Transcription
Thanks for tuning in to Everything Catholic again. Now, regarding the wars and conflicts dominating the news headlines these days, along with rising gas prices and everything else, I'd like to share with you this message from Father Iani on how we can navigate these difficult times.
Well, I would say to those people that are experiencing a bit of fright, insecurity, fear, and possibly panic on account of the rising prices in Asia, in some parts of Europe, in the Americas, on account of the unrest in the Middle East, [snorts] that number one, never lose your peace, which is not your peace. It's the peace of God sewed in your heart. But in order for you to maintain this peace, you have to first and foremost have a steadfast daily prayer life. If you don't, you will be distracted by the negativity of the news every day. That will overwhelm you. So you have to break away from it from time to time. And never sacrifice your prayer life for these distractions. Always have your prayer life fixed. Be faithful to certain prayers you do every day. You can add but never never detract from them.
Now another thing Jesus in the ecclesially approved true life and God prophetic revelations has continue to tell us for this generation these messages are meant that he has sent out his angels and they're still being sent out today to seal with the sign of the cross luminous invisible cross on the forehead his elect. So that when the day of fire comes, it will not touch them. And that everything that's happening now is completely under God's control because God in his omniscience for sees everything. And he has provided from eternity the remedy for everything in these end times. That is why he's sending out his blessed mother to give us the peace plan for our families, for our loved ones, for our friends, for our country. And that peace plan consists in the same messages we find at Magigoria Rey. She asks three hours a day. Many people say that's impossible, but that's because they don't understand what she means by prayer. Prayer is not being on your knees all the time. Prayer means cultivating the awareness of the presence of Christ 24/7. So, if you're talking, let's say, with someone about religion, that's a prayer. If you're participating in the mass, um, watching a religious broadcast, walking through the park, contemplating God's beauty, um, saying the rosary even, you know, that's a more formal prayer. If you are meditating upon the Bible, listen, participating or listening into a uh theological teaching on scripture, catechetical teaching, the revelations approved by the church of true life in God, Louisa, whatever, Fina, this is all a prayer. This is all part of that three hours. Even going to confession is a prayer. So this is what she means.
So we have to number one pray every day. Number two, we have to frequent the sacraments often. They strengthen us. Let us not forget that they don't just confession just doesn't just take away sin. It infuses positive sacramental strength. [snorts] The sacrament of communion not only takes away venial sins, it also infuses with you divine fortitude which enables you to with peace cope with what's going on today. But never fear, never panic, never feel insecurity, never fall into worrisomeness or depression. If you do, it's a red flag that you have neglected your prayer life because prayer establishes intimacy with God. And intimacy infuses within you by nature courage and confidence. It is not by coincidence that Jesus told St. Palestinian in these end times have written under this image of divine mercy, Jesus I trust. I confide in you. But you cannot trust in Jesus unless you are intimate with him which is the fruit of daily prayer. And daily prayer means you are confident that God will never leave your side because in prayer you're cultivating this awareness of his perpetual presence.
Jesus tells Louisa Picareta that those souls who seek to and live in his divine will will be protected not only spiritually but physically. He tells her that just as he, the king of heaven, has his court and quarters that surround his throne, namely the angels and saints, so the souls who live on earth in his divine will have their court and quarters that protect them from the enemy's fiercest weapons. And he says, I will have regard for them and the places where they reside. He also tells her that those individuals who read the hours of the passion which has multiple seals of church approval that he dictated to her will be protected and the places there where they reside will be protected at least in part as well. So these are wonderful reassurances of our faith. Okay.
>> And in [clears throat] relation to the first clip for the second one I'd like to share with you this clip about how souls who don't have spiritual regimen will eventually fall into sins. Listen to this. Virtue is nothing other than a repeated good act. And as a muscle grows and becomes more developed and accustomed to strain and effort through repetition, likewise the virtues whereby they acquire as it were a second nature in their exercise. So in the initial years of let's say a young boy exercising the virtues there is an arduous exercise more notably frequent in that moment than in the boy's adult or mature years because the more the virtues are exercised throughout the years, the lesser arduous they become. Now it doesn't mean that once a person arrives let's say like saints John of the cross and Teresa Havila these great mystical doctors so advanced in the virtues that they no longer need to exercise them that's not what I'm saying here what I'm saying is that as the soul progresses matures in its spiritual journey to union with God's No, the effort in exercising the virtues becomes less arduous. Why? Apart from the analogy of his of a muscle experiencing greater let's say lactic acid buildup and fatigue in its initial training than in its later training. God makes us as creatures of habit. You see, this is the way God made us. When he made us in his image and likeness, he made us in such a way that not one isolated act of ours would determine our fate, but rather a series of repeated actions would do so. That's God's mercy. Had God held us to one isolated act, we would probably all be damned. Why? St. John tells us in the gospel, "Whoever says he is without sin is a liar."
Now, this does not mean that no human being had lived a life without sinning because Mary did, St. Joseph did, St. John the Baptist did, and possibly St. Alois de Gonzaga did too. There are uh testimonies in the lives of the saints in heography that attest to certain human individuals having arrived at a state of such intimate union with God that deliberate sin had ceased altogether in their lives. Now what St. John means when he says in his gospel, "Whoever says that he is a he is without sin is a liar." Is this we are conceived in sin, original sin. And even though baptism takes that original sin away, the inclination to sin remains in us. You see, throughout our journey, this is known in Latin. The council of Trent states this is known as concupisence. That is this inclination to drift from God's will without even desiring to do so. It's a law within our spiritual DNA that's wounded. And what is specifically wounded in the spiritual DNA of ours? Well, the intellect. We don't always see the ends of our actions. The will. We don't always act with the ends of our actions fully present to us and our memory. Our recall isn't perfect. That helps inform us of the present. So these three faculties of the human soul, intellect, memory, and will are impaired at the moment of conception when we are conceived in original sin. So we enter this life without personal sin but with the effects of the original sin of Adam and Eve of which we are not responsible. It's a teaching of the church. We do not bear the guilt of Adam and Eve but we suffer the consequences. But baptism takes original sin away while leaving the inclination to sin within us throughout our pilgrim pilgrimage. All right.
When we exercise therefore the Christian virtues, we are habitually repeating good acts even though they may not always be pleasing to our wounded impaired human nature. This effort of ours which is more pronounced in the initial years than in the later years of our lives is due to this resistance within human nature that we are not responsible for called original sin and its effects. But as we mature in life, we learn a regimen that we don't know in the initial years. What is a regimen? It is a schedule we all choose individually to abide by throughout our lives that helps us avoid evil and do good with elacrity. Some people may as part of this regimen adopt the rosary every day. A holy hour. Well, if you're a religious or a priest, the breviary. This is a book that they pray from three to five times a day depending upon whether they're a brother, a deacon, a sister, a priest. Or we may adopt pious or spiritual works of mercy every day such as helping the poor, visiting the sick, visiting the imprisoned, visiting the cemetery, praying for the dead, and so forth. We may also adopt frequenting daily the eukarist, receiving holy communion daily or going to confession monthly or bimonthly. By the way, the code of canon law, which is the church's constitution, so to speak, it require it suggests it doesn't require it encourages in the commentary that Catholics confess once every two months. All right? Now that doesn't mean you have to do it less or you have to do it more but it's a good standard by which to abide.
Several pontiffs in recent years including John Paul II, John the 23rd, his predecessor Benedict the 16th have confessed weekly. Now it doesn't mean that they do so because they are sinning weekly. Rather, it keeps them heightened in their awareness and in their spontaneity to God's grace. That is in responding to God's grace. By the way, the sacraments give us graces that we don't receive outside them. We cannot receive sacramental grace without the sacraments. So these pontiffs would receive the sacrament of communion daily, confession frequently and so forth. And they would administer these sacraments too of course to others. Now these and other elements from prayer to spiritual and corporal works of mercy to frequenting the sacraments help create in our lives a regimen. Now why do we need a regimen? Because it keeps us from the occasions of sin. and the occasions of sin lead us away from the exercise of the virtues. It is more arduous for a person to exercise the virtues continuously who does not have a regimen spiritual regimen than one who does. One who does not have a spiritual regimen a daily routine of prayer works will eventually fall into sin. Jesus tells this to his mystics. Certain souls that are um not docile to God's grace fall into sin over and over and over again because one they're not open to God's grace. And even though they are not deliberately explicitly refusing God's grace, their lack of a spiritual regimen is doing that for them. In other words, they're living a lifestyle contrary to Christ's will. And these individuals will always fall into sin eventually.
>> Well then, that will be all for the video this time. And as always, thank you so much for taking the time to be here with us. And hopefully all of you have learned so much from this video. And remember, ever you have any feedback or suggestion, please let us know in the comments below. And from the bottom of my heart, thank you so much for your continuous support, contributions, and prayers. And until the next one, thanks again for watching and may God bless you.