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(0:00) Hello, and welcome to the Catholic Torch Podcast, Episode 8.
We’ll start out with The Memorare.
In Nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti. Amen.
Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection, implored thy help, or sought thy intercession, was left unaided. Inspired with this confidence, I fly unto thee, O Virgin of Virgins and Mother. To thee do I come, before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful. O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in thy mercy, hear and answer me. Amen.
In Nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti. Amen.
(0:41) Today’s episode is brought to you by Juan’s Mobile Welding LLC. Thank you for your continued support (0:47) my friend. As always, anything that I say that is true and good and beautiful belongs to the honor (0:55) and glory of Our Lord and Our Lady, and anything that I say that is erroneous is purely my own fault. (1:01) And now we will continue with the Dialogue of Saint Catherine of Siena.
(1:05) I have told thee how all sins are accomplished by means of thy neighbor, through the principles (1:12) which I exposed to thee, that is, because men are deprived of the affection of love, (1:18) which gives light to every virtue, In the same way, self-love, which destroys charity and affection (1:26) towards the neighbor, is the principle and foundation of every evil. All scandals, hatred, (1:33) cruelty, and every sort of trouble proceed from this perverse root of self-love, which has poisoned (1:39) the entire world, and weakened the mystical body of the Holy Church, and the universal body of the (1:45) believers in the Christian religion; and, therefore, I said to thee that it was in the neighbor, (1:51) that is to say, in the love of him, that all virtues were founded; and, truly indeed did I say (1:58) to thee that charity gives life to all the virtues, because no virtue can be obtained without charity, (2:05) which is the pure love of Me.
Wherefore, when the soul knows herself, as we have said above, (2:12) she finds humility and hatred of her own sensual passion, for she learns the perverse law, which is (2:19) bound up in her members, and whichever fights against the spirit. And therefore arising with (2:25) hatred of her own sensuality, crushing it under the heel of reason, with great earnestness, (2:31) she discovers in herself the bounty of My goodness, through the many benefits which she has (2:36) received from Me, all of which she considers again in herself. She attributes to Me, through (2:42) humility, the knowledge which she has obtained of herself, knowing that, by My grace, I have drawn (2:50) her out of darkness and lifted her up into the light of true knowledge. When she has recognized (2:56) My goodness, she loves it without any medium, and yet at the same time with a medium, that is to say, (3:03) without the medium of herself, or of any advantage accruing to herself, and with the medium of virtue, (3:11) which she has conceived through love of Me, because she sees that, in no other way, (3:16) can she become grateful and acceptable to Me, but by conceiving hatred of sin and love of virtue; (3:23) and, when she has thus conceived by the affection of love, she immediately is delivered of fruit for (3:29) her neighbor, because, in no other way, can she act out the truth she has conceived in herself, (3:35) but loving Me in truth, in the same truth she serves her neighbor.
And it cannot be otherwise, (3:42) because love of Me and of her neighbor are one and the same thing, and, so far as the soul loves Me, (3:48) she loves her neighbor, because love towards him issues from Me. This is the means which I have (3:54) given you, that you may exercise and prove your virtue therewith; because, inasmuch as you can do (4:00) Me no profit, you should do it to your neighbor. This proves that you possess Me by grace in your (4:07) soul, producing much fruit for your neighbor, and making prayers to Me, seeking with sweet and (4:13) amorous desire My honor and the salvation of souls. The soul, enamored of My truth, never ceases to (4:21) serve the whole world in general, and more or less in a particular case, according to the disposition (4:26) of the recipient and the ardent desire of the donor, as I have shown above, when I declared to (4:33) thee that the endurance of suffering alone, without desire, was not sufficient to punish a fault. (Reference 1)
(4:39) Now we will go back through, and we will try to break it down and make sense of it, a couple (4:45) sentences at a time.
“I have told thee how all sins are accomplished by means of thy neighbor, (4:52) through the principles which I expose to thee. That is, because men are deprived of the affection (4:58) of love, which gives light to every virtue, in the same way self-love, which destroys charity (5:04) and affection towards the neighbor, is the principle and foundation of every evil. All scandals, hatred, (5:10) cruelty, and every sort of trouble, proceed from this perverse root of self-love, which has poisoned (5:17) the entire world, and weakened the mystical body of the Holy Church, and the universal body of the (5:22) believers in the Christian religion. And, therefore, I said to thee that it was in the neighbor, that is (5:28) to say, in the love of him, that all virtues were founded; and, truly indeed did I say to thee that (5:35) charity gives life to all the virtues, because no virtue can be obtained without charity, which is (5:41) the pure love of Me.”
God told Catherine in the last episode how every sin is rooted (5:48) in perverse self-love, or in other words pride, and how it had at that time even poisoned the (5:55) entire world, and weakened the mystical body of the Holy Church, that is, The Catholic Church.(6:00) The Mystical Body of The Church refers to all the members of The Catholic Church, all baptized (6:05) members. Pride had, and still has, weakened the Mystical Body of The Catholic Church. The only way (6:13) to repair this is by charity towards our neighbor, because it is the chief of all the virtues, because (6:20) it is pure love of God. Our Holy Mother had this, and she modeled it for us as well, and Jesus, (6:27) which we hear more about, but I digress. Our Lady most definitely had perfect charity. (6:34) Look at her Fiat, for example, accepting to bring our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ into the world (6:40) through her womb. Pure love of God.
“Wherefore, when the soul knows herself, as we have said above, (6:49) she finds humility and hatred of her own sensual passion, for she learns the perverse law, which is (6:55) bound up in her members, and which ever fights against the spirit. And, therefore, arising with (7:01) hatred of her own sensuality, crushing it under the heel of reason with great earnestness, she (7:07) discovers in herself the bounty of My goodness, through the many benefits which she has received (7:13) from Me, all of which she considers again in herself.”
God says once the soul knows (7:20) itself, the soul finds humility and hatred of its own sensual passion. It finds humility in the (7:26) understanding that the soul can do absolutely nothing without God, and that even the smallest (7:31) fault committed, is such an offense to God, that it deserves an infinite punishment. But God, being so (7:38) infinitely loving, and merciful, and kind, forgives us of these offenses as long as we are washed in (7:44) the Blood of the Lamb, as we referred to in Episode 4, by baptism or the Sacrament of Penance. (7:51) Now God has also said that the soul gaining this humility starts to hate its own sensual passions, (7:58) or in other words, the flesh, the world, and the devil. The soul learns about all these things (8:03) this life puts in front of us, no matter our state in life, to distract us from God, especially those (8:09) things that pertain to the concupiscible appetite, or our lower appetite. This concupiscence, or (8:16) concupiscible appetite, is the yearning of the soul for good, but usually taken too far to the (8:22) misuse of created goods or creatures, leading to the gratification of the senses. All beasts have (8:29) this same appetite. What sets us apart from them is our intellectual appetite, which they do not (8:36) have. They cannot think of higher things than their own concupiscence. A human being was created (8:43) with the gift of an intellectual appetite, as well as a concupiscible appetite, the former used to know, (8:49) love, and serve God in this life, so that we may be happy with Him in Heaven forever, and the latter (8:55) for an enjoyment also in this life, as long as it is used rightly according to reason and moderation, (9:02) or the right use of creatures. This concupiscible appetite in men has been wounded by Original Sin, (9:09) and has affected us humans, since the fall of Adam and Eve in the garden. We have now a wounded (9:14) human nature, even though baptism washes away our stain of original sin, we still are wounded by this, (9:22) and are still affected by it. Hence why God says, “the soul discovers the perverse law, which is bound (9:28) up in her members, which ever fights against the spirit.” We will, till the end of our earthly life, (9:34) be battling against this sensual appetite, because it offers comfort to our flesh, but not true rest (9:41) for our soul. This is only obtained by battling against this sensual or concupiscible appetite, (9:47) (the same meaning for both words just used interchangeably to help with understanding), (9:52) to help us move past the lower appetite, to raise our minds to God, to begin to know, love, and serve (9:58) Him in this life, so as to be happy with Him in Heaven for an eternity. God says the way to do (10:04) this is by crushing your lower appetite with the use of your reason, and great earnestness, (or (10:09) sincerity, or conviction), so as to not misuse created things. The soul then starts to discover (10:16) within themselves the bounty of God’s goodness, through all the benefits the soul has received (10:21) from God. Remember, it is said in episode 6, the same thing as I say now,
“For who distinguisheth thee, or what hast thou that thou hast not received? And if thou hast received, why dost thou glory as if thou hadst not received it? (1 Corinthians 4:7) (DRB)
God gave us life. We did nothing (10:47) to deserve it, either. We do plenty every waking moment, to deserve eternal death. But the Infinite (10:53) Goodness chooses love, and lets us decide where we want to end up, regardless of his constant urging (10:59) and calling of us back to Him. God says then the soul considers in itself all these things given (11:06) from God once again.
“She attributes to Me, through humility, the knowledge which she has (11:13) obtained of herself, knowing that, by My grace, I have drawn her out of darkness and lifted her up (11:20) into the light of true knowledge.”
The soul then humbly attributes all knowledge of (11:27) these things to coming from God, which He gave the soul by God’s own grace. He drew that soul (11:33) out of darkness and sinfulness, and lifted that soul up into true knowledge. So since the soul (11:40) died to its sensual appetite, whether by penance or by reason, God also has a gift for this (11:46) sacrificial act. When God chooses to do so, He grants this light of true knowledge.
(11:54) “When she has recognized My goodness, she loves it without any medium, and yet at the same time (12:00) with a medium. That is to say, without the medium of herself, or of any advantage accruing to herself, (12:07) and with the medium of virtue, which she has conceived through love of Me. Because she sees (12:14) that, in no other way, can she become grateful and acceptable to Me, but by conceiving hatred of sin (12:20) and love of virtue, and when she has thus conceived by the affection of love, she immediately is (12:27) delivered of fruit for her neighbor; because, in no other way, can she act out the truth she has (12:33) conceived in herself, but loving me in truth, in the same truth she serves her neighbor.”
(12:40) When the soul recognizes God’s goodness finally, the soul loves it without any advantage accruing (12:46) to itself, and without the use of itself, but by virtue. This soul conceived through love of God, (12:53) hatred of sin, and love of virtue, for without that, we will never look like Christ to God, (12:59) and therefore will never spend an eternity with Him. This virtue the soul has practiced and obtained (13:05) by love of God, goes forth from there, to deliver the fruit of virtue to its neighbor, because, (13:10) in no other way, can a soul act out the truth it has conceived in itself, but by loving God in truth, (13:17) it will serve its neighbor in that same truth as Jesus Christ did while on earth for his 33 years.
(13:24)”And it cannot to be otherwise, because love of Me and of her neighbor are one and the (13:30) same thing, and, so far as the soul loves me, she loves her neighbor, because love towards him (13:37) issues from Me. This is the means which I have given you, that you may exercise and prove your (13:44) virtue therewith, because, inasmuch as you can do Me no profit, you should do it to your neighbor. (13:51) This proves that you possess Me by grace in your soul, producing much fruit for your neighbor, (13:57) and making prayers to Me, seeking with sweet and amorous desire My honor and the salvation of (14:03) souls.”
Love towards our neighbor comes from God, so the soul that loves God truly, will (14:11) love its neighbor as well. This is done so the soul may exercise their virtue and prove it on (14:17) their neighbor. We can do God no profit, but we should do it to our neighbor. It proves that we (14:24) have God in our soul by grace, producing much fruit for our neighbor, with the spiritual and (14:30) corporal works of mercy, remembering to continue to pray for them, to do penance for them, so they (14:35) may stay open to grace from God, that he is so willing to abundantly pour out upon them. This (14:41) is for God’s honor and the highest law of The Church, which is the salvation of souls. There is (14:48) no higher law in The Catholic Church, and it trumps everything. This is why the Apostles got the Great (14:53) Commission.
“Going therefore, teach ye all nations, baptizing them in the name of The Father and of (15:00) The Son and of The Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded (15:06) you. And behold, I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world.” (Matt. 28: 19-20) DRB
The church sending forth missionaries all over the world from that point forth to do (15:19) this very thing, all for the salvation of souls. Countless priests have done this from 33 AD and (15:27) will continue because of the love of God and the salvation of souls.
“The soul enamored of My (15:34) truth never ceases to serve the whole world in general, and more or less in a particular case (15:40) according to the disposition of the recipient and the ardent desire of the donor, as I have shown (15:46) above when I declared to thee that the endurance of suffering alone without desire was not sufficient (15:51) to punish a fault.”
God affirms what I just said about missionaries with what He just said (15:59) in the Dialogue, that yes, the soul enamored with His truth, God’s truth, and love, never stops (16:06) serving the whole world. For Jesus said,
“Even as the son of man is not come to be ministered unto, (16:13) but to minister and to give his life a redemption for many.” Matt. 20: 28) DRB
Yes, the (16:22) Latin Vulgate translates for many, not for all, for many. That’s the correct translation from (16:29) the Douay Rheims, because not all will cooperate with grace, no matter how much you try to do (16:35) penance for them, as we discussed in Episode 4.
On the next episode, we will continue with this (16:42) same subject, but dive further into these virtues and how each soul has one that will help them to (16:48) obtain all the others. Much like the soul has a predominant fault, so it follows it must have (16:55) a virtue it can excel at to obtain the others.
That will end our episode for today.
If you have (17:01) any questions or comments, you can find my email in the contact button below.
If you need a Catholic (17:08) priest, please reach out to me and I will help you find one.
And now we will end in prayer.
(17:14) In Nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti. Amen.
Ave Maria, gratia plena Dominus tecum benedicta tu in mulieribus et benedictus fructus ventris tui Jesus
Sancta Maria, Mater Dei, ora pro nobis peccatoribus, nunc et in ora mortis nostrae. Amen.
In Nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti. Amen.
(17:39) Thank you for listening and I will see you on the next episode.
References
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