Episode Transcript
Speaker 0 00:01 We'll just start by reading a communique. It comes from the Vatican's secretary of state. It's a communicate on an upcoming conclave, the freedom of the college of cardinals, which alone under the law is responsible for election. The Roman Potter has always been strong, defended by the Holy See as a guarantee of a choice based on evaluations solely for the good of the church. Over the centuries, the cardinals have faced multiple forms of pressure exerted on individual voters and the same college with the aim of conditioning decisions to bend them to a political or worldly logic. If in the past it was the so called superpowers, namely states who sought to condition the election of the pop in their favor. Today there is an attempt to apply the weight of public opinion often on the basis of assessments that fail to capture the spiritual aspect of this moment in the life of the church. It is regrettable that as we draw near to the beginning of the Conclave when carton electrodes shall be bonded conscience and before God to freely express their choice, news reports that bond which are often unverified or not verifiable or even false, even subsequent damaging people and institutions. It is a moment such as these that Catholics are called to focus on what is essential to pray for Pope Benedict to praise the Holy Spirit in light in the college of cardinals, to pray for the future poll, trusting that the fate of the Bark Saint Peter is in the hands of God.
Speaker 0 01:42 At that time, Jesus took Peter and James and John, his brother bring and name into a high mountain apart and he was transfigured before then, the name of the father and the son and the Holy Spirit. Amen. This morning we're going to look very briefly at a few lessons contained in the column and the gradual in the Gospel, and then we'll speak of some practical applications there up. We'll start by taking a very quick look at the column. Now the that is that little prayer that five said right after the curiae listen, okay, here's the translation. Oh God who see us, that we have no power, whatever from ourselves, keep us both outwardly in our bodies and inwardly in our souls. Then we'd be defended from all adversities which may happen to the body and from all evil thoughts, which may hurt the soul to our Lord Jesus Christ lives in reigns near the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 0 02:39 One God for an ever and ever. Amen. So at the author, The p priest is beseeching God the father through his son Christ our Lord, to protect us outwardly from bodily dangers and annually from evil thoughts that may harm his soul. The gradual that's the song versus red immediately after the epistle, this case, the gradual is take from Psalm 24 the troubles of my heart are multiplied. Deliver me from my necessities, oh Lord, see my objection and my labor and forgive me all my sins. So again, we see the priest altar crying out to the Lord for deliverance from troubles of heart and for forgiveness of sins. Finally, brief look at the Gospel. While speaking of transfiguration, the Great Cornelius <inaudible> comments, quote, Christ wish to give a type of the transfiguration of a soul dark with sin into that of the light of grace by which we are made like under Christ.
Speaker 0 03:44 Christ wished to give a type the transfiguration of assault dark with sins, and we might add wounded by sin, and that light of gray grace by which we are all made like under Christ according to his slap today continues for our transfiguration consists of a configuration with Christ. He can only take place in the mountain and by going inside with Christ that is deceived by frequent and fervent prayer and meditation. Prayer then is the transfiguration of the soul because by prayer the soul seeks and obtains from God the grace to blot out the stains and vices by which she is deformed and to overcome all temptations whatsoever. That's worth repeating prayer then as the transfiguration of the soul because via the soul seeks and obtains from God the grace to blot out the stains and the vices by which she's deformed. And to overcome all temptations whatsoever.
Speaker 0 04:48 Clinics dilapidated in prayer. The Soul Receives Constellation for desolation out of weakness. She has made strong from sadness. She's moved to gladness and from cowardness she's moved to courage. Okay, so we've taken a brief look at some of the readings and liturgy and what have we seen so far? We've seen the priest, the altar beseeching God the father through Christ his son to protect us outwardly from bodily adversities and inwardly from evil thoughts that can harm us. We've seen him crying out for deliverance from troubles of the heart and forgiveness of sins we've seen in the gospel that buys transfiguration. Christ our Lord gives us a type of the transfiguration of a soul that's dark and wounded by sin into the light of grace by which we're conformed to Christ. We've seen that transfiguration of a wounded soul can only take place by going side with price. In other words, by prayer and meditation.
Speaker 0 05:54 We've seen that by prayer, the soul both seeks and obtains from God that grace to blot out the stains and vices and wounds by which she's deformed and the grace to overcome temptations. And we've seen finally that in prayer, the solar seats constellation, you place of desolation, strength in place of weakness, gladness in place of sadness and courage in place of cowardice. In other words, today's luxury is shot completely through. With this theme, I'll protect you from deliverance from and even healing of woundedness and sin, healing, a healing of assault, darkened and wounded by sin. That kind of healing comes from a transfiguration by Christ. Transfiguration, which takes place by conformity with Christ and is obtained through prayer. It's in the literacy for a reason. The church places these truths before us for a reason. Think of how many wounded suffering people there are that need this kind of transfiguration and Christ is healing. Just think of those wounded as children being rejected, perhaps wounded by loss of a parent being raised in a broken home, a home without love or home full of violence and words or deeds or in a home where they were abused physically, emotionally, or perhaps in other ways, but it's not just the children that had been wounded. There's so many souls wanted by participation. Things like abortion from filing a tax or other trumps.
Speaker 1 07:47 Okay,
Speaker 0 07:49 there's millions of wounded souls. Millions,
Speaker 1 07:54 okay,
Speaker 0 07:56 so today's liturgy, holy mother church places before us. This notion of protection from and healing of woundedness and sin in places before us. This idea, this reality that a wounded saw can be transformed. There's this sort of transfiguration that can come about by content with Christ, by reaching out to him in prayer, and Christ does heal people. When he reaches out to him in prayer, the gospels are chock full of examples. Matthew Chapter Nine Oh one who is troubled with an issue of blood 12 years came behind him and touched the hem of his garment for she said within herself, if I should touch all these garment, I shall be healed. But Jesus turning and seeing her said, be of good heart daughter. They faith have made the whole and the woman was made whole from that hour, that power that flowed up from his garment, has it gone anywhere? That's the same Christ right there, the most blessed sacrament, the altar, and he hasn't lost any of his power.
Speaker 2 09:06 No.
Speaker 0 09:09 If a wounded soul reaches a in prayer, reaches up to them, reaches out and grabs the hem of his garment, so to speak, with pear and hangs on by means of their prayer and their faith, they will get a healing. Those aren't empty words. We've talked about this sort of prayer before bears repeating a year or so ago. I told you a story of a young man who since infancy had been subjected to torture, physical torture, emotional torture, other kinds of torture, unspeakable things since infancy. Why? Because he was raised in a family of Satanists, so he's being torture but his mother and his father unspeakable things. Yet in spite of these unspeakable wounds, within a year of starting to read shot and for our to our law, with any year, that young man was able to totally forgive his parents and that's a miracle,
Speaker 2 10:13 Huh?
Speaker 0 10:14 He started praying along these lines, Lord Jesus, I can't forgive my parents because I can't, so you have to do it for me. You forgive them for me. I'm turning all that over to you. I'm turning over all those terrible memories, all the pain, all the torture to you, Lord Jesus. I'm inviting you into those events, each and every one of them, all of them, the ones I remember, the ones I don't remember, and I'm asking you to be present there. I know you were there. I'm asking to be president, to come into those events, to heal me and to forgive my parents for me.
Speaker 0 10:57 Our Lord is so channel that he generally won't go where he isn't asked, but over time, as a young man prayed those prayers, the Lord began to move to the young man's life. You rearranged interior furniture as it were of his interior life. He rearranged the interior of his soul. His memory is imagination. His emotions, Lord began to heal his memories and sue these pains and over time anger, the fear, the hatred, the pain began to dissipate until he finally found himself actually able to forgive his parents, and that is clearly a miracle of grace.
Speaker 2 11:38 Okay.
Speaker 0 11:39 I want to be careful not to generalize here, but simply to state that an experience of those wounded souls that I have known that are faithful to these kinds of prayers at a certain point of time, there's a a major for that person. There's a certain part of time that they have a major miraculous healing that will happen. There's an inner healing and they're sort of lifted up by grace to a plateau, and at that time they get a very deep inner peace and a major healing. For the most part though, this initial healing is not a complete healing. They get a major healing. They get lifted up, they get this deep peace, but there's not a complete human souls that I'm most familiar with or given a deep healing and deep peace, but there's still areas to work on still areas in which they, they need to keep inviting our Lord to come into I am of the opinion and that's all it is right now.
Speaker 0 12:36 I'm of the opinion this is because our lord wants to encourage him. He gets them where they to a place where they can keep going forward and they can hang on with more faith and more love and then if their prayer life deepens over time, it's to get a stronger relationship with him that that happens over this period of time. That's my personal opinion in a watching these souls that that I'm familiar with. Another important point, it's important to realize that if someone is to ask for these kinds of healings, he shouldn't specifically try to recall the circumstances to mind. That's not necessary and depending on what kind of thing they need to be healed from this could cause real serious harm. It's not necessary. He simply needs to invite our lord into his woundedness and pain and asked her to heal him and make him free.
Speaker 0 13:27 The places he knows and the place that are only known to our Lord. He doesn't have to sit here and try to review those events. That can be very dangerous. We don't want to go there. One more point. If anyone has these kinds of rulings and watts discussing with a priest, it's essential that at least initially that plate take place in the confession under the seal. Keep it under the seal. So not only is privacy and security totally preserved, but also just to the sacramental effects. The most precious blood can wash over those wounds. Don't bring it out of the confessional, keep it under the seal. It's safe and it's anonymous over time. If there's a need, the wounded soul might bring the situation into external form, but only after clearing that with the priest in the confessional and and that don't do it. Don't start by bringing it in an external forum.
Speaker 0 14:19 Keep it in the confessional. So in the story, the young man from a family of safeness, we've seen the reality healing of a wounded soul is a kind of transfiguration that comes about by contact with our Lord. And that contact is gained by prayers, by reaching out in prayer and inviting him into your heart, inviting in your soul, in volume, in your woundedness. Okay? Any one of us can do the same thing. We can reach out with the same kind of prayer, something along these lines. Lord Jesus, I can't my parents or I can't forgive myself, or I have this disorder desires. I can't handle this. So you have to do it for me. You forgive them for me, or you heal myself hatred or you reorder my desires. I'm turning that all over to you. I'm turning over those terrible memories. All the pain. Do you? I've already confessed my sins. Now I'm turning you and begging you to heal me. I'm inviting you into those events. Each and every one of them. All of them. The ones I remember are the ones I don't remember. All the pain, all those events. I know that you're present and I'm not asking you to come into those events to heal me and forgive my parents from me or forgive me or reorder my desires for me. Whatever the case might be.
Speaker 0 15:38 Over time as we pray, the Lord will begin to move through our life and rearrange those interior aspects. He will start hearing the memories and soothing the pain. Keep in mind our Lord's so gentle that generally speaking, you won't go where he's asked. So if we want really want to be healed, we want to make sure we don't come close to anymore. Now there's people that can have really big barriers and they're there for reason. You don't have to go behind it. We invite our Lord behind that. If you have walls around your heart or in your personality, you've walled off something. You don't take that down. Just ask the Lord to go behind that and heal that. Okay? Cause that's not uncommon. Either. You want to ask him into that. That doesn't mean you need to draw it to surface, okay? It's especially important to pray like this.
Speaker 0 16:31 Excuse me. After we receive holy communion, the church actually makes the priest say a prayer for healing every time he says mass. There's those three prayers we see right before we give ourselves holy communion. The third one begins, it's per chip seal and you can see that in your hand missed and the per chip seal contains a line quote through that goodness may act. And and early on it's as they body, oh Lord Jesus Christ through that goodness. May it be a safeguard and a healing remedy. Both of soul and body say goodness may be on to me, a safe car and a healing remedy full of soul
Speaker 2 17:08 and body
Speaker 0 17:11 in his commentary on the woman being healed is a bloody issue. Queerness at sites, the great Dr. Church, Saint Hilliary of Podio, he asked, he says, just as the author of nature has given to a magnet the power of attracting iron. So did Christ give to his garment the power of Healey, her who touched in faith. Then he asked and if it were so with the garment, how much more, what the Eucharist if Christ our Lord gave Paul his garment to heal a woman, how much more power has he given you, Chris? All right, let's turn to what I consider a really great book and marvelous book written by Donnie. It's called my piece. I give you a feeling certain types of wounds with the help of the saints. Dawn Eden, that's Daw en Eden, like garden of Eden, dawn and my peace. I give you really an extraordinary book.
Speaker 0 18:13 I mean, right now I do. I want to publicly thank God for giving you the courage and the grace to write a work like this cause it took courage and grace. This is not a book for children, but I do think it's a book that every adult should have close to hand. Why? Because if every adult gets this book, takes the time to read it. Not only will you have good principles and whole font of information to draw on, it should have wounded soul turned to him for help and confide him. He'll have a good book. He can pass on to that person. There are a lot more of you than there are of us. I think in this diocese, the ratio is one priest, every 10,000 Catholics and Catholics aren't the only wounded ones. So you're going to be in contact with a lot more of these people. We are. This is just a great book to have. This problem is so prevalent that each one of us surely knows or we're going to encounter souls that could use this information in a book. She states she Stites statistics from the Center for Disease Control stating that one in four American women and one in six American men have been abused as children. One in four American women and one in six American men have been abused as children.
Speaker 1 19:29 Okay?
Speaker 0 19:31 Those are astronomically high number
Speaker 0 19:35 and I'm personally convinced that in actuality those percentages are probably much too low if we include the percentage of children who have suffered the violent destruction of their innocence by visual means given the availability of the Internet and the absolutely incredible and sinful reluctance of our government, our schools, our public libraries, and even more amazingly so many of our parents to place any meaningful controls or filters on it. If you have the Internet at home, get a filter on and the woman of the house, you should have the password and don't have any weaseling about that. Somebody comes in there and clicks on that. That's your sin because you provided the opportunity.
Speaker 0 20:26 Every adult should get this book and prayerfully read it. The beautiful examples of the saints in this book are woven with experiences from her own life. Among other things. She's a Jewish convert who was herself abused as a child in all of its accompanied by very thoughtful commentary. I'll just read an excerpt, Dani. What the saints taught me and are still teaching me is what I want to share with you in this book. I think of it as a great hidden truth. Although it is not elite or special knowledge, neither is it really hidden except in the sense of being hidden in plain sight. It unfolds through the Bible, especially in letters of Saint Paul as well as the catechism. It only seems hidden because it's so beautiful that once you begin to rely, realize its importance, you want to reveal it to the whole world. All suffering contains within it the opportunity to become more like the one who suffered on the cross.
Speaker 0 21:34 No matter what evil was done to us. If we like to saints, offer our hearts to God, he will accept us as we are with all our past experiences. Your heart right now contains all the raw material he needs to mold it so that with His grace working over the course of time may become like his. This is true. No matter how damaged you feel, so long as our hearts long for union, which is sacred heart, our feelings about ourselves will not prevent such union because God's love is stronger than feelings. It is a presence.
Speaker 0 22:21 This loving presence is what the saints now enjoy what they want to bring to us through their example and prayers, the stories of their lives, how they suffered, and how they emerged from their sufferings integrator. Holiness show that God only wants to heal our wounds. If we let him, he will heal us through our wounds, making everything we have endured, serve to draw us near to him in love. All suffering contains within it the opportunity to become more like the one who suffered on the cross. Not only not, not only wants to heal our wounds if we let him, he will heal us through our rooms, making everything we have dirt serve to draw us near to him in love. That's gone. Eden, my peace, I give you healing certain types of wounds with to help with the saints. My peace I give you Donny.
Speaker 1 23:21 Prayer
Speaker 0 23:23 is a transfiguration of the soul because by it the soul seeks and obtains from God the grace to blot out the stains and vices by what she's deformed and overcome all temptations whatsoever. God only wants to heal our wounds. If we let him, he will heal us through our wounds, making everything we have endured, serve to draw near to him in love.
