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Show 151: THE PRECEPT OF THE LOVE OF GOD · The Uncensored Catholic

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The f A Hey, y'all, welcome today's show. I want to get
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into the third section of Father Sparago's explanation of the ten Commandments, and that
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is love of God. It's going to be a long one, so I'm
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going to try to keep the radio replies brief today and maybe not expound on
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too much. Let's see what the priests are asked. They say, a
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scripture does not mention a pope, and to which the priests answer, do
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not be less misled by mered words. Later designations of an office do not
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alter the office, and the office of the one whom we now call the
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pope is clearly taught in scripture. After all, the world pope simply means
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father or one with paternal authority of a household, and certainly Scripture often likens
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the church to a household of faith and indicates one as being in supreme charge
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with that household. The question says, Gregory the Great Bishop of Rome refuse
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the title of universal bishop himself, and blamed John the Faster of Constantinople for
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his presumption of claims the title. Gregory was pope and knew that he was
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pope. Far from refusing this title. He showed that he was the universal
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bishop by excommunicating John the Faster, over whom he could not have had such
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sure addiction had he not the privilege of being the universal Bishop. In his
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twenty first epistle, Gregory writes, as to what they say of the Church
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of Christ, who doubts that is subject to the Apostolic See, And the
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person says, that was the seventh century who was the head of church for
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the first three hundred years. I don't know why Protestants keep making such ridiculous
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questions. I mean, that was making such ridiculous statements and asking such uninformed
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questions when you, I mean Wikipedia, well answer that question. You don't
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even have to go to the Catholic encyclopedia or a church history. I mean,
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they'll say there was no pope until four hundreds. That's ridiculous. There
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was obviously Saint Peter, there's Linus and Cletus, and pope's Saint Clement of
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Rome, and I can go on and on and on. We not only
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know all the names of the popes for the first three hundred years, this
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person asks, they left us well, starting with Pope Saint Clement left us
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extensive writings. I mean they were actually talking about the issues of the church
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at the time, and I mean there's so I mean, they're paintings of
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them. And there are other early Christian writers who wrote of the first popes.
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You in order to disbelieve that there was a pope in the first three
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hundred years of the church, you have to remain willfully ignorant. You can't
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enter a library or a bookstore or go online and read anything about the history
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of the church. I mean, you have to have made the decision that
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you are going to be uninformed, ignorant, stupid in order to take that
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position, or lazy. I guess you could just be lazy and bigoted.
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And actually, unfortunately, that is what a lot of the critics of the
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church are, is lazy and bigoted. If they took the time to read
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and learn, so many of their arguments would be dispelled just in the blink
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of an eye. I mean, it could be a modern work like Scott
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han or the Surprised by the Truth series of Born Fundamentals Born Again Christian.
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I read all those when I was converting. Or what really convinced me,
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of course, was the Bible and the early Church fathers, and they're not
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hard to find or hard to read. I don't understand, you know,
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I have never been one to wish to remain ignorant. If I have an
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interest in something, I try to learn everything about it. I don't understand
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willful ignorance anyway. They answer the various bishops of Rome who succeeded Saint Peter,
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Saint Peter having been the head of the Apostles and having died as Bishop
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of Rome. And they said, the person says Saint Peter was not the
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head of the Apostles. All the Apostles acted in having the same authority,
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which the Bible says differently. They answer the Apostles, as having been sent
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by Christ to all nations, had universal jurisdiction. But this universality of jurisdiction
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was extraordinary and did not pass to their successors, whom they consecrated for their
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particular localities. Also, whilst the Apostles each rejoiced in jurisdiction over all regions,
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Saint Peter had all authority centered in him. Hence Saint Paul went to
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consult with him at Jerusalem. And the person finally, well, I guess
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this last question will deal with today, at least because I want to move
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on. The person asks why did the apostles ask Christ who was the greater
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among them? If they knew that Peter was greater? And they answer,
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they were disputing as to who should be the greater in heaven, not concerning
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their affairs or their office on earth. The fact that Christ replied by teaching
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them a lesson of interior humility shows that he knew them to be referring to
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their personal standing in God's esteem. Well, and I guess we'll just there's
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a follow up question of that, so I will deal with it. Why
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did not Christ say that Saint Peter was the greater? Taking advantage of this
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occasion? And they answered, you must remember the sense of this discussion,
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Peter was not necessarily the greater from an aspect of grace or holiness. Eternal
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rewards depend rather upon Christian virtue than upon earthly office. Saint Peter was the
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chief and earthly office, although we know that Saint John was called the beloved
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Disciple. Yeah, and they will go on. I guess next time we'll
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discuss a lot more about the authority of Saint Peter. But now let's get
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into love of God, which is of course the heart of our religion.
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The precept of the love of God. Man is so constituted by nature that
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he takes delight in what he recognizes is good and beautiful. I guess that's
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the reason it even that interests me. I want to learn everything about it.
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I take delight in what I recognize as good and beautiful. You know,
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I play like a dozen instruments at a very high level. I guess
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a lot of people barely get beyond three chords on a guitar. That's not
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my nature. You know. I like to cook, so I've studied classical
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French cooking, and Italian cooking, and Chinese cooking, and Southern cooking,
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and Creole and Caju. You know, I can go down the list.
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Maybe I am wired differently from most guys. I have no idea. I
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have no idea, but yeah, I agree with this statement. This delight
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and the desire to attain it is called love. Thus we see love to
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be an act of understanding the affections and the will one. We ought to
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love God first because Christ commands it, second because He is in himself essentially
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the highest beauty and sovereign perfection. And Third, because he loves us and
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continues to bestow benefits upon us, Christ commands us to love God, for
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he says, thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart,
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with thy whole soul, with the whole mind, and with thy whole
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strength, Mark twelve thirty. God is the most beautiful of all beings.
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For if earthly beings are so beautiful, how much greater must be the beauty
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of God, who is the creator of all things. A reference to Wisdom
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thirteen three. If you don't have the Book of Wisdom in your Bible,
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you have a counterfeit bible. Go get a real Bible that contains the books
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of Wisdom and syrac and First and Second Maccabees, et cetera. For one
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cannot give to another what one has not got oneself. Consequently, God must
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possess in himself all the perfections in their highest degree which we admire in his
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creatures. God has manifested his love toward us, chiefly in this that he
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sent his only begotten son to earth for our salvation. Christ himself says,
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God so loved the world as to give his only begotten son, John three
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point sixteen. He did not send him to live on earth in a regal
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state, but as a lowly servant, not to live and die as an
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ordinary man, but to live a life of privation and persecution, and to
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die the death of the cross. God gave his well beloved son. The
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fewer children parents have, the more fondly do they generally love them, For
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they doubt upon an only child. How intense must have been the love of
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God for his only begotten son. Yet he gave him for our redemption.
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Thou didst deliver up the son, o Lord, exclaiming Saint Augustine to save
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the servants. Thus, Saint John admonishes us, let us love God,
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because God has first loved us first John four nineteen. Moreover, God continuously
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bestows benefits upon us. All in which we take pleasure comes from Him.
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Life, health, our daily bread, the clothes we wear, the roof
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that shelters us, all are His gifts. Every best gift, and every
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perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights. That's
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Jasper one point seventeen. What hast thou, o man, that thou hast
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not received? First? From Anthians four seventeen, The uninterrupted possession of these
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blessings has the unfortunate effect of making us think light of them if we were
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if it were well for us, therefore, to contemplate the lot of those
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who are deprived of them e g. The blind, the sick, the
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destitute. We should then see how favored we are in compare some of these
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afflicted ones, and our love for God would become greater. Children love those
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to whom they owe their being, and so in certain measure to brute beasts.
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He therefore, who does not love his creator, is worse than the
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brutes. The very fact that we owe our existence to God lays us under
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the eyes obligation of loving Him above all things. Our love of God is
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chiefly manifested by thinking of him constantly, by avoiding whatever might separate us from
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him, by laboring to promote his glory, and willingly accepting all it comes
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from his hand. It is an error to imagine that the love of God
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is merely effective a certain delight or a joy we experience in God. Yeah,
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that's sort of the Protestant Evangelical view of God. Actually, it is
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rather an act of the understanding and of the will. A man recognizes God
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to be the supreme Good and esteems him above all creatures. This esteem causes
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him to strive to attain the possession of the sovereign Good by avoiding sin and
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leading a godly life. The love of God shows itself more in deeds than
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in feelings. The love of God is called holy or supernatural love. It
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is to be distinguished from purely natural affections, such as that of a parent
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for his child, as well as from sensual affection, which chiefly regards the
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body. He who loved God thinks of him, constantly, delights in speaking
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of him, and of hearing others talk of him. Love consists in striving
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after something in order to be united to it. Hence it comes at one's
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thoughts, dwell incessantly with the object of our affections. Where thy treasure is,
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there is thy heart also Matthew six point twenty one. He who loves
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God performs all his actions with the good intention of giving him glory. So
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the course of a ship may be directed toward different points of the complish,
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yet the magnetic needle always points to the north. He who loves God utters
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ejaculatory prayers amid all his occupations, such as these Jesus my God. I
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love the above all things, all to the greater glory of God, my
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God in my all the time, says Saint Bernard, in which we do
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not think of God as time lost. He who loves God delights in talking
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of divine things. Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh Matthew
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twelfth thirty four. He also loves to hear others speak of God. He
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that is of God hereth the words of God John eight forty seven. He
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who loves God avoids sin and does not allow his heart to cling to the
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possessions and joys of earth. He who loves God flies from a sin,
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because sin separates him from God. Our Lord said, if any man loved
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me, he will keep my word John fourteen twenty three. He who loves
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God is afraid of offending him, rather than of his chastisements. For where
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love is there is no chastisement to be dreaded. Perfect charity casteth out fear
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first John four eighteen One. Who is in flame with love of God lays
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aside all desire for earthly possessions and enjoyment, and the love of God and
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the love of the world can not coexist in the human heart. He who
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loves God rejoices to labor for the greater glory of God. The love of
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God excites in us the desire that He should be better known and loved by
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men, and thereby glorified. Zeal is the outcome of love. Where there
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is no zeal, there is no love. Since Saint Augustine, one who
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loves God is grieved, nay indignant, when God is offended. Moses in
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his anger through the stone tablets of the Law to the ground when he saw
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the people worshiping the golden calf. On the other hand, those who love
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God rejoice when he is honored. They spare no exertion to bring wanderers back
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to Him. Consider what hardships the apostles and missionaries endured in evangelizing heathen lands,
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or what Saint Monica did for her erring son, Augustine. The love
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of God is some motive which accentuates, which actuates the angels in their care
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of us, and which makes us pray how it would be thy name.
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He who loves God gives God thanks for the benefits he confers, and bears
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willingly the sufferings he lays upon him. If we really love God, all
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that comes from his hand will be welcomed, whether it is plain, whether
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it be pleasant or painful. If we receive favors from him. We must
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do as Noah did when he came out of the arc Genesis eight twenty,
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or as the three men in the furnace of Babylon Annual three point fifty one,
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or the leper when our Lord killed him Luke seventeen sixteen. And not
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be forgetful of our benefactor by omitting night prayers or grace before meals. One
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should be thankful for the smallest gift. For ingratitude betokens an unfeeling heart.
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Moreover, the sufferings God sin should also be cheerfully accepted. When is job
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and Saint Paul, who abounded with joy and all tribulation Tewo Corinthians, seventy
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four, the apostles and martyrs met death with gladness. Saint Teresa said,
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to suffer or to die. The heart that loves God loves the cross.
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Also, the greater our desire to suffer and be humbled for the sake of
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God, the greater the love for Him, So say the saints. He
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who loves God loves his neighbor. Also, everyone that loves the Creator loves
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the creatures that he has made. He loves his neighbor because he sees our
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Lord in that person. This Christ, this Christ himself tells us in Matthew
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twenty five forty he does not love the just, only he loves the center
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as well. For a while, we hate the sin because of his hateful
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In God's sight, we love the center. We should love the siner,
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he says. We should only hate the evil spirits and the reprobate, whom
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God hates with eternal hatred. In other words, we have a duty to
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hate demons and the devil, and to fight them and be opposed to them,
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not to like the old Rolling Stone song a Sympathy for the Devil,
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which is actually a brilliant song. You know, I think you know,
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Mick Jagger's kind of lost his sense in recent years being opposed to Donald Trump
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and such the best president of my lifetime, President Donald Trump, who God
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willing will soon be back into office and restore to us peace and prosperity.
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But Sympathy for the Devil is a brilliant song. It's actually about how especially
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college students and young people are lured by communism, especially in college and such.
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Yeah, actually a quite brilliant song. And Rolling Stones for a darn
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good band. Really, you know, they say you're either a Beatles fan
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or a Rolling Stones fan. I always answer, I'm more of a Cream
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fan, actually, Yardbirds, John Mayle's Blues Breakers, but I got it
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met that Keith Richards won. Heck of a guitar player, and my word,
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Mick Jaggers has been a dynamic performer, a little much sometimes, but
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much better band than the Beatles. Sorry if that, you know, if
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you're a hardcore Beatles fan, I actually I'd realize that the Beg's and the
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Beatles any day. I mean, really, of those three bands, I'm
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really more of a Bege's fan. And that may be a little knock on
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my rock and roll cred, but they were probably the best pop band ever
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recorded, purely brilliant singing, the song craft, the structure of the songs,
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the talent. But anyway, well, let me get back to this.
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You see, when you love something that you have an interest in it,
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you learn about it, you become consumed with a passion for it,
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and you Music has been very much that for me since I was a very
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young child. But anyway, we must love God with all our faculties,
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and above all things in the whole world, we must love God with a
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special and super excellent love. Christ does not merely command us to love God,
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but to love Him with all our heart and mind. So on strength
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the true measure of our love of God, says Saint Francis. Says Saint
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Francis to Saul is to love him without measure. We love God with all
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our strength. If we refer all to Him all our thoughts, weres,
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and deeds. Our first thoughts on rising in the morning should be of God
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and of Him. We should think in all we do during the day,
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all that is beautiful in creation should remind us of the glory of the Creator.
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To him who loves God, all nature speaks in a voice inaudible to
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the world at large, but intelligible the That's so one of the reasons I
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live in the mountains in North Carolina, in the Appalachians, the unspeakable beauty
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of the Appalachian Mountains. I do a lot of praying when I'm out walking
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and hiking and fishing in the woods. You know, same at the coast.
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Definitely, I could never. I could never live in a city.
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A man made city is nothing. I don't care what conveniences there are,
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restaurants, entertainment. A man made city can never compare to the beauty of
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the natural world created by God. We love God more than anything else in
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the world. If if we are ready to give up everything unhesitatingly, if
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such be his will, God is, in fact our final end. Creatures
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are only means to the attainment of this end. Hence, it is incumbent
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upon us to sacrifice them all in order to possess him. We must be
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prepared to give up our bodily life, like the three Babylonian youths. We
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must be prepared to leave our relatives as Abraham did. Nay More, a
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father must even sacrifice his only son, as Abraham was prepared to sacrifice Isaac.
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If God requires that of him, God may be compared to the pearl
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of great value or great price, to which a man must sell all that
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he hath Matthew thirteen forty six. God tries the just man to see if
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he loves him more than this passing world. Yet he often contents himself with
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our good will and does not take from us are the beloved object if we
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are really, if we are ready to give it up to him, like
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you know, Abraham and his son, he did not. He just wanted
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to make Abraham prove his devotion. He did not want the sacrifice of his
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son. He who is unduly cast down by afflictions does not love God above
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all, nor he who emits any good work from motives of human respect,
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For he esteems the favor of men more than the favor of God. One
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may love creatures, but only for God's sake. We may only take pleasure
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in creatures, and so far as they are conductive or conducive, I should
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say, to the service of the Most High. The Creator ought to be
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loved in his creatures, not the creatures in themselves. God calls himself a
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jealous God Exodus twenty five twenty, Chapter twenty, verse five, because he
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cannot tolerate loving anything, our loving anything which interferes with our love for him.
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He must reign supreme in our heart, or hold no place in there
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at all, says Saint Francis de sal Because the patriarch Jacob was too fond
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of his youngest son Joseph, he took him from him from a time,
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and he did the same with Benjamin. So he acts toward us now.
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Christ says he that loveth Father or Mother more than me is not worthy of
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me. Matthew ten thirty seven. Saint Augustine says he loves God too little.
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Who loves anything besides God unless he unless, indeed, he loves it
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out of love of God. The love of God is of great advantage to
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us. Through it, we are united to God here on earth. Our
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minds are enlightened, our will is strengthened. We obtain pardon of sin,
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peace of soul, manifeld, proofs of God's favor, and after death celests
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your joys. As average is the root of all evil, so the holy
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love of God is the root of all that is good. It is compared
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to oil or to fire for these or for these, For like these,
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it rises upward. No, that's true. I never thought about that oil
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and fire both rise upward. Interesting, Okay. It gives light and warmth.
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It softens and purifies he who loves God. In the dwelling place of
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He who loves God is the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit. Thus he
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is united to God. Through love, God becomes present in our hearts as
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he is in heaven. For Christ says, if any man love me,
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my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our
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abode with him. John fourteen twenty three. Love of God and sanctifying grace
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cannot be, cannot be. What is this word disset? I guess disunited
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to undone. I don't know where one is. There is the other.
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That is actually word I'm familiar with, but I can kind of understand what
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it means. He who loves God and joins enjoys heaven upon earth, heint
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says Saint Francis to sel. We should not be too anxious to discover whether
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we are pleasing God, but rather whether God is pleasing us. The man
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who loves God obtains through the end, dwelling of the Holy Ghost, enlightenment
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of the mind, strengthening of the will, pardon of sin, and true
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peace of soul. Our soul is peace, p acee of soul. Our
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soul is like a mirror which reflects the object toward which it is turned.
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If therefore we direct it toward God, the light of His divinity will shine
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into our soul, which will have a clear perception, that is of divine
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things, and the love of God is honorable wisdom. Ecclesiastes one fourteen.
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Saint Francis to sol cause love the compendition theology. By it, many unlearned
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men, monks and hermits have attained proficiency in the divine science. A red
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hot iron is easily shaped by the hammer of the blacksmiths. So so too
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the soul, which inflamed by divine love, is shaped by the influence of
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the Holy Spirit. Nothing gives courage and strength more than love does. The
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love of her offsprings makes the timid hen so brave she will fly at a
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man in their defense. Very true if you're around chickens. And what will
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not a mother endure for the sake of her child? Ch Charity beareth all
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things, and endureth all things. For Corinthians thirteen seven. What we love
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to do is no trouble to us, for love makes labor light. If
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then natural affection is so potent, what cannot the love of God do?
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It enables us to accomplish the greatest undertakings. Through the love of God we
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obtain the pardon of sin. Christ said of the Magdalen. Many sins are
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forgiven her because she has loved much Luke seven forty seven. Charity covereth a
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multitude of sins First Peter four eight. Nothing clears the field of thistles and
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foreigned thorns as quickly as fire, and no less quickly does a spark of
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divine charity cleanse the heart from all sins. The Holy Ghost takes up his
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dwelling place in the heart that loves God and brings peace to that heart.
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He is essentially the comforter. Whoever loves God fills within him the divine presence,
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and this affords him greater satisfaction than all the pleasures of the world.
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Without charity, there is no true peace. He who loves God enjoys true
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peace because his will is in entire conformity to the will of God. Charity
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procures for us many proofs of God's favor. Many of the saints receive revelations
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from God. Christ says, he that loveth me, shall be loved of
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my Father, and I will manifest myself to him John fourteen twenty one.
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To others, Christ himself appears, or his blessed Mother, or the angels
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of this Many instances occur both in the New and Old Testament, or they
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obtain speedy answers to prayer, marvelous enlightenments in divine things, interior consolations such
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as the world cannot give. To his friends, i e. Those who
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love him, God communicates his mysteries to increase in them charity and sanctifying grace.
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Christ says, I have called you my friends because all things whatsoever I
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have heard of my Father, I have made known unto you John fifteen fifteen.
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Saint Paul tells us to them that love God, all things work together
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for good Romans eight twenty eight. Even trials and afflictions work for the good
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of him who loves God, as was the case with Joseph Jacob to Bias,
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it's another book, you know. If you don't have the Book of
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Tobit in your Bible, you don't have a real Bible. You need to
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get a Catholic Bible. Through the love of God we attain the joys of
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heaven. Saint Paul says, I have not seen, nor ear, hath
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heard, neither hath it entered into the mind of man. What things God
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has prepared for those that love Him First Corinthians two nine. This is because
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he is rich in good works, who is in flame of divine charity.
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For love stimulates us to action. Hence the apostle says, the charity of
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Christ presses us Second Corinthians five fourteen. To behold God as we show in
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heaven, and to love Him is one and the same thing We needs must
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love the highest when we see it. He who knows by experiences alfonsis how
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sweet and delightful is the love of God loses all tastes for earthly things.
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The merit of our good works and the degree of our future felicity is in
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proportion to the magnitude of our love of God. The greater is the love
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of God, says Saint Francis, to sell, the more meritorious are our
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actions. God does not regard the greatest of the work, the greatness of
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the work, but the love with which the work is performed. The two
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mites of the poor widow had more value in the sight of God than the
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large contributions of the rich. Saint Paul tells us that all gifts, however
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wonderful, are good works and austerities are utterly worthless without charity. Good works
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without the love of God, or like lamps without oil, as food is
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tasteless and insipid without a condiment salt. I guess so if charity is lacking,
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our works are without savor before God. Moreover, the measure of our
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eternal felicity depends upon the degree of charity we possess our deaths. He who
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has loved most shall receive the greatest glory, says Saint Francis Desau. An
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earthly father often becreaths the bequeaths the greatest, the largest legacy, to the
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child who has shown the most affection to him. Even on earth. He
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who loves God best is the recipient of the greatest graces. To such a
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one, many sins are forgiven. When Mary Magdalen fell at our Lord's feet
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in Simon's house, he said of her, many sins have forgiven her because
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she has love much. Again. That's Luke seven forty seven. A greater
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love of God brings with it a greater knowledge of God, like a fire,
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which the larger it is, the more radiance it emits emits. If
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we love God, we are rich, richer far than those who own unbounded
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wealth but do not love Him. They are poor, whoever they may be,
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or whatever they may possess. The love of God may be increased in
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the soul by meditation upon the perfections of God and the benefits He confers on
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us by practicing detachment from earthly things and by frequently making acts of the love
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of God. Just as the fire is kept up with and increased in sign
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in size by heaping on fuel, so the love of God within us is
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fed by meditation on the truth of religion. Meditation on the Lord's passion is
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especially calculated to increase in us the love of God. Even in the realms
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of celestial glory. The Redeemer's death will form the strongest incentive to the blessed
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spirit it to love God. Detachment from earthly things also contributes to augment our
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love. For as a stone gravitates for the center of the earth, as
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soon as the obstacles in its way are removed, so our soul mounts upward
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with accelerated motion to God, the center of our being and its final aim.
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If we fear ourselves from the bond that holds us captive to Earth,
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it is also useful to make frequent acts for the love of God. As
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in everything, practice makes perfect. So by awakening within ourselves the love of
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God, we shall attain a high degree of love. Saint Francis of ASSISI
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would repeat for whole days and nights the words my God and my alle It
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is all the more important to make acts of love because the commandment to love
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God imposes it upon us as an obligation. Saint Alfonsis declares that he who
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for a whole month neglects this practice can scarcely be exempt from mortal sin.
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Our love should be without limit or without measure, as God himself. The
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love of God is lost by mortal sin. As water extinguishes fire, so
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the love of God is quenched in our hearts by mortal sin. He who
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has thus lost the love of God has turned his mind away from God and
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directed it holy to creatures. Except sin, nothing has the power to deprive
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us of the love of God. Thus, Saint Paul exclaims, I am
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sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor
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powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor any other creature
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shall be able to separate us from the love of God Romans eight thirty eight.
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All right, we will wrap it up. There got another section or
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so to go in this one. Next Father Sparago will explain why the love
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of the world is the opposite of the love of God. And you know,
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maybe we can get to that tomorrow. If not, it would be
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first thing next week. And we'll also talk about charity as part of love
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of neighbor and such as that. You know, maybe Catholics kind of take
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it for granted, but you got to remember Martin Luther changed the words of
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Jesus to say that we were saved by faith alone, and he actually said
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faith and works. So works are many things. Works. Love of God
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is a work, Okay, love of neighbor is a work. The sacraments
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are great works. The greatest works we can do on earth. Charity,
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acts of charity are works, and without these we can't go to heaven.
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No matter what Martin Luther said, he actually bragged about it and said that
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he did it on the authority of doctor Luther. As I have mentioned before,
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he was a very evil man who has very likely led millions of people
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to hell, millions of people. And you know we as Catholics, well,
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I mean, you'll be called to defend your faith many many times.
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And this understanding that the love of God, the greatest of the commandments,
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the love of God and love of neighbor, necessitates works in both the love
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of God and the love of neighbor. And you know, Jesus, if
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you love me, you will keep your commandments. That means we have to
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worship Him as he commanded, and that means going to Mass and receiving the
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Eucharist. So, I mean, there's a lot. We can't just gloss
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over this, you know, this is something we really do have to look
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at an in depth way. So y'all have a great evening. Maybe I'll
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talk to youmorrow, hopefully. In the words of Saint Padre Pio, pray,
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hope and don't worry.