Women of Grace with Johnnette Williams - 091021

news.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 well good morning everyone and welcome to women of grace live i am johnnette williams very happy to be with you today we love to spend this time with you monday through friday as we discuss issues of importance to your life and your faith we also enjoy the opportunities that we have to talk about you know some of the really big things that are going on in the world today and we want to hear from you what is going on in your world today 833 288 ewtn that's 833 288-3986 that's the way that you can join us live here on women of grace live where we love to have that holy conversation that number again is 833 288 e w t n we have matt gabinski there answering the phones today so when you call in please be sure to give him a big old howdy hay and if you are a first time caller let him know and we will ring our first time caller bell for you to welcome you to your debut right here on women of grace live also want to let you know we're available for you out there at ewtn radio's youtube channel and facebook page you can see me if you're out there i'm giving you a little wave here and we are eager to hear from you too you can use the chat feature to put your questions or comments in and jeff person who is also our social media manager will go on out there retrieve it and put it up on the board for me and we'll be able to address whatever is your concern or your question or your comment uh today just that way so please do give us a call 833-288-3986 that's 833-288-e-w-t-n well as you know we are coming up to a very big anniversary here in our nation and that is tomorrow uh when we commemorate all of those individuals who lost their lives in the terrorist attack on our country that took place back in 2001 on september the 11th uh you know we acknowledge this date every year and i think it's important to do so because it's a reminder to us that we have lost men and we have lost women who without any kind of provocation uh were were taken out of this world due to the assault on our nation and it reminds us of this time as well you know that that our life in this world is fleeting we don't know from moment to moment and this is why we always need to be prepared this is why we always need to keep in the crosshairs of our life the the four last things uh you know that we are going to have death we're going to die we're going to be judged that moment of judgment will come to each one of us and we will find out our eternal destiny and that destiny is either going to be life on high in christ jesus with him in heaven for all eternity or it's going to be the opposite of that a life of an ongoing eternity not a life an eternity uh in in the fires of hell and this isn't something that should terrify us or scare us it's it's just a fact of life and we need to be aware of it all of the time so that we are living each day as if it were a last each moment as if that was the last moment we would take a breath and if we do live according to the beautiful realities of our faith then we can be assured that no matter how death visits us uh whether it visits us in the middle of our our sleep if it visits us through an illness or if it comes by way of a terrible uh assault that in fact we have everything under control with god right meaning that we're in good place we're in a good place with him and that's the most important thing that we can do for ourselves the most important thing that we can do for others but i know that many of you experience this same kind of of sorrow as we come near to this date and as a matter of fact it's interesting for me personally because it was on this date back in 2018 when my father passed away he died on september the 11th uh and and so it was you know kind of a surreal type of an experience uh as as we think about these connections in our lives so uh we just certainly do want to pay our our deep respects to all of those who lost family members on that date september 11 2001 and we want to pray for the dearly departed we should never stop praying for our deceased loved ones and so maybe what we could do at this moment is just to have this this time of tribute and also this time of recollection and intercession for all of those souls who lost their why uh their lives on that day and so father god we do come before you in this moment and we acknowledge the fact that we do not always know what you have in store for us and we don't know that day that will be our last on this earth but what we do know is that you are a loving god what we do know is that we can count on your mercy what we do know is that you help for us to live that abundant life in your son our lord jesus christ each and every day of our lives to the extent that we give way to him and to your holy will so i would ask that for each one of us listening at this moment that the crosshairs would contain for us this great acknowledgement of the fact that we don't know the day nor the time but that we do put our trust in you and that through the inspiration and the strength that comes by way of the holy spirit we can conduct our lives according to your divine and holy will for all of those individuals who lost loved ones on that fateful day september 11th in 2001. we ask that your mercy and your consolation would on this anniversary date be theirs once again and would exist within their hearts and souls every day of their lives we pray for the loss of souls of those who passed away on that date we asked lord that in your mercy you would be conducting them to the heavenly abode that you have in mind for them and father we ask that you would continue to protect us to protect our nation we thank you for all of the great men and women who have sacrificed their life for the cause of freedom we ask you to bless them and protect them even as we enter into perilous times right now and 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 inviting you to give us a call here what tribute would you like to make to those men and women who lost their lives on that day we would be eager to hear 833 288 ewtn that's 833-288-3986 just pick up the phone and give us a call we'll get you up on the board phone lines are lighting up we're happy about that we love to hear from you 833 288 ewtn also available for you out there at ewtn radio's youtube channel and facebook page simply use the chat feature there put your question or comment in we'll get it and we'll put it uh you know we'll put it to good use we will address it right here on the air in addition if you're outside of north america country code one two zero five two seven one two nine eight five again that's country code one two zero five two seven one two nine eight five that is the way that you can give us a buzz right here do want to remind you and i'll be talking with you about it when we come back uh that we do have a beautiful beautiful women of grace retreat coming up in san antonio texas we're going to be there next week yes indeed we are september the 17th and 18th are the days for that retreat one week from today we'll get started in the evening we're looking forward to being with you there it's going to run through the evening of the 17th and all the way through the evening of the 18th we are going to precede it by benedict institute for women a enrichment seminar coming to you that way i'll be leading it along with father matthias of the immaculate heart he'll be with us for that and we have a young woman of grace retreat that's going to run concurrent to the adult retreat right there on september the 18th which is the saturday it'll go on from nine in the morning until four in the afternoon all of the info out there at ew excuse me all of the info up there at womenofgrace.com we want you to check it out we certainly do we're gonna be right back with you give us a call 833 288 ewtn we'll be right back stay with us [Music] ewtn global catholic network is the largest religious media network in the world 11 global tv channels english and spanish radio networks with over 500 am and fm radio affiliates one of the largest catholic websites in the world dozens of podcasts every week social media electronic and print news services and ewtn publishing ewtn is the global catholic network for more about ewtn visit ewtn.com there are some people who are super imminent now the most imminent example it would clearly be the person of moses as such a luminescent character reflecting the divine glory that the israelites could not physically look at him wow the man had to veil his face because he was like this giant walking light bulb called to communion with dr david anders this afternoon 2 eastern on ewtn radio parents when your kids seem really uncorrectable it's not always coming from a place of belligerence sometimes it's coming from self-loathing which studies show is more common among kids than ever before and if that's their head space they're not fighting you they're fighting the notion that they stink and that this mess up is just another proof of how messed up they are with that in mind one of my kids messed up really bad the other day and instead of pointing out to her what she had done wrong i decided to point out first how much i loved her how much god loves her i caught her off guard when i said you're good you know you're lovable there's nothing wrong with you you're gonna be okay i was amazed at how her guard went down and how easy it was to correct her behavior after that don't get me wrong you need to set boundaries but you might want to attack them with love first and then correct them you'll be amazed at how differently that can pan out sometimes this is christophanic from reallifecattling.com [Music] transforming the world one woman at a time let's return to women of grace with johnette williams well welcome back everybody we are so happy you are with us today we certainly are we're inviting you to give us a call here let me give you that number it is toll-free for you right here in north america 833 288 ewtn that's two eight eight three nine eight six pick up the phone give it a try i know you're gonna like it yep indeed don't be afraid we're looking forward to hearing from you and we're also looking forward to you giving a big old howdy hate and matt gabinski who is our call screener let him know if you're a first timer and we're going to ring that bell for you also available for you out there at ewtn radio's youtube channel and facebook page we're encouraging you to use the chat feature there to get your question or comment up on our board jeff burson will go out and get that for you he's our producer and social media manager and we'll be able to see what it is that you want to talk about today and guess what we'll do we'll get right on it and we'll talk right about it right here on women of grace life want to remind you about a couple of things this coming monday uh is going to be monthly marriage monday with my husband jack williams we'll be doing that this monday last monday of course as you know was labor day so we postponed it and we're going to be doing that this coming monday and we're excited about that so inviting you to uh make certain to join us for monthly marriage monday this coming monday additionally i want to let you know that we are on live television today uh at uh our usual time spot here at uh one o'clock pm eastern time we will be with you and we are going to be interviewing trent horn many of you know trenhorn he is one of the hosts on catholic answers he's going to be talking with us about a book he wrote why catholics cannot be socialists did you hear me say that catholics cannot be socialists and he's going to lay it out for us and explain to us what socialism really is not what we think it is but what it really is and why it always defaults to what it truly is so it's going to be a very very interesting live show you'll be able to call in with your questions and that is at 1 pm eastern time today now before we went to our break i was telling you about our upcoming women of grace retreat in san antonio texas now i just want all of you in that area and beyond that area to giddy up and come and join us there at our lady of the atonement catholic church it's going to begin next friday yep we're going to be there by by now next week we sure will be uh the retreat begins on friday evening september the 17th and runs through the evening of september the 18th it closes out with a healing service we pray a healing rosary it's very very powerful we have exposition of the blessed sacrament even more powerful and so we want you to join us for this beautiful beautiful time it is preceded by a benedict enrichment seminar i'm going to be conducting it father matthias of the immaculate heart who is our priest for the weekend is also going to be addressing the women who will be attending uh we're going to be talking about leading like the lady we're going to be finding out all about our feminine charisms how to uh enter into them more deeply how to let them enter into us more deeply and how it is that we can bring them to bear upon the culture of the day uh you know it's really interesting and sometimes women say well you know i don't really think that i'm a leader you're a leader come you lead your children you lead your spouse you lead your family you you lead you know you lead the environment around you and the professional life that you might have uh you lead in ever so many ways and so we want for you to understand why women are especially well equipped for this moment in time so i you know i always get giddy about these benedict enrichment seminars and i think you'll see why when you come and you join us there so that is september 16th it runs through the afternoon of the 17th uh when then our retreat begins later concurrent on saturday with the women's retreat is our young women of grace retreat and uh we certainly want for you to bring your daughter your granddaughter bring your niece bring your neighborhood girls bring your students bring your your daughter's friends bring your granddaughter's friends have them come and join us for that beautiful day all of the information is available for you at our website womenofgrace.com i'm encouraging you to get on out there and to take a look at that 833 288 ewtn is the way you can join us today again that's eight three three two eight eight three nine eight six toll free for you north america outside of north america your number country code one two zero five two seven one two nine eight five again country code one two zero five two seven one two nine eight five pick up the phone give us a call let's keep matt busy and let's get to gil gil is out there in the bronx today and he is with us via shortwave radio how are you gill happy sheep day that bell sounds so cute oh thank you and same to you i love you and your husband um i um before i get to um i was going to talk about my mom and honoring your parents i want to let you know that nancy worked near the building actually um two blocks from the world trade center so she was affected that's why she had trouble with her lungs not covet or anything like that and she used to i have an oxygen machine i used to remember i had to learn how to plug it and stuff if it disconnected or whatever so um she lost a co-worker in 2003 and she used to work helping people get jobs all kinds of jobs that's what she did for living and she also went to college she studied business administration and everything and most of her friends died in the building a lot of her friends too she lost wow well you know for those of you that are not familiar with gil's story gill was engaged to his lovely nancy and um she passed away and so uh this is background about nancy that i don't think i was aware of gil so thank you for sharing that and we don't realize that not only were people lost as a result of that direct attack um on the world trade center and also at the pentagon and that plane that went down in pennsylvania but uh from the the fallout of those buildings collapsing many people suffered uh you know greatly physically afterwards and eventually passed as a result and it sounds like that might be the case uh with with nancy gill that at least this impacted her life in a negative way because of that fallout and we know the same has happened for many of the first responders that were there on september 11th in 2001 so including you know father god we just say inclusive in the prayer that we prayed earlier we put all of these uh beautiful men and women as well so gil you wanted to talk about exodus 20 verse 12 yes and by the way i used to travel on my own i used to take the train so i passed near there i used to smell the smoke a lot i don't know if i told you i went to college and i studied bible and psychology those are my majors i just the week before 9 11 i just started going to college so they told me not to go in that day i remember that so i used to travel on my own and i nearly fell on the tracks twice and somebody pulled me from falling i don't know i i nearly went down that was this for me and some guy pulled me up because i was walking too fast because i get tired of using the cane you know what i mean so i just went so quick and i nearly went down he said hey i just pulled you up so thank god the lord has preserved me but he can still use me to make a difference in this world not only for time but forever eternity yes yeah and you sure do do that gil you do it right here too through catholic radio because you call us and i know you call some of the other programs as well yeah and again for those of you that of you that are not aware gil gil is blind and when you say you studied the bible i got to tell you everybody this man just about has the whole thing memorized and we always uh benefit by his knowledge of the bible when he joins us on the air so go ahead and tell us something about exodus 20 verse 12. what does it tell us there it tell us how important we need to honor our parents and even if they're not with us anymore it's good to talk about the things that they did for us the memories that we cherish for instance when i was living with my mom now i'm living in a group home in the bronx no you know i'm not in queens anymore but um my mom when i used to come home at night um she would prepare dinner for me because i came home late from college i got home like 10 o'clock that night so what i remember is yeah because i left early in the morning like nine o'clock in the morning i used to work in a church as a counselor also so i went out every day i never stayed home um so when i was um coming home i never forget my mom putting like spaghetti and those little chicken legs and on and putting it on a thermos for me and making a warm cup of tea st john's wort tea for me and putting a whole bunch of stuffed animals on my bed like mama goose you know because nancy called my mama goose and the sheeps are hugging each other and have this beautiful beautiful fish that my mom still sleeps with now my mom's living with my sister because now my mom has dementia so there's a stuffed animal sheep it's i think it's gray i forget what the cover the eyes are and the um it's it's just very cute very soft so my mom keeps it and i asked her mom did you hug your goose today she said no or yes you know so i really cherish coming home it makes me sad that my mom's got dementia that really tears me apart because now as my mom watches the catholic mass which i have her watching every night she forgets what she hears but she loves the music and i'm just worried because i don't know i i don't agree with the vaccine because i noticed since my mom took the vaccine her memory got worse and uh you know so i'm really scared about this you know and i just love the way my mom would do that i would come home on friday night and i would see all these stuffed animals hugging each other that was so cute and you know that nancy came up with the name mama goo [Laughter] that's so cute well let's read exodus uh chapter 12 verse yeah we're going to look at uh uh chapter 20 verse 12. honor your father and your mother that your days may be long in the land which the lord your god gives you and what's commonly said about this particular passage as you well know gil is the fact that it's the only uh one of the ten commandments that comes with a promise that if we honor our father and our mother uh that we will have long days in the lord and that's a beautiful beautiful promise that's attached to that which really points out to us the importance that god attaches to the honoring of our parents who uh in in in conjunction with his creative action always in conjunction with his creative action gave us life right uh and so we owe them all of our respect and it's interesting that you mentioned that we respect our parents even after they're gone and and we respect them because they are the ones who gave us life some people have very difficult times uh with with uh within their nuclear family sometimes people suffer from a father wound or a mother wound and that needs to be dealt with you having studied psychology would understand that and know that to be the case but at the same time there is one thing for always which we can be grateful to our parents no matter how difficult our relationship with them might have been it was through our parents that life came to us it was god's will that that man and that woman conceive us and that we have life and i think oftentimes too with regard to this issue of healing we we we need to address that wound but i do think that just by doing what you were demonstrating for a skill uh you know offering up or thinking about these beautiful things that our parents did finding the good moments in that history no matter how few they might have been or no matter how great they might have been helps in the resolution of that wound because sometimes what happens with the wounds of the heart is when they are inflicted upon us by a person we tend to demonize that person uh and and only look at them through a lens that paints them uh you know as as a you know replica of of the evil one uh and we don't look at the fact that they're larger than that uh that there's more there too and we have to take into account what might have been their own life experience that could have led to to the miserable way in which um that affected us so all that being said that's a beautiful beautiful scripture passage and uh it reminds me of something that i just read a moment ago in a book that i picked up and just opened up to and this is the word and i think it's a word that the lord would have us no in light of this and it says this every error in life is made by either abandoning scripture or misinterpreting it every error in life is made by either abandoning scripture or misinterpreting it we don't want to misinterpret exodus 20 verse 12 and we certainly don't want to abandon it so i think our lord gives us good guidance that day and if our parents are still living we should thank them thank them for the gift of life that they gave to us and continue to honor and respect them and there's no expiration date on that it doesn't mean you only honor them until you're 18 or 21 or feel that you're emancipated or whatever the case may be we honor them all the days of our lives and that is a beautiful reality gil thanks so much for checking in with us love always hearing from you and we want to hear from you too friends 833 288 ewtn that's 833-288-3986 we have linda with us in missouri good morning to you linda how are you good morning i'm fine how are you very well thank you for asking okay what is your question or comment well what i'm needing is of some resources my mother is well she just turned to 100. she is live she lives by herself my brother lives next door and i live not too far away from her but i spend a lot of time with her and i i'm basically taking care of her as far as i i take her food and visit her all the time and call her all the time but her mind is not what it used to be and she has a lot of trouble understanding things and she forgets things she gets things confused and she tells the same stories over and over and over again it's like every sunday when i visit with her it's like a groundhog day and yes so what i'm what i'm wanting to know is some or some resources to let me know that i am doing everything i can uh to help her i want to make sure i'm doing the right things to help her because she's a wonderful person and she deserves to be treated that way and i want to make sure i'm not doing anything wrong and also i'm needing help with the frustration that comes with uh dealing with someone who i have to explain things over and over and over too and listen to the same things over and over and over and sometimes it just gets so frustrating i don't think i can take it anymore so would you have any any suggestions well linda thank you so much for asking that question and i think that you know just based on what you've shared with us right now you are living out exodus 20 uh verse 12 very beautifully and that you are honoring your mother and you're honoring her all the days of her life and you're honoring her and no matter what her condition is or what her situation is and it's beautiful and just based on those lovely works of mercy that that you do for her out of love for her i think it's clear that whatever is in your capacity to be able to use to make her comfortable whether it's you know the food that you bring her that she really enjoys eating or the gift of your presence which means more than anything and also the comfort and the consolation that you bring to her just by being with her uh you know all of that i think speaks to the fact that within the the everyday setting you're doing everything that you can do when individuals reach a certain point in time and their memory begins to be affected it can be absolutely frustrating and frustration is is an emotion in a sense that rises up in us it's neither right nor wrong it's how we respond to that frustration that makes all of the difference and i guess the best best way to respond to frustration is to respond with patience consideration and to look at the the um opportunity of of being frustrated as simply that an opportunity that god is offering to us to help us to grow in virtue to rise above ourselves and to be another christ to let him work in us and through us and not to rely upon our own capacities um also because we are human persons and then there is sometimes a a point that we reach where we realize you know i'm going to get really grouchy about this thing it doesn't hurt to get up take a walk around you know leave the room for a few minutes even walk around the block and then come back praying all the while we're going to be right back with you stay with us [Music] the words of blessed carlo accutis the more eucharist we receive the more we will become like jesus so that on this earth we will have a foretaste of heaven made for joy the call and gift of the catholic woman that is the theme of our upcoming women of grace retreat in san antonio september 17th and 18th come together again with sisters in christ and explore the pathways to joy and your call and gift as woman the retreat closes saturday evening with a healing service speakers include father matthias of the immaculate heart melissa maleski and yours truly join us we can't wait to be with you go to womenofgrace.com for more information and to register today [Music] have you ever heard someone say you've got to believe in yourself gk chester says the people who believe in themselves are all in lunatic asylums you have to believe in something outside yourself you have to believe that there's a greater reality than the one inside your head if the only thing you believe in is yourself your world will become very small about the size of a padded cell we live in a world that rejects the worship of the one true god and has substituted something called the god within but as chesterton says if jones is told to worship the god within it ultimately means that jones shall worship jones spend more time with the apostle of common sense visit chesterton.org for more information and go to ewtnrc.com to discover more books and programs written and inspired by gk chesterton what have we learned in 20 years since 9 11 shook our nation we'll discuss that next on take two with jerry and debbie on most of these ewtn stations now we return to women of grace encouraging women in their gift of authentic femininity here's more women of grace with john ed williams well welcome back everybody it is good to be with you today we had a dump out of that break really fast i was all busy there talking to linda and the time got away from me so i'm glad you are still with us and i am inviting you to give us a call here 833 288 ewtn that is the toll-free number for you to use right here in north america it's 833-288-3986 very easy to remember 833 288 e-w-t-n and um excuse me i sneezed there oh my goodness shakes well then all that being said we certainly do want you to use the chat feature at ewtn radio's youtube channel and facebook page as well feel free to uh just put your question or comment in that chat feature we'll get it and we'll address what's going on in your world today as well uh all the phone lines right now are currently busy but we're going to get to it and open up a couple of one of or two of them as we take calls moving through our program today reminding you we're going to be on television today at 1 pm eastern time it's the hour live show that happens every friday on women of grace television and i want to let you know that our guest today is scott excuse me is trent horn and we're going to be talking about socialism today and why catholics cannot be socialist so it's going to be a very interesting program i can assure you of that we'll take your calls there too so certainly do join us for our television program today encouraging you to get out there to womenofgrace.com womenofgrace.com that is our website sign up for our upcoming event there in san antonio texas we're going to be there this time next week we're going to be all busily engaged in that uh benedicta enrichment seminar leading like the lady meaning like our blessed lady finding out about the great gifts of our authentic catholic femininity and how we can bring that to bear upon the culture of the day that's going to be a beautiful seminar it begins on the thursday september 16th runs through the 17th and then the evening of the 17th our retreat begins right there at our lady of the atonement catholic church that's where everything is taking place our lady of the atonement catholic church we want for you to join us there for the retreat it runs until the evening of the 18th and closes out with a healing service and on that saturday which is the 18th from 9 until 4 our young women of grace retreat will be taking place so all kinds of dandy things going on there in san antonio texas at our lady of the atonement catholic church we want you to sign up please do sign up please do join us you can register right online if you need a little bit of financial assistance to be able to get you to come well we've got a scholarship program for you so do call us and here's the number to call it's 800-558-5452 that's 800-558-5452 is our toll-free number at women of grace so please don't hesitate to call uh we don't want you to miss it because um money might be a little tight right now 800-558-5452 talking to linda there linda is dealing with a little bit of frustration she sometimes feels when she visits with her mom who is suffering from dementia uh the the repetition of course of the same stories over and over again and uh that kind of a thing we were sharing that yes that can fray the nerves a little bit we're human persons we can feel frustration frustration is not a sin the fact that we feel frustration is not sinful it's how we respond to the frustration that can cause us to sin or can cause us to grow in grace so i was mentioning to you linda that you know it's an opportunity to practice virtue right to practice that virtue of patience and in some cases long suffering but you know if we feel things ramping up inside of us and we're just like on our last nerve uh we don't want that nerve to get frayed so you know taking a little respite you know just say mom i'll be right back and going into the bathroom for a moment just taking a deep breath or two or going outside taking a walk around the block and then coming back can be very restorative and i always find too just asking for heavenly help you know oh mother dearest mother you know i'm frustrated right now so please come and speak through me to my mom you know it happens um and and i know this personally because my mother uh passed away due to alzheimer's and um we experienced this stage of things with her and and uh it can be frustrating but learning how to work that out and also taking somebody else with you you know can be a great relief oftentimes my sister and i would visit uh our mom together uh mom and dad only lived two doors away from me so i was able to get down there more frequently but you know that also kind of what do i want to say it it evens out the burden right there's somebody else to share that yoke with us so how does that sound my niece does go with me sometimes in it and it's uh it's like a buffer uh and it really does help yeah it does yeah yeah yeah and if you know again you know you you don't want to give way to um the television uh you know to so that you are not present to her but you know if you can have something on there you you know put on ewtn television for example and you can talk with her you can engage her you know in that a little bit even if she's not comprehending everything that's going on there you can say oh mom you know look at that look at that set isn't that pretty what do you think of that you know just things like that to kind of stimulate her but also to move the conversation off of those and you know often repeated stories and statements kind of get her mind going in a different direction exactly yeah we do that with children you know when they're wanting something we're not going to give them we try to redirect their attention and in many ways that's what happens when we get elderly as well magazines turning pages of you know magazines are pretty pictures in them you know okay yeah that's a good idea yeah so you know i just i think i just needed some reassurance that i was doing right by her um you know so once in a while i'll kind of lose my patience a little bit and then i feel really bad about it but yeah i think just getting up walking around the block just taking a deep breath might that might help yeah i think i think so it gives you time it gives you a little time to be renewed and refreshed and then you go back in again but i'm sure that you're doing a good job i can tell that and the fact that you want to do a good job tells me you're probably already doing a good job so be at peace with that linda okay thank you so much for your help you're welcome sweetheart god bless you bye bye now and let's go to tommy he is in murfreesboro tennessee today and thank you tommy for calling how are you oh i'm very good thank you this is a first time caller thanks for taking my call oh well let me ring my bell for you there you go welcome tommy yes ma'am uh uh let me sum it up before i get to my question uh sure what's up uh with the weight um well let me start out with my question um does it make me a bad catholic if um i uh would want the harshest possible revenge against somebody that goes against catholicism tries to run down christianity and just makes it an unsafe world because uh 9 11 is still kind of raw with me and um and i try to practice christian virtue and i take pride in being a hardcore conservative catholic uh but i think that we're right for another attack some kind of way that we're projecting weakness and like i said my question is does that make me a bad catholic that i feel like we should take revenge against all these people that go against christianity and catholicism in general well you know let's let's just talk about the awful events that we experienced that day you know every time the date approaches i think those of us that lived through it and witnessed it and experienced it certainly have those emotions stirred back up again uh the the fear comes back to us the uh the terrible uh sense of of confusion that we experienced at that time not knowing what initially happened there in those very early moments uh the the um anger that that we experienced in that moment uh you know obviously comes back as well and all of these is you know i was sharing with with um with uh our first caller there uh our second caller there uh linda the the fact of the matter is that we you know we we are human persons and we do feel emotions the emotions are not wrong the emotions come up unbidden they just well up inside of us it's it's what we do with those emotions and how we allow those emotions to lay hold of us and and begin to to help to incite those emotions even causing them to to become more deeply ingrained in us that's where the problem begins so it doesn't make you a bad catholic at all for those emotions to exist because you're not looking for those emotions they just dwell up but it can compromise our capacity to be christ-like if we act upon those emotions in a way that is unsuitable now the fact of national defense is very important and that doesn't make us a bad catholic to to believe that we should defend ourselves it doesn't make us a bad christian to say we should defend ourselves we are called to defend our nation we are called to defend those truths upon which this nation was founded and we can get very upset and very angry when people are working against that and today you know we we're living in a potential reality that we haven't lived in before and and we can see that that that some of these freedoms are being threatened uh and that you know large numbers of the population are not aware of that and don't want to be other parts of the population are aware of it and don't seem to care or believe that we should go in these new directions and now we have because of of what we've experienced in the pulling out of the troops in afghanistan we have the rise again of the taliban well we you know in al qaeda and all of these things might be on the horizon so all of that associated with what happened on 9 11 and the fact that that date is tomorrow that wells up but the question is what do we do with that tommy how do we resolve it and it tells us in in romans in chapter 12 at verse 19 the lord says very clearly something to us that we have to remember and it says that we are it says if possible and this is verse 18 if possible now notice that if possible so far as it depends upon you right if possible as far as it depends upon you live peaceably with all beloved never avenge yourselves but leave it to the wrath of god for it is written vengeance is mine i repay says the lord so i think that we get good guidance there this this possibility is it belongs to us to live peaceably so we've got to try to strive for peace within ourselves that we might exhibit peace in the world we don't exhibit that when we're seeking revenge because the lord says vengeance is mine defense of country defense of hearth and home is not vengeance but but but ill will towards others is vengeance so we don't want to have that ill will towards others that can cause us to sin right that can compromise our relationship with god so what do we do it seems like kind of a conundrum these emotions are rising up uh we we have an obligation and a duty uh for national defense we have a an obligation and a duty to protect our home and our family uh we have an obligation and a responsibility to do that our capacity to do that on a grand scale within the the the the realities of of the global situation is limited because the government does it we can become very frustrated with those that are in public office and are doing things according to a way that we disagree with but ultimately you know we are responsible for our our our own uh you know uh reaction to that uh and and how we let that bother us so what do we do how do we resolve this issue well i think that we resolve it the same way that jesus told us to resolve it and what it is what does he tell us in matthew's gospel the lord says pray for your enemies he says pray for your enemies pray for your enemies and and that really takes a great deal sometimes when we're very upset very angry very frustrated uh when you know we just really want to haul off and and get revenge it can be very hard to do it requires a great deal of self discipline and self-mastery it requires our intellect you know governing our will and bringing our emotions underneath that that that that dictate of the will so intellectually we know what we're called to do jesus tells us pray for our enemy that needs to inform what we do and what we're called to do is to pray and then that action of prayer will take governance over our emotions and we'll quell them now why does jesus say pray for our enemy well he says pray for our enemy for two reasons the enemy obviously needs prayer right if they're working against us and they're working against all that is good all that is true all that is beautiful the enemy needs our prayer but we also need to do that praying because when we begin that praying god's mercy begins to reign in our heart might not happen the first time we pray but in subsequent prayer and subsequent diligence to what god asks us to do in that praying process for our enemy god's love begins to take up what we want for every human person on the face of the earth is salvation through our lord jesus christ that's the goal that's what we want so how are we working for that in those situations where the person is has done such dastardly deeds or threatens to do such dastardly deeds again how do we how do we respond we respond as jesus would respond we do what he tells us to do to pray for our enemies i'm not saying it's easy but i'm saying it is effective so that's what you do so you can't give in to the you know i mean shaking the feeling of needing retribution you know here's the deal um that's for the lord to work out national defense we've got to work for that that's that's a duty and obligation responsibility protecting our families that's a duty and obligation and a responsibility but the ill will that is something we can certainly do something about okay tommy yes ma'am yes ma'am i guess i better pray harder because i sure am afraid well but i thank you for your advice that was great well you're welcome and let me just say this about the fear you know there are two kinds of fear there's the kind of fear that really warns us that something bad is happening like when there's a fire in the house right we felt a great deal of fear on 9 11 because something had happened we don't know if anything's going to happen on this 9 11 we don't know if anything's going to happen in the future what the evil one wants to do is to tie us up and to make us ineffective in the present moment he wants to tie us up with a fear about something that may never happen there's going to be plenty of time to be fearful then but that fear should motivate us to positive action when there is an impending danger but the fear that the evil one uses it it kind of ties us up in knots and makes us ineffective in the present moment uh for something that may never happen so you know when that fear begins to take over you you begin to take over that fear and the other way to do that the only way to do it is through prayer and praising the lord pick up your rosary tommy pray that rosary for all of those you know individuals in afghanistan that could be a threat to us that is the way that we can affect great change in our natural condition so thanks for your call tommy because i'm sure there's a lot of people that are feeling the same way as you and uh you know we've we've got to just use the resources that we have at hand god bless you good man thank you for your call today let's get to joseph joseph is in san antonio texas how are you joseph well as i told your your screener um my dad died on 9 11 but 10 years before that tragedy in 1991 but i'm still bothered by to this day okay mainly because i had unresolved problems with him and in 1990 i was in the marine corps on 9 11. i was in the marine corps we were coming back from okinawa in 1990 and over something petty my dad he's very demanding and and he was getting upset that we weren't leaving on time we were heading to our next duty station we had uh two boys and two girls at the time and a little ones and my wife was getting after me that he was causing commotion over it and i told him you know just be quiet let us you know we'll get gone when we're gone and anyways he got all upset he and pouting and i did too and we didn't talk for another year and a half and um and i kept putting off resolving let him know and i didn't yeah and i've been thinking about it that week and oh and then i get a call in the middle of the night that he passed away i didn't know he'd even been into the hospital which was if you know these i think that one of the most painful situations that can happen when we lose a loved one is that we have unfinished business with them and when it involves something like this we can carry around that pain and that guilt the rest of our lives and sometimes you know that guilt can turn very toxic and it can become what's called a morbid guilt and that morbid guilt it can begin to lay hold of us in such a way that it causes all kinds of problems it can cause depression it can cause a sense of despair it can cause physical problems it can cause heart disease it can cause gastrointestinal issues it can cause you know um rising blood pressure uh it has many side effects now what do we do you know here is the beautiful reality uh one of our beautiful catholic doctrines and teachings is the communion of saints and that means that the church exists in time and it exists outside of time and so we are united to those holy souls that are in heaven whom we call saints that's called the church triumphant we're united with those holy souls who are in the process of purification and are in purgatory and we call that part of the church the church suffering and then we have the church that still exists on the earth where we are making our way to our eternal reward and we call that the church militant because we're still fighting the battle the beautiful thing however is that we are all we are all one no matter of church triumphant or church suffering or church militant we are all one in the mystical body of our lord and we are not in his mystical body because we are his mystical body we are not separated from each other uh saint john 23 tells us that our loved ones are not separated from us only invisible to us now your dad um is is is let's pray either being purified uh in in is part of the church suffering or he's in heaven and is part of the church triumphant he will have had to go through a process of forgiveness of you if he hadn't reached that by the end of his life and if that is the case then he would be in purgatory but the fact of the matter is he's not separated from you because he's still part of the church and he's still part of the mystical body of christ which is what the church is therefore you can still have holy interaction with your dad now what do i mean by that i certainly don't mean seances i certainly don't mean trying any kind of necromancy where you're trying to you know call up the dead by by any means but the fact of the matter is you can still communicate with your dad through prayer and you can talk with your father through prayer and you can even ask your guardian angel to be an emissary for you and you can you can you can take steps now to resolve that issue and forgive your dad and ask your dad for forgiveness and and tell him that and if it helps you to write it out you can write it out but once we do that then all is well and we don't really know how it operates in the great mystery of eternal life it may very well be that your forgiveness of your dad and expressing that to him and asking for forgiveness can be just exactly what he needs to move forward from purgatory to heaven so i want to encourage you to do that don't fall into discouragement despair or morbid guilt you don't have to well friends it's been great being with you we'll be back with you on monday until then god bless you bye-bye now

Channel: EWTN

Views: 1,254

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: Catholic, EWTN, Christian, television

Id: wa6Qn6vbgq8

Length: 54min 5sec (3245 seconds)

Published: Fri Sep 10 2021