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Show 112: The Angels · The Uncensored Catholic

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A, Hey, y'all, welcome to today's show. You may have noticed
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yesterday that I didn't send out a podcast I normally do on Tuesdays. Well,
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it's not because I didn't record a podcast. In fact, I recorded
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a rather lengthy podcasts on angels, on the nature of angels, what they
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are, how we are to regard them, interact with them, how they
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interact with us, their role our guardian angels role to protect us and to
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help us, and all that. And who knows. Maybe I didn't do
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a good enough job because maybe when I went to upload the file it had
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been deleted. I have no knowledge of deleting it. I could have bumped
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the wrong button, but usually it says are you sure you want to do
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this, so I think I would have remembered. I don't know. Either
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I made a colossal mistake, or maybe my guardian angel decided my podcast was
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not good enough and wanted me to give it another try. So we'll try
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to do a better job today. See if I can keep it around a
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half hour. You know, I've been going a little long sometimes. Let's
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start with the questions and answers from radio replies and the priest communic came with
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a very well meaning Protestant I would say, who believes that all churches are
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equally valid? That was certainly not the impetus of Protestantism. I mean the
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Lutheran Church, the Anglican Church, the Methodists, the Presbytery, and etcetera,
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etc. Were founded on the very principle of saying that Catholicism was not
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valid and that only the Protestant churches were valid. They're Protestant because they're protesting.
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That's actually the root word. But this person seems well meaning, although
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misguided in person, says, could we not call christ Church a garden?
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The Roman Catholic Church is the original tree. The others are slips cut off
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and growing in the same garden and producing the same fruit with a slightly different
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flavor. The pre sensor that is not possible. These analogies may be suitable
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to wrong ideas, but they do not prove those wrong ideas correct. Christ
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said that his church would be one church, not a garden of churches.
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As for the same fruit, the Catholic Church forbids divorce. Non Catholic churches
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allow it. All Protestant churches allow divorce. Even though Jesus said specifically in
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all four Gospels that it was not allowed. There is more than a difference
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in flavor there. One fruit of the tree is unity and obedience, a
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fruit which the Catholic Church alone produces. That the non Catholic churches bear some
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fruit, I admit, but they do not produce all the fruit that Christ
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intended. The explanation of such fruit as they seem to produce we shall see
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later on. Meantime, your attempt to maintain the unity of all the conflicting
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churches are both opposed to revelation and reason. Christ said, if a man
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will not hear the church, let him be as a heathen. Your system
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would leave him baffled. Here which church he would reply, he would cry,
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I guess that's what they said. If you replied, any church,
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for all churches constitute the One Church of Christ, he would complain. But
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the Catholic Church forbids this, and the English Church permits it. And again
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you say that the Catholic Church is as much part of the True Church as
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any others, But she solemnly declares that the others do not belong to the
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True Church. If she is truly speaking with the authority of Christ, they
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do not if she is wrong, she forfits any claim to be part of
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the true teaching church. No, they cannot all be true, and the
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Catholic Church is the only one that is really certain that she is right.
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Person says, I admit that it is impossible to maintain that all churches are
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really united into one church, but I deny that lack of unity really matters.
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After all, go into any church church, any Christian church, person
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says, and you will hear Christ preach in the Word of God spoken answer
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on that score, the Seven day Adventists who teach that the Pope is the
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Antichrist, and call the Catholic Church, which teaches that he is the Vicar
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of Christ. On that score, the Seven day Adventists who teaches that the
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Pope is the Antichrist, and the Catholic Church, which teaches that he is
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the very vicar of Christ, would both be teaching doctrines equally pleasing to God.
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As a matter of fact, you will not hear Christ preach in any
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Christian church, for in all non Catholic churches you will hear now one now
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another distorted aspect of Christian doctrine. Even did you hear the uncorrupted word of
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God in some non Catholic church. That would not make you a member of
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christ true Church. And the person says, but our intentions are at least
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all good. We are all striving for one end. And they reply,
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the Jews could have made a similar remark to Christ when he tried to convert
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them to Christianity. If we are Christians, we must deny that good intentions
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will suffice. And if Christianity, which is better than the Jewish religion as
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Christ knew it was, then if the Catholic Church has the complete doctrine,
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and every form of Protestantism is incomplete and erroneous, it follows that Catholicism is
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better than Protestantism and should be embraced. See, we'll just do one more.
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The person says, if there were twelve roads leading to one goal,
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would it matter which you took? And they said, since God has distinctly
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said that he wishes us to take one particular road, the Catholic road,
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it does matter. Any doctrine which begins with the fundamental notion that one religion
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is as good as another, soon ends in the conclusion that one religion is
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as useless as another. And children of those who insist upon proclaiming that principle
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end up as a rule with no religion at all. Yeah, absolutely,
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very very true. You know, that is the relativist or you might even
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call it universalist idea that really took hold in America really the fifties, when
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it was you know, deemed impolite to talk about religion or politics. Well,
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everybody got along by pretending to get along and not discussing the things that
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really matter. And yeah, by the nineteen sixties, most college students,
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really by the nineteen fifties, we're saying that, you know, all religions
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are equally worthless. And that's you know, that's what gave us the hedonism,
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the nihilism of the baby boomers, the self centeredness, the leaving the
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church, leaving their families, you know, common for people to have three,
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four or five divorces. You know, they were not taught to honor
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the one true Church or to even compare the churches. That was what was
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so weird for me when I was up at a certain so and Baptist university,
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and I was so shocked that the students there are the ones that were
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even in the ministry programs and such. The seminary so called, were very
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unfamiliar with their own doctrine, and when I would point it out, we're
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not able to explain why it was even biblical. Well, I mean,
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they couldn't even show me the passages in the Bible that support it, much
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less logical and had no idea what Catholics believed at all, no idea what
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Catholic doctrine is. I would take the Catechism and read, this is what
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Catholics believe. They say, no, we don't believe that. We don't
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believe Catholics believe that. I said, no, this is this is the
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official book that says this is what the Catholic Church believes. This is what
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Catholics have to believe to be Catholic. And they say, no, we
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don't believe that. For instance, when they said Catholics aren't allowed to read
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the Bible, and I would, you know, say, but no,
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the Catholic Church wrote and published, you know, wrote the New Testament,
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compiled the Bible, published it. The only reason you have a Bible is
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because of the Catholic Church. And Catholics are indeed encouraged to read the Bible
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every day and I would quote, you know, various popes like the ignorance
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of scriptures, ignorance of God. I mean, and I would say,
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and every one of these doctrines is rooted in the Bible. And I can
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show you in the Bible where this doctrine is and this. They say,
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no, we don't believe it, we don't believe Catholics are allowed to read
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the Bible. I'm like, why don't you believe that? Because we don't
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believe that. Okay, circular argument, But you know, what are you
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gonna do? Anyway, Let's get back to the topic of the angels,
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and let's see if I can do a good better job with it this time,
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maybe this will be able to be published. Father Sparagu writes, the
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angels are pure spirits. They can, however, take a visible form.
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The angels are pure spirits without bodies, whereas men have both body and spirit.
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Yet angels can take themselves, can take to themselves a bodily form,
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as did say Raphael the Archangel when he undertook to accompany the young Tobias in
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his journey. Now, if you're it seems I have to say in just
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about every show, if you're a Protestant listening in. You don't know who
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Tobias is because Martin Luther cut the Book of Tobit out of the Bible.
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Nobody knows why he cut out a bunch of books he didn't like. If
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you want to know the fullness of the Christian faith, you need a real
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Bible, not your King James. Not an incomplete Bible, not a Bible
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where the words of Jesus were changed because Martin Luther decided he had a better
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idea than Jesus. Get yourself if you want a new Bible. The ignacious,
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biased Standard version Catholic Edition is quite good. My favorite is the Dewey
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Reems was published about the same time as the King James. But it's a
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complete, full Bible with explanations of different passages in it. And I also
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have the original the Biblio Sacra Volgada, the Latin Bible as translated by Saint
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Jerome, and the three hundreds from the Greek and Hebrew, and you know
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it's in various languages, Aramaic and Latin and all that, and he took
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it all and put it into Latin. And you know, I can take
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it side by side of the Dewey reams, and see that that the Dewey
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Raims Bible in English is the same as the Biblia Sacra Volgata in Latin.
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So there's no question of whether it's a complete authentic Bible. So you do,
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yeah, get yourself a good Bible. At the sepulture of our Lord.
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And after the resurrection or after the resurrection, the angels appeared in the
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form of young men, and the same was the case after our Lord's ascension.
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That's a reference to Marco was A sixteen five and Acts one ten.
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The nature of angels is nobler than that of man. They have greater knowledge
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and power. The angels excel all other beings that our Lord has created.
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Our Lord says that not even the angels know when the day of judgment will
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come. That's Matthew twenty four thirty six, thereby indicating that their knowledge is
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greater than that of man. So not even the angels know, so also
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is their power. And angels destroyed all the first born of Egypt. Another
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angel calls the death of one hundred and eighty five thousand soldiers of the king
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of Assyria who blasphemed God. That's in Isaiah an angel protected the three young
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men in the furnace of Babylon. God created the angels for his own glory
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and service, as well as for their own happiness. Among all the creatures
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that God has made, the angels resemble Him the most, and therefore the
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divine perfection shine forth most brightly in them. They also glorify God by ceaselessly
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singing hymns of praise to Him in heaven. The angels also serve God.
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The word angels signifies messenger. Are they not all ministering spirits? Says Saint
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Paul, sent forth to minister to them that shall receive the inheritance of salvation
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to Hebrews one fourteen. Yes, the angels do have a role to minister
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to us. To help us. We pray to them, and they pray
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with us to God. They unite deare prayers to ours, just as we
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pray for each other on earth. Anytime we want to, we can pray
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with the angels in heaven. Even the bad angels promote the glory of God,
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for God turns their attacks on us to his glory. And our prophet
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go rightly describe Satan as a power that always wills evil and affects good.
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So no matter how you know, how hard Satan tries to do to hurt
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us and to do evil, God always use it for good, because in
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the end God wins. You know. The number of angels is immeasurably great.
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Daniel, in describing the throne of God, says, thousands of thousands
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ministered to him, and ten thousand times one hundred thousands stood before him.
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Holy scripture costs them the heavily host in the garden of Olives. Our Lord
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said that if he were to ask the Father, he would presently send him
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twelve legions of angels. Matthew twenty six fifty three. The number of the
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angels is greater than that of all men who have ever lived, or ever
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will live. The number of angels, says Saint Dionysius. The areogopagite I
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believe is the way you pronounce that is greater than that of the stars of
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heaven or the grains of sand on the seashore. The angels are not all
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equal. There are nine choirs or ranks among them. The ranks of the
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angels is determined by the amount of the gifts that God has given them,
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and according to the office assigned them nearest to the throne of God. Of
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the seraphim, who burn more than the rest with the love of God.
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Next to them are the cheer of them, who are distinguished by the vastness
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of their knowledge. We also read in Scripture of thrones dominions for dominations,
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principalities, powers, and also the three archangels Saint Michael, Si Gabriel,
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and Saint Raphael. There is also corresponding division among the fallen angels. All
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the angels whom God this point to all the angels whom God created were at
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the beginning in the grace of God and well pleasing to Him. But many
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of the angels sin through pride and were cast down by God into hell forever
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tewod Peter two four. When God created the angels, he created them all
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in his grace, but none can be crowned without a struggle two Timothy two
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five. And God subjected the angels to trial, and so, according to
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the universal law of the universe, they might earn their reward of eternal happiness.
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In this trial, a large number of the angels fell. They desired
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to be equal to God and refused to submit their will to his they did
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not abide in the truth John eight forty four. Hence arose a great war
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in heaven. Michael and his angels fault with the dragon, and the dragon
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and his angels fault fought and prevailed. Not neither was their place found anymore
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in heaven. The Dragon was cast out, and all his angels with him.
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Father Sprague says, this is a reverence to Apocalypse twelve eight nine.
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We now normally know that it's the book of Revelations. They also know the
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Eocalypse of John. You know, that's the old way of calling it.
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They were cast down into hell, not that they were confined to any local
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hell, for they are allowed to wander about the earth tempting men. But
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they carry their hell with them wherever they go. Inasmuch as they are as,
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they everywhere suffer the torments of hell. Their leader with Satan or Lucifer,
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for this was his name before he fell, and he is said to
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have been the highest of all the angels. The number of fallen angels is
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less than that of those who remain faithful. The fall of the angels was
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more terrible because they had previously enjoyed such a highest state. The higher,
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the place from which we fall, the worst to fall. At the last
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day, the evil angels would be judged, and their wickedness, and their
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wickedness and its punishment will be made known to the whole world. Jude sick
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Tewod Peter two four. To deny the existence of evil angels is a grievous
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sin against the faith, Very very true. I think it was Venerable Fulton
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Sheen who said the the greatest accomplishment of the devil was to convince people that
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he doesn't exist. We have to as Catholics, really, all Christians should
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believe in angels and demons, because they're talked about a lot in the Bible,
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but a lot of you know, so called modernist Christians don't. But
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all Christians should know that there are fallen angels, demons, evil spirits trying
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to destroy them, and that we each, as Jesus said, have a
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guardian angel who witnesses constantly before the face of God to protect each one of
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us, and all the angels protect us every day and pray the prayer to
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Saint Michael the Archangel to protect us, and that prayer is Saint Michael the
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arch Angel defend us in battle. Be our defense against the wickedness and snares
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of the devil. May God we rebuke him. We humbly pray and do
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thou, a Prince of the heavenly Host, by the power of God,
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thrust into hell Satan and all the evil spirits who prowl about the world.
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See can the ruin of souls? Amen? Okay, Now every Christian,
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Catholic or Protestant should be praying that every day. Why would you not,
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Well, Protestants say, you can't pray to angels, you have to pray
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directly to God. Well. Saint Gabriel had a nice conversation with the blessed
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Virgin Mary when he announced the births of Jesus. Was her communicating with him,
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worshiping him as if he were God? Knew. Saint John the Apostle
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had conversation with the Angel, who was, you know, showing him the
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divisions of the Book of Revelation. He even, you know, in the
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Book of Revelation, mistook the angels as God because you know, the great
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glory of an angel, And the Angel said, get up, you know,
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I'm not God. God's over there. You know, that's a very
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clear indication that we can talk with angels and they will help us. And
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we're not worshiping them whatsoever. We are worshiping God with them, as fellow
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Christians were praying for each other. In fact, the evil angels this point
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number three, are our enemies. They envy us, seek to lead us
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to sin, and can, with God's permission, injure us in our bodies
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or in our worldly goods. The evil spirits are our enemies. With all
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their spite, they can do nothing against God, so they event their fury
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against men who bear the image of God. Many theologians have asserted that the
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places of the angels who fell will be filled in the heaven by men.
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The knowledge that a creature of the earth will occupy his place in heaven,
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says Saint Thomas, causes the devil more pain than the flames of hell.
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It was the devil who led our first parents to sin, and also judas
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the devil can also for as God permits, so far as God permits injure
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the bodies and the goods of men, as in the case of Job and
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the possessed in our Lord's time, the devil's great object is to affect the
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ruin of the Church, which he knows as the means of destroying his power
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on earth. That's a reference to Matthew sixteen eighteen and Luke twenty two thirty
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one. He also knows that he and his angels will one day be judged
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by the saints. That's First Corinthians, sixty three. Many believe that as
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God assigns to each child at its birth a guardian angel, so the devil
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assigns to each a special devil to attempted. Hence, we must imitate the
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Jews when rebuilding the temple. We must work with one hand and with the
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other defend ourselves against the foe. Yet the devil cannot do real harm to
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anyone who keeps the commandments of God and avoids all sin. The dog that
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is tied up cannot do any harm to those who keep out of the range
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of his chain. The devil is like this dog. He can work on
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our memory and our imagination, but he has no power over our will or
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our understanding. He can persuade us, but he cannot compel us to evil.
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We must, therefore, energetically and promptly repel all bad thoughts. So
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the devil puts in our head. Resist the devil' says Saint James, and
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he will fly from you. That's James, four yeah, no, yeah,
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four four to seven, and he will fly from you. Our Lord
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dispatched the devil very promptly when he said, begone, Satan. It is
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a great thing to treat the devil in his temptations with great contempt, and
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also turn our thoughts to other things, and not allow ourselves to be disturbed
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or trouble by this by his suggestions, he who allows himself to dwell in
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evil thoughts draws near to the dog who has chained and is almost surely bitten
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by him. If the devil were allowed to use his full power against us,
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we could not resist him, for when he fail, he did not
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lose any of his natural powers, though he lost eternal happiness. God gives
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the devil's special powers over some men. God often allows men who are striving
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after high perfection, whom he especially favors, to be tried by the devil
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for long years in some extraordinary way, in order to cleanse them from their
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imperfections and thoroughly humble them. God allows his elect to be constantly besieged by
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the devil for years, and to endure temptations of extraordinary violence. Sometimes the
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devil appears to them in visible form. Sometimes he assails their ears with hideous
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sounds. You know recently reading sainful scene of Kwawska's diary, and this is
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something she dealt with a lot. I mean, she was being constantly assaulted
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by demons and the devil himself trying to scare her into not propagating the chapel
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of the divine mercy. Sometimes he is permitted to strike them and throw them
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to the ground. God protects their life, but allows the devil to torment
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them with bodily pain and with sickness. They suffer the most terrible temptations against
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the faith and against purity. The devil, the evil one, has no
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power over their souls, but sometimes God allows him power over their bodies,
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so that they do and say the most extraordinary things in spite of themselves,
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in order that so they may be humbled in the eyes of man. Sometimes
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they even pour forth blasphemous words and have no power to prevent themselves from doing
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so. The assaults of the devil are called obsession. Holy John, Holy
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Job was assailed by the devil, and so was our Lord in the desert.
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So were Saint Anthony, Saint Teresa, Saint Mary Magdalene of Posey,
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and the Cure de Ours, and many other saints. These holy persons knew
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that God would never allow them to be tempted beyond their powers of resistance,
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and that God permitted these temptations for their greater sanctification. They were perfectly resigned
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to the will of God, and at length drove away the devil by their
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fearless resistance to his assaults. Thus, when the devil threatened the life of
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Saint Catharine Siena, she answered, do what you can. What is pleasing
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to God is pleasing to me. Saint Mary Magdalene of Paz said to him,
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you do not seem to know that you are preparing for me a glorious
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victory. Saint Anthony in the desert to find him, saying, how feeble
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you are. I suppose that is why you are bringing such a crowd of
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devils to tempt me. When those who are tempted meet the devil with the
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courage of a lion, he has no more power against them than a startled
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hair. But when they fear him, then he comes on with all the
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force and boldness of a lion. He can always be driven away by the
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means of grace provided by the Church, by the sign of the Cross,
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by evoking the name of Jesus and Mary, by holy water, by earnest
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prayer, by the use of relics, etc. This is such an important
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point, and this is one that you know, Protestants miss traditional the more
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than traditional catholic The more you understand this. If you're a modernist Catholic,
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if you brought up in a lot of like you know, modern norvisodo Orto
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type churches, and maybe you weren't properly catechized, you may think it's you
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know, just the old women with their rosaries that are superstitious. It's not
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superstition at all. In fact, it is a duty, is Christian duty,
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to baptize your children as soon as possible, because a baptized person is
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protected against being possessed by a demon against their will. They're sealed by God
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and are protected from demonic possession. To not baptize your children is actually a
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mortal sin. Baptism is incredibly important. You know, if you haven't been
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baptized, to get baptized right away. If you can't get to a priest,
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anybody can baptize. Remember, baptism actually predates Christianity. Saint John the
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Baptist was baptizing. Baptism was a Jewish tradition for many, many years,
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centuries, you know, before Christ in times of war, famine, you
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know, bad times when people couldn't get to a priest, even non Christians
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were asked to baptize Christians. And so you can absolutely baptize your child if
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you need to. You can have your friend baptize you. If you can't
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get to a priest, and you may you may die. Now, of
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course it's better if you can go to a priest. It's always better to
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see this it's from an ordained, duly ordained priest who stands in the person
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of Jesus Christ. But the formula for baptism is available, It's in the
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Catechism, it's online anywhere, I mean, from any reliable Catholic website.
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And never put off even for a second, even what's called a conditional baptism,
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where you know that would be like you know, if if it was
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an informal baptism of you know, a friend did it, and you know
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even if they weren't Christian or something, and then you went to your priest
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later and said, you know, I'm not sure this was done the right
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way, and he would ask you, you know, tell me how it
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was done and if there was any question about whether it was a valid,
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validly done by the formula. You know, in the name of the Father
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and Son the Holy Spirit, do you renounce Satan and all his works and
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all that right that that you've all heard this many times. If you go
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to Mass, we you know, we do, we renew our vowels of
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baptism every year. We should at le he will give you a conditional baptism,
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which says, you know, maybe the first one wasn't done right,
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but it's still better than nothing. And I mean probably say many people,
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many many people from horrible things. When I mean, you don't have to
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be Catholic to be baptized by any means. The old you know, Baptists
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and Pentecostal churches in the countryside where my grandparents lived, they take people down
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to the river and dunk them in the water. And you know that was
27:33
certainly a very positive thing for those people in that community. It protected them
27:38
from demonic influence. So right away. But as far as the sacramentos,
27:45
the devil and the demons, they fly from them. They flee from them.
27:49
Fathers probably said fly from them. I would say, flee. But
27:52
blessed crucifixes, blessed rosaries, holy water, blessed oil, blessed salt,
27:59
blessed you know, picks of the Jesus and Sacred Heart, or the Holy
28:03
family, mac of the Heart of the blessed Virgin Mary, statues of saints
28:07
and angels. Put them in every corner of your home. If possible,
28:11
every room should have at least one blessed Catholic religious symbol. And you know,
28:19
even and this is you know, a little matter of controversy. You
28:22
know, the greatest herbalist ever lived was Saint Hilgard upon Benein. She's a
28:26
doctor of the Church, and she was taught herbal medicine by the voice of
28:33
the Living Light, in other words, Jesus himself, and she was taught
28:37
by angels. According to Jewish tradition, it was the archangel Raphael who taught
28:45
Noah how to use medicinal herbs. I mean, this is you know,
28:49
long tradition. She said that God blessed certain plants and that the devil hated
28:53
them like lavender and certain ferns. Blessed thistle was one. I mean,
29:00
you know, you'd have to look, and you know, the Church doesn't
29:02
say you have to believe that. And even just mentioning that in my book
29:07
on the Christian History of Verbal Medicine, you know, I got some bad
29:11
reviews on Amazon by Protestants who said I was promoting witchcraft and mysticism. Now,
29:15
a doctor of the Church, Saint Hildegard from Benin, who learned directly
29:18
from God, said that certain plants were hated by the devil because God had
29:26
blessed them in certain ways to protect to protect Christians. And I mean,
29:32
you know, the churches so you have to believe that. And even in
29:36
my book, you know, I said, you don't have to believe this,
29:38
but I do. I really do, as much as I wear a
29:41
you know, piece of brown wool a scapular as a blessed virgin. Mary
29:48
advised, Yeah, I absolutely heed Saint Hildegarde's herbal advice, even when it's
29:55
more spiritual than medicinal, because she learned from Jesus. You know, I
30:00
kind of take that kind of seriously. But yeah, you know, some
30:06
pretidant lady put a bad review on Amazon, probably cost me hundreds of sales,
30:11
and I thought it was very telling. She said, this book isn't
30:15
Christian, it's Catholic. So you see where she's coming from. Anyway,
30:19
what are you going to do? You know, I just prayed my guardian
30:22
angel to you know, protect me, Pray to God, pray to the
30:26
angels and saints protect me. And that's one thing that and you know,
30:33
protect my reputation, protect my business, you know, help me to you
30:36
know, be prosperous. That's one thing that I think really the big division
30:41
among Protestants and Catholics is the understanding of the word pray. As I said,
30:45
we don't worship the angels. We asked them to pray for us,
30:48
just as we would ask our friend or neighbor or you know, parent to
30:51
pray for us. Prayer isn't worship. It comes from the Latin word prikata,
30:56
meaning to ask. So when you pray to saying or an angel,
31:00
which you absolutely can, because we believe in eternal life, they're as live
31:06
as we are right now, and the Bible says they become like God in
31:11
heaven as in sharing in his mission of saving souls and able to cure be
31:18
you know, omnipresent, omniscient, that kind of thing. I don't know
31:22
if they've actually be omniscient, but omnipresent. They can understand all languages.
31:26
We know that from Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit came upon the apostles,
31:32
they could hear and speak all languages and understand them separated from the limits of
31:38
time and space. Yeah, they absolutely hear our prayers, understand our language,
31:44
and pray for us. That's their job. So and all we're doing
31:48
is asking them pray for us, help us. Then we pray together to
31:53
God from whom all blessings come. So understanding the word pray does not worship,
32:00
It means ask would go a long way toward building understanding between Catholics and
32:07
Protestants. Anyway, the more violent the assaults of the devil, the greater
32:14
will be the protection afforded by Almighty God to his servants. Often during times
32:19
of trial, they have revelations from God or saints or angels appear to them
32:23
to console and strengthen them. Those who deny the reality of these occurrences of
32:28
which we so often read in the lives of saints show very little acquaintance with
32:32
spiritual life. Yet it is the spirit of the Church. Receive all counts
32:37
of these preternatural and supernatural occurrences with great caution, as there is always a
32:42
danger of illusion or deceit. Nor need ordinary mortals fear such special attacks from
32:46
the evil One, as they are reserved for special friends and favorites of God.
32:51
Yes, the more holy you are, the more God will allow you
32:54
to be tried and tempted, as as you know, the Bible says many
33:00
many times He tries us, you know, like gold to purify us,
33:05
you know, metal in the furnace. Anyway, it also happens that God
33:09
allows men of vicious lives, or those who sin against the faith, to
33:14
be punished or let astray by evil spirits. Sometimes God permits the bodies of
33:19
men who have given themselves over to the indulgence of their passions to be possessed
33:23
by evil spirits. As a town is occupied by a general who is conquered
33:28
it, this state is called possession. And the time of our Lord there
33:31
were many thus possessed, and who in consequence were dumb, I mean unable
33:37
to speak. Matthew nine thirty two, Blind Matthew twenty two twenty two,
33:43
and exceedingly fierce Matthew eight twenty eight. God permitted that there should be many
33:47
such that he might show the power of the Son of God and the feebleness
33:52
of devils in his presence, and that he might drive them forth from those
33:58
whom they tormented. Yet it does not follow that all who were possessed were
34:01
necessarily through their own fault. Some children were possessed from their birth mark nine.
34:07
So go get that baptized immediately. If you don't, you're actually committing
34:14
a mortal sin. You're not doing your duty as a Christian parent. Do
34:17
it as quickly as possible. Sometimes God allowed even holy men to be possessed
34:23
for a time, but more often it was a punishment for grievous sins,
34:28
and especially for a deliberate friendship with the devil, as was the case with
34:30
the Witch of Indoor mentioned in First Kings and also an Acts. Such cases
34:37
are not unfrequently unfrequent now in pagan countries, I guess that would be Simon
34:43
and Acts. Well, no, no, it was the medium, the
34:45
one that was telling the future for the rich men. Okay, Interestingly,
34:53
I had a really odd argument with a Protestant lady probably a year ago,
35:00
accused Catholics of being superstitious, saying there's no such thing as ghosts and no
35:04
one can tell the future and all that. I'm like, uh, you
35:07
ever read that Bible yours? Let's look at the witches of Indoor. Let's
35:12
look at when who was a king David. Wasn't it David who went to
35:16
the witch and summoned the spirit of one of the prophets to ask his advice
35:23
and was chastised by that spirit for invoking a witch. You know, Let's
35:30
look at acts about that woman who was demons were allowing her to foretell the
35:35
future. You know, you might want to read that Bible a little a
35:38
little bit more careful, my Protestant friend. And she finally said, I
35:45
don't believe it because my preacher says it isn't true, and then blought me,
35:47
yeah, it was online, you know, it was one of those
35:50
things. So her preacher has more apparently validity than the actual words of the
35:54
Bible. Well, of course that is what Martin Luther claimed as well.
35:59
Said as for a Protestant thing, let's see, God also permits the evil
36:05
spirits to mislead those who practice spiritualism, which consists in the invoking of spirits
36:09
of the dead in order to discover things secret or that are taking place at
36:14
a distance. The devils personate the spirits invoked, and by their superior knowledge,
36:19
are able to reveal many things by which they delude those who deal with
36:22
them into thinking that they are really conversing with some departed relative or friend.
36:29
On these occasions, the spirits will sometimes take a material form. Spiritualism leads
36:34
to the loss of faith or morals, or at the very least, to
36:37
the ruin of the peace of mind of the person practicing it. Very often
36:40
it is mixed up with a great deal of imposture. Very true, you
36:44
know. I mean these you know, psychics so called, A lot of
36:46
them are just con artists. You know. I won't say just con artists,
36:53
because they're well, they're participating several evil acts, aren't they. Stealing
37:00
from people is immortal Cinafter all point number four. The angels who remain faithful
37:06
to God behold the face of God continually and seeing his praises. Our Lord
37:09
says of our guardian angels. I say to you that their angels always behold
37:15
the face of my Father who is in heaven. So Catholic and Protestant alike
37:20
should believe that each of us, when we were born, is assigned a
37:22
guardian angel. That guardian angel protects us and watches over us and helps us
37:30
in matters of conscience. And we should pray too. That means ask of
37:36
our guardian Angel for his help every single day. That should not be a
37:40
hard concept for Protestants. But because it is the words of Jesus, you
37:47
know, if you believe in Jesus, you might want to believe what he
37:50
said. But of course you might have to also address your ideas about divorce
37:54
and receiving the Eucharist and all that if you actually believe the world of Jesus
38:00
as opposed to the words of your preacher. The angels in our Lord's birth
38:04
saying the praises of God. Their songs, their songs of praise, are
38:07
different, just as their knowledge and their love of God are different. The
38:12
angels will sometimes represent as children because they are mortal and therefore ever young,
38:16
sometimes with wings to express the swiftnesses which they pass from place to place,
38:22
and their promptness in carrying out the will of God, sometimes with lilies in
38:24
their hand to show their perfect spotlessness, sometimes with harps to signify the praise
38:30
of God as their constant employment. Sometimes without anybody but only head and wings,
38:36
to show that they are intellectual beings. The Holy angels also possess exceeding
38:39
beauty and splendor. If an angel were to appear in the firmament of heaven
38:44
in his full glory, the sun would disappear before his brightness, just as
38:47
the stars now disappear before the brightness of the sun. And this is what
38:52
I was representing earlier from the Book of Revelation. When Saint John saw an
38:57
angel in all his glory, he thought he must be God himself, and
39:00
well at his feet to adore him. The angel said, get up,
39:02
you know I'm not God. See, we don't worship angels. We ask
39:07
them to pray for us, and we talk to them. We can actually
39:10
converse. They don't always answer back, but if you're a saint, if
39:15
you're a special holy person, they often do. And appearing to men.
39:21
In appearing to men, the Holy angels hide their glory. The angels will
39:23
be our companions in heaven. This is why they take so great an interest
39:28
in us while we are on earth and rejoice over the center doing penance.
39:31
They often intervene to help us in our spiritual and temporal needs. If we
39:36
do not buy our resistance to grace put obstacles in their way, we give
39:39
I guess one warning. In recent years, it's become popular for people to
39:45
try to figure out their guardian angel's name. Every angel has a name,
39:49
right which are told by the Church not to do that, not to do
39:52
that at all for some reason, and it has to do with like the
40:01
power of a name, the invoking of a name. Demons often tell people
40:07
what their name is because when they say their name, they essentially summon that
40:10
demon. And apparently this is according to the Church now not to me,
40:15
and I don't have any direct knowledge of this. Demons impersonating a person's guardian
40:21
angel can trick that person into invoking them by using their name. So we're
40:25
not to ask our guardian angel's name THEO point five. The Holy angels are
40:34
often called also called guardian angels, because they watch over us. Jacob saw
40:38
a ladder reaching up to heaven and the angels ascending and descending. That's in
40:42
Genesis. This was to signify that they come down on earth to protect us
40:46
and ascend back to heaven to sing praise to God. Again. Reach a
40:51
Bible and you'll believe in the intercessory role of angels. They're kind of there
40:55
through the entire book, you know, all the books of the Bible.
40:59
The guardian name angels watch over us as shepherd's over his flock, as a
41:02
shepherd over's flock. They count it as their happiness that they are appointed to
41:07
watch over the servants of God and to promote the welfare of souls. And
41:12
no wonder when we remember that the King and Lord of all things came not
41:15
to minister, but to be ministered. Unto the service they render us causes
41:22
them no trouble or anxiety, but rather joy and happiness. For their one
41:28
desire is that the will of God should be done, and they rejoice in
41:30
contributing this. Just as to the saints, they join in the salvific role
41:36
of Jesus. The general opinion of theologians is that everyone has a special guardian
41:42
angel who watches over him through all his life. The dignity of the angels,
41:49
let me see, the dignity of the angels given to us depends on
41:51
the dignity of the person to whom they are assigned. Ordinary Christians have one
41:54
of the lower orders of angels, whereas priests, bishops, kings, etc.
41:59
Have nobler spirits to guard them. Cities, countries, perishes, religious
42:04
houses, etc. Each have a guardian angel. How do we know that?
42:07
Well, again, open your Bible, turn turn to the Book of
42:10
Revelation, where it says to the Angel of the Church of whatever that angel
42:15
has charge over that protecting that church. Our guardian angel helps us in the
42:22
following ways. They put good thoughts into our minds and move our will to
42:25
what is good. The Angel who appeared to the shepherds at Bethlehem, and
42:30
who were seen at the tomb of Christ, and after his ascension made themselves
42:32
visible and spoke to men. But generally they influence us without being seen or
42:37
heard by us. They move us to some step that is to conducive to
42:44
the welfare of our souls or bodies, and often save us from some impending
42:49
danger by a secret impulse, without which we should have incurred death or misfortune.
42:52
Let me get a sip of some coffee here. That is so true.
42:58
I mean, how many times I think everybody's life. You just like
43:04
say, like some little intuition tells you not to go this direction, not
43:07
to turn this way, step back, and your life is literally saved in
43:10
the blink of an eye. And you're like, how if I if I
43:15
had, you know, one misstep and something horrible would have happened. How
43:17
did I know that? That's your guardian angel. They offer our prayers to
43:23
God and our good works to God. Thus Saint Raphael offered the prayers of
43:28
Tobias. Okay, there you go. Maybe that's why Martin Luther cut the
43:31
book out of the Bible. He didn't like that. Well, he was
43:36
an antichrist, you know, what do you say? He was a very,
43:38
very, very evil man. So of course he didn't want people knowing
43:42
they could rely on angels to help them. He's not participating in the salvation
43:45
of souls. He participated in division, the very thing that Jesus said not
43:52
to do. No schism, no division. Obey your ministers, obey your
43:57
priests and bishops. That's throughout the New Testament. What did he do start
44:00
tearing stuff out and changing the words of God. But anyway, so,
44:05
thus Saint Rafael offered the prayers of Tobias, the angel in the Apocalypse offers
44:10
the prayers of the saints in the Golden Censer again of the Book of Revelations.
44:15
This is not because God himself does not hear our prayers, but the
44:19
angels mingle their prayers with ours to make them more acceptable to God. You
44:24
see, and it's totally biblical, and all the benefits we receive from God,
44:30
says Saint Thomas, our guardian angel takes part because he helps us in
44:35
obtaining them for us. They protect us from danger. Thus, Saint Peter
44:39
was delivered from prison by an angel, and Acts twelve seven Daniel was kept
44:45
safe in the den of Lions, and the three young men in the Fiery
44:49
Furnace. We read stories sometimes of children being run over or falling from a
44:53
height and escaping unhurt. We can scarcely doubt that this was owing to the
44:59
intervention of their guardian angels. God has commissioned the angels to help us.
45:04
He hath given his angels charge over thee to keep thee in all thy ways
45:08
in their hands. They shall bear thee up lest they dash they foot against
45:13
a stone Psalms again't the role of the angels is totally biblical and should be
45:22
agreed upon by all Christians, but the chief office of our guardian angels to
45:27
reserve us from the snares of the devil. The holy angels have power over
45:30
evil spirits who fly away at their approach. It's also a reference to the
45:35
Book of Tobad get the Book of Tobad. We must therefore commit ourselves to
45:40
the care of our guardian Angel in all times of danger, and before undertaking
45:45
a journey or entering any new enterprise. And we should wish our friends when
45:49
they start on a journey. And we should wish our friends when they start
45:52
a journey the wish of Tobias when his son was leaving his home. May
45:55
the Angel of God accompany you. They often revealed a man the will of
46:01
God. Instances in point are the sacrifice of Abraham, the message of the
46:07
Angel to Zacharias and to our lady. The appearance of an angel sometimes causes
46:12
fear at first, but it soon changes to consolation and joy. It is
46:15
just the opposite of the appearance of an evil angel. They give consolation to
46:21
begin with, but this soon changes to confusion and fear. If we desire
46:27
the protection of the holy angels. We must try and imitate them by a
46:30
holy life. We must so so honor them and often invoke their aid.
46:36
Experience teaches us that innocent children enjoy a wonderful protection from angels. Innocence attracts
46:42
him, and sin drives them away as smoke drives away bees. We cannot
46:46
expect our guardian angel to take care of us when we are doing what we
46:50
know is displeasing to God. We must also beg for the aid of our
46:53
guardian Angel. We must congratulate him on his faithful us to God. We
46:58
must salute him when we go out, and when we come in, we
47:00
must thank him for all his benefits. We must say, with Tobias,
47:05
what can be worthy of his benefits? And what can we give him sufficient
47:09
for these things? The Church honors are guardian angels on the second of October
47:15
and in some places on the first Sunday in September. That's going to wrap
47:20
this one up. I hope I did a better job this time. I
47:24
pray that my guardian Angel will help me get this one published. And you
47:30
know, really, I hope a lot of people will listen to this,
47:31
because you know, America is still a predominantly protestantation, Catholics are more of
47:39
a percentage than we have been in the past. But when we think about
47:43
all the millions of people who are forfeiting the help of the guardian Angel that
47:52
Jesus says in the Bible was assigned to them at birth to help them in
47:58
their lives, because they don't have the fullness of the teaching of the Catholic
48:00
Church. It's a real shame and it's probably the cause of a lot of
48:05
the problems in this world. Probably, yeah, it really probably is.
48:09
So if we can kind of encourage others who are not Catholic to understand the
48:16
truth of the innercestory role of angels, which is, like I said,
48:22
throughout the Bible, I mean like in almost every chapter there's an angel,
48:27
you know, doing something. There's no reason to disbelieve it. If we
48:34
can get that, get them to understand that teaching, maybe things that get
48:39
a little bit better in this world, and we really need things to get
48:44
a lot better in this world a lot. So y'all, in the words
48:49
of Saint Padre Pia, pray, hope and don't worry, And in the
48:53
words of any Qulliams Senior the Good Lord willing, and the creek don't rise.
48:57
I'll talk to you. Sure, I'm gonna do a podcast tomorrow,
49:00
maybe next Monday. When I put one out, we'll see what is today
49:04
Wednesday. I don't know. I might, I might not. I'm not
49:07
sure. Oh, by the way, I am sending out daily gospel reflections.
49:13
Be sure to sign up for my subtech newsletter, The Uncensored Catholic,
49:16
absolutely free. Every morning. You can get a message from me in writing
49:20
in your inbox, which you know I can do daily, whereas I don't
49:24
always have time to do a podcast every day. So anyway, I'll have
49:28
a going I'll talk to you next time.