh and there have been churches throughout history that have that have sought to do that that have whitewashed the church and eliminated or attempted to eliminate all forms of adornment or or embellishment um precisely for that reason that they do not want these elements these forms to be seen as intrinsically divine or connecting with us with god in a unique way but is mere occasions as mere occasions for us in our own interior lives to contemplate or to remember you know or to symbolize uh and so what they've done is they've sort of moved the locus of holiness if you will from the external rights that christ gave us to my own subjective experience all right and uh but that comes with its own set of problems right because you know my subjective experience is pretty wacky from time to time and uh and what the church gives me it gives me an objective point of reference that doesn't depend upon me or my interiority or my sub or my you know subjective sense of self that says this is god this is the means of grace this is how christ has provided for us to connect to him the same always in everywhere and forever so that i have that to go back to time and time again whether i'm up or down whether i'm feeling good feeling bad whether i'm struggling whether i'm coasting i can always go back to these forms that christ gave us the sacraments of the church that really give me the presence of jesus and those adornments help me call that into mind now does that mean that we can't appreciate stylistic differences of course you can and in some churches some parishes some rights of the church you know sort of lean more heavily on some of those adornments than others and it's no it's perfectly legitimate for you to seek a congregation within the catholic church that maybe you know liturgically is a bit less alien to you less alienating and then you kind of grow into the thing just like you know you learn to like your mother-in-law's cooking after a while oh boy careful now very careful i don't know about you david but i i am drawn to that kind of beauty whether it's a a a beautiful piece of music or uh you know it could be a a gorgeous altar or a beautiful statue which really at the end of the day is a is a holy reminder as mother angelica which is my first exposure to catholic liturgy was when i really got into choral singing oh really when i was in high school and i had no thought at all of becoming catholic you know we were singing mozart's requiem and you know masses by bach and this sort of thing and uh and i even then when i you know my latin was not all up to snuff i didn't know quite what i was saying always but i remember being just blown away by the beauty of it and uh you know the thought began to occur to me you know this is this is part of a tradition and you know the sense of transcendence and power and holiness and being sort of taken out of myself through these powerful forms and rituals was was quite compelling even when i had no interest in becoming catholic debbie thanks so much for checking in with us uh on youtube today we do appreciate that call to communion here on ewtn i don't know if you've ever heard the little features that we air from time to time on ewtn radio that they're called bookmark briefs these are generally doug keck speaking with the author of a new book and the author will talk a little bit about why they wrote the book and uh what it's all about and then um you know we we air those uh from time to time on the radio side if you would like to get those bookmark briefs uh in your email inbox you can get them generally one per week just by going to ewtn.com click on the box that says subscribe and there will be a whole menu of things that you can subscribe to and the one that you want to check is bookmark brief they're always fascinating to me all right back to the phones right now here on ewtn radio winifred is listening in wilmington north carolina on wilmington catholic radio winfred what's on your mind today thank you for uh letting me ask this question i appreciate all that you do thank you the question is about a second marriage wherein the woman and the man are both withered and one is a methodist and one is a catholic if this couple were married in the methodist church with a catholic priest officiating with the minister also would the catholic still be able to return and go to mass and receive the eucharist so if if the catholic priest was authorized by his bishop to to do that and uh then the answer would be yes right uh in the the presence of the catholic priest if he received the vows of the or he witnessed the vows of the catholic couple um could could be sufficient provided he had the permission of his bishop to do that you know so i you know i'd have to know i'm not a candidate and i don't know the details of this case so what's what's what's necessary for a catholic in canon wall to have a valid marriage is that the the vows be witnessed by a catholic priest or a catholic deacon it's most appropriately done within a catholic church that can be dispensed bishop can give permission to have those vows set in another location or even be witnessed by another party so you know presumably if a catholic priest did this i'm gonna you know i'd like to think that he had his bishop's permission to do that uh but that'd be the that's what it would hang on there you go winford thanks so much for your call let's go to uh maria in cleveland right now listening on am 1260 the rock a first-time caller maria what's on your mind today hi guys thank you for taking my call um i'm a first-time caller uh my questions regarding matthew 23 verses 8 through 10 specifically verse 9 where it says do not call anyone on earth your father for one is your father and he who is in heaven i'm troubled by that obviously you've been calling priest fathers for ever so yeah sure absolutely no problems i really appreciate the question so you'll notice if you go back and read the entire chapter that jesus never mentions the catholic priesthood here either positively or negatively it's just not the topic that's under discussion nor does he address the propriety of calling your own dad dad and nor does he have in mind the propriety of referring to the prophets uh and and leaders of the old testament by with terms of paternal affection and i'm thinking for example of elisha the prophet when elijah is taken up into heaven what does elisha say he says my father my father chariots and the horsemen of israel so uh you know is he thinking about the apostles when they refer to themselves as father saint paul says to the corinthians i became your father through the gospel he writes to timothy and says timothy my son they're not his biological children he's speaking about his fatherly role his paternal role in their christian life we saw the same thing in the old testament we saw it in the new testament jesus is really not talking about any of that right now what he is talking about specifically is the hypocrisy of the pharisees who who are attached to the title rabbi and they love to go about and you know be make make a show with long prayers and long flatteries and to lord it over other people and uh and jesus says well don't call anybody teacher because you have one teacher who's the christ don't call anybody father because you have one father in heaven he's really addressing uh you know the kind of vicious human tendency the opposite of virtue to lord it over one another um and uh and manipulate people and take them away from the love of god and uh and so you know the catholic church would agree with the moral principle here right it doesn't it doesn't mean an absolute it's not he's not telling us that i might you know my sixth grader is not allowed to refer to his teacher as teacher okay right you know that's not the point of issue okay maria thanks so much for your call hope that's illuminating for you let's go to elizabeth right now in washington d.c listening on ewtn television elizabeth what's on your mind today well i've had a friend for years and she when she was reaching 100 years old she decided that she had enough life uh and she didn't take a dramatic thing but she what she did was she just stopped eating and drinking called her two girls who stayed with her until she finally closed her eyes and died uh it gave me such a very strange feeling to hear that okay thanks i really appreciate the call thank you so much so here's what the church says about this we are not obligated to do everything possible to sustain our life not obligated to do everything possible to sustain our life and there are situations in which you might be able to sustain your life with a really burdensome disproportionate kind of medical intervention you know let's say you have a rare form of cancer it's not likely to respond to treatment but there's a you know one out of a thousand chance that this particular treatment is going to work but it's going to make you violently sick and drain your bank account are you obligated to take that treatment no you're not obligated to do that and uh however you can't kill yourself you can't commit suicide now sometimes people their organs shut down and they're not able to process food or water and so there's you know there's no point in eating or drinking because it's not gonna do anything for you you know you don't have any kidneys or you don't have any intestines or whatever and it's not gonna help you uh but but to decide to die by to commit start to commit suicide by starvation would not be permitted by the church because that'd be the the intention to positively kill myself self-murder right now in the case of your friend uh that you know this is a i just don't know what was going on in her mind and i'd like to be charitable i'd like to have a charitable view and and think well maybe her you know maybe she got to the point where her body just said enough is enough and i know my own father who died a year ago in the last week before he died he said to me he said david food does not taste the same to me it tastes different to me than it has ever tasted before something strange is going on well now i know what was going on his body was shutting down his his organs were shutting down and so he had no interest in food he couldn't i mean you could physically put food in him and he did have a few bites here and there and a few drinks but he was start his body started to swell you know it just wasn't it just wasn't going anywhere and he wasn't going to sustain his life yeah and so you know voluntarily not eating under such circumstances wouldn't really be an act of suicide be an act of resignation somebody's 100 years old and they say you know i'm done eating i i'd like to i'd like to kind of think it was probably more the second thing than the first okay appreciate that thank you so much for your call elizabeth hope that's helpful for you we have just enough time for betty in new jersey betty we just have about 30 seconds here what's your question today well i'm a baptized classic at the easter vigil of 55 years and i have a best friend her name is uh i mean she's in lutheran and she said there's no such thing as program there purgatory where is that in the bible and navino said she says it's either heaven or hell could you give me an answer for that sure i've only got about 10 seconds to go i'll do the best i can so first of all purgatory is in sacred scripture but it would there'd still be a purgatory even if it weren't right because we know of the existence of purgatory from passages like ii maccabees chapter 12 from paul's prayers for his friend anissa force and the pastoral epistles other texts that i don't have time to get into now but we also know it from sacred tradition which is also divine revelation and we also know it from the authoritative teaching of the church which is guided by christ's spirit and given the promise of infallibility right um and uh with vineyard venial john himself he tells us in first john 5 that there is sin that does not lead to death and some that does lead to death and saint james tells us that you know perfectly man who control his tongue is a perfect man but most of us stumble in many ways that's not the same thing as committing those grave acts that separate us from the love of god like these vices that saint paul lists in galatians 5 that are clearly mortal so these distinctions are biblical these categories are biblical but more importantly they're biblical but they're also taught by sacred tradition and the teaching authority of the catholic church and that's what your friend really has to come to terms with why did christ tell us we have to have to know the faith we have to have the church that he founded whoever hears you hears me see you next time on call to communion god bless hello this is father john trujillo find a

Channel: EWTN

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Length: 54min 15sec (3255 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 01 2021