EWTN Bookmark - Arise from Darkness - Doug Keck with Fr. Benedict Groeschel - 07-10-2011

this month we're bringing you some of our favorite bookmark episodes recorded over the years with our good friend father Benedict Groeschel we hope you enjoy the following interview from our bookmark our guides and welcome to EWTN bookmark I'm Doug Keck your host were on location with a special guest father Benedict Groeschel talking to him about his book a rise from darkness welcome always a pleasure to see your father has to be here done now arise from darkness that's not one of your newer books but it is one of your more popular books is that not true I would say it's probably the most popular book I wrote out of 15 and it's a book that surprised they I I wrote it very very personally from personal experience of myself and some other people that were going through very difficult times and I always tell people don't rip the pages because my blood will come out but it's interesting Doug because is what every author wants to happen with his book but it gets inconvenient after a while in the middle of the night like two o'clock in the morning the phone will ring and it's somebody from San Diego or ha-lo Lulu who's reading the book right at that time in a moment of darkness and crisis and they get my name out of the phone directory and call me up to talk to me about it and I don't sleep very much so mm-hmm I'm happy to talk to them but they don't realize I'm on New York time and they're on how a Lulu time the subtitle of this book is what to do when life doesn't make sense why is that the subtitle to arise because I didn't want people to read it who were having a good time there's some people or all people have fairly Placid easygoing unchallenging times in life and at that particular moment they don't want to think of the dark times and there are others that are going through dark weeks months years or decades and this book is written for them in fact you even mentioned I think in here that if you're not necessarily in that kind of a place that maybe you should put the book down for a while because that time probably will come yes say and that's the and that's the right time to reap it on the Shelf yeah I say the same thing about st. John of the Cross is writing about the dark night of the soul it may not be your thing right now but just stick around and you're gonna need it well one of the things I thought was interesting right the beginning of the book you talk about this this young couple the husband dies tragically called a freak accident and and you kind of reference the insurance company tender room refer to these as acts of God and you said after going through their their very sad tale about leaving them these young children and everything you wrote you who read these lines are moved as you read them because you know that they could have been written about you with a few details changed these lines are written about you and they are written about me they are written about all of us into every life sorrow comes and Morrow Lindbergh in her book the days of gold days of lead about the death of her the murder of her little baby after her husband had the beautiful victory of flying to France she said into every life come sorrow but only into some lives comes Hara but Hara can come to anyone comes through a tornado you're sitting in your kitchen and a tornado go through and demolishes the house I can how come in a terrible car accident it can come in a fire so we are all vulnerable to horror to tragedy and we all have sorrow your mother dies of cancer it's not horror it's not sudden but it's devastating and it goes on for weeks and months and maybe years and those times do not go on all the time but they go on everyone has their Calvary I do think that people make a mistake and blame it on God and that's not very helpful right in fact the following chapter or section says why did God do it you know why did God do it and maybe he didn't you see the Holy Father and some of his writings about God the Father has taken up the question of the autonomy of the physical world the physical world follows a set of laws the stars come out at night ancient peoples thought the Angels hung them out but we know there is a whole cosmos and this system this engine of the universe operates with its own autonomy it's created by God he starts it going and we believe if we are believers that God is there for you if you get caught in the machinery to help you bring something good out of it a tidal wave a fire an earthquake he doesn't cause the earthquake directly says I'm gonna zap Santa Barbara this afternoon let them have it that's that's not a very it's not like the sodom and gomorrah model no no perhaps that's the way that happened it's you know that does sound very much like the direct action of God and I'd be the last one in the world to say that those things don't happen because I believe that positive things do happen which are not part of the autonomy of creation and these things are called miracles but miracles by their definition are rare I have a very good friend who's one of the most distinguished scientists in the United States and he said to me very wisely science when it stays within its own limits cannot say miracles either happen or do not happen all that it can say is that if they do happen they happen rarely and that that would be true that's part of the definition of a miracle that it's a rare occurrence an intrusion by a divine action into the operation of the autonomy of the universe now we all have experiences when we say coming through the intersection there was a truck the brakes failed and he missed us by two inches thank God and that may be very accurate sometimes the chances of escaping were practically zero and you escaped what made me pause that fraction of a second what I normally would have gone that I tell of a couple wonderful people driving from their daughter's graduate as parents party at college freshman party hit by a young man who was drunk 16 years old unlicensed hit head-on why didn't he leave a minute later why didn't they take a different Road why were they there because they were both killed and you say why wasn't there a miracle and and here's where we come to the point you're never going to get anyplace with the question why the great Padre Pio used to say more harm has been done by the question why than by anything else so don't ask why ask what what am I supposed to do in this circumstance where I am trusting that God whatever happens if I trust him if I remain loyal to him will bring good out of evil and may bring great good out of evil don't you think sometimes I think people like to look at situations where things happen to people and like to say well they must have been doing something wrong or somehow they were in the wrong place at the wrong time as a way of feeling as if they're insulating themselves from having that happen to them that's called jobs comforters okay those are the boys who spoke to job and if you recall from the 35th chapter of the book of Job God was not amused by their observations they were wrong they were wrong there there's a mention of a young man named Peter in this book and it says the writing of this book began more than a half a century ago when the first great tragedy came into the life of a little boy a boy named Peter who's Peter well I'm Peter I identify myself there that's right and it was a terrible tragedy for a little boy our family moved my father built defense plans and we always took our - Scottie dogs with us they were like members of the family they were bought of the family and they both died and it was an incredible tragedy for a nine-year-old boy who was kind of lonely because he wasn't living in his home environment now you mentioned in this book you say that this book is a guide and not an answer what's the difference well if I had an answer to the problem of evil of why evil occurs natural spiritual the evil of people with wicked will the the hold up man who shoots the father of the family together the $3 out of his pocket if I had an answer to that I'd write the book and we could all retire we could all retire but nobody has that answer to why evil happens that answer is even that question is even on the lips of the Messiah why have you forsaken me it's obvious that this life is a drama of good and evil and even our divine Savior is caught in that great drama and for our sakes permits himself to go through the worst of deaths imaginable torture exquisite torture over a period of several hours in the presence of his mother freely because he says no one takes my life away from me I lay it down of my own free choice why well it's part of the mystery of salvation but you say couldn't it have been done easier and I'm sure it could have but this is the message of Christianity to everyone who suffers the son of God went through this - and that dovetails into this mini chapter you called the first step getting over the big lie what is the big one the big lie is the tragedies only happened to a couple of very unfortunate people out on the edges of things and with a little luck and a few prayers they're not going to happen to me and I'm going to lead a happily ever after life which is a fool's paradise and is very much a fool's paradise in the United States most of us come from immigrant people who are very familiar with tragedy with droughts with famines half of my relatives came to the United States from Ireland because of a deadly famine that killed millions of people in 1850 and we all get over here we think well you know we'll move to the suburbs or we'll move to the upper-middle class suburbs or we'll move to a wealthy neighborhood and everything will be peachy and you get there and maybe people are more unhappy than they we're where you started right money brings comfort it does not bring happiness yeah also just the idea you talk about that the attitude may lead to a certain maturity but also lead to a quiet hopelessness you're talking about the idea of almost the reverse of that when people start to realize that everything is in peachy keen but the flip side of that is they start to think that everything is terrible yes how did it Allan's that well by faith because our hope is an eternal life you know in that beautiful old Protestant him abide with me which is prayer of a dying person Swift Falls the Eventide there's a line hope of the hopeless abide with me if you have faith and you know that this life is only a journey and you're keenly aware of that then death itself cannot frighten you as a psychologist is been my observation that a great many people with severe neuroses spend their whole lives worrying about death they're worrying about that they can get enough out of life to make the trip worthwhile and it would seem to me to be worthwhile to believe and then not to spend your life worrying about death death is an instant it's a infinitesimal moment we should be thinking about what comes after death and getting ready for it which is what the parables of Christ are about and we're gonna take a moment right here on EWTN bookmark we're speaking with father Benedict Groeschel about his book arise from darkness much more and welcome back to EWTN bookmark I'm Doug Keck speaking here with father Benedict Groeschel about his book arise from darkness and if you can take a look at this book and up close it's got a very interesting cover father Gersh I want it should talk a little bit about the artwork and the artist this painting was done by a young man who was both an artist and now a priest he was a seminary and money did it and he was deathly ill when he painted this painting it shows a woman who is suffering and blind unable to see clutching a cross within her own being and she can't see the light behind her everything around her is destroyed and he did this painting in a couple of weeks while he was deathly ill with an undiagnosed life-threatening illness which was a hyperactive thyroid and a nurse our our seminary in New York diagnosed what he had nobody else could and he recovered and is now an ordained priest and his name is father John Lynch what's me featured in a show that he was a did read of we did a series called arise from darkness right but it's the story of as he accounts of several people with handicaps who are doing very well and serving the Lord and later on John did another painting showing a young man sitting in ruins after a storm looking at a cross and that's himself he's gone on it's a self-portrait basically that he did afterwards because the name of the book is stumbling blocks and he's on a big stone the message is if you're going through a terribly difficult time hold on the storm will come to an end my dear friend Cardinal Terrence cook but the servant of God loved baseball analogies and he used to say oh you're from New York he's the Yankees well he was actually an old Giants fan from the early days well that he used to say if you strike out stick around you'll be up at bat again it's a very good piece of advice I've sometimes told people look you're going through the worst day of your life tomorrow it has to start to get better sometimes these people have come down in flames their lives have been ruined but a couple of years later they've rebuilt maybe they're not who they used to be or what is important but but they're at peace they're having a peaceful good Christian life what about the inverse of that sometimes people tend to think gee things have been going pretty well for a while am I being prepared for something it's probably a very excellent idea if everything is going well you're in the seven good years and as you are told it's a book of Exodus get ready for the seven lead years I'm of course a moderate pessimist being from Jersey City and when everything is going well I'm uneasy I have to and I have to tell you this as a moderate pessimist I feel very sorry for my optimistic friends because they go through life with so many disappointments if you're a moderate pessimist which almost all New Yorkers are you are prepared for the worst and what it doesn't happen you're delighted one thing I thought was interesting that chapters here and something I think all of us can relate to when friends fail and then in the quote is many times friends fail to be there for us simply because they are human but then you say perhaps they've died yes as you get older many of your friends and the people you relied on have pre deceased you this is called in psychology the loss of mentors father Joseph one of my commission conference said to me one day Benedict let's face it we have become the older raishin we are the mentors about to step out of this but again I come back to people fearing age and fearing death I think it's wonderful to get old I can see the end of the road I can see the red flashing lights I don't know where it's gonna be but I spent my life getting ready for this and I'm hoping on the other side and I'm trusting in our Lord Jesus Christ and I got a list of people that I'm gonna wave goodbye to on my way out that I'll be delighted to leave here but what do you say to the person sisters there's father Benedict Groeschel he's he's been a priest he has all this faith you know and he believes that and he knows that's gonna be true for him what about me I'm not so sure I don't have that same kind of certainty pray pray I I think if a person has uncertainty and doubt and wonder what this is all about it's a marvelous preparation for prayer and you know that even very saintly people go through such times I have a little quotation here from a rather saintly person and she was someone you in fact III will say this I'm gonna just read this letter and ask you to see if you can think of who it is I was all alone without a single friend who give me a word of encouragement I could neither pray nor read but there I remained for hours and hours uneasy in mind and afflicted in spirit unaccounted the weight of my troubles and for the fear that perhaps I was being tricked by the devil and wondering what I could do for my relief not a gleam of Hope seemed to shine upon me from heaven or earth except just this in the midst of all my fears and dangers I never forgot how our Lord must be seeing the weight of what I endured this woman remembered the Christ was there and she writes on my Lord Jesus Christ what a true friend you are and how powerful for when you wish to be with us you can be and you always do wish it if only we receive you and those lines are written by st. Teresa of Avila that great marvelous sprightly woman who founded dozens of convents and changed the face of Spain in many ways what life was no bowl of cherries for her see in America we have this illusion that everything is fine you ask somebody how are you fine the old the old peasant people who came from the other side didn't do that you know I grew up in New York and you say to your Jewish neighbor how are you don't ask the words day in my life or you'd ask my great-grandmother how are you she says I'm offering it up you know so we have this illusion that everything is supposed to be wonderful actually many of life's best blessings come wrapped up in dirty newspaper God does allow things untoward to happen to us and gives us the grace to trust him which i think is the key to the whole thing to trust in God that no matter what happens he will be there to give you the grace not only to survive but to bring good out of evil one of the other things that struck me in the book because talking about when friends fail and relationships and changes I think especially as we come up to the to the next millennium and maybe people feel even a certain amount of the call to conversion might be even greater and you write about we lose our friends also because God calls us to do something different oh I've never made it a secret that I go to a a meetings I'm not a member I've never been drunk never even had a strong drink but one of the things I often hear at AAA meetings is that a a was so necessary because when somebody gave up drinking they had to get a whole new set of friends because they're all their other friends roll in the lounge or in the bar and a a provides a wonderful universal family you can walk into an amet and a different continent and you will be accepted as a brother and this is true of the other 12-step programs I wish the churches were as good at doing this as EIA is and the churches are that good in places where they're persecuted AAA works because people have their back to the wall they're great they're gonna get sober or they're gonna die well do you think people many times need to be at that point in time where they're they just cannot longer rely on their own means so they have to turn to the Lord I say that every intelligent adult goes to Calvary to the Cross at least two or three times in life we don't go once we go once when we're dying if we know we're dying but most of us go to Calvary a few times this is why I hate to see a church without a crucifix the statue of the resurrection doesn't help me because I never saw anybody who was risen from the dead I'm hoping to but I haven't done it yet but I've seen lots of people on the cross and so is everybody else some people don't have faith and I know what to do with a cross but they go to Calvary anyway right speaking of that you talk about security we talked about this before the way we liked especially Americans we get things and we feel secure and you talk about our Lord that he did nothing to encourage people who had possessions to feel secure in this world in fact if anything he actively discouraged feelings of security is the parable of the rich farmer who toured out his barns and build bigger ones and said rest my soul and enjoy life and the angel came and said you fool this light of night they will require your life of you to be secure in earthly possessions is absurd if there is anything that the world the secular mundane glitzy world agrees with the gospel on is that you can't take it with you what was the genesis for this book where did it come from well it was the suggestion of father John Lynch you know he had painted the painting almost by inspiration he started to paint didn't know what he was gonna paint and we looked at the painting and we said well what's the name for it arise from darkness he said wouldn't it be great to have a book with that on the cover because he had come out of a profound darkness mm-hmm but would you usually write a book like this usually start writing what do you do talks first how it looks at Genesis in that you never start writing I give talks and talks and talks and talks and if you've been so unfortunate as to hear my tapes and then read my books you know many of us have been lucky enough to do I make audio tapes then I come down to EWTN make videotapes and if it works I make a book and if the book sells and make a Broadway musical mm-hmm so I'm coming out with purgatory in the fall is that opening okay we'll look forward to that and we'll also look forward to the next time you can stop by and talk to us about your next book whenever you find the time thank you so much well the benedict so it's great to see you and thank you for joining us right here on EWTN bookmark I'm Doug Keck the book has been arised from darkness the author of course father Benedict Groeschel make sure you join us next time and

Channel: EWTN

Views: 37,513

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Keywords: EWTN Bookmark, Doug Keck, Fr. Benedict Groeschel, Arise from Darkness, Catholic

Id: w1guN5dHp4I

Length: 26min 30sec (1590 seconds)

Published: Mon Jul 11 2011