Become Who You Are
What’s the meaning and purpose of my life? What is my true identity? Why were we created male and female? How do I find happiness, joy and peace? How do I find love that lasts, forever? These are the timeless questions of the human heart. Join Jack Rigert and his guests for lively insights, reading the signs of our times through the lens of Catholic Teaching and the insights of Saint John Paul ll to guide us.
Saint Catherine of Siena said "Become who you are and you would set the world on fire".
Become Who You Are
#518 Jesse Romero's Spiritual Awakening; "One Lord, One Faith, One Church"
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What happens when a seasoned Los Angeles deputy sheriff turns his life around through a deep spiritual awakening? Meet Jesse Romero, our special guest who shares his incredible journey from law enforcement to becoming a passionate Catholic lay evangelist. Discover how reading the Gospels in his mid-20s transformed Jesse's life, fueling his mission to spread the Gospel and write his new book, "One Lord, One Faith, One Church."
We dive deep into the steadfast foundation of the Catholic Church, exploring its apostolic succession and the profound presence of Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist. Despite centuries of trials and tribulations, the faith remains unshakably anchored in Christ. Jesse and I reflect on the historical legacy of the Church and its integral role in the eternal struggle between good and evil. We discuss how the Church has safeguarded its sacred traditions and spiritual heritage for over two millennia, maintaining a continuous and unbroken lineage that began with Christ Himself.
Purchase Jesse's New Book Here: One Lord, One faith, One Church
In today's fragmented socio-political landscape, we examine the lack of unity among conservative and patriotic movements in America, especially on pivotal moral issues like abortion. Join us for this thought-provoking episode as we explore the path to reclaiming our moral compass and standing resolutely in the truth of faith and Scripture.
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On the Radio: VMPR.org
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I am excited and honored to be with Jesse Romero today. Jesse's a full-time Catholic lay evangelist who is nationally recognized for his dynamic, upbeat, christ-centered preaching. I'll just add here real fast I have followed Jesse Romero as I presented parish missions and I came after him and when they told me the last person that presented was Jesse Romero, I always knew I could speak the truth and I didn't have to hold anything back. So, jesse, it's a pleasure to be with you. Jesse is a resident of California, retired Los Angeles deputy sheriff, three-time world boxing police boxing champion and a two-time USA kickboxing champion. Him and I could just talk about that maybe for the next half hour or so.
Speaker 2:Jesse makes the sometimes complex teaching of faith understandable with his straight talk, his straight approach, speaks with a sense of urgency on Christ-centered Catholicism as the solution to our problems. He has a degree from Mount St Mary's College in Los Angeles, an MA in Catholic Theology from Franciscan University in Ohio. Jesse's been a cradle Catholic who experienced an interior conversion through the reading of the Gospels. Through his preaching, ministries been lighting hearts on fire for the Lord in Catholic parishes since 1998. Recipient of the Archbishop Fulton Sheen Award in 2010,. Defender of the Faith Award in 2014,. Jesse was inducted into the Catholic Sports Hall of Fame in 2015. He hosts two radio podcasts daily. That's a lot, jesse on Virgin most powerful radio. Jesse's motto is love God, save souls, slay error. I'm sorry, my eyes are getting old. Jesse, slay error. I'm going to say that again Love God, save souls and slay error. Hey, thank you so much for being on the show, jesse.
Speaker 1:Hey, thanks for inviting me partner and, uh, the only correction. I'm now a resident of Phoenix Arizona. I moved here 10 years ago, 10 years ago.
Speaker 2:Yeah Well, I tell you what I was going to ask you why you're still in Los Angeles. If you were there, I lived there myself for a while and from everything I understand, it's probably not a place we want to live anymore, is it?
Speaker 1:No, it's seen its better days and unfortunately it just has bad governance right now, so I had to flee to safer grounds.
Speaker 2:Well, I'll tell you what you were as a former police officer. You probably got out at a good time there too, didn't you? Yeah?
Speaker 1:probably got out at a good time there too, didn't you? Yeah, um, I, uh. All I can say is I my thoughts and prayers to all the young cops out there in places like los angeles and new york, it's chicago.
Speaker 2:I'm in chicago, yeah chicago.
Speaker 1:We need them, but it's a tough.
Speaker 2:It's a tough way to make a living right now yeah, and it's also tough in the church, jesse, and you got a new book on. I'm excited to have you on because I think we have a sense that something's amiss right now, isn't it? Evil feels like a hydra to me, like a many-headed serpent that seems to be rising everywhere. Some, perhaps not the majority, but many I call them truth seekers are searching for answers in these kind of evil days that we're experiencing, and we understand there's a spiritual battle going on. They're looking for something, jesse, but unfortunately, you know, there's a lot of churches, isn't there? There's a lot of places they can go and they're saying why should we go to the Catholic church?
Speaker 2:You know I speak about this all the time. You've got an incredible book that just came out One Lord, one Faith, one Church and you've really done a great job unpacking some of that. But I want you just to start out, jesse, just give us a little feeling of why you wrote the book, what you're feeling about, you know, with the confusion going on today, and then we'll kind of work into the book on today and then kind of, we'll kind of uh, work into the book.
Speaker 1:Well, I've always had this concern, ever since I had what I would call an interior conversion and uh, and what was that?
Speaker 2:like, jesse, do you mind?
Speaker 1:well, yeah and my early 20s. I'm 62 right now, so I would say that I had an authentic interior conversion. As the catechism says in paragraph I think, 1426, 27, and 28. That's when Jesus Christ became more than a story, a picture, a wall, a crucifix. He became absolutely real to me, and the way it happened I remember. Just out of curiosity In fact it was kind of a dare of a friend at work I started reading the Bible. I said, eh, what's with this book? Who's this Jesus guy? Anyhow, you know, I've heard about him all my life. I'm Catholic. I've grown up with statues and images of him going to Mass. So I just said I want to learn for myself who he is. I'm kind of curious. That's what happened. I rolled my sleeves. I began earnestly reading the gospels, probably at the age of 26. I immersed myself for about a year just soaking myself in the gospels every night when I got back home from work.
Speaker 1:And all I can tell you is. I had this rush of reason. I had this understanding that Jesus Christ is absolutely real. There's nobody like him. Everything he says is true about himself and at that moment, like guys use that word, you know, I have a man crush on Jesus.
Speaker 1:I read Matthew, mark, luke and John and I fell in love with Jesus Christ. I'm 62 years old. It's been about 40 years. People said, oh, that's just a phase Jess is going through, and this phase has just gone deeper and deeper and more profound throughout the passing of time.
Speaker 1:And I've noticed also, when I really surrender my heart to the Lord Jesus Christ in my mid to late 20s, I noticed that a lot of Catholics that left the church and they had that experience Like I had they would call it a born again experience they had that experience outside the Catholic church and other Protestant denominations and at that moment I just started to begin at. I began asking myself, uh, well, if, if, uh, if this is happening all over the world in different places, then why be Catholic? So I remember one day I went to the library and I spent eight hours, literally eight hours. I asked the librarian if she can point me to the section of history books and encyclopedias and I went over there. I spent a whole day like 10 hours history books and encyclopedias. And I went over there.
Speaker 1:I spent a whole day like 10 hours and I read 24 different encyclopedias under where it says CH Christianity. I sat there a big stack like this. I spent 10 hours and I researched what church was started by Jesus Christ. I read 10 different encyclopedias. It took me all day. I remember the librarian asked me. She said different encyclopedias. It took me all day. I remember the librarian asked me she said young man, what are you researching? I said I want to find out which church Jesus started. Oh really, are you a seminarian? Are you a?
Speaker 2:theology student. I said no, I'm a cop, it's my day off.
Speaker 1:Why do you want to learn that?
Speaker 1:I told her. I said I have to learn for myself. Because I said, man, I'm in love with Jesus Christ and I need to make sure that I'm in the right church. And so, jack, I began doing this research and just amassing this research and putting it on Word files, put it in my computer, and there came a point in time where I just hear so, so much from people that I've talked to.
Speaker 1:I used to be Catholic, but now I go to fill in the blanks yeah, years, I need to put it in a book and put it out there so people don't have to spend 10 hours in a public library looking through 24 encyclopedias under Christianity and Xerox the pages. That's all there was back then. Xerox machines and Xerox the pages and laminate them and put them, take them home to a binder. I said I need to put that out there, so that's, and laminate them and put them, take them home to a binder. I said I need to put that out there. So that's. My wife said get that out there. People need to know this. I mean people like, for example, I just people like Candace Owens.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Her journey to the Catholic faith would have been this much faster if somebody would have given her my book, because she was already a Jesus-loving Protestant. And remember, there's a lot of Jesus-loving Protestants Mike the Pillow Guy, mike Huckabee, franklin Grant, the list goes on. We all know Jesus-loving Protestant people, but nobody's ever told them. Steve Ray told me he goes Jess. I would have been a Catholic years sooner if somebody would have shown me and proven to me that Jesus started the Catholic church. Nobody ever did that. That's why Steve Ray forwarded the book. He goes, jesse, you're doing a big service to Protestants. We love Jesus, a lot of us, but we think that all churches are the same, and in this book you show that there is one church, started by Christ. Period. End of story.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I'll tell you what. That's where you got this section. I was going to ask you this, Jesse, that was beautiful, so, thank you, you put a section in there. You looked up, you have a section in there on literature. You have a section in there from dictionaries, from encyclopedias. That's where you got that, because I thought that was outstanding, because you're not being preachy man. You just opened it up and and this is this is our literature out there. You could find this and this is the definition for catholicism. I got goosebumps. Let let me. Let me just add to that you know um a lot of similar stories, you know.
Speaker 2:But we're hearing a lot of people. I think I call them truth seekers, Jesse. I don't know what the percentage is again, but people are seeking the truth. I think what's happening today? They see so much evil, like I mentioned in the opener, that they're looking for the truth. So you have people like Tucker Carlson, Russell Brand. They're becoming Christian, or they are Christian or becoming Christian or waking up again. Now, Russell Brand, you know they're becoming Christian, right, or you know they are Christian or becoming Christian or waking up again. Now. Russell Brand got baptized, but he's not Catholic, but not yet at least, but he's praying the rosary you know what I mean and he's doing these things. They need something like this. So if you're going to, if you're really a truth seeker, what's going to happen? And I think you may have had the same experience.
Speaker 2:I came back into the church in my late 30s and I went to graduate school, and I'm just going to see if you did the same thing. I went to graduate school not just to learn information, brother, because I was already in love with Christ. I wanted to know, you know, where did this come from? Where did Catholicism, does it really have roots? And that's what you show here, that's what you're talking about. It's got roots, it's got some and it can't change. Right, it can't change because if we're truth seekers, the truth is the truth and we know this and we want to find something that's not going to change.
Speaker 2:I love some of these events and this will be the last thing I say before I throw it back. I love some of these evangelical preachers that I start to respect. When COVID came and everything shut down, they wouldn't shut down, but at the end of the day, when those preachers leave, their congregation is left without that word anymore. But when my pastor leaves, right, the priest leaves, or he does something wrong or he gets thrown out. Even that doesn't change my faith. You know what I mean. It's too bad. I feel bad.
Speaker 1:You know I love the pastor, whatever, but the faith is the faith, you know yeah, the difference between catholicism and protestantism is catholicism aside from it being the one true church started by jesus christ, it's it's based on jesus, it's centered on Christ and the Eucharist. That's why we have golden tabernacles in the middle of the sanctuary. Catholicism is Christ-centered. Protestantism is pastor-centered, preaching-centered, pulpit-centered, and that's why you've got Protestants that go church shopping, because they want to go to the most exciting, youngest, most vibrant pastor who sweats and shouts and there's a lot of theatrics. So Protestantism it really is. That's why they smashed the altars at the Reformation. They got rid of them. Protestantism is pastor, is preaching-centered, man-centered. Catholicism is Christ-centered, eucharist-centered.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and what you did. When you start to read Scripture and if you read it through a proper lens, you start to see what Jesus did early on. You know, when so many of the converts people that were evangelicals or Protestants that come into the church say I read, I really started to read what Christ did with the apostles. I started to read the early church fathers, I see that man, they were fighting these heresies. They were fighting the same stuff we're fighting now, jesse, maybe not as bad.
Speaker 2:Bishop Anthonatius Schneider said to me recently. I told you right before we came on that we're in unprecedented times just because we've thrown out truth, but when we start to walk back into truth you pointed it out so well. Maybe we can go into this. I love the way you brought it out in John's gospel. You know, you said look at you know Jesus was here for 33 years. John's gospel he takes 25% of it and just shows you that last supper scenario and how he's passing this down. He wants this. He's setting a base here, isn't he, brother? I mean, he is setting the base and before that, of course, you know he has Peter as the rock, so maybe you could touch on that. I mean this is the solid foundation we're sitting on.
Speaker 1:Yeah, here's a solid foundation. Two points. Number one is Christ set up the church upon the rock which is the papacy. Now, there's been very holy popes, there's been mediocre popes, there's even been some bad popes. Nonetheless, the church is still invisibly. The pope is the visible head. Christ is the invisible head. So Christ has been guiding this ship. You know people think he's asleep. He's not asleep, he's guiding the ship towards heaven. Sometimes we have amazing hosts, bishops and priests, and sometimes not so amazing, but the faith is anchored, it's based on the person of Jesus Christ. As Archbishop Fulton Sheen says, catholicism is Christ, in other words. That's why, as a Catholic, when you see a Catholic with a rosary, a crucifix, around his neck on the wall, we don't see a statue of a Pope or your Bishop or the Cardinal or a priest or a deacon or a nun or a mother in jail.
Speaker 1:No, we see the image of Jesus Christ. He's the source and center of Catholicism. He's the apex. He's the King of Kings, lord of Lords, popes, bishops, priests, deacons, nuns, come and go. Jesus Christ is here today, yesterday and forever. The second point that I want to make is that Jesus Christ promised he would be with us always, until the end of time. That promise is really only fulfilled in the Catholic Church. He is here in a very mysterious way, in a sacramental way, in the Holy Eucharist, in every golden tabernacle. When you walk into that church it could be on a weekday nobody's in there, maybe just you and the janitor. If you see a red light on that sanctuary, that red light indicates that that's Jesus's porch light. He's home, he's there. He's kept this promise, matthew 28, 20, I will be with you always, until the end of time.
Speaker 1:We can't spiritualize and say, oh, he's with me in a spiritual sense, like Protestants. No, he's here physically, on planet earth. This is his Eucharistic reign in every single Catholic church around the world and that's what sets Catholicism apart from all the other religions. They talk about God. We literally have Emmanuel, god, with us in every single Catholic church. In that golden tabernacle Everybody else sings about God. Praise to God, we have God in every Catholic church. That's what sets us apart.
Speaker 1:That's why the target of Satanists, witches, sorcerers and the occultists to go and steal and vandalize Catholic churches is the Catholic church. Because the enemies of God. Is it a wonder why over 400 Catholic churches have been vandalized, firebombed, destroyed, you know, graffitied since Roe versus Wade? No, because the devil knows and the enemies of God know the PO Box of the one true church. This is not happening to the Presbyterian churches or the Methodist churches or Episcopalians, because the Satanists and occultists and the pro-bords they know that they're not the church of Christ, they know they're a man-made church.
Speaker 1:They know the Catholic church is the one true church. Even Hollywood knows it. This is why all of the Hollywood blockbusters every time you see a Hollywood diabolical exorcism possession blockbuster who do you have on the opposite side of Satan, possession demons? You've got a Catholic priest in the Catholic church. You don't have Joel Osteen. You don't have Franklin Graham. You don't have anybody from the TBN channel. Because Hollywood knows historically, though they don't like us they know who is the one true church the Catholic church started by Jesus Christ in 33 AD in Jerusalem.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and the roots go so deep. When you were mentioning the tabernacle, I wonder how many people know, jesse, that that tabernacle, the roots of that go all the way back into the Israelites. You know, right, and you know when God is first forming a nation called Israel and then he takes that nation and then he has a new covenant with them and this becomes the church. You know, and he's pulling us through this, you know, in your book, on page 41, I love this you know, it's a reminder St Paul says he warned us about the wolves. He warned us about the wolves coming right from the very beginning. We knew that the attack and it reminds me of what you're saying right now. Right, the wolves come from the outside, the wolves come from the inside, but they're attacking the church.
Speaker 2:I think, just for people that don't know their history, just take them back a little bit to the founding of this that this is an institution that has not been broken for 2,000—I mean, the apostolic succession has been 2,000 years and just remind them—look, I don't want to put down my Protestant brothers and sisters, my evangelical brothers and sisters, but there's a reason, right, that we get excited when we're talking about the Catholic Church, even though I know there's some wolves in it right now, jesse, and there's no doubt about it.
Speaker 2:But that's why I think this is important, because this isn't the first time. This won't be the last time, but this has deep roots and it's been coming down to us like no other institution for this many years. This is why we have to be careful today and this is why the popes and the bishops, you know all the way through, their job is to protect this deposit of faith given to you and me today, right so that when we go to receive that Eucharist, we know how to do it, the priest knows how to consecrate it properly. You know, everything starts to unfold for us like it did 2,000 years ago. This is what Jesus wanted to preserve. I think this is what people don't understand sometimes, and that this was one church for 10 centuries, right before it went to East and West Maybe you can touch on that and then for another 500 years before anything else started to really, you know, splinter. So for those of us that don't know our history as well, just take us back just a little bit, like that.
Speaker 1:I'll make it simple. I'll make it very simple. The Catholic Church was like this clear glass, unbroken glass. Satan threw a rock and broke this glass into two parts in 1054 AD, called the East-West Schism, when a Catholic bishop from the East, called Bishop Phocius, separated himself from under the papacy, opposed the papacy, opposed the church in Rome headquarters, basically, and took a large swath of Catholics with him and they all started calling themselves, in 1054 AD, eastern Orthodox, eastern Orthodox. So that was the first rock that Satan threw at this window that was completely intact. So now, in 1054, this window's broken in two. You got the Western, the Catholic Church, with the Pope, and then you got the Eastern Orthodox, which, by the way, they have fractured within 27 national Orthodox churches. That again, they don't have a magisterium, they don't have a unifying voice, they don't have one person who speaks with the authority for all of them. You've got the Russian Orthodox, the Ukrainian Orthodox, the Ruthenian Orthodox, the Greek Orthodox, the Byzantine. So the Orthodox, that's not the solution. They themselves have divided into 27 national churches.
Speaker 1:Now, the big blow I would call the big rock that was thrown at the window that shattered the body of Christ into pieces was Martin Luther, a Catholic priest 1517 from Germany. He's the one that started what's called the Protestant Reformation. I call it the Protestant Revolt. His battle cry was the Bible alone and faith alone. We don't need a pope, we don't need sacraments, we don't need priests, we're all priests. We don't need the tradition of the church. And so Martin Luther in 1521 was excommunicated. He burned the pole with this excommunication, posted 95 theses against the church and from that point on now you have in 1521, you got the Catholic Christians, the Orthodox Christians and the Lutheran Christians. He started the first Protestant denomination called the Lutherans.
Speaker 2:From that point in Europe, Naming it after himself, as you point out so well. Right, I mean, look, let's just stop here just for a second, do you mind? First of all, he's Catholic, right, he was Catholic, which I don't know if all of our brothers and sisters realize that, that their roots were from a Catholic priest, right, who spins off. But talk a little bit about that. I mean, you name it after yourself. He's got a little bit of a pride. I didn't realize some of the things that he said.
Speaker 2:Jesse, you pointed out in the book it was very good. I mean, people need to read this, it's really good. And there's some things in there that people won't know. I mean, he was a look at I'm not going to take the words you, you, you describe him. You, you did a good job in your book. And look at, I'm not trying to be mean, but it's. You need to point out that this guy had some flaws too. It's not like he started some grandiose. You know, you know church, right, that was going to be perfect because he was perfect.
Speaker 1:According to Lutheran historians and these are like conservative Lutheran historians they all agree and write that Martin Luther, he suffered from scrupulosity. He had this incredible, intense phobia of will I get to heaven or not. He also had he was lusting for a nun at the same time, so he had. He had his eyes on a Catholic nun all the while he was going through this revolt against the church. Luther was also bombastic, very bombastic.
Speaker 2:Unpack that, unpack bombastic for us.
Speaker 1:Sarcastic, shrill, nasty, mean-spirited. Uh, if you read luther's homilies on the jews, you would. They would cancel them on every platform.
Speaker 2:They would call me anti-semite I mean, I mean he was calling for the death, am I wrong? He was calling for the death of jews, and not only the jews, but other people too. It was, it was again it's.
Speaker 1:It was surprising to me, it was surprising now it like some people say well, you know, he just speaks them. You know, those are just loaded terms that he uses. He doesn't really mean that. Well, I don't know, I'm going to take somebody at his word. If somebody is going to say something, I'm not going to read something into it, I'm just going to take it Especially in a homily.
Speaker 2:I mean he had to write that down right, I mean it wasn't just off the top of his head.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and again. Those things have been documented by Lutheran historians. And so the fact of the matter is who's the author of division? Satan is. Satan is the author of division. He's the author of dissension. Satan is the author of, also of lies.
Speaker 1:Luther lied about so many things in the Catholic Church, and not only that. Luther admits that he added things to the Bible so he could come up with his doctrine of justification by faith alone. He admits he was caught. Cardinal Cajetan told him you added into Romans, chapter 3, verse 28, words that are not there in the Greek Septuagint. He admitted it. He said yeah, I did. Why he says he goes I don't need you papists to tell me that. I added I know I did. He says because that's what St Paul intended to write, basically is what he said. So he's, you know, 1500 years later, trying to correct St Paul.
Speaker 1:So, when you look at the 40,000 denominations plus and counting, this is why, for example, the Reformation impacts everything. This is why we're weak in America as American citizens. Why is it that we can't stop the abortion machine? Why is it that we can't stop the homosexual LGBT lobby? I'll tell you why Because we're not united, because everybody has a different take. No, my pastor says this, my denomination permits this Because there's not a unified voice in Christianity. This is why, again, the conservative, the patriotic movement in America is weak. The left, the left is cobbled together under lies and propaganda and falsehood and Satan. But those of us that people of faith and patriots, because the church is split and there's no unified voice, we can't even agree on something like homosexual marriage that it's wrong and abortion.
Speaker 2:Abortion. Yeah, and and, and, and. So let's, yeah, let's. Let's unpack that for just a minute, because I'm seeing politicians today, right, and I don't want to go into a political thing, but they're going to the center. You know, catholics, christians and Catholics going to the center on things like exactly what you just said, especially on abortion, and so well, maybe that chemical pill is okay to take it home for an abortion, maybe this, maybe that. I think, jesse, it's so splintered I don't think they think they can get elected unless they take those positions.
Speaker 2:This is a very sad thing and I think this gets back to the danger that we're in today that we were created as one nation under God. This is what this conversation that we're having today is so important, because if we don't get our act together, if we don't realize that a baby's a baby, we can't agree on that, we can't agree that. You know, right from Scripture, you know, in the Sola Scriptura says that you know Genesis 1, genesis 2, just read that, right. And yet we can take it and twist it and distort it. Right, do not kill. Well, it's not really a baby, it's not this. No, no, no, no. We know, we know today, you know science has brought us to the point where we know that's a child. If we can't agree on these things, jesse, we're not going to be able to turn this around and, unfortunately, we're going to all pay a price because we're not standing in the truth again, right, we're not standing in the truth of our faith.
Speaker 1:You know the Catholic Church, back in the Middle Ages there was a theory called the Two Swords Theory which basically meant this that in medieval Catholicism the papacy had direct influence over all the Holy Roman Empire, all the Catholic people in Europe, direct influence over them faith, morals and the papacy also had indirect influence over the kings, over the monarchiesies. That was called the two swords theory. And so this is why europe, this is why it enjoyed this, this, this, uh, this beautiful time of catholicism, because europe on even the kings, the secular kings, they were beholden to the moral authority of the Pope when it came to faith and morals. And now that's been obliterated, because Catholicism essentially has no voice in America other than individual Catholics. And now we're a country where we separate church and state, church and state. That's a Freemason, you know. That's a Freemasonic idea that's been inserted into American politics and into the life of America. It's not a Catholic idea. You got Pope speaking out against separation of church and state. That's not a Catholic principle. You have Pope saying the church and the state must be together and it's the church that must influence the state. And that's again that's one of the reasons. The two big blows against the body of Christ were number one Protestantism in 1517, the denial of the church's authority. 200 years after Protestantism, about 300 years, with the Freemasons and the Enlightenment movement, 200-300 years after Protestantism. Now you have a rebellion against the supernatural. So Protestantism rejected the authority of God and the Enlightenment and the Freemasons and the French Revolution now reject the supernatural, and so that's where we're at today.
Speaker 1:In America. Most you know the hippies that are running this country. They what? They reject the authority of God. I won't mention any names. They reject the authority of the Catholic Church and they also reject the authority of the supernatural. What's happening in America is most of the politicians that run this country. The movers and shakers are babies of the supernatural. What's happening in America is most of the politicians that run this country. The movers and shakers are babies of the Reformation. They're offspring of the Reformation. They're offspring of the Enlightenment. Reject the authority of God, which is the Catholic Church, and reject the supernatural.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So that leaves us where, right, you know, we can go all the way to St Augustine, right, and the city of God versus the city of man. And we're, you know, once we get to this point where you know this is just Genesis 3, Jesse, you know you can be like God's, calling evil good and good evil. And we know that we're building the city of man right now, and it's a very dangerous time for all of us again, because we know where this heads. This heads to tyrants. When you take God out, like you're describing right now, this is going to get very mean. This is going to get very mean because a lot of people get hurt, a lot of people die.
Speaker 2:We've seen this in Europe. You know John Paul II, you know, fought against Marxism, communism, all of these things, and spoke about the enlightenment. Basically, take God, you know, out. And Bishop Sheen talked about that. You brought him up earlier. Bishop Sheen said that you know we're no longer. You know we've rejected Christendom. He said listen to me, listen to me, not the church's teaching through the ages. He said we've rejected Christendom, which means our society, our laws are no longer based on truth. He saw this coming too, jesse, and I think this is where we're at right. Now and again, when people are searching, we need to have the confidence and we need to have information like your book, like Athanasius Schneider, coming out that says there's a reason that we can speak confidently about the truth. You know, because we know this in our heart. And if we don't do it, who's going to do it, jesse? Where are we going to go with all this?
Speaker 2:The other thing I would just mention quickly to people you pointed out Calvin was Catholic. You know, people don't realize that Henry VIII was Catholic. You know, right? So all of these changes that you're talking about, these people came from Catholic roots, took it upon themselves to make these changes. These are men who decided to reject everything that you said, and I think this is so important, right? All of these figures were Catholic. They were Catholic-based. It didn't just come out of thin air, did it? You mentioned the Middle Ages and stuff. It was all Catholic, right, and people don't know this because we don't know our history or our roots.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think one point that I want to make also is that I also, I have a chapter there. Basically, on again, you know how do you respond to the scandals of the church? It's very simple. I'll just make it simple. Remember, I am a Catholic Christian, you are a Catholic Christian because we're followers of Christ. Okay, because we're followers of Christ, okay.
Speaker 1:The fact is, as I said at the beginning of the show, my pastor at my parish, holy man, I love him. He's my confessor, my counselor, but he didn't die for my sins. He's not on the cross, he's not on the end of my rosary or my crucifix. My bishop, my cardinal, my archbishop, the pope, they're men that have the authority of Christ, they have the governance of the church, but they're not the saviors of the world, they're not the messiahs. As a Catholic Hebrews, chapter 12, verse 2, we keep our eyes on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. He's the center of our faith, he's the apex of our faith. Men come and go, priests will come and go, bishops will come and go, popes will come and go. Jesus Christ remains yesterday, today and forever.
Speaker 1:And also one thing that separates the Catholic Church from other religions, I would say of four things. Number one Marian apparitions. Number two miracles of the Eucharist. Number three the incorruptible bodies of saints that have been dead for hundreds of years and their bodies are completely incorrupt.
Speaker 1:And number four there's been over 400 well-documented cases of people being raised from the dead at the prayer of a Catholic saint like Saint Catherine of Siena raised her mom from the dead by praying at her bedside. No, mom, I don't want you to die. Please, please, lord, lord, bring her back. Boom raised her from the dead by praying at her bedside. No, mom, I don't want you to die. Please, please, lord, lord, bring her back. Boom raised her from the dead. St Vincent de Ferrer it's documented that St Vincent de Ferrer raised 27 people from the dead in his priestly ministry. And so the Catholic Church. There is no other religion where you have these type of miracles People being raised from the dead, bodies of saints that are incorruptible after hundreds of years of being dead, mary coming from heaven appearing to human beings and giving them a prophetic message. And number four miracles of the Eucharist, where the Holy Eucharist physically, biologically, chemically turns into a piece of a beating human heart with human veins and human blood. That hasn't happened in any other religion, but for the Catholic Church.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I was in Italy and I saw that Eucharistic miracle not too far from where Padre Pio, just a little bit north of there.
Speaker 2:It was incredible and they did the scientific tests on that. That was when a monk, back many, many hundreds of years ago, didn't believe a priest or a monk as he's consecrating the Eucharist, didn't believe in the Eucharist. It starts to bleed in his hand. Jesse, I saw that they did tests on that. The government had the Italian DNA experts and stuff do tests. It was a beating heart. It was a heart muscle. In fact, all four quadrants of the heart were in that host. It was amazing to see. But I would say what happens all the time are the hearts of individual human beings that are looking for the truth that step into Christ, like you did, like I did. People's hearts get changed, jesse, we talk to these people all the time. I think, at the end of the day, this isn't just more information we're talking about. This runs through our DNA. We're seeking something more, aren't we, as we're starting to? I know that your time is short here as laity, jesse. We need to Bishop Athanasius Schneider. Like I said, I just talked to him. I'm talking to you now. You've got these great books coming out. We need to study this.
Speaker 2:I think the one or two things that I always remember from Vatican II. People can put it down a little bit. You know, we can say you know it probably had some problems. But the one beautiful thing that I always remember, two things I should say universal call to holiness for all of us and for the laity to raise up Jesse. What do you think about this? You know, at the end of the day, bishop Sheen again would say who's going to change the church? Who? Bishop Sheen again would say who's going to change the church, who's going to bring the light back in? It's going to be the laity. And he said to make sure your priests act like priests, your bishops act like bishops.
Speaker 2:And the reason I bring this all up is when you look out at the landscape today, we have all of these people looking for the truth. We have people saying, well, why should I go to the Catholic Church? She seems confusing now too, which can be true. Why should I go to the Catholic Church? She seems confusing now too, which can be true. Right, we've got some confusing messages coming out of the Vatican right now. But at the end of the day, we need to all get educated and we need to be able to help those people.
Speaker 2:What would you say, jesse? Education? You mentioned a lot of things already Prayer, get back to the sacraments. We have to take it upon ourselves, don't we? But this is really what I want to know from you. What can we say as lay people? In other words, I feel compelled because I see something wrong in the church. Right, maybe they bring a Father James Martin and throw out Bishop Strickland. What am I allowed to say? What could we say, jesse? Because we want to be careful, we want to be respectful of the office of the Pope, right, because of everything that you just said and everything that your book says. But, on the other hand, we have to stand for the truth and we're called to do that. Any advice for us, jesse?
Speaker 1:Yeah, paragraph 905 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which cites Canon 212,. It basically says that any lay Catholic has the right and duty and obligation to confront their sacred pastors. But you just have to do it respectfully. So you can confront a priest, it's canon law. You can do that. You can confront a bishop, you can confront the Holy Father in a letter or personally. Just do it respectfully, understanding that they have an authority that comes from Christ. Don't do it mean-spirited. Second thing I would say is the most important thing is worry about your domestic church. Too many people want to save the world. You know, I'm going to change the White House. I'm going to change the governor's mansion so they don't steal that election again. I'm gonna change the chancery office. Oh, I don't like that bishop. Guess what? The only the only thing you have the power to change is yourself, yes, and your domestic church yes, you know, for people that look at our audience, knows what the domestic church is.
Speaker 2:But we, if we, if we find somebody that just plopped in for the first time, this is our marriages, right, our families, our homes, and then to extend out from there, right, jesse, and you're exactly right, we have to have that universal call to holiness. We have to take that seriously, right, take it into our own hearts and then really listen, seriously, right, take it into our own hearts and then really listen. I love St John of the Cross would say look, if you want wisdom, he said, become a person of love. He said, then sit in silence, sit in prayer and listen, listen, listen and mortifications, detached from all this, you know, from pornography and overeating and over this and over that, not to be a prude Catholics aren't prudes, right, we've been given these things to enjoy these pleasures. But detach from them, don't replace them for God, right, and then walk out and then live that faith, jesse, and not be afraid to speak on these things. But first you have to educate yourself, right, we have to know what we're talking about if we're going to speak on these things.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you got to A know your faith, b live your faith and then C share your faith. Know your faith, live your faith and share your faith. And our faith is a person, the person of Jesus Christ. Once you're madly in love with Jesus, then you're ready to share your faith.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes, yes. So do we have hope here? Jesse, this is in God's hands. We know this. What you just said is where we need to go anyways. Right, Pray, hope and don't worry, Padre Pio said, but we want to make sure we get our friends and our family and ourselves to heaven, don't we? It's important stuff.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, Absolutely. So what do we have to do? We have to make sure that we're we respond to that call to holiness and we have to make sure that we live in a state of sanctifying grace. That way God hears our prayers, because God hears the prayers of the righteous. If you want your prayers to be heard for the conversion of your spouse, your children, your neighbors, those in the parish, different people you're praying for, If you want to see the grace of conversion come into their life, then you have to be as holy as possible and live in a right relationship with God.
Speaker 2:Yes, and that's where the power of this beautiful church comes in. If you haven't been to confession for a while, anybody listening today? The power of the confessional, and then get to mass right after that. It's amazing stuff that goes on. Jesse, where should we get this book from? So I'm going to put it in the show notes. Should we get it from Sophia Press? Is that the best place to get it from notes Should we get it from Sophia Press.
Speaker 1:Is that the best place to get it from? Sophiapresscom? Sophiapresscom Absolutely.
Speaker 2:Thank you very much, and if they want to reach out to you, jesse, give us a website, tell us what you're doing and how people can reach out and find out more about you.
Speaker 1:If you want to find out where I'm speaking at and the different books that I've written, go to my website, jesseromerocom JesseRomerocom. And if you want to find out where I'm speaking at and the different books that I've written, go to my website, jessieromerocom jessieromerocom. And if you want to listen to me on radio every day. I have an internet radio station. It's called Virgin, most Powerful Radio. It's vmprorg, vmprorg.
Speaker 2:Jesse Romero. Thank you so much, sir. Appreciate it.
Speaker 1:Thank you, brother, god bless you. Thank you, brother, god bless you, thank you.