Called to Communion with Dr. David Anders - 05/22/26

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[00:00:02]What's stopping you from becoming a Catholic?

[00:00:06]>> Why can't women become priests?

[00:00:08]>> 1833 288 EWTN.

[00:00:11]>> What's stopping?

[00:00:12]>> I don't understand why I have to earn salvation.

[00:00:15]>> 18332883986.

[00:00:18]>> What's stopping?

[00:00:19]>> Why do I need to confess my sins to a priest?

[00:00:22]>> What's stopping you?

[00:00:24]>> This is Call to Communion with Dr. David Anders on the EWTN Global Catholic Radio Network.

[00:00:32]>> Hey everybody, welcome again to Call to Communion. We are live on this Friday afternoon. Delighted to be with you as we're heading into Memorial Day weekend.

[00:00:41]It's a big one and uh you know, Fridays usually tend to be rather busy around here and on the radio program as well.

[00:00:47]So, please uh call early if you want to get in if you've got a question about the Catholic faith, especially for those of you who are not Catholic. Here's our phone number. 833-288 EWTN. That's 833-288-3986.

[00:01:03]You can call or you can text that number. If you do send us a text, be sure to put in your first name, where you're calling from, and how you're listening to us, and your brief question, message, and data rates may apply. If you're listening outside North America, please dial 1 and then 205271-2985.

[00:01:21]And of course, you can always email us 247cttcwtn.com.

[00:01:27]Ace McKay, our producer today. Matt Kabinsky handling the phones. Ace is also doing a little double duty on social media, so he's going to keep an eye on texts and all that. I'm Tom Price along with Dr. David Anders.

[00:01:40]>> Tom, how are you today?

[00:01:41]>> Well, I'm battling a headache, but I'm I'm trying to ignore it.

[00:01:45]>> You know, if it's a if it's a two, you can ignore it. If it's a three or more, now you got to grab something for it.

[00:01:52]>> Well, hopefully uh we'll have a gripping radio show today and it'll take your mind off of your two.

[00:01:57]>> That is exactly what we need. We're going to lead off here with an email and we received this from Zach on Long Island. Hi guys, can you tell me if the two thieves that were crucified with our Lord were also made to carry their crosses?

[00:02:14]>> No, I can't tell you that. Don't know.

[00:02:16]Scripture doesn't tell us. So, >> and we know very little about the procedures in Roman crucifixion because the Romans didn't see any particularly need to describe this. I mean, Roman literature, surviving Roman literature is by aristocratic people for aristocratic people about aristocratic stuff.

[00:02:32]>> Yeah.

[00:02:33]>> And uh just like you wouldn't find uh you probably wouldn't find say an article in the New York Times about the like the daily life of a bug exterminator in the South.

[00:02:46]>> Probably not. You know, I mean, and that's the way the Romans thought about the victims of crucifixion. They were barely people. Like, this wasn't applied to Roman citizens. This was the this was the the Hoy Poy barbarians that got crucified and slaves and people that in the mind of the Romans were less than human. So, why would you bother to leave an account? So, we don't know much about the process of Roman crucifixion. We don't know how typical it would have been for people to carry or not carry their crosses, etc. Zack, thanks for checking in from Long Island. Here's an email from Ivonne. The thief on the cross. We're back there with it again.

[00:03:16]The thief on the cross was told he would be in paradise, but he died before Pentecost and was not baptized. Is paradise separate from the kingdom of heaven? And did he make it to paradise?

[00:03:29]>> Okay, thanks. So, uh, we got a couple different categories here. We got paradise, we got the kingdom of heaven, and then we got heaven. And they're not all the same thing. And you're using kingdom of heaven and heaven like they're synonymous. Um so the Catholic doctrine on St. Dismas as well as all the righteous dead of the old covenant who also by the way died without baptism is that they went to the limbus of the fathers which is the abode of the righteous dead as they wait for the coming of the Messiah and and that is where that is where a dismiss would have gone right on that day until the ascension of Christ when the gates of heaven were open to everybody. Now, the reason I made a distinction between heaven and the kingdom of heaven is that in biblical esquetology, especially New Testament esquetology, the the focus is not on what happens to you when you die.

[00:04:17]It's just not on it. The focus is on what happens when Christ comes back. And what happens when Christ comes back is that the dead in Christ are raised. And that means that they get their bodies back. And so the the the promised reward for uh for the for the just is a resurrected body and a life in a renewed heavens and on earth with King Jesus incarnate Lord, right? For everlasting life. I use the word everlasting rather than eternal because eternity is something that's proper only to God. God alone is outside of time. It's timeless.

[00:04:50]Humans will have a temporal eternity.

[00:04:52]They will have everlasting life but not the absence of time. uh and they'll have it in an embodied state. So the question what happens to the soul between physical death and the resurrection is one to which the New Testament gives only vague hints and doesn't really address that much directly which which led many Christians in the early centuries to imagine that nothing much happened. Some people thought that the souls went to sleep until the resurrection of Jesus. Um that is not Catholic doctrine. The Catholic Church has taught dogmatically that the souls of the just can enjoy the vis vision of God or go to heaven when they die, so to speak, but that that's not the final resting place, right? You you're awaiting the second coming of Christ, the resurrection of the body. Very good.

[00:05:36]And thank you so much uh for that question. We have this one from Walter.

[00:05:40]Hi, Dr. Andrew. You are the best. You really are. Well, that's nice. My question is, does purgatory take place after the first judgment or after the second judgment? This appears to be a simple question, but it is absolutely not. Bless you always, Walter.

[00:05:56]>> Yeah. So, purgatory takes place after the your your particular judgment at death. You're immed your souls immediately judged by Christ. And if the purgatory is in the cards for you, you go to purgatory. After the second coming of Christ and the general judgment, there'll be no more purgatory. The dead will be raised and and they'll either be admitted to eternal et everlasting life with Christ in the resurrected bodies or not. But there won't be purgatory at that point.

[00:06:21]>> Okay. Very good. And finally, this one as we're going to break from Alejandro.

[00:06:25]Why are feast days called feast days and when did that start? Yeah. So the the earliest outside of Sunday, outside of Sunday, which is the original feast of the Catholic Church, um the earliest uh sort of kindal lurggical celebrations in Catholic tradition uh Sunday at Easter were the celebration of what were called the birthdays of the saints. They were actually their death days. Um so very early on the church began to venerate the martyrs who were who died under persecution. And the way they would do that is they would go to the tombs of the martyrs in the cemeteries.

[00:07:06]>> They would uh they would say mass, they would pray um and then they would um pull out their baskets and have a party >> right in in honor of the dead. And it got kind of rockous to be honest with you.

[00:07:17]>> And so we have writings from St. Augustine where he says, "Hey, venerate the martyrs." Good. Um, enjoying yourselves. Good. Let's let's tone back on the alcohol some, right? Yeah. You know, and so they were feasts. They were celebrations of the life of the martyr and their and their promotion as it were to eternal glory. Fascinating.

[00:07:38]Alejandra, thanks so much uh for your email. In a moment, we'll get to the phones, including Pam in Fort Collins, Colorado. Our phone number 833288 EWTN. Call or text 833-288-3986.

[00:07:52]It is called to communion and we are live on this Friday afternoon here on EWTN. Do stay with us.

[00:08:03]Join us this week as we prepare for Pentecost Sunday and celebrate the feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. Be the Venerable. And of course, Catholic Radio's premier shows featuring The Sunrise Morning Show, Catholic Connection with Terresa Tomio, The Miracle Hunter with Michael O'Neal, and more. EWTN Radio, your source of truth that allows Catholics to grow in their faith and recognize the true mission of the Catholic Church.

[00:08:30]Someone recently asked me, "How do you explain that Jesus did so much for people 2,000 years ago, but does it now?" So, I asked, "Are you letting him make a difference in you now? God has revealed all we need for happiness and peace. But we have to let his word impact the way we think if it's going to make a difference in our lives. St. Paul tells us, "Be transformed by the renewal of your mind." Jesus told his apostles who he knew would face tremendous trials. Do not let your hearts be troubled. He wasn't inviting them to receive peace. He was commanding them to claim it. Want God's word to make a difference in you? Be transformed by the renewal of your mind. It starts by not letting your hearts be troubled or given to fear, anxiety, negativity, and constant complaining. Fill your heart with gratitude, truth, beauty, goodness, and the things of God. Then, regardless of your circumstances, you'll see Jesus making all the difference in you. This is Christophanic from realife catholic.com on EWTN radio.

[00:09:35]It's called Communion with Dr. David Andrews on this Friday afternoon. Not just any live Friday afternoon. We are actually uh looking forward to the feast of Pentecost. Maybe David, before we go to the phones, you could uh say a few words about Pentecost, perhaps what it means to you. Um well, Pentecost is this is the is the celebration of the birthday of the church when the Holy Spirit was poured out on the gathered apostles and and the the work of taking the gospel to the world, fulfilling Christ's admonition to the apostles that they go into all nations and make disciples and teach them everything he'd commanded. This is where they get the the high octane juice to go do that, right? That's that's the beginning of the spread of Christianity throughout the world. So, uh, no Pentecost, uh, no Catholic church for me to be a part of, and I'm very privileged to be a part of this community.

[00:10:23]>> Yes, indeed. Be sure to join us this Sunday afternoon, 2:30 Eastern, as we broadcast the solemn mass in honor of the Holy Spirit's descent upon the Apostles. That'll be coming to you from the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception with Cardinal Wilton Gregory as your celebrate. also at 9:30 p.m. uh Eastern on uh Sunday evening. We'll also bring you the uh mass with uh Pope Leo and that's coming up 9:30 p.m. Eastern on EWTN radio and television on Sunday. And if you're ready now, let's go to the phones at 833288 EWTN. Here is Pam in Forts Collins, Colorado, listening on the EWTN app. Hey there, Pam. What's on your mind today?

[00:11:06]>> Hi Tom. Hi Dr. Anders. I wonder if you could explain to me Dr. Anders, I know it's I don't think it's a requirement to become a Catholic, but um devotion to the Sacred Heart of Mary, uh or consecration rather to the Sacred Heart of Mary. My understanding is she's supposed to use all of my good works, my prayers, and and and use them where they need to be used most. So, can I still pray for my mother by name who's dying?

[00:11:35]Can I pray for my friends that have asked me to pray for them? How does Mary use prayers like that?

[00:11:41]>> Okay. Yeah, sure. First of all, absolutely. Yes. So, pray pray for all the people in the world you want to pray for. It would be it would be kind of a sad devotion if consecration to Mary meant that we had to cut off our concern, our spiritual concern for everybody else, right? So, we don't want to do it that way. Yeah. Absolutely.

[00:11:56]>> So, you know, there's a couple things with consecrating oneself to the blessed virgin Mary. Um, first of all, it means that one has just made a decision. one's made a commitment to to take the blessed virgin Mary in a very special way as the the way I'm going to frame my understanding of my relationship to God in the Christian faith, right? That that we know that Mary is the perfect disciple who says an unequivocal yes to God, be it done to me according to thy word. And so there there really is almost nothing else to the Christian faith other than just an unequivocal yes to God. And to have her example constantly before my eyes, I mean uh there's a lot of ways to take St. Louis de Montford, but but when he says that Mary and devotion is the quickest, easiest way to sanctity, I think the most helpful way of understanding that is to say, look, you once you can inhabit Mary's point of view, you've got it licked.

[00:12:57]>> Yeah.

[00:12:57]>> Right. Once you get that, you it's the whole show, man. Just total surrender to to the will of God. Mary exemplifies that. I don't have to go poking around for other examples. I remember once in my own life many years ago when I was a new Catholic, I was sort of getting into the whole saint thing and I need a patron for this and a patron for that.

[00:13:14]And I remember thinking, uh, man, you know, as a husband and a father, I need a I need a good patron for for like Catholic family life. And I and I went to prayer and I was like, you know, God, please help me to discern like who is a good patron. And I could I barely finished the sentence before I was like, "Duh, it's the Holy Family. Duh.

[00:13:35]>> Of course, >> duh." You know, I was trying to find something a little bit more exotic, and I was like, "Don't need to look any farther." You know, and uh and so that's great. That that's that's number one in what it means to be consecrated. I'm just committing myself to that process of interior reflection and meditation where I just continually bring my consciousness back to the example of Mary as a Christian uh disciple. And the second aspect of course is trust in her intercession and which we believe to be uniquely efficacious. All the saints can pray for us. Mary's intercession uniquely efficacious. And and I think for for me my understanding is that one of the great values of this kind of consecration if I'm if I'm I'm determined to let her figure out what I need. I sort of remember I don't know if you ever saw the Pixar movie Cars, right? And Light Lightning McQueen the race the race car you know goes into the tire shop owned by Luigi and he wants to buy a new set of tires and Luigi comes around and he doesn't have arms but he as it were kind of puts his arm around Lightning McQueen his his you know his front wheels and he says you don't know what you need Luigi he know what you need right then he sells him a pair of white walls you know um but uh that's that's that's sort of the idea here we don't know what we need right the blessed virgin Mary she know what we need >> and and There's something tremendously liberating about sort of surrendering the need to solve everybody else's problems and you know identify them. There's a there's a kind of a neurotic way of praying that was inculcated in me before I was Catholic, which is that, you know, a good time spent in prayer is I've got a list, you know, of everybody and everything and every concern. And I just go down the list and if I, you know, it might take me 30 minutes or an hour or whatever, but it's just going down the list and then I feel like I've really accomplished something. I've named everybody on the list. I prayed for all my friends in relations. And you know, Christ says, "Don't think don't pray like the pagans who think they'll be heard because of their many words." St. Augustine by contrast once said that the that all Christian prayer ought to ultimately converge on the Lord's prayer and in particular the petition thy will be done.

[00:15:45]>> Absolutely.

[00:15:46]>> Which is just I mean it's just the mirror image of the you know be it done to me according to thy word. That's the pray of the blessed virgin. And there's something about that profound simplicity, right? Because one thing we know, God's in control. His providence is in control. If um uh if God's in control, his will is going to get done whether I want it to or not. So the prayer is really a prayer not about changing God's activity in the world, but changing my attitude.

[00:16:12]>> God, your will is going to be done. Let me get on board with that. Right >> now, of course, that doesn't mean that you should you should relinquish your your human heartfelt concern for your loved ones. Of course not. Um but uh but a kind of attitude adjustment if you will where you realize that you know you don't know what you need but Mary she know what you need.

[00:16:34]>> That's right. Is that helpful for you Pam?

[00:16:37]>> Yes Dr. Andrew. Thank you. I need an attitude adjustment. My mother was right. I need an attitude adjustment.

[00:16:42]You're exactly right. Thank you for explaining it that way.

[00:16:44]>> Okay. Thank you.

[00:16:45]>> Thank you Pam for your call from Fort Collins. Let's open up a line for you right now at 833288 EWTN. Call or text 833-288-3986.

[00:16:58]Fascinating email we received from Jerry who says, "Dr. Andrew, yesterday I was contacted with urgency to take communion to a dying lady who is Roman Catholic.

[00:17:09]Her daughter and her husband and I are members of the Episcopal Church. We live in rural North Carolina. Unfortunately, not only was there not a Roman Catholic priest, but no Episcopal priest was available either. I am a licensed lay eucharistic minister with the Episcopal Church. I immediately called my bishop to understand if and what I might be allowed to do. Given the sense of urgency, he walked me through the appropriate offices for lay persons within our book of common prayer. I did take the sacraments blessed by an Episcopal priest to her and her family.

[00:17:47]She was in and out of consciousness at the time. Here's my question. Have I in any way inhibited her eternal life with God? I know enough about Roman Catholic expectations to realize my actions were not ideal. I pray that I have not failed her. I do listen to you on SiriusXM when time allows. And uh thank you so much in faith. Jerry, >> Jerry, thank you so much and thank you so much for your care and solicitude for yours. You said mother-in-law, right?

[00:18:14]Mother-in-law for your mother-in-law and for all the sick and dying and the ministry that you have within your own communion. So, I profoundly appreciate all of that.

[00:18:21]>> Well, actually, I'm I'm sorry. It was not a mother-in-law. It was uh contacted her her daughter and her husband.

[00:18:29]Anyway, but it wasn't >> Okay. Okay.

[00:18:33]Same thing. Same same difference. All right. I appreciate your pastoral concern, right, and your and and I really appreciate your desire to do the right thing. Okay.

[00:18:41]>> Now, um, from the Catholic point of view, if this woman had been in her had in her right mind, which it sounds like she wasn't, she was lapsing in and out of consciousness.

[00:18:53]>> Um, and uh, and she knew her Catholic theology, she would not have partaken of communion presented to her uh, from a priest that the church would not regard as having valid orders. Right? So Cath I mean if I I as a Catholic somebody Episcopalian offered me holy communion I would have to decline right. Um, no offense meant to the Episcopalian, but that's a matter of conscience for me, right? Um, now my guess is someone who's lapsing in and in consciousness on their deathbed um, and they see someone who presents as a Eucharistic uh, minister shows up at their bedside with the blessed sacrament or what by all appearances seems to be the blessed sacrament is probably not in a state to discern well who who consecrated this and you know and so she if she took communion is probably in ignorance of what she was doing and in good faith and therefore that wouldn't constitute any kind problem for her because if if she was conscientiously communing in another church and rejecting her identity with Catholicism, well, that'd be problematic. But she didn't understand it that way. Right? Now, again, as a Catholic, we would not regard that as having received Viaticum. Vaticanum is part of the last rights. It's your final communion before you die. We would not regard her as having received Viaticum, but Vaticanum is not a necessity for going to heaven. I mean, absent that, you don't, it's not like you're damned or something. Um it's a tremendous comfort and uh you know viaticum literally means is it's a compilation of the Latin words via takum with you on the way.

[00:20:24]>> Oh wow.

[00:20:24]>> Right. You're you're on your way. You're on your journey off to the next life and here is Christ accompanying you in the blessed sacrament. Right. So we wouldn't regard that as a valid Vatican. So we wouldn't regard that as being the real presence of Christ. But again, you know, might it have been of some psychological comfort to her, you know, even if misunderstood but innocently taken? Yes, pro perhaps. And and and there's a you there's a concept in Catholic sacramental theology that God can step in sometimes and provide grace um when there's something uh missing in the human action. Right? So, it's important to have valid sacraments so that we have objective certainty about their efficacy. It doesn't mean that God can't extend grace to people in extraordinary ways, right? And so, we're going to hope in the mercy of God here in his will for all people to be saved. You know, as far as your conscience is concerned, it seems to me you have a very tender conscience. Um, you're really trying to do the right thing here. I'm certainly not going to fault you. I mean, you operated within the confines of your own tradition and your theological belief, and I'm not going to criticize you for being sincere to your own tradition, right? So yeah, it didn't shake out the way probably everybody would want to had to to have done at the end of the day, but you meant well. I'm sure she meant well. Mistakes were made. Nobody's really at fault.

[00:21:40]>> Very good, Jerry. Thank you so much for your care and for your concern. We do appreciate you. I will show David a little PS that he wrote at the bottom of his email that is not for air, but it's a very kind thing to say. Call to Communion here on EWTN. Still time for your phone call at 833288 EWTN if you have a question for Dr. David Anders or perhaps you'd like to explain to us uh what is stopping you from becoming a Catholic. Well 833288 EWTN call or text 8332883986.

[00:22:13]Let's go to Claire in Cincinnati listening on the great Sacred Heart Radio AM740.

[00:22:18]Hello Claire. What's on your mind today?

[00:22:21]>> Um hi. Uh, thank you for taking my call.

[00:22:24]And, um, Dr. Anders um said something to your previous caller that hit a nerve with me. Um, I struggle with my prayer um, and praying for um, so many people.

[00:22:36]I have a laundry list of people that I pray for every day. Do I need to go down the list and mention everyone or is there some kind of a prayer that you can recommend that would cover everybody and all their needs? Um, I feel like when I name each name and mention all their needs, um, I it it's sort of taking away from the, um, I don't know. Um, it it just seems like there ought to be a better way to pray for everybody.

[00:23:06]>> So, let let's let's talk about the good and the bad here and and and alternatives. Uh, there is a point in going down the list to naming everybody and their needs.

[00:23:17]What is that point? The point is not to let God know what you need. God knows what you need. Yes, >> he knows what you need before you ask.

[00:23:24]>> The value here is that if and this is a beautiful habit, by the way. So, my hats off to you. I have a lot of respect for you.

[00:23:32]>> When we have a habit of of bringing to mind all of the people that we know and their needs and we bring them before the Lord, God's not reminded of their needs, but we are. We are. And so, you know, if I pray for Sally and I know that Sally's got a big problem in her life and I bring that before the Lord, the next time I see Sally, I'm more likely to be aware of Sally and her needs because I just prayed about that.

[00:23:54]>> Yeah. Yeah.

[00:23:55]>> Right. So, that's a great thing. On the other hand, it can become kind of neurotic if I feel like, oh my gosh, I didn't pray for Sally and her needs today and is that might mean God's not going to give her grace and is it all my fault and I've got to I've got to pray her out of this problem. And you can see how that could that could be problematic. And and like you suggested, it maybe feels a little burdensome at times. And it's just a matter of seeking God's help. Yeah. There's no there's nothing wrong with saying, "God, I got a lot of people I care about. You know who they are. Please be with them. Like I my heart is overwhelmed with compassion for these folks and concern and uh you know what? It's it can be kind of painful to bring them all to mind and I I can't do that right now. So just Lord be with them all. Just you know who they are, Lord. Just bless them." That's a perfectly fine prayer as well. You know, prayer, there's an awful lot of leeway in prayer. Tremendous amount of leeway.

[00:24:44]The important thing is pray.

[00:24:46]And we have one model that Jesus gave us in the Lord's prayer, the our father.

[00:24:51]Not a lot of petitions in there, right?

[00:24:53]And pretty simple in its construction.

[00:24:56]Very good prayer. Beyond that, just kind of do what you will. Love you. St. Augustine said, "Love and do what you will."

[00:25:03]>> Okay. Is that helpful for you, Claire?

[00:25:05]>> Very much so. Thank you very much.

[00:25:07]>> Thank you. Thanks for your call from uh Cincinnati, the great Sacred Heart Radio, which is uh coming up on their 25th anniversary. They're very excited there in the Cincinnati area. As a matter of fact, at their banquet uh coming up, they're going to have our very own Father Wade Man's as the keynote speaker. So, that'll be nice.

[00:25:24]>> Fantastic.

[00:25:25]>> All right. In a moment, we're going to get back to the phones here at 833288 EWTN. Still time for your call or text 833-288-3986 or if you wish send us an email ctc atewtn.com.

[00:25:42]Still plenty of time left to get in that call 833288WTN.

[00:25:46]Do stay with us.

[00:26:01]This is Father Thomas Mororrow. The month of May is dedicated to the blessed mother. Let us pray. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

[00:26:30]This is Dr. Matthew Bunson. Join us for the news and topics that affect your life on Register Radio, Saturday afternoon, 4 Eastern on EWTN Radio.

[00:26:41]>> This is Life Issues with Victor Nieves, president of Life Issues Institute.

[00:26:46]>> A so-called expert in Canada is now advocating that those who suffer with eating disorders should be eligible to be killed by euthanasia. Already innocent people in Canada have been approved for death for things like poverty, disability, and reasons outside of any terminal diagnosis. During parliamentary debates about the continued legalization and expansion of Canada's maid program, Dr. Mona Gupta was pressed about whether or not conditions like eating disorders are sufficient reasons for euthanasia, to which she replied, "Potentially. Euthan Asia laws have a proven track record of expansion far beyond the initial safeguards. When the sanctity of life is discarded, no one is safe in the long term.

[00:27:34]>> For more information, follow us on social media at Life Issues Institute.

[00:27:41]>> The Global Catholic Network.

[00:27:43]>> This is EWTN Radio. I'm Deacon Harold Burke Civers. Join me for Beacon of Truth today at 400 p.m. Eastern. On the next Speaking of Truth, talking religious switch from Catholicism.

[00:27:54]>> Now back to Call to Communion with Dr. David Anders.

[00:28:05]Hey, still time for your phone calls to EWTN's Call to Communion with Dr. David Anders. That number 833288 EWTN. Call or text 833-2883986.

[00:28:18]Congratulations to another of our longtime EWTN radio partners, Immaculate Heart Radio, serving Hopkinsville, Kentucky, celebrating 23 years with us.

[00:28:29]Wow. Congratulations to Jim Monroe and his team there at WSP. Familiar friends here at EWTN. Let's go back to Cincinnati and talk with an also listening on the great Sacred Heart Radio AM740. Hello, Anne. What's on your mind today?

[00:28:46]Um, I was kind of reflecting on the other woman's comment and my question about prayer and um, h how you include everybody, but I guess I want to understand what happens if we offer to pray for someone and we forget to or we say we're going to pray for them later and we kind of scoop them up with everybody else.

[00:29:08]we have to make amends for the fact that maybe on occasion we we that comes out and we forget to do it or we get lost in the day and we forget who it was we were supposed to be praying for.

[00:29:17]>> So I will I will give you my personal opinion and this this this has about as much authority as like me handicapping the next I don't know US Open tennis match. Okay? I mean like you you take my advice or not, right? It's just me.

[00:29:31]Okay?

[00:29:32]I would really not want to burden you with that kind of responsibility because when you say to somebody, I'm going to pray for you. I I know what you mean. Your heart is in the right place. And it's not like you would neglect that out of malice. So don't don't add, you know, a psychological burden to yourself that really nobody can bear. I mean, none of us have a perfect Well, maybe a couple people, but most people don't have a perfect memory except Tom Price for for like top 40 records in the 1970s, >> which will not get me to heaven, by the way.

[00:30:04]>> Well, St. Thomas says, "Anything you do in the state of grace can get you to heaven." So, you never know. You never know.

[00:30:08]>> Maybe there's hope after all.

[00:30:09]>> Um, and uh, but because I'm just a wee bit scrupulous myself, just a wee bit.

[00:30:15]I'm not as scrupulous as some, but I have a touch of it. So, what I personally do is I'll say, "I'm gonna try to pray for you."

[00:30:23]Ah, I like that.

[00:30:25]>> Now, if I said I'm going to pray for you and I didn't, I I really wouldn't beat myself up about it. But I I just have developed a habit of I'm going to I try to be sparing in my commitments because I know myself and I'm I may not follow through as well as I want to. So, I just I'm going to I'm going to try to pray for you, you know, I'm keep that in mind, you know.

[00:30:41]>> Yeah.

[00:30:42]>> Cut yourself a break, right?

[00:30:43]>> That's right.

[00:30:44]>> And thanks so much uh for your phone call. We got a text from John and this is regarding St. Carlo.

[00:30:50]Um and uh he says upon watching live adoration his saintthood seems to validate the power of the presence over the media.

[00:31:00]There must be he must be talking about like a live webcam where it's showing uh the body of uh St. Carlo.

[00:31:07]>> Yeah. Yeah.

[00:31:08]>> Interesting.

[00:31:09]>> Yeah. So I I I'm not quite sure what to make of that comment. Um, I mean, is he saying that because Carlo Audis is has has a sort of increased his media presence that he's taking that as evidence that he has some sort of power over the media? I is that the argument?

[00:31:29]>> I'm not sure.

[00:31:30]>> And uh I would, you know, Carl Cutis is a saint. He's been canonized by the Catholic Church. So that means he we can pray to him. His intercession is efficacious. He's a man of holiness, you know, heroic charity and so forth. And so there's a kind of power there, a kind of holiness, a supernatural power associated with those that are victorious in Christ. I don't know that I wouldn't want to base it on his social media presence, right? Because there's certainly a lot of people that can rise in public consciousness through media without being saints. And quite the contrary, >> I will say that when we were in Aisi a couple of weeks ago, uh we went to the tomb of St. Carlo and uh he's >> I believe incorrupt. And the very encouraging thing to me, obviously it was great to be there, but the encouraging thing to me, and this was on a weekday, is the hundreds and hundreds of young people who were lined up to see him.

[00:32:23]>> Yeah, >> that was so so powerful. Call to Communion here on EWTM. Let's go to Sandra now. First time caller from Virginia, listening on SiriusXM channel 130. Hey Sandra, what's on your mind today?

[00:32:37]Sandra in Virginia, are you there?

[00:32:41]>> Oh, yes. Hi. Hi. Um >> I sorry about that. Um I speaking of the prayers and stuff, I know, you know, God is omnipresent. Excuse me. Sorry, I got allergies. Um, and I know he knows my thoughts and my prayers, but when I'm praying to the saints or if I'm praying, you know, a chaplet or something, uh, um, do I need to be moving my lips or do the saints also know our thoughts and things like that?

[00:33:09]>> Thank you so much. So, so one thing we can know for sure is that before the resurrection of the dead that comes when when Christ returns, the saints who are presently enjoying the presence of God don't have ears.

[00:33:24]>> They don't have ears, right? Because they don't have bodies. They're just they're just separated souls. Um and so whether I move my mouth or not, they're being aware of my prayers can't possibly have anything to do with sound waves.

[00:33:39]because they don't have ears.

[00:33:40]>> Well, that's true.

[00:33:41]>> Right. And even if they did have ears, they don't have some sort of microphone dropped down, you know, through the stratosphere into my house, you know.

[00:33:47]So, that's not how they would be aware of them.

[00:33:50]>> The only way a saint could be aware of your prayers is if the spirit of God makes the content of your prayer known to the saint. It's the only way. It's the only way. And if God knows your secret thoughts, then he can certainly transmit those to a saint if that's the way prayer to the saints works.

[00:34:07]>> All right. Thanks so much for your call, Sandra, from Virginia. It's called a to communion here on EWTN. Still time for a few more phone calls at 833288 EWTN. That's 833-2883986.

[00:34:20]You can call us or text us. Here's a text that just came in from Colin. I was wondering why the Catholic Church permits natural family planning but not contraception even though in both cases you would be intentionally trying to circumvent a pregnancy.

[00:34:35]>> Yeah, thanks. I I we get this question from time to time and let me let me um put it a couple different ways. First of all, sometimes people will phrase it this way. They say, "Well, there's really no difference between contraception and natural family planning." Oh, yeah.

[00:34:51]Then it won't make a difference which you pick. Try it.

[00:34:55]>> See if it makes a difference. Well, well, well, well, well. It's a huge lifestyle difference.

[00:35:01]>> It is.

[00:35:02]>> It's a huge lifestyle difference.

[00:35:04]Um and the the intent of natural family planning um is is to refrain from sexual activity when uh you're likely to be fertile.

[00:35:22]That's that's a very different way of spacing your family, right? And of course, you are theoretically open to life at other times, however improbable they might be, right? Uh meaning if you get pregnant, you're not going to do anything to thwart that. Okay, God sent us a baby. And like granted, the natural family planning is very effective if we follow all the rules. A lot of people don't follow the rules.

[00:35:51]There are a lot of natural family planning babies out there, you know. Um there was an old joke before they had natural family planning. You know they had the rhythm method. Yeah.

[00:36:00]>> The joke was what do you call people who practice the rhythm method?

[00:36:04]>> You know this one?

[00:36:05]>> I don't.

[00:36:05]>> Parents.

[00:36:06]>> Oh boom. That's a good one. Call to communion here on EWTN. Colin, thank you so much for your text. Here's a question from Ryan who says, "How does the substance of the bread change from before consecration to after?"

[00:36:23]>> Yes. So uh it becomes the substance of Christ's body and blood from from substance of bread to substance of Christ's body and blood. If you want me to analyze that at the biochemical level, I cannot I cannot. We don't have that information.

[00:36:44]>> Okay, Ryan, thanks so much uh for your email. Here's one now from excuse me Karen who says, "How do I answer a Protestant who says the Eucharist is not Jesus's body because he said quote the flesh profits nothing?"

[00:36:59]>> Yes. So that's a very common Protestant quip. It it it may it may date to earlier than Zwingley, but I'm only aware of this argument being articulated in the 1520s by Uric Zwingley, who is the first person to really sort of dogmatically reject the idea, not the first, but since the reformation era, the first to dogmatically reject the idea of the real presence. And the problem is that this remark comes in the gospel of John. If uh if you if you think that John's statement, the flesh counts for nothing. If you think that means that God doesn't make use of material media, which is the way that's presented, right? That the material media themselves cannot be a media of the transcendent.

[00:37:44]It undercuts John's argument about the incarnation >> that that the word became flesh and dwelt among us. Well, you know, the flesh counts for nothing.

[00:37:55]But the word became flesh and dwelt among us. Well, you know that the flesh counts for nothing. So if you if you press the logic of that objection, you've got to you have to conclude that John chapter 1 is about an irrelevant event that the incarnation has no meaning in the context of the gospel of John because after all the flesh counts for nothing. But that's the wrong way to read it. That's not the sense of flesh that John has in mind. He's what he's talking about here is the the people without the spirit, that's the flesh, who are not able to accept the things of God, such as the teaching that in the Eucharist we partake of Christ's true body and true blood. Without the spirit, the flesh cannot accept that teaching.

[00:38:35]So, it actually teaches the opposite of what Zwingley thought it taught.

[00:38:40]>> Karen, thank you so much for your email called to communion here on EWTN.

[00:38:44]Tonight on EWTN News in Depth with Katherine Hedro, she'll be joined by Bishop Robert Baron to discuss his role on the religious liberty committee.

[00:38:54]Also, funding for special education, how Catholic schools are ensuring all students have a place in the classroom.

[00:39:02]EWTN News in depth with Katherine Hadro coming up tonight, 8:00 PM Eastern on EWTN radio and television. Let's go to Agnes now somewhere here in the South.

[00:39:12]Hello, Agnes. what's on your mind today?

[00:39:15]>> Hi there. Um I have a dilemma. My priest um in our church is every time he does the sermon, he is constantly talking about the children and what they are doing and how great it is. And he'll talk about that at length. Like last Sunday he talked about the teenagers and they're doing this and and the little ones and how wonderful it is.

[00:39:40]Um, so the problem is he um is not speaking on the gospel. So I'm sorry I'm pumping.

[00:39:50]So um so he's not speaking anything about the gospel reading. He's just talking about kids in the parish.

[00:40:01]>> Okay.

[00:40:02]>> And it's not fulfilling me spiritually.

[00:40:06]We have a deacon who gives great sermons. Um, he's wonderful, but this priest is new to be a pastor. He's only been in our parish a year. He's not young. He's 60some. But he I just want to know what I should do and should I went online and I looked up canon law about what the points are a priest should be doing in his gospel readings or his sermons and it gave three points and it's not anything he's doing. So, what should I do?

[00:40:38]>> Yeah. Thanks. So this is bad. He's not meeting his lurggical responsibility here. The church has a lot to say about pastoral homalies and it has provided a lot of resources. Uh Pope Francis in his apostolic exhortation evangelium uh has a long section on homalytics and how priests have to take it very seriously and do proper preparation etc etc etc. There are resources that the church provides for pastors and and priests and deacons who preach. One of the most useful is something called the directory of homalytics. And the directory of homalytics goes through the lurggical year, all the cycles and the readings and it lays out uh points uh that uh that that could very reasonably be included in any homaly. Now they tell you you're not just supposed to read the directory in homalytics and just reproduce it word for word. You're supposed to use that to guide you in crafting your own homaly. I know that admonition. And I have sat through so many homalies when I thought why didn't the man just read the nar directory of homalytics like out loud to us that would be so much better you know >> um as a priest of our dasis my dasis I remember I was I was at um his parish for daily mass one time and he stood up to to to offer the daily homaly and he said you know I could have come in here and written a homaly for this but I was reading a reflection this morning by bishop Robert Baron and it was just better than anything I could produce I'm going to read you what Father Baron has to say. It might have been Father Baron at that time. And I thought, >> how decent and humble of that man, right? To just acknowledge that I want to give you something valuable. I don't maybe have the as much skill to do this as somebody else. I found something really good. I want to share. I'm going to share it. You know, that was a perfectly reasonable thing to do.

[00:42:20]>> Uh there was a time in the Irish church when the bishop would tell all the priests of the dasis every week, this is what you are to preach on this week. And so wherever whatever parish you went to in the dasis, you you may not have the same homaly, but you had the same subject matter and the priests were required to do that by the bishop's orders. So there's just there's just a lot of ways around this problem. This is not um now you know before I absolutely throw the guy under the bus, public speaking is hard for a lot of people. It is >> right. And there's there there may be more possibilities, but there's at least two explanations for this behavior. one is is culpable indifference and irresponsibility.

[00:43:03]That is a real possibility.

[00:43:05]>> Yeah, >> let's hope that's not the case.

[00:43:08]>> The other one is that the priest lacks confidence in his ability and he hates writing homalies and he hates delivering homalies and he gets a big knot in his stomach and he's deeply anxious about it, etc., etc., etc. And and this is a there's a there's a kind of he's got a hangup about this. He's got a fixation and he doesn't know how to get over it, right? And he'd be too massively too embarrassed to ask anybody else for help because some other priest in the dasis preaches well and he he's not going to go to that guy because it makes him look like an idiot. And I mean all those human things come into play.

[00:43:39]>> Sure.

[00:43:39]>> Now you as a like a a lone lay person, there's probably very little you can do here unless you're close to the priest, >> right? Someone who's close to him could speak to this issue. The other thing is that there are tools for pastoral renewal like for example the ministry the aposttoate amazing parish that have recommendations for the organization of pastoral ministry. One of which is pastors should have a dedicated group of lay people in their parish with whom they share their homalies in advance.

[00:44:16]>> Oh >> and and receive critical feedback.

[00:44:19]>> Okay. And common sense tells us that can only help.

[00:44:26]>> Sure.

[00:44:26]>> Now, most priests are not going to want to do that for all the reasons that they would not want to do it. Right?

[00:44:33]>> But they should. They should. You know, humbly submitting your work to the inspection of other people and taking their advice is almost always a good idea. So, you might be able to come at this thing in an indirect way. like could you get a core group of people in your parish really jazzed about something like Amazing Parish or Dynamic Catholic or or Rebuilt or or one of these sort of pastoral renewal things that goes on in the parish and then and then do you remember I don't know if you ever saw the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding.

[00:45:05]>> Loved it.

[00:45:05]>> Right. And there's a scene in the film, of course, where where the um uh the character of Tula wants to uh leave the working in the family restaurant and go work for her aunt who runs a tourist uh business. I mean, a travel agency travel agency. And the problem is they know their father won't agree to the move.

[00:45:23]And so, so her mother says, "I got this covered, right?" And she says, "Daddy's so stubborn." He says, "You know, he's the head of the family." And she says, "Yeah, but the woman is the neck and she can turn the head whichever way she wants it." Right? So they have this big scheme where they all go in to the restaurant and they they lay out a problem and they lay out all the elements of the solution without actually suggesting them and they go, "What do we do here?"

[00:45:45]>> And then the father suggests that Tula go work for the aunt and imagines that his own brilliant idea and they all pat him on the back and tell him what a genius he is for coming up with what they actually wanted to begin with.

[00:45:56]That's a great scene. And uh so you might pull a little bit of a piece of practical human wisdom out of my big fat Greek wedding and say, "What if we what if we could bring this kind of renewal ministry to the parish and get father jazzed about the idea he's going to renew his parish? It'll all be his doing and everybody will give him accolades and oh by the way, it'll involve having a kind of lay committee that reviews your homalies ahead of time, right?" You know, I mean, I'm just I'm just, you know, spitballing here. brainstorming because this is this could be a real intractable problem. People don't usually take >> advice well, you know, especially people they're not close to. And when you add these sort of clergy ley divide, if he is at all given towards the vice of clericalism, that makes it doubly hard for him to listen to lay people when they tell him that he's doing a lousy job.

[00:46:43]>> Yeah, Agnes, thanks so much for your call. We do appreciate hearing from you.

[00:46:47]It is called to communion here on EWTN.

[00:46:49]Chris is in Orange County, California, listening on SiriusXM channel 130. Hey there, Chris. What's on your mind today?

[00:46:57]>> Uh, hello doctor. I would like to know how one obtains the apostolic pardon and when a person gets past 75, is it good to do not to put a do not resuscitate order or resuscitate order in?

[00:47:10]>> Yeah, thanks. I appreciate the question.

[00:47:12]So with respect to an apostolic pardon, one receives that by requesting last rights from a priest uh that the apostolic pardon should normally be given as a part of last rights. Now for reasons that I don't understand, it does occasionally happen that a priest will show up and he will hear your confession, he will anoint you, he will give you viaticum and for whatever crazy reason refrains from giving the apostolic pardon. That that has happened. It's happened to more than one person that I know. And so what you do is you say, "Uh, father, what about the apostolic pardon?" Oh, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. The apostolic pardon. You know, I think some priests dispositionally and ideologically have a kind of prejudice against the idea of a plenary indulgence.

[00:47:56]>> Really, I I mean, I've met them. I know priests that take that position. Okay, >> they shouldn't, but there are some who do, and so they may just not naturally make that a part of the deal, but you have the right to ask for it if they don't volunteer. It should be a part of last rights. Um, is it okay to have a do not resuscitate? Um, it well it is with qualifications, right? So, what the church says is that we are not obligated to do everything medically possible to preserve a life because I mean at the end of the day, we are going to die. Okay. Um, you are not allowed to do anything that seeks to actively bring about a person's death, right? So, you can't administer any drugs. You can't commit euthanasia, right? And you can't withhold food and water if food and water would naturally prolong a person's life. Now there are situations where you can no longer metabolize food. You your kidneys shut down. You can't take in the water. Yeah.

[00:48:48]>> Then there's no point in it, right? Then you can you can withhold food and water and maybe somebody dies of that, but that you're not you're not they wouldn't it wouldn't help them if you gave it to them, right?

[00:48:58]>> Yeah.

[00:48:59]>> Um there are uh uh you don't have to put in a pacemaker.

[00:49:06]You can't turn one off in order to kill somebody, >> right? So these are subtle distinctions.

[00:49:11]Sure. Right. So you're not you're not actively trying to bring about death, but it's okay to not pursue every outcome to continue living, especially when the medical intervention is costly, either in physical pain or emotional trauma or or financial cost, has low chance of success, and won't meaningfully extend a person's life, you know. So you don't have to do everything possible to prolong life. Appreciate that. Uh Chris, thanks for checking in from Southern California. We have this email from Johan who lives in Belgium.

[00:49:44]Johan listens to the EWTN app. And here is his question. As a Catholic Christian, am I morally obliged to stay in a toxic and narcissistic marriage with ongoing emotional abuse and manipulation? or can separation sometimes be the right choice according to church teaching?

[00:50:04]>> Yeah, thanks. So, there are times when it seems necessary to seek to separate from one's lawful validly married spouse. That's tragic. Um, if if one is validly married, that's a big f, but if one is validly married and one decides that one has no choice but to separate, and I can give you some instances where that would be acceptable.

[00:50:27]um one is of course not free to remarry and so you would just live alone or you know with friends or something but you wouldn't be able to take another spouse right because you you have a valid spouse now maybe you're not validly married and the anolments in the cards I can't I can't prejudge that what are some circumstances that would necessitate this um I had a relative that was a a violent and neurotic person who um was prone to fits of rage and um it was my grandma father actually and they're all dead now so I can say this and uh my stepgrandfather uh called my father one time and he said uh you know my wife is standing at the door of my bedroom which I have barricaded with an axe beating on the door saying she's going to murder me what should I do my father's response was quite reasonably I don't sleep where they're threatening to kill me right you know I mean that that's a pretty that's kind of a dead ringer um let's say you are trying to practice your Catholic faith >> and someone is heaping ridicule and appropriate your Catholic faith and scandalizing your children and making it in absolutely intolerable to try to practice Catholicism in the midst of their animosity. That would be another reason. Someone's abusing drugs um uh you know someone's actively engaging in immorality that you know so I you know there's got to be a judgment call there. I'm not going to make the judgment call for you. I would recommend that you seek counsel from a pastor for example about you know does this does this rise to that level of seriousness where life has become literally intolerable. Uh but yeah it it you you can do this. Now St. Paul talks about this in first Corinthians. He says don't divorce your wife. But if you do you have to remain unmarried unless be reconciled to your spouse. So you know this tragic I hope it doesn't come to that. If it does um you know God be with you. It's going to be a cross to bear to you know it's a cross you to bear either way right. And so this is suffering that comes into our life and I'm very sorry.

[00:52:20]>> Johan, thanks for your email from Belgium. We'll close with this one from Avery. Could we attribute the passage from Isaiah that says, "I have called you by name. You are mine." Could we attribute that passage to Jesus?

[00:52:34]>> Sure. So St. Augustine particularly with reference to the Psalms thought that the best way to read the Psalms was to read the voice of Christ in them. And so in this case like when you read the prayers of the psalmist he Augustine said this is Jesus praying to the father in the mouth of the psalmist right and and that's of course not literally true. Um and so you know critical scholars and historians are going to find out what did Isaiah mean in his historical context. That's a different part of biblical interpretation. But as as part of allegory um and the spiritual sense yeah if this is edifying to you that's fine.

[00:53:10]>> Okay. And uh Avery, thank you so much uh for your email. What a fantastic program this was. Dr. David Anders, have a great weekend.

[00:53:18]>> Thanks, Tom.

[00:53:18]>> Hope everybody has a great weekend. We will see you live again on Tuesday.

[00:53:22]Obviously, Memorial Day, we will uh not be here, but uh we hope that you will be here to check out all the wonderful programming on EWTN Radio. Find out about what's up with us at EWTN.com/listen.

[00:53:36]EWTN.com/listen.

[00:53:38]On behalf of our great team including uh Ace and Matt, I'm Tom Price along with Dr. David Anders. You have that great weekend as well. We will see you in here on Tuesday. Have a wonderful one and God bless.

[00:54:02]A Maria in the afternoon with Dr. Marcus Peter. An engaging take on the church, culture, and current events.

[00:54:09]>> Hi, I'm Marcus Peter. Tune in weekdays from 5 to 6:00 p.m. Eastern, as we examine the world around us, past and present, through the lens of faith, from the heart of the church. So join me in conversation with our guests.