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Show 146: Christian Hope · The Uncensored Catholic

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The f A Hey, y'all, welcome to today's show. We will continue
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with our section in radio applies, but we're beginning a brand news section today
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in Father Spirago's exhaustive Catechism of the Catholic Church, and that is about Christian
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hope. So real nice, you know, change of pace. After we've
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been talking a lot about Hell in Purgatory and the Final Judgment and all that,
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we're going to get into Christian hope. But let's start with the questioner
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asked the priest. I admit your test of the Catholic Church, founded by
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Christ, continually existing, united, universal and authoritative, authoritative, I should
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say, but I cannot admit the machine made organization with its hard and fast
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rules, which you call the Catholic Church to be that church. The answer.
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If the Catholic Church is not it, no other can be. However,
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the Catholic Church is not on a machine made organization. It is just
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as established by Christ. Where the Catholic Church and man made system it would
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have gone the way of all man made kingdoms and empires which have come and
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gone, whereas it has serenely kept going with a humanly inexplicable vitality, very
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important. The Catholic Church is the oldest institution on earth. Amazingly so,
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it is the only institution comprised of human beings still on earth. After two
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thousand years, every government has risen and fallen, every kingdom has risen and
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fallen, changed forms. Well, my ancestors, the Kings of the House
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of Wessex are no longer the Kings of England, you know. I mean,
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I'm sure many Brits out there would say, wait a minute, our
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monarchy predates. No, it actually doesn't. The House of Wessex was justly
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Catholic, decidedly. I mean, we have saints out of there, Saint
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Edward the Confessor and such. But the House of Wessex no longer rules England.
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It's the House of Windsor now. And you know, the Protestant so
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called Reformation, the Anglican Church changed everything. It was a great persecution against
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Catholics, and the Catholic monarchs no longer rule England. You know, you
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can look into, oh, the whole controversy around you know, Mary,
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Queen of Scots and all that, and I mean, yeah, it's pretty
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nasty, bloody period, a pure genocide of the English against the English not
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to mention the English against the Irish and the Scots and anybody else who wouldn't
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become Anglican. Certainly, if you want to look at the oldest societies and
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cultures, I mean, we could look at China and India. No,
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those aren't the same governments, you know, absolutely not. I mean,
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we had a communist revolution in China in the nineteen hundreds got rid of the
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Manchurians. India has gone through several changes of government. You cannot find a
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I mean France, the French Revolution. Italy has had I don't even know
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how many constitutions just had in the past one hundred years. I mean,
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they've had a change of government more often than most people change their shoes.
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There is no institution on earth older than the Catholic Church, certainly not the
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Masonic Order, which only began in like the seventeen thirties, seventeen forties.
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Regardless of what they say, and they're ridiculous made up histories, the Catholic
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Church is one of the miracles of the church is that has existed since Christ
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founded it on Saint Peter. It has never fallen away, it's never disappeared.
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You can go back to the earliest writings of the earliest church followers.
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Pope Saint Clement of Run, the third Pope. He was actually ordained,
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I believe, by Saint Peter himself as a priest and then became pope.
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It was the third pope, So after Saint Peter was more and I believe
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the one that came after him was marred. Then Pope say Clement of Rum,
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in some of his first writing, says very boldly the Catholic Church,
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the center of the seat of which is in Rome. So I mean,
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there's never been a time when the Catholic Church did not exist, from when
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Jesus said, now art Peter, and upon this rock, I found my
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church to the present. And the only reason Protestants don't know that, know
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that, is they won't read the early Church fathers. They don't read Pope
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say Clement of Rum. They certainly won't read Barnabas by word. There'd be
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no Torah observant Christians or Messianic Jews as they are called, or Seven day
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Adventists for that matter, if they read Barnabas. They won't read Saint Justin
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Martyr, they won't read polycarp they won't read ignacious. I could go down
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the list. They certainly won't read the d dot K, which is actually
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the writings of the Apostles, which was basically the only church document for a
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couple of hundred years. I mean, you got to remember that there was
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no Bible for about three hundred years. They had Old Testament writings, many
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of which were rejected and not put in the final Bible. They had the
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various letters that like Saint Paul or Saint Peter would send to a church,
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but that church would have one letter or two letters. They didn't have everything
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compiled and put together. The Acts of the Apostles weren't written, Revelations wasn't
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written. I could go on. Really, there was no Bible. There
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was only a church. And you know then there was a church and its
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Bible that chronicles the church. Regardless what Protestants think. There was never a
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time from at least from Pentecost Sunday to this very present day when there wasn't
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a Catholic Church. But there was no other church until the schism between Catholicism
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and Greek Orthodoxy, and that went back and forth for several years, you
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know, well a couple of centuries really and really didn't fully break away until
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Muslims took over that area. What was the name of it, Constantinople,
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That's what I'm trying to remember. And in order to continue to be Christian,
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they had to swear allegiance to the Muslim caliph, I believe is what
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they called him, and the Muslims signed off on everything they did, so
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essentially for a good century there the Orthodox Church was under the rule of Islam,
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and you know, so it definitely wasn't connected to the Catholic Church at
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that point and has never really fully reunified. He came close, but the
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Russians, being Russians and very much under the control of the Soviet Union at
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that point, put an end to that. And then there was no other
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church until Martin Luther did his ridiculous bit in the fifteen hundreds, and King
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Henry the eighth wanted to divorce his wife and the Church said, nope,
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we don't allow divorce him. By the way, you need to quit cutting
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your wife's heads off as well, and he declared himself the sovereign and create
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his own church and started slaughtering Catholics who wouldn't agree to him, and very
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quickly. You know, Martin Luther sign sided with the German princes who did
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not wish to pay tribute to Rome, as he said, didn't wish to
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help fund the church, didn't wish to tithe, and they went around slaughtering
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people too, many of whom were actually Protestants. They were peasants who decided,
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well, if we don't need the authority of the church, we don't
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need the authority of the monarchy anymore either. And Martin Luther bragged about having
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thousands of them slaughtered. He was a horrible man. So the Catholic Church
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founded by Jesus on Saint Peter born in the blood of the martyrs, Protestant
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churches founded by Martin Luther and King Henry and etc. Are actually founded in
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divorce, murder, and genocide. Well, anyway, the person goes on,
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where in scripture does it mention that Christ founded any such system. Well,
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in general they answer. Christ terms his church a kingdom, which supposes
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some organized authority. However, the explicit steps in establishing the authoritative hierarchy are
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clear. Christ chose certain men. You have not chosen me, but I
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have chosen you. He said in John fifteen sixteen he gave them his own
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mission. As the Father has sent me, I also send you John twenty
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twenty one. The commission include his teaching authority teach all nations. Whatsoever I
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have commanded you, Matthew, what is that twenty eight nineteen. I think
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his power to sanctify baptizing them Matthew again, twenty eight nineteen. Forgiving sins,
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those who sends you forgive, they are forgiven. Three offering sacrifice.
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Do this for a commemoration of me for Corinthians eleven twenty four. His legislative
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or disciplinary power. He who hears you hears me. And he who despises
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you despises me. That is Luke ten sixteen. Whatsoever you shall bind on
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earth, it should be bound in heaven. Matthew eighteen eighteen. If a
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man will not hear the church, let him beat of thee as a heathen
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Matthew eighteen seventeen. The apostles certainly exercise the powers from these powers from the
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beginning. Thus we read in the Acts of the Apostles they were all persevering
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in the doctrine of the Apostles. Saint Paul himself did not hesitate in excommunicating
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the incestuous Corinthians as First Corinthians five to four, and he wrote to the
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Hebrews, obey your prelates and be subject to them Hebrews eighteen seventeen. All
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right, you know, I guess I could do the next question. I
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guess the same person says cannot. The Congregationalists make an equally strong case for
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a universal spiritual brotherhood, but with a local independence of churches. That's really
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odd. Congregational is very new, well, I mean relatively new. They're
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certainly not two thousand years old. I think this was written in the nineteen
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thirties. I don't think they're more than one hundred years old by any means.
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They said. There is no evidence of independence local churches in scripture nor
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in primitive documents. There is evidence that there were distinct groups of Christians in
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various places, just as there are Catholics in London under one bishop and Catholics
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in New York under another. All true Christians certainly formed a universal spiritual brotherhood
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brotherhood as Catholics do today. But local autonomy existed only in the sense that
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there were bishops in charge of various localities, the bishops themselves being subject Saint
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Peter, and after his death ess theirs to Saint Peter. And again,
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if you read the early Church fathers, especially let's see polycarp would be a
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really good example. Saint Justin Martyr, like I said, all the ignacious
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Ignatius would be a really good example. Constantly urging people to obey their priests,
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the priests, to obey their bishops. I mean they say there must
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be uni, there must be no schism, just as it says in Acts,
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just as it says in all the writings of well from the Acts Ford,
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you know, from the beyond the Gospels, and even in the Gospels,
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when Jesus said to that he prayed that they would be one, as
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he and the Father were one. No schism, no disunity. Obey your
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priests, priests, obey the bishops, bishops, obey the cardinals, and
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the cardinals obey the Pope. And you know, no division, only one
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truth, only one teaching, no heresy, no heterodoxy. Continue to believe
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and teach the same things given to you by the apostles, which was given
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to them by Christ. And that is repeated over and over and over in
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the first century, the first two centuries, the first three centuries and for
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the last two thousand years. Protestants claim differently. They claim there were these
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different Christian groups and churches not under the authority of the Catholic Church. There
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is absolutely no historical evidence for that whatsoever. They have no reason to believe
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it except they want to believe it. And they claim that there were Christians
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that were not Catholic, and the Catholic Church wasn't founded until like four hundred
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and something. They can only claim that by being absolutely ignorant to all the
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historic documents. And besides, even if you were, even if the only
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thing you allow yourself to read is the Bible and claim that they won't say,
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oh, I only believe what's in the Bible. Well, meanwhile,
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they probably read a newspaper or sports illustrator or something. But anyway, show
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me the church, show me where these people are buried, show me their
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graves, show me their buildings, show me their works, show me the
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books they wrote, show me their altars, show me their vestments, show
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me their artwork. Show me any historical evidence that any any church Christian church
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existed before the Orthodox Schism, which we've explained that, but especially before the
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so called Protestant Reformation, which was essentially a bloodbath of genocide by the Protestants,
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not by the Catholics trying to force these people to be Catholic, but
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by the Protestants. Okay, show me any existence of any of those churches
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ever existing. Point me out one man in history that you can point to
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and show me his doctrine. It's a myth. It's just Joseph Smith and
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his myths in the Book of Morbon. These are the results of hatred toward
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Catholics and qge egos, meglomoniacal egos and absolute fantasy. They're just simply doesn't
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exist. These buildings, these relics, these artifacts. You can go to
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Turkey and see some of the oldest churches on earth. You can go to
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Israel and see some of the oldest Christian churches on earth. You can go
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to Iran and see some of the I mean, if they haven't been destroyed.
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But the catacombs in Rome, I mean, but there are those churches
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like in Syria and Turkey that are in caves and the walls are covered with
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paintings of the bussed Virgin Mary and the Apostles and Saint Joseph and angels,
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and their written prayers again on the walls. And we know exactly what the
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first Christians believe and what they taught, whether in archaeological evidence or in the
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books they left us. So let's ignorance is. Ignorance is quite the enemy
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of the truth faith if more people knew the truth. But what do you
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expect. I mean, in schools, they teach you all the Dark Ages
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and the Middle Ages. They don't teach you about the great art and the
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great writers of theology and scientists that were Catholic, often monks and priests.
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No, they try to tell you that everything was just you know, ignorance
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and awful and all that, and then the Enlightenment happened. Well, that
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didn't actually happen that way, really didn't happen that way at all. There
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was the the Middle Ages, or what they want to call the Dark Ages.
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I guess before that, I don't know. I don't know exactly when
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they date things too, I don't have that in front of me. They
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want to say this was as hard. It was actually the greatest advancement of
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human rights and dignity, property rights, prosperity and peace the world had ever
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seen. Seriously. When under Christendom the pope could negotiate between war and kings.
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I mean there were many wars and prevented and others that were brought to
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an end sooner. There were actually standards of laws and courts established so that
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people didn't weren't just at the whims of the will of whatever, you know,
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potentate was in their area. But because everyone was a brother and sister
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in Christ and everyone had to be under the law, people could appeal a
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civil ruling to their bishop, and the bishop might have to take it to
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the Pope. But the pope, being the head of Christendom, could have
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absolutely had the authority to tell the king what to do. They had the
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authority to tell you know, regional authorities what to do. They respected the
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Pope, they respected the artoll's, they respected the bishop under him, and
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their authority to rule became based on their position within the Christian Catholic Church.
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It was only the rise of the nation state under people like King Henry the
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Eighth, under the German princes that said, we are our own authority,
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we are the sovereign over our nation. We don't listen to the pope.
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Where the wars began again in earnest Genocides, slavery began coming back. Slavery
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was actually on its way out under Christendom. But what are you going to
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do if a man will not listen to the church, Let him be to
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you as a pagan, as a heathen. Well that's exactly what they became.
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They became pagans and heathens. And even the so called enlightened progressive English,
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who had absolutely were morally opposed to slavery, definitely justified it and got
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real big into the industry when they figured out they could establish colonies in the
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Caribbean essentially and used slaves to grow sugarcane, sent it up to Boston,
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turned into rum and become incredibly wealthy. There's some really great books about the
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history of sugar in England and how they became so addicted to sweets and rum
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and then your teeth rotting out and all morality was pretty much out the window
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at that point, because they wanted that empire. They wanted that the Great
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British Empire, and as long as they could justify it as the English are
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superior to all especially Catholics and you know Hindus in India and uh, so
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called you know, pagan Black Africans and et cetera. Well, they found
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a lot of justification to you slaves. Meanwhile, the Pope would have told
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him not to do that. Yeah, but they wouldn't listen to the Pope
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about that. You know, some Catholic nations certainly engaged in slavery too,
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several did. They wouldn't listen to the pope either Portuguese, Spanish, you
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know. But yeah, definitely the English, the Germans, the Norwegians,
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the Swedes. I mean, they were, you know, all going Protestant
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at that point in time, and there was no authority higher than their civil
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government or their king. So now let's get into Father Spirago's Exausouf Catechism and
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we're going to talk about, as I said, Christian hope. What a
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nice topic. The essence of Christian hope. Christian hope is the confident expectation
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of all those things which Christ promised us with regard to the fulfillment of God's
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will. Hope, says Saint Paulinus, gives us a foretaste of the promised
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joys of heaven. How great is the multitude of thy sweetness, Soul,
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Lord, which thou hast wrought for them that hope in thee that's from Psalms.
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I guess thirty twenty. Such hope may be called holy because directed to
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God and supernatural things. By this is fulfilled the precept of the apostles seek
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the things that are that are above Colossian Street one. As a reward of
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carrying out God's will, Christ has promised us eternal happiness and the means required
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for attaining it, in particular, God's grace, temporal goods for the sustaining
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of our life, forgiveness of sins, help in our necessities, and the
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answering of our prayers. Christ promised us eternal happiness one John. First,
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John, I guess Donald Trump would say, one John, I like the
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way he does that two twenty five. In the house am I follow?
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There are many mansions. If not, I would have told you that I
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go to prepare a place for you John fourteen two. He has further promised
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to raise our bodies again after death John five twenty eight. The desire for
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perfect happiness has planted deep in our nature. Christ also promised his grace,
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I e. The help of the Holy Spirit. For his will is that
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all men be saved for Timothy one Timothy two four. Grace is absolutely necessary
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for salvation, actual grace for our conversion, sanctifying grace for our entrance into
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heaven. Temporal goods are promised. Be not solicitous of your life what you
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shall eat, nor for your body what you shall put on. For your
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Father knoweth that you have need of these things. And we are taught that
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since the Father feeds the birds of the air and close the weeds of the
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field, much more will he care for us. Matthew six twenty five through
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thirty two. The experience of the saints in this matter is a great consolation
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and lessen to us. Over and over again they have been in difficulties for
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the means of subsistance, yet help always came. Forgiveness of sins is assured
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to us. If we wish to amend, there shall be joy in heaven
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upon one center that doth pence more than over ninety nine who need not penance
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Luke fifteen seven. The parable of the prodigal son and the lost sheep prevealed
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to us how readily God will forgive the sinner, so long as we are
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on earth. It is never too late. To repent, says Saint Sipeion,
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the penitent thief on the cross found salvation. God wills not the death
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of the sinner, but that he'd be converted and lived. That's from Ezekiel.
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We are certain of helping our necessities. When the apostles were filled with
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fear at the Storm of the Lake, Christ's reproach to them was, why
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do you fear, oh ye of little faith Matthew eight twenty six. God
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is called the helper and tribulations and psalms. It is true he seems at
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times to delay and answer to our prayers, as at the marriage fees at
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Cana, when he said, my hour is not yet come John two four.
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Yet the longer we have to wait, the more wonderful was his answer.
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And we might reflect on the calming of the Storm of the Lake,
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and the release of Saint Peter from prison, on the fate of Amen,
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the persecutor of the Jews, and Esther seven. When our necessity is greatest
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is Saint Ambrose. God's help is nearest. Christ promised that our petition shall
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always be heard. If you shall ask me any, ask me anything in
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my name, I will do it. John fourteen fourteen. Amen, and
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men, I say to you, if you ask the Father eighthing in my
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name, he will give it to you. John sixteen twenty three. Christ
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taught us in the Our Father to ask our heavenly Father for all these things.
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The second petition of the prayer for salvation, the third for grace,
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and the fourth for temporal necessities, the fifth for forgiveness of sins, the
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sixth and seventh for help in our needs. Christian hope is based on faith,
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for we hope for the fulfillment of God's promises because we believe that God
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is infinitely true, infinitely powerful, and infinitely good, and that Christ has
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merited all for us. We are firmly convinced, says Saint Clement of Rome.
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Dear Saint Clement of Rome. Again, won't I know this? If
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you don't read the Oil Church Fathers. If you haven't, really just a
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page to day, start with the first volume of the Anti Nician Fathers.
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Those are the ones that came before the nicee in Creed. Obviously, that
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refutes the entire Protestant argument that the Catholic Church was essentially founded with the nice
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in Creed. But yeah, start with that at a page a day.
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I mean, it's yeah, they're long books, but they're really I mean,
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they're very enlightening. You'll love them, really a lot of they're all
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great writers, actually, very intelligent, fascinating. But anyway, I hope.
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Saint Clement said that he who forbade deceit cannot himself deceive. Hence the
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words of Saint Paul, let us hold fast to the confession of our hope
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without wavering, for he is faithful that hath promised Hebrews ten twenty three.
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Moreover, we are convinced that God, to whom nothing is impossible, who
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won thirty seven, is able to carry out his promises Romans for eighteen,
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That God, who is love itself first John four eight, is ready to
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give more than we are to receive. According to Saint Jerome, he said
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that Christ, by his death on the cross, is merited for a salvation,
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and that all thing and all things necessary for its attainment. And thus
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Saint Augustine said, I could never hope for pardon or heaven when I think
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of my great sins. But I venture to hope that through the merits of
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Christ, I may be saved by the means of penance. And of keeping
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the commandments. He only who carries out God's will can hope for the good
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things promised by Christ. Not everyone that saith to me, Lord Lord,
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shall enter in the Kingdom of Heaven. But he that doth the will of
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My Father, who is in Heaven. Matthew seven twenty one, one of
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the best verses for refuting the Protestant heresy of once saved, always saved or
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faith alone actually would probably be even better, for that works for both.
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Actually, but you know, even the demons believed in Jesus, but they
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refuse to do his will. They refuse to follow his commandments, they refuse
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to worship him. Protestants who claim to love Jesus, and probably do love
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Jesus very much, also refuse to worship as he instructed them to worship or
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to do his commandments, such as receive the Eucharist, gather yourselves together on
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Sunday for worship, go to a priest for confession, divorce, and he
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forbade divorce. But there's not a single prize and denomination that doesn't say divorce
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is okay. You have to wonder if I hope not I hope they don't
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find themselves in that situation of saying Lord, Lord, and he will say,
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be gone from you, evildoers. But anyway, hence, the sinner
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can hope in God only when he really repents and is willing to reform his
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life. And of course I should always say that prosts have the excuse of
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ignorance because they're not taught. Catholics have to profess full belief in all teachings
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of God and his Church. We're going to be held to a much higher
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standard, so don't get cocky all. But anyway, hence the sinner can
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only hope. Hence, the sinner can hope in God only when he really
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repents and is willing to reform his life. Hope without virtue is presumption,
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says Saint Bernard. If the wicked do penance for their sins, and that
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goes back to that once saved always say if you they say that Jesus paid
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all, therefore we're forgiven everything we do. That's hope in Jesus's promise without
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virtue of reforming your life. And that's the sin of presumption, which is
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a sin against the Holy Spirit. And as we know from the Bible,
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sins against the Holy Spirit aren't forgiven. If the wicked do penance for their
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sins, and do judgment and justice, God will no more remember their sins.
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It's Ezekiel eighteen twenty one. Manassais, king of Israel, let his
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people into idolatry and put the prophets to death. For this he was given
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over to his enemy and lend chains to Babylon. There he repented and promised
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amendment. God then set him free and gave him back his kingdom. Emanas
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has destroyed the temples and the idols and did much good. The just man
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may hope that God will provide for all his needs. Yet he must exert
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himself to gain those things which he hopes for from God. Christ's words are
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siki first, the Kingdom of God and his justice, and all other things
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will be added unto you Matthew six thirty three. We are God's servants,
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As Saint Johnathan Cross says, it is our affair to serve the Lord,
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and it is his to provide for us. No one who has been faithful
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in God's commands has ever been abandoned by him Ecclesiastes to twelve. We are
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unjust to God if we do not place great confidence in him, says Saint
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Augustine. Cast all your care upon the Lord, and He hath care of
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you one Peter five seven. We must, not, however, desist from
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exerting ourselves. We must use those gifts which God has given us, for
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God will give us only what we cannot obtain by our own exertions. In
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the words of Saint Charles Borromeo, we must hope for the best and do
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our best. To expect help and to do nothing, says Saint Saint Francis
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of Salesa for instance, sales is to tempt God. We ought to employ
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the natural means at our disposal. Saint Paul, for example, though we
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had the gift of healing sickness, recommended Timothy to take a little wine for
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the sake of his health one Timothy five twenty three. And all this is
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true of any kind of necessity. Help yourself, and God will help you.
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A wholesome fear of falling into sin must always accompany Christian hope. God's
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will is that we should work out our salvation and feel fear and trembling.
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That's Philippians two twelve. No one has complete assurance that he belongs to the
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number of the elect, and he will persevere in virtue till death. Many
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an old and rotten ship has reached harbor, while many a great and noble
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vessel was sunk in the sea. Men illumined of God, like Solomon,
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have fallen into godless ways for their death. And many a great sinner,
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like Saint Augustine or Saint Mary Magdalene, has become a very great saint,
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He that thinketh himself to stand take heed lest he fall on Corinthians ten twelve.
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We carry our treasure and frail and earthen vessels. Second Corinthian four seven.
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Mistrusts of ourselves, says Saint Augustine, should help us to hope,
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hope, and fear our companions where they reign, the heavenly crowned is easily
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secured. According to Saint John Christostum, hope makes us strong, and fear
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makes us prudent. Hope is like the breeze to a ship, driving it
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to harbor. Fear is like the ballast, steadying and preventing shipwreck. Fear
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so far from diminishing, hope increases it. Trusting God and distrusting ourselves,
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says Saint Francis. To sell are like two arms of a balance. As
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one rises, the other goes down. And the more we distrust ourselves,
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the more we confide in God, and vice versa. Christian hope is necessary
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for salvation. A man who has no hope will not do good works nor
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avoid sin, while he who has hope as secures in his salvation, just
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as a man is certain of a plant when he has the seed. For
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we are saved by hope Romans eight twenty four. Belief in God's truth,
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his almighty power, and his love for us is a triple cord, says
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Saint Bernard, which is let down into our prison from heaven. To this
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we must cling, so that it may raise us to the vision of His
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glory. The House of God i ee holiness, which leads to salvation,
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says Saint Augustine, is founded on faith, built up by hope, and
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finished in love in heaven. There is no more hope for which we shall
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then possess all we have hoped for. And finally, Christian hope is a
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gift of God, and we can attain to this only by sanctifying grace.
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In this respect we may speak of hope almost to the same words in which
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we spoke of faith. It is the spirit of God which awakens in us
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a longing for heavenly things. It fills us with confidence in God. As
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sanctifying grace increases, this power of hoping increases. Hence the Saints hoped most
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of the approach of death. Hope. Like a river becomes wider as it
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approaches the sea. All right, gall we will leave it there. In
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the words of Saint Padre Pio, very appropriately, pray, hope and don't
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worry. Always remember that pray and well, should also mention Saint Benedict of
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Nursia, pray and work obviously, or at Lebora, but pray, hope
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and don't worry. And if you pray and you work and you hope,
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that's pretty much all that God asks. And you love obviously, but that's
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a big part of the our Father, and God promises to provide as long
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as we pray and work and hope and love. So anyway, y'all have
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a good one, and I will talk to you next time.