WOMEN OF GRACE - August 18, 2020 - Johnnette Williams

of all life including the unborn the young black person the lgbtq teen and the migrant for more news from a catholic perspective visit ewtnnews.com women of grace with johnette williams starts now this is women of grace live discussing issues important to your life and faith spiritual insight practical wisdom join us as we transform the world one woman at a time women of grace for such a time as this now here's your host johnette williams well good morning everyone and welcome to women of grace live i am johnette williams very happy to be with you today as i am monday through friday right here on ewtn radio brought to you by so many great affiliates also available to you out there on siriusxm station 130 in addition to all of that we are also available to you out there in cyberspace get out to ewtn's radio's youtube channel and facebook page and you can see us there giving you a little wave if you're out there inviting you to join us through the chat feature there at ewtn radio's youtube channel and facebook page and encouraging you to give us a call here 833 288 ewtn that's nine 833-288-3988 six that's the way that you can call us ryan penny on the phones for you today jeff burson our producer also our social media manager we're all just a happy little trio looking forward to being with you today so again that number three three two eight eight e w t n that's eight three three two eight eight three nine eight six just pick up the phone and give us a call we're gonna take your questions and your comments your insights your inspirations your words of encouragement i want to also encourage you to email us we love to receive your questions and your comments via email women of grace all one word plural on the women women of grace at ewtn is the way in which you can do that women of grace at ewtn.com so just go right ahead and get on out there and send us your email and on one of those days when we dip into our email bag you might hear your question on the air if it's a prayer request please mark that in the subject line that way we will segment that and we will get to that as quickly as we possibly can because we're always happy to pray with you on the air here if you can't call us in with your prayer request then the email is a very good alternative women of grace ewtn.com i also want to encourage you to get out there to womenofgrace.com that is our website uh lots of stuff always going on out there at women of grace we have our events feature up there right now as you might well know lots of the events are being done uh virtually but all of that being said we've got good things lined up for you always trying to share the abundant life of our lord jesus christ with you one of the things i want to bring to your attention and it's right there it's uh number two i believe it is yep in the slideshow there is the new warriors rosary meditations for spiritual combat uh book that we've got for you i'm gonna hold it up so those of you out there on social media land can see it i this is a lovely little book uh thomas k sullivan and i co-wrote the book uh you know the the rosary your weapon for spiritual warfare and in there we included meditations for praying the rosary as a warrior's rosary really combating uh you know all of that that is evil in our midst and we took those meditations because it was recommended to us that we do so by so many people who had requested it and we put them into a booklet for you and this little booklet is beautiful it's all glossy pages full color pictures of each of the mysteries there that are taken from sacred works of art of long renown and it's it's a lovely little way in which you can enter more deeply into the mysteries of the rosary uh specifically for the needs that are yours personally and the needs that are ours corporately it's it's convenient size gentlemen it fits into the breast pocket of your blazer or your suit jacket it fits into your pocket ladies it fits very neatly into your handbag you can always have it with you and take it out and it's it's just lovely we're really excited about it um and and we kind of you know like blitzed it a little bit on august the 15th feast of our lady which was this past weekend but um you know we we really want for you to get it we really really do why because we need the rosary right now you know as i say it you know it is our weapon for spiritual warfare has been ever since our blessed lady entrusted it to saint dominic and you know the history of the rosary right it was in 1208 he had been praying and fasting for three days asking for heaven's help to combat the albigensian heresy which was really positioned to take over all of france and crush the faith there and he was very worried about it and praying and our blessed mother appeared to him and said well the way to do that is through my psalter and she entrusted the rosary to him and the rosary developed from that and here we are today and we have the history of the rosary to see how efficacious it's been and combating the gates of hell as they try to prevail against holy mother church and the people of god and at every turn the rosaries studied history shows us that in fact this is a very very effective weapon against the gates of hell so we're really encouraging you to pray the rosary and i know that there are so many efforts right now that are going on for people to pray the rosary you know virtually with each other we have that at our website every week we offer the um you know we're doing a rosary crusade and it's an ongoing rosary crusade you can get out there to our website and find out and join us for this beautiful thing uh but there's other efforts out there too and and i think that you know i think our blessed mother is really prevailing at this moment she's really prevailing she's encouraging her sons and her daughters uh this is a moment when you know i think that we're anticipating uh you know more nearly than with anticipated it in the past the coming triumph of the immaculate heart of mary remember what our blessed lady said to saint dominic one day my scapular and my rosary will save the world right i will triumph she tells us her heart with triumph and i think that we're we're beginning to see that and people are sensing this in their spirit and as a result of that they're banding together to pray the rosary and we want to encourage it you know i like to think of myself personally as an evangelizer of the rosary because it's so very very important for this moment in history of man always important but right now you know as we're living out our lives uh there is a particular effectiveness that i know heaven wants to work through that prayer not because there's power in the beads themselves in the material substance of them no that would be superstition uh you know it would be heretical it would be kind of new agey no it isn't about that it's about the blessing that's on those beads if you've made it to sacramento through a blessing but it's about the prayer that's prayed on them and it's about it's about the trust in god that's exhibited through them it's about the it's about meditating upon those mysteries actually being called spiritually into those mysteries that are always held in the eternal moment you know there's no past and no future with god everything is present so so all of those graces that were won for us and every one of those mysteries of the rosary are there and and our blessed mother wants to take us into them she wants to strengthen us through them she wants us to become imbued by them so that we can then live them and and bring them to be effective as a conduit of those graces in the world today it's a magnificent plan of heaven you know heaven cooperates with man and it's very important for us to realize that and heaven wants to cooperate with you heaven wants to cooperate with you right now right this very moment heaven wants to cooperate with you imagine such a thing the majesty of god wants to become part of your very substance and being we see that in all the sacraments of the church and we have no reason to believe that those sacraments don't have a life within us and that these mysteries of christ's life don't have a life within us but we have to say yes to it 833 288 ewtn that's 833-288-3986 the way that you can join us right here on women of grace live where we do love having that holy conversation with you eager to hear from you today uh we asked a couple of questions yesterday we got a lot of answers i'm looking forward to hearing from you if you didn't get on the air call us back 833 288 ewtn what would you what would you like to change about yourself there's a big question what would you like to change about yourself how do you see god manifesting himself through these very uh difficult moments that we're living through right now we're going to be right back stay with us dr scott hahn jesus gave us the most perfect of prayers it's always prayed by the catholic church after the consecration and right before communion but always there at the climax of the mass the leading catholic voices are on ewtn radio hello family our world has been turned upside down by the coronavirus pandemic concern for our loved ones economic uncertainty and of course social distance it's easy to understand why there's such great anxiety and fear in the world i'm convinced that god is using this moment to bring us closer to him and to strip away the distractions of our normal daily lives and that he is calling us to place our trust in him in this difficult moment ewtn is a great spiritual resource that can help you your family and friends make sense of the chaos of course ewtn is where you can turn for mass every day in addition to our television and radio channels you can also find the mass live eucharistic adoration the rosary and other devotions on our web and video on demand platforms and of course ewtn news will continue to provide you with the latest updates on the pandemic as well as other current events around the world from a catholic perspective please know that we're praying for you and let's also join together in prayer for our ewtn family around the world thank you and may god bless you call to communion through ewtn radio we talk to audiences all over the world one thing i found out is everybody in the whole world has the same set of questions they live the same human life they all want meaning they all want love they all want significance they want forgiveness that's the most fascinating thing to me the same answers work wherever you are throughout the world because we're all children of god called to communion with dr david anders this afternoon to eastern on ewtn radio the national catholic register is america's most complete catholic news source with a comprehensive view of the world from a distinctly catholic perspective if it's shaping the world as we know it you'll find it at ncregister.com encouraging women in their gift of authentic femininity here's more women of grace with john ed williams welcome back everybody we are so happy to be with you today inviting you to give us a call here ryan penny is on the phones and he's looking forward to hearing from you eight three three two eight eight e w t n that's eight three three two eight eight three 9 8 6. i'm eager to hear from you too i really do want to know what's going on in your world today what's on your mind today and how is it that we can join together to be the men and women that god's calling us to be at this moment in the history of man again that's eight three three two eight eight e w t and that's eight three three two eight eight three nine eight six reminding you once again that we're available to you too at ewtn radio's youtube channel and facebook page get on out there and use the chat feature jeff burson our producer will go out there get your questions or your prayer requests and get them up on the uh air force here up on the line so that we'll be able to take those questions asking you you know like how do you see god manifesting himself in the midst of all of the difficulties and trials that we're facing today and what is one thing that you know maybe you would like to change about yourself you know how is it that we can uh you know cooperate with grace more fully you know sometimes we don't ask ourselves the hard questions we point out this person and that person and everybody else but we're not asking ourselves those questions that should be forefront in our minds when we get up in the morning lord how can i serve you today do we jump out of bed in the morning with great anticipation about the way in which the lord's going to use this i'm really not sure about that some mornings i do do i do it every morning probably not should i do it every morning absolutely yes so let's talk about it today right here on woman of grace life 288 ewtn that's 833-288-3986 we'll talk about anything else going on in your world today too uh we do have a prayer request out there uh facebook joaquin please include in your prayers and mass intentions the eternal repose of the soul of my daddy are now p sachin yeah uh and so we do uh let's just uh come together and pray for joao quinn uh joe quinn's father uh father god we do ask that you would have mercy on the soul of your son or now father god you created him in your image and likeness and you created him for one purpose to know you in this life to serve you by being who you called him to be in this life and to spend all eternity with you in heaven and so it is father that we commend his soul to you we ask father that in the sweet repose of your most sacred heart may he find rest may he enjoy the full bliss of heaven and if father he is not there yet then we pray for it for thee the complete sanctification and purification of his soul in those holy fires of purgatory that render us suitable for the beatific vision father god we offer this prayer to you in the name of your son our lord jesus christ by the merits of his cross through the power of the holy spirit and with the maternal beatitude and intercession of our blessed lady amen thank you for that opportunity let's go to victoria she is in boston massachusetts this morning you can join her right here on the air 833 288 ewtn that's 833 288 3986 victoria is with this via station of the cross she's a first time caller here's my big ding dong bell ringing for you victoria to welcome you to our program for the first time how are you today good good morning and jeanette good morning i'm jeanette i'm i'm a little nervous if you want to know the truth but i i've been pulling all the stuff because i love my brother very much and i'm very much concerned about him he's he's he had a a bit of a brain hemorrhage giantette and uh he's in rehab right now but he's not eating and drinking enough to to be able to get himself out of the rehab and i'm very concerned about him he's uh and also uh he's been away from the church and he's in in desperate need of conversion and i i guess i would also ask prayer for myself that uh the rehab because of the covet situation is only allowing one designated a family member to visit and i've been chosen to do that for my from my family so you know my it's it's very hard to see him you know not feeling well and so forth and i i have to continually be uh going to god to boost her my own faith so that i don't get down and discouraged and i just asked prayer for myself and for my whole family really as in george's uh our beloved brothers going through this and but for the grace of god any of us could be in this situation yeah i just oh victoria was very concerned about him last night you know it's been hard sometimes to sleep at night when i wake up in the middle of the night it's hard to get back to sleep because i my heart starts to be fast and i tried to get scared you know sure sure well victoria uh first of all i want to tell you that i feel very strongly um that st faustina wants to be a prayer companion to you during this time and so uh i would i would um i would ask for her intercession for your brother i'm very well aware of the fact that saint faustina through the grace of the holy spirit oftentimes um was made aware of those who were suffering and who needed prayer needed to experience the mercy of god physically and spiritually and and for whatever reason i just felt really impressed by her as you were speaking so i think that she does want to accompany you in this journey she wants to support you through her intercession as well as uh uh praying for your brother so you know one of the great gifts that we have through her is is the chaplet of divine mercy and so i would encourage you to pray that chaplet you know we typically pray that chaplet in the three o'clock hour which we realize it's always kind of like three o'clock somewhere you know and so sure that's true yeah you're right yeah so you can be praying in unison with all of those that are praying it would whenever you pick up those beads but but i would encourage you to do that and i would even ask your brother if you could pray it with him uh you know he he might he might balk at that but i have often found that when people are very ill and and you know uh realizing their situation that they welcome prayers in a way that they might not have welcomed them at other points in their lives so i would be very gentle about it and if he says no say well okay well then you know just for for the next you know it's it's a very quick prayer to pray you know for the next seven or eight minutes i'm gonna i'm gonna pray this silently then for you so just rest your eyes and relax and i'm just gonna sit here and pray you know when people have have had very difficult moments like he's had with his brain hemorrhage let me ask you this you know brain hemorrhage typically is indicative of of a stroke did he have a stroke no by the grace of god he actually didn't i mean he he's he's in his right mind and i guess they they're not doing surgery but i guess that the brain hemorrhage hopefully is sort of taking care of itself somewhat because it wasn't a very big one i guess but he does have issues with his heart and also his liver as far as the health of those organs now the other thing is is that oftentimes he's because he's weak because he's you know because of a lack of food and proper hydration he is sleeping when i'm there so i am able to pray and i guess i was you know wondering uh to tell you the truth have you ever heard of the chaplet of the holy wounds by sister mary mac martha chambon you know i it's from it sounds familiar but i can't tell you that i know very much about it right you know maybe i could get uh your address and send you a copy of it because i i have a little pamphlet that talks about it it's a very powerful uh a little chaplet and you can use your regular rose where you pray it and uh would ryan be able to give me your address and i could yeah right and yes and he'll give you the address for ewtn and you just put your name and just put have it to my attention and i'll receive it that way how do you spell your name jonah my first name johnette it's j o h n n two n's j o h n n e t t e and then williams is the wave spell williams williams is a very nice name and uh so i just really appreciate your prison and those of all of you well we're going to pray we're going to pray for him right now it sounds something like he might be slipping into it and i saint faustina my partner in this oh yeah she yeah i did i'm telling you i felt so um you know i just felt so strongly i it was it was just overwhelming so i i had to share that with you so we just come before you father god in this moment and we lift up victoria's brother george to you and father you made him wonderfully in your image and in your likeness and father god you know illness disability these things do not come from you uh you want to be with us in the midst of them all and i would ask father that in the midst of this situation that george is undergoing that you would be there and your holy spirit powerfully powerfully would affect a healing in him that he would be healed not only of the ravages of this brain hemorrhage but all of the other maladies of of his physicality that he's experiencing lord but more important than even that we pray for a total total healing of him spiritually we ask that the power of the holy spirit would prevail upon him that the the marvelous reality of who you are and who you desire he be in you lord would be impressed upon him in some way that in these moments when he's resting that it would not be a rest of of body only but it would be a rest of spirit a rest of his spirit uh in the heart in the bosom of the trinitarian life itself affected by the holy beatitude of the holy spirit and our blessed lady father god i ask that there would be an awakening within him an awakening to the glory that you want him to know and and the peace and the hope that you want him to live in father i ask that george uh in in some way whatever it is it's held him back all of these years that it would be rectified lord i pray that through his sister victoria's administration through her prayer through her care through the love that she exhibits toward him in all of these ways that the sign of your love would be present to him i pray lord that you would bless your daughter victoria that you would give her the right words to say that you would uh you would make her prayer efficacious beyond anything that she could imagine i pray lord that in some way she be the instrument that you use to bring a holy priest there to hear this man's confession that whatever is oppressing him spiritually might be lifted from him and he might breathe deeply breathe deeply in the spirit once again lord and be refreshed by all that he experiences as a result of your mercy we do ask you saint faustina the little secretary of our lord uh you who god used as his instrument to proclaim his mercy we would ask for your prayerful intercession we know that you want to be present to victoria in this time we also know that you want to be present to george in this time and and we thank you that that your beautiful intercession reaches down from the heavenlies uh with with the blessings that god wants for you uh to distribute uh in his name and so it is that we offer this prayer to you father god in the name of your son our lord jesus christ by the merits of his cross through the power of the holy spirit and with the maternal beatitude and intercession of our blessed lady amen so victoria i think that god's going to use you powerfully darling so you're really quite a blessing to to all of us and i just thank you for the the ministry that the lord has used you for and and all the folks that have been helped and that was the most beautiful prayer and i still feel a little inside my heart's beating fast and i still feel a little nervous but i'm scared you know what i mean you you just want to see the people that you love do well and and certainly you know i i've said to the lord i said you know i wouldn't even mind the physical issues if i knew that his soul was safe i it wouldn't be nearly as scary as it is you know not knowing that and being certain that his soul is safe well you know victoria it occurs to me that that just might be why you were the one chosen to minister to your brother because your prayers are efficacious and so you know god god is going to use you as an instrument and never despair of the mercy of god and never despair nobody knows what happens in those final nanoseconds when a soul is separating from the body and our lord told saint faustina that he prevails upon the soul five times uh he gives every soul five chances and even if a soul glances in his direction he takes that for a yes to him so don't despair the evil one would want to to riddle you with with with worry about these things but you're there and you've been placed there by god so that you might be an effective instrument through your prayer for him so take heart and trust in the lord sweetheart god bless you and let us know how it goes for him okay i i really appreciate the time that you spent with me jeanette and thank you so much and you'll continue to keep george in your prayer will you oh i will for sure i'll tuck him into my rosary today all right thank you so much now could you put me back to ryan so i can give him oh you'll go right back to ryan don't worry okay there you go all right how beautiful right i mean don't we need each other isn't this the beautiful reality of of god and this communion of saints we need each other we need the saints in heaven we need each other here as the church militant uh you know we need we need the intercession of the holy souls in purgatory and they need us it's a beautiful beautiful family of god that we are part of and we should never take these mysteries for granted we should be asking the holy spirit to open our hearts and minds to a deeper exploration of them and a deeper understanding not necessarily cognitively but most definitely interiorly right there's some things that only the soul can know the mind can't comprehend but the soul can know we have antoinette out there she's on youtube we're inviting you to call us 833 288 ewtn that's 833-288-3986 let's keep ryan very busy today looking forward to hearing from you out there right here on women of grace live where we do love having that holy conversation with you also available to you through ewtn radio's youtube channel and facebook page you can use those opportunities of the chat features to get your question up on our board today and you can also text us text ewtn to 5500 antoinette says i need the holy spirit to help me i am torn between catholicism and just plain christian i do both churches and i am confused well honey there's a reason why you're confused you're double dipping you know um that's not a good way to approach this let me just say so i understand that you're looking for the guidance of the holy spirit uh and i i and i wan i and i want to say this about that the catholic church holds the fullness of truth right we have the sacraments of the church uh this is this is this is the greatest gift that jesus is given to us what is a sacrament it's an outward sign instituted by christ to give us grace so through the sacraments we have participation in the very life of god we have participation in the very life of god all right now what i would suggest that you do antoinette is to get a copy of the catechism of the catholic church if you don't have a copy already and i would invite you to go through that catechism of the catholic church by way of the index and topics that you don't understand about your faith topics that have you questioning or pondering topics where you might be getting confused because of what you're hearing at the church that you might be attending misconceptions about the faith i encourage you to get a copy of the catechism and to go through the index on all of those topics and read about them so that you might understand truly what holy mother church teaches this is very important to you and it's very important for you to make an informed decision so i i think your confusion can be resolved but you've got to do the due diligence to get it resolved by questing more deeply into what it is that the church teaches so go to the catechism look it up you're going to see that everything refers back to scripture prior documents that all refer back to scripture and i think it's going to take care of a good deal of the confusion that you are experiencing looking forward to hearing from you right here on women of grace live 833 288 ewtn that's 833-288-3986 i'm john at williams we're coming back stay with us [Music] ewtn offers the holy sacrifice of the mass live every day at 8am eastern to be sure you don't miss out we can send a link to your email inbox every day visit ewtn.com and click on subscribe father john ricardo in our culture the commandments are looked at as burdens because for many of us we only learn the commandments by rote memorization well the commandments change drastically when a child or an adult learns that do you know where the israelites were before they got the commandments they were slaves in a desert making bricks god dramatically rescued them from there released them from the tyranny of pharaoh through great signs and wonders brought them out of that land of affliction parted the red sea so that they could go through it and escape pharaoh's armies that were pursuing brought them into the promised land after feeding them with manna in the desert and on the way to the promised land stopped at sinai and gave them the ten commandments now if you really think god wanted to keep us in slavery and that the commandments are restrictions to our freedom he would have just left him in egypt to then bring him to a mountain and say okay well i really don't want you that happy the people you know and trust are on ewtn she was a mystic and reformer who died at the age of 33. matthew bunsen and the doctors of the church then catherine of siena accomplished something no one thought possible he convinced pope gregory xi to return to rome after the popes had lived in france promised the whole of the 14th century they've been there ever since for more about the doctors of the church visit doctorsofthechurch.com tomorrow on more to life how can i help struggling to figure out the best ways to support someone you care about let us help that's tomorrow on more to life now back to women of grace transforming the world one woman at a time let's return to women of grace with johnette williams well welcome back friends you are listening to women of grace live i am john at williams and i'm happy to be with you today looking forward to hearing from you light up my life by lighting up the phone lines you can do that and guess what you also get to talk to ryan penny when you do that he is our call screener 833 288 e wtn that's 833 288 399 that is the way that you can join us right here on women of grace live where we do love having that holy conversation with you we're also available to you out there at ewtn radio's youtube channel and facebook page i invite you to use the chat feature there to get your questions up on the board jeff berson who is our producer we'll go grab them he's our social media manager too and he'll put them up on the board and we'll have the opportunity uh to chat with you you know we also invite you to use our listener comment line to leave your questions for us as well and i think we're going to take one of those right now jeff let's take one of those while we're setting up some of these calls this is janina from west virginia i was going to inquire about whether it is permissible or acceptable in during the mass to use your hands to move things like during worship like the charismatics do i've been going to attending charismatic mass and i sometimes feel like self-conscious that i shouldn't be doing lifting my hands and singing and clapping during regular math because maybe it's not acceptable so i just would like to have an answer to my question thank you well well thank you very much for your call and i'm very happy to answer this question for you and what do we mean by charismatic right you know uh charism is it means grace uh so grace of the holy spirit is what you're talking about here uh a representation a manifestation of the life of the spirit within us so is it wrong for us to praise and to worship god to lift our arms in the air to clap our hands to even twirl around a little bit no there's nothing the matter with that those are all of the ways in which the jewish people prayed including our blessed lady and saint joseph and our lord so that you know there's nothing the matter with that praise and worship of god is something that we should always do now the question is when is it suitable and when isn't it suitable and that's what you're really asking here so charismatic mass is a mass that is open to a fuller expression of this jubilation of heart that that we should be expressing and feeling well i don't even want to say feeling expressing because joy uh is is a fruit of the holy spirit and you know we want to equate it always with with feeling and it's not always about feeling it's about an intellectual knowledge that god is with us and our representation of our happiness our our desire for more of that so you know at a charismatic mass you will see people lifting their arms and praise you'll occasionally there will be clapping uh every once in a while you might even hear um especially at the at the moment of consecration you might even hear prayer in tongues happening and and that's all very suitable for a mass that is oriented in that direction and it's right and it's proper and it's fully acceptable and it's within the heart of the church and there's nothing the matter with it so there's that now do we do that at mass on sunday with the full congregation some of whom may not be aware of that well i think that we have to be very prudent uh number one and number two we have to be very respectful of the sensibilities of other people so you know i i think for us to singularly begin to clap uh would be a distraction for many uh you know i think that lifting our arms uh you know high in the air might cause an undue attention to ourselves there are moments though that you know we might just find our arms raising because you know it's just the way that we pray and that can happen but for the most part i would say that what we want to do is to be sensitive to the sensibilities of others who might not understand what that means and and who might you know be uh somewhat uh um unduly distracted by it so i would encourage you uh you know to to permit yourself to display uh this jubilation this this this full participation in moments when it is it is uh being done by the majority of people that are there as opposed to you by yourself so that that's my opinion on it um you know i i came back to the faith with the charismatic renewal i'm charismatic in heart and soul i often pray as you're describing uh but but we also have to learn a certain propriety and and have that sensitivity to others is it wrong like is it sinful i wouldn't say that it's sinful but i do think it can be an act of charity to recognize that some might not understand and it could be difficult for them so let me put that out to you and and see what you think about that and if you have further questions about it i certainly would ask your pastor and i think that he'll guide you appropriately and and properly so thank you for your call today about that question love to talk about the charismatic gifts i certainly do let's go to sylvia she is in bethesda maryland today and let's talk with you sylvia what's going on in your life okay janet hi i've talked to you before i hope i do okay sometimes my faith has always been a very big part of my life and my catholic church catholic faith um even when i was young and ignorant making mistakes i i've always felt a deep pull of god bringing it closer to him as i've gotten older through the years i've gotten closer and closer i i do the divine chaplet i say the rosary i read a wonderful book that you have presented and i can feel that um i understand and have a deeper relationship with him and i i think i can't explain it i know he's always with me yes sometimes when i'm you know going out or getting dressed to go have saved lunch with a friend or going out to a simple thing to get your hair cut or whatever it is even though nowadays it's difficult but you know as a woman we we're putting on our makeup and we're getting dressed and we always want life and sometimes i wonder if i am hurting god by taking time for me away from him and i know that sounds silly but it's a feeling like i don't want to hurt him and i don't want to put too much um attention on me yeah i guess that's what i'm saying and i want to feel this um i'm not being vain to get dressed up and want to look nice or um hurting him in any way oh sylvia well what a beautiful heart you have honey your heart is so beautiful and and it's displayed by the fact that you even ask yourself these questions very few people uh even look at life through that kind of a lens so let's talk about this a little bit first of all i i want to say that you know god has given us stewardship of our bodies we have a stewardship responsibility to our bodies therefore that means that we need to be groomed we need to be clean we need to make a presentable appearance to others and and i've always said that you know makeup can be an act of charity really you know so we make the best presentation we can right and um you know i remember the religious sisters when i was growing up they would tell us you know that that our bodies are temples of the holy spirit and so to to have a to have a concern you know a healthy balanced desire to make the best presentation that we can it's not a sin and and you're a lay woman am i right yes all right so you're not i'm a mom i'm married to my mother i'm a grandmother yes okay so you know you're not living a cloistered life and you're not living a life in an act of religious order so therefore you know your presence in the world um is is an important witness to jesus christ our lord so you know i think that it it it's proper to to do your best to look your best now it becomes a sin when we become vain about it to the point of this is all we're concerned about and we become you know overly attentive uh in a way that is that is inordinate uh it's taking time away from family and friends and that really is interruptive to our life of prayer and the holy spirit will let us know when that's happening the evil one on the other hand wants to prevail upon us and insert into our way of thinking a type of scrupulosity where anything that we do to give ourselves you know an opportunity to enjoy family to enjoy friends to enjoy this beautiful world that he's created and some of the creature comforts that attend to it uh he he he tries to make us see as wrong you know because he figures he can't get us through serious sin so what he can do is drive us crazy by worrying about things that we ought not to be worrying about and we have to we have to look at that you see what i'm saying so he'll try to prevail upon i feel that sometimes yeah i feel that sometimes and everything like yes i feel over yeah right i just said that but satan does like trying to make me think that even being happy with my family too much it's taken me away from god no because god is revealing himself to you through your family the joy that you're feeling toward your family is god's joy active in you for your family so so that's the truth of the matter now how can you discern and this is the question that we we have to ask ourselves how do we discern well when these feelings come upon you that that that you know this guilt uh this this this see god doesn't cause guilt i want you to understand god doesn't accuse us the accuser accuses us god will convict us the holy spirit will convict us but the conviction of the holy spirit is a sweet sweet conviction there's a there's a taste a spiritual taste to it that is very sweet and even as he's correcting us and pointing these things out it's so sweet that the soul hungers for more of it that that that's a sign that that we're being convicted by the holy spirit but a sign from the evil one is we feel guilty we feel miserable we feel bad we're uncomfortable within ourselves that that's a sign of the evil one those are his hoof prince so the the god doesn't accuse us god convicts us very different kind of a thing uh it's a compunction of spirit with which is followed by a sweet remorse so um you know that's how you can just discern this and my thinking is just just on the spot of what you're saying he's just trying to rob you of of of living a beautiful life in jesus and being able to express the beauty of that relationship uh in your family life and in the way in which you approach the world and and use the resources of the world so um i think you know jared i feel that sometimes because as i pray more and i get closer and i love god more and more every day i feel that yes i feel like what you're saying is so true that i feel um like he's trying to oh well this isn't good and this isn't right this isn't and yet i know it's not morally wrong or right so yes what you're saying makes so much sense that's right so in those moments you know so you just pray you know pray um a little prayer and just say you know father god thank you thank him praise him father thank you so very much that i feel such an exuberance of joy and peace when i'm with my family thank you so very much lord that you've given me this opportunity to get my hair cut you know i hope you like it you know thank you very much lord you know that that i can put a little bit of blush on my cheeks and and you know feel a little bit more alive this morning lord you know these are the things and and you know if you're not constantly looking in a mirror and you're not constantly worrying about about oh how do i look right at this very moment you know then you're in good shape okay you have helped me so much and everything you've said really touching you so i knew it was good for me to call the day and i really appreciate it and i will hold on to what you said good and and may god be praised in all of that and um and and thank you for calling sylvia because i'm thinking that there's a whole lot of people wondering about the very same thing so thank you for your courage and your humility god bless you sweetheart god bless you and thank you for everything you do jonathan bye-bye bye bye now and let's go to antoinette and i'm asking william and angel to hold we're going to get right to you antoinette is in albuquerque new mexico youtube is the way she's with us first time caller i love to clang this bell it's a noisy one how are you antoinette hi i'm doing great um you did already address one thing on the air earlier that i had asked and um i i mean i just really felt compelled to call because this obviously has been something that has been going back and forth um in my mind i was raised i've been i was raised catholic okay and i'm going to tell you um when i was younger um something really bad happened to me um and you know i didn't tell any i didn't tell anyone about it and when i went my dad took me to church and i remember you know being at the catholic church and we were sitting in the front and um the priest you know he was talking and he actually i think that was the first time like i really felt a conviction um and it was telling me that we needed to pray for our enemies and not hold a grudge even though at that age i did i mean i felt what he was saying um i didn't realize it was going to take a very long time for me to be able to forgive this person only because sometimes in life there's things that our humanly body cannot forgive and that's why we have god and he needs to help us forgive that person because there's something that they hurt our physical body where we just feel like we cannot forgive somebody and um i think um you know there's been a lot of conviction for me and then but the thing too is i have a teenager and he you know he thinks like that he might be going a certain way meaning he might be gay and he absolutely hated um the catholic church because he um they you know back then you know even my grandparents they would say things like you know you can't you can't be that way you know you're going to go to hell and don't say things that are in the bible and i'm not you know and i don't i want to love him no matter what and i think in the bible i've read it says two it says you know like we teach our kids um about god but you know they're eventually gonna have to make that up their own choice and i guess my question to you would be since i have been going to a protestant church and i am torn between both um you know how do i know which one like which because i really don't know which bible to read i mean i have one here and this is the one i've been reading and all it says is niv on it and i'm not really i don't know if that's like the christian bible or if that's the catholic bible um the thing is the protestant church says that their their bible is the only bible that has never been changed and that is the truth and then they say that the catholics have changed the bible and um that's where i think my you know confusion comes in and not to mention you know you obviously want to love your kid no matter what um choice they make but i just like i'm a little bit torn sure talk protestant church says love them no matter what but you know and then i love them yeah thank you antoinette and you've given you've you've helped to flesh out the question that you asked earlier via youtube so let's talk about this for a moment and let's let's let's just let's just segment this in the way in which you presented the question number one the situation that you experienced as a child and the words of the priest are absolutely true jesus tells us we must forgive he doesn't give us an option or or you know say sometimes you should forgive or you should forgive uh but if this happens then you don't forgive he tells us we have to forgive and you've discovered something very important uh in your process moving towards forgiveness you have discovered that it is precisely that it's a process and the deeper the wound uh the longer it can take to actually arrive at the point where we say i forgive what our lord looks at is your effort to do so so you you have been making great strides in that direction and it's important to know that forgiveness is not a feeling and it's not an emotion it's important to know that forgiveness doesn't mean that it's okay everything is gone now it doesn't mean that you know uh you know your pain didn't in in that situation doesn't matter um and it doesn't mean that you ever actually feel what we would want to feel in terms of forgiveness like oh this person is just so wonderful and it certainly doesn't mean reconciliation that you reconcile with someone some people are dangerous and and god does not call us to a reconciliation he calls us to forgiveness if reconciliation can happen that's a beautiful thing but he calls us to forgiveness and you've been doing that and so the words of the priests were good words for you and the fact that the holy spirit convicted you of them i believe is is the reason why you've made the progress that you've made so just keep asking god to give you the desire to forgive and to help you take the next step towards it praying for your enemy is really one great way one great way to get there and i can attest to that personally so i wanted to share that with you as far as your son and as far as the catholic church goes look what we know about what we know about same-sex attraction is that it it there's no gene that exists that causes it there's been there's been investigation the human genome project uh even in more recent times than that there's been attempts to discover a gay gene there is no gay gene what we do know is that there are situations that occur in life that can tend a person in that direction some of them are psychological and i'm not thoroughly convinced that some of them may not be environmental uh especially today when you know many of our waterways and many of our sources of of of water our rivers for example our streams are overloaded with estrogen as a result of the birth control pill because um sanitation uh the the water goes through cannot break down estrogen and i'm not really sure i know that they're doing research to see what is the effect of this over abundance of estrogen in our foods and in our water uh on on a baby that is forming in the womb so there could be there could be there could be reasons why that is now what the church teaches is that the same sex attraction is not the sin the fact that somebody is attracted uh to the opposite or to the same sex is not the sin the sin is the living out of that just as like heterosexuals are attracted to people of the opposite sex you know within the confines of marriage you know coming together as a man and a woman is is beautiful but outside of marriage is to sin well for those individuals that are attracted to people of the same sex there is no marriage regardless of what the state says regardless of what the law of the land is it is not a marriage in the eyes of god because marriage is instituted in order to the procreation of of human life so that's what it's ordered for that's why the bodies fit together the way they fit together and function as they function and that's not the case so so uh you know do what about this question of love of course you love your son should you stop loving your son absolutely not you are you are to love him you are to support him not in living out that lifestyle you're to support him in trying to accommodate that attraction in a way that tends towards his growth in holiness and relationship with god and i have a feeling antoinette that when we get to heaven we're going to find a lot of saints that may well have struggled with that issue and their way to sanctity was the heroic virtue that they practiced in their life with regard to that okay so love your son for the bible you can tell your protestant friends to do the history on the bible the catholic church gave us the bible and named the books of the bible that were inspired by god what they're talking about are the deuterocanonical texts that are part of the bible they took those out so they altered the bible the church didn't alter the bible but why get into arguments about that just dig into your catholic faith antoinette and learn it more fully and i think that a lot of this will dissipate but you're welcome to call back any other time or plumb out of time right now sweetheart but i'm so glad you called and call again and william call us tomorrow i want to talk with you a little bit more god bless all of you bye-bye now you

Channel: EWTN

Views: 1,005

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: Catholic, EWTN, Christian, television

Id: BeGuGHnFB_E

Length: 54min 11sec (3251 seconds)

Published: Tue Aug 18 2020