Leo D.M.J. Aurini

00:00:00.000 Thank you.

00:00:30.340 So this video comes from a long-time supporter of this channel.

00:00:34.880 He's actually requested some videos before.

00:00:38.520 And it's going to be a, well, not a three-part video.

00:00:42.360 It's actually going to be broken down into three videos.

00:00:46.800 The topic of this one is church attendance, mortal sin, and the resolution of faith and reason.

00:00:58.220 So let's start off by reading the question, and then we're going to jump into it.

00:01:04.600 Number one.

00:01:10.200 Pertaining to our Catholic faith, can you explain to me why I must go to church in order to be a good Catholic?

00:01:16.000 I understand the concept that we need to go to church not for God, but for ourselves.

00:01:20.660 God doesn't need us at the church as much as we need God at the church.

00:01:24.160 But I'm still confused as to why, if I don't go, that is somehow a mortal sin.

00:01:30.800 Why must I partake in the liturgy of the Eucharist, especially if I cannot receive, due to being in fairly frequent mortal sin?

00:01:39.320 Now, let's put it simply.

00:01:47.420 Your father, your heavenly father, asks that you devote one hour a week to him.

00:01:57.480 Two hours with driving time.

00:02:00.280 He asks that you come for dinner, for the supper of the Lamb.

00:02:05.000 Once a week.

00:02:05.740 That's what he's asking of you.

00:02:10.300 Ultimately, you go to church because that is what is requested and expected of you.

00:02:19.280 Now, that said, you do it because that's the rule.

00:02:24.640 That said, there's bloody good reasons for this.

00:02:27.700 When you go to church, when you surround yourself with the Gregorian chant, when you experience the ineffable, it reminds you, if nothing else,

00:02:45.040 it's like going to your parents' house for dinner reminds you of what your family stands for.

00:02:49.060 Going to the church reminds you of what you stand for.

00:02:52.260 It gets you away from the profane and the secular, and it reminds you of what you're actually doing with yourself, with your life, with all of this.

00:03:02.720 There's many benefits to being there.

00:03:14.960 Community, a reminder of spirituality, all of it.

00:03:20.780 Numerous, numerous, numerous benefits.

00:03:24.780 But ultimately, you go because you are supposed to go.

00:03:33.260 But, you know, what I'd like to dig into with this question is mortal sin.

00:03:39.420 Because, you know, I've been talking to you for a while, and you seem to think that you're in mortal sin quite frequently.

00:03:49.640 The last video you requested, you were tiring of going to reconciliation every single week to resolve these mortal sins, only to go perform them all over again.

00:04:02.600 And I think it's worth revisiting what a mortal sin actually is.

00:04:14.600 Mortal sin is when you commit something with full knowledge that it's wrong.

00:04:23.020 You fully understand that it is wrong and why it's wrong.

00:04:28.920 Number two, you do it with full intent and planning.

00:04:38.220 You think about it soberly, and you willfully go out and do it nonetheless.

00:04:48.220 And finally, the sin is a grave matter.

00:04:52.920 Number two, stealing a chocolate bar.

00:04:59.060 Even though you know it's wrong, and you know why stealing is wrong, I don't have to dig into that.

00:05:08.020 You plan it ahead of time.

00:05:12.660 You know, and it's not like you're having a sudden sugar craving and you can't afford the chocolate bar.

00:05:16.500 No, you plan it ahead of time.

00:05:18.760 You organize the whole thing.

00:05:20.700 You're like Ocean's Eleven.

00:05:24.340 It's still not a mortal sin because it's not a grave matter.

00:05:28.320 It's a bloody chocolate bar for crying out loud.

00:05:31.200 Yes, you shouldn't steal it.

00:05:32.340 That's a really skeezy thing to do.

00:05:34.580 That's a real low-life type of behavior.

00:05:37.120 But you're not in mortal sin just yet.

00:05:39.940 And while I don't know precisely what you're referring to, I'm pretty sure you're not going out there and strangling nuns.

00:06:00.700 Quite frankly, brother, I don't buy that you're in mortal sin.

00:06:09.940 Now, from what I gather, your sins are lust, which may or may not be a grave matter.

00:06:29.940 Certainly, cheating on your wife is a very grave matter, but I don't believe you're married, not as I understand it.

00:06:35.740 But are you doing these with full, sober will and intent?

00:06:44.740 Because, let's be frank, we are spirit, but we are also animal.

00:06:54.020 We are tempted not only by Satan and his demons whispering in our ear.

00:06:59.900 We're also tempted by our own instincts.

00:07:06.060 If somebody walks by you on the street wearing an outfit of a subculture that you dislike for valid reasons,

00:07:16.320 you may think some very angry, cruel thoughts.

00:07:20.840 Similarly, if a woman walks by you wearing high heels, a short skirt, and a low-cut top,

00:07:30.460 you are going to think some lustful thoughts.

00:07:33.840 And yes, if you are thinking lustful thoughts, the full intention and all of that,

00:07:42.580 yes, you've just committed infidelity in your own mind.

00:07:50.840 But were you in your right mind?

00:07:56.880 Is a man confronting a woman in a short skirt and a low-cut top, is he in his right mind?

00:08:04.760 You walk outside the door, you turn on the TV, there's half-naked women all over the place.

00:08:09.520 There's this constant promotion of this very tempting but very unhealthy sexual culture all over the place.

00:08:22.020 You know, you have this badgering you constantly, day in and day out,

00:08:27.880 and you have trouble with lustful thoughts?

00:08:32.800 Color me shocked!

00:08:34.140 Now, here's a personal anecdote, and this is interesting,

00:08:44.640 because I actually did serve with women when I was in the armed forces.

00:08:48.840 I was in basic training with a small number of women.

00:08:52.200 Me and another one of the recruits.

00:08:57.860 You know, we started talking, and we'd been in basic training for about three weeks,

00:09:03.060 and he said to me,

00:09:04.540 Dude, I haven't jerked off since I've been here.

00:09:09.200 Are they putting something in our food?

00:09:10.720 And no, they aren't putting anything in the food.

00:09:15.060 But what happens, when you take a bunch of young men,

00:09:17.320 you give them something to do,

00:09:18.740 and you don't surround them with constant pornography,

00:09:21.400 even though you have women also with them,

00:09:25.060 heck, you have women getting changed.

00:09:28.580 You know, jumping out of their sleeping bag in their underwear,

00:09:31.540 putting on their uniform.

00:09:33.180 You have that happening right in front of them, right next to them.

00:09:36.000 Those men do not have lustful thoughts,

00:09:38.200 because there's no time, there's no suggestion,

00:09:41.520 there is none of that.

00:09:43.440 You don't have that extremely strong temptation.

00:09:49.820 Some ex-alcoholics can't hang out at bars.

00:09:54.140 Somebody with an eating disorder

00:09:56.500 might need to avoid the candy bars.

00:09:59.760 But when it comes to sex in this culture,

00:10:06.580 it is bloody near impossible to avoid it.

00:10:11.760 It's everywhere.

00:10:14.800 And you're having lustful thoughts?

00:10:17.260 Are you in your right mind?

00:10:19.340 Are you in your right mind?

00:10:29.760 There is a live stream I did

00:10:36.120 with Sam So from the Roosh V Forum.

00:10:39.020 And I know, I know, brother,

00:10:40.700 you did not like that live stream.

00:10:45.220 Sam So was trying to point out

00:10:47.220 that the specific morality written in the Bible

00:10:53.000 and elucidated by theologians over the centuries,

00:10:59.020 these specific practices

00:11:02.520 were not written for today's time,

00:11:07.620 where you have women

00:11:08.800 under no authority of their fathers whatsoever

00:11:11.820 volunteering themselves to be sluts.

00:11:15.740 That is a whole different temptation

00:11:19.280 from the fornicating,

00:11:22.740 which specifically means hiring a prostitute,

00:11:26.260 which is spoken about so much

00:11:29.060 by the Catholic Church.

00:11:31.280 And to equate going to a prostitute

00:11:34.460 to being tempted

00:11:37.840 by a woman that is easy and fun to get along with,

00:11:42.560 those are two very different temptations entirely.

00:11:45.740 Now, taking advantage of a person

00:11:52.940 that's self-destructing,

00:11:54.540 whether you're taking advantage of a woman

00:11:57.860 who wants to be a slut

00:11:59.220 because somebody told her it was empowering,

00:12:01.200 or if you're taking advantage of a fool

00:12:05.900 who wants to get a payday loan

00:12:08.060 every single week

00:12:09.460 in some sort of usurious agreement,

00:12:12.080 taking advantage of people

00:12:13.720 is not right.

00:12:19.720 But there's something very, very different

00:12:21.720 between being tempted

00:12:24.700 when you have an idiot friend

00:12:26.120 that buys into a new hobby

00:12:28.260 and you know he's not going to do it,

00:12:30.820 and it's like,

00:12:31.300 and when he gets sick of it,

00:12:32.280 yeah, I'll buy all your stuff off you for 20 bucks.

00:12:35.140 You know, that's not a fair exchange,

00:12:36.920 but the idiot kind of walked right into it,

00:12:38.780 and if you don't take advantage of that,

00:12:40.940 somebody else will.

00:12:41.820 That's very, very different

00:12:45.780 from going and preying on people

00:12:47.220 who are desperate with usurious loans.

00:12:49.180 I think the difficulty

00:12:57.060 that you had with understanding

00:13:00.080 what Sam So was trying to get across.

00:13:04.360 And you're not the only one, by the way.

00:13:06.400 He has a very different approach

00:13:07.980 to things than I do.

00:13:09.960 I think my approach

00:13:11.540 is a little bit more conducive

00:13:13.060 to getting things across to you.

00:13:17.080 He can be very, very blunt,

00:13:19.880 very, very legalistic

00:13:21.100 with all of it.

00:13:26.120 But I think what he was getting at

00:13:28.080 involves what Aquinas said

00:13:31.540 about reason and faith.

00:13:38.940 One of the great modern heresies,

00:13:42.080 which was realized

00:13:44.240 by the French Revolution,

00:13:46.000 is the idea that reason and faith

00:13:48.200 have nothing to do with one another.

00:13:51.800 That faith is...

00:13:54.000 faith is...

00:13:55.600 it's a personal thing,

00:13:57.380 or faith is...

00:13:58.120 it might be a useful social organization,

00:14:00.440 or it might be necessary

00:14:01.900 for mental health,

00:14:03.260 but faith and reason

00:14:04.640 are fundamentally different things.

00:14:07.860 Aquinas...

00:14:13.860 Aquinas...

00:14:14.860 and, I mean,

00:14:15.820 go read him.

00:14:16.860 I'm not going to delve

00:14:17.800 into the entire proof.

00:14:19.060 I don't even understand

00:14:19.900 the entire proof,

00:14:20.740 quite frankly.

00:14:22.000 But Aquinas

00:14:23.160 proved

00:14:24.660 that faith and reason

00:14:27.680 must be compatible.

00:14:30.660 The foundation

00:14:31.640 of Christianity

00:14:33.480 is that faith and reason

00:14:35.820 are the same things.

00:14:37.440 These are not separate magisteria.

00:14:39.860 These are the same magisteria.

00:14:44.660 There's an excellent article

00:14:45.800 by the Social Pathologist,

00:14:47.040 which I'll link down below,

00:14:48.560 which discusses all of this

00:14:49.960 and how it applies

00:14:51.340 to these right-wing movements

00:14:54.240 that go completely off the rails.

00:14:55.740 But it also applies

00:15:00.640 with the weakness

00:15:05.220 we see in Christianity

00:15:07.280 these days,

00:15:08.000 the lack of virility,

00:15:10.160 the lack of engagement

00:15:11.280 with the real world.

00:15:15.080 Because what happened

00:15:16.400 with the French Revolution

00:15:17.360 is that we took religion

00:15:20.020 and we took the secular world

00:15:21.420 and we drove them apart.

00:15:26.640 And so now

00:15:27.720 you get these guys

00:15:29.580 in the secular world

00:15:30.900 that are reasonable.

00:15:32.300 They're living in the world.

00:15:34.880 And when it comes to sex,

00:15:35.820 they can look at women

00:15:37.100 and understand

00:15:37.700 what women want,

00:15:39.040 what their attraction triggers are,

00:15:41.240 the evolutionary psychology behind it.

00:15:43.900 They can understand

00:15:44.360 all of this

00:15:45.420 and,

00:15:48.680 well,

00:15:50.040 you get the social scene

00:15:51.940 we have nowadays.

00:15:52.820 You get a lot of damaged people

00:15:54.120 coming out the other end.

00:15:57.860 But then you have

00:15:58.800 the religious people

00:16:00.860 who have decided

00:16:02.780 to abandon

00:16:03.600 the secular,

00:16:05.660 abandon the real world.

00:16:07.940 And so

00:16:08.380 the religious person

00:16:09.660 is obsessing,

00:16:11.380 especially on

00:16:11.960 Faith, Hope, and Charity,

00:16:13.260 the spiritual

00:16:14.540 virtues,

00:16:16.300 while ignoring

00:16:18.540 the cardinal virtues.

00:16:21.340 So you have

00:16:22.140 the spiritual person

00:16:23.120 that is

00:16:23.840 so utterly

00:16:25.080 proud of themselves.

00:16:26.640 They think it makes them

00:16:27.520 such a great

00:16:28.380 Christian

00:16:29.300 because they're doing

00:16:30.800 a good job

00:16:31.640 raising their wife's son.

00:16:38.580 Faith and Reason.

00:16:40.760 If they're in disagreement,

00:16:43.260 either your reasoning

00:16:45.620 is bad,

00:16:47.020 it's based upon

00:16:48.100 flawed premises

00:16:49.760 or whatever,

00:16:51.800 or your understanding

00:16:53.300 of the faith

00:16:54.460 is bad.

00:16:56.600 When faith and reason

00:16:57.720 come into conflict,

00:16:59.300 that's

00:16:59.940 your error.

00:17:02.040 It's not the error

00:17:03.320 of faith and truth.

00:17:04.640 And this is

00:17:10.420 what I think

00:17:11.340 Sam So

00:17:11.880 was trying

00:17:12.340 to get at,

00:17:13.780 is that

00:17:14.880 the Catholic Church,

00:17:19.600 most churches,

00:17:21.100 are taking

00:17:22.300 an extremely

00:17:22.880 hard line

00:17:24.280 on the sex

00:17:26.220 question

00:17:26.820 right now,

00:17:28.260 but by

00:17:28.680 taking such

00:17:30.380 a hard line,

00:17:31.320 they get it

00:17:31.780 completely backwards.

00:17:32.620 They wind up

00:17:35.140 attacking

00:17:36.140 men,

00:17:37.360 telling men

00:17:37.960 to be

00:17:38.580 weak,

00:17:39.520 to be effeminate,

00:17:40.980 to be simps,

00:17:42.580 to be proud

00:17:43.460 of raising

00:17:43.940 their wife's son,

00:17:45.300 as opposed

00:17:46.260 to being

00:17:46.920 exploitative

00:17:48.340 of women

00:17:50.740 that are

00:17:51.380 begging you

00:17:52.260 to exploit them.

00:17:54.360 I mean,

00:18:01.800 we know

00:18:02.060 what the faith

00:18:02.620 says about

00:18:03.460 the ideal,

00:18:05.740 but that ideal

00:18:08.460 needs to be put

00:18:09.420 into the

00:18:10.480 context

00:18:11.040 of what's

00:18:11.900 actually

00:18:12.500 going on

00:18:13.720 out there.

00:18:14.240 if you

00:18:18.120 stab

00:18:18.520 somebody

00:18:18.880 to death

00:18:19.380 who is

00:18:21.480 begging

00:18:21.720 for mercy,

00:18:24.040 if you

00:18:27.380 do that

00:18:28.060 at the

00:18:30.380 bar

00:18:30.780 or in

00:18:31.060 an alley,

00:18:31.680 that's a

00:18:32.140 big,

00:18:32.860 major

00:18:33.480 problem.

00:18:34.180 if you

00:18:37.780 do it

00:18:38.340 after

00:18:39.960 three days

00:18:41.120 without sleep,

00:18:42.920 while

00:18:44.020 cold,

00:18:44.560 wet,

00:18:44.760 tired,

00:18:45.000 and hungry,

00:18:45.380 in the

00:18:47.740 field of

00:18:48.360 battle,

00:18:49.740 if you're

00:18:50.860 bayoneting a

00:18:51.660 German that's

00:18:52.220 crying for his

00:18:52.960 mummy,

00:18:54.060 after you've

00:18:54.620 just been

00:18:55.120 shelled

00:18:55.880 for three

00:18:56.900 days straight,

00:18:57.620 one of the

00:19:09.920 interesting

00:19:10.220 things about

00:19:11.500 approaching

00:19:13.460 holiness is

00:19:15.340 that your

00:19:16.360 own

00:19:17.060 shortcomings

00:19:18.040 become more

00:19:19.220 and more

00:19:19.640 self-evident

00:19:20.280 to you.

00:19:22.020 That as you

00:19:23.160 become more

00:19:23.880 holy,

00:19:24.900 you realize

00:19:27.580 what a

00:19:27.980 terrible,

00:19:28.860 terrible

00:19:29.160 sinner

00:19:29.620 you are.

00:19:31.320 Nobody

00:19:31.660 has a

00:19:32.380 better

00:19:32.600 concept

00:19:33.280 of their

00:19:33.640 own

00:19:33.900 sins

00:19:34.260 than a

00:19:34.680 saint,

00:19:35.560 and nobody

00:19:36.720 is more

00:19:37.160 self-righteous

00:19:38.020 than the

00:19:39.060 most depraved

00:19:39.980 of sinners.

00:19:42.900 And so

00:19:43.560 what I

00:19:44.180 think is

00:19:44.760 happening

00:19:45.080 with you

00:19:45.540 is that

00:19:47.140 because you

00:19:47.660 are genuine

00:19:49.220 about all

00:19:50.980 of this,

00:19:52.440 I mean,

00:19:56.660 it's not

00:19:56.940 for me

00:19:57.240 to say

00:19:57.680 the state

00:19:58.780 of anybody

00:19:59.160 else's

00:19:59.660 soul.

00:20:00.880 But from

00:20:01.340 what I

00:20:01.740 observe,

00:20:02.280 most people

00:20:02.720 in the

00:20:02.960 church are

00:20:03.460 not

00:20:03.760 particularly

00:20:04.360 serious

00:20:05.120 about it.

00:20:06.220 They

00:20:06.540 don't want

00:20:07.960 to change,

00:20:09.080 they don't

00:20:10.060 want to

00:20:10.440 improve,

00:20:11.520 they want

00:20:12.320 to pretend

00:20:12.720 that

00:20:12.940 everything's

00:20:13.940 okie-dokie,

00:20:16.980 as Obama

00:20:17.580 might say.

00:20:20.020 Bunch of

00:20:20.780 okie-dokie.

00:20:21.400 you want

00:20:27.300 to get

00:20:27.460 better,

00:20:28.200 and you

00:20:28.860 know that

00:20:29.740 you're

00:20:29.920 flawed,

00:20:30.360 and you

00:20:30.600 know that

00:20:31.060 you're

00:20:31.240 weak.

00:20:31.960 You

00:20:32.360 know all

00:20:32.760 of this.

00:20:35.280 Stop

00:20:35.820 beating

00:20:36.140 yourself

00:20:36.620 up.

00:20:38.420 The

00:20:38.960 foundational

00:20:39.440 message of

00:20:40.040 Christianity

00:20:40.560 is that

00:20:42.160 it's not

00:20:42.720 rituals,

00:20:44.200 and words,

00:20:46.460 and all

00:20:47.580 of this

00:20:47.940 that are

00:20:48.240 going to

00:20:49.480 save you.

00:20:50.460 It's

00:20:51.060 mercy

00:20:51.580 that's

00:20:52.220 going to

00:20:52.600 save you.

00:20:56.800 All of

00:20:57.620 those good

00:20:58.160 works from

00:20:58.700 the Pharisees

00:20:59.660 were about

00:21:00.900 as useful

00:21:01.700 as a

00:21:02.460 used

00:21:02.740 diaper.

00:21:08.340 Stop

00:21:09.020 beating

00:21:09.340 yourself up.

00:21:10.540 Have

00:21:10.780 faith in

00:21:11.180 the Lord's

00:21:11.620 mercy.

00:21:12.340 Remember

00:21:12.720 there is

00:21:13.480 a generalized

00:21:14.640 confession

00:21:15.640 confession

00:21:15.780 at

00:21:17.960 every

00:21:18.440 mess,

00:21:19.860 and go

00:21:23.280 there and

00:21:24.280 get some

00:21:24.920 grace into

00:21:25.760 you.

00:21:28.100 I

00:21:28.820 really

00:21:30.020 don't

00:21:31.300 believe

00:21:31.840 that you're

00:21:32.580 in mortal

00:21:32.960 sin.

00:21:34.700 Quite

00:21:35.380 frankly,

00:21:35.820 if you're

00:21:36.100 worrying that

00:21:36.860 you're in

00:21:37.220 mortal sin,

00:21:37.900 you probably

00:21:38.560 aren't in

00:21:39.420 mortal sin.

00:21:45.640 go to

00:21:47.300 confession

00:21:47.660 every month

00:21:48.160 or two.

00:21:49.340 It's

00:21:49.660 not a

00:21:49.940 bad

00:21:50.140 idea.

00:21:53.040 But in

00:21:53.580 the meantime,

00:21:54.240 get that

00:21:54.680 grace in

00:21:55.160 you.

00:21:57.220 Go

00:21:57.700 accept

00:21:58.660 the

00:21:59.460 Eucharist.

00:22:00.320 You have

00:22:00.600 been invited

00:22:01.160 to the

00:22:01.580 Lamb's

00:22:02.380 Supper.

00:22:04.720 And quite

00:22:05.440 frankly,

00:22:05.800 just from a

00:22:06.200 practical

00:22:06.640 standpoint,

00:22:08.340 brother,

00:22:10.720 we need

00:22:11.380 soldiers.

00:22:13.740 We need

00:22:14.740 men who

00:22:15.680 are

00:22:15.840 confident

00:22:16.360 in their

00:22:16.780 convictions.

00:22:18.940 We need

00:22:19.740 men who

00:22:20.200 are willing

00:22:20.660 to get

00:22:21.040 their

00:22:21.200 hands

00:22:21.600 dirty.

00:22:27.940 Quite

00:22:28.540 frankly,

00:22:29.140 get over

00:22:29.780 yourself.

00:22:32.920 I

00:22:33.280 seriously

00:22:33.920 doubt you're

00:22:34.440 a worse

00:22:34.780 person than

00:22:35.300 I am.

00:22:35.660 we need

00:22:38.600 you,

00:22:38.840 brother.

00:22:39.420 Stop

00:22:39.760 worrying

00:22:40.240 about all

00:22:40.640 this

00:22:40.800 bullshit

00:22:41.160 so much.

00:22:42.700 Go to

00:22:43.080 church.

00:22:44.860 Participate.

00:22:47.080 Forgive

00:22:47.600 yourself,

00:22:48.580 your lapses,

00:22:49.500 and your

00:22:49.880 weaknesses.

00:22:50.520 Practice

00:22:50.880 getting

00:22:51.180 better at

00:22:51.680 them.

00:22:54.340 When you're

00:22:55.020 really tempted,

00:22:55.760 pray for a

00:22:57.000 distraction.

00:23:00.800 But just

00:23:01.520 because you're

00:23:01.960 weak, just

00:23:02.420 because you

00:23:02.820 fall every

00:23:03.360 once in a

00:23:03.740 while, just

00:23:04.160 because you

00:23:04.540 stumble,

00:23:04.840 don't give

00:23:06.360 up.

00:23:07.140 Keep

00:23:07.360 going.

00:23:08.280 Keep

00:23:08.480 moving

00:23:08.780 forward.

00:23:09.640 Have

00:23:09.940 faith in

00:23:10.820 the Lord,

00:23:12.100 brother.

00:23:15.320 Because we're

00:23:16.100 going to need

00:23:16.500 you out

00:23:16.800 there.

00:23:19.600 Thank you

00:23:20.240 very much

00:23:20.580 for the

00:23:20.820 question.

00:23:22.700 Deus

00:23:23.020 Volt.

00:23:25.920 Burini

00:23:26.400 out.

00:23:34.840 Para

00:23:34.940 的人

00:23:37.520 are

00:23:37.740 there.

00:23:41.680 Can I

00:23:42.180 be

00:23:43.280 lost his

00:23:43.780 love?

00:23:57.060 How old is

00:23:57.600 gone?

00:23:58.220 Well,

00:23:59.020 let's

Mortal Sin and the Challenge of Lust

Episode Stats

Misogynist Sentences

Hate Speech Sentences

Summary

Transcript