EWTN Live - Surviving the New Year - Fr. Mitch Pacwa, S.J. with Sr Briege Mckenna - 01-05-2011

as we begin a new year you may be asking yourself where will I find the power to see it through we'll have some tipsy tonight so please stay with us thank you thank you welcome up father Mitch Pacwa welcome to EWTN live a chance to bring you guests from all over the world before we get to our guests just want to wish you all a very very happy new year hope that this is a great year for you and that everything works out well tonight's guest is a longtime friend of the network and has spent 40 years in ministry to Catholic clergy and laity leading retreats all around the world she's also the author of a new book entitled the power of the sacraments so please welcome a friend of the network in my own friend sister breeze McKenna welcome Thank You fathers a joy to be back good to have you back you're a great great way to start off the new year yes I'm delighted because I've always been as you said a great friend of EWTN write of yourself and of course I know Mother Angelica for a very long time yeah I know it well your order is related to hers as well they're sort of not the same order but your for Cleary also in that we actually which are the same order we're all founded by Sinclair 800 years ago now this very year we're celebrating we're the same order but we have a different constitution and were not enclosed port layers we have no other funders and the congregation I belong to so in a way we are the same order Clare is our mother but we just there in most Poor Clares are in behind a grill you know our enclosed but the branch that I belong to or not were in other ministries right now out of that 800 years of Poor Clares you've been religious for 50 well close to it you're close to it yeah you get ready to celebrate an anniversary yes next year please God if the Lord spares me next December 2012 I'll be 50 years professed past December I was 50 years in the convent right so that's what I usually start off from the day you walk in the door yeah well the day I walked in the door where is 50 plus 30 plus okay so so you you've got a nice little chunk out of that eight hundred years yes I have you could say that and it's been I tell father Mitch I would do it all over again is that 50 years yes I have to say I'm very blessed on I know my two sisters sister Bridget and sister tres are watching me who live with me in Florida and I really bless my religious life has been a real blessing and as I said yeah I'd do it all over again now in your religious life I mean when you started off as a young religious what was it you planned to do well when I entered the convent and those days fifty years ago it was a lot different and naturally we were teaching at the time most of our sisters were in teaching and in fact I went into teaching and of course I got stricken with crippling rheumatoid arthritis when I was very young in Ireland and you know if you read the book miracles do happen I tell the story how somebody said Florida is a wonderful place for our critic patients compared to Ireland that's wet and you know damp and in 1967 I came to Florida and to discover is the worst place for arthritis because it's also it's also wet oh yeah wet and I'm just wetting hot wet and hot and hot and wet and in those days I was all you know the old habit and it was really a lot of surge and everything to carry anyway I I didn't get healed by the Sun of Florida but I did get healed by the Sun the Lord the Son of God and I don't remember the question you asked me but anyway I came to Florida 43 years ago well what I was asking is that you know when you started off as a religious you didn't you know I was asking what you planned to be doing so I plan sighs going to Florida what else is your plan Hey well I plant when I was a teacher I was teaching I was going to college and I was teaching and I put my hand cooking but him I thought I didn't like to travel and I wasn't somebody who you know whatever I've thought in the wildest dream that I'd be giving retreats or anything but all I can tell you which somebody asked me one day why do you think God asked you and I said when maybe he was sure to help and he looked around and he'd I had a terrible fight because you know when I was teaching I loved it I had when I came to Florida first I had 56 first graders as one class yes with no help now and God bless my parish priest in those days he used to tell me but you don't need much it you know a board and a piece of chalk and what not to keep all these little 56 well I I taught for two years kindergarten and then I taught and first grade for six years and I loved it I loved and the teacher a lot little children it was great preparation for my work with priests and no doubt yes because you know when I go to these countries and you know the bishop or priest will say to me now what did you do as sister and you know they expect me the same something very you know extraordinaire say well I taught first grade said really yes then of course when I was first grade is when you know I was very bad with the artritis but I never told the children because we were afraid to be cadet they were afraid maybe but anyway to make a very long story short that's in the book I was miraculously healed in December 1970 and in the little book on the side how did that go what happened that you got healed well up until then I was you know I was very faithful to my prayers and I did all the right things but I wasn't full of zeal I mean I used to get up early in the morning to get the prayers in so I could have the rest of the day to do all the other things and I consider myself you know I I love the Lord as much as you can talk about loving the Lord that time I said you know I I I want to do everything right but I started to go through what I call a faith crisis and I tell people today you know not all crises are bad because sometimes God allows you to experience a faith crisis to ask yourself the question why are you doing what you're doing I mean all the things I was doing were good but what was my motivation and I wasn't filled with zeal I I wasn't filled with I don't know if somebody came and said would you would you die for Jesus on whether I would at that time I hope I would now and but I got this hunger and I thought there has to be more to religious life and there has to be more to Catholicism because if I go to mass as a young girl every day and if I give my life at 21 you know I made my final virus just to be just to be mediocre wouldn't I be a fool so I kept thinking you know the teachers that are beside me are just as good and they have to go home and take care of her husband and a big family of children and I used to think you know Lord I it life is comfortable but there I was uneasy and I went away on a retreat and I remember saying on this retreat there was a father O'Connor from not today him yes yeah guru come Edward yes yes I met him a couple of years ago he heard the story well anyway I went on his retreat and I was petrified to these you know Pentecostals and charismatics and I used to think you know well you know I don't go to prayer meetings we go to church go to Mass but anyway I got involved through a Holy Name sister invited me to go to a prayer meeting and I remember going to the prayer meeting and thinking you know I think I could pray better at home we were all so nervous because we're in the beginning of the charismatic renewal but anyway I kept going and I kept thinking well these people are praying not going to do me any harm and then I went on this retreat that father O'Connor was giving and I didn't go to get healed I was already really bad with the artritis because by this time I was taking 40 pills a day and I was on cortisone I was depressed with it I was being told there's no cure you know my hands and feet were aching all the time but you know father Mitch the the desire to know Jesus became greater than the desire for healing because I thought you can be a saint in a wheelchair but you can't be a saint if you're don't believe in the Lord and you don't put your heart and give him your heart so I went on this retreat father O'Connor and the very first talk that he gave he we were all Catholics there and he said you know it's great to talk about the sacraments and how wonderful they all are but it's like having a birthday gift it's lovely to look at the wrappings but if you only admire the wrappings what is in the contents of the gift is what you're at you have to open it and he said this babson this birth is renewal and Elizabeth is the opening up to the graces of the Holy Spirit which will bring about a total transformation in your approach to the sacraments of the church to your life and all you have to do is pray to the Holy Spirit and I'm going to pray with you I remember it so well because I was born in the feast of Pentecost so I you know I prayed to the Holy Spirit but I'd never heard it put this way because you know you're always afraid is this a new thing when people talked about baptism anyway I'm in the front pew and I remember saying no listen Holy Spirit if you're passing by I'm right here whatever you want any special gifts or anything I just want to experience the Lord never thought of my physical condition so father is going to pray with people and I'm getting all ready I'm thinking I hope he comes and prays with me and I heard an inner voice saying to me just very gentle seek me at that moment I felt a hand touch my head as I close my eyes I said Jesus please help me and at that moment this power went through my body the first thing I realized is I'm healed physically but father the physical was nothing to the conversion in my life that day I met BEC Thomas did the person of Jesus and my whole life was changed the sacraments became alive to me and my religious life I kind of took my vocation for granted you know people would say to me would you wonderful to enter so young and you must love Jesus a lot and I used to say to myself I don't love him that much I mean I entered in those days but when the Lord gave me this experience you can see it was God the vocation was God's gift to me what I do with it is my gift to him how I respond and that's when my life changed and that's when you know I begun to realize that you know just being mediocre and somebody said to me in today something about you know zeal I pray every day for a zeal for the kingdom of God - I pray that not just to what you say but through how you live that I witness to the Lord well one of the things that you've also done and you came over here with is a brand new book called the power of the sacraments yeah you know this is a small little book it sounds like it comes out of this experience in some ways yes and actually how this little book came about was that I give it talk I was asked to speak in the sacraments some years ago and you know I pray a lot before I Love You Kristal adoration so I go in there and I you know I was talking to the Lord I said no lord please put in my heart simple but please put in my heart the words that you want this talk and I was very struck by the truck myself because so good you like no humility but anyway I said you know it just came to me the stories and for each sacrament and one of this daughter's is in Paul contacted me after the talk and she said I would love to transcribe this this talk and she started telling me so we made a little pamphlet littered with small little tiny book and the daughters and Paul had it in their shop and it did very well you know it wasn't I didn't do any publicity about it then they give it back to me after a while the probably thought well it's hard to stay but when I was praying one day I you know I meet people Catholics who I don't think they have any idea about the sacraments and I'm so as the greatest need is adult education and I started thinking to myself and I talked to Jackie my secretary father Kevin and I pray and I felt I'm going to republish this book but updated with new stories about the sacraments and that's how it came into being and I tell people if you really believed in the sacraments of the Catholic Church I've seen miracles all the time nobody could ever leave the church nobody could ever substitute something else well like what kind of miracles do you see well just to give you some recent I have many we could be here for a long time and you know I just came back from a trip overseas father cave myself went to eight countries and recently in one of the countries Poland or Germany and which one but and this woman came to me and she said to me you know sister bridge I I asked one of my professors that works with me at the University to come to the mass of the Eucharistic healing service she's a Catholic but she said Mass it's a bit boring you know and she said well you know em sister breech has a book called miracles to have no she said I'm very interested in miracles and that was the bit she was curious about healing so she came and they at that particular gathering the bishop said the mass and she told herself how she thought or hoped the mask is over soon to hear what this nuns going to say well anyway I give a talk and afterwards we had a Eucharistic healing service you know with the Blessed Sacrament and she's very touched by because I'm a great believer father Mitch that as I say in this little book you know lots of students went to college to market products right okay everybody you talk to today is going to market something some of them we don't need the marketing products that give us but for us as Catholics I'm always saying we need to market what we have we need to be convincing we need to you know speak about it with conviction so anyway I was telling to me but now this sacred host that you're looking this is Jesus and seemingly at one point I said open your eyes and look at the host and realize that that is the same Jesus who walked there you're seeing a host but he's seeing somebody he loves and He died for and you look at it anyway two days later the professor goes back that was unlike a Saturday Sunday she goes back to the University she meets her friend and she said oh my god let me tell you what happened she said I went to Mass listened at the healing service I had my eyes closed I was really crying because I was very moved by the thing sister was praying for her then all of a sudden she said open your eyes and look at Jesus he's in front of you she says I opened my eyes and the bishop is standing right in front of me with the monstrance looking right and just this power went through my whole body I was flooded with joy and at the same time the deep sense came to me go to confession and meet Jesus she went home went to confession and she said you know I went to three masses on Sunday and two on Monday this is the lady who said that Mass was boring yes just about a month ago as the first man I mean talked about and I I see this many times with em with the Eucharist I tell people you know that sacrament especially the mass you know that read the passion and ask yourself where would you be and you know from going to the Holy Land you know when you go to these places are you go you go to over over Armiger you know the Passion Play and you are you see it all dramatized and you think I mean how hard of those people are that they didn't know when things this said ask yourself where would you be which one of those characters are you and the passion now you go to Mass that is the passion death and resurrection and then I challenge you on trying and talk to them and it is amazing this is why this little book of the sacraments with the stories because people respond when you tell them but the other happened with father Kevin you know I work with father Kevin who knows you well too and last month we were giving a priest retreat for about 180 priests and father Kevin always begins the priests retreat the first day would confession because he always says to the priest you know a lot of retreats to have at the third of fourth Daniel says better get rid of all the baggage and we're going to a healing service the next day and you know I mean it's great to go the first night now at the end of this particular retreat the priests were giving testimony and three priests came up to the microphone and said they wanted to speak the first man had a severe back problem and hadn't slept wasn't able to walk hardly with his back for years and as he walked out of confession was completely healed the second man had the dead our priest at the same retreat who'd gone to father Kevin to confession as Armas healed but the third was very interesting because it was a young friar a Franciscan and he had decided he was leaving the priesthood and he'd come in this retreat because a friend of his said you know you should really try and he thought confession you know I'll go but he wasn't he had made up his mind nothing's going to change and he was going through a real faith crisis he went to confession and he said during the confession would try the cabin he had the most dramatic encounter with Jesus and I said to him afterwards you know he came to me because father Kevin had to leave because there was a death in his family so I was there listening to this is he and he was all excited I looked at my set now listen father you're a priest don't you know that in the sacrament of confession that Jesus comes so why you surprised because you know this is the other thing father Mitch that we forget you know that you know we sometimes I think we get into the danger of thinking that we are doing it all I'm doing some psychological counseling here or some sort of therapy or whatever might be in the priests mind and that's not what it's about it's about meeting Jesus yes and and one of the things that I say in the book on which I often hear father saying in the streets is that people say except we take the sacrament out of confession you know today nobody I mean in many places where I go and I'm sure the same with you people don't go to confession and then say well I don't sin I know it I know my favorite line is this when they say well I don't really need to go to confession I haven't murdered anybody haven't stolen anything and I always tell them well you sound like a pretty good person so long as you're comparing yourself to Al Capone well but they tell you this and yet you turn on of course you wouldn't be turned it on you look at the Oprah Winfrey look at Jerry Springer all these I just hear about them and all these talk shows everybody's gone to confession father Kevin's always saying this and you know they're not confessing their work all but really here the road into a pub you go to hairdressers I hear confessions all the time and err please to tell me all their sins the terrible things but isn't the course of conversation to tell but the good is wrong people and people are going but they're going to the right they're not going to the priest and you see I have to tell you I was I was sharing today with with Doug you know I was being they don't care that my brother Petter whom I have to ask you can I wish him Heather a very happy birthday oh good today is Paris birthday yes and the patter I know you're looking at me so happy birthday but father care myself went because Petter is been ill for some time and Kathleen his wife and great people and we went then all the neighbors were there and father kevin has this beautiful charm of saying we're going to have mass in the house because you know Heather's cancer and they were sick there were a lot of other sick people there and he said well maybe you'd like to go to confession yeah and country people in Ireland you know you it was beautiful because they talked a little bit about it me see sometimes people will say well I never result so I don't say that's another great line you see when the missionary goes to visit the people I never miss out or as the sayin I'll but I watched as each one of those people went and came out and their comments it was wonderful go into the priest he's wonderful you'll get a load lifted off your mind and you could see that they believed and see this is the beautiful thing about it that if people only knew that it is a therapy but it's God's therapy right but if the priest believe in it because a lot of times as you said father Mitch people go into the priests and I tell the priest this and my talks look father there's a lot of people don't know what's wrong with them and they're the troubled and they have they're afraid to go to confession because they don't know how to go but they haven't been for years or they need help and I said I know from my own experience and a my prayer life that the priest as their gift of the of knowledge in the sense that God will inspire him if he prays before that person goes to them and he will say something because I know from being working with priests how many lives have been changed through priests who make confession a prayerful experience and and you know people go all kinds of places looking for therapy and looking for help and then of course you have the New Agers not new but you know with the oil and they say oh you know you can't you it's it's it's negative you know you can't accuse yourself it's not your fault you know it's your grandmother's fault or somebody has some past life or sometimes and and it takes humility to go to confession to be humble and say I love to go at confession not that it's easy but because I know that you don't you know you you get the grace to see yourself as you really are and then you also get the grace to keep going no that's that's right you know it's a it's a great source of healing but not because of the psychological techniques or something though they may come into play other times we can we can use that for various problems but the core issue is that Christ meets them and I like to think of the confessional as a place where you meet Christ crucified yes Jesus we said Father forgive them they know not what they do when he said that from the cross he's saying that the each time each component when they come to confession and this is a great great gift where Christ brings a healing that is at the very depth of one's heart we need to take a little bit of a break but we're going to come back in a few minutes or so and after those in that time we want you to call up with your questions and your comments and we'll get those of our studio audience so please stay with us thank you welcome back we have a website for sister breeze the manufacturer it's very simple is this WWE sister which is spelled out sister breeze calm and breezes duck Bri e GE so sister breeze calm and that's a great website for you to be able to go to also we have a wonderful group here of folks from different parts of the country as well as locally and if you would like to be part of our audience please contact our pilgrimage Department they'll help you find you know to get to get the dates where you can be here and also find places we can stay basically going through you know some very religious restaurants in the city did you know that oh yes very we have a hamburger heaven we have golden rule BBQ what so it's very religious so if you can contact our pilgrimage department at two zero five two seven one two nine six six two zero five two seven one two nine six six or go to our website www.investmentpitch.com questions I'll answer what I can and then I'll send over to you the well I think you'll probably do pretty well let's start over the call we have John on the line hello John hello father mentioned the breeze where are you from John we would know how great and what's your question well I actually have two the first one is since sister breeze was talking about the openness of her particular group of work players I was wondering what some of hers and the other nuns what their ministries are and then sister Bree Jessica when asked this I want to know what she thinks the future of the charismatic renewal is well hang up thank you very much God bless you happy new year thank you John happy New Year to you too so first of all what do you and your sisters do for living well we we serve the Lord I live with two little sisters and I'll tell you what they do they bring a communion to the sick they visit homes the work in parishes there are ten of us in Florida ten sisters and all of them are very involved in parish ministry here in America and sister Bridget and sister trace whom I live with I see what they do and it's you know with the elderly and the dying and August then back in Ireland England and Central America some are in schools others are in home care and some are retired they're in multiple but what do you do what do I do yes well I do a bit of everything as you know I travel worldwide in my work with priests I give retreats when I'm home I I hope I cook the dinner and clean the house and do all the normal things that people do and I have an office in Florida where I do a lot of ministry I have two beautiful secretaries and I answer a lot of mail and the graves thing I do I hope is I spend two to three hours every day in at Eucharistic Adoration it's cute I go to Mass and I say my office there you go and I have fun yeah that sounds like a good good life life couldn't get any better than that that's and the second thing is what I think is the John asked about the charismatic renewal what to put it like this Cardinal students used to say it's not a movement it's a renewal so we hope even if it you know looks as if the charismatic like we talked about it's going I think it it will always go and because it's the Holy Spirit and the the renewal I hope you know you hear the people different you know divine mercy and McGorry and all these communities which are all branches of it's like one big river I tell them that the Pope prayed for a new Pentecost the new Pentecost happened with the Vatican Council and all these River lets you know that around the world and it's still continuing and there may not be as many people going to prayer meetings as such as they were and cares but I think there's a lot of renewal going on I think there's a lot of people continuing and to minister in the Catholic Church and I see it in the where I go a magnificat which you have a lot of magnificant ladies are right here which is women all over the world now you have so many different groups so it's continuing you know but it may not be in the same way as in the early days you must remember that early days oh sure sure Mitch I remember being an after day and what 40-thousand done right that but you know I go to we just went overseas and like in Poland we had eight nine thousand people in Singapore thirty thousand right in so it's still going on the Holy Spirit never stops he keeps renewing in his own beautiful way right and and the like you say that the form of the prayer group is not the form that seems so much but so many of the people who are involved in various aspects of renewal of the church have come out of that movement yes and it's right and are really involved in their parishes and the dioceses yeah and that's a very positive thing that's BS it true I they're involved in the CCD programs in Arkansas in your programs in the parish but we pray that we continue to have this revival we all need a real good revival exactly yes we have a question from our studio audience ma'am where you from I'm from Huntsville Alabama originally from Deming New Mexico great good to have you here what's your question a sister when you were talking about the Holy Spirit I understand that you're a nun always had quite a regimen of prayers can this happen to anybody at any age no matter what religion they are or yes and certainly it can happen because it's the Holy Spirit and I think that it's like any if you desire and I think you know one of the first books I ever read was the cross and switchblade which was a book by Wilkerson Wilkerson you know and the Holy Spirit is is the gift that everybody I mean when were baptized to receive the Holy Spirit but I think that for me anyway I tell people ask you need to pray for the desire to be renewed to want to to to have this gift to to feel satisfied is wrong if you become to a point where you're satisfied with your life and that's what happened to me and that's why I am convinced that the charismatic renewal introduced us to something very powerful in that early but that's not just for a particular that's for the whole church and we know that it's it's not just for for Catholics all Christians and I have to say that I was amazed when people say to me when did the Catholics get the holy spirit you know because the thing that and I said on Pentecost Sunday yeah right we all got the holy spirit that's when the church you know so so we can all every single one of us should pray for the renewal of the Holy Spirit every day in our lives and the other gift I pray for is zeal for forth God's kingdom and I also pray for a great gift of understanding you know father Mitch the gift of understanding is one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit Circle and I think if you really ask the Lord there are a lot of mysteries in our church and there's a lot of things that Catholics don't sometimes understand we don't and we can't understand but when you pray for the gift of understanding it's a gift of the Holy Spirit you understand in an extraordinary way in your soul and that's why those people those martyrs died that's why people in Ireland died for the Eucharist died for the priesthood they may not have been able to articulate but they had this gift of understanding that it's something very special and it's worth dying for so I pray everyday for the gift of understand to understand my faith so that I'd be able to really live it okay let's go to another caller of Alexandra on the line hello Alexandra hi father Mitch were you from I'm in Denver Colorado great and what's your question um I just want to say hello to mr. Burrage I got to meet her at December 4th in Clearwater Florida I took my daughter to her hearing service she has she suffers from severe eczema oh yes I remember yeah anyway she improved a little bit that way keep praying I remember her very well what's this her name was Christina Christina will you tell Christina that sister bridge praise I prayed for I remember you bringing her right and I'll continue to keep her in my prayers thank you very much yes god bless you Jenny no do you have a question yeah I have a question what some people actually get physical healing and others do not at these healing services good clothes well yes it's of course if I knew that I'd be God but I have to tell you that and I am convinced that there's two kinds of healings take place one is progressive and the other may be you know I often see people who are healed like there but the other is that I see people later on who began a journey towards healing then it may not be that particular healing that God wants to give the person it may be something else but I can guarantee you that every person every person who asked Jesus to for healing is going to get a supernatural grace whether it's to accept and bear the cross and like the stick matter you know it may not be in your hands and your feet in your side it can be in the body in another way or whatever but God will always give grace and He will open us and the Catholic Church's teaching is that sickness can do one of two things it can make you a saint or it can make you very bitter it's not the sickness its the disposition and the attitude and what prayer does and when people go to these healing services I tell them don't think that God is not going to touch your life he sees your desire he loves you more than anybody else and you will get the grace to be able to cope with this and I tell the story father Mitch and I tell my listeners as well that I remember a father came to me because I had prayed with a lot of children who were healed of leukemia in the early days of my ministry had really complete transformation and when you hear that of course the first thing is you want to come sister bridge and this father came to see me his little nine year old girl was dying of leukemia there was no hope and he begged me I was the last hope and he kept saying to me sister please please pray with Helen and I also happened it was in an area where I was so I went to see Helen now he was convinced that she was gonna be physically healed and he wanted me to say this and when I went to the hospital I would have loved to said to him Helen is going to be healed everybody was praying all over the world practically but that would have been sympathy because I would if I was God I would heal her but I said to he and his wife their only child that waited nine years I said look at I will pray when I took little Helen I think was her name hand I felt this little girl was healed that whatever happened to her but that it was her parents who need so I prayed no did I tell them that she wasn't going to be here I didn't say anything I didn't say to them no she's not good because that's not my ministry right but anyway I prayed and I left the hospital and two days later the child died and I went to the funeral home and you know you're wondering because people have reactions and they get very angry and say why did God do this and you know father Mitch I walked in i will never forget walking up to the casket and the little girl was laid out in a First Communion dress father said to me he came over to me some he took me by the hand and he put his hand out he said sister when I look at my little daughter I realize she wasn't mine but I've also learned that healing doesn't mean getting my own way but getting the grace to say yes to God's Way and he said would I look at this little girl two days ago my wife and I could not have accepted this there was no way we could have accepted God give us the grace when we needed it and he said I now realize healing means saying yes to God and that many times is the only answer because we don't really know the mind of Christ don't you know and and why some people who are believers don't get healed and simply people have almost no faith or don't have any faith do get healed yes it's it's it's a mystery that's beyond our ability to comprehend yes why some people are healed and why some are not and we have to be careful I in the baccata ministry I am and people always say oh you're not afraid of giving false hope you know in our faith and I said oh yes if I give tell you breach McKenna is going to heal you sure I'm going to give you a false hope or if I go up to you and say you know father Mitch you are going to be healed on this day unless I have some divine revelation but I feel that you know it's very easy to let sympathy or to want to make people feel good the other thing too is not only false sympathy but false guilt false guilt where you tell somebody well if you had faith you would have been healed but it's not my fault it's your fault oh yes I guess that's the lateral rule for this caused a lot of suffering and I tell them look at Jesus loves you if you have the faith the size of the grain of mustardseed the very fact that you're here I keep telling if you told a little baby don't walk the baby gets afraid and won't walk so don't be telling yourself you don't have enough fear use the faith you have Jesus loves it we have another question for my studio artist ma'am were you from hi I live in Alabama but I met sister Bruges 12 years ago in New Orleans and I was at the daughters the Saint Paul and I was on the phone and a knew you were in town but you walked in and I thought gosh people bother you all the time but you took a minute off the phone we prayed for my mom who was having brain surgery she had an inoperable tumor on her brain stem and I'm telling you she was back at work in six weeks she was expected to be in therapy for two years they talked about her at Medicine Grand Rounds that you know neurology Grand Rounds and it was so cute because my mom's a McGuire and she's from Ireland and her brother studied that may news there was a wonderful Catholic priest well my mom's still alive and she and I've always teased her because she never gets it that it's cuz a sister bridge brain with me and interceding and finally it took her many years and she finally realized that it was because of your generosity so thank you oh you're welcome thank you thank you so much God bless you tell your mom I said hello let's go to another caller Bob on the line hello Bob New Jersey from New Jersey okay great and what's was the question Bob system breach under the mid-nineties I had a traditional conversion that lasts about four years or so but in the last 14 years has been a lot of backsliding and some people said you know dark night so called dark night to the soul and then Jesus give me great trust in His mercy receiving the sacraments but this seems to get worse at times and I just want to love him for himself and swelling like how long it will last or what am I doing wrong a bob is that she still talking you know Bob don't think like that because you know Jesus do you know what it says that you know Jesus off sometimes allows us to suffer not because he's ending it but because He loves us and he wants us to identify with him and you know my advice to you Bob is you just keep going to those sacraments and just keep trusting jesus loves you and he will not ever ever disappoint you you know the old Nick as Mother Angelica is two-column tries everything to get you discouraged and to tell you're no good and that you can't make it but at your age you have done very well so I would say to you you know keep trusting keep believing that the Lord is with you in yourself spring and I'm sure my father Mitch yeah one of the things I was going to add the name Satan means accuser yes and one of the things going on Bob is that you're experiencing a certain amount of accusation and no spiritual accusation and instead of believing the accuser the evil one Satan you need to believe Jesus yes no he's the one who says you're reconciled and so believe that word of Christ and not the word of the evil one and make that a conscious effort as part of your own way as as a spiritual growth to not believe what the evil one says by accusing you but rather believe in Jesus who says that you're reconciled you're forgiven and you're much-loved that would be my yes and I would also say to you about I you know the rosary is a great prayer and an ask our lady you know a lady know she stood at the foot of Calvary and she knows the suffering of her children and she's come to this world over and over again to tell us to put her trust in Jesus and ask her intercession I'd also recommend to anybody construed is the divine mercy Divine Mercy chaplet is marvelous and unite your sufferings with Jesus and Bob will pray for you and you pray for us and I started to keep you in my prayers all right we have another question from our studio audience man where you from I'm from Birmingham Alabama great and what's your question mine is a comment to about confession confession reminds me of once you you go you can leave and click up your heels and go on your merry way it just relieves you yeah it makes you feel joyful yes it does confession is a great is the best therapy because it's Jesus himself and I say and the little book you know that the very first gift Jesus give to us after the resurrection was he breathed on the disciples and he gives them power to forgive sin and I look at priests and I think father what a gift you have do you realize as a priest that you can take people from that up from the depths of nests and flood their souls like a brand-new you know child just with beauty and and I tell please what a gift to be able to go to confession and you know someone says I don't go to man I go directly to God and I said them well you know it was Jesus who give us exactly this side again as you said the first thing he did after he rose from the dead was give the power of going to confession so must be pretty important it is important yes we have another question from our studio audience so where are you from originally from Atlanta Georgia living in Anniston Alabama now okay great good that is just a bridge you haven't aged a bit since 1984 in Houston Texas when I saw your last thanks I don't know how you do it but sometimes good lord I'm a convert I'm probably the only Catholic in my family since the 1500s because I come from Scottish and English ancestry and there are a lot of Catholics in those Isles even to this day unfortunately my question is living in the Bible Belt here and with my family being Protestant they don't really have much source of grace from the sacraments and what they do you know they kind of water it down to two sacraments and then the Eucharist is more symbolic than that is real presence and yet I've seen a lot of Bible Christians as they call themselves I seen a lot of them over the years be a lot holier than I think I am and have a lot of Grace and they seem to be on fire with the Holy Spirit a lot of them so how do you explain that to Catholics who are sacrament supposed to be sacrament filled and yet a lot of Catholics er let's face it not a mediocre in a lot of ways well I I have to agree with you that Catholics are not always what and I think certainly there are you know the the Christians I know many very devout and spiritual Christians and people who have God's grace is open and free and I certainly agree with you I think as Catholics and you know it is the church I have to say father made like the church that Jesus founded he instituted the sacraments and so there a lot more is going to be expected of us because we have been given the the privileged have been born into the Catholic fear and God is not going to hold people responsible who for who are not Catholic and it's not going to hold His grace back for them but he is going to give us I believe is more severe judgment but now I'm going to ask father Mitch who's the expert to talk I don't know about that so much but you know one of the things is that there's the disposition of a person to be open to a god what the grace is God wants to give them is very important and this is something that transcends the denomination that the disposition to be open to God's grace beautiful is is a very key issue whether it be the graces of the sacraments was it going to be very powerful Grace's you know and graces that got Christ guarantees he gives a guarantee that these Grace's are present in the sack was because he instituted them but you still have to have the disposition of being open to those Grace's and this is something that you see in so many churches that people are prepared to have a disposition of openness there's a breaking down of one's ego that makes it possible to be open to the graces of God and they are open to the graces that God gives them in their churches we must be the same way in fact every Christian has to have a what st. Paul talks about you know in Galatians chapter 2 verse 20 about dying to oneself you know that the ability to die to oneself is what opens up the disposition so that I'm not allowing my ego to say God can't do this mm-hmm I God can act and that's I think a key element and I would also say that and to speak you know on the about being being a careful and and being part of a church the church I think you know one of the great graces the sacraments I can see give to Catholics and which should make us different is that you know we belong to a church the Catholic Church is not an opinion poll Church it's not by popularity it's the power of Christ and the church teaches us you know and not to go along with the what the popularity of today to be popular like the the teachings the moral teachings don't change and I often think that you know when I go to Mass and I go to confession I get a supernatural strength because I think if you honestly look around the world at the the only institution today that is holding steadfast to all the moral issues and not moving the goalposts is the Catholic Church you know and all if you look at any issue and people find this hard to believe and they say well the church is very hard but I admire the Holy Father because he so clearly defines what we believe in our teachings of Christ I think for me the sacraments give me that grace also exactly know exactly know that that's exactly right well I'm afraid we've run out of time Wow I know it's gone quickly it's gone quickly but I want to thank you very much for being with us and I want to bless all of you may Almighty God bless you and keep you cause his face to shine upon you may beat you in all of your ways by his peace in the name of the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit amen you know we can bring you guests like sister breeze and all the other guests and do the various series that we do here because this network is brought to you by you we want to thank you for your generosity at Christmastime it's a great gift that you've given to us and we also want to keep on reminding you that we need you to keep supporting the network gets your support that makes this possible what you send in to us is their only source of income and we appreciate all your generosity in your care to take part in this mission so god bless you all and keep you and remember to keep us between your gas bill electric bill and cable bill so we can pay our bills thank you

Channel: EWTN

Views: 33,837

Rating: 4.8016529 out of 5

Keywords: ewtn, Live, catholic, mitch pacwa, briege mckenna, Catholic

Id: V4dbEQBdcVk

Length: 56min 31sec (3391 seconds)

Published: Fri Jan 07 2011