The John-Henry Westen Show - June 26, 2026


＂Most People Are Choosing Hell＂ – Fr. Fasching on the Church's Silence on the Last Things


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Length

41 minutes

Words per minute

162.77

Word count

6,745

Sentence count

232

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Hate speech

5

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Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

In this episode of the John Henry Weston Show, Father Jeff Fassching joins us to talk about the importance of the Latin Mass and how the Eucharist is the anchor that keeps us anchored in Christ and the Church.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
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00:00:00.000 Christ did not give us the Catholic Church arbitrarily and the Eucharist arbitrarily.
00:00:04.760 He gave them as the vehicle to us to get to heaven.
00:00:10.280 Hello, my friends. Welcome to the John Henry Weston Show.
00:00:13.200 I'm here with Father Fasching, whom you know. He's been on our show before.
00:00:17.880 Father Jeff is one of the priests who devoted to the traditional Latin Mass and therefore
00:00:24.640 quasi-cancelled, you might say. Not cancelled, not forbidden from offering the Holy Sacrifice,
00:00:30.960 but definitely not in the full implementation, if you will, of his priesthood in that
00:00:39.180 the diocese is using him to his full extent. But he has a great devotion to our Lord and
00:00:45.900 the Holy Eucharist, and as he is now, has the time to devote himself to our Lord in a very
00:00:51.300 special way um he said something fascinating the other day in fact this is a quote from a saint
00:00:55.760 but it was about the most important thing you can do which includes you know saints who run around
00:01:03.060 and do great works like mother teresa did or all sorts of things but yet this is the most important
00:01:08.720 we're going to find the note from father stay tuned father so good to be with you again god
00:01:12.900 bless you thank you good to be with you let's begin as you always do inside the cross in the
00:01:17.360 name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen. Amen. Thank you, Father. You're a
00:01:22.640 priest now, Father, 29 years and just incredible. So tell us about that, first of all. I'll never
00:01:29.520 forget. It was May 31st, 1997. I was ordained the day before Corpus Christi. So my first mass
00:01:40.160 is Corpus Christi, which right now today, at least if you follow the old calendar, is the octave day
00:01:45.900 in corpus christi so we had a procession and that day will be ingrained in my mind forever
00:01:53.640 uh and hopefully there'll be many more years because so it's a beautiful thing actually so
00:01:59.800 your priesthood from its outset was kind of devoted to the holy eucharist in a special way
00:02:04.320 you've got to you're enabled now to fulfill that in a special way that most priests aren't actually
00:02:10.900 I mean, there's a whole beauty in that all by itself.
00:02:13.440 There is.
00:02:13.880 In fact, also, my vocation came from, you know, adoring our Lord and the Blessed Sacrament.
00:02:21.120 So in the parish, I grew up in Wichita, Kansas, St. Francis of Assisi, of course, and many others, but in the perpetual adoration.
00:02:28.200 So that's always stuck with me in my mid-20s when I started to pray more and was discerning a vocation.
00:02:36.200 application, I was called, if you will, and invited, and it was in the Adoration Chapel. So
00:02:42.720 that's just been the root. I mean, there's been some sidesteps in my priesthood. It hasn't been
00:02:50.080 all smooth, but staying rooted in the Eucharist is what has saved me. And if it weren't for the
00:02:56.760 Eucharist, especially in our times today, in the world and in the church, I could have easily left
00:03:03.540 the priesthood but when you're rooted in the eucharist you know you realize there's nowhere
00:03:09.240 else to go it's sort of a real life fulfillment of john bosco's dream that you know the seas are
00:03:16.060 rocky and everything is going crazy yeah and yet you're rooted to the pillar of the eucharist
00:03:21.060 uh and i presume my lady and that is what keeps you afloat if you will absolutely it is because
00:03:28.300 it's a gift. I mean, I really start every day with praying before the Blessed Sacrament,
00:03:36.080 like a lot of people, but I can't imagine, you know, I'm not special in that way, but
00:03:39.880 a priesthood without that. And not just weekly or when there's time, but every single day,
00:03:47.420 because everything truly does revolve around the Eucharist. And there's such a power.
00:03:52.080 You know, we were talking earlier about what the Eucharist is.
00:03:55.880 It's our Lord himself, and God gives us his greatest gifts in the Eucharist.
00:04:00.700 And to have that, the root of every day, anything can happen in one's life.
00:04:08.460 And it doesn't matter where the church, where the world is going.
00:04:12.020 We focus on God.
00:04:13.160 We focus on our Lord.
00:04:15.140 He's our anchor.
00:04:16.020 And so there's a joy in all the turmoil because our Lord is always in charge.
00:04:22.800 Nothing happens without him willing it.
00:04:25.040 And you have a certain confidence, and especially as a priest, you know, that just it's indescribable.
00:04:36.040 Without the Eucharist, you wouldn't have, you know, just in general, a confidence to face the realities and challenges of life.
00:04:45.740 in the priesthood and that's part of what the eucharist does for me i i know others as well but
00:04:50.760 for me for sure i'm speaking for myself you know honestly so what is that quote and from what saint
00:04:58.220 about the eucharist yeah i believe it was saint john hudes and it meant among other things he
00:05:04.120 said that our greatest activity is actually adoring our lord in the blessed sacrament so
00:05:10.660 think about that think about you know the notion of american activism and even in the priesthood
00:05:18.000 there's a certain you know you have to be active and active that's true but it all starts with the
00:05:23.620 contemplation first so some of those active apostolic workers priests nuns religious were
00:05:29.800 first mystics and contemplatives so to be rooted at that and i'm in a part of my priesthood and a
00:05:37.380 part of my life where I have the opportunity to indulge that passion to pray, which is a gift,
00:05:44.580 which, to be honest, has just been always easy for me. You know, a lot of people can't sit there
00:05:51.360 and that's not a criticism. It's just, you know, God gives us these gifts. We were talking about
00:05:58.260 this earlier. And so it's prayer and you don't know where that will bear fruit, but it's invaluable
00:06:05.280 to our lord and the saints knew this and i'm certainly not saying i'm in that category but
00:06:11.000 i feel that i'm drawn to it i believe god is asking me you know i need this kind of prayer
00:06:19.460 my church needs this kind of prayer don't worry about where it rebuilt fruit you leave that to me
00:06:25.140 you know and so that's where i'm at there's going to be a lot of people who have been to adoration
00:06:32.180 They see our Lord in the sacrament exposed.
00:06:35.380 They go, they make the double-dain inflection on both knees because they know they're supposed to.
00:06:39.220 But they feel they don't get anything.
00:06:43.220 And so they wonder, am I wasting my time?
00:06:46.200 I'm trying to kneel for a while, and then my knees hurt, so I sit down.
00:06:48.860 But I'm still kind of looking, but I don't know what I'm supposed to do.
00:06:52.760 I could go through these prayers, which maybe they do do.
00:06:56.640 But it's sort of like they're trying to make their heart feel it, and it doesn't feel like it.
00:07:01.600 yeah is that what is that what advice would you have for that yeah to to keep doing it and you
00:07:09.300 will eventually feel but even if you don't it's not wasted time it's always time well spent to
00:07:16.100 go before the lord and adore him nothing i'd be hard-pressed to say what pleases him more because
00:07:24.280 he gave us the Eucharist, not because he needed to, but for us. So, you know, we talked about
00:07:31.820 today being the octave day in Corpus Christi, tomorrow's the piece to the Sacred Heart.
00:07:37.040 Our Lord just wants a return of that love, and he gives us everything when he gives us himself
00:07:41.740 the Eucharist. So when you go spend time with him, it pleases him so much. He consoles him,
00:07:47.420 and this is what he wants, adores. I don't mean contemplatives and cloister, but just even,
00:07:52.460 you know 15 minutes 30 minutes an hour even and many people do this we both know that
00:07:59.580 but our lord wants more and if you're not feeling it's not wasted you you ask god for the grace um
00:08:08.300 you know god gives those graces to whom he wills if you read the imitation of christ it addresses
00:08:14.640 that it's many sense saints went through periods of dryness so it's not uncommon at all you're not
00:08:20.800 any different than even some of the holiest people but we don't pray we don't fulfill our
00:08:28.160 obligations like going to mass because of how it makes us feel um it's because we're obliged and
00:08:37.980 we owe it to god it's a duty because of what god has done for us especially in the blessed sacraments
00:08:43.900 so you know a lot of people in my ministry you know it wasn't particularly or necessarily me
00:08:50.280 sometimes it was but i hear them say well i don't want to go to that mass because the priest said
00:08:56.640 something that i just didn't feel good about it and you know they're making it about them
00:09:01.820 and when it comes to the mass it's not about us it's all about god is sacrifice and it's not about
00:09:09.160 how you feel really so yeah even if you're not feeling anything it will still bear fruit for our
00:09:17.820 lord and and if one perseveres and asks for the grace eventually you'll get it and you'll feel on
00:09:24.180 fire and that's what our lord wants so we can sort of tough it out or and or if some of the saints
00:09:30.920 experienced it and it was still good we can realize hey i just might not get it but this is
00:09:38.000 the right thing to do in fact it's the most powerful thing i can be doing so when we're there
00:09:42.740 it's not ever a waste of time because a lot of people are going to think oh i'm a busy
00:09:48.900 dad or mom or i'm student or whatever i'm not wasting time i'm there and i'm not feeling it
00:09:57.360 but this is doing a good thing that attitude that disposition that openness because they don't feel
00:10:04.040 even a lot of people go through dryness even in their prayer life like they say and they mean
00:10:09.740 from their hearts i love the lord they don't feel that they don't it's not a sensible thing
00:10:17.460 it's kind of like the decision when you're in a marriage and you're you're you're you say to
00:10:22.280 yourself and you mean it i love my spouse i love my kids yes you don't feel sometimes you really
00:10:29.000 don't feel it when you're you know having a bad issue but you still mean it and there are a lot
00:10:36.500 of people are very sensitive to with regard to especially if they believe everything they know
00:10:41.220 our lord allows everything even the tough stuff so they might also feel that same kind of thing
00:10:47.060 like you do with your kids and your spouse sometimes but they still say i love you lord
00:10:51.580 but again the feeling's missing that tells so trust trust because even if the feeling isn't there
00:10:58.720 the fact that you're visiting our lord and you might not feel a grace you're still getting a
00:11:04.500 grace because you are visiting our Lord. Um, and that's what he wants. That's why he instituted
00:11:12.240 the blessed sacrament, um, above and beyond we have after the mass. So it's another way of
00:11:18.620 adoring our Lord and printing outside of the mass. That's kind of an extension of the mass. So
00:11:23.840 the graces are still available, even if you're not feeling now, it certainly helps when you're
00:11:28.980 feeling you know but and it's all by god's divine providence some people may have long dry spells
00:11:36.100 some short some may come and go some may never even have them very often if at all um i personally
00:11:43.780 i'm 61 years old i've been a priest 29 years as i said up to this point i've never experienced that
00:11:52.540 I can honestly say in 29 years of, unless I'm traveling a day missing prayer before the Blessed Sacrament, I mean exposed, I've never felt that dryness.
00:12:05.120 Ever.
00:12:08.560 Honestly.
00:12:09.680 But that's just, that's God.
00:12:12.260 That's His, it may come.
00:12:13.940 There's still, I anticipate many more years.
00:12:17.840 God only knows, but I really think I'm going to live a lot longer life.
00:12:22.940 And I don't worry about what God might have in store.
00:12:26.660 He knows, and I'm supposed to trust.
00:12:29.340 So I really glad you brought that up, though.
00:12:32.360 Many Catholics today are confused, discouraged, and heartbroken
00:12:37.440 over what they see happening to the church.
00:12:40.460 Some lose hope. Some lose their faith entirely.
00:12:43.160 But this is not the time to abandon the truth.
00:12:45.960 I'm Father Charles Murr.
00:12:48.000 When I researched Mio XIV's involvement with the Pachamama ritual,
00:12:52.280 I knew the truth would be difficult for many to hear.
00:12:55.020 But the truth must be told.
00:12:56.820 That is why LifeSite News matters.
00:12:59.200 LifeSite News rewards faithfully, courageously, and always with hope rooted in Jesus Christ.
00:13:05.480 As our Lord said, the truth shall set you free.
00:13:08.880 If you value Catholic journalism in these difficult times, please support LifeSite News' summer campaign today.
00:13:17.800 Thank you. 0.93
00:13:19.680 So we are living in a very, very strange time, a time where, for the most part, Catholics are bereft of the true teaching of the faith from their pastors.
00:13:31.940 um one of those issues one of the big missing causes i think there's a bunch of really
00:13:40.260 foundational things that they just never hear i.e contraception or uh about the ordering of the of
00:13:48.660 the family the the and about feminism and about there's all about about creation but there's so
00:13:55.440 many pillars that are just completely buried we never will hear about them you'll hear about
00:14:00.320 abortion much more so than these things which is stunning but one of those things is
00:14:06.980 the eternal consequence of sin that concept of hell is so buried today yeah that every funeral
00:14:20.820 you go to almost every funeral you think yes they're already in heaven yeah pope leo day one
00:14:28.900 of his pontificate francis is shining down and strung from heaven joining us from heaven so
00:14:35.000 that teaching the concept the notion is almost completely done yeah you have felt in your
00:14:44.720 priesthood you have spoken on this a lot why so and what's really the message well one of the
00:14:50.820 reasons is simply all catholics are supposed to frequently meditate on those four last things and
00:14:57.580 hell is one of them death judgment heaven and hell so that's probably why but i mean when you
00:15:05.560 listen or at least read what fathers and doctors of the church have taught and if you even if you're
00:15:12.200 not studying in depth the scriptures but our lord himself spoke very often about hell more than
00:15:19.100 heaven in fact if you talk about jehenna he mentioned it 11 times and then the apostles
00:15:24.460 spoke about it fathers and doctors of the churches that have spoke about it so it's all right there
00:15:29.960 in scripture and one of the fascinating things and people know this but some don't realize it
00:15:37.920 you know hell wasn't created for us as human beings it was prepared for the devil and his
00:15:43.820 angels because they rebelled and god does not tolerate rebellion at all and so if he sent the
00:15:51.860 angels there when they rebelled and there's no turning back what might he do for us who choose
00:16:00.420 to live in sin well the church answers that question and it's always taught the reality of
00:16:07.600 hell and fathers and doctors of the church has always taught that most people are choosing it
00:16:14.060 and and i want to repeat that i know you know this john henry but most people are choosing it
00:16:20.080 god doesn't will it for his creation that's why we have our lord jesus christ but people are like
00:16:27.380 you mentioned steep so much in the world and all its allures and all its sin and so many various
00:16:34.040 different ways we don't have to go into that they don't think about their final end nearly enough
00:16:40.340 and our lives are so very short and we only have one chance to make sure we're saved but if most
00:16:48.340 people aren't being saved and again it's not father fashion's opinion it's what fathers and
00:16:52.880 doctors the church have tied it's what our lord has said that that the road is narrow many are
00:16:59.200 called and few are choosing it he meant that most people are not choosing heaven so there's more in
00:17:06.300 hell than there is in heaven okay and so that's something in itself i think worthwhile to meditate
00:17:13.440 on and do everything that one can do to make sure you're in that group. Because a lot of people just
00:17:21.580 think, you know, I'm a good person. I'm not hurting people. I'm living a life, you know, it's, again,
00:17:31.100 I'm not putting anybody in harm's way. And I know I'm basically good. Okay, at the same time,
00:17:38.700 i'm living with my girlfriend you know i'm gonna go to heaven well no um and they think maybe just
00:17:48.380 at the end of their life there's going to be um you know all these opportunities for grace and
00:17:53.200 okay i made it done things wrong god's angry at his chair as one lives for the most part is as one
00:18:00.320 dies so eternally is forever and our lives are so very short so we have to prepare for that reality
00:18:11.240 which is what we are born for eternity with god to be forever now we have to prepare for it because
00:18:16.520 it's not guaranteed as you know i mean saint paul says we have to work out our salvation
00:18:22.440 we're saved by grace it's an unmerited gift but we have to
00:18:27.240 toil and we have to you know we don't earn it but we do have to do works um let's share let's
00:18:37.200 get into that because that that's a that's a concept that i think a lot of people struggle
00:18:40.880 with so here i am going to confession i want to be good and holy i want to be a saint
00:18:51.400 part of me kind of knows i'm not going to be able to but in the confessional we say we pray
00:19:01.940 properly so you know basically it's like so help me god i will do it so there is a firm resolve
00:19:08.720 but half it goes you know that's not gonna work how do we because we want to
00:19:17.400 what does that work out your salvation look like in practice accepting the grace like i said god
00:19:25.800 created us to be with him so we have to accept that free gift of salvation accept the grace
00:19:33.160 but we don't just sit back and do nothing in other words we can't live our lives on our own
00:19:38.680 terms we can't you know we have to live as god has commanded us to live and has given us the truth
00:19:44.680 to live by through his Catholic Church.
00:19:46.520 So that's following the commandments.
00:19:48.520 It doesn't mean we might not slip up,
00:19:50.300 but we're trying to live as God gives us his law to live by.
00:19:55.700 Okay, and we have those teachings with respect to faith,
00:19:58.460 the morals of the Catholic Church.
00:19:59.760 I mean, they have been taught in the past.
00:20:02.380 And I know that's getting all confused now,
00:20:04.540 but it's there and it doesn't change.
00:20:08.300 You know, Christ's truth doesn't change.
00:20:10.480 So, you know, it's interesting how you first started the question.
00:20:13.180 you said yeah i'm going to confession and you know i'm making it for but i'm kind of laughing
00:20:17.140 at myself because that's not going to happen that's very interesting because we do need i mean
00:20:22.980 we do need to really be honest with ourselves like a confessions can be invalid if we go in
00:20:30.560 and we really you know we're saying our sorry that we're sorry but we're doing the same thing
00:20:37.400 over and over again, that's not really a firm result, you know, to make a change. So we talked
00:20:43.300 about in Mass today, repentance and conversion. True repentance and conversion is going 180,
00:20:50.440 turning the other way, you know, like Mary Magdalene, St. Paul eventually did. They never 0.83
00:20:54.500 went back to that old life, you know, St. Matthew, and, you know, made recompense for all the wrong.
00:21:03.260 And that's what our Lord wants.
00:21:04.780 So if you find yourself, and that's great.
00:21:07.140 I'm glad you phrased it that way.
00:21:08.940 At least that person's being honest and you can start from there.
00:21:12.200 And so you ask for the grace of that true repentance, the grace to really be different.
00:21:21.000 You know, you have to start by being honest with yourself.
00:21:24.880 So, I mean, that's a great point and I think a great way to ask it.
00:21:27.860 that's why one of the ways like when we pray and we know one of our great devotions is the rosary
00:21:32.520 whatever decade you're on you're meditating on a particular event in the life of christ
00:21:37.340 you ask for a particular grace for example if we're doing the sorrowful mysteries you know the
00:21:42.520 agony and garden we want to ask for true contrition that's for that for that decade that that's the
00:21:48.960 grace you ask for which means you know we realize what we've done wrong we're truly sorry and we do
00:21:56.100 have a firm purpose of amendment and it doesn't mean we might not slip but we really want to
00:22:01.920 change we're not just i can go do it again and go to confession the uris and the priests too are
00:22:09.920 going to be held accountable because there's i believe a lot of invalid confessions where
00:22:14.820 you know they're granting the absolution the person just coming back over and over and
00:22:19.560 not getting out of the rut and especially if it's mortal sin you know there's priests like
00:22:25.980 they withhold that without absolution you know we're really lenient we should be god's mercy
00:22:32.360 is infinite he can forgive absolutely any sin any amount of time but he can't forgive without
00:22:40.120 repentance without turning to him you know and so um we have to ask for that grace and we'll always
00:22:47.240 get it if we keep asking so um if we don't ask chances are we're not going to get anything
00:22:55.120 yeah isn't that funny yeah our lord requires us to ask he does he wants us to ask him for
00:23:01.620 absolutely everything john so father i have this really funny thing because i feel like
00:23:07.800 i'm dumb i honestly don't know what to ask for so sometimes i pray yeah for all the intentions
00:23:13.540 i mentioned for all those out in the heart but also for all of those that you know that i need
00:23:17.780 and i haven't thought to ask for does that work and then even on another level you know i think
00:23:23.900 about this and personally there are certain things especially at the mansion as a priest
00:23:29.800 you know um that i ask god for that i don't even deserve because of all my sins you know i've had
00:23:38.280 periods in my life even my priesthood where i've committed grievous sins but i i've repented
00:23:43.600 and i'm not in the habit of doing anything you know sometimes we're all going to slip but
00:23:49.040 despite all my sins before the priesthood during the priest i mean as a human being as a priest
00:23:55.000 and this is for anybody we have to ask god for the greatest things that we can conceive of
00:24:02.080 if we have to ask him for great things because he's god and we do god a disservice if we don't
00:24:08.920 ask him for great things what the greatest example is the good thief you know he went straight to
00:24:14.540 heaven which he didn't deserve simply because he asked so for me personally i'll just share
00:24:19.580 to me the greatest thing that i believe i can ask for maybe somebody can enlighten me what might be
00:24:25.760 greater is to go straight to heaven when god calls me to not pass through perpetrator which i
00:24:31.140 certainly deserve and i certainly deserve the fires of hell um but i trust in god's divine mercy
00:24:39.600 and I really want to go straight to heaven I want to be among the fewest of the few and I ask him
00:24:46.080 for that every single day especially at mass and there's so many other people I know even relatives
00:24:53.500 that I want to see in heaven that I really am scared about the salvation of their souls
00:25:00.240 because of the reality hell they're outside the church I always have preached the doctrine there's
00:25:07.640 no suffocation outside the catholic church um it's been infallibly taught prior to vatican two
00:25:13.660 more than once um and i'm not saying i don't accept vatican i'm just saying christ did not
00:25:19.840 give us the catholic church arbitrarily and the eucharist arbitrarily he gave them as the vehicle
00:25:24.880 to us to get to heaven without which it's almost impossible you know so we don't the whole hell
00:25:31.600 thing isn't supposed to be, you know, it's not fear mongering. It's just, you know, we have to
00:25:38.440 realize the reality of the eternal consequences of our decisions and how we choose to live our
00:25:44.840 lives. And many people in this world, again, are so immersed in it. I'm not even talking about
00:25:51.000 people and maybe just living lives in mortal sin, which is most of the world, really, and even a lot 0.96
00:25:57.980 of Catholics that think they're good Catholics. Um, but even good people with John Henry are in 0.57
00:26:04.840 help. Um, because maybe they presumed or they checked off all the boxes. I went to church,
00:26:10.300 I prayed, I tithed, but what was their relationship with Christ? You know, were they inside the
00:26:17.480 church that he founded the one true Holy Catholic apostolic church? You know, um, it's amazing.
00:26:25.740 You know, these are things that I really am able to meditate about every day, not just for myself selfishly, but for, you know, for others, you know, as priests, we want, we want everybody in heaven, but most people are not making it.
00:26:43.940 This month, Father, as you say, this month of the Sacred Heart is the bishops of the United States because it's the centennial, but also because it's the feast day.
00:26:57.040 They're doing a reconsecration of America to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
00:27:01.700 What are we to understand of the Sacred Heart?
00:27:04.360 For many people, it's neat.
00:27:06.260 They know the picture that is drawn of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
00:27:10.420 What is it?
00:27:11.020 Why is it such a special?
00:27:12.060 Yeah, the heart that you see in those different images, it is beautiful.
00:27:16.020 So the heart is just symbolic of the love that God shows us in the person of Christ,
00:27:23.200 particularly in the Holy Eucharist.
00:27:25.900 So it's a Catholic devotion, centuries old, one of the most tried and true along with the rosary.
00:27:31.820 So if you're wondering how to pray a lot of times,
00:27:35.320 there's so many devotions out there, John Henry, but stick to the rosary, the sacred heart.
00:27:40.480 start with that what's been tested and tried and true by so many holy popes and saints religious
00:27:45.360 men and women um but it's symbolic of the infinite love that god has for every human being and the
00:27:51.980 great dignity that every human being has especially those baptized you know and how he
00:27:58.540 freely gives that love in the holy eucharist and just asks for a small response back hence we have
00:28:07.480 the Blessed Sacrament. You know, St. Margaret Mary taught us what all this meant. She taught
00:28:15.280 us these things. So it's very simple, really. We were talking earlier about today how
00:28:20.640 when it comes to the Eucharist, that's God himself. Even God, who is all-powerful,
00:28:27.900 cannot give us a greater gift than himself. And that's what we have in the Eucharist.
00:28:32.200 So when we receive the Eucharist, we have everything. When we have a tabernacle and
00:28:37.200 a catholic church that's the creator of the universe and people love to go on pilgrimages
00:28:42.600 people love to travel halfway across the world to where mary may or may not have been appearing and
00:28:48.780 there's nothing wrong with that but i think we sometimes forget what god has given us in the
00:28:53.920 tabernacle i mean we have absolutely everything because we have god in that tabernacle so it's
00:29:01.100 just he's just wanting us to come visit him come pray formally in a church if you can or as often
00:29:07.620 as you can but especially if you're a priest or religious you know there's different vocations and
00:29:12.840 you know different opportunities afforded us based on a vocation you know always all catholics are
00:29:19.600 called to pray for the blessed sacrament but that's that's simply in a nutshell what it is
00:29:25.120 it's it's beautiful and simple but yet you know i mean i like to say our lord's i don't want to
00:29:33.980 say frustrated he's just sad because he gave this gift of himself to us and the majority of humanity
00:29:40.500 even catholics neglect him so much in the blessed sacrament so here's a really weird thing
00:29:46.280 in the modern church it's almost the only thing ever preached is god loves you
00:29:54.120 yes yet and he does and he does he does but it's funny because at the same time
00:30:02.020 i think there's never been a time when there was less appreciation
00:30:07.480 less understanding less cognizance of god loves you because they're not preaching the way you'd
00:30:19.040 preach that hell exists that most go there jesus suffered died so that you wouldn't have to go
00:30:26.240 that's removed it's just god loves you without that what what are your thoughts and how do we
00:30:33.880 engender this like literally people that and not only just people in street which is true of them
00:30:40.400 as well but even catholics have a hard time with personally jesus loves me not that jesus loves
00:30:47.420 everybody because it's not that's not a thing uh that you can mentally you can say oh jesus loves
00:30:55.340 everybody or whatever they're not in the equation jesus loves everybody yeah he really doesn't love
00:31:00.000 me but he loves everybody how do we get to people with no no no jesus loves you he would have come
00:31:07.520 just to die for you and he would have that is a tough one because it's hard for me i personally
00:31:14.920 have never felt that, like our Lord doesn't love me. And I've had some tough times. I know there's
00:31:20.620 many people that have lived much harder lives than I have, but I've had some tough things I've gone
00:31:24.940 through. But I've never felt that God doesn't love me. But I think somebody that expresses that
00:31:33.620 feeling, perhaps, you know, had a tragedy or some suffering, and they don't understand how
00:31:40.200 a god that is supposed to love me can let me suffer but as catholics you know our beautiful
00:31:47.600 catholic faith teaches us you know if we had a if we had a crucifix on this wall right here because
00:31:52.600 i know we're not but that's what it's all about is we have a loving god that loves everybody
00:31:59.740 that willingly died on the cross and suffered and not just suffered john and everybody's you know
00:32:05.620 in the most humiliating and excruciating way, a Roman crucifixion, the most degrading for a human
00:32:11.420 being, at least at that time, all out of this love. So if anybody doubts that a God does not
00:32:20.160 love them, please look to the cross. And I'm speaking to you, but I'm speaking to anybody
00:32:24.360 that might be listening. That's the way to heaven. So I think people don't take the time to consider
00:32:32.660 what the catholic church teaches with regard to the redemptive value of suffering so i i'm just
00:32:38.740 saying that somebody expresses that my experience but it's usually because they went through
00:32:43.540 something in their life that they can't they can't understand if a god loves me why why
00:32:48.120 why did i lose this love or whatever it is you know i'm getting kind of emotional because
00:32:54.040 it's i'm just passionate about this love that god i just feel it all the time and i wish other
00:33:01.640 people would like that because just go back to the passion and if you just ask for the grace to
00:33:10.760 be able to trust God with whatever you may have gone through that makes you feel like God doesn't
00:33:15.740 love you uh look to the cross look to that suffering and actually study what what happened
00:33:23.220 to our Lord you know when those nails were nailed you know in the aggie in the garden when he sweat
00:33:28.620 his blood. I mean, he, and just even the years of his public ministry with this constant anxiety
00:33:37.280 of having to go to Calvary, it weighed on him every day. So there was suffering there too for
00:33:42.720 him. But our Catholic theology teaches us that we have a good and loving God that allowed himself
00:33:50.680 to suffer in the person of Christ, who is the God-man. And he showed us that that's the way
00:33:56.220 to heaven. So I think people just aren't, it's hard to open up one's heart and realize that
00:34:03.400 we're supposed to enjoy life. It's a good life here. We're supposed to enjoy everything, food,
00:34:10.900 everything God has given us, but it doesn't always mean, you know, roses sweet and nice.
00:34:17.040 There's going to be suffering because that's really the only way to heaven and God distributes
00:34:23.680 it as he wills. Sometimes we suffer something, or if you just take a loss, like say, God forbid,
00:34:30.380 you have a child that dies. Maybe it was so that child, something later in life would have happened
00:34:38.480 to him a lot worse, and God is sparing him from that or her, and he wants that person to himself.
00:34:43.760 We don't know, but nothing, we do know this, as far as divine providence goes, that absolutely
00:34:50.640 nothing happens without God willing it and so that's my best answer is that
00:34:56.980 that suffering that you went through that perhaps made you feel like God doesn't love you or I don't
00:35:04.800 feel it um was just so you could realize God actually does love you because more often than
00:35:13.880 not it's the people that are suffering that's when Christ is actually close to you but you have to
00:35:18.600 open up your heart and realize that he suffered and gave us the example of how to get to heaven
00:35:24.400 and that's what we have is the cross the only way that this this life is different than eternity
00:35:31.660 eternity there's no suffering but um the only way is through toil and oftentimes suffering even
00:35:39.140 persecution in fact i just talked about those who really want to follow christ closely they risk
00:35:46.180 judgment they risk um death even at least dying to oneself and they risk division in their lives
00:35:57.100 you know even maybe from their own families but not to get off track but
00:36:01.180 suffering means something you know so if you're if you're made to suffer
00:36:07.060 make no mistake god sent that to you for a reason i know that's that's a lot for some people it is
00:36:15.120 but it's supposed to be you know and and so there's a reward for enduring that and it's the
00:36:21.980 love of god and we all have our crosses god gives them to us so i would just say it's meaningful
00:36:34.240 even if you don't feel again because it's not about feeling you know it's just the reality of
00:36:39.200 our fallen world we were created you know not to suffer at all and because we rebelled or we sin
00:36:46.120 against god unfortunately a good priest friend of mine he said this a couple times in the recent
00:36:51.160 sermon yeah thanks adam and eve you know he just said that he threw it in there because you know
00:36:55.120 we're enduring thanks to death right but if it weren't for adam's fault we wouldn't have cried
00:37:02.520 So the grace abounded all the more, St. Paul says.
00:37:05.180 So, yeah.
00:37:06.720 Care and persevere, right?
00:37:09.080 Indeed.
00:37:09.780 Indeed.
00:37:10.200 I think it comes down to, like you said, you don't feel it, but trust God knows better than you.
00:37:15.460 And you just believe anyway.
00:37:17.220 And I know that's not easy, but everything isn't supposed to be easy.
00:37:21.720 Okay?
00:37:21.900 We have to realize that.
00:37:23.440 I don't have to tell people life is tough.
00:37:26.180 You know, I shouldn't have to.
00:37:27.440 We all know that.
00:37:29.140 But some people just, they don't think it through.
00:37:32.520 But there are concrete things.
00:37:34.320 There are people of God before us, John Henry, old, young, men, women, martyrs.
00:37:38.960 This beautiful Catholic faith only exists because people shed their blood for it, starting with St. Paul and all after Christ, you know, commissioned him.
00:37:47.820 And, I mean, just study the life of St. Paul.
00:37:50.460 It's just amazing everything he endured.
00:37:53.120 And there's so many others.
00:37:54.080 But he started it, right?
00:37:56.320 All for the love of Christ.
00:37:58.060 There are examples.
00:37:59.120 So last question for your father.
00:38:01.960 You talked about your sort of anchor, if you will, in the Holy Eucharist.
00:38:06.980 Yeah.
00:38:07.880 De Montfort mentions the two pillars of the Eucharist and Our Lady.
00:38:11.260 Give us your thoughts on other...
00:38:13.300 Quick story.
00:38:14.240 When I was in high school at St. Francis of Assisi, 0.98
00:38:17.640 and this is how long the Magigorian thing has been going on,
00:38:20.800 without whether or not, you know, the details of that,
00:38:23.560 but one of those visionaries, quote-unquote, came to my parish,
00:38:27.000 and I wanted to go there.
00:38:28.400 So I remember, you know, I had to raise a certain amount of money.
00:38:31.440 I was just in high school.
00:38:32.180 I had no money.
00:38:33.680 I went down to my room for some reason, and I was praying the rosary.
00:38:37.560 Nobody in my family ever taught us how to pray the rosary.
00:38:40.280 I think I got a rosary from my catechism.
00:38:42.860 And, you know, what was I going to do?
00:38:45.760 And I felt an overwhelming, absolute, definite presence of Mary right there in the room.
00:38:53.520 I mean, I didn't see anything, but she was there.
00:38:56.320 And any desire to go travel to where she may have been just went away.
00:39:00.920 So that's where my devotion to Mary started with the rosary.
00:39:03.980 And I knew like St. John Paul II was very Marian in his devotion.
00:39:07.460 So really everything for me in prayer revolves around the rosary.
00:39:12.800 And people sometimes forget the rosary is Christ-centered.
00:39:17.560 Any devotion that is not Christ-centered is false.
00:39:20.420 The rosary is absolutely Christ-centered.
00:39:23.980 And it's scriptural.
00:39:25.280 So that's kind of a short story of how.
00:39:27.600 And so I spend much time every day on the rosary, and it's just a blessing, like many people.
00:39:35.060 But it's one of those, I just think my spirituality is very simple.
00:39:39.140 I've been nourished over all these years with just a couple of the basic things.
00:39:43.960 You know, St. Louis de Montfort is one of my favorite saints.
00:39:46.320 The book on the Seek of the Rosary I read in seminary, it always sticks with me.
00:39:50.440 the classic devotion of the sacred heart by the jesus christ um talks about visits the
00:39:56.360 second blessed sacrament the graces you can get but the rosary mary bring us to christ
00:40:03.720 mary the mediatrix of all graces those are truths that i've always known and believed in club too
00:40:10.760 yeah careful thank you father what remains now is give us your final blessing absolutely
00:40:20.440 Amen. In the name of the Father, and of the Son,
00:40:29.000 the Holy Ghost. Amen.
00:40:30.480 Thank you for next, John Henry. God bless you.
00:40:32.680 You too. And God bless all of you. And we'll see you next time.
00:40:39.940 Hey, my friends, it's going to be an historic night.
00:40:43.020 On September the 24th, Archbishop Fulton Sheen
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