Latest / The Uncensored Catholic / Show 161: Papal Infallibility Veneration of Relics and Independence Day

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Show 161: Papal Infallibility Veneration of Relics and Independence Day · The Uncensored Catholic

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A, Hey, y'all, welcome to today's show. Did a long show
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yesterday, I had the last two of them fairly long, and today I
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just want to wrap up the topic that we've been discussing, which is the
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veneration of saints, and we're going to get into relics, which is really
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fascinating and well also, of course, as usual, start with a couple
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of questions and answers from radio replies, so let's start there. The person
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brings out the topic of papal infallibility and they say it is a remarkable claim,
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and the pre's answer it is, But then the Catholic Church is a
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very remarkable church. She was not founded by Martin Luther or Henry the Eighth
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or John Knox, but by Jesus Christ, who guaranteed her as his official
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representative in this world. Yet, although the Catholic Church is remarkable church,
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it is not really remarkable that Christ should have kept his promise to her.
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This is actually where we left off yesterday, but I wanted to reintroduce this
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question answer because the guy will carry on a little bit after that. He
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said, your church is composed of human beings like any other, and they
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said, no, not like any other. The Catholic Church is composed of
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human beings knit gathered by the authority of the Christ and rejoicing in his perpetual
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protection and assistance. The person replies, I find the Catholic assumption of infallibility
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appalling, and they reply, I should be appalled if a church claiming to
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be established by Christ and to speak with His authority did not claim to be
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infallible. A fine sort of guide to eternal destiny God would have given us
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if that guide calmly admitted she were not sure of the road herself, says,
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but do you deny this to be arrogant to say the least, and
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they said, I do. It would be an arrogant claim if she pretended
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to confer the prerogative upon one's upon herself. But Christ endowelled her with this
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gift, and she humbly admits to the fact that it is not of her
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own ability. A duly accredited judge is not arrogant, but one who orders
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you to the gallows without a vestige of authority for doing so is certainly arrogant.
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Persons says, with their infallible church, Catholics do not need God at
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all. And they answer they do. In order to live up to their
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religion. Catholics need God's grace and help individually all along the line. Their
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infallible Church teaches them with certainty what they must believe and do. But even
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this infallibility of the Church would be a farce without God. She is infallible
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because and only because of God, and only because God preserves her from error
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in her own teaching. Therefore, God therefore becomes more necessary than ever.
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Persus says, upon what grounds does your church claim? In fact, Christ
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establishes church and find a pound foundation as a solid rock, and declared that
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the gates of hell or the forces of evil would not prevail against it.
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This implies the perpetual retention of the truth caught by Christ forbidding its corruption.
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He commanded her to teach all nations all things whatsoever I have commanded you,
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And behold, I am with you all days, even unto the consummation of
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the world Matthew twenty eight twenty. His presence guarantees that she will ever teach
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a doctrine identical to his own principles. He promised that the Holy Spirit would
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abide with the Church forever undoubtedly a pledge of perpetual infallibility. John fourteen sixteen.
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Saint Paul clearly manifests this doctrine in his words, behave thyself in the
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House of God, which is the Church of the Living God, and the
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pillar and ground of the Truth one Timothy three point fifteen. The early Fathers
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insisted upon infallibility of the Church, and reason also tells us that the unity
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of the Church could not be maintained if she could fail in her teaching of
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the truth. Her very holiness forbids heresy. Her Catholicity demands expansion without loss
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of the self same teaching, whilst her apostyleis Apostolicity requires perpetual duration of an
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unchanged apostolic doctrine. Finally, at the Catholic Church be not infallible, then
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there is no church on earth which is such as Christ predicted. Person answers,
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it is all a matter of viewpoint. In my opinion, your viewpoint
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is utterly wrong, and the foundation of your church is worm eaten, worm
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eaten of the answer, worm eaten. As the foundations of the Church may
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seem to you, the fact remains that she keeps adding story after story to
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her skyscraper heights. The Arians told her that her foundations were worm eaten in
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the fourth century, the Greeks and the ninth, the Protestant Reformers of the
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sixth tenth, the Rationalists in the eighteenth, and a few still continue to
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do so, although mere rationalism is rapidly going out of date. At present,
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the modernists are the chief people to worry about the worm eaten foundations of
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the Catholic Church. The only one who is not worrying about them as the
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Church herself. She keeps just going on her way, never dying, but
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ever increasing, despite the fact that in every age outsiders have been busy composing
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her epitaph. All right, we will now move on to the veneration of
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relics of the saints. Now, this is another Catholic doctrine that Protestants just
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hate. They just hate it. They call it idol worship, never mind
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the fact that it's described in the Bible the bones of certain saintans being collected
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and put in a special place, tombs where people said prayers the bones.
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I guess it was. Was it Elijah where they opened his grave after he'd
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been buried. I think it's right, Okay, I'm going to have to
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double check that when I think we'll get actually get to that actual quote.
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But the dead man put in the same grave, and he came to life
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when he touched the bones of the great Saint. From the Old Testament what
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they call it handkerchiefs, cloths used by Saint Peter being taken to sick people,
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and they were healed when touching them. This is you can really back
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this up with the Bible. And if you want to give Protestants just fits,
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just send them into backflips, open your Bible and start talking about cloths
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that were touched by Saint Peter or the bones of a great prophet, et
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cetera. So now let's get into it. Father Spirago says, the name
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of relic is given to the remains of the saints, as well as to
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objects that have been closely connected with Christ or the Saints. The body of
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a saint is a relic, or any portion of it, even the most
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minute particle bone. These relics are placed beneath or pine altars. They also
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pass into possession of private persons. Those only are authentic to which the name
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of the saint and the episcopal seal is attached. The relics themselves must not
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be sold, but this prohibition does not apply to the case of containing them.
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To the case containing them, I should have said, from from time
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immemorial, those objects also which are closely connected with Our Lord or Saints have
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been held in high veneration. For instance, the Cross of Christ, his
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tunic, his winding sheet, is his bureau cloths, the manger wherein the
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infant Jesus was laid, Veronica's veiled to etc. The Holy Cross was discovered
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by the Empress Helena in the year three twenty five, and a portion of
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it is in the Church of the Holy Sepulture of Jerusalem. A part of
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the manger is in the Church of Santa Maria Maggiori. I think is how
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you pronounce it. In Rome, the seamless Coat of Our Lord is in
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the Cathedral of Treves Trevis. I don't speak to tight. In eighteen ninety
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one it was exposed for six weeks, and two thousand of the faithful came
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to adore it. During that period, eleven authentic cases of miraculous cures took
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place at Our Gentu at Our genttule A r G E N T e U
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i L near Paris. Another garment worn by our Lord and as a child
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is preserved. It was presented by Charlemagne to the church. The Holy Winding
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Sheet is in Turin, the Shroud of Touron. We know it is the
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Shroud of Turin, not the Holy Winding Sheet, but apparently that's what was
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called in the eighteen nineties. Veronicas Vale is in Saint Peter's at Rome.
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Several other important relics are preserved at the Church of I L Chapelle. The
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whole of the whole of Palestine is to the Christian a sacred and precious relic,
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and seven crusades were undertaken to recover it from the Saracens. Yeah,
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Christians used to fight to protect Jerusalem from Muslims. I really think a lot
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of our church leadership that's pro Palestinian, so called, is on the right
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side. I don't the Okay, that's seven the crusades undertaken recovered from the
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Saritons. Saracens prove how much it was valued in the Middle Ages. The
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principal holy places are the place of the Crew Crucifixion and the Sepulture on Mount
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Calvary. The scene of our Lord's agony, and the spot where he ascended
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on Mount on the Mount of Olives, Mount Alivet, the Cynical on Mount
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Zion, his birthplace at Bethlehem, and the Holy House of Nazareth. Now
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at Loretta, that's a fascinating story as well. Hopefully we'll get into that
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soon if I haven't covered it already. But angels carried the Home of Jesus
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from where it was to Loretto miraculously, which just amazing. I think if
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all Christians knew that, it'd be a lot more Catholics in this world.
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At all these places churches were erected, mostly by the Emperor Constantine or his
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mother Helena. The garments worn by martyrs and the instruments of their execution,
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the spot on which the spot on where emminent saints were born or buried have
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always been held in veneration. It was formerly the custom to erect churches and
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altars for the celebration of divine worship over places thus hallowed, especially where the
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saints are interred, where they're buried relics are deserving a veneration for this reason.
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Because the bodies of the saints were temples at the Holy ghost instruments whereby
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he worked, and they will rise glorious from the grave. The Jews regard
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a dead body as an unclean thing, but the Christians look upon it with
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respects having been the dwelling place of the holy ghost and as being the seed.
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Whence the immortal, glorified body was spring at the restur of Moreover,
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a Saint Jerome remark by honoring saints, we adore him for whom they died.
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God himself shows them honor, for by their medium he works miracles.
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Many bodies or portions of bodies of saints still remain incorrupt and supple, such
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as that of Saint Teresa or Saint Francis Xavier. In other words, their
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bodies don't rot. They're incorrupt. Some amit a delicious fragrance. They smell
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like roses. In other words, says Saint John christostem from others and oil
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distills possessed of healing properties. This is very interesting. Another thing most people
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don't know. God, says Saint John Christostom, has divided the possession of
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his saints between himself and us. He has taken their souls to heaven and
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left their bodies for us, we honor the relics of the saint by preserving
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them. We honor the relics of the saints by preserving them with reverence and
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visiting the spot where they are deposited. Even among the relics were regarded with
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reverence. At the exit from Egypt, Moses took Moses took Joseph's bones with
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him, Exodus thirteen nineteen. The early Christians also had a great respect for
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relics. When Saint Ignacious, Bishop of Antioch was torn to pieces by lions,
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two of his companions came by night and gathered up his bones, carrying
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them to Antioch. When Saint polycarch Bishop of Smyrna was burned alive, the
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Christians collected his ashes, valuing them more than jewels, And an early date
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it was customary to erect chapels or altars above the tombs of martyrs and offer
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the holy sacrifice over their remains. Of course, you know, one of
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the earliest churches with an altar erect over the bones of a saint is that
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of Saint Peter, and it was said for two thousand years that his bones
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were under the altar in s Peter's Basilica, and you know, a few
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decades ago when they were doing renovations, they found, Yeah, the Christians
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placed them there under the altar at Saint Peter's Basilica after he was crucified upside
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down, martyred as a martyr. Relics are usually enclosed in costly reliquaries,
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richly decorated gold boxes and crystal, and such as that. It is out
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of respect for the dead that we lay wreaths on their coffins and deck their
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graves with flowers. Relics of great values, such as portions of the True
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Cross or of the Manger at Bethlehem, are encased in gold or silver.
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Likewise, some of the bodies of the saints. From time immemorial, pilgrimages
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have been made to the sepulchers of the Saints. For nineteenth centuries, the
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faithfully have been wont to visit the tombs of the Apostles in Rome or the
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holy places in Palestine. Now that would be more than twenty one centuries.
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The early Christians flocked in such numbers of the Holy Land and places in Jerusalem
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were thronged with devout worshippers. Anyone who had not been thither would esteem himself
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a worse Christian than his neighbors. We visit the sepulchers of the Saints,
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says Saint John Christostin, and prostrate ourselves there in order to obtain some graces
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which we need. Of course, America is very far from most of those
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places in Europe and the Middle East, so we're not necessarily required to do
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that anymore. One can take a pilgrimage of a special devotion. You know,
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if you got the money to do it, and you have the intent
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to do it for the right reason, go for it, you know.
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As a priest told me one time when I had lost my job and gotten
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deep into debt, and I said, you know, I was in confession.
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I said, you know, I haven't been putting money in the plate
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lately. I couldn't afford it. And he said, well, what's going
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on? I told him, and he said, he said, the money
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you have, you one have to pay for your housing and you have to
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put food on the table, and then you're in debt. It's owed to
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other people. You can't take that money and put it in the plate.
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It would actually be stealing money from them. That's rightfully. Theirs and the
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Church doesn't want that money that way, when you have excess, when you
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have abundance, then tithe don't do as you know, the protests say,
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tie out of your need unless you know God actually, you know, puts
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that intention on your heart. You know, if he does, then we
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go for it. But likewise, you should not feel like you're a bad
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Catholic because you can't afford to go to Israel or take a pilgrimage to Rome
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or something like that. Okay, a lot of people are a little stride
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it with such language, and you know, there are a lot of Catholics
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that cannot afford to go on expensive trips. That's just the truth, and
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it doesn't make you a bad Catholic, so don't think it does. We
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may obtain many blessings from God by veneration, by venerating relics. Relics are
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a source when spiritual benefits come to us from God. Saint John Demassing says,
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as water gush from the rock in the wilderness at God's command, so
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by his will, blessings flow from the relics of the saints. Where the
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remains of saints or martyrs are interred, the snares of the devil will lose
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their potency and obstinate maladies are healed. Saint Augustine relates numerous cures affected by
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the relics of Saint Stephen in Africa. Beside the raising from the dead of
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two children. In the Old Testament, we read of the dead man returning
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to life on coming into contact with the bones of the prophet Elysius. As
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he said in his old way of writing, that's Kings, four chapter book.
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Let me see four Kings, chapter thirteen, verse twenty one. I
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believe even in the life, even in their lifetime, the bodies of the
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saints were instrumental in working miracles. The shadow of Saint Peter in Acts five
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point fifteen, and by the handkerchiefs or girdles worn by Saint Paul. Okay
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I did get that, Roy. It wasn't Saint Peter's handkerchief, It was
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his shadow, and it was Saint Paul's handkerchief or girdle as he put it.
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All that means is the band that went around his waist. It's not
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like we would think of as a girdle. By the way, just in
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case you're wondering, Saint Paul I don't think was too concerned about his appearance.
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But anyway, that's Acts nineteen twelve. The sick were delivered from their
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infirmities. But it must be remembered it is not by the relics themselves that
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these miracles are wrought, but by God. Hence, it is not a
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superstitious act on the part of a pious person when they visit places of pilgrimage
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where God is pleased to work wonders by means of relics or images of the
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saints. So y'all, I'm gonna wrap it up here. Tomorrow's fourth of
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July. Go have a good time, spend time with friends and family.
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Grew up some hamburgers and hot dogs, Have a couple of old beers on
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a hot day if that's what you enjoy, or you know, chilled wine
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or even a soft drink if you you know, I actually happened to think
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wine and beer are much better for you than sweet sodas and all that.
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But that's up to you, you know. And of course, if you
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have a problem with alcohol, avoid alcohol. But all I'm saying is it's
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a good day to celebrate the freedoms God's given us. Don't forget. I
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mean, my ancestor is Charles Carroll, the only Catholic signer of the Decoration
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of Independence. I did a whole special in him last year. If you
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want to pull that up tomorrow and play it for your kids and teach him
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about this great Catholic who literally funded the American Revolution. Without Charles Carroll,
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we have no America. We have no America. He funded the Continental Army,
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and he sacrifices his family and everything. I mean, the British really,
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I mean went after him hard because not only was he a rebel against
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the British Empire as an American, but he was an Irish Catholic and very
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very, very very wealthy. Of course, I believe was a nephew of
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his that went on to be a senator from Maryland, and another one that
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founded Georgetown University. So I mean was that the same one, it was
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a different one that was the first Catholic Bishop of the United States. I
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mean, I'll have to refresh my own own memory tomorrow, but Charles Carroll
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is probably in his family the most influential Catholics in the United States. And
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without those Catholics, trust me, there be no United States. In America.
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He was the only one of the signers that wasn't a Freemason. I
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mean, they were anti Catholic, but they had to They had to agree
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to religious freedom, they had to agree to the ability to practice Catholicism in
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America to have the money to fund the war. And another interesting fact of
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independence is that George Washington renounced Freemasonry and converted to Catholicism on his deathbed.
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So you can really honestly say that, in at least two ways, America
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was founded by Catholics. Now founded to be a pluralistic nation, founded mostly
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by Freemasons who wanted to destroy Catholicism, But two of the leading lights of
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American independence and two of the most influential people in all of American history were
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Catholic. And we got no America without these Catholics. So check them out
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tomorrow. I hope, I know you enjoy it, and don't forget.
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Let me just give you one tip. Okay, this has nothing to do
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with anything we talked about today. July is when you know everybody thinks about
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sweet corn. Corn of the cop One of my favorite things is a great
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gift from God, and I think people ruin it more often than they eat
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it as intended. Never ever, ever shock your corn and then boil it
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in water. That destroys the flavor of the corn. Get the freshest corn
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you can. Okay, leave the shucks on, leave the silks in place.
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Either grill it over high heat, roast it in a hot oven,
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or pop it in the microwave at about four minutes an ear. Take it
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out, let it cool a little bit, pull the shucks back, take
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the silks off. Butter and salt. You're good to go. Now.
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You can put some spices on there. You can do a little that,
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cookio, cheese, do whatever you like. Do not boil your corn.
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Now, if you live in an area where you get a lot of the
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corn worms, you might want to pull the shucks back and remove them before
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cooking. Just cut that piece off. I'd still leave them on as much
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as I can, And actually I usually just cut that piece off after it's
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cooked. I mean that worm is kind of relegated to one little spot on
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that corn. It doesn't bother anything. But do not boil your corn.
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Please, don't boil your corn and enjoy. I mean, what a gift
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from God is corn? Imagine millions of years ago, just thousands of years
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ago, just thousands of years ago, it was nothing but a grass.
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Somehow God enlightened the Mayans to cultivate it into a grain that we could eat,
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from a grass to full ears of corn. Then the Europeans cultivated it
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from what you call dent corn, corn that you make corn meal out of
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or use for animal feed, into sweet corn. This is truly through the
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grace of God and the inspired work of thousands of generations of human beings that
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we have this miracle. And I think it's truly a miracle that is sweet
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corn. So do show it the respect that it I think God intended,
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because I don't think he could have made anything anything more delicious than sweetcorn.
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Fresh. And remember, it begins losing its flavor the moment it's picked.
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The sugars begins turning to starch. So the fresher you can get it,
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and the faster you can eat it. I know there are people that will
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literally pick it and roast it right in the field, but do not boil
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it. Okay that you lose flavor, you lose nutrition. You turn this
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just incredible wonderful thing into you know, just something okay, And if you
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haven't had it cooked hot and in the shucks and then just serve with butter
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and salt or maybe little creole season or whatever you like on there, you
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do not know what you're missing. And you may scoff at what I'm saying,
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but let me tell you a little celery salt will also enhance that flavor.
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There are compounds in celery that are actually like MSG, so they enhance
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flavor. And shardon an oki shardenay, a glass of white wine will actually
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bring out more flavor from corn and asparagus, those those two vegetables than they
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have with any other beverage. So if if you listen to this you like
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chardonnay, you haven't tried just popping an ear of corn in the microwave for
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four minutes, pull it out, shuck it, butter and salt it,
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and have it with your glass of wine. You do not know what you're
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missing. I am telling you you do not know what you're missing. And
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if you can't eat corn in the cob, a lot of people can't,
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you know, due to dental issues or whatever. Cut it off the cop.
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Take your knife, cut straight down, Well, don't actually cut straight
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down. Put your knife in an angle. Go in an angle and slice
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the corn off. Don't push it off with your knife. Slice it off,
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but remember scrape the cob with your knife and get all everything out of
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there. Then, you know, put in a bowl. I mean I'm
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talking cook corn. You know you cook the cornerly I said it, sliced
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off the cob. Put in a bowl with butter and salt and joy.
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Put a little cheese on there, whatever you like. Cook it with some
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milk or cream and a little sugar and salt, and make cream corn.
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As long as you cook it right the first time, not boiling it,
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you're gonna be amazed. You can do corn casseroles. You can do one
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of my favorite things, fresh corn to Molly's. They call them green corn
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to Molly's. They are phenomenally could. You're gonna fall in love with corn.
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So this is the time to do it. Go go get yourself some
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corn now. The words of Saint Padre Pio, pray, hope and don't
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worry, and I will talk to you next time. Happy fourth of July,
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y'all, Happy Independence Day. Remember when someone says happy fourth of July,
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I always say Happy Independence Day because that's what we're actually celebrating, not
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just a day of the month. So Happy Independence Day.