unknown 0:00

David, did you have a sign-up change in today or something?

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Yeah, thank you for the reminder. Um I don't anticipate that we'll have parents uh coming in for the come and see, but if you are here, we're glad you're here. And we do have sign-ups on my left, your right. Uh those clipboards at the front are available if you need to sign in for any kind of uh credit. Okay. Uh but thanks be to God, we had close to 50 second grade students from here, St. Louis School, receive their first communion. Uh we just had at the 845 Mass, right? The first set, smaller group, maybe 10 or so, first Holy Communicants. We've got a lot coming at 10:30 and a whole lot coming at the 3 o'clock Spanish Mass. So praise God for the work of moms and dads preparing their kids. Uh and also I know there were there's at least one set of grandparents that had a great influence that I know of, right, that I I've witnessed personally, but that's in general the case, right? That uh parents do all they can, grandparents support the parents and the grandkids. So uh a word of thanks to you and your vocation for what you're doing because we just had people receive their, you know, that's one of the main sacraments of initiation. So it's like they've become a little bit closer in their union with God uh in a in a real way. Uh obviously it's a mystical way, it's sacramental, but but it's um it's also on the books, literally. Like we put it in the Sacramental Records books. And after maybe 50 years or so, those books go over to the diocese, to Bishop Urbitch or whoever the bishop will be uh down the road, all of his successors, um, and they're in our our archives. So every uh however many years when a book has hit its expiration date, we'll say for how long we can keep recording in that book, it goes to the diocese and archived. And you can think also of the scriptural sense of uh the book of life, right? Where Jesus has all of our names written, and that's what we're we're ultimately here for, right? Is to have our names written in the book of life, the living. Um and that that first holy communion is hopefully the first of many. Uh that's that's one of the things Father O'Hare said yesterday was to uh, you know, tomorrow's your second Holy Communion. Make sure you come tomorrow, because obviously Saturday is uh is a great day to go to Mass for our Lady, but we always come on Sundays uh to worship the risen Lord. So uh again, thanks to the parents and to the grandparents and anyone else who had like a real direct role in preparing their kids. Um today you've got a handout. Uh there's a typo, at least up at the very top left, uh, so I'll own that right now. Um it's not angles and the covenants, it's angels and the covenants. Should be uh pretty obvious. But uh we're gonna explore language and grammar a little bit today, but uh the overall topics you can see with the outline. Um the opening prayer, uh, the Pentecost Novena, I I encourage you to go seek that out. Um the one my wife and I use as a family, uh we just pulled off of I think it's catholiclife.com or something like that, very close to that. But we just googled uh you know Pentecost Novena, and there's a really beautiful one in that. It takes a few minutes, but it's worth uh worth all our time. So of course the um the Feast of Pentecost begins next Saturday night and Sunday, and in some places it'll be celebrated a full eight days or nine days, yeah, eight days with the octave, right? Um and that's that's straight out of the Bible, right? We think of the uh the apostles being in fear, even though they've met the risen Lord, they still have their fears, but it's when the Holy Spirit comes that they're really set aflame with the love of God burning in their hearts to go out and evangelize and to uh make sure that everyone is baptized, right? That's that's our goal. Um not for uh numbers' sake, but because we think it really matters. That's what our Lord asked right before he left to go to heaven, which we celebrate today with the Ascension. So we will look at uh Pentecost on your own. Um but uh I do want to sing. We've got a couple options, so just flipping through here. There's the Regina Chaley, which I remember Father O'Hare saying that one or two weeks ago, I think, recent recently. Um so that's here, it's in Latin and in English. Um and on the back of so that's the second sheet. The second uh hymn, so the first of it of course is like an antivon where we're sing to our lady and ask her to pray for us. Then there's the confirmation hymn. And we talked about that one sacrament of initiation with first holy communion, but there's also, of course, confirmation, and we can think of Pentecost as really exploring confirmation in depth. Um and so come Holy Ghost, creator blessed. I if uh if you really don't want to sing that one, maybe raise your hand. Um and but I it's not quite gold, but I always like to pass on some gold, right? So this one just happens to have close to a shade of gold, let's say. And then there's the six major covenants, uh biblical covenants sheet, which would be a fun exercise maybe for family at home. Uh on the front it's all filled in, and on the back there's some blank spots you can kind of quiz yourself or quiz a family member. And then the final sheet, so there's four total sheets stapled together, basic Christian and anthropology. Um, and welcome to everybody. If uh if you came in in the last couple minutes and you maybe didn't see, there's handouts in the back, and they look like this with a little bit of highlighting on them. So uh back to our front where I messed up. Uh so we've got come and see angels and the covenants preparing for the messiah. That's our overall topic. And if you have your books, um I didn't set up for the Disney celebration here, but uh, and I'm not gonna put on my mouse quieteer ears, um, although that would be fun, and you might pay more attention, maybe to the ears than to the content. So uh but we've got different arrangements. So I see some of you have turned chairs to make it kind of like your own personal table. I welcome that, right? There's it's really easy afterwards if you want to switch them back. So if you need space to put your stuff, normally have tables. Feel free to use uh a nearby chair to serve as your table. Um so page 92 uh is where we're beginning, and then there's uh so that's that topic is the angels, page 93, preparing for the Messiah, and that goes that covers several pages. So 93, 94, 95, even 96 in the top of 97. Um if you haven't read this, I think most people are keeping up with the reading, but this is a really beautiful text, and of course, what I'm not gonna do is just sit here and read uh word for word from the book. The anticipation is we're reading on our own outside of class. Um but uh but I want to maybe unpack a few topics that are in these pages that I just referenced, right? So um yeah, last few classes, continue with the outline. So opening prayer, uh we'll sing that in a second, then we'll go over the last four classes um very briefly, right? And then cover today's topic, uh, discuss some of the um ways to put it into action, right? And then tentative next few classes because we've got some scheduling changes. So I've put that all up front, top left. Uh so I didn't end up seeing hands go up in opposition to come holy ghost. So you want to stand and we'll we'll sing? So the sheet looks like this. We'll do our best.

SPEAKER_01 7:31

Come Holy Ghost Creator blessed, vouch save within our souls to rest, come with thy grace and heavenly and fill the hearts which thou hast to make, and fill the hearts which thou hast to make Will come further to thee we cry sweet sweet sun, with strength and call rich from with strength and call rich from the way of sleep and peaceful peaceful is a presenting No evil can forest up speech, no evil can force up speech, all he goes through the father and the sun, we this are never changing praise, let us run and both proceed, let us run and both proceed. Praise we the Father and the Son and Holy Spirit with them one, and may the Son on us bestow the gifts that from the Spirit flow the gifts that from the Spirit flow.

SPEAKER_00 10:59

Alright, great. So we've stretched uh gotten the blood going and the pipes, so very good. Um so we uh just a review. A few weeks back, this was on Divine Mercy Sunday. Um I looked at the topic of Abba Father, uh, divine peliation or sons in the sun. We considered Genesis and evolution a little bit. Uh so those are pages 79 to 83 back in April 12th. Uh Father Hera was teaching the last couple weeks. Um he taught images and likeness, one set of parents, so Adam and Eve, of course, we all come from those first two humans, uh, the message of Genesis, the fatherhood of God, and Father Hare also taught these topics the fall, the curse of original sin, why dust evil or why does evil exist, natural law and the first gospel, or the proto-evangelium, right? That was the Latin word. Uh the first gospel. Um I assume you've reached out to Father Herr with any questions on those topics. Uh I had promised handouts, so I do have uh somewhat organized in your sheet here from April 12th, things I forgot to hand out or didn't have the printer working. Uh, and then there's more up here if you're looking for even more in-depth. Um, so those stapled copies up on the front right, uh, you'll find those if you want them. Okay, now today we're looking at angels, the covenants, uh, slash preparing for the messiah, an application in your own life, our own lives, and the missing handouts. So uh moving down to the bottom half of page one uh where it says today. So angels, we can think of the guardian angel prayer, the St. Michael Prayer. Uh those are beautiful prayers that really make a part of your daily life, right? You really want to uh pray those maybe throughout the day. Some people would pray those, or it could be good for a morning offering. Um so we see that on page 92. Angel of God, my guardian dear, to whom God's love commits me here. Ever this day be at my side to light and guard, to rule and guide. Great thing to teach kids, uh, great thing to teach grandkids, right? Those are those are prayers I I personally did not learn. Um, it wasn't a prayer my parents taught me. So I was thinking I was in college when I first heard it, to be honest. Or like remember first hearing it. And then uh now it's part of my my daily routine. So I it's uh it's something I I believe in. I don't think I ever didn't believe, I think I always believed in guardian angels, but but that's something we want to do is actually pray uh for for them to guide us, right? And to pass that on to others. It's something we want to continue passing on as tradition to hand on this practice of praying to our guardian angels. Uh as it does say, the um the Greek word itself, ongolos, um I have put Greek in here, uh, but I try to put a transliteration and a pronunciation for Greek words that we're really looking at today. So Angolos, um basic definition, we could say an envoy, a messenger, one sent, uh, implying and necessitating a sender, right? So if you're sent, somebody send to you, right? Um if I'm sending somebody, then there's the person who got sent. So the angel is one who is sent. Uh that's almost the same definition as an apostle, right? One who's been sent out. So angel and apostle are very similar words. They're both coming from Greek, which is the language of the New Testament, right? And the Septuagint, or the Greek translation of the Old Testament. So we've got uh the word itself, because we want to know what the words mean, right? Define your terms and then move on in a common language. Now, the uh the use, we want to consider how does scripture use the word? Because it's a word that predated the New Testament, right? It's a word that predated the Old Testament. They didn't come up with the word as they're writing the Bible. Uh, it was a word people already understood. Now, so we can consider both the use of that word angelos or angel in sacred scripture and also in icons. We can think of beautiful imagery, uh, and the church loves to pray with icons. And that's another thing we want to consider in our own homes, displaying icons and even gathering the family before the icon to pray. Really good practice uh for a home altar. Now, Jesus himself, uh, so I'm gonna read this together, or uh we can all read together, I'll read out loud. So it says, We do not become angels when we die, right? That's what the text itself says on page 92. So we don't become angels. However, Jesus himself calls John the Baptist his angel. He says, quote unquote, my messenger.

unknown 15:41

Right?

SPEAKER_00 15:41

So Jesus calls John the Baptist an angel. What he's not saying is that he's not human, that he's angelic, right? Jesus is not saying that, but he used he calls John the Baptist an angel if we're reading the Bible in in Greek. Um it usually is not translated angel in English, but that's it, it says Angelos, if we're looking at the uh the New Testament. So we have to ask ourselves, why is Jesus saying that? Well, we might say he's fulfilling the prophecy of Malachi 3:1, chapter 3, verse 1 from the Old Testament. So although Jesus uses this word, he clarifies it, right? That's the helpful thing. A lot of times we'd be lost if Jesus didn't clarify things for us. So yet Jesus clarifies the meaning in Matthew 11, 11. So he says that he calls John the Baptist my messenger in Matthew 11, 10. The very next line, how does he clarify? Because he says John the Baptist was born of woman. Angels are not born of women, right? They're they're created directly from God, they're not generated the way that we humans are generated, right? So Jesus makes clear he's not calling John the Baptist an angel in that sense, right? Like uh think of the winged cherub or something, right? We're not talking about that. But the messenger. Um John the Baptist was born of a woman, and we can say commonly. I have an icon at home that depicts John the Baptist as an angel. He has wings, and he's he's basically being sent on fire or set on fire with with the love of God to spread that message, right? He's preparing the way. So he's on fire with the love of God. He's been fasting and praying in the wilderness, and he is he is unmoved, unshakable. He's focused on passing on the message of Jesus. And so obviously we want to be Christ-like. We also want to be John the Baptist-like, right? We want to be uh not Baptists in the sense of a Protestant group. Uh we we love our Protestant groups that are Baptists, right? But we we want to be Catholics, but we want to be baptizers, right? We want to go out and evangelize to immerse people in the love of God. So we want to be like John the Baptist and in that sense be angelic. So our goal, uh the middle here it says goal, open your heart and mind to let God's grace heal and transform you, to serve as a quote-unquote angel or a messenger of his mercy in the world. That's our goal, to be angelic, to be messengers of God's mercy. So you must, the way that we can do that, you must carve sacred silent space, sacred silent space to hear him, to hear him speak, so you can share the message. Uh and we can think back to childhood of playing the game telephone, right? Where the message gets garbled. When you you start out here, it's clear, a few kids in, it's changed. And we notice that in our own lives as adults, right? That that game unfortunately is part of everyday life. Uh that the message gets changed over time. But as Catholics, we have scripture and tradition, right? We we believe that we're really passing on, handing on the authentic message from Christ. And what's the message? Ultimately, the message is God, right? It's a life immersed in God where we're becoming God. So the more I'm receiving communion, I'm not becoming bread, right? But I am becoming, and the bread's not becoming me, but I'm becoming God in a mystical way, right? I'm becoming really divinized, uh, transformed into close union. So it's no longer me who lives, it's uh it's Christ living in me, right? That's that's how that happens through the sacraments baptism, confirmation, and holy communion. So really important that we uh we carve that sacred silent space in order to hear the message. We want to really put our ears up, um, obviously, spiritual ears, see with the eyes of faith, and then speak as witnesses to be to be baptizing all that we do. We can think of baptism of fire. Sometimes people talk about a combat. Uh, if you've been immersed in a violent experience, there's a baptism. We want it to be a baptism of mercy, right? Where people are just encountering all the time this uh this message of God that it transforms it. It's a crucible of God's goodness. Okay. Um we can look specifically at the scriptural use of angel uh for man in Malachi 3, 1 and Matthew 11, 10. So we have this is he of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, who shall prepare thy way before thee. So I send um ego apostelo uh and then my messenger tan angolanbu. Um so ego is I, apostello, you can think of apostle, apostello, I send. And remember, with the one sent, there's always a sender, so Jesus is identifying himself, I send, and then Angulas one sent my messenger. Jesus sends, so he is sending his messenger, and we're that's what we're all called to to continue being out, sent out. Um so there's just different translations. There's a couple different uh from from the Greek there. Uh we can think of the morphological G and T and then also the Textus Receptus. So those are two different manuscripts of Greek that we have access to. And then a basic translation we'll just go with the King James. It's beautifully written. Uh looking at Malachi 3.1, so bottom of page one. Malachi 3.1, behold, I send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to his temple. Even the messenger of the covenant whom ye delight in, behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts. Um, so Jesus is going is basically fulfilling that prophecy from the prophet Malachi, right? Uh, that he he does send his messenger. So Malachi, the Lord of hosts, says, I'm going to send my messenger. Eventually we see that messenger in uh John the Baptist. Right? We can see that fulfillment there. And Jesus sends him out because Jesus is God, right? Moving on to the top right, uh paragraph three, it says, Before moving to the covenants, do you see that? So before moving. Moving to the covenants. Consider angels in this is the catechism of the Catholic Church. Paragraphs 325 to 354. Okay, so we have the Apostles' Creed professes that God is creator of heaven and earth. The Nicene Creed makes it explicit that this profession includes all that is seen and unseen. So we can think of normal, normally when we think of angels, we don't see them, but we experience them, protecting us, guarding us, lighting the way for us, saying, don't do this, make sure you do do that. Okay, so seen and unseen, we don't see the angels, but we see the effects of the angels, like the wind. Paragraph 328, the existence of the spiritual, non-corporeal beings that sacred scripture usually calls, quote unquote, angels, is a truth of faith. The witness of the scriptures is as clear as the unanimity of tradition. And then paragraph 329, we hear from St. Augustine, he says, Angel is the name of their office, not of their nature. So it's like what they do, more than exactly what they are. So nature, um, excuse me, angel is the name of their office, not of their nature. And if you seek the name of their nature, it is spirit. If you seek the name of their office, it is angel. From what they are, spirit, from what they do, angel. Okay. With their whole beings, the angels are servants and messengers of God. So that's straight out of the catechism. And we can now pause if there's um any thoughts. See clarification. That's our basic overview of angels. Yeah, right. Yeah. Yeah. Everybody's guardian angels here. They don't quit on the job, right? Uh we trust that. I mean, I it's it's it's uh it sounds funny to say it, but that's our we really believe that. Um absolutely. I don't see any angels. No. Um, but I but I trust it. So I see with the eyes of faith. I don't see with my two eyes, with my glasses on top of whatever. Yeah, so I know that there's there are times when I look back in prayer, I can reflect on how God uh helped me to avoid some evil. Whether it was maybe a car crash. Yesterday, I'll be honest, yesterday I almost got a car crash. Uh, and I've I I give glory to God for my angel who probably nudged me in some way, not maybe not physically, right, but got me to pay more attention and I have avoided a crash, right? Um that might sound super people could be superstitious of that, right? Or or or say that that's being superstitious. But but with the eyes of faith, it's always good to just give glory to God, give thanks. And how has God promised to protect us? He gives us a guardian angel, right? So if I've been guarded from some evil, or if I'm tempted to sin and I choose not to sin, I don't beat my chest, say I'm so good. I say, Thank you, God, for giving me my angel who guarded me from evil and helped me to avoid temptation. Because on my own, without God, I can do nothing, right? Jesus says, without me, you can do nothing. So with his grace, of course, I can be improved, but but we always give credit to teamwork, right? It's it's never an individualistic effort. So compared that further in the church, when there's mass, and just that concentration, and that must be a huge spiritual handle. Yeah, absolutely. So for the mic, uh at mass, we don't see all the angels that are there, but they're rushing and it's flooded with angels, right, and all kinds of the heavenly hosts. Uh we sing Hosanna, uh, you know, um sanctu sanctu sanctus domus deusabu, plenus and chelea, terra, gloria tua, hosanna. Hosanna and excelsis, right? Uh we speak of the hosts, um, the heavenly hosts. So they're not there to fight, right, with swords, but but there is a real spiritual combat. Christ has already won the victory on the cross, and that event is in a way represented to us, and so the angels are there at this amazing event. Um, so especially in the consecration, we can think of just a flood of angels who want to praise God. They're there to adore Him. So we don't see that, but we do see it with the eyes of faith. We we know it. Yes, sir. Sure. Uh so you asked me, you've already got, you could think through it, but it's we're you're asking supposedly that somebody else might respond. So um the conscience we can think of being formed. It could be formed by you know demonic influence or or uh a neighbor who's not into Christianity, we can you know simplify it that way. Um the world, people that are not for our best interests can shape our conscience, but we also have the Bible, the catechism, uh, and specifically within the Bible, we can think of the Decalogue, the Ten Commandments, the Beatitudes, things that you would really want to read to form your conscience. And then even if I've read them, maybe maybe I struggle to do them. So I need uh to be ever perfected so there's a dialogue. I'm not sitting and having a conversation with my guardian angel, right? But I'm although I don't see it, my guardian angel might be whispering, like, hey, do this, don't do that. And I say whisper kind of in squirt scare uh scare quotes, right? So it's it's less of a physical experience, but a spiritual whisper, right? The way that the Lord speaks to us in adoration. We don't tend to hear audibly, my son, I love you, you know, keep up the good work, or make sure you stop doing that bad habit. But there's a conversation that takes place. So we can open up in prayer to hear, not with our actual ears, right? With the ears of our heart, we could say. So the guardian angel's there to help form that conscience or purify it when it's being uh influenced by the world in a bad way. Does that make any sense? Is that hope?

unknown 28:13

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 28:14

Uh yes, ma'am.

SPEAKER_03 28:15

This is just to simplify this um angel sending a lot is not their nature.

unknown 28:21

You think that your nature is very thinning with the woman is saying, can you simplify that?

SPEAKER_00 28:27

Okay, sure. So the um we can think of uh the office of the papacy, right? There is an actual person, he's a man, right? Um he's a certain height, uh, you know, you can see him, tends to wear white. Uh so you could describe, let's say, just physical things, material things, but the office is an office that is meant to uh confirm the brethren, right? To to help us stay strong in our faith and not deviate from what we've received from scripture and tradition, right? That's the purpose or the office of the papacy is to and to bind and to loose, right? He can for forgive certain things that no one else can. Um, he can dispense with certain practices that are not essential to our salvation, he can say, you don't have to do that anymore. It's okay. Or he can add an obligation that we do have to, we're bound to, right? So that's the office. Um and the uh but the person uh is not spirit, it's there's an actual human being um that occupies that, and that man will eventually die. So he's he's material. Uh the angelic office is or the nature is spiritual, so he will uh not fade away. Right, I think a spirit the truth. Two plus two is always gonna be four, right? Always was, always will be. Uh so this um office of messaging will will vary um from time to time because that angel's gonna come in our actual experience and say, this is the message now, fix yourself, or keep up the good work, the you know, words of encouragement. Um not sure if that's does that help at all? Okay, okay. Yes, ma'am. Yeah, sounds like a great thing. If you couldn't hear that, uh, we obviously want to be protected from sin, but we also might want to ask the Lord to protect our car when we're leaving it in the parking lot. We don't want it to be damaged and waste our money on a repair when we could maybe donate that to the church or you know, buy a gift for a loved one, you know, to express our appreciation for their efforts. So we want protection and you want to be able to travel safely. So asking your guardian angel to protect your things, there's nothing worldly about that. It's not sinful, it's a very good thing. Uh and then what was the other example? Um you want you want peace and good vibes in your house. Yes, we want peace. That's what the Lord offers, and it's not a peace of the world, it's a peace in the heart. And so you can think of spouses that might have conflict. So asking angels to assist us to have peace, yeah, absolutely, we want that. Um, and to avoid things that might come in uh and bring conflict. So asking the Lord to to sh you know, let his angels help us in in ordinary ways, absolutely. That's something we want to do.

unknown 31:50

I understand that for anything like that. And if that person is not believing angels, how what was the other salt that was that we're gonna be?

SPEAKER_00 32:28

Uh on the first one, I don't know um enough to to give you a real answer, but but um thinking through it briefly, the idea that uh they can't know our mind, I think it's more on the cannot as opposed to may not. It's not an ability, so we want to we could share, but they the more that we speak to our angel and open our hearts, um, and we open our hearts in prayer, the angel would be hearing that prayer. Uh, and so then they can anticipate the way that we think, which is also on the negative side, the devil can anticipate your move and maybe place temptations that you're not forced to fall into, right, but that you might be led astray with. So this it works both ways. Fallen angels and regular angels cannot read your mind, but they they see patterns because we we're people of habit, creatures of habit, right? So that's something to consider more broadly. In terms of asking your guardian angel to help someone else, yeah. Uh that's it's something I've done and that I've been encouraged to do. Um it looks like from head knots that some others do that. So I would say, yeah, holy thing. At the end of the day, we're just asking God's will to be done. So it's more be maybe like an actualized way of saying thy will be done from the Our Father. We're saying this is a way for that will to be done. The the guardian angel can be helping someone else. We're all part of one big team, the the one body of Christ, right? So that makes that makes sense to me.

unknown 33:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 33:50

Uh yes, ma'am. Okay, so the first part, uh, you mentioned the offer, so we're offering our sacrifice, and the priest is offering his sacrifice, right? My sacrifice and yours is what the priest says to us. So we're the implicit, the uh implicit command is offer something, right? Um your heart, your mind, your sufferings on behalf of somebody else, right? Because we know people are in need of our prayers, and this is the most efficacious prayer you can have, right? When the priest says this is my body, it really becomes the body of Christ, and that's offered to the Father in love as a sacrifice of praise, right? So we definitely want to offer something and for someone. Uh, so that's that's a great practice, really. Hopefully, we're all doing that and to keep it up. Um, in terms of, yeah, we ask maybe God for uh through our angels for a parking space. Nothing wrong with that, right? The more we're friends with God, the more we recognize He actually cares for us. And so just as you would ask a spouse or a you know family member or a buddy for something, we can ask the same thing for for God. And those are not like bad prayers or shallow prayers, those are good prayers because it shows our trust in the Lord, and so it's it's not um childish, it's childlike, right? To uh to ask God for help in ordinary ways in our life. And so I want to encourage you to continue such practices uh to just dependence on God shows humility, and that's a really good thing. Uh, but then we don't expect anything, and in the sense of like it's not it's not like rubbing a lamp, and if if I say do this, now it's those are my wishes, they're gonna be granted. So we have to be prepared for the no, because God might answer our prayers with a no or not yet, or different, you know, lots of different ways to uh to answer our prayers. So in humility, we ask, as children of a good father, we anticipate that he will grant us what we need, but not necessarily what we've asked for in the sense of what I want. So it might be a delay, and then because you delayed your parking, you run into an old friend uh when you finally get into the store. And that's God's providence, right? That he answered the prayer in a way that we really needed and for salvation, because that's what matters. So with the eyes of tr of faith, we trust that God will answer those prayers. So keep asking for the guardian angel and for the Lord to make our ordinary life um good, and then watch what happens. I don't remember the the the last part, but uh I'll just say keep it up, that that was really good. I don't because I don't think there was necessarily a uh a hard question, right? A specific question. Okay, very good. Brians, either good or bad, they can't read our minds? My yeah, so I'm not I'm not uh an expert on angelology. I've taken some classes here and there, but uh but that's what I've all I've consistently heard that. So I'm not it's not it's different than me maybe quoting the catechism, but my understanding is they don't read the mind, but they anticipate the way that we think because they study us really well. You can think of C. S. Lewis uh with the screw tape letters, it's a great book. Uh it's not the only book available on such a topic, but that's that we get a sense of um they're not quite sure what we're thinking, but they they study us really well. And uh yeah, so is there a follow-up question?

unknown 38:30

They're not putting you have a pinch of thought in your head. You could have no angel.

SPEAKER_00 38:36

Uh so logismoy um is one word you might consider trying to hold on to. Logismoi. Uh we can think of a um spiritual combat where we're peppered with maybe negative thoughts, judgmental thoughts, uh, thoughts where we doubt ourselves, thoughts uh you know that are not from us. And so there those might be temptations. And if you choose to let those take hold of you in a way uh to make them your own thoughts, then that's sinful. But hearing or um you know, remembering something from the past uh that just got triggered, that's not your fault, right? So these words of uh man, well, I'm not gonna give a specific one, but this basic that this there's a practice of asceticism called stillness or Hesekiaism. Um and so this is better practice in Eastern Christianity than maybe ours. But one thing to work on in adoration, which is definitely a Latin practice, going to Eucharistic adoration, to sit still and you might be tempted with distractions, but those are not your problem, those are from the enemy to distract you from the one who loves you. Uh so the thoughts in our mind, a lot of times, um, if we're like, where did that come from? It's not from us. Um but if we entertain the thought, then then we uh we own it, and if it's a bad thing, take it to confession. Uh Jerry. So uh say this back just so it's it's um heard by all. Jerry makes a point, we always want to look to our Lord, right? For examples in the spiritual life. And in the life of our Lord, he goes out into the wilderness for 40 days, is tempted by the devil. The devil is working on ways to to trap Jesus, bring him to uh uh into his evil way, and he fails. But if if Satan really knew the mind of Christ, he'd be able to trick him, right? Um so he doesn't seem to know, it would appear that Satan does not know the mind of Christ, even though he is a human, right? He's a divine being, but he has all of the human nature, so he has um an actual human intellect, an actual brain, right, and a human mind. So Satan does not know what is in Christ's mind in such a way that he's able to fool him or lead him to fall. Uh and so the ultimate um undoing is the cross itself where Christ is able to defeat death by death. Satan doesn't see that one coming. Uh he does not know the mind of God. Um yes, Lucas?

SPEAKER_02 42:26

Yeah, to just kind of button that up a little bit that angels they only have access to the fact. All right, but that's why so angels and positive. So then you're doing that point and hard surely that no.

SPEAKER_00 43:37

Yeah, let's uh let's let's push forward. So um we're uh we're exploring a great topic, but uh want to make sure we move into the preparation for the Messiah so we can think of the covenants. Uh I've given some basic terms here, so we're still on this is the first sheet, but page two in the middle. The first term is covenant, um better. Meaning alliance, uh pledge, it's more than a contract. The reason be it being more than a contract is because of God, not because of us, right? Because God's not going to go against his oath, his uh he is faithful, he's good. Whereas we tend to not be. Um not that we're never faithful, but a lot of times we're unfaithful. So the covenant, um, and that's the the the Hebrew word being Bereth, and then dietha, which we've explored back in December or January already, um, meaning covenant. So Hebrew and Greek, and then second term mediator, the uh messitas, so we're not looking at the Hebrew right now, but um meaning a go-between, a reconciler, a mediator, arbitrator, or intervener, and then uh messiah, uh Mashiach is the pronunciation from Hebrew, which just means the anointed one. We could think of the priests, the prophets, the kings were anointed in um in the time after the judges we'll say. And the uh the Greek term Christos, so we can think of Christ, uh basic pulling right out of the Greek, still means anointed. The fourth term Adam, um in Genesis, the word Adam uh basically just means human. Um we could, and this is from Hebrew, the the Greek being anthropos, um, so you can think of anthropology. So Adam, although we think of him as the character, right, the person uh who is married to Eve, the word itself, Adam, means man in the sense of human, uh, as opposed to male and female. So Adam, he made them male and female. But we're that that sounds weird, but the basic word itself, although it's applying to the actual first person, uh just means human. Okay, so we can think of uh a five-fold uh role for Adam, which applies to all humanity, right? Males, females, men and women, all people have Adam's role. Uh the first being son of God, um, and son is not exclusive to the to the males, right? But there's a sense of being um begotten of the father. That's what a son is. So son of God, priest, prophet, king, and bridegroom. Um so in terms of son, we derive our identity and our being from the Father. Uh the priest is meant to guard and till the sanctuary, make sacrifice, um, set things apart to be holy. The prophet speaks God's word, uh, which is logical, right? Words have meaning. They're not random sounds, they're not gibberish. This is very basic, but we have to consider that. They speak prophets speak words. They're the mouthpiece, so they speak logical things, things that actually make sense. Um and something that's rightly ordered. So we can think of laws are rightly ordered, right? They we govern based on um things that will help to govern well. So that's what the king does. And then the bridegroom is united with spouse, right? That's we're called a union with God. So all males, females are called to these basic five roles. And I mentioned law, so we've got a great uh Thomas Aquinas is always a go-to person, like the theologian. Um, so his definition of law, and this is from the prima secunde, so question 90, article four, his response. So he always sets up objections and then he responds to those objections. So in his respondio, thus, from the four preceding articles, the definition of law may be gathered, and it is nothing else, then here's his definition, than an ordinance of reason for the common good made by him who has care of the community and promulgated. Uh so that would include natural law, divine law, revelation, the decalogue, all those things are promulgated in such a way that we can know them. Uh that's what promulgation means, right? You have access to it. Whether it's posted on the internet or it's uh written in the Bible, it is available for us to know these things. Um ultimately the law is written on our hearts, right? That's that's what we're gonna be celebrating in a particular way again with Pentecost next week, uh, and really later this week on Saturday night, the writing of the law in our hearts. So we need to look down and ask God to purify our hearts so that we can live out that law well. Covenants, um, so five basic covenants from the Old Testament, and then one from the New Testament. Okay? So our covenants, the Adamic covenant, um, the Noahic covenant, the Abrahamic covenant, the Mosaic covenant, the Davidic covenant, and then what is the the last, the major everlasting covenant? What do we call that one? The new covenant, exactly. Um not a fancy word. Uh you would think it would be this with all these Adamic, you know, Abrahamic, but that's just the new covenant, so it's a little easier. Um I want to point to the Mass. That is where we learn the faith the best, is by worshiping, right? That's where that God comes to us in the most concrete way. And I've quoted there uh from the missile. So you can think of when the priest is, he makes the sign of the cross uh with the patent, he places the host on the corporal, and then he pours wine and water into the chalice, blessing the water before it's mixed. And sometimes we don't hear that happening. Um, we might not even see it happening, but it's happening. It's a really important part of the Mass. The prayer that goes with that is just one English translation. O God, who in creating human nature didst wonderfully dignify it. So when he created us in the beginning, tremendous dignity, right? And has still more wonderfully restored it, because we fell, right? There was the creation and then the fall right away, unfortunately. So he even more wonderfully restores us, and that's something Father O'Hara's talking about the last couple classes, right? Where we're deprived but not depraved. Really important to consider that. And we see those concepts underplay in this prayer in the Mass. So I'll start from the beginning again. O God, who in creating human nature didst wonderfully dignify it and has still more wonderfully restored it, grant that by the mystery of this water and wine, we may become partakers of his divine nature. Okay, I'll pause and let that take, take that in. We're gonna partake of God's nature. We talk about the angelic nature, um, our own nature. Well, now we're called, and by God is made possible that we would partake in the divine nature. We're divinized, right? Um deigned to become partaker of our human nature. He didn't become a human uh person or human being, but he took on our human nature. He became he remained a divine person, a divine being, but he took on our human nature. Even Jesus Christ, our Lord, thy Son, who with thee liveth and reigneth in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God rule without end. Amen. And then he offers the chalice. He lifts up the chalice as an offering to offer that um that wine that is going to be destroyed, right? It's going to go out of existence, and then God's person will be replacing the wine. So it is body, blood, soul, and divinity. That um right there is really important for our understanding of the covenants because it's a very gradual over millennia process where we started with wholeness, harmony, right? Original harmony, original justice that uh Father Hare was talking about with Adam and Eve, that calling to be united with God as spouses, right? Are united. Uh, and then that fall. So it's a very slow but very deliberate process from Adam to Noah to uh Moses to Abraham, or to Abraham to Moses to David, and then ultimately to Jesus, that we are slowly but surely being united to Christ again or united to God again. And that it's it's real, it's not just a fun story, right? It wouldn't be much of a story if it weren't real. Um let's we can turn the page and repeat over. And actually, I want to go to the third chief, the six major biblical covenants. We'll just explore this real quick because we're getting low on time. Uh I want to be respectful of that. So I've I've divided this into eight parts with the six covenants. So covenant, mediator, biblical reference, the promised blessing, the conditions for that blessing, the sign of the covenant, and then watch how God's family grows, um, and then the location where that covenant's, we'll say ratified. Okay. Uh so just as an example, the with the Adamic covenant, Adam, the husband, um, in the first chapter and second chapter of Genesis, there is the uh the promise of marriage bearing fruit, and his descendants will fill the earth, right? The conditions don't eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Um, and the sign of that covenant being the Sabbath day of rest and the rings, right? We can think of the wedding bands uh that unite the couple to be together, Adam and Eve. So God's family grows into one holy couple. Okay, one holy couple, so they're married. And where does that take place at Mount Eden? Mount Eden. Um skipping down to the bottom one, the new covenant, the mediator is Jesus, the royal high priest, which we can read about in Matthew chapter 26, verse 28. Jesus fulfills all the promises above. So God is always extending the promise with this awesome hope and mercy that he has to give us. And we believe, what are the conditions of this covenant? To believe in Jesus, to be baptized, to eat his body and drink his blood, and to live according to his commandments. Those are the basic conditions for new life in Jesus. What's the sign of that covenant? The Eucharist. And so this is the unique one where the mediator is also the sign and he is the promise. Because we're not our lives, but the new life is Jesus living in us, right? God's family had been growing over time from one holy couple to one holy uh family to one holy tribe, to one holy nation, to one holy kingdom, and ultimately to one holy Catholic Church. Right? That's the extension of God's family everywhere to be part of his uh universal calling together of a people. And that takes place at Mount Calvary, right on the cross. So flipping back to the first sheet, but the back of it, I want to point out real quick to conclude, and then we'll uh we'll pray and depart. But there you've got this to continue if you wish to read more. But really, the the chapter itself is just beautifully written. Uh, so if you've not read on the the Messiah, preparing for the Messiah, please do go and read the text itself. But I want to point out that the word the Catholic Church is actually in the Bible. Um that's something I just learned a little more than a year ago. Uh, and that it was a super surprise to me because I had been told it wasn't until maybe Ignatius of Antioch or Irenaeus that the first utterance of the Catholic Church takes place, which is after the Bible's finished writing, right? The last writing of the Bible was before Ignatius of Antioch wrote his own letter. But the words themselves, this is where studying a different language can be helpful. It doesn't appear in an English translation that I've come across, but it the Greek itself, which is what the New Testament was written in, Acts of the Apostles, chapter 9, verse 31, includes the words in Greek, the Catholic Church. Uh so I thought that was fascinating because it's it shouldn't shock us or be surprising that the covenant is fully revealed in the Bible itself. We don't need, although we we obviously do follow the Pope in Rome, but it's not like the Pope in Rome came up with the word the Catholic Church, right? This is uh this is right out of the Bible. So if you look at seven, top left of this is called page three, but it's a second sheet or a second page of the first sheet. The Catholic Church is a biblical term, Acts 931. Okay? Um the the word um Catholic in Greek means of the whole or universal or throughout all. And then church, also a Greek word um ecclesia, in Latin, it becomes ecclesia. You can think of ecclesiastic ecclesiastical and uh so being an assembly like we are today, we are brought in together. We're an assembly here, we've been called out from from out in the world to be brought into this uh this assembly, we've been gathered together. So the uh the Greek word he can you can think of that definite article, and then ekklesia uh catholes. Alright, and then so there's two different basic sources for our New Testament in Greek. There's the morphological Greek and the Textus Receptus. Okay, so both have a definite article, and then the Greek word ekklesia or ekklesiae, catholes. Catholes sounds a lot like Catholic, right? That is where that word came from, straight out of the Greek, and ecclesia uh church. So we we did not cover all the things I was hoping to cover, but that's a really important one that the word Catholic Church itself is right in the New Testament, Acts 9.31. Um, to live it out, uh, because that's what it's all about. It's not just about study, but living our faith. I put some um recommendations on the bottom of page three there, uh, getting having a plan of life, um, reading Father Hare's book, Holy Laity is a great put it into action. Uh getting to Mass at least once a week, at least on Sundays, but ideally during the week as well. And daily scripture reading, daily meditation, quiet time, spend some time just staring up at the crucifix, might bring you to tears how much we're loved, right? That's the goal is to just let those tears run and they bathe us kind of like a second baptism, right? They they wash us clean, they purify our hearts. So having quiet time where we're able to just take in the love of God is going to renew us. And that is gonna help us to be new in the way that the new covenant is, to be Jesus for others. Um and I can't do it on my own. I need God's assistance, his grace. All right, let's conclude with the Regina Chailey. It's the next page over. So if you wish to stand in, please. Um we'll sing it in Latin. If you don't know it, that's fine. And there's a translation there if you want to follow along that way.

SPEAKER_01 59:28

Regina Cele Alleluia, quia quemeruisti portare, alleluia, resurrexit sicuxit, alleluia, ora pronobisteum, alleluia, godelitare virgomaria, alleluia, dominia. Oremus, Deus qui per resurrectionum fili tu i domini nostri Jesu Christi, Mundum netificare dinatus. Presta quesmus superes, genitrichum Virginem Mariam, perpetue capiamus, gaudia vite, reyundum cristum dominum nostru.

unknown 1:00:19

Amen.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:20

In the name of the Father, of the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:23

Amen. God bless you.