Episode Transcript
Speaker 0 00:02 One summer from day a few years ago, I was standing in the front lobby and the seminary when the delivery man pulled up and when he saw me, he came running in rushing right up to me and said he had to tell me a story. He said yes. The day before yesterday had been his son's birthday, so his wife and some friends of the family had taken his son to the red Baron's baseball game itself, a minor league team in Northeast Pennsylvania and so he had really good seats. There weren't many people at the game center sitting there. Empty bleachers and fun, really good seats. When a guy walked in late in the game, I don't remember what Channing walk in, this man walk in, climbed on the blade cures and not all the States and the whole stadium set immediately in front of the kid whose birthday it was.
Speaker 0 00:44 It's they're out looking at him kind of myths. They can, you know, you have the whole stadium to pick what is it right in front. Just as soon as he sat down the bed, really you've got a good connection on a ball. Came fine right towards his son's face and the man sat there right before the baseball got to him. He just reached up like that and caught it with one hand, turned around, handed the ball to the point, said, I guess my job here is done. When he got up and left, he wasn't there for more than a minute and they were all kind of stunned. Every one of them, the mother, the friends, the son and all of the, we've seen an angel and the delivery man. Couldn't wait to find somebody to call her and tell him this story and I said, well, I think you've probably seen it to you.
Speaker 0 01:22 Quite possibly. Some of the rest of the people in here have had experiences like that. We'll never know in this life whether or not that was an angel, that particular incident. But how is it that an angel, it's a purely spiritual being can show up looking just like a man, which we know from both scripture and tradition, they sometimes to catch back question, we'll follow the teachings of the angelic doctor, st Thomas coins. So we have to do a quick little review. Why? Because they're spiritual beings. Now remember that our intellect has ideas in it. Those are unchanging, immaterial concepts. Images are fun. Our imagination images are changeable. Material representations of things. Our imaginations you remember, make pictures of material things, material things. Angels are not material things. So any picture we make of an angel, we have to keep that mind is going to be wrong.
Speaker 0 02:19 So let's not let our imaginations, uh, mislead us cause imaginations. Can you pick spiritual reality? He says, we remember. Quick review to difference between spirit and matter. Matter has parts so it can fall apart. Spirit has no parts. I remember that it being with no parts does not occupy space. Anything that occupies space must have parts of being without parts. Has no spread spacing. It have nothing in common. It's spaceless big without no parks or with no part is superior to the need for space and angel has no parts. Angels do not occupy space and since angels have no parks, they can't fall apart. So by necessity, angels are immortal. One other thing we need to remember that the abilities of spirit, we looked at three of them. Spirit has the ability to know. That's one of them to know ideas. Another is to love to make acts the will.
Speaker 0 03:22 The third is they have power over matter. In the case of our spirit, the spirit we've looked at before, our soul, it has power over our body. Remember again, spirits, inward, immaterial, simple and has no parts. Okay? Having done the review, I pose a question. Okay father, what size and shape are angels? We should already have this one 15 angel is this spirit. Since he has no parts, city superior space. Since he spaceless, he has nothing in common with space. That means he has no size and O'Shea since size and shape. As soon as you say the word size, you're necessarily talking about matter. As soon as you say the word shape, you're necessarily talking about matter. Okay, but I can't imagine that that's true. You can't imagine that, but you can understand it. Okay, father then if angels have pure spirits, it have no size in shape.
Speaker 0 04:12 Why would you introduce this sermon by telling a story about something that you thought was in ancient that appeared very much like command. Are you going to tell us he doesn't have size and shape? No, of course he had size and shape. Angels can assume bodies. What does that mean? What does it mean that an angel can assume a body? Angels are spirits. Spirits have power over matter and angels have incredible power over matter so they can gather matter up and form it and shape it into the shape and color of the body they desire. For example, John Bosco often had an ancient that would appear that looked like a large mass different black lab. Saint Raphael appeared to Tobias as a young man. Wait a minute, father, didn't you say angels for matter and bodies? Are you telling us? Those aren't real bodies, that they're not real dogs or real man.
Speaker 0 05:06 They are real bodies. They're not real dogs and they're not real men. The angels kind of make them from scratch for a little Addis and a little of that. Are you seeing these bodies aren't alive? No, they're not alive. Of course they're not. What do you mean? Of course not. Don't they walk and talk or bark and do things? Yes. Angels make bodies that will walk and talk and so forth. It will make a body and then it will use that body as an instrument of himself, but it's not a living body. Remember that the living body has a soul. We learned that a living body has a soul. The soul is a principle of life, of a body. We remember there's three kinds of souls. There's vegetative which give life to plants. They're sensitive. Would you give life to animals and their spiritual irrational, which good life to man?
Speaker 0 05:57 The only spirit. That's his soul. The only spirit that's a soul is a human soul. The human soul is the only spirit. That's the principle of life. For a body to these angelic sort of do it yourself. Assembling five nanoseconds or less. Bodies don't have souls cause angels aren't souls. Angels don't have bodies. Angels are pure spirits. So when an angel whips together a body, it's not as if this angel who's already complete has suddenly built himself a body that he's the solo angels are not sold a box. Okay, all right father, I can see that angels aren't sold, but if they're not souls and these bodies aren't alive, then how can they walk and talk and do all those kinds of things that they apparently do if they're not alive? The bodies like the by danger Raphael made to company Tobias are the instruments of the angel.
Speaker 0 06:50 The angel can use the body that he's made to make sounds in the air. That sounded like the human voice to make the body move. So it appears to be walking, talking, breathing. But these bodies don't see, hear, speak, think or move about like we do. They're not alive. So father is saying these are sort of like mega sophisticated angelic puppets or sort of the angelic version of Claymation. Yes they are, but the angels aren't limited to making visible bodies. What does that supposed to mean? What that means is that since angels have such incredible powers over matter, they can also do other things. They can form air to sound waves that will sound maybe like singing angelic scene or voices speaking or a voice speaking. Another thing is angels can place images into our imagination. They can place ideas into our intellects, but they can place images into our imaginations.
Speaker 0 07:49 What does that mean? That means that an age who could place an image into a man's imagination, which would cause that guy to see something, even though there might be a whole crowd, other people standing right there, they couldn't see it. He'd be seeing him. Why? Cause he'd have that image right there in his imagination or he might hear something even though other people around, so they weren't sound ways actually hitting their ear drums. He would be having this, this auditory image in his imagination where he could hear something, maybe voice his speaking can or feel something. You might feel poking hot, cold or smell, smell Rose. Is there something that no one else can smell? The angels can put those sort of images into our imagination, our imagination. Remember it has a material representations and the angels have access to those. Wait a minute. Are we saying that angels can cause people to see things?
Speaker 0 08:34 No one else can see here things maybe no one else can hear, smell things or feel things. No one else can see those sound an awful lot like apparition. The reason those sound like apparitions is because these are a kind of apparition. On another day we'll take a closer detailed look at just exactly what the different possibilities are for apparitions, but these are certainly a possibility. There are three things we should burn into our minds though. First off, unfortunately images can be, aren't limited. The images placed in our imagination aren't limited to only the good angels. The devils can also place images in our imagination and they often do. Second point, it takes a special charismatic gift from the Holy spirit to discern true apparitions from certain very tricky false ones. Some apparitions are a no brainer. If it's like a bad movie that came into your mind out of nowhere, you don't need a special charismatic gift for that, but very tricky ones.
Speaker 0 09:33 They do and are men that have this. They're the men that always have this gift. We call bishops. Since we're not bishops, we have to be extremely careful here when we're just turning spirits. Third, generally speaking, to receive apparitions is of generally of absolutely no use to the salvation of the person receiving them. It's frequently a very great danger to their salvation. We should never, ever, ever pray or desire to see an apparition. This kind of desire is an invitation for an angel to cause an apparition and it won't be a good angel. It will be a devil. Okay, three points. Devils can do it. They can tell a difference. We should never desire to personally experience an apparition. Having said all that, since today is the feast of Saint Michael, and since in April of 1994 our current Holy father John Paul asked us every Catholic in the world to recite the prayer.
Speaker 0 10:33 Saint Michael every day. To quote, obtain hell in the battle against the forces of darkness and against the spirit of this world. Close quote, and since most Catholics don't know the story of how that prayer came to be written, we'll close today by what? Adjust that on October 13th, 1884 exactly 33 years to the day before the miracle, the sun at fat and probably the 13th had just felony shootings, punish, celebrating mass at his private chapel in Nevada County, attended by some Cardinals in Vatican staffers. At the end of mass, you suddenly froze at the foot of the altar for about 10 minutes. Apparently in a trance he had to be helped away and he was pale white and seemed to be in shock. He explained that he hit, turned her two voices speaking. The sound was coming from somewhere near the tabernacle. One voice was kind and gentle. The other voice was guttural and harsh and as he had listened, standing there in front of the altered, he had heard the following conversation, the guttural voice, the voice of state and his PRI boasting to our Lord, I can destroy your church.
Speaker 0 11:50 Vaginal voice of our Lord. You can think, go ahead and do so say to do so. I need more time and more power. My Lord. How much time? How much power? Say 75 to a hundred years and that greater power over those who have give themselves over to my service, our Lord. You'd have the time. You'll have the power do with them what you will after this apparition that he heard. Very similar to that recorded in the book of chil, the other 13 compose the prayer to Saint Michael. But we all know that prayer actually not. We all know the abridged edition, the entire pair composed by Leo the 13th is quite, um, and quite alarming. We'll close by my reading Q and approved translation, English translation of the prayer composed and lat by Leo the 13th it'd be fitting for those that can to kneel down any night yourselves to the intentions the Holy father was expressing and pray for st Michael's intercession, the prayer to Saint Michael, the Archangel by Leo the 13th Oh glorious Archangel Saint Michael Prince of the heavenly host, the air defense and the terrible warfare which we carry on against principalities and powers against the rulers of this world of darkness, spirits of evil come to the aid of man.
Speaker 0 13:30 When God created immortal, made his own image and likeness and retained at a great price from the tyranny of the devil. Fight this day, the battle of the Lord together with the Holy angels is already Dow has sparked the leader of the proud angels. Lucifer is a PA state host who are powerless to resist the no, is there a place for them any longer and they have that cruel, that ancient serpent, which is called the devil or Satan, who seduces the whole world was cast into the abyss with his angels. Behold this prime, evil enemy and Slayer of men has taken courage, transformed into an angel of light. He wanders about with all the multitude of wicked spirits innovating in order to plot out the name of God and of his Christ, to seize upon slay and cast in eternal perdition souls destined for the crown.
Speaker 0 14:25 If you turn on glory, this wicked dragon cores out as the most impure flood, the venom of his malice on man of his depraved mind, corrupt heart, spirit of lying, impiety, blasphemy, his pestilent breath and impurity, and of every vice and equity. These most crafty enemies have filled and inebriated with gall and bitterness. The church, the spouse of the maca and have laid in PI's hands on her most sacred possessions in the Holy place itself. Where has been sip the sea or the most Holy Peter and the chair of truth for the light of the world. They have raised the throne of their abominable impiety within Equitas design that when a pastor has been struck, the sheep may be scattered, arise then know invincible prints bring help against the attacks of the lost spirits to the people of God and give them the victory. They venerate DHEA as their protector and patron in the Holy church.
Speaker 0 15:23 Glories as her defense against the malicious power of hell could he has got in trust to the souls of man to be established and heavily be attitude or pray to the God of peace that he may put Satan under our feet so far, conquer that he may no longer be able to hold men in captivity and harm the church. Offer our prayers in the sight of the most time so that they may quickly conciliate the mercies of the Lord and beating down a dragon. The ancient serpent who is the devil and Satan, do them again. Make him captive in the abyss that even no longer seduced the nations. Amen. Behold, across the Lord, we scattered hostile powers. The lion of the tribe of Judah has conquered the root of David, right? The mercies be upon us. So Lord, as we have hope to be a Lord, hear my prayer and let my cry come on to the let us pray. Oh God, the father of our Lord Jesus Christ. We call upon die Holy name. And we separately implore that clemency, they by the intercession and Mary ever Virgin, immaculate, and our mother, and of the glorious Archangel Saint Michael that was deigned to help us against Satan and all other inclined spirits who wandered about the world for the injury of the human race and wrote of souls. Amen. Probably other 13 October, 1318 88 the name of the father and the son, the Holy spirit. Amen.
