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More than anything, the devil hates to see you at Mass. And Jesus was clear that he, personally, desired you there. Father Hugh Barbour is back, and he explains why the Mass must be at the center of every Christian life.
Cy Kellett:
Getting back to mass, participating fully in the mass. Fr. Hugh Barbour is next.
Cy Kellett:
Hello, and welcome to Focus. The Catholic Answers Podcast for living, understanding and defending your Catholic faith. I’m Cy Kellett your host. A little bit about living your Catholic faith. This time with Fr. Hugh Barbour, our guest, Fr. Hugh Barbour, encouraging you to get back to mass. But, not just to get back to mass. To fully participate in the mass, as much as you can, whatever your circumstance is. Whether you can go up and receive communion, or you’re not in a position to go up and receive communion. Fr. Hugh wanted to discuss the graces of the mass, how you can participate in those graces as fully as you possibly can. And as all of us return to mass, this is a great opportunity for renewal. So, here’s what Fr. Hugh had to say.
Cy Kellett:
Fr. Hugh Barbour, welcome back.
Fr. Hugh Barbour:
Glad to be here.
Cy Kellett:
We are so happy to have you back.
Fr. Hugh Barbour:
Happy to be here.
Cy Kellett:
And just in the nick of time, because since we’ve seen you last, the entire world and the church completely falling apart. We need you to help us put it back together.
Fr. Hugh Barbour:
This is not causing effect. It just happens to be-
Cy Kellett:
Might be, I don’t know.
Fr. Hugh Barbour:
Happens to be-
Cy Kellett:
It could be, I don’t know what’s holding it together. Okay. So-
Fr. Hugh Barbour:
I can make my bed in the morning, but other than that, I don’t think I can control the whole world.
Cy Kellett:
Okay, that’s very healthy.
Fr. Hugh Barbour:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Cy Kellett:
I think that’s a very healthy way to look at it. But, I don’t know if we’ve spoken and if we have, it wasn’t very much on the air since the COVID hit.
Fr. Hugh Barbour:
No.
Cy Kellett:
And of course, one of the great consequences of the COVID, for the life of the church, was no mass for months, for many people, some more than a year.
Fr. Hugh Barbour:
Terrible, terrible.
Cy Kellett:
So, we want to talk about mass. We want to talk about the reasons to go to mass and especially, for those who are not able to, or just don’t receive communion. But, I wanted to ask you to start with your impression of, what this year has done to us? What it’s effect on the lay people of the church has been?
Fr. Hugh Barbour:
Well, in a certain sense, you could say that the loss of the possibility of assisting at mass physically-
Cy Kellett:
Yeah.
Fr. Hugh Barbour:
Liturgically, being really present there, has become a great scandal for the faith. By scandal, I mean, not something that you complain about, or that activists deal with-
Cy Kellett:
Right.
Fr. Hugh Barbour:
But, rather the fact that one’s faith is tested. It becomes a source of temptation-
Cy Kellett:
Yes.
Fr. Hugh Barbour:
Or, a minimization in the case of the mass, that as many people could get the impression that, “Well, after all, the externals of religion, or public worship, or going to church is not really essential.”
Cy Kellett:
Right.
Fr. Hugh Barbour:
You could watch it on television, or you could replace it with something else. And of course, given human nature, when that starts, you miss it on television and you don’t make it up for something else. I mean, this is the way it is, because remember-
Cy Kellett:
Of course.
Fr. Hugh Barbour:
We’re in a spiritual battle and the devil certainly tries hard to keep people from Sunday mass by all and holy day at mass is, he pretty much just made sure that Holy day masses no longer exist, practically, they’re almost no [inaudible 00:03:26], [crosstalk 00:03:26] the strategy worked forever.
Cy Kellett:
Yeah.
Fr. Hugh Barbour:
The cutthroat profit motive made it so everyone has to work on holy days. And that’s just the way it is, that’s the way of the world. But then, with the COVID, the need for the real celebration of the sacred mysteries has been minimized. Now, that doesn’t mean that it’s always wrong to limit access to churches, or other things in the midst of a plague.
Cy Kellett:
Yeah.
Fr. Hugh Barbour:
That happened before-
Cy Kellett:
Right.
Fr. Hugh Barbour:
In the most robust periods of Catholic faith and practice in Europe, and the saints dealt with it in various ways. But, let’s just say, without evaluating how much, or what should be done with regard to all of that, or whether it was too much, or too little, I mean, there’s certain examples of too much, like Ireland where they didn’t have mass on St. Patrick’s day.
Cy Kellett:
Oh yeah.
Fr. Hugh Barbour:
And throughout the whole Republic of Ireland, no mass on St. Patrick’s day.
Cy Kellett:
Yeah.
Fr. Hugh Barbour:
Now, one might regard that as a real overreaction and police stopped a few masses that were reported.
Cy Kellett:
Right.
Fr. Hugh Barbour:
So, haha my English background. If you wanted to go to mass on St. Patrick’s day, [crosstalk 00:04:34], had to go into the North.
Cy Kellett:
Oh, oh.
Fr. Hugh Barbour:
Yes. And where they did have mass on St Patrick’s day. But, the thing is there are extreme examples and there may be too little, too much. But, the fact, is the fact of not going to mass week after week, after week, after week takes its toll-
Cy Kellett:
Certainly does.
Fr. Hugh Barbour:
And so, what we need now, as the possibilities increase, one hopes for assistance mass in various places, it varies from place to place and all that thing. But, that we need to be conscious. And as they say, not as intentional, in what we’re doing at mass and to overcome the drag on our faith that this absence, or exile from the church’s liturgy has caused.
Cy Kellett:
And among those drags, is a giving into maybe, a person reasons with themselves. “Well, I made it a year without the mass. Maybe, the mass is just not that important.”
Fr. Hugh Barbour:
Well, we have a culture which is very much in line with that.
Cy Kellett:
Right.
Fr. Hugh Barbour:
Why can’t I worship God anywhere? Why do I have to go to mass? Externals don’t matter. It’s just a matter of my heart. But, the fact is, we Catholic Christians recognize that we have a God who took our human nature, flesh and blood with its senses and all its powers. And we are saved, whole and entire as human beings. And the way we have access to God, is the way we have access to everything else. That’s through our bodily senses, through the outward signs of the sacraments, through acts of worship. You don’t have a relationship with any other human being that is totally spiritual, so that you don’t have to see them, touch them, hear them.
Cy Kellett:
No.
Fr. Hugh Barbour:
No, that doesn’t work.
Cy Kellett:
That would be a heck of a relationship, wouldn’t it? [crosstalk 00:06:15].
Fr. Hugh Barbour:
I mean, would you want a husband and wife to say, “Well, our relation is spiritual. We don’t really have to see each other physically.”
Cy Kellett:
Yeah.
Fr. Hugh Barbour:
Okay, well, you’ll be allowed to say, “I don’t think they really love each other.”
Cy Kellett:
Yes.
Fr. Hugh Barbour:
And the same, the thing is just, “Well, I can worship God anywhere.” Well, but if God himself exists and he has certain things he wants to give to you, then you’re eager to receive them. And what he gave to us on the night before he suffered, is a sacrament of his body and blood. And of that one event, he said, he didn’t say this about anything else. There are certain things that reveal our Lord’s emotional state, like when he rejoices and says, “I give you thanks Father that you’ve hidden these things from the wise and the clever and you revealed to [inaudible 00:06:58] children.”
Fr. Hugh Barbour:
That’s one. There’s a little insight into his inner feelings. But then, he says at the last supper, “With the desire, I’ve desired to eat the Passover with you before I suffer.” Now, that’s the doubling of the expression, is from the Hebrew, or the Aramaic our Lord spoke. Intense meaning, I desire this above everything else.
Cy Kellett:
Yes.
Fr. Hugh Barbour:
So, when he instituted the whole Eucharist and he said, “Do this in commemoration with me. As often as you do it, do this commemoration of me.” And the church has taken that up and does it daily until he comes again. From the first mass to the last one, then we are fulfilling the ardent desire of our Lord. And so, in a certain sense, we’re also acknowledging what it was he underwent, the passion, his suffering and death for.
Cy Kellett:
Right.
Fr. Hugh Barbour:
It was so we could be united to him, in this most holy sacrament in the sacrifice of the mass. And that, we need to have a very conscious awareness of. That we don’t go to mass just to be instructed. We don’t go to see our friends. We don’t go to hear beautiful, or horrible music. We don’t go to any of the reasons that we might go, or because it’s habit, or just because it’s obligatory. If it’s obligatory, you have to ask yourself, why? Is it obligatory, for you to eat supper every night? No, but if you don’t, you’ll die. Is it obligatory for me to take care of my kids? Well, the state will take over if you want, but yes, you’re the one that has to take care of that. These obligations indicate the state of the soul of the person and they indicate things that should be loved.
Cy Kellett:
Yes.
Fr. Hugh Barbour:
You’re obliged to go to school up to a certain age, because you should love knowledge and instruction. You’re obliged to take care of family, because the state tells you, you have to love your children. You have to love your wife, or your husband. You’re obliged to support the legitimate interests of society by paying your taxes, because you love your neighbor and you want the streets to be well paved and the water to work and the country to be defended. All those things that are indications of the fact that your heart recognized that your goods, your time, your presence, your work are all for the service of things that are lovable.
Cy Kellett:
Yes.
Fr. Hugh Barbour:
And our Lord practically, in terms of things that he asks for personally, “Just do this for me.” The one thing he asked was the Eucharist. And then, that we love our neighbor, those two things. And he asks for that on the same occasion.
Cy Kellett:
Yes.
Fr. Hugh Barbour:
So, it’s all very simple. The holy mass and, “Love one another, as I have loved you.” That’s the whole story.
Cy Kellett:
Right.
Fr. Hugh Barbour:
And if those two things are missing, whatever other elements of Catholicism you might have, you’re going to hold them very weakly, or you’re going to lose them, or you’re going to misinterpret them.
Cy Kellett:
Yeah.
Fr. Hugh Barbour:
So, it’s very the mass is just, everything, if you really think about it.
Cy Kellett:
Yes. And so, even the person who will say, “Well, God just wants me to be a good person.” That’s the other thing.
Fr. Hugh Barbour:
Right, right.
Cy Kellett:
Well, the meeting him in the Eucharist is actually the greatest possible aid to you being a good person.
Fr. Hugh Barbour:
Absolutely.
Cy Kellett:
Okay. So, here’s the difficulty though, many, many people either can’t, or for whatever reason-
Fr. Hugh Barbour:
Don’t.
Cy Kellett:
Are not in a position-
Fr. Hugh Barbour:
Yeah, right, yeah.
Cy Kellett:
Yeah. To go to communion, to get into that procession, go up, receive communion. But, why should those folks go to mass? After all the COVID and everything, the habit of not going, why should they go back to mass?
Fr. Hugh Barbour:
Well, it’s a good question. Especially, considering how confused people may be about the relationship between the holy mass and holy communion. But, it’s a pretty simple thing. First of all, just say, you go to mass and you don’t receive communion. Independently, whether you could, or should just that you happen not to go to communion. Well, anyways, say you go to mass without going to communion. The mass is still the sacrifice of the body and blood of Christ. It’s the offering up by the priest in union with the faithful, her present of this perfect sacrifice. And when you prayerfully assist at the sacrifice and you pray in union with the intentions of the heart of Christ who’s offering himself under the appearances of bread and wine. You receive an immense spiritual fruit, and you participate during our Lord of the consecration, Luke the sacred host, during our Lord, then, and the chalice of his blood.
Fr. Hugh Barbour:
And then, perhaps making an act of spiritual communion. But, you are sharing in the Eucharist, because you’re using your faith and your love towards the sacrament. Now, when a baptized Christian uses his faith, her faith and love, towards the sacred species, the body and blood of Christ, they receive grace from the sacrament.
Cy Kellett:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Fr. Hugh Barbour:
It’s not just an imaginary participation.
Cy Kellett:
Right.
Fr. Hugh Barbour:
They really receive it. And that’s certainly true for assisting at mass, even though you don’t receive-
Cy Kellett:
Right.
Fr. Hugh Barbour:
And there were many centuries where people generally didn’t receive-
Cy Kellett:
Yeah.
Fr. Hugh Barbour:
But, they still adored our Lord of the elevation. They still adore the sacrament. They still believed in him and loved him and the sacrament. And so, they received the fruits of the sacrament. So, going to mass without going to communion, is perfectly fine from the point of view of receiving fruits from the Eucharist. Certainly, it’s more perfect to go to communion and it’s a more perfect participation in the sacrament as our Lord instituted it.
Fr. Hugh Barbour:
But, in point of fact, there is still much to be gained just by assistance at mass. That’s why we offer today in union with the holy sacrifice, the mass throughout the world, in the morning offering, that prayer. Because, even though you’re not going to be at any of those masses, when you’re not your intentions to our Lord’s offering of himself in the mass throughout the world, you receive grace from the holy Eucharist. The whole church is always receiving Eucharist and graces, because the mass is the center of the church’s life. And that’s one that’s if you just happen, not to go to communion. But, then related that, is what if you can’t?
Cy Kellett:
Yeah.
Fr. Hugh Barbour:
I think that’s what you’re. [crosstalk 00:12:52].
Cy Kellett:
Yeah. So, you’re in a marital situation that precludes you from going to communion, or some other, a reason that you can’t go to communion.
Fr. Hugh Barbour:
Right. Exactly. And there are these situations where… And Pope Benedict pointed this out on several occasions, that people misunderstand that, just because they’re not able to receive communion, because of some irregular situation, or because they need to go to confession as they find themselves to be in a state of sin, that still the participation at mass has value to them, because it is a sacrifice, it’s still an act of worship, that offers the infinitely precious things to God. And when you’re there, as a Baptist Christian participating, you are accomplishing something that’s very real. In the order of the sacraments, you’re having a sacramental participation. So, even if you’re not able to receive the sacrament visibly and sacramentally in the sense of receiving the sacrament into your very body. So, what is that? It’s not just second best, like better than nothing, but it’s an recognition that yes, my current state, for whatever reason may not allow me to receive communion, but I still put my trust and my faith and my love in Jesus.
Fr. Hugh Barbour:
And I come to him, making this offering and participating in sacrifice, confident of the graces that I receive. Maybe, a grace of a deeper contrition for the sins are committed that are keeping me from going, or the grace to receive a wiser resolution of the situation in life that I have, which is keeping me from going. Or, just simply the grace of hanging in there, because in our human weakness, we can’t see how we can actually separate from the behavior, or the circumstances that lead us not to be able to receive. In the good old days as it were, there were plenty of Catholic parents who were in irregular situations, who took their kids to Sunday mass every single Sunday, and went themselves. The notion of going to mass was so deeply ingrained, that even if they weren’t able to go to communion, they still didn’t enter their mind not to go to mass.
Cy Kellett:
Right.
Fr. Hugh Barbour:
As though they weren’t anything. And because they can and they, and they will. Also say, you’re in a situation that’s public. People will not understand. Say, there’s a couple who are not married in the church, but they’re living together, because they have children. But, whenever they can’t marry validly, but they’re living a chaste life together, but that’s not generally known in their small town and they can’t explain it to everybody. So, they choose not to go to communion, so as not to cause people to wonder and be scandalized, or critical, but then they go to commune and elsewhere where they’re not known. That’s a possibility that’s there, if they’re in the state of grace, or are not having the use of marriage, that’s possibility that they might’ve stayed in the parish church where everyone knows, or they might not, or they could get public witness to the fact that they are living chastely.
Fr. Hugh Barbour:
That’s something they didn’t use to in an old days, but it’s more possible nowadays where everyone talks about pretty much everything.
Cy Kellett:
Yeah.
Fr. Hugh Barbour:
The same goes, all things being equal, to anyone else in an irregular moral situation. There’s nothing in the church that prohibits you from assisting at mass, no matter how badly off you are morally. Our Lord says, “Come to me, all ye who labor and find that burdensome. And I will give you rest.” He’s not saying that the requirements necessary for the visible sacramental participation in the Eucharist, are the same as any requirement for coming to mass at all. Because, there are no requirements, except proper comportment.
Cy Kellett:
Yeah.
Fr. Hugh Barbour:
I mean, we just have to not disrupt the service-
Cy Kellett:
Yeah, don’t… Yeah.
Fr. Hugh Barbour:
And you’re allowed to come-
Cy Kellett:
Yeah, right.
Fr. Hugh Barbour:
And receive a grace in there, if you come-
Cy Kellett:
Yeah.
Fr. Hugh Barbour:
With the right intention.
Cy Kellett:
Yeah.
Fr. Hugh Barbour:
But, that’s what our Lord wants. But, there’s no reason for anyone to feel, and that goes for people who have irregular relationships, that are same sex, or have been confused by the current gender ideology. And then, they say they feel rejected by the church. The church never rejected anybody. The church may say, that what you did was not for your best interest and could have been very wrong, or maybe you were misled, or whatever. But, that’s not a judgment on your person. And it doesn’t go into the depths of the human heart. Only our Lord can judge that and your confessor, helping you, but there’s nothing, absolutely nothing that people that say that they feel estranged from the church, because she teaches something other than what they live by.
Fr. Hugh Barbour:
If you use that as a standard, then there’d be no one who could ever go to mass-
Cy Kellett:
No, right.
Fr. Hugh Barbour:
And no priest who could ever say it.
Cy Kellett:
No, right.
Fr. Hugh Barbour:
Because, St. James says, “We all fall seven times a day.”
Cy Kellett:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Fr. Hugh Barbour:
And we all have sins, known and unknown, that render us less worthy to participate. And so, sin is not a reason for not coming to church. In fact, it’s a reason for coming to church.
Cy Kellett:
But, then there’s the issue of embarrassment, however. Hearing you speak about the commercialization and all that, it almost does seem sometimes, the modern mindset is so transactional. That’s like, “Why would I go to mass?” This is what you get, you get the Eucharist, I got to get something rather than a relational mindset, which is like, “I got to go spend this time with Jesus. I got to go spend this time with the church.”
Fr. Hugh Barbour:
And you do receive something anyway.
Cy Kellett:
Yeah. And also, right-
Fr. Hugh Barbour:
From him, yeah.
Cy Kellett:
But, there is this thing now, in the modern mind, or whatnot, that everybody just gets up and goes to communion. And you know, that there’s a certain casualness attending to that. We’re not always worthy when we-
Fr. Hugh Barbour:
Right.
Cy Kellett:
Get up and go.
Fr. Hugh Barbour:
And that, is exactly the 800 pound gorilla in the corner. And this discussion, is that we need to preach and practice the sacrament of penance.
Cy Kellett:
Okay, yeah.
Fr. Hugh Barbour:
Going to confession at a certain regular interval, so that we are making worthy communions.
Cy Kellett:
Yeah.
Fr. Hugh Barbour:
The fact is that, the number of people who actually know that they shouldn’t be going and feel troubled by it, either because they get angry with the church, misunderstanding what that means, or for whatever reason. But, there are tons of people that never give it a thought and do all things that they ought to confess before approaching the sacrament.
Cy Kellett:
Yeah.
Fr. Hugh Barbour:
And so, going to confession is really key. And that needs to be preached and taught, and the priests need to be available for it. On the other hand, there is also the fact that if someone goes to communion with a good intention, badly instructed, maybe-
Cy Kellett:
Yeah.
Fr. Hugh Barbour:
They receive a grace from it.
Cy Kellett:
True.
Fr. Hugh Barbour:
Even people you would say, “Well, you shouldn’t go right now.” If they went up in good faith, it’s not the end of the world. It’s not a sacrilege, unless they intended it to be a sacrilege, unless they knew they shouldn’t go, and they insisted on it.
Cy Kellett:
Yeah.
Fr. Hugh Barbour:
But, there are lots of people just innocently, they weren’t instructed. They come up, they think it’s something good, or holy that they-
Cy Kellett:
Right.
Fr. Hugh Barbour:
Want to have.
Cy Kellett:
Yeah.
Fr. Hugh Barbour:
And so, a lot of priests have instituted then. And this is very common practice in the states, anyway, that people come up and if they’re not going to receive, they cross their hands over their breast, and they receive a blessing from the priest and that has stopped a lot of-
Cy Kellett:
Oh, then you don’t have to be embarrassed sitting in your seat.
Fr. Hugh Barbour:
Right. [crosstalk 00:20:00]. And everyone gets something, they at least get the blessing of the priest. The danger there, is that people will forget that it does matter whether I can receive the blessed sacrament, or not.
Cy Kellett:
Yeah, that is right.
Fr. Hugh Barbour:
And people can say, “Well, at least I got something.” But, it also is maybe a good practice from the other point of view, that it prevents people who know they shouldn’t receive from this evening.
Cy Kellett:
Right.
Fr. Hugh Barbour:
And so, they know that either they’re supposed to become a Catholic first, or that they need to go to confession first, or something like that. That’s fine. And it’s very nice to see, especially young people who have a good conscience, who do that, and they’re not in any shame about it, but they’ll do that. And indicating that, “No, you don’t have to go to communion. And it’s not a matter of shame.”
Fr. Hugh Barbour:
Ideally though, since the church’s liturgy does not actually direct the priest do that. And it seems a strange place to do it, because the blessed sacrament is the highest thing the church can give you. And then, to use that as an occasion to ask for a sacramental-
Cy Kellett:
Something lower.
Fr. Hugh Barbour:
Is, like, “Well, could you give me ashes and palms too? And maybe the holy water.”
Cy Kellett:
Yes.
Fr. Hugh Barbour:
I mean, it’s not the time for those things.
Cy Kellett:
Right.
Fr. Hugh Barbour:
But, I understand the logic behind it. And where it’s the custom, I certainly don’t refuse to do it, but the other practice would be better for people, is just the people come forward who are ready and the people that aren’t don’t, and if you’re in Latin America, or in Europe, you will find that’s generally the case, and certainly in Eastern Europe and in the Eastern Orthodox world for, or the Eastern right world, they don’t just assume that they go.
Cy Kellett:
No.
Fr. Hugh Barbour:
And so, I think it’s better. I mean, certainly, the minimum requirements for communion, are being in the state of grace and observing whatever fast law the church has and the Roman right, it’s very minimal, it’s only an hour.
Cy Kellett:
Right.
Fr. Hugh Barbour:
But, in other traditions, there’s a lot more involved and there’s still the expectation of going to confession and a longer period of fasting and all of that.
Cy Kellett:
Yeah.
Fr. Hugh Barbour:
And so, in any case, that’s all to indicate to us, the importance and the dignity of the sacrament and that it should be received with great reverence and attention and devotion. And that therefore, it’s not a disaster if you’re not able to go at that moment, because you can assist at mass devoutly and receive many graces. That’s just what you-
Cy Kellett:
Right.
Fr. Hugh Barbour:
You understand.
Cy Kellett:
And through you, many graces and parts [crosstalk 00:22:10] of others.
Fr. Hugh Barbour:
Absolutely. God’s blessing your life for the week, or for that day-
Cy Kellett:
Right.
Fr. Hugh Barbour:
Protect yourself from the influence of the devil. The devil works so hard to keep people from going to mass.
Cy Kellett:
Well, we’ll finish there then. Because, I have a question about that, because I think you would probably agree with me that in general, the main problem we want to solve, is not the people who are at mass. It’s the 80% of the Catholics who aren’t there.
Fr. Hugh Barbour:
Yup.
Cy Kellett:
You could dress better. Yeah, you could comb your hair better. You could be better catechized and all that. But, the real problem is the 80% who aren’t there. So, maybe we could address them. You’ve you’ve said several times, that the main thing that the devil would like to accomplish is to keep you away from-
Fr. Hugh Barbour:
Yeah, and you could almost say, has accomplished.
Cy Kellett:
The Eucharist. And in many cases-
Fr. Hugh Barbour:
Yeah.
Cy Kellett:
It has accomplished, yeah. So, why is that? And why should you thwart the devil in this?
Fr. Hugh Barbour:
Right. Well, the devil is full of hate.
Cy Kellett:
Yeah.
Fr. Hugh Barbour:
But, his hate is very simple. He only hates one thing. And that is the glory of God and the salvation of human beings. Everything in him, all of his hatred of God is summed up in his hatred of us. That’s why we are constantly the objects of his mean attention. He hates the unfallen angels, because they assist us and serve us and aid us in our worship. If they’re not assisting us, they’re aiding in our worship at mass and the one glory of God, the external glory of God, which is his, and should be his, is our salvation. The glory of God, is man alive, as Saint Irenaeus says. And that’s what he hates. That’s the one thing. A little, little thing he feels like he can do, is just to take away God’s glory by knocking down the people that might be saved, to drag them into hell.
Fr. Hugh Barbour:
And he knows that the means of their salvation, is the body and blood of Christ offered on the wood of the cross, for the salvation of the world. And the mass, is where we find those things, so that they can be directly applied to individual human beings. And it’s the individual human beings he wants to drag away. And so, it’s down to a fine point. So, there is nothing that the devil hates more than the sacred host, adored, and loved and believed in by individual Christians. He can’t stand that and if someone’s in a state of moral sin and they go, and they adore the blessed sacrament. This puts him in a fury.
Fr. Hugh Barbour:
He’s not happy about that, because they’re so close, that they’re not going to be lost. Let’s just put it that way. Practically speaking-
Cy Kellett:
Yeah.
Fr. Hugh Barbour:
He’s lost them.
Cy Kellett:
Yeah.
Fr. Hugh Barbour:
They may be weak. They may fall a million other times, but if they keep holding on to the price of our salvation, they’re not going to be lost.
Cy Kellett:
No.
Fr. Hugh Barbour:
And so, he knows that if he can just keep them away. So, the mass is boring. You could say, iteration is boring, whatever excuse- [crosstalk 00:25:13].
Cy Kellett:
Too many scandals-
Fr. Hugh Barbour:
Too many scandals in the church-
Cy Kellett:
All this, or that, yeah.
Fr. Hugh Barbour:
Yeah, right. All of that. Then, he will have accomplished a great deal.
Cy Kellett:
Yeah.
Fr. Hugh Barbour:
And yeah. So, I would say, that’s his focus.
Cy Kellett:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Fr. Hugh Barbour:
Everything else is just detail. Yeah.
Cy Kellett:
I’m so happy you’re back Fr.
Fr. Hugh Barbour:
Glad to be here.
Cy Kellett:
Yeah, yeah. And you should know. I mean, when you’re not around, just so many people contact us and remind us how much they love you and [crosstalk 00:25:43]. Which reminds us, how much we love you-
Fr. Hugh Barbour:
I love them back-
Cy Kellett:
As well.
Fr. Hugh Barbour:
Okay.
Cy Kellett:
[crosstalk 00:25:47] May we have your blessing Fr. before we go?
Fr. Hugh Barbour:
[foreign language 00:25:49]. Amen.
Cy Kellett:
In so many parts of modern life, the communal aspect of what it is to be a human is under assault. We’re more isolated, we’re more lonely. Even when we’re amongst one another, we’re often alone, at the mall, or wherever. And it would be a real horror. I’d go as far as to say a horror, if that happened to Catholic community, to the Catholic communion, which is supposed to be this saving community. If we started to see it as optional, if we started to see that coming together each Sunday, particularly for the Sunday mass, as optional, as not fundamental to what we are as brothers and sisters in Christ, that would be a terrible, terrible loss. So, it’s time to get back if your health allows and if your situation allows, and it’s not a bar to you going and to participating and joining in all of those graces, if you’re not able to go to communion.
Cy Kellett:
So, I’m very grateful that Fr. Hugh came by and helped us with that. We’re just happy to have Fr. Hugh back. We’d love to hear from you. Focus@catholic.com is where you can email us, focus@catholic.com. We also need your financial support. If you’re interested in supporting this podcast financially, just go to givecatholic.com, any amount from $1 to $5 million is welcome. And just leave a little note that says, “This is for Catholic Answers, Focus.” If you’re watching us on YouTube, please don’t forget to like and subscribe. And if you’re getting the podcast somewhere else, Apple, Spotify, Stitcher. If you subscribe, you’ll be updated when new episodes are available. And if you’d give us that five star review with maybe a few nice words, that helps us to grow the podcast. Thanks for being with us. See you at mass. I’m Cy Kellett, your host. We’ll see you next time, right here, God-willing, on Catholic answers, Focus.