Latest / The Uncensored Catholic / Show 94: The Christian Faith part 2
Transcript
- 0:41The f A. Hey, y'all, welcome to today's show. Let's just
- 1:02jump right in. We'll pick up where we left off yesterday. But before
- 1:07we do, let me ask I have one request, a few, well,
- 1:11maybe I have two requests. Of course. Please remember my books make
- 1:17excellent Christmas presents. Also carve spoons and new baskets and all that. In
- 1:22fact, right now I'm working on a commission. A lady asked me to
- 1:26carve a couple of spoon sets as Christmas gifts. If you want something special
- 1:32like that, please get in touch with me right away so I can get
- 1:34it done. I mean, I do things by hand. It does take
- 1:38several days to cut the wood, rive out the boards, carve out the
- 1:45spoons, let them dry, oil them, get them packaged and shipped.
- 1:49If you think there's something like if you go to my site, it's justin
- 1:52Carroll Woodwork dot subsect, justin Carroll Woodcraft, I should say Woodcraft dot subsect
- 1:59dot com. If you see something on there and it's hasn't sold, you
- 2:02can click buy it now. I'll get in the mail right away. If
- 2:06there's something that has sold, and like this lady did she said, you
- 2:09know, did I miss out. Can I still buy this set of cherry
- 2:14cooking spoons? I said absolutely. She said, can you make a couple
- 2:17identical sets? Well, I can't do anything identical because they're handmade, but
- 2:23I can you know, same style and everything. She said, can you
- 2:27make them second give them to gifts for a couple of family members. I
- 2:31said absolutely, And of course it's taking me about a week just to fill
- 2:35that order. So if there is something special you want along those lines,
- 2:38please let me know right away. Otherwise, my books are always available through
- 2:44Amazon. Amazon ships very quickly. Or if it's a last minute gift you
- 2:47need, you know, an ebook. I sent it as a PDF that
- 2:52can be there just like the blink of an eye. Or paid subscription to
- 2:55my subsecon newsletter. The person who gets has paid subscription, we'll get free
- 3:00e books, so remember that. But the main request I have you this
- 3:05evening my friend Alyssa. I guess I shouldn't say her last name. She's
- 3:12been having major legal issues. She's actually fighting the mafia in the courts of
- 3:16Rome, which is not a good situation. A lot of corruption in the
- 3:21Roman courts. The old Italian legal system is quite corrupted by the mafia and
- 3:27the Masonic Order and all that. She has a court date tomorrow, a
- 3:30decision should be rendered. Please say a prayer for Alyssa. She really needs
- 3:36it. They basically they've taken her home, they've basically taken everything she has,
- 3:40and she needs serious help. So please remember her in your prayers.
- 3:46Now, let's get right into the radio replies, questions and answers. We'll
- 3:51pick up where we left off yesterday. The person asks the priests, why
- 3:59do not the Jews when they're fleeing from the Egyptians. This is what we
- 4:02were talking about yesterday. Crossover the dry land where the Suez Canal now exists.
- 4:10The answer, It is not certain that the contour of the country was
- 4:13the same as it is now. Some authorities say that the Red Sea swept
- 4:15much further inland in earlier times, including even to the Bitter Lakes. In
- 4:20any case, under God's direction, the Jews were led away from the dry
- 4:24section we now know. It's described in Numbers chapter thirty three, that He
- 4:29might show his power and protection at the end, that the Egyptians might be
- 4:32justly punished we as shown by Exodus fourteen to two. Person continues with well
- 4:42present scientific knowledge. Let us admit that the sun stood still. For Joshua,
- 4:46the answer present scientific knowledge has nothing to say on the subject. With
- 4:50all of our present knowledge, we may still say that the sun rises.
- 4:55We know that this is due to the Earth's rotation, but speak of things
- 4:58as they appear to our senses. Joshua would have had more right to laugh
- 5:01at us for speaking of the sun as rising, despite our boasted knowledge that
- 5:05we have to ridicule his expression that the sun stood still. He experienced a
- 5:11phenomenon of light for a period longer than is usual, and he describes it
- 5:15by the phrase the sun stood still. The phenomenon could have occurred by the
- 5:20cessation of the Earth's rotation at God's bidding, or simply by His willing the
- 5:25light to continue despite the early the ordinary movements of the earth. However,
- 5:30the Church has not defined the literal truth of each and every event described in
- 5:33scripture. She teaches that the Bible is the word of God, whatever be
- 5:39its correct interpretation. Miraculous events are to be accepted to the opposite has proven
- 5:45true. Exactly what God did in such cases is not certain, but presumption
- 5:49is for the literal fact in default of contrary evidence. General lesson of God's
- 5:56providence is to be accepted without reserve, and there really is no reason to
- 6:00doubt that in the miracles at Fatima, the Son stood still and spun like
- 6:04a top. I mean, that sounds crazy, right, It was actually
- 6:09observed that phenomena throughout the modern world. No one can explain it. Atheists
- 6:19astronomers in the Soviet Union reported the miracle at Fatima. God is the creator
- 6:27of the universe, the master of everything. He can do whatever he pleases.
- 6:30And you may say, well, why don't I know about this?
- 6:32Why was a report on the six o'clock news in America? Well, you
- 6:36know, that was a little before television. Actually, it should have been
- 6:39reported in all the newspapers and the radio, and it wasn't, mainly because
- 6:45of the influence of the Masonic Order. The Masonic Order is very powerful and
- 6:51they didn't want it reported. They were actively trying to prevent all knowledge of
- 6:58the miracles at Fatima, even to the point of kidnapping the children and threatening
- 7:01them to renounce their visions of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Answer the question is
- 7:06not did it happen? The question is why our news agencies didn't report it,
- 7:15and we must remember that at the time. Oh, the name escapes
- 7:20me is right on the tip of my tongue, very right. In the
- 7:26same time, you know, there was a reporter from the New York Times
- 7:29who was the correspondent reporting on the genocide in Ukraine where the Soviet Union went
- 7:35and starved out millions of people. I mean, it was one of the
- 7:40most horrible events in human history, and reported that the Soviet Union was helping
- 7:46the Ukrainian people with their agricultural issues. I mean it was completely false propaganda,
- 7:56Soviet propaganda that was given to the American people, and he received a
- 8:01Polish surprise. I mean there have been many modern journalistic organizations that have you
- 8:09know, petitioned to have his the prize removed for that reporting in the New
- 8:13York Times, and the committee still lets it stand. So yeah, yeah,
- 8:22pretty bad. Actually, if you don't think the media lie to you,
- 8:26well you don't know history. And shall we bring up January sixth perhaps,
- 8:33Yeah, I'll go there, trust me, I'll tell you. Yeah.
- 8:39I think all the January sixth prisoners should be released and charges to be
- 8:43brought against the federal officials who are persecuted mostly innocent people, really tortured them
- 8:50in some cases, kept them in solitary confinement, kept them in handcuffs to
- 8:54the point that they maybe lose their hands, kept them in in freezing conditions,
- 9:01starved them. It's horrible what's going on in our country. It is
- 9:05horrible what's going in our country. So you think that the media is going
- 9:09to do anything to talk about miracles in the Catholic Church. No, they're
- 9:16not. They're not. I don't even trust EWTN anymore, not since Mother
- 9:22Angelica died. The people in control there now are not of her caliber or
- 9:28her quality. So anyway, the person said, God did this to enable
- 9:35Joshua to kill a few more innocent people fighting for their homes and families.
- 9:41What an odd way of looking at things. But that's probably about what those
- 9:43who those champions of the Palestinians who went and slaughtered a bunch of innocent Jews
- 9:50would say. I mean, they have justified, you know, putting babies
- 9:54and ovens and burning them to death, which is what the Palestinians did.
- 10:00You know, No, don't trust the media. I mean, after COVID,
- 10:05does anyone really trust the media? They answered, that was not the
- 10:11reason you do not have to advert to a great principle. God owns the
- 10:16earth and can allot any particular portion of it to any particular people. He
- 10:26can allot any portion of it to any particular people. And if the earth,
- 10:35and if He the owner of all, does so, then the tenants
- 10:41for the time being lose their right to the apprai of the appropriate land.
- 10:45Palestinians don't actually have any real claim to what they call Palestine now. They're
- 10:50actually the Philistines of the Bible. They mainly lived in Egypt and Jordan.
- 10:56They didn't actually want that land until Israel turned in to a nice place to
- 11:01live. Truthfully, the Christians of Palestine, they actually have a greater claim
- 11:09on areas like Bethlehem and such than do the so called Palestinians, a race
- 11:16of people who never really existed. I mean, there's a region called Palestine,
- 11:20but there was never historic Palestinian people. Joshua warned, I don't even
- 11:26know how to pronounce this Gabeonites. Gabonites, I don't know beforehand. If
- 11:31you dwell in the land that falls to our lot, we can make no
- 11:35league with you. The Gabonites knew this to be the will of God.
- 11:41It was told to us by their servants. They said that the Lord thy
- 11:46God has promised his servants to give you all the land. Realize that's what
- 11:50from Joshua nine twenty four. Realizing their obligation, they determined not to go,
- 11:56thinking themselves strong enough to rebel against God's decree. God taught them a
- 12:01lesson, and the Jews had as much right to put them out by force
- 12:03as I would have to evict you from a house occupied by you without definite
- 12:09lease, should the house suddenly come to me by sale or gift and I
- 12:13wish to live in it. This objection of Ingersoll overlooks the question of just
- 12:18title, but his end in view made the lawyer ignore his legal brains wherever
- 12:24his irreligious complex affected him. Yes, Ingersoll being the very influential agnostic atheist
- 12:33of the nineteen hundreds, which really he really sowed a lot of the anti
- 12:39Semitism in the United States, as far as people will say, well,
- 12:45the Jews of Israel now are not the Jews of the Bible. You know,
- 12:48when I say I don't care, I almost cuss there. I don't
- 12:52give a crap. I'll put it that way. You know what happened to
- 12:58the Cherokee, what was done to the Cherokee under Andrew Jackson, who was
- 13:01not a president I respect in any way, shape or form, even though
- 13:07he comes from North Carolina. He was not a good president. He committed
- 13:13a genocide against the Cherokees and other related tribes, Catawbas and such, driving
- 13:20them out on the Trail of tears. Okay, he really could have prevented
- 13:24the Civil War had he chosen to. His actions led to the Civil War,
- 13:30which led to, you know, this wholesale slaughter of hundreds of thousands
- 13:35of Americans on both sides. He was not a good president at all.
- 13:39I don't understand why anyone has any respect for Andrew Jackson. Yes, he
- 13:45was a hero in the Revolutionary War. Okay, his war service was quite
- 13:48impressive. What he did in New Orleans and such was great. He was
- 13:52a horrible president. He was also a philanderer, shall we say, a
- 13:58horror monger, as he would have said in the Very Violent Man. Not
- 14:03a good man in any way, shape or form of which I am aware.
- 14:09Okay. Is that a controversial statement? Sure, let me give you
- 14:11another statement. The Cherokees were driven from that land, that was horrible.
- 14:16It's awful. Absolutely, anybody knows anything about the Trail Tears knows that this
- 14:22noble, peaceful tribe of Native Americans mostly was It was a genocide. It
- 14:30was war crimes. And they were forced, i mean out into Oklahoma.
- 14:33They had to walk there from North Carolina and Georgia, and most of them
- 14:39died. It was actually an Anglican minister in western North Carolina who deeded some
- 14:46land to a Cherokee chief and allowed them to come back because it was the
- 14:52right thing to do. That became the Cherokee Reservation we know today. And
- 14:58they're wonderful people. I've known them all my life. Well, there are
- 15:03some of the salt of the earth, best people you know. And they're
- 15:05almost entirely Christian, by the way, mostly Protestant, mostly Baptists actually,
- 15:11but yeah, nine nine percent. I'm a Christian and patriotic, and most
- 15:15of them are Trump supporters, believe it or not. I have much more
- 15:18respect for them than I do Andrew Jackson that said, I mean, you
- 15:22know, they probably killed my great great great grandfather who after the War of
- 15:28eighteen twelve, he and his wife probably the family history gets a little murky
- 15:35right, they got a land grant, went down there during the gold Rush,
- 15:39and we're probably killed by the Cherokee and just left. You know,
- 15:41their bodies left a rot in the woods. We don't have a grave for
- 15:45them. Still, I say, the Cherokee were absolutely in the right,
- 15:48Okay, no more than the English had a right to take the Irish land.
- 15:54The American early Americans had no right to take the Cherokee land, Okay,
- 15:58but they did. It happened, and a couple hundred years past.
- 16:02Now there's a Cherokee tribe of I don't know, around ten thousand people.
- 16:07It's not that big. If the Cherokee tomorrow were to say they were going
- 16:11to take back their ancestral lands and they started blowing up people in Asheville,
- 16:17strapping bombs on children's backs and shooting random civilians and doing the kind of things
- 16:25the Palestinians had done, what would the response be. Well, the American
- 16:30government, starting with I guess the state police of North Carolina and then probably
- 16:34the actual US army because it's tribal land, it's actually considered foreign land,
- 16:41would go in and annihilate them. And that's the right thing to do now,
- 16:45because now they would be in the wrong for attacking innocent civilians, even
- 16:51though they actually have a true ancestral right to the land Palestinians are named after
- 16:57Palestine. Palestine is not after the Palestinians. They never really lived there and
- 17:03they have no right to the land. So yeah, I think Israel is
- 17:08absolutely justified and turning you know, Gaza into a smoking hole in the ground.
- 17:18Sorry if that offends you, but people are living in peace. The
- 17:22one who starts shooting, the one who starts shooting at somebody else and killing
- 17:27innocent civilians, you know, raping women, beheading children, they're in the
- 17:33wrong every single time. Now. I mean, if the Palestinians have been
- 17:38living in peace with the Israelis and the Israelis went in there and started suddenly
- 17:44started targeting women and children, old people, they would be in the wrong.
- 17:48It's not that complicated. Just don't hurt innocent people, don't kill babies,
- 17:56don't go in and take a bunch of women and children hostage and rape
- 17:59them in the you know, that's actually what the North did to the South,
- 18:04which is why I say the Civil War, the South was the one
- 18:08with in the morally right in that not anything to do with slavery, nothing
- 18:14at all to do with slavery. Slavery is an abomination. Slavery is a
- 18:17moral evil. But for the North to invade the South when the South simply
- 18:23wanted to separate from the North. You know, our nation was founded on
- 18:29that principle that we could secede from England because England no longer served us as
- 18:34a representative government. Well, the South said the North no longer had the
- 18:38South's interest in mind, and seceded. I mean, seriously, just two
- 18:42generations had passed, the grandsons of the men who signed the Decoration of Independence
- 18:48saying that when in the course of human events, you know, we can
- 18:52become an independent nation, we're then being slaughtered by Union soldiers. And I
- 18:59mean one thing, men fight wars. Okay, Sherman didn't do that,
- 19:03and the others, I mean, I could name a bunch of Union generals.
- 19:06They just came in and burned everything to the ground, raped the women,
- 19:07killed the children, raped the children, stole the silverware. There's actually
- 19:11a Union general in Louisiana the callimed spoons because he stole everybody's silverware. I
- 19:18mean, it was war crimes, war crimes. The United States has committed
- 19:22war crimes in at least the Civil War and the explanation of the Cherokee from
- 19:30their territory. That doesn't give me, as a Southerner, the right to
- 19:33march into New York City and blow something up, and doesn't give the Cherokees
- 19:37a right to say, we're going to take Asheville. You know, we're
- 19:41going to take noxl because it was once our land. So this is the
- 19:48person continues, Are we to believe the story of Joshua and the whale is
- 19:52true? Well, Jonah, the story of Joanah and the whale is true,
- 19:56they answered, when Christ told the story of the prodigal So the characters
- 20:00of the story were not really historical persons, but the story was a true
- 20:04depiction of the type of God's mercy. Now, some authorities say that the
- 20:08book of Jonah narrates a kind of parable somewhat akin to the parables of Christ.
- 20:15Remember Christ always spoke in parables. Others and others more probably say that
- 20:22it is actually history, and that the real Jonah was really swallowed by a
- 20:25real fish, though not necessarily by a whale. As we understand that word,
- 20:29the church lees is free to accept either view, the purpose of the
- 20:32book is worthy, indeed of God, teaching as it does that God much
- 20:36prefers to show mercy to a repentant people rather than to vindicate his justice by
- 20:41the infliction of punishment. Nor is the story incredible even as actual fact.
- 20:47A thing is credible or incredible according to the presence or absence of sufficient cause.
- 20:52I grant that the events of the Book of Jonah can be explained only
- 20:56by miraculous intervention on the part of Almighty God. But once I say that
- 21:00God was the agent at work, then the cause alleged could account for it.
- 21:06And the question is could it happen? But did it happen? The
- 21:08main reason why people doubt the fact is because they cannot see how it happened
- 21:15a thing which has not necessarily proved more than they cannot comprehend everything. The
- 21:19life of a human embryo during the period of its gestation is as much a
- 21:23mystery according to God's natural laws as would be the life of Jonah for three
- 21:27days inside a large fish according to God's extraordinary intervention. And who will say
- 21:33that God is never free to act outside of the ordinary laws he himself established
- 21:37In reality? There is no more difficulty in accepting the miracle Jonah than there
- 21:42is and accepting the undoubted miraculous fact of Christ's resurrection. Very well well stated,
- 21:49God can do as God pleases. Now let's get into Father Spirago's explanation
- 21:57of the catechism. We are picking up on where we left off yesterday,
- 22:03and let me see that was This is going to be part two of the
- 22:07Christian Faith. And if I'm not mistaken, I left out with Let's see
- 22:15I left off with all accordance with reason. We believe because we trust ourselves
- 22:22to God's truthfulness and because we know for certain that the truth of faith are
- 22:26revealed to us by God. Today we will start with part four. The
- 22:32Christian faith comprises all doctrines of the Catholic Faith. Very tricky point when we're
- 22:38dialoguing with Protestants. The fullness of the truth is to be had through the
- 22:45Catholic Church. Actually, Protestants only believe what they believe because they were given
- 22:52a Bible by the Catholic Church. They eat. Their chance for salvation actually
- 22:56comes through the Church. But as Father Sparago tells us, he who willfully
- 23:04disbelieves a single doctrine of the Catholic Church has no true faith. For he
- 23:11who receives some of the words of Christ and rejects others does not really believe
- 23:15that Jesus Christ is the son of God and that he guides the Catholic Church.
- 23:21This is what I was talking about yesterday with the so called cafeteria Christians
- 23:25who say, I believe this, but I disbelieve that. It doesn't work
- 23:29that way. You either believe God is God and everything he said is true,
- 23:32or you can't believe he is God because God cannot lie a faith which
- 23:37or be mistaken. God cannot be mistaken. A lot of people would say,
- 23:41well, you know, it's just old fashioned and we know better now.
- 23:44No. No, if God was wrong at any point, then he's
- 23:48not God. A faith which does not comprise all the doctrines of the Catholic
- 23:52Church is no faith at all. It is like a house without a foundation.
- 23:56A man who believes all other Catholic actions but rejects the infallibility of the
- 24:02Pope has no true faith. You know, just to decide, how many
- 24:06Catholics these days say, well, I believe everything the Church teaches, but
- 24:10not contraception. I'm going to do, you know, I'm going to practice
- 24:11contraception because you know I want to well that person is in grave, mortal
- 24:18sin, rave mortal sin. Let's see what insolence is it on the part
- 24:27of man to treat God like a dishonest dealer, some of whose goods part
- 24:33some of whose goods they accept, and others they reject. What utter folly
- 24:37to think that we know better than God. As a bell in which there
- 24:41is one little crack is worthless, as one false note destroys the harmony,
- 24:47as a grain of sin in the eye prevents one from seeing. So the
- 24:51rejection of a single dogma makes the faith impossible. He who willfully rejects his
- 24:56single dogma sins against the whole body of the doctrine of the Catholic Church.
- 25:03Hence, no heretic if he is so, If he is so through his
- 25:07own fault, or a heretic who chooses to be a heretic, I mean,
- 25:11he's not in error just because he doesn't realize it. He's you know,
- 25:15purposely and knowledgeably refusing to believe an aspect of a Catholic doctrine. No
- 25:23heretic, if he is so through his own fault, can make an act
- 25:26of faith even in the existence of God or the divinity of Jesus Christ.
- 25:33Although it is necessary to faith that all the teachings of the Catholic Church should
- 25:36be believed, yet it is not necessary to be acquainted with every one of
- 25:40her doctrines. You know, God's not going to judge you by it for
- 25:42your ignorance. But a Catholic must at the very least know that there is
- 25:47a God, and that God directs the life of man toward the good and
- 25:52punishes the wicked. He must know that there are the three persons in God,
- 25:56and that the second person of the Blessed Trinity has become and redeemed Us
- 26:00on the cross. Saint Paul tells us he that cometh to God must believe
- 26:04that He is and that He is the rewarder of them that would seek him.
- 26:10It's from Hebrews. This was the minimum required before the coming of Christ.
- 26:15It is now required of those who have never come within the reach of
- 26:18the Gospel. In a country where the Gospel is preached, the case is
- 26:22quite different, and no one can be admitted to the sacraments of baptism or
- 26:26pentance until he has been instructed in the above mentioned truth. That's for adult
- 26:30baptism. Obviously, children cannot be expected to understand everything. He and you
- 26:40children should be baptized at the first possible opportunity to open them to the Holy
- 26:44Spirit, so they can understand and to prevent demon possession demonic possession. He
- 26:51who has an opportunity of being instructed must also learn and understand the Apostles,
- 26:56Creed, the commandments of God and of the Church. And he must have
- 26:59some notedge of the doctrine of Grace and the sacraments, and a prayer as
- 27:03set forth in some catechism authorized by the bishops of the country in which he
- 27:07lives. Part five begins. Faith is a gift of God, since the
- 27:14power to believe can only be attained through the grace of God. Saint Paul
- 27:18tells us, by grace yours save through faith, and that and that not
- 27:22of yourself. It is a gift of God, and our Lord says,
- 27:26no man can come to me unless it be given to him by My Father.
- 27:32God gives us the gift of faith in baptism. Hence, baptism is
- 27:34called the sacrament of faith. Until the newly baptized child comes to the use
- 27:41of reason, he cannot use his power of believing or make an act of
- 27:45faith. He is like a child who is asleep, who has the faculty
- 27:51of sight, but cannot use it until he opens his eyes. Then he
- 27:53can see the objects around him under the influence of the light. So the
- 27:57child who attains to is able to believe the truth of religion under the influence
- 28:03of the grace of God. God bestows the knowledge of the truth and the
- 28:07gift of faith chiefly on those who once strive after it with earnestness and perseverance.
- 28:11Two live a god fearing life, and three pray that they may find
- 28:15the truth. And earnest desire after the truth is a sure means of attaining
- 28:19to it. For our Lord has said that those who hunger and thirst after
- 28:23justice shall have their feel And again God says, through the mouth of the
- 28:29prophet, you shall find me when you seek me with your whole heart.
- 28:33The Roman philosopher Justinius was an instance of the fulfillment of this promise, for
- 28:38God rewarded his earnest desire for truth by causing him to fall in with an
- 28:44old man on the banks of the Tiber, who instructed him in the truth
- 28:47of the Christian faith. A life in accordance with the law of God will
- 28:51also obtain the grace of faith. If anyone shall do the will of God,
- 28:56he shall know of the doctrine that's from the Gospel of John. To
- 29:00such a one, God will give an interior light, or will send someone
- 29:04to instruct him, as he did Cornelius in acts. So Cardinal Newman prayed
- 29:10for long years for the kindly light, which at last brought him to the
- 29:15door of the Catholic Church. And the same was the case with countless converts
- 29:21from Protestantism, myself included. I might say, sometimes God, in his
- 29:26mirth see gives the gift of faith even to enemies of the Church, as
- 29:30he did to Saint Paul. But it is for the most part to those
- 29:33who are in good faith in their errors. When God bestows upon a man
- 29:37the gift of faith, he either employs one of the ordinary means of grace,
- 29:41such as preaching, or is in some cases an extraordinary means, such
- 29:45as a miracle. The ordinary means are preaching, reading, and personal instruction.
- 29:52Saint Augustine was converted by the preaching of Saint Ambrose in the Cathedral of
- 29:56Milan Saint Ignatius of Loyola, by reading the lives of the saints, the
- 30:03Ethiopian Eunuch by his conversation with Saint Philip. Extraordinary means are those which we
- 30:08find many at the beginning of the Christian era, such as the star the
- 30:14magi followed, the light that shone upon Saint Paul on his journey to Damascus,
- 30:19and the voice that he heard from heaven, the great cross of the
- 30:23Emperor Constantine saw in the sky with the words in hawk signo vincis. In
- 30:30this sign, there's victory. Saint Constantine was converted by a miracle, a
- 30:36cross that appeared in the sky, the vision of our lady at Ratisbond,
- 30:41the vision of our lady that Ratisbond saw in the church of Saint Andrea in
- 30:48Rome. Saint Andrea I guess in Rome in eighteen forty two, so that
- 30:55the heathen boy Theophilus was converted by the roses that fell at the feet,
- 31:00that fell at his feet in the month of January, after the martyrdom of
- 31:03his playmate Dorothea. Let me get a sip of something. I'm getting tongue
- 31:07side here. That was in the year three eight and of course, products
- 31:15will say, none of this is in the Bible. Now. No,
- 31:18this is in the writing of the Early Church. And if you read the
- 31:21Early Church Fathers, you will learn of all these miraculous conversions, and it
- 31:26will strengthen your faith miraculously. If you are a Protestant who rejects everything I
- 31:32say for your own good, read the Early Church Fathers to strengthen your faith
- 31:38and your knowledge of God. Many men fail to attain the Christian faith through
- 31:45pride, self will, and unwillingness to give up the indulgence of their passions.
- 31:52It is the lack of good will that debars many from the faith.
- 31:56Our Lord is a true light that enlighteneth every man that cometh into the world.
- 32:00It's from Gospel John again, it is the will of God that all
- 32:04men should come to the truth. Men to often shut their eyes to the
- 32:07light because they are unwilling to chance to change their evil life. They love
- 32:13darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil. Also from John, pride
- 32:16is also a fatal hindrance to faith. God loves to make use of simple
- 32:21means to bring men to the knowledge of the truth. And this the world,
- 32:24and this is the proud resent just as Naman resented Elise's advice to go
- 32:32to the Jews. No, to go wash in the Jordan. Okay,
- 32:39Nayman, you remember he had leprosy. Father Spragus used the old spelling of
- 32:47I guess Alicia, it's Elias's in the way he wrote it. Naman went
- 32:52to Elisa, Alicia, my word, my tongue is getting in twisted tonight
- 32:59to be healed. And he told him to obeythe in the Jordan. And
- 33:01he was offended. He said, why is the Jordan any better than the
- 33:04waters of Pineland. And one of his servants actually said, you came all
- 33:07this way, just give it a shot. And he went, and you
- 33:08know, he was healed. So Christ was rejected and despised by the Jews,
- 33:15especially by the scribes and Pharisees, because he was born of poor parents
- 33:21and lived in a town which was held in contempt. Remember also in the
- 33:24Gospel, John says can anything good come out of Nazareth's So the upper class
- 33:30at Rome were unwilling to receive the truth from a nation that was despised by
- 33:34them, and from men who were in general very deficient in culture or position.
- 33:39So too, in the present day God allows his church to be oppressed
- 33:44and persecuted and looked down upon. Hints there is no miracle at which the
- 33:47proud do not scoff. God hides the secrets of his providence from the proud,
- 33:54and more than this, he positively resists them. Remember the words of
- 34:00Bishop will Now the venerable Fulton Sheen. If I wanted to identify the true
- 34:05church would it be? It would be the one despised by the world,
- 34:07the one looked down on, the one called ignorant, the one called not
- 34:13modern. And that's the Catholic Church zero point six. Faith is necessary to
- 34:21eternal salvation. Faith is like the root of a tree, without which it
- 34:25cannot exist. It is the first step on the road to heaven. It
- 34:29is the key which opens the treasure house of all virtues. How happy is
- 34:34the wanderer when he lights on the road which will carry him to his journey's
- 34:37end. How far happier is he who has been wandering in search after truth
- 34:43when he attains to a belief in the Catholic Church. He has found the
- 34:47road to eternal life. The Saints always set the greatest store on the possession
- 34:52of faith. I thank God unceasingly, said the good King alfonsis of Castile,
- 35:00not that I am a king, but that I am a Catholic.
- 35:02Without faith, there's no salvation our Lord, says, he that believes should
- 35:07not be condemned. Saint Paul says, without faith, it is impossible to
- 35:10please God. Faith is like a boat. As without a boat you cannot
- 35:15cross the sea, so without faith you cannot arrive at the port of eternal
- 35:20salvation. Is like the pillar of cloud which led the Israelites across the desert,
- 35:24or like a star that guided the wise men to Christ. Without faith,
- 35:28we can do no good works pleasing to God, or which will merit
- 35:31for us a reward in heaven. Many people say, I'm good, isn't
- 35:36that enough? Well, without faith, it's not. And faith without works
- 35:40is dead. As the Bible says, acts of kindness done from a natural
- 35:45motive or a reward in this life, but not in the next. They
- 35:49are like a building which has no foundation. Just as from the root plant
- 35:53in the ground arises a beautiful plant with its leaves and flowers, so from
- 35:58the root of faith arises good wars. Faith in God gives rise to love
- 36:01of Him and a confidence in Him, and this enables us to labor and
- 36:06suffer for him. Faith in our eternal reward encourages reward encourages us in our
- 36:13toilsome journey through life. It gave Job his patience to bias, his generosity
- 36:17for the poor, and the martyrs their constancy. Faith provides us with the
- 36:22means of resisting temptation. It is the lighthouse which enables the mariner to avoid
- 36:29the hidden rocks and quicksand it is the shield that enables us to extinguish all
- 36:35fiery darts of the wicked one on the amount of our faith depends the amount
- 36:39that we possess of other virtues, and the amount of grace we receive from
- 36:44God. And the last point in this chapter, faith alone is not sufficient
- 36:51for salvation. It must be a living faith. That is, we must
- 36:54add to it good works, and we must be ready to confess it openly.
- 37:00A living faith is one which produces works pleasing to God. Our Lord
- 37:04said, everyone who saith to me, Lord Lord, shall not enter the
- 37:07Kingdom of heaven. Or not everyone who saith to me, Lord Lord,
- 37:10shall enter the Kingdom of heaven. But he that doeth the will of my
- 37:15Father, who is in heaven, he who has done no works of mercy
- 37:19will be condemned at the judgment. That's referencing the Gospel of Matthew. Such
- 37:23a one is like the devils who believe and disobey. As the body without
- 37:29spirit is dead, so the faith without works is dead. Also, you
- 37:31know a lot of pridors say faith alone. Well, you know, the
- 37:36devil believes in God. It's not enough. Faith without works is like a
- 37:42tree without fruit, or like a lamp without or oil. The foolish versions
- 37:46had faith but no works God. Works such as are necessary for good.
- 37:52Works such as are necessary for salvation, can only be performed by one who
- 37:57is in possession of sanctifying grace and loves God in his heart. Hints Saint
- 38:01Paul says, if I should have all faiths so that I could remove mountains,
- 38:06and I have not charity, I am nothing. So again faith lunt,
- 38:10yeah, don't work. We must also be ready to confess our faith
- 38:15with the heart we believe unto justice and with the mouth confessions made into salvation.
- 38:21Man consists of body and soul, and therefore we must honor God not
- 38:24only inwardly but also outwardly. Christ promises the Kingdom of Heaven only to those
- 38:30who confess Him before men. And when it comes to works, remember works
- 38:35are charity. Works are love of God and neighbor. Works a lover your
- 38:39family members. Works are turning the other cheek. Works are many things,
- 38:45but works are most, especially the sacraments of the Catholic Church. The greatest
- 38:50works we can do are going to confession and receiving the Eucharists, being baptized,
- 38:53being married, raising good children to become good Catholics. Works are many,
- 39:01but the greatest work of all is the Eucharist. Anyway, y'all,
- 39:08in the words of Saint Padre Pier, pray, hope and don't worry,
- 39:13and I will talk to you next time and we'll get into a next chapter.
- 39:16We wrapped this one up. Have a going