[music] Man: "Mother Angelica Live!" brought to you from the Eternal Word Television Studios in Birmingham, Alabama. [music] <i>Mother: See in you, the love,</i> <i>the compassion of Jesus.</i> <i>The most glorious work of all,</i> <i>to praise God in His Kingdom.</i> <i>Anyone moved by the Spirit...</i> <i>Anyone who lives in love,</i> <i>lives in God</i> <i>and God lives in Him.</i> [music] <i>What a wonderful thing</i> <i>is our Church.</i> <i>This whole network</i> <i>is built on trust.</i> <i>The essence of evangelization</i> <i>is to tell everybody,</i> <i>"Jesus loves you!"</i> <i>We're all called</i> <i>to be great saints.</i> <i>Don't miss the opportunity!</i> (applause) Mother: Well, how are you? I still got my cold. We kind of become attached to each other, you know. You get attached even to a cold. Anyway I brought you something I thought you would like to see. I got this very nice lady send me this from Spain. It's handmade. It's handmade--now please don't lose your hat, okay. He has a problem keeping his hat on. And now, here we go, that's good. Now, this is a picture of the Child Jesus. And as you know, it's a statue. This is a torch. Years and years and centuries ago, they had to have torches. And so this is a torch. And He's been looking and looking for a lost soul. And there He's put out His torch. Now, He's got this little bell around His hand and He's trying very hard to hold on to this little black sheep. And you say, "Why does He got a black sheep?" Well, that's the one He's looking for. But here's a problem He has, see. The problem is that He caught him but the black sheep, well, he's just not too sure he wants to go along. And so what's happening is He's crying. Here's the little handkerchief. And the Child Jesus is crying because even though he caught up with him, what do you know? He doesn't want to follow Jesus. And I think I brought it for you to see because I think-- and this is a little straw hat, I think it's real cute. Isn't it cute? It's got a little ribbon back here made out of satin. He looks good with it. I just have a hard time keeping it on Him. But anyway, let's put your hat on. There! But even though Our Dear Lord looks and looks for us. So many turn away. That's a problem, huh? He never... You see the fact He's crying and He had to put His torch out because He caught him but he doesn't want to change. You see, that's the story of this little statue that was handmade in Spain. And I just couldn't resist showing Him to you because tonight we're going to talk about forgiveness. And now, I think we are. Anyway, we're going to talk about forgiveness. And you know, one of the people we have a hard time forgiving. Do you know who that is? It's our self. Isn't that strange. Well, sometimes we find it easier to forgive somebody who did something rather stupid. And we can kind of forgive, especially if they live 800 miles away. And we don't have to talk to them everyday. We can forgive those kinds of people real quick. Ah but gee, there's a point now that we carry us with us, all day and all night. And I've often wondered, why it is so because people go to Confession. You see, if this little fellow would go to Confession, he'd be all white. Ha! Ha! How do you like that, huh? (audience laughs) Then the baby wouldn't be crying. As I say, this baby's dressed up, I can tell you. He is dressed up! He's got these little pants on and he's got slippers. But see, He's crying because there's no change. And I think people who do not forgive them selves, I think we do God a dishonor. You know, one of the virtues most pleasing to Jesus is trust. If you go to Confession and you really lived it up, okay-- let's get a big sinner, not these little bitty ones, you know, that just yell at people and never really doing anything big. Let's get a big one! And you've gone to Confession and you've really made a good Confession. And you walk out, you say, "Well, I feel humbled." Well, is that humility? I don't know. I'm not sure. Why? Because you didn't forgive yourself. And you would think it would be easier to forgive yourself because you can excuse yourself. Don't you excuse yourself? Yeah, "So-and-so made me do it!" Do you ever say that. "If she wasn't such a pill, I wouldn't have lost my temper." Have you ever said that? Yeah, we all say that. We blame somebody else. Well, maybe if you lived in the desert, then what would you do? You'd have nobody to blame. So that's one thing we do. We're not humiliated so much because humility makes me know myself. Do you know yourself? Are you this little guy here, this little black sheep? Do you really want forgiveness? I've heard a lot of people say, "Well, I accept Confession. I know I'm forgiven." Well, then, what is your problem? If you know you're forgiven, why haven't you forgiven yourself? You say, "Well, I never thought I would do such a thing!" Whoa ho-ho! Humility says, "Yeah buddy, you're lucky you didn't do worse!" (coughs) I know that sounds worse-- what're you gonna do? Oh, now I don't have any place to put this thing. I need a bigger table. Oh, I got it, don't worry. Okay. So tonight I would like to give you just a new idea. You've gone to Confession and Father has given you penance. And you know in your heart that God Himself has forgiven you. "I absolve you." Oh, what a beautiful thing to hear! Now, you start walking away. And you're going to do one or two things. You're heart is going to burst with joy because you're back with the Lord or you're going to just lament and you're going to think, what? Of God? No. Of being grateful? No. Of being regretful. You really can't believe you did this. And so you don't forgive yourself. You say, "Well, I don't feel forgiven." Oh, you can't go by your feelings. You see, our Church teaches us that once you've made a good Confession and that Priest says, "I absolve you," that's the Lord! But now when you go away, you think about it. You get up the next morning and you think, "Oh no! Why did I do that?" Now, that's a total lack of trust, a total lack of trust in the awesome forgiveness of God. Do you remember the time I said on the air, "Go to Confession and when you're done, go out and have a big ice cream soda?" Celebrate! A man wrote to me and says, "You know, I hadn't gone to Confession in 30 years. "Do you mind if I went and had a pizza?" (audience laughs) "Oh have 20 pizzas!" (audience laughs) But see, we have to celebrate. We have to go and just say, "Thank You! Thank You! "Thank You! Thank You, Jesus," because that kind of remorse is not of God. See, if you look at Peter and then look at Judas. You think, "Well Judas did pretty good. "He threw those silver coins back. "They didn't want them. And he hung himself." Oh, wait a minute! That was not accepting forgiveness. It wasn't even asking for it, you see. He despaired. Now, Peter comes along and he cries and cries and cries. And, you know, in the boat, do you remember after the Resurrection that the apostles went fishing? That's why I think they were Italian Jews. Nobody will prove me wrong! I don't think you will, But only Italian Jews would think about eating after the Resurrection. You and I, I think--well, I'm Italian so... I would have said, "Wow! He's risen! What's for supper?" (audience laughs) That's what I would have said. And they went out fishing. As usual, they caught nothing. Then this stranger comes along and says, "Friends, have you caught anything?" Well, I read that every so often because there's so much in it. And Peter now was very honest. And that's how you have to be after Confession. "Yeah, I did this and I'm sorry Lord and I'm going to try not to ever do it again," with joy in your heart. And that's what Peter had! Peter had Peter had just not too long ago, a few days, denied his Lord three times. He was forgiven. You see the merciful Jesus appeared to Peter first. I wouldn't have and I'm sure you wouldn't have. You would have said, "You louse!" Or you may have called him something worse. "All I did for you. "I made you the head of this Church and what do you do?" He didn't say anything like that! Nothing! How would you have felt when you threw that net--and He said, "Starboard side?" And he throws the net and here comes these big fish, 150. Now, it's interesting as to what Peter did. He was so excited to see the Lord and to have been forgiven that he jumped! He jumped into the water and put a kind of mantle on and he jumped into the water to get to Jesus, before anybody else to get to Him. Would you have done this, all you people that feel so sorry for yourself? That was a big sin. To deny you know the Lord is a form of betrayal. "I don't know this man." You've been with Him three years. Pretty big! Well, what does Peter do? He runs towards Jesus! All of you tonight that feel so hung-up by your own feelings and sins; you don't have to feel forgiven. You are forgiven! You see, that's what faith is. Faith tells me, I am forgiven. And because I am forgiven, I can rejoice! What did Our Lord say? "If your sins are as scarlet," oh what? What's going to happen. "They shall be made white as snow." Oh, don't take him out. He's okay. He's just being a little boy. Don't bother me any. Ha-ha. You see, I want you to have such confidence in the Lord, that's what I hope the new temple will do. I hope when you go there, if you go there, that you'll find such hope and see the beauty of the Lord, the majesty of God--that we don't see that anymore. That we're so computerized. You'd think one day we'll wake up and we'll be so computerized, your mother can wind you up and off you go for the whole day. But you see its all nothing. It's all nothing. And I bet you feel good spending hours and hours playing in that computer. I went to Las Vegas years and years ago for one of these cable shows, you know. And I was shocked to see all these old ladies in their 70's and 80's getting off that plane, running for a slot machine! (audience laughs) I mean, they just got off the plane! And the airport kind of smart, I mean, they line them up for a bunch of dummies coming off the plane. You don't have a chance to win. You can keep the nickels and quarters and half dollars and the next, you can be there 5 hours and the next guy that comes along gets them all. They're all fixed! I know, my uncle used to have slot machines. (audience laughs) I come from the other side of the tracks, see? (audience laughs) And he knew I was hungry one day and I went in his place of business--let's put it that way. (chuckle) It was interesting. And he looked at me and he said, "Do you want to play the slot machine?" And I said, "I don't have any money." "I'll give you a few nickels. And he said, "Wait a minute! That's broken." And I said, "Really?" "Well, kind of." (chuckles) (audience laughs) And he went to the back of it and he started fiddling around with the slot machine and I put one nickel in it and it emptied--Vroom! And I brought them home in a bag, a little paper bag. And my mother looked at me. "Where did you get all that money?" She thought I stole it somewhere, you know. You can't steal that many nickels. And I said, "I won them!" "Where?" "Uncle Honey's place." "Oh yeah? "Bring them back! "You didn't win them, he fixed the machine." And I said, "Well I got them." I didn't care if he fixed the machine or not, you know? (Audience laughs) (Mother laughs) Oh, Dear Lord! That I am a nun is the miracle of the century. (Audience laughs) And I enjoy it besides. I just don't have any more slot machines or uncles to play with. But you see, we like to live by illusions. And I remember when we got to the hotel, oh boy! You sit down for breakfast, they got something you can play with. You go the phone, they got something in there you can bet on or do something. I couldn't eat my breakfast because there was this little thing in front of me and I thought, "This is stupid." Everything... And this one lady I passed her early in the morning--I was trying to get away from the place. You know, I had NBC or CBS with me and they were taking pictures all over the place and I didn't want them to see me in this place we were in. I got up as early as I could and we walked through. And this old lady, she had to be early 80's. (noise noise) I bet she had the strongest arm in town, the strongest arm. Well, I went for lunch and there she was. (noise) I went suppertime and by golly, she was at the same machine. And I wanted so bad to say, "Lady, you got one foot in the grave. "You're not going to win no matter how long you stay there!" But she was having such a good time losing quarters. Now, why is it, that's what I want to know? If you're going by feelings, right--you want to go by feeling, okay--they all feel good. But when they leave, oh, they make a couple 100 dollars. Sometimes people, when they feel guilty, will send me 10%, you know and they'll say, "I was in Las Vegas." Well, that's interesting. I wanted to say, "What are you doing there?" "And I won!" But they don't say how much they won. "And this is 10%." $10! "Well, you didn't win very much!" Well, I'd like to know what you lost. Nobody ever tells me what they lost. But they said, at the end, every letter mostly will say, "We had such a good time." Well now, do we know how to have a good time. Don't you think if you've not been to Confession 10, 20, 30, 40 years, don't you think that you'd have a better time by going to Confession and say, "Lord, You're so wonderful! "You have forgiven me all my sins." Oh! That has to be the most wonderful feeling--if you want a feeling--in the whole world. All that burden, all that guilt that's gone. Do you know Mary Magdalene had a lot. It said she had seven devils. What does that mean? Well, it means that she would've did every possible sin you could think of, she did it. Now, your mind, see is where you make a mistake. When Mary Magdalene went into that banquet hall, you've got to wonder how she got in there. Women were not allowed, unless she'd been there before. (chuckle) And the man said, you know the big shot there said, "Well, if this were a prophet, he'd know what kind of woman this is." And I wanted to say, "How do you know, Buddy? "How do you know what kind of woman this is?" You see we just are kind of sometimes hypocritical. Mary Magdalene was grateful. And she was so grateful she cried. Oh, she must have had a long list. She cried. And she got Our Dear Lord's feet all wet. She had long beautiful hair and she took her hair and wiped Him off. Everybody was criticizing her. Now, I know some of you by temperament are not emotional. You go to Confession. You say all your sins and you walk out and that's the end of it. You don't feel anything. That's okay. Don't worry about it. The Lord never said, "Blessed are those who feel good after Confession." You're lucky you got in there, most of you. And even though its dark, you wish something would open up and you'd fall through the floor. But you see, you got to thank God in my heart. This little guy here, isn't he cute. I think he's cute. He's crying! Crying because you won't go. You see, while you're frustrated over yourself and thinking of yourself all the time, He's crying. He's crying. He wants you to come back. You say, "Well, I know that priest. He's worse than I am." (chuckle) Well, so what! When he's in that Confessional, he's Jesus to you. He'll have to account for his own sins but he has a special gift from God. Why don't you go? Why don't you say, "Well, I'm not going to feel anything." Oh, I think you will. You all know when you sin and how bad you feel about it. Now, you can get to a point, you know, I talked one time years and years and years and years ago, to a man who, well, he just did the wrong kind of things, you know. And I said to him, "Don't you feel bad when you do these terrible things?" He said, "I used to." I said, "You used to?" "Well, I don't anymore." You don't want to get to the hardened state, you see, where nothing really matters. And what happens? Well, when you don't go to Confession year after year, after year after year, you run a risk of having a hard heart. And I'll make a bet, you have hard time forgiving. Some of you wake up in the morning and you got Aunt Susie on your mind. And you hate Aunt Susie or you hate your mother-in-law or you hate your father-in-law or you hate somebody! But see, what happens if you die with hatred in your heart? Not too good. Not too good. And you got to think that the person you hate the most here may be the first one to greet you at the pearly gates. Now, what would you do? Did you ever think of that? Would you look at that individual and say, "You're here?" Reminds me of the little classroom that I gave a talk to years ago--I forget, they were 6th graders or something like that. And I said, "How many of you want to go to heaven?" Everybody lifted up his hands, except one little kid. He was like... "Oh, I said, you don't want to go to heaven?" He said, "Not if this gang goes." (all chuckle) Haven't we always somewhere felt that way? You look at this pill and you think, "Oh Lord, I'll never be able to make heaven, if he's there!" I told you several times about the woman who came to me so upset. I mean, her husband was something else! And he got the Last Sacraments before he died. He went to Confession. He was baptized. I mean, he got the whole works! And she was mad as a hornet. And I said, "Well, aren't you happy?" "No!" She said, "I am not happy! He was a rat all our life!" Oh, boy that's pretty bad, you know. I said, "But he went to Confession, he was baptized." "Yeah, that's what makes me mad! The louse is going straight to heaven!" (audience laughs) I didn't know how to answer her. I said, "But well," I said, "you got to be happy about it." "No, I'm not. I want him to suffer a little bit, like 50 years I want him to suffer in Purgatory!" And I said, "What a great gift from God that He forgave your husband." I mean, hey, if you got baptized on your deathbed. What a grace, huh. (vroom!) But she wasn't happy over it. You see, there's a deep-rooted punishment we want to give everybody. We don't mind if people go to heaven that have offended us. We just want them to suffer a little bit, miserably suffer. Then we feel better about it. You know, in the old days, vaudeville days used to say, "Go break a leg," which meant, "I hope you're successful." What a way to do that! Somebody said to me about 18 years ago or 17 years ago. I thought he was serious, he wanted me to break a leg. But see, we're a punishing people. We don't mind even forgiving sometimes but we just want everybody that hurt us, to suffer a little bit. Slip on a banana peel, do anything! But don't be happy. Why, because you hurt me. Well, see that isn't Jesus. When Our Dear Lord on that cross said, "Father, forgive them," now, that would have been sufficient. But He excused them. He said, "They don't know what they're doing." Oh! Hey! If we're Christian and we read this book, I not only have to forgive, I have to excuse. I don't think people know what they do. Most of the time, we don't know how we aggravate everybody. We think everybody aggravates me. Well, you aggravate people. You know, when women used to wear hats in church--used to, some do... (heavy sigh) I always sat in back of somebody, the little I went to church, who had the biggest hat in town. I mean, you know and the Sisters I was taught at school--and hated with all my heart--oh, I thought they were the meanest creatures on God's earth. I always thought that's why they wore black. (audience laughs) I used to look at them like I was trying to find out, "What makes the nun so mean?" Anyway, so they would look at you and like, "What did you just do?" You know it looked like it was accusatory. I don't think they do that today. And maybe it was just me. But you see, we have to look at each other, not only with a forgiving heart--it has nothing to do with feelings. It has to do with faith. You say the "Our Father?" Huh? You do? "Forgive us," oh... "as I forgive." Do you really mean that? Do you know what you just said? "Forgive me Lord, as I forgive." Oh boy! Well, then, that's what you're asking for. Give your neighbor the benefit of the doubt. You know they don't mean it. They really don't. Most of them are being themselves. Some people are very frank. They think they're being honest. "Where did you buy that horrible dress." "Well, if you think it's horrible. We can't help that." You don't have to say it. You say, "I'm being honest." No, you're being very hurting. "Do you like this painting?" "It's horrible. Who made it?" "I did!" "Oh really. "Hum. "You obviously don't have any talent." (audience laughs) And we call that being honest. Did you ever do that? Be honest? You can't afford to be honest all the time! You know, sometimes I've given talks--when I used to give a lot of them--and things would come out of me I never put there! I don't know where they came from. But, there they were and they would come out. And I was at a big convention in Florida and that week, oh I bet we got 20, 25 letters where husbands had left their wives--they were married 25, 30 years. And during the talk, this kind of dawned on me, you see. And I started to say that you know. "You men out there," I said, "we get a lot of letters of men leaving their wives." And I said, "You men, when you get in your 50's or 60's, look around for some young chick." I said, "Your bald head is no morning sunrise." (audience laughs) I thought Fr. Bertolucci was going to fall off his chair! (audience laughs) And I didn't mean to hurt anybody baldheaded. I can't help if you have no hair. And I don't know what made me say that. They all laughed though. I mean everybody was hysterical about it but I don't know what made me say it. (chuckle) You see now if somebody was offended, it wasn't my fault because I don't know where, it just came out! That's all. Now, if they would say, "I'm mad at Mother Angelica. "I'm never going to speak to her again," it would be kind of stupid. You see, because things come out of us that we don't mean, you know. If I saw somebody that had a kind of rainbow dress on, you didn't know what was coming next, you know, I wouldn't like it but I couldn't say, "Oh, you look beautiful." I just wouldn't say anything. We have to watch out when you're dealing with your children, before you say something hurtful, why don't you think of what you would feel if somebody said to you, what you're about to say to them because people get hurt very easily today over little things. We don't mean them, we're just kind of being ourselves. It's a part of our fallen nature. But if I think ahead of time and if I have hurt somebody, why not just say, "I'm sorry." I had a couple once, they were having problems. I said to the man, "Why don't you send your wife some roses?" And he said, "Are you nuts?" I said, "No, I think it would be a wonderful gesture." He said, "No, she'll think I'm stepping out." "Oh," I said, "she wouldn't think that! "That's a beautiful thing to do." He said, "You're sure?" I said, "Positive!" Well, a couple of days later I got a phone call. And she said her name and she said, "Something terrible happened." I said, "What?" "My husband sent me roses." I said, "Isn't that nice?" She said, No! He's stepping out." (audience laughs) I said, "Yes, I know!" "You do?!" I said, "Yes." "Who is it?" I said, "Me! (audience laughs) "I'm the one that told him to send you those roses." You see, we judge wrongly. And then you wonder why things happen in your life. Give your neighbor the benefit of the doubt. Hum? And be careful what you say. Then, when we're ready to go to Confession, we have to be honest. Say, "Father, I hurt somebody's feelings because I told them what I thought was a truth and it turned out to be a disaster." Be honest! You can't fool God! He knows! All of you who are hiding in the dark. Hey, forget it. He sees you--dark, light, whatever. He sees you! And He knows! You can't hide from God. All He wants you to say is "Father, I have sinned before You and Heaven and I am sorry." Now, is that so hard? (sigh) No, that's not hard. So what is standing between you and becoming a white sheep? Pride. I don't think there's one priest that hasn't heard it all. You say, "Well, he knows me." Well, there are thousands of priests around, go somewhere else! Put a handkerchief on your mouth and they won't know who you are. The Lord never said the priest has to know who it is. It's like the woman who went to Confession and she accused herself of putting on makeup. And Father said, "That's not a sin. "For you, Molly, it's a necessity." (audience laughs) You know, we get so foolish, you know. So he knows you. Well, He probably heard more about you than you know yourself. You see, a little humility can go a long way. You never should be surprised of what you did, only what you haven't done, if you had the opportunity. (sigh) You know, years ago I used to help a lot of women who had strayed. And even though they were prostitutes, even there, they had something in their character that was so generous. They'd give you anything. Maybe that was their problem. But in the worst of us, Francis Thompson, if you listen a few months ago or so, the one who saved him from the gutter was a prostitute. Took him in, took care of him, healed him. And when she felt he finally got a chance for his poetry to be known, she went away. She disappeared. She didn't want to spoil it for him. I thought that was heroic virtue, even from a prostitute. So the worst of us, the worst of us can rise to heroic virtue. You can't write anybody off. You can't. You don't have to make yourself a doormat but you can't write him off. Until that moment comes when they breathe their last, there's always a chance. Always. I brought the Baby today because nobody is afraid of a Child. Nobody! And you shouldn't be. And I brought Him with tears in His eyes holding a black sheep. Are you one? Are you one? I think it's a good example here of the hurt in His little heart that you won't come back. If you haven't been to Confession, you know the miracle is Confession. You can go from this color to pure, pure white. Think about it, will you tonight, huh? But would you be afraid of this Little Guy, even with His little flowers in His hat? Mmm. Would you be afraid to go up to Him and say, "Jesus, I'm a poor sinner. Forgive me." Do you know what He'd do. Oh, He'd run up with His little feet, running like crazy, just to hug your knees. (chuckle) That's what He'd do. Then why are you so afraid? That's why I want to promote devotion to the Child Jesus. Maybe it will take away your fear. And you'll run to Him and He'll run to you and then, you'd be forgiven once for all in that beautiful little box. We have a call. Hello? Female Caller #1: Hello. Mother: Hi! Where are you from? Female Caller #1: I'm from Louisiana. Mother: Oh good! And what is your question? Female Caller #1: I'd like to know what would be the first step in forgiving yourself? Mother: The first step? Female Caller #1: Yes, Ma'am. Mother: Okay. I think the first step of forgiving yourself is to realize that God has forgiven you and you're a lesser being, you see. Do you remember the parable in the Gospel where this man owed his employer $9 million? Oh, boy, if I owed $9 million, ooh! I'd be one grease spot on that floor. Well, he was forgiven $9 million dollars! If I had a couple of million, everybody would want to take that away, I'll show you rejoicing you never saw before. But now this man, you see, somebody owed him $15. $15 and he wouldn't forgive. He put them in jail. Now, once you realize, you see, that we have offended the Good God, All-holy, All-majestic. And he said, "Hey, I'm going to write it off! You don't owe me a thing." Ahh! Well, you're the one with the $15. So I would think the first step is to look at the attributes of God. I may possess compassion. God is compassion. I may possess a little bit of mercy. But He is mercy. And if you know in your heart, in your mind, that we have offended a great God and He's written it off, He said, "It's okay. "You're sorry, I forgive you." That's the joy that we miss. Why? Because we're concentrating on the $15 instead of the $9 million. It makes a big difference! Secondly, I would ask our Lady to help you. Why? Because She stood at the foot of the cross, She also forgave those who crucified Him. And She's Your Mother. She's Your Mother. Well, now, go to Her and say, "Sweet Mother, please teach me how to forgive myself." You pick up the pieces, see. You know, Our Lord told Angela Foligno, one of my favorite Saints, "The past is dead," He said. Some poor woman in Cullman today, last night, gone back to the farm, lost about 20,000 chickens. That's a lot. The electricity went off and before they could do anything, there were that many chickens dead. Did you ever smell that many chickens dead? No? Thank God! Because when we passed from that point to that point, it was awesome! Terrible! Well, why do you keep thinking of that when it's gone? "The past is dead!" the Lord said, "the future unborn." (chuckles) Unborn! You say, "Well, I'm afraid I'll fall into that sin again." Yeah, you need to be afraid, but ever grateful that He forgave you. I would use those two, Honey. A little humility wouldn't hurt you, wouldn't hurt you. When you get up in the morning. And say, "Lord, keep me today from serious sin." We have another call. Hello? Female Caller #2: Hello? Mother: Hi! Female Caller #2: Hi. Mother: Where are you from? Female Caller #2: From Massachusetts. Mother: Well, good. What's your question. Female Caller #2: My question is like why do people go to jail? Mother: Mm-mm. Why do they go to jail? Female Caller #2: Like they choose a life to go to be there or--I sometimes I don't understand that. Mother: Well, I think it is hard to understand why people lie and cheat. The law has to punish, you see. You know, when it was a mortal sin to eat meat on Friday and not to go to a Mass on Sunday, everybody went to Mass! Now, you couldn't stuff a piece of meat down anybody's throat if you tried! And now, Ptt! They don't care about anything. They're supposed to substitute. I want to know what you substituted last Friday. What? Nothing. He didn't even think about it. He didn't know it was Friday. It takes a little bit of fear but the law is the law! And if there wasn't a punishment with law, you cannot, you have no right to kill. You have no right to steal somebody. That's the Commandments! You have no right to covet. If you do, you got to take the consequences. And you see, we all suffer.,. And I know my liberal brother don't believe in Original Sin. (chuckle) Boy, you're in trouble if you can read a newspaper and tell me there was no Original Sin because the consequences are still there. You know to me, spaghetti is without question, the most wonderful food in the world. Now, you may think that liver sausage is the most wonderful food. Fine! I think its spaghetti! But, now that I'm 76, I can't eat the tomato sauce. So, now what? I know! If I eat a big platter of spaghetti or a second helping on top of that, I am going to have one rip-roaring stomachache. You say, "What's the point?" Well, the point is I know I'm going to have a stomachache. Now, I eat it anyway. Who am I going to blame for the stomachache? Me! I'd say, "It was worth it." That's stupid! It's not, that isn't worth it. I take Alka-Seltzer, Tums, Maalox, all these things. What if I had just shut-up and not eaten the spaghetti, there's other food there. So, what? I refuse, then, to accept consequences. So if you kill or you lie or you rob, there are consequences. It has to be! If there were no consequences, if there wasn't a punishment, you wouldn't be able to walk out in the street tomorrow. Now, we sin! Why because we have what we call, the consequential tendencies. I told you about the twins that came in to see me years ago and they had one of these all-day suckers this big. And one came in and said, "Do you want to lick?" Oh, it was kind of sloppy, you know. But I took it. I said, "Well, he doesn't have too many germs. He's too young!" So I went "umm!" He's real happy! The other one hid it behind his back. Now, these are twins! And he hid it! He didn't want me to even see it, let alone give it to me! And what is that? It's a consequence. He had, he was baptized. He's a nice, little, pure kid, but selfish he was, his brother generous. These are consequences. I have to know that. I am Italian. I don't have much patience. I like everything done yesterday. Today is too late. I want it done yesterday. Well, (heavy sigh) sometimes you can't have it yesterday, see. So, what? Well, I have to control myself. I have to know they're doing their best and I'm doing mine and its not going to be done till next week. But it's hard for me. I think if you're doing something for God, you got to do it now! Well, everybody don't feel that way. So that's a consequence for me. My Italian temper is not patient. I was born that way. I was 12 pounds, almost 12 pounds, when I was born. My grandmother said I looked like I was up and at them-- lots of hair, rosy cheeks, ready to go! I haven't stopped! (audience chuckles) She was right. But see, I live with 30 some Sisters, some are slow. I can't push them. They're slow. They eat slow. They work slow. They sleep slow! (audience laughs) But I'm not like that, see. If I'm going to eat, I eat it and then I wait. It's not very bright but that's the way I am. It's in front of me, eat it! They take their butter or they eat one thing at a time. That aggravates me. By the time you eat. (audience laughs) Does that aggravate you? By the time they eat their beans, the meat is cold! And I watch them eating, one at a time, one at a time, one at a time. I say, "Isn't it cold?" And they say, "Yeah." "Doesn't that bother you?" "No!" I hate cold food! Why cook it if it's cold? Now, up there my sisters are saintly--they have to be saintly to live with me. They don't care if it's cold. They don't care if it takes them 20 minutes to eat than it takes me. You see, we're all different. We all suffer from each other's consequences. Some people I'd like to say, "Move!" Well, they're not going to move. They don't see why they should move. Isn't that aggravating? Yeah! Some of you married people are like that. One is very fast, the other one, Lord save them, can't move with a derrick. That's why we have to forgive and forgive and forgive. And now I've got 30 seconds to tell you, please be generous to EWTN. Please be generous. It's very important. This network is yours and we don't have anybody else but you. And these are summer months, and summer months are always hard. So please, before you go to bed tonight, make a resulution--heh, heh-- "In the morning, I'm going to think of Mother and my little envelope." Don't forget. I love you! Bye now. [music]
