Episode Transcript
Speaker 0 00:01 All right, we're going to continue on the same theme that we start on all saints day. So we'll start with a quick review. We saw that God loves us and he wills our sanctification, and in order to become Holy, we have to imitate Christ both in his divine nature and in his human nature. We imitate Christ in his divine nature by staying in a state of grace. Remember the state of grace music God has placed within our soul, a created share in his own life. That's what grace is. It's a created share in the life of God's supernatural life. It also makes us adopted sons of the father, which makes us adopted brothers of our Lord. That's how we have a relationship with God. Adam blew it. So we're born by nature. We're born children of wrath, but with a state of grace does is gives us a supernatural life that Adam threw away and gives us a relationship with the most blessed at Trinity.
Speaker 0 00:59 Okay, so we imitate Christ, business vine nature by staying the state of grace. We've seen also that all the grace in the universe, all of it flows down from the heavenly father through the son and out through his sacred humanity and into the mystical body, which is the Catholic church. That's how all the Greyston universe comes out. There's not a shred of grace in nature. It all comes from Christ into the church. So we imitate Christ in his divine nature by staying the state of grace and how do we imitate him in his human nature by keeping the commandments, by our acts, by keeping the commandments and practicing the virtues and most especially the virtue of charity, which enables us to bring his life and his light down out from the altar and out into the corner, our corner of the world and into the lives of all those people that God places in our path.
Speaker 0 01:50 And we saw that if we follow God's path for holiness, will surely become saints. God's plan for our holiness, God's plan for our sanctification is so perfect that it cannot fail. The only way it can fail is thrown fault. God is God. He meets a job description. He's perfect. His plan is perfect, so his plan can't fail. Okay, that's the review today. Let's take a little closer look at three very common problems that with imitating Christ, her Lord in his human nature. So three common problems. The first common problem, our principle motive, our principle motive for keeping the commandments shouldn't be guilt. If our attitude and keeping rules is really something like, I don't really want to do this, but if I don't do this, I'm going to feel miserable and guilty, so I guess I better do this. It's not going to be very long.
Speaker 0 02:45 If that's a motive before we're going to start resenting God and even getting mad at him, and this is actually fairly common motive for people. That's not the right motive. Our whole view of Catholicism, our whole spiritual life will be completely distorted if it's based on guilt. Now, guilt is there for a good reason. If we'd done something wrong, guilt motivates us to go to confession, but that's not the motivation to do good works. That's not the motivation to do the command. Keep the commandments, okay? It's easy to think about it. If we make a comparison, think of a mother changing her baby's diapers and I'm serious. What's her motive? We're not talking about in the case where dad refuses to do it. We're talking about why does mom change your baby's diapers? Okay? Is it guilt as she's sitting there saying, set herself, I don't want to do this, but if I don't this I'm going to feel miserable and guilty, so I guess I better do this.
Speaker 0 03:34 Of course not everyone knows that the reason her mom changes little baby's diapers is because she loves him and she shows that love for him by caring for him, even when it means doing things that she doesn't particularly care for. Okay? It's exactly the same idea with the commandments. We keep the rules because we love him. That's why we believe in when he says, if anyone love me, you'll keep my commandments. And if any man loves me, he will keep my word and my father will love him and we will come to him and make our home with him. He does not love me, does not keep my words. Okay. If anyone love me, he will keep my commandments. Mothers don't change diapers out of guilt and we don't keep the rules in order not to keep feel guilty. Our motive, our principle motive for keeping the rules has to be love.
Speaker 0 04:25 It's love for him, not guilt. We love him. And because we love him, we keep the rules cause we want to show him that we want to be pleasing to him. So that's gotta be a principal model first. Common problem. Second common problem. We do have to keep the rules, but when we get in a particular situation where one command or another seems inconvenient for our purpose at that time, in other words, when a temptation is actually quite tempting, if we're not careful, we can easily argue with ourselves around and convince ourselves that in this case, the rule doesn't really pertain to us. This is shades of a certain garden a long time ago. There are no shortcuts. There are no shortcuts. There's only one path to heaven and there are no shortcuts. It's like this. If we're crossing a bridge to get from one side of a Canyon to the other, you wouldn't decide to take a shortcut and take a hard right, right in the middle of the bridge.
Speaker 0 05:19 It's the same idea. Anytime we try to go off the path, we're making a wreck, we're diving off a bridge. There's only one path to heaven. There are no shortcuts, okay? God's way is perfect. If we love him and trust and we realize he won't ask us anything that isn't necessary for our holiness and eternal happiness. If we follow God's plan for holiness, we will surely become saints. His plan can't fail. It's perfect. He knows everything. His way is perfect. There are no shortcuts. Third common problem, in my personal opinion, this is only my opinion right now. This is the most serious, unidentified spiritual problem among pious Catholics today, but we don't care about my opinion. I'm just expressing that we'll turn to the teaching of the church and take a closer look at one of the devil's most devious plans for pious people. Okay? It's anxiety, anxiety, and worries. The great Bishop and dr the church. St Francis sales says, quote, with the single exception of sin, anxiety is the greatest evil that can happen to a soul.
Speaker 0 06:29 I'll repeat that. That's important. With the single exception of sin, anxiety is the greatest evil that can happen to a soul, just as sedition, an internal disorder being total ruin to a state and leave it helpless to resist a foreign invader. So also, if our heart is inwardly troubled and disquieted, it loses both the strength necessary to maintain the virtuous. It's an acquired and the means to resist the temptations. The enemy and Satan then uses his utmost efforts to fish in those troubled waters. Anxiety proceeds from an inordinate desire to be freed from a present evil or to acquire a hope to for good. If there is nothing that tends more to increase evil and rant, enjoyment of the good, then it'd be disturbed and anxious. Close quote st Francis to sales Bishop and dr the church. There is nothing. There is nothing that tends more to increase evil and prevent enjoyment of the good than to be disturbed and anxious and Satan uses disturbance and anxiety to give. He hits his utmost efforts to fish in those kind of troubled waters. It opens the doors to the action of the evil spirits. These devils, if we have a lot of anxiety, that's one of the principle ways they work on pies. People. Let's briefly consider three common sources of anxiety and we'll take a quick look at how we can protect ourselves from anxiety. Three common source of anxiety. First, the state of the church.
Speaker 0 08:12 It's a disaster. Biblical proportions, let's not be under any illusions. It's unbelievable right now. One Catholic recently summarized the current situation, and I quote, how much Christ suffers in his own church? How often is the Holy sacrament of his real presence abused? How often musty enter empty and evil hearts? How often do we celebrate only ourselves without even realizing that he's there? How often is his word twisted and misused? What little faith is present besides behind so many theories, so many empty words, how much filth there is in the church and even among those who in the priesthood to belong entirely to him. How much pride, how much self complacency, what little respect we paid a Saquon reconciliation where he waits for us ready to raise this up whenever we fall. How much filthier is how much filth? Close quote Cardinal Ratzinger, good Friday, 2005
Speaker 1 09:23 it's a mess.
Speaker 0 09:26 So given all that, how are we supposed to prevent being anxious? Well, let's start by making sure that we keep the purpose of the Catholic church in perspective. Many years ago, the late great Frank, she'd made some thoughtful comments in regards to scandal and corruption in the church. Frank sheet quote. Remember that institutional Israel, the chosen people as the prophet shore was even worse than the harshest critics think the Catholic church had. It never occurred to the holiest of the Jews to leave it. They knew that however evenly the administration behaved, Israel was still the people of God. So with the church and administration is necessary if the church is to function, but Christ is the whole point of the functioning. We are not baptized into the hierarchy. We do not receive the Cardinals sacramentally. We will not spend eternity in the beatific vision of the Pope.
Speaker 0 10:34 Christ is the point. I myself admire the present Pope, but even if I criticized him as harshly as some do, even if his successor proved to be as bad as some of those who have gone before, even if I sometimes find the church is I have to live in it, a pain in the neck, I should still say that nothing a Pope could do or say would make me wish to leave the church. Though I might well wish that he would. Israel through its best periods is through its worst, preserve the truth of God's oneness in a world swarming with gods and the sense of God's majesty in a world sick with its own pride. So with the church under the worst administration, say as bad as John the twelves a thousand years ago, we could still learn Christ's truth. We could still receive Christ's life in the sacraments.
Speaker 0 11:25 We could still be in union with Christ to the limit of our willingness and awareness of Christ. I can know the churches, his mystical body, and even if I sometimes find the church is I have to live in it, a pain in the neck. We must not make judgements by the next sensitivity to pain. Close quote Frank sheet. Okay, so we need to keep in mind that our goal is heaven. The only way is Christ our Lord. And a church is a necessary means. Okay? The church is a means for us to have the relationship with Christ. Everything we're doing here is a means for that. The reason for the architect, it's an isn't it? An end in itself? The beauty of this alter, the beauty, the architecture, the point of the architecture has to direct us towards him. The point of the liturgy is to direct us towards him. The point of the singer is to direct us towards him, to make it easier for us to see through these sacred mysteries and come and cocktail with the living God who is here wanting to have a relationship with us. He's not there for his benefit. He's God. He's got it all. He doesn't need anything. He's there because he wants to have a relationship with us, and the church is the means for us to have that relationship with him.
Speaker 0 12:46 That's the purpose of the church. Okay, so why shouldn't we be anxious then? Because he's God and he knows everything he saw this day. He knows exactly what we're going through and he loves us. Listen to what he says. Quote, let not your hearts be troubled, nor let them be afraid. I will not leave you orphans. He promised that he would be with us always, always. Even in this grace, great apostasy, and even in this great apostasy, we are still learning Christ truths. We're still receiving Christ's life and the sacraments. We're still in union with Christ. The very limits of our willingness if he placed us right here and right now in this great apostasy and a time when so many of his followers are banning him, it means he's asking each one of us the very same question. Yay at st Peter and his apostles, when so many of the disciples abandoned him. Will you also go away? He saw this day, he knows exactly what we're going through and he has not left us or please, he wants us to be faithful. He loves us and he wants us to love him and to trust him. And the question is, do we love him
Speaker 0 14:09 and do we trust you? Do we
Speaker 1 14:16 <inaudible>
Speaker 0 14:17 do we
Speaker 1 14:19 <inaudible>
Speaker 0 14:22 second common source of anxiety, the state of society. One preacher cleverly summed it up by saying that if God doesn't punish America, he's going to have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah.
Speaker 0 14:38 We're living in modern sod. I'm going to Kamora so why shouldn't we be anxious? Because as his inerrant inspired word says, quote, he who is in you is greater. He who is in the world, I will not leave you orphans. Let not your hearts be troubled, nor let them be afraid. He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. And if he placed us right here, right now in this modern Sodom, that means he wants and expects each one of us to become Holy. He's looking for exactly the same thing he was looking for so long ago. He's looking for men who love him, just men that will hold back his righteous arm of judgment. He has not left us or infants. He loves us. He wants us to love him and trust him. Do we love him? Do we trust him?
Speaker 0 15:43 Third common source of anxiety, our own personal problems and the stresses we encounter in everyday life. We've all got problems and stress and suffering. Why shouldn't we be anxious? Saint Alphonsus gives a great answer. Quote, God wills only our good God loves us more than anyone else can or does love us. His will is that no one should lose his soul, that everyone should save and sanctify his soul. Even chastisements come to us, not to crush us, but to make us mender ways and save our souls. Those who love God are always happy because their whole happiness is to fulfill even in adversity, the will of God afflictions do not matter their serenity because by accepting his fortune, they know they give pleasure to their beloved Lord. If souls resigned to God's will are humiliated, they want to be humiliated. If they're poor, they want to be poor.
Speaker 0 16:45 In short, whatever happens is acceptable, then hence they're truly at peace in this life, in cold and heat and rain and wind. The soul United to God says, I want it to be warm. I want it to be cold. I want it to be windy. I want it to rain because God wills it. This is the beautiful freedom of the sons of God and is worth vastly more than all the kingdoms of the world. This is the body piece, which in the experience the spades surpasses all understanding. Close quote, Saint Alphonsus Bishop and dr the church. So whatever our situation may be, we need to keep in mind that God wants us to be saints and he's placed us in our particular circumstances. And since he's infinitely wise, he knows what's best for us. And since he's infinitely good, he wants what's best for us. And since he's infinitely powerful, he can and will do what's best for us.
Speaker 0 17:49 Of course, each one of us has to have the humility to avoid unnecessary occasions of anxiety. It's like avoiding occasions of sin. We've got to be careful in regards to what we read. If it's totally stressed and yet you don't have to read it, don't read it. Set it aside. What we listened to, what we watch, we've got avoid dwelling on worrisome things and if and when anxiety, raising thoughts come to mind. We've got to keep turning over to our Lord and tell him things, I can't handle this Lord, but you can or there's nothing that's going to happen today. Lord, that together you and I can't handle. We should keep asking her Lord, to increase our faith and trust in him and keep reminding ourselves that he saw this day that he knows exactly what we're going through and he hasn't abandoned us or left us orphans and that he loves us and he wants us to love him and trust him and we keep wanting to working on that love and trust.
Speaker 0 18:54 We want to ask ourselves, do we love him? Do we trust him? We want to ask our lady to increase that love and trust. If we're anxious, we have to treat it like a serious temptation, a serious temptation. We're opening doors to the enemy. Ask our lady to help when we go to communion, ask our Lord for strength to deal with any stressful situations and take the advice of Saint Francis to sales. Quote, if you can reveal the cause of your anxiety to your spiritual director or at least to some faithful and devout friend, you may be sure that you as speedily find relief. St Louis, the King gave this counsel to his son. If your heart is disturbed in any way, tell it immediately to your confessor or to summer liable person and this way you will be able to endure the very evil, the evil very easily because of the relief. He will bring you close quote our Lord saw this day. He loves us and he wants us to love him and trust him. He loves us. Let us start loving him.
