Journey Home - Former secularist - Marcus Grodi with Tom Peterson - 03-07-2011

good evening and welcome to the journey home my name is Marcus Grodi your host for this program each week for boy you know over 13 years EWTN has given me this wonderful opportunity to to meet with you on Monday nights and to introduce to you men and women who were drawn home to the Catholic Church as a result of their love for Jesus Christ often that was not the end result of where they anticipated that their love for Christ would take them but they're here to tell their journeys and what opened their hearts to the church and this particular episode of the journey home what we've often called the open line first Monday program it's that episode in which I invite back a previous guest to come and talk more about their journey to focus a little less on what brought them into the church but maybe looking more higher and deeper into their journey while they've come in the years since they appeared on the journey home program we'll take a few emails to see what your thoughts are about their journey and and our guest tonight is actually a revert to the church he was brought up Catholic and then came back to a deeper relationship with Christ in his church but some of the work that he does as his apostolate is some stuff that you who watch EWTN may be very very familiar with though some of you may not know this particular guest but you will after tonight's program Tom Peterson welcome back to the journey home so it's mentioning to the audience they've seen some of your work but they may not see you behind it which is off which is probably better as well because it's not about you it's not about you man it's about our service to our Lord Jesus Christ at church and I mean you're you're a full-time apostolate like I am yes and and you know I before we get into your journey something I thought I'd I just ask your own reflection on because again to those of you who are watching you know Tom is the founder yes and president director of an organization called Catholics come home so what how would they have what would they have seen of the work that you do well EWTN obviously features a lot of the commercials periodically during different times of year but but now I can honestly say 40 million people around the u.s. may have seen the commercials in their local hometown on television so some of these will say oh yeah I remember seeing that a year ago or last Lent or Advent and this kind of will help bring it all though say how did it start what well in part of the goal of those commercials is to awake the holy spirit could use those commercials to awaken fallen away Catholics to rediscover Andry appreciate the faith that they had had from baptism but also those that have never entered a Catholic Church who may have all kinds of barriers standing in the way that's right and I know from our audience that we have both at watch the journey own program and so I want to talk about that but before I get to it this is the question that I wanted to ask you that I remember reading I'm sure I've mentioned this on the program that I think it was st. Benedict that once said that we are not to be channels we were to be reservoirs hmm and what he meant was that often we think of ourselves specially those that are in apostolic work in ministry that were to be channels of God's love everything we have is to flow through us and that makes sense right in that sense you know maybe the person that most is an image of that might be Mother Teresa or maybe the Mother Angelica or our Pope John Paul the second who you know and his beatification is looking right at right at us here but but yet they would say no no no wait a second if we're merely channels you'll get burned out that's true we're to be reservoirs so that it's the overflow of our daily walk of our prayer life of all so that's what should flow overflow so the whole you they'll know we are Christians by our love yeah well what what over that love that overflows needs to overflow from our intimate relationship with Christ otherwise it just flows through yes and we don't grow as our friend father Mitch Pacwa would say so well and he says it in Latin I'll say it in English we can't give what we don't have so when we're full of Christ and when we are on our own path toward holiness then we can share that with others I think Scott Hahn dr. Scott Hahn says it so well God cares more about our sanctification than using us right to help sanctify others because he could do that directly so he invites us as part of this mission to love others to heaven but ultimately he really cares about our relationship with him and our souls and then then if we are full then we are more likely to show and share that with others well the reason I brought that up first because that's in essence what I'd like to do on this program with you Tom you you you've been here and shared in more detail your journey to the church and so I'd encourage the audience if you want to hear the earlier interview with Tom to get all the details of the journey please do that though I'm going to ask you to share at the moment but your being I hate to use the word used right by God but God is utilizing you and your life to do a good work through Catholics come home and we'll talk about that yes but what I'm most interested in in our program now is the higher and deeper yes is the reservoir that through the work of the Holy Spirit he is giving you helping you grow so that what you're giving is flowing out of a deeper walk with Christ and and often that deeper walk with Christ is not all roses it's some thorns - it's the struggles the barriers things that you've discovered come same things Jesus had himself the things that you know we want people to come back to the church you want them to discover the need to be in the church that Christ established that's what this is about yes but coming back isn't always all flowers no because we have to grow right and there can be a misguided perception that I want to do this apostolate and that can sometimes take over our spiritual walk when really ultimately our goal should be I want to do God's will and this happens to be a component of that but focusing on doing God's will is the ultimate journey isn't it yeah not not that not the vehicle in which he's utilizing the help get there you know the irony is you know I I was a Protestant minister for over ten years and I remember Protestant friends pastor friends sharing with me intimately I'm not going to mention their name so much but they would talk about their love for Christ and they want to do the will of God and they'll do whatever God calls them and that involved becoming a minister and then after they became ordained and were a pastor and they were actively doing the ministry that's when they would sit down and share with me you know I'm in a quandary because my goal was to do the will of God but I don't like people you know the irony there now that part of the process is then we when we give ourselves then we start discovering our own weaknesses very much I mean the idea of I love the church except for the people no out of the reservoir of our being changed we have to learn to love now before we go on to the deeper and higher of you let's remind though the audience okay what was it that brought you back to the faith because you were gone at least well internal spiritually I was yeah physically I might have been there um thirteen years ago I went on a retreat I needed it I was out of control I lived in Phoenix I was a business person a high-strung overachiever businessperson and my life would you have been through the conveyor belt the baptized catechized oh no absolutely absolutely you know never miss mass but most times in the recent years there I was focused on business Jesus and the Lord were you know he was not my priority I didn't make him first as he calls us to do to love God with all our heart mind soul and strength and love our neighbor as ourselves like you mentioned those other peered about if it's going to be it's up to me and following my business principles and sure I went to Mass every Sunday out of obligation kind of the old fire insurance you know that I'm doing what God has asked me to do and the rest of the week is mine well we're two days away from from Ash Wednesday the start of Lent would this have been a time in your life that you would might have gotten a little more active it could have been you know I had peaks and valleys retreat experiences were always pekes in my life and this secular world constantly drags all of us away and that's one of the themes I want to really talk about tonight is that there's so much glitter and glamour that the evil one puts out in secularism that got me that gets a lot of our friends and relatives that gets all of us and even though we're on this journey it's constantly like a stock market ticker tape that's got ups and downs and in pitfalls and we have to help each other as the body of Christ and stay very prayerful and close to him because we would stay close to God and especially invite the Holy Spirit to guide our steps inwards good things happen and when the world creeps in oh I don't care where are we on the drink you and I know this it's like it's tough you know we can be pulled away and maybe maybe secular Tom who was focused on business now is prideful Tom focused on the ministry and that can be every bit as dangerous to my spiritual health and well-being and then if I'm not spiritually healthy then how am I going to be utilized or in a position to help anyone else well I think particularly if there's anything we've learned from the scant the pre scandal is that those who give their life to serve will be under battle and that's really what that tells us and people will fail others will be the sad thing is though all the priests that went through the battle but we're successful in fighting it yes we don't hear about now they're the heroes of the world that the secular world doesn't talk about fact we started a little side spin-off apostolate called encourage priests or and we did that and we launched it on Holy Thursday for the reason that we were meeting these heroic priests who were the silent heroes of our world who gave so much to society and we said you know the more that our seminarians our priests or bishops our Cardinals the Holy Father the more we pray for them and offer spiritual bouquets or prayers and and encouragement hey great homily father hey thanks for helping my grandma in the hospital the more they're stronger shepherds the more they can Shepherd us and the stronger the congregation becomes so what's important so when you were lost in in business even though a name you were a Catholic in your private moments were you offering prayers yeah but maybe not always for the right things maybe for the business deal huh health in my family more selfish and not as much intercessory program praying for the good of somebody else where I'm making that sacrificial act to say you know I don't need to do this I don't need to win I think this is the more loving thing to do so kind of a warped theology more self-centered theology huh and hey I have to fight it every day to this day and thank God God put a wonderful wife in my path and wonderful kids and in a great office that keeps me on the straight and that's what we're all in this together huh and that's part of the the message of Catholics come home you know we're a family that God sure we have the relationship with God but like that cross beam on the cross we're all in this together as a big Catholic family as a Christian family as a broader sense to help each other in this great spiritual warfare we fight I keep a little thing in my wallet to remind me and I in one of the Saints I think it's an Eastern Saint who says you know be kind to everyone for we're all fighting such a great battle and you know this day and age with the economy being rough and and so many lures of secular humanism and the threats of war and all the stuff you see on the evening news boy it can be really downright depressing but when we the body of Christ come together and we ask the Holy Spirit to guide us and we love each other and help each other good things happen so you were working as a businessman acting the part as a Catholic and you said it was a retreat that gave you a big shot on the side of the head yeah I remember an our pastor who was leading it and I happened to be at the largest Catholic Church in the United States st. Anne's in Gilbert Arizona and one time 27,000 parishioners and father Doug Lord who I think has been on your show a couple of EWTN shows in the past said well those men come you know I would come out in the hall who have been through this before and we're gonna pray over the others and I pulled up a chair and I listened to him and he said we're gonna pray over these men in front of the Eucharist they had Eucharistic monstrance exposed and and I want you to just pray with a kind heart so we went back in and he said does anyone need prayers and I raised my hand as a boy I really do it I knew I was out of control Marcus and the good Lord of the universe became very alive and real to me Holy Spirit entered my heart and I knew that I was leading my life in the gray area one foot in God's world Sunday at mass and the rest at a time and times secular dream world you know and my life changed and through God's grace like a light switch the epiphany happened and the rest is history you took you did your step into doing your apostolic work full-time was it a gradual step was it a radical step somewhat radical a couple of months went by where I started going to daily Mass I was reading Scripture it made sense to me it fed me I started learning about that faith that I didn't learn so well in my Catholic grade school in high school or maybe it went in one ear out the other who knows I mean we don't know what we don't know huh we're in just three of God's grace amen and and so the light bulbs went off I started studying and then I was invited by the Diocese of Phoenix to help with the program to invite inactive Catholics back to the church for the Jubilee 2000 and I said well this is exactly a dream come true because how excited I was that God would allow me to participate in an apostolate that I enjoyed you know and and that's that's kind of the lie I think the evil one sells us and our young people that when we say yes to God our lives are going to be boring miserable lacking freedom and it's the opposite that that our lives are rich in full when we're centered on Christ and and he has the perfect plan outlined for us not always easy there's gonna be some cross as we carry but he's gonna use the talents and interest he gave us in most cases why he's the one who gave them to us so when I heard I got to use the stuff I like advertising and all to help serve the church it seemed like a natural fit and that's when it all was born all right we have an email from Kevin from the Midwest did the Blessed Mother have a role in bringing Tom to a deeper walk with Christ in the Catholic Church yes and even more so now than even before I used to I guess be frustrated that I didn't have as deep of a devotion the Blessed Mother as some people do I spoke at Marian conferences I love the Blessed Mother and I can remember a couple of epiphanies some high points and went to an orphanage in Mexico with a film crew they were doing a news story on this orphanage and I remember some one of the secular reporters at the time said how there be a god when there's all these children who are orphans and I remember we all talked and we tried to catechized and share with her you know the God's plan and how this is you know part of our world also helped them remember that night I prayed to Our Lady of Guadalupe since it was in Mexico and I said please and I begged her please become real for for all of us and I became very close to her at that time you know of all the different depiction of Blessed Mother that Our Lady of Guadalupe became very real to me and as I entered into a virtual media or sanctity of life apostolate again the patroness of the unborn became very real so that was the first part I would say secondly now as as I'm entering into a new stage of my spiritual growth my spiritual director Bishop Jacobs and homo Thibodaux Louisiana good man and others have said Tom you you were a very high wired high achieving type personality more than ever you need contemplative prayer so praying in front of the Eucharist in the adoration Chapel saying the rosary and so forth you know Marcus I have to admit that now that I'm saying the rosary and our regular basis my life has more peace I I'm learning from the Blessed Mother who's very humble of heart and as always in the background doesn't need to take the limelight always pointing folks to Jesus and I think that's very critical in all of our walks you mentioned it earlier on the interview that it's not about us it's about directing folks to Jesus and I think the Rosary helps remind us of that um I know that your commercials that you make the different programs that you produce are both to reach out to Catholics that have fallen away as well as non Catholics and yes here's a good example let's say that watching the program now there are some non Catholics or fallen away Catholics here you talk about our Blessed Mother they they may have inadequate understandings of her or inadequate understandings of how Catholics think of her they may think that you as you're talking about the Blessed Mother are talking about your worship of her or your focus of her over Jesus right you know how would you explain to them I mean there are even Catholics out there that don't have a very fine adequate catechesis on our lady how would you explain to them your love for our lady a great question when we pray the Rose we would pray scripture the Hail Marys out of Luke and we're praying about the the different mysteries the different Bible stories and that's what the rosary reminds us of the different mysteries sour full joyful and so forth we're we're praying Scripture so it's a contemplative meditative prayer about Scripture and Our Lady is is one of our role models just like in in the regular world we have role models we have people we look up to cousins relatives friends she's a model of humility of obedience to God's will as she said do whatever my son tells you how can you gonna see the differences your mind audience that that that quote from the wedding at Cana yes is really the model of our Blessed Mother that Catholics tried to emulate am Singh sure the audience understood non Catholics in the audience you understand that's how Catholics understand Our Lady yes he's always pointing beyond herself to Jesus amen amen yeah it would almost be as if our prayer life only focused on God the Father or only on Jesus or only on the Holy Spirit it wouldn't be as rich as if we focused on the whole Trinity and each one is a unique person in the Trinity with their certain I don't know if the right word is charism but you know that the Sanctifier is a Holy Spirit the Redeemer is Jesus and so forth the Blessed mother's role in Salvation history given to her by God himself was to be the bearer of Jesus for us and to be that model of purity humility so many of the virtues and so we don't worship her we don't pray to her idolize her in that way it's it's more of looking that you were a human on this earth and you got through this tough time how did you do it and she teaches us so many things about her son that only a mother could know and shares that with us out of love and in turn by praying the rosary and and and seeking her her wide wise guidance and counsel we grow in that those virtues to which more than ever I know I need humility and obedience we think about our apostille that our work our service for those of you that again are familiar with the word apostolate that's that's the word that the church generally uses to describe hilarity yes serve the lord with their life we use usually as the word ministry in the Catholic Church to refer to the liturgical sacrifice trip the work of of the ordained and Millea TR service whatever it is washing dishes you know is is our apostolate okay now if we see that our apostolate is the overflow of the reservoir of our experience of Christ when you think about the kinds of content in your the product you produce the commercials in what ways is what's in there an overflow from your own journey the things you've discovered along the way that I've kind of make sure this is out there right this is a barrier this is an issue you know it's amazing because when I said Lord are you really asking me to do this I'll tell you what things came to mind stuttering Moses you know Joshua who was overwhelmed and I said you know of course he would pick a nobody out of a spare bedroom at that time Gilbert Arizona because he gets all the glory and credit that were in New York ad agency guy or something I'd be even more puffed up thinking it was me who came up with the idea but it made sense that he would pick a nobody in God's eyes i'ma somebody in the world's eyes I'm a nobody but it made sense and so I realized it was true and I had enough people confirm it and to serve because I had been on that journey and I had been distracted by the secular world I had questions about my faith during college I hung around with a lot of good Christian guys they were in all the Christian ministries Campus Crusade for Christ navigators all that and I was fed by that I still have a lot of good ear evangelical and Protestant friends and we're passionate about the Lord and you know it praise God and we're all in this together the in some of those disciplines we learned through navigators and in verse eight anyway but I would often feel guilty about well why do I do it and so I had to learn my faith deeper when I went to the Newman Center I went to Mass on Sunday and I had kind of been challenged by some of those guys to get to know my faith and to love the Lord more and so I think it was because of that walk we've got like three series of commercials one-hour testimonials in which real people are giving their real stories on how they left their faith hey I you know kind of blew it off in college or I slept in on Sunday or I married a non Catholic or you know what whatever entered in a certain type of sin and and in their journey back to the Catholic faith and they're very sincere people we prayed over each one of them each one of them kind of represents a typical story we can all relate to many cases many stories so that segments of commercials made sense the next one was called movie that we're gonna see I think a clip later on in the show where we're it's kind of got that Lenten theme to it about it's through God's love His divine mercy as we would say in Catholic world so his outpouring love for us that he came not to condemn the world as scripture says but to redeem it to save it that he loves us so much and no matter what we've done or where we've been that Jesus is always there waiting for us to come home and and to serve and to love him and then the the third series of commercials are called like epic and home in which they talk more about the history Beauty spirituality of our Catholic faith and I think that more than any of the others really is what came alive for me to look at the salvation history of our church over 2,000 years where Jesus said Peter you're a rock upon this rock I will build my church and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it and I love that scripture because so often we think like we're going to put up the gates in God's name and the the bad guy won't get us but in many cases it's no you know go rescue the souls from the darkness and bring them to the light much in the way the the Holy Spirit rescued me from the darkness and brought me to the light we need to share that light with others so those commercials in the in the epic and home tradition on our website in that we are in secular markets or more to show about the beauty history and spirituality of our faith that Jesus himself started 2,000 years ago and I think when we share that with the world so many of our Protestant brothers and sisters and and Catholics who GZA haven't really been engaged in the faith say I never knew that or I forgot I never knew those things and since 25 percent of our country church swaps every year they go from this faith to that either you know the pastor says something they don't like or they don't like the music a lot are saying I never knew that about the Catholic faith so I saw the ad on TV I'm intrigued tell me more yeah and your apostolate one thing that I appreciate it reminds me of is that the the great outreach of our Lord's church needs a lot of folk that the fields are ripe for harvest okay so there isn't just one apostle it that does it all we've got a lot of ways to reach out to help people understand the need to be a part of the church mm-hmm the necessity of the church to receive the graces of the sacraments so that they're not doing it on their own they have the graces right to enable them to completely surrender to Jesus Christ we have an email Sam from Washington DC I really identify with mr. Peterson's past of being a career focused professional how can i reprioritize so I can bring God back into the forefront of my life you know I look back once when I was giving a presentation and realized my conversion happened on the summer solstice and it's I think was June 22nd of 97 and I look back and I said you know what that reminds me of John it reminds me of Scripture he must increase and I must decrease and I think that's kind of been a theme of my spiritual journey that I need to die to myself that yes the Lord has equipped each of us with certain talents and gifts and charisms that shouldn't be used for ourselves but should be shared for the church and I think when I overcome those tendencies I have toward pride or towards selfishness or my own goals and I focus more on okay what does God truly asking he wants us to love he wants us to look for the better need of others when I do that good things happen and I grow spiritually and I feel that peace in that love and I feel the Holy Spirit again but when I start going into those other old old ways second in human ways I feel like I the Holy Spirit is quiet on me so I think more than anything if you're Catholic stays close to the sacramental church the Eucharist sacrament of reconciliation prayer and I think in general for the broader Christian audience we have I know that when I follow that first and most important commandment to love God with all my heart mind soul and strength and my neighbors myself good things come from that but that takes our will our free gift God's given us to say I need to do I have to make that conscious choice to spend my time which shows love back with with Jesus early you gave the example of a woman confronting you about you know how can there be God with all those poor out there and in essence a way to confront her is to say the fact that you care yes is proof of God yes the fact that it awakens you to see a need is proof of God otherwise you wouldn't give up you wouldn't care now and my message to this gentleman that just wrote this two days away is Ash Wednesday the fact that he wants praise God that's proof of God you know if you're wondering that his heart yeah there's something going on here yes and that's why God gives us Ash Wednesday that's why God gives us Lent that's why God leads doesn't just give us Easter he gives us 40 days to examine ourselves so that Easter makes a difference in our life it's a great time for that you know what you reminded me of is that that guy on the door knocking at night huh and how it talks about the father how and you think about the scriptures what good father would give their son a snake or you know it's when he asks for a fish or a loaf of bread and that really is true and I think we can relate to this and our viewers can too about our spiritual journey that so often will say Lord I want to be close to you I really want to focus on you we'll do it for a day or two or three and then the secular glitter and glamour of the world the apparent glitter is out there and and we go up and we go back to our old ways but Lent is beautiful because it gives us that 40 days to fast from the world and to focus on Jesus and they say I guess the secular world has said psychologists and all that you know it takes 40 days to undo bad habits so if you move your trashcan at work you kind of throw your your crumpled up paper in the wrong place well the church in its wisdom and Jesus and His infinite wisdom has given us this period of preparation so that we can form the new habits of focusing on him and I love Lent all right well let's take a break there and I'll be out just a minute with more of our discussion welcome back to the journey home our guest for this evening is Tom Peterson he's a what we call a revert to the Catholic faith he came home founder and president of Catholics come home door cracks me up because you know I'm the founder and president of the coming home network yes which sounds like it's a television network almost on like you and I are doing the same things we overlap in what we're doing we don't make commercials that's that's kind of what you do but it is kind of interesting to see that yet so many even journey home the coming home Network Catholics come home recognize that what we're talking about are people coming home to this the home the family then Christ intended that we would all be part of through baptism yes as we all become brothers and sisters in one family that the word home is very strong when we did our dial testing and research on the commercials the resounding theme that came back that people loved was home and and and I have heard from some that they didn't grow up in a very stable home a loving home but the beauty is that God our Father will never disappoint us he'll always love us that they home the home we have in our church family is a rich home that will feed us so despite where we came from a great home or a tough home coming home to the church is always a good thing and it it's in our hearts on the same way if we've had a bad relationship with our Father mm-hmm that may prevent us from having an open relationship with God the Father but that doesn't mean we changed the name of the God the Father God the person or that's right we got to work through some issues exactly excuse me um we want to look at one of your commercials it's in case the audience is not seen one both for them to get a picture of what did you do but I want us to talk about it especially a relationship to helping people come back to the church what are we going to see here in a moment it's a commercial called movie it's a two-minute spot it actually airs on TV that way is a two-minute spot so it's kind of long but it's the movie of our lives out of Book of Revelations we're going to have to give an account someday for the good and the bad we've done but the beauty is it's actually very hopeful commercial the first half kind of shows people who are in the seven deadly sentence they've done some bad things in life maybe gossip or prejudice or or anger and then and then it kind of has a point and look for that happy point in the middle where where we see despite where we've been or what we've done that the god of the universe loves us intimately and he sends Jesus to save us and that the whole second half gets very hopeful it's all original score' music where the violins play and touch our hearts and the trumpets triumph at the right point and that's all designed for a purpose to say hey the god of the universe loves us so much and to madness that he will stop at nothing to help bring us home so it's called movie take a look at it think about the things in your own personal life and I think I think that's the point as we look at it don't just stand back and look at it oh wonder how this would help my neighbor look at this thing and do we see ourselves in this all right let's take a peek at this boy over the years we begin to realize how quickly life goes by for some of us our journey will end without notice and when our transition into eternity begins there won't be a chance for any do-overs no time to rewind our life no chance to choose a different ending for the movie of our life can be used to judge us we will sorrowfully relive the bad times and joyfully revisit the good it is then we will fully realize how our unkind thoughts and selfish choices wounded others and led us away from God our loving father you people are lazy and each time we ignored God's voice I think she's pregnant by somebody else no our conscience grew more deaf and our heart hardened thankfully you still can ask God to help edit your life story and create the ideal ending no matter what you've done there is good news since Jesus came not to condemn the world but to save it Jesus can heal your memories and forgive your past if you accept his mercy you really can be freed from the addiction of sin and find lasting peace imagine hearing God say after your life's movie well done good and faithful servant it all starts by asking Jesus to help you now if you've been waiting for a sign this is your chance to begin an adventure with God that will last forever learn more at catholics come home dynamite trust in Jesus and find hope forgiveness and a more abundant and everlasting life visit catholicscomehome.org thanks time for that that was a very powerful commercial and I don't mean just in a maudlin sense you know the tears and whatever I think it was amazingly done I I remember from my own background evangelical background sometimes the the products that were produced to move people were you know I was in the gutter and then I met Jesus and now I'm all that's not what this is about I think what it seems like it touches in there which really helps us get a glimpse at the Catholic understanding of salvation it is not merely faith alone mental assent I've got a through be correct all right point to Jesus it's because of his death and I'm saved merely know it says that our faith is all that we are it's it's about crying the gospel with our life as the song says it's about leading our life with love every opportunity we get and that we serve a God of do-overs you know of 2nd 3rd 4th 5th chance if we trust in His mercy and we ask for that forgiveness we get it and again it's it's no matter what our past is or what sin we've committed or where we've been we serve a God who loves us and wants to forgive us if we go back to him and and then the byproduct of that faith is works that when we have that strong faith in Jesus then then we go share it with others and that helps create the family and brings more of us home mm-hmm you know this issue of works got such a bad rap during the Reformation in some sense yes as a reaction against some bad theology that right the people and in the pews if there were pews in the churches back violent years ago was misunderstanding of the church and so there was a need to bring the corrective back to a authentic conversion of hard yes but not throw the baby out with the bathwater out of life as we stand before because it was a mentioned in there the words good and faithful servant yes it's not merely you believe the right thing now enter right it's this issue of a loving son or daughter living out that life and faithfulness to our Heavenly Father and goes back you know they'll know we are Christians by our love you know and I want to kind of ask myself in the mirror loved much you know like you know how loving have we been today so many times we're pretty good about promoting the truth but we do so with the sword and the fist and it's like we found over the years that either personally while I'm sitting on an airplane or you know and I prayed lord help use me everyday to lead someone closer to Christ and he allows me that personal opportunity where it's through a Catholics come home commercial people are looking for love and as San Agustin says so well our hearts are empty until they rest in God and if we're the catalyst and the vehicle for that love good things happen but sometimes cram and truth down people's throat isn't yeah isn't 11 you know off when you do television radio you don't always know the difference that what you've done makes in people's lives because it's it's broadcast to the world and you don't always know if this particular commercial for example you that we just saw do you know of any specifics that that has made a difference in fact the story that comes to mind and above like I said about 40 million people have seen the ads we know that two hundred thousand people came home in the first 15 archdiocese and diocese and there's a now the 30th one we're completing at Lent with Boston and others coming on board but I remember one of the personal stories was a lady who's starting one of those first scenes where the guys yelling at her and then they have their wedding anniversary later she actually emailed us and said you know this but when you hired me to be in that scene I was an inactive Catholic and she said I started thinking about my faith and my journey away from the church and she said I felt the Holy Spirit's tug to come home I wanted to let you know the good news that because I was in that commercial I've come home well the story gets even better because she says that was 25 years away from the church but I've been away from confession for 30 and she said what are you thinking I said go you're gonna feel like a new person get it get rid of it and she needed a lot of encouragement but she went to confession praise God and after the sacrament of reconciliation she says I'm a new person I've come back fully so god but god bless her when you hear about those things and then you realize it was all worth it it was just for that one print that the Good Shepherd it's worth going for that one person helping them other job there's a matter of big numbers I always emphasize that with all that EWTN does you know if it's just when we hear about the one person then then praise God the soul is a soul and worth everything in God's eyes I've got an email from Paul from Vermont he says I left the Catholic faith about 15 years ago and I found a great home in a Pentecostal church I've never felt closer to Jesus than I do now and can't imagine why anyone would go back to the Catholicism and all the rules and regulations can Tom shed some light on this well Paul my wife's from Vermont so I know I know you're turning up there you know I guess I would describe it in my own way as I didn't know what I didn't know and so many times when you know we're young and in our faith where we didn't take it seriously you know we there's more of a routine and then when we realize we finally know Jesus it seems like whatever church were in or who's ever in front of our face can kind of bring us into their faith obviously being centered on Christ is paramount but Jesus did form a church and he gave us the sacraments and the roadmap to feed us and guide us there and I think you know I would challenge Paul if he takes another look at the Catholic faith he's welcome to go through Catholics come home org and go on the I used to be Catholic or I'm not Catholic and and start asking us the difficult questions why do I need to do this why should I bother with that how come this is the teaching sometimes when we take a look with fresh eyes later in our lives we realize that we didn't fully understand what the church taught it's like Archbishop Fulton Sheen's comment about you know there's so few people who truly hate what the Church teaches they hate what they think the church teaches and I think this this could be and I'll leave it up to our viewer this could be a perfect example of that that perhaps upon looking what the church really teaches and why the sacraments are critical and the wonderful blessings we have in our Catholic faith with a new set of eyes a fresh perspective later in life good things happen yeah this the that this is an interesting question because coming from my own background you know Protestant evangelical for the first 40 years of my life I knew Jesus I didn't become Catholic because I didn't know Jesus I didn't become Catholic because I didn't have an intimate relationship with Christ that wasn't the reason it came down to okay what is the true understanding of a relationship with Christ because our friend there is an append costal church where right across the street might be a Presbyterian Church or a Baptist Church or a Foursquare gospel or assembly we don't think their understanding of what it means to be close to Christ in such a way that you can be confident yes that you have the truth that you're depending your eternal existence on it can get very flaky if you know which one yeah and and I think the thing that and I'd like you to reflect in is to the time the thing that got me was Jesus said in John 15 when he says abide in me and I knew because he says apart from me you can do nothing the question is with all these many opinions even people that that really discern that they're close to Jesus through their commitment there's that the question is how can you be certain that you are abiding in him you really are and that you're not doing it on your own well in Jesus himself says truly truly I sent unless you eat of my body and drink of my blood you will not have life within you what did he mean by that especially when the disciples left Lord this is tough how can we do it how can we eat your body in your blood and he didn't say hey come back I meant it's symbolic or whatever he's talking about the Eucharist huh and yeah it's true so many times we let our emotions hey if I feel good here it must be true and then the music changes or the homily changes now it's not a good bellwether for what's what's true in it what's accurate but you know what I will say this that if somebody has that particular personality type our church has big wide open arms if they like the charismatic more you know that type of music or mass or whatever we've got that in Catholicism too if you want to really truly experience Jesus go sit in the adoration Chapel you're going to know in your heart and soul that there's something special that Jesus is truly present physically in that adoration Chapel and when you receive Jesus in the Eucharist after reconciliation and you take him in body blood soul and divinity you know something is unique especially if our hearts are truly seeking Him sometimes we're distracted and we do it out of rote you know obligation or practice or aren't thinking but so many people have have looked back and said when I truly approached it with an open heart and read those scriptures everything changed yeah what's interesting that I found in my own journey was you know from an evangelical standpoint my intimate relationship with Jesus involved my accepting him as my Lord and Savior believing in my heart that God raised him from the dead you know Romans 10 know that that he raised that he rose from the dead and my accepting of beliefs Mike my surrendering to him my praying to him but in reality it was always very spiritual yes it didn't involve anything physical of me and almost a gnostic separation between the spiritual and the physical a it wasn't all one it wasn't all one this and what you look in scriptures you see the centrality of baptism all through the New Testament documents in first Peter where it says your baptism saves you you see the references to the Eucharist you see the reference to confession and John 20 as well as in first John 1 and in James if you go and ask the elders to anoint you for the sick we see immediately this very physicality of things the Eucharist the baptism confession anointing of the sick and then historically from Jesus to the Apostles to the early church writers immediately this oneness of the physicality with our spirituality I mean that how do we know were close to Christ from the beginning Jesus gave us this unified spiritual physical unity with him the church isn't merely a spiritual thing is physical and spiritual as you give us a church not 33,000 that are teaching different things and it's in Scripture to the church is the pillar in bulk worth of truth I think its first timothy 3:15 i'll let you tell me yeah it's and you know so that's our guide we an email from Brendan from Albuquerque New Mexico I have a number of family members who has stopped practicing the faith this saddens me because for generations my family has been ardent Catholics but especially after Vatican two many of my family have become angry and bitter towards the church is there any way I can reach them to bring them back well I would say that is a common very much feeling that are those outside the church may not recognize it but those in the church recognize that after Vatican 2 a lot of misunderstandings of the council have led people to not only be bitter right but almost a doubt the trustworthiness of the authority of the church they felt betrayed in some ways you know we can't deny their feelings all we can do is love and hope and pray what we're finding with Catholics come home commercials that are in the secular world is that a number of folks have been gone 35 40 years see that scene of the little girl in her first communion dress and say hey I remember when I felt like a little Bride of Christ making my First Holy Communion there's so many important triggers that we have in the way we're wired there's a wonderful book out there that talks about brain mapping and it talks about how our scepters receptors in our mind light up when we think about our childhood and we think about you know receiving our first holy communion or the the incense in the church or the stained glass windows are receiving Eucharist for the first time and I think it's important to remind people about the heritage and the roots and their their tradition and their families and and oftentimes when we do some will come back after 35 years and say I I thought I'd give it another try I've tried everything else I felt empty and one priest said he had 16 people in his confessional the first week the ads aired many who had been gone 3035 years who said he had been gone since Vatican 1 I saw the ad and knew I had to come home I felt like God was personally inviting me back so that's one way the commercials are doing it on a personal level I recommend what a pastor told me when we're at mass and the priest is elevating the precious blood name those relatives who are close to you on your heart who are away from the church because Jesus loves them more than we can even love them and he wants them home to email from Jeff from South Carolina because I'm an evangelical Christian and I'm confused why Catholics don't share their faith hmm monster if it's out of fear or ignorance or something else if they really believe that their church is the one true church why aren't they trying to tell everyone about it amen you're hired I agree I agree I guess you're right on a lot of times it's our feeling inadequate feeling like we don't want to proselytize you know this whole political correctness has gotten us into a world of hurt that secularism has grown rampant our enemy are not our Protestant evangelical brothers we're in this together huh the enemy is secularism humanism that has crept in the atheists now have commercials and I say to myself why would the atheists advertise if they didn't care about God or faith but it shows you you know st. Paul was right this is not a war of prints or flesh and blood but of principalities and powers so I agree with that that viewer in that writer in the sense that we do need to live and share our faith and so many people will take the st. Francis quote about you know evangelize the whole world and at last resort use words yes but it can be misconstrued that when we pray to lead some closer to Christ and God puts someone next to us in a grocery store or on an airplane or in some environment and you're comparing notes and they say oh you're Catholic we need to be proud about who we are in a loving way and share how Christ has impacted our lives within the Catholic faith and when we do that from the sincere story that God has written on our heart people listen and they often want to be part of that I think again from our work here that often the most difficult part of conversion whether it's becoming Catholic or coming back to the church or we are reigniting the faith that you've always pretended to have hmm is the pride that's within that doesn't want you to admit to your family and friends that you were wrong yes because that's part of a conversion it is talk about that because I'm sure you're dealing with that now near in your own return but maybe even what you're trying to proclaim to the world through your commercials that that's a that the Lord can get you through that - I think the evil one tries to kind of embarrass us and shame us that we're not worthy we're not holy we're not so don't bother we're all sinners we're all messed up and without like you said a bye to me if not you're you know without being centered on crying we have nothing you know forget it but that's the beauty of our faith that were all these wounded sinners and despite the humanity in our Catholic faith the Holy Spirit still guides it he's still giving us the roadmap of truth and no humans can ever mess that help which is the beauty of it but yeah it's oftentimes the the evil one will trick us to say hey you don't deserve to do and then we're not sharing the light we're not bringing others into the light in the gospel and he wants us to rescue souls when was the first time that the phrase Mayock culpa made sense to you hmm know what I mean yeah I think I you know I think on that retreat when I realized how prideful I was the world didn't center around me didn't revolve around me that really it's Jesus as the center of our universe and when we focus on him we're how blessed we feel how privileged we feel that he's choosing to invite us to be part of this self-efficacy the redemptive suffering all of the things that go along with being a true Christian and it's humbling and it's it's empowering in some ways to say hey my little piece of that puzzle is you were talking about different apostolic ministries and we all have a different role well you mean God's actually gonna use us at this part of the funnel where we're gonna go out in the secular world and run some ads and talk to people or he's gonna set me next to somebody on a plane Wow but it was when I realized that he is the center of the universe and not me that everything changed and I felt so thankful by His grace but also you know he had a Russian and a confessional again and I constantly do to keep dumping those human tendencies I have that I have to work on every day to get rid of let's see if we can get one more email he just got a little couple minutes left comes from Margit from Michigan I have a nephew who has stopped believing in God I tried to tell him what he's missing in the Catholic Church but he just shrugs me off mm-hmm how can I help I would say pray for someone to come into his life that he can relate to and in sales we used to use the feel felt found technique I know how you feel I felt the same way but now with God in my life I found that pray that somebody who's maybe a contemporary of his good good Catholic soul comes into his life because oftentimes our relatives don't want to hear from us yeah I listen to somebody who's a buddy of theirs I had the situation in an airplane where you know the this flight attendant was in a tizzy and I felt led to do something about it so I took out a little Catholics come home card and I wrote on the back and it's pretty amazing that like I said okay Lord what do you want me to write and I wrote Cindy the hope that you seek can only be found in Jesus and his church God loves you Tom and then I begged God do you really want me to give this to her you know cuz that's a pretty bold statement you know and I prayed and I said if you want it you know Mina gave it to her make it abundantly clear and she came back a third time to me and and said I want to really thank you for the kind word you said I said okay here goes and I handed it to her and she read it and about two weeks later we got a letter and she said how did you know you know how did you know I was in such a lonely place after this divorce and all the trials in my life I was a fallen away Catholic I've actually come back to the church my life is renewed again and you know like Cindy there's so many people out there and it may not be us that God uses to a relative's back with somebody else so I say pray God cares about and loves those people Tom thanks you one last time what's the name of your website Catholics come home dot org sorry I wanted to make sure you said it and so they all heard it and they invite them to go check it out and to see all you're doing and there's also the help drunk closer to Jesus in his church don't thank God I'm glad to have you back on I think we're gonna look forward to seeing you again soon and thank all of you for joining us I hope this was encouragement to you and to appreciate this great church you've taken for granted or to help those outside your life discover it for the first time god bless you you

Channel: EWTN

Views: 10,761

Rating: 4.9436622 out of 5

Keywords: EWTN, Journey Home, Marcus Grodi, Tom Peterson, VirtueMedia, secularist, Catholic, JHT01308

Id: nctBnRJF26Y

Length: 56min 1sec (3361 seconds)

Published: Tue Mar 08 2011