Episode Transcript
Speaker 1 00:01 On one occasion, the cure of ours, St John Vianney was showing someone around his parish and he asked him, how'd you like to see my collection of relics? Said, sure. Draw. Who wouldn't like to see a collection of relics, the saints? So he took them outside, but I'm up to the graveyard and pointed at the graves and said, they're my relics.
Speaker 1 00:25 See, the reason the cure of ours is the patron saint of parish priests is because he got his people to become saints. So his graveyard was full of relics of saints. Those were his people. He got him to be saints. Although, unfortunately none of your priests are the Curie of ours. So that's what we're trying to do here. Uh, my goal, I, and certainly speaking for the other priests here, is for each one of you to become a saint, we don't want to lose a single one of you. So that's the goal of sainthood. So that's what I assume that everybody's interested in when they make the sacrifice to come to mass here. So here to become saints. And in many you'll see that it's not really that hard. All right. This is assuming two things for sure. First off, keeping the commandments carefully, keeping the commandments there, not the 10 relatively good ideas.
Speaker 1 01:19 So the commandments, God set it up that way. They're the boundary conditions for keeping supernatural life within us. When we break the commandments, any serious sin destroys the life within us. I've mentioned this before, but I don't need to stand up print. Say, don't lean on hot stoves. Don't drink poison. Why? Because we have a senses. Our natural life. God has equipped us with the ability to tell when we're threatening our natural life. So if you lean back on a hot wood stove, you don't need a priest gone by the way, you're burning yourself. I mean, you're going to jump away. You have the sense to do that. If you eat something bad, you'll get sick or throw up or something. Because our natural life, we have the ability to sense threats to it. It would be a horrible condition if we didn't have any pain receptors.
Speaker 1 02:06 We could really injure ourselves terribly. Not realize what we're doing, but God's given those to us. So we can tell what's going on with our natural life, that which we inherited from our folks. But the supernatural life, it's above our nature. It's completely beyond our ability to sense. We can't feel being in the state of grace, we can't feel what's hurting us in that way. So we have to just be a construct in this and take it on faith. So I'm in sales, not management. I don't make any of this stuff up. It would be easy for me to go up here and tell you guys what I like to think. Blah, blah, blah. You know? And there's 40 11 different kinds of churches where they'll tell you exactly what you want to hear. We're not going to do that. We just want to tell you how it is.
Speaker 1 02:50 We're trying to get you to be good, not feel good. So all those things, we had to keep the commandments and we just had to be ruthless about that with ourselves. That's a given. We have to in the state of grace, it's impossible to have sanctity without keeping the commandments and being the state of grace. The state of grace means that we have Christ's life within us. Okay, so that's a given. But what I want to go through this morning is I'm going to read through questionnaire. What's the questionnaire? This is a translation, the questionnaire that Church authorities use for the processes of beatification and canonization. When are they going to be out of Phi? Some are canonize and you need the miracles. Okay? That that's, they need the miracles, but then they also need to so did this, what kind of life did this person lead?
Speaker 1 03:33 So this is a questionnaire when their asks he witnesses about the servant of God, what kind of life could the servant of God lead? And as we read these questions, it's not to ponder what we're doing wrong. That's not the point. It's ponder. How could I better in practice the particular virtues and also to give us confidence. Cause I think after you heard the questionnaire for what it is to be a beatus Ken, and I say, it ought to give you confidence. Okay, so here we go. The quote, the questions, ask the witnesses and examine lives of servants of God are determined by the church. They give the official test, the official test, the church on Christian perfection and holiness. These questions have an authority above that. If any spiritual writer for encouragement let us know that they describe Christian perfection as something to which we can all aspire. The questionnaires follow the order of the four cardinal virtues and the three theological virtues. So they'll treat the virtues in this order. And I'll read it again as we go. Temperance for Tude just as prudence, faith, hope, and charity towards man and towards God. So here's the test on the moral virtues. I'll just read these questions slowly. Test on the moral virtues. Temperance were denial of his own will and internal modification characteristics of the servant of God. Did he restrain the emotions of anger?
Speaker 1 05:02 Did he pair persecution with meekness and patience? Was He unduly tenacious of his own opinion? Was He spearing in the use of food and drink? Did he observe the fast of the church? Did he indulge in long hours of sleep? Was his bed comfortable or uncomfortable? Was he anxious to be well closed and well housed? Did he neglect the comforts of life?
Speaker 1 05:40 Did he modify the senses? Did he love silence and solitude? Was He modest in his demeanor? Those are the questions about temperance. Questions about fortitude. Was He strong and faithful in the duties of his office? Tireless in work, patient and persecution, injury, calumny and trouble of mind. Has He born all these in a cheerful spirit? Was He always himself not elated by prosperity or depressed by adversity? Did he despise the honors, riches and pleasures of the world? Did he constantly defend the rights of the Church and restrain the immorality of wicked men? Those are the questions on fortitude. Justice. Was he affable, friendly towards others? Was he subject to his parents and superiors? Did he sell himself grateful for favors received and strive to excite gratitude in others? Did he discharge with justice? The office committed to him avoiding all favoritism? Did he so temper the severity of justice with kindness that no one could ever have just because of complaint against him?
Speaker 1 07:14 Did he render unto God, do honor and obedience? Did he pay veneration to the saints? Did He accept the decrees of the supreme pontiffs with proper respect and reverence? What's the exact and the observance of the sacred rites and ceremonies the Church did endeavor to promote the worship of God. Did he respect the rights of all and give them what was due to them? Did he hate usury and fraud of every kind? That's justice. Prudence. Did he direct all his actions to tame of eternal glory as his last end and select the necessary and useful means? Did he love simplicity? And was he sincere and true and thought and word. And did he hate all duplicity and falsehood? Did he seek the advice of prudent men and act on it? Rawla Zach's good. And did he first invoke divine aid for their due performance? Hetty a deep hatred of idleness as a cellar suffice. And did he love meditation and solitude? So that's prudence. Test on a theological virtues. That was a moral virtues, theological virtues, faith, virtue of faith. Did he offer turn thanks to God that he was born in the bosom of the Catholic church or that he received the grace of conversion to it and pray that all would be brought within her fold? Did he burn with the desire
Speaker 1 08:56 of propagating the faith? Did he teach the truths of Christianity to the faithful and did he teach the catechism? Did he rejoice when some airing soul was converted to the Catholic faith? Was he grieved when the church suffered loss or persecution? What's the decoration of the House of God dear to him and the observance of the sacred ceremonies? Did he love devotion to the blessed virgin and endeavor to propagate it? How did he pray long and frequently before the bless its Sackman? Did he show a tender devotion to the passion of Jesus Christ? Did he often meditate on this mystery with what fervor and piety and he strived and Kennel this devotion in others? Did he burn with the desire of shedding his blood for the truths of the faith? Did he venerate the sacred scriptures and the writings of the holy fathers?
Speaker 1 10:04 Did he obey the laws of the church and the commands of his superiors? Did he show honor to the sovereign pontiff and all the ministers of God? Did He desire to gain indulgences? Did he hate all bad books and everything opposed to the faith? Did he frequently approached the sacraments of penance in the blessed at Eucharist? That's faith, the virtue of hope. Did he firmly hope for salvation from the merits of Christ our Lord? Did he despise the things of the world and how did he show his contempt in trying circumstances? Did he place his trust in God alone and have recourse to prayer? Did he show his hope in God by ardent and pious exclamations and did he raise up others to confidence in God? Did he show a desire by Worden work to suffer for eternal glory? And did he rejoice it the near approach of death as the beginning of true life with what confidence did he practice good works.
Speaker 1 11:16 Did he strive to excite this confidence in others in adversity? Was He resigned to the goodness of God and the decrees of his providence. Did he direct his desires in all his actions to God as his last end? Did he bear cheerfully adversity and persecution? Did He desire was St Paul to be dissolved and be with Christ and that he bear infirmity and suffering with the choice spirit? So that's the virtue of hope. The virtue of charity towards our neighbor regards to spiritual things. Did he pray for the conversion of sinners? What were his relations towards his enemies? Did he forgive them? Receive them meekly and pray for them? Did he prevent discord? Had he had heart the good name of others? With what frequency and fervor did he offer up prayers for the souls of the deceased. So that's charity to our neighbor with regards to spiritual things.
Speaker 1 12:26 Here's charity to our neighbor with regards to temporal things. Did he comfort the afflicted excuse when opportune the defects of his neighbors? What was his attitude towards the sick? Did he love the poor? Help them according to his ability in strive to induce others to assist them. Did he instruct the ignorant it? Give counsel to those in doubt. Did he admonish sinners, restore peace and Concorde amongst the quarrelsome? Did he devote himself to the spiritual and physical wellbeing of the sick? So that's charity to our neighbor with regards to temple things. Now, charity towards God was his mind always fixed on God and in union with God and by what acts words. Your aspirations was this union made manifest. Did he hate sin and take care to preserve himself free from every defect? Did he speak often of God?
Speaker 4 13:30 Yeah.
Speaker 1 13:31 Was his prayer constant and fervent? Do you remain long in prayer before the most blessed sacrament? Did you eat others to the practice of prayer? How did he meditate on the passion of Christ? By what acts did he show his devotion to the passion? How did he show devotion to the blessed Virgin Mary? Did he prevent the Commission of sin and feel sorry for it? When committed by others, do you think endeavored and flame others with charity towards God? Did he buy fascinating mortification? Bring the flesh into subjection that he might be more pleasing to God, had he a supernatural desire for affliction. Contradiction, contempt and how do you bear then and did he endeavor with all his might to excite others to praise the divine goodness? That is the official question. Or there's a few other questions for religious, but we're not reading it too religious. This is doable. It's doable for everyone here. It's doable. It autofill you with a lot of confidence. There isn't a single thing in this that isn't doable for everyone here. Holding that in mind, I just want to make one more comment before we end today. There are many people that aren't making the progress and the interior life that they're capable of.
Speaker 1 15:11 Now people will make progress at different rates. Okay? I'm just going to use more poetic language than getting a bunch of technical vocabulary for the sake of time. But when we're getting started in the spiritual life, he can think of it. We're just, when we're children as spiritual life, in other words, when we're just starting getting, starting to spiritual life, we've been baptize or uh, we've converted after after a rough time or whatever, we'd have conversion or finally made a real good confession. We're going to get on the right path. So we're getting started on our spiritual life and when you have a spiritual life, like a little blossom, the, it's just a little bud. It's ever so beautiful, but it's really tiny and the depths of our soul. That would be a good image to think of and in what we do then is we keep that area, the whole temple of our heart clean by avoiding sin, by frequent confession, and then we go to communion and because Christ our Lord is alive because he is the living bread that comes down for heaven to give us this life, this eternal life. As we go to communion, what happens in our spiritual life is that little bud that started off when we're immature starts to bloom and blossom out in our soul. Our interior life starts getting filled with spiritual joy and peace. It flows into us and holy communion and all this interior beauty should then start becoming visible in our life. How does it become visible? We just went to the checklist. Thoughts are visible signs of the interior life.
Speaker 5 16:46 Okay?
Speaker 1 16:46 It is visible in that way. No, we can't directly see somebody in the state of grace that would take a charismatic gift or something that did. It was special gift that God gives to certain saints and holy people. It's not whether or not we can see the state of grid. We can see whether they're living with the life of Christ because Christ is alive. And then he starts to living in us. So at St Paul's talking about, I live now, not I, but Christ lives in me. So what happens is it starts getting visible. People grow in Santee at different rates,
Speaker 5 17:17 okay?
Speaker 1 17:18 But we should be growing. And a lot of people are not crying at the rate they should. And it's not because they're being bad, it's because there's one thing they're leaving out and there's all kinds of questions that relate to it. I'll rate the questions and then I'll go to it. And I want everybody to think about if this applies to them. Okay, what's missing in somebody that's living a good life, keeping the commandment, seeing their prayers, doing all the, all the different things, but they're not making the progress. Maybe they should. Christ gave us his life. Okay, and here's the questions. I'll ask the questions right here. Right out of the questionnaire. I'll just read it in the second and third person. Did he burn with the desire propagating the face? Did he rejoice when some Erin's soul is converted to the Catholic faith?
Speaker 1 18:04 Did he love devotion of bless version and endeavor to propagate it? Did he show a tinted devotion, the passion Jesus Christ and strive to in candle this devotion in others? Did he show his hope in God by Arden Pi's exclamations and did he raise others to confidence in God with what? Confidence do patches, good works and strive to excite this confidence in others? Did he speak often of God? Did he lead others to the practice of prayer? The endeavor to flame others will charity towards God to the endeavor with all his might take site others to praise divine goodness. Those are questions. Obviously I'm emphasizing there is a truth. If we can put it in in an in negative terms, we can see our lack of growth is directly proportional to our lack of reaching out to others on positive terms. Our rate of growth is directly proportional to our rate of reaching out to others.
Speaker 1 19:10 Christ wants to live in us and use us as his instrument so that we're Christ to the world. He wants to use our eyes, our lips, our hands to spread this devotion to him to give these saving truths out to people that he die to give them to. But he put it in the hands of men. He doesn't sit there and individually aluminate every person. He puts it in our hands to reach out to our neighbors, to be Christ to the world. And if we're not doing that, first off, that may have been the condition for that person to come to saving knowledge of Christ and to come onboard the arc to come into the Catholic church. Number one, just hold that thought. I just propose it to you. If you knew the cure for some kind of horrible cancer, would you keep it a secret? I don't think so. We've got the cure for hell. It's the only one. We've got it. He gave it to us. We don't deserve it. We know the cure for hell.
Speaker 1 20:18 Are we sharing that with people that are heading that way? As far as we can tell, we leave the judgement to God, but as far as we can tell if they're not Catholics living an authentic Catholic life, which is really narrowing down the field right now, if they're not in those categories, we've got to assume they're in deep, serious trouble and we need to do something for them. We've got the care for where they seem to be headed. Are we reaching out to others? All due proportion has to be observed and protecting our young. Yeah, that's true. But still we can see our lack of growth will be directly proportional to our lack of reaching out. Our rate of growth will be directly proportional to a rate of reaching out. Let's not be afraid to pick up our cross, break out of our little comfort zones, out of our little circles, whatever the circumstances might be, and reach out to our neighbors, reach out and spread the good news. Well, there's still time.
