Latest / The Catholic Current / LTACL: Pious Excuses? (Fr. Robert McTeigue, S.J.) 8/3/26

Transcript

LTACL: Pious Excuses? (Fr. Robert McTeigue, S.J.) 8/3/26 · The Catholic Current

• 0:00
  How would you respond to this? Recently, a listener wrote to me and
• 0:04
  said that he got into an argument with a friend who
• 0:08
  explained why she didn't go to Sunday Mass.
• 0:12
  She said, number one, it was sufficient that she stayed at home and
• 0:16
  thank— and thought about God. And number two,
• 0:20
  that she doesn't have to go to Sunday Mass because, and here I quote,
• 0:24
  that's not in the Bible, you know. And number
• 0:27
  3, there can't possibly be any eternal
• 0:31
  consequences to not worshiping God because,
• 0:36
  and here I quote, that would be mean.
• 0:40
  That got me to thinking. I think maybe it'll get you to be
• 0:44
  thinking too. What would your answer be? I know what mine is. Stay with me.
• 0:47
  I've got a story to tell. I'm Jesuit Father Robert McTeague, your host every
• 0:52
  day of The Catholic Current, coming to you from the Station of the Cross Catholic
• 0:55
  Media Network. Let's take a closer look. Glad you're here.
• 0:59
  Years ago when I was an undergrad, I had a professor, uh,
• 1:02
  we were just in awe of, and he would say,
• 1:06
  be prepared to ask questions, and if you ask questions, be prepared to defend yourself.
• 1:10
  And a student had asked a question and made an assertion. Without hesitation,
• 1:15
  he said, well, you're wrong for the following 7 reasons. Number 1,
• 1:18
  bam, bam, bam. And I said, well, I want to be able to do that
• 1:21
  someday. I think this might be my attempt at
• 1:25
  doing that. This person had said that she
• 1:29
  doesn't have to go to Sunday Mass because that's not in the Bible. When Catholics
• 1:33
  say, you know, but that's not in the Bible, I immediately ask, what's your favorite
• 1:38
  translation of the Bible and why? How often do
• 1:42
  you study the scriptures? Do you study the scriptures
• 1:45
  in light of anything else that the church teaches? Do you believe
• 1:50
  that the scriptures alone are the rule of faith? You know,
• 1:53
  the Bible doesn't talk about putting thumbtacks and ball bearings into a microwave.
• 1:57
  It certainly doesn't. That doesn't mean that it's
• 2:02
  a good idea. All right, so that whole,
• 2:05
  but that's not in the Bible thing, that's disingenuous. That's pious
• 2:09
  excuses. Also, you know, I think of Hebrews
• 2:13
  10:25 where Christians are exhorted
• 2:16
  not to fail to meet with each other. There's that.
• 2:21
  And then there's also the, the announcement of, well, you know,
• 2:26
  it can't be a mortal sin with eternal consequences to not
• 2:29
  go to Mass on Sunday because that would make God mean.
• 2:34
  And candidly, I think that's a really childish view of
• 2:40
  the, the commandments. You know, what does keep holy the Sabbath
• 2:44
  day mean for a Catholic? And did Christ the entrust
• 2:48
  to the church the authority to teach and bind the faithful or not.
• 2:53
  And also there's this idea of divine punishment that somehow that
• 2:58
  God is like the Division of Motor Vehicles or Fish and
• 3:02
  Wildlife and Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, that God is a
• 3:06
  celestial bureaucrat that just makes up arbitrary rules
• 3:11
  and you have to jump Or else.
• 3:16
  And it's certainly not the case that the church runs around saying, you know,
• 3:19
  it's only our inability to participate in mindless ritual that
• 3:22
  separates us from the animals. That's not it
• 3:26
  at all. See, here's what happens.
• 3:31
  Here's what this person is saying. They say, look, I know
• 3:34
  that the church Christ founded actually commanded that we
• 3:38
  worship God on the Sabbath day, Sunday, and we
• 3:42
  do that by participating in the holy sacrifice of the Mass.
• 3:45
  And then what? I reject that teaching authority,
• 3:50
  and I've decided to keep the Sabbath holy, not in
• 3:53
  the manner that any saint or scholar or
• 3:57
  doctor of the Church or father of the Church or pious person would recognize,
• 4:01
  but do it all on my own because my will
• 4:05
  be done. And also, as an adult Catholic,
• 4:09
  um, do you understand what worship really means?
• 4:14
  Remember, uh, God called us into existence
• 4:18
  out of the nothing. He gave us an absolute gift,
• 4:22
  a gift that we couldn't earn, and then he called us to life
• 4:26
  with himself. I think that such a creating God deserves
• 4:31
  worship and praise. And that's just in the order of nature.
• 4:35
  And now God saves us from ourselves when we
• 4:39
  reject him as creator and ourselves as
• 4:43
  creature. When we burn down the bridge between heaven and earth,
• 4:47
  Christ lays himself down as that bridge.
• 4:51
  And the only way that worship is pleasing
• 4:55
  to God is the offer of
• 4:59
  Christ to the Father on Calvary in propitiation
• 5:04
  for our sins. And anything else
• 5:07
  we do that tries to pass off as worship is really inadequate.
• 5:11
  So when we assist at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, that's kind
• 5:15
  of our opportunity to say, me too, take my imperfect
• 5:19
  life, my imperfect offering, and unite it to the perfect offering
• 5:23
  of your Son. Because on my very best day,
• 5:27
  the best I can do is say imperfectly,
• 5:31
  I offer you my imperfect love. And God has to be honest
• 5:34
  and say, thank you very much, but really, that's not adequate.
• 5:39
  So the only act of worship that is worthy of the
• 5:43
  name worship is the sacrifice of Calvary made present
• 5:47
  at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
• 5:51
  That's it. And this person has said,
• 5:54
  no, I'm not going to worship you in
• 5:58
  the way that you made clear to all of the saints
• 6:01
  of the church. I am going to withhold from
• 6:05
  you my participation and perfect sacrifice,
• 6:09
  perfect worship, and perfect love. I am going
• 6:13
  to withhold from you the obedience that is owed
• 6:17
  to the teaching authority of the one church Christ founded.
• 6:21
  My will be done.
• 6:25
  Is it mean of God when
• 6:29
  we stand before him and say, my will be done, and he just says,
• 6:34
  yes, do it your way?
• 6:39
  Separate yourself from love if you want.
• 6:43
  Separate yourself from joy and glory if you want.
• 6:48
  Separate yourself from the members of the body of Christ
• 6:52
  if you want, but know this: there
• 6:56
  will be consequences,
• 7:00
  and you won't like them. So I
• 7:04
  feel sorry for the person who got all riled up making these claims.
• 7:08
  It was not in the Bible, and that would be mean, and so on.
• 7:11
  Someone somewhere along the way
• 7:15
  failed to be salt and light, failed to teach
• 7:20
  and form and inform and reform that person.
• 7:24
  So let's pray for those folks and
• 7:27
  let's examine our own conscience
• 7:31
  as well. Meanwhile, think of these things today,
• 7:34
  take them to prayer, and talk about it with those you love.
• 7:37
  Go in peace, and please do pray for me. For I am
• 7:41
  a sinner. Thanks for watching today. I release
• 7:44
  new videos on Mondays and Wednesdays. Check out the archives for
• 7:48
  more videos. You can listen to my podcast at stationofthecross.com,
• 7:53
  and you can find my written work at heraldofthegospel.org.
• 7:57
  See you next time.