[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 Angelica: Thank you, thank you. (applause) Well, I just want to thank you and I just can't wait to share with you the conference we had in Detroit, Michigan, and it was on "The Call To Holiness." Well, I was just so awestruck, and I know all of you in Detroit are listening tonight. I wanted to thank all the security for all their help. I want to thank all of you that were there because you gave everybody there a boost in their faith. I realized sometimes we fight the good fight and we fight it hard and we fight it long and you get weary sometimes, just weary, and you forget. You forget you've made progress. Anybody that was ever in a war they may have started on the shore, they may be in the middle of a country by that time, they forget the ground they covered and they only think of what's coming. I think sometimes those of us who fight the good fight for the Church, for Her love, for Her truth, for Her beauty, Her doctrine and Her dogma, I think this is the time for us. We've been fighting 35 years. That's the longest battle in history, 35 years. Now, I think we're beginning to see the light. If you don't see it, believe me, it's coming. And I saw such fervor in Detroit, such love. I saw compassion, I saw enthusiasm. And it seemed to be everybody in the Church there. There were elderly people, there were children, a lot of kids, a lot of families with lots of kids, there were teenagers, there were middle-age, there were young adults. It looked like it was the whole Church was, was in that place, about 2400 of them. They were enthused over their faith, greatly enthused and happy. There was a joy that I haven't seen in years, in years. We went to see a couple of friends and we went to see one of our sisters' mother and they were very kind with all kinds of Lebanese food and ham and all the nice things you like to eat. We enjoyed all of that but we enjoyed that conference. I've been to a lot of conferences, I've been to a lot of talks in these last 15 years. To me, it was a glimpse of the future. It was awesome. It wasn't the Church in fear; it wasn't a Church in heresy, or schism, or struggle. It was the Church alive. It was the Church proud of its doctrine and dogmas. It was the Church that knew what's wrong and just rode right over it with the joy of the Holy Spirit. That's what I found. Let's take a quick look at the Conference on Holiness of Life. (applause) Be courageous and brave. You have nothing to fear. Fight for Your Mother the Church. She may be wounded. We can heal Her with our love, our compassion and our zeal. You must have zeal today. You must fight for the faith and don't give others authority they do not possess! (applause) You're on the winning side. You have nothing or no one to fear. Be Catholic and be proud of it. (applause) Don't worry about liberals. I wouldn't waste that time. Pray for them, pray because they're in a downward path and they don't know it. They need prayers. They don't need your fear. They need prayers, they need your love, they need your forgiveness. God needs your zeal. Every day at least tell one person Jesus loves them. They need to know that. I wish I'd have known it when I was a child. Everybody needs to know they are never alone, that God loved them before time began, that He has made us members of a Church so Awesome! They may tear down our churches and build gymnasiums and spaces. I'd like to know how you worship in a space. (audience chuckles) What is this, a space? (audience chuckles) Don't fear those who have no doctrine, no dogma, no authority and no leadership. (bells) (applause) Okay, tonight we're going to talk about Blindness-- not physical blindness but spiritual blindness. Now, you can see with your eyes and I have seen and talked to physically blind people that are very astute and very aware of spiritual realities, very aware of God. They have more to, to give and they understand, they understand more about God than some of us who see with physical eyes. So tonight I'd like to speak a little bit about Blindness. We ought to ask ourselves, "Am I blind? Do I have a blind spot?" Sometimes you're driving along and there's a curve, but you can see, right, all you that drive cars? What do you call that? It's a blind spot. Well, they don't do anything unless three or four people get killed there and then they put a big mirror. Isn't that funny, you've got to get killed before they do something about it? They put a big mirror or they put a red light or something but now, blind spots are in our lives. It's amazing how we can have a blind spot. You just don't see. Now, I'm going to show you in St. John's Gospel, if you have a Bible, the 9th Chapter--I know this is going to start flying if I don't take it out. We're going to look at the 9th chapter of a man who was born blind. He didn't have any eyeballs and the Lord healed him. So they said, "They went along, He saw a man who had been born blind from his birth, he had no eyes. His disciples said, 'Rabbi, who sinned that this man is born blind, him or his parents?' "Now, obviously it was not him. "'Did his parents sin that he was born blind?' "And the Lord said, 'Neither he or his parents sinned.'" Did you ever ask a dumb question? Nobody here ever asked a dumb question? (audience chuckles) Okay, and you didn't know how dumb it was until after it came out, huh? (audience laughs) I think that's what happened to the Apostles. Listen to what they ask, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, for him to be born blind?" Anybody want to explain how he could have sinned to be born blind? Well, he couldn't, but our Lord didn't say, "Dummies!" (audience laughs) I picture to be Apostles. "You don't understand--a man cannot sin to be born blind. He wasn't even existing." No, Dear Jesus is so Sweet, He said, "Neither he nor his parents." See, I would have said the opposite. "What's the matter with you? "Don't you understand? "How can he be? (audience laughs) Are you nuts, or what's the matter with you?" (audience chuckles) That's the difference between Jesus and I. (audience chuckles) Jesus said, "He was born blind so that the works of God might be displayed in him." Oh, what do you know? Not all the time, I'm sure, but there may be some times we have a handicap and overcoming that handicap brings people closer to Jesus, makes them know He is Real in your life. Jesus said something, He said, "As long as the day last..." that's as long as He was with us, "I must carry out the work of the One Who sent Me. "The night will soon be here when no one can work. As long as I'm in the world, I am the Light of the World." What did He mean by that? Well, as long as He was physically present among them, great things would happen because He was doing His Father's work. "Now having said this, He spat on the ground"--this is so cute. He went pttt! (audience chuckles) made a paste. You can just see Him going down and making a paste with His spit. He went down and He made a little bit of dirt. "…made a paste with the spittle and took it up and put it on the man's eyes that was born blind." All he had was a shut eyelid--and what did Jesus do? He took a little spittle and the dirt. "Thou art dust and unto dust thou shalt return." And He did the same thing, and He put it over his eyes of the blind, said, "Go and wash in the pool of Siloam." Can you imagine that man? All of a sudden he couldn't see what was going on. All of a sudden he feels his eyes and it's wet and it's dirt. "So the blind man went off and washed himself." Can you imagine? You have to know how Wonderful, Wonderful Jesus is, you have to put yourself at that moment, in that place and realize this man was washing this dark, mud off of his eyes and all of a sudden he could see the dirt. He could see the water. Can you imagine his joy? He had to look up and there he saw people with eyes and nose and ears and he must have wondered, "What are those?" He knew he had something he can hear with, and he could feel a nose but he never saw one. He must have saw little kids running around and--oh, can you? We couldn't imagine because most of us here at least can see. Well, you can't. He could see his parents; they could see him. "His sight was restored. "Now, his neighbors and people who earlier had seen him begging said, 'Isn't this the man who sat and begged?' "They said, 'Yes, it's the same one.' The others said, 'No, it only looks like him.'" Aren't we stubborn? I'll tell you. Talk about a miracle, you won't believe it. The man said, "I am the man." Good for you. He wasn't chicken. This man could see! "So they said to him, 'And how did your eyes come to be open?'" He had no eyeballs. "He said, 'The Man called Jesus made a paste, daubed my eyes with it and said to me, "Go and wash at Siloam." I went and I washed and I could see.' "And they said to him, 'Where is He?' He said, 'I don't know.'" Ah, can you imagine that, Jesus walking away after doing such a thing? I would have stuck around. (audience chuckles) I would have stuck around to see whether I made blue eyes, brown eyes, (audience laughs) green eyes. "What'd I make?" (audience laughs) But Jesus didn't do that, see. Jesus was Humility itself. And He just walked away. "They brought the man who had been blind to the Pharisees. It had been a Sabbath day when Jesus made the paste…" Now, this is where you're going to get stupidity at its best. "It was a Sabbath day when Jesus made the paste and opened his eyes." You know, they were so strict, some of them, you weren't even allowed to go to the bathroom on Sundays. (audience chuckles) How do you like that? (audience laughs) I don't know how they did it and I don't want to find out. (audience laughs) Now, you couldn't do anything on Sunday, just couldn't do anything. Now, I want you to begin to see the blind spot. It wasn't enough that this man, born blind, had no eyeballs; new eyeballs were made out of a little paste that someone made. All they could think of was "He made a little paste on the Sabbath." Now, isn't that--that's where the rule takes the place of even God. They weren't interested. They should have been, as Pharisees. These were doctors of the law. They should have been so enthused that a man born blind could see. No. Now, you've got to ask yourself in your life, "Do you split hairs? Do you make mountains out of mole hills?" It goes on and it says, they said to him, "How did your eyes come to be open?" They already heard it. We do that a lot today. You ask a question, you get the answer. It wasn't the answer you wanted. So you ask them again. "Now, tell me again." "I already told you." You have to say it over and over and over. "The man said to him, 'Well, He made a paste, He daubed my eyes with it and He said to me, "Go to Siloam." "'I went and I saw. That's it.'" That's the second time he had to tell them. "Now, when the Pharisees asked him how he had come to see, he said again, 'He put a paste on my eyes, I washed it, I could see.'" (heavy breath) You can lose your faith by asking the wrong people the right question, because they don't know the answer. These people didn't want to know the answer, and you'll find out why. "Then some of the Pharisees said, 'This Man cannot be of God.'" Why? (heavy breath) "He does not keep the Sabbath." The Sabbath came before healing this man and giving him new eyeballs. So attached were they to their own, Our Lord told them one time, "You hypocrites." There was more than the Commandments they demanded. "Some of the Pharisees began to think. "They said, 'How could a sinner produce a sign like this?'" So they began to have disagreements. "So they spoke to the blind man again, 'What do you got to say about Him yourself now that He has opened your eyes?'" Oh now, oh we realize these men did believe He opened his eyes. They were not blind to the miracle. They knew his eyes. They had seen this man going in and out as they went in and out of the temple. They saw him begging for years. "'What do you got to say for yourself?' "He said, 'He's a Prophet.' The Jews would not believe that the man had been blind and had gained his sight without first sending him for his parents." So his parents come along now. "Is this man really your son who you say was born blind? If so, how is it he now sees?" Isn't it strange--I bet you know somebody that is so hardened against the Church, no matter what you tell them --if you tell them, "Have you heard of the miracle of Lanciano? Have you heard of the miracle where the Host really turned into Blood?" "Oh, how do you know? "That's 20 centuries ago, five centuries ago. Who can believe something five centuries ago?" So his parents now answered, "We know he is our son; we know he was born blind. "We don't know how it is he can see or who opened his eyes." (heavy sigh) And so they said, "He's old enough. Let him speak for himself." I don't think those parents were too grateful, do you? They should have said, "Where is He? "Where is He, son? Who was it?" Now, we have a lot of this today, don't we, human respect? They didn't want to answer because they were afraid they'd be thrown out of the synagogue. How many of you have fallen into the liberal trap we have here in America because you're not strong enough to say, "I don't believe that," or "That's a lie," or "That's not true," or "That isn't what the Church teaches?" Our human responsibility and human respect means that "I will not admit the truth because I am afraid that person I'm talking to will not love me," or "I'll be thrown out of this club," or "My neighbors will think less of me if I know this person or love this thing or I am a Catholic or I believe in the Holy Roman Catholic Church. I'm afraid. So I will say anything to make them happy, to my own detriment. We have a lot of that today. So, "His parents spoke like this out of fear of the Jews," human respect-- that's what human respect is, "who had already agreed to expel from the synagogue anyone who acknowledged Jesus as the Christ." Do you know, it's amazing to me that we have more fear of man, of society than we have of God! And God is our Judge! I am going to be judged by God and I am to spend the rest of my life with God. If I don't, I'm going to go, (makes noise) and we don't fear that. Now, that's what I don't understand. You may fear a man because what? He can take your job away from you or he can fire you or maybe even kill you. How many martyrs we have today? Those seven Trappist monks were chopped up. That wasn't in the past; it wasn't in the arena under Caligula. It is two months ago in Algiers. You have to be strong today. At least, don't be afraid to say, "I love Jesus, I can't do this. I can't lie or cheat or do something mean to my neighbor. I can't do that." Now, when you're afraid of man, you're not afraid of God. But, you see, we're all going to face the Lord some day and don't get in the way. Even those of you listening to me tonight that don't even believe in God--I don't know why you listen but I'm glad you do. Keep tuning in. You may catch on. (audience laughs) So that's why his parents said, "He's old enough. Ask him." When we fear God, it isn't I'm afraid He's going to do something to me. He's not going to do anything to me. I do it. When I was a young girl, and mostly when I was a young religious, I believed, I read, I was taught that God does not condemn anyone to Hell--and He doesn't. The soul does that itself. God never has yet, has never and never will condemn anyone to Hell. When a soul is so adamant or rebellious against God, will not repent, will not say to God, "I'm sorry," will not, refuses to do that, even at death, then they turn away from God. When they see that Awesome Wonder and Beauty and Love, they can't accept it. They can't stand it and they turn away and they turn away for all eternity, see. These Pharisees were getting to that point. "The Jews again sent for the man and said to him, 'Give glory to God. For our part, we know that this man is a sinner.'" How would they know that? To my knowledge, they had no knowledge of God because from the moment they heard of His miracle, they hated him. We call that jealousy. He was not the Messiah that would be a military leader and deliver them from Rome and give them power. He was the One Who said, "Forgive your enemies, do good to those who hate you." So "The man answered, 'I don't know if He's a sinner. I only know I was born blind and now I see.' "They said to him, 'What did He do to you? How did He open your eyes?'" They already heard it twice, twice. (heavy sigh) "Well, at this they hurled abuse at him." So many stranger things are happening today. Not only were these Pharisees, these Doctors of the Law so adamant against Jesus; they didn't want to hear of His miracles, they didn't want to see anyone who was healed by Him. So the man's getting a little bit uptight. He said, "Why do you want to hear it all over again? Do you want to become one of His disciples?" So they hit him. They hit him. "'You can be His disciple,' they said. 'We are disciples of Moses.'" Poor Moses would have knelt down and kissed the ground had he been there. "We know that God spoke to Moses. As for this Man, we don't know where He comes from." I'm reading you this tonight because I don't want you to be surprised at what the poor liberals do. They do crazy things. You're going to see some of these crazy things on the air when Raymond's through. Don't worry about them. You know what's right; you stick to what's right. Because this man replies-- now here is an astonishing thing--"He has opened my eyes and you don't know where He comes from?" Three cheers for you, buddy! When I go to Heaven, it's the first guy I want to see, (audience laughs) because he had guts. He said, "This is really something. "You're the doctors of law. You know the law. "You know everything. "He opened my eyes and you say you don't know anything about Him. But God does listen to men who are devout and do His Will." Now, that proves my first point, doesn't it? This man born blind, without eyeballs, knew more than the Pharisees. He knew that God listens to men who are devout and do His Will. Ever since the world began-- look how much knowledge this guy had--"Ever since the world began it is unheard of for anyone to open the eyes of a man born blind." He's giving a sermon. He had more knowledge, sitting at that gate begging for something to survive on, than the Pharisees did. And he goes on. This guy's not at all finished. "If this Man were not of God, He couldn't do a thing." Now, they're really mad, they're angry. "Are you teaching us?" Yeah, He is. If they were smart enough and humble, they'd say, "Thank You." "And they drove him away." That means he was expelled from the synagogue. Now, here's where Jesus comes. You and I must suffer much from the ridicule, sarcasm, persecution of others; (heavy sigh) Jesus knows. It's not important that we be justified. It's only important for us to know and for you to know, He knows every pain, every ache, every frustration, every bit of confusion in your life, every unjust, injustice. He knows it all. "And Jesus heard they had driven Him away and He sought him out. "And when He saw him, He looked at him and He said, 'Do you believe in the Son of Man?' "And he said, 'Sir, tell me who He is so that I may believe in Him.'" He didn't know who Jesus was. He didn't know this is the Man who healed me. He didn't know that! "Jesus said, 'You are looking at Him. He is speaking to you.' "And he knelt down and said, 'Lord, I believe.' (heavy sigh) "Jesus said, 'It is for judgment that I have come into the world, that those without sight may see and those with sight turn blind.'" He didn't turn the Pharisees blind. As soon as Jesus came into this world, people were either for Him or against Him. You have it today. People either believe in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist or they mock it. People really believe that Jesus came as God/Man, suffered in our midst, died a terrible death and rose from the grave, from the tomb on His Own as God/Man. You either believe it or you ridicule it. You either believe that Mary was, is and always will be Mother of God, immaculately conceived or you mock it. You either believe that Jesus is in our midst, that His Church will be here when Gabriel blows that horn, no matter who does what or when they do it, or you despair. So my friends, ask yourself tonight, "Am I like the Pharisees who are afraid to acknowledge Jesus as Lord?" Are you and I afraid to stand up for Jesus and His truth and His Church, though others will ridicule us or do we sink to pressure? There can be no peer pressure or no pressure from anyone when you believe in the truth. There is no common ground between dissenters and truth. You either believe or you don't. You don't get everybody in the middle who half- believes. That would be a sad looking group of people--that the believers fail a little and then the unbelievers come up a little, and what do you got? Confusion, that's what you've got. The common ground is the faith. I saw that common ground in Detroit. We believe the same, we love the same One, we fight for the same One and we loved each other because we have that one power within each other--the power of God's love. So, we have a call. Hello. Female Caller #1: Hello, Mother. Mother: Hey, where are you from? Caller: I'm from Evansville, Indiana. Mother: Can you speak a little louder? Caller: I'm from Evansville, Indiana. Mother: Wonderful! And what is your question? Caller: And my question is, as I was just sitting here watching you talking about truth, I was thinking you're the Rush Limbaugh for the Catholic Church. (all laugh, applaud) Mother: (laughs) Thank you. Do you have a question? Caller: Yes, I do. My question, you were talking earlier about Detroit and you talked about maybe taking the show on the road. Mother: Why do you want to take the show on the road? But I think, I think diocese and states ought to have, maybe a state can have a call to holiness. I was very impressed with the title, because we're not called today for holiness. We're not. I don't know what we're called to. We're called to be Democrats or Republicans or independents, or God knows what we're called. We're called to go to church, we're called to eat, we're called to go to work--we're called for everything but God. I think the call to holiness is a awesome name for it but I think it would be wonderful if at least once a year different states, different dioceses--and I would say that had a predominantly Catholic group there, especially in large eastern dioceses and western and mid-western--some southern dioceses have, geographically they have a large Catholic population. So, we have another call. Hello. Female Caller #2: Hello, Mother. Mother: Yes, where are you from? Caller: Indiana. Mother: Good. Caller: Um, I have a question about something kind of personal. Ever since I was a teenager, I've been suffering from bouts occasionally of melancholy and depression. It get so bad Mother, it's almost like being, almost like feeling like being in Hell. I've never really disappeared, but I was wondering if you could tell me what does the Church have to say about this condition and is there any advice or any prayers you could say? Mother: Have you been that way since you were a little kid? Caller: Since I was about 13. Mother: 14. Have you gone to a doctor to find out if it's something physical? Caller: Um, yes, um we've, I've been to see stress therapists before. Mother: Yeah. Caller: And the clergy's been really supportive, my priest. Mother: What I would do, I would just pray to Our Lady and maybe say the rosary or the "Hail Holy Queen" or the "Memorare" and just ask Her to, to instill into your heart-- many people who suffer from melancholy; we have melancholic temperaments, we just tend to be a little bit more quiet and more sad or whatever--but we need to just ask our Dear Lord to give us a deep realization of His love for us. I think that's so important. I'm amazed at how many people, good Catholics, who don't know that personal relationship with Jesus. He loves me. He loves you. And once we know... I would ask Our Lady to give you a deep realization of how much God loves you. There's a beautiful book I wish we could get reprinted called "Thoughts For All Times." In that book, Bishop Vaughn explains how God thought of us before time began, before time began. Before He even created an angel, God knew you, loved you, decided when you would be and loves you still as if the whole world were one big blank ball and you alone were on it. Once we realize that one truth, our lives can change because no matter what in life--no matter what tragedy, no matter what disappointment--if I know that one truth, everything is on the upward swing. Why? Because I know I'm loved by Jesus. What else matters? What else matters? Everything else in life will pass; everything else in life will come to an end. People have great power-- power in the Church, power in the world, power in government, power that comes from money--but it all comes to an end. So you're going to lose it anyway. But God's love for you goes on and on and on through all eternity. So I would think of that, and I will pray for you. I'll just pray a little prayer right now. "Lord Jesus, we just ask that You extend Your hand, Your wounded hand, Lord, to all those listening tonight who may just tend more to sadness and melancholy and give them that spark from Thy Holy Spirit that will let them know how much they are loved by You. "And no matter what happens in our life, we can have that joy that no one can take away from us because no one can take us away from You but we ourselves. "So give this woman, Lord, that special joy that comes from that deep reality of Your love. Amen." We have another call. Hello. Female Caller #3: Good evening, Mother Angelica. Mother: Good evening. Caller: This is Maria. I'm calling from New Rochelle. Mother: Wonderful. Caller: And first of all, I'd like to thank you so much for the wonderful works you're doing, your wonderful teaching. Mother: Thank you. Caller: It's just a pleasure to watch you whenever I can. Mother: Thank you. Caller: My question is a little in-depth. In the "General Instructions of the Roman Missal," it allows us to use the vernacular in the Mass. Mother: Right. Caller: And we know that that's fine, particularly for catechesis. I was wondering what your thoughts are, particularly in your Mass where you have the "Credo" sung in Latin, which is beautiful, but how do you think the people respond since that is just such a strong moment of catechesis when we can all come together as community and recite our Creed and what we believe in English? Mother: Yeah. Caller: And just curious to know why you have it in the Latin always on your Mass and what your feelings are? Mother: Well, number 1, it's more beautifully sung in Latin; number 2, it's more accurate. And now they're coming up with this crazy, crazy, crazy, crazy satanic--I got it all in there now, everything I wanted to say, (audience laughs) I got it all in one little blob--inclusive language, inclusive language. If you know, if you have got an old missal around that has the, the "Creed" that had English and Latin together--do you remember those? Yeah, you look at the English then and look at the English you're saying now, they start off by changing not, "I believe," but, "We." Well, then you, you can't profess everybody's faith, "I believe." From the very beginning they changed it, and most people don't know. We just tra-la-la, you know. We don't, we don't know what we're saying. But the "Creed" is to be an individual prayer to God that we profess-- I profess everything in that "Creed". When we say, "We," it changes it. That's why we, the sisters and I, say the "Latin Creed" because it says, "I believe, I believe." And at the very last, "And the Word was made Flesh and dwelt among us." You see, words are very important to the doctrines we believe in. If you change a word, you change the doctrine or you do away with it. Nobody will ever tell me this thrust to inclusive language--now, they tell me, they just want, now they're going to change it another 10 years. (heavy sigh) That we should live another 10 years! (audience laughs) When you begin to change language, it never comes out right cause you go from bad to worse. It's already bad. And who, who is the one person who wants to change the "Creed"? Satan. Now, all you people doing flip-flops out there because of what I just said, just flip-flop again (audience laughs) because you can't convince me or anybody else; when you change language, you change the truth. Don't insult all of us that we don't have the brains to understand the truth. I had a little child come to me--I don't know how old she was, maybe 5 or 6, maybe 7. She said to me, "I pray for you every day so you can continue to tell us the truth." Now, you, whatever you are out there, tell me that child isn't big enough or understand enough to say, "I believe." She knows at that age it's absolutely necessary to know the truth. That's why I got this little catalogue show going. I need to sell books like I need a hole in the head, (audience laughs) but I know if you don't read the right thing, you're going to end up with the wrong thing. There's nothing in between. Half the truth is no truth. It's a deceitful way of getting you to buy the lie. That's all it is. So I had a great time this weekend. I hope you'll have one of these. Let's call our people back to holiness. Let's have no fear of all these crazy things going on. They all die out. You were made for great things. You were made for great sanctity. Be a saint. That's God Will for you. Bye now. (applause) [music]
