Latest / The Uncensored Catholic / Show 63: Martyrdom and Service

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Show 63: Martyrdom and Service · The Uncensored Catholic

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  Hey, y'all, welcome today's show. Let's just jump right in today.
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  We will start with a couple of questions and answers from the Radio Reply series,
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  and then I has had some thoughts about a Oh Gospel passage I was
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  reading earlier, and I thought i'd share that with you. So to start
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  with on the nature of religion, one of the questioners ask, what do
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  you mean by religion? The priest's answer, by religion, I mean the
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  act of justice by which we render to God, both privately as individuals and
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  publicly as social beings, the honor, gratitude, and obedience to him,
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  and in the way prescribed by him. Person goes on, is the practice
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  of religion necessary? The answer, yess. God has definite rights which no
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  man is justified and ignoring. Moreover, God definitely commands you to adore and
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  serve him. Thou shalt love the Lord, Thy God is the first and
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  grace his commandment. A man with no religion, who never worships God,
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  never serves a prayer from him is to him, is far from fulfilling this
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  commandment of love. It is not enough to admit offhanded that God exists and
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  that ignore him. His definite claims. He said, a person says,
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  you suppose that he has made definite claims, I do and shall justify that
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  postulate as a definite fact in due course, and they certainly do, which
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  I will continue with tomorrow. But it's it's very interesting. It's some really
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  disturbing statistics. It was actually a news I guess it was on Steve Bennon's
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  war room last week. He was talking about an article and I cannot remember
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  the name of the publication this article appeared in. I think it was something
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  like the Unchurching of America, and I've already forgotten where I read it.
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  But in the last twenty years, more, well dramatically, fewer Americans have
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  begun identifying as practicing Christians. Now they may still have some belief in God,
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  they may still say they're culturally Christian, they were raised Christians. I
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  mean, how many Catholics do we know that say, well, I was
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  brought up Catholic, I attended the you know, I am Catholic just because
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  my parents are Catholic. But I never attend mass. Way too many,
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  way too many. But it's even more stark in the Protestant denominations. The
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  mainline Protestant denominations. I've mentioned just recently how on Sunday mornings now, I
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  would like if I'm if I go to Saturday evening Mass and I need to
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  travel on Sunday, and I'll be driving past like Baptist and Presbyterian and Methodist,
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  and especially Lutheran and Anglican churches where when I was a kid, or
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  even twenty years ago, without a doubt, especially right after nine to eleven,
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  those church parking lots would have been packed on a Sunday morning, and
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  now there's just a handful of cars and most of the people getting out of
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  more elderly. Church attendance is at its lowest point since the founding of America
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  as a percentage of the population. This article goes on to state that all
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  the people who became Christian of any denomination, whether Protestant or Catholic, you
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  know, from the founding of the country, or at least the past two
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  hundred years to this date, in all the revivals, the Great Awakening,
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  all the Billy Graham crusades, more people have left that church, churches,
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  Christianity in general in the past twenty years, but especially since COVID pandemic and
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  the lockdowns then joined in the last two hundred years, America is no longer
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  a Christian nation, and that's really very bad. It's going to have effects
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  that we're not going to like America. That is in America that's not culturally
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  Christian. Whether there are no morals, no right or wrong. That's exactly
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  what the left, the liberals, the progressives have been pushing. And you
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  see what happens in a liberal city where they govern and where that mindset is
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  violent crime, through the roof poverty, drug abuse, homelessness, just absolute
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  utter chaos because there's no right or wrong anymore. You know, if someone
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  doesn't have a moral guide, which is given to them through religious instruction that
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  should come from their parents, the grandparents, their god parents, and their
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  church, the only thing keeping them from committing anything from petty theft to the
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  worst violent crime you can think of is either their own conscience, which if
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  you know your attitudes are based on what you're exposed to, and if you've
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  grown up in our secular society with you know, rap music and the garbage
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  and violence on television and films and all that, and you know, not
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  a good family situation or structured life, that conscience is very likely not very
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  well informed. And even anyway you look at it, human nature is such
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  we can justify just about any action, right, But it comes down to,
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  you know, someone saying, well, you know, I wouldn't hurt
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  a child. You know. Okay, Well that's a moral line you won't
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  cross, whether you're Christian or Muslim, or Buddhist or none of the above.
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  That's great, I'm glad you feel that way. But on the other
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  hand, made the same people turn either blind eye or or or you know,
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  openly support abortion, which is the killing of a child. It's just
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  how they rationalize it in their minds, you know. But if the only
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  thing stopping you from committing a crime is getting caught and going to jail,
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  you're getting commit a lot of crimes. And that's what happens when you take
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  away the moral underpinnings of a society. So, yes, it is very
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  important. Religion is more important than anything else. I mean, turn on
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  the news. If you think mankind is good, open your Bible and read
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  the story of I mean, basically, you know, the Hebrew people,
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  God's chosen people, or an analogy for all humanity, and you can see
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  just how many times God saves them their gratitude. Last, I mean barely
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  a few days where they were led through miracles out of Egypt. Right then
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  they turned to worshiping calves, golden calves. Whatever. The violence, the
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  horrible things that mankind is capable of without religion, is only more than a
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  normal human mind would even care to consider. Yeah, you know, I
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  have no desire of reading an abnormal psychology book. I don't watch shows documentaries
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  about serial killers and such. I don't even want to know what they're capable
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  of. I don't want that to infect my mind. You know, seriously,
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  that that's a big problem these days, whether through and I know most
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  people would think I was crazy for saying this, but the documentaries on like
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  serial killers and school shooters and all that, the crime dramas, the true
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  crime shows, the you know movies glorifying violence. I mean, all these
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  school shooters, you know, I mean they're they're usually on a lot of
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  heavy psychic psychiatric medication. They come from bad homes and I mean broken homes
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  and all that. They're bullied, of course, but all of them are
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  into you know, lent movies, violent video games, violent comic books,
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  and graphic novels. They have a fascination with, you know, the school
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  shooters that have come before them, and they emulate that behavior. And I
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  fully believe there's a level of demonic possession that is conveyed through what we might
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  consider entertainment or informational channels. So no, I don't even watch that kind
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  of stuff, but most of the world does, most of our country does,
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  and without those moral underpinnings, we're we're really in for some bad times,
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  really really bad times. And I guess that kind of you know,
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  brings me full circle to the gospel I was considering today speaking of bad times.
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  You know, Jesus often spoke to his disciples in parables in story,
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  but he, you know, finally turns to him one day and says,
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  we're going up to Jerusalem. The son of Man will be handed over to
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  the chief priests and the scribes. They will condemn him to death, hand
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  him over to the gentiles. He would be mocked and scourged and crucified,
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  and then he would be raised on the third day. That's about the most
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  plain he ever was in his language, and probably not surprisingly, it doesn't
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  seem like any of his apostles understood what he was talking about. You know,
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  the human mind just could not go there. One they had seen him
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  as they I think at this point most of them believed him to be the
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  Messiah, right. They knew he could do miracles. In their nationalistic way
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  of thinking, he was going to be crowned the king of Israel and rule
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  the world. And here he is saying he's going to be tortured and killed
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  and then raised on the dead. You know, maybe a few of them
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  did get it, but I doubt it because the very next thing that happens,
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  It says the mother of the Sons of Zevity approached Jesus with her sons
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  and did homage, wishing to ask him for something. He said, what
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  do you wish? She said? She answered him, command that these two
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  of these two sons of mine sit, one it your right and one't your
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  left in your kingdom. Jesus said, in reply, you do not know
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  what you're asking. Can you drink the chalice I am going to drink?
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  They said to him, we can. He replied, my chalice, you
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  will indeed drink. But to sit at my right and left is not mine
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  to give, but it is for those who have been prepared for whom it
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  has been prepared by my father. And okay, then you know the other
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  ten of the apostles heard this became indignant. You know that they would ask
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  for such a favor. And then Jesus says, you know the rules of
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  the gentiles lorded over them, and the great ones make their authority felt over
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  them. But it shall not be so among you. Rather, whoever wishes
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  to be great among you shall be your servant, and whoever wishes to be
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  first among you, shall be your slave. Just so, the Son of
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  men did not come to serve to be served, but to serve and to
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  give his life as a ransom for many. You have to think that if
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  any of them understood what was being discussed, they wouldn't be buying for that
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  position. Jesus says that those two will drink the cup they were. They
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  were martyred, They were killed for their faith. Nearly nearly all the Apostles
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  were killed for their faith. I guess Saint John live the longest. I
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  don't recall him being martyred, but that could just be a lapsed on my
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  part. I mean, we know Saint Peter was crucified upside down. Another
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  one was thrown off the top of the temple, and I mean they were
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  fed to beasts everything you could think of, and here they are. The
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  mother of these two is asking for that, so she obviously doesn't realize what
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  she's asking. And the other ten apostles are indignant, and so they obviously
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  don't understand what's being disgusted at all. So that's really you know, a
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  lot too well, it's a lot to think about. But the main thing
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  that it really stands out is man's in humanity to man. I mean,
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  when you think about it, this is you know, killing people by some
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  of the most horrible tortures you can think of. One of whom is God
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  incarnate, who is healing the sick and causing the lame to walk, and
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  healing the blind, and you know, creating wonderful miracles that people would be
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  celebrating just you know, Palm Sunday, and then they turn on him.
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  Right the next us to think about all those great Christian martyrs, and there
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  were many of them, I mean, especially in the first three fourth centuries
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  of the Church. Thousands of thousands of people went willing to do their death.
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  Who was it, Oh, I cannot remember which one, it's round
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  the tip of my tongue, to the point he was put on what they
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  called gridiron and roasted on one side, and he turned to the Roman emperors
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  torturing him and said, turn me over, I'm done on this side.
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  I mean, they did not protest at all. And look at how they
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  were treated. Look at how they were treated. I mean here in this
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  in this gospel, we find Jesus knowingly and willingly offering himself up for sacrifice.
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  No one, no one willingly suffers torture and death except for a martyr.
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  And the martyrs resolve is supernatural. And that's, you know, really
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  amazing if you go back and read the early Church Fathers and read about the
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  martyrs, and I mean, it's astounding. And you can also, you
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  know, if you're Catholic and you have a Catholic Bible, look up the
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  second book of Maccabee's and you see that the you know, martyrdom for God
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  was also part of the Jewish tradition as well. I mean, all of
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  us think we talk about trusting in God's will, you know, but are
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  you willing really like Jesus said in the Garden of God, the guests Simone
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  when he said, you know, his human nature did not want to suffer,
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  and he prayed, is you know if it be your will that this
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  cup passed me by? He said, But not my will. But dine,
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  I mean, could you say that like Jesus did, Or Saint Stephen,
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  who you know was the first Christian martyrs stone to death, who rejoiced
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  said he could see Jesus and the angels in heaven and he was, you
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  know, on his way to meet him, Or Saint Polycarp who was torn
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  apart by wild beasts, or I believe, if I remember correctly, they
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  may have actually had to stab him as well. But you know, when
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  you think about that, just don't answer too quickly, I mean honestly,
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  because whatever you believe you would do now, you don't know what you'd do
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  facing real torture and death. You know, a parent may willingly die to
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  save their child. But who among us would willingly save the life of those
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  who brutally hurt us, knowing they would probably never feel regret or change their
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  way. And Jesus did that very thing that well, you know, perhaps
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  you know one would willingly suffered if if he knew it was going to be
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  honored. Yet our Lord tells his disciples they will suffer. But not only
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  they're going to suffer. They're not gonna be honored among men during their lives.
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  They will and be hated, reviled. There's an old saying that you
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  can judge a man's character by how he treats those who cannot benefit him.
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  You know, many people flatter or offer to help those in higher positions and
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  themselves. It's really and you know, having worked in politics and such,
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  I got to know a lot of powerful and very wealthy people. It's a
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  very rare wealthy and powerful man who opens the door for a stranger, or
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  who quietly leaves a large tip anonymously or helps a young person. I'll never
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  forget one who did that for me, the late Rush Limbaugh. I won't
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  go into details, but I owned a small business that got into trouble and
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  some political enemies I had made. We're going to take that opportunity to really
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  destroy me and a friend I knew, A friend of mine knew Rush and
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  put in a word for me. And apparently Rush Limball made some phone calls
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  or send some emails on my behalf. He never said a word to me
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  about it. In fact, I only spoke to him as a caller at
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  the show. I did not know him personally. He didn't know me,
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  and there was no way he could benefit from helping me. My friend actually
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  never even ask him to help me. But out of simple generosity and a
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  spirit of kindness, one of the most wealthy and powerful men in America saved
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  me from financial and probably legal ruin. And who knows what's worse. I
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  mean gratitude that I feel toward Rush Limball could not be even explained. It's
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  so deep and it's so great. You know, there's a priest who sometimes
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  here's my confessions. I never see him, He's always behind the screen,
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  but I know it's the same priests because he always gives the same penance.
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  He says, if you see someone a day he needs help in any way
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  or even a kind word, will you help him? Okay, Honestly,
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  sometimes I felt like I needed a tough repentance. Well actually many times.
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  But you know, to love God with all your heart and your neighbors yourself
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  is the heart of the law. When the incomes, a few of us
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  will likely face heroic circumstances. I mean, God willing many of us,
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  most of us, none of us will die as a martyr for the faith.
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  But you know what will likely face is the understanding than in times we
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  could have helped somebody, we didn't. We were busy, we were distracted,
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  we were unaware. So and you know, let's just try to do
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  better. A small gesture may mean everything. I am sure to mister Limball,
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  whatever email he sent or a phone call he made, it meant nothing
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  to him. It didn't take any effort, meant the world to me.
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  And you never know what little gesture you do for somebody. I mean,
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  you're standing in line in the grocery store and somebody's a little short hand him
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  a dollar or two. You know, a wealthy and powerful man can do
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  something simple that helps someone just changes their entire life, even the least of
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  us, which I certainly am, when the opportunity comes, so you can
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  help somebody, you know, give it a shot. It literally may save
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  their life. So anyway, all I guess that it was an odd,
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  roundabout way of getting to that point, But it comes down to it comes
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  down to the way I'm going to end it. The end this point,
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  the best way we can serve, the best thing we can do for those
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  around us. The best way we can help save our nation is to share
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  our faith, share the Gospel. You know, if these Protestant churches are
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  closing, and a lot of the Liberal diocese in the country, you know,
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  the ones I'm talking about, the ones that are not you know,
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  Orthodox Catholic churches, but have you know, kind of gotten into some of
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  the social justice type stuff. A lot of people stop attending those as well.
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  Maybe we can help kind of start bringing people back into the church as
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  these Protestant churches fall away. It's incumbent upon us to evangelize in whatever way
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  we're comfortable. Yes, I know that can be very uncomfortable, but invite
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  some of the church just you know, tell somebody what you know God's done
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  in your life. And after a few generations, maybe some of the Protestant
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  prejudices against Catholicism will begin to fade, and maybe we can start bringing people
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  back into the Catholic Church. You know, Protestantism will rise and fall.
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  There's only one church that was founded by Jesus and will stand until the end
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  of time. It's going to be real bad for the next couple of generations.
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  Three to four who knows. As America drifts farther away from jude of
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  Christian values, it's going to become a more violent, more dangerous, less
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  charitable, less friendly place. But it's also an opportunity. Just like those
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  early Christians. Did you know how they built the church. They went out
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  and they took care of the poor and the sick. The ancient Romans used
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  to just throw unwanted children on the trash heap and leave them to die.
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  The early Christians went out and adopted them. This is an opportunity and it
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  I hope it won't be as dangerous for Christians as it was in the first
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  three hundred years of the church when they were being martyred and killed. But
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  you know, Jesus said, you will serve whoever's first among you is going
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  to be last. And take that opportunity. Be careful, don't We'll put
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  yourself in a dangerous position unnecessarily. I've done that before too, picking up
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  hitchhiker's Sometimes they turn up be insane people. But like the priests, the
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  visit the priests I visit sometimes said if you see someone who needs help in
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  any way or even a kind word, will you help them? And even
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  though I think he could be a whole lot tougher. There's actually a lot
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  to be said for that. There really is. Sometimes that little thing,
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  that little gesture can change somebody's world. It really can. All right,
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  y'all have a good one. I'll talk to you next time.