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Do you believe the same things about the Eucharist (or Lord&#8217;s Supper) that Jesus taught and that the Apostles and earliest Christians believed? Here are 5 ways of knowing &#8212; the true teaching is strange, sacrificial, serious, sacramental, and even SHOCKING.

The Bible on the Eucharist: Strange, Sacrificial, Serious, Sacramental, and Shocking

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The early Christians didn’t have a New Testament. They had the Church. @RuslanKD

What does the Church Say About Early Genesis?

Are you struggling to bring your children back to the faith? Keith Nester shares his heartfelt advice on how to navigate this common parental challenge. Discover practical tips and encouragement from a seasoned spiritual guide.
<a href="https://youtu.be/pLAXOW79Mn4">Full Interview</a>
Transcript:
And this might actually be the most common question that I get after talks and often I&#8217;m baffled at what to say. So I want to hear what you have to say.
What can I do to bring my children back to the faith? I don&#8217;t know what I did as a parent. I don&#8217;t know where I went wrong, but none of my adult children are practicing the faith or most of my adult children are not practicing the faith.
I get that. That&#8217;s the most asked question I get too, Cy.
And here&#8217;s the deal. There&#8217;s no easy answer to that question because there&#8217;s no one thing that&#8217;s going to work for everybody because everybody&#8217;s different.
Relationships are different. Some people have relationships with their kids where they can sit down and really openly share about things. Other people have relationships with their kids where their kids don&#8217;t care about what they say. But what is universal in that is prayer and also living the faith in front of your kids and everybody else in devotion and in joy. Those are the two biggest things. And then trusting God to work. That&#8217;s where I think a lot of us fall down. We want to take control of that process.
We want to say, &#8220;Okay, God, I&#8217;ve got to figure this out. What can I do to bring my kids back?&#8221; The reality I&#8217;ll tell people is this. You can&#8217;t do anything to bring your kids back. You can only allow God to work through you in the ways that he sees fit. But what you need to do, regardless of whether you have kids or not, is you need to live your faith before them with everybody, with devotion and with joy. Because if you take away either one of those two things, it&#8217;s going to be a disaster. If you take away devotion and you&#8217;re just kind of a, &#8220;Well, I don&#8217;t care. I don&#8217;t really practice my faith. I don&#8217;t go to church every week. I don&#8217;t fulfill my obligations as a Catholic.&#8221; Then they&#8217;re not going to listen to anything that you say. They&#8217;re not going to watch any videos you send them. They&#8217;re not going to read any books that you give them. Because if they look at your life and your faith is sort of mediocre to them and it doesn&#8217;t really affect your life much, they&#8217;re not going to care.
Or if you&#8217;re like the other kind of person that you&#8217;re like, &#8220;No, I practice my faith to the nth degree,&#8221; but you&#8217;re grouchy about it all the time. And all it does is make you depressed and grouchy and sour. That&#8217;s not going to draw them in either. I think we all know people in both camps. We know some people who are like happy-go-lucky, but they don&#8217;t really know or care about their faith. And then we know other people that they look like Mr. T, but they got all miraculous medals on and they&#8217;re just like, they&#8217;re in the church praying 50 million rosaries every day and every other word out of their mouth is about this. But yet they don&#8217;t exude joy.
That&#8217;s going to have the same effect. People are going to look at that and they&#8217;re going to say, &#8220;That&#8217;s not really for me.&#8221;
So you have to do both and you have to trust that God is at work in that.
Man, it&#8217;s so hard to do because I mean, because what I often say to people is I&#8217;m in the same boat you are. I&#8217;m not, so I don&#8217;t have some brilliant answer to this, but that trusting part is hard. You just want&#8230; That&#8217;s what you want as a parent is for your children to be all right. I know that the safe harbor,
the safe harbor in this world is Jesus and I just want them in that safe harbor.
I&#8217;m with you too. I&#8217;m with you too. I will tell you this.
God, you have to play the long game and you have to trust God and you have to hit what&#8217;s pitched to you, meaning you&#8217;ve got to have your eyes open.
Remember, God has a process in this, not you. What I mean by that is this.
You might have an interaction with your son or daughter where God is priming the pump for you to encourage and equip them in some way, but maybe it&#8217;s going to happen in a way that you never thought possible. Maybe it&#8217;s going to happen through some kind of tragedy or through some kind of heartbreak that your kids are going through, or maybe it&#8217;s going to happen through something that&#8217;s going to happen in your life that they&#8217;re going to pay attention to see how you respond to that. What does your faith mean to you when life hands you something difficult?
Sometimes it&#8217;s through those things that none of us would choose, but God chooses to work in and through those things. You have to always ask yourself every day, what does it look like for me to be faithful in this situation right now? Maybe I have a son or daughter who wants nothing to do with me, and I&#8217;m not allowed to share the faith. I&#8217;ve had my kids tell me, &#8220;Keeffe,&#8221; or they say, &#8220;Dad, I don&#8217;t want to hear it. We&#8217;re sick of hearing about the Catholic Church all the time. Shut up about it.&#8221; I have to ask myself, what does it look like in that situation for me to be faithful when they say that to me? I&#8217;ve had other times when they said, &#8220;We have a lot of questions about this. Can we meet and talk?&#8221; I have to be faithful in that and say, &#8220;What do I get to do in this situation?&#8221; I&#8217;ve had situations where I&#8217;ve said, &#8220;Hey, do you want to come to Mass with me?&#8221; Or, &#8220;Will you come to Mass with me?&#8221; They&#8217;ve said, &#8220;No.&#8221; Then I&#8217;ve had other situations where they&#8217;ve called me and said, &#8220;Hey, can I come to Mass with you?&#8221;
I guess my point is this.
It&#8217;s a roller coaster ride. Of all kinds of different situations and scenarios, you can&#8217;t just overlay one thing over that for everybody in all times and all places. For the love of God,
please, and I&#8217;m a content creator, you guys are content creators, do not think that the answer is just giving them a book or sending them a video. Do not spam your kids with all the Catholic stuff. It&#8217;s only going to work against you. Again, I&#8217;ve got books about this, you guys too, but I would rather have nobody buy my book than have my book be used as some way to pound something over somebody that&#8217;s not ready for it who is going to just be like, &#8220;Get that away from me.&#8221; If they&#8217;re not ready for it, don&#8217;t think that that&#8217;s the answer. Yet, why do we do that? Because it&#8217;s easy.
I can buy a book, I can just, &#8220;Here, read this.&#8221; I remember what it was like when I wasn&#8217;t Catholic and people wanted me to become Catholic. Every time I turned around, someone was handing me a book or handing me a trinket or handing me a medal or handing me a rose, and I&#8217;m just like, &#8220;What do I do with all this stuff?&#8221; What I really needed was someone who could show me what Catholicism was, not just give me homework.
That&#8217;s what we need to do with people.
Hey, thanks for watching. If you like this Catholic answer, be sure to like, subscribe, and check out our live streams Monday through Friday, 3 to 5 p.m. Pacific, or find the episode after on YouTube, our favorite podcast platform, or our Catholic Answers app.

How to Bring Adult Children Back to the Faith?

Carbon dating has already proved the shroud as a fake.

Was there any evidence of the shroud before the 1300s?

Does Jesus’ long hair go against historical trends for Jewish men of the time?

Is the blood too red on the shroud?

Was a burst of light what imprinted the image on the shroud?

What should our methodology be?

The crown of thrones

The connection to Abraham and Isaac

Wounds on the wrists instead of the hands

Interview with Fr. Andrew Dalton debunking claims against the authenticity of the Shroud of Turin
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Debunking Claims Against the Shroud of Turin

In this episode Trent engages Baptist apologist Gavin Ortlund’s arguments against the doctrine of baptismal regeneration.

Rebutting Gavin Ortlund on Baptismal Regeneration

In this free-for-all-Friday Trent describes famous episodes of cheating in sports and games from the practice of point shaving to the illicit coughs that won over a million dollars.

FFAF: Famous cheating scandals revealed

Was Jesus’ claim to be Messiah considered blasphemous by the Jews?

How do I get my Protestant friend to accept the authority of the Church?

What does the “work of mercy” entail for the fulfillment of the plenary indulgence for the Jubilee?

Jesus was historically born in the summer, not the winter. So, Christmas cannot be about his birth!

My Protestant friend claims that Catholics have changed the Our Father.

Is there anywhere in the U.S. that has holy doors open for the Jubilee?

In a hypothetical scenario regarding a committed crime, would a priest hinting that he knows the culprit be an offense against the seal of confession?

AMA: Jesus as Messiah, Church Authority, and Myths About Christmas

Episode 92: Year B &#8211; 21st Sunday of Ordinary Time
In this episode, we continue our study of Jesus’ Bread of Life Discourse in John 6. The portion of the discourse that makes up the Gospel reading for this upcoming 21st Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year B, is verses 60-69. Like in last week’s episode, the question is whether Jesus intended his teaching to eat his flesh and drink his blood to be taken literally or figuratively. We argue for a literal interpretation.
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Readings: <a href="https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/082524.cfm">Click Here</a>
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Looking for Sunday Catholic Word Merchandise? Look no further! <a href="https://shop.catholic.com/catholic-answers-merchandise/?q=sunday">Click Here</a>
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Debunking the Figurative Eating of Jesus’ Flesh

Day 22
CHALLENGE
“Catholics should not regard Mary as the “Queen of Heaven.” The Bible speaks of devotion to the Queen of Heaven and condemns it in unequivocal terms (Jer. 7:18, 44:17–19, 25).”
DEFENSE 
The “Queen of Heaven” that Jeremiah refers to is not Mary. Therefore, he was not condemning Marian devotion. The fact that Jeremiah was not referring to Mary is obvious, since he was writing around 600 B.C., not the first century A.D. In his day, the title “Queen of Heaven” was used to refer to various pagan deities. There were many such deities, as every pagan pantheon had a major, ruling deity who was depicted as a king in heaven. Correspondingly, various goddesses were regarded as queens in heaven. Scholars are not sure which of these deities Jeremiah was referring to. It may have been a Canaanite goddess such as Ashtoreth (the wife of Ba’al), Asherah (the wife of El), or the warrior goddess Anat. Whichever he meant, it is clear that the condemned devotion was taking place in his own day, for Jeremiah refers to it as “what they are doing in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem” (Jer. 7:17). He also promises that God’s wrath would fall on members of his own generation as a result of this practice (Jer. 44:24–30). The fact that “Queen of Heaven” was used for a pagan deity in Jeremiah’s day does not mean that it can’t also have a legitimate use. Words and phrases gain their meaning and connotations from the way they are used in a particular community, and they are not permanently ruined just because pagans once used them. As noted, the same pagan pantheons that had Queens of Heaven also had Kings of Heaven, but that didn’t stop the biblical authors from referring to the true God as a King (Ps. 29:10, 47:2, 6–7, 103:19; Isa. 6:5; Mal. 1:14; 1 Tim. 1:17; Rev. 15:3, etc.). They even used the exact title “King of Heaven” for him (Dan. 4:37; Tob. 1:18, 13:7). The question thus is not whether “Queen of Heaven” was once used for a pagan deity, but whether it can have a different and appropriate sense. As we discuss elsewhere, it can (see Day 64).

“Queen of Heaven” Condemned?

If a person claims that Mary is appearing to them, how is that dealt with in the Church?

Since Hanukkah is big in the Jewish tradition, why don’t they have Maccabees in their bible?

Why do Catholics believe that Jesus has two natures vs. one nature?

How do I better understand Newman’s quote, “to be rooted in history is to be Catholic?” I’ve been looking into history, and I’m not convinced.

What bible verse could I use to back up the claim that we should go to confession and communion at least once a

When Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do,” who was guilty?

How do I know when something is declared ex cathedra? How can I brush up more on papal infallibility?

When exactly does the Eucharist become Jesus?

I’m not Catholic. How do I know if Catholicism is the right way to go?

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What does the Catholic Church do when someone claims the Virgin Mary is appearing to them? In this episode of Catholic Answers Live, Catholic Answers apologists explain how the Church investigates reported apparitions and discerns whether they are authentic. The conversation also explores why Jewish Bibles do not include Maccabees despite the importance of Hanukkah, why Catholics believe Jesus has two natures, and how to better understand St. John Henry Newman’s famous quote about history and Catholicism. Additional questions cover biblical support for confession and Communion obligations, who Jesus was referring to when He said “Father, forgive them,” how Catholics recognize ex cathedra teachings, and when the Eucharist becomes the Body and Blood of Christ. The episode concludes with advice for non-Catholics discerning whether the Catholic Church is true.
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Invite our apologists to speak at your parish! Visit <a href="https://www.catholic.com/speakers">Catholicanswersspeakers.com</a>
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How Does the Church Investigate Marian Apparitions? AMA: Dropped Calls

TEAM EHRMAN: Did Mary Consent to Jesus’ Birth?

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DAY 9
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CHALLENGE
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“Catholics should not depend on Tradition. Jesus says Tradition makes void the word of God (Matt. 15:6; cf. Mark 7:8, Col. 2:8).”
DEFENSE
Jesus did say that the Pharisees nullified God’s word for the sake of their tradition, but he did not condemn tradition itself. Indeed, Scripture’s attitude toward apostolic Tradition is positive.
Tradition is important to every person and every group of people. It represents our education, our culture, everything that has been handed on to us from previous generations. Tradition is—by definition—what is handed on. The term comes from the Latin word tradere, “to hand on.”
Some traditions, like some of the Pharisees’ traditions, can be harmful. Others, being of merely human origin, are not authoritative. Scripture lumps both under the heading “traditions of men.”
But not all traditions are in this category. For Christians, the Faith handed down to us from Christ and the apostles is of unparalleled importance. In Catholic circles, this passing down of the Faith is referred to as “Sacred Tradition” or “Apostolic Tradition” (with a capital “T” to distinguish it from other, lesser, “lowercase” traditions).
Initially, the apostles handed on the Faith orally—by preaching— but with time some of them and their associates wrote the New Testament documents, which together with the Old Testament comprise Sacred Scripture. Since Scripture has been handed down to us from the apostles, it is the inspired, written part of Sacred Tradition.
Whether or not an item of Tradition was written in Scripture, it is still important and binding. Thus the New Testament exhorts the reader to maintain Sacred Tradition (1 Cor. 11:2; 2 Thess. 3:6), and in 2 Thessalonians 2:15, Paul tells his readers to “stand firm and hold to the Traditions which you were taught by us, either by word of mouth or by letter.”
Another noteworthy passage is 2 Timothy 2:2, in which Paul instructs his protégé, “what you have heard from me before many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.” Bearing in mind that Paul wrote this letter just before he died (cf. 2 Tim. 4:6–8), Paul is exhorting the transmission of Sacred Tradition across generations of Christian leaders—from his generation, to Timothy’s generation, to the ones that will follow.
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Traditions of Men Versus Sacred Tradition

In this free-for-all-Friday Trent reveals how some of the modern things we use every day are actually hundreds or even thousands of years old.

FFAF: I just want to talk about Cobra Kai

Does abuse or distortion in devotion to the saints justify abandoning the practice altogether? In this episode, Karlo Broussard respond sto Gavin Ortlund’s critique of Marian prayers and show why problematic expressions—real or perceived—don’t undermine the Catholic practice of invoking the saints. I also explain why the expressions that cause him concern aren’t in fact problematic, when understood properly.
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TRANSCRIPT:
When it comes to the intercession of the saints, there’s no shortage of objections. You’ve probably heard the usual ones: it undermines Jesus’ unique mediation, invoking the saints is necromancy, they can’t hear us, and so on.
But there’s another objection that doesn’t get as much attention—one that focuses not so much on theory, but on practice. The claim is that distortions or abuses have crept into the practice of invoking the saints, especially when it comes to Mary.
So how should we think about that kind of challenge? That’s what we’re gonna talk about today.
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Hey friends, Welcome back to the channel! I’m really glad you’re here. If you haven’t done so already, make sure to subscribe and hit that bell notification so you don’t miss any new videos. Also, I want too invite you to consider helping keep this podcast going by supporting us on Patreon at doctorkarlo.com—with “doctor” spelled out. And if you’re already a patron, thank you so much…I really am deeply grateful for your support.
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Alright, so as I mentioned, some Protestants challenge the Catholic practice of invoking the saints by arguing that abuses have crept into the practice. One example here is Protestant apologist Gavin Ortlund.
In his video, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkNuganI0JA">“Praying to the Saints: A Protestant Critique,”</a> Ortlund argues that when we look at how the prayers to the saints actually played out in medieval piety, we find that the practice led to serious distortions. He highlights two main types.
First, there are soteriological distortions—that’s to say, distortions related to salvation—where certain prayers seem to ascribe to Mary only what Christ can do when it comes to saving us. Second, there are prayers that appear to look to Mary as our ultimate help rather than God, which Ortlund sees as a threat to God’s sovereignty.
Because of these distortions, Ortlund explains, Protestants like himself are concerned about the practice of invoking the saints. And for him, that concern—especially when combined with what he sees as a lack of New Testament and early Christian evidence for the practice—is enough reason to avoid the practice altogether.
Now, we’re going to tackle the question of early Christian evidence in another episode. For now, I want to focus specifically on Ortlund’s concerns about these alleged distortions and his reasoning about them.
Let’s start with the first category—the so-called soteriological distortions, which seem to be Ortlund’s primary concern. Here’s a few clips from his video:
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i&#8217;ve canvassed a number of hymns 6:04 breviaries prayer books and other 6:06 liturgical texts from the late medieval 6:09 era that did have the approval 6:11 officially of the roman catholic church 6:13 and were in common usage among the laity 6:15 and i want us to to feel a bit how 6:19 prayers to the saints 6:20 were actually 6:22 playing out because if we can get some 6:25 common ground of like oh yeah i can see 6:26 how that can go wrong that will help us 6:28 then go forward from there and it will 6:30 maybe make a protestant concern have a 6:32 little bit more sense. 
So let me give 6:34 some examples and what i want you to be 6:36 listening for is the way forgiveness 6:39 and the propitiation of god 6:41 works in other words what&#8217;s the 6:43 soteriological context that&#8217;s 6:45 functioning here in these prayers 
“6:47 lord we ask that thou placated by the 6:50 intercession of all thy saints may look 6:52 graciously upon our infirmity and avert 6:54 all the evils which we justly deserve we 6:57 pray thee lord that the merits of 6:59 blessed mary who is both perpetually a 7:01 virgin and the bearer of god may attend 7:04 us and always implore thy forgiveness 7:07 for us” [Cursus Honorum of the Blessed Virgin Mary, According to the Ordinarium of the Church of Hildeshelm].
7:08 note this word forgiveness it&#8217;s going to 7:09 come up in a lot of these 
“7:11 o noble mary excellent above all 7:14 procure for us forgiveness 
o holy virgin mary and all the saints 7:27 and elect of god come aid to me wretched 7:30 one 7:31 now and in the hour of my death and make 7:33 the lord our god propitious to me by 7:35 your merits and prayers” 
Ortlund goes on a few minutes later to give more examples of this primary concern of his:
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……9:45 here&#8217;s more examples 
“through you 9:48 that&#8217;s mary forgiveness is granted to 9:50 the guilty”
“through you grace is 9:52 conferred to the just oh you who are 9:54 more beautiful than the stars and 9:55 blessed above all women placate your son 9:58 and cleanse all faults of the faithful” 
10:00 see this is an example of why it&#8217;s not 10:03 you can&#8217;t do the well it&#8217;s a both and 10:04 thing 10:06 the prayer think about those words 10:07 placate your son 10:10 if that&#8217;s not at both end because in 10:11 that prayer the son is the one needing 10:14 to be placated by mary 10:16 rather than 10:18 the one who actually has 10:20 fully placated god already 
After giving these examples, Ortlund concludes that these invocations are, in his words,
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14:42 something that’s inherently wrong” 
 
and are
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“14:30 full-blown medieval errors.”
Why? Because, according to Ortlund, the theology of salvation within these is flat-out contrary to the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Ortlund explains,
[VIDEO]
“it&#8217;s 9:33 playing out here in ways that it is 9:35 competitive it is detracting from the 9:37 sufficiency of christ because the 9:39 specific tasks that are the property of 9:42 christ in the gospel are being assigned 9:43 to mary here”
The “specific tasks” that Ortlund has in mind here are things like procuring the forgiveness of sins and propitiating—or placating—God, which Ortlund believes can be done only by Christ through his death on the cross.
So how should we respond?
My response has two parts. First, I want to say something briefly about the general appeal to alleged distortions. Then I’ll respond directly to the supposed distortions themselves.
So to my general response to the “abuse” argument.
Let’s assume, just for sake of argument, that these prayers are distortions. Notice what Ortlund concludes from this assumption: that we shouldn’t invoke the saints at all because such invocations have played out in a way that violates the Bible’s teaching on salvation—namely, that forgiveness comes through the merits of Christ’s death on the cross.
At first glance, it seems that Ortlund is committing what philosophers call an association fallacy. That’s the mistake of assuming that because some things within a category are bad, everything in that category must be bad. If Ortlund were to conclude that all invocations of the saints are violations of the gospel because some are, then he would be guilty of fallacious reasoning.
But, to be fair, Ortlund doesn’t say every invocation of the saints violates the gospel. He argues instead that the practice can lead to violations, and on this basis he chooses not to engage in it.
But here’s the question: why should we reject the practice of invoking the saints simply because some invocations lead to error?
We don’t reject interpreting Scripture just because some interpretations lead people astray. St. Peter himself acknowledges in 2 Peter 3:15-16 that some people distort Paul’s writings to their own destruction. We don’t reject the practice of religion itself just because some people practice it in ways that leads to unjust conflict and violence.
In both cases, we recognize that the problem isn’t the thing itself—it’s not scriptural interpretation itself or religion itself—it’s the misuse or perversion of it.
The same line of reasoning applies to these so-called “distorted” invocations of the saints. If certain invocations are distorted, then it’s those specific requests—and the faulty theology behind them—that are the problem, not the practice of invoking the saints as such. And if that’s the case, there’s no reason to persuade people to abandon the practice entirely. There could still be invocations that are perfectly sound and worthy of Christian practice.
Okay. Up to this point, I’ve been granting, for the sake of argument, Ortlund’s assumption that these requests are actual distortions. But we actually have good reason to think they’re not distortions in the first place.
Remember Ortlund’s main concern: these prayers detract from Christ’s sufficiency by attributing forgiveness of sins or placating God to Mary.
But notice the hidden assumption—namely, that no one besides Christ can in any sense “procure” forgiveness from God—or propitiate or placate him.
If by “procure” Ortlund means primary causality, then we agree. Only Christ is the efficient cause of the forgiveness of sins. But that’s not how these prayers should be understood.
The “procuring” is by way of request. These prayers are simply asking Mary to pray that God would forgive us our sins.
And there’s nothing unbiblical about that.
Paul himself prayers in 2 Timothy 1:18, “May the Lord grant [Onesiphorus] to find mercy from the Lord on that Day [the Day of Judgment].” If Paul can pray for someone’s forgiveness, then Mary can too. And if Mary can do that, then these prayers don’t distort the gospel at all.
The same goes for language about “propitiating” or “placating” God. All that means here is asking God to be favorable to us. If Paul and Mary can ask God to forgive sins—which is one way God is favorable to us—then they can ask God to be favorable to us in other ways.
In fact, Scripture explicitly teaches that believers can cooperate with God in making others more favorable for salvation. Paul teaches in 1 Corinthians 7 that a believing spouse can contribute to the salvation of an unbelieving spouse. He writes:
[READ #1]
If any woman has a husband who is an unbeliever, and he consents to live with her, she should not divorce him. For the unbelieving husband is consecrated through his wife, and the unbelieving wife is consecrated through her husband. . . . Wife, how do you know whether you will save your husband? Husband, how do you know whether you will save your wife? (that’s verses 13-14, and 16) 
If believing spouses can “procure” salvation for their unbelieving spouses in this secondary, cooperative sense, then Mary can as well.
So, not only do these prayers fail to violate the gospel, but even if they did, Ortlund’s broader reasoning would still fall short.
Alright! Let’s now turn to Ortlund’s concern over those prayers that seem to put Mary before—or even above—God as our ultimate help.
Here’s Ortlund:
[VIDEO]
10:24 in some of these prayers you get the 10:26 sense that mary is the only one who can 10:28 help me 10:29 for example 10:30 from the prayer of sixtus 
“oh queen of 10:33 heaven most gracious mother of your 10:34 offspring do not spurn me i commend 10:36 myself to you alone”
in some passages you 10:39 get the sense that 10:40 the the author is saying you know where 10:43 else could i turn but to mary it&#8217;s 10:46 almost like in the psalms where you have 10:47 psalm davidic psalms where david will 10:50 say you know 10:51 i&#8217;m out of i&#8217;m at the end of my rope who 10:53 who else can deliver me but you o lord 10:55 and yet sentences like that are said to 10:57 marry in fact um there&#8217;s an entire re 11:01 uh sort of renovating of the psalms into 11:04 this you can look it up don&#8217;t take my 11:06 word for this because i don&#8217;t want you 11:07 to think i&#8217;m exaggerating look up the 11:09 psalter of the blessed virgin mary which 11:11 is often attributed to bonaventure that 11:13 all the psalms are recast as directed to 11:15 mary it&#8217;s amazing 
here&#8217;s one last 11:17 example i&#8217;ll give 11:20 to 11:22 you know accent this point of 
“its mary 11:24 alone like we don&#8217;t know where else to 11:25 go but to marry 
11:27 holy mary perpetual virgin of virgins 11:29 mother of mercy mother of grace hope of 11:32 all the forsaken comforter of all the 11:33 despairing it goes on for quite some 11:35 time the amount the titles given to mary 11:38 are just they couldn&#8217;t be more exalted 11:41 because i have been placed in diverse 11:43 evils and anguish on account of my sins 11:46 i do not know to whom to flee save to 11:49 you my lady sweetest virgin mary” 
Ortlund concludes his thoughts with this:
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i don&#8217;t 13:18 see anything in the council of trent 13:19 that sufficiently redresses this error 13:22 of thinking that 13:24 mary or another saint is going to give 13:26 you something that really you should be 13:28 looking to 13:29 god alone to give you 
So Ortlund’s concern with these prayers is that Mary seems to take the place of God as the ultimate one who can help us, thereby looking to Mary for something only God can give us.
What can we say in response?
Well, as we said in response to the soteriological concerns, even if these were distortions it wouldn’t follow that we should reject the practice of invoking the saints all together, since there could still be invocations that are perfectly sound and worthy of Christian practice.
But more to the point. There’s a key assumption that Ortlund is making here: that when a prayer says Mary is sought “alone,” it means alone in relation to all beings—including God. His comments about David reveal he’s thinking this way. He alludes to the Davidic psalms where David calls upon the Lord as the only one who can deliver him.
Now, I don’t think that’s a reasonable read of these prayers. These prayers are offered by Christians who believe in God as the Creator of all things, including Mary. A more reasonable interpretation is that Mary being sought alone among created beings.
Given her role as Queen of heaven and earth, and as the most powerful intercessor within God’s Kingdom, Catholics naturally turn to her for things that other Christians wouldn’t be able to assist us with. And Protestants shouldn’t have a problem with this because they often turn to their pastors for help that other believers can’t provide.
Moreover, some of this language is poetic and flowery, which intentionally involves a bit of exaggeration. But even without appealing to poetic license, when understood in the way that I’ve explained, there’s no usurpation of God’s sovereignty. Looking to Mary alone among creatures is not the same thing as looking to her for only what God can give us.
So while I genuinely appreciate Ortlund’s thoughtful and charitable engagement with Catholic theology on the practice of invoking the saints, the concerns we’ve looked at today don’t justify a rejection of the practice.
The prayers he cites don’t contain soteriological distortions, and they don’t place Mary in the role of God. Once we slow down and think them through carefully, the objections just don’t stick.
Well, my friends, that’s it for today! If you found this video helpful, make sure to like, subscribe, comment below, and share it with someone who might need to hear this. And for more resources, check out catholic.com and my personal website at karlobroussard.com.
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Thanks for hanging out, and I’ll see you next time.

“Invoking the Saints Leads to Abuse and Gospel Violations”—Is this a Reason to Give It Up?

In this episode Trent sits down with author Leila Miller to discuss the many ways divorce parallels the evil of abortion, including in the ways some faithful Catholics try to justify it.