Latest / The Uncensored Catholic / Show 244: Prayer, part 4

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Show 244: Prayer, part 4 · The Uncensored Catholic

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Speaker 1: We all welcome this week's show. Apologies for missing last week.
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I was called out of town. I'm fairly unexpectedly. I
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thought I'd be able to do the show and I
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was not. But anyway, let's get back into where we were.
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We'll start with radio replies. We're talking about the Eucharist,
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and then we're going to get back into follow Spirago's
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writing on prayer. So the questioner asked the priests, are
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there any signs in the host proving that he is
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bodily preserved? And they say no, It is a mystery
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of faith. All external appearances remain as before consecration, but
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the substance of the bread, the substance of the wine
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are changed into the substance of Our Lord's body and blood.
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The reason why we believe is not in the host
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as such, but in God. He has revealed this truth,
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and we believe he must know and could not tell
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an untruth. Gosh, I had such a debate with a
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bunch of Protestants last night, and I mean, I'm really
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done with him. Honestly, you spent an hour debating, giving information,
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giving historical references. They refuse to believe it, They refuse
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to read it. They refuse to do anything but repeat
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anti Catholic, bigoted lies and then call you as my
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old friend Neil Boortz would say, everything but a son
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of God or child of God. He would say, wow,
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did we get into it over the Eucharist? And I said,
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if Jesus said it, it's true. If Jesus saidthing, it's untrue,
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he's not God, because by his word he can make
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all things into creation, he can change something substantially, substantively.
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I should say, if Jesus said something that wasn't true,
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he is not God. And your religion is false, your
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faith is false. You have no hope of going to heaven.
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And I mean, well, I believe this. And my preacher
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said that, and great, what did Jesus say? Well, he
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said it, but he didn't mean it. What do you
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mean he didn't mean it? Did say somewhere in the
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Bible that he said it but didn't mean it. No,
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he said it, he meant it. He repeated it so
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many times that most of his followers left thinking he
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was insane. If Jesus came to save souls, why would
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he repeat something that drove them away and into perdition.
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Jesus said it, Jesus meant it. Jesus can do it,
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because Jesus is God. You cannot limit the power of
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God by your own human preconceptions or limitations, or however
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want to say it. So anyway, the person continues very
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much that vein. Did not the Jews think that they
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were asked to eat the very body of Christ? Yet
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he refuted them, was saying that his body would ascend
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to heaven, and that the flesh profiteth to nothing. Yes,
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we got into that last night too. When they answer
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when Jesus promised that he would give his very flesh
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to eat, the Jews protested because they imagine a natural
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and cannibalistic eating of the Christ's body. Christ refuted this
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notion of the manner in which his flesh was to
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be received by saying that he would ascend in Heaven,
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not leaving his body in human form on earth. But
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he did not say that they were not to eat
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his actual body. He would thus contradict himself. For a
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little earlier he had said, my flesh is meat, indeed,
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and my blood is drink. Indeed, he meant, therefore, you
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will not be asked to eat my flesh in the
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horrible and natural way you think, for my body as
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you see it with your eyes, will be gone through
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this earth. Yet I shall leave my flesh and blood
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in another and supernatural way, which are natural and carnal
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minds cannot understand. The carnal or fleshly judgment profits nothing.
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I ask you, therefore, to have faith in me and
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to trust in me. It is the spirit of faith
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which will enable you to believe, not your natural judgment.
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Then the Gospel goes on to say that many would
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not believe and walked with him no more, just as
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many do today. They will not believe and walk no
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more with the Catholic Church. And according to the doctrine
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of the Catholic Church, Christ's body is ascended into Heaven,
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but by its substance, independently of all natural laws of space,
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which affects substance through accidental qualities. This body is present
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in every consecrated host. Person says, we Protestants believe that
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Christ's body is really present the Eucharist, but not by substantiation,
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And they answer the majority of Protestants believe that his
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Holy body is really absent. Those who do say they
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believe in his real presence yet deny transsubstantiation. Substantiation illogically
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admit an effect, yet deny the process by which it
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can occur if there be no trans trab substunch. Gosh,
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that sort of say, trans substantiation or conversion of the
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substance of bread to the substance of Christ's body, and
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then the substance of bread remains after consecration and is
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bread and not the body of Christ. Many people make
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a kind of bogie anyway. I'm not going to define
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bogie again. I think I did that last soon transubstantiation foolishly,
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as a man would do somewhat similarly if he admitted
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a railway from New York and San Francisco, yet refuse
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to admit that it could be called the trans constituent
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trans Continental Railway. My word, am I getting tongue died today?
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Person says the apostles creed the as a nausea and
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the n ic and do not mention transubsociation. There's no
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record in such a doctrin until fifteen sixty four, when
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Pious the Fourth put it into his creed. Are we
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to believe the early Christians or the doctrine of one
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thousand years later and they answer that's actually not true
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at all. I mean, many of the church fathers did
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write about the real presence. They had to refute the
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charges of the Romans who were and the Jews who
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were calling them cannibals. They had to really get into
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it in detail, in like the first one hundred two
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hundred years of the Church. But anyway, I say, the
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doctrine is not in the three Creeds you mentioned, but
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they do not contain the whole of Christian doctrine, their
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partial statements insisting upon certain doctrines against special errors of
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those times. It is true that Pope Pious four included
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the doctrines in the Profession of Faith, but you're wrong
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when you say that there was no mention of the
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doctrine until then fifteen fifty one, thirteen years earlier. The
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Council of Trent caught taught the doctrine explicitly twelve seventy four,
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two hundred and ninety years earlier, and the Second Council
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of Lyon insisted upon the admission of transistor of transubstantiation
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by the Greeks as a condition of they were returning
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to the Catholic Church. In twelve fifteen three hundred and
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forty nine years earlier, the Fourth Ladder and Council consecrated
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the word transubstantiation as expressly correcting the Christian doctrine of
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Christ's real presence by conversion of the substance of bread
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into the substance of his body. In ten seventy nine,
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five hundred years earlier, Berengarius declared in his retraction, I
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acknowledged that the bread is substantially changed into the substance
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of Christ's body. Everyone who possessed the true Christian faith
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into the year ten seventy nine believed in the substantial change,
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and there was no need to insist upon that word,
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since no one denied the nature of the change. In
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the fourth century, all the great fathers and writers admitted
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that by consecration bread was changed into our Word's very body.
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Ignacious Bishop of Antioch, who died about one seven a d. Wrote,
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heretics abstained from the u UUs because they did not
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confess the Eucharus to be the flesh of Jesus Christ,
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which suffered for us, and the doctrine is all that
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is expressed by transubstantiation. At the last super Christ said
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this is my body which is given for you. Now,
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he either gave them his body or he did not.
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But he gave them his body. For we dare not say, Lord,
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although you say this is my body, is certainly not
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your body. However, it was not his body according to
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appearances and the visible qualities, and it could have been
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his body only according to substance. Therefore, our Lord, our
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Lord first taught this doctrine a substantial change, at least implicitly.
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Person continues, The elements do not change, for there is
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no chemical difference after consecration. And they ask the answer,
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I should say, which elements do not change in every
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material things? Here two sets of elements quite distinct, substance
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in qualities, And no man has ever seen substance. He
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has seen qualities only. Thus, I see the squareness of
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a block of iron, but it can become round, still
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remaining iron. I can feel its hardness, though it can
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become soft in a furnace, the substance being unchanged. If
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it be black, it can become red. If it be cold,
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it can become hot. If it be heavy, it can
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by great heat. I can render it a vapor. The
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qualities then differ from the substance or we could not
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change without changing, but we cannot change one without changing
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the other. And if we can change the qualities without
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can changing the substance, God can certainly change the substance
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without changing the qualities. Any chemical differences are dependent upon quantities, granted,
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the permits of the same accidental qualities, and the same
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chemical reactions will be apparent. Father Faber, whilst yet an
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Anglican well said, I am worried about the Roman doctrine,
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because whatever may be said of the proofs for it,
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I do not see how any man can dis prove it.
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If they say that the substance changes, but all that
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all appearances remain the same, then they say something changes
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of which no man has any experience. And yet then reason,
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and yet which reason must postulate as the reality underlying
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all appearances and separate from them. When you say that
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the elements do not change their chemical properties, I simply
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reply that the elements of external qualities do not change
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their chemical properties, and the no Catholic has ever imagined
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they do. But the substance underlying those external appearances certainly
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does change. The fact that changes is revealed by God
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and cannot be known in any other way, Yet it
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is not more than yet is it not more than sufficient?
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Granted when God says so, yes, if God said it,
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it's true. Ah. We'll wrap this one up with the
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last question. Here we have only the word of a priest.
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For the fact they say no, No Catholic Christ would
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himself believe it. Were it not the doctrine of Christ.
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It would be the height of folly to believe it
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without solid evidence that Christ had taught it. God created substance,
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a qualities, and we cannot deny him perfect control over
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them and ability to change them at his pleasure. And
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when Christ says this is my body, we have to
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accuse him of falsehood, or else admit that his body
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not according to the senses, but according to other lying substance,
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which is imperceptible to men, no imperceptible the senses of men.
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All right, So all right, let's get into Fallows sparaga.
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We are still discussing prayer. I think we'll wrap this
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one up today. Really interesting kind of question to us. Now,
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he asks where ought we to pray? You may think, well,
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we pray everywhere, and yes we do. But remember prayers
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were to be offered in the Temple in Jerusalem for
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the Jews is actually that was like the main division
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between the Jews and the Samarians. Samaritans, we can and
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ought to pray in every place, because God is everywhere present.
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Our Lord himself prayed not only in the Temple of
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Jerusalem and in synagogues, but also in the desert and
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on mountains and of the senecle, in the garden of Olives,
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and on the cross. Jacob prayed in the open hill country.
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Jonas and the belly of a whale, Job on the dunghill,
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Daniel in the lions den Manassas in prison, Paul and
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Silas lying bound in a dudgeon, praised, prayed and praised God,
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so the foundations of the prison were shaken. We can
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only speak with God when he is present, and He
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is present everywhere. Remember our Lord's words to the woman
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of Samaria John four twenty three. God does not regard
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the place in which we pray, but the dispositions with
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which we pray. Yeah, sip of water here, I'm getting
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so tongue tied. I haven't taken anty Hissamans because the
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pear trees that are in bloom, they're just driving me crazy.
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It makes my mouth try, it makes me makes it
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hard to do a podcast. I can tell you that
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the House of God is the place specially set apart
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for prayer. The House of God is the house of prayer. Matthew,
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twenty one thirteen. Some say there's no need to go
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to church because the whole earth is the temple of God.
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This is false. God enjoins upon us by the month
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of the church, by the sorry God enjoys joins upon
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us by the mouth of the church, to go to
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His house on Sundays and festivals. Our Lord himself set
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us an example in this respect, for he was often
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to be found in the temple in Jerusalem. Petitions offered
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in a church have greater efficacy because the place is consecrated,
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and we can also pray with more devotion because our
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surroundings are an aid to recollection, and we can put
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aside our daily cares. Besides, the prayers we offer in
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church are heard more quickly by Our Lord because Our
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Lord is present under the eucharistic veils in the eucharists.
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In other words, he has promised that where two or
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three are gathered together in My name, there I am
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in the midst of them, and he will help us
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to pray right. However, it is not through the is
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not thought that true piety exists. In spending long hours
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in the church a solitary praise. The place is also
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suitable for prayer. Our Lord was accustomed to withdraw into
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solitude for prayer. He prayed in the desert Luke five sixteen,
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on the mountains, in the garden of Olives Luke twenty
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two thirty nine. He bids us retire into our chamber
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and shut the door Matthew six six For in solitude
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one is less likely to be distracted, and one can
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pray more fervently. For what ought we pray? We ought
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to implore God. Of God many things and great things,
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benefits not appertaining to time so much as to eternity.
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Supposing a king said to you, ask what you will,
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would you not ask a great favor of him? Well,
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it is nothing more than what God says to you.
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We ought to ask great things of God because we
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have to do with one who is infinitely rich and powerful.
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Let us not be contented with what we've already received,
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but ever beg for more. God is more ready to
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give than we are to receive. Let us not ask
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so much for temporal and transitory benefits, but rather for
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those that are eternal. No one would presume to ask
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an emperor what was for what was useless and worthless.
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Much less should we venture to implore the Lord of
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heaven and earth for the things of time and sense.
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It is the act of a fool to treasure up
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worthless shells and cast away precious pearls, to choose glittering
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tensil rather than pure gold. Let us, therefore, pray for
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the joys of heaven, and whatsoever will help us attain them.
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We ought more especially to beseech Almighty God to grant
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us such things as are conducive to His glory and
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to our salvation, And in no way ask for what
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will only serve to gratify our earthly desires. Those who
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pray to those who pray, our Lord says, seek he
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first the Kingdom of God and his justice, and all
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these things shall be added to you Matthew five thirty three.
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Hence we may conclude that if we ask for the
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good things of eternity, those of time will also be
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bestowed upon us. King Solomon prayed for wisdom to govern
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his people are right. God gave him a wise and
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understanding heart, and in addition earthly riches and glory in
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abundance the Third King's three. It is not ready to
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ask of God, what is only to only calculate to
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gratify our earthly concubiscences. Such prayers are not granted James
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four to three. There are many, says Saint Augustine, who
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in what they asked, and not seek God's glory. But
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they are unsensual pleasures. They would degrade God to be
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their servant and the servant of their covetousness, their pride,
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their avariceness, avarice. Okay, they're luxury. Quick try I mean,
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I keep stumbling over words. I'm just gonna go on
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as dry mouth as dryman nuts King Jered Balham's hand
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was withered because he stretched it out against the man
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of God. He prayed that his hand might be restored,
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not that his sins may be forgiven. That was the
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Third King's thirteen to six. Many do likewise, and their
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prayers they think only of the needs that the body,
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not those of the soul. Let us never pray that
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our will, but that God's will will be done. Let
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us not wish for the accomplishment of those desires which
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arise from our fallen nature, but those with which the
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Holy Spirit inspires the soul. And now he talks about
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Christian meditation, and this is such a confusing subject for many.
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I would highly recommend Saint Tereso Vivilla's Internal Castle, Saint
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Francis de sALS. Oh, gosh was that book. His first
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two books were very much on the subject, and I
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am blanking on their names. But anyway, let's see what
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fathers Barago says. Meditation i e. Co Contemplative prayer consists
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in dwelling upon the truths of religion in order to
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awaken within our minds good resolutions. Okay. In other words,
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this is not prayers a petition where we're asking God something.
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We're thinking about God, we could be considering a moment
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in his life. The Rosary is a meditative prayer. When
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we pray the Rosary, we're thinking about the various what
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twenty yes, twenty instances twenty times in the life of Christ,
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and we're thinking about what he did and what he
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accomplished and what we hope for through that. That's a
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meditative prayer. That's something that's very Catholic that not many
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Protestants ever even consider. Now, I will say that if
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one were to pick up the Bible and read a
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chapter and then think about it, they are doing meditative prayer.
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But most times, I don't know. I don't know. Petitionary
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prayers are one thing. There's this like modern idea of
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like raising up your hands and saying, you know, Lord, Lord,
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worship you. I love you. That's great. That's not actually prayer.
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That's that is a disposition of devotion. That's wonderful, Okay,
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always good to praise the name of God. Prayer. The
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word prayer comes from the Latin prakata pracatas to ask.
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So when you know protests say, why do you pray
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to saints? You're not you shouldn't worship a saint, We say, no, no,
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we don't worship a saying we worship God. But the
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saints are alive in heaven as we are alive on earth.
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They're Christians, they're members of the body of Christ, and
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we ask them to pray for us. That is prayer.
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When we ask of God something that is actually prayer.
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When we praise the name of God, that is praise
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that's not actually worshiped. That worship is actually a very
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different act. Worship involves sacrifice. When we meditate on the
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life of Christ, on the teachings of Jesus through the
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Bible or through the Catholic Church, on the nature of God,
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on Gosh, so many things. That is a form of
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prayer in that the spirit asks for enlightenment, even though
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we're not asking give us this stair daily bread. Okay,
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so meditation is considered prayer, but not all prayer is meditation.
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Meditation is an aspect of the interior life. It can
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be silent, perfectly silent, like if you've been to adoration.
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You're sitting before the host and the Eucharistic coast and
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you're just in pure mental silence. You're not speaking, you're
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not thinking, You're waiting for God to act. That's incredibly hard.
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That's really essentially the highest form of prayer is interior silence.
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That can be very hard to explain to people. They think,
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you know, you have to have an act of will.
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But when we say, not my will, but thine, interior
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silence can actually be the most powerful and meaningful act
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of prayer. But anyway, okay, So what does Father Sparagus
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say about meditation? Costly spices give out their rama most
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freely when they are bruised and the mortar crushed up
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in a murder pestle. So the truth of religion have
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the most influence upon the soul that ponders on them
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who meditates upon the holy things. He is like a
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man striking fire with flint and steel. He strikes his
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stony heart with the keen edge of the understanding until
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sparks fly out. That is, good resolutions are elicited from
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his will. Meditation is only difficult until the Holy Spirit
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makes his gracious action felt and well. It can become
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difficult again because God will give us periods of spiritual
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dryness to form our faith. Essentially. Saint Teresa of Calcutta,
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for instance, spirits decades of spiritual dryness. Saint Teresa Villa
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talks about it very very much. So to Saint Francis
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sou So Padre Pio, I could go on and on
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and on. God often to those who love him most,
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to whom he loves most will withdraw his consolations. You
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will get no pleasure from prayer, you will get no inspiration.
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But there's times, you're being tested and tried and made
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into a better Christian if you stick with it. If
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you stop, all is lost. It's like I said to
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my friend Alyssa the other day. She's going through a
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horrible time, and I said, there's an old saying when
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you're going through hell, keep going. When you're going through hell,
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keep going. If you stop, you're going to stay in hell.
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If you keep going, you're gonna get the other side.
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She said, you know, I'm so tired, I'm so upset,
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I'm so disappointed. I'm having trouble praying. And I said,
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you got to just keep doing it. You know, if
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you stop, this is where you're going to stay, and
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you don't want to be in this place. So that's
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very very much the case, especially with people that are
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like at a higher level of meditative prayer. You know,
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once they are actually what you might call visionaries or something,
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they can go through really bad times. Us simple folks,
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we don't have anywhere as near as hard. I will
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not claim to be good at meditative prayer. I will
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not claim to be a visionary. All have had some experiences.
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I'm not going to discuss right now. You have to
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just keep praying. And if you cannot stay in that
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silent add or tion of God, if you cannot concentrate
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on thinking about the life of Christ or the Passion
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and the resurrection, whatever, that's when verbal vocal prayers are
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are incredibly useful. You can still pray the Our Father.
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You know, you can say the prayers that the Church
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has given us, and that's really good enough. When the
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apostles ask Jesus how to pray, he gave them the
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Our Father. There will never be a time when that's
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not appropriate, when it's not the best prayer actually, so anyway,
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so you know, bottom line is there are higher levels
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of prayer that include meditation, that are mostly meditative prayers,
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but they're not always possible and they're not always appropriate.
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Sant Jose Maria Screeva that talk to tell you should
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pray and work say prayers while you're working, well, Resa
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is well, but many different Bernard, I think many different
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saints wrote about this. You cannot do intense meditative prayer
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while you're driving. Your mind is literally in a different place.
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You can, to some extent, you can, but not in
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that intense like visionary way. You really do have to.
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I mean if you're swinging a hammer, you got to
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make sure you're not hitting your fingers. You can absolutely
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pray the Rosary while you're swinging a hammer. I've done
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that many times. I mean, really, we can work and
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pray at the same time. We cannot necessarily work and meditate. Well,
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we can work and contemplate, but that's particular type of
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prayer really does require concentration, silence if you a lot
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of times you just really need to pay attention to
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what you're doing if somebody's going to get hurt. Right.
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So anyway, that's why we have different ways of praying.
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So what did he say? Meditation? Yeah, like a vessel
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that must be propelled by toilsome rowing until a favorable
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wind springs up and inflates her sales. Then the ore
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is no longer needed, for she runs swiftly before the breeze.
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So in meditation, the powers of the mind must be
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exercised laboriously into the holy ghost breeze upon the soul,
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guiding it and elevating it. If we strive to elicit
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a succession of beautiful thoughts and elaborate meanings, this is
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not prayer but study. When once we have struck fire.
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Let us toil no more, but forthwith kindle the torch.
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In other words, let God take over and guide your mind,
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your soul wherever it needs to go by mental prayer.
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Let's see, meditation is a most excellent method of prayer,
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but it must not be pursued to the exclusion of
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vote prayer. By mental prayer, we imitate on earth the
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occupation of the angels, who constantly contemplate the face of
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God and meditate upon his perfections. The Saints have bequeathed
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to us many books of meditations. If we read these attentively,
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it is equivalent to prayer. Mental prayer must alternate with
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vocal prayer. These two methods of prayer are the feet
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that carries forward on the way to Heaven. Meditation is
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a necessary preliminary to prayer. Without it, prayer will be imperfect,
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the needful devotions will be lasting. M Yeah, all right,
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we'll stop there. Hey, actually next week, oh gosh, sliding
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down on my chair here. Next week, well, we'll have
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one more on prayer, but it's gonna be a little different.
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Instead of talking about prayer, Father Sparago actually gives us
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some prayers, and these are great of course, he starts
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with Our Father, the most important prayer there is, and
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then he gets into some other really good prayers to
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learn to memorize, to write down. I would absolutely take notes.
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On next week's show. We will start with the Our
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Father and then we're going to do the Rosary and
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the Angelus. This is it's not going to be wrapped
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up at one show. I mean, he tells you about
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every single sentence in the Our Father. He explains and
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tells why it's important. This is gosh, this is really important. Actually,
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this is yeah, this is this is something we as
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Catholics have access to that most other Christians do. Not.
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Let me finish with this section. He said, by means
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of meditation, we obtain actual graces and advance rapidly on
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the path to perfection. We obtain many actual graces in meditation.
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For as we receive light and warmth when we stand
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by a fire, so meditation upon the truth of religion
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in the mind is enlightened. The mind is enlightened to
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see the worthy worthlessness of earthly things, the end of man,
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the rigor of divine judgments, and the heart is inflame
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with the love of justice. It is a furnace wherein
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the fire of charity is kindled, a door whereby divine
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grace enters into the heart of man. A soul that
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practices meditation is like a cultivated field which produces abundant fruit,
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a well watered garden in which flowers bloom luxuriantly. He
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who neglects to ponder upon the truce of religion knows
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nothing of their force. His spiritual sight is dimmed. He
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is engrossed for the things of the earth with desolation.
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Is all land made desolate because there is none that
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considereeth in his heart. Jeremiah twelve two No. Eleven, twelve eleven.
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The subjects chosen for meditation ought to be those which
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have the most power to attract and influence us, and
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these should frequently recur. Thus bees a light up in
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the flower which contains the sweetish juice when they make
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their honey. Meditation is a means of attaining perfection. Saint
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Ambrose says daily meditation is the antidote for tipidity. It
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was the foundation of the conversion of Saint Ignatius and
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other saints. Saint Teresa declares mental prayer and mortal sin
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are incompatible. They exclude one another. One or the other
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must of necessity be given up. So prayer is very important.
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And yeah again, I'm going to tell you. This book
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is available on archive dot org. It is Father of
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Sparago's exhaustive explanation of the Catechism of the Catholic Church,
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written in the eighteen well published in the eighteen nineties,
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probably written in the eighteen eighties. There's some wonderful prayers
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in this book. We're going to get into those starting
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next week. Y'all have an excellent week, stay strong in
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your linten devots, and I will talk to you next time.
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And let me say, don't forget what Father Jose Maria
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Screeva will constantly admonished his readers. You will fail. You've
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made you know, you've decided, you're gonna do this for lent.
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You're gonna be better, you're gonna spend more time in prayer.
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You're gonna fast. You will fail. You will fail. Nobody
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gets through it perfectly. When you do, say you're sorry,
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pray to our Father and move on. Just try harder,
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don't beat yourself up, do not dwell on it whatsoever.
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The more thought, the more intent, the more energy mental energy.
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You give that failing, the more it's gonna hurt you.
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Pray and our Father ask forgiveness. Move on, don't don't
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bring it to mind again. Don't tell other people about it.
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Go to confession if you need to, obviously, and move on.
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Very very important. Remember Saint Fustine Kualska when her priests
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asked her to prove she was actually speaking with Jesus.
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He said, if it's actually Jesus asking what I said
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the last time I went to confession, she did, and
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Jesus said, I have forgotten. No, it's not possible for
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God to forget anything, but that is the power of
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the absolution of God. If he forgives and forgets, you
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have to do the same for yourself. Now you have
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to guard and don't let it happen again. You have
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to try. You have to make an act of will
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to amend your life. But beating yourself up thinking about
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the past is fruitless. Jesus said, you know, the man
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who puts his hand on the plow and looks backwards
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not fit for the kingdom of heaven. A lot of
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our greatest saints have been horrible sinners. I mean, someone
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were murderers. You have to ask D's forgiveness, Lay it
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down and do better. Try to do better. You're probably
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gonna screw up again. You're probably gonna do the same
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stupid thing a thousand times, but each time, steal your
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resolve and try harder not to do it the next time.
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Have a great week, y'all. I talk to you next time.