Latest / The Uncensored Catholic / Show 152: THE LOVE OF THE WORLD IS OPPOSED TO THE LOVE OF GOD
Transcript
- 0:41The f A Hey, y'all, welcome today's show. We will continue with
- 1:04our section we've been working on this week. In follows Spirago's Catechism. He's
- 1:08explaining the Ten Commandments and starting with the two primary tenants, the heart and
- 1:15soul of the law, as Jesus said, love of God and love of
- 1:19neighbor. And today's topic will be the love of the world is opposed to
- 1:26the love of God. But before we do, we'll give a couple of
- 1:30questions and answers out of radio replies, and the question says or posits,
- 1:37as they often do. They make accusations more often than they ask questions.
- 1:41He says, Christ forbade any attempt to exercise authority when he said, do
- 1:46not lord it over others, as do the gentiles in Matthew twenty twenty five,
- 1:52and they answer. Christ warned the apostles against exercising authority in unjust and
- 1:56domineering ways, such as the worldlings who delighted to be great and who loved
- 2:02tyranny. He forbade the evil method, but he deliberately gave his authority to
- 2:07his apostles, and chiefly to Saint Peter. Person says does scriptures show that
- 2:13Peter was even aware of or openly claim supreme power. They answer, since
- 2:17none of the apostles disputed it, Saint Peter had no need to insist upon
- 2:23it. All knew that Christ had said to him, thou art Peter,
- 2:25and upon this rock I build my church in Matthew sixteen eighteen, and again
- 2:30I have prayed for thee that thy faith fell not. And do thou,
- 2:35being once converted, confirm thy brethren in Luke twenty two thirty two. They
- 2:40knew too that Christ's commissioned to Saint Peter to feed both the lambs and the
- 2:45sheep of the flock included themselves. It's John twenty one fifteen through seventeen.
- 2:51Implicitly Saint Peter claimed this right by being the first to announce the Gospel after
- 2:54Pentecost, by conducting the election of Matthias as in the place of Judas,
- 3:00by presiding at the Council of Jerusalem, etc. Saint Paul wrote to the
- 3:06to the Galatians chapter one eighteen that he went to Jerusalem to see Peter and
- 3:12stayed there fifteen days with him. Why to Peter rather than to any other
- 3:16apostle, And why does he add to that, having gone to Jerusalem,
- 3:21he also saw James. He does not say that he went to see such
- 3:24apostles as were at Jerusalem, or that he went to see James and also
- 3:30happened to see Peter Walsh there. Person says, yet did not James preside
- 3:34at the Council of Jerusalem, although Peter was present. The answer he did
- 3:38not. Saint Peter presided. Acts fifteen seven says, after much disputing,
- 3:44Peter rose up and said he then saw the question. Verse twelve tells us
- 3:49that Peter had spoken. All held their peace. James then spoke in supported
- 3:53Peter's decision as much as to say, Peter is right, I too think
- 3:59that Gentiles should not be disquieted. Saint Jerome remarks concerning the incident, the
- 4:04whole multitude held their peace, and Saint James the Apostle, together with the
- 4:10priests, passed over to the judgment of Peter. Peter was the prime mover
- 4:14in issuing the decree. Saint John Christosum wrote, see that the care of
- 4:18the teaching see the care of the teacher toward his subjects. He has the
- 4:24first authority in the discussion, because to him all were committed. A person
- 4:29asked, but if this be so, why did Paul boast that he resisted
- 4:32Peter to his face. Saint Peter was the supreme head of the Church,
- 4:35infallible in his doctrinal teaching, but it does not follow that he would not
- 4:43be indiscreet in some acts of administration. Now, no doctrinal error was involved
- 4:47in this particular case. Saint Peter indiscreetly ceased to eat with the Gentiles because
- 4:54of the presence of some Jews. But to cease from doing a lawful thing
- 4:58for fear lest others scandalized is not a matter of doctrine. It is a
- 5:01question of prudence or imprudence. Saint Paul did not act as if he were
- 5:06Saint Peter's superior, nor did he boast to show the urgency of the matter.
- 5:11He practically said, I had to resist even Peter, to whom chief
- 5:15authority belongs, as his words derive their full significant only from the fact that
- 5:20Saint Peter was head of the Apostles. Saint Cyprian, who lived in the
- 5:25third century, knew of this passage and certainly understood Christianity. Yet he did
- 5:30not perceive any objection against Saint Peter's premiacy in this case, he writes,
- 5:34Peter, whom the Lord chows to be first, and upon whom he built
- 5:39his church, did not proudly assert privacy or premiacy he possessed, nor despise
- 5:45Paul, who had once been the persecutor of the church, but he accepted
- 5:49meekly, giving an example of patience. Saint Hilary in the fifth century says
- 5:55both Paul and Peter are to be admired. Paul because he did not fear
- 5:59to point out the right practice to his superior Peter, because, knowing that
- 6:03all acknowledged his premissy, he had too much humility to resent any reproach offered
- 6:09to him. Person continues, did not Saint Paul say, I have laid
- 6:14the foundation, but let every man take care how he build it. There
- 6:16Upon one Corinthians three ten, and they answer Saint Paul declared that he personally
- 6:21had laid the foundation of a particular branch of the church at Corinth, but
- 6:26Christ had founded the whole church upon Peter. Each must take care how he
- 6:29builds, and Saint Paul took care that the church in Corinth would be in
- 6:33full accordance with the universal Church founded upon Saint Peter. Anyone who departs from
- 6:39the authority of Saint Peter is not taking care, but going outside of the
- 6:43constitution of the Church established by Christ and severing himself from that church. So
- 6:50we got one more question about Saint Paul. The person asked, Saint Paul
- 6:54was the head of the Gentile churches. Saint Peter was the head of the
- 6:57Jewish section. Only that's absolutely ridiculous. So they may answer that, if
- 7:02so, you are in great difficulty. If the church was thus divided,
- 7:06and Saint Paul was the head of the Gentiles section, where is Saint Paul's
- 7:11successor? Today we have the successor of Saint Peter, and the pope and
- 7:15the popes, and the present Pope is the head of the church with over
- 7:17four hundred million subjects, the vast majority of them gentiles. In any case,
- 7:25Saint Paul again and again addresses the Jews and their synagogues. And Saint
- 7:29Peter certainly ministered to gentiles in his turn above all as Bishop of Rome.
- 7:35All right, there are gonna be a lot more questions about the pope.
- 7:41Protestants have a lot of trouble with the cold concept of a Pope for who
- 7:46knows why, Well, well, there is a reason. It's as obvious.
- 7:48It's as obvious as the nose on your face. As they say,
- 7:50if they acknowledge the Pope, they have to acknowledge that they're not in the
- 7:54true Church. The Protestantism is based on he how do they put it,
- 8:03papacism. I think they hate the Pope. They reject all authority and say
- 8:07that they're each their own authority. So to acknowledge even the premiscy of Saint
- 8:13Peter in the Apostles among the Apostles, I guess, i'd say, or
- 8:16over the Apostles two thousand years ago, undermines the very being Protestanism. So
- 8:26they can't accept that even Saint Peter, even though explicitly says over and over
- 8:31in the Bible and shows his authority over the other apostles, they just can't
- 8:35accept it. You know, the Church is not a democracy. The Church
- 8:43is a kingdom, with its head being, its king being Jesus, and
- 8:46its chief officer being his pope, his chief officer in charge. There's actually
- 8:54a term for that in ancient you know, royal lines, and it was
- 9:01symbolized by the keys. I think head steward maybe, but it's almost like,
- 9:07you know how the prime minister serves under the king, and that's flawed,
- 9:11very flawed. What allegory similarly whatever in a parliamentary system in a kingdom,
- 9:20but it really has nothing at all in common with the democracy as we
- 9:26understand it. There is a head with authority. There is one man on
- 9:30earth who has the authority to speak for God, and that's the Pope.
- 9:35Because Jesus gave him the office, not because he's a perfect man, not
- 9:39because he's a great man. Both Saint Peter and our current pope are very
- 9:45flawed. It's the office, the office that Jesus guaranteed he would prevent from
- 9:50error. What you bind upon earth, we bound in heaven, and what
- 9:54you loose on earth, we loose in heaven. If the Pope says it
- 9:58officially from the seed of Peter, in union with the bishops and cardinals and
- 10:01all that, if it's official statement, it's the word of God. It's
- 10:09God speaking through a man. Just as when you go to a priest for
- 10:13confession, you get a reconciliation. Jesus said to the apostles and giving them
- 10:18power to bind and loose, he said in the Gospel of John, those
- 10:22who sends you forgive, they are forgiven. Those who sends you retain,
- 10:26they are retained. It also says in the Bible, only God can forgive
- 10:31sins. How is this possible? What it's possible? Because God gave his
- 10:35authority to his priests to forgive sins. He said explicitly, those who sends
- 10:41you forgive, they are forgiven. Those who sends you retain, they are
- 10:45retained. When you go to a priest in confession, the man hears you,
- 10:52but God forgives you. God works through his priests. It said,
- 10:56the hands of the priests are the hands of Jesus. In the Eucharist,
- 11:00in baptism, in last rites, in consequence and confirmation, when the priests
- 11:05anoints your head with oil and you receive the fullness of the Holy Spirit,
- 11:09that's the role of the priests. The role of the priest is to work
- 11:11in the stead of God. God will work through that priest. That's why
- 11:15priests ared more respect than angels. Actually, and when the pope issue's official
- 11:22statement, well, I tell you, just like Jesus told Martin Luther.
- 11:26Martin Luther recorded this in his diaries Jesus said, why do you seek the
- 11:31keys of my kingdom? I left them with Peter his Let me see what
- 11:35was His tongue is my key and his mouth is my key. Case.
- 11:39Okay, I mean full authority. Jesus grand to his church. Those who
- 11:45hear you hear me. Those who reject you reject him who sent me.
- 11:50The absolute authority of God is to be found in the Catholic Church, and
- 11:52nowhere else in any denomination, in any religion, in any office, secular
- 11:58or religious, on the face of the earth. All right, now we
- 12:01will get into. The love of the world is opposed to the love of
- 12:07God. Father Sparago tells us, however cruel or depraved a man may be
- 12:11in his heart, however cruel or depraved a man may be, his heart
- 12:16clings to some person or thing. His nature impels him to love some object.
- 12:22If he does not love God above all, he needs must love a
- 12:26creature above all. The love of the world consists in loving above all money
- 12:31and the gratification of one's appetite or earthy honors, or anything else in the
- 12:35world, instead of giving the first place to God. The love of creatures
- 12:39is not in itself sinful only when the creature is more love than the creator.
- 12:43All who love creatures more than God or idolatrs, because they give to
- 12:46creatures the honor due to God. One loves money like Judas, another eating
- 12:52or drinking like Dibys, and many others whose God is the belly. A
- 12:58third sacrifices all ambition like Absalom. Others have an inordinate love of amusement,
- 13:03gambling, and the like. I think we could certainly add to that people
- 13:07who are more loyal to their political ideologies than the moral teachings of God and
- 13:13his Church. They love being a liberal democrat or whatever they are, more
- 13:18than they love being a faithful Catholic more than they love God. All these
- 13:22resemble the Jews who dance around the golden calf at the foot of Mount Sinai.
- 13:28The maximum of the man of the world is let us eat and drink,
- 13:31for tomorrow we die. The love of the world is worse than the
- 13:33high treason. It makes a man a traitor to the King of kings.
- 13:39Through love of the world we incur the loss of sanctifying grace and eternal felicity.
- 13:43The lover of the world does not possess sanctifying grace, as the dove
- 13:48does not rest upon anything that is unclean or corrupt, So the Holy Spirit
- 13:52does not dwell on the soul of the carnally minded and evil, according to
- 13:56Saint Ambrose. You know, I don't have a lot of experience with the
- 14:01doves of Europe. Mourning doves here in America and their close relatives pigeons certainly
- 14:07do not fit that description. But the white doves of Europe apparently avoid anything
- 14:16rotten or dirty. I don't know. Yeah, the Holy of Holies cannot
- 14:20dwell in the soul that is stained with sin. If their heart be full
- 14:24of if thy heart be full of vinegar, how can it be filled with
- 14:28honey? It must be first emptied and undergo the toilsome process of cleansings.
- 14:33As Saint Augustine, he who is destitute in the president of the Holy Spirit,
- 14:37that is of sanctifying grace, also called in the Bible of the wedding
- 14:41garment, shall be cast into exterior darkness. That's Matthew twenty two twelve.
- 14:46Hence, Christ threatens the votary of the world with eternal damnation. He that
- 14:52loveth his life, who endeavors to get out of it all possible enjoyment,
- 14:56So lose it John twelve again, woe to you who are who are filled,
- 15:03for you show hunger. Woe to you now that laugh, for you
- 15:05show morn and weep Luke six twenty five. No more than a ship lying
- 15:09fast at anchor can sell into a harbor, can a man who loves the
- 15:13world reach the haven of eternal felicity or happiness which dost thou prefer, says
- 15:20Saint Augustine, to love the world and go to perdition, or to love
- 15:22Christ and enter into life everlasting. He is a fool who, for the
- 15:26sake of the passing world, plays away eternal life. The love of the
- 15:31world blinds the soul of man and leads him away from God. The love
- 15:35of the world blinds the soul of man when earthly things intervene between him.
- 15:43When earthly things intervene between God and the soul, the soul becomes dark,
- 15:46just as as the moon when the earth is between it and the sun,
- 15:50like an eclipse. Is what he's saying. As Tobias the Elder was blinded
- 15:54by the dung of the swallows, so earthly cares destroy the sight of the
- 15:56soul, Tobias Book of Tobit always, as always say, if you don't
- 16:00have a Bible with the Book of tobad It, you don't have a real
- 16:03Bible. I swallow apparently drop some poop in his eyes, and it made
- 16:10him blind. Not impossible by a means, it could certainly cause an infection.
- 16:17Then the angel archangel Raphael comes to Earth, helps his son, finds
- 16:22a wife, gives him back the well. I would say fortune, but
- 16:26basically the means to survive. They were destitute because the father had become blind
- 16:32and kills the father's eyes. So a beautiful book and really tells about the
- 16:37role of angels in our spiritual lives, which is why Martin Luther and the
- 16:44other Protestants couldn't allow it to be in the Bible. They took it out
- 16:48because they don't want you to know you can pray to angels and the angels
- 16:49win are seat on your behalf. Even though Jesus says each one of us
- 16:53as a guardian angel, continually witnessing for us before the Father, in other
- 16:57words, praying for us. You know, they just deny it. They
- 17:02don't believe in angels the way we do. And that's a real shame.
- 17:07It's a great tragedy for anyone in this world to live and die without knowing
- 17:11their guardian angel, without at least knowing he's there watching over them, keeping
- 17:17them, guiding them, protecting them. That's really one of our first tastes
- 17:22of heaven on earth, so actually very important. I've talked about that extensively.
- 17:29But anyway, hence worldlings cannot comprehend the teaching of the Gospel. It
- 17:33is foolishness to them one Corinthians two fourteen. As the sun's rays cannot penetrate
- 17:38muddy water, so the lover of the world cannot be enlightened by the Holy
- 17:42Spirit. The earth is like a limed twig. The bird that rests upon
- 17:48it cannot soar upwards. Lime. It's a product of slight lime. It
- 17:53was much used in older times. It's sticky in one in a certain form
- 18:00that he's talking about it. When the bird. They would put it on
- 18:03a twig to catch birds. The birds would light upon the twigs, land
- 18:07on the twig, and become stuck. It was an easy way of catching
- 18:10a bunch of pigeons for your dinner. Anyway, the cares of this world
- 18:15stifle the word of God and the heart of man as thorns choke the sprouting
- 18:19seed. The votaries of this world resemble that the men of the Gospel who
- 18:25were invited to the heavenly banquet, but who did not go because their wife,
- 18:27their farm, or their oxen, because of their wife farmer Oxen Luca
- 18:33fourteen sixteen. The love of the world destroys interior peace and makes men fear
- 18:40death greatly. The worldling, or the man of the world, is a
- 18:47stranger to interior peace. It has been well said a man must choose between
- 18:52indulgence of the senses and tranquility of the soul. The two are not compatible.
- 18:56One might as well try to fill a vessel that has holes in It
- 19:00is to satisfy the heart that will only strive after the pleasures of time and
- 19:03sense. And since the votaries of the world can never attain interior peace,
- 19:08they want a constant change of amusement. As one who cannot sleep turns restlessly
- 19:14from side to side, hoping to find rest, Christ alone can give us
- 19:18true content. He said to his apostles peace, I leave you my peace.
- 19:22I give unto you. Not as the world giveth do I give unto
- 19:26you John fourteen twenty seven. Saint Augustine exclaims, our heart has no rest
- 19:33until it rests in the o Lord. The lover of the world fears death
- 19:37so much because he will be parted from his idol, and because death will
- 19:40put an end to the happiness he makes his object to attain. He has
- 19:45besides an inward presentiment of what will follow after death, in other words,
- 19:52an idea of what is to come. On account of this, all who
- 19:55love the world are filled with apprehension and despair at the hour of death.
- 20:02The prisoner fears nothing so much as a summons to appear before the Judge,
- 20:06and the sinner, though he is never free from alarm, dreads a moment
- 20:10above all when his soul will leave his body and enter the presence of the
- 20:12divine Judge. According to Saint John Christostom, the fish that has got caught
- 20:18on the hook scarcely feels pain until it is drawn out of the water.
- 20:22So those who are entangled in the meshes of the world first feel real anguish
- 20:29when their last hour comes. My tongues get a little twisted here, think
- 20:33a worldling if the joys which the devil offers you are thus mixed with bitterness,
- 20:38What will the torments be which He prepares for you? Hereafter? The
- 20:42love of the world gives rise to hatred of God and his servants. A
- 20:47man who loves the world cannot possibly have the love of God within him,
- 20:52just as a ring which encircles the finger cannot at the same time encircle another.
- 20:56So the human heart cannot love God if it loves if it's love binds
- 21:00it to some earthly object. Saint John says, if a man loves the
- 21:06world, the charity of the Father is not in him. On John two
- 21:08fifteen. We cannot look with the same eye both at Heaven and Earth at
- 21:12the same time. The lover of the world even goes so far as to
- 21:17hate God and divine things. Thus Christ says, no man can serve two
- 21:22masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or
- 21:23he will sustain the one and despise the other. Matthew six twenty four.
- 21:29What are we to conclude if we hear anyone rail at priests and at religion.
- 21:33The lover of the world is therefore an enemy of God. If thou
- 21:37wouldst not be the enemy of God, says Saint Augustine be an enemy of
- 21:42the world. The love of the world ceases at death. There are many
- 21:47things which thou canst only love for a time. Then love comes from an
- 21:52end to an end, for either thou will be taken from the object of
- 21:55their affection, or it from thee Hence, we should not love that which
- 21:59we may lose, or from which we may be parted. We should only
- 22:03love those things that are eternal, again quoting Saint Augustine, well, for
- 22:07wherefore let not thy heart cleave to earthly things. The true servant of God
- 22:12clings no more to his possessions than to his clothes, which he puts off
- 22:17and on at will, whereas the indifferent Christian makes them a part of his
- 22:22very being, like the skin of an animal that's, according to Saint Francis,
- 22:26to sell. The true Christian should resemble the eagle, which inhabits the
- 22:30heights, only descending to the earth in search of food. Or he should
- 22:34be like a tree whose roots are alone, whose roots alone are in the
- 22:37ground, while it spreads its branches toward heaven. The soul of man is
- 22:41immortal, and it should be, and it should only strive after what is
- 22:45immortal, seek those things that are above, says Colossians three. One.
- 22:49Therefore, choose him for thy friends, says Thomas Kempis, who, when
- 22:55all others forsake THEE, would not abandon THEE. If you haven't read Thomas
- 22:57kempus book The Imitation of Christ, you gotta read it. Short book,
- 23:04one of the true classics, one of the most useful practical spiritual books there
- 23:10is. I think we have time to do the next section as well.
- 23:14It's fairly short. The commandment of charity towards our neighbor. Every human being
- 23:21is our neighbor, without distinction of religion, of race, of age,
- 23:25of sex, or of occupation. When I tell you a Catholic cannot be
- 23:30a racial bigot. You cannot despise anyone of any race just based solely on
- 23:33their race. This is why. And I know there are a lot of
- 23:37antisemites out there, there are a lot of people. If you hate a
- 23:41person made by God in the image of God simply because of their race,
- 23:48you're committing a mortal sin, and you really need to go confession. Now.
- 23:52You can judge the fruit on the vine. There's nothing wrong with doing
- 23:55that. You can say this culture this you know the culture of this group
- 23:59is destructive or whatever, but the person itself due to race and absolutely not.
- 24:06In the parable of the Good Samaritan, Christ teaches that those who are
- 24:08strangers to us, and even our enemies, are to be regarded as our
- 24:11neighbor. In the present day, some people are so foolish as to consider
- 24:17none but their fellow countrymen as their neighbors. In Christ, there is neither
- 24:21June nor Greek, but all are one Galatians three twenty eight. We ought
- 24:25to love our neighbor because this is Christ's command. Furthermore, because he's a
- 24:29child of God, made after his image, and also because we are all
- 24:33descended from the same parents, we are called to attain eternal felicity. We
- 24:37are all called to attain eternal felicity. In other words, we're all destined
- 24:41for heaven if we make it. Christ's precept is this, Thou shalt love
- 24:45thy neighbor as thyself Mark twelve thirty one. He he loves the Father,
- 24:48will assuredly love his children. First John five to one. Now God is
- 24:52our common father, for he created us. Matthew two to ten. We
- 24:56are all his children, and for that reason we ought to love one another.
- 25:00Those who are the offspring of one and the same parent are blood relations,
- 25:04Yes, believe it or not yours. If you're a I don't care
- 25:08what you are. A white Englishman, your same blood relation to a Celtic
- 25:15Irishman, as you are to a Northern African, or Chinese, or a
- 25:22Jew, or you name it. Consequently, since we receive all of our
- 25:29being from the self same God, we stand in relation to the brethren,
- 25:33one to another, and on this account ought to love one another. A
- 25:37man who loves his father's shows respect for his portrait. Now, our fellow
- 25:41man is an image of God. He was made in his image is twenty
- 25:47seven. Consequently, we ought to love him. As the moon derives its
- 25:49light from the sun, So love of neighbor flows from the love of God.
- 25:53We are more over all children of Adam, and thus members of one
- 25:57great family, and should love one another as such. Finally, we are
- 26:02called to the attainment of everlasting felicity. We shall all live together, and
- 26:06we shall all behold the face of God, singing his praises together. Saint
- 26:10John says of the apocalypse, I saw a great multitude which no man could
- 26:14number, of all nations and tribes and peoples and tongues standing before the throne,
- 26:18and in sight of the Lamb Apocalypse or Revelations seventy nine. Now we
- 26:23find that on Earth, persons who follow the same calling, such as priests,
- 26:27teachers, etc. Always hold together. So also we, who share
- 26:32the same vocation to heaven with our fellow men, ought to be united with
- 26:36them to them in the bond of charity. The love of neighbor shows itself
- 26:41in desiring the good of our neighbor from our heart, and staining from injuring
- 26:45him, and in doing him good. The love of our neighbor does not
- 26:48consist merely an affectionate sentiment in benevolent wishes. These would profit him. Little
- 26:52Saint James says, if a brother or sister be naked and want daily food,
- 26:57and one of you say to them, go in peace, be warmed,
- 27:00and feel yet you give them not these things that are necessary for the
- 27:03body, What should it profit James two fifteen sixteen. The love of our
- 27:08neighbor must be practical. It must display itself in doing good. Let us
- 27:14not love in word or in tongue, but indeed and in truth. On
- 27:18John three eighteen, the desire for our neighbor's good consists in this, that
- 27:22we rejoice with him and his prosperity, and grieve with him in his adversity.
- 27:27Saint Paul exhorts us rejoice with them that rejoice, and weep with them
- 27:32that weep Romans twelve fifteen. Consider how Elizabeth rejoiced on hearing that Mary was
- 27:37the mother of God Luke one forty two. How the friends of Zacharias congratulated
- 27:41him when they witnessed the recovery of his speech at the birth of Saint John
- 27:47the Baptist Luke one sixty four. Consider how desirous Abraham was to have no
- 27:52strife between himself and Lot, and how willingly he gave up to him the
- 27:56best tract of country. Consider how Moses desire the good of the Hebrews,
- 28:02all that all people might prophesy, and the Lord would give them his spirits.
- 28:06Number his spirit number numbers eleven twenty nine. The congratulations are the congratulations
- 28:15exchanged on birthdays, festivals, and other occasions, the greetings usual in society,
- 28:21or signs of good will. The Redeemer greeted the apostles with the words
- 28:25peace be with you. The Archangel Gabriel saluted Mary. In some Catholic countries,
- 28:30the custom still lingers of using the words praise be Jesus Christ as a
- 28:33greeting. Banish mutual good and you will take the sign out of the heavens.
- 28:37You will make social intercourse impossible, said Saint Gregory the Great. See
- 28:42says Saint Augustine, how the different members of the body participate in each other's
- 28:47misfortune. If a thorn runs into the foot, the eyes look for it,
- 28:49and the tongue asks about, and the back bends toward it, and
- 28:52the hand endeavors to extract it. We should conduct ourselves in like manner toward
- 28:56our neighbor. It is wrong than to re joice when calamity is befall our
- 29:00neighbor and grieve over his good fortune. Malice and envy are the sentiments of
- 29:06the devil, and the surest sign that a man is lacking in love for
- 29:10his neighbor. Probably no coincidence. At the same culture that gave us Martin
- 29:15Luther also gives us the word schadenfreud, which means rejoicing in the misfortune of
- 29:19an enemy. Ha ha, Yeah, No, probably no coincidence at all.
- 29:25We ought not injure our neighbor, either as regard to his life as
- 29:29innocence, or his property, his honor, or his household. All this
- 29:33God is forbidden in the six last Commandments of the Decalogue. He violates one
- 29:37of them, and any serious extent shows himself to have no love of his
- 29:41neighbor. We ought to do good to our neighbor, especially when he's in
- 29:45need. Christ, our future judge, requires from us works of mercy,
- 29:49for he makes our salvation dependent on having performed them. Yes again Lutheran's that's
- 29:55true, works are of mercy are required Matthew twenty five thirty five. In
- 30:02a building, one stone supports another, otherwise structure would fall to pieces.
- 30:06So in a spiritual building the church, one member must help and sustain another.
- 30:11Charity is a chain that links us to our neighbor and makes us treat
- 30:15him with kindness. We are commanded to love our neighbor as ourselves, but
- 30:18we are by no means to love him better than ourselves. Our Lord says,
- 30:22whatsoever you would that men should do to you due to them? Also
- 30:26Matthew seven twelve. Holy Tobias says, see that thou never do to another
- 30:30what thou Wouldst. Hates to have done to thee tobd. Four sixteen.
- 30:34Put yourself in your neighbor's place, and you will certainly treat him differently.
- 30:37Charity to one's neighbor has its limits. However, no one is bound to
- 30:41deprive himself of what is necessary to relieve his neighbors wants. In such cases
- 30:48to render assistance is heroic charity. Greater love hath no man than to lay
- 30:52down his life for his friend John fifteen thirteen. This our Savior did,
- 30:56and hundreds of missionaries continually expose themselves to risk of death to save souls.
- 31:02All the Saints have incurred personal danger for the sake of aiding others. All
- 31:07that we do to our neighbor, whether good or evil, we do Christ
- 31:11himself, For he has said, what you did in one of these least
- 31:14of my brother need did to me Matthew twenty five forty to Saul, when
- 31:18he was on his way to Mascus. Our Lord said, why persecutest thou
- 31:22me Acts nine to four. Yet we know that it was only the Christians
- 31:27said he was persecuting. When Saint Martin had given half his clothes to a
- 31:32half naked beggar at the gate of Amians. I guess I don't know how
- 31:37I pronounce it down. Christ appeared to him in a dream, wearing a
- 31:41half cloak and accompanied by angels. Martin, he said, clothes me today
- 31:45with his cloak. Thus God protects our neighbor. We cannot injure him.
- 31:48Without injuring God. Eternal happiness would be the unfailing reward of those who fulfill
- 31:53closely the precept of charity to neighbor. Saint John the Evangelist had shorted the
- 31:59Christians continually with the words the little children love one another. When asked why
- 32:04he always said the same, he replied, if you love one another,
- 32:07you'll fulfill the whole law. Saint Paul says the same in Romans thirteen eight
- 32:12Galatians five fourteen. Our Lord promises his eternal life to those who observe that
- 32:16portion of the ten Commandments which has reference to one's neighbor, to those in
- 32:22fact who perform works of mercy Matthew nineteen twenty one. Why does he do
- 32:28this? It's because a man who never injures his neighbor or who gives alms
- 32:32cannot possibly be a bad man. We do not find vicious and irreligious who
- 32:38do not believe in a future recompense giving alms. We do not find them
- 32:44who do not believe in the future recompense giving alms. He who performs acts
- 32:47of charity possesses other virtues besides that of liberality to the poor. Beneficiency is
- 32:53never unaccompanied by other virtues. It cannot exist without them, any more than
- 32:58the heart can exist without the other, or brogans or the body, hints
- 33:02Saint John Christousten says, almsgiving may be called the main spring of virtue.
- 33:09The love of one's neighbor is distinctive mark to the true Christian. Our Lord
- 33:14says, by this, shall all men know that you are My disciples if
- 33:16you have love for one another John thirteen thirty five. Christ loved us while
- 33:22we were yet unworthy of his love, and if we love and do good
- 33:27to those from whom we have never received, he benefit. Our love is
- 33:30like that of Christ, and we are really his disciples, easily to be
- 33:35distinguished from the mass of mankind, who usually only loves their friends and benefactors.
- 33:38And I guess remind of something else. Martin Luther did not only did
- 33:44he take out the part Jesus's word, saying the word works acts of charity
- 33:49when necessary for salvation those his friends, his supporters, the peasants of Germany.
- 33:55When it benefited him to side with the princes of Germany for political power
- 34:00and influence, he had them slaughtered. Yeah, thousands of people. He
- 34:07bragged about it. He said he was doing a Christian duty to have peasants,
- 34:10poor, ignorant peasants slaughtered. So again, Protestantism is not founded upon
- 34:19the blood of the martyrs. It's founded upon the genocide of the evil.
- 34:23So our Lord caused this a new commandment John thirteen thirty four, because the
- 34:29precept of charity to one's neighbor was not understood earlier, in the sense that
- 34:32he gives it well. Indeed, were it for the world, if charity
- 34:37prevailed everywhere, no laws would be needed, no courts, no justice,
- 34:40no punishment. Then no rebellion, robbery, and the life would be known.
- 34:45There would be no destitution, for everyone would have the necessities of the
- 34:49life of life. Saint John Christossum said that, and it's true. I
- 34:53mean, that's the difference between Christian charity and socialism or communism. Christian charity
- 35:00one gives out of one's heart because your duty to God, your duty to
- 35:05neighbor, and you realize it. Socialism, communism, our current system,
- 35:09whatever it is. You know, our founders founded a constitutional republic that by
- 35:17the late eighteen hundreds had become a democracy, which was what they never intended.
- 35:22And very soon after that an income tax was imposed. So our government
- 35:27takes funds from us, our hard earned the fruits of our labor, what
- 35:31we work for, our heart earned money and property, takes it and gives
- 35:37it to those who some need it, many don't need it and just simply
- 35:43won't work or choose not to work. But mainly it's just to pay off
- 35:46for votes. You have a bureaucracy that can take money from those who work
- 35:51and give it to those who won't work, who will then vote for them
- 35:53to stay in power. And that's why we were not supposed to have a
- 35:59democracy. The democracy is best defined by three wolves voting to eat two sheep.
- 36:06You can have a fair vote, you know it's going to turn out.
- 36:09Christian charity is the only way that the moral sharing of the fruits of
- 36:16one's slaver or property can be imposed. The imposition, I guess I should
- 36:22say of the teachings of Christianity are the only moral way to encourage one who
- 36:30has to give to one who hasn't. And you know similarly in some you
- 36:35know, certain other religions. I mean, there's certainly charitable Jews, and
- 36:38there are some charitable Muslims, and Buddhists can be very giving, and that's
- 36:44all good. God will recognize all of that, but it finds its fullness
- 36:47in the teachings of Christ and his church that he founded and guarantees against all
- 36:52error. So y'all, I'm going to wrap it up there, and next
- 36:57time we'll get into the consequences of the world lack of charity to one's neighbor.
- 37:01So, in the words of Saint Padre Pio, pray, hope and
- 37:05don't worry, and I'll talk to you next time.