OPEN LINE TUESDAY - 1/25/22- Fr. Wade Menezes - Conversion of St. Paul the Apostle

those of ewtn this is open line with today's host father wade menezes in north america call toll-free 1-833-2888 that's 1-833-288-3986 [Music] outside north america call 1-205-271-2985 you can also text the letters ewtn to 5500 or send an email to openline ewtn.com you know you give a guy a couple days off and he forgets how to do his job it's really it's just a sad state of affairs here i'm just kidding i hope you're not talking about me well i'll let you and mccall figure out who i'm talking about um welcome to ewtn's open line tuesday uh father wade meneses is in the house if you've got a question for father wade uh give us a call 833 288 ewtn is our toll-free three two number eight three nine eight six if you're outside the united states and canada that number is one two zero five two seven one two nine eight five and we'll even put you straight to the front of the line at one 1-205-271-2985 [Music] you can always send us an email openline ewtn.com or you can text your question to father wade text the letters ewtn to 5500 wait for a response text your first name and your question message and data rates may apply i'm jack williams michael mccall sort of back in the saddle again behind the glass spinning the dials uh if you'd like to hear the first two or three seconds of the intro music just listen to the encore tonight at 10 pm eastern time um he'll have it all fixed by then jeff berson handling our social media efforts so if you're watching us on youtube or facebook live you can type a question into that chat window and it may find its way to us by the end of the hour and uh matt gubinsky is screening your phone calls and thank goodness you're on the telephone and you don't have to see him in his all-black johnny cash outfit today except for his baltimore orioles logo on his shirt so uh at any rate you can only do so much father wade how are you i'm doing great jack and it sounds like he's dressed up almost like a father's of mercy but not quite all in black but how am i doing jack i'm doing great because i'm looking forward to a good steak and a good glass of red wine tonight because it's a feast day and we catholics love feasts and solemnities and so as i said this morning when i preached on this wonderful feast of the conversion of saint paul this morning at the divine mercy chapel here at the fathers of mercy for 7 30 a.m mass i began my homily by saying it's a great day to eat out and treat yourself to a nice meal or go out and buy a steak and grill if it's not too cold outside grill a steak and have a celebration in honor of this great feast of the conversion of saint paul this january 25th and a shout out today january 25th to my cousin sadie out in california who turns nine today whose mother also my cousin heather i know grills very well because she sends me these uh photos now and again via the smartphone of these wonderful tasty looking grillings that she's doing outside especially during the spring and summer months so i don't know what they're having tonight heather why why do you do that heather exactly exactly so for all i know uh sadie on our birthday is getting a steak and so we celebrate with sadie today but this great conversion of saint paul the apostle i'm telling you is just a fantastic one jack that i think gets overlooked in regards to its importance it's on the universal calendar across the globe the feast of the conversion of saint paul who was once a ferocious opponent and persecutor of christians a murderer even huh reveals that the mercy of god is more powerful than human sinfulness god does not look for those who are already good or worthy of love as we do as humans no it is precisely god's love which makes us good in god's divine providence paul's experience of being rescued from sin made him all the more conscious of the love of jesus and i want to quote here something i've quoted in the past divas and misericordia john paul ii now saint john paul ii his 1980 encyclical on the mercy of god he says mercy is who god is it's love's second name god is more interested in our future than in our past he's more interested in the kind of person we can yet become than in the kind of person we used to be while indeed taking our sins seriously no doubt whether mortal or venial even the most hideous and wicked like murder god never ever takes those sins as the last word why because he knows he's made us in his image and likeness he knows he calls us constantly to a life of his sanctifying grace and he knows he is our god who is bigger than any sin we might ever commit even the most hideous or wicked again mortal sin and we see this with paul's life his conversion huh in fact he says in first timothy jack he says i was dealt with mercifully so that in me as an extreme case he's admitting he was an extreme case of conversion jesus christ might display all of his patience and that i might become an example to others first timothy 16. how awesome is that the literal voice of jesus which revealed to paul his great need for mercy god's mercy transformed him into a zealous apostle for the rest of his days in life and saint catherine of siena gives us these words about paul she says quote courageously he proclaimed the truth and he became a vessel of love filled with fire to carry and preach god's word now the word conversion jack comes from the latin conversion meaning to turn around in the new testament the greek writers use the word metanoia meaning a change of heart specifically particularly toward repentance that is a turning away from sin in one's life and that's very very important to remember as well now i want to state this this is crucial to this springboard topic today part of the process of authentic conversion is moving forward and not looking back for example not confessing a sin that you've already confessed and have not redone and feel the need to go back and confess it again it's not there to confess you gotta move forward now if you commit the sin again that's a different story but otherwise move forward this is part and parcel with the process of conversion and i want to share five great spiritual quotes from scripture that tell us just this luke 9 verse 62 jesus says himself no one who puts a hand to the plow and keeps looking back is fit for service in the kingdom of god how about that to wake us up right how about philippians 3 13 saint paul says quote i focus on this one thing and one thing only forgetting the past and looking forward only to what lies ahead amen to that what great counsel that is and how about second peter chapter 2 verse 22 easy to remember with all those twos second peter chapter 2 verse 22 do not be like a dog that keeps returning to its own vomit quoting proverbs 26 11 nor be like a sow that after washing herself returns to wallow in the mud of her mire no we got to move forward this is part and parcel with the process of authentic conversion and it's a big part of of the process of conversion once paul converted jack he never looked back he knew that god dealt with him as an extreme case as he says in first timothy 1 16. in john 8 11 jesus himself to the woman caught in adultery he says go and sin no more after he asks her woman where did they all go the men that were ready to condemn you are none of them left here to continue to do that she says no one sir he says neither do i condemn you go and sin no more now jack i don't know about you but when i tell someone to go quote unquote i'm telling them to go forward not backwards go meaning forward and lastly our our old testament quote of these five the rest were all new testament quotes isaiah chapter 12 verse 2 isaiah says to god he says i will go forward confidently now and no longer be afraid god is the source of my strength god is the tower of my defense the lord has made himself my protector and remember the word confidence i've said this many times on open line tuesday the the word confidence the light in the in its latin root is confide with faith in other words to be confident in something is precisely to be with faith in that same something so again isaiah says i will go forward confidently now in other words i will go forward with faith now and no longer be afraid god is the source of my strength the tower of my defense the lord has made himself my protector what a gift we have in the sacrament of penance and reconciliation holy confession jack huh to be able to move forward go forward so a great great feast day today that i think is often overlooked in this regard it's often overlooked in its greatness and exactly what it means for the individual and it's such a beautiful feast this day of january 25th every year on the church's universal calendar the conversion of the apostle saint paul i want our listeners today jack to call in and tell us about their conversion i'm not asking for a full confession no not at all remember a couple weeks ago we talked about reverts and converts huh and some called that day to share their story i'm talking about a more of a spiritual conversion a couple weeks back we were talking about converts and reverts meaning into the church itself as an institution today i'm talking about the process of conversion spiritually was it a person that led you to your conversion by their own example was it an event was your conversion gradual or was your conversion sudden what were the practices you immediately took on to help support that conversion give us a call today at open line tuesday 833 288 e wtn is our toll-free number grab one of these open phone lines at 833-288-3986 it's open line tuesday with father wade [Music] [Applause] psalm 1 verse 1 says blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the ungodly nor stand in the way of sinners nor sit in the seat of scorners what does that mean don't hang around with bad people no according to gk chester it means something much better than that he says that there are certain people who because they are really pure create a good atmosphere around themselves they are truly children of light and that light shines on everything they touch so it's not that hanging around bad people makes us bad it's that being righteous can help make the people around us righteous too spend more time with the apostle of common sense visit chesterton.org for more information and go to ewtnrc.com to discover more books and programs written and inspired by gk chesterton pwtn radio is growing are you an experienced radio producer looking for an opportunity to help forward mother angelica's mission of evangelization we need a passionate multi-skilled talented professional who can manage all aspects of producing world-class radio programming you could be the newest member of the ewtn radio family if this is you or someone you know email a resume and cover letter including salary requirements to human resources at ewtn.com this is open live on the ewtn global catholic radio network if you have a question call 1-833-288-ewtn that's 1-833-288-3986 outside north america call 1205 271 or send us an email to openline ewtn.com you know i'm often touting father wade and the fathers of mercy and their 14 exercises that will help you grow in the spiritual life and one of those exercises is to have some sort of a good solid catholic daily reader to get you rolling every day to move you forward and i've got a great suggestion for you to wife a wife how am i doing it's a book by my wife john at williams called graceful living meditations to help you grow closer to god day by day um in this book she'll share pearls of wisdom from the saints from doctors of the church and holy men and women designed to help you grow closer to god every daily reflection will prompt you to delve deeper into your prayer life and self-examination explore the timeless wisdom of holy mother church with graceful living meditations to help you grow closer to god day by day available now at either ewtn's religious catalogue that's e-w-t-n-r-c dot-com eight three three two eight eight e w t n is our toll-free number eight three three two eight eight three nine eight six twelve minutes was not enough by the way it has something else to say yeah you know jack with these means of modern technology i gotta tell all my listeners right now that my cousin heather young sadie's mother just texted me and said it's not steak tonight but it is a great rump roast so i thought i'd share that with everybody and sadie says that she doesn't have a problem with the rump roast but she wants cheese pizza with it so there you have it there you have it to the phones we go michael is first up today he is in spokane washington listening on sacred heart radio michael you're on with father wade well thank you thank you both i was just talking to your call strange screener about johnny cash i walked the line and then we talked about alabama crimson tide gonzaga basketball so we're cooking there you go you know yeah with me gonzaga is number one basketball but conversion for me is a daily every time you know sometimes by fall and i go to confessions to find grace and i think about the prodigal son always which helps me but could you talk more about mary magdalene who i believe was the first person to see their business jesus you know i sure will uh michael and you bring up a great point about how conversion is an ongoing process you know my springboard unfortunately is only to be you know eight to ten minutes uh sometimes closer to 12 if jack is nice to me that day but uh one of the things i wanted to say is that conversion involves both turning away from a past life and turning toward god huh we see that in the life of mary magdalene resulting in an interior transformation of the person himself or herself conversion can mean turning from sin to repentance from laxity to fervor or for example from unbelief to faith or from error to truth that was a big one for father john hardin when he talked about the truth the pursuance of the good and the true and the beautiful turning away from wrong reason and error to turning toward right reason and truth huh it includes the initial turning toward god away from atheism for example and turning toward moral virtue from vice we see that in mary magdalene as well in her life and turning toward belief in christ from non-christian religions toward the christ the messiah who has revealed himself as god specifically the second person of the most holy and all-adored a trinity and you know it's interesting in john's gospel that we're told that the men tell jesus master this woman was just caught in other words moments ago just caught in the very act they say of adultery interesting they don't say anything about the man she was with and the fact that he was committing adultery huh no they bring her to jesus and jesus he goes down to the ground and begins to write with his finger twice two different times till this day we don't know specifically what he wrote but many of the church fathers writing in the first seven centuries uh provided theological conjecture about it and and what do they say they say that jesus is writing the sins in the sand of the men standing around so for example jesus could have taken his index finger and write the words adulterers yourselves or liar or cheat or wife beater maybe he was putting the gentleman's first name before it the first names of the gentleman who were actually standing around ready to cast stones at mary macklin and then what happens they begin to go away one by one as he does this a second time very very powerful scene and then jesus i like to think of him still kneeling down toward her because she's down on the ground they threw her down on the ground and mel gibson's passion to christ shows this scene beautifully in my personal opinion woman where have they all gone are none of them left here to condemn you no one sir she replies neither do i condemn you he says go there's that word meaning forward again right go and sin no more what a what a beautiful truth that is you know mary magdalene is a very very powerful saint we were told in scripture that our lord cast seven demons out of her and she's one of the most fruitful disciples of his by several scripture accounts she's the first one to have noticed that he was risen from the dead and went back to tell the head of the church peter and john his brother went back to tell them so even though this woman had an extremely sinful past huh extremely sinful past seven demons cast out of her men ready to kill her with stones jesus is so merciful and and and warm and and guiding towards her again mercy is who god is it's love's second name god is more interested in our future than in our past he's more interested in the kind of person we can yet become than in the kind of person we used to be huh while indeed taking our sins seriously no doubt god never ever takes those sins as the last word why because he knows he's made us in his image and likeness he knows he calls us constantly to a life of his sanctifying grace and he knows he is our god who is bigger and stronger and more important than any sin of our past life he's bigger than that and so a great saint an absolutely wonderful saint in mary magdalene who shows us not only the authenticity michael of of conversion but the fact that it can be lasting and the fact that it needs to be nourished constantly because she continued to be a disciple why to continue to be fed by our lord so it's an ongoing process which you intimated in the paraphrasing of your question at the beginning of your question and thank you for that thank you so much michael calling from spokane washington god bless you now 833 288 ewtn is our toll-free number two lines open for you at in oakland 833-288-3986 listening on the ewtn app leonard welcome to the program hi hello leonard thank you hello thank you for your call leonard from oakland we appreciate it very much oakland isn't far from my hometown of modesto california so thank you so much for your call today you're welcome my conversion my story is i was a born catholic i used to go i used to go to church regularly on sundays but wasn't really that involved in you know in church life mother and i never used to go go for confession i used to go once in a while for confession maybe once and maybe five years six years and i had a temptation of watching pornography and masturbation so last year my mother sent me a link to watch father chris aylar's uh weekend speech every week he gives a speech or he gives a he preaches about uh you know the word of god uh a father failer from the national front of national fan of the divine mercy in my that's right he's one of the marians of the immaculate conception the same religious order as father don calloway yes that is absolutely right and uh ever since that day i have reformed i i've changed a lot i'm saying the rosary on a daily basis and i'm off i'm off that i'm i'm of the temptation of i've totally given up on on pornography and masturbation and i'm i'm much happier today than what i was um you know previously i'm very very happy today well we thank you for that that witness call leonard you know it's it's a very very addictive behavior both of those behaviors can become very very addictive the catechism teaches very beautifully uh the benefits of pursuing the good and the true and the beautiful of self-mastery especially in regards to the sexual faculty of the human person which is a wonderful gift but a very powerful gift precisely because it is such a beautiful gift and so the sexual faculty and the human person can be used to a greater greater good or to a greater greater evil and the devil knows that such activity takes us out of ourselves makes us very selfish self-centered as opposed to being other centered and so we thank you for a great great phone call a great witness phone call i like to call these types of calls where you're able to share so much about your own life and how how you were able to overcome that particular sin that particular vice to be able to aid others so we thank you so much leonard god bless you uh 833 288 ewtn is our toll-free number it's a free telephone call anywhere in north america 833-288-3900 we'll head to david in birmingham alabama listening on guadalupe radio um david what is your question today for father um wade i just had a remark i was just going to briefly tell my own conversion story um if i may proceed yes go right ahead so i was raised in a southern baptist home where i was taught to fear the lord and to love jesus and i never had doubts about god or his redemptive work but about 15 16 years ago i started doing uh a lot of reading in in two different directions one direction was in just church history i've always been a historical fiction fan and i'd run across historical fiction from the roman empire and and i started reading historical fiction about the first and second century christians and i just got intrigued uh and then i start then i started reading the church fathers and [Music] as you know someone who grew up in the southern baptist church it was astonishing to me to read saint justin martyr's description in just a couple of decades after the death of the apostle john of the church service and then a letter that he had written i believe to the roman emperor describing a church service in order to to diffuse rumors about christians being um incestuous and christians being cannibals because of so david hang on the line don't go anywhere we want to hear the rest of this uh story about your conversion we also are going to hear from karen walter and we've got plenty of time for your calls as well 833 288 ewtn is our toll-free number 833-288-3986 it's open line tuesday with father wade [Music] [Applause] prayer doesn't have to be anything rigid or formal of course we have countless ones we can turn to when words don't come to mind so wrote prayers are fantastic but i also like to pray by listening to praise music reading the psalms and just listening to god's voice keep in mind that prayer is a two-way endeavor sometimes we think it's just us talking and god listening if that's what your prayer life has mainly consisted of try getting used to listening to god speak to you you'll hear beautiful and amazing things and now the ewtn family prayer with father joseph family a prayer that we pray together is a powerful prayer so please pray together with me our ewtn family prayer [Music] today we pray for the caregivers of the sick almost holy trinity father son and holy spirit we adore you you have first loved us and through your son you have taught us the excellence of self-giving love give to those who are caregivers of a sick parent or child brother or sister the assistance of your holy angels lessen their burdens and give them great joy in practicing a work of mercy and since charity is never forgotten by you reveal to them their heavenly reward amen this is jack williams if you missed any part of today's show catch the encore tonight at 10 eastern and check out the podcast anytime at ewtnradio.net and click [Music] podcasts matt swaim here tomorrow on the sunrise morning show will celebrate the feast of saints timothy and titus two of the first bishops of the early church plus news weather sports and more now back to open line with father wade meneses this is open live on the ewtn global catholic radio network one line open for you at 833 288 e wtn that's nine 833-288-3988 six we're talking to david in birmingham alabama david grew up a southern baptist and was a big fan of history and church history and started reading the church fathers and david you were a little surprised by some of the stuff you saw huh well it was just shocking to read uh saint justin martyr to read tertullian's open letter to the roman senate in the 200's where they describe a church service which is clearly recognizably a catholic service um and then to go on to read that that the doctrine of trump transubstantiation the real presence in the eucharist was universally held by the entire church for basically 1500 years it was never in dispute was never even just in dispute with martin luther but of course i was under the impression that it had always been meant to be a symbolic event and then and then the other big line of of investigation that i pursued was just the significance of christ's incarnation and how i i came to believe that it was and i think some of the church fathers have taught this that god becoming man becoming one of us was something that was planned from the beginning whether or not adam had fallen or not that god had always meant to participate in his creation and the significance of that the significance that the second person of the trinity has dna is living breathing human and when he says things like at the last supper this is my body that's broken for you this is my blood which is shed for the sins of the world that he can't be talking about something that's purely symbolic because he's not purely symbolic and christ's presence unlike what some of the gnostics said or some of the other heretics said he was flesh and blood as john insisted in his gospel [Music] this is the guy we touched this is the guy we ate with this is the guy we lived with we have seen what we have seen what we have heard at the beginning of john's gospel chapter 1 and also john chapter 6 the wonderful bread of life discourse where jesus is not back down after using the phrases quote uh flesh and blood this is my body this is my blood unless you eat the flesh of the son of man and drink his blood you have no light life within you and and those listening to this can't take it how can this man give us his flesh and blood to eat and jesus doesn't back down he goes even further into the discourse so john chapter six is phenomenal in that regard uh you know you bring up a great point david um and we thank you for your call today from birmingham alabama hopefully you're a regular visit to the beautiful uh chapel of of of the our lady of the angels there where the daily televised mass takes place from ewtn's grounds but we also use the word conversion and your witness call today makes this point very very clear we also use the word conversion in regards to what i talked about a couple weeks back in regards to reverts and converts to refer to turning toward the fullness of the christian truth in communion with the one holy catholic and apostolic church but even this is not the end of conversion once somebody comes in like yourself say from a baptist tradition as you witness to just now making the choice to join the church is just a milestone in one's ongoing journey toward heaven right conversion is also a daily choice as a previous caller pointed out to turn our eyes and hearts back to god in everything we do say and think which lines up with pursuing again the good the true and the beautiful and virtuous living in a virtuous life we are not called just to turn around and face the way of safety and peace but to continually feed our faith continually feed it and boy do we have plenty to feed ourselves with in the catholic church huh with with daily mass options sunday mass obligation not out of fear but out of love uh the the seven sacraments of the lives of the saints lectio divina uh just it goes on and on and it's it's just so beautiful how rich uh the church is her feast days her memorials her solemnities uh the role of the blessed mother in our lives uh the the role of the saints the role of saint joseph you know these are just beautiful truths and and the conversion of saint paul that we celebrate today in acts 9 that we read so clearly about is perhaps the preeminent conversion story right of christian history being blinded and hearing the heavenly voice of jesus is nothing short of outstanding that's not metaphorical that's literal right most people don't have an experience like that though our conversions aren't sudden they're usually gradual we maintain our physical senses and we don't have our names changed as paul did so paul's conversion was extraordinary and and again he continued to move forward and david you know you you echo what what uh dr scott hahn says so clearly in his uh protestant uh theology training days at the protestant seminary he says we were just given a very cursory view of the church fathers and even then it was very very selective of which ones we read we read some augustine we might have read some ambrose but that was it you know and i love uh i love the early accounts of justin martyr when he's before the the roman tribune tribune uh rusticus and russicus asks justin he says do you have some idea that if you are killed right now by us you will go up to heaven immediately and justin's response is no it's not an idea it's not an idea i have it all it's pure fact that i have that's pretty powerful it's not an idea i have rusticuse rather it's fact that i have because justin knew revealed truth and that's the beauty of of of the fullness the fullness of the christian faith which we know to be in the one holy catholic and apostolic church so david thank you so much and go out and get a good steak tonight to celebrate this feast day on the church's universal calendar god bless you now next up is karen she is in the baxter in brainerd area of minnesota listening on the ewtn app karen you are on with father wade hello hello karen thank you for your call hi i just have uh a episode an instance to share that has changed my faith forever uh 12 years ago i was in the birthright office where i have been i have been a volunteer for birthright since 1974 when we started here in brainerd and i got this phone call and it was a young mom who was crying and and on her way to the abortion clinic over 100 miles from where we live and she had already traveled almost that far and just figured she she had four children already and just didn't see how she could handle any more children and so we talked and how we could help her and that kind of thing and and she said okay i'll call you back later and um so called for prayer and and just sort of tried the waiting game finally about six hours later she called me and said i didn't do it and the story was when she got to the abortion clinic of course somebody handed her some literature there were pro-life people outside and when she got in and they did the ultrasound the technician who of course sure wasn't supposed to say this said you're going to have twins and she got up and got off the table and left when she called me she was just so it was just like she had bargained with god on her way down that for no reason did she have to think it would be twin but that if it was twins she wouldn't do it so after this it's been a 12 year we've been friends now for 12 years and the child children are beautiful and but the part of the story that's so amazing is i asked her after we've gotten to know each other how where she found our number or what made her call the birthright number because i didn't know of any place in where she lived or anything that she would have found it and she said well when i was driving down this road and she told me this road and everything there was this big billboard and it was translucent she said it was just it was black and white and these numbers just stood out on the board and it was just 1 800 number and i called it well she and others of us went and drowned that road a few times and there is no billboard there so needless to say that was the miracle in my life that i just has changed my faith forever amen and so it's just yeah it's made every day that i've sat in that office and the phone didn't ring worth it amen karen what a beautiful beautiful story uh how you were there for her at the right time at the right moment in her time of trial as a young mother i don't say a young mother to be because by virtue of the pregnancy she's already a mother amen and uh you were there for her and how god used you to continue to support her not only for the rest of the caring of those children during her gestation but also after birth and now 12 years later you and she still keep in contact and now the the the two twins are are late adolescents entering into their teen years so what a what a beautiful thing you know the unseen graces that accompany uh conversion for all of us are are no less powerful right now you've never left the church per se you make note of but such experiences are very powerful and so they help sustain you and keep you grounded in your faith right and in the sacrament of baptism for example we we are cleansed of of original sin and by the way any personal actual mortal or venial sin that may have been committed after the age of reason if those kinds of sins are on the person's soul this is why before uh before entering the catholic church at the easter vigil if they're going to be baptized at the easter vigil they don't have to go to confession first because the baptism at the easter vigil will wipe away not only the original sin but also any actual uh personal that is mortal or venial sin that they that they will have committed after the age of reason but but baptism uh solidifies us in this life of christ as as the gateway sacrament meaning it's normatively speaking the sacrament recede before the other six can be received and the holy spirit comes more fully to dwell in our soul bring the spirits gifts of understanding and knowledge and wisdom and counsel and fortitude and piety and fear of the lord will you karen having those gifts by virtue of your baptism from your catholic faith that you've never left okay are solidified by even life's experiences as you've experienced and described to the on open line tuesday and not only that but you're able to inspire somebody else so this this is all an example of this ongoing process of conversion huh and this is a beautiful beautiful or these i should say in the plural these are beautiful beautiful realities that we need to acknowledge and embrace and share and witness about so karen thank you so much for your call from minnesota today we really appreciate it 833 288 e wtn is our toll-free number still a couple of open phone lines at 833-288-3986 next up is racine wisconsin margie is in the great state of wisconsin listening on wsfi radio margie thanks for holding you're on with father wade hi father wade thanks for taking my call i have a i have kind of a st paul conversion experience great um i had um this was back when i lived in chicago a dear neighbor who was an assembly of god pastor most peaceful man that i've met in my entire life and after my husband had lost my job his job he took him out to breakfast and then he came over aaron came over to talk to me so we sat in our back porch and he said margie i know that in your faith that the sacrament of confirmation is supposed to be like an adult acceptance of your faith and it's supposed to be like an uh you know you agree you're entering in to accepting the lord you know and friendship with god and you know a relationship with jesus and i said you know what aaron i have had 12 years of catholic education and no one no one's ever brought that up no one's ever talked about having a friendship with god or you know a relationship with jesus no way he says okay fine let's do this pray with me now i want you to repeat after me so he walked me through like the sinner's prayer and i was kind of sarcastic father wait i said to him okay aaron what's supposed to happen now is the lightning gonna come out of the sky i was really you know had an attitude and he started to laugh and he said margie you wait this is what i want you to do he says i know you read scripture but what i want you to do now is i want you to listen i want you to take a notebook and a pen and i want you to be quiet after you um after you pray and after you read the scriptures i want you to be quiet and i said well no one's ever told me that he said well i'm telling you that and i want you to do this every day and i want you to keep at it you know don't don't get discouraged but keep at it and um holy mackerel my whole my whole faith life changed wow i really came to know the lord in a much deeper way than at the time and now i'm just striving i'm striving for that union with god every day i really try to you know get as close to him as i can and it was all because the lord sent aaron he sent him he was his messenger he used him as an agent of the holy spirit to touch my heart and you know in the beginning i thought oh you know what what kind of thing is this you know but wow i mean i just basically got bowled off my feet the holy spirit came down and uh beautiful powerful way yeah so amen i want to uh encourage people to be open to the holy spirit and say yes lord you know i i need you in my life and and your life is not your own it really isn't we all that's right it's on loan to us that's right you know uh on this great feast day of the conversion of saint paul this january 25th today i have my mother angelica mug i'm holding up here why because in celebration of the fact that it's today's feast day mother loved the feistiness of saint paul she would frequently make note of that in various ways verbally during her shows and and her talks and whatnot and so she loved saint paul very dearly and and i remember her saying people often say to me well god doesn't speak to me the person would tell mother god doesn't speak to me my mother says oh yes he does he speaks to you every day through other people through other people and this is a beautiful example of that margie how this this gentleman one of our protestant brothers um who who possesses elements of the truth uh in his protestant faith vatican ii is very clear about that not the fullness of truth but strong elements of the truth uh and and and he was able to share with you in regards specifically to prayer something that that you never felt you got from 12 years of catholic school that is to say how to pray uh and now because of that experience you've had from your friend uh you're now able to delve into what the church teaches about the different levels of prayer huh uh for example the the carmelite school through saint teresa of avila the unitive way the aluminative way the purgative way etc and uh actually i should reverse those the purgative way then the illuminative way then the unitive way that's just one example the different schools of catholic spirituality have the different ways of describing uh the ascent uh to god in in union through prayer in this life while still living i might add and so the and of course the eucharist the source and summit of the christian life margie as you well know as a catholic is uh part and parcel with this union with god the the foretaste of heaven even now by regular reception worthily of his body blood soul and divinity so just a beautiful witness call margie and we we thank you so so much for your call today from racine wisconsin and and since you're with from wisconsin i just want to say maybe you've done this already but if you haven't you have two beautiful beautiful marion shrines there to visit for your pilgrimage sometime this year during 2022 the fathers of mercy staff the shrine of our lady of good help in new franken or champion wisconsin the town goes by both names whether or not you're using the post office there champion wisconsin or new frank in wisconsin right there and also the beautiful shrine of our lady of guadalupe uh which cardinal raymond burke helped oversee the building of when he was there as bishop in the cross diocese so two beautiful shrines in that beautiful state of wisconsin so you're very very fortunate thank you so much margie for your call today next stop is olympia washington walter is in the great state of washington listening on sacred heart radio walter you're on with father wade hi father um thank you for taking my call um and i really like your show i had a very powerful conversion experience april 19 1983 and at that time and years before i was using cocaine regularly and that night uh i was coming down off of the cocaine it was wearing off i was feeling very depressed very uh almost suicidal and i i was 31 year old man living at home with my parents uh making you know minimum wage and anyway that night i felt a god working through the holy spirit and every time i prayed to the holy spirit and i felt demons leave my body through my fingertips very much like mary uh mary magdalene had the seven demons although i don't know if all the demons were have been eliminated but from that time on my life has changed just dramatically and it was just amazing every time i said the word holy spirit i could feel hear the demon inside me growl as if you know couldn't take it anymore and that the next morning it was like night and day completely different person i i you know i i love my parents more and i uh i became a catholic i went through rcia and i i met my wife as uh at the chapel in san jose at the midi chapel over there at archbishop city high school and we've been married 30 years we've become music ministers i i played guitar at jails and prisons and i became a social worker to help people with mental health wishes who often have uh chemical dependency issues as well you know i've helped random groups and things like that anyway i've done things that before 1983 i never thought were possible right right and this following an addiction to cocaine so because of your life experiences with that addiction walter regardless of how bad that was in your life and indeed an evil in your life that that cocaine addiction look how god was able to still use those negative experiences for you to now help others in recovery and you have since joined the catholic church uh you met your beautiful wife you're active in the faith um you're able to continue to assisting others so again mercy is who god is right it's love second name god is more interested in our future amen to that than he is in our past he's more interested in the kind of person we can yet become than in the kind of person we used to be while indeed taking those sins seriously from our past walter he never ever takes those sins as the last word why because he knows he's made us in a gym in his image and likeness he knows he calls us constantly to a life of his sanctifying grace and he knows he is our god again who's bigger than any sin we might ever commit and he can take um stumbling stones if you will and make them into building blocks as we often hear said in christian circles he can take stumbling stones and make them into building blocks of an edifice very very beautiful and so we thank you walter for your great witness call today from olympia washington god bless you now and have a have a beautiful day you know we do ewtn's open line every day at 3 p.m eastern time check us out tomorrow on wednesday father mitch pack was in the house that's ewtn open line monday through friday 3 p.m eastern quickly we'll head to nathan and fargo north dakota listening on real presence radio nathan just a couple minutes left with father wade go right ahead yeah hey just wanted to let everybody know that everything you guys have said is so true uh about three years ago i had left the church early after i had left my parents house um got married did that whole thing and the church was definitely a thing that was not on the radar uh unfortunately my marriage ended in divorce i had to sell my house i poured my heart out to god and didn't have many options left and within five days i think we might have lost them well i've got there's nothing deeper and deeper in our faith but um with that being said that pray the rosary can't say it enough pray the rosary if you want to get closer to god jesus pray the rosary daily and it will change your life and i can't thank you guys enough for everything you've done nathan thank you so much for your call today from fargo you know i i the rosary is the weapon the devil hates the blessed virgin the devil hates the rosary as saint padre pio called the rosary the weapon and i would add pray the divine mercy chaplet as well if you can pray those two staple prayers in the life of the catholic faith daily you will see your life begin to change uh with with sincere effort coupled with those two prayers on your la on on your part wanting to truly again to begin to pursue the good and the true and the beautiful and to shun sin and and you're right nathan it's it's an absolutely powerful prayer and uh you know you state here that you were away from the church for 19 years you never really received a two by four in the head as you said but a ton of continual progress in the conversion process and that's the very condition that most of us find ourselves in in the process of conversion so it's great to to hear you say that again not only that it's ongoing but that the process itself was begun not really through anything spectacular an event that was spectacular no uh but it was gradual and it still is gradual in the progression of it but you're remaining faithful and that's the main thing you know jack i want to say this we've had so many great witness calls today i want to urge all of our listeners and viewers today to grab the the visual youtube feed of this show today and pass it on to other people and share with them this great story on the feast of saint paul's conversion uh these great stories of conversion amen would you leave us with a blessing i sure will jack may the blessing of almighty god the father and the son and the holy spirit descend upon all of our open line tuesday listeners and remain with each and every one of you this day and always saint joseph terror of demons pray for us back at it tomorrow with father mitch until then god bless [Music] from rome to your home ewtn's vatican bureau lets you watch all of the important events from rome even if you don't have a tv using the latest technology we've made it possible to watch the latest news from the holy see all delivered directly to your home it's easy watch live on ewt and youtube and follow us on facebook instagram and twitter

Channel: EWTN

Views: 2,424

Keywords: Catholic, EWTN, Christian, television

Id: sFivK047khY

Length: 54min 25sec (3265 seconds)

Published: Tue Jan 25 2022