Episode Transcript
Speaker 0 00:00 Okay.
Speaker 1 00:02 Well, as I said yesterday, the most important thing to take away from the mission is to remember the love the sacred heart has for us. How much our Lord loves us. He's become manda save us. He's aware of what we go through that nothing surprises him. He wants to give us whatever grace is necessary for us to become saints in the particular circumstances we find our lives. That would be the most important thing to take away from that tonight. I'd say the second most important thing to take away from is what I'm going to say now.
Speaker 1 00:35 Saint Philip Neri was teaching a group of little kids, you know, four or five five-year-olds, their catechism. When he was done, he asked the children, you know, all right children, is it easy to go to hell? And uh, the children of that age, of course, see what they think, which is often embarrassing to us. But they go, yeah, yes, father, it's very easy to go to hell. He says, yes, that's right. But you must also remember that it's very, very easy to go to heaven. Do you want to know an easy way to go to heaven? And they go, Oh yes, five and he says, say your three hell Mary's. If you see your three hell marriage every day, you can be sure you will go to heaven. Three hail Marys and the devotion was revealed in St Matilda by our lady Sima told was very concerned this in the 13th century, but her own salvation.
Speaker 1 01:17 And Our lady appeared to her and asked her to say the three Hail Mary's and St you tell us, said that our lady told her wisdom, power and love of God would be available to her at the hour of death if she was faithful to that practice. And then our lady period of Saint Gertrude is it a disciple of Saint Matilda and said to any soul who faithfully pry praise it. Three hail Marys. I will appear at the hour of death and the splendor of beauty so extraordinary that will fill the soul with heavily constellation. Now how hard is that? I've timed it. It takes about 40 seconds. So we're not talking about a large investment of time. Our Lady will love us just to make that point more clear. I'll read you something. Saint Alphonsus records this. It's actually seen Alphonsus took it as he points out from the let revelations of Saint Bridget and the revelations of Saint Bridget.
Speaker 1 02:07 We read that there was a Richman as Nobel by birth as he was file and sinful in his habits. He had given himself by an express compact as a slave to the devil. So He'd sold his soul to the devil for power he'd given himself by express compact as a slave and a devil, and for 60 successive years had served him feeding such a life as navy imagined and never approached the sacraments. Now this prince was dying and Jesus Christ to show him mercy commanded saint Bridget to tell her, confess you to go and visit him and exhort him to confess his sins, to confess the land and the sick. Nan said he did not require confession as he had often approached the sacrament of penance. What a lie the priest went a second time. This poor slave of helped persevered his obstinate termination not to confess Jesus again told the same desire to confess, to return.
Speaker 1 03:04 He did so now on the third occasion told the stake man the revelation made to the sane and that he had returned so many times because our lord who wished to show him mercy had so ordered on hearing the sedan man has touched and began to weep, but how he explained can to be saved. I who for 60 years have served the devil as a slave and have my soul burdened with innumerable sins. My son answered the father encouraging him, doubt. Nah, if you repented them on the part of God, I promise you pardon? Then getting confidence. He said to the confessor father, I looked upon myself as lost in our despair of salvation, but now I feel sorry for my sins, which gives me confidence. And since God has not yet abandoned me, I will make my confession. In fact, he made his confession four times.
Speaker 1 03:54 On that day, you'd imagine after six years, living a bound of the devil. What kind of confession so to be so he's probably remembering things, you know, 60 years of terrible sin. He made this confession four times that day with the greatest marks of Sharron on the following morning, receive holy communion. On the sixth day, contrite resigned. He died after his death. Jesus Christ again spoke to Saint Bridget and told her that the sinner was saved. He was in a purgatory, the oldest salvation to the intercession of the blessed virgin, his mother for the deceased, although he had led so wicked alive, had nevertheless always preserved devotion or sorrows. And whenever he thought of him pitied her,
Speaker 1 04:38 she god is looking for an excuse to save us. He's looking for excuses to save us. That's why I became man. That's why he died on the cross. That's who I see in there quietly in a tabernacle behind me right now. That's why he gave his mother to be our mother cause he wants to save us. We have to have a true devotion of Mary. We can be sure if we have a true devotion. Mary, she'll lead us to her son. We want to live the mass. You to fathom us. Yeah. Rose for every day. Wear Brown scapular quit sinning. So in the mission I'd placed first place. We have tailored devotion, the sacred heart, second place, devotion to the maquette heart. Those I think are the two most important points. That means said, uh, after yesterday there's probably people that are going, oh, come on padre.
Speaker 1 05:31 Where do you get this stuff? I'm not going, don't worry, I'm not going to go through a whole bunch of statistics on you again. Where do you get this stuff? What makes you think things are going to get worse, relax, have a cold one, et cetera. That's the kind of things that people are telling me. So I've got a neat little book here. This was written in 1935 just a few years ago, 1935 Franciscan herald press by the Reverend F J C cmcs of intention, I think. If I remember right, the cm, I hope I'm right and it's called, why must I suffer it back in print? It's a fantastic book. I can't recommend it highly enough. And why must I suffer? But I'm gonna read you from chapter two on why we must suffer. The second reason why you must suffer, especially times of general calamity, is this. As a member of society and the citizen of your country, you must unite with the rest and making atonement and reparation which divine justice requires for the public and national sins committed in a community in which you live.
Speaker 0 06:40 Yeah.
Speaker 1 06:41 Hi Public and national students. We understand certain sins of a graver nature, which are committed on so largest scale, and by so many persons in a community, be it a city or a province or an entire nation, that they are attributed to the community as a body and not merely to this or that individual sins of this kind are, this lift was written in 1935 here's the list of public and national sins, apostasy from the faith irreligion forgetfulness of God.
Speaker 0 07:17 Okay.
Speaker 1 07:18 Godless education of the young prophet, nation of God's holy name, cursing blasphemy, perjury. What do you mean by is the desecration of the Lord's Day immodest and scandalous fashions, immoral art,
Speaker 1 07:44 immoral literature, immoral, amusements, divorced and adultery sanctioned by iniquitous state laws. Dishonesty in justice and oppression of the poor murder and race suicide, and find those wild orgies of gross immorality and unstrained license, which periodically disgraced public festivities and celebrations or occurred connection with balls, dancings banquets and the like. And in 1935 they didn't have rock and roll concerts, et cetera. God is exceedingly patient and long suffering does not willingly inflict general chastisements, however richly they may be deserved by a community. He rather desires that his offending children seek his pardon by means of a timely repentance and conversion. He waited a hundred years for 40 cent, the daily which, which had commissioned Noah to announce he allowed 40 years to lapse between the prediction made by our Lord of the coming destruction of Jerusalem and the fulfillment of that prediction by the Romans. In the year 70 he spared the city of Nineveh all together because its inhabitants immediately left off, sitting and hastened to do pennants at the preaching of Jonah's.
Speaker 1 09:12 God acts in this way still. He often waits a long time before he flicks on sinful cities and nations. Those more extensive chastisements which they're multiplied inequities call for. He desires to spare them and therefore tries first in every possible way to recall them to a sense of their duty into timely repentance and conversion. Say perhaps by sending the Holy Father over mother Theresa to talk to the national prayer breakfast, et Cetera, but if in spite of these delays, they obstinately refused to enter into themselves and leave off sinning if they continue in their wickedness, sometimes even to the extent of sitting more boldly because their evil deeds are not punished at once, then the hour must come in which the measure of the inequity is filled to overflowing. That hour will mark the beginning of some general visitation which would fall heavily on the guilty community as a just punishment of it's long continued transgressions of God's holy law, destructive floods or storms, complications, earthquakes, seasons of scarcity and famine, epidemics and pestilences and especially the horrors of rebellions and revolutions and of civil and international wars.
Speaker 1 10:30 Divine justice makes use of these evils for the punishment and correction of a sinful people. Much the same as a wise father uses the rod for the chastisement and betterment of a wayward child, nor is it always necessarily that God send a such chastisement for public sins as he sent the daily, which are the destruction of Jerusalem. There are many sins which contained in themselves the seeds of future public suffering just as acorn contains the gigantic oak. If such sins prevail for a sufficiently long time, unchecked and unrepented, they are bound to produce such conditions in the social order as make certain calamities unavoidable. Take for example the sin of godless education that is education of the youth. Without religion, where such a system has been adopted, the necessary results must be the following. After two or three generations, the knowledge of God will disappear more or less completely among the people.
Speaker 1 11:32 The sense of right and long will be lost. Good will be called evil and evil. Good. There'll be no respect for the moral law. The depravity of youth will grow worse and worse. Dishonesty and corruption will prevail in business, in the courts, in the legislature, and in the government itself. Taxes, will we miss appropriated or disappear in the pockets of grafters? Heavy expenses will be necessary to maintain the growing number of asylums. Juvenile courts, reformed schools and prisons. There will be no security to honor property life. The relations between Capitan Labor, we strained to the breaking point. Violence and bloodshed will become inevitable. Family life will be disrupted by adultery, divorce and free love, national rivalries, jealousies, and hatreds provoked by commercial greed growing more and more intense until they lead to international wars with an unspeakable misery to millions nations. It's so the whirlwind must reap the storm.
Speaker 1 12:35 It's written in 1935 public and national sins must be expiated in this world for the very simple reason that they cannot be expiated in the next in the world to come. Families, cities, provinces, and nations will have no continued corporate existence there. Men and women will exist merely as individuals without being United by the social, civil, political, and national bonds, which are necessary in this life for the welfare and preservation of the human race. In eternity, they will individually enjoy the fruits of their life on earth. The goodwill possess the Kingdom of God in heaven, while the wicked shall suffer for the evil deeds and unquenchable fire of hell, but as public sins required public expiation, and as this expiation cannot be made in this next life, it is clear that it must be made on this side of the grave. A question which probes a sore temptation.
Speaker 1 13:27 Many persons whose faith is weak and unenlightened suggest itself in this connection. Why is it that the good and virtuous or not exempt at such times, but are compelled to suffer like the rest? If God is just, how can you allow the innocent to be afflicted with the <inaudible>? There are several reasons why God permits the good to suffer in times of public chastisements. One is button right and just the good should lend a willing hand to offering to God that Tanette made necessary by public sins because in normal times they enjoyed common with their fellow citizens. The blessings of peace, tranquility, national prosperity, their temporal interests are common both in times of prosperity and in times of affliction to those who are innocent of actually taking part in public sins are not for that reason, always wholly free from guilt in the sight of God.
Speaker 1 14:19 Very often they're guilty of these sins in an indirect matter accessory to them as it is called. Thus, they may have connived at some form of immorality. They may not have protest against it. They may have neglected to use their authority or influence a right to vote to hinder its introduction or to procure its removal when already introduced in all this from indifference, human respect, fear of persecution, of loss of business and similar unworthy reasons. Three the sufferings and toured by the good have a much greater atoning value, the no's and toured by the wicked, hence more good persons there are to join in and making the requiring to tell them that the more quickly will it be made besides God is easily moved out of consideration for the sufferings of the good greatly to mitigate his punishments and sometimes even to cancel them all together for the sight of the good suffering for sins which they did not commit is apt to promote the conversion salvation, the wicked by vividly reminding them of the more regular chastisements inflicted for sin in the next life.
Speaker 1 15:21 If sin is punished so severely upon the good here upon earth, how much more severely will it be punished upon unrepentant sinners in eternity? Five such sufferings afforded the good and opportunity of making full of Tolman for their personal sins. For there's no one's so holy and so confirmed and grace that he's not committed some sins such at least as our Veniam. Even the Jess Mantra falls seven times as a trip. You're has it. That is frequently, but it's an unchanging law that every sin, even the smallest must be fully expiated, either here or here after in purgatory, but expiration made here is vast and more profitable than that which is made after death. Six the patient and of underworld suffering makes the good resembled Jesus Christ who a perfectly innocent took upon himself the task of making atonement for our sins and thereby opening heaven to us.
Speaker 1 16:13 If he had not made this atonement, we could not be saved. Besides innocent sufferings enabled a good to reach the highest degrees of grace in virtue here, which will produce for them a correspondingly high degree of endless glory in the Kingdom of Heaven. Father Rendler 1935 sobering words. We close yesterday by noting that the storm clouds are gathering on the horizon. We need to take that as prompting from God to have our priorities in order. Our first priority has to be holiness. If you haven't got serious about that yet, we should get serious about it. Remember we talked about the fact that whining, complaining, feeling sorry for ourselves isn't going to change anything, but holiness can change everything, so we need to are going to be coming. Holy. So obvious question is what precisely does that mean? I'm going to read from a work by Father Trevino from years ago, rules from the spiritual life for pathical purpose.
Speaker 1 17:14 The notion of holiness can be considerably simplified. Concretely and practically. I can ask what I ought to do in a practical way to arrive at holiness. Not only will the canonical or ecclesiastical notion of holiness help us answer the question. In other words, what does the church teach? But the procedure followed by the church in the process of the beatification and canonization of saints will shed full light on it before places. So on all three for veneration by the Faithful, the church opens amongst difficult and delicate. The process of beatification the chief and most of the board is part of this process, consists in proving that the four moral virtues and three theological virtues have an exercise to heroic degree. What do we mean by the four more virtues? And three theological virtues. The three theological virtues have God as their end. That's faith, hope, and charity.
Speaker 1 18:12 The moral virtues help us live a good life and so the moral virtues, what we have is prudence, justice, fortitude and temperance. So faith, hope, charity, prudence, justice afforded student temperance. That's what they mean there. So the chief and Muslim boys part of beatification consistent proving that the formal virtues in three theological virtues had been an exercise to a heroic degree. When this has been established, a person acquires the title, vulnerable, some of their call, the venerable. That means that they've practiced that virtues in a heroic degree. How is this determined? By demonstrating the person in question has fulfilled his or her everyday tasks with perfection and constancy in this way, conforming fully with divine will, we are living a life of heroic virtue. When we're doing our everyday tasks with perfection and constancy, whatever our stay in life is, God calls all of us to sanctity.
Speaker 1 19:23 We have different states in life. We have to do our duty in our state life. That is how we become holy, perfect conformity. The human will with the divine will. It is in this that holiness consists, let me read that again. Perfect conformity of the human will with the divine will. It is in this that holiness consists, everybody has this book. If you don't, we'll have more of them for tomorrow. It's uniformity with God's will. The reason I want everybody to have this book and read it and reread it is if you do what's in this book, you will certainly become a saint and if they agree you do it, you become a great saint. Uniformity with God's will written by Saint Alphonsus. Fantastic little book, 30 pages of what it means to have conformity of your will with divine well. Here we go with a declaration from Pope Benedek, the 15th in the decree concerning the drug virtues of Venerable Antonio Cinelli in 1920 this doctrine was expounded with precision.
Speaker 1 20:32 Sanctity was declared to consist properly and the complete conformity of the human will with divine will. This can finally was said to be manifested in a constant and exact fulfillment of the duties pop for to one state. Read that again, sanctity that is say holiness was declared a, consist properly in the complete conformity of the human will with the divine will. This conformity was said to be manifested in a constant and exact fulfillment of the duties proper to one state. Such a manner of living persevered in unswervingly over a long period of time is beyond the power of human nature. Left to itself were damaged goods left to himself. Man is a play thing of the ups and downs of life, especially because of the inconstancy of his passions, the exact and faithful fulfillment of duty. Suppose as the exclusion of all deliberate imperfection. Otherwise there'd be lacking the generosity which heroic virtue requires.
Speaker 1 21:40 So holiness consists and conformity, complete conformity to human will with the divine will, and it's manifested when we see someone constantly, exactly fulfilling their duties in their state of life. That's holiness. Read the booklet and then reread the booklet and then when you don't know what else to do, read the book that again. Okay. That being said, we noted some things in this, uh, in pitchforks full of statistics. I was throwing at you yesterday that the faith and larger circles of the church is not being passed on to the next generation. So start by spending a few minutes to talk about pig and proofing our children and not just peg and proofing them, but keeping them from falling away. Not just to paganism, but to anything. It's a huge topic, but we need to consider three points that for some reason, often seem to escape even the most pious Catholics.
Speaker 1 22:40 First Point, absolute importance of the liturgy. Now, he spoke to this very briefly last conference, but we need to make a few more points. Father Reginald Caribou Lagrand, she's the last great to mystic theologian. He died 1964 the apparent medically, it's a strange time since Saint Thomas. This is the first time we've haven't had a great theologian. There are no create totemistic mystic theologians since Gary who died. There are totemistic deloaded, but it's very, very extraordinary time. Anyway, finally, retinue Arugula. Grunge last great to mystic. Theologian describes he's writing to priests. How the reverence, adoration and recollection visible when a mass and said by a saint when you have a priestess is saying how that reverence, adoration, and recollection visible in that mass affects the faithful quote. The mass of the saints is so to say the prelude or beginning of that unending worship and heaven, which all refines his expression, the words at the end of the holy, holy, holy, the song deuce.
Speaker 1 23:49 Think of the influence of such masses on the faithful there they learned to recognize the dignity of our priesthood, which is a continuation of Christ's priesthood. They gradually come to look on Christ, not merely as a figure of history, who wants walk the streets of Palestine, but as the God man who lives on still to make intercessions on our behalf. They began to realize that they themselves are living members of Christ mystical body. They give God heartfelt thanks for all the benefits they've received since the day of their baptism and they earnestly desire of fervent and fruitful communion. Do you appreciate better the infinite value of the mass? They find it easier to understand how one mass can provide as much light life for a thousand souls as for one provided that are well disposed and this the mass resembles of the sun which radiates its light and warmth to any number of people in the open. The mass is in its essentials that continuation of the sacrifice of the cross, which can be as profitable for all men as it was for repentant thief. Since Christ died for the whole world, every mass has an infinite value because of the principle offer and the victim offered
Speaker 2 25:19 Pete that
Speaker 1 25:20 every mass has an infinite value because of the principle offer and the victim offer, but the faithful should be able to grasp this limitless value of the mass from the way it is celebrated. Every mass has an infinite value because of the principal off for an the victim offered, but the faithful should be able to grasp this limit value of the mass from the way it is celebrated. Close quote, the faithful should be able to grasp the limit was value the mass from the way in which it is celebrated. Some years ago, a very well educated and thoughtful, non-catholic friend of mine attended a fairly typical mass back in Montana. Now I love home, but going to a typical mass back home has experienced something like something out of divine comedy. I'm not talking about Paradiso here, bad music like here I am, Lord. You have noticed that refrain has exactly the same tune as the theme from the Brady Bunch.
Speaker 1 26:33 She just played a little bit slower, has goofy words. I'm totally serious. I don't mean to distract you, but this is the kind of contempt they have for liturgy. They have music like that. They pop candles up on one side of the altar too. It looks like it's going to tip over. There's banners everywhere. They look, they're made and some cheesy junior high art class. They changed the readings. God's holy word. Whenever something might hurt someone's feelings, they have whore hordes and hordes of girl altar boys swarming all over the place, et Cetera, et Cetera, et Cetera, and it's noisy. The people no longer know how to dress or deport themselves. They're chewing gum. It's an experience that's for shoe anyhow. They just don't have a clue anything else, and my friend goes to math. He's a non-catholic. Afterwards, speaking of his experience, he told me, I don't believe what you believe, but if I did, I show on the act the way to people doing there, I'd be flat on my face. He couldn't believe the Catholics at that mass actually believe what I told them. We believe about the real presence of our Lord, the most bless Itzhak and the author. He couldn't believe it. Actions speak louder than words and he saw exactly what people think, but our Lord's presence and most busted sacrament author and what the priests think, he couldn't believe. They believed our Lord was really pleasant. He just played flat, couldn't believe. They believe. Actions speak louder than words.
Speaker 1 28:18 The divine liturgy is the official public worship offered to God by mankind, and as such, it has to be absolutely reverend and taken seriously. Actions speak louder than words. The worship of God must be absolutely reverend and taken seriously. The worship of God must be absolutely reverend and taken seriously. If not, then there's a very, very clear message. Either a, these people are not serious about God because God has to be taken seriously by definition or be the God they purport to be. Worshiping does not have to be taken seriously. Either they aren't serious about God or else does. God doesn't have to be taken seriously. There are no other choices. That's it. Even if they're not serious about God or this God doesn't have to be taken seriously. What's the point? Because actions speak louder than words. Irreverence and the liturgy has a message.
Speaker 1 29:28 Irreverence has a message on its own. It should come as absolutely notice, surprise. When young people are raised in these kind of parishes, they may have never missed mass once in their entire lives drawing up. Never. Every Sunday, every holiday, they're going with their family and she'd come as no surprise. Well, once those young people leave home, they leave the faith. It's no surprise. Actions speak louder than words. See, there's a very important principle, grace, perfect nature. What that means is naturally speaking, if the message is completely warped, then we're asking for a miracle of grace. To overcome that. You can't say one thing with what, by what you're doing naturally and then you say, well, but this means something else supernaturally. If irreverence is the message, then irreverence is the message. Parents must take the liturgy seriously and if it's at all possible, make the sacrifices to get to reverend mass if it's not possible.
Speaker 1 30:28 For example, if the ranching out in the middle of Montana, then they need to spend that drive back home after mass explained to the children what went wrong and why it went wrong and praying for God. Have mercy on everyone in that little parish or mission and praying that God will correct the situation. Why is discussion like this at your mass so necessary? Remember, there's only two possible messages that can be taken away from irreverent luxury. Either a, these people aren't serious about God because God has to be taken seriously by definition or B, the God they're proporting to be worshiping isn't meant to be taken seriously. Either aren't serious about God or this God isn't to be taken seriously. The discussion with children is necessary about what went wrong and why I went wrong. Because appearance have a serious obligation before God and obligation that no priest, no bishop, not even the holy father himself can excuse him from no polymers can excuse these parents from the obligation to make sure that the parents, these people are not serious about God. Precisely so the children don't slide into the dinette disastrous notion that the God they purport to be worshiping doesn't have to be taken seriously. Either they aren't serious about God or this God isn't to be taken seriously and discussion. We'll give those children the right terms of reference. It's an obligation to make sure the children understand these people don't get it by these people. We mean the ones with the collars on it. That's what we need. Let's be clear and they don't get it.
Speaker 1 32:09 We've got to make sure the children understand that there's a lot more that could be said here, but we need to move on. I'll calm down.
Speaker 0 32:21 Okay.
Speaker 1 32:22 In order to introduce the next two points, let's start with a little thought experiment. Suppose you came home. Find some stranger sitting there talking your kids, constant swear. Take Lord's name in vain, making fun of God and Holy Religion. Joke around telling lies, telling your kids trashy story. Just generally carrying on. What would you do? What you do? We'd just sit there quietly wring your hands, hope quit talking like that. What do you ask them to be quiet? Let them stay.
Speaker 1 33:14 Would you open your front door and throw the bomb out and try to assess the damage to children? Oh, what did he do? It's obvious you throw the bomb out and on the way out. It might not be such a bad idea to run his head in the door jam a couple times on the way out. Just to make sure you understand clearly how seriously take the violation, the sanctity, your home, and the incidence of your children. I'm serious. I know I'm a priest. I'm serious when I say that. When our Lord drove the money changers out of temple, we didn't ask. I'm pretty pleased where you go. He was thrown tables over and beaten him with a whip, a chords, and he was a carper that didn't work with power tools. He was a man's man. He was clobbering. They were going to get out of there. He was going to let them have it. Obviously, unless you plan on raising a bunch of heathens, the important thing to do is throw the Bama and the sooner the better. Right? Right. How many times have you come home, find your kids watching that program on TV?
Speaker 1 34:27 Listen to bad popular music. Do you have any acceptable DVDs, videos, cable channels, magazines, books or music in your home?
Speaker 0 34:44 <inaudible>
Speaker 1 34:50 I'll let that finish itself in the last conference.
Speaker 0 34:54 Okay.
Speaker 1 34:54 We read excerpts from an interview from like with a Catholic girl that had a singular grace when she, about time of her first communion, she had this profound experience of God and then we saw when she was 16 quote in a year, I went from being a nice Catholic girl who obeyed all the rules to be a more punk, like politically radical, which close quote. None of the parts of that interview. She actually describes her trajectory from being a nice Catholic girl to becoming a pagan priest is, we'll just hit a few highlights. Quote. The year she went was 1981 by the way, quote, an radicalizing influence on me was you too. Rock and roll group. I was heavily influenced by the music and hippies. Close quote.
Speaker 0 35:51 Yeah.
Speaker 1 35:52 Ultimately, I'll just sum it up. At least more radical music. She gets into punk and Scott, same time, she also starts reading certain authors writings fall especially in the surrealistic or magical fantasy fiction category, and from that she landed into witchcraft, bad music, bad books, bad religion. Santa Foxes says that one bad book can destroy an entire Convent of nuns. One bad book. Can you destroy an entire comment or nuns who that book can do it? So can bad TV, bad videos, bad DVDs, bad magazines, and not just a combat or nuns household of kids.
Speaker 1 36:42 The Pied Piper might be a fairy tale, but it has an important, more or less music can Lorde children away from their parents now because of time, we're not going to develop this argument in great detail though. It's very important. And that's the second point is the absolute importance of music. We need music in our lives. We need music in our lives, but we don't need most of this sewage that pass it for modern popular music. We need to get it out of our lives. But it's very important to realize that if we removed something from our lives like that, we have to replace it with something better. So we need music, we need good music. That doesn't necessarily name, it's the feast of Saint Gregory and all, but that we just sit around and listen to chat all day. Okay. But it doesn't mean just religious or classical music, although those are both important. We need music in our lives, good music both to listen to. And even more importantly to sing.
Speaker 1 37:52 I couldn't use it. We don't mean to limit ourselves, as I said, to religious for classical music, those are important things like good folk music that human beings can sing. I mean, I just, I, this is just a, I've got tons more I could say, but I just pulled some out of my head. Shenandoah. Sweet Betsy from Pike. I wonder if I want her Aleta Irish folk music. My homes in Montana. Of course. That's a great one. In the strawberry wrong. No, I'm just, but the point is we need to fill our homes and Serrano children and ourselves with good music as your preventative measure. If we don't feel their souls in lives with music, the enemy will. If we don't feel their souls in lives with music, the enemy will. Who are these people? They're seeing songs to our children. What are their values?
Speaker 1 38:43 What are their songs all about? Who are these people? Last dot? Well, no, let me make a couple of other points. This is actually a pastoral problem. Believe it or not, it's easier. This is not an exaggeration. Priest can tell you this. It's easier to get a call habitating couple to break up and it is to get either one of them to give up their bad music. It is easier for the to get them to break up and move out of a house. Then for either of them to get rid of their bad music. It's an believable, the power and the crass that this has on people. It's unbelievable. Okay. We'll go with this girlfriend before I give up this trashy music. I'm serious. Last thought on this before we move on. I've been living right next to public park for almost seven years in good weather.
Speaker 1 39:37 There's people walking there all hours of the day and even most hours of the night from the my window and office faces, uh, the park and my bedroom. I can hear their conversations. That's how close they're when they're walking and all that, and almost seven years, I have yet to hear anyone saying anything. In seven years, I wouldn't believe this if I hadn't experienced it myself personally. It's unbelievable. No one sings. I know I'm a hick, but back home you will hear guys with terrible voices singing at the rear end of causes or moving them singing in the thin air, whatever. But in the city it seems like no one sings at all when they're out and about. No one's sings what's going on. It's as if music is something that happens to them, not something that they do. That's my conclusion from it. It's bad. It's very bad. It's very bad.
Speaker 1 40:36 The benedictans at clear creek, how do they keep that rule and live that mortified life? It's because of the chant. They stopped chanting. They can't keep the rule. If you go to a Benedictine monastery and they don't have big chant, they're not keeping the rule guaranteed anywhere in the world. Anytime, guarantee, guarantee. That's how it works. It gives you the strength. I was talking to a physician just the other day. Thanks. They're significantly higher levels of mental illness in our day and age precisely because people don't sing and get those emotions out in an ordered fashion and so these stresses and strains and burdens of life, which haven't been released in order and fashion end up disorder in these poor folks. It sounds plausible to me. It benedictions do it. We do it in the seminary. I know. You know our seminary isn't like clear creek, but I know seven years of that most guys wouldn't be able to take it if we didn't have the chair. The chair makes it doable, not just because of the prayer. Obviously I'm not discounting. Yeah, but it makes it doable.
Speaker 1 41:48 We need the saying, we need to have music in her homes, could music and we need to say it's just not human to not sing and if we're not passing the music onto our kids, they are. I don't think I need to sit up and explain what their music is about. Okay. That's the second point. We don't want the pied pipers of our culture of death to lead our kids away. We need to feel our homes and Serrano children couldn't use cause it preventative measure. We need to sing. It's very important. Third Point, absolute importance of stories. Are you serious father? I'm serious. As a heart attack. What stories are filling our children's imagination? What are the stories that they think about? Brooks? Alexander has some insights. Remember Brooks Alexander, I was quoting him yesterday. He's a convert from the 60s counterculture whose insights and neo paganism I was following yesterday.
Speaker 1 42:43 He has some important insights regarding stories. Quote Graham Harvey of King Alfred's College in United Kingdom studied how imaginative literature is used in neo paganism. Noting that we'll no single text is read by all pagans. The construction and aeration of pagan identity commonly entails reading especially fantasy literature. His landmark article titled Fantasy in the Study of religion reached the following notable conclusions. Paganism is a spirituality centered on celebration of and engagement with nature. Like many, perhaps most religions, it's experience is more adequately expressed in imaginative stories than in dogmatic assertions. The attrical rituals and creative stories are closer to its heart and plain descriptions or narratives according to say what witches do. That's paganism is better understood and certainly better taught using these forms. Books Alexander continues. Neo Pagans clearly comprehend this concept. The point is this, storytelling preaches the message more effectively than simple preaching does. People get the point of a story more directly and they get it in a more personal way because a story moves in at the level of their fears and desires.
Speaker 1 44:16 This suggests another way of looking at the progress in presence of neo paganism in our culture to see it not as the spread of an intellectual ideology, but as the spread of an existential infection. The carriers of that infection had been stories told by others to our children. While we were busy, the carriers of that infection had been stories told by others to our children. While we were busy from that angle, the competition between neo paganism and Christianity is really a contest between competing story about the origin and destiny of mankind. Why describe it this way? Because the truth is that Christianity like paganism is also better understood and better taught using dramatic narratives for the ultimate example of lat look no farther than the gospels themselves. Four separate tellings of the same dramatic tale, a tale of temptation and trial of suffering and sacrifice of a tragedy. The turns into a triumph. That is how the Christian faith has always been conveyed indeed is how God has always chosen to reveal himself both in history and in scripture. The Bible itself is a story from beginning to end. Close quote Brooks Alexander. The competition between neo paganism and Christianity is really contest between competing stories about the origin and the destiny of mankind. The Bible itself is a story from beginning to end, but we've allowed nonbelievers to tell the stories truck, children while we were busy,
Speaker 1 46:06 and fortunately those nonbelievers aren't simply Neal pagans. Keep in mind that priests are the official storytellers appointed by God to tell his stories, but nowadays, for the most part, the priests don't actually believe the story. Let's consider that for a moment.
Speaker 1 46:31 What does it mean when we say the storytellers don't believe the stories? If every single speck of our holy religion is not true, then why bother? If it's not all true, why bother? If it's not all true, then our claims are essentially no different than anyone else, including the neo pagans. If the claims of our holy religion are not true and each, everyone one of them true, why bother? This is not a convenient religion. We don't get to do whatever we feel like we have to think differently, talk differently, dress differently, act differently than everyone around us, and as a reward for that, we get to be the butt of all the sophisticated people's and then to add to the whole inconvenience, since we're traditionalist, even though we're not supposed to notice this, there's a cast system firmly in place inside the church and worthy untouchables, virtually everywhere you go inside the church, we're consigned to the back of the bus treated with fear and contempt and this even by many very good Catholics personally, I'm thankful for that part because it keeps us humble and I'm not joking, but it's not convenient.
Speaker 1 48:01 It's also not going to change. This isn't a convenient religion. The only reason to be Catholic is because it's true. It's true. We have a bunch of super sophisticated people that have been educated right out of their common sense. They will start telling me any number of screwball things about what you can believe in the Bible and what Smith and we'll or primitive men trying to describe something they can understand back in the day, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, and it's just this kind of nonsense that makes young people haven't been educated. Right? At a common sense, just pack up their bags and walk away because if it isn't all true that it's just another book in the genre of fantasy literature, if the first 11 chapters of genesis aren't true, then why bother with John six it's the same author. If he doesn't remember how he created the world, how will we know if the bless its sacraments? True. That's not obvious.
Speaker 1 48:59 It's one book. I don't care how many degrees Saudi has. Somebody explained to me this, God forgot something. He got it wrong. Then who are we talking about? It's blasphemy. It's God's holy word. We don't need to have 16 doctorates to discover the story of the creation and Adam and eve as a story about the creation of Adam and eve and not a fairy tale for Harvard professors. About taking one ingredient hydrogen and then adding time and Poof, you get a universe side of it. Nobody thinks like this except for all these people that quit thanking. You couldn't convince anybody normal to think like this. You have to be educated on your common sense. I'm not being facetious right now. I'm not being facetious right now. Do you know if you talk to people, we've, we've got a stage magician. Actually that's one of our priests. I don't want to tell you which one, but that's what he used to do for a living. If you talk to guys that are magicians, you know who the hardest people to trick are. It's the kids.
Speaker 1 50:06 It's all like, you know who the easiest ones are to trick the phd. I'm not choking. That's reality. Okay? There's nothing wrong with a phd, but we can't fall in love with our great mind, Huh? Cause God knows more than us. There's nothing wrong. The church developed these things. I am not making fun of education. I making fun of a certain attitude of pride and contempt. Okay? I am making fun of that, but not education. We can't fall into this snare. The battle, for example, over the teaching of evolution as a religious battle period close to book.
Speaker 1 50:50 Okay. We noticed that one way of understanding the competition between new paganism, Christianity is to consider it as a contest between competing stories about the origin Desti, mankind, but we've allowed nonbelievers, including far, far too many priests to tell the story to our children when we're busy. The Bible itself is this toy from beginning to end. What's the answer? We need to make sure we're passing on the stories to our children. Starting with, but not limiting yourself to scripture. The lives of the saints and the good ones, not this modern nonsense where they cut out all the miracles. Get rid of that trash, throw it away. Put it in your woodstove Bible, the lives of the saints history, the Church Bible lives in Saints History Church. We got the best stories. They're awesome. St Patrick fighting the druids. It's just like the modern Neil Pagans. He takes him on.
Speaker 1 51:44 He converts the whole country. It's amazing the stories Saint Anthony by locating, preaching to the fish. It's amazing. Yeah. You preach the fish and he came up out of the water. See, he's so conformed to Christ that his commands, that nature is hearing God speaking to him. So the fish come up cause the heretics won't lead. Listen to them. So he goes up and starts being, the fish aren't understanding, and that's not the point of what he's doing. He's up there preach it. You're not gonna listen to me. I'm going to talk to stupid fish. And they're all poking up and looking at him and pretty soon all the heretics who are going, wait a minute, they go over and see this guy. Maybe we better listen to this guy. And he converted him preaching to the fish. Okay, lots of witnesses to that. Let's say Rita, you know her sons wanted to get in this vendetta.
Speaker 1 52:23 They're going to kill people. What does she do? She prays for the death of her own children. It's amazing. Or the little flower, how con she was. She singles out. You know, here she lived this hidden life. She singles out to one person that really, really drives the craziest and that's who she just lavished his all her love and attention on to the point where that one sister says, why am I your favorite? And she was absolutely her not. I mean, they're the best story. Saint Anne Charlemagne finding Saint Anne's a relics. It's fantastic stuff. We got the best stories. We got the best story. We need to pass them on. Read the Bible out La Chapter by chapter two, your children, grandchildren who god showed and we get to the end, open it up at the beginning and start over again. It's God's love letters to us. It's God's love letters.
Speaker 1 53:09 It's a story with what the point of history is. If you do this, it's going to have a huge effect on your children. I guarantee it's absolutely guarantee. We're never too old for this. Do you know what you do in a traditional monastery or convent at lunch and supper or like in a traditional seminar like the one I'm in? You know what's going on. Then you're sitting there eating quietly and they're reading to you and it's awesome. They're reading these stories and a lot of times you can't wait to the next day to hear what's going to happen next. Even if you know the story, you know how that is when you're little and your, your mom or your dad read the story. You know the next page was but you couldn't wait to what's happening next. And a lot of these saints, you know what's going to happen next, but you can't wait to hear it anyway cause it's so cool to have people read it to you.
Speaker 1 53:51 You're never too old for that. Even if the kids are gone, you can read each other. I mean if you know how to read, take advantage of it. Think all the Catholics they couldn't read that would love to read and had a book and been able to read or have somebody read down and we can do it. And what are we doing with it? Reading trash. Huh? We need to fill our homes. Imagination with good stories, not by stories written by members of the culture. Death. Saint Hugh of Lincoln said, quote, Catholic books are our arms in times of war. Close quote. Catholic books are our arms in times of war. We're at war and the reasons we're losing the culture wars, we've forgotten the absolute importance of the divine liturgy. We've forgotten the absolute importance of good music. We've forgotten absolute imports of reading good stories out loud, especially God's holy word, fives as saints and History of church, and instead we've allowed the enemies to sing their song dark children.
Speaker 1 54:50 I tell their stories to our children. It's small wonder that were Lucy. Okay, so where are we've seen what holiness is? We've taken a quick look at the absent ports, liturgy apps, importance of good music, absent importance of reading good stories out loud. Now we're going to spend the rest of this conference quickly considering obstacles to our growth in holiness. When you consider five obstacles to growth in holiness, briefly, five obstacles are mortal sin, venial sin, voluntary imperfections, the relics of Sin and devils, motorsand, venial sin, voluntary imperfections or Alexis sin and Dells. Remember, mortal sin is something that's seriously wrong. We knew it was seriously wrong and we made a full consent of the will to it, whether we immensely are or actually, you know, performed at an external order.
Speaker 1 55:50 I'm going to read from Father Royal Moran, Great Dominican, uh, writing on this Spanish Dominican mortal sin. He wants a, this is what we should meditate on if we're, if we're struggling with it. Habitual mortal sin. First Point, mortal sin must be a most serious evil if God punishes it so terribly, realizing that God is infinitely just and he cannot punish anyone more than he deserves. And then he is at the same time, infinitely merciful and therefore always punishes the guilty less than they deserve. We know certainly that as a result of mortal sin, a, the rebellious angels were changed into horrible demons for all eternity. One sin turn the angel into a devil,
Speaker 0 56:46 okay,
Speaker 1 56:47 one mortal sin fee. Our first parents were driven out of paradise and all humanity was subjected to every man of sick manner of sickness, desolation and death. One Sin Adam's sin. See God will maintain for all eternity the fire of hell as a punishment for those guilty ones who die in mortal sin that stay free. They have the faith all eternity never ends. D Christ, the dearly beloved son of God, when he wished to satisfy for culpable man had to suffer the terrible torments of the passion and experience in himself as our representative, the indignation of dying divine justice, even to the point of explaining, my God, my God, why has thou forsaken me? Second Point, because of the injury against God's Infinite Majesty, Moto Sin possesses a malice, which is in a certain sense, infinite third point, mortal sin instantly produces the following disastrous effects in the soul.
Speaker 1 58:11 Remember yesterday or the first conference, we talk about supernatural life. This life that gives us the ability to go to heaven and live there if we get there, Huh? And mortal sin is supernatural suicide. So now we're going to talk about what happens when we drive that supernatural life out of our soul, Huh? A the loss of sanctifying grace. That's that supernatural life. It's gone. The loss of the infused virtues. Faith or not necessarily faith or hope they're there, but charity for sure. If he committed a syndicate, a mortal sin against faith or hope, those leap Morrison against faith, everything's gone. Well, moral sense against hope, a hope is gone, but faith remains Morrison. Most other mortal sins just take up charity and all, all the infused virtues and the gifts of the holy ghost be the loss of the indwelling of the trinity and the soul. So we go from being a temple of God. He's gone. He's out of there. We've invited God to leave in a violent fashion. Get Out. That's what a mortal sin is. I don't want you in my life. See the loss of all merits acquired in one's past life, gone d and ugly stain on the soul, which leaves the soul, dark and horrible. II Slavery to Satan,
Speaker 1 59:33 an increase in evil inclinations. So part of the punishment is it's easier to sin. After we've done that, that's how people get into bondage with these habitual sins like ivy drug users. Does it keep falling into this stuff and don't do violence against themselves too? They're just turned in on themselves and the only thing they're thinking about is where they're going to get that next fix. It's like hell on earth. They're already living in that and some of the other perversions where they're just so locked into their sin. That's what they live for, their sin.
Speaker 1 00:05 So slavery to Satan, increase of evil inclinations and remorse of conscience. That worm that never dies. F The guilt of eternal punishment. All that mortal sin is there for the death of the soul to the life of grace. If these ideas are well-considered, and if the soul humbly implores the help of God in prayer, it will gradually acquire a profound horror of mortal sin and eventually resolve to break with sin and even to die rather than commit a mortal sin. But this decision of the will is not enough. The soul is still very weak in somebody that's been a habitual center. The soul is still very weak and must be four to five. By using the necessary means for acquiring the energy which it lacks. It must be advised to avoid all occasions as sin with the greatest care to frequent the sacraments to make a daily examination of conscience.
Speaker 1 01:07 Notice, prevent unexpected temptations, to have a tender devotion to our lady to be always profitably occupied and as combat sloths the mother of all graces. That's what we mean. The devil makes work for idle hands. If somebody isn't busy, they're going to get in trouble, especially if they had troubles before. Stay busy daily to ask God to efficacious grace to avoid fanny him. That's mortal sin and sin, absolute obstacle. The spiritual life. There is no spiritual life with moral sin. None. See, I have to conquer that by the grace of God and God's will is that we do and then we're living in the state of grace. Okay. Now remember before we go into this, the idea in the spiritual life, think of a spiral staircase where every year is you come over Easter for example, you're another level up. As this eight year goes by, the idea is to be moving up in life of grace till you move from the first level.
Speaker 1 02:01 Remember, the first level is the purgative way also called the level of beginners. When we're in a state of grace where baptize except for certain extraordinary events that God does to some saints and whatnot, we are in the purgative way or beginners. This means we have to struggle to grow. In virtue, we have to struggle to conquer and to grow. In Virtue, we go to confession, we go to communion, we do modifications. We have a good land, we do our spiritually. We work on a mental prayer and every year we can be confident as working on, we'll be going up, we'll be going up because there's no in this spiritual life. You're the going up or you're going down. There's no hovering. You can't just go around in a holding pattern. Nope. We either going up, we're going down and that's what we want to do is go on up.
Speaker 1 02:44 Now the angle that, in other words, how fast we make progress depends on God and on us, on God. Because for some people that makes it very quick and us because we have to cooperate with his grace. Okay, we'll get to that. But the idea is as we're working in the purgative way, we want to get up and we'll get to that and venial sin to get the level of zeal and in our prayer will start to change a our rosary or mental prayer. When we're trying to meditate, it starts to change and the science starts to change is it becomes less and less discursive. God starts taking over. What's discursive to me, just a big word that means he go point to point to point, but it's God starts taking over the prayer life. All of a sudden he'll hold somebody's in an idea.
Speaker 1 03:27 This isn't Zen Buddhism, erase your imagination stuff. This is God. He's starting to reward somebody. They've struggled hard to get over all their difficulties, and now he still says, all right, they've got to move to next level, and he, there's no way for us to do it. So he reaches in and starts pulling people up. It is his will that every Catholic reached contemplation, higher level of prayer that is normal, but it's extremely rare because people won't do the work. Get rid of them, mortal sin, and then the Venus, and we're going to go through the work right now we'll talk. These are the obstacles that might hold us back, okay? Venial sin after mortal sin. There's nothing that we should avoid more carefully than Veniam sin, although it is much less serious than mortal sin. Obviously venial sin when we die with it, with venial sins in our soul, we can be sick as long as we're in state of grace who die with venial souls, sins that, and so we're saved.
Speaker 1 04:27 We may spend a good long time in purgatory, but we're safe. We made it. It doesn't completely deflect us from God, okay? So although it is much less serious and mortal sin, it is nevertheless a morally evil and moral evil is the greatest of all evil before this type of evil. All the others are the physical order fade away as if they were nothing. Either sickness or death itself can be compared to the evil of sin. Either sickness nor death itself can be compared to the evil of sin. Cardinal Newman has a wonderful meditation on this. Just roughly paraphrase. He imagined the whole world and all of a sudden it starts drying out with no water on the whole planet. All the plants are dying. The drop, all the animals, you know, panting the wild animals, the birds, the fish are laying there flopping the people. Everything on earth dies a slow and agonizing death of thirst. That event is less serious than the smallest feels. Yeah.
Speaker 1 05:39 Venial sin is an insult to the good God. Either sickness nor death itself can be compared to the evil of sin. It's necessary to have a horror of it and to put into practice the means necessary to avoid it. I want to make a distinction. We'll come back to it in a minute. There's two kinds of venial sin, deliberate, venial sins. It's not seriously wrong, but you had full reflection and sufficient reflection. Focus out of the, well, it's cold blood. Yeah, I know it's wrong, but it's only a white lie. Yeah, I know I should be nicer, but I'm being a little snarly towards him or her. What does this like when we're talking about God? Well, to put it in human terms, although we're talking about God, what would it, what kind of relationship would it be between a husband and wife where they go out of their way to just insult each other at the table knowing it would hurt each other's feelings, but not to the point where it'd be mortally sinful, not using really bad words, but using things they knew hurt and they know would really, oh, that's love, isn't it?
Speaker 1 06:51 This is what venial sins to God, but he's God deliberate. Venial Sin, Huh? Then there's semi deliberate. The concept trend is clear without a special grades like our lady had thought a special grace, we can't avoid semi deliberate venial sins. These are sins where we didn't have full reflection or sufficient. You know what happened? Like it caught us by surprise. It's a sin out of weakness. Somebody asks a real embarrassing question. We blurt out a lie. We kind of think that it's a lie, but we do it real quick and then go, wow, I wouldn't do that. Normally, you know, you feel terrible or, or you're really tired and you had a really rough day and then somebody just hits you in the wrong way and you make a real snarly remark back or just eat bark at him or something like that. Huh? Those are semi deliverance where it caught you off guard.
Speaker 1 07:35 I weakness not the same. We can't avoid those. We're going to go into that right now, but I'm in reading something from Saint Teresa of Avalon. Great Dr. Church. Speaking of venial sin, remember the Carmelite doctors are the ones we rely on. They they're authoritative in, in the mystical and interior life mist, kinesthetic life said big Saint Theresa, Saint Teresa of Avila, Saint John of the cross and the little flower. Okay. Saint Teresa, Avalara. Speaking of venial sin from any sin, however small, committed with full knowledge. May God deliver us, especially since we are sitting against so greater sovereign and realize that he is watching. That seems to me to be a shit of malice. Aforethought it is as though one were to say, Lord, although this displeases the I shall do it, I know that that will see us too. And I know that that what's not have me do it. But although I understand this, I would rather follow my own women desire than I will if we commit a sin in this way. However slight, it seems to me that our offense is not small, but
Speaker 5 08:44 very, very crate
Speaker 1 08:47 at Saint Teresa of Avalon. Remember, we make a distinction between the deliberate venial sins that she, speaking of there and as set by deliberate ones that proceed from weakness, surprise, lack of attention, deliberation, completely different than a cold blooded venial sin in that sense. So like a semi deliberate. If you want to a vision we're trying to climb, we're trying to climb Mont towards God or tripping or falling up, but we haven't turned away a deliberate venial sin. We're not turning around like a like a mortal sin and just jumping off the mountain backwards here. We're still gone, but we've decided to turn off the trail this way or that this way, that just for mental image where a semi deliberate, we fall on our face and we get back up. Okay. God knows how weak we are and he readily forgives the semi deliberate venial sins.
Speaker 1 09:34 The only thing we can do about those is work to reduce them as much as possible and avoid discouragement. I'll read you something from Saint Francis de sales here in a minute, but one of the best ways to help you get over it, it's at the elevation, the precious blood. You can ask God to give you the grace to prefer death to committing a single deliberate venial sin. Once we understand that death is far less serious than a deliberate venial sin. Why not ask him for that grace so that we don't just have it intellectually, but we're doing something about it. We're really acting on, he wants us to grow in holiness. When we get to this level, we're starting to get at the level of a seal then, and this is actually grace, so we're going up. We've asked him to bring us up and we're getting closer and closer to the level where we will start going up.
Speaker 1 10:23 If we keep at that, we can be confident we do the other things we'll talk about here. Then we'll start going into contemplation that he'll lift us up to the next level. They will start going. That will go from the purgative way into the illuminative way from the level of beginners to level of proficients cause we've got up to by the grace, by His grace, and by war cooperating with it. Okay? We want to diminish their numbers as far as possible. Avoid discouragement. Discouragement is an obstacle to perfection and it always implies self-love. If you say, I can't believe I did that. What does that pride? You just did do that. It was Saint Phillip nearly every morning. He used to say, Lord, better keep both hands on Phillip today or he'll be Trey your worst. And Judas, see, he knew what he could do and we could do it too.
Speaker 1 11:09 If we do stuff that we'd get up, dust ourselves off and say, you better hang on Lord, because who knows what I'm to do next. <inaudible> we should be surprised by, isn't that we did what we just did. It's that we weren't worse than we were. Huh? Because that should surprise and it should surprise us that we're not worse than we were. You know, she never committed a mortal sin, but she talks in her writings bout how the f the great mercy of God that she realized her potential to do all those things. Huh? It's the same thing. We can sit there and say, I'm capable of pertinent anything. If God doesn't hang onto me the next 20 seconds, who knows what I'm going? Who knows what's going to go through my mind when it's all always, I'm going to say and so forth. The only reason we're not worse is because the mercy got so.
Speaker 1 11:49 We don't want to get discouraged. Here's Saint Francis de sales doctor, the church. Although it is reasonable to feel discouragement and to be sorry for having committed any faults, this discouragement should not be sour, angry, acrimonious, or cleric, and this is the great defect of those who see themselves angry, become impatient with their own impatience and become angry at their own anger. Believe me, that just is as sweet and cordial reproaches of a father. Make more of an impression on a son that is rage and anger. So also for your poach our heart when it commits some fault with sweet and peaceful approaches, use more compassion than anger and arousing the heart to a man. We shall succeed in arousing repentance, which is much more performed and penetrating than that which could be aroused with resentment, anger, and anxiety. Therefore, when your heart falls, raise it sweetly. Humbling yourself greatly in the presence of God by the recognition of your misery, without being surprised at your fall. For what is so strange at sickness should be sick,
Speaker 0 12:57 okay?
Speaker 1 12:58 That weakness should be weak, that misery should be wretched. Nevertheless, to test with all your heart, the fence which you've committed against God and filled with courage and confidence in his mercy. Begin again the practice of the virtue which you have abandoned at St Francis sails. Father Royal Marine. If one accident's way reacting promptly against those faults of weakness with a profound repentance, full of maintenance, humility and confidence, and the mercy of God, they will leave scarcely any trace in the soul and they will not constitute a serious obstacle on the path of our sanctification.
Speaker 0 13:40 Okay.
Speaker 1 13:42 When venial sins are committed coldly with perfect deliberation, advertisements, they constitute an insuperable obstacle to perfection, deliberate venial sins make it impossible to proceed on the road to sanctity, the sin, sad and the Holy Ghost as Saint Paul says in Ephesians four 30 and they completely paralyze his sanctifying work in the soul. Deliberate venial sins cannot coexist with someone pursuing holiness. We have to read them out.
Speaker 0 14:19 Okay.
Speaker 1 14:20 Okay. We've talked about mortal sin code, about venial sin. We have to go through voluntary imperfections, voluntary imperfections, Saint John of the cross, well, first explain what they are and what their effect is and then he will talk a little bit about breaking free of them. Some habits of voluntary imperfections which are never completely conquered, prevent not only the attainment of divine union, but also progress and perfection. These habitual imperfections are, for example, a common custom of much speaking or some slight attachment which we never quite wished to conquer, such as that to a person, a garment, a book, a shell, a particular kind of food tittle, tattle fancies for tasting, knowing you're hearing such certain things and such like a single one of these imperfections. If the soul has become attached and habituated to it is of a great harm to growth and progress of virtue in virtue as a one were to fall daily into a great number of other imperfections and casual venial sins which do not proceed from habitual indulgent in some harmful attachment.
Speaker 1 15:34 These are voluntary. Once we've got a habit, you know, I am going to be attached to this. I don't want anybody to touch my bicycle. Don't touch it, you know, et Cetera. I the this kind of thing. Okay, as long as the soul has this, there's no possibility it will make progress and perfection. Even though the imperfection be extremely slight for comes to the same thing with a Berbee held by a slender court or by a stout one, since even if it'd be center, the bird was be well held. Is that what we're starved for? As long as it breaks, not it not flies, not away. It is true that the slender one is easier to bake. Still easy though to be the bird will not fly away if it be not broken, and that's the soul that has attachment to anything. However much virtue possesses will not attain to the liberty a divine union.
Speaker 1 16:21 This takes grace. Naturally speaking. We can't do this. We have to pray. This is his doctrine of Nada, not a, you know, not a nothing, nothing. Saint John of the cross points out the basic reason it's necessarily around. Absolutely. All voluntary imperfections. They're not sins. We're not taught that imperfections. Proceed from weakness or not pay attention. Volunteer imperfections, you know, I know I probably talked too much and that to anything sinful. Whoa, okay. Then modify that. I know I, I liked the seasoning too much. Well, okay, then modify that. There's nothing wrong with that seasoning. Just modify. I don't want to have a voluntary attachment to it. Set it aside to I'm not attached to it and then I can use it, not be attached or you know, use something. You sit in these occasions where this is why it's so important for, to be serious about lent and watching ourselves because we want to come to this self knowledge so we can take out our little spiritual at hatchets and chop these little spiderwebs that are holding and stuff cause it same, whether it's a chain or a little piece of spiderweb to keep us from becoming holy.
Speaker 1 17:23 Okay? The imperfection father, Moyer man continues is by its very nature a remiss act or the voluntary negation of a more intense sack. Consequently, it is impossible to proceed and perfection if we don't renounce habitual voluntary imperfections. Here's the key. This is the reason why in practice, so many potential saints are frustrated and why there are so few true scenes. There are many souls who live habitually in the grace of God who never commit mortal sins and even exert every effort to avoid venial sins. Nevertheless, they are paralyzed in spiritual life and they remain for many years and the same imperfections or even grow on perfections. How can we explain this phenomenon? The answers they have not endeavored to root out their volunteering perfections. They have not tried to bake that sender code which keeps them tied to the earth and prevents them from rising and flight to the heights.
Speaker 1 18:25 What a trivial thing to hold us back. Some attachment to too much talking a particular garment, a book, some little bit of material thing, and yet it can stop us from becoming as saints. God wants us to be. What? What? Pities accents. Opinion, sadness. Saint John of the cross laments the situation. Saint John of the cross. It is sad to see certain souls in this plight like rich vessels. They are laden with wealth and good works and spiritual exercises and with the virtues and the favors that God grants them and yet because they have not the resolution of break with some whim or attachment or affection which all come to the same thing, they never make progress or reach the port of perfection, though they would deed to do no more than make one good flight and that's snap. That quart of desire right off. It is greatly to be limited that when God is granted him strength to break other and stutter courts, Nang affections for sins and vanities so they broken free by the grace of God from mortal sin.
Speaker 1 19:25 They broken free from deliberate venous sin and now it's a horse hair holding them back. The chains and the anchors and the bond is broken free the rope, so I'll chop chop through and it's a horse hair. Holding them from holiness is greatly the blended. When God has granted his strength to break other than stutter courts, namely affections for sin and boundaries, they should fail to attain to such blessing because they've not shaken off some childish thing which God had bitten them to conquer for love of him, which is nothing more than a thread or a hair.
Speaker 1 20:04 It's absolutely necessary to wage and unceasing battle against our voluntary imperfections. If we wish to drive at perfect union with God and he wants you to, this is what he's calling you to do. This is not impossible. Yes, it takes effort, but the effort is trivial compared to the effort of conquering modal sin and trivial compared to the effort of conquering deliberate venial sin. Don't give up relics of sin. We've looked at mortal sin, video, sin, Voluntary Perkins, relex of sin. Think of these. I preached on them not long ago before Christmas, but think of these as unhealed wounds. They're like festering inside of a person from things that have happened, things they've committed or have been done to them, and yet there's a disorder. They're inside these relics of sin that Romaine. Okay. Uh, what this can mean, for example, supposedly is you know, in your memory, suppose you have painful memories about something that happened with someone that you very much love and that painful memories there and it hasn't.
Speaker 1 21:16 It hasn't been totally ordered out in, we'll get to how to do that. The devil can see that memory is something he has access to. Memory has physical aspects. That's why you're a surgeon can touch, touch parts of your brain. You can remember things. It's not, it's not the imagination, the memory. These things are in material aspects of your mind. Remember the intellect and the will are purely spiritual, but these have material aspects. The devils and angels have access to that. This is where the devil is that goes sipping on by thing. They put little claw in there and stirred up and hurt you, make you mad at somebody, bring back this painful memory, right when you least need it, et Cetera, et Cetera, et cetera. These things are an obstacle to our growth in holiness because they keep us. They can keep us from having this peace that Christ wants to give us and we speak explicitly about that.
Speaker 1 22:04 If you look at the prayers, the priest, pray before communion, think of all the different things in the divine literacy we're officially asking God to do. When we receive communion. It's important to notice these things cause it. This communion is no different from me than for you. You know, in the first week. The first one is a prayer asking for his peace. The third one is a prayer asking to heal these kind of things and he will have told the story. I'll mention it again four years ago or so. Yeah, it's four years ago. I was talking to an exorcist since retired, but he's a fulltime exorcist at the time and he told me this story. I've mentioned it to you, I think. Yeah, I did. From the pulpit there was a, he's dealing with a kid case of possession and the person had to forgive their family.
Speaker 1 22:54 Devil's, you're going, ha ha, we're not going to leave. He hasn't forgiven him because he had to forgive the family before they person could be delivered. What did he have to forgive his family for? He grew in a family of Satanists. He'd been ritualistically abused with all that entails, and I'm certainly not going to say since infancy till he basically escaped home. You can't forgive that humanly speaking. It is impossible. He has all these relaxes sin. Where are the demons hiding in all those wounds? That's where they're hanging on to. It's like spiritual velcro and that's where they're stuck. In order to deliver him, he had to forgive his parents. He delivered them within a year. I said, father, how did you do that? Because as a priest, this is an interesting proposition. You know? How is it that someone can forgive their parents like that so that the exercise and will take effect said it's easy.
Speaker 1 24:00 We can't do it, but what you do is prayers along this line. Say you're inviting our Lord in cause our Lord, we've got a queue of money comes to make all things new. Florida, I can't handle this, but you can't. I'm inviting it. All those memories of all the things my parents did to me, all the tortures, everything went to all those memories, all those events, all the painful emotions associated with all the sins that have flowed out of that in my life. All the things I've done in reaction to all that stuff, I'm turn that over. The Cs confessed everything he's done, but these things are remained in these memories and wounds. The sin has been forgiven, but these relics are there and that's either either get healed, if you die in a state of grace, that's purgatory time, Huh? You can get them healed now.
Speaker 1 24:43 So he says, you come in and you take charge that I can't help but you you do. And he's asking her lord, she used to come in and take charge. All those things. She literally invited them and Lord, I can't have this, but you can. You come into the Altos, memories, all his events and you heal them. You may come new within a year. Our Lord had because the Lord is gentlemen, he won't go where he's not invited, invited into that. He starts rearranging it portion up and making it the way he wants and reordering the person's interior life till it's pleasing to him doesn't mean the fruit that guy forgets. It means the pain associate with the memories is gone. It means that things that flow out of that when he, if he remembers it, isn't going to cause a reaction or some, it's there. He can forgive him. He might not want to see him. That's logical enough, but he can pray from now and he's forgiving him and he's not in bondage to all those things anymore. He's been freed.
Speaker 1 25:36 I've told people this before. It's been two weeks. Yeah, two weeks since someone came to me that had a healing. It happens regularly, regularly after the high mass. The main thing we're interested in is not physical healing, although we are interested in that. When we're doing the blessing, the rocketry cross, this is the main thing as priests, we want to heal. I don't, I'm not making light of anything else because we want everybody to heal. If whatever God wants to heal him. I don't say it, but this is more important because directly impacts holiness and physical sufferings may or may not. Do you see what I mean? But this, well, we can get it heal. We ask. Now here's another thing. You can add two other things to it. You ask the safest person, especially after you've gone to communion. Notice that prayer right before the priest receives community's for that and then the prayer, right when I'm doing the second purification over there, look at those prayers and your missile sometime and look what the priests praying.
Speaker 1 26:29 I mean, I'm praying for it twice, right before communion and then right after communion I'm asking for, you can ask for whatever. I mean the priests are done on purpose because God tells us to, but you can do that same thing too and then you can make a deal. She asked from communion and vitamin, that's why he's coming to communion. He doesn't need anything. He's God. He's got it off. We need him. And so he's coming to community because he wants to help us. We'll ask him for help. That's why he comes to us in community. I need help with these things. So we ask them for that. Maybe we have a bad attitude about something. Maybe somebody really hurt our feelings if something horrible <inaudible> whatever it is, we ask them for help. So we do it in communion. We do it in prayer and then you can make something, see, you can use it during the rest of the day too.
Speaker 1 27:11 You can come up with something. Saint Ignatius talks about doing a motion like this, but you're gonna look goofy walking around. But you can do things like anytime I'd set my hand on my chin or my, my, my, uh, my Chin on my hand like this, anytime I pull my ear, anytime I wipe my foot, you know, some, some sort of not obvious nervous habit, Lord. I mean to renew all those prayers that I made. Why you can be on the phone, you know, going like this. I can really intelligent talking to your boss, you know, rubbing your chin or whatever it is. It makes you like really intelligent. And the whole time you renewing that perk is you can act article. Lord understands that stuff. It's a language of love. I've said this many times, I've noticed many, many times. You know when you're visiting married people, they will have a little conversation.
Speaker 1 27:49 Once will, something will happen where they're just looking at each other and there's a little communication going on. They know each other so good. They're in love. If somebody says something to somebody else, it's none of the priest's business. I'm just observing, but it's interesting. You can say, well, we love each other and they can just buy a look or something. That means something. Well, all right, God loves us. We love him so we can ask him that, that that's like secret code for, you know, heal all these things and she can be sitting there. Listen to your boss. You driving crazy, you can curl up your toes and your shoe. It doesn't really matter. You just pick something and so that you're consciously asking God. Every time I do that to renew those prayers that he might be busy about something else, but doing this at the same time and you can get it done and he'll heal those, relax, whatever they are.
Speaker 1 28:30 Okay, last one. Devils. This one's pretty easy. Just preached that recently. Okay. Sacramento's we just have to have Sacramento's around and throw in your home to say good Mac. That Har. Okay. Where are you? Brown scapular use. Holy Water. St Benedict's metal. The prayers. Precious blood wash over me. Precious blood wash Sheree protect me from the weakness. It snares the devil. You're having some kind of horrible movie go off in your head. You say pressure. You put a wash on ring. It goes away real in stressed out pressure, but it'll go away. You Go, I know who was it's diagnostic or you really get mad. Let's say saying the name of Jesus. I bind you. Spirit of anger. If it goes away, you know what it was the name of Jesus. I bind the spirit of lust. If it goes away, I know it was the name of Jesus.
Speaker 1 29:14 I bind the spirit of jealousy. If it goes away, you know it was, we don't have to be very consistent unless here, unless you're going to a black mass and nobody here better do that or mess with nonsense. There's nothing to be scared of with these clowns. It's like the wizard of Oz. You had this little twerp run lovers and it's great, but you know, I'm the Muddy Oz with flames going off. This is how the devil are okay. They want us to be really scared. They're twerps. You just take a fly sort of with one of these little prayers or some holy water. They're outta there. When I started the conference, that was to get rid of him, they have to leave their twerps. We don't have anything to worry about us, honestly. We're not sending their twerps but we need to be conscious of consciousness because he's twerps are obnoxious.
Speaker 1 29:55 They're like little flies or nets and if we're not conscious of them, they'll cause problems cause they'll touch that memory. Your kid has asked you this 15 times and just about the time he asks again and they go, you just asked you 15 times, and that's when you'll home and that's how the devil works. But if you get in the habit of St precious blood washed over me, the kid will ask you the 15th time and you get, please don't ask me to 15 times. The devil can't access you thin, Huh? We so we can get these kinds of habits, spiritual companions, precious, but when I show her to me and so forth and we can take him out of mission, okay, so my half of this mission is drawn to close. Remember that God loves us. He wants us to become saints. Whatever particular circumstances he has placed us, he wants us to become saints.
Speaker 1 30:49 As I argued in last conference and a reading from father rendler today indicates barring divine intervention, I don't borrow it, but barring divine intervention signs of our time, the one thing that there's a persecution in the air, don't know when it's on the way, okay? Our response. Our only response with intelligent is to work on our holiness, especially uniformity with the will of God. If we find ourselves in a persecution and we're practicing uniformly with the will of God, we need to do all that purgatory time just like that. It's awesome. You know, we just have to look at it and just trust him. If he puts us in these circumstances, it's not to be scared. He loves us and he wouldn't have put us in a circumstance. Let's see. No, you, I'm going to give you everything. You need to be a saint right here in a particular time you're living. Okay? So I want you to leave with this confidence. It's profound. Confidence and trust and sacred heart. God has an abandoned us. He hasn't left us. He's still here. He hasn't gone anywhere. Okay. And he hasn't abandoned us. We have a confidence in the sacred heart and then that good heart, they love us. They want us to become saints. If you kneel down, I'll give you a blessing. Talks about an extended 10 keys. Potteries affiliate spitter two sanctioned Superbowls. <inaudible> semper army.
