Latest / The Uncensored Catholic / Show 235: Anointing of the Sick and merry Christmas to all!
Transcript
- 0:51Speaker 1: A Hey, y' all, welcome this week's show. First of all, well,
- 1:03today we're going to talk about we've been going through
- 1:05the sacraments, okay, so we've now gotten up to the
- 1:08anointing of the sick or extreme function as it used
- 1:11to be called. Very important topic and much to my surprise,
- 1:15it's one that a lot of well, I can't speak
- 1:19for younger Catholics. I don't know anything about Catholic education
- 1:24in the current day, but the parishes that I attend
- 1:30tend to be in retirement resort communities. Most people there
- 1:33are eighty years and up seventy five at least, and
- 1:38obviously we're not well catechised on several topics. This is
- 1:44the generation that votes Democrat for abortion and gay marriage
- 1:48and everything just because John Kennedy was a Catholic. Their
- 1:53mindset has not changed since the nineteen sixties, which is
- 1:57very frustrating. But to say the least a few months ago,
- 2:04that was probably last year. Actually, the priest at the
- 2:08parish I was attending down where my mom lives much
- 2:13very big, very big church, I mean thousands of people,
- 2:19just huge, I mean compared to where I normally go
- 2:22to Mass, which is like in the wintertime, there will
- 2:24be five of us in the summer the place that
- 2:28we packed out the doors with visitor summer people. That's
- 2:31the way it is in the mountains. But now this
- 2:33is a year round population of several thousand, and it's
- 2:37quite large. The priest did a homily on the Annoying
- 2:43of the Sick because he had been speaking with someone
- 2:46who didn't understand it and thought that you were only
- 2:49supposed to receive it on your deathbed, and he'd explain that, no,
- 2:54anytime you're seriously ill, or if you're going to go travel,
- 2:57if you are doing anything you know where you might
- 3:00not be able to get to mass the next week,
- 3:02it's a good idea to receive this sacrament. Apparently no
- 3:07one knew that that. After that mass, I believe he
- 3:11gave the Annoying to the Sick to about three to
- 3:13four hundred people. He had another mass to say that day.
- 3:18Many of them as went to launch, came back and
- 3:21he gave the Annoying to another three or four hundred people.
- 3:24And he literally spent his entire Sunday administering to that
- 3:29sacrament to people who had never had it before in
- 3:32their entire lives. But who were born and raised Catholic,
- 3:35So I do not know the state of Katechises in
- 3:39our time. We do have the benefit of the Catechism
- 3:44under Pope Sake John Paul the second, which is you know,
- 3:49really good, but I mean gil Boston Catechism wasn't bad either,
- 3:53And Father's Piago will really explain this one for you,
- 3:57and I think you'll find it very interesting and hopefully
- 4:00know it's Christmas time and and of course I want
- 4:02to wish you a very merry Christmas. Try to revisit
- 4:06that at the end of the show. But you'll be
- 4:08spending time with friends and family and loved ones, and
- 4:11maybe you can explain to them and say, hey, you
- 4:14know what you're traveling, you're out of town. Did you
- 4:16receive the annoying of the sick one that the may say,
- 4:18I'm not sick And you can say, well, actually, you
- 4:22can be killed in a car accident at any time
- 4:25whenever you are traveling a distance, you know, for an
- 4:29extended period of time. You really ought to do this,
- 4:31And you know, do you have a chronic condition? Do
- 4:33you have something, because most everybody in America has a
- 4:36chronic disease these days, and you can. That's that's a
- 4:40sacrament you can receive more than once. It's not like
- 4:44baptism or something. But speaking of baptism, we'll start with
- 4:48a couple of questions and answers from radio replies, and
- 4:52the questioner asked, So it's basically Catholic teaching that all
- 4:57unbaptized or lost, whether it be a their own fault
- 5:00or not, and the precincts or no, no one will
- 5:03ever be lost saved through his own fault. Christ is God,
- 5:07and as God can work with secondary causes or without them.
- 5:12The ordinary means of salvation is by baptism, and one
- 5:15who is convinced of the necessity of baptism yet deliberately
- 5:19refuses to receive it cannot be saved. But God can
- 5:22supply the grace usually given by baptism, and does so
- 5:25without the actual sacramental rise. In two cases, if an
- 5:29unbaptized person dies a martyr for Christ, he is credited
- 5:32with the baptism of blood. Baptism of desire counts for
- 5:35the man who repents of his sin and dies with
- 5:37a sincere will to do God's will, yet who through
- 5:41no fault of his own, does not realize the necessity
- 5:43of actual baptism, or is unable to receive it. Of course,
- 5:47this book was written in the nineteen thirties. I believe
- 5:50the Church has since clarified its teaching on unbaptized infants,
- 5:54those who die in the womb or before they can
- 5:56receive baptism. The Blessed Virgin Mary herself aquae them to
- 6:00heaven and cares for all their needs. That was a
- 6:03matter of theological discussion for thousands of years to almost
- 6:09two thousand years before the Church formalize that position, because
- 6:13that's not something that's made clear in the Bible. You
- 6:16know Protestants who say all we need is a Bible, Well,
- 6:18the Bible really doesn't answer all your questions, does it. Anyway,
- 6:24The development of doctrine comes through the keroism of the
- 6:28Holy Spirit, which is given only to the Holy Catholic Church,
- 6:31the one Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church. Person continues, would
- 6:35you explain more fully this baptism of desire? And they answer.
- 6:39Every human being has a conscience which dictates a natural
- 6:43law of moral obligation, at least when he comes to
- 6:46the age of reason. If a pagan knows nothing of Christianity,
- 6:49he is ignorant of it through no fault of his own.
- 6:52He can at least repent of his personal sins against
- 6:55his conscience and desire to do the right thing. God
- 6:58gives every man the grace to do this much. Now
- 7:01we know that a man should receive no now that
- 7:04we know that a man should receive baptism. If the
- 7:07pagan knew this, he would receive baptism. This sincere desire
- 7:11to do all that God would require implicitly includes the
- 7:13desire baptism, and God takes the will for the deed,
- 7:17granting sanctifying grace. Thus such a pagan would be saved.
- 7:21As is clear, anyone who has attained to the use
- 7:24of reason would be capable of this baptism of desire.
- 7:29And I think we'll move on to the sacrament now
- 7:31because the person's asking about unbaptized children and yeah, I
- 7:37mean we just covered that, so yeah, we'll pick up
- 7:40a little bit more next week. Oh, this is interesting.
- 7:46Person will be asking about baptism by immersion and all that,
- 7:49and they just actually discussed the d DA KA And
- 7:53the d DA KA is still one of the most
- 7:59powerful tools to show Protestants that dear doctrine is fallacious,
- 8:06is made up, his false, his counterfeit. The d dot
- 8:09K was written two hundred years at least before the
- 8:14Bible was finalized. Saint Paul I mean, I'm sorry. Saint
- 8:18John at least was still alive. The d do K
- 8:22means that the title literally means the teaching of the Twelve.
- 8:26It was the only Christian catechism, manual of worship and
- 8:34belief that existed for a for a very long time.
- 8:40The only reason the way Protestants can get around it
- 8:43is to deny its existence or authenticity authenticity, and they do.
- 8:49But you can go and you can say, hey, look, historically,
- 8:52here's the evidence for the d doa KA having been
- 8:54around seventy a d we have you know re says
- 9:00to its teachings throughout the early Christian writings. The Bible
- 9:03would not be formalized until nearly four hundred a d.
- 9:06It took time Council of Nicea to decide which books
- 9:10would be included, Saint Jerome to translate into a common language,
- 9:14and Bibles before the printing press were so extremely rare
- 9:20because they had to be hand copied, and the Bible's
- 9:22pretty long book The d dot K is like thirty pages,
- 9:27and you know, it was the manual of Christian worship
- 9:32and belief. It literally says, we go to church on Sundays,
- 9:37an unbaptized person can't receive the Eucharist, etc. And many points.
- 9:43I mean, it disproves the entire fallacy of Protestant doctrine
- 9:48and belief, especially in that they say that they believe
- 9:52their doctrine belief is identical to the early Church. Well,
- 9:56they just say, oh, that's made up, it's false, it
- 9:59doesn't exist. You know, that's the only way they can
- 10:01get around it. But of course we also have the
- 10:03writings of say, Pope Saint Clement, almost the same era.
- 10:07Pope Saint Clement was right around one hundred a d.
- 10:10And he is titled Pope, and he's exercising authority over
- 10:16all Christian churches. And he even speaks specifically of the
- 10:22Catholic Church. So you can say, to a Protestant there
- 10:26was no church other than the Catholic Church in one
- 10:28hundred a D. Here I can prove this to you
- 10:32by the writings of Pope Saint Clement. They deny he
- 10:34ever existed. Never mind, you know, we can literally identify
- 10:40the man. We know he was baptized by Saint Peter,
- 10:44we know him from a historical reference throughout time. There's
- 10:48more evidence for Pope Saint Clement being Pope in about
- 10:51one hundred a d. Than there is for Napoleon being
- 10:54the Emperor of France. I mean literally, by every secular
- 10:59and really religious document, historical document, we can prove the
- 11:03existence and the writings of Pope Saint Clement, and they
- 11:06just say, Nope, don't believe it. And the same as
- 11:09true polycarp and iron Ais and probably Tertullian for all
- 11:14I know. I mean they literally it is. Protestantism is
- 11:19a religion based on lies, and ignorance doesn't mean a
- 11:23Protestant doesn't have a good heart, just like those ministers,
- 11:26the priests. I mean, we're explaining to this person about
- 11:30the baptism of intent and that God doesn't judge people
- 11:34who are ignorant to their sins. You have to know
- 11:39what you're doing is wrong to be at fault. God
- 11:43has revealed a true religion through the Catholic Church, and
- 11:46those who consider themselves to be Christian who have no
- 11:50knowledge or understanding of Catholic doctrine will be judged individually
- 11:54based on what they know and understand that. I mean,
- 11:58I know some of my listeners may take except to
- 12:00that and say only Catholics can go to heaven. Catholic
- 12:02Church does not say that. The Catechism makes it incredibly
- 12:05clear that the Catholic Church is the surest path to
- 12:08go to heaven. But God will judge each person individually,
- 12:12or that not the case. An unbaptized infant could not
- 12:14go to heaven. Were that not the case, someone severely
- 12:18mentally handicapped who could not understand the doctrines of the
- 12:22Church could not go to heaven, it is not actually
- 12:26unlike the Baptists say. Babtists say that you can't be
- 12:30baptized until you're of the age of reason. Usually they
- 12:34say about somewhere between nine and thirteen years old, and
- 12:38you make a conscious, conscious conscious there we go decision
- 12:43to accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and savior. But
- 12:46on the other hand, they also say baptism is meaningless
- 12:48and to symbolic. You can't reconcile those two points because
- 12:51there's no logic to the Baptist's doctrine in the first place.
- 12:55It's made up, and it conflicts with itself and with
- 12:59the very Bible they say they get it from. Like,
- 13:03you know, they say, you can't baptize infants, and I
- 13:05just ask them where in the Bible, Like when it
- 13:08says that the apostles baptize people and their entire households,
- 13:14does it say their entire households accept children in the
- 13:18age of nine? And they have to admit, no, that's
- 13:20not in the Bible, So why do you believe it?
- 13:23And then they'll give you their convoluted reasoning, even though
- 13:26it disagrees with the Bible. But anyway, yes, a Baptist
- 13:31will tell you you can't go to heaven until you
- 13:34are of the age of reason and can consciously choose
- 13:39to accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and savior. But
- 13:44then they say, all children go to heaven. And how
- 13:47do you reconcile those two points? If a person is
- 13:50severely mentally handicapped and they cannot consciously choose, what if
- 13:56they're in you know, for lack of a better word,
- 13:59what they call it vegetative state. What if this person
- 14:02came into the world severely handicapped or was in an
- 14:06accident and is in a coma they never had the
- 14:11opportunity to say the Billy Graham prayer, what is it
- 14:16bad to say about that person? Well, they say, oh, well,
- 14:19you know God will understand well, and we say, yes,
- 14:22we agree, and God willing, he will forgive your ignorance
- 14:27because you don't understand. If you understood what the Bible
- 14:32actually says, what was the words written in the book,
- 14:36you'd be Catholic. Your ignorance is the boundary, and often
- 14:41your bigotry is the boundary between you and the true
- 14:44Church and the sacraments, which infuse the one who receives
- 14:48them with the grace that Jesus said would give them life,
- 14:53eternal life. So it's a sad state. We have to
- 14:57continue and pray for the unity of all Christians. But
- 15:00now let's get into this extreme unction as it used
- 15:03to be called. Now it's called the anointing of the sick.
- 15:06It probably ought to get another name because, like I said,
- 15:09in my experience, ninety five percent of Catholics don't even
- 15:13understand what it is and why they should perceive it.
- 15:15They literally think it's something only we received the moment
- 15:19before death. That is not what the Church teaches. It's
- 15:24not what the Church has ever taught. I don't know
- 15:26where this concept came from. Last rites. I guess what
- 15:30it was called last rites. That's probably what gave that idea.
- 15:36If you wait till the last minute, it's very unlikely
- 15:40you'll receive the last rites. I mean, a priest can
- 15:44come and give you last rites within a certain time
- 15:48period after you've died, because the church does not says
- 15:51definitively when the soul leaves the body. But in my case,
- 15:57you know, I don't really live near my priest. I
- 16:00live in the woods. And if i'm and I'm single,
- 16:05and when something when my time comes, the odds of
- 16:09me being able to contact a priest or someone contacting
- 16:14a priest on my behalf are slim to none. I mean,
- 16:17right now, I still have three living relatives, two of
- 16:21them in another state elderly, and my mother who's in
- 16:24the same state as me. But if I'm out in
- 16:27the woods camping or hiking and I fall and die,
- 16:30my body will probably never be discovered in a few
- 16:34years from now because I've never God's never brought the
- 16:37right lady into my life, even though I prayed he
- 16:40would since I was a child. I don't have kids,
- 16:44I don't have cousins, I don't have anything. I don't
- 16:47really have friends because I live in a predominantly Protestant
- 16:50area and when I became Catholic, that was sort of
- 16:53the end of close friendships. People are friendly to me,
- 16:56you know, the people who like me, but they're not
- 17:00going to call a priest on my behalf. I mean
- 17:03they would they would never do that. So I mean,
- 17:07you can carry one of those like cards in your
- 17:08wallet or something that says I'm Catholic priest, call my priest,
- 17:13and a cop will do that, you know, that's part
- 17:16of their duty. An EMT will do that. But you know,
- 17:20let's say in another forty years or something, I fall
- 17:24and break a hip in my house or I have
- 17:26a heart attack. I'm going to lay on the floor
- 17:28until I starve to death and nobody's going to find
- 17:31my body until the county decides that I'm so delinquent
- 17:35in my tax as they need to come see if
- 17:38the house is still occupied. I will lay there until,
- 17:42you know, long past the opportunity to receive last rites.
- 17:49So if I between now and then get a severe illness,
- 17:54or I am going out of town for an extended
- 17:56period of time and may not be able to make
- 17:58it the Mass and in another church, you know, or
- 18:01if i'm you know, one thing I like to do
- 18:05is slowed up my pack and go to the woods
- 18:08for three or four weeks. Since I became Catholic, and
- 18:11it makes it kind of hard because I have to
- 18:13come back to town and go to Mass on Sunday
- 18:15and then I can go back up of the woods,
- 18:16so I can't really wander the Appalachian Trail and the
- 18:19kind of things I used to do. You know, that's
- 18:24that's a trade off for being Catholic. You do lose
- 18:26a little bit of your freedom and independence. That's part
- 18:30of submitting to the will of God. But you know,
- 18:34last rights or something I take advantage of when I
- 18:38need them, and I would encourage everyone, and I don't.
- 18:42I said last rights again, we're going to call it
- 18:43the anoying of the sick. That's what the church calls it.
- 18:47Now that's more clear. But you don't actually have to
- 18:50be sick, you know, you can just be in danger. Certainly,
- 18:54every soldier that goes to war should receive the annoying
- 18:58of the sick or goes to training. Is there a
- 19:00lot of training accidents. I would say, if you're a
- 19:03copper fireman, you really probably should receive the anointing of
- 19:07the sick once a month, because you don't know what
- 19:09you're walking into. And that is true for any professions,
- 19:15not just first responders or whatever they call these days.
- 19:19I'll say so, as I said Father Sparago writing in
- 19:22the eighteen nineties, we'll still call it extreme unction. And
- 19:27that sounds very serious, doesn't it. It's another reason people
- 19:30didn't really thought, well, this isn't extreme, this is normal.
- 19:33I just have COVID. That's not extreme, And my priests
- 19:38probably shouldn't come around me if I'm sick. Well not really. Actually,
- 19:43it's the priest's duty and the will of God for
- 19:48him to do, and he should take precautions obviously, But
- 19:51how many saints in our history have done that very
- 19:57thing during plagues or going to leper colony. He's purposely
- 20:01going to give, as it was called, extreme unction to
- 20:07the dying, knowing that they would likely contract the disease
- 20:11themselves and die. That's part of being a priest. And
- 20:16you might say, well, you know that's not fair. I
- 20:18don't want my priest to do that, But then again,
- 20:21God does, and the priest took that role willingly. He does,
- 20:27he is not going to refuse you. And if he does,
- 20:31call another priest, and they're probably gonna they'll come to it,
- 20:36and he'll have a conversation with the bishop, and that
- 20:39would be a pretty serious thing for a priest to refuse.
- 20:43So and if he's refusing it for one, he's refusing
- 20:46it to others. And that's not being standing in the
- 20:50stead of Christ, which is what the priest does. So
- 20:55let's see fathers Bragers says, Christ is a good samaritan,
- 20:58for by the hands of his representative of the priests,
- 21:01he pours into the wounds of the sick oil to
- 21:03affect his spiritual and physical cure. In administering extreme unction,
- 21:08the priests anoints the Christian who is in danger of
- 21:11death with the holy oils upon the five of his senses,
- 21:15and prays over him, by means of which the spiritual
- 21:18and not unfrequently the bodily bodily malady of the sick
- 21:24man is cured. The priests anoints the sick man with
- 21:27consecrated oil in the form of a cross on his
- 21:30five senses, which have been instrumental to his sins, his eyes, ears, nose, mouth, hands,
- 21:35and feet. At every unction he repeats the following prayer
- 21:39through this holy unction. Unction essentially just means oil. You
- 21:44might have heard the word unctuous that actually means like fatty.
- 21:48It comes from the same Latin route. So through this
- 21:51holy unction and through the most tender mercy, through his
- 21:55most tender mercy, may the Lord pardon thee whatever sin
- 21:57so has committed by seeing hearing its c If the
- 22:01sick man is actually expiring, the priest only annoints his forehead,
- 22:04but he continues to annoint the other part so long
- 22:07as life has not departed. Extreme unction is also called
- 22:11the last sacrament because it is generally the last which
- 22:14is administered to the dying. Extreme unction is mentioned by
- 22:18Saint James and his epistle We read, is any man
- 22:22sick among you, let him bring in the priest of
- 22:24the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him
- 22:27with oil in the name of the Lord. And the
- 22:29prayer of faith shall save the sick man, and the
- 22:32Lord shall raise him up. And if he be in sins,
- 22:34they shall be forgiven him. Yes, this is another example
- 22:38where the sacraments are actually explained in the Bible. Jesus
- 22:42said you had to be baptized, receive the Eucharist. Marriage
- 22:47was not a marriage is permanent. Divorce is not permitted
- 22:52in gosh, what is it? Second John, I'm forgetting the
- 22:58verse he says, who sends you forgive, they're forgiven. Those
- 23:01who sends you retain, they're retained. Here it is in
- 23:04James specifically explaining the sacrament of the annoying of the sick.
- 23:11Only a priest ordained in the lineage of the Apostles
- 23:15can give these sacraments. And well, it's set for marriage.
- 23:21And you know, dess is one of the main reasons
- 23:26Martin Luther one of the Books of James cut out
- 23:27of the Bible. He wrote extensively about why he did
- 23:30not want the Book of James in the Bible. I
- 23:34mean he was he cut a lot of books out,
- 23:37and he was really adamant about it, and at the
- 23:40same time saying, the Bible is the sole authority. So
- 23:43you know, how do you reconcile the two. You don't.
- 23:47There is no logic anyway. Pope Innocent the First in
- 23:52the fourth century expressly declared that these words referred to
- 23:55the sacrament of extreme unction, and in the sixth century,
- 23:59Saint Ciesarre, Bishop of Arles, I guess ar less I
- 24:03don't know, exhorts Christians in the case of serious illness
- 24:06to receive the Lord's body and be anointed with oil
- 24:09for their bodily restoration and the forgiveness of their sins.
- 24:12The sacrament of the sacred unction of the sick was
- 24:16instituted by our Lord as a true sacrament of the
- 24:19New Law and defined by the Council of trend. It
- 24:22confers grace from myths, sins, and comforts to sick. And
- 24:26right there, that's another one who say, well to a Protestant, Well,
- 24:28if a priest can't forgive sins, what do you think
- 24:30he's doing in this just said James said, if he
- 24:33annoints them with oil and praise over him, his demand
- 24:36sins will be forgiven anyway. Extreme function acts spiritually as
- 24:40oil does materially. It strengthens, heals, and aids the soul
- 24:44to attain eternal salvation. Oil strengthens the body. Pugilists, boxers,
- 24:50and wrestlers are rubbed with oil and to give them
- 24:52greater power and render it difficult for their adversary to
- 24:55grasp them. It possesses a healing power witness the goods
- 25:00Maritan who poured oil into the wounds of the man
- 25:02who had fallen among thieves, and it imparts suppleness and flexibility.
- 25:06Extreme unction strengthens the sick because it confers on him
- 25:09grace to bear more easily the inconveniences and pains of sickness,
- 25:13and enables him more readily to resist temptation of all kinds.
- 25:17A complete change is sometimes wrought in the sick by
- 25:20the reception of the sacrament. Whereas they are previously impatient
- 25:24and in great dread of death, they become tranquil and
- 25:27patient and resigned to the will of God. At the
- 25:30close of life, the adversary of our soul strains all
- 25:33the powers of his craft to ruin us utterly if
- 25:35he can, and make us fall from our trust and
- 25:37the mercy of God. Extreme unction banishes the demon. It
- 25:42is recorded of Saint Eliazar. I think is why your
- 25:47pronouns out that on the near approach of death, his
- 25:50countenance became distorted, and he cried out that the devil
- 25:53was tormenting him. But after he had been annointed, peace
- 25:56and joy returned to him. Extreme unction is for the
- 25:59healing of the soul and oftentimes the body. It affects
- 26:03her emission of mortal sin, which, through infirmity of mind
- 26:06or body, the sick man has not been able to confess,
- 26:09as well as their mission of some temporal punishment. And besides,
- 26:12at times it obtains bodily health when expedient for the
- 26:16welfare of the soul. I remember the words of Saint
- 26:18Hildegard von Bingen, who would write her You know, she
- 26:23was a great herbalist, and she would write her remedies
- 26:26for sicknesses, and she would end and the man would
- 26:29be healed, should God will it. And it's very important.
- 26:32And remember it's not always God's will to restore us
- 26:35to health. It can be very hard to accept, but
- 26:41it's what it is divine providence. We trust in divine providence.
- 26:45Extreme function compensates for all that, through no fault of
- 26:49his own, the sick man left incomplete in the sacrament
- 26:52of penance. It is thus the completion of the sacrament
- 26:55of penance or the penance of the sick. By reason
- 26:58of physical and mental weakness, sick or rarely capable of
- 27:01making a good confession or doing penance. Therefore, the Church
- 27:04deals leniently with them, and by this unction commends them
- 27:08to the mercy of God. This anointing cleanses away sin,
- 27:11if there be any still to be expiated, and cancels
- 27:15a part of the penalty of sin, in proportion with
- 27:17the contrition and devotion wherewith the sacrament is received. Extreme
- 27:21unction often obtains restoration to health. If God precees that
- 27:25the sick man, if he recovers, will make good use
- 27:29of the remainder of his days for spiritual advancement, he
- 27:32restores him to health, granting him a reprieve, as it were,
- 27:35that he may prepare himself better for death. But if
- 27:38he foresees that it will be otherwise, he takes him
- 27:41out of the world. As a rule, the sick experience
- 27:43some alleviation after receiving extreme unction. This is not to
- 27:48be explained on natural grounds. The peace of mind produced
- 27:50by confession and reconciliation with God acts beneficially upon the body,
- 27:54and in some cases by the interposition of divine Health
- 27:59is restored by the inter well, and in some cases
- 28:03by the interposition of divine power. Health is restored when
- 28:07human skill could do nothing. Very true, many people who
- 28:10have been healed that doctors could not heal. And it's
- 28:13called miracles, and we have many, many, many miracles in
- 28:16the Catholic Church. How foolish are those who imagine that
- 28:20if they receive extreme unction it would be their death warrant?
- 28:25And I think that, you know, by calling it last
- 28:27rites or whatever, people may have gotten that idea that, like,
- 28:33you know, if I received last Rites, that's it, I'm
- 28:35going to die. No, no, no, You're probably going to
- 28:37live longer. Extreme unction facilitates our salvation by increasing us
- 28:42in sanctifying grace and divine charity. In common with all
- 28:46the other sacraments, extreme unction imparts a higher degree of
- 28:49sanctifying grace. This is of more importance to us at
- 28:52our death than in any other moment, for the degree
- 28:54of our future felicity depends on the degree of sanctifying
- 28:57grace we possess, and the greater our love God, the
- 29:00more capable shall we be of enjoyment of eternal bliss. Thus,
- 29:04this holy sacrament cleanses away all that is an impedent,
- 29:08an impediment. There we go all it is an impediment
- 29:11to our eternal salvation. Extreme unction can only be administered
- 29:15to persons who are in danger of death. Well, actually
- 29:18that's been changed a little bit. This would have been
- 29:20true in the eighteen nineties. But you also have to
- 29:22remember in the eighteen nineties little things could become very serious,
- 29:27very fast, and they and they ought to receive it
- 29:32without delay for the sake of their physical and spiritual health.
- 29:35Only in cases of serious illness, that is, where there
- 29:37is danger of death, can the sick receive extreme unction.
- 29:40A soldier cannot receive it before going into action. I
- 29:43believe that's been changed from what I remember from the Catechism.
- 29:47That has been changed, Like now you're even supposed to
- 29:49do it before you travel, So be sure to check
- 29:52with your priest. I don't want to lead you astray,
- 29:55but the priest explained to me that a soldier could
- 30:00receive it before going into battle, and that he encouraged
- 30:02them to do so so. And interestingly, in eighteen nineties,
- 30:07fellow Sparagas said a criminal condemned to death could not
- 30:10receive last rights. And of course we know that's not
- 30:12true anymore, hasn't been true for a very long time.
- 30:15If it ever was, he may have actually gotten that wrong,
- 30:18because whenever someone's going to be executed, the priest comes
- 30:23in and gives them last rights. That's I mean, if
- 30:25they're Catholic and they request it. There is a priest
- 30:28on hand wherever there's corporal punishment or whatever, wherever they
- 30:36have the death penalty, and the priest will be there
- 30:39to hear confession and give the less rights before someone's
- 30:42to be executed. Let's see, exceptions may be made in
- 30:46very aged persons or their advanced age renders them constantly
- 30:50liable to death. Also, of course, in the eighteen nineties,
- 30:55it was not common for people to live beyond the
- 30:58age of eighty in most of Europe. In the United States,
- 31:05we I think the average age of a person in
- 31:08the United States is for women if I remember correctly,
- 31:11seventy eight and men seventy five. We were getting close
- 31:14to eighty. But for the last four or five years,
- 31:18our life expectancy has been going down. Actually, our life
- 31:21expectancy started going down after the passage of Obamacare and
- 31:25the expansion of Medicaid. So hm, when know what that means?
- 31:31The more we see doctors, the sooner we die. As
- 31:36given my experience with the medical field, I would not
- 31:39doubt that one bit. In fact, medical malpractice, abuse, and
- 31:44over prescription is the leading cause of death in America. Okay,
- 31:49that's my controversial statement. But basically, an old doctor told me,
- 31:54if you want to live a long life, stay out
- 31:56of the doctor's office. And I agree with him one
- 31:58hundred percent. Anyway, and father Sparago's time, old age would
- 32:04have begun. It's like sixty you know, people got married
- 32:08in their teens, they had their kids, they you know,
- 32:11did their work, they were great grandparents by the age
- 32:14of their sixties. And yeah, I mean you got to
- 32:19kind of put things in context here. This is the
- 32:23eighteen nineties, this is just before the Bolshevik Revolution, this
- 32:26is just before the World wars famines. I mean, so
- 32:30when he says that somebody who was, you know, old
- 32:33age could receive the sacrament more likely because they might
- 32:36die soon, he would have been saying that about half
- 32:39the population of the United States right now. So it
- 32:41only made sense that I guess this is Is this
- 32:45a reform from Vatican two? I have no idea. If
- 32:47it is. I'm sure some of you are going to
- 32:48reject it. But I just do what the Church tells
- 32:53me to do, and the Church is represented me. My
- 32:56bishop and priest tells me that if you're sick, get
- 33:00the annoying of the sick, If you're going on a
- 33:03long trip, if you're going into danger, get the annoying
- 33:06of the sick. But you know, consult with your own
- 33:12representative of God, which is what a priest is. He
- 33:15stands in the stead of Christ. Let's see, the administration
- 33:19of holy oil should not be postponed until the last moment,
- 33:22for if the sick man be unconscious, they will profit
- 33:25him little since he is already Since, as already has
- 33:30been remarked, the utility of the sacrament to the soul
- 33:33depends upon the contrition and devotion with which he is received,
- 33:37and the body cannot profit by it. If the vital
- 33:39spark be all but extinct. It is a little use
- 33:43calling out a fire engine when the house is almost
- 33:45burnt down. He enters upon the journey from time to
- 33:48eternity without fortifying himself with the last sacraments, is like
- 33:52a traveler who starts on his way with an empty purse.
- 33:56Nor can there be a contempt of so great a
- 33:58sacrament with a heinous sin as an injury to the
- 34:03Holy ghost himself. And that's actually very important to point out. Freemasons,
- 34:10for instance, swear an oath that even no matter what,
- 34:16they will not receive last rites on I mean condition
- 34:20of literally like going to Hell if they break their oath,
- 34:23and so I mean someone, Well, it's not true. The
- 34:27Catholic Church has made very clear and even you know,
- 34:31Pope Francis recently reiterated no Catholic can join the Masonic
- 34:35Order without being excommunicated de facto excommunication. That means you
- 34:40do it, you're excommunicated immediately. Excuse me. There's no trial,
- 34:46there's no hearing that you do it, You're excommunicated. Freemasons
- 34:51will tell you, sure, Catholics can join the Masons. We
- 34:54encourage Catholics to join the Masons. Well, of course they do.
- 34:58The Masonic Order is founded upon the princip of destroying
- 35:00the Catholic Church, and one of the o's they have
- 35:03to take is to never receive last rites. Why if
- 35:08they believe the Catholic Church is a false entity would
- 35:11they want to permit that? Well, because the Masonic Order
- 35:14is Satanic at its core. That's why we can't be Masons.
- 35:19So those who have not yet received the sacrament of
- 35:22penants cannot receive extreme functions since it is the completion
- 35:25of penance. But there are exceptions to this class belong idiots,
- 35:30or that's what they was sev in the eighteen nine
- 35:32He means the mentally handicapped and children who have not
- 35:34yet attained the age of reason. It must, not, however,
- 35:37be supposed that this includes all children are seven. For
- 35:39children five years of age have been known on their
- 35:43deathbed as for a priest, because they were conscious of
- 35:45having sinned against their parents. And the Church now says
- 35:49a person can receive last rites that they're unconscious, even
- 35:52if they've just passed away, it's still going to do
- 35:54them good. Because we don't know the solely is the body,
- 35:57and we have a lot of research and records that
- 35:59we didn't have in eighteen nineties that show that people
- 36:02in comas can hear what's going on, or that people
- 36:05who just passed away can still hear and see what's
- 36:07going on. We don't know when the soul is the body,
- 36:11So this has changed somewhat in the last two hundred years.
- 36:17Before being annoyed, the sick man ought to confess his
- 36:19sins and receive holy communion, and afterwards a papal blessing,
- 36:22it's generally given to him. Confession should proceed extreme unction,
- 36:27because recipient of the sacrament must be in a state
- 36:29of grace. Extreme unction is a remedy and as medicine
- 36:33for the living, not the dead. So the sacrament is
- 36:36of no utility of those who are spiritually dead. And
- 36:39again the Church now says, well, we don't really know
- 36:43how long someone can hear us, and someone may be
- 36:47giving a confession mentally or spiritually, even in a coma
- 36:54or when they've left the body. So the priests will
- 36:57still give the annoying and sick and we still believe
- 36:59in the power of the sacrament. But as always the
- 37:07person has to be receptive. You know, every priest who
- 37:11has been duly authorized by the bishop may give the
- 37:13papal benediction with a plenary indulgence, provided he makes use
- 37:17of the prescribed formula. The sick man must call upon
- 37:21the Holy name of Jesus. The priest usually repeats some
- 37:24prayer to him in which the name of Jesus. A
- 37:26cure occurs verbally if he can still speak, if not mentally.
- 37:30And so even in eighteen nineties they knew you could
- 37:32pray mentally obviously, otherwise the indulgence is not gained. And
- 37:37the crucifix offered him to be kissed, And of course,
- 37:40if you're not cautious, you cannot kiss the crucifix. The
- 37:44priest will just lay it upon you. It is the
- 37:46duty of relatives and those who are in attendants upon
- 37:48the sick to see that he receives the last sacrament
- 37:51in due time. Also, the Church understands that we now
- 37:54have broken families, and very few people actually have people
- 37:59around them that care about them when they die. Most
- 38:01people dying nursing homes, being neglected and abused. So that's
- 38:07a sad reality. And like me, I'll probably just fall
- 38:11in the bathtub and lay there until I die. And
- 38:14there's not a thing I can do about that. The
- 38:16responsibility rests with a doctor who has a matter of course,
- 38:19ought to apprize the friends of a sixth person of
- 38:21his condition when he becomes serious. Catholics ought, therefore, if possible,
- 38:25to secure the services of a Christian physician. Yeah, good
- 38:28luck on that these days. In the eighteen nineties, still
- 38:33most doctors attended churches founded by I mean attended universities
- 38:40founded by the Catholic church and were indeed Catholic. Good
- 38:44luck finding a Catholic doctor in North Carolina. Let me
- 38:46just put it that way. And if you find a
- 38:49Baptist one, he's not calling a priest. He might call
- 38:52an exorcist telling you that you worship the devil, but
- 38:55he's not calling a priest. And he wouldn't call an
- 38:58exorcisy either, because they don't believe in that, even though
- 39:01the Bible talks about exorcism. Don't get me started on
- 39:04that one anyway. Sometimes the attendants of a sick man
- 39:08feared to agitate him by mentioning the last sacraments to him.
- 39:12This is indeed mistaken kindness, where they cannot thereby retire
- 39:16the approach of death. Such false friends resemble people who
- 39:19do not warn a blind man that he is nearing
- 39:21a precipice, lest they should frighten him. Their cowardice will
- 39:25give them much to answer for. I also remember that
- 39:28Father Sparago was a Czechoslovakian. When Czechoslovakia before the Come,
- 39:33his party took over, and everybody in his country essentially
- 39:39was Catholic. It would be unheard of. I mean, I
- 39:42remember when we had a priest's visit from Poland one time,
- 39:45and he's like, I came looking for the church I
- 39:49stopped at the first Apostolic church of this I stopped
- 39:51at the Church of God. What is wrong with you
- 39:54people in Poland? The Apostolic Church of God God is
- 40:00the Catholic Church. He went to about five different Protestant
- 40:03churches before he found our Catholic Church. In Father Serrago's time,
- 40:08it would have been unthinkable that one would not die
- 40:11surrounded by if not friends and family, Catholics, Catholic nurses,
- 40:17Catholic doctors, et cetera. Unfortunately, we live in a country
- 40:22that was founded by Freemasons. So there you have it. Yeah, anyway,
- 40:29their cowardice will give them much to answer for. The
- 40:33friends of the sick man should set the room in
- 40:35order and have everything that is needed in readiness for
- 40:38the administration of the last Sacraments. Again, you got to
- 40:41have Catholic friends to do that. A table should be
- 40:44covered with a white linen cloth and a crucifix and
- 40:47two lighted tapers upon it candles in other words, besides
- 40:50the vessel containing holy water, because the precesses sprinkle both
- 40:53the chamber and the bystanders. And also a glass containing
- 40:56clean water. And let me tell you, if you have
- 40:58a Baptist doctor, he will not be sprinkled with holy water.
- 41:03He would probably start screaming and like the witch and
- 41:07the widower of us, the approach of holy water. So
- 41:11anyway melting, I'm melting right. And also a glass containing
- 41:16a little clean water for the priest to wash his
- 41:18fingers and give ablutions to the sick man after communion.
- 41:22Some cotton wool must also be provided to wipe the
- 41:25parts that have been anointed with oil, you know, wipe
- 41:28off the excess well the sick man makes confessor to
- 41:31a plot no, you know, to wipe off the excess well,
- 41:33the sick man makes his confession, let all leave the room,
- 41:36as the priest may have to speak above a whisper.
- 41:39So ideally, when you die, just before you should have
- 41:45all your friends, family and loved ones present, and Catholic
- 41:48doctors and nurses, and they should set up the room
- 41:51properly for the priest, and the priest should come in
- 41:53again the sacrament. Everyone should leave while the priest here's confession,
- 41:59and then priests annoints the man, and everybody comes back
- 42:02in and the priest gives his blessing to everybody. That's
- 42:04the way it's supposed to work. I doubt it ever
- 42:09happens that way, at least in America now, unless you
- 42:14happen to live in I don't know, Steubenville, Ohio, or
- 42:16somewhere where, like everybody's Catholic. Yeah, I don't know. Maybe
- 42:23that was the way it used to be in New York,
- 42:24I don't know. Now it seems like they're more Muslims
- 42:27than anybody else in New York. And you think a
- 42:29Muslim doctor is going to participate in a Catholic ceremony,
- 42:31I don't think so. I don't think so. Now there
- 42:34may be no I should say, there may be some
- 42:37that would, but not one that not. The ones you
- 42:41see on TV are the ones that you know are
- 42:44at the protests and the political meetings and running for office.
- 42:47And you know, I do know there's some very good
- 42:50Muslim people. I don't mean there's disparage them in any way,
- 42:53shape or form, or Jews or anybody like that. But
- 42:55I can tell you in North Carolina, the odds are
- 42:58getting a Catholic doctor or a Catholic nurse are going
- 43:01to be slim to none. And they're not gonna help.
- 43:07They're not gonna help. I mean, you may if a
- 43:16seven day Adventist or Pentecostal or something Catholic nurse finds
- 43:20out that you're about to receive the last rites, you
- 43:23may get a little uppage in your medication, so that
- 43:26that's not possible. And I'm actually not kidding, because I
- 43:30have known many instances in which nurses killed people, and
- 43:36I mean in my personal life, in my family. You
- 43:41know that does happen, whether they think they're being merciful
- 43:46or they're doing it to keep someone from saying something
- 43:49that they may not want to be told, as was
- 43:52the case with my uncle who caught his nurse stealing
- 43:55his pain medication and he died within a week when
- 43:59that shouldn't have happened. So don't trust, don't never trust
- 44:06that you're going to have the opportunity just before you
- 44:09die to receive the annoying of the sick, as Father
- 44:13Spiago said, was ideal. We have a new catechism now
- 44:16we understand it's the anoying of the sick, not the
- 44:18last rites. Talk with your priests and the two of
- 44:22you can discuss when it's appropriate, and he'll give you
- 44:25some guidelines. That's my best advice. And if your priest
- 44:30isn't sure about it or whatever, talk with the bishop,
- 44:34or talk with another priest that's maybe a little older
- 44:37or a little younger. Actually, a lot of times the
- 44:39younger ones are more of the John Paul, the second generation,
- 44:44and are more knowledgeable about the changes that have taken place,
- 44:51say from eighteen ninety to now, and quite a bit,
- 44:55especially in the annoying the sick I mean, reading through,
- 44:57it's interesting to see how much the doctrine has developed
- 45:01on that. But you just got to remember life was
- 45:05very different back then. You imagine Czechoslovakia in the eighteen nineties.
- 45:10Everybody's Catholic. There are no cars, No one's traveling like
- 45:15they do now. I mean very few, only very very
- 45:18wealthy would be traveling. Certainly, no airplanes flying around. Your
- 45:24entire environment was Catholic. Your entire environment was family and
- 45:29people you had grown up with. Everybody you saw was
- 45:33one of your distinct cousins, and everybody was Catholic. From
- 45:40I mean, that makes a huge difference. I mean from
- 45:43the I don't know. If you left a will, the
- 45:45attorney that would help you fill out your will was
- 45:47a Catholic attorney with a duty to make sure that
- 45:51people were properly provided for. Your banker was a Catholic
- 45:55banker with a duty to make sure your money was
- 45:57being handled, or he was committing a moratal sink right.
- 46:01Your doctors, your nurses were Catholic and they knew exactly
- 46:04what to do and exactly what should be done to
- 46:09make sure you received the last rites. We cannot count
- 46:13on that today, no way, shape or form, no way,
- 46:17shape or form. So it's now the annoying of the sick,
- 46:20not last rites. It's not extreme function. It's the annoying
- 46:24of the sick, and anyone who's in danger can receive
- 46:28it or a long lingering illness. It doesn't even now.
- 46:32I mean from what I was. The priest explained to me,
- 46:35if you have a chronic disease, and you may not
- 46:38die for another twenty or thirty years, you should still
- 46:41regularly receive the annoying of the sick in hopes that
- 46:45God will kill you. And as Father Spirago said, anyone
- 46:49who denies the efficacy of this sacrament commits the sin
- 46:53against the Holy Spirit, which is unforgivable. That's the unforgivable sin.
- 46:58So take full of it. Now, let me wish you
- 47:02all a very very merry Christmas. I think given our
- 47:08discussion of what we've just been talking about, how things
- 47:10are so very different in times and places, I should
- 47:13tell you a humorous story. I grew up in the
- 47:16mountains of North Carolina. For about I don't know, fifteen years.
- 47:20I lived in the coastal swamps in North Carolina. Very rural,
- 47:24very very rural. The entire population of my town in
- 47:28the winter is seventy I mean, there's nobody there. There
- 47:31are more bears than people. I live down a gravel road.
- 47:35Never in my life had I encountered carrollers. You could
- 47:40probably see where this is going, right, So I'm down
- 47:43visiting my mom in the central part of the state
- 47:45with the big churches I mentioned, and yes, Christmas Eve,
- 47:50and it's a night time, it's after nine o'clock, and
- 47:52somebody comes knocking at the door. How do you think
- 47:55I reacted. I'm a hillbilly from the mountains in North Carolina.
- 47:58I grab a shotgun and open the door right in
- 48:00the face of a bunch of carrollers. Oh boy, Yeah,
- 48:05that was a fun Christmas. Yep. Let's just say that
- 48:10was not well received. That was not the reception they expected.
- 48:14They did not receive the warm welcome that they were
- 48:16hoping for. So anyway, y'all, nobody was hurt. Let me
- 48:20let me let me qualify that no one was injured.
- 48:23I did not pull the trigger. But yeah, you know,
- 48:27no carrollers ever came to the house after that. I
- 48:31mean that was like fifteen years ago. No carrollers have
- 48:34returned to that house since that night. Y'all have a
- 48:39Oh man, have you seen the more recent version of
- 48:42the Christmas Story, you know, Ralphie and all that. I
- 48:45think it's called a Christmas Story Story or something like that.
- 48:48The way his family reacted to the carrollers, you know,
- 48:55just imagine that plus shotguns. That's all I'm saying. Y'all
- 48:58have an excellent, wonderful Christmas. Please be sure to go
- 49:02to Christmas Mass. Remember you don't have to go on
- 49:06Christmas Eve and Christmas Day one counts for the other.
- 49:09And spend time with friends, family and loved ones if
- 49:11at all possible. And if you can't, you know, just
- 49:19try to find some joy in this holy day. I
- 49:23know a lot of us can't. You know, it's just
- 49:25the bottom line. If maybe you can go visit somebody
- 49:29in nursing home. Maybe you can find some way to
- 49:33share the holiday with people, and if you do, it
- 49:37will benefit you more than it will benefit them more
- 49:41than likely because it's all about giving. Anyway, have a
- 49:46good one and I'll talk to you next week.