Called to Communion with Dr. David Anders - 2020-03-14 - Called to Communion with Dr. David Anders

what's stopping you from becoming a Catholic why can't women become priests why do Catholic worship Mary why do I need to confess my sins to a priest where is purgatory in the bus I think the Pope has too much authority stopping you you are called to communion with dr. David Anders [Music] hey everybody welcome again to called to communion this is the program for our non Catholic brothers and sisters those of you who are watching EWTN listening to EWTN radio and you're thinking you know I used to be an active Catholic back in the day but something happened or my life changed and for whatever reason I fell away from the church and now I'm kind of interested in getting back but there's this one thing well what is that one thing we'd love to talk about that with you maybe you've never been a Catholic but you hear about Catholicism in the news or perhaps you've got a good friend who is an active Catholic and they seem very happy to be an active Catholic so you've got questions as well love to hear from you right now at 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 two oh five two seven one two nine eight five you can also text the letters EWTN to five five zero zero zero wait for our response and then text us your first name and your brief question message and data rates may apply and of course those of you watching on TV can participate as well we have an email address for you and that is CTC at ewtn.com CTC at ewtn.com we'd love to hear from you today Charles berry is our producer Ryan penny is our phone screener we also have Jeff person on social media he'll be glad to a forward any questions you might want to pose via YouTube or Facebook live to us here in the radio studio I'm Tom price along with dr. David Anders Tom how are you today you know what doing great how about you my friend hang in there thank you glad to hear that we're going to lead off with an anonymous email this person says is divorce ever the solution to a 25 year long sacramental covenant Union which is no longer a priority to one of the partners thank you I appreciate the question I don't know that I would use the word solution civil divorce can be is not always but can be permissible if there is a grave harm that could occur to one or the other partners if if we don't have recourse to this very tragic outcome so here's an example let's say you're validly married to somebody in the eyes of the church but they become like a you know violent person and they are trying to kill you or something or they go there get on drugs or start practicing the occult or do some horrible thing or they are sort of serial infidelity to make it absolutely either morally or physically impossible to live at peace in the same home with them and they are absolutely not repentant mm-hm and you may actually need to invoke the civil authority for protection I said you see I mean this is the kind of situation where you know divorce is clearly a tragic outcome but it may be necessary to preserve the life or the welfare or perhaps the spiritual integrity of the home now a civil divorce does not end a valid marriage doesn't end a valid marriage so in the eyes of the church and God you're still actually married to that person but you've just had to physically separate because it's it's physically or morally impossible for you to be in the same place I have a friend a very dear friend who is in that exact situation even though he and his wife have been divorced for many years he still calls her his wife sure now what I would encourage people is that divorce is not the solution for your own subjective unhappiness mm-hmm right because marriage is not about making me happy you're making you happy it's about serving something other than ourselves and especially if you're talking about a sacramental marriage that you're in an ecclesial state and your marriage exists to serve the good of the church and of civil society so you wouldn't walk away from that ecclesial state any more than a priest would say yeah you know I don't like this parish I'm out of here no you've taken up you made a promise to this is this is your vocation this is your mode of holiness and the way you're gonna serve the church in God very good and we hope that's helpful for you thank you so much for your anonymous email here is a not anonymous from Chuck Chuck says you have stated many times that Jesus's death was not a penal substitution but rather a true atonement so how do Catholics tap into the gift of Christ's sacrifice Oh wonderful question so what I would distinguish is satisfies a sacrifice of atonement or a sacrifice of reparation versus a penal substitution and the Catholic Church does not regard the death of Christ as substitutionary punishment as if God were somehow pouring out his wrath on an innocent person namely Jesus and so he could then be Clement and merciful to a bunch of unworthy people namely us that's the Protestant view we think that Christ offered his life as a sacrifice giving up something of value a gift out of love to the Father and that makes reparation for our sin so how do we lay hold of the goods of that sacrifice and make them our own well through the traditional means of grace respect most especially faith but also the sacraments and then by our participation in the life of grace through acts of virtue and especially private prayer okay well we thank you so much for that hopefully we have enough time to tackle this one what is the Catholic stance on the evangelical sinner's prayer this is from Jordan regarding the four spiritual laws I'm wondering if the first three laws and the scriptures they attach to each are okay to pray as a prayer of conversion seems to be the conclusion in law number for that to be saved or born again you must pray to ask Jesus to save you let's say you yeah thanks I really appreciate the question so the origin of the sinner's prayer actually is in the 19th century early 20th century with the evangelist dl moody before moody even even evangelical christians didn't really conceive of salvation is a sort of mantra that you would recite or some sort of transaction that you could that you could initiate on you know one-time basis and then just say these words in your safe that's this really not even historic Protestantism let alone historic Catholicism or biblical Christianity dl moody made that up because he had these big Crusades people would come and he had these crusade workers that were trying to encourage people to be converted and they needed to know what that looked like so he said well here you know I'll get him to say this and hand out these little tracks bill bright of Campus Crusade really popularized that in this little yellow booklet called the four spiritual walls and and quite honestly the four spiritual laws present himself as a kind of formula that if you just sort of do this little formula or recite these little words then you're going to go to heaven your question is more about the theology of the laws themselves the so-called laws I'll come back to that after the break very good so Jordan now if you're listening this afternoon and we certainly hope that you are do sit tight we'll continue with that in just a moment we'll also get to Matt in Lincoln Nebraska listening on YouTube and we have a line open for you as well at eight three three two eight eight EWTN that's eight three three two eight eight three nine eight six four called a conversion communion it's called a communion here on EWTN I almost renamed the show on the spot to call it call to conversion I said no no it is called to communion I promise with dr. David Andrews here on EWTN we'll get to the phones in just a moment here we're gonna continue with this email that we received from Jordan regarding the sinner's prayer sure so Jordan had asked about sort of the Protestant tradition of praying the sinner's prayer and in particular he asked about the theology in bill brights little yellow booklet the four spiritual laws and whether or not a Catholic could could affirm those laws and the and I began to say there's a difficulty with this program right because it presents our relationship to God in our salvation as if it were something that could be accomplished by simply reading words off a page whereas of course Christ in the gospel tells us that our that our salvation depends on a radical transformation of our interior life we actually have to become new people in him and exhibit these dispositions these virtues that he calls us to like poverty of spirit and hungry for righteousness and peacemaking all those things that he says in the Sermon on the Mount and that those be manifest in acts of of corporal and spiritual mercy like feeding the hungry and the naked and that encompasses a lot more than just reading words off a page sure now when it comes to the actual booklet could a Catholic affirm the booklet well there are some problems with it now as stated I mean it gives you some good principles like Christ is the provision for man's sin and we have to receive Christ as Savior those things are true in a way but not in the way that mr. bright intended them so when a you know if you say a person must receive Christ well that's true we do but what is the scripture teach what is the Catholic Church teach about receiving Christ well initially we receive price for actually he receives us a through baptism st. Paul says we die with Christ in Baptism and are raised again with him to new life but then that it's not just a one in done kind of thing we have to continually abide in him and be nourished by him and the sacrament of that abiding is the Holy Eucharist and Jesus said whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me and if you abide in me and my words abide in you you'll bear much fruit well that's an ongoing reality it's not one in done right right this is the this is a this is the memorial of his presence with us continually until the end of the age and of course Christ said we have to persevere to the end to be saved so do we receive Christ yes but can we receive him simply by reciting a little mantra and a yellow book no we have to receive him by by an ongoing participation in the life of the church and the sacraments baptism especially and then continuing that dynamic especially in the Eucharist and the sacrament of penance we have to persevere in that and in a life of charity active good works penance and virtue all the way to the end so I would not give the four spiritual laws to someone except on on at grave risk of distorting their understanding of salvation and the nature of God okay and Jordan thank you so much for your email we hope that is of assistance to you if you'd like to send us an email for a future show please send that to CTC at ewtn.com CTC at ewtn.com as promised we're going to get to the phones in just a moment here you know in the first segment of the program we answered an email regarding divorce and that prompted Shar who's watching us right now on YouTube to get involved here Shar says I got a divorce because my husband was a drug addict he wouldn't work he was occasionally abusive to me but I've always felt guilty because I didn't believe in a divorce so was my divorce a sin okay thanks so keeping in mind that I very little about this relationship other than just what you've revealed to me here based on what you've were counted I would say that this is precisely the kind of situation in which the church would say perhaps a civil divorce is your only recourse because clearly this individual is not at all living up to the demands of a sacramental marriage or the good of a husband right now and you cannot live in the home you can't live in the home with somebody who is a drug addict I mean you can't do it it's it's it's physically dangerous to you because drug addicts not only they have these narcotics that can kill you but they're usually enmeshed in the life of at least petty crime and they have terrible associations I mean they're not they're not getting their drugs from you know reputable people they're getting them from you know very dangerous individuals you have to separate yourself from that you got no choice all right so it's very probable even that someone who is in that frame of mind who takes the vows of marriage doesn't have any idea what they are saying and certainly doesn't intend what they're saying and so Mike if you haven't already done this I would strongly suspect that you've got grounds for a declaration of nullity and I would I would actually approach the tribunal in your diocese begin the annulment process and then you know then you'll you this this this door will be closed and you can walk away absolutely free sure thank you so much for checking us out today on YouTube we do appreciate that and if you're ready now let's go to the phones at 8 3 3 2 8 8 EWTN we begin with Matt in Lincoln Nebraska checking us out today also on YouTube a first-time caller hello Matt what's on your mind today thank you so much dr. Anders for taking our call today I've been in many conversations with my Protestant brothers and sisters about several Catholic teachings like the Eucharist Marian the Pope and whenever we go to evidence in Scripture in an early church fathers they do not know how to refute the evidence they often change the subject of times okay if they what what what they say is what is most important is the simple gospel message and the other topics don't actually matter as much how would you respond to them okay so first of all I appreciate the question yeah I would I think I would begin with do they actually believe the teaching of Jesus is important but they think the teaching of Jesus is important and you may say well that's a silly question of course they do it's not a silly question I used to be an evangelical protestant and the truth of the matter was I really kind of discounted the teaching of Jesus I I thought that I understood the mind of st. Paul mm-hmm because I read Paul through the mind of Martin Luther and I my Bible could almost be reduced to five chapters Romans three and four and Galatians two three and four and I thought kind of everything else had to be interpreted in light of Luther's interpretation of those few verses and of course Jesus doesn't fit well into Martin Luther's understanding of the gospel because he says a lot of things about the interior transformation of our moral life as a as a as a requirement for salvation and of course Luther didn't believe that so he had to kind of dismiss the teaching of Christ and said so actually quite explicitly so I would kind of go to the teaching of Jesus and say okay simple gospel no problem you know who else believed in the simple gospel Francis of Assisi Francis of Assisi his entire spirituality was based around sort of radical obedience to the teaching of Christ especially in the Sermon on the Mount and that's also just a couple of chapters Matthew 5 6 and 7 that's a simple gospel yes let's focus on that the simple gospel so then you have to have a conversation what do you mean by the simple gospel right and obviously that's not what they mean that's not what they mean but another way of looking at this is to say well you know to say we emphasize the simple gospel is kind of like saying I'm not gonna mess with doctors and exercise and diet books I'm just gonna stick to simple health well how you gonna get healthy so is salvation simple Jesus says ma you might make his easy my burden is light he he does sort of remove a lot of the accoutrements if you will of Old Testament religion and ritualism because he says in John chapter 4 the father seeks those true worshippers who will worship Him in spirit and in truth but we need the support of the church and the sacraments that Christ gave us in order to attain to that life of of true and spiritual worship so if if Jesus gives us the Eucharist if Jesus gives us baptism if Jesus gives us the teaching office of the church if he gives us the sacrament of reconciliation which he did when he said to the Apostles whoever sins you forgive are forgiven he must have done this for a reason right he didn't do it for no reason why did he do it because we need the supernatural grace of God we need the help of God in order to attain to this life of interior righteousness simple to say hard to do yeah absolutely Matt thank you so much for your call that opens up a line for you right now at 8:33 288 ewtn that's eight three three two eight eight three nine eight six called a communion here on EWTN glad you're with us today here now is Pat Patterson Columbus Grove Ohio listening on Holy Family radio a Pat what's on your mind today yes I am Catholic and I have a friend that became Catholic a year ago and she was on vacation at the beach and came across some young people and they got talking and she shared she's you know very was a very strong evangelical and she said I didn't know what else to tell them so she asked if they're ready to give their life to Christ I said yes just anyone do it right now and she said oh I need no new was the sinner's prayer that I learned you know years ago so she's asking you know what and then she encouraged them to go to a Catholic Church you know but she was wondering if those there another way to approach this to strangers that you'll never see again yeah sure appreciate the question so you know I think it's helpful for people who have this strong evangelistic impulse and if they've come into the Catholic Church from these Protestant denominations and they're really used to sort of sealing the deal if you will you know with with some sort of evangelistic opposes for response exactly they really they have that strong inclination they feel like they hadn't done their job if they haven't sort of delivered that did Jesus ever ask anybody to pray the sinner's prayer Jesus never did he sometimes did call people to act in radically committed ways you know to sell what they possessed and give to the poor or come follow him or let the dead bury their own dead he said some pretty arresting things but didn't actually call people to pray the sinner's prayer but he did call them to conversion and to penance and that the Catholics believe in conversion we think you have to be converted from a life of sin to a life of grace but we don't necessarily think that it can be easily identified by the singular moment in time except own so far as you acknowledge baptism as the right of entrance into the church so I don't know that it's there's a there's a there's a thinking that I must get somebody to make some sort of psychological commitment and and and I haven't done my job unless I've accomplished that but that really doesn't trust in the Providence or the or the intervention of God right if you can get someone to think about God and the transformation of their moral life and hold out in front of them the prospect of Catholic life as the as the authentic domain in which to live that new life then you've really done a tremendous thing just because somebody prays a prayer doesn't mean it'll stick right yeah but the thing about living a sacramental life is it's not a one-time commitment it's an ongoing commitment it's a life project and and that's really what we want to encourage people into the Catholic Church has a concept of gradualism it does that everyone's conversion has to be gradual what it means is we are happy if we can move someone even a step in the direction of virtue and away from Vice you know if you could cut down from 20 cigarettes to ten we it's a step in the right direction everything you can do to advance people a little bit more a little bit more but if you if you're really looking for a kind of definitive break with the world in Catholic life that's always understood as baptism or penance so if you if you feel the need to seal the deal that's what you're aiming for not not to just pray a prayer out of a booklet but to actually move through the sacraments of initiation Pat thank you so much for your call and I really like the idea of the life project that that really resonates with me I didn't make it up you're a good man for bringing it up at this moment Jesus made it up there you go it is called a communion here on EWTN we have a couple of lines open for you at eight three three two eight eight EWTN that's eight three three two eight eight three nine eight six here's a question here from Sean checking us out on YouTube Sean says what dr. Anders encouraged speaking about things such as Eucharistic miracles apparitions etc to those who aren't persuaded by other arguments in the faith so that's a dicey question you know the other day I have a son that came home from school he goes to a Catholic school and he was really excited he's a young kid because he had encountered some apologetic alarm it's connecting the faith in science and it really just thrilled him to think that there was a sort of scientific and rational basis for things that he believed and I said well okay great help give me the arguments like what did you learn and maybe was just because he's a little kid and he didn't you know have it all together at his head but what he actually articulated to me like I didn't find it all that persuasive you know as an argument but it moved him you know and I was sorry about that and and so I kind of bit my tongue right you know inside I was thinking there are a lot better arguments you know but I didn't say that I kind of held that in and and to the extent that there are that there are true apparitions and mirror and things like that they exist to move the hearts of believers and unbelievers alike to greater faith and God in His Church and so certainly don't discount that as a real factor that can draw people to God I guess it would it would depend on the credibility of the claim but you know the harder it is to discount the more persuasive it might be I personally am more drawn to towards demonstrative philosophical arguments where in order to deny them you have to deny some major premise that's very very intuitive to our experience like I exist or I'm rational or the universe makes sense people can deny those but at a much greater intellectual cost it's not so hard to deny I find you know well I don't believe that account of that miracle well you know that's what this person said in the 12th century but how do I know I wasn't there right so those things can often be useful as sort of confirming evidences that render the faith more appealing or coherent you know but at the end of the day if someone's drawn to the Catholic faith through those things I'm certainly there's no bad reason to become a Catholic no not at all well very good and we thank you Shawn for checking us out today on YouTube in a moment here we'll be talking with Bob in Albany New York listening online wdtn.com and if you're listening right now we would love to hear from you if you have a question for dr. David Andrews about the Catholic faith eight three three two eight eight EWTN is our number eight three three two eight eight three nine eight six looks like the three lines open at the moment here on call to communion on EWTN do stay with us [Music] it's called a communion here on EWTN we do have a line open for you right now at eight three three two eight eight EWTN that's eight three three two eight eight three nine eight six here is Bob in Albany New York listening online ewtn.com hey there Bob what's on your mind today yes hi I have a question regarding my wife and I are currently in conflict regarding the condition of a child's heart at birth she contends that it's wicked and evil and I I've been I was raised Catholic and I'm just not seeing that can you clear that up for me yeah thanks I appreciate the question I'm sorry for the conflict this is a difficult and painful one so the belief that the hearts of infants are intrinsically evil and deserving damnation of course is not a biblical teaching nothing in scripture says that in fact Jesus says in Matthew chapter 19 that the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to such as these and so they shouldn't be hindered in coming to Christ so it's not from Scripture that they derive this teaching it's actually from the reformed or Calvinist tradition so it's a tradition of man not a biblical teaching not one that God has revealed and the where the teaching came from really was that embedded in the Protestant hypothesis is this idea that we could never ever do anything to merit God's favor and that that is continues to be the case even after regeneration so even after somebody's born again in the spirit so says the Protestant even then all of our works our righteous works continue to be as filthy rags before God Luther believed that even concupiscence now what does concupiscence concupiscence is this this in moderate desire that we have within us or for bodily pleasure right you know I want to eat more pizza than is good for me that that inclination itself was imputable as sin in other words if you never you could you might never lift your hand to eat the pizza but the fact that you actually wanted to eat more pizza than was good for you Luther thinks means that you deserve eternal damnation Wow well we know I mean that of course not if this is biblical scripture no this is a sacred tradition no this isn't the teaching of Jesus but this is where it comes from this idea and now our infants concupiscent do they have a moderate desires or maybe a minor it's the wrong word but do they have desire they have passions that are not regulated by reason of course they're infants and I have any reason to speak of their language they just little you know little little crying machines erupt into emotion because some felt meat is not being met and even Agustin recognized that in the confession he talks about you know sort of our untamed passions evident from childhood well if you regard that kind of activity as itself sinful well then yeah you're gonna think infants are sinful because yeah these these little balls of passionate emotion and if you hold to this Protestant idea of total profit you're gonna think that so I guess the way to counter that it's gonna be tricky because it's it's intertwined with a whole theology of salvation and what it means to have a relationship with God so more is at stake in this conversation than just the state of infants it's really a conversation about the state of our own hearts and what is necessary to be made right with God and so I kinda don't think you can separate those questions I don't think you can deal with the infant question without dealing with the human question sure and the salvation question and the Jesus question and the Protestant Catholic question they're all they're all kind of a piece now it can be helpful I think to clarify the distinctions if this is the Protestant understanding of the heart of infants and of total depravity and original sin what is the Catholic understanding well what the Catholic Church holds is that we fell in our first parents Adam and Eve and as such we lost this gift of original justice or original righteousness this relationship that Adam and Eve enjoyed with God and we come into the world without that relationship we're not in intimate union with God when we are naturally born we have to be reborn spiritually reborn in Baptism and Jesus talks about that that in John chapter 3 and and we have wounds we have wounds in our nature that incline us to sin can Koopa sense is one of them and grace comes to heal those wounds but but the wounds themselves are not sins they're just wounds they incline us to sit but sin moral culpability is a human act meaning it's it's it follows the deliberation of reason so that might be another way to get at this question to kind of get behind it and ask some questions like well do you regard you know an inclination towards sin as sin mm-hm and if so then that that falls outside the domain of the will right because my inclinations precede the acts of my will well so if you think that if you think that that I'm sinful before I've done anything before I've chosen before I've actually acted then there's then there's there seems to be no moral significance to our acts at all and and we're just we're just automotives driven mechanically or fatalistically in the universe governed entirely by God in which case why are we even talking yeah for sure what we do appreciate your call Bob thank you so much for it it is called a communion here on EWTN here is angel now angels listening in Muncie Indiana via Facebook a first-time caller angel what's on your mind today hi I'm calling to inquire about if someone wanted to become Catholic they were married and their husband and them had both previously been married so say the wife myself want to become Catholic and then the husband did not and would not do an annulment could you still come into the Catholic Church sure thanks so so theoretically yes you're gonna have to kind of walk through a thicket of issues with the priest right and you have to explain your situation to him and help him help you to kind of navigate that thicket because what would be preferable of course is just to say look you don't have to become Catholic I understand that you don't want to become Catholic don't become Catholic this is very important to me and for the sake of my conscience would you participate with me to the extent necessary so that I can have peace of soul and could you do that for me you know as an act of love you don't have to follow me into the church but respect the dignity of my own conscience and free choice and hopefully we could make that appeal maybe he'd be willing to come talk to the priest about what would be necessary to get that job done that's what would really be my preference if he's absolutely not willing to participate there are there are ways to slice that Apple so to speak but you're gonna have to kind of walk that through with your priest but yes it can be done using the word conscience I think will open some doors right well can people were sensitive to that okay angel thank you so much for your call called a communion here on EWTN line open for you right now yes indeed eight three three two eight eight EWTN that's eight three three two eight eight three nine eight six here is janay now in Ocala Florida listening on her i heart radio app she's the first-time caller janae what's on your mind today I've been trying to figure out the role and location of women in the Catholic Church I tried reading Pope John Paul the second but he's so up there and intelligence that is just beyond my grasp or understanding and I was hoping you could explain it in a more regular person sure absolutely I appreciate the question we have to put away those two dollar words I'm gay I'm right there with you Pope John Paul he's a wonderful guy great Pope but man he uses some big concepts yes I'm right there with you so essentially what the Pope says is this men and women are absolutely equal in dignity 100% equal in dignity co-partners and the work of redemption and salvation family life and all the rest of it and women have every right to be involved in civil society and to make use of their gifts as men would okay so all that's familiar to us even in the secular world here's where here's where the Pope puts the kind of special Catholic shine on it if you will women are not men men are not women so while they're equal in dignity they they have different character different dispositions sometimes different gifts and these gifts are complementary to one another they're not contradictory to one another and we should respect that we should respect the fact that that women and men while co-equal in dignity have look not to put too fine a point on it they've got different bodies and even those biological differences impose some necessity in administration of justice so let's let me give you a concrete example if feminism secular feminism says hey women are just as good as men they can beat you black and blue in the courtroom or the or the surgery or the political sphere that's true that's true they can and often do sure but can they do it without sacrificing their maternity now the the drive and secular feminism says motherhood that's passe that's old-school we're done with that you know women are hard-nosed they can they can carry a sword and wear armor and be a superhero we don't need all that maternity stuff and the women who have followed that path and listened to that message and up in you know 40 years old or 45 years old and yes they climbed the corporate ladder and they became the best lawyer in the firm and the top paid surgeon or whatever it is and then they realize I wish I'd had kids I wish I'd had kids God gave me a body he gave me a nature he gave me a desire for children and I stifled that because I listened to that feminist message that said I have to beat out men and everything and now I wish I had children what would a just society that actually regarded the dignity of women look like is it just a society that that pushes women to the head of every engineering class because we got to fill up that quota or maybe it's a society that says we want to make it so that women can be engineers and mommies if they want to and a culture that supports that choice or what if a woman says you know what being a there is a more sublime vocation than being the top paid engineer or surgeon or architect or whatever mm-hmm are you going to look down on me is my society going to despise me because I think that's a more worthy or more noble choice now I think many people in our society do despise that choice they do look down on women that choose maternity that she's motherhood over say a professional career even highly competent women that could beat you black and blue in the courtroom but they'd rather love and raise their children and and respecting the dignity of women means we have to we have to value that choice understand that husbands and wives mothers and fathers are both essential for the maintenance of society for the raising of children for replenishing the culture and for humane values that go beyond mere production just making money there's more to life than making money and Pope John Paul said that women have a kind of genius there's what he calls the genius of women that men lack precisely in their attention to the person and you know you get you get a bunch of guys and gals in a room and they'll be talking about the law case or the football game or whatever and one kid cries down the hall and every woman in the room like drops what they're doing and looks down the hall yep and the men just keep going on the football right that's the genius of women sure absolutely so have that's helpful for you Jen a thank you so much for your call from Ocala Florida it's called a communion here on EWTN hey we have a brand new book on set with us today it is overcoming the evil within a brand new from EWTN publishing from our friend Father Wade moniece's father Wade reflects on the reality nature and horror of sin and he helps you guide in overcoming challenging issues dependencies addictions some of the highlights of this great book what fear of the Lord really means for consequences of every sinful act for consequences that is also how to perform an effective examination of conscience sometimes this is really tough for people and also a daily to help you on your journey to sainthood can't recommend this book highly enough it is overcoming the evil within by father Wade moniece's brand-new from EWTN publishing it is available right now at EWTN RC dot-com by Catholic shop EWTN RC dot-com don't miss out on this great new book it is called a communion here on EWTN here is Alec now in Moberly Missouri and he is a first-time caller Alec what's on your mind today hi I'm reading John Cassian in his Institute's book 12 chapter 27 and referring to Jesus he says I am NOT able to do anything of myself he says but the father who abides in me himself does the work and the person of this assumed manhood he says that he can do nothing by himself how then can we who are ashes nor think we do not stand in need of the Lord's help and whatever pertains to our salvation and my question is in relation to this and the fact that Jesus is according to John filled with grace and truth what is the Catholic understanding of grace in relationship to the inner Trinitarian relationship of grace and how does that impact grace as we understand it as human persons being reached out to by God's face okay thanks I appreciate the question so if I had more time I was gonna actually pull up the text of Thomas in the Summa where he discusses this exact question and I don't have it at hand so I'm just got to recommend to you to go to book three of the Summa Theologica and read what st. Thomas writes about Grace in the human soul of Christ okay okay but in a nutshell Christ the the person of Christ because he was divine and human the human soul of Christ was pervaded by grace as as we can also be pervaded by grace in a participatory manner but of course he he he had he experienced that grace in his human soul in a way radically different from the way we do because we receive that in a created manner in a in a sort of remote participatory way but Christ the human Christ was hypothetically United in his person to the Godhead so it really you know emerged from from him I mean as the divine being but there is an experience of grace in the human soul of Christ now when we encounter God's grace sanctifying grace in the sacraments through faith and come to us through Christ and the atoning death of Jesus Church teaches that this is a participation in the divine nature in a creative manner in a creative manner but of course Christ is is united to the divine nature of the human Christ is United to the divine nature by way of the hypostatic Union right in his very person not in this not in this created quality that we do that's infused into our souls in which we can lose you know we can lose the grace of God through mortal sin Jesus of course couldn't possibly lose the grace of God he is divine but there's clearly an analogy and and all of the goods of the spiritual life that we receive we received through Christ because of the union of the divine and the human nature in him okay Alec thank you so much for your call glad you're checking in there in Moberly Missouri called a communion here on EWTN we're going now to Martha in Cleveland listening on our great affiliate there am 14 our a.m. 1260 the rock a first-time caller Martha what's on your mind today okay so thank you for taking my call and I'm trying to make it as clear as I can I was given a book by one of my close relatives and it's called a theology of the ordinary written by the author who teaches theology at the University of st. Andrews in Scotland is also the her and her husband write a lot of books for the live godspeed org what I live godspeed organization or project and as I was reading this book I just want to take a look at because it's part of her like book study group look whatever sharing group and it seemed like it was contradicting stuff about the Catholic faith but then again it was very pedagogical so I'm just stupid my bag read through this but it's really a generic type of a good book you know on how you everyday things that you do everyday are important you know you can make them holy and I was wondering if you had read this book or if you know of this book or this organization okay so I haven't read it and until this phone call I hadn't heard of the organization but but just while we've been talking I've done a little research a high and I know enough now to make me a little wary okay okay the author who I'm sure is a person of goodwill I do not believe as a Catholic and in fact I think has her academic work on the theology of John Calvin of course is a major protestant thinker and she teaches at a protestant university and in fact was awarded some accolades by christianity today which is a major evan Jellicle protestant publication so not having read the book but just based on the pedigree of the author my suspicion would be that this book teaches a protestant understanding of god and the moral life and of salvation and that would that would definitely make me wary of taking it at face value now if you are interested in a theology of the ordinary so to speak we got that in the Catholic Church we got it in spades we got it all day long if I might recommend something much closer at hand Mother Angelica was all about the theology of the ordinary and we got reams of books by Mother Angelica available through EWTN publishers if you want something a little bit more highbrow right st. Josemaria Escriva who of course was sort of known for the theology of the ordinary and the spirituality of the ordinary of daily life he's kind of a big-gun if you will but Mother Angelica would be great for the theology of the ordinary that's fully Catholic okay a couple of great sources for you there Martha thank you so much for your call here is Jerry now in Buffalo Missouri listening on Sirius XM channel 130 a first-time caller hey Jerry what's on your mind today I was wondering if I get some clarification on plenary indulgence I understand you can seek it for yourself or for someone who's passed I understand there's some other requirements reconciliation and Eucharist praying for the Pope's missions but what I don't clearly understand is on a plinth on an indulgence it seems that it says that the indulgence is used to provide cleansing when you're in purgatory for sins that have been forgiven and that seems to kind of contradict a little bit in my mind what I was taught about reconciliation all right I can help you out so I don't know if you have children Jerry I do and this is an analogy I'm getting her to give you and if my kid comes in the house and I say you know don't wear your muddy shoes in the kitchen and in he Trump's with the muddy shoes and he gets mud all over the kitchen floor and I look down and I say how could you possibly do that I'm terribly offended you didn't listen to me you got mud all over the floor and he looks up at me with the big baby doll eyes and he starts tearing up and he says dad I'm so sorry and I say it is okay son I forgive you we make up hug him we are reconciled all is forgiven it's all good he's forgiven then I say there's a mop in the corner would you please clean up your dirty foot pressure cleaning up the three footprints is not the price of reconciliation with his father the price of reconciliation with his father was saying I'm sorry he says I'm sorry I forgive it it's all good cleaning up the dirty footprints is just making up for the mess he made that's all it is all right when we go to confession we say I'm sorry and the priest says i absolve you it's all good we've been reconciled that's what the word means we are reconciled to our loving father and in it and our relationship is made right but penance is cleaning up the muddy footprints sure pennis doesn't earn god's forgiveness it just cleans up the muddy footprints if we don't clean up all money footprints in this life we get to clean them up in the next life and when we when we obtain an indulgence for a soul that's in purgatory it's like when the older brother walks in and sees the young kid slaving away at the muddy footprints and he says huh I'll lend a hand I'll lend a hand we're just lending a hand with the muddy footprints that's all it is and it doesn't it doesn't mean we're buying forgiveness it doesn't mean that we've never been forgiven we have been forgiven we're just helping out with the muddy footprints all right gear out Jerry thank you so much for your call here is a Lourdes or Lourdes checking us out on Facebook today Lourdes says did Jesus know everything that he was to suffer and if so do we know when he knew all this yes Jesus knew everything that he was gonna suffer and of course the second person of the Trinity knew in eternity past everything that he would have to suffer and the human mind of Christ knew at the moment of his conception everything that he was going to suffer okay very good and so yeah he always had omniscience okay very good and here's an anonymous text that also came in during this hour this person says I often hear Catholics say that all people are children of God where does the church get this idea what is the point of adoption through salvation if we're all God's children already I appreciate the question the statement that we are all God's children is said in felicitous Lee if we do not distinguish our our sort of natural generation from our first parent Adam from our adopted sonship through Christ right and and there is a special way in which we are adopted into gods family by grace that is a distinct that it's different from the sense in which we are all God's offspring is there teaching in Sacred Scripture that we are sort of all God's offspring so to speak yes acts 17 I've that phrase is found precisely in acts 17 the the genealogy of Luke when Luke gives Christ's genealogy he traces a traicee genealogy all the way back to Adam whom Luke identifies as the Son of God all right not in the way that Christ was the son of God of course but it's God's offspring and we're all we're all sons and daughters of Adam and Eve we're creatures of God he made us but we are we're dead spiritually and we have to be reborn spiritually not just by a natural generation but a supernatural spiritual regeneration by grace and in that way we are born again into God's family and adopted by him in a special way very good thank you so much for your text unfortunately got a couple of calls toward the end of the program Ryan can't get them screened quite that quickly so here's my advice to you call early in the show so that there's enough time to get your call screened and hopefully get you on the air as quickly as possible dr. David Andrews thank you my friend thank you Tom we do the program here on EWTN radio five days a week live at 2:00 p.m. Eastern with an encore at 11:00 p.m. Eastern on EWTN radio we also bring you a best of call to Communion and that is on sundays at 2:00 p.m. Eastern and of course you can check out the podcast any time of the day or night by going to EWTN radio net EWTN radio dotnet on behalf of our fantastic team behind the glass Charles Barry Ryan Penney and Jeff Burton I'm Tom price along with dr. David Andrews see you next time here on EWTN it's called to Communion have a great day and God bless [Music]

Channel: EWTN

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Length: 50min 34sec (3034 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 13 2020