Women of Grace with Johnnette Williams - Feb 4, 2022

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're always eager to hear from you and that's why we've got our call screener in place ready to receive those calls from you give us a call here at 833 288 ewtn that's 833 288 3986 matt gabinski is our call screener if you're a first time caller please do let him know because we like to ring our welcome bell for you for your debut right here on women of grace live when we certainly hope it isn't just the only time you'll call we're always eager to hear from you again that toll-free number for you right here in north america is 833 288 ewtn that's 833 288 3986 we're also available for you out there at ewtn radio's youtube channel and facebook page use the chat feature there to put your question or comment inside inspiration or word of encouragement and we then will retrieve it and get it up on the board the guy that does that for us is our producer jeff person who is also our social media manager no question is uh you know a question that ought not to be asked right here on women of grace life and why is that because typically a question that you have is a question somebody else has as i like to say you're really performing a spiritual work of mercy by asking that question because in many cases it will be something that will touch their hearts and may possibly even change their lives we've heard of that oh so very many times right here on women of grace live so toll free number eight three three two eight eight ewtn ewtn radio's youtube channel and facebook page available for you first time submitter or first time caller do let us know we'll ring that bell for you to welcome you to our broadcast today well i have been telling you about this upcoming online marriage retreat that's taking place right before valentine's day it is our valentine's online marriage retreat yours truly and my husband jack williams will be the presenter from 9 00 am until 4 pm eastern time on february the 12th we would love for you to join us we have all of the information available for you at our website womenofgrace.com and i'm inviting you to get out there and to take a look at it the theme is falling in love and staying there as i said jack and i are going to be the presenters and we have i think a beautiful day planned for you you know we do need to be very intentional about the way in which we live our marriage we need to be intentional about the way in which we live our marriage marriage isn't something that just happens and everything is just you know fine and ducky no what we must do is to constantly be concerned about the way in which we're feeding that marriage that marital bond and i want to encourage you to feed it by joining us on this beautiful day we've got wonderful talk titles available for you you can see them if you go out to womenofgrace.com and if you click on the advertisement for the retreat there on the home page it's going to take you to a landing page it gives you the theme it gives you the schedule it tells you what the talk titles are about we want this to be an interactive retreat we're looking forward to interacting with you and if it's possible for you to interact with each other is who are the participants at this beautiful day so you're going to i think really benefit by it where that's our prayer anyway and we want for you to join us again all of the information available for you at womenofgrace.com just get on out there take a peek at that see what is going on and let's see what we can do together inviting you to give us a call here if you have any questions about the retreat i would be very happy to answer them for you as well as any other questions that you might have regarding your life in jesus christ your faith situations and circumstances taking place in your marriage that impact that or in your life in general that impact that 833 288 ewtn that's 8332 do pick up the phone give us a call love to have that holy conversation with you we had lots of callers yesterday as a matter of fact i don't think that we were able to get to all of them so we're inviting you to call back today if you were not able to get on the air if you were listening yesterday and had a question that you wanted to ask but we ran out of time we're here for you 833 288 ewtn toll-free for you in north america as well as ewtn radio's youtube channel and facebook page please feel free to use either one to get in touch with us today beautiful opportunity for us to spend this beautiful friday in the lord together amen and hallelujah to that one and you know um on fridays you know we really should recollect ourselves in light of the passion death and resurrection of our lord jesus christ you know he did die on a friday that's why during the easter season we commemorate his sacrifice for us in a very special way on good friday but every friday is meant to be a little opportunity for us to enter into that passion of our lord jesus christ in addition to that every sunday is meant to be a little easter right it's not the grand feast of easter that we have once a year but it certainly is a day in which we contemplate the resurrection of our lord from the dead and his glorious assumption or ascension rather into heaven so that we can appreciate and recognize the great gift that is ours through this salvific action and this rising from the dead that portends what will happen to each one of us at the end of time so you know on these fridays we really have everything to uh uh help us aid us through the gospel accounts of the passion to enter into this moment of profound reflection as well as profound gratitude for that grace that comes to us by way of the salvific action of our lord jesus christ and you know this is not an action that happened in time and then was locked in time it is not you know there is all of this beautiful reality about the eternal moment that gathers all of the graces that were won for us on calvary's hill and can be redispensed upon us each and every day and there are times when i simply in my prayer time like to call out to the lord or if i'm going through a difficult moment in my day i you know call out to the lord please release some of that redemptive grace into my life right now that i might cooperate with it and see the effect of your divine life right in this moment present for me that i might be aided by it and that i might grow from it that i might acquire every spiritual blessing in the heavens that i need at this moment to one either fight temptation two to grow in wisdom to experience that profound outpouring of the holy spirit in my life three uh to to live more virtuously you know if i'm struggling to live a particular virtue if i'm working in my life on a particular virtue to be able to acquire that virtue with greater facility or to show greater fraternal love and affection for those who god has entrusted to me and my family most definitely but outside of my family as well my neighbor so you know on these fridays we're not to just say oh thank goodness it's friday because the weekend is coming but to say oh thank goodness it's friday thank you lord for all that's been accomplished to me through that good friday may i walk in that grace and may that grace live in me that i might continue to be transformed by it and be a transforming factor in the world today you know this is what our call is this is our mission as christians as catholics living in the world today to be that sign and that witness of the cross ever present to to recognize and realize that it is through that cross that salvation comes and that every christ that visits us has the capacity to be a transforming agent when attached to the cross of our lord jesus christ so as we go to our break today ponder that perhaps you'd like to share a moment when you really experience that redemptive grace in a profound way in your own life 833 288 ewtn that's 833-288-3986 looking forward to hearing from you right here on women of grace live we're coming right back stay with us [Music] ewtn offers the holy sacrifice of the mass live every morning at eight eastern and provide you with daily readings to follow along and enrich your experience to be sure you don't miss out on the daily mass or to get access to previous recordings we can send a link to your email inbox every day it's easy visit ewtn.com and click subscribe ewtn the global catholic network the most original and exclusive catholic content is on ewtn radio i'm michael o'neill the miracle hunter this week we'll talk with elizabeth vikacelli author of lourdes font of faith hope and charity and dr jim papandrea about his book what really happens after we die the miracle hunter with michael o'neal tomorrow afternoon 1 eastern on ewtn radio [Music] pursue what matters most in 2022 life liberty truth from the capital to the classroom from the pulpit to the pew ewtn's national catholic register delivers in-depth news analysis and commentary through the lens of the catholic faith with so much at stake in our country there's never been a more important time to read the register and with award-winning catholic journalism that goes beyond what you'll find from any secular news service you'll get the real story behind the events that unfold over the course of the year try the register for free today and get it delivered to your home office or parish get six free issues today online at ncregister.com forward slash radio or call 800-421-3230 and mention code radio the national catholic register read faithfully the women of grace phone lines are open 1-833-288 ewtn 1-833-288-3986 [Music] welcome back friends you are listening to women of grace live i am janet williams i am eager to hear from you we've got our phone lines open for you matt gabinski is at the helm and he is an eager eager man to get your calls today no more eager than i to hear from you 833 288 ewtn that's 833-288-3986 that is the way that you can call us toll-free right here in north america and we look forward to the opportunity now if you're outside of north america we have a number for you too it begins with a country code that country code is one and then these numbers two zero five two seven one two nine eight five again that's country code one two zero five two seven one twenty nine 29.85 yep you'll get matt kabinsky too be sure to give him a big old howdy hay and do let him know if you are a first time caller so we can welcome you with our first time caller bell in addition to that we're available for you out there at ewtn radio's youtube channel and facebook page jeff burson our social producer our social manager and our producer is eager to get out there and retrieve your question or comment and get it up on the board for us here so we certainly want to hear from you today we love having that holy conversation it makes me happy puts a smile on my face and i think that we have an opportunity through the airwaves to become this beautiful beautiful brother and sister in christ and to edify the whole of the church so we want for you to give us a call 833-288-3986 you know when we look at the condition of the world today we are very likely to become discouraged by it and the evil one works in discouragement he works in delusion he works in deception and he would have us believe that you know nothing good is taking place he would have us believe that you know everything that is taking place in the world today is going to affect us in in ways that we can't even begin to understand basically what i'd like to do is to tie us up in fear and we have to overcome that fear we have to look at the situations and circumstances that are facing us and acknowledge them but to know that we are more than conquerors in christ jesus right uh that's what saint paul tells us in romans 8 that we are more than conquerors in christ jesus and he and he tells us you know to take heart to be encouraged god has a plan for us and he's going to work it out and we see all through sacred scripture that plan of god unfolding from the earliest days of sacred scripture right there at the dawn of civilization genesis 3 15 god tells this adam and eve and the serpent that he's got a plan that he's going to work all things to the good and he tells us that over and over again and demonstrates it through sacred scripture so no matter what is going on in your life today no matter what is going on in the world today what i want you to know is that god has a plan for you and it's a plan for a future full of hope that's what he tells us through his prophet jeremiah in chapter 29 verse 11 he knows well the plans that he's got in mind for us yes we are going to struggle in this world jesus tells us that before his crucifixion there in the gospel of john he says you will have trouble in this world but take heart i have overcome the world and this is why saint paul can say that we are more than conquerors that we are overcomers through christ jesus sometimes we need to remind ourselves of that and remind others of that too so i want to offer you something very special today it's a catholic warrior hoodie and it's available for you at ewtn's religious catalog and it says catholic warrior on the front of it don't you want to be identified as a catholic warrior i do so i'm going to be going right out there just a heads up to all of you i'm coming out there and i'm going to be buying one of these catholic warrior hoodies it's beautiful there's nice they're soft they're adorable 50 cotton 50 polyester fleece it has ribbed waist band and cuffs and in the center is a shield woohoo with cross swords and the words defender of the faith it's available in red or charcoal in sizes small medium large and extra large here's what i think you should have one in red and you should have one in charcoal i think i'm going to have one in red and i think that i am going to have one in charcoal so i really want to encourage you to get out to ewtn's religious catalogue ewtnrc.com that's the website and order one of these these hoodies we have to remind ourselves that that we are more than conquerors in christ jesus otherwise we'll fall victim to the imaginations of the evil one what will we fall victim to everything we're going to fall victim to uh the deception that he wants to uh uh convince us is is what's going on he wants to uh he will fall victim to that delusion if we're not careful in addition to all of that we'll fall victim to the discouragement which is one of his biggest instruments he hooks us into that discouragement we begin to live under that discouragement and when we do that we get cynical we get miserable we get upset we live in a constant state of of worry and concern which we ought not to live in no we have to know who we are sometimes we have to remind ourselves of who we are so a hoodie like this does it and oh so many other things can do it too reading sacred scripture i want you to get out uh to sacred scripture i want you to maybe even do a search online you know uh that pulls up scripture passages for you that talk about the victory in christ jesus right wouldn't that be a great thing to do we should do a study on that shouldn't we i mean i'm just thinking now out loud with you that maybe every day for you know the next month maybe we'll do this in march i don't know i'll have to talk to jeff about it see what he thinks about it but maybe every day in march we start off with a different passage that reminds us of who we are in christ jesus and the great gift that is ours through his salvific action which we commemorate every friday in a small way uh and then we can be buoyed up we can be readied for the battle we can have that that that great courage that is necessary that great fortitude that is necessary and we can get out into the fray and be who it is that we're called to be at this moment in the history of man and we are called to be those ones who reflect that victory in jesus christ 833 288 ewtn that's 833-288-3986 that's the way that you can join us right here via the call screening efforts of matt gabinski we'll take your calls that way and you can also join us out there through ewtn radio's youtube channel and facebook page we have jeanette marie from louisiana today she's listening to listening to us via catholic community radio good morning jeanette marie how are you i'm doing all right i just need your prayers okay what do you need prayer for honey yeah i [Music] i am my mama years old okay darling all right well father god we just present your daughter janet marie to you in this moment and you know the grieving of her heart you hear the grieving of her heart lord you understand all of the affliction that she's experiencing you understand the way in which the evil one is trying to heap discouragement upon her father god in this moment you see your daughter feeling very bereft of your presence but i'll tell you one thing lord you also see her faith and her hope in you otherwise she would not have called with his prayer request otherwise she would not be asking for you to intervene in her life if she didn't believe that you could do it and not only father do we know that you want to do it uh we know father god that you are capable of doing it and so it is that we ask that you send down upon your daughter jeanette marie every spiritual blessing in the heavens that she needs at this moment we asked father that you would give her that that spirit of encouragement that you would give her lord the grace to be able to persevere that she would find you in the midst of all of the things that are taking place in our life no matter how they might seem to be devoid of you we know father they are not we ask you this 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 beatitude and intercession of our blessed lady amen and father we dare to ask one thing more we dare to ask that in some way through the course of this day you manifest your love to your daughter janet marie whether that comes through a precious memory that floods her imagination whether father god it comes through the greeting of a friend or somebody who reaches out to her father no matter how it comes let it be it in such a way that jeanette marie knows for sure that this is a sign from you we asked that and we need that sometimes father when we feel so so devoid of your presence and we we have full confidence and full hope that you are making haste to help her now we thank you and we bless you lord for your daughter janet marie we ask father god that in all ways she gives glory and praise to you in jesus holy name we do pray amen and janet marie i want you to be very attentive to what takes place for the day i want you to have expectant faith uh that that that expectant recognition that god does intervene in all things and i want you to ask the holy spirit to give you that supernatural vision that enables you to see the way in which the lord is intervening in your life today all too often friends we miss these moments of visitation because we are not looking for them we're always to be looking for our lord who is with us we're always to be looking for emmanuel so maybe janet murray's call in a certain way is a is a heads up to us that god is about a great and mighty work in each one of our lives and maybe it is sort of a clarion call from the holy spirit to be attentive to the way in which god is is is uh operating within the ordinary circumstances of our life to reveal himself to us and to manifest his love for us okay so let's let's promise each other in this moment that we'll do that i'm going to promise you that i'm going to be looking for the intervention of the lord in my life today either that i'm going to look through supernatural eyes not through the eyes of the flesh but through the eyes of the holy spirit through the eyes of god himself to see him with me and i pray that you will make that same pledge back right and i can tell you that we will not fall victim to that spirit of discouragement that we will not fall victim to that spirit of delusion we will not fall victim to that spirit of deception because we will have all of our attention fixated on the lord who is with us so i invite you to consider that and janet marie i hope that this little that our prayer together brings you comfort and consolation and that these words i'm speaking become for you a path today a spiritual path that leads you to be able to see the blessing that god is bestowing upon you today thank you for your call we appreciate it very much we're inviting you to call us two friends 833 288 ewtn that's 833 288 3 that's toll-free for you right here in north america also ewtn radio's youtube channel and facebook page is available for you and we're looking forward to receiving your comments that way as well let's get out to chris in buffalo new york today good morning chris oh good morning john how are you i'm good how are you doing um good first i just want to say it's an honor to speak with you and i'm sure you've brought a lot of people a lot of knowledge and joy um through your show in your voice well may it be so chris maybe so so what is going on in your life today we don't have time for all that job but uh i've got a quick question that is a pretty big question the answer isn't it chris i know right i just had a quick question and this might sound a little um now juveniles aren't the right or adjective like maybe like childish you know for my age to ask these questions about my faith but to might had a question because we never know when our when our loved ones who pass on even if you know while they were living if we thought they had great faith you know i mean and they you know went to confession on a regular basis and church and everything and try to have a we never know if they're in purgatory or if they're in hell or if they're in heaven you know because we don't know we're just mortal here on earth but my grandmother i'm sure i would think oh again who am i i'm just the world i i think she's at least in purgatory but okay my question is do we know if people in purgatory can communicate with mary well you know that's an interest that what a beautiful question you asked today chris and i have a tremendous devotion to the holy souls i love to pray for the holy souls i remember the holy souls uh you know in my own family obviously and friends and and uh individuals that i've known that have passed away and i do pray for them uh you know and and we wonder you know what is that like and we don't really know we have an indication because throughout church history god has so seen fit to allow the holy souls uh to communicate with some of the great saints especially when they needed extra prayer or something you know uh some for some reason that only god knows that he wanted that holy soul to have access uh to us and so this is not the same thing as is you know calling up spirits it's not the same thing as as you know what a uh a psychic would try to do or a medium would try to do through a seance uh but the these are these are divine and holy visitations for some reason that god permits this to happen most of the time as i say it's the holy soul asking for prayer but we also have great saints who are mystics who god has visited and revealed certain things to and i think that god permits this because he wants us to have hope and he wants us to continue to pray for those individuals who have passed before us they can no longer achieve merit for themselves their ability to achieve merit to achieve grace is closed at the moment of their death however our prayers can sustain them and our prayers can help them we also know that our blessed lady very much concerned about the eternal welfare of all of her children uh you know is is is uh a tremendous blessing to them and also prays for them we we read this in the documents of the second vatican council and we only generally apply this statement to ourselves who are still living but i think that in a certain way it applies to those who have passed on that our our blessed lady will continue to pray for all of the elect until they achieve fullness of life in christ jesus through the beatific vision uh that's a paraphrase of what it says i believe that it's in lumengencium i could be wrong but i think it's in there and then listen to this this is a beautiful passage that comes from um from the diary of saint faustina and you know that our lord himself visited saint faustina and didn't reveal anything new to her but reminded her of his love and mercy and why does god permit private revelation for that very purpose because he wants to remind us of of some very important aspect of our life in him or he wants to underscore a particular need that is necessary for that time so this this is um i believe it's paragraph 20 in the diary of saint paustina and let me read you this and i think this is going to answer your question i saw my guardian angel and this is saint faustina writing and saying this to us okay and she's revealing in her diary that she saw her guardian angel who ordered me to follow him in a moment i was in a misty place full of fire in which there was a great crowd of suffering souls they were praying fervently but to no avail for themselves only we can come to their aid the flames which were burning them did not touch me at all my guardian angel did not leave me for an instant i asked these souls what their greatest suffering was they answered me in one voice that their greatest torment was longing for god i saw our lady visiting the souls in purgatory the souls call her the star of the sea she brings them refreshment i wanted to talk with them some more but my guardian angel beckoned me to leave we went out of that prison of suffering i heard an interior voice which said my mercy does not want this but justice demands it since that time i am in closer communion with the suffering souls so right here we have an indication from saint faustina that our blessed lady actually visits the souls in purgatory and saint louis de montfort tells us something similar so i think we have every reason to hope that our blessed virgin mary is all about the holy souls we're going to come back after our break friends 833 288 ewtn is the way you can join us today toll-free for you in north america stay with us [Applause] [Music] ewtn the global catholic network he was a scholar a preacher a capuchin franciscan and a defender of christendom matthew bunson and the doctors of the church saint lawrence of brindisi was one of the most respected preachers in the 17th century but he also helped raise an army against the ottoman turks when they invaded hungary in 1601. he led the troops to victory against the turks carrying only a crucifix he was declared a doctor of the church in 1959. for more about the doctors of the church visit doctorsofthechurch.com want to be notified when women of grace goes live on facebook simply follow ewtn radio's facebook page and click on the bell icon to be notified this is life issues with brad mattis president of life issues institute abortionists and their supporters constantly complain that those who take the lives of innocent unborn children are shunned in polite society as well they should be they also claim abortion is health care but oppose any common sense protections for women who enter their facilities any outpatient surgical facility is subject to a variety of safety regulations like requiring working elevators and hallways that can accommodate gurneys women have died in abortion mills because they don't have adequate facilities in one case emts had to carry a collapsible wheelchair up three flights of stairs and carry the patient back down which took precious time during a critical emergency the abortion industry will never be legitimate health care their goal is killing not healing follow us on twitter at life issues usa and stay informed more informed than you've ever been monday on more to life dealing with disappointment are you feeling discouraged or disappointed let us help you discover the solutions you are seeking that's monday on more to life now back 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 we're so happy to be with you today on this friday in the lord and i am inviting you to give us a call 833 288 ewtn that's 833-288-3986 that is the way that you can join us matt gabinski is on the phones he's eager to hear from you he'll get your question up on the board for me and jeff berson will go out to ewtn radio's youtube channel and facebook page and retrieve your comments that you leave for us in the chat feature there jeff is our producer and social media manager i had a beautiful question from chris wondering if our blessed lady visits the souls in purgatory and i shared something with all of you from the diary of saint paustina i believe it's paragraph 20 where the saying is taken to purgatory by her guardian angel and sees the fat it sees the holy soul suffering there and they tell her that mary visits them uh there's also a beautiful article out there at the university of dayton's uh mary pages and here is the title of it it's called queen of purgatory it's written by gloria dodd october 28 2013 and in this beautiful article that she writes she tells us about the visitation of our blessed lady to the holy souls in purgatory some of this she quotes from the official handbook of the legion of mary uh but here is that quote from saint louis de montfort right it says purgatory forms part of the realm of mary there too are her children who in a passing spell of pain await their birth to the glory which will never pass i love that who in a passing spell of pain what what language is that that is so beautiful uh indicating to us that this is something that is temporary it's not a permanent state and then goes on and and she's quoting this uh saint vincent ferreira st bernadine of siena uh louis de bloy as well as others explicitly proclaimed mary to be queen of purgatory and saint louis de montfort urges us to think and act in accordance with that belief he wishes us to place in mary's hands the value of our prayers and satisfactions he promises us that in return for this offering those souls who are dear to us will be more abundantly relieved than if we were to apply our prayers to them directly and there's also additional teaching uh on on purgatory here taking us into the scriptural evidence for it as well and and encouraging us you know uh to to continue to pray for our diseased loved ones in union with mary and uh here as i said the title is queen of purgatory and that of course refers to our blessed mother so let's get back to our phone lines today we are eager to hear from you 833 288 ewtn that's 833-288-3986 it's the way that you can join us live here on women of grace live where we love to have that holy conversation with you we have nicole calling us from new york today how are you nicole i'm well how are you i'm good thank you so what is your question uh sure yes um i was wondering how to respond to a text that i had yesterday from a family member she said that she had just moved in with her boyfriend and she said she hadn't told too many family members because she knew it would be a controversial family topic and she put a little smiley face at the end so i you know i know like with what intent she said that she kind of knows how a lot of us are you know are about our faith and belief in marriage and so i guess i haven't responded to her i've been praying about it a lot and i want to see something that is brief loving and true so i had a few questions maybe that i wanted to ask her but i wasn't sure if off the top of your head you had anything in particular when you hear this situation that comes up often you know i want to commend you nicole and the fact that you really want to be uh careful in how you phrase your comment back to her because this comment can keep doors open or closed doors down we certainly want to keep the door open and also too for the gentility of your heart i want to thank you for that because it's obvious that you are concerned for her and for her eternal well-being and we know that this is outside of god's law and we know that to cohabitate um is is a grave sin um because that generally means that they're living as man and wife and so we know what that means as well so there's uh major sin uh you know grave sin mortal sin you know whatever adjective you want to use to describe it uh it is sin that separates us from god and casts you know a death blow to our spiritual life and that never leads to very good things so you know i think that that obviously you could you could you could go the the statistical route and and show her how many mary how many relationships never achieve marriage when it begins this way or if it achieves marriage leads to problems in the marriage that's a very very high number it's the majority of of marriages and or future predictions about future the future of a relationship when somebody is entered into that but most importantly you know i think at this juncture she's just moved in and i i probably would want to probe a little bit and i'm not sure that i would respond by text i think that when we're having serious discussions you know that's not the best way to respond so why not invite her out for coffee you know or just ask her to come over and let's just sit down and talk about this and about her decision why she made it sometimes you know young women make a decision like this and not so young women because they feel somewhat coerced by the man you know it's sort of like an ultimatum sometimes they're going against uh you know all of their intuition as well as what they know to be good and true and beautiful and i think that you want to talk about that because if any of those things are in play here then obviously i think it's a red flag on what this man's intentions are towards her but you don't know that until you have a discussion i would ask also our blessed lady to to be operative uh within you as you were talking with her uh that her maternal uh that her maternal love her maternal concern um would be predominant in this conversation and that she would uh ask her spouse the holy spirit to give you precisely the right words to speak but i don't think it's a quick conversation i don't think a couple of words are going to do it and i don't think text is the best way to approach it i i agree with you thank you you're welcome this is so hard oh god bless you too and you know nicole you are not the only one that's facing this issue i mean people are facing this issue every day family members good friends uh even confessors and spiritual directors we all too easily can fall victim to what the world says is okay to do as opposed to holding this up to the revealed truth of sacred scripture and the teachings of the church and we do need to be the sign and the witness and when god permits someone to come to us in this way i i also think nicole she's probably reaching out to you because she's probably pretty certain that you know you're going to give her good advice and counsel um and she wanted you to know interesting so yeah god's got a mission for you in this one i'm thinking um okay great i'll take it all right well god bless you and you know what i'll do you know when i pray my rosary today i'll tuck you into it too and and just um intercede for you that our blessed mother would be predominant in that meeting beautiful i appreciate it you're so welcome god bless you nicole bye bye now let's get to rachel she's in columbus ohio today hey rachel how are you good how are you i'm well thank you hi so i'm my question would be if you have any advice on how i can share my testimony of my conversion to the faith um i'm 20 years old i just joined the church this past easter vigil i was baptized confirmed dorsey's first communion all at one time it was absolutely fantastic but um so i don't really know where to begin and sharing my testimony and getting it out of my head in my heart like sometimes it feels like i'm just going to explode because of how much like i love god and want to share the love he's shown for me in my life yes and um yeah i went on a discernment retreat this weekend and that uh this past weekend and it confirmed very much that he would like me to share the great favors he's done for me sure i'm having trouble on figuring out how to do it overcoming i guess blockages that i believe the enemy keeps putting in the way that i'm trying to fight around um yes well let me just share with you some insights and i think i can help you with this and let me also recommend that if you have an opportunity uh please attend a women of grace foundational study because i think it will really open your eyes to the continued ways in which god continue uses us as his daughters to communicate the faith to others and it will help for you to see how beautiful you are in him and the great gift of your femininity and how it is that he wants to imbue that with his own divine life that you be might become what i like to say a mini mary in the world today and in that particular study we also talk about how to share your testimony so i'll share this with you rachel years ago on one of my television programs i interviewed a fellow by the name of tom curran and he was a catholic lay evangelist i pray to god that he still is a catholic lay evangelist and he was tremendous and so he shared with me a way in which we can communicate uh the great beauty of our faith and god's great favors his marvelous deeds as sacred scripture uh tells us with others and he said we formulate our testimony around three specific statements i was jesus did i am i was jesus did i am and you can develop several very short testimonials to respond to individuals who come to you or you engage in conversation with that might have questions about the faith that might be sharing with you a sorrowful story that might say that things are all messed up in their life right now you know just you have these at the ready that you can take out and you can use that as an evangelizing opportunity one that can bring them great solace great comfort and lead them to jesus so you begin with your story you know i i was not a catholic i felt the prompting of the holy spirit to enter the catholic church i did enter it jesus came into my life in a dynamic way i began to see how he had been calling me for many years i i am i am enthused interiorly and have a great zeal uh to do everything i can in my life for him i'm experiencing a joy that i never thought possible uh and and and all of that came as a way of him coming into my life and now i am a young woman who feels fulfilled in her faith who is anchored in this beauty and wonder who is our lord and who experiences him at every turn i'm making up some of that just based on what you said but it gives you an idea or if somebody comes to you and they're going through a very hard time you can remember when you went through a hard time uh and you could say i was going through a very difficult moment in my life you can name that moment but jesus came with his grace i cried out to him and asked for help and he came with his grace and it came with his mercy in these specific ways and you can name them and now i am i am growing in my faith i'm growing in my trust in him and i go to him with every need that i have and i'm never disappointed by these obviously have to be factual but i was jesus did i am and if you have a few of these in your in your evangelization toolbox there you'll be able to take them out how does that sound to you very good thank you you're quite welcome and i'm just delighted for you i am so happy for you my heart is full of joy for you that you are experiencing the abundant love our lord has for you through his catholic church the church that his son founded through the sacramental structure of that church through the ability to receive holy communion and to get patched up through the sacrament of reconciliation when need be and that he is uh it sounds to me like you are just in this honeymoon experience with our lord and that's a beautiful beautiful place to be it doesn't always last because he wants us to love him for himself and not just for his consolations but there will always be moments of that closeness that you're experiencing now and they'll grow deeper with time so god bless you rachel thank you you're welcome bye-bye goodbye i'm so excited to hear from a young woman 20 years old who wants to share her faith oh my goodness what a beautiful thing now we were talking about you know is god at work in the world today here is a sign yes he is and he's working through rachel and he wants to work through each one of us let's go to june she's in san diego uh california this morning how are you june oh hi how are you thank you for taking my call oh you're so welcome i um i've been um struggling with this for a really long time and i guess i never so my mom um we have she has kind of sort of a actually she has a toxic relationship with um with pretty much everyone she cannot hold friendships and she's had she's been very controlling ever since we were little um and i and she's she's she's been i spoke with the screener and about how uh i guess like she kind of was rare to uh be like the caretaker of the family ever since she was younger and i think that also she kind of did that with our family as she got when she got married for her husband and for her children and she you know she i know she cares and loves for us deeply it's just the way she expresses it she's always worried about us and on top of that she's um sort of she's critical as well but she's been the sacrificial person and i think i realized that after being married and learning that i'm kind of like i kind of learned that from her and i real and after taking therapy life that's not right the right um way to go in in essence she's in her 60s and now she has this resentment towards my dad and sort of the rest of the family yet she still cares about us it's very weird um and then she's gotten therapy a few times and uh she was diagnosed as like obsessive person that was obsessive personality disorder so um so my question is not um how i should well even if you have any great advice i would love to hear but i'm worried about so her actions are very toxic she doesn't make she she's not really making the correct decisions um she doesn't see things the correct way she assumes that she judges and she says she's very suspicious and so when she makes decisions it just and but she's very devoted to church she loves god she prays the most i and it's just she's hanging on to god yet she has all these like factors that work against her i'm wondering the biggest question is the heaven like will she i'm sorry no go ahead what is your biggest question my worry is could she like you have to live a christian life and yet she's sometimes i see that she's not and i'm just worried about her the possibility of her going to heaven well let's talk about all of this uh june you know and it certainly is a complicated situation but it's not a situation that is singular to your mom this is a situation that many people grapple with especially individuals that uh suffer with some type of of obsessive behavior whether it's you know obsessive compulsive disorder ocd or just an obsessive disorder uh so but but number one you know what is your call as her daughter number one you see all of this your call as her daughter is to pray for her your call is to pray for her and your call is to encourage her so you know when she gets very critical uh you know don't take that upon yourself and say oh my gosh you know i'm just messing up everywhere and never doing anything right don't take that upon yourself just say something like this you know mom i'm sorry you feel that way you know i'm sorry you feel that way uh you're acknowledging the fact that she feels that way but you're not ascribing any of what she's saying to yourself and and i think it's it's also a gentle way to to redirect the conversation i'm sorry you feel that way and then go off into a different conversational area as you say you know the way in which we are nurtured i mean how is it that you know we're influenced well some of it comes by nature it comes by our temperament it comes by what we inherit but a lot of it also comes through our nurture the way in which we're nurtured so here she was and at a young age she's put into this position where she becomes the caregiver for her family and then you know that follows her throughout her life uh and you pick up on some of that right you see that so your job for yourself in that is to recognize when am i following into this dysfunctional pattern now as for your mother's situation uh that could be a part of a mental health issue to the extent that she engages her free will to act mean or to be critical when her free will is engaged then she's culpable for that and she needs to go to the sacrament of reconciliation for it and she needs to strive to change that pattern of behavior but individuals that are you know riddled by some of these psychological emotional and mental health problems are not always are not always operating out of free will there's a component there that comes from the illness itself that compromises them therefore their culpability is not as great as it would be if in fact that situation their mental health emotional health or psychological health uh was not impeding their capacity to make uh you know a free will choice okay so something could be a mortal sin for us but for somebody that's suffering in this way um it it it wouldn't be a grave sin it might be a venial sin or it might be no sin at all so i would encourage you you know not to allow yourself to fall victim to your mother's dysfunctional behavior to find your way out of that in the moment redirect the conversation or tell her you know mom when you say these things um it really hurts me deeply and i know you don't want to hurt me so you know maybe maybe we can work through this together you know and um we can uh you know have a way that that we we acknowledge you know the fact that i'm not trying to cause you pain or suffering or any of these things right so all of that being said i think it's important for you uh to pray for her that's going to be the greatest thing that you can do and to rely upon god's mercy as well as his justice in leading her where she needs to be the important thing for you is any sign of dysfunction that you see personally that you might have picked up you know you want to work on that with the help sometimes of of good friends and and sometimes with the help of a counselor as well i hope that helps you what god doesn't want you to do is to worry about her worry you know jesus says you know fear is useless what is needed is trust but we demonstrate our trust in him through our prayer for her all right thank you so much i appreciate your help you're welcome honey you're welcome yeah and just and just one more word on this i just want to put out there to to all of you um you know god god showed me this about a family member once and he showed me that to the degree that that person was able to love me to the degree that they were capable of love they loved me that degree may not have been as great as the degree that i needed but it doesn't mean that they didn't love me it doesn't mean that they didn't care for me so in the midst of the criticism in the midst of the dysfunction in the midst of the meanness remember it may be that to the degree that this person can love this person is loving me right now and that their own ability to love may well have been impacted by the experiences that they had uh in their in their family of origin and in their growing up years and i got to tell you that set me free from so much you know just absolutely so very very much and i was able to love that individual to a degree that had been somewhat stifled prior to that time so i offer that to all of you today hopefully that's going to you know bring some consolation to you i don't know if we have time to get to sabrina i'm going to really try she is in iowa today and i'm just going to read the question what happens if we are drawn is it still okay to desire because it seems far more reverent i and i don't know what you're referring to sabrina and i have a feeling that you've tried to call us before but this is what i want to say please do call us back on monday i want to talk with you i want to answer your question and for those uh you know that of you that are trying to get through right now monday is another day so hold on to your question and don't forget we're going to be here at this very same time on this very same station discussing issues of importance to your life and faith and so you can call us back then i look forward to it well don't forget about that upcoming valentine's online marriage retreat with myself and my husband jack williams sign up for it we want you to be there we want you to be there we want to spend time with you on february 12th from 9am to 4pm eastern time god bless bye bye now the most original catholic content is on ewtn radio what have you always wanted

Channel: EWTN

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Keywords: Catholic, EWTN, Christian, television

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Length: 54min 10sec (3250 seconds)

Published: Fri Feb 04 2022