WOMEN OF GRACE - November 4, 2020

visit ewtnnews.com women of grace with john at 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 good morning everyone and welcome to women of grace live i am johnette williams what a pleasure it is to be with you today we do love spending this time with you monday through friday right here on ewtn radio brought to you by so many great affiliates throughout the united states of america and beyond we always look forward to your calls here let me give you a number that you can use we have ryan penny out there today he is answering that phone and when you call in you be sure to give him a great big old howdy hay if you're a first time caller do let him know because then i'll ring my bell now i have two bells here who knows which one i'll use i just used a different one than i normally use but i hope you like the little tingling wing and you'll get that tingling if you call in today and let ryan know that you're a first time caller the number for you to use toll free right here in north america is eight three three two eight eight e w t n that's eight three three two eight eight three nine eight six don't be shy give it a try that's what i like to say don't be shy give it a try you'll enjoy uh being on the air with us and we certainly will enjoy having you on the air with us so there's your invitation just pick up the phone toll free 833 288 ewtn we're also available for you out there at ewtn radio's youtube channel and facebook page all you need to do is to go out there and use the chat feature that chat feature will allow you to put your question comment inside inspiration or word of encouragement in and then jeff berson who is our producer and social media manager we'll go out there and retrieve it and he'll put it up on the board and we'll be able to address it as well so all kinds of ways that you can join us you can even text us text ewtn to 5500 text ewtn 25500 regular messaging charges do apply but that's still another way that you can join us live here if you cannot join us live here and you have a question you can email it as well women of grace at ewtn.com is the address for you to use that's women of grace at ewtn.com so don't hesitate to send us your requests or your comments or your insights inspirations words of encouragement via that method as well now if you do email us at womenofgrace ewtn.com i want to invite you please uh if it's a prayer request to list that in the subject line so that we can segment that and get to that as as quickly as we possibly can so we look forward to hearing from you uh lots of things i want to share with you about today and lots of things that that i want to talk about first of all it is wednesday it's a wacky wednesday but sue brinkman was unable to join us today nonetheless you know call us with your questions and your comments uh regarding anything having to do with a new age and i'll do my best to answer those questions for you flying solo today so we can still make it a wacky wednesday but we can talk about all kinds of other things too and i invite you to do that whatever is on your mind is is good uh opportunity for us to discuss right here on the air 833 288 ewtn one of the uh first things i want to let you know is that we are having a facilitator training for our women of grace foundational study and we're excited about this yesterday i had two beautiful women on the air uh with me both of them are facilitators one a regional coordinator we heard a lovely testimony from melissa helmley and erica segovia was with us and she is a regional coordinator out there in new mexico melissa was joining us from south florida and they were sharing with us about the beautiful way in which women of grace and our foundational study has changed their lives and that is the comment that we hear most typically is that it's life-changing and it's transforming and in addition to that the women form a really beautiful sacred sisterhood uh a deep friendship the kind of friendship that god would have us enjoy the kind that that helps us to advance in union with him and to live that abundant life that our lord jesus christ came to bring us so we don't want you to miss out on that opportunity and we certainly do want to invite you to uh participate in a facilitator training program now you might be saying oh john ed i don't really think that i you know know enough or i don't think i'm really called to facilitate well you know here's the thing god offers opportunities and when we say yes to his opportunities he gives us the grace we need first of all you don't need to be a theologian you don't have to have a degree in religious studies you don't have to have any degree at all you do need a warm heart and a welcoming heart you you know you you have to be able to uh put a smile on your face and say hello to your fellow sisters they're gonna come and visit with you right so that's all you really need all of the teachings are done for you on dvd you get a facilitator guide that walks you through in addition to that we have facilitator network conference calls once a month where you can get insight and inspiration from women that have been doing this for a while we have a woman who is one of our regional coordinators mary dillon back and she functions as a liaison she would be happy to assist you in any way we make it abundantly easy for you because we know that this is a tremendous time a tremendous time for women so we certainly want to encourage you to join us for this it's free just show up uh it is tomorrow evening from seven to nine eastern time tomorrow evening seven to nine eastern time and then on november the 7th from 10 a.m to 12 noon eastern time so we're making abundant opportunity available for you now all you have to do is get out to womenofgrace.com you'll see that we have an event section on our homepage about halfway down you'll see that the facilitator training is mentioned just click on it it'll tell you all of the days all of the times uh it's going to extend into january as well so we want for you to read about it and we certainly do uh even if it's just out of curiosity we certainly do want for you to join us there so i wanted to mention that for sure i also wanted to mention to you that my husband jack williams and i are going to be at melbourne retreat house the weekend of november the 13th through the 15th it is going to be a marriage retreat there and we're really excited to be back at melbourne uh we have couples that have already signed up but we can fit a few more in not too many but a couple more in and we're really excited about joining you there for this beautiful marriage retreat and we'll be on retreat with you so we'll be doing this together the grounds at melbourne uh provide for abundance of social distancing so you need not fear in that direction uh additionally uh they provide for for much uh beautiful meditation and recollection uh there are beautiful trails that that feature stations of the cross a couple of those uh a beautiful trail that leads down to a grotto that is a replica of the grotto in lourdes france of our lady of lourdes um just a beautiful beautiful uh paths that you can sojourn on and i just want to tell you too that you know the place is replete with wildlife it is so glorious about 130 550 acres there in melbourne pennsylvania so we want you to join us all of the information once again is at our website womenofgrace.com in the events section on our home page about halfway down so we're inviting you to participate in this beautiful beautiful event i'll i'll be sharing with you about that again a little bit later on today and i do want to recommend to you that um you know here we are we're i don't know how you are feeling this morning but you know yesterday was a very big day and so many of us were praying so fervently uh for this election and we don't have an outcome yet and i know that this is very um disconcerting at least i feel disconcerted about it uh we want to talk with you about that today here but i want to let you know that we have been praying a rosary crusade we have a rosary crusade going at women of grace and we'll be praying it again today at 4 pm eastern time all you need to do is go to women of grace dot com forward slash rosary crusade sign up join us for this beautiful opportunity to come together in the name of our lord jesus christ with the maternal beatitude and intercession of our blessed lady to pray this thing through we're going to be right back with you on the other side of the break stay tuned this is conversations with consequences where we delve deeper into issues affecting our church our country and our core the family as catholics we need to be informed aware and able to talk through some of the tough topics that we're facing in our culture and in our world conversations with consequences gives us the tools to do so it's not enough to pray we have to be a light for the world conversations with consequences this saturday at 5 pm eastern on ewtn radio how should we pray the disciples asked our lord that question and he gave them the our father or the lord's prayer but he also gave them the liturgy which is the most privileged form of prayer in the catholic tradition especially the holy sacrifice of the mass we can pray with the whole church in the liturgy of the hours or the divine office and we should also pray in our own private room our secret chamber as jesus says and then our father who sees us in secret will reward us 60 seconds with archbishop fulton j sheen in the history of the world only one tomb has ever had a rock roll before it and a soldier set to guard it to prevent a dead man from rising and that was the tomb of christ on the evening of the friday called good what spectacle could be more ridiculous than armed soldiers keeping their eyes on a corpse but sentinels were set lest the dead walk the silence speak and the pierced heart quickened to the throb of life they said he was dead they knew he was dead they said he would never rise again and yet they watched they remembered that he called his body the temple that in three days after they had destroyed it he would rebuild it the people you know and trust are on ewt encouraging women in their gift of authentic femininity here's more women of grace with john ed williams welcome back friends you are listening to women of grace live i am john at williams happy to be with you today encouraging you to give us a call don't be shy give it a try 833 288 ewtn that's the toll-free number for you right here on women of grace live 833-288-3986 also available for you out there at ewtn radio's youtube channel and facebook page use the chat feature there and get your question or comment up on the board jeff burson will grab that for you and we will get to you uh ryan penny on the phones today do let him know if you are a first time caller so i can ring my first time caller bell to welcome you to our program we have angela with us she is in sheboygan michigan holy family radio is the way that she's listening to us good morning angela how are you i'm great janet thank you so much for taking my call you're so welcome we're praying for your state oh thank you i'm actually in wisconsin i'm so sorry um sheboygan wisconsin oh sheboygan wisconsin well we're praying for wisconsin too yes thank you i just want to tell you um i used the flying novena the mamawari yesterday every hour with another woman and we did 10 of them every hour i am with i'm with child and you know trying to get through this time is really hard knowing what is coming and not not worrying but just trusting in god is the only piece and then that final thing that just really helped me yesterday and i just i love mmor so i just wanted to share that well angela thank you so very much you know for for sharing because i think a lot of people as i said as i was going to the break there are very disconcerted i mean certainly we would have liked to have known who the president is going to be when we woke up this morning but we were being told all along that that probably was not going to be likely uh and i think that we're disconcerted because what we've been talking about here on the air is the fact that what a revisioning of america you know is it's it would be a recalibrating of the united states of america and all that we hold so dear is hanging in the balance and this does produce anxiety but god does not want us to be afraid he is with us in all things and yesterday the the first reading came from philippians i want to try to find that let me see if i can get to it pretty quickly here uh and it's just oh yeah that'd be great yeah it's one of my very favorite passages uh in sacred scripture because uh well it's so clear about so many things i am not uh i i have to say that at this point in my life i still have not yet memorized where all of these epistles line up you know what comes first what comes second what comes third but i'm going to work on it here until i find it but uh the fact of the matter is okay this god of ours has a plan and a mission in mind we don't always know what that is and it doesn't always go according to the way in which we think it ought to go but he does never uh he he permits things only for greater goods uh we can't see how a greater good could come out of um an orientation towards marxism uh but but uh that candidate has not yet won uh and so we continue to pray forward uh knowing that you know prayer is heard by god and god factors our prayer into what uh into his actions so here we are and here i am i found it philippians 4 and it says this this is beautiful uh right beginning at verse 4 in philippians 4 rejoice in the lord always i say it again rejoice and i i just want to call your attention angela and everybody else to that word always rejoice in the lord always it doesn't say rejoice in the lord when everything is going well or rejoice in the lord when things you know are going to turn out the way you want them to he does it doesn't say rejoice in the lord you know uh uh you know just just when uh you feel like it it says always rejoice in the lord so we we praise the lord in the midst of all things and we really do pray uh praise him for all things because we know that he's going to work a good out of it so rejoice in the lord always i say it again rejoice everyone should see how unselfish you are the lord is near i mean just those four words the lord is near those beautiful four words assure us that the lord has not abandoned us we are not forsaken we are not orphaned children god is with us and he's not just with us from some distance he is near us he is right there with us this is his omni presence he is right where we are a beautiful mystery about a beautiful reality the lord is near and then this this uh beautiful i would say encouragement but at the same time command of saint paul dismiss all anxiety from your minds now anxiety doesn't come from god anxiety comes from the evil one anxiety is that kind of fear that is false evidence appearing real we worry about things that have not yet happened and as one beautiful confessor once told me you know johnette there is a spirit in charge of that a demon and that demon plays upon our imagination and has us get worried about things that are likely not to occur we don't know how this election will turn out but i will tell you this i trust in the lord and i trust in the fact that he desires only good things for us i trust in the lord that our god who is a god of life will protect life dismiss all anxiety from your minds all anxiety and then this present your needs to god in every form of prayer and in petitions full of gratitude then god's own peace which is beyond all understanding will stand guard over your hearts and minds in christ jesus and so angela the lord doesn't want you to be anxious he doesn't want you to be worried i can understand how that would be as a mom who is expecting a baby i i know how difficult it can be to to wait out this time period but you are doing the best thing you are playing those praying those flight novenas now for those of you who don't know what a flight novena is this is something that was introduced to us by saint teresa of calcutta it is nine memoraries in a row for a special intention and then a tenth one in thanksgiving that our intentions have been heard and responded to by god and i encourage you to do this women of grace are very big on flight novenas and in our various little strings that we have going on our various little you know text message groups when there's an immediate need boy we all just jump on those flight novenas so you're doing a beautiful service first of all because you're fulfilling sacred scripture second of all because when we pray to god we don't feel helpless we don't allow ourselves to get wound up in anxiety and third of all because our prayers matter and you're praying for a good holy outcome to this election and so angela just keep doing what you're doing know that the lord is near you he is right there allow yourself to picture uh you know yourself in his arms you know use your imagination to see him cradling you in his arms and folding you into his most sacred heart our blessed mother right there beside you and and just sit and and picture that okay beautiful thank you janet you have a blessed day you too thank you angela god bless you 833 288 ewtn that's 833.288.3986 that's the way that you can join us today here live on women of grace live you know we are all a little bound up by this thing but we're not going to let the evil one triumph over us and we are certainly not going to let him rob us of hope right we are going to stand firm what is hope hope is confident assurance and things not yet seen the kind of fear the anxiety that the worry that the evil one wants us to feel is what anxiety about things not yet seen oh no no no the way the christian is confident assurance in things not yet seen hope hold on to the truth of the faith oh own the challenge p persevere in prayer and patience e expect god to intervene that's hope so we are hopeful people people full of hope uh people that that know that our god is near us and so we through an act of the will do what what do we do we dismiss all anxiety from our minds that's what the passage says we play a part in that right we play a big part in that uh we have gloria with us out there on youtube she wanted to share that this morning felt she felt a bit discouraged with what is happening around our nation and the world overwhelming like huge waves in the sea i felt prompted by the holy spirit uh to think about when saint peter was walking on water toward jesus we are to walk on water and you know i couldn't agree with you more we're going to walk on that water we're going to trust in the lord we are not going to allow the evil one to capsize our boat of hope we are not going to walk in fear we're not going to let the evil one discourage us god wants us to be encouraged not discouraged discouragement uh deception delusion all of those things all of those things are marks of the enemy and so we have control over whether or not we allow ourselves to remain in that place or whether we move on as more than conquerors in christ jesus and that's what we're called to do and i know that you're doing that today so we want to encourage you to give us a call here 833 288 ewtn that's we nonetheless 833-288-3986 talk about some wacky things together right here on women of grace live you can also use ewtn radio's youtube channel and facebook page to put your questions comments insights inspirations or words of encouragement in there and jeff berson will go out there and he will retrieve them uh i was mentioning to you that you can always email your questions to us at womenofgrace.com at women of grace ewtn.com women of grace at ewtn.com it's a prayer request put that in the subject line but you can also use our listener comment line and you can leave a question there and we're going to take one of those questions right now jeff hello my question regards in today's day and age um should we women who live alone buy a gun i have people who ask me what are you gonna do if somebody runs into your house and attacks you what are you gonna do do please give me some advice this is aileen at madison wisconsin thank you well eileen thank you very much for your call today and i just want to mention to you and to all of our listeners that our guest today on uh women of grace television which is at 1pm eastern time 1pm eastern time new time slot 1 p.m eastern time um our guest is luanne is luanne zurlo and we're going to be talking about uh the single state and it's a beautiful beautiful uh program and i don't want you to miss it that's 1 p.m eastern time so if you're single out there male or female encouraging you to watch women of grace today at 1pm our guest luann zurlo she'll be with us today and back with us again tomorrow you ask about a gun well it is your second amendment right to own a gun and we want to protect that right we certainly do because we want to be able to defend ourselves in the event that we are put in in a very dicey circumstance now here you are a single woman what do i recommend about that i think you need to pray about it do i think that it's morally wrong for you to have a gun absolutely not i do not think it's morally wrong for you to have a gun but i would say this it wouldn't be a good idea to have a gun and not learn how to use it and not learn the safety precautions of it so i would encourage you that if you're anticipating purchasing a gun that you go to uh in an individual who knows something about firearms that perhaps they accompany you uh for the purchase of the weapon and that you enroll in lessons to teach you how to use it so that one you're confident with it number two uh you don't have mishaps as a result of it and number three so that should you be put in that uh position you would know how to use it in such a way that it would not necessarily bring about the death of someone because we wouldn't want that but to be able to defend ourselves is a right and a privilege and it is not against the law of god so that's my advice to you pray if you uh discern that yes you are to purchase a firearm go with somebody that knows something about them to help you make that purchase enroll in the classes and be very judicious with its use and obviously keep it out of the reach of children should you have children should you have grandchildren for example or nieces or nephews that come to visit you so there is is my response to you uh you know and that is so much a part of what we have to realize that you know we have these beautiful privileges these beautiful rights that are ours through the constitution of the united states of america and we want to protect those rights and and those rights and freedoms and of course right there uh in in the very e at the very start of it all we know that we have the right uh to of freedom to wash uh freedom of religion freedom of religion and there's been an attack on that first amendment right there's been an attempt to change that to freedom to worship that is not what the constitution says and freedom of religion and freedom to worship are not synonymous they're very different things freedom of religion means to practice your religion openly it means that you can wear crucifix into your workplace it means that you have the right to put a nativity set in your front yard it means that your city has the right to display the ten commandments and it's in its uh uh um in its courtrooms it means that you have a right to have a cross in in a public venue such as a park uh it means that we can we can talk about our religion in the public square we can refer to our religion in the public square and it also means that we can pray that we can pray in public places whether that be a school whether that be a a restaurant where we want to uh invoke god's blessings upon the food that we're about to eat we can practice that freedom to worship means that well there's a church over there and you can go into that church and it's you can praise your lord in there and you can worship your lord in there but you can't bring that out into the public square you're not able to do that no that's that's foreboding and this is a big problem uh and in recent years we really haven't heard too many politicians talking about freedom of religion we've heard a lot about freedom to worship no that's a marxist idea and what we know about that is that eventually the church is closed my big concern about some of the things that we see happening now is this curtailing of our freedom of religion in our country even a curtailing of our freedom to worship as a matter of fact because so many churches have been reduced to the capacity that they can hold and not only that but so many of the churches in different places have been told they cannot be open this is bad this is a very very bad thing it is not good uh this is a nation under god that's the way this nation was founded and we do not want to give up these freedoms we don't want to give up these these these um beautiful treasures that we have by way of our constitution and we need we desperately need to defend them we absolutely do and we need to vote accordingly voting day is over the rest hangs in the balance but we do have to pray angela gave us a good indication of one way that we can pray we can pray by these flight novenas we can also pray uh you know through these rosary crusades that i know are continuing our rosary crusade is continuing and if you go on to our website we've even made it easier you know i was telling you to go to womenofgrace.com forward slash rosary crusade but we've even made it easier it's number one in the slideshow you can click on that and sign up we want you to join us today at 4 pm eastern time pray the rosary pray the rosary pray the rosary did i say pray the rosary indeed pray the rosary we are listening to women of grace and it's live for you today we're eager to hear from you give us a call at 833 288 ewtn it's toll free for you that's 833 288 3986 coming right back after the break inviting you to stay with us through redemptive catholic journalism ewtn news helps advance the gospel and teachings of the church get our trusted catholic news in your email inbox sign up today at ewtnnews.com hi friends john williams here would you like some good news in your inbox sign up for our daily grace lines to receive a daily reflection that includes a quote from sacred scripture or your favorite saint a beautiful image and a question for pondering in less than five minutes per day it is sure to inspire you to live deeply your catholic faith sign up today at women of grace dot com forward slash sign up or text women of grace in all cabs to 2 28 28. it's time for family man with dr gregory popja one of the signs of strong commitment between a husband and a wife is that they have a strong identity as a couple having a strong couple identity means there's a me a you and an us like the trinity all three identities matter and all are honored in how we go through life together unfortunately new research by sociologist dr paula motto argues that couples are fast becoming married singles millennial couples are substantially less likely than couples in 1980 to eat together visit friends together go out for leisure activities together or work on projects around the house together they were less likely to participate in clubs or groups together as well home alone becomes alone together catholic couples can stand against this tide make time for your marriage when you plan your week remember that the most important activity is family life i'm dr greg pop check but you can call me family man to discover more ways faith can enrich your life visit catholiccounselors.com i'm gloria purpose i'm on senior charles pope and i'm deacon harold the morning glory team talks about helping children develop a spiritual life tomorrow morning 7 eastern now back to women of grace with johnette williams transforming the world one woman at a time let's return to women of grace with johnette williams welcome back friends you are listening to women of grace live i'm john williams we're eager to hear from you today inviting you to please give us a call let me give you that toll free number it is 833 288 ewtn that's 833 288 3986 inviting you to pick up the phone just put those numbers in and we'll get you right up on the board here we are available for you today it is wacky wednesday we generally have sue brinkman with us she was not able to be with us today but we're here we sure are and so we invite you to give us a call with anything wacky that you see going on that you would like to chat about in addition to that we'll talk about any other topic that is on your mind or in your heart today we know that there are so many that are concerned about so many things we are taking some of our listener comment calls here today and jeff has another one for us so let's go jeff i have a question just morally about cosmetic procedures i was wondering how the church stands on elective cosmetic procedures not necessarily surgical but just machine based procedures or botox or body sculpting lip enhancement etc when it comes to the catholic church and vanity i was just wondering what the opinion was on that just having some differing opinions with people i work with thank you well you're welcome and what a good question and this is a question a lot of that a lot of women ask and i've had women ask this question before what does the church say well the church is rather silent on this issue but we can look at the beautiful body of wisdom and teaching that holy mother church gives us on other topics that are similarly related and what we can discover is that the guiding virtue for all of these things is prudence is it a sin to get botox no is it a sin to have some lip enhancement no is it a sin maybe to have a chemical peel no none of those things are sinful but we do have to examine the motivation for why it is that we're doing them and if we are beginning to become vain so vain that the only thing that really matters to us is our appearance well we've got to hold back we've got to re-examine what our values are and we have got to take a look at what it is that we are trying to achieve so you know there is an addictive nature to these kinds of procedures whether they be surgical or non-surgical um and we have to watch that we have to be very careful about that if we make a decision that we're going to go forward with any of these procedures i do not think that the majority of women want to put themselves under the knife very frequently and yet we know that there are some women who have had all kinds of surgery and we know that there's a threat with every surgery right uh something could go wrong uh you know we don't anticipate something will go wrong with the anesthesia but something could and that's why you have to sign off on all of these things and even for the non-surgical procedures you have to sign a consent form because they don't always turn out the way you expect them to turn out and sometimes freaky things can happen and we've seen those cases happen time and again so what is it what what the bottom line answer is to this is is it a sin well it depends it depends if the motivation is a profound and morbid kind of vanity it is a sin if in fact we are overusing these things and become obsessive with it is it a sin on the face of it to do something you know to give you a little lift no i do not believe that it's a sin now i will tell you that i have spoken to moral theologians about this question and because we get asked it quite a bit and i'll tell you that i have not had a moral theologian tell me that it is a sin they've all said prudence guides it temperance guides it and be sure of what your motivation is is it okay to want to look nice it's perfectly fine to want to look nice but when that looking nice becomes the sole focus of your world now we've got a problem so i hope that that helps you today right here on women of grace live 833 288 ewtn that's 833-288-3986 i do want to uh take this prayer request this came in from someone who sent this via the email address that i've given to you women of grace at ewtn.com that's women of grace plural on the women women of grace all one word at ewtn.com please put prayer request in the subject line this is uh michael from covington louisiana he says my wife for 26 years this october 29th and so that's passed now so they're married 26 years has just been diagnosed with stomach cancer we're scared she has suffered 22 years ago with severe endometriosis which was removed in nebraska they could not get it all due to the concern of hemorrhaging i don't know if that is part of it raising its ugly head again she had pain on the right side for one and a half years and they found this lesion on the left side thought it was a simple gallbladder acting up but that tested good please pray for veronica's complete healing of this cancer and an easy fix was all was always my prayer we're devoted practicing catholics and committed a doors of our lord in chapel each week we have two daughters we are scared please pray oh michael i understand how devastating it is to receive a diagnosis of cancer i've had that occur three times in my life the first with my late husband who had brain cancer well i guess maybe actually was my dad who preceded him with bladder cancer then my late husband and then my husband jack was diagnosed with rectal cancer two months after we were married i know how devastating it is to receive these kinds of diagnoses but i know this from experience too just as i was sharing with angela earlier god never abandons us he never orphans us he never leaves us on our own he is there in the midst of the trial with us and as a matter of fact he is carrying his cross in the midst of our trial and sometimes he's carrying the cross inside of us our lord jesus christ wants you to know that when he went to the cross he took everything with him everything he took all of our sorrows he took all of our griefs he took all of our misgivings he took all of our reversals he took all of our sadnesses he took all of our diagnoses he took all of our illness he took everything to the cross with him and through his passion and death and resurrection he shows us that every spiritual blessing in the heavens is available to us through redemptive grace and that he works all things to the good and i want you to hear that michael he works all things to the good this god never entrusted trial to us he never entrusts the cross to us for which he is not offering us an immeasurable amount of grace he desires that we receive it and we walk in that and he attends to our every step with his own love and with the divine beatitude that comes by way of that cross and so we are going to pray for your wife we're going to pray for a complete and total healing for her no matter how it comes whether it comes through the use of the medical field or whether it's a miraculous healing that is up to god but we're going to pray for that healing but i also want to pray that neither you nor your wife lets this time pass without making use of the beautiful opportunity it provides for you to enter more deeply into union with jesus i can tell you that with my dad's diagnosis my late husband's diagnosis and jack's diagnosis it became a way a way to experience more abundantly the beautiful love that god has for each one of us we were talking about hope earlier and that's the virtue that the lord would have you practice you know we practice virtues and he's giving you an opportunity to practice this virtue of hope and to practice it well and i gave a little acronym to angela and i'll i'll speak it again for you and for everyone listening right now who is dealing with a very difficult circumstance even as we look at where we are in the world today the h in the word hope stands for hold on to the truths of the faith those truths of the faith become for us a weapon to wield in the midst of the onslaught of discouragement that the evil one will try to hurl at us including the fear that he is very good at inciting and so we can take those truths of the faith and we can speak them into the lie that he is trying to deliver to us into the discouragement that he's trying to exact upon us into the fear that he is swirling around us and those truths of the faith of course are found in sacred scripture and the teachings of the church and i like to advise everybody to go to sacred scripture because this was the method that jesus himself used to withstand the temptations and the evil aggression of the enemy when he was in the desert prior to the beginning of his public ministry and he used scripture and so some passages that you can use is this one that jesus speaks fear is useless what is needed in trust and follow that up with i trust in our lord jesus christ i trust in our lord jesus christ i trust in him the evil one hates that he absolutely hates it and it also says in sacred scripture resist the devil and he will flee you can remind the devil that you are more than conqueror in christ jesus that comes from sacred scripture that's saint paul in romans 8 and then you can tell the evil one god works all things to the good for those who are called according to his purposes and he is going to work this to my good and he's going to work it uh to the good of my dear wife veronica and he's going to bring good out of this situation and therefore you cannot stand up under goodness because you are evil and there is no good and evil evil is the absence of good and i listen to our lord jesus christ i am his son god chose me and him before the world began to be holy and blameless in his sight to be full of love and you can have a holy harangue like that and the evil one will flee so hold on to the truth of the faith the o in the word hope is own the challenge own the challenge this is a challenge it's a definite challenge it's a challenge in the natural it's a challenge in the supernatural don't try to pretend that it doesn't exist or don't try to excuse it away or don't try to run and hide from it but allow yourself to own that challenge knowing that god has perfectly equipped you to do so because it also says in sacred scripture that when he gives us a trial he gives us a way out that we might not succumb to the trial so the lord has fashioned a way out that reminds me of another scripture passage that we find in the psalms um i want to say it's psalm 154 or maybe just 54 i'm not 100 sure but no weapon formed against us will prosper no weapon formed against us will prosper no weapon formed against us will prosper and may i say this even if death comes through a serious disease and i'm not speaking this about your situation michael or anybody else's but let's face it folks none of us are going to get out of this world alive unless jesus comes again and i just don't think the world is ready for jesus to come again yet there's too much more that needs to be done to prepare his way so most likely every single one of us listening today is going to die before jesus comes again death is not the worst thing when we are in a state of grace when we are acting upon the inspirations of the holy spirit when we are leading a life according to the will of god when we are serious about our relationship with him when we are following the ten commandments and observing the teachings of the church death becomes for us a door that opens to eternal life and eternal life is going to be a whole lot better than it is here so we do not fear death saint paul cries out death where is your sting where is your sting death god wants for us to be those more than conquerors the p how do we make it through how do we own that challenge and be victorious persevere in prayer and patience persevere in prayer and patience say that persevere in prayer and patience we're reminded in sacred scripture be steadfast be steadfast be not afraid be steadfast be not afraid persevere in prayer and patience and then the e i love the e expect god to intervene and so father god we come before you in this moment and we lift up michael and we lift up his wife veronica and we ask you father god to make good on all that you tell us in sacred scripture and all that holy mother church teaches us that no weapon formed against us will prosper not the weapon of cancer not the weapon of disability not the weapon of disillusionment none of it will prosper lord because you are god and you are we are more than conquerors in and through you and you are all powerful and so we are begging you in your all-powerfulness now to reverse this cancer father god i'm praying for a complete and total healing that it be completely wiped away spontaneously out of our body lord god but if it be your will that more grace comes by way of treatment because we can own that challenge a little while longer and lean into that cross a little bit more uh emphatically then lord we pray for that we don't care how you heal as long as you heal but we dare to ask lord we dare to ask for a complete and total healing and so father god i ask now that you put your son and your daughter in a cocoon of grace that no barb no tactic no dart if the evil one can penetrate so that they are not incited with fear that they are not under the oppression of discouragement but that they rather are cocooned in this grace this redemptive grace that flowed from the cross of your son our lord jesus christ and forever flows from calvary's hill into our life and that they experience that resurgence of of of hope in you that that that confident assurance of things not yet seen we offer this prayer you father 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 be attitude and intercession of our blessed lady in jesus name we do pray amen woohoo and all the people said what hallelujah we rejoice in you lord philippians 4 verse 4 rejoice in the lord always i say it again rejoice in the lord we rejoice in the lord for his marvelous deeds for the deeds that we will see for the deeds that he has done for the deeds that will come amen amen amen we have rose with us rose is in new york station of the cross radio is the way she's listening good morning rose how are you i'm good john that thanks for taking my call you're so welcome and um yeah so i just wanted to mention um like with regard to the election um just my own personal experience like after i voted i had this joy that kind of stayed with me and then yesterday something beautiful and amazing happens we have a new pastor at my parish yes and um about a week ago we found out about this prayer program where they're asking p they're asking parishes to have eucharistic adoration yes and um my parish hadn't done that very often before but i mentioned it to him and he said well with short notice let's see what we can do let's do an hour and it was so beautiful and i thought there would be like a handful of people that were 40 to 50. it was so prayerful and so amazing and afterwards the friend of mine and i we the polling place wasn't far so we took a walk like around the polling place praying the chaplain the rosary and then there's just and there's just been so much um beautif so many beautiful things happening with people like throughout the country just waking up to some you know things at the left that are not yes are not good but even person not good for our nation they're waking up and it's given it just has been bullying me um so i wanted to mention that but then this morning you know hearing about the election results it's like and even like my prayer this morning was just so like consolation so beautiful and then hearing the election results like you were saying like the anxiety you know so um i just kind of wanted to um first of all mention that i i had thought about blessed miguel pro this morning because he had such expensive humor and and he was in the midst of persecution and so if you know if we get to that point eventually like just that he'll be a great model for us but yes but i also just wanted to ask with regards to the anxiety because it sounded like if i remember correctly you said saint paul said to dismiss the anxiety of your mind but then won't we all won't we still feel it you know what i'm saying so how to look at i don't know well you know like we may be feeling it but just to be careful what our minds where our minds go is that does that make sense yes uh well you know padre pio said pray hope and don't worry but we are human beings and so we're subject to concern and the concern can take control of us and the idea is that we take concern or we we take control of the concern worry you know is is something that the evil one uses against us anxiety he uses against us now you know there there are some uh cases of of clinical anxiety that come from you know biological realities but we're not talking about that kind of anxiety we're talking about a fear a fear that comes from uh from unknowing and a fear that comes from the uncertainty of the future and this is the anxiety that he is trying to wield right now so saint paul tells us as we read in philippians to dismiss all anxiety from our minds now you know i was an english teacher love english uh love to teach grammar uh so i want to call everybody's attention to to the the um type of sentence that that is we would call that type of a sentence an imperative sentence it issues a command he's not asking for our opinion there he's giving us an order and the subject the person that he's speaking to or the subject of that sentence isn't implied so he says dismiss all anxiety from your minds in that particular moment he's speaking directly to the philippians and he's saying to them you dismiss all anxiety from your minds but because we know that the event that god the holy spirit had us in mind when he had saint paul pen those words to the philippians he is also saying to us you you uh rose you johnette you angela you everybody else listening today dismiss all anxiety from your minds now it's interesting to note what kind of a verb dismisses right dismiss is an action verb right it it it's a call to action it is not a passive verb right it is it is a verb that is telling us to do something and what are we to do we are to dismiss it so dismissing becomes an action on our part so the question then is what you're asking how do we dismiss this anxiety well in that very same passage from philippians if we listen to the reading yesterday um uh um you know we we get we get the answer right there again let me read this passage see if you can find it rose and everybody else listening rejoice in the lord always i say it again rejoice everyone should see how unselfish you are the lord is near dismiss all anxiety from your minds present your needs to god in every form of prayer and in petitions full of gratitude then god's own peace which is beyond all understanding will stand guard over your hearts and minds in christ jesus finally one more verse finally my brothers your thoughts should be wholly directed to all that is true all that deserves respect all that is honest pure admirable decent virtues or worthy of praise so when the evil one is filling you with anxiety or trying to do so you start to thank god for everything and you begin to praise him the evil one cannot stand up under praise and and present your needs to the lord he is near and he is right there and we're at the end of the program and sheila i hope that helps you too and all of you listen we're going to continue to pray we're going to continue to pray god bless you all bye bye now

Channel: EWTN

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Id: A-gq-tBWHPc

Length: 54min 4sec (3244 seconds)

Published: Wed Nov 04 2020