Latest / Catholic Spirit Radio / Good News #185 080225: The Essence of Forgiveness

Transcript

Good News #185 080225: The Essence of Forgiveness · Catholic Spirit Radio

• 0:00
  Welcome to Good News on Catholic Spirit Radio, a program for teens and almost
• 0:04
  teens to better understand that the gospel of Jesus Christ is relevant in their
• 0:09
  lives, and it's a place where your questions about faith and religion can be answered.
• 0:13
  And now, here's your host, Deacon Al.
• 0:16
  Good evening, everyone, and welcome to Good News here on Catholic Spirit Radio.
• 0:21
  I am Deacon Al Lundy, permanent deacon here in the Peoria Diocese.
• 0:25
  Very pleased to always join you on Saturday and Sunday nights here on Catholic Spirit Radio.
• 0:31
  A lot of things going on here at the radio network. A lot of things going on in my life.
• 0:37
  I have to tell you, John, we've got John Hall sitting here at the board, keeping me company.
• 0:41
  I was on vacation for a couple of weeks. And so while I was on vacation,
• 0:45
  I had my lawnmower at the shop getting a tune-up, which is a good thing, right?
• 0:51
  And I got back from vacation and I picked up the lawnmower with the intention
• 0:54
  of mowing my lawn, which had been taken care of by a young man while I was gone,
• 0:58
  did a great job mowing it a few times while I was away.
• 1:01
  But now it was my turn and the grass was getting pretty hairy,
• 1:04
  but it was pouring rain, so I couldn't do it.
• 1:08
  And then after the rain stopped, it got dreadfully hot out. I mean,
• 1:12
  really, really hot out and humid.
• 1:14
  You could barely stand up. The air was so heavy, right? So I couldn't do that.
• 1:19
  And then it rained again, and then it got hot again for a few days.
• 1:22
  I mean, last week, man, my son lives in Vegas, and it's dry heat.
• 1:28
  It's a dry heat. My oven's dry heating, yet it cooks food. But it was more miserable.
• 1:34
  It was even more miserable with the humidity and the high heat.
• 1:37
  So finally, before things cleared up, we had my mother-in-law's 95th birthday.
• 1:45
  95 years old, still has her own apartment at 95.
• 1:50
  So we had a birthday party for her And everyone came to our house to celebrate And my brother-in-law,
• 1:56
  Dave Now, I love Dave Dave's a terrific brother-in-law And Dave worked in the
• 2:02
  landscape business He just retired like a year ago And Dave sees the lawn And
• 2:07
  the first thing he says You know, Al,
• 2:09
  you gotta mow that lawn And I said, I know Dave But it's miserable out Well,
• 2:14
  Dave having been in the industry Bad weather doesn't seem to bother Dave life.
• 2:19
  Which is fine with me. And Dave says, I'll do it for you. And I said, go for it.
• 2:24
  Lawnmower is all tuned up. So he goes out in the garage and he gets the lawnmower
• 2:28
  and he's been mowing for maybe three minutes.
• 2:32
  He's back in the house. I said, what are you doing?
• 2:35
  He says, uh, you broke, you broke my lawnmower.
• 2:42
  So one of the things that happened at the shop while they were working on it
• 2:45
  was it needed a new wheel.
• 2:48
  The wheel had just worn off its tread. It was just bare. The other wheels were
• 2:52
  fine. So I said, sure, put a new wheel on.
• 2:55
  So while Dave was mowing, he said he went about a hundred feet and the new wheel fell off.
• 3:02
  And as it fell off, it slid under the lawnmower and and just chewed that puppy right up.
• 3:12
  Yeah, yeah. So it's back at the shop. Yes, it's back at the same shop because I'm a forgiving person.
• 3:20
  You know, truly. I mean, I've used these guys for years.
• 3:26
  It's got a great reputation. They're nice people. And other than the wheel falling
• 3:31
  off, they did a great job. And I don't know why the wheel fell off.
• 3:34
  It could have had nothing to do with them.
• 3:36
  I'm not going to badmouth them or take business away from them,
• 3:39
  even if it was a mistake they made because it's a mistake. We all make mistakes.
• 3:45
  So forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.
• 3:50
  If I'm going to get upset over a lawnmower wheel, I just think of all the things God can hold against me.
• 3:56
  You know, this is truly a minor moment in my life.
• 4:01
  And if saying to the people who did this, hey, you know, this happened,
• 4:05
  could you fix it? and not getting upset over anybody, not losing my temper,
• 4:09
  not saying anything bad about their company, if that gains me any grace in heaven at all, I'll take it.
• 4:16
  So I'm not going to say who did it or that it was their fault,
• 4:20
  because I don't know that.
• 4:21
  All I know is my lawnmower lasted about 10 minutes and it's back in the shop.
• 4:27
  Those kind of things just, it's like when you take your car in to have.
• 4:32
  One time I had an oil change and they forgot to tighten the plug on the oil pan.
• 4:39
  So I'm dripping oil all the way home. And, you know, before you know it,
• 4:43
  I can't even drive the thing because I have no oil left.
• 4:47
  And they admitted, oops, you know, new guy, whatever.
• 4:51
  And they took care of it. And that's what matters.
• 4:54
  So if you make a mistake, take care of it. You know, be good about it.
• 4:58
  And if somebody else makes a mistake, that's why God says forgive people,
• 5:03
  because mistakes happen.
• 5:04
  We're only human, regardless of the work you're in.
• 5:08
  Be patient with others. Be forgiving of others. That's what it means to be Christian.
• 5:13
  Something else it means to be Christian is to support good causes.
• 5:17
  And a good cause in my heart and my life is Catholic Spirit Radio.
• 5:22
  And we could use some help right now.
• 5:24
  John is in the midst of trying to do a very good thing.
• 5:28
  We're trying to put a new translator into Rockford that's going to greatly improve our signal in Rockford.
• 5:37
  It's going to not only clean up what we've got there, but it's going to expand
• 5:40
  the number of homes we're able to reach. And we are so, so close.
• 5:45
  We've actually got the sale has been approved by FCC.
• 5:49
  We have most of the money we need to do this. And this is, how many households, John, are we talking?
• 5:57
  And 160,000 people. If we can get this done, we can get our programming out
• 6:02
  to 160,000 more people. and we're so close, but we're a little shy and we're running out of time.
• 6:10
  If you're listening to this program on either Saturday or Sunday evening,
• 6:14
  we have to have the money Wednesday.
• 6:17
  If you're listening and you can be a part of that or all of that,
• 6:21
  if you would go to our website at catholicspiritradio.org, on the very first
• 6:27
  page, you'll see a donate button.
• 6:29
  Click on that and please donate today, tomorrow at the latest.
• 6:34
  So if you're in Rockford, you know somebody in Rockford, you just want to see
• 6:38
  the mission of Catholic Spirit Radio continue to grow, please go to our website and make a donation.
• 6:45
  Or if you're in Bloomington Normal and you want to drop by the station and drop
• 6:49
  off a check, we're at 102, 108, I was so close, Boykin's Place.
• 6:56
  We're right off just north of College Avenue, just east of the Kroger's in Normal.
• 7:02
  Come on in, drop off your donation. We hope you enjoy what we do here at Catholic
• 7:08
  Spirit Radio. We're on the air 24-7 with great Catholic programming,
• 7:13
  great evangelization, wonderful on-air people.
• 7:16
  So please consider...
• 7:19
  Being one of our angels and helping us get this work done.
• 7:24
  Thank you so much. We're going to take a break for a few minutes,
• 7:27
  and when we come back, we're going to talk about the readings of the Mass for
• 7:31
  the 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time.
• 7:33
  You're listening to Good News on Catholic Spirit Radio.
• 7:37
  Stay tuned. Good News will be right back on Catholic Spirit Radio.
• 7:41
  Help us reach all of Rockford. Friends, help us complete the purchase of a translator,
• 7:46
  an additional FM radio frequency on 94.5 to help us better cover the Rockford area.
• 7:52
  We already have a presence in the eastern half of the market,
• 7:55
  but due to geography and an adjacent channel, our 88.9 FM signal is hard to
• 8:00
  hear in the center and western parts of the metro. That will be cured when our
• 8:04
  translator on 94.5 FM comes on the air.
• 8:07
  For this to happen, we need your help. We are short just over $12,000.
• 8:12
  We ask you to help us evangelize Rockford with this purchase.
• 8:15
  To help us, donate online at catholicspiritradio.com or send a check to 108
• 8:21
  Boykins Place, Normal, Illinois, 61761.
• 8:25
  Again, that's catholicspiritradio.com or 108 Boykins Place, Normal, Illinois, 61761.
• 8:33
  Or you can even give us a call or stop by at the radio station.
• 8:36
  Please help us complete this project so we can reach the full Rockford Market.
• 8:39
  Thank you for your support of Catholic Spirit Radio.
• 8:43
  Honey, what are we going to do for Mass this weekend? We'll be out of town and
• 8:47
  won't be here at our regular Mass time.
• 8:50
  Let's go online to check catholicspiritradio.com and find another Mass time.
• 8:55
  The website lists the regular Mass schedule plus most Holy Days of all the Catholic
• 9:00
  churches in and nearby all of the Catholic Spirit Radio listening areas.
• 9:04
  That's a lot in Central and Northern Illinois.
• 9:07
  Good. We'll easily be able to find another Mass time on catholicspiritradio.com.
• 9:12
  I heard that it has a huge list of Eucharistic adoration, too.
• 9:16
  You won't believe the number of churches that offer it. That's wonderful.
• 9:20
  The Eucharist brings me such peace. Are Reconciliation Times also listed at
• 9:26
  catholicspiritradio.com?
• 9:28
  Yes, and they even have a community calendar that lists local Catholic events.
• 9:32
  Let's check that out too. Thank you, Catholic Spirit Radio.
• 9:36
  And in a much greater way, thank you, Jesus.
• 9:41
  ICatholic Mobile is a 5G mobile phone company dedicated to supporting your faith
• 9:46
  and values, offering unlimited talk and text, reliable data,
• 9:50
  and plans that support Catholic causes.
• 9:53
  A portion of every dollar helps sustain the mission of the Catholic Spirit Radio Network.
• 9:58
  With nationwide coverage, iCatholic Mobile connects you to what matters most.
• 10:03
  More information is available at iCatholicMobile.com.
• 10:06
  ICatholic Mobile underwrites for the Catholic Spirit Radio Network.
• 10:11
  Music.
• 10:22
  And welcome back to Good News. Before we get into the readings for this Sunday,
• 10:28
  I was listening to Catholic Spirit Radio in my car the other day, listening to Dr. Ray.
• 10:33
  I love Dr. Ray's programs. I think he's terrific.
• 10:36
  Had a chance to meet him in person a few years ago when he was here in town
• 10:41
  and hosting a fundraiser for Catholic Spirit Radio.
• 10:45
  Just a great guy, really good information for parents, just a smart fella and funny as can be.
• 10:55
  And he was saying on his show just a couple days ago that 7 million people a
• 11:02
  year drop their phones into the toilet.
• 11:06
  Now, I'm not going to go into why that's important or what that had to do with
• 11:11
  the show, but it was just this number he threw out there.
• 11:14
  He said, according to sources, that's 19% of the population drop their phones
• 11:24
  into the toilet annually, annually.
• 11:27
  And I'm thinking, who are these people that are doing this every year?
• 11:33
  But anyway, so I thought, could that possibly be true? So I Googled it,
• 11:38
  and it is on the internet. I'll give them that. It's on the internet.
• 11:42
  I found one source for that number, and it was someone's post on Facebook.
• 11:50
  Now, we're not talking this was the cellular phone industry that published this
• 11:54
  or Plumbing International that published this.
• 11:57
  This is just some person who, in a Facebook post, put this out there,
• 12:03
  and then it's just getting passed along.
• 12:06
  So the source material is just, it's got to be a guy.
• 12:10
  Some guy on Facebook said 17 million people.
• 12:15
  Well, you know what they say, 68.7 of all statistics are made up on the spot.
• 12:20
  And I think that's one of, this is one of those, because I cannot believe this number.
• 12:26
  And I certainly don't put any stock in the source of it. And I bring that up
• 12:31
  because I have people come to me as a deacon.
• 12:36
  All deacons and priests get this. People after a mass or after an event at church
• 12:42
  will say, I have a question for you.
• 12:43
  I heard that. And they say some of the most outrageous things about,
• 12:49
  I heard that the Catholic Church teaches yada, yada, yada. Or I heard that the
• 12:54
  Catholic Church believes yada, yada, yada.
• 12:57
  Or why doesn't the Catholic Church yada, yada, yada?
• 13:00
  And they're just such unusual questions. I think, where did you get this from?
• 13:06
  It's the first question I ask.
• 13:07
  Who told you this? Well, I saw it on the internet.
• 13:11
  Folks, if you want to learn about theology, if you want to learn about the liturgy,
• 13:17
  or if you want to learn about Scripture.
• 13:20
  Be very, very careful about what you believe on the Internet.
• 13:27
  One of the great quotes is, everything on the Internet is true.
• 13:31
  And that was from Abraham Lincoln.
• 13:34
  You can find that on the Internet, in fact, that he said that.
• 13:39
  You know, it's just, there's just so much outrageous. So the latest thing,
• 13:42
  I was in a little discussion group online and this woman said to me,
• 13:48
  wrote to me and said, well, the Catholic church doesn't follow the Bible.
• 13:54
  And I said, ma'am, the Catholic church is over 200 years older than the Bible.
• 14:04
  The Bible is there because of the Catholic Church.
• 14:09
  We not only predate it, we gave it to you.
• 14:14
  The scriptures of the New Testament were written by members of the Catholic Church.
• 14:22
  So how can you say, you know, no, we don't follow the Bible.
• 14:26
  We follow the life and teachings of Christ.
• 14:30
  The Bible is a teaching tool that puts into writing those teachings.
• 14:36
  But it's not the Bible that we follow. It's the teachings.
• 14:40
  And we've had the teachings far longer than we've had the Bible.
• 14:48
  I just, I'm just stunned by that. And then she comes back with,
• 14:52
  well, no, you didn't. No, we didn't what?
• 14:54
  You didn't give us the Bible. Well, okay. I hate to throw logic into this,
• 15:01
  There was no other Christian church at that time.
• 15:05
  And there was no other Christian church for another 700 years when we had the
• 15:13
  schism with the Orthodox Church.
• 15:15
  Up until then, even the Orthodox Church was the Catholic Church.
• 15:21
  So if the Catholic Church didn't compile the scriptures, if they didn't come
• 15:28
  up with the canon of the New Testament. Who did?
• 15:32
  Now, I'm not going to badmouth any denomination, any Christian denomination,
• 15:38
  because they're all doing their best with the history that they have.
• 15:43
  You know, they're all doing the best with the history that they've been stuck with.
• 15:48
  But you cannot deny that they didn't exist.
• 15:51
  I mean, the Protestant churches didn't exist for another 1,100 years,
• 15:57
  1,200 years after the Catholic Church established the scriptures of the canons of the Bible.
• 16:05
  A lot of the modern churches, pardon me, the evangelical churches,
• 16:11
  they didn't even come around until like two centuries ago. Some last week.
• 16:17
  They're that new. So if none of them were around when the Bible was compiled, who then compiled it?
• 16:28
  There was only one church, and it's been called the Catholic Church since the second century.
• 16:34
  So I'm sorry. You'd have to rewrite history to separate the Bible and the Catholic Church.
• 16:42
  And if you look at all the other Christian churches, they all have the same New Testament.
• 16:49
  Now, they use a different Old Testament, but they all have the same New Testament.
• 16:55
  Where did that come from? Who decided that those would be the books?
• 16:59
  The Catholic Church decided that.
• 17:01
  And everyone accepted that authority of the Catholic Church,
• 17:06
  that wisdom of the Catholic Church to say, this is what the Catholic Church
• 17:10
  says is New Testament, we all agree.
• 17:13
  So don't be using the Bible as a weapon against your fellow Christians.
• 17:19
  The Bible is a gift for the world.
• 17:23
  The church gave it to everyone to use as a tool to grow closer to Christ.
• 17:29
  Don't turn around and use it as a weapon. I can't think of a more unchristian thing to do.
• 17:35
  All right, off my soapbox. On to the next thing.
• 17:40
  Our readings for the 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time come from the book of Ecclesiastes,
• 17:46
  comes from a letter from Paul to the Colossians, and then, of course,
• 17:50
  we continue with the Gospel of Luke.
• 17:53
  And this has a pretty interesting theme to it.
• 17:57
  Let's see if you pick it up as we go along, and then I'll open it up for you at the very end.
• 18:03
  The book of Ecclesiastes says, Vanities of vanities, says Kohileth,
• 18:09
  vanity of vanities, all things are vanity.
• 18:12
  Here is one who has labored with wisdom and knowledge and skill,
• 18:16
  and yet to another who has not labored over it, he must leave property.
• 18:21
  This also is vanity and a great misfortune. For what profit comes to a man from
• 18:26
  all the toil and anxiety of heart with which he has labored under the sun.
• 18:30
  All his days sorrow and grief is his occupation. Even at night his mind is not at rest.
• 18:37
  This also is a vanity. The word of the Lord.
• 18:41
  Then we go to the reading from the letter of St. Paul to the Colossians.
• 18:46
  Brothers and sisters, if you were raised with Christ, seek what is above,
• 18:51
  where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.
• 18:55
  Think of what is above, not of what is on earth.
• 18:59
  For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
• 19:03
  When Christ your life appears, then you too will appear with Him in glory.
• 19:09
  Put to death, then, the parts of your life that are earthly—immorality,
• 19:13
  impurity, passion, evil desire, and the greed that is idolatry.
• 19:18
  Stop lying to one another, since you have taken off the old self with its practices
• 19:23
  and you have put on the new self, which is being renewed for knowledge in the image of its creator.
• 19:30
  Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision,
• 19:35
  barbarian, Scythian, slave, free, but Christ is all and in all. The Word of the Lord.
• 19:43
  In our reading from the Holy Gospel according to Luke, Someone in the crowd
• 19:48
  said to Jesus, Teacher, tell my brother to share the inheritance with me.
• 19:53
  He replied to him, Friend, who appointed me as your judge and arbitrator?
• 19:58
  Then he said to the crowd, Take care to guard against all greed,
• 20:02
  for though one may be rich, One's life does not consist of possessions.
• 20:08
  Then he told them a parable. There is a rich man whose land produced a bountiful harvest.
• 20:13
  He asked himself, What shall I do? For I do not have the space to store my harvest.
• 20:19
  And he said, This is what I shall do. I shall tear down my barns and build larger ones.
• 20:26
  There I shall store all my grain and other goods. And I shall say to myself,
• 20:30
  Now, as far as you, You have so many good things stored up for many years.
• 20:35
  Rest, eat, drink, be merry.
• 20:38
  But God said to him, You fool, this night your life will be demanded of you,
• 20:44
  and the things you have prepared, to whom will they belong?
• 20:47
  Thus will it be for all who store up treasures for themselves,
• 20:51
  but are not rich in what matters to God. The Gospel of the Lord.
• 20:56
  I think it's a healthy thing for us to remember that,
• 20:59
  remind ourselves that we are simply hanging on to clothes that will belong to someone else someday.
• 21:08
  The goods we have, the furniture we have, the house we live in,
• 21:13
  will all belong to someone else someday.
• 21:16
  None of these things are ours. We're using them now.
• 21:21
  We have the license to use them at the moment, but they're not really ours because
• 21:26
  they're going to be given away. you're probably not even going to have a full say in who gets them.
• 21:33
  My mother passed away recently. She had a will.
• 21:37
  Some of the things she had, she specified who they would go to.
• 21:43
  But I will tell you, and mom, I hope you're listening. You're probably not going to like hearing this.
• 21:49
  Most of her things were given to charity.
• 21:52
  They now belong to total strangers or soon will belong to total strangers.
• 21:58
  And hopefully they'll get as much joy and as much use out of them as my mother did.
• 22:03
  But those things didn't even go to family and friends. They just went.
• 22:09
  Most of the things we all own are going to go that same way.
• 22:14
  The majority of things that we put so much stock in, that we care so much about,
• 22:21
  that we feel that while we're alive, we could never live without, are going to be gone.
• 22:26
  They're all going to be gone. And so be careful not to put too much stock in
• 22:32
  stuff because stuff is temporary.
• 22:35
  There's nothing on this earth that anyone can give you that can make you happy
• 22:41
  forever because none of it lasts forever.
• 22:45
  Imagine this. Imagine you walk out of church today and someone's waiting for you.
• 22:49
  They smile and tell you, I'm here to give you the possession you've always dreamed of.
• 22:54
  Maybe it's a fancy car. Maybe it's a vacation home. Some fancy computer gadgets.
• 23:01
  And I love my computer gadgets.
• 23:04
  Whatever it is, they're offering it to you for free. Best thing that you've
• 23:08
  most, the thing you've most wanted in your life, they give it to you for free.
• 23:12
  No strings attached. What do you think?
• 23:15
  One string. The string is that you can't have anything else. You can only get this.
• 23:23
  Since this is so important to you, this is what you get.
• 23:27
  Nothing else in your life will make you happy. Only this.
• 23:31
  No person, no experience, nothing else will ever satisfy you other than this thing.
• 23:37
  You still want it, knowing that this thing will never last.
• 23:44
  It's going to wear out. It's going to break. It's going to get taken.
• 23:47
  It's going to burn up, whatever. Nothing on this earth lasts.
• 23:52
  So if you could get anything you wanted, but nothing else, would you still want it?
• 23:57
  Look at your possessions the same way. Things that you just can't live without.
• 24:02
  Well, what if you had to live with only that thing?
• 24:05
  How important then would it be to you? Because you're going to say,
• 24:08
  well, you know what? This is nice, but I need that thing too.
• 24:12
  Or I'm kind of bored with this. Now the thing that's going to make me happy
• 24:17
  is that thing over there.
• 24:18
  Or even worse, that thing that someone else owns.
• 24:21
  I want that thing. You see where this desire for possessions leads us? It always leads to sin.
• 24:29
  It always leads to loving something more than we love our neighbor,
• 24:34
  loving something more than we love God, wanting something more than we want
• 24:39
  a relationship with Christ.
• 24:42
  Things only get in the way. And that's why at death, all things are taken from
• 24:47
  us, because then there's nothing to stand between you and love of Christ.
• 24:52
  So what happens if you don't have that love of Christ?
• 24:56
  That's something to spend some time thinking about.
• 25:00
  This scenario forces us to ask a powerful question. where is my treasure? What is my treasure?
• 25:08
  Make God and others the most important thing in your life and do it not with stuff.
• 25:17
  We talked about this fellow who spends so much time at work gaining things and
• 25:24
  then has to give it all away or is so abundant with things that he doesn't even
• 25:29
  have enough room to keep it.
• 25:32
  And it's all going to be taken away.
• 25:35
  Scripture tells us that only one thing lasts, love.
• 25:39
  Who are you loving this week? How are you showing your love for family and friends?
• 25:45
  And how are you showing your love for God?
• 25:48
  Pray about that this weekend. We'll talk to you next week with more good news
• 25:53
  here on Catholic Spirit Radio.
• 25:55
  May Almighty God bless you, protect you from all evil, and bring you to everlasting life. Amen.