October 18, 2024 • 33 mins
In this episode of Catholic Mysticism, Dcn. Al Bielawski talks about the Discernment of Spirits (October 17, 2024)
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
You're listening to WCAT radio, your home for authentic Catholic programming.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Hi, this is Deacon al Bolowski with another edition of
Catholic Mysticism where we talk about the supernatural aspects of
our faith, other topics relevant to our Catholic faith, and
general questions that a lot of Catholics and a lot
of people have about God and the spiritual nature of
(00:28):
our beings. That being said, and today, so you know,
we're going to timing a little bit with last weeks.
If you remember, last week, I talked about paganism versus
Christianity and how we can offset that, and the prevalence
of witchcraft and the supernatural, and we talked about the
(00:52):
occult and how it's exploding across the entire world, not
just the United States, and what we need to do
to compete at that and how we can protect ourselves. So,
with that being said, what exactly is the supernatural? We
talk about what does it mean when we talk about
supernatural aspects of our faith or the supernatural in general,
(01:18):
and what does that actually mean.
Speaker 3 (01:21):
Well, if we look.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
At the words suprah, you know, meaning above and then
the natural order of things? Now, what are the natural
order of things. We look at that and we see
God's design in creation. Correct, that's our natural our universal
laws that we have, and whether it be photosynthesis or
we look at the exchange between the day and night,
(01:46):
and we look at created order in the natural world. Now,
so the supernatural is what then it's above that. And
when we say supernatural, what do we exactly mean? We
mean God? Because God is the creator of everything. He
is above all this and therefore God, when we speak
(02:10):
of the supernatural, we are talking about God. Now that
being said, preternatural, that's where we talk about things, and
this is where the angels come in, and we talk
about spirits and that this means that this is above mankind,
(02:30):
this is our natural order of things. So this preternatural
is the angels that are above mankind because we are
all created beings. But what we are not angels? Are we?
And we are certainly not God? So that is above us.
(02:53):
So that when we speak of the supernatural, that's what
we're we're talking about. So that is what we deal with. Now,
there are many aspects, So for the sake of argument
and just to keep this simple, let us just keep our.
Speaker 3 (03:14):
Talk about the supernatural easy.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
So when we talk about things like the angels, or
we talk about God apparitions, things like that. We're just
going to keep it off, to keep it simple. Is
the supernatural, rather than get too many definitions here where
we can get confused and things like that can happen.
So we don't want to do that. There's enough confusion
(03:37):
with this anyway, so we'll keep that nice and simple.
So we're talking basically about things above the natural order,
and that's where we come into the spirits. We talk
about angels, there are demons, we talk about ghosts, We're
going to talk about purgatory and things like this. Now
(04:00):
with the supernatural, as Catholics, how do we deal with
the supernatural? How do we have a proper relationship?
Speaker 3 (04:12):
Because there are ways, believe.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
It or not, that we have a proper relationship with
God and the supernatural world, which means and needs to
the fact that we can have an improper relationship with
those very things. So first we have to look at
(04:34):
what in the supernatural we look to see. So we've
got to be careful about a couple things. One thing C. S.
Lewis I think said is that the devil uses a
couple tricks. One is that he gets people to believe
that he and the demons do not exist. That's one
way he can fool us. The other is with this
(04:57):
incredible fascination that we have, that we become too involved
with demons, to involve with the occult, to involve with
these things that can certainly certainly lead us away from
Christ and cause us enormous grief because, as I mentioned
(05:20):
last week, the channels that the demons use, they don't
care if we think it's harmless fun. They're going to
get in there and they're going to create for us
an incredible amount of grief. So we certainly don't want that.
So what is our proper attitude toward this. Well, one
(05:40):
thing is with the fascination, we need to stay away
from being over obsessed with demons, the occult, even the
supernatural world itself. So what we do is we combat
this with you, mility, We keep ourselves humble and realize
(06:06):
that the key for us is Catholic Christians is to
stay united with Christ, to trust in Christ in his
promises of what he has done for us on the Cross,
to bring us eternal life, that he saved us from
sin and Satan, that we don't have to fear for
(06:28):
the very reason that we are children of God, and
by following Him and by doing His will in our lives,
we have nothing to worry about. Nothing because in the
end result, even if there's things that are challenging in
(06:48):
the crosses that we have in our lives, and we
all have them, you know, Jesus I mentioned this is
the time and again that you know, like the Gospel
of Mark, you know, he wished to follow me up
this cross and follow me daily. So right there, you know,
we've got some problems, and we certainly have this in
our world today. We all know this now. So when
(07:14):
we trust in Christ and focus on Jesus Christ, we
really don't have to worry too much or focus on
the devil. We don't have to focus on the demons.
We certainly don't have to focus on the occult.
Speaker 3 (07:32):
And therefore weija boards.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
And as I mentioned last week, palm reading, astrology, horoscopes,
all these things, we don't have to get involved. We
just don't because we trust in God. We lean on
God for our existence, our sustenance, everything, and certainly we put.
Speaker 3 (07:53):
Our spiritual.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
Relationship with Him first and concentrate on God.
Speaker 3 (07:59):
So that's way to combat the.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
Disbelief and or others flip side the fascination, because both
can get us into trouble. Now, speaking of that disbelief,
and we're always going to get this, especially in the
age we live in now, right with the scientific age,
and if we can't touch, taste, see, or feel, it
(08:23):
can't be real. It doesn't exist, and in science can't
prove it. Again, it does not exist. So how do
we approach that, How exactly do we approach that type
of disbelief or totally ignoring that the supernatural does exist. Well,
(08:49):
what we have to do in this order is again
we use that humility, and we have to have an
open mind and an open heart that there are things
above us that we don't understand and will not understand,
because that is God's plan for us. God is the creator,
(09:15):
not us. He is the one that made our being,
that made the world that we live in. And there
are many mysteries, many many many mysteries that will go
unsolved until we're on that other side. And that's a
hard fact, especially in the day an age we live,
(09:36):
when so many things are at our disposal, so much information,
twenty four hours a day, seven days a week, we
see this, and we've got to be aware of that.
So we approach the supernatural, the humble mind and humility
that there are things above us that we can't explain
(10:02):
and that we will be open to by being discerning.
That there are some things that we just can't control
and are well beyond the material world in which we
live it.
Speaker 3 (10:19):
So that's a good way to do things.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
So we approach that and we look at that, and
that will open us up to having a good relationship
Jesus and be open to all these things we see. Now.
Speaker 3 (10:39):
The other thing in an unhealthy thing is that.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
We are gullible, and that means we accept everything. The
Virgin Mary appears on a piece of bread or in
the tree, Jesus is on the side of a building,
and we just accept it, just accept it.
Speaker 3 (11:00):
Oh yeah, definitely, this is you.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
Know, we we don't know how God operates. Yeah, that's him.
You know, that's his mother. You know, we don't question it,
We just accept it. That can get us into trouble
also because one thing that demons can appear and fake,
fake people out and try to lead them to a
place where you don't want to go. But you think
(11:25):
it's being led to a good, good place, and that's
a trick of the devil.
Speaker 3 (11:30):
Then there's the flip side of that also.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
Where let's say your car breaks down on the way
to Mask or something. Oh, the devil didn't want me
to go to Mass today. The car broke down. He
did that, And you start to look at things like that,
that everything has a demon behind it that is preventing
us from either doing good stuff or you know, go
(11:54):
like you mentioned, going to mask. Things like that. We
got to be very careful about things like that too.
That's not healthy. We don't want to give the devil
power over us when he doesn't have that, so we
don't want to open that door. So how do we
approach that. We approach it with a healthy skepticism. Now,
what do I mean by that that you research these apparitions,
(12:18):
check them out, be open, but also be very skeptical
of them until the church approves these apparitions and or
spiritual visitations. Because the Church does not miss it does
extensive research, extensive research to be able to do these things.
(12:44):
And when the church proclaims, like Fatima an apparition that
is valid, you can take that to the bank. You
don't have to believe it is a Catholic. But if
you want to, it's great. They're going to enhance and
lead you closer and closer to God. And these are
good things. So those are the ones church approved apparitions
(13:05):
you can be safe with, you can count on, you
could be very very comfortable with.
Speaker 3 (13:10):
So that's one thing.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
But other than that, when you're hearing in your local
neighborhood that blank is happening, you know, check it out,
but be very skeptical and you're gonna do, okay, say
the next thing what we don't want to do. And
this is a big thing. And this is a big thing,
believe it or not for Catholics. And a personal story
(13:34):
And I didn't know this in just a few years
ago and my brother had passed away. He was a
tremendous athlete. He was getting in shape and he went
on a bike ride to get in shape and sadly,
he had a heart attack and he passed away. Now,
it was a very difficult time for our family and
(13:56):
the people that loved him certainly. And years later someone
told me that you know, I just want to tell
you it really upset. It was a young lady. They
really accept me upset me when your brother passed away
and I got to tell you. I went to a
medium and you know, through the conjuring, he told me
(14:19):
that everything's okay. And you know, right away I said, wow,
you know I don't. I wish you didn't do that?
And why why did?
Speaker 3 (14:29):
I said?
Speaker 2 (14:29):
The person met well one and this is the danger
when I said, may Catholic's fonness with the horoscopes or
the astrology or things like that, but especially here what
they call me. See, that's now you're dealing with the
debt and deuteroon. This is a specific biblical precept for us.
(14:51):
You are not to mess with this stuff. You are
not to conjure up spirits of the dead. Why why
does God not want.
Speaker 3 (14:59):
To us to do these things?
Speaker 2 (15:01):
It's simple because most of these are not One, if
they're not fraudulent outright okay, then what it means is
you're not conjuring up your loved ones. You're conjuring up demons.
And once those demons get in there, you got trouble.
(15:23):
You have big trouble. So that's why God protects us
from this and wants us not to deal with this
because this is this is if it's not an outright
fraud to make money, then it's demonic, okay, because you're not.
They're not going to God will allow this is this
is important part. God will allow like the virgin Mary
(15:44):
of perd fatom and lords or angels or souls in
purgatory to get us on the right track for our
own benefit. So when God does that, that's why I
say with church approved things, it's for our benefit and
we are protected and it's safe. When we get away
(16:05):
from that and go out on our own a lone
ranger so to speak, and start to go to these mediums,
start to get into that netlemency.
Speaker 3 (16:14):
Then you can open up the doors.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
For the demons and that's going to be what they
want for us is our destruction.
Speaker 3 (16:26):
So this is the protection God gives us.
Speaker 2 (16:27):
Stay away from all that things because people, especially with
loved ones passing away, they're hurt, they're lost, they're seeking
and they're seeking especially comfort. But again to go back
to our first principle of being humble and focusing on God,
that we can trust in God, that he has our
(16:48):
best interests, that he wants us to be and our
loved ones with him at the end of time, to
be with him for an eternity. That's what we need
to focus on. Even though they're pain even though they're suffering,
even though we may not feel comfort with the passing
of loved ones, are things going on in our lives.
(17:09):
We have to humble ourselves again, realize that there are
many many things beyond us in this supernatural world that
is a reality that is just as real as the
one we live in here, and trusting God for that
and not focus on all the negative. So we don't
want to go there. That's why it's important we stay
(17:30):
away from the occult because the things like mediums going
and using weedi boards anytime we tae to tap in.
Speaker 3 (17:41):
And we're trying to.
Speaker 2 (17:42):
Do this to control to control the supernatural, to control
the spiritual element of our lives by going through spirits
or demons that do not have our interest and that's
an understatement that they have our best interest out We've
(18:03):
got to be very careful. And I know Catholics don't
see a lot of harm in this. You know, I
just gave a homily on a TV mass about this
and it you know it would be a hard hitting homily.
I knew it because there are Catholics. They deal with
the yoga and I'm going to come back to that
in a second about what the church teaches on yoga.
(18:24):
But the raiki, the poem reading, the tarot cards, the
occult aspects of the wijia board, the astrology, as I mentioned, horoscopes,
these are things that you have to stay away from,
even if you think they're harmless. You know, visiting sites
(18:45):
where tragic things have happened, where there's like say there's
an e element where people have seen spirits and they've
been walking around, especially in areas where there's been horrific
like say murders or things like that. You don't want
to go there for fun because the demons don't care
again that you think it's harmless fun. If they have
(19:07):
a channel or portal to enter in for your destruction,
they're coming and even if you thought it was harmless,
you soon won't so the damage would be done. And
you know, we've got to be careful with that because
you know, there's the ways that the demons influence us.
And make no mistake about this, let me be clear
(19:28):
about this. They do influence, they do tempt, but God
gives you the strength to get away from that temptation.
That's different than what we're talking about, because the demons here,
when you look at what they do, is they contempt
you by having an obsession, which we mentioned a few
minutes ago. With that fascination, we don't want to go there, okay,
(19:53):
so you've got to stay away from that. And then,
of course the worst one is the possession, full body
possession where the demons have now taken over that person's body,
and we don't want that to happen, so you stay
away from the things like the weedil boards or any
(20:14):
channels that demons can enter it. Then there's the oppression
where do you know, that kind of feeds off with
the obsession, where the demons now have had a portal.
It's not full possession, but they influence you directly in
a very unhealthy way.
Speaker 3 (20:33):
So that oppression weighs.
Speaker 2 (20:35):
Heavy on your soul, and it's a feeling you can't
you know, you're wondering what's going on. You know something's
going on, but you can't escape this feeling, this darkness,
this sadness, the depression. So you've got to be enough.
Of course, not everything is done by demons like that.
(20:57):
They're legitimate you know, there are certain mental challenges in
psychiatric problems that certainly crop up, especially with the depression
and things like that schizophrenia. But you've got to be
concerned and cautious with these things, especially if you've been
playing around in those things that I mentioned in the
occult then, because if you can put the two that,
(21:17):
you can draw the dots and connect them together. You know,
if you haven't dabbled in that when you're having depression,
things like that, they're a therapists.
Speaker 3 (21:24):
There are things that happen to people in their lives.
Speaker 2 (21:27):
It causes that you can get help and good help
from counselors and medications and things like that. But if
you have been dabbling experience things, you know, you like
at that carefully that it's something that might have happened
because of through your free will, what do you have
opened yourself up for. But not everything certainly is a
demonic attack. We mentioned that right by bringing thee. By
(21:51):
being dullible, where everything every trouble you experience is as
a demon behind it, that's a very unhealthy attitude. That's
not al attitude. And again I mentioned the Catholic attitudes
that we have. You have humility. You trust in God
in his providence. You have the humility to believe that
(22:12):
there are things far far above us in the supernatural world,
to accept the supernatural world is a reality just as
real as ours. You don't you approach apparitions. You approach
things of a spiritual nature through your cautious and healthy
skepticism until the Church approves it or it's been disproved.
(22:33):
And that's what you want to do. And you stay
away from the occult. You stay away from all those
things I mentioned, like the wag aboards and the tarot cards, promistry.
Stay away from the New Age stuff. It's a very
dangerous thing. It's very popular. It looks like it's good,
but again, the demons contempt us by giving packages that
(22:56):
look pretty. But when we take the gifts wrapping off underneath,
they're monstrous. So we stay away from that. And you know,
when we look at things with a supernatural eye, when
we look at especially when we try to look at
as Catholic Christians, what God sees through the eye of eternity,
(23:17):
we're going to be in a pretty good place now
when we're looking to discern these things God's will for
our lives. What we need to do, whether you know,
when we want to take time to pray and then
listen to what God has to say to us so
we stay united with Him, and certainly we stay united
with Him through the great things like the Mass and
(23:40):
the eucharust right, how close are we in unity with
Jesus when we receive him at Mass and we're united
with Him with his body, blood, soul and divinity. The
other great thing we do is to clean our house
by going to regular confession and receiving not only absolution
from Jesus, we'll guaranteed we know one hundred percent given
of our sins, and then we get that sanctifying grace
(24:04):
that keeps our soul Queen that we are united with
Him big time. So through this, when we pray and
we're listening to God, you can discern if it's from God. Now,
usually I mentioned that spirits demons can trick us, but
when we're listening God, if what God is speaking in
(24:25):
your heart? Right, God can speak to us through a
confirmation to another person, Like if we've been praying for
something or someone and someone we meet later in the
day says something that was in line with what we
were praying, you know, and that's a confirmation. Sometimes we
get this and something we see a sign, that's something
(24:46):
that we can see in our daily lives, that what
we've been prayed for or something no one else would
know but you God, and a particular thing He's giving you.
That's a good thing that leads you closer to Him,
not a way. And that here's the thing that is
in line because most of the time God will speak
with us interially through a silent voice in our hearts.
(25:10):
That is one in line with sacred Scripture, two in
line with sacred tradition of the Church. And three that
is in line with the Catholic Catechism. If those if
what God in some of your prayer life is talking
to you and telling you, then you go on those
(25:32):
three things and you can be pretty confident that that
is God speaking interiorly to you, to your heart and
you know, speaking to Catechism. Put sidebar here. That is
a gent. If you have questions about things, the Catechism
is a good place to go for answers. And you
(25:54):
have a good priest, you can trust the spiritual director.
You go to that priest that's siritual director. You use
the Catechism, sacred tradition at church, sacred scripture. And again
you look at these things and in the Catechism you
can't miss going to keep you on track. You go
(26:15):
away from that and you could be led astray by
the demonic. So we don't want to do that because
the whole key is what we realize and recognize when
we deal with the supernatural, is there is and a
reality outside this one more real than the one we
(26:37):
live in. Can't emphasize that. And Jesus Christ came to
save sinners. That's myself and you and love, my love
and all creation. God wants to restore to its natural
state that he created. But that means something. It means
(26:59):
that is that something. Then if he came to save us,
which he did, from sin, it means that we are
under that yoke and He has freed us from that yoke.
But it means then.
Speaker 3 (27:14):
That there is opposition.
Speaker 2 (27:18):
And that opposition and we know happened long ago in
the garden, happened even before that when Satan and he
took refused to serve God and his pride and took
a third of the angels with them. Because don't forget
God created Satan. He created the angels, they rebelled. They
made their choice through their free will, and therefore the
(27:41):
penalty they pay is their own kingdom in hell. So
this goes to the fact that there is opposition, and
Satan counterfeits everything Jesus does. He's a counterfeit. Jesus creates life,
say wants to destroy it. Jesus creates a kingdom of light.
(28:04):
Satan creates a freedom of darkness. So the bottom line
here is that we are going to live again after
our earthly life, and we can live with our Lord
and Savior and a heavenly banquet in paradise forever and
ever with God, the saints, our loved ones, with God's
(28:28):
beautiful creation restored, or we can live in that kingdom
of darkness, of torment, of wailing and grinding of teeth,
and how we live our lives here determines that that's
why the four last things, death, judgment, heaven, and hell
are still important and relevant no matter what New Age types,
(28:49):
but no matter what type of.
Speaker 3 (28:53):
The old pantheistic.
Speaker 2 (28:55):
Religions come in, we don't want to go there because
a lot of that's focused on the here and now
and when you're tapping into things like that. When you
do look at the supernatural aspect of it, it's usually
from the dark side and not the good. So we
don't want to be involved in that. So for today's
(29:16):
show that was a synopsis is on again on how
we want to look at from a healthy Catholic perspective,
how we look at the supernatural world. To summarize again,
we don't want to be fascinated or obsessed with the
occult or with demons. We want to not accept everything
(29:39):
that comes from the supernatural or spirits or souls or
apparitions with you, just.
Speaker 3 (29:48):
That we use caution here.
Speaker 2 (29:50):
We trust in the Church and its judgments, and we
try to discern through sacred scripture, tradition, and the Catechism
what's happening. So we want to approach it with old
open mind, but a very cautious skeptical mind.
Speaker 3 (30:05):
Also, we don't want.
Speaker 2 (30:07):
To blame the devil and be gullible for every bad
thing that happens in life, and on the other hand
be a gullible that every apparition or every spiritual thing
is from God.
Speaker 3 (30:18):
And we want to approach.
Speaker 2 (30:20):
All of this in a healthy atmosphere of prayer and
trusting in God that he has our benefit. And we
try to unify with God through his Church, through the sacraments,
through the prayer, and especially through the Eucharist and the sacraments,
which are visible signs which God has left us here
(30:41):
to draw us closer to Him. So that's how we
want to approach this with a healthy, healthy Catholic attitude.
So and above all, we're going to stay away from
the occult. We're not going to dabble in any of it.
We're going to stay as far away as we can.
We're not going to let our curiosity they draw us
into things that can ultimately lead to our destruction, causes grief,
(31:05):
not only here in our lives are on earth, but
in the worst case result the loss of our soul.
Because that's why it's so serious, because when we accept
brothers and sisters the supernatural world, that's what we're talking about,
life after death, but where and that's really the purpose
of our lives is to be with God, to glorify
(31:27):
Him in an eternity, to be imperatives with incredible choy.
And we're going to talk about this and other shows
and about purgatory and what this joy of Heaven is
why we want to attain it so badly, more than
anything that is important to us and for our loved
ones in this life. So we'll touch on that in
(31:49):
the future. Show and I wish you peace and happiness,
and that the Lord Jesus today touch you in a
very special special way, that he lets you know his
love for you today, and that we ask but today's
feast day here in October, Saint Ignacious of Antioch, a martyr,
(32:14):
for his prayers and intercessions for the courage and faith
we need, especially in the culture that we live in today,
to have through your intercessions to the Ignacious, the courage
no matter what the cost, to stay true to the
Lord and our Church's teachings. God bless you, my friends
(32:35):
in Christ. Amen, and may Almighty God bless you in
the name of the Father, of the Son and of
the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Speaker 1 (32:47):
Hello, God's Beloved. I'm Annabel Moseley, author, professor of theology
and host of them Sings My Soul and Destination Sainthood
on WCAT Radio. I invite you to listen in and
find inspiration along this sacred journey we're traveling together to
make our lives a masterpiece and with God's grace become saints.
(33:10):
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are never alone. God is always with you.
Speaker 2 (33:29):
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Please join us in our mission of evangelization, and don't
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You're listening to WCAT radio, your home for authentic Catholic programming.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Hi, this is Deacon al Bolowski with another edition of
Catholic Mysticism where we talk about the supernatural aspects of
our faith, other topics relevant to our Catholic faith, and
general questions that a lot of Catholics and a lot
of people have about God and the spiritual nature of
(00:28):
our beings. That being said, and today, so you know,
we're going to timing a little bit with last weeks.
If you remember, last week, I talked about paganism versus
Christianity and how we can offset that, and the prevalence
of witchcraft and the supernatural, and we talked about the
(00:52):
occult and how it's exploding across the entire world, not
just the United States, and what we need to do
to compete at that and how we can protect ourselves. So,
with that being said, what exactly is the supernatural? We
talk about what does it mean when we talk about
supernatural aspects of our faith or the supernatural in general,
(01:18):
and what does that actually mean.
Speaker 3 (01:21):
Well, if we look.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
At the words suprah, you know, meaning above and then
the natural order of things? Now, what are the natural
order of things. We look at that and we see
God's design in creation. Correct, that's our natural our universal
laws that we have, and whether it be photosynthesis or
we look at the exchange between the day and night,
(01:46):
and we look at created order in the natural world. Now,
so the supernatural is what then it's above that. And
when we say supernatural, what do we exactly mean? We
mean God? Because God is the creator of everything. He
is above all this and therefore God, when we speak
(02:10):
of the supernatural, we are talking about God. Now that
being said, preternatural, that's where we talk about things, and
this is where the angels come in, and we talk
about spirits and that this means that this is above mankind,
(02:30):
this is our natural order of things. So this preternatural
is the angels that are above mankind because we are
all created beings. But what we are not angels? Are we?
And we are certainly not God? So that is above us.
(02:53):
So that when we speak of the supernatural, that's what
we're we're talking about. So that is what we deal with. Now,
there are many aspects, So for the sake of argument
and just to keep this simple, let us just keep our.
Speaker 3 (03:14):
Talk about the supernatural easy.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
So when we talk about things like the angels, or
we talk about God apparitions, things like that. We're just
going to keep it off, to keep it simple. Is
the supernatural, rather than get too many definitions here where
we can get confused and things like that can happen.
So we don't want to do that. There's enough confusion
(03:37):
with this anyway, so we'll keep that nice and simple.
So we're talking basically about things above the natural order,
and that's where we come into the spirits. We talk
about angels, there are demons, we talk about ghosts, We're
going to talk about purgatory and things like this. Now
(04:00):
with the supernatural, as Catholics, how do we deal with
the supernatural? How do we have a proper relationship?
Speaker 3 (04:12):
Because there are ways, believe.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
It or not, that we have a proper relationship with
God and the supernatural world, which means and needs to
the fact that we can have an improper relationship with
those very things. So first we have to look at
(04:34):
what in the supernatural we look to see. So we've
got to be careful about a couple things. One thing C. S.
Lewis I think said is that the devil uses a
couple tricks. One is that he gets people to believe
that he and the demons do not exist. That's one
way he can fool us. The other is with this
(04:57):
incredible fascination that we have, that we become too involved
with demons, to involve with the occult, to involve with
these things that can certainly certainly lead us away from
Christ and cause us enormous grief because, as I mentioned
(05:20):
last week, the channels that the demons use, they don't
care if we think it's harmless fun. They're going to
get in there and they're going to create for us
an incredible amount of grief. So we certainly don't want that.
So what is our proper attitude toward this. Well, one
(05:40):
thing is with the fascination, we need to stay away
from being over obsessed with demons, the occult, even the
supernatural world itself. So what we do is we combat
this with you, mility, We keep ourselves humble and realize
(06:06):
that the key for us is Catholic Christians is to
stay united with Christ, to trust in Christ in his
promises of what he has done for us on the Cross,
to bring us eternal life, that he saved us from
sin and Satan, that we don't have to fear for
(06:28):
the very reason that we are children of God, and
by following Him and by doing His will in our lives,
we have nothing to worry about. Nothing because in the
end result, even if there's things that are challenging in
(06:48):
the crosses that we have in our lives, and we
all have them, you know, Jesus I mentioned this is
the time and again that you know, like the Gospel
of Mark, you know, he wished to follow me up
this cross and follow me daily. So right there, you know,
we've got some problems, and we certainly have this in
our world today. We all know this now. So when
(07:14):
we trust in Christ and focus on Jesus Christ, we
really don't have to worry too much or focus on
the devil. We don't have to focus on the demons.
We certainly don't have to focus on the occult.
Speaker 3 (07:32):
And therefore weija boards.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
And as I mentioned last week, palm reading, astrology, horoscopes,
all these things, we don't have to get involved. We
just don't because we trust in God. We lean on
God for our existence, our sustenance, everything, and certainly we put.
Speaker 3 (07:53):
Our spiritual.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
Relationship with Him first and concentrate on God.
Speaker 3 (07:59):
So that's way to combat the.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
Disbelief and or others flip side the fascination, because both
can get us into trouble. Now, speaking of that disbelief,
and we're always going to get this, especially in the
age we live in now, right with the scientific age,
and if we can't touch, taste, see, or feel, it
(08:23):
can't be real. It doesn't exist, and in science can't
prove it. Again, it does not exist. So how do
we approach that, How exactly do we approach that type
of disbelief or totally ignoring that the supernatural does exist. Well,
(08:49):
what we have to do in this order is again
we use that humility, and we have to have an
open mind and an open heart that there are things
above us that we don't understand and will not understand,
because that is God's plan for us. God is the creator,
(09:15):
not us. He is the one that made our being,
that made the world that we live in. And there
are many mysteries, many many many mysteries that will go
unsolved until we're on that other side. And that's a
hard fact, especially in the day an age we live,
(09:36):
when so many things are at our disposal, so much information,
twenty four hours a day, seven days a week, we
see this, and we've got to be aware of that.
So we approach the supernatural, the humble mind and humility
that there are things above us that we can't explain
(10:02):
and that we will be open to by being discerning.
That there are some things that we just can't control
and are well beyond the material world in which we
live it.
Speaker 3 (10:19):
So that's a good way to do things.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
So we approach that and we look at that, and
that will open us up to having a good relationship
Jesus and be open to all these things we see. Now.
Speaker 3 (10:39):
The other thing in an unhealthy thing is that.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
We are gullible, and that means we accept everything. The
Virgin Mary appears on a piece of bread or in
the tree, Jesus is on the side of a building,
and we just accept it, just accept it.
Speaker 3 (11:00):
Oh yeah, definitely, this is you.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
Know, we we don't know how God operates. Yeah, that's him.
You know, that's his mother. You know, we don't question it,
We just accept it. That can get us into trouble
also because one thing that demons can appear and fake,
fake people out and try to lead them to a
place where you don't want to go. But you think
(11:25):
it's being led to a good, good place, and that's
a trick of the devil.
Speaker 3 (11:30):
Then there's the flip side of that also.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
Where let's say your car breaks down on the way
to Mask or something. Oh, the devil didn't want me
to go to Mass today. The car broke down. He
did that, And you start to look at things like that,
that everything has a demon behind it that is preventing
us from either doing good stuff or you know, go
(11:54):
like you mentioned, going to mask. Things like that. We
got to be very careful about things like that too.
That's not healthy. We don't want to give the devil
power over us when he doesn't have that, so we
don't want to open that door. So how do we
approach that. We approach it with a healthy skepticism. Now,
what do I mean by that that you research these apparitions,
(12:18):
check them out, be open, but also be very skeptical
of them until the church approves these apparitions and or
spiritual visitations. Because the Church does not miss it does
extensive research, extensive research to be able to do these things.
(12:44):
And when the church proclaims, like Fatima an apparition that
is valid, you can take that to the bank. You
don't have to believe it is a Catholic. But if
you want to, it's great. They're going to enhance and
lead you closer and closer to God. And these are
good things. So those are the ones church approved apparitions
(13:05):
you can be safe with, you can count on, you
could be very very comfortable with.
Speaker 3 (13:10):
So that's one thing.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
But other than that, when you're hearing in your local
neighborhood that blank is happening, you know, check it out,
but be very skeptical and you're gonna do, okay, say
the next thing what we don't want to do. And
this is a big thing. And this is a big thing,
believe it or not for Catholics. And a personal story
(13:34):
And I didn't know this in just a few years
ago and my brother had passed away. He was a
tremendous athlete. He was getting in shape and he went
on a bike ride to get in shape and sadly,
he had a heart attack and he passed away. Now,
it was a very difficult time for our family and
(13:56):
the people that loved him certainly. And years later someone
told me that you know, I just want to tell
you it really upset. It was a young lady. They
really accept me upset me when your brother passed away
and I got to tell you. I went to a
medium and you know, through the conjuring, he told me
(14:19):
that everything's okay. And you know, right away I said, wow,
you know I don't. I wish you didn't do that?
And why why did?
Speaker 3 (14:29):
I said?
Speaker 2 (14:29):
The person met well one and this is the danger
when I said, may Catholic's fonness with the horoscopes or
the astrology or things like that, but especially here what
they call me. See, that's now you're dealing with the
debt and deuteroon. This is a specific biblical precept for us.
(14:51):
You are not to mess with this stuff. You are
not to conjure up spirits of the dead. Why why
does God not want.
Speaker 3 (14:59):
To us to do these things?
Speaker 2 (15:01):
It's simple because most of these are not One, if
they're not fraudulent outright okay, then what it means is
you're not conjuring up your loved ones. You're conjuring up demons.
And once those demons get in there, you got trouble.
(15:23):
You have big trouble. So that's why God protects us
from this and wants us not to deal with this
because this is this is if it's not an outright
fraud to make money, then it's demonic, okay, because you're not.
They're not going to God will allow this is this
is important part. God will allow like the virgin Mary
(15:44):
of perd fatom and lords or angels or souls in
purgatory to get us on the right track for our
own benefit. So when God does that, that's why I
say with church approved things, it's for our benefit and
we are protected and it's safe. When we get away
(16:05):
from that and go out on our own a lone
ranger so to speak, and start to go to these mediums,
start to get into that netlemency.
Speaker 3 (16:14):
Then you can open up the doors.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
For the demons and that's going to be what they
want for us is our destruction.
Speaker 3 (16:26):
So this is the protection God gives us.
Speaker 2 (16:27):
Stay away from all that things because people, especially with
loved ones passing away, they're hurt, they're lost, they're seeking
and they're seeking especially comfort. But again to go back
to our first principle of being humble and focusing on God,
that we can trust in God, that he has our
(16:48):
best interests, that he wants us to be and our
loved ones with him at the end of time, to
be with him for an eternity. That's what we need
to focus on. Even though they're pain even though they're suffering,
even though we may not feel comfort with the passing
of loved ones, are things going on in our lives.
(17:09):
We have to humble ourselves again, realize that there are
many many things beyond us in this supernatural world that
is a reality that is just as real as the
one we live in here, and trusting God for that
and not focus on all the negative. So we don't
want to go there. That's why it's important we stay
(17:30):
away from the occult because the things like mediums going
and using weedi boards anytime we tae to tap in.
Speaker 3 (17:41):
And we're trying to.
Speaker 2 (17:42):
Do this to control to control the supernatural, to control
the spiritual element of our lives by going through spirits
or demons that do not have our interest and that's
an understatement that they have our best interest out We've
(18:03):
got to be very careful. And I know Catholics don't
see a lot of harm in this. You know, I
just gave a homily on a TV mass about this
and it you know it would be a hard hitting homily.
I knew it because there are Catholics. They deal with
the yoga and I'm going to come back to that
in a second about what the church teaches on yoga.
(18:24):
But the raiki, the poem reading, the tarot cards, the
occult aspects of the wijia board, the astrology, as I mentioned, horoscopes,
these are things that you have to stay away from,
even if you think they're harmless. You know, visiting sites
(18:45):
where tragic things have happened, where there's like say there's
an e element where people have seen spirits and they've
been walking around, especially in areas where there's been horrific
like say murders or things like that. You don't want
to go there for fun because the demons don't care
again that you think it's harmless fun. If they have
(19:07):
a channel or portal to enter in for your destruction,
they're coming and even if you thought it was harmless,
you soon won't so the damage would be done. And
you know, we've got to be careful with that because
you know, there's the ways that the demons influence us.
And make no mistake about this, let me be clear
(19:28):
about this. They do influence, they do tempt, but God
gives you the strength to get away from that temptation.
That's different than what we're talking about, because the demons here,
when you look at what they do, is they contempt
you by having an obsession, which we mentioned a few
minutes ago. With that fascination, we don't want to go there, okay,
(19:53):
so you've got to stay away from that. And then,
of course the worst one is the possession, full body
possession where the demons have now taken over that person's body,
and we don't want that to happen, so you stay
away from the things like the weedil boards or any
(20:14):
channels that demons can enter it. Then there's the oppression
where do you know, that kind of feeds off with
the obsession, where the demons now have had a portal.
It's not full possession, but they influence you directly in
a very unhealthy way.
Speaker 3 (20:33):
So that oppression weighs.
Speaker 2 (20:35):
Heavy on your soul, and it's a feeling you can't
you know, you're wondering what's going on. You know something's
going on, but you can't escape this feeling, this darkness,
this sadness, the depression. So you've got to be enough.
Of course, not everything is done by demons like that.
(20:57):
They're legitimate you know, there are certain mental challenges in
psychiatric problems that certainly crop up, especially with the depression
and things like that schizophrenia. But you've got to be
concerned and cautious with these things, especially if you've been
playing around in those things that I mentioned in the
occult then, because if you can put the two that,
(21:17):
you can draw the dots and connect them together. You know,
if you haven't dabbled in that when you're having depression,
things like that, they're a therapists.
Speaker 3 (21:24):
There are things that happen to people in their lives.
Speaker 2 (21:27):
It causes that you can get help and good help
from counselors and medications and things like that. But if
you have been dabbling experience things, you know, you like
at that carefully that it's something that might have happened
because of through your free will, what do you have
opened yourself up for. But not everything certainly is a
demonic attack. We mentioned that right by bringing thee. By
(21:51):
being dullible, where everything every trouble you experience is as
a demon behind it, that's a very unhealthy attitude. That's
not al attitude. And again I mentioned the Catholic attitudes
that we have. You have humility. You trust in God
in his providence. You have the humility to believe that
(22:12):
there are things far far above us in the supernatural world,
to accept the supernatural world is a reality just as
real as ours. You don't you approach apparitions. You approach
things of a spiritual nature through your cautious and healthy
skepticism until the Church approves it or it's been disproved.
(22:33):
And that's what you want to do. And you stay
away from the occult. You stay away from all those
things I mentioned, like the wag aboards and the tarot cards, promistry.
Stay away from the New Age stuff. It's a very
dangerous thing. It's very popular. It looks like it's good,
but again, the demons contempt us by giving packages that
(22:56):
look pretty. But when we take the gifts wrapping off underneath,
they're monstrous. So we stay away from that. And you know,
when we look at things with a supernatural eye, when
we look at especially when we try to look at
as Catholic Christians, what God sees through the eye of eternity,
(23:17):
we're going to be in a pretty good place now
when we're looking to discern these things God's will for
our lives. What we need to do, whether you know,
when we want to take time to pray and then
listen to what God has to say to us so
we stay united with Him, and certainly we stay united
with Him through the great things like the Mass and
(23:40):
the eucharust right, how close are we in unity with
Jesus when we receive him at Mass and we're united
with Him with his body, blood, soul and divinity. The
other great thing we do is to clean our house
by going to regular confession and receiving not only absolution
from Jesus, we'll guaranteed we know one hundred percent given
of our sins, and then we get that sanctifying grace
(24:04):
that keeps our soul Queen that we are united with
Him big time. So through this, when we pray and
we're listening to God, you can discern if it's from God. Now,
usually I mentioned that spirits demons can trick us, but
when we're listening God, if what God is speaking in
(24:25):
your heart? Right, God can speak to us through a
confirmation to another person, Like if we've been praying for
something or someone and someone we meet later in the
day says something that was in line with what we
were praying, you know, and that's a confirmation. Sometimes we
get this and something we see a sign, that's something
(24:46):
that we can see in our daily lives, that what
we've been prayed for or something no one else would
know but you God, and a particular thing He's giving you.
That's a good thing that leads you closer to Him,
not a way. And that here's the thing that is
in line because most of the time God will speak
with us interially through a silent voice in our hearts.
(25:10):
That is one in line with sacred Scripture, two in
line with sacred tradition of the Church. And three that
is in line with the Catholic Catechism. If those if
what God in some of your prayer life is talking
to you and telling you, then you go on those
(25:32):
three things and you can be pretty confident that that
is God speaking interiorly to you, to your heart and
you know, speaking to Catechism. Put sidebar here. That is
a gent. If you have questions about things, the Catechism
is a good place to go for answers. And you
(25:54):
have a good priest, you can trust the spiritual director.
You go to that priest that's siritual director. You use
the Catechism, sacred tradition at church, sacred scripture. And again
you look at these things and in the Catechism you
can't miss going to keep you on track. You go
(26:15):
away from that and you could be led astray by
the demonic. So we don't want to do that because
the whole key is what we realize and recognize when
we deal with the supernatural, is there is and a
reality outside this one more real than the one we
(26:37):
live in. Can't emphasize that. And Jesus Christ came to
save sinners. That's myself and you and love, my love
and all creation. God wants to restore to its natural
state that he created. But that means something. It means
(26:59):
that is that something. Then if he came to save us,
which he did, from sin, it means that we are
under that yoke and He has freed us from that yoke.
But it means then.
Speaker 3 (27:14):
That there is opposition.
Speaker 2 (27:18):
And that opposition and we know happened long ago in
the garden, happened even before that when Satan and he
took refused to serve God and his pride and took
a third of the angels with them. Because don't forget
God created Satan. He created the angels, they rebelled. They
made their choice through their free will, and therefore the
(27:41):
penalty they pay is their own kingdom in hell. So
this goes to the fact that there is opposition, and
Satan counterfeits everything Jesus does. He's a counterfeit. Jesus creates life,
say wants to destroy it. Jesus creates a kingdom of light.
(28:04):
Satan creates a freedom of darkness. So the bottom line
here is that we are going to live again after
our earthly life, and we can live with our Lord
and Savior and a heavenly banquet in paradise forever and
ever with God, the saints, our loved ones, with God's
(28:28):
beautiful creation restored, or we can live in that kingdom
of darkness, of torment, of wailing and grinding of teeth,
and how we live our lives here determines that that's
why the four last things, death, judgment, heaven, and hell
are still important and relevant no matter what New Age types,
(28:49):
but no matter what type of.
Speaker 3 (28:53):
The old pantheistic.
Speaker 2 (28:55):
Religions come in, we don't want to go there because
a lot of that's focused on the here and now
and when you're tapping into things like that. When you
do look at the supernatural aspect of it, it's usually
from the dark side and not the good. So we
don't want to be involved in that. So for today's
(29:16):
show that was a synopsis is on again on how
we want to look at from a healthy Catholic perspective,
how we look at the supernatural world. To summarize again,
we don't want to be fascinated or obsessed with the
occult or with demons. We want to not accept everything
(29:39):
that comes from the supernatural or spirits or souls or
apparitions with you, just.
Speaker 3 (29:48):
That we use caution here.
Speaker 2 (29:50):
We trust in the Church and its judgments, and we
try to discern through sacred scripture, tradition, and the Catechism
what's happening. So we want to approach it with old
open mind, but a very cautious skeptical mind.
Speaker 3 (30:05):
Also, we don't want.
Speaker 2 (30:07):
To blame the devil and be gullible for every bad
thing that happens in life, and on the other hand
be a gullible that every apparition or every spiritual thing
is from God.
Speaker 3 (30:18):
And we want to approach.
Speaker 2 (30:20):
All of this in a healthy atmosphere of prayer and
trusting in God that he has our benefit. And we
try to unify with God through his Church, through the sacraments,
through the prayer, and especially through the Eucharist and the sacraments,
which are visible signs which God has left us here
(30:41):
to draw us closer to Him. So that's how we
want to approach this with a healthy, healthy Catholic attitude.
So and above all, we're going to stay away from
the occult. We're not going to dabble in any of it.
We're going to stay as far away as we can.
We're not going to let our curiosity they draw us
into things that can ultimately lead to our destruction, causes grief,
(31:05):
not only here in our lives are on earth, but
in the worst case result the loss of our soul.
Because that's why it's so serious, because when we accept
brothers and sisters the supernatural world, that's what we're talking about,
life after death, but where and that's really the purpose
of our lives is to be with God, to glorify
(31:27):
Him in an eternity, to be imperatives with incredible choy.
And we're going to talk about this and other shows
and about purgatory and what this joy of Heaven is
why we want to attain it so badly, more than
anything that is important to us and for our loved
ones in this life. So we'll touch on that in
(31:49):
the future. Show and I wish you peace and happiness,
and that the Lord Jesus today touch you in a
very special special way, that he lets you know his
love for you today, and that we ask but today's
feast day here in October, Saint Ignacious of Antioch, a martyr,
(32:14):
for his prayers and intercessions for the courage and faith
we need, especially in the culture that we live in today,
to have through your intercessions to the Ignacious, the courage
no matter what the cost, to stay true to the
Lord and our Church's teachings. God bless you, my friends
(32:35):
in Christ. Amen, and may Almighty God bless you in
the name of the Father, of the Son and of
the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Speaker 1 (32:47):
Hello, God's Beloved. I'm Annabel Moseley, author, professor of theology
and host of them Sings My Soul and Destination Sainthood
on WCAT Radio. I invite you to listen in and
find inspiration along this sacred journey we're traveling together to
make our lives a masterpiece and with God's grace become saints.
(33:10):
Join me Annabel Moseley for then sings My Soul and
destination sainthood on WCAT Radio. God bless you. Remember you
are never alone. God is always with you.
Speaker 2 (33:29):
Thank you for listening to a production of WCAT Radio.
Please join us in our mission of evangelization, and don't
forget Love lifts up when knowledge takes flight.
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