Latest / The Uncensored Catholic / Show 224: The Eucharist, part 2
Transcript
- 0:54Speaker 1: A Hey, y'all, welcome this week's show. We'll pick that
- 1:02up where we left off last week. We'll be talking
- 1:05about the Eucharist, and I'm sure you'll find it very interesting.
- 1:09But of course, first of all, we'll start with a
- 1:11couple questions and answers from the classic work radio replies
- 1:15in which Protestants, atheists, and communists called in or wrote
- 1:21in and spoke with Fathers Rumble and Carti for a
- 1:27few decades. They chronicled, this are a few decades asking
- 1:30every question they could about the Catholic Church and raising
- 1:33every charge and criticism they could possibly come up with,
- 1:37and the priests, of course handled things perfectly. Today's question says,
- 1:42would Christianity be anything shorn of the Crucifixion? So would
- 1:46Christianity have any value without the crucifixion? They say, absolutely speaking,
- 1:51there could be. Let's try that again, absolutely speaking, there
- 1:56could have been a Christianity without a crucifixion. God could
- 2:01have condoned the sin of mankind and without demanding just expiation.
- 2:06He could have sent his son in human form to
- 2:08teach another type of Christian doctrine. But that is on
- 2:11the realm of possibilities. We are concerned with facts, and
- 2:15as facts stand, Christianity could not be shorn at the crucifixion,
- 2:19nor could the Jewish religion. All sacrifices from Adam to
- 2:24Christ were figures of the Crucifixion. Abraham's willingness to offer
- 2:28Isaac predicted God's willingness to offer his son, even as
- 2:31the pastor Lamb foreshadowed Christ as the true Lamb of
- 2:34God who would die on the cross. Any value in
- 2:37the Old Testament sacrifices was derived by anticipation from the cross.
- 2:42God willed that the skills of justice should be balanced,
- 2:45and for that a man had to die for the
- 2:47sin of man. Yet, since the infinite majesty of God
- 2:51had been offended, the human being chosen to expiate this
- 2:55infinite offense must be of infinite dignity God the Son
- 2:59there became man, removing I'm sorry, reclaiming true God, and
- 3:05in his human form was offered in calvary. Person continues,
- 3:11what justification has vicarious punishment, and they answer none unless
- 3:16the one in whose debt we are chooses to accept it.
- 3:22He says, it would be condemn my civilized humananity, and
- 3:26they answer it would not unless it were the penalizing
- 3:30of one man against his will for another's crime. But
- 3:33who would condemn me if I chose to pay the
- 3:35fine of some poor man, who would offend it against
- 3:38the laws of the state. And he asks, why is
- 3:41it praiseworthy of practiced by God? And they answer, it
- 3:45is praiseworthy to safeguard justice, and yet at the same
- 3:48time to exhibit untold love and mercy. Christ is God mercifully.
- 3:53He took a human nature, and in that human nature
- 3:58expiated the sins of all all those who wish to
- 4:01avail themselves of His generosity by fulfilling the conditions he appointed.
- 4:07A person says, you have said that the greatest of
- 4:10christ miracles was the resurrection. Let get I guess this
- 4:15person's name is Luis. Lois Y. A progressive theologian says
- 4:22that it was not a historical fact, but a spiritual
- 4:24fact only. And they answer Luisi was a Catholic, but
- 4:29is no longer, having been excommunicated from the Church for heresy.
- 4:34His assertion is worth only the evidence he can give,
- 4:37and he can give absolutely no genuine evidence for his conjecture.
- 4:42If the resurrection is not a historical fact, there is
- 4:45no such thing as a historical fact in existence. Person says,
- 4:51but no one has ever returned from the dead. And
- 4:53they answered that as a complete denial of the historical
- 4:56values of the Gospels. You have no proof whatever that
- 5:00no one has ever risen from the dead. You may
- 5:02not have personally witnessed such an event, but not all
- 5:06beyond your personal experiences necessarily false or non existent. And
- 5:11he says, are the accounts of the resurrections given by
- 5:13the Synoptics identical in every particular? That would be the
- 5:18Gospels Synoptic Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Lukenjohn. And they answer, they
- 5:23are identical as regards to sub substance. In fact, they
- 5:27record different but not mutually exclusive particulars. Each gives its
- 5:32own independent summary, not pretending to give all and only
- 5:35that which occurred. The person says, a lawyer verse in criticism,
- 5:42said that the accounts lack corroboration. And they answer, your
- 5:47lawyer friend gave only his fallible human opinion. Equally qualified
- 5:52jurists have come to the opposite conclusion. And the arguments
- 5:55of your Jewists jurists, sorry, can all be refuted. All right.
- 6:00Now on to Father Spirago, and we are talking about
- 6:05the Eucharist, which is of course the central and heart
- 6:10of Catholic worship. It's actually what differentiates what we do
- 6:16at Mass in large part, I mean the ceremony of
- 6:19the Mass, of the liturgy and all that. When we
- 6:22go to Mass as Catholics, we worship God. When Protestants
- 6:27go to church, they praise God, but they do not
- 6:32engage in legitimate worship because they lack the ceremony of
- 6:37the liturgy, they lack the sacrifice of the Eucharist, and
- 6:42several other points. We'll focus on the euchust for today,
- 6:46and Sparago says, under the necessity of holy communion, the
- 6:51holy sacrament of the Altar is the nourishment of our souls. Consequently,
- 6:56the reception of this sacrament is an indispensable means whereby
- 7:00to obtain spiritual perfection or sanctity here and eternal life hereafter.
- 7:06The Holy Eucharist is the nourishment of our souls. On it.
- 7:09Our spiritual life is dependent our Lord, says, he that
- 7:14eateth me the same also shall live by me. And again,
- 7:19except ye eat the son of the flesh of man
- 7:21and drink his blood, you shall not have life in you.
- 7:24John six fifty eight fifty four. Holy communion is therefore
- 7:28essential to our progress and sanctity, and to the final
- 7:32attainment of eternal life. As the bodily health cannot be
- 7:36maintained without nourishing food, so spiritual health cannot be acquired
- 7:41and preserve without holy communion. Saint Francis of sal Saint
- 7:45Francis cel says or tells us that there are two
- 7:49classes of men who need holy community, the perfect that
- 7:51they may not decline in perfection, and the imperfect that
- 7:55they may become perfect. The strong that they maintain their strength,
- 7:59and the weak that they may acquire strength. The early
- 8:02Christians communicated daily, and this it was that gave them
- 8:06constancy and fortitude to suffer martyrdom. As a rule, the
- 8:10Saints communicated frequently. Yet it must not be supposed that
- 8:14frequent communion is in any way a mark of sanctity
- 8:17or inward sanctity sanctity. It is only a means of
- 8:20acquiring it. Those therefore, who rarely receive holy communion will
- 8:26not make rapid progress and perfection. The consciousness that even
- 8:31after confession we are unworthy to receive our Lord ought
- 8:34not to deter us from going to communion. The church
- 8:37puts the words of the heathen centurion upon the lips
- 8:39of the intending communicate. That's when we say, Lord, I'm
- 8:42not worthy that you shoulder under my roof. No moratal
- 8:45can ever be worthy to receive a God. Yet it
- 8:48must be remembered that Christ did not institute the holy
- 8:51sacrament of the altar for angels, but for men, those
- 8:54who are conscious of their own misery and desire to remedy.
- 8:58It will fill in a frequent communion. Our daily failings
- 9:02ought not to hold us back. On the contrary, they
- 9:05ought to incite us to approach the holy table that
- 9:08we may be delivered from them. For holy communion purifies
- 9:12the soul from venial sin and weakness, and weakens the
- 9:16force of evil. Concupiscence concupisces remembers the natural result of
- 9:21original sin, the desire to do wrong. Nor ought the
- 9:25absence of sweetness and consolation to tru us from communicating.
- 9:30How unwise would be the man, says Saint Ignatius, who
- 9:33refused to eat his bread and chose to die of
- 9:36hunger because it was not spread with honey. Yeah, I've
- 9:41definitely experienced that. I mean, I've gone to Mass many times,
- 9:46and you know, especially as a single guy sitting alone
- 9:51seeing in the families around me, and you know, it
- 9:55feels pretty lonely. And you know, nobody else speak to
- 10:00you except when they have to during the the sign
- 10:05of piece. You know, you go up for communion and
- 10:08you go home feeling like crap. You didn't get any
- 10:12consolation even though you receive the Eucharist. It happens. It's
- 10:18called well for more holy people, it's called spiritual dryness.
- 10:23That doesn't mean it's not efficacious. It doesn't mean it's
- 10:26not effective what it does to the soul. Even if
- 10:30it doesn't change life circumstances and make you happy on
- 10:33that given day, it's still putting the life of God
- 10:38in your soul, and it's very important. So again, who
- 10:45would wait until he was warm before going to the fire?
- 10:49He who censures the practice of frequent communion says segur
- 10:53se g you are, I'm not familiar that person does
- 10:55the devil's work. The Saints have always advocated frequent community union,
- 11:00and it has been urged from the faithful repeatedly by
- 11:02the Holy See those who wilfully neglect holy communion for
- 11:07a lengthened period incur the risk of spiritual death and
- 11:11eternal damnation. Hereafter, the soul cannot live without food any
- 11:16more than the body. Yet, as certain saints have existed
- 11:19without taking any corporeal substance food in other words, so
- 11:24others have lived for years without holy communion. Saint Mary
- 11:28of Egypt, for instance, who spent forty years in the desert,
- 11:31and several Anchorites such as Saint Paul and Saint Anthony.
- 11:34The Holy Spirit who led them into the wilderness replaced
- 11:37all that holy communion could have been for them. Yet most,
- 11:41if not all, were communicated before their death. Everyone, however,
- 11:45if he be prevented from receiving communion, is bound to
- 11:48make a spiritual communion. That is, he must desire to
- 11:51communicate and must do so actually whenever the opportunity offers.
- 11:57We are bound, under the pain of moral sin, to
- 11:59community at least once a year, and that at Easter,
- 12:03also in the case of dangerous illness. It is moreover
- 12:07the wish of the Church that the faithful should, if possible,
- 12:10receive holy communion on Sunday and Holy Days. In the
- 12:13first ages of Christianity, the Christians communicated daily about the
- 12:17middle of the third century, it became necessary to enjoin
- 12:20upon the faithful to communicate three times a year at
- 12:23the three Great Vessels. In the Middle Ages, people grew careless,
- 12:27some absented themselves from the Holy table for years. Consequently,
- 12:31the Latteran Council in twelve fifteen the Church decreed that
- 12:34every Catholic who had come up the age of reason
- 12:37should receive Holy Communion at least once a year, and
- 12:40at least at Easter. Those who failed to obey this
- 12:44precept were to be deprived of Christian burial. Children are
- 12:48to be admitted to Holy Communion as soon as they
- 12:50can distinguish the heavenly food from the earthly, and it
- 12:53can confidently be assumed that they will receive this holy
- 12:56sacrament with do reverence and devotion. Of course, it's after confirmation.
- 13:01They have to be confirmed first. It is not well
- 13:04to postpone the first communion until children have reached the
- 13:06age of fourteen years, as it is most important that
- 13:09it should take place while their innocence is still unstained.
- 13:13In the Middle Ages, children were allowed to make their
- 13:15first communion when they were seven years old. The Christian
- 13:18is also bound to receive holy communion if he be
- 13:21in danger of death. Hence, the community is given to
- 13:23the sick and is called the viaticum food for the journey,
- 13:27essentially the substance of the traveler on his last journey.
- 13:32The sacred host must not be administered to anyone who
- 13:34cannot swallow or who is subject to vomiting. If the
- 13:38illnesses of prolonged duration, the sick may receive communion two
- 13:42or three times during its course if he desires to
- 13:45do so. Holy communion may be given to children who
- 13:47are in danger of death, provided they have attained the
- 13:50use of reason about seven years of age, although they
- 13:53have not previously approached the sacraments. In other words, exception
- 13:57can be made. The priest must briefly instruct them of
- 14:00the chief truths of the faith and the sacrament they
- 14:03are about to receive. Furthermore, it is the desire of
- 14:06the Church that the faithful should, in as far as possible,
- 14:09communicate on all Sundays and Holy days. The Council of
- 14:13Trent would feign, indeed, that at each mass of faithful
- 14:16who are present should communicate not only in spiritual desire,
- 14:20but by sacramental participation of the Eucharus, and that thereby
- 14:24a more abundant fruit may be derived to them from
- 14:27this holy sacrifice. Now it is of obligation that every
- 14:32Catholic should hear Mass on all Sundays and Holy days hits.
- 14:35It may be infer that they should receive holy communion
- 14:38all those days. At least. Many fathers and doctors of
- 14:41the church urge frequent communion of the faithful. We give
- 14:46our bodies nourishment several times a day, says Saint Charles Borromeo,
- 14:50and shall our souls receive nourishment only once a year.
- 14:55It is the duty of those who have the cure
- 14:57of souls to exhort the faithful to the practice a frequent,
- 15:01if not daily, communion, as the soul, like the body,
- 15:04will languish without nourishment. The Confessor must, not, however, recommend
- 15:08frequent communion to all indiscriminately. He must have due regard
- 15:12to the spiritual state and manner of the life of
- 15:15each individual. Very very important point. For instance, let's give
- 15:22a good four instance here. Dick Durbin, his priest, I
- 15:30believe his bishop has prevented him from receiving the Eucharist
- 15:35in the churches in their parish where they know him.
- 15:39As I've read, and this from my understanding for over
- 15:41twenty years, because of his support for abortion, that is
- 15:45the duty of the priest and bishop to knowingly give
- 15:49him the Euchrists when he is in a state of
- 15:51mortal sin is actually to commit a sin, and to
- 15:56help him commit a greater mortal sin. The Eucharist in
- 16:01the state of mortal sin. Another bishop is now trying
- 16:05to honor him and celebrate him and will very likely
- 16:09give him communion. And that is not only wrong, it's scandalous.
- 16:13It's causing a great controversy. It's causing the grave sin
- 16:19of scandal actually, and if that bishop does that, he
- 16:24will be committing a grave moral sin, a mortal sin,
- 16:29by desecrating the body and blood of Christ and enabling
- 16:34this person, who has been essentially excommunicated due to his
- 16:38support for abortion, to receive the Eucharists unworthily, which means
- 16:42he will actually be guilty of the murder of Christ.
- 16:46So it is really really important for a priest to
- 16:50know his congregation, his parishioners, and if he has reason
- 16:55to believe someone is in a state of mortal sin,
- 16:58to take them aside. Privately and give them counsel and
- 17:01explain why they can't receive the Eucharist until they have
- 17:05been a confession and made a sincere act of penance
- 17:12and intention to you know, amend or mend their ways
- 17:17and accept the teachings of the Catholic Church. That is
- 17:22true in every single parish. If somebody knows, you know,
- 17:25someone's having an adulterous affair, or they're practicing homosexuality, or
- 17:29they're voting and supporting candidates that campaign specifically on abortion
- 17:38or gay marriage or anything that's not in keeping with
- 17:40Catholic tradition, or if they know the person to be
- 17:42a thief or a murderer or a mobster, it is
- 17:47absolutely incumbent upon the priest to take them aside privately
- 17:52and give them counsel. And at that point it's up
- 17:57to that person not to go up for to receive
- 18:00the Eucharist, and if they do, the priestesses refuse to
- 18:04give it to them. Otherwise they're committing a worse sin
- 18:10in giving them communion. And that is that's Catholic teaching.
- 18:14And unfortunately, our too many let me just put this way,
- 18:19too many priests and bishops are moral cowards who would
- 18:24rather curry favor with the rich and powerful than stand
- 18:27for the truth of the Catholic Church. And that's just
- 18:29the way it is now, it always has been. That's
- 18:31nothing new. It goes back to Judas. You know, Jesus
- 18:35chose twelve apostles. One of them was Judas. We've had
- 18:38bad priests and bishops and popes throughout two thousand years
- 18:43of the history of the Catholic Church, and the Catholic
- 18:45Church is still standing. But it does not lessen the
- 18:49moral duty of an individual priest and his parish at
- 18:55all to say others have been worse or just as bad.
- 18:59If anything, it makes it more important than he stand
- 19:02for the truth and teach what's real and true and right. Anyway,
- 19:07Saint Alfonza says that there are but few who may
- 19:10not be admitted to communion once a month weekly. Communion
- 19:13must only be permitted to those who keep themselves free
- 19:16from mortal sin and give no scandal in their daily life.
- 19:20Give no scandal. Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi, and Dick Durbin.
- 19:25I could go down the list. They do nothing but
- 19:28give scandal by supporting abortion, I mean they advocate for
- 19:33the killing of innocent children. That's morally evil. I don't
- 19:38know how does that even need explanation. I think that's
- 19:42pretty self evident anyway. And those who, that is to say,
- 19:49have not the character of being Tatler's slanderer's quarrelsome, et cetera. Yes,
- 19:56even your old church ladies who are gossiping about other
- 20:02people should be taken aside by their priests and saying,
- 20:04you know, that's not right. You don't need to be
- 20:08talking about people behind their back. That's not in accord
- 20:11with Catholic teaching. I mean, you know, the church secretary
- 20:15is often like the worst offender when it comes to gossip, slander,
- 20:22Tatler's as he says it, being quarrelsome. I mean literally,
- 20:29sometimes people within the church will be really very rude,
- 20:35especially if they have a position, and someone news coming in.
- 20:40A priest says a duty to take those people aside.
- 20:43I think I've mentioned before my mother went into a
- 20:45church for adoration and she walked in. She's kneeling before
- 20:49the host, and some old woman comes up to her,
- 20:51who are you. You're not supposed to be here, You're
- 20:53not on the list. That's not right, that's not acceptable.
- 20:59You know my mother's I would have said, listen, lady,
- 21:02I'm here to worship Jesus, not you get the hell
- 21:05out of my face. That's me. I'm not a nice guy.
- 21:09I try, but I have an Irish temper and I'm
- 21:15not a nice guy. When somebody confronts me, I come
- 21:19out of them ten times harder, and then I have
- 21:22to go back and apologize and say I'm sorry I overreacted.
- 21:25But my nature is, you know, verbally, to be quite
- 21:32terse when it comes to you know, women are older
- 21:36people or young people, or so a man my age
- 21:39and size, We're going out of the parking lot, you know,
- 21:42that's it. I mean, seriously, that's just my nature. It's
- 21:46all right, you better back down or we're going outside.
- 21:50And then I have to take the blame for something
- 21:55I didn't start. But that's life, isn't it. Weekly commune,
- 22:00I mean, it's sometimes a necessity for persons who are
- 22:03constantly tempted to mortal sin, for by it they obtain
- 22:06the power to resist. Daily communion must only be granted
- 22:10to those who are earnestly striving after perfection, who courageously
- 22:15resist fenal sin, and who ardently desire holy communion. Such
- 22:19persons should seek to lead a blameless life. In other words,
- 22:22just you can't just go through the motions. This stuff
- 22:25really matters. They must have sufficient time at their command
- 22:29to bank their preparation, their thanksgiving with due deliberation, and
- 22:33they must have the intelligence of divine things. Again, it's
- 22:38not just a matter of going through the motions. You know.
- 22:42Ex girlfriend of mine raised very religious. Her parents pretty
- 22:48much insisted they go to daily communion, and it was
- 22:50just a matter of habit. I mean, you know, somewhat
- 22:55for her. But you know, yeah, I beilter not say that.
- 22:59I don't know what since some one's heart, but I
- 23:01mean it didn't seem like at least to me, I
- 23:06guess I should qualify it. There wasn't a lot of
- 23:10actual devotion. It was just, you know, mother told us
- 23:14we have to do this, and so we do it. Anyway,
- 23:19the daily communicant is not obliged to go to confession
- 23:22every day for a holy communion cleanses from venal sin.
- 23:26It is only obligatory upon him to go to confession previously,
- 23:31if he is conscious of himself, conscious to himself of
- 23:35mortal sin. Yes, you have to go confession. If you're
- 23:39a state of mortal sin venial sayer, sorry, prayer to
- 23:44our Father and receive the Eucharist, and that's taken care of.
- 23:49But mortal sin you have to go to confession. For
- 23:52one who leads a worldly life or who is not
- 23:55been upon overcoming his faults, so says irascibility, that would
- 23:59be my attempt. I am irascible in the old way
- 24:02of speaking, vanity, I'm not very vain. Love of no
- 24:07I couldn't care all right, love of gossip is the
- 24:10other one. He said. I couldn't care less what somebody
- 24:12else is doing in their personal life. I actually don't
- 24:14want to know. If someone comes up to me and says,
- 24:18you hear about so and so they're doing, I'm like, yeah, whatever,
- 24:21I got better things to do with my time to
- 24:23worry about what somebody else is doing with theirs. But anyway,
- 24:27for such a person, frequent communion would be exceedingly hurtful.
- 24:31For holy communions like a fire, which if it does
- 24:34not purify, consumes everything in its flames. In other words,
- 24:42you got to get yourself straightened out. And yeah, with me,
- 24:45that that is my Irish nature of you know, coming
- 24:50out with my fists first, rather than trying to turn
- 24:53the other cheek. God willing, over the course of my life,
- 24:57I can work through that and be a more there's
- 25:03there's a word for it. Well, anyway, more christ like
- 25:09in my actions. Hmm what is that word? Well, y'all
- 25:15probably know it. Yeah, it's it's it's not timid. It's
- 25:21not timidity, it's what was the equality of Christ that
- 25:25we're called to? A virtue? I actually did a whole
- 25:28show on this virtue. What was that virtue? Hmm? Anyway, well,
- 25:38I'm sure it'll come to me later. Anyway, the priest
- 25:40must not administer Holy communion to persons who are not
- 25:43able to distinguish this supernatural bread from ordinary food, or
- 25:47of whom it may be surmised that they will receive
- 25:49it without reverence or devotion. In other words, if you
- 25:51don't believe that the Euchrous is actually the body and
- 25:54blood of Christ, you really should not receive the Eucharus. Thus,
- 25:59children who who have not attained the use of reason
- 26:01are not admitted to Holy communion. If exceptions to this
- 26:08rule have been made in former days, it was because
- 26:10of the exigencies of the times, and in other words,
- 26:15maybe there was danger and things had to be done.
- 26:19Children who were not yet of the age of reason
- 26:21were allowed to receive communion because they were in danger
- 26:24of death or you know, slavery or something else where
- 26:28they may yeah, may not have had another opportunity in
- 26:33their lives to receive communion. Children must also be thoroughly
- 26:39instructed in the faith and morals before making their first communion.
- 26:44Now he uses an old term here that may offend you.
- 26:46He says, idiots and lunatics are incapable of communicating. Of course,
- 26:52we don't use language like that anymore. We could, we
- 26:55would say the mentally impaired. I don't even think we're
- 27:00supposed to say handicap anymore. I don't even know what's
- 27:02politically correct. And honestly, I don't care beyond expressing a
- 27:06wish to not intentionally wish to offend someone. As I've
- 27:12said many times down syndrome kids, for they break my heart,
- 27:18they really do. They're just the sweetest and they and
- 27:22a lot of them stay that way through adulthood. And
- 27:24I just have a really special feeling for such people.
- 27:30So I would not wish to purposely offend. And the
- 27:34Church has moderated its teaching on that greatly. The church
- 27:41now strives to meet each person at their level. So
- 27:48you know, there's absolutely no reason a mentally challenged person
- 27:54cannot receive the Eucharus if they've been you know, you've
- 27:59spoken with the priest and there's been some conversation, counseling,
- 28:03and the priest or a catechist or you know, whatever
- 28:07has helped that person understand to the best of their ability,
- 28:14you know exactly what's going on. There's one, I mean,
- 28:20I tear up just thinking about this young lady who's
- 28:25severely you know, retarded, severely, and she loves the euchars
- 28:38and everybody in that church. Her deal is after she
- 28:43receives communion, she then hugs everybody and wow, big beaming smile.
- 28:57She's a fool of the love of God. I can't
- 29:00even I'll never be at her level in terms of
- 29:07saying to it. So remember, yeah, that's that's no longer
- 29:13the case. The church has changed its teachings on that.
- 29:17And anyway, he says as far as lunatics, he's talking about,
- 29:22you know, insane people mentally ill or should not receive
- 29:27communion if they cannot recognize what they're doing. You know,
- 29:35if they're having a psychotic episode or a schizophrenic episode
- 29:38would be probably more accurate. And again that's going to
- 29:43be up to the priests. The priest is going to
- 29:45have to decide, you know, is it right? Does this
- 29:48person know what they're doing? And Father Sparaga says, they may, however,
- 29:53have lucid intervals and recover their reason, especially at the
- 29:58approach of death, in which case they should the admitted
- 30:01to communion. So y'all, I'm gonna wrap it up there.
- 30:08I think we've got at least one more part on this.
- 30:10We're going to get to the effects of Holy Community
- 30:12and the effects of the Eucharist will be next week.
- 30:16You know this, this is what Catholicism is all about.
- 30:20This is why we are Catholic. I mean, yeah, we
- 30:23can look at the promises of Christ, the two thousand
- 30:27year history of the Church, we can look at every
- 30:30logical or theological or whatever reason of why we're Catholic,
- 30:35but it really comes down to exactly what Saint Peter
- 30:41said when Jesus said you must eat my body and
- 30:46drink my blood. Nearly every one of his followers left
- 30:50at that point. He was about to be recognized as
- 30:53the Messiah, and you know, the king of Israel, I
- 30:58mean the odd in human form. There were thousands of
- 31:02people following Jesus, believing in him, believing him to be
- 31:08the son of God, you know. And he said you
- 31:11must eat my truly, I tell you must eat my
- 31:14flesh and drink my blood. And if you go back
- 31:17to the Aramaic which he spoke and the Greek that
- 31:21was translated into he said, gnaw, you must literally take
- 31:27my flesh and gnaw it in your teeth and eat it.
- 31:30He was so clear. He said it at least three times,
- 31:35in more explicit language each time, and ninety nine point
- 31:41nine percent of his followers thought he was a lunatic
- 31:44who was actually talking about cannibalism. That's when the Jews
- 31:48rejected Jesus. That's when his followers turned away. And he
- 31:55turns to the apostles, and I guess the seventy or
- 31:59so disciples. Who knows how many of them stuck with them.
- 32:02We're not really told that. But he turns to apostles
- 32:06and says, well, you wilieve too, And Saint Peter said,
- 32:12to whom should we go? You have the words of
- 32:15truth and life. And you know, Saint Peter's saying flat out,
- 32:20if there was another option, I'd take it. I don't
- 32:23understand what you're saying, but I believe you are the Messiah,
- 32:27and I have to believe and do what you said.
- 32:30And that's where we stand today. That's why we are Catholic.
- 32:35That's what differentiates us from Protestants. I mean, yeah, you
- 32:41could say, well, I'm Catholic because I'm confirmed in the
- 32:43Catholic Church. I believe the teachings of the Catholic Church.
- 32:46You're not Catholic unless you take communion. You're excommunicated. You
- 32:51excommunicate yourself if you don't believe it's in the real
- 32:55presence the body of blood of Christ. We are Catholic
- 33:00like because of the eucharists beyond anything else, and it's
- 33:04the most important thing there is. I mean literally, it's
- 33:09life and death. And you know, the more we can
- 33:14understand that, the more appreciation we have and the more
- 33:20effectual the Eucharist becomes for us. And you know that's
- 33:26really when we talk to Protestants, that's they say, why
- 33:32are you Catholic? Catholic churches this and that and this,
- 33:34and usually it's all lies. But when you come down
- 33:36to you say, I'm Catholic because of the Eucharist. I'm
- 33:40Catholic because Jesus said, if you love me, you will
- 33:42follow my commandments. And his commandment was you must eat
- 33:46my flesh and drink my blood. And you can't do
- 33:49that in a Lutheran church or a Baptist church, or
- 33:52an Episcopal church, or a Presbyterian church, or a Methodist church,
- 33:56or Assemblies of God or you know, whatever day administ
- 34:00you can only do that in Catholic Church. And the
- 34:05U course is also valid in I'll say it, most
- 34:11Orthodox churches. I'm not It's not my place to judge
- 34:16all Orthodox. The Catholic Church does recognize the validity of
- 34:22the sacraments in the Orthodox churches. But it would seem that,
- 34:28especially during the Soviet era, the Russian Orthodox was so
- 34:32thoroughly infected with Soviet agents, you know, KGB, that kind
- 34:39of thing, and they're teaching so changed from you know,
- 34:45fealty loyalty to Christian teaching from the beginning from the Apostles.
- 34:56And I'm not sure that all those who were ordained
- 34:59were really had a valid ordination, because not all of
- 35:03those empower may have been validly ordained themselves, but again
- 35:08I'm not sure. I'm not saying they're not. It may
- 35:11be that all the sacraments are valid in all the
- 35:13Russian Orthodox churches. That's not for me to say. But
- 35:16having read a lot of the history of the Bolshelavik Revolution,
- 35:21twenty million Catholics and Orthodox Russian Orthodox slaughtered, including nearly
- 35:27every priest, bishop, monk, and nun. Twenty million people burned
- 35:33a death, crucified, frozen to death, torn to bits, I mean,
- 35:39just tortured and killed in the most horrible ways you
- 35:41can imagine. Twenty million. Do we really know if every
- 35:49ordained minister in the Orthodox Church was validly ordained by
- 35:54someone who could trace their ordination back to the apostles,
- 35:58or were they appointed by a Soviet bureaucrat, I mean,
- 36:03just a government employee who said, Okay, now you're going
- 36:07to go in there and atholt you're a priest. I
- 36:09don't know. I don't know, but it seems like it'd
- 36:13be really, really difficult for them to have maintained Apostolic succession.
- 36:20I mean, all the Catholics were slaughtered. The only Orthodox
- 36:24that were allowed to remain affiliated to the Orthodox Church
- 36:28had to swear allegiance to the Soviet government. The same
- 36:32thing happened with the Greeks under the Muslim caliph, like
- 36:36what five hundred years earlier. So I you know, it's
- 36:41not up to me to say that the Orthodox sacraments
- 36:47are valid or not. The Catholic Church says that if
- 36:51the priest, the Orthodox priest is validly ordained in the
- 36:57lineage of the Apostles, just like a Catholic priest, then
- 37:00he can give communion and it's valid. But you know,
- 37:06a lot of that seems a little iffy, a little iffy.
- 37:10I'm going to stick with the Catholic Church as the
- 37:14pillar and foundation of the truth, as the Bible says,
- 37:17the shining City set upon the hill, visible to all ages,
- 37:20the only church founded by Jesus Christ that's been here
- 37:24for two thousand years, that gave us the Bible that
- 37:27the gates of Hell will not prevail against. And if
- 37:30I'm wrong, like I said, I had not made a
- 37:33firm decision, and it's not my place so to do.
- 37:36I'll just accept the teachings of the Catholic Church about
- 37:38the Orthodox Church, and you know, on that I can
- 37:42be sure, because you know that's guaranteed by God. I'm not.
- 37:47I am certainly not. I'm as fallible and flawed as
- 37:50a human being can possibly be. Anyway, you all have
- 37:54a great week, and I'll talk to you next time.