Not sure how to respond to this

[JRKH]

Thank you all very much. I would like to calrify a few things that some of you had suggested about my friend: he says he’s “Catholic” but he has been influenced very powerfully by the Evangelicals, considering this quote from him: " Most Catholic people I know get technical and defensive when talking about faith. That’s why I hang out with Evangelicals. They don’t judge, decide for other people, none of that; they accept and love just as God isn’t picky!" He also has espoused heresy in denying the dogma of the Immaculate Conception which to the best of my knowledge is also a mortal sin (to the best of my knowledge what he has said is heresy, but if anybody with a better knowledge of these things cares to correct me, I welcome them to do so). I hope I have not revealed too much about his spiritual state, and if I have then I welcome someone to correct me.

Again - I suggest there is a lot of good here for discussion.

1. Being technical and even defensive may not necessarily equate to being judgmental.
   2Yes - as a Catholic he is to give assent to the dogma of the Immaculate Conception.
   If he has concerns about it - then he should keep those private and investigate the matter further.
2. I disagree that God isn’t picky…but He is particular. And you might have very interesting conversation on what this might mean.

hanging out with evangelicals can be very uplifting…but I might suggest to him that he needs to be just as careful and critical of their views as he seems to be of the Catholic Church’s teachings.

Have fun learning together.

Peace
James

 

[Brigid34]

Thank you all very much. I would like to calrify a few things that some of you had suggested about my friend: he says he’s “Catholic” but he has been influenced very powerfully by the Evangelicals, considering this quote from him: " Most Catholic people I know get technical and defensive when talking about faith. That’s why I hang out with Evangelicals. They don’t judge, decide for other people, none of that; they accept and love just as God isn’t picky!" He also has espoused heresy in denying the dogma of the Immaculate Conception which to the best of my knowledge is also a mortal sin (to the best of my knowledge what he has said is heresy, but if anybody with a better knowledge of these things cares to correct me, I welcome them to do so). I hope I have not revealed too much about his spiritual state, and if I have then I welcome someone to correct me.

Many evangelicals will be very judgmental about Catholics. You might point this out to him.

 

[josh987654321]

Josh,
is the italicized quote above something you wrote, or is it someone else’s?

Mostly someone else’s.

It’s beautiful.

James

Thank you.

I paraphrased it a bit from the short booklet ‘The Stations of the Cross’ but the booklet ‘The Holy Mass’ is absolutely fantastic in this regard too.

All of these short booklets contain the Roman Catholic Imprimatur which assures the reader that nothing therein is contrary to Catholic Faith, Morals or Teachings.

For more information regarding them, please read this - youshallbelieve.com/A-plea-to-humanity.pdf These short booklets have deepended me in the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church in enourmous ways.

Books on the Eucharist
The Holy Mass - loveandmercy.org/Eng-HM-Reg.pdf
In Adoration - loveandmercy.org/Eng-IA-Reg.pdf

Books on Spiritual Testimonies & Devotions
Divine Providence - loveandmercy.org/Eng-DP-Reg.pdf
My Broken Christ Walks Over the Waters - loveandmercy.org/Eng-MBC-Reg.pdf
Praying the Rosary - loveandmercy.org/Eng-PR-Reg.pdf
The Visible Face of the Invisible God - loveandmercy.org/Eng-VF-Reg.pdf

Books on the Passion
The Passion - loveandmercy.org/Eng-TP-Reg.pdf
The Stations of The Cross - loveandmercy.org/Eng-SOC-Reg.pdf
From Sinai to Calvary - loveandmercy.org/Eng-FSC-Reg.pdf
I Have Given My Life for You - loveandmercy.org/Eng-IHG-Reg.pdf

They are part of the New Evangalization set up by Pope John Paul II. Head of the A.N.E. (Apostolate of the New Evangalization)

God Bless

Thank you for reading
Josh

 

[Lormar]

My friend (who professes to be Catholic) said this:

“…since I have indeed received Jesus in my heart, I have no need of receiving Him in my stomach…receiving Communion does not guarantee that we have a relationship with Him.”

How do I respond to this?

That reminds me of the Catholics who say they have no need to confess their sins to a priest because they go directly to, as one called Our Lord, “the Big Guy.”

Everyone has an excuse for everything these days.

 

[AndreM73]

Thank you all very much for the further replies. It still seems, though, that he isn’t quite “getting it.” I pray that this will end in his returning to the Truth, but I know it will not come easily.

That being said, I might also add that earlier he said that he worries about me because: “…by feeling like you need to pray the rosary, honor Mary, participate in adoration, and wear a scapular, I wonder what your faith is centered on.”

 

[JRKH]

Thank you all very much for the further replies. It still seems, though, that he isn’t quite “getting it.” I pray that this will end in his returning to the Truth, but I know it will not come easily.

That being said, I might also add that earlier he said that he worries about me because: "…by feeling like you need to pray the rosary, honor Mary, participate in adoration, and wear a scapular, I wonder what your faith is centered on."

Did you tell him what your faith is centered on?

James

 

[ProVobis]

My friend (who professes to be Catholic) said this:

“…since I have indeed received Jesus in my heart, I have no need of receiving Him in my stomach…receiving Communion does not guarantee that we have a relationship with Him.”

How do I respond to this?

I’m wondering if he’s referring to Spiritual communion and he is not disposed to receive sacramental communion. Maybe we should ask him? He does seem to have a point about the guarantee if he’s not properly disposed IMO.

 

[Dorothy]

Thank you all very much for the further replies. It still seems, though, that he isn’t quite “getting it.” I pray that this will end in his returning to the Truth, but I know it will not come easily.

That being said, I might also add that earlier he said that he worries about me because: “…by feeling like you need to pray the rosary, honor Mary, participate in adoration, and wear a scapular, I wonder what your faith is centered on.”

We are to follow Jesus, and Jesus loves His Mother very much.

 

[Origen52]

Thank you all very much for the further replies. It still seems, though, that he isn’t quite “getting it.” I pray that this will end in his returning to the Truth, but I know it will not come easily.

That being said, I might also add that earlier he said that he worries about me because: “…by feeling like you need to pray the rosary, honor Mary, participate in adoration, and wear a scapular, I wonder what your faith is centered on.”

Mary was my rock during my chemo. The only relief I got from my fear was reciting the rosary. Most days I would say all twenty decades, sometimes twice. Since achieving CR, she has been leading me to Jesus. I serendipitously came across a site for a Jesuit retreat house and am now on my third retreat, trying to build a more solid base for my faith.

Thanks to my mother and grandmother who had us recite the rosary as a family every afternoon, Mary was in my heart when I needed her.

 

[ProVobis]

Mary was my rock during my chemo. The only relief I got from my fear was reciting the rosary. Most days I would say all twenty decades, sometimes twice. Since achieving CR, she has been leading me to Jesus. I serendipitously came across a site for a Jesuit retreat house and am now on my third retreat, trying to build a more solid base for my faith.

Thanks to my mother and grandmother who had us recite the rosary as a family every afternoon, Mary was in my heart when I needed her.

I am also praying for your healing.

 

[Miserissima]

I would respond, “There is no guarantee that we are cooperating in God’s Grace more than being worthy and honored enough to listen to John 6, to literally eat and drink His Body and Blood.”

I do believe your friend needs to go to Confession. People who make these rationalizations against receiving the Eucharist know they’re in mortal sin.

Don’t ask how I know. I spent a while away from the Blessed Sacrament.

 

[Scott_Waddell]

They don’t judge

He’s pulling your leg. This is a problem of the will, not the intellect, so no amount of apologetically-slick answers is going slap some sense into him.

 

[Miserissima]

The quick response would nee, “Oh, ok. I’m climb to congestion at three o’clock on Saturday. Care to join me?”

 

[Miserissima]

The quick response would nee, “Oh, ok. I’m climb to congestion at three o’clock on Saturday. Care to join me?”

That post needs to be nominated for “stupid autocorrect post of the day.”

What I meant to say was, "The quick response would be, “Oh, ok. I’m going to confession at three o’clock on Saturday. Care to join me?”

 

[MarkInOregon]

My friend (who professes to be Catholic) said this:

“…since I have indeed received Jesus in my heart, I have no need of receiving Him in my stomach…receiving Communion does not guarantee that we have a relationship with Him.”

How do I respond to this?

I have seen many good things to bring up with you friend but I didn’t see one of the things I would mention (fully possible that I missed it)–I saw part of it but not the part I am bolding. I would ask that if Jesus is indeed in your friends heart–why doesn’t your friend want to do what Jesus commanded us to do? “Then he took the bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them saying, ‘This is my body, which will be given for you**; do this in memory of me***.*’” I’d ask, “How can you have a relationship with Jesus if you won’t do a simple thing that he asked be done?” Your friend is right that receiving Communion does not guarantee a relationship with Jesus but neither does not receiving Communion. Jesus didn’t ask us to have a relationship with him–he asked us to repent, to take up our cross and follow him, to do the will of his Father. And as I think about it–we all have a relationship with Jesus–the question really is what kind of relationship do we have? Is it a good one?, a bad one?, an on again off again one? Relationships run the gamut–it’s not having a relationship with Jesus that’s important, but rather the type of relationship. Refusing to receive Communion which Jesus commanded us to do says something about the nature of the relationship–is it on your friends terms or on Jesus terms?

The peace of Christ,
Mark

 

[Bklynguy]

My friend (who professes to be Catholic) said this:

“…since I have indeed received Jesus in my heart, I have no need of receiving Him in my stomach…receiving Communion does not guarantee that we have a relationship with Him.”

How do I respond to this?

Except that Jesus would disagree with a statement like that as he commanded us to eat his flesh and drink his blood. So, your friend that is Catholic is clearly not that well catechised.

 

[AndreM73]

(1/2) Again, thank you all for responding so well: I wrote up the following text and gave it to him as a document, saying it was the best response I could give.

A quick note on said text: it is almost completely comprised of a few very helpful suggestions. Like I said before, thank you very much to those of you whose points I used; if you’re reading it you’ll know what you contributed.

Let me take you back to earlier in our conversation. You said the following words: “Most Catholic people I know get technical and defensive when talking about faith."

You also said this: “…since I have indeed received Jesus in my heart, I have no need of receiving Him in my stomach.”

Now, I want you to remove words 1, 2, 3, and 5 from the first statement and then view your second one in light of that.

Keeping that in mind I would like to review the following:

1. You are currently in a state of Mortal Sin, meaning you cannot receive Holy Communion: you seem to write this off with your above statement without realizing that you are still in a state of Mortal Sin. This means that if you were to die right now you would go to Hell because you have not confessed it nor do you seem to be repentant for it. Allow me to point out two things here: in order to attain Salvation you need Confession and Holy Communion, the latter of which Christ expressly states in the Gospel as being absolutely necessary.
2. If one truly receives Jesus into their heart then they should wish to love Him and be obedient to Him, and receiving Holy Communion (and going to Confession) is a part of that love and obedience.
3. Why would He go through the trouble of making Himself physically present in the Blessed Sacrament if he did not want you to receive him? Again, look at what he says in the Gospels and realize that he is being quite literal.
4. Also, If Jesus makes Himself physically present to us, then why would you not want to run to Him and welcome Him, giving Him all of your love by taking Him physically into you? Because that is precisely how He loves us: he wishes to be physically inside of us, sanctifying our entire being.
   a. That being said, He will not sanctify you if you don’t let Him, and not going to Confession is essentially saying that you do not want Him to do so. This is true because Christ acts directly through the priest in the Confessional: it is not the human person of the priest absolving you, but Christ himself. Remember that priests are Christ’s ministers on Earth: by virtue of their ordination he acts through them to grant you and me the graces attained by receiving the Sacraments. It would do you well to also remember that without these graces, Salvation is not possible.

In connection to number four, I would like to give you this quote to chew on. It comes from Dr. Edward Siri, who holds a doctorate degree from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome. He wrote this after the new translation of the Missal was published just three or so years ago. He says the following:
“A few beautiful changes have been made to the translation of the prayer at Mass that comes shortly before Holy Communion is distributed. The priest has been saying, “Happy are those who are called to his supper” as he held up the Eucharistic host. But the new translation of this prayer is more robust. The priest will say, “Blessed are those who are called to the supper of the Lamb.” These new words certainly command our attention. And they underscore how the Eucharist is no ordinary meal, for they recall a climactic moment in the book of Revelation when Jesus comes to unite himself to his people in a great heavenly wedding feast. In this scene, Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, is depicted as a bridegroom joining himself to his bride, the Church. An angel announces this loving union by saying, “Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb” (Revelation 19:9). In the new translation, the priest at Mass more clearly echoes this angelic invitation to the heavenly wedding feast. When you hear these words in the liturgy, therefore, you should realize that you are, in a sense, receiving a wedding invitation! And at this great marriage feast, you are no ordinary guest. When you come down the aisle to receive Holy Communion, you come as the bride, as a member of the Church. And you come to be united with your divine Bridegroom who gives Himself to you in the most intimate way possible here on earth—in the Holy Eucharist. Here, we see how the Eucharist involves an intimate, loving communion with our Lord Jesus—one that is likened to the union shared between a husband and wife. Indeed, Holy Communion is a participation in that heavenly wedding supper of the Lamb, which celebrates the union of the divine bridegroom, Jesus, with his bride, the Church.”

To close, I would like to remind you once again that, while the Evangelicals might be uplifting at times, you must view what they say through a critical lens. Remember that you were baptized as (and remain) a Roman Catholic, and as such you should be examining other Christian denominations with a very critical lens, considering that Our Faith teaches that it is the True Faith. This position is supported by Scripture which, if you read the Bible and believe in the Word of God as much as you say you do, should be familiar to you. It is also worth noting that the Protestants, due to a lack of Apostolic Succession, have no power to change the Bible, and that if you look at History and examine it you will come to see that all signs point to the truth of the teachings of Our Holy Mother the Church.

 

[AndreM73]

(2/2) Now, after having given him the text as a document, I asked him to read it over and tell me what he took away from it. This was his first response: “I absolutely love what you said how we’re united with Jesus like it’s a wedding…We are the bride, He is the bridegroom…He washes us clean, and we are His servant.” I told him that he seemed to be missing the point I was trying to make, and asked him to reread the text and tell me what it contained as he understood it. We then briefly discussed the warning that I gave him in point five, at which point he told me that he had just gone to Confession.

Afterwards I asked him to read it again and tell me what all he took away from it. This was his reply: “I’m already living eternal life with God. I am dead to my old ways of the flesh, and I am living in the new excitement of the Holy Spirit! I can be confident in my salvation. (smiley face)”

I ask for and heartily welcome your thoughts and criticisms of my reply as well as thoughts on those of my friend. Thank you.

 

[Origen52]

That post needs to be nominated for “stupid autocorrect post of the day.”

What I meant to say was, "The quick response would be, “Oh, ok. I’m going to confession at three o’clock on Saturday. Care to join me?”

Spent two minutes trying to decipher your previous post. Sometimes autocorrect is a pain.

 

[Miserissima]

Spent two minutes trying to decipher your previous post. Sometimes autocorrect is a pain.

It also doesn’t help when I can’t find my glasses… : blush: thanks for your patience