♪ ♪ Man: "Mother Angelica Live!" brought to you from the Eternal
Word Television Studios in Birmingham, Alabama. ♪ ♪ <i>Mother: See in you, the love,
the compassion of Jesus.</i> <i>The most glorious work of all,
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 and
God lives in Him.</i> ♪ ♪ <i>What a wonderful
thing is our Church.</i> <i>This whole network
is built on trust.</i> <i>The essence of evangelization
is to tell everybody,</i> <i>"Jesus loves you!"</i> <i>We're all called
to be great saints.</i> <i>Don't miss the opportunity!</i> (applause) Mother: Well, and we are going to talk about Jesus. You know, He's the One to talk about because He loves us. He loves us enough to die for us. I've had all kind of wonderful things happen this week. About four or five people have sent in the mail relics. I'm a, I love relics! I look at these little pieces of some saint's bone and I thought, "By golly, they made it," you know. They're very, very blessed objects because they're reminders to us. And you know, we say, well, "Why do you want relics?" Well, people use to snitch St. Paul's handkerchiefs. Do you remember that in the Acts of the Apostles? They take his handkerchief, so they were healed by his handkerchief. Don't get any ideas and sending your handkerchief anywhere. (audience chuckles) But that is the, really the origin or the beginning of relics, meaning a person who lived a very holy life but then God worked even through that relic. So I want to thank all of you. Some of them didn't have any name or address. It's very hard to thank somebody who doesn't have a name and address. You know, it's almost impossible. Well, it is impossible. So if you're listening tonight, I want to thank you for all those marvelous relics. There are many people in this country--I learned by these four gifts--who do have relics, and they're getting old--not the relics but the people. (all chuckle) The relics are already old. But they're afraid, they're afraid they maybe don't anyone to leave them to. They're afraid their children will not understand. So here's the plate. Send them on! If you have a relic of anybody or anyone or anything that's very valuable in a relic and you're getting old, you don't know what to do with it, send them to us and we will be sure that they are put in the right place. Now, since we have begun this program with gifts, it's a wonderful--and I hope we can get a lot of these pictures made because I think it would be good for your children, a constant reminder that you do have a guardian angel. And Our Lady is constantly up there, constantly as Co-Redemptrix, Mediatrix of All Graces to protect you, to guard you and to lead you to Her Son Jesus. That's what She does. That's Her only work. Now, tell me tonight, what has God done in your life? What has He done in your parish? What has He done with your children? What happened in your parish or with your children, for example, that was supernatural? Something that maybe your angel or your guardian angel of your son, what kind of blessing did you have from the Lord? Something you remember, maybe years ago when you got a light that maybe changed your whole life, when you got an inspiration that changed your life, when you read a verse of Scripture that gave you a deeper meaning of God's Holy Will? In all things we must do the Will of God. There's no question of that, in all things. And sometimes the smallest inspiration. I can tell you a million little inspirations that went into this building, went into everything and how the hand of God has worked in wonderful ways. We have had a lot of terrible things going on in the world, in the Church, in our families but God is not without grace, not without great generosity. And in the middle of chaos and tragedies and everything else, He brings forth His grace, His gifts, His inspirations, His love. I'm going to tell you how this studio was built while I give you a chance to call and say, "This is what God had done to me, for me. "This is what we're doing in our parish. "This is what we're doing in our family to pray for poor sinners or to pray for the world." You know, the network, the producers and all the staff, they kept saying, "Mother, we need a studio. "We need a studio. "We can't produce unless we have a studio." So I asked our or maintenance man to put white rags around some trees. And he said, "Well. how many?" And I said, "Well, just go 50 X 100 and put around these trees a white rag.: And some bishops were coming by, about seven or eight of them for Fr. Bognano's series. And one bishop said to me, "What are those white rags?" I said, "Well, we need a studio real bad and we don't have the money, so it's a reminder to the Lord that that's where we need the studio." (audience chuckles) And he said to me, "Don't you think He knows?" I said, "Oh yeah, but it don't hurt to remind Him." (audience laughs) And he looked at me and he said, "Does it work?" I said, "Yeah!" "Oh," he said, "that's interesting." So, nothing happened. Another week passed by and the man came down. He said, "What are those white rags?" So I told him my story and he said, "Interesting." The next day he comes down and he said, "Look, my wife died," and he said, "and I'm getting close to it." He said, "I'll give you $50,000 to begin." So, we took down the trees and I bought boots and shovels for all the people working here and we began to dig the foundation, 50 X 100. Well, it didn't go very far, you know. So a friend of mine came along and he said, "What are you doing?" I said, "I'm building $50,000 worth of building." "That big?" I said, "Yeah." He said, "That's not going to go far." I said, "Well, I'm further ahead than I was." (audience laughs) Isn't that true, hah? I mean, all I had were trees before! (audience laughs) You know, men, men don't think straight, do they? I mean, they don't think the way women think, you see. And to me I was ahead. At least, I had the trees down and I had three big foundations and I thought, "Well, I'm further ahead than I was a month ago." He said, "Why don't we raffle a car?" And I said, "Oh, where are we going to get it?" (audience laughs) "I'll get one." I said, "Fine! Great!" So nothing happened for quite a while, and this man used to go home to Mr. Serra who had a big Chevrolet company here, and it's Mike Renda. And he said, "You know, "Mother Angelica needs a car. We need to raffle a car." The man was horrified. He didn't know me, didn't know the monastery and could care less. And he said, "No!" So poor Mike went every week, he'd go back asking for this car--and it was a brand new car. We weren't looking for a little jalopy, you know. (audience chuckles) Finally the man said, "Look, I'm going to go and I'm going to see my mother in California. "I don't want to see your face when I get back. Do you understand?" He said, "Yeah, yeah. "Don't get excited. I just want a car." He said, "Well, you're not going to get a car!" He said, "Okay!" So he goes to California and he's there drinking a cup of coffee with his mother and he said, "You know mom, everything's going crazy this day." He said, "A man, a perfect stranger walks in my office and wants me to donate a brand new car to some nun." (audience chuckles) And his [mother] looked at him and said, "What nun?" He said, "I don't know, some Mother Angelica." She said, "Who'd you say?" He said, "Mother Angelica!" And she looked at him and she said, "Give her that car!" (laughter and applauds) She said, "When your father died, that was the only consolation I had. Give her that car." So he comes home, he don't know where the guy is, don't even know his name. So good ole Renda gets back again, you know, he's undaunted--good, hard-headed Italian--and he gets the car. So we got $23,000, so we keep going up. See, we never stop. We just keep going up a little at a time. And now we're building $73,000 worth of building. So then I get a letter in the mail and it said some foundation and it said, "We're going to give money to television entities. "Would you like to give me a proposal?" I said, "Whoopee! Here we go." So this is a very, very special roof. It's made almost like an erector set so we didn't have any pillars or posts around. And so I filled out this form and I was absolutely positive that I would get the money cause they asked me for a proposal. So I ordered the roof, like $25,000 worth a roof. Well, some month or so passed and they wrote me a letter saying, "Well, we're sorry, our budget kind of ran out and we can't give you the money." And I thought, (gasps) "I've got this big roof coming." So I was invited to Washington, DC for a state dinner. And there was a cardinal at our table and they said, "How are you doing, Mother?" And I said, "Rotten." (audience chuckles) He said, "What's the matter?" So I told him my sorrowful story about the roof. "Oh," he said, "how much do you need?" I said, "$25,000." He said, "Ah, I'll get it for you." So he leaves the table and calls up this man in Pittsburgh and he says, "He'll send you a check Monday." So I said, "Thank You, Jesus. We got the roof." Well, we put the roof on and it was leaking everywhere, see, because it wasn't finished. But you see, we started. And I learned from that that God doesn't give you the whole building at one time, you see. That's kind of the new way. See, get all the money together and if you're doing something for the Lord, the Lord works one step at a time, one step at a time. So, one day I was in Atlanta and the roof is leaking but I was happy. I was happy. We had a building and I didn't care how much the roof leaked. Eventually, we'd get it fixed. And the sisters called and said, "Mother, there's an elderly couple here and they, they insist on seeing you." So when I got home, I invited them and they had a kind of old car and so, I spent the afternoon with them. And we fed them with I showed them around and I said to the sisters, "Let's give them a box lunch," you know, "They don't look like they can afford to go to a restaurant and got a long way to drive." So, we took a shoebox and we filled it up with whatever was soft because I thought, you know, elderly people can't always chew apples, you know what I mean? (audience chuckles) So I gave them some bananas and bologna and all this good stuff. So we sent them off. And Monday I get a call and this woman said, "My mother and father-in-law were there on Saturday." I said, "Oh yeah, we had a great time!" She said, "Well, we had a Board Meeting this morning." I said, "A board meeting?" (audience chuckles) You mean that old couple, that old couple had a board meeting? I didn't tell her that, but I was thinking it. (audience chuckles) And she said "Yes." She said, "We decided to give you $150,000 to finish the building." Well, if you'd have had a feather and hit me with it, I'd have fell over because I though there were an old couple on Social Security and they must have laughed when I gave them Bologna and bananas. (audience chuckles) But that was how this studio was built. We had, we started with nothing and we ended up with nothing cause that's exactly what it cost to finish it. That's why I'm so sure, you know, that God wants this network for you, for the people to feed, to feed you the truth with love, with compassion, with all the good things that God has for us. It also shows all of us that trust in the Lord is the most wonderful, wonderful virtue we could ever have. Because trust kind of is an offshoot of faith and hope because it says literally-- and all of you need to hear this because we're all in the same boat. Some of you have lost your jobs and some of you have children that you pray and pray and pray for and they never seem to have a conversion experience. And we get so disheartened! There's where you got to keep praying, you got to keep working, you take advantage of every inspiration and you trust. You trust in the Lord. If you're doing His work, you need absolute, total trust because if you're working for Him and He's asked you to do something you need that total trust. But you need it in your families. You needed it in your churches. You need it in your work. And no matter what happens we can say, "Lord, I know it is Your Will. We'll take care of it." We have a call. Hello? Caller #1 (male): Hello, Mother. Mother: Where are you from? Caller #1: I'm from Chicago, Mother. Mother: What is your question? Caller #1: God be with you because you're inspiration. We have a new pastor and he has returned all the altars back to the front, taken the seat back from where the priests sat in the middle to the side so that we can see the Tabernacle. He returned all of our beautiful Stations of the Cross and new statues, had a huge picture of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Mother: Hey, there we go. (all applaud) Caller #1: And come Holy Thursday, come Holy Thursday we are dedicating a chapel to the Sacrament of Perpetual Adoration. Mother: Isn't that great? Caller #1: Thank you, Sister, for your inspiration. The only thing I ask now is please pray for those older priests and consecrated religious who are against it. Mother: Oh yeah. Well, there's where you need to keep fighting the good fight, you know. But that's good news, see. It good news that people are rising up to the occasion. That's what we need to do and that's real fruit. Isn't that great? Can you imagine going into a church like that today? Isn't that wonderful! And we're going to pray for you and that courageous pastor. No matter what anybody says, (makes noise.) (audience chuckles) We have another call. Hello? (laughs) Caller #2 (female): Hello. Mother: Where are you from? Caller #2: Wyoming. Mother: Wyoming? Wonderful! And what is your question? Caller #2: I just had a comment. Oh, about four years ago, I was living in a lot of sin and I wasn't Catholic at the time and didn't plan to be one, although I had a really good friend that was a priest. And I decided I needed to go to Confession to him, although I didn't really understand it, just to get the burdens off my soul. And I went and spent the weekend with him and after Confession I just felt really, really wonderful and went up and knelt before the crucifix and thanked Jesus for, for forgiving me. But I told Him I still didn't want to be a Catholic because it was too, it was too hard. I thought, all the, you know, the prayers and the regulations and the holy days and all that kind of thing. (all laugh) Mother: You don't have to worry about holy days anymore. Caller #2: Anyway, as I knelt there, I was right in front of this huge crucifix and I heard in a very loud voice, "I never said it would be easy. "Take up your cross and follow Me." Mother: Praise Jesus. Caller #2: And since then I have been Catholic. And I received another miracle the same day. I was an alcoholic and I decided for this priest to give it up as long as I could for his special intention. And four years ago this May, I have never taken another drink and never even wanted one. Mother: Thank You, Jesus. Caller #2: And I guess my encouragement is for all the 10 or 12 years that I was searching, I always felt that Jesus was so far away and that He was kind of on the other edge of the cliff and it would take such a long fall to get to Him. And I was too afraid. And I found through that experience that you never have to worry, that He's there and He'll never let you fall and He'll only lift you up and all you have to do is trust in Him and He will just bless you with abundant graces. Mother: You see, what we don't realize and all of you big sinners out there, you say, "Oh, who are you talking about?" A lot of people out are big sinners, you know, meaning you really strayed all the way from God. You've got to realize that though you have strayed from Him, He has never strayed from you. That's the important thing you see. And if you just give Him a chance...! Some of you listening right now, you've had abortions, some of you have stolen money, some of you have lied or slandered other people or guilty of calumny and you, you may be were cruel to your parents or your parents abusive to you, all these very hurting things. Why don't you just kneel down now and say, "Lord, I want You in my life. I accept You as my Lord and Savior and I, I want you to forgive me." And if you're Catholic, go to your nearest priest tomorrow--don't wait. I mean, you carry a load on you, a load of sin that is unbelievable! You need to get rid of that. There's nothing in this whole wide world like a sinner who goes to Confession, is totally absolved of all their sins, and walk out there, out of that box like, whoo! Free see, free. Alcoholics, drug addicts and some of you are just plain lukewarm, you know, just plain lukewarm--you need the Lord more than anybody. We have another call. Hello? Caller #3 (male): Mother. Mother: Where are you from? Caller #3: Rockaway, New Jersey. Mother: And what is your question? Caller #3: Well, actually, I have a comment. I'd like to publicly thank God and Jesus because I put my trust in Him in a situation and He's come through more than I could have ever imagined for. I was really searching for true Catholicism. I wanted to deepen my faith. And I'd go to the Masses and I would just be disillusioned by the people who just didn't seem to believe in the Real Presence and just the whole atmosphere with drum on the altar and all these new innovations that really... Mother: Who was on the altar? Caller #3: Drums. Mother: Oh, drums. I thought you said drunks. I thought. (all laugh) Caller #3: Well, no, they were beating drums and it just wasn't reverent and it just didn't fill my soul. And I had friends who were more traditionalist but they were outside the offices of the Church. So I felt uncomfortable going to their Masses. And I prayed, and lo and behold the priestly fraternity of St. Peter... Mother: Oh yeah! Caller #3: ...took cover a local parish and oh, Mother, I mean, I'm sure you know but I wish every Catholic could have the feeling of attending a Mass that is traditional and leading the traditional prayer books. I can't thank God and Jesus enough for that fraternity and the bishops that allow them to work and the great work that they're doing. Mother: The, the Fraternity of St. Peter --some of you don't know what, who they are-- belonged to Archbishop Lefevre at one time and then they came back to the Church and they're growing, growing. And I've got to get one of them here's some time for the live show because they're very fervent. We have to understand when we say traditional, we're not talking about old-fashioned conservatives. We're talking about people who are Catholics, you know, they're just plain old Catholic! You can be so, you can be more conservative than the Holy Father is, you know, or you can go the other way and be so liberal you're almost on the brink of atheism. But the Church is True. The Church is Holy. The Church is always the same. It's changeless and it goes on and on and on. That's what we mean by traditional. I am a traditional Catholic --this habit proves it. I don't really have to say it but every true Catholic is traditional, see. So we have another call. Hello. Caller #4 (female): Hello. Mother: Where are you from? Caller #4: New Jersey. Mother: And what is your question? Caller #4: Well, it's not a question but it's something related to what you're talking about. I have three children, each one of them has a guardian angel with their name and each one of them has their own patron saint. Three weeks ago my youngest son, who's 2 1/2 came into my husbands bedroom and said, "Mommy, I had this dream." All the saints came down from Heaven and kissed him. The last one to kiss him was Jesus and then there was a young saint who went back to Jesus and was asking Jesus to help my son. Immediately my heart fell on I said, "James, what do you need help for?" He said, "Well, Mommy, I didn't understand the rest." Well, we went on with the day. We didn't pay much attention to it. That afternoon he was almost hit by a car. He ran out in the middle of the street. He never heard any brakes. The car never touched and I don't know how he got across the street but he's fine and I just kept thinking, "Thank You, Dear Lord because You tried to tell me but I just didn't pay attention but You saved my son." Mother: You know, there's that, that a phenomena but it's getting more and more common that young children; 3, 4, 5, 6 years old are having visitations from the Lord or their guardian angel. It's amazing! And we don't pay any attention see. We think, "Oh, that kid's just making up something." but he's not. I wouldn't just take for granted he's making up something. And this time you realized that Our Dear Lord had a special, special gift. And that reminds me of one of the attributes of God. I think if we all understood this one attribute, oh! sanctity would be around the corner! And that attribute is to God every individual is an individual and it's as if no one else existed. There are wars everywhere, there are all kind of problems in our country, in the Church and here all of Heaven--or at least a great part of it--our guardian angel and Our Dear Lord Himself and some special saint appeared to this little kid! Wouldn't you think he had important things do? I mean, isn't that your attitude though? You know, a lot of people say, "Well I don't bother God with this, you know. He's got so much to do." Well, you're not talking about Mr. Jones. You're talking about Almighty God! Nathaniel must have been out of his wits when Our Dear Lord looked at him coming and said, "Behold a man without guile." I bet he said, "How do you know me?" "Oh," the Lord said, "when you were under the fig tree I saw you." I wonder what he was doing under that fig tree. Probably praying to Yahweh for some gift or something he needed. And there is Our Lord while He's talking to everybody and discussing everything with everybody else, He saw Nathaniel. And I think this is a great example, when you speak to God, when you talk to Our Lady or Jesus, They only hear you. You say, "I don't understand." (heavy sigh) You don't understand. Who expects you to understand? (audience chuckles) You know, you've got a brain as big as pea up here compared to God. It isn't even that bit. It's like a grain of sand. And we don't understand divinity. We don't understand, and we can't. We have a beginning and we have an end and God never had a beginning and He never will have an end. He always was. It used to set my mother crazy. She'd say, "Who made God?" I said, "Nobody made God. If somebody made God, then they would have to be before He was." "Well, who made Him?" (audience chuckles) Nobody. He always was, always is, always will be." I AM. And Moses said, "Who shall I say sent me?" He said, "I AM," sent you. See, never, never a "was" with God. I hope this little incident teaches you and me, too, that when I pray, when you pray, when you ask forgiveness for your sin the Lord promised in this wondrous book, "All of Heaven rejoices." Why don't you all make Heaven happy tonight, huh? Why don't you let the angels rejoice that you have come back Home? Come back to Jesus. Jesus is Our Friend, Our Brother, Our Love, Our Savior. Come back to Jesus. We have another call. Hello? Caller #5 (female): Hello, Mother. Mother: Yeah, where are you from? Caller #5: I'm from New Mexico. Mother: And what, you're in Mexico or New Mexico? Caller #5: New Mexico. Mother: Oh great, okay. Caller #5: I wanted to tell you two important things, Mother. One is when, I had a daughter that was born 3 months premature and we fought with her 3 months after that. During that time she was dying and I was hysterical and I was praying and saying rosaries and asking God to help her. And it wasn't until I went to the hospital and I looked at this baby and I said, "God, Your Will be done." Within hours that baby started becoming well, again. 5 years later she comes in from school and she runs in the door and she says, "Mommy, mommy look, look!" And I said, "What, Angel? What?" By the way, her name's Angela Michelle. I said, "What, Angel?" And she said, "Don't you see them?" And I said, "No! What, honey?" And she says, "The angels on my back." "I was coming in the driveway and they wanted a piggy back ride so I gave them a piggy back ride." This is my baby, my Angela Michelle. Angelica: That's so true! And you know, when this gentleman I talked to about, he didn't believe in angels and he use to kind of ridicule me for believing in them and he had this great experience it Italy where he saw everybody's guardian angels. He said that the kids in the back of the bus were kind of horsing around and the kids, the angels were up in this hat racks you know and they were just having a ball. (audience chuckles) We have to realize that the Church Triumphant is real. The Church Triumphant is real. We are the Church Militant because we're always struggling, always fighting. And then there is the Church Suffering, which is Purgatory. Whether you believe it or not, it's there, you know. Well, I'll see you there! (audience chuckles) But the Church Triumphant is always present, always there, always praying for you, always loving you. We have another call. Hello? Caller #6 (male): Yes, Mother. Mother: Where are you from? Caller #6: I'm from Birmingham. And I wanted to thank you very much for at least bringing me back to my senses. I've always gone to a parochial high school, grade school and part of college. And I traveled from California to Hawaii and then finally back home here and found your show by accident. You brought me back to a lot of things that I remember as a child. Mother: Thank you. Caller #6: And when things started pulling me together, one of the people who worked for me joined your convent and at that point I finally, I'm in a position where I can help supply you with props and things that you need for your shows. And I just thank you very, very much. Mother: Well, you're welcome. You're more than welcome. And this is the wonder of God's providence, that Our Dear Lord uses the media, the electronic media of today. See, He wants you so badly that He uses this crippled old nun and all these people and all the kids in the world and He uses electronic gadgets and satellites and cable systems everywhere to reach you. He's goes through all that trouble. And for you it was a grace and for that grace we thank God. We also thank you for responding to God. It has made Him very happy. We have another call. Hello? Caller #7 (female): Hello Mother. Mother: Where are you from? Caller #7: I'm from Chicago. Mother: And what is your question? Caller #7: Oh, I just have a comment. I think the first caller that you had, we're from the same parish. Mother: Uh-huh. Caller #7: Yeah and it's a beautiful church and I hope everything goes fine. I have another little thing to say, Mother. I was blessed with 2 beautiful kids--a boy and then a girl. And when my son was in 6th grade, he had some kind of attack. He had, he received that day a scholarship from 6th Grade, a principal scholarship and we were ready to pick him up for lunch and he got some kind of attack. We took him to the hospital and they said it was a Grand Mal Epileptic attack. I prayed for Dear Jesus and I prayed to Blessed Mary, I prayed a rosary every day for a whole year and till this day, he's a senior, he hasn't received one. Mother: Praise God. Caller #7: So I do believe in Our Blessed Father and Our Blessed Mother. Mother: You see, that's the beauty of, of prayer and the power of prayer. It's so important that we know that every prayer is powerful! I think that prayer of big sinners is even more powerful. Do you know why? It's that strange voice. (audience chuckles) I really do, that strange voice. The Lord said, "Who's that?" (audience laughs) And the guardian angel says, "I never heard that one before, Lord." (audience chuckles) He said, "Where did he come from?" "I don't know. It must be one of those big ones down there." (audience chuckles) So then He says, "Everybody in Heaven, shhh! "A big sinner is about to speak." And that big sinner says, "Lord, have mercy on me, a poor sinner. "I'm sorry Lord. "Sorry for my sins, sorry for my life, sorry for all the graces I didn't heed, sorry for ruining other lives, sorry for not knowing You, sorry for ignoring You, sorry for all the many, many sins that I cannot even count, sorry for the things I didn't do, sorry for the good I omitted, sorry about the omissions in my life, when I omitted going to church and omitted being nice to my family and I was not kind, I did not give anything to the beggar I passed on the street, sorry for my arrogance, sorry for my rudeness, sorry for my lack of compassion for my neighbor, sorry about always thinking of me instead of You, sorry for letting other people think that You don't even exist because I was too proud to admit there is Someone greater than I. "For all of these, Lord, and many more I've forgotten, I'm sorry." Can you imagine what Heaven would be like at that moment, if They heard just one person in this whole wide say that? I can imagine! So I made a little examination of conscience for you tonight. I think you need to do that. You know, you're loved by God, but you're not necessarily God's gift to humanity, you know. (audience chuckles) So we have another call. Hello? Caller #8 (female): Hello. Mother: And where are you from? Caller #8: Omaha, Nebraska, Mother. Mother: Wonderful. Caller #8: And I found out that you visited our Poor Clares here in Omaha. Mother: We did. Caller #8: I keep close contact with them. Mother, what I'm calling for is to attest to a true miracle. I had a grandchild born. He weighed one 1/2 pounds, 12 inches long, and they abort babies that are even bigger than this. Well, his liver went haywire, went bad. He started turning black. His doctor was a Catholic doctor, Dr. Zack. He said, the only thing that would save his life would be a transplant, but he was too little. I said, "Dr. Zack, you're a Catholic--do you believe in miracles?" He said, "I do." I said, "Then we're going to pray." And we sent prayers to you, we sent prayers to Medjugorje, all over. This baby now will be 2 years old coming in July, Mother. This is a fantastic miracle and I thank Our Lord! And there have been so many miracles and I'm sorry I didn't get to see you when you came to visit our Poor Clares here. Mother: Well, I thank you for telling us because people need to hear, once in awhile, about the miracles in other people's lives. And I know everybody here at some point had a miracle. Sometimes you just avoided an accident if you'd had been somewhere a minute earlier or a minute later, you know. Miracles are, are so hard. We're not talking about the miracles of Our Lord--but those happen today, too. We're talking about those personal, marvelous things. Now, I cannot say that putting up this building the way we did it was not a miracle; but I can't say, you know, some big angel came down and fluttered his wings and all of a sudden there was bingo! a big, a big building. (audience chuckles) Well, that didn't happen, either. In that miracle, meaning God's providence, is always miraculous, always. God's' providence provides step-by-step and there were suffering. You know, there's suffering in miracles! A miracle of conversion-- here's a man who called tonight and had left a lot of the things that were dear to him and all of a sudden he gets light. That light is, is a miracle! It's something that God Himself does. Now, God may have used this person or that person, many times this network or one of the programs on this network, but it's all in God! God always performs this miracle. I think when. Every time I look at a picture of somebody it says, "Married 50 years," "Married 60 years." That's a miracle. (audience laughs) Today, it's a miracle! In my grandma's day, everybody stayed 40, 50, 60 years. I mean, if you got married, you got married. That was the end of it. Today it's a miracle. I've said this 100 times, and it bears repeating. Do you ever notice people get married and they're married for 50 or 60 years, you look at their pictures, they look alike? (audience laughs) Did you ever notice that? They either got skinny together or they got fat together. They did something together but they look alike. See, love is what does that. Love makes us look alike. And that's the whole essence of Catholicity a Christianity is "I want to look like Jesus." See, we want to look alike. We want to think alike. We want to act alike. We want to act like Jesus. We want to think like Jesus. We have another call. Hello? Caller #9 (female): Hello. Mother: Where are you from? Caller #9: I'm from Ware, Massachusetts. Mother: And what is your question? Caller #9: Well, first I'd like to, you had said how has God worked in your life. And a year ago this month my 14 year old daughter tried to take her own life. And because of that it has really forced my husband and I to look at where we have been going. And it has brought us back, basically, to make a long story short, the Word of God. And I just, in my reason prayers, the Lord has spoken to me to pray to God the Father of Abraham. And my question for you-- because this has becoming a big concern for me--is that in the Old Testament, God does talk about curses and blessings. And that He is a God of justice and that if you obey Him He will bless you and if you disobey Him there will be His justice. And He does speak in terms of curses. And I just wondered if you had anything or any background for a Catholic to, to study a subject like this? I had never heard of it before. Mother: Well, in the Old Testament when a lot of the Revelations that Our Lord gave us were nonexistent, not even understood or heard of, the whole concept of God was if you were good, you were blessed by God; if you were not good, you were punished by God. Also, if Our Lord loves you or you were good, then you had many children, particularly many sons; and if you didn't, then you were cursed by God. That concept, though, is nonexistent in Christianity. There is no question of chastisement. I think the whole world is getting ready for one. But Our Dear Lord is the Lord of Mercy. And from the time He had the Incarnation to this moment, there has been mercy poured upon us, mercy upon mercy. The angels sinned once; Hell was created. All of this time the Israelites disobeyed in the desert and they went in a circle for 40 years. Not even Moses saw the Promised Land. So you did have that kind of severe, almost, but God was still merciful. He was still good to His people. He forgave them over and over and over. In the New Testament the whole reality of Jesus coming and saving us is mercy but not presumption. I can never presume on God's mercy. I must accept His mercy if I am a sinner, if I have committed a sin. And Our Dear Lord has given us this marvelous Sacrament of Reconciliation or Confession. And we have all these wondrous Sacraments and He has this marvelous of all-- He has never left us, you see! When the Ark was gone and everything was gone they had nothing and then they had no sacrifice, no prophets. But Jesus came, He loved us, He suffered for us, He saved us, then, He left Himself with us. He left His Church guided by the Spirit. He left us the Eucharist-- that weapon we have to become, the grace it comes, the life that comes to us through the Eucharist and a protection from the enemy. So we have all of these marvelous Sacraments, all of them being an act of God's mercy. See I can presume and say, "Well, I commit all the sins I want and God will be merciful." That is presumption. It's just very bad. You can't do that. But God has left this. When we fall, we can rise again very quickly! And He forgives and forgets. So the Old Testament, a punishment for everything, God has replaced with mercy and redeeming love. Remember, you have a wondrous Savior in Jesus. Love Him and ask for His forgiveness. Bye now. (applause) ♪ ♪
