Livesplaining 006 - The Spirit of Poverty + Q&A

hi there this is father jacob bertrand today i'm with father joseph anthony welcome to this episode of live splaining uh father joseph anthony how you doing this is our first time doing live splaining together right this is this is my first time on live splanning uh first first time caller long time listener uh it's good i'm happy to be here how are things in in uh charlottesville charlottesville it's great um beautiful sunny day starting starting to feel like fall weather which is great because it's football season tailgating season uh you know university of virginia is 1-0 and football right now gearing up for a big game versus illinois tomorrow so um can't wait to go tailgating and just be back in you know college football land so it's super excited about that nice that kind of takes over the whole campus right like football game day yeah it's um we are our church where we are is maybe less than a half mile away from the football stadium so our church parking lot turns into actually a tailgating lot um so yeah it's awesome and then we just walk over uh with students to the game and enjoy it so yeah super super excited about all of that fun stuff and it's just good to be back and seeing the kind of like unity that happens with school spirit and the beauty that uh you know college athletics uh provides to uh the student body and you know our student athletes and stuff like that so it was it was really hard last year to see all of our student athletes who pour themselves into the sports and into their athletics but it was it was just an awkward season across the board but this year we're in a good place um so i'm super excited about that and we're gearing up for our fall retreat which i can talk about like for years on end but i'm gonna shut it down right there not do that yeah that's that's all students though that's not just like a freshman thing yeah so our fall retreat is for all of our students and we're um bringing in bill donahue from theology of the body institute so it's going to be a theology of body retreat uh which is really really exciting cool that's sweet yeah that's very good very good i approve that's how i didn't okay that's great yeah my approval but that's what it sounds like no sorry um you don't need my approval approval we can go forward everybody and let's go that's right so okay um what we wanted to talk about today for a handful of minutes kind of set the stage a bit is um to talk about spiritual poverty and its role in the spiritual life and and what that means and maybe what it doesn't mean but probably more what it means um so we're gonna chat about that for i don't know a handful of minutes ten minutes or something like that and then we're gonna turn it over to some some questions if you all who are listening have some questions we have some questions from our patreon supporters um so we will uh we'll get to those too so um yeah let's start talking about spiritual poverty um one of the things that as religious uh we do that makes us religious is that we profess uh the vows we profess vows of the evangelical councils so those councils are poverty chastity and obedience i'm sure that's not terribly um revelatory or like big news to hear that really just make vows um and of those of those councils or those councils where they're not they're not mandates of the spiritual life that's why they're called councils they're not commands but councils ways by which we are able to be more conformed to christ who is poor who is chastened who is obedient and you can look through the history of the church and see saints who lived these councils in different ways because we're talking about poverty uh you can i think two saints who stand out here are saint francis and mother teresa who lived poverty um in very intense and very radical ways that really shaped the church in in ways that that you know the ways that i guess the church hadn't been shaped before i don't know i guess that's what shapes means or implies um but the question remains is is poverty chastity and obedience something that pertains only to the religious well the answer to that is in a sense yes and in a sense no in a sense yes in the in the sort of radical profession of those vows of living a radical poverty radical chastity radical obedience yeah that's that's that's the form that's what gives form to religious life but um can we talk about should all christians be poor in some way yeah we'll talk about that as we go on should all christians be chased yes they should should all christians be obedient uh to the church and to god and yes they should so when we talk about these these councils with respect to the laity um uh the we're talking more less in sort of a direct observance or adherence and more of something um with respect to the spirit of it or um a way of living so hence the title spirit of poverty um so father joseph anthony what does that what does that look like at least in some way for for the christian for all the baptized who are who are following christ to live a spirit of poverty i i think one of those things is that uh the disposition to how we interact with things you know we are human beings right we have to interact with things in this world that's a great gift that we have um but how do we interact with that and it always comes to mind what saint paul talks about when he writes you know what do you have that you have not received from another and um i i i like i think it's helpful to draw a distinction between ownership and possession um i've found that possession has a very kind of like closed mentality and it locks it down and it's this kind of um it has like this just deep um selfishness and that there there isn't this uh give and take well with somebody who kind of takes ownership it's this kind of subtle but humble recognition that i've received this from another and for this period of time i have ownership i've been entrusted with this thing and so there's this element of gratitude that immediately starts off right but also there's going to be an element of generosity where this i'm a steward of this and i can freely give because i freely have received and so we don't need to be afraid to take ownership of things in our life but if we approach it with a spirit of poverty um it's this understanding of saint paul that we are constantly the benefactors and the recipients of these good things in our life and so too we freely give of them to those in need and so it starts to see it in a little more of a transient way whereas i think those who um possess things make the things their idols in their the end and then it becomes this kind of lockdown and you don't see a lot of generosity you don't see a lot of gratitude with respect to the things of this world so i think when we we talk about a spirit of poverty it doesn't mean the radical um material poverty that we would see in like a saint francis of assisi or things like that but for all christians we can approach a spirit of poverty building from saint paul saying i'm actually a steward of the good things that god has given me through the hands of other people and i receive that with gratitude but also i'm free to give it with generosity yeah in thinking about poverty and the spirit of poverty too it it it begs the question of of like what is our relationship to material things right um so if we look at the councils poverty the the for the religious the vow of poverty frees us from our attachment to material possessions the vow of chastity from bodily goods the goods of marriage of obedience um our gives our will to somebody else but when we're thinking about poverty um or another word that's often used in the spiritual life is detachment with material things it's important to think um of like what what does uh what what is my relationship to the created world am i made for the things and the comfort of this world ultimately or is there something more um and sometimes the obviously the answer is there's something more uh i think that's right um but that then it's a then i think it's a question well how do we handle the things of this world do they become stumbling blocks um do they get in the way of our relationship with christ do they get in our way of our relationship with others with our friends and family or with or with strangers or these sort of things um we often um you know i'll say this money like money and possessions aren't evils in themselves but how they're it's how they're used it's do they become idols or do they become um become sort of instruments to pursuing the common good to pursuing christ in our own life to pursuing um the the bringing about of the kingdom uh for others um and in this idea of detachment of being ready to dispose of our things i mean not like you know the next day you have to go out and sell everything you have um but you know really what is your heart after what is what is your you know heart and mind after is it um is it things comforts or is it god um is it is he the primary focus see the the one that we're chasing so there's a um i mean that detachment from things is really really important because it becomes this element of what we actually we are always going to be attached to something we don't just get detached and become this like weird buoy in the ocean that's just getting thrown around by waves so the question is what are we attached to and if we find ourselves more attached to the temporal goods of this world that means we are less attached to the eternal goods of god himself and so when we begin to divest ourselves of the material goods of our life and become more detached a less possessive of whether it's money or even the temporary goods of fame uh you know those types of things that allows us now the capacity to become more united and attached to god right yeah when when at the soon after the dominican order was founded there was when when mendicans franciscans and dominicans in particular type of religious that we are as mendicants when when those religious orders were founded there was a big controversy which has been come to has come to be known the mendican controversy about like what are these religious communities how do they exist and why do they exist and in defense of the order um saint thomas wrote a small treatise on the evangelical councils of living poverty chess and obedience and in setting up the reason for religious taking these vows and we could then make the connection the reason for the laity to live these councils in a in a mitigated way um uh he uh he he does so by making the point that our will um that it can only be attached to one thing at a time now this can change very quickly you know i could i can see x and i can see y and i can see z and i can go back x y z but ultimately there's just there's one thing that i'm pursuing at a time and this idea of poverty this idea of detachment allows us to clear out some of the clutter some of the things that would i guess occupy our attention rather than god or distract us from the things of god or to use them properly so um that's that's kind of what is that is that root here is is what are we chasing what are we uh what are we good at what are we going after what are we pursuing what are what are our hearts set on um i think one other aspect here that may be talking about uh to talk about for a minute um is is the sort of comforts that we introduce into our lives or the kind of like shields that we build up around ourselves our our novice master i think this was in the novitiate correct me if i'm wrong probably was yeah i think he was talking about about this idea of detachment and he said that like even even um he or she knew this none right yeah so this is 100 percent and um you know she had given up everything and yet like she was complaining about some sister taking or using her holy card or something that was in her breather you know even this little even this nun who was so detached or would have seemingly been so detached was still concerned um about you know just her little holy card where it was so it's it we it's really a question of like you know is that is that a comfort thing kind of like a i don't know what do they call them like comfort blankets yeah comfortably how do we soothe ourselves is it with the things of god also have you ever tried a weighted blanket those things are comfortable as all get out yeah it like hugs you it's it's a little weighted blanket they're great so just another issue that's a good share thank you for the record i've not tried a blanket um 10 out of 10 baby 10 out of 10 recommend well now we know that father joseph anthony is super detached except from his weighted blanket that he uses and no i can appreciate a weighted blanket i'll give it to anybody that needs it i'll give it to you if you ever want one but i'm just saying they're nice i'm fine thanks so well good i think we've said a bit enough about spiritual poverty or the spirit of poverty uh at least uh to start things off if you all have questions about that or you know feel free to drop those in the in the comment or the chat youtube chat bar thing so we'll answer them there so let's turn to some q a we have a handful of questions from our donors from our patreon supporters so we're going to start with those at least some of those to get things going and uh let's see twice we don't you don't need it twice um question one from john what do catholics believe about predestination uh you want to take a whack at it and then i can follow you you can you can correct all my errors is basically what he said there yeah yeah i mean does the lord want all of us in in heaven with himself away yeah absolutely you know that this is the eternal will is that he he desires us in in eternity but i i think what predestination is commonly referred to like in in more of a um a modern contemporary context is not that that we have this like pre it's more about predeterminism than predestination um and it's like there's nothing you can do to change the reality and it takes out human freedom from that capacity which we know that our freedom is precisely the imago dei that the lord has given us and he's never going to destroy that so i think that kind of predeterministic attitude of we are predestined or predetermined and there's nothing that we can do to change the course of future um is is absolutely contrary to our belief because it it's not within the christian anthropology and knowing how we are created in the image alikeness of god because we contain our free will but the lord does desire us and you know we do have the as aquinas to talk about you know or not aquinas i'm sorry augustine you know our hearts are made for the lord and we're longing and we they will not be complete until they're in his presence so there's a there is a predestination in the sense that we are predestined to be with him because we are created to to be fulfilled in him but yeah i think uh the common parlance is is more actually in effect a predeterminism and not necessarily predestination yeah and when we look at how the lord like works in creation this is really what we're talking about with predestination that's an aspect of god of god working in creation so if we if we take a step back from that um uh we're where there's we're talking about god's will so god has a will right he has an intellect and a will he is intellect and will and we're formed in that image and then god's intellect or god's will working in creation is sometimes what we call divine providence how things just play out in creation and then often when we talk about predestination as father joseph anthony was mentioning we're talking about whether or not someone's going to heaven so predestination is god's providence or his will with respect to where we're headed um we really want to avoid the sense that um that this the concept the protestant concept of double predestination that god creates some just to send some to hell yeah right that god creates souls to damn them um but so when we think about well how does this work with god's knowledge then does he know if i'm going to heaven and does that initiate my freedom well god operates outside of time such that his his knowledge is not always causative um he doesn't just because he knows he doesn't uh vitiate our freedom um but also we could say yeah god knows if i'm going to heaven or hell because he's god but he doesn't force that he doesn't cause that there there's a distinction we could say between god's antecedent will what he knows before uh you know before creation actually acts not that he's changed by it but before creation actually acts and god's consequent will um and what happens after that's what would call a logical distinction god doesn't have two wills but just a way by which to kind of get around and see it okay let's look at a second question from our patreon donor maggie smith yes here we go can you explain the relationship between mercy and justice is being just the same as being merciful it's a good question um yeah so and it's actually kind of you know fits into the predestination bit right so the what i think a good definition for mercy is it's god's love in the face of sin um it's god's love in the face of sin it's not my own i'm stealing it from someone i don't know it might be john paul ii or somebody else i don't know it's i didn't come up with it um yeah origin something like that uh so god's love in the face of sin so justice justice is um defined as rendering another his due so what is somebody owed and and that's that's really we can talk about different forms of justice or different parts of justice but that's really what we're talking about is what is another person owed or do um it's interesting when saint thomas talks about like the virtue of religion or piety he puts those are sub virtues of the virtue of justice because it's god is owed or dude worship or reverence or these sort of things um mercy though is is a different thing um they're not unrelated because god's justice has to do with us and god's mercy has to do with us um but mercy is a sort of we sometimes think of as like a tempering of justice that like you know i'm a sinner so i am due hell you know i'm owed damnation but god's merciful and loving um so he doesn't you know he forgives sins and and um and allows me to um you know to be in relationship with him to uh to love him these sort of things uh yeah i think that that gets at it a little bit and yeah any other comments from you father yeah i think once again i think there's there's always kind of a misconception of how these words are thrown around in contemporary ways like i think far too many people think justice is just like rage and it's like retaliation for things like after the fact um and which you know but there's actually like i think justice that like you were talking about it's due to somebody that it is a just act to you know honor thy father and mother um in in those types of ways so i i think that justice and mercy like end up being like two sides of the same coin they're they're not counter each other they're not against each other in any sense um but they they actually they kind of interplay and are interwoven with each other and mercy doesn't um doesn't temper justice when justice is like getting out of hand like when somebody is going off the rails and like is is in rage it's like well no you need to be merciful you need to be kind um but i think mercy actually is making sure that somebody receives their due even when maybe they they don't merit it yeah you know um and it reflects the lord in that way um yeah cool all right let's take a question from austin stonewall austin asks hi can you look at that picture look at that picture though yeah can you talk a bit about what precisely goes into being properly disposed for receiving sacramental graces i'm thinking of reconciliation in particular thanks i'll let you take it father yeah i mean i think the proper disposition for sacramental graces is uh partly uh availing yourself to the sacraments you know showing up and desiring it um there there are certain uh you know when the sacraments are effective in their operation so we don't have to fear whether or not um we receive the sanctifying grace and the sacramental grace when the sacrament is um performed or accomplished the graces are supplied so that's that's absolute we don't have to fear that um but the what i think the question is starting to get at is some of the more kind of um devotional graces maybe uh the the graces of devotion and strengthening of how we receive in in that way so i think the first thing is how do we know that we're properly deceived sometimes it's a little more basic and and less um you know less intricate the fact that you show up and you desire these graces means that you're beginning to be properly disposed to that um and i would kind of like even take a very very basic step in that and saying like yes if you desire those graces and you show up to it that's the that's the proper disposition to it um but yeah i i think that i want to just leave it there um you can talk about the differences of graces and things like that if you want to cool all right i think another question for you uh from nd irish do you brew beer for the tailgate so uh first off go irish i uh grew up as a notre dame football fan through and through and i'm a little bit in a conflict this year because notre dame is playing university of virginia here in charlottesville in i november know what i'm going to do for that game um i think i'm going to end up rooting for uh for my boys at uva but it'll be a good game so i can't wait to watch notre dame play here in charlotte's film um i do i brew beer for the tailgates no but i do i drink beer for the tailgates absolutely uh 100 um i got i have a few friends here in charlottesville that that work at breweries and things like that so we always are um well supplied for a tailgate let's put it that way great bless i used to always make fun of joe's father joseph anthony in the student day when he watched notre dame games because he would always say we when referring to notre dame um and he didn't play for notre dame and there's no way he he's wholly unassociated and i know it's a sports thing fine whatever but i still like to make bro it's just good dude i forgot about that you used to rail on me you're like you haven't yeah you have no association who's the wii yep okay all right question from guillermo in sodom and gomorrah there was not one single person worth saving it is our duty to escape how safe are you in the swamp well i will answer the duty to escape part um if you're talking about the swamp being dc or just life in general pc gosh it just depends i don't know hey fine i guess but is it our duty to escape so uh what would i say um you know i think there's never been a point in history when um when civilizations when cultures when places were not corrupt and broken and uh you know heading down the wrong path in some way or another uh is it our duty to escape um perhaps in some ways perhaps not in others i think this is there's a duty um there's there's a wide breadth i think for interpretation so you have uh who wrote the the benedict option uh was it rodrigo no yeah yeah this idea of sort of stepping aside from uh from kind of the the culture and rebuilding kind of catholic enclaves out and like you know kind of restarting in some ways so that's one position my thought is tends to be that uh you know saints are called to be saints in places where they are and the world needs saints and uh just a sort of blind running away it doesn't convert the world um so you know christ became man and entered into into a pretty awful world um so i think we're called to to in some way mirror that and and work for the building of the kingdom yeah i think i mean we can look into the gospels and see a lot of actually the lord's healings and miracles that he performs he sends people back to their homes he sends them back to their home towns and their cities and says no go back like evangelize and and and speak of what you've encountered here um and i think of this past sunday was the healing of the death man right the lord you know puts his fingers in his ears and spits on his tongue and all that kind of like really uh tangible stuff um but when we think about the deaf man like at that time a deaf person was entirely separated from society they were entirely abandoned they couldn't communicate they couldn't really survive there were no hearing assistance there was no braille there was no american sign language to help this person be a part of society for somebody who is deaf and mute they were totally cut off and so what the lord does in his healings is actually restore somebody back into society integrates them back into society so i i think that like um i wouldn't be afraid of a society in any sense because we know that the lord desires us to be to share in fellowship with our our peers and with humanity but it's it's going to take saints to to sanctify that so i don't i don't think there's a lot of fear that should be approached in that um in any way yeah probably just prudence and that's yeah yeah virtuous virtuous approach weird yeah cool good question thanks for asking all right our next question comes from maribel uh how does your congregation see gifts from family and friends with the vow of poverty um good question uh typically our the way by which we handle that is that uh is that any sort of monetary gifts are turned into the community we can ask our superior uh to keep some of that if we are going to use it for travel or you know if we need shoes or clothes or something or there's you know there's something that's been discussed with the prior but generally monetary gifts or stipends or salaries certainly stipends and salaries from like going on preaching and that sort of stuff go to the community because that's how our community what sustains itself that's how we pay our bills by our preaching and by our by our our work and that sort of thing um as far as what like uh material gifts whether they be some clothes or something like that um typically we're allowed to keep those um i know and when we were in formation we had to disclose it to our to our four major what we were you know if we had received if we visit we've the student brothers typically go home to visit their uh their their families after christmas basically over the new year uh if so if we were to receive any gifts then we would have to let our formator know when we got home so yeah that's pretty much and i think it's a there's an important distinction there's always been a distinction between like how dominicans live their vow of poverty and how franciscans live their vow of poverty and um for good reason like a franciscan has is in their life and their consecration wedds themselves to lady poverty right and dominicans we wed ourselves to lady wisdom and so uh from the very beginnings you know dominic always uh allowed for certain exemptions for things like books and study to allow us to be better preachers of the gospel and so there there is a little more of um kind of latitude when it comes uh comes to that it has to be within line and vision of our mission for being preachers in that sense but it's not as a kind of a explicit strict material poverty that we would find with the franciscans because it's a different charaism yep fair um okay we have another question from angela uh when i first looked at this i'm really bad at looking at the questions uh that's all right i saw q-tips and i thought oh no second question from andrew second q-tip uh tips on how to best grow in the virtue of heavenly prudence of prudence um it's a good question uh well i'll give you two resources uh i'll give you three resources and then i'll say something about it the first is um that about a year ago my office the office of vocations and the temistic institute co-sponsored a retreat here at the house of studies called choosing well um on the virtue of prudence and i know on the mystic institute um on on their podcast uh those lectures are up there so if you want to listen to some things on prudence and putting that into practice and what the virtue is that was last october so the end of october so if you scroll back through their things i don't know exactly how long i know they take a little bit to get the the podcasts out from their lectures but it's on you should be able to find it um there's a really good book on the virtues called the virtues or the examined life by father romanus cesario that's a great introduction to the virtues prudence included so that might be if you're looking to read something that's a great kind of digestible thing and then thirdly yet to be released but um i believe that one of the friars of our podcast is coming out with a book on prudence uh just after the new year so keep an eye out for that um i don't know if i'm supposed to say that but i didn't but she just did so two ways to two things to mention now well while while we're talking while you asked um one is to pray for the gift as dominicans we believe in this and the idea of infused virtues not just acquired virtues and the difference there that um with respect to the cardinal or the moral virtues of prudence justice temperance and fortitude um they can be acquired in the sense that you can practice them and grow in them you can do um you can do courageous things and grow and become more courageous become grow in fortitude but we also believe that those virtues can be infused that god can give them um in a sort of full and complete way so we can and and that acquired virtue also requires grace you know god moves but um there's a rich sort of idea in the dominican and the themistic mind of the life of virtue so pray for it you know they're gifts from god to behave prudently but also do you know practice prudence the a liar is a liar because he lies you know and a prudent person is a prudent person because they do prudent things even in small matters so that building up of of the virtue is is just something that we we practice we pray for the grace and then in situations that demand you know decision making or that sort of thing we we make when we make good decisions um another like pithy phrase to throw is that grace builds on grace um so that like as we become more prudent uh or as we do prudent things we become more prudent so um yeah i i don't think that there's a sort of like secret or like you know kind of thing oops just him like secret thing to throw into the mix to become more prudent but for doing prudent things even in small matters um so yeah and i i mean as we all know like you know prudence is is is a virtue it's in in a sense it takes it takes like kind of being well informed having a well-formed conscience so like in order to to use right reason your your conscience has to be formed well so so don't be afraid to you know take time and actually um have intellectual endeavors to help you be informed on certain things so that you know how to act well and what that looks like so things like the podcast and those books on virginia like that's part of and a very crucial part of learning how to act well is actually having a well-formed conscience so that you know how that your will can be informed through which you can act cool all right next question i don't know how to pronounce your name so i'm going to say p-h-e-x there you go is regularly smoking cigarettes combat compatible with a vow of poverty also can one who has taken a vow of poverty freely go to a bar or drink for example coffee juice etc um good question uh i yeah go ahead father yeah i mean i i think this is once again like you know we want to make sure that um when we talk about the spirit of poverty or vow of poverty doesn't mean destitution like it doesn't mean that we're like totally um you know destitute and can not supply for our needs um there is a certain aspect that like we can engage in um in each other's lives and and whether that is going for you know grabbing a cup of coffee with somebody or grabbing a drink with somebody or those types of things that's we have to see it you know in a certain moderation and not that we are attached to these things like you know prudent use or moderate use of uh tobacco and alcohol or you know caffeine for those types of things like it's you know i'm failing on that one all my students know like i'm a i'm a caffeine fiend um yeah see what i did there but and they're not they're not um they're not against or anti uh vowel of poverty in any sense if they don't become like strict attachments like i was speaking of earlier like we have to be detached from these things um so that we can actually approach them for the good that they offer to us but if we become overly attached and addicted and in those types of things then they do become these idols and we we lessen our our humanity because of those attachments there yeah and it's as i think with one of the earlier questions i mentioned we're given a small you know stipend a month for kind of incidental spending so i certainly we certainly well i like dc father joseph anthony doesn't but um you know i certainly can't go to most places and get like a drink in dc you know because super pricey but you know to go for a beer on occasion with a friend or something like that yeah that's well within the bounds of our of our um yeah living i mean it's also i was just going to say things also differ from community to community on how yeah what kind of rules are there so and i also think like there's a beauty to uh being generous with what we have like you know father jacob burton is correct like we each receive a monthly stipend and one of the beautiful things i love about our dominican life is every friar in the priory receives the same stipend now it you know depending on where that location is right um it doesn't it's not always the same across the province but each in each priority everybody receives the same stipend whether you're the prior or the youngest brother in the house it doesn't matter but we also you know we have a certain um desire and kind of call to be generous with those stipends that we have so like you know whether that means supporting a missionary or being uh supporting certain charitable causes and charitable arms of the church uh even with that what has been given to us is also it gives us that ability to make a prudent decision and support others who are also in need and maybe that is just buying a cup of coffee for a student or buying a cup of coffee for a friend and saying i got you covered on this one like we can also be generous with a small stipend that we have too cool uh let's see from lauren borowski hi lauren hi lauren uh what recommendations do you have on filling your day with times of prayer uh in study silent prayer liturgy loth liturgy of the hours i'm getting better at abbreviations on a previous live-splaining episode um someone uh put jc and i didn't know what that was and then father gregory had to remind me that jc stands for jesus christ the big man yeah well i'm not gonna lie listen i read l-o-t-h and in my head i translated that as l-o-t-r so i'm like silent prayer lord of the rings rosary i think liturgy of the hours so silent liturgy of the hours rosary divine mercy chocolate etc without falling into the trap of simply checking items off a list that's a good question um we don't want to become list checking catholics so i think here what's important on on avoiding a sort of task like oriented faith is to uh to look at these things as with respect to whether or not they are helpful and conducive to your own prayer now some of us who are religious and priests are obligated to particular things so we have to pray the liturgy of the hours that's that's part of our our job as it were um but you know as uh a lay woman you don't so is it uh i think asking the question of okay are you um are you taking you know are you doing these things are you are you making time for silent prayer liturgy of the hours and rosary to do that because you think you have to or because they help you uh structure your day in your relationship and your with our lord and your prayer schedule um the the important principle here is that there's nothing that we can do um that like makes god give us more grace um you know we can't like it's not you know the the idea that if i just figure out the perfect prayer routine and get like eight things instead of seven then somehow i'm going to be holier it's like well we have to balance that with the reality that god is god and we have to be well disposed to be in a relationship with him but we don't need to like necessarily always do more um to facility facilitate that relationship so i think it's really good to to like as you try different things uh from that's a great list of devotions and and and prayers uh and and ways to engage in the spiritual life as you try different things if you're like well the liturgy of ours is just like office of readings is just not for me it's like okay fine you know that's it so or maybe it's a seasonal thing like i'm just like this is really dry right now and then like you come back during advent to a practice or something you know so flexibility there i think this is like questions about prudence that we had where the question of prudence really kind of comes in as to what's like good useful conducive to your growing closer to god yeah i want to wholeheartedly second a lot of that in the sense that um there are the ordinary means of sanctification right sacrament life pursuing virtue like those are the ordinary means of sanctification but when it comes to devotions those are personal and that's that's very you know dependent on the individual and to not be afraid to like um it's more i think it's more about finding a rhythm of prayer then specifics of it so that you know like okay i want to you know pray in this certain rhythm at different points in my day or whatever it is depending on the obligations of my life you know from the obligations in my life don't allow me to attend a midday mass every day then i'm not able to you know but maybe allow a morning mass and then obligations of life change and you can adapt and go with that but i think that final thing that um the final thing you were saying father jacob is very important is like don't be afraid to be flexible with um seasons like okay for this season my life the the rosary was extremely helpful for me but now it's kind of getting dry so i'm going to go back to let's say um journaling or those types of things like don't be afraid to kind of keep and that doesn't mean that the prayer wasn't good for you at a different season so i think when it comes to a strong prayer life it's more about having a good established rhythm of prayer that is kind of keeps you buoyed up in the life rather than these specific things because i think if you focus too much on the specifics then it does become a check off list it comes a to-do list instead of fostering a relationship with the lord with it because that's what that's what our spiritual life is supposed to be is drawing us deeper into the relationship with god himself and as we all know with relationships it kind of takes different turns as the relationship grows you know and not to be afraid of that great all right um from marie here we are fathers i read that the jesuit theory of predestination is different from yours can you please explain the difference in layman's terms thank you that's a good question uh that one's on you yeah i was gonna say i'm not really sure uh i think so one of the things that is difficult in um and trying to answer questions about this school versus that school is whether or not you know there's a school that all jesuits ascribe to with respect to their theology so maybe not all dominicans are atomists and follow st thomas but thomas is you know the dominican theologian that most you know that the dominican tradition follows so you can you can say well what do dominicans think about this and rely on thomas generally for the jesuits there are there are some kind of influential thinkers um especially in the counter reformation who uh kind of shape the way jesuits think about things as far as predestination i'm not sure the two things that i'm more familiar with where dominicans and jesuits would differ is on on ideas of grace and how god's work um in grace and how we receive grace um how that works thomas's account versus the the sort of counter reformation jesuit account and and then kind of how that later identified uh i did or was later kind of shaped not identified but shaped jesuit thought um and then the other thing is with respect to sort of the virtues and and and the ver in kind of approaching um the virtues and like the end of the moral life so there would be debate there between jesuits and dominicans at least in a theological um theological argument but i'm sorry to say with respect to predestination i'm not sure um i think here too there i think there's less of a with predestination i think there's less like to talk about virtue theory and how the virtues work and that sort of thing there's there's some like uh i guess room for interpretation but there there's a pretty clear catholic catholic doctrine on predestination which is what we talked about earlier so it's a little harder to sort of say there are these kind of different theories or different things that i'll just say like the path for orthodoxy is a bit narrower on on something like this so i'm sorry that i wasn't able to give you more details but um that's that's where uh that's what i'm offering that's what i'm able to offer so okay another question from phex again sorry from i'm sure that's a different way to say that circumstances are such that i cannot make a thanksgiving after mass without sacrifice of my breakfast i know that i should make a thanksgiving after eucharist but should i sacrifice breakfast every day father thoughts um i'm not quite sure how deep and how long a thanksgiving is for you i think thanksgiving can be something very very short you know if if once again your circumstances don't allow you to have prolonged periods of prayer in a church that's fine you're not a cloistered nun like you the lord has entrusted you other obligations in life and that you have to attend to those things so uh you know you can make a very short thanksgiving like thank you lord i love you that's a eucharistic thanksgiving you know and then to be attentive to the circumstances and obligations of your life also in a um in an implicit way is actually a thanksgiving to the lord for what he's done and what he's entrusted to you so i wouldn't fear that i mean there's always this kind of ache within our hearts that we could be spending and devoting more time to the lord and we could be giving more like i think that's just a that's a good ache to have but also to just constantly take a step back and say well what's within my what's legitimately and like respectfully within my duties and if that's just a short thanksgiving the lord doesn't really care about quantity so much as quality so just give what you have and and entrusted to the lord that's it yeah i i wouldn't say anything differently so i think that's that's spot on um it really matters like what matters is what you're able to give so great okay let's take another question from a um from a patreon supporter uh matthew o'connor matthew asks how should we relate to god should we always relate to god as father uh that's a good question how should we relate to god um well i think a couple things uh first our relation to god is is defined on sort of god's terms i think sometimes we like to think that the spiritual life is is wholly subjective and personal that like you know it's about how i relate and how i kind of find him and you know we were talking from lauren's question earlier about this like the practices of the spiritual life and what works and yeah that's that's one thing but um god reveals himself in a particular way and did so most particularly through his son uh through christ to be you know christ is the culmination of revelation and the way by which we relate to the father most directly now in terms of like is father always father or is father um creator or do we think is as of god as the redeemer uh or i think um this is a little um i guess what back pattery here uh the other night uh father patrick and i had an event at the catholic information center in washington d.c a book launch and one of the things that we talked about in the book is um how the dominican often thinks of god as friend um particularly from from christ calling the apostles and dominic had this notion of that that the dominicans are going to be apostles you know apostles and christ calls the apostles his friends so i think often dominicans think of friendship with god so that another way um but here i think it it's a question of well what you could say kind of what works for you um where like as dominicans as i'll speak for myself and father joseph anthony can differ if he wants but there's there's this we're formed in a kind of dominican tradition that has this notion of friendship um but i know like uh this is something i mentioned the other night i was with summer projects with focus this summer uh father joseph and they spent some time with them too in a different location but their their retreat that they go on for the students is is called the father's house and it's about the prodigal son and relating to god as father so uh we can get at different things by you know seeing how god reveals himself differently but it's really kind of what works i love that father's house retreat i've led that thing seven or eight times and it's powerful every single time so i love that but i think that however we approach god in the triune godhead is actually never not including the other persons of the trinity you know they're always unified together and specifically in how father jacob like you were saying how he's revealed himself like it's in our baptism that we are you know made co-heirs with christ we we are united to him in his divinity and so now we can stand shoulder to shoulder with jesus the lord the messiah the anointed one the eternal son in gazing at the father right receiving the father's love and returning that father's love which is the holy spirit right that that kind of dynamic of love between the father and the son that we are now incorporated into so at any point you know whether we are kind of meditating on this union that we have with the eternal son through our baptism and through his invitation to be you know to share friendship with him or we are looking at the father receiving his eternal love of the father right in in having that dynamic which then draws us into the holy spirit itself like at any point we're incorporating all others and for a moment we are focusing on one aspect of that trinity for a moment we're focusing on this other one it doesn't necessarily exclude the others you know they're all in an active uh dynamism in that way yeah yeah great all right so i think we have uh let's see question again from guillermo we could show this so the second fatima prayer um i don't know uh second fact of my prayer i just looked it up because i didn't know it but my god i believe i adore i hope and i love you i ask pardon of you for those who do not believe do not adore do not hope and do not love you is that all souls or just the ones in purgatory um i would assume it's all souls yeah i would think so yeah i'm not terribly familiar with the sort of spiritual spirituality or teachings around that but i would assume that would pertain to all souls to our own souls too not just to the souls in purgatory so great uh from jennifer uh interesting i've always heard god created us so he is our father often i get told in the word it says call no one on earth father i've never heard god as friend um yeah so right you know god creates and god is creator god is father in that way god reveals himself as father he does so in the in the old testament um in in sort of different ways um being the father of israel and the sort of nuptial imagery through the prophets um all of these kind of things and then does i guess most what would we say emblematically is that a word um emblem it is now man yeah claim it they have it uh in in christ's relationship and teaching as god you know of god as father um so uh yeah father obviously but if we look at the last supper um in john i believe it's john 15 10 15 right yeah right yeah i no longer call you servants but i call you friends um if we take the last supper to be what what is often called these these prayers the high priestly prayers right before christ leaves there's there's a real way that christ changes the orientation of the apostles relation to him um to to have one of a friendship to know god as a friend um so it's a it's a really powerful kind of thing without fail i know that's one of the readings that profession one of the options for readings and at ordination is that true yeah we had it at all of ours yeah so just like a wedding you can choose from a list of of uh scripture passages for like a wedding mass or a funeral mass same thing for a professional mass or an ordination mass and we often dominicans often choose something from the high priestly prayer john 15 a lot um so it's it's uh yeah it's a really awesome thing to think about and you know to meditate on to take to prayer to think about that sort of thing so and and i think that you know that that kind like why is that so revolutionary why is this so important that god calls us friend right i mean because friendship has to be shared between kind of equals yeah and we are not equal to god like i'm not afraid to say that i am not equal to god i may think that i am and i may act like i am sometimes but i'm not equal to god let's face it um but the lord jesus in his generosity elevates us to to divinity and so now we can share in his friendship which is not proper to us but it's a gift and he gives that that ability in that capacity to be friends with him as a supreme gift and so this whole concept of friendship with god is is absolutely revolutionary uh really in all the world religions like there's no other world religion that claims that the creature could befriend with the creator and and yet jesus humbles himself to take on our humanity so that we can be elevated to his divinity and that's why in that um you know high priestly prayer john 15. he's talking about the vine and the branches but he then calls us friends and goes one step further and says you know what's what's the mark of true friendship well to lay down your life for your friend and i lay down my life freely for you so not only does he talk about it and give us this kind of like bullet point understanding but then he actually inaugurates it by his own actions of laying down his life for us his friends yeah and i think another place to check this out too is it's not as direct or as as specific with respect to friendship but to what father josephine was just talking about that that gift um where that that friendship is on offer because christ became man and there's this beautiful hymn uh they call it or canticle in in saint paul's letter to the philippians philippians 2 6 through 11 um that it's just like a summary of our faith um so it's really beautiful we prayed a lot in our in the liturgy of the hours but you know philippians 2 6 through 11. um check that out too if you're looking for another so that one and john 15 15 are some excellent passages on this um cool uh here's a question from haley uh i heard that an exorcist from dc said that he has evidence of demonic of uh demonics being able to text i have assumed for a while that people possess can type in a chat or text is there anything we could uh that we can or should do uh with this information um probably not i mean there's there's yeah i mean those types of things are so rare um you know when when demons once again they can they they're so jealous of god himself because he can create and they want to imitate that but they can only really manipulate uh and that includes matter but it takes so much for them to actually manipulate matter that is discernible um that they don't they want to be hidden they don't want to reveal themselves uh in in any sense so i don't there there's nothing to fear um in having that knowledge i mean it's no different than any other aspect of um you know the demons manipulating matter in any sense to get attention or or anything like that once again the victory is won by christ anything that the um the demons do in any capacity is just surely to induce fear and intimidation and if you constantly remind yourself that the lord has won the victory he's destroyed sin and death and i have nothing to fear um no matter how um that engagement happens there's nothing to fear and there's no need to think how do i now live differently if i read this text message is it something manipulative no just just breathe easy remind yourself of the victory of jesus christ and his specific love for you um his friend in that way and go forward all right i think we have time for just one last question another one from uh from a patreon donor that says what is the best way to praise and to worship god um great question i would say first and foremost to to attend the sacrifice of the mass the mass is the highest form of prayer and praise that we can that we can render unto god so that's that and then um pursuing our lord in all things you know so in making time for him in prayer and living the christian life and witnessing to the christian christian life um you know and living the life of virtue and and these sort of things we magnify god's glory and leading other people to christ all these ways by which the christian life is lived well i think praise and worship god but at the height par excellence it's it's the mass so any final word on that father before we read yeah i i think i kind of made reference to it earlier but living the ordinary means of sanctification you know living a sacramental life a pursuit of the lord in prayer and in virtue those are the best witnesses and ways to praise the lord in your life and your words and your actions and your being and to worship him um so that details and and demands a certain element of surrender and of humility but at the end of the day it's just devoting yourself to those ordinary means of sanctification and then if you want to go a little further maybe i would say listen to this podcast on a regular basis and join our patreon sporters i think that's a great way to praise and worship the lord himself is to become one of our patreons and to help us continue this work here that's great well thanks so much for that father anthony it's a real real winning way to wrap things up um shameless here shameless thanks for all of you who tuned in live this afternoon it was great to to answer your questions it's a lot of fun for us so as we've said before uh we'll have another episode of live splaining at 3 p.m eastern standard time two weeks from now i don't know the date offhand but every other friday um so there you have it if you'd like to have your questions prioritized feel free as father joseph natalie so graciously put it um to become a patreon supporter and you can submit your questions there ahead of time and we'll be sure to get through them or get to them uh on the episode otherwise uh feel free to check out our regular thursday episodes our guest explaining episodes every other monday we have some exciting guests coming up so stay tuned for that um but as always thanks for your support thanks for your prayers know that we're praying for you all and until next time god bless

Channel: Godsplaining Podcast

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Length: 59min 45sec (3585 seconds)

Published: Sat Sep 11 2021