Explaining the Faith - The Role of the Saints

well hello everybody again and welcome to the national shrine of the divine mercy and a sunny great day here the day after st joseph's feast day and we're happy you're with us i'm father chris aylar one of the marians of the immaculate conception and it's an honor to have you here you know today as you saw on the screen is a fun talk one of the funnest classes that i had along with the angels is an elective i took in seminary called the saints so i did a talk on the angels several months back but i haven't yet done a talk on the saints and especially how we defend it as catholics when people say you know there's only one mediator between god and man and that's jesus christ and the and that's true yes we're going to talk about that and the saints can't hear you they're dead and why do you pray to them you can't pray to the saints we're going to talk about all that and so i'm bringing you and i'm so enjoying this and i hope you are too back to seminary with me as i say you get to do it at home with no tuition and so let us begin with a prayer in the name of the father and the son and of the holy spirit amen heavenly father we ask that you send the holy spirit down upon us to open our minds and hearts to receive the grace you wish to dis bestow upon us and through the intercession of mary and saint joseph and all the angels and all the saints may our knowledge of you be greater so that our love of you can be greater and we ask this through christ our lord amen in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit amen as i said i've uh i love this topic because it's so misunderstood and you might think well father i already know that we don't worship the saints and you know this and that well i think you're going to learn something today because as i go back to my own seminary notes this is an awesome way for me to learn i have a couple scholars that i work with that i've bounced ideas off of them they gave me some ideas and so i spend like i said before hours hours each week putting together so that you only have to give us a little over an hour and you reap the benefits of that so thank you to all of our marian helpers now what is a saying all right this might seem obvious but we're going to go through this in more detail all right all christians all of us are called to be saints all right in fact do you know that people say well you catholics this saints thing is crazy do you know that the word saints appears in the bible take a guess how many times 10 20 229 times the word saint appears in the bible this is obviously important saint is a latin word or a saint is from the latin word sanctus which means someone that has been set apart to be holy and we all are called to do that and so this is something very very important that we sometimes don't understand and i'm turning off my cell phone ringer now now we venerate we don't worship we'll talk about that more people worthy of honor and this is how the catholics are misunderstood why because we honor people every day in our society uh athletes uh actors doctors we honor them greatly in fact sometimes there's even worship we get into sports idols and and and hollywood movie star idols it becomes a worship way more than what the catholic church does with our saints we don't worship now in fact society has even become more worshipping of these figures than we catholics as as the ultimate figures in the saints now saints do not have power on their own we catholics do not claim that when we pray to them we're going to talk about this i have a great short video to show you on that topic of praying to the saints but they do not have power on their own they are only given it by god now we venerate these saints and there's a difference from that to worship now unlike society we do not create our saints um society creates who the new movie star is gonna be uh society creates who knew the new great face of the major league baseball is going to be they create that we don't create the saints instead we recognize them god creates them and so this is important now a saint with a capital s so you could see saint written with a capital s or a small s capital s saint donates a person who was formally canonized by the church which means they're guaranteed in heaven the church has the authority to make that statement and a small ass saint is anyone in heaven whether or not they are recognized or not canonized or not every soul in heaven is a saint did you also know that every soul in purgatory is a saint they're just cleaning up a bit they've already got their eternal reward every soul in purgatory will eventually get to heaven all right now these people form what is said in hebrews 12 1 as the great cloud of witnesses so saints are persons who lived quote this is the definition of a saint persons who lived heroically virtuous lives offered their life for others or were martyred for their faith and who are worthy of veneration or imitation do you know that this is scriptural you're going to say father wait a minute why are you catholics saying this it's in the bible and we'll get to that so the veneration of saints this scares a lot of people it scared me years ago falls under the term cultus or cult oh man i sometimes wish the catholic church wouldn't use certain words i get it's from the latin but man when we use the term cult of mary that just yes it's beautiful it's accurate it's true but man does it mislead people you're calling yourself a cult that's because called in our language in modern day times has a different meaning than the latin cultures which describes a particular devotion or entrustment to a particular saint or a group of saint saints but not worship and so when they hear cult today you think worship that's not what it means in the original lantern so when you say the cult of mary don't get scared all right now why do we have saints okay romans 6 chapters chapter 6 1-14 says we are all baptized or we are baptized into christ's death so also into his life so we are one in christ through baptism so we are called to be holy to be saints now we share in this common life and identity with christ being members of his mystical body now saint paul says this and it's going to be important here so the church has saints because jesus's mystical body what body jesus has hands and feet so does the mystical body and the hands and the feet of the body of christ are the saints you guys are the hands and feet when you help us do this ministry of spreading divine mercy around the world by the very fact that you're tuning in has kept us going if we got no viewers we wouldn't be doing this anymore but you guys tuning in is keeping us going and this evangelization is going around the world so you guys are being the hands and the feet simply by watching and learning about your lord now this all connects to the head jesus is the head but the hands and the feet that's us jesus is the head mary is the neck so everything comes from the head goes through mirror the neck out to the body the hands and the feet that's us and we share in that so jesus uses this example of you know of for instance uh the power in this body all right now remember when people just touched the hem of the garment of jesus that woman just said if i could just touch the hem of his garment can you imagine what it would happen when people touch us as the actual hands or feet of jesus if that woman was healed just by touching that garment of jesus just think what should happen to her if she touched the body of christ the hands and the feet that's us that's us the members of his body so the real question isn't why or how the church has all these extraordinary impossible wonder working saints but why are more of us like that that's the ultimate question why aren't more of us like that that's the question now why there are some like that the question is why more of us aren't like that and so why isn't every christian a luminous bright light flashing of god's greatness that's how you will be in heaven heaven is your greatness in heaven is how much you reflected the light of christ on earth and so when you're in heaven that shining of the light that you will burn brightly with that beacon of light that you're called to be is how much you reflect christ and the brightest of the lights is the saints what we strive to be all right now we have all been baptized we've all received him consuming his body and blood we've all received the sacraments we are guaranteed this grace this is the way we become saints now let's keep going there's more reasons why we have the saints all right saints are an example you've heard me talk about what parent who has their child playing football who's a young fourth grader who's playing tackle football what parent wouldn't want their young running back to be like barry sanders i know i always bring up barry sanders greatest running back in football history from detroit now the why because when barry sanders he had the greatest natural ability he was dedicated but most of all he was humble when he would score a touchdown he didn't do some dance he just handed the ball to the referee and he always credited his teammates everybody wants their child who does a who's a running back in football to be like barry sanders because he gives that perfect example he proves that it can be done that greatness can be achieved he is like the saints a good example you know people are like father why do you catholics have saints well you know what non-catholics have testimonies don't you go to non-catholic or haven't you seen non-catholic broadcasts or videos and they'll do altar calls and people come up there and say this was my life before jesus christ here's my conversion now here's my life after jesus christ well wait a minute you're supposed to focus only on god we're not supposed to talk about you no because you are part of the body of christ that's why we talk about the saints it doesn't take away from god it talks about who god is in his totality all right so how do i know for instance that evangelization can reach foreign lands the saints how do i know that there's hope for even the greatest sinners the saints people like saint augustine who said lord make me chaste just not yet [Laughter] he was struggling with with sexual addiction what about people like blessed bartolo lungo you know who he is a former satanist he was a satanist he's living proof that god's mercy is there for the greatest even sinner and that's why we have these examples in the saints so can you if you think father i'm really bad i don't think you're probably worse than bartolo longo who was a worshipping satanist and yet he became a saint a blessed now the former prostitute i talked about her last week or a couple weeks ago saint mary of egypt she had a conversion she went to church the church grounds to find customers for her prostitution i was going to say vocation oh my job or career and she had a conversion she's a living example of why we have saints because otherwise a poor woman caught in prostitution would never think there's ever a way out somebody's caught in drug addiction would never think there's a way out somebody who's caught in sexual addiction would never think there's a way out all they have to do is look at saint augustine and see that's a great example there's a way out and so these are things that are great now the faith and devotion of the saints can support our own weaknesses and supply what is lacking in our own faith how do we know this jesus makes it very clear that sometimes he uses the faith of others to help supply our lack of faith you all remember the four men in the paralytic one of my favorite gospels where the four men lower the paralytic down through the roof to jesus and jesus sees the man paralyzed and those four men climbed up to the roof cut a hole just to lower them down to jesus because they trusted and what did those men or what did jesus say to those men did did he look at that paralyzed guy and say you know what your faith has healed you no he looked at the four men in the roof and said your faith has healed this guy so it's an example of the faith of others can help us in our faith that's what a saint does this is powerful those in heaven are free of the body and the distractions of this life so they can focus on god and they have greater devotion than anyone here on earth so they can help us you know james my favorite book in the bible declares the prayer of a righteous man has great power in its effects to hear that the prayer of a righteous man has great power in its effects don't you want that prayer on your side it has powerful effects christians in heaven are more righteous than us they've been purified since they have been made perfect to stand in god's presence i'm not making this up this is hebrews 12 22. they are more righteous than anyone on earth meaning their prayers are more efficacious so if we didn't have saints god's grace would be less effective and don't say well no but that's not true father that could never be true actually what did jesus say when he went to the town and couldn't make uh perform any miracles because of the lack of the faith of the people even jesus couldn't perform a miracle well that's impossible father it's because he chooses to do it this way he wants the faith of the people to be actively involved he can't get a higher level of faith than the saints they can help lift us up this is in scripture we'll talk about it all right what about that famous example jesus is the only mediator this is true this says it in the bible we should just go directly to god we shouldn't mess with the saint there's only one mediator okay here's my point we do go directly to god as catholics this is what the our father prayer is this is what the mass is this is what the eucharist is don't let anyone tell you we don't go directly to god we do but god also chooses to come to us through other people and things like moses he dealt with the people through moses so if the people wanted to deal with god they went through moses it's the way god set it up christ is the only way this is true the mediator but he's the only way to the father now listen to this this is important christ is the only way or the mediator the only mediator to the father but there are many ways to jesus christ you can find jesus christ in many many ways he doesn't tell you that you're not limited or you're limited by the ways you come to me you can't come to me through your neighbor did jesus ever say that did jesus ever say you can't come to me through your cousin or through your spouse he wants you to come through him he wants you to come through your spouse to him the one mediator means jesus is the only mediator to the father but there's many ways to jesus this is where people get confused christ is a unique mediator between man and god because there is only one person who is both man and god jesus he's the only one to bridge the gap between the two the god-man but jesus is the one mediator to the father so ultimately we're going to the father yes only through jesus we don't say we'll go to saint john bosco and then to god the father no saint john bosco takes us to jesus who is the one mediator then to god the father it makes perfect sense jesus is the one mediator but his body is called the church which consists of the saints so when we go through the church we are going through christ because his body is the church or the church is his body so in proclaiming christ as the one mediator and this is paul first timothy chapter 2 verse 5 and 6. this is important in proclaiming christ the one mediator first timothy chapter 2 excludes any other parallel or equal mediation but not subordinate mediation meaning nobody's equal to jesus but there's ways and mediators to get us to jesus then jesus takes us to the father only him and this is powerful stuff we are co-workers with jesus in the vineyard the bible tells us that paul tells us that and so we have to understand this in fact paul urges listen to this paul urges quote this is timothy that supplications prayers intercessions and thanksgiving be made for all men did you just hear what he said prayers and supplications prayers for each other are a form of mediation all right the greek word for one used by paul when he calls jesus the one mediator is not monos which would mean soul in every way shape or form but rather is which can mean one in the sense of principle or main or first in a series so that's who jesus is so whenever you told someone about jesus or prayed with them to jesus you're a mediator so how could that not be allowed does jesus tell you not to pray with somebody does jesus tell you know what father chris i don't want you reaching out to those people on the live stream today i don't want you bringing them to me because then you're the mediator yeah that's right i'm not the mediator jesus is but i am a mediator that brings you to the mediator and so are you if you forward this video you're being a mediator if you say to somebody god bless you i'll pray for you you're being a mediator and so people don't understand this jesus is the principal mediator who enables many other sub-mediators to transfer the grace of god so christians we act as sub-mediators in christ when we pray for our neighbors we help them anything along those lines now let's look at our next slide the grace of god all right is mediated to us through the church the sacraments the priests look at that picture what's going on there the grace of christ on the cross on your left is the cross the grace but what's on the right the priest is mediating he's bringing you that grace through the eucharist we experience a liturgy that's been handed on from priests and bishops we've we pray creeds that has been given to us from the first church fathers this has been handed on the bible teaches us to hand things on to teach this to your children you're being a mediator we have all of this because the church is the mystical body of christ when we go to church we go to god when we go to the church we do go to god for the bible or the bride and his betrothed i should say the bride and the bridegroom are one now do we worship them okay you may know this probably you might be able to answer this and say no we don't but you know how to say why do you know that all right we give the saints honor but we do not give the adoration that is due to god alone you probably know this but i want to explain to you more we honor certain humans above others like i honor certain founding fathers of the united states of america much more than i honor somebody trying to tear her down and destroy her that founding father deserves my honor in building up a nation way more than somebody who's going to try to destroy it and so we honor certain humans above others so why not the saints all right let's talk about this now let's look at our next slide here's a good answer do we worship the saints all right now the very four levels of honor and worship are given right here this is per augustine this is church teaching latria is the worship owed to god alone and we catholics only give god litria the worship due to god alone now the next level is hyperdulia this is the highest veneration given to our lady mary the mother of god she is the greatest of the saints then we have proto-dulia which is the honor o to saint joseph the first among the rest of the saints again notice these are honor mary is honor joseph is honor and then finally we have dulia as the honor owed to the rest of the saints okay this is important now why because in this dulia we honor the saints but we never sacrifice to them if anybody says you catholics worship the saints i want you to answer ask this can you please tell me where we offer sacrifice to the saints because that's true worship and the only sacrifice we offer is on this altar to god not to the saints now however as i just read you honor is due though not worship but honor and this is in the bible let's take a look at our next slide i have given them the glory that you gave me this is jesus talking to god the father in john 17. father mike gately's favorite bible chapter jesus says to god the father i have given them the glory who's he talking about humans his disciples the saints i have given them the glory that you gave me that they may be one as we are one right there jesus is saying i'm giving them glory not the glory do god the honor that they are due let's look at our next slide because it gets better here's romans 13 7. pay all of them their dues jesus is talking about or paul's talking about humans taxes to whom taxes are due revenue to whom revenue is due respect to whom respect is due and honor to whom honor is due so when somebody says how dare you do this to the saints or honor the saints say well gee paul told us to what about romans 13 7 paul tells you to honor them why don't you you're going against the bible wow all right now let's take our next uh look at our next slide you all seen this before catholic relics oh that scares everybody you should see people in the shrine when they come here and they are not uh catholic and they see us venerating the toe bone of saint faustina oh man i've had many people freaked out that i've had to talk down a little bit and say now this is this is a tradition that goes back in the church thousands of years to the first century even and so why do we have them do we worship their relics it seems like it because we kiss them well not so fast these relics first of all we know they are authentic because the congregation for the causes of the saints determines what ones are real relics of saints are respected or venerated similar to the veneration of holy images because of what they represent we don't worship the canvas jesus said on the image of divine mercy we re we worship what it represents it's the same with a relic now they have existed as i said as part of christianity tradition since the first century so who are we to say that the first christians were wrong we know this in fact the veneration of polycarps relics st polycarp is recorded in the martyrdom of polycarp way back in 150 a.d all right we have relics because these mortal remains of the deceased will be in heaven one day is there anybody or you know or anything that you can look at around this world of yours and say that particular person or thing is guaranteed in heaven no because a saint is not declared a saint after they die so there is no living person that we can say is guaranteed will be in heaven there's no living animal that we could say will be guaranteed in heaven there's no living thing this piece of paper is not guaranteed to be in heaven but do you know the one thing that is guaranteed that will be in heaven the relic of a consecrated saint or a canonized saint because that saint at the last judgment will be united with its body so when you have that toe bone of saint faustina that thing you're holding will be in heaven someday that thing you're holding will not remain on this earth but will be in heaven guaranteed because it belonged to a canonized saint which we know is guaranteed in heaven so their body will be too so we are venerating this part of them that will be in heaven guaranteed there's nothing else on earth that we can say that about even a living person because they're not canonized until they die now once they're canonized that's why we have saints relics this is powerful stuff and so we have these relics because it's associated with the holiness of these souls which will be united with their body at the last day the resurrection relics the word derives from the latin relic we a meaning remains and for the luenquier which means to leave behind and so a reliquary is actually the house and let me see if we have saint faustina i guess no i'm sorry she's put away but it's you know what a reliquary is it's a shrine a reliquary is a shrine that holds that saint just like this is the natural shrine and i was just going to say well there's no saints in it hopefully brother mark and i someday will be a relic inside this shrine but not yet so this is what's powerful so the shrine that houses one or more relics is called a reliquary now shrines were built over great saints the relics of great saints this is what saint peter's is the vatican what is the vatican it's saint peter's what is saint peter's it was built over the remains or the relics of saint peter and so this is very very powerful but they cannot be put on the altar for veneration you know um i made that huge mistake i was out in several missions and i put the relic of saint faustina on the altar and we venerated it and i look back now at my own notes i'm like how did i how did i not know this how did i miss this in seminary well now you know in your seminary class with us we don't do that only the blessed sacrament is to be venerated on the altar not these relics in a reliquary i made that mistake myself all right relics are a way to bring saints to people who can't get to the saints some of you can't travel you can't go to europe to venerate the tomb of saint faustina but the relic can come to you this is powerful so homage or respect is not really paid to some inanimate object but to the person that's the same as an image and indeed the veneration of a holy person is itself honor paid to god remember you honor the art you honor the artist god if he was an artist what's his greatest masterpiece mary he's not going to look at you when you honor mary and say you know what i created her i'm the artist she's my greatest artwork but you know what i don't want you i don't want you liking it i don't want you looking at it i don't want you venerating it no the artist would say thank you honor the art you honor the artist god's the artist his art is the saints so when we honor the art we honor the artist powerful stuff now there are three classes of relics you've probably heard this first class relic second class relic third class relic now what are they all right those first-class relics we always think of the parts of the saints their bones or their hair but do you know that the events in christ's life are considered first-class relics like the cross pieces of the cross the thorns those are actually first class relics now second class relics are things that a saint used so like a bible that they held in red or a rosary or clothes they wore those are second class relics now a third class relic if things they came into contact or touched the first or second class relic so for instance if i have a relica st faustina and i touch a rosary to it that rosaries now become a third class relic you make does that make sense so things touching the first or second class like a small piece of cloth they can be that a third class now can you sell relics not first or second class but you know you can we can sell third class relics that's why a piece of cloth inside a prayer card people would flip out when they saw him at our gift shop i remember a bus came in from new york one day and this woman cornered me father how dare you sell this relic it was a piece of cloth that had been touched to the relic of saint faustina it's a third class relic and those can be sold we're not we're not discrediting we're not doing anything against the church you could look that up that's church teaching all right let's keep going all right here to me is awesome this is one of the funnest things that i've done i should have put this in the beginning to keep your attention but i want to give you a list of some of the relics that you may not know are out there to me this is fascinating and and these things are out there all right there are many many relics attributed to jesus perhaps the the most famous is the shroud of turin do you know that that's a relic yes it was part of jesus resurrection now pieces of the cross or instruments of his passion are claimed many places but i want to show you a few that you may not be aware of this is fascinating stay with us do you know let's look at our first slide what this is that's the holy lance that tradition says speared the side of christ you can find that in vienna austria all right the holy thorns of the crown of thorns are in london england and some in notre dame cathedral remember the priests that rescued them from the fire so there are known thorns let's take a look at our next slide what is this it looks like it's something on the floor father no that is the seamless robe of jesus in the trio cathedral the oldest church in germany that is tradition says the seamless garment of jesus that the soldiers ruled dice for let's look at our next slide any idea what this is this is the sandals of jesus they're inside a gold frame those are the sandals of jesus that are in prune germany in that same diocese trier diocese that is incredible all right before i show you the next one i want to i don't have a slide for this but in akin cathedral in also germany in one cathedral they have four relics the knapsack carried by jesus tradition says the loincloth worn by jesus did you ever wonder what happened to these things they didn't just disappear people saved them there is a dress of mary mary had to have clothes where did they go why not to this church and the decapitation cloth of john the baptist they are all in this cathedral in akin germany in the cathedral in germany all right let's look at our next slide i give a super bonus to anybody who knows what this is this is in the basilica of our lady and maastricht in the netherlands you know what this is the girdle of mary i bet you've never heard of that relic i haven't fascinating the girdle of mary this is why we have relics do you think god is gonna say how dare you have that you idol worshiper we're not worshiping mary's girdle we're honoring the fact that this touched the blessed mother all right let's look at our next slide this is a tomb you know what this is a tomb of this is in cologne again germany i think i got to go to germany to see some of this this is the shrine of the three kings the tradition says contains the bones of the three magi could you imagine being there with the bones of the three wise men this isn't something that aggravates god what about all the others what about saint peter's basilica i mentioned that has saint peter's relics do you know saint mark's relics where are they the gospel writer they are held at saint mark's basilica in venice italy what about saint james his relics are supposedly held at the cathedral of santiago de compostelo in spain you ever see that movie with charlie sheen or um no i'm sorry his father definitely not charlie sheen martin sheen called the way where you walk you make a pilgrimage that's where you end up st james relics what about saint andrew saint andrews relics are contained in the basilica of saint andrew in patras greece what about saint matthew the gospel writer his relics are supposedly in the cathedral in salerno italy all right what about john the evangelist the disciple who jesus loved supposedly his tomb is in the basilica of saint john's in ephesus in turkey and by the way i didn't get the slide ready but i'm going to be doing a pilgrimage two pilgrimages one with stephen ray on the footsteps of saint paul we're going to see we're going to go to ephesus and i invite you to join us you will get it on our web page don't worry i'll get it up it's in um it's in october and i would love you guys to join us because if you come i will be there with you we'll personally be able to spend time with you personally be able to talk with you personally be able to be with you if you want to join me on this you can call um peter who is my assistant if you want to write down the number it's 413-298-1303 and i'm also being doing a great pilgrimage uh to france with deacon harold jones sorry harold silvers deacon herald silvers and that is in may and the same thing if you want to be part of that join me go to beautiful places in europe please same thing call peter 1-800 i'm sorry 1-4-1-3-298-1303 and say i want to be part of that pilgrimage with father chris and so god bless all of you if you can join us because i want to spend time with you get to meet you you're part of our family now let's go back to the relics god's grace comes to us sometimes through things not just people sometimes through things how do we know this oh man get your pen out if you want bible reference support information let's start with exodus 13 19. moses quote also took joseph's bones with him moses is carrying somebody's bones joseph right not saint joseph our our father of foster father jesus but abraham isaac and jacob we have that as his son was joseph now joseph had made the israelites take a solemn oath saying god will surely take care of you and you must bring my bones with you [Laughter] so this is what joseph said now what about second samuel 6 verse 7. oh this is a scary one uzza stretched out his hand to the ark of the covenant and steadied it for the oxen were tipping it over then the lord became angry with him and struck him dead on the spot wow poor guy but that shows you how sacred that thing was it housed the law of god this was a true relic it wasn't a person but god demanded sanctity reverence would god have killed him if it was just a box then he no that's crazy what about second kings 13 21 quote but when the man came in contact with the bones of elisha he came back to life by touching the bones of elisha he came back to life that's a relic we're not worshiping the bones what about mark 5 verse 25-34 i mentioned this before the woman said if i just touch his clothes i will be cured and immediately her flow of blood dried up she felt in her body that she was healed of her infliction and jesus said daughter your faith has healed you go in peace and be cured of your affliction simply she said if i just touch it it was the garment this is something that we catholics don't know how to understand how the rule of relics acts 19 verse 11 and 12. so extraordinary were the mighty deeds god accomplished at the hands of paul get a load of this one this is one of my favorite that when his handkerchief paul's handkerchief was touched to the sick their diseases left them and the evil spirits came out of them you don't have to argue with me simply look up acts 19 verse 11 and 12 and it'll tell you that people were healed by paul's handkerchief now does that mean the handkerchief had the grace no the grace comes from god but he uses tools people and things the ark of the covenant was a thing that god used what about acts 5 12 they carried the sick out into the streets and laid them on cots and met so that when peter came by at least his shadow might fall on them a large number of people from the towns gathered bringing the sick and those disturbed by unclean spirits and they were all cured by peter's shadow don't believe me acts 5 verse 12. why does the church have relics this is the reason and this is what we have in every altar every altar has a relic now why is that why does the catholic church have an altar or a relic on every altar that comes from revelation 6 9. when he broke open the fifth seal i i saw underneath the altar souls of those who had been slaughtered because of the witness they bore to the word of god that's the saints so so john is saying in the book of revelation that i i saw underneath the altar the soul the souls of those who had lost their life and witness to god that's the martyrs that's the saints this is amazing now i'm going to get into one that is really amazing to me the incorruptibles you ever hear of this how come we don't hear about this on the news um dr dwight or father dwight longnecker i did a couple conferences with him made some good points i want to say some things he did now what are the incorruptables because the church has over a hundred confirmed documented cases an incorruptible is when a saint dies but their body doesn't decay it defies all science they are the saints whose mortal bodies have not decayed or been corrupted after they die sometimes it's a whole body other times it's a limb or an organ like john viennese heart all right now i want to show you some pictures here that are mind blowing to me now one of the first ones before i do that in all the way back to second century we have the roman saint cecilia who was reported as incorrupt she's one of the really early ones and as late as this last few centuries let's look at our first our next slide this looks like a sleeping woman do you know who this is saint bernadette subarus who was the visionary at lourdes this is how she looks is that not incredible show that to a non-catholic how do you explain it don't believe me go to lords go to france where she is still with us today look at that all right the body of saint teresa of avila she did not even decay even though she was buried in wet mud how do you explain that the bodies of saint paschal balin saint francis xavier and saint john of the cross they all remain fresh and intact even though they were covered for months in say a sacks of quick lime what is quick lime it's a chemical used to hasten or quicken decomposition of human flesh so it doesn't smell it decomposes yet those saints didn't decay even though quick line was put on their bodies let's look at our next slide this is saint margaret marielle the coke she gave us the sacred heart she gave us the sacred heart and you can see in there look at that she looks like she's sleeping how about our next slide our next side this is sinclair of montefalco she lived in the 1200s early 1300s she was a holy italian nun let's look at her and she said to her sisters if you seek the cross of christ take my heart after i die the sisters are probably like what sister and she says yes take my heart there you will find the suffering lord whoa so what happened she died and her body was incorrupt so the sisters did what she asked probably freaking out and they took and removed her heart because she said if you seek the cross of christ take my heart and you will find the lord so they took her heart and they removed it and they were found and printed on the cardiac tissue figures of tiny crucifix complete with the five wounds of the crucifixion you can't make this stuff up and it's all documented the hundred over 100 cases in the church are thoroughly documented saint john of the cross when he died in 1591 he was buried in a vault beneath the floor of a church and when the tomb was open months later the body was fresh and intact so then they amputated a finger and it was amputated to use as a relic and guess what the body bled this was way after he died they cut the finger for a relic and the body bled fresh blood this is documented then later 300 years later almost they exhumed him again in 1859 and 1909 and the body was still fresh this is saint john of the cross and then again he was exhumed in 1955 400 years later almost and he was still moist and flexible the skin was a little discolored but hey i'll take it right now we have many many incorruptables i can't talk about them all but saint claire of assisi saint rita my favorite saint vincent de paul saint john vna saint catherine laboure st john bosco saint maria goretta i could go on and on they're all incorruptible how do you explain that i want to know where the abc nightly news is holy cow say one little thing against the coronavirus and and they'll come and shut you down and turn all kinds of things on and you'll be on the news but yet you have a saint who hasn't corrupted in 400 years where's the nightly news where's the story in the headline papers crazy all right but there are questions you know it is likely that these are true but there are questions uh the phenomenon here are most likely true because they have been documented these incorruptibles as well as any miracle ever so you can go and see them you can even see them and on our pilgrimages if you go with me we'll visit some of these incorruptibles so very often their bodies are on public display also this is true we believe because not only are they still visible but these people when they opened up the tombs got affidavits there were workers that were there even non-christians that were there that testified what they saw now some questions remain i said this before why do some incorruptibles for instance stay in corrupt and all sudden just decay how can some body parts remain incorrupt and yet other parts don't part of the body is part of the body isn't well maybe the part of the body isn't as part of the body they sin with at one time in their life before a conversion i don't know but if another question if this is a sign of saintliness why aren't all saints incorruptable well all saints are sinners remember every saint has a past and every sinner has a future i love that there's hope for me and you every saint is a sinner every sorry every saint has a past meaning they're a sinner and every sinner has a future meaning they can be a saint that's amazing and so this is why we do have some questions all right bernadette st bernadette and saint tres of lazu why was this this raised a question both were 19th century french girls who went into a convent and died of tuberculosis at an early age yet saint bernadette's body was incorrupt yet saint therese uh tres of lazu was just a skeleton now a lot of people say why would that be father and i used to laugh my seventh grade class when i taught him this asked me that and i said i think it's because she cried too much and i don't mean that disrespectfully please don't send me letters please please i i love saint therese just as much as you do but when i read story of the soul i was like oh my geez does she cry she cries and cries so i i don't mean that disrespectfully but just a little levity there god bless her i could only hope to be 1 1 millionth as holy as saint therese all right why has this not been studied more in the scientific community i think they're afraid the church advises though they don't even push it the church says fine you study it first look at natural explanations there's nothing wrong with that in some cases environmental conditions may have protected the remains from corruption maybe an airtight container all right science and historical research may be able to explain some of this there's nothing wrong with that now nevertheless here's the main point once the natural explanations of the human effect or the natural surrounding environment have been explained several cases still exist that are unexplainable the incorruptibles demonstrate that the spiritual and the physical worlds are intertwined we are body and soul we don't know all the precise rules of how that works but we know that we we that what we do with our bodies affects our souls and what we do with the spiritual realm affects our bodies so in other words don't think your body isn't affected by your mental sin or vice versa abuse your body the temple of the holy spirit it affects your soul so we are a composite so the incorruptables provide us this a compelling sign that points to the resurrection of the dead we will be joined together all god's saints will receive back their bodies i don't know if that's a good thing because i always thought when i got to heaven i'll be able to be six foot six [Laughter] i won't be you'll have your body but your body will be glorified your body will be perfected your body will be the way that it was meant to be by god and remember we will not judge people by their physical characteristics tall short thin fat heavy ugly pretty whatever you will shine with the light based on how you reflected the light of christ when you were on earth has nothing to do with your physical appearance even though you'll have your physical body nobody will judge you by it you'll be looked at by the light that you emit as christ like people all right now how do we pray to the saints the same way you would speak to a wise friend or a family member first of all someone close to you the same way how do you pray to him that you would speak to a senior colleague or an expert in your field or a teacher because you want to learn from them talk to them like a teacher hey saint augustine you struggle with chastity i'm struggling with chastity help me do this so and so you struggled with this help me do this st jerome he was the most fiery impatient angry tempers of all the saints ever hey saint jerome i struggle with impatience i get angry help me this is powerful there are perfect examples for us to learn from they have the ability in the holy spirit to hear you hear your prayers and those of all of us on earth but this brings our next question all right this brings saints people argue this all the time saints can't hear our prayers because they're dead and we can't talk to them where does that come from that actually comes from our next slide deuteronomy 18. let's read that let no one be found among you who sacrifices their son or daughter in the fire oh wow that could reference abortion who practices divination or sorcery interprets omens engages in witchcraft or cast spells or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead all right non-catholics use that passage you're not supposed to talk to the dead i remember in in high school i was confronted by that you catholics you talked to the dead that's against the bible all right you got to understand what's going on here all right when god has forbidden this talking to the dead he's talking about the necromantic practice of conjuring up the spirits god thus indicates that one is not to conjure up the dead for purposes of gaining information like houdini i used to like houdini but he was all into that seance stuff trying to conjure up the dead to find out the future this is why the church says don't go to tarot card readers or psychics because you're trying to get information conjuring up dead spirits that's what deuteronomy 18 is saying is against one is to look to god's prophets instead so this is what we have to understand the saints and the prophets are who we are to go to that's totally different yet that bible passage is used against us catholics thus one is not to hold a seance this is true but that's totally different than what we catholics do in our praying or talking with the saints and we'll tell you why in a minute well father a saint can't hear our prayers at one time how could mary hear all these prayers from around the world in these different languages and all at the same time she'd be omniscient that would mean she's like god no in heaven this is how god communicates all the boundaries of space and time and languages are removed do you think they speak the king's english in heaven no so people are just that's such a shallow argument and i pray for patience because when i get very much attacked for this it gets frustrating because that's such a shallow argument god communicates in a way we don't communicate on earth moses and elijah when they appeared on mount tabor at the transfiguration they had died centuries earlier they were dead or were they no they were alive this is why god says i'm the god of abraham isaac and jacob i'm god of the living not of the dead that's in the bible yes they can hear us because we are part of the mystical body of christ powerful stuff in revelation chapters 4 5 6 8 the saints are all praying for us revelation 4 5 6 and 8 the saints are praying for you so if the saints in heaven are offering our prayers to god they must be aware of our prayers there's nothing wrong with that but wait a minute why not pray directly to jesus we should we can we do but why take out the other ways of ways we can get to jesus listen to this this is very important if the mere fact that we can go straight to jesus proved that we should ask no christian in heaven to pray for us okay here we are catholics say we want to pray to the saints in heaven non-catholics tell us no you can't you go directly to jesus okay if you're telling me to go directly to jesus that means i cannot ask the saints in heaven to pray for me correct well then that also would prove that we should not ask any christian on earth to pray for us yet all of those non-catholics do they ask each other pray for me that's a mediator all right let's go to our next slide praying for each other is simply what we christians do this is first timothy 2 1-3 let's read it i urge then first of all that petitions this is paul talking that petitions prayers intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people he didn't say just the living for kings and all those in authority that we may live peacefully and quiet lies in all godliness and holiness this is good and pleases god our savior paul is saying this is pleasing to god wow this is powerful paul strongly encourages christians to intercede for many different things why would humans do this if it wasn't in the bible it's in the bible doing this pleases god but why would doing okay here's the question why would humans doing this what paul told us to do pray please god but saints doing it would not please god let's suppose paul's not talking about people who've died father i disagree with you i think he's only talking about living human beings all right why would human beings live in human beings doing this intercessory prayer please god but saints who have reached a higher level than us would offend god this makes no sense they are the greatest humans this wouldn't offend god paul asks others to pray for him and he says you can be assured that i'm praying for you paul asked others to pray for him and he assured them that he was praying for them too now i want to show you my only video today but it is awesome it's three and a half minutes so see if you can bear with me it's a little longer usually i show two minutes or so but it's three and a half minutes and this is uh my friends at catholic answers and jimmy aiken is really a good theologian and he gave a great answer to praying how and why we pray to the saints it may not be what you think i always thought praying you only pray to who you worship and jimmy aiken saying no let's watch this video in new york on 101.7 fm you're on catholic answers live hello matt how you doing good um i have a question i'm catholic my mom's catholic my mom turns to saint anthony to help find lost things and others other saints so and so you know for everything to something different um i have a guy i work with that is not catholic and i told we were kind of talking about that because my mom lost her keys the other day and she asked for st anthony to help friend keys and she found her teeth and he told me he doesn't agree with that because he says praying to saint anthony is like praying to another god me personally god is god saint anthony is saying anthony i don't see a saint as a god what he did and i just didn't understand that okay um it may help your friend to understand the origin of the word pray pray does not mean or did not come from a word that means worship or adore or venerate or anything like that actually the word pray originally just meant to ask and so any request that you make of anybody can be described according to that usage as a prayer and in british english you even find other examples of that for example you may have heard the contraction privy if you ever say watch british period dramas on tv um but we've got the music coming up on us now so i'll finish on the other side matt are you still there my friend yes sir okay so i was talking about the history of the word pray and how it originally meant ask and it still means that in many contexts in british english for example there's a contraction you may hear uh on television programs from england especially period dramas the contraction is prithee it's a contraction of i pray thee or i ask you and people use it to each other and they're not talking to god they're not even talking to a saint they're just talking to another human being here on earth in the same way in legal documents uh you will find that the uh if if you've ever gone to court and had your lawyer draft a legal document you will find in the motion that your attorney makes language like my client prays that the court does thus and so and it that just means my client asks that the court do a particular thing so the word pray according to its original meaning just meant ask and that's the way that it's um used when we're talking about praying to the saints we're not talking about worshiping them we're not talking about treating them as other gods we're just asking them for something in particular we're asking them to pray for us we're asking them to pray to god on our behalf to be our prayer partners just like we would ask other people here on earth to pray for us so unless your friend has a problem with asking other people for stuff then and thinks we should only ask ever ask god for stuff then in principle he should be open to the idea of asking saints for stuff like asking them to be our prayer partners and so framing matters in that light might help him understand it better it's not that we're treating a saint as another god it's we're treating a saint as another person and simply asking them for something the way we ask other people for things now isn't that a great answer that explains why we pray that prayer means asking doesn't mean and who don't we ask well i can't ask you you're not god you can't ask me to help me no you're not god we don't do that and so this is a powerful answer that i really thought would be helpful to you now jesus himself required us to pray for others how do we know this matthew 5 44 he even said to pray for our enemies the catholic church strongly encourages praying directly to god we are not saying not to that's the primary thing in fact that's what the mass is the mass is not about praying to any saint the mass is a hundred percent worshiping god the central act of catholic worship directed to god and that's it not the saints but this doesn't mean that we shouldn't ask our fellow christians in heaven to pray with us even at the mass pray with us now let's look at our next slide because john says something very interesting in revelation john says in revelation 5 8 and when he had broken it the four living creatures and the 24 elders fell down before the lamb each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowl bowls full of incense which are the prayers of the saints wow right there revelation 5 8 this simple fact is as this passage shows the saints in heaven offered to god the prayers of the saints on earth us now i want to finish with two quick things because i think they're kind of fun one what is the process to become a canonized saint and two how do you know who your patron saint is so that's with me stay with me and then we're done all right let's talk about the canonization how does the saint become a saint all right the work is done by the congregation of the causes of saints which was established almost 500 years ago right there's much of investigation that goes into it there are four steps to sainthood starting with your own diocese being declared a servant of god in your diocese where you died that doesn't need any miracle it just we are determining we're opening a cause because we think this person can be a saint then let's look at our slide this is the steps to sainthood so after the servant of god they would become venerable they become venerable then they become blessed that's a beatification when they become blessed then they become a saint that is canonization now let's look at this because venerable venerable is the title given to the deceased person who's recognized formally by the pope servant of god is recognized by your diocese then that servant of god becomes venerable which means they're recognized by the pope formally having lived a heroic and virtuous life or offered their life as a martyr no miracle yet it's just the pope recognizes this person has a lot of virtue then to be beatified or to become a blessed to be recognized one miracle is required through their intercession so somebody says you know i was given a miracle by this saint now the blessed are worthy of limited liturgical veneration meaning in their own country they might have a mass in the ordo now finally then canonization or the sainthood requires a second miracle forced us for beatification to be blessed and you need another miracle for canonization to be a saint and then you are worthy of universal veneration like saint faustina around the world her miracles were actually for her beatification was marine diagon who lives right here with us up here by the shrine she was cured of lymphedema which was an incurable disease does not respond to medication has it doesn't go into remission and she was cured and guess who took her to the tomb of saint faustina to pray for that healing father seraphim he was the vice postulator for her cause for canonization saint faustina anyway father ron pitel whose miracle was the cure of incurable heart disease was the miracle for the canonization of saint faustina now a miracle is not required for a martyr's beatification but is required before their canonization but the pope may waive this he has the authority now i mentioned father serfam was a postulator what's a postulator a person appointed to oversee this whole process father seraphim was the vice postulator for the cause of canonization of saint faustina now this is important so five years normally must pass from the time they die before the cause may begin but this too can be waived by the pope i think it was waived with john paul i could be wrong now in the early centuries like the first 500 years there was no formal processes for recognizing a saint it was just based on public acclaim now the first saint to ever be canonized now before i show the slide if anybody knows who the first canonized saint now i'm not talking about way back like you know um st lucy or saint agatha those were all by popular declaration i'm talking about when the church officially began the canonization process uh i'll send i was gonna say i'll send a free diary to anybody who could type the name in before i post it on the screen uh but that's probably too hard to track but just a little fun with this who was the first canonized saint of the church for the formal process not the first saint because saint augustine was before him saint john chrysostom was before him but who was the first show the slide saint ulrich of augsburg july the 4th is his feast day now this is funny because this was the bishop in 1993 he was canonized now he died in 973. she was the first one to go through the official process just a little interesting tidbit now because of that we don't know how many saints we have in the church we don't know how many proclaimed saints because the first century there weren't real deep records now since nineteen eighty eight especially the congregation for the causes of the saints makes that index aksat to status causarum cassarum and we track it very carefully now we believe there are over 10 000 saints in the church but what about in america we don't have we're a young country we only have 11. there are 11 american saints but there are no first excuse me there's been no male born american saint we want to pray it's kind of in the running people say between saints solanus casey or i mean sorry solanus casey or bishop fulton sheen to become the first american male born saint i love bishop sheen but i tell you from detroit st solanus casey you got to go for him too all right last couple things i want to finish with patron saints who is your patron saint i always was confused by this in high school they who are they well first of all you don't choose your patron saint they choose you so you can actually have many patron saints now our first patron saint would be your name so my patron saint is saint christopher the patron saint of travel so we pray to saint christopher when we get in the car if we're given a saints name this is easy so if you're elizabeth you know elizabeth of hungary or if your name is teresa you got teresa of avila or trezev was you it's your name it could be a middle name first name or a middle name now what if you weren't given a saints name at birth some of these names today are crazy what these people are naming their kids oh my never heard of these names before so what do you do if you don't have a saints name at birth well canon law used to say if a baby's first or middle name was not that of a saint the priest was to give one at the baptism isn't that interesting that's interesting or if that doesn't work your birthday you can use your birthday so mine's joachim and anne the parents of our lady my birthday is july 26th so july 26th is the feast day of joe command the patron or this is the parents of mary so those are in a way my patron saints i need good parents that's we all need good parents so every day of the year is a feast day of at least one saint and so you have that option or a saint may be designated as a patron for a particular cause profession or location as invoked as a protector against illnesses or diseases so there's many ways to choose a patron saint interest talents hobbies your job your vocation these can also be your patron saint what do i mean all right if you're a hunter your patron saint could be saint hubert he was the bishop get this of maastricht that same cathedral that has the girdle of mary that interesting and he was the originator of ethical hunting and so he's the patron saint of hunters but he gave it up because it was shown to him that it was became an idol for him well anyway what about an athlete who's your patron saint saint sebastian i gave a homily on him a few months ago he was shot by arrows so like an archer he's the patron of athletes what about a cook do you know a chef his patron could be saint lawrence because he was burned at the stake and they said they smelled burning bread when they burned them at the stake and he said you could turn me over now i'm done on this side oh man what about sufferings like i mentioned saint peregrine if you're a cancer victim one of your patron saints could be saint peregrine the patron's saying the cancer victims so there's a patron saint for everything even your country do you know that your diocese has a patron saint i would strongly suggest that you find out who your diocese patron saint is and pray to them for your church for vocations for your church all right i got friends all over your diocese who's your patron saint because they can help you most cities and countries all countries and most cities have patron saints the patron of the united states of america is the immaculate conception we got a biggie mother mary or yours can be a connection that you just feel with a saint now none of those fit for me with saint rita i don't have the name saint rita i don't have the birthday i really wanted to be ordained on may 22nd which was her feast day i was so wanting to be ordained on may 22nd instead father mark baron got to be ordained on father on may 22nd saint rita's day but i got the visitation may 31st that was my ordination date praise be to god but i've always felt a connection to saint rita people would hand me saint rita cards out of the blue somebody gave me say read a relic out of the blue what that means is heaven has given saint rita to protect me and she is the patron of impossible causes so now i know why all right now finally i guess there was one more little thing how many saints are there i mentioned that in the first churches 1 000 years they were not proclaimed or they were not done process a detailed process but proclaimed by popular demand we believe we have over ten thousand saints all saints day which comes up november first is when we honor those canonized saints i'm sorry the feast days of each saint is where we honor canonized saints all saints day november 1st is when we honor all the other saints in heaven that are not canonized so if your mom made it to heaven she's a saint she's not canaanite she's not in the church but on all saints day we recognize her as a saint so all the saints non-canonized in heaven are honored on november the 1st and we marians do a mass here on all saints day for your faithful departed if you're a marian helper now what about the next day november 2nd that's all souls day that's where we honor all the souls in purgatory why because they are saints too they've just not realized their reward yet they're being cleaned up and so of all these saints i got to mention or i'd be remiss who's the greatest of amma saint augustine saint thomas aquinas who's the greatest saint of all our blessed mother that's a no-brainer right so pray for those who have died through the intercession of mary and all the saints even if they are a saint in heaven your grace will go to another soul that needs it at the time of their judgment or in purgatory your grace will not be wasted the graces will go where they're needed you know the bible tells us that god saves us through his family not through you alone it is not just about me and jesus it's about me and jesus and all of you that's why you're marrying helpers god bless you for joining us thank you very much i hope you're enjoying coming back to seminary with us keep staying with us we're going to keep these talks coming god willing and you know i do have two more quick slides if you would like to learn more about what i have been saying please pick up my new book which is at shopmercy.org or by calling 1-800-462-7426 and i'd like to make an exciting announcement please i'm going to be doing an ewtn series on on the week before divine mercy sunday um april the 5th through the 9th so monday through friday monday april 5th through the friday april 9th at 5 30 eastern time so 2 30 out in california i will be on ewtn explaining divine mercy god bless you it's a condensed version it's different than what i've done before so hopefully you'll join us and then get the book shopmercy.org uh also too i mentioned you could join me for my pilgrimages uh to france with deacon harold silvers or with steve ray to the whole to the mediterranean and the footsteps of st paul call peter 1-800 sorry 413-298-1303 and then last but not least please consider being part of our marian family and that is mic prayers dot com or dot org you see that on your screen takes less than 10 seconds to sign up and costs nothing but we would love to have you with us as part of our family so thank you again everybody and may almighty god bless you the father the son and the holy spirit amen why be a marian helper because we mary and father celebrate a mass for you and all our members each and every day you can share in all the prayers good works and merits of all the miriam priests and brothers around the world and now you can share the graces just as if you were a marian priest or brother every all souls day we see a mass for all the deceased members of the association of marian helpers again there's no way that after we die we can help ourselves but we have to rely on the prayers of those here on earth and we members of the marian fathers will be praying for you as a deceased member of our association you can share in the graces of the perpetual novena to the divine mercy remember jesus told saint faustina that the chaplet of divine mercy is one of the most powerful prayers we can make and every day here at the shrine of divine mercy we pray it and you can share in those graces so if you have any questions or you want to learn more how to be a marian helper please visit mic prayers or call 1-800-462-7426 and let me personally pray for you and your loved ones thank you and may almighty god bless you the father the son and the holy spirit amen you

Channel: Divine Mercy

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Keywords: Divine Mercy, Mercy, Jesus, Christ, Marian, priest, catholic teaching, spiritual, spirituality, grace, pray, prays, praying, chris alar, alar, fr. Chris, fr. alar, Catholic, Church, God, spiritual Communion, confession, fr. chris alar, divine mercy, saints, saint, canonize, canonization, faustina, incorruptible, cult of saints, mary, relic, relics, mediator

Id: Fb8fThA7kis

Length: 89min 7sec (5347 seconds)

Published: Sat Mar 20 2021