Hello, and welcome to no nonsense Catholic. I'm your host,
Matthew Arnold for Virgin, most powerful radio.
Great to have you along with us on this Wednesday live,
or whenever you happen to be listening, whether it's via podcast on the, uh,
or on, uh, our app or on our website, or, uh,
watching it on rumble or any of the number of ways that you can access this
program got a lot to talk about. We're gonna be talking later, uh,
about something, which if you are Catholic,
you've probably heard enough about to the last, the rest of your life,
which is active participation, but I wanted to just, uh,
actually talk about the, um, all of the stuff that we do at mass, the standing,
the sitting, the, the kneeling,
and where did all those postures come from and what are their significance,
you know,
are we just going through the motions or are we actively participating?
Are we conscious about what those things mean? Uh,
also it is September and this is the month of our lady of sorrows
also known as our lady queen of Martys and, um,
gonna be talking a little bit about the seven sorrows, uh,
later on in the program, if there's time also wanted to, um,
to cover a couple of verses, we did, uh, week before last,
I believe doing 10 memorable sings of Jesus.
And we only got through the first eight,
so hopefully we can sandwich in the last two, but, uh, in the meantime,
we're gonna begin with the gospel from last Sunday, as we always do. And we've,
uh, been going through the ordinary form gospels, which, uh,
last Sunday was the 24th, Sunday in ordinary time.
And it's a rather long gospel. In fact, it's the entire 15th chapter of Luke.
And, uh,
and I have to admit to succumbing to the temptation to give this program, uh,
uh, a bit, or this episode, rather a bit of a click bait, uh, style title.
I call it the lost parables of Luke. And,
and so they are not in the sense that they've been misplaced, but that, uh,
it is a collection of parables on that theme of the lost a lost
sheep, a lost coin, a lost sun. And since it's so long,
I'm gonna actually offer my commentary after each section,
rather than, you know, saving it all for the end of the way that we normally do,
because you know, so much time will have a elapsed.
And I imagine it's gonna spill into the next segment. So, uh, it begins,
this is, um, the gospel, according to Luke chapter 15.
Now the tax collectors and sinners were all crowding around to listen to Jesus
and the Pharisees and the scribes. He began to complain saying this man,
welcome sinners and eats with them. Now, why were the Pharisees and the,
and the teachers of the law so upset with Jesus associating with these people?
Well, the Jewish leaders of course,
were always careful to remain ritually clean, right?
According to the old Testament law,
they want out of their way to avoid being defiled by anything.
So, you know, to become ritually unclean. In fact,
they went beyond the law in their avoidance of certain people and,
and situations now, by contrast,
Jesus often risked defilement by associating with sinners,
even touching those, uh, who, who had leprosy, you know,
because we know that that when he touched the 10 lepers, for example,
rather than becoming defiled himself, they were made clean.
And that's the point.
Our Lord came to offer salvation precisely to sinners and to show
how God loves them. He didn't worry. Pardon me about the accusations.
Uh, regardless of the effect that these, uh, you know,
rejected people might have on his reputation.
So there's a question here for you and me,
right in the very first two verses of this gospel, what is it that keeps you,
or me away from people who need Christ
moving on now to the parable of the lost sheep. Therefore,
he told them this parable, which one of you,
if you have a hundred sheep and lose,
one of them will not leave the 99 in the wilderness and go after the one that
is lost until he finds it. And when he does find it,
he lays it on his shoulders. Joyfully. Then when he returns home,
he calls together his friends and neighbors and says to them,
rejoice with me because I have found my sheep that was lost
in the same way. I tell you, there will be more rejoicing in heaven,
over one sinner who repents than over 99 righteous people who have no
need of repentance. So at first glance,
it might seem silly to, uh,
for a shepherd to leave 99 sheep to go after just one.
But the shepherd knew that his 99 sheep would be safe in the sheep fold.
Whereas the lost sheep, the one who was out in, you know,
the wilderness was in danger. And because, uh,
each sheep was of a high value,
the shepherd knew that it was worthwhile to search for that lost sheep.
And we have here an illustration of our Lord's compassionate love
for the individual sinner at Jesus associated with sinners,
because he wanted to bring the lost, she,
these people who were considered unclean,
even beyond hope he wanted to bring to them precisely the good news of the
kingdom. You know, it's,
it's beyond humbling for me to think that before my conversion,
God was seeking me, you know, uh, when I was at the R C I a,
I remember I had this, you know, was a,
a revelation to me not only was there in fact, a personal God,
but he was personally concerned about yours truly, you know, and,
and this is also true for, for all those people, uh,
for whose conversion you're praying,
God's love is still seeking the lost sheep
and the lost sheep. Of course also signifies the sinner who, you know,
obeying his own evil inclinations.
And the temptations of sin would separate himself from Jesus, right?
Someone who's already a believer, but, but, but, uh,
they shut out from the faithful boy mortal sin. And, but our savior,
he doesn't withdraw his love from the wandering soul,
just as he works for the conversion of sinners during his earthly ministry.
He still goes after sinners today. Uh, he calls him by his grace,
right? So by, uh, through the priests and, and through family and friends and,
and through, you know, the scriptures,
he invites the sin to return once more to the fold by means of the sacrament of
penance. And when Jesus has found the law sheep,
he supports him on, on the road of penance and receives him back with joy.
And I it's well to remember that Jesus doesn't do this for his own sake.
You know, he he's, God, God is, is entirely self-sufficient.
He's the only necessary being, you know, he doesn't,
he doesn't need the straying sinner. He doesn't need that lost cheap.
On the contrary, he seeks him out,
out of pure love and compassion for the poor singer himself.
Who's wandering around in the darkness in danger of falling into the abyss of
hell. And it, it was because the good shepherd and his friends,
as it says in the scriptures, were so anxious about the salvation of that sheep,
which was endangered that their joy at his return is so great and,
and shows itself more outwardly than, than, you know, the kind of reserved joy,
that calm joy, um, that they have over the faithful, who,
who walk with him without wandering off the path of salvation.
Uh, we also learned from this parable,
the important doctrine that it is God who gives the first
impulse to con the conversion or justification of a sinner that it's,
God's grace that moves him to be converted, right. That grace,
which is conveyed through inward inspiration by, you know, uh,
the preaching or the warning words of others,
or the words of scripture and so on. Um, or also even by, uh,
misfortune or sickness, those things can be pre evident,
graces that are, that are helping this sinner to,
to come back to the right path. And,
and it's God who supports the sinner by his grace until he's
restored to that state of justification through, uh,
the confession through the holy sacrament of reconciliation.
Also it mentions that they're about rejoicing in heaven over a repentance
sinner. So if,
if the inhabitants of heaven are rejoicing over the conversion of sinners,
they must know about it, right?
So it follows therefore that the angels in saints in heaven,
not only know about us, but care about us and pray for us.
And that of course is the doctrine of the communion of saints right there in the
holy scripture. Uh,
next step is the parable of the lost coin is very brief or what woman
having 10 coins and losing one would not light a lamp and sweep the house
searching carefully until she finds it. And when she does find it,
she calls together her friends and neighbors and says to them, rejoice with me,
because I have found the coin that I lost in the same way. I tell you,
there will be rejoicing among the angels of God over one sinner who repents
now, first thing, why does Jesus mention that the woman had 10 coins?
Uh, and it's literally 10 DMAs. Uh, you know,
why include that particular detail? She lost a coin.
Why do we need to know that she had 10 to begin with? You know, it's,
it's just a parable, it's a fictional story to make a point. Well,
back in those days,
Palestinian women traditionally received 10 dropouts,
10 silver coins as a wedding gift.
So every one of our Lord's first hears the people that heard this parable the,
the first time would've understood immediately that beyond the monetary value
of this coin,
it would've had a special sentimental value as part of a set of 10 coins,
which was a wedding gift. You know, just as everybody today would understand,
uh, how distressing it would be to lose your wedding ring or, you know,
to misplace your, your wedding photo album. And,
and just as a woman in that situation would have rejoiced with her friends at
finding the lost coin. So once again, the angels, he says,
likewise, rejoice over a repentant sinner.
And he's emphasizing this comforting truth that each individual
is precious to God.
And he personally grieves over every loss and
rejoices whenever any one of his lost chief is found and brought into the
kingdom or back into the kingdom.
And clearly we should share our Lord's love and concern for the lost
and also rejoice like the angels in heaven at their return.
Okay. We have just a, a minute or so left in this segment.
So I'm going to save the, the last part of the gospel for the next segment,
which is the, the, the last and longest, uh,
of the parables in Luke 15, which is the parable of the lost son,
also known as the parable of the prodigal son. But since it is,
um, September, and it is the, uh,
feast of our, or the the month that is dedicated to our lady of sorrows,
also known as our lady queen of martyrs. When we come back also gonna be saying,
uh, uh, a quick prayer for tomorrow's feast of our lady of sorrows.
So stay with us and we will be right back after this O more known nonsense
Catholic here on Virgin, most powerful radio
There, welcome back to no nonsense Catholic.
We're talking about the lost parables of Luke. And, uh, like I said,
that's kind of click baby, but, uh,
really it refers to the parables of Luke chapter 15, which are on that,
that theme, the lost cheap, the lost coin. And now, uh, the final parable,
the lost son or the, the prodigal son, uh,
and let's see, it goes like beginning in verse 11. Then he said,
pardon me, a man had two sons. And the younger son said to his father,
father, give me the share of your estate that should come to me.
So the father divided the property between them. After a few days,
the younger son collected all his belongings and set off to a distant country
where he squandered his inheritance on a life of dissipation that's
over indulgence and temperance demonst.
When he had freely spent everything, a severe famine struck that country,
and he found himself in dire need.
So he hired himself out to one of the local citizens who sent him to his farm to
tend the swine.
And he longed to eat his fill of the pods on which the swine fed,
but nobody gave him any coming to his senses. He thought,
how many of my fathers hired workers have more than enough food to eat,
but here am I dying from hunger?
I shall get up and go to my father. And I shall say to him, father,
I have sinned against heaven. And against you,
I no longer deserve to be called your son,
treat me as you would treat one of your hired workers.
So he got up and went back to his father while he was still a long way off.
His father caught sight of him and was filled with compassion.
He ran to his son, embraced him and kissed him. His son said to him, father,
I have sinned against heaven. And against you,
I no longer deserve to be called your son,
but his father ordered his servants quickly,
bring the finest robe and put it on him,
put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet,
take the fated calf and slaughter it.
Let us celebrate with a feast because this son of mine was dead and has
come to life again. He was lost and has been found.
Then the celebration began. Now,
the older son had been out in the field and on his way back as he near to the
house, he heard the sound of music and dancing.
He called one of the servants and asked what this might mean.
The servant said to him,
your brother has returned and your father has slaughtered the fated calf
because he has him back safe and sound. He became angry.
And when he refused to enter the house,
his father came out and pleaded with him. He said to his father in reply,
look all these years, I served you.
And not once did I disobey your orders yet?
You never gave me even a young goat to feast on with my friends.
But when your son returns,
who swallowed up your property with prostitutes for him,
you slaughter the fated calf. He said to him, my son,
you are here with me. Always, everything I have is yours,
but now we must celebrate and rejoice because your brother was dead and has come
to life again, he was lost and has been found
thus far the words of the holy gospel. Now, according to the,
the Jewish law of inheritance,
the younger son received only half,
or maybe even a third of what the eldest received.
But as long as the father was alive, of course,
he was in no way bound to give his sons their future inheritance.
But rather than force the prodigal son to stay against his will,
the father gave him his inheritance,
knowing very well that he was going to squander his fortune.
Uh, the scripture says he went to a distant country or, uh, the old translation,
a far country. Now the,
the son hoped to have more Liberty the further away he got from his father's
house. And we can assume he went to, to Gentile territory someplace,
very worldly, because while for one thing, they're raising pigs there. Um,
uh, but he, he, he shaved under the discipline of his home life.
Uh, he, he shaved under his father's supervision. He considered those, you know,
you know, parental restrictions to be unnecessary and undignified.
And he felt sure that he would be happier if he was his own master. Uh, if,
if I can just do what I like, then I'll be happy, whatever I want. Right? So,
so the actual happiness,
the calm happiness of his father's home no longer satisfied him.
He found it monotonous. He found it, uh, uh, wearisome.
He longed for the freedom, really the license, uh,
of noisy pleasures, thinking that a worldly life would be a happy life.
His father warned him,
but he cast his warnings to the four wins and defiantly left home.
Now he scripture says he squandered his inheritance in dissipation.
Uh, the old Dewey says in riotous living, right?
So we can imagine he joined himself to, to flatterers to, to lude companions.
He indulged in drinking and feasting and presumably other less worthy pleasures.
But when the money ran out and the famine came, he found himself in dire need,
right?
His friends quickly forsook him when he ran outta money and they couldn't get
anything more out of him.
So he had to accept the most degrading situation
imaginable, uh, for a Jew at that time, which would've been,
you know, just to keep himself from dying with starvation,
which was feeding pigs, right? Again, uh, according to the mosaic law,
pigs are unclean animals. It's all over Leviticus and Deuteronomy.
That means that pigs could not be eaten. They could not be, uh,
used as a sacrifice. Couldn't even touch a pig, you know, to,
to protect themselves from, from defilement, a Jew wouldn't even get near one.
So for, for a Jew to start to stoop, to feeding pigs, you know,
for a living is, uh, was a great humiliation.
And for this young man to not even eating the pigs, he's eating the pigs,
wanting to eat the pigs food, the food that they had touched, would've been,
you know, it's unbelievably degrading.
He had truly sunk to the depths, right? He had hit rock bottom.
As we say today, once the proud and headstrong son of a rich father,
he's now clothing, rags, defiled, and hungry tab boot.
Um, and so what does, what does he do?
He says coming to his senses, right? He decided to, to go home.
I like the, the, um, the translation, the old due way translation,
which is the English translations of the Latin Vulgate,
where it says entering into himself. Right.
It's a profound expression.
I think that he entered into himself because it may be said that he had
been outside of himself, or we might say beside himself,
he hadn't really thought seriously about himself or his future.
Clearly he he'd been entirely given over to pleasure. He lived carelessly,
you know, just, just hand to mouth day to day. And okay.
And for those of you who are parents and grandparents, ,
you're probably finding this very familiar,
but now he's forced to enter into himself to ask himself,
you know, why have I fallen to this miserable condition? What's become of me.
And then the scripture tells us he calls to mind, uh,
his father's house and that even his father's, uh,
hired workers like day laborers were better off than he was.
And he recognized that he had only himself to blame. And so, you know,
regretting that he ever left home,
he makes the resolution to return at once to his father to confess his sin,
to humbly beg, to be received by him once more,
even planned what he was gonna say, I have sinned, he's gonna tell his father,
right? In other words, he, he took the blame on himself.
Didn't try and excuse himself, uh, on account of his youth or, you know,
the influence of bad companions. I have sinned against heaven,
which is to say against God, my heavenly father, and against you. Uh,
my earthly father,
I no longer deserve to be called your son.
So you can see how humble, uh, this boy had become who was once so proud.
He was now willing to serve his father in the lowest place to do any work.
If only he would forgive him. And so Jesus says he got up,
boy, those are some important words right there.
That means that he carried out the resolution right away.
And I don't doubt that a young man, uh, in,
in that position would say to himself, you know,
what are people gonna say when they see me coming home with my tail between my
legs, but he overcame his pride and he was resolved to,
you know, accept the consequences of his sin.
If only he could obtain his father's forgiveness.
And in scripture tells us while he was yet a far way off, his father saw him.
Now that suggests that the father was,
was watching that he was always looking in,
in the hope that he might see his son returning.
And when he does see his son, he sees the wretched condition that he's in.
He's immediately moved to, to, you know, uh, compassion for his son.
He orders the servants to bring him a robe and a ring and shoes to restore
everything to him that is befitting to a son of the family.
And scripture says, then the celebration began or in that the,
the doing room says, and they began to be Mary. You know,
Jesus is painting this picture of, of gratitude of the son,
the joy of the father and, and the rejoicing of all the,
the household over the, the master,
whom they love that he would no longer have to grieve over this lost child,
but the elder son, uh, he didn't understand. He didn't, he,
he didn't couldn't wrap his mind around the way his father was treating this
returned prodigal and, and his frustration.
He made out that his father loved his brother more than him, you know? Um,
and the father says, no, you are always with me.
In other words, everything I have is yours. You,
you have far more than your brother and don't, you appreciate what you have.
Aren't you happy that you never left. That you've always that, you know,
you've always had everything that you need,
but it was hard for that older brother to accept his younger brother when he
returned just as it's difficult sometimes for, for, uh,
Christians to accept people who have been far from the church and, and,
you know, lead these notoriously sinful lives.
And then they repent and they want to come back.
And they're often held in suspicion when really we should rejoice like the
angels when a sinner,
repents and turns to God and give them the support and the encouragement that
they need. I can tell you when I converted to Catholicism,
there were an awful lot of people in,
in my little circle in Hollywood that were quite surprised by this. All right.
And there were some people on the other side of things who doubted my sincerity
and, and it was difficult, but there it is.
The older brother's response is a contrast to the father's response,
the father forgave,
because he was filled with love and the son older son refused to forgive cuz
he's bitter about what he perceived as an injustice.
So his resentment renders him just as lost to the father's love
as his younger brother had been. You know, of course, in a context,
our Lord is told, is parable. Uh, with the older brother,
obviously representing the Pharisees who were angry and resentful that he was
welcoming sinners. And you can imagine what the, the, they must have thought,
you know, after all we've sacrificed and,
and all we've done and everything that we've done for God, you know,
that he would be welcoming these, these sinners and, uh,
tax collectors and whatnot.
And it's easy to resent God's forgiveness of others. When we, you know,
especially when we consider them to be far worse, sinners than ourselves.
But if self righteousness gets in the way of rejoicing,
when others come to Jesus, then we're no better than the Pharisees. And,
and that's no known sense. This is,
this is a beautiful and a much beloved parable because through it, God,
or Jesus shows us just how willing and even eager almighty God is to receive
the penitent center and how happy he is at his return. And,
and to put it as plainly as possible. Um,
you know, uh, I've only got 10 seconds less,
but it said it's taken my voice away from me. All right.
back with a conclusion in a couple of seconds right here to enjoy these
messages and return with more, no nonsense Catholic,
Welcome back to no nonsense. Catholic.
I apologize for the little train wreck at the end of the last segment there, uh,
when we went to commercial, our engineer rich, he said to me, Matthew,
Arnold at a loss, for words, ,
it's like wants a sign of the apocalypse.
Apparently what I wanted to say though, just to, to,
to sum up is that God loves us more even
than, than we desire to be loved.
And he wants to forgive us even more than we want to be forgiven.
And that's no nonsense. Okay. Um, like I said, if you're,
if you're Catholic, if you have, um, uh,
unless you've been living under a rock for the last 40 years, you have heard,
uh, as,
probably as many times as you ever wanted to the words active participation in,
in regard to the liturgy. And, um, you know, I,
I got to thinking about this and I actually, um,
ran across a little booklet a while back. My wife, Betty works at the, uh,
you know, part-time at a, uh, bookshop at Catholic bookstore.
And, uh,
I was picking her up a while back and I ran across a booklet by father Edward
Stan called loving the holy mass. I thought, well, that's a good title.
And, um, in the introduction to his book, he, uh,
he writes about giving talks to the youth.
He's a young priest out talking to youth groups,
trying to instill in them and encouraging them a love of the holy mess. And,
uh, and he said it was extremely frustrating.
And the reason he said that is that, that, that after his talk,
the first question the kids always ask is always the same.
How late can I come to mass and still fulfill my Sunday obligation?
Right. He's trying to get them to love it. And they're trying to say, you know,
you know, how,
how much of it do I have to really be there for the second question he said is
also always the same,
how soon can I leave mass and still fulfill my obligation?
And he said that, uh,
their number one impression of the mass is that it's boring.
And I suspect that's not just true of kids and many adults as well.
And maybe even you, and I'm not gonna, you know, I don't want to get into,
um, you know, comparing and contrasting the two forms of the Roman, right.
In this regard. But, uh, but just ask why this should be,
uh, and first off, I would say, you know, mass isn't meant to be entertaining.
So, you know, if at your parish or whatever,
they're trying to make mass more enjoyable or more relatable or, or, you know,
whatever that is at best ill conceived,
because mass isn't about holding your attention. It's about worshiping God.
And of course, like I've, I've said a million times, the,
the world can do entertainment far better than your youth director can.
Mass is about worshiping God.
It's about making present the once for all sacrifice of Christ
sacramentally here.
And now it's about the body blood soul and divinity of Christ becoming present,
present under the appearance of bread and wine.
It is nothing short of a miracle,
but just as the majority of people who were present at Calvary didn't understand
the true nature of what was going on, what was happening on the cross, you know,
you and I,
we're not gonna understand the true nature of what's happening at mass on the
altar,
unless we are engaged with the spiritual realities that can only be perceived
with the eyes of faith. Now, uh, today I just, I wanted to,
to address some concrete ways to help you experiencing those spiritual
realities. Uh, I regularly pray five decades of the rosary.
You know, I meditate on the joyful sorrowful and glorious mysteries, uh,
you know, um, in rotation there every now and again, I,
uh, am inspired to pray the chaplain of John Paul II also known as the luminous
mysteries, uh, you know, here on the,
the Virgin most powerful app or following this program, uh,
wherever you're listening is gonna be the daily rosary. And we have, uh,
we included the joyful mysteries when we produce that.
So it's me and Terry and Jesse, uh,
praying all these sets of mysteries, not just the,
the three sets of, um, Dominican mysteries, but also the,
the luminous mysteries of John Paul II. Now, according to my prayer book, which,
and I always pray with the prayer book, cuz it has little meditations in it,
the, the petition for the fifth luminous mystery, because, you know,
every mystery has, uh, uh, some virtue attached to it, right? For example,
in the agony of a garden,
we pray that God would grant us true contrition or at, uh,
the Ascension we ask for an increase of the virtue of hope and so forth. And,
um, at the fifth luminous mystery, which is the institution of the Eucharist,
the virtue that we pray for is to attain active participation at
mass active participation. There it is, again,
this was obviously a watchword at Vatican two,
especially after the introduction of the new mass, you know, after the council,
but it had already been a maximum of the liturgical movement for a hundred
years, all the way back to the time of Pope Pius the 10th. And, uh,
and even before, in fact it was Pius the 10th who coined the motto,
don't just pray at mass pray the mass, which of course in his day,
that meant following along with the prayers in a hand missile, which would have,
you know, the Latin in one column and the vernacular, uh, right next to it.
But Pius 10th thought that, uh, taught that the faithful should know by heart,
all the parts of the mass that pertain to them in Latin.
So all the responses and, you know, the, the creed, the, the Sanctus,
the Gloria, et cetera,
and this then was echoed by the council fathers of Vatican too.
Not everybody knows this, but in the constitution on the sacred liturgy SAC,
chillum it says that all the faithful should be able to, uh,
sing or pray the parts of the mass that are, you know, um,
unique to them or specific to them in Latin. So,
so this then is active participation. Uh, ,
that's a new word participation and that is to engage the heart and the
mind, the voice and the body in the worship of God.
Now I can remember, um, prior to my conversion,
I would go to mass with my fiance and then my wife,
I converted after we were married for, uh, a few years.
And I can remember being a non-Catholic and,
and how awkward it felt to not know what to say when everybody was responding
and not know when to stand or to sit or to kneel. And I recall wondering,
and what is this all about?
What's the purpose of all this standing and sitting and all this stand up,
sit down, fight, fight, fight, you know, um, they didn't mean anything to me,
uh, as an outsider years later. I remember remember, um,
my mom and dad who were not Catholic came to my middle daughter's
first communion mass, which was AMAs in the extraordinary form. And,
you know,
during the CRAO at the words at incar who zest everybody kneels,
and then when they get to at homo funest, everybody sends up again.
And then we all sit down when the priest sits down, while the choir finishes,
chanting the creed,
and then the priest gets up and goes to the altar and says Dominus PHCU.
And everybody stands up and says it conspiracy to twoo. And then he says, oh,
Ramos turns back to the altar. And we all sit down again.
And I remember my poor silver haired, old mother, and God rest,
her soul was just, you know, didn't know what to do. And she's standing,
she's sitting and sitting. And finally, when we all sat back down, you know,
she had just managed to,
to get back to her feet after the Arras and we all immediately sat down again
and she said out loud, oh, for heaven's sake oh,
never for forget it. Uh, anyway, but prior, prior to the modern era,
uh, prior to the Novi auto, really there,
there were no rubrics governing the postures of the congregation.
You know, when to sand sit or Neil was a matter of local custom,
hence the old saying when in Rome due was the Romans do, and,
and this all became more universal after the council of Trent, uh, you know, uh,
then, then the codification of the Roman, right by Paul fifth,
where everybody was, you know, called upon to do as the Romans do.
But even then there was still no official rules if you will,
for the congregation.
And what most people did was simply to imitate the acolytes in Choire
right. And the chairs on either side of the sanctuary, you know,
you stand when they stand, sit, when they sit, et cetera. Uh,
and these postures of the acolytes that were in the
sanctuary,
those were governed by the rubrics and each posture also had a specific meaning.
Now, in any case, there's a lot of activity, uh, uh, you know,
in the pew at holy mass,
but active participation is more than merely going through the motions.
You know,
I don't know how many times I've heard the joke about a Catholic entering a
movie theater and flecting before he takes a seat, you know,
just out of force a habit.
But the point is it's well to know the meaning of these various postures and to
be conscious of them rather than just acting out of routine.
So to begin with the sitting, okay,
sitting is a posture of listening.
And so we sit for the epistle or for, you know, the,
the readings of multiple in, in the, uh, ordinary form. Uh,
we sit for the responsorial Psalm or the gradual in the,
or extraordinary form. We also, uh,
sit for the homily and during the offer tour or preparation of the gifts
sitting shows that we're ready to hear and to receive, we sit to listen
standing. Now we stand for prayer. Standing has been a posture of prayer for,
uh, the Jewish people,
the old covenant people since before the time of Christ standing during prayer
was, is, uh, demonstrated in various parts of the Bible.
So as Catholics, we continue to use that posture, uh,
for liturgical prayer today. You know, some examples at mass, we stand,
uh, when we pray the, the Detroit, right, the, the opening, um,
verse, you know, when they process in, at the church, we,
we pray stand during the opening prayer, which called the colict.
We stand for the Lord's prayer.
We stand for the prayers of the faithful in the Nova Soto, et cetera. Uh,
we stand for the preface before the, um, before the, the,
the, uh, cannon, right, the Eucharistic prayer. We also stand for the creed, uh,
the recitation of what Christians have believed from the earliest times.
So we stand to affirm our unity and our beliefs,
uh, as Catholic Christians. Uh,
we also stand for the gospel now in our culture, standing is a sign of respect,
but, and we certainly have, uh, you know, a particular respect for the gospel,
which is the words Indeeds of Jesus himself,
but traditionally standing for the gospel re represented,
being prepared to take the gospel into the world, right. To be on your feet,
to be ready to share, and to defend the gospel or in, in other words,
to stand up for the gospel. Okay. And then finally, you know,
we stand for the procession when they possess in and, uh, when they press out,
possess out both the beginning and end of mass, it's a sign of respect for the,
for the celebrant who, uh, you know, is acting in persona Christie.
And, and then finally we have the kneeling.
So when you go to enter a pew, uh,
if the tabernacle is reserved in the sanctuary, you genuflect before you, uh,
take your seat,
touch a need to the floor to acknowledge the presence of Christ in the
Eucharist, in the tabernacle.
Because of course we believe that he is present there, body blood, soul,
and divinity. All right. A little bit more on this. And then, uh, uh,
talk about our radio sorrows. When we come back for round four, um, no nonsense.
Aaron's most powerful radio stay with us. We'll be right back.
Okay. Welcome back to no nonsense Catholic. Uh,
we were talking about the various postures that we use at the holy mass as the
congregation.
And we had just gotten to kneeling and I was talking about flecting um,
before entering the pew, if the blessed sacrament is reserved in the sanctuary,
because that's what you're, flecting, you're,
flecting before the presence of the Lord, you know, as Catholics,
we believe that when Jesus said this is my body, he meant it literally,
and that, uh, he's veiled under the appearance of bread and wine,
but he's truly present there. And,
and it's something the very earliest Christians believed and have continued to
believe right through to the present day.
So we acknowledge that by genuine flexion. Uh, if,
if the ALIST SAC is not reserved on the altar, if it's in a,
a Eucharistic chapel or something, uh, outside of,
of the sanctuary, then you bow, uh,
profoundly before the altar, because that's where the sacrifice takes place.
And unfortunately I've seen in recent years, uh, uh,
fewer and fewer Catholics gen deflecting bowing, or, or anything, you know,
it's now, now they're, instead of acting like a Catholic and a movie theater,
they're acting like a movie theater patron in a church.
And I think that's unfortunate because gen reflection is a powerful sign that
demonstrates that we truly believe that Jesus is present in the tabernacle,
that Jesus is Lord, uh,
to whom every ne must bow in heaven on earth and under the earth.
And then we get to, uh, finally kneeling proper, you know,
kneeling is a posture of something more than respect.
I remember years ago in, in Los Angeles,
up in Canada that, uh,
the bishops wanted people to stand through the consecration. Uh,
and you know, a lot of people kind of, uh, uh, vaulted that. And they said,
well, but it's because in our culture, we stand out of respect, right?
So when a judge comes into a courtroom, you stand,
and my response to that is of course, you're showing respect, uh,
human respect to that judge for his office by standing. But the,
the only person you kneel before is God kneeling is a
unique posture, not of respect, but of worship.
So another time when we kneel is during the consecration,
when Jesus Christ becomes present on the altar before and after holy communion,
uh,
we kneel because we believe that Jesus is truly present on the altar and,
and he's present in the blessed sacrament. That's what makes it holy communion,
you know, and if you believe you're literally in the presence of Jesus himself,
falling to your knees is the natural thing to do.
So we always kneel during that part of the mass and we remain kneeling until the
elements are put back in the tabernacle and the tabernacle is closed, or,
and until the,
the SEIA leaves the sanctuary to go back to being reserved in the
tabernacle, in the, the chapel or wherever,
the thing is our Bo bodily attitudes are meaningful. Uh,
I tell my R CIA students, my catechumens,
these people who are preparing to receive that sacramental grand slam of baptism
first, holy communion,
confirmational in one mass that when they approach the sanctuary to receive the
blessed sacrament they should do so with their hands folded and their eyes
downcast. And I suppose some people think that in this day and age,
maybe that's a little extreme, but, you know, I have to, to ask you,
would it be better to tell 'em to approach the blessed sacrament with, you know,
eyes roaming and arms swinging? You know,
to ask the question is to answer it because the way we move our
body most reflects the state of our mind and affects the state of our
mind. If you're sitting, standing,
kneeling all at the right times and your heart isn't in it, uh,
or if you're distracted or you're not conscious of the reason why you're doing
it in the first place, then you will lose the benefit, uh,
that those postures are meant to accomplish. And if you come on the other hand,
though,
you come into holy mass and you gen reflect towards the tabernacle because
you're humbly acknowledging Christ's true presence.
And if you sit intent on listening with your whole heart, mind, and soul,
and you stand with, with your heart focused on prayer,
and you kneel an adoration in the presence of your savior,
then your actions are true, quote unquote,
active participation, and not just going through the motions.
And that's no nonsense. All right. I mentioned, uh, last week,
and again,
a couple of times today that September is especially dedicated to our lady
of sorrows also, uh,
known sometimes as the month of our lady queen of martyrs. And, um,
I did a DVD and an audio version of it, uh,
but a DVD a few years back on the seven sorrows and devotion to the seven
sorrows. And if you're interested, you can go, uh, to formed.org.
And, you know,
if you have a formed membership or your parish has a foreign membership,
you can go there and access it for free. And if not, you can, uh,
go to pro multimedia.com and order yourself one, uh,
either as a download or whatever. I'm not here to do a commercial.
The point is , I did a presentation of the seven sorrows, and, um,
I just wanted to mention it's a wonderful devotion. It's ancient devotion. Uh,
the sorrows of Mary of course are scriptural and they are as follows.
The first is the prophecy of Simian from Luke chapter two.
Then the flight into Egypt from Matthew chapter two,
the loss of the child, Jesus for three days, which is from Luke two,
the carrying of the cross, uh, you know, variously in the gospels.
I think of John 19, um, uh, the crucifixion of Jesus,
uh, is number five. Number six,
Jesus is taken down from the cross and number seven, Jesus is laid in the tomb.
Our lady was there for all of these things,
experiencing that sorrow that pierced her soul like a
sword. It's one of my favorite images of our lady of sorrows is, um,
I think it's 19th century has a medieval feel to it. And it's our lady,
you know, uh, crowned,
but with her eyes downcast and actually seven swords piercing her
immaculate heart, it is, you know, I mean,
mean as a visual reputation representation, very powerful. And so, um,
our lady actually appeared to, uh,
sing tude back in the 14th century. No, no St.
Bridget of Sweden in the 14th century,
back in the 13th hundreds and made seven promises for those who would
pray seven hail Marys every day in honor,
of each of her seven sorrows, she said,
I will grant peace to their families.
They will be enlightened about the divine mysteries.
I will console them in their pains and I will accompany them in their work.
Number four,
I will give them as much as they ask for as long as it does not oppose the
adorable will of my divine son or the sanctification of their souls.
Number five, I will defend them in their spiritual battles with the feral enemy,
and I will protect them at every instant of their lives. Number six,
I will visibly help them at the moment of their death.
They will see the face of their mother that alone
is, is worth, uh, practicing this devotion. And number seven,
I have obtained this grace from my divine son,
that those who propagate this devotion to my tears and sorrows will be taken
directly from this earthly life to eternal happiness,
since all their sins will be forgiven,
and my son will be their eternal consolation and joy.
Beautiful. There's also a,
a rosary of the seven sorrows. Uh, it's also known as the, um,
cite rosary,
and there's a special chap of seven groups of, uh,
hail Mary's. And, um,
and that's also included in that presentation that I did,
that you can go to formed.org and, and check out more about that,
or just go online this, you know, uh, your Catholic bookstore,
any place is gonna have, um,
information about devotion to the seven sorrows devotion to the
Dolores as they're called of our lady. And, uh, very worthwhile,
especially most, especially during this particular month, that is, uh,
annually devoted to our lady of sorrows.
And she's also known as our lady queen of martyrs.
And it's well to remember that we, uh,
should pray for those who are being persecuted for their Christian faith.
There's probably, there's wide more widespread persecution,
more people that are being, um, that are suffering for their faith today,
right now, today, probably that at any time in our 2000 year history,
so extremely important, uh, um,
that we remember during this month, the martyrs that we pray for,
uh,
prayed to those martyrs that have been raised to the altars and pray for those
martyrs that are suffering persecution today,
and to be devoted to our lady, especially in her seven sorrows.
All right. You know what? I got a couple of minutes left. I did last week.
Um, no, a week before last,
we did a segment on 10 memorable sayings of our Lord.
We only got through eight of them, so I'm gonna do one now,
probably another one next week, just to, uh, to round it out. Cuz I said,
I would, all right, number nine on that list was from John six,
verse 44,
no one can come to me unless the father who sent me draws him and I will raise
him up on the last day.
And those words were said in the context of our Lord's Eucharistic discourse,
where he was insisting on his real presence in the Eucharist and it was not
being well received as you, as you might remember,
how can this man give us his flesh to eat? Who can listen to this? They said,
and so this verse is, is teaching the necessity of grace that it's grace,
that draws us by enlightening us and awakening in us a desire
for salvation,
but it does not compel God leaves us at perfect Liberty
to either obey or to resist the attractions of grace.
This is the awesome power of free will to use our free will and
cooperation with the divine will, is the great work of this life.
And Jesus says, if we cooperate with his grace,
he will raise us on the last day. That's a direct reference,
by the way, to the 11th article of the apostles creed,
the resurrection of the body,
he's saying that the resurrection of the body is connected to receiving his body
and blood in the holy Eucharist.
And that's no nonsense. Um, you know, what,
on that note I wanted to let you know,
if you're not already aware that the United States conference of Catholic
bishops is, is, uh, um, promoting right now,
Eucharistic revival, they are promoting Eucharistic adoration.
They are promoting, um, Eucharistic education.
So that Catholics have, you know,
really do have a grasp of the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist.
And this is actually in response to the fact that, uh, you know,
polling data has shown that, you know, amongst, you know, certain demographics,
uh, like I think those born after a certain year, um, you know,
70% of a large group of Catholics don't know the church's teaching on the real
presence of Christ in the Eucharist,
which is absolutely central to the Catholic faith. It, it,
it it's a foundational, uh, doctrine. And so it's really important. And I,
and I applaud them for, for, uh, you know,
getting down to the business of making sure that Catholics understand that
Christ is really present body blood soul and divinity in the holy Eucharist.
And it's a good thing because Eucharistic adoration, uh, really,
as we understand it today began about 800 years ago back in the middle ages.
And, um,
and today there are actually more Catholics spending an hour in front of the
blessed sacrament every day, uh,
during our time than at any time in our history.
And that's a great thing and something that needs to be promoted, we need to,
to, to get those numbers up, we need to spend time with our Eucharistic Lord.
And even if, you know, if you can make it to mass one day a week,
other than Sunday, you know, once out of obligation and once out of love,
spend a few minutes before mass,
a few minutes after mass in the presence of our Lord in the holy Eucharist and
see if it doesn't change your life and the lives of the people that you're
praying for until next time I wanna say thank you so very much for being with
us. Um, uh,
and for everything that you do to support Virgin most powerful in our holy
faith. Thank God richly bless you and your family.