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.
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Become Who You Are
#619 Defeating Modernism, A Battle for Truth: Satan's Time Is Limited
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Author Jim Valois takes us on a journey through the dangerous waters of modernism – not the technological or cultural kind, but the theological heresy that threatens to undermine Catholic teaching at its core.
For young people seeking solid ground in a world of shifting values, this confusion can be particularly devastating.
The conversation opens with Jim's personal story of reverting to Catholicism after years in evangelicalism. His experience illuminates how poor teaching and modernist influences can drive faithful Catholics away from the Church, only to have them return when they encounter the fullness of truth preserved in authentic Catholic tradition.
Pope St. Pius X recognized this danger over a century ago, calling modernism "the synthesis of all heresies" and implementing reforms to combat its spread.
"Truth is not a something, truth is a somebody – Jesus Christ." By returning to Scripture, the Catechism, and the Church's living tradition, believers can find their way through the fog of modernism to the clarity and peace that only unchanging truth can provide.
Jim's Article "Defeating Modernism" @ the Catholic Exchange
Our Ladies Prophecies By Jim Valios
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I am excited to be with Jim Valois. Jim's the father of two adult children. He reverted to the Catholic faith from evangelicalism while a student at Franciscan University, where he earned a BA inA in theology. He's worked in business and youth ministry and teaching administration roles. His articles and book reviews have appeared in a number of different magazines and publications, and his book Our Lady's Prophecies God Messages for Our Time we've got to hear about that a little bit today is available from Sophia Institute Press. Jim, welcome, great to be with you.
Speaker 2:Oh, thank you.
Speaker 1:It's great to be with you so you reverted back to the Catholic faith, so that means you were Catholic at one time, jim. So tell us just a little bit about your background and tell us about that reversion.
Speaker 2:Sure, I was very staunch when I was 16. I read the New Testament and it really drew me into conversion and from that point I had started to slowly drift away, you know, through some bad teaching that we got, and I ended up becoming a full-scale, full-committed evangelical. And it was when I went to Franciscan that I began to learn. I see all these young people that were my fellow students and they were all praying the rosary and I thought how could they possibly do that when, you know, I had this wrong idea of theology that praying to Mary was wrong. And so, little by little, I started to learn the history and I started to live the life of being on campus, and both the community life and the theology classes were both instrumental in helping me to come back into the faith over time.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So what was it about the teaching? Do you remember anything specific early on when you say because I went through some of the same thing? I was born in the late 50s, jim, and then all the changes came on after Vatican II. And I have nothing against the fact I think the documents from Vatican II are beautiful, but it's the way they were carried out. And then we had some really poor teaching. There was like a void. That happened there and I drifted away too. I thought you know if the Catholic Church can change right, and this is going to get into your article here when the Catholic Church, if it could just change from here to there, maybe she doesn't know the truth. And I was a young guy searching for the truth and I said I want to know what the truth is and maybe she doesn't have it, the church. So I started to step out and do the same thing you did. You know, look around a little bit, right?
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's kind of. You know, we saw some of the like I would say modernism in the church, my brother and I and we began to question the Catholic Church like how could this possibly be acceptable? And it really wasn't. But we couldn't separate the church from the actual modernism that was moving and affecting individuals. That was moving and affecting individuals, and so it was because of that that I started to think that Then we got some Bible teaching from a guy that was rabidly anti-Catholic.
Speaker 1:Now this is after you went into evangelicalism.
Speaker 2:Well, it was before actually, Wow. So his teachings a lot of times were affecting me and my brother. He was very much trying to show that the Catholic Church was off base, really in a serious way, and I started to fall into that as a young 16-year-old. It was little by little falling into that trap.
Speaker 1:You know, it's amazing what they're doing to young people today, Jim, I don't know if you follow any of that, but we're with the John Paul II Renewal Center. We work with a lot of young people all the way from grade school, all the way to high school, and then engaged couples and beyond. Right, what the culture and what the education system and what some of these churches now even they get caught up in modernism. What they're doing to young people is a travesty and it can really not only twist them and turn them away from the faith, but it steals their innocence, it obliterates their moral imaginations, gets them into pornography and all kinds of things. So it's important that we understand the truth, right? So let's talk a little bit about the way you the article that you wrote in Catholic Exchange is Defeating Modernism and you're talking about specifically in the church right.
Speaker 1:Yes, Even though I think what when I read the article? You know this idea of moral relativism about? There is no truth is certainly the whole culture is inundated with this. So we sure don't need a church, do we? Jim, that's saying the same thing. So let's unpack that a little bit what the meaning of your article was and what you're thinking about.
Speaker 2:Sure, that's a good question, because what we're thinking about here is we're not thinking about modern art or modern trends or even modern technology. We're thinking specifically about the heresy, modernism People have to understand. I like my laptop and my smartphone and I use them all the time, so it's not like we're talking about anything that some people encompass everything under modernism, but we're actually talking about the theology, and I heard Father Sebastian Walsh give a really good definition of modernism the heresy, as basically all theology, is revisable. So you know the mutable, immutable truths of the faith, the dogmas all of that can change according to the zeitgeist of the age. So I think the best definition I could come up with is literally being willing to revise theology according to the contemporary world, and that's not what the church does in reality.
Speaker 1:Not only that, but who needs a church that does that, jim? I mean, who needs a church that does that? When I'm talking to young people, young people are looking for something solid, a solid foundation. The last thing they want is to be involved in some church, some religion, some philosophy that's going to change with the times. I mean, who needs that right? You know, at the end of the day, the beauty of this faith called Catholicism, and what makes it really different and special, even with Christianity, is it comes down. This deposit of faith is so beautiful and so pure that but men want to always change and twist it, don't they? And you're speaking specifically, I would imagine, here, and the idea I got from reading the article, Jim, was shepherds within the church, right?
Speaker 2:That's correct. You know, at one point this whole idea of modernism began back about 150 years ago. But ever since the church relaxed the rules on fighting against modernism which Pope St Pius X put in place, ever since they were relaxed, modernism has made a comeback and now it's all in many places. Now it's not everywhere, but it's in many, many places and we have to admit it, we have to face it, and so that's what you know.
Speaker 2:It's one of those things that it's very subtle in some respects, because you could listen to a priest and he could be actually giving good homilies, but in reality, when he writes books or when he does more scholarly work, he's modernistic in his thinking. So we have to be aware that we have to understand what modernism is, and my article tries to simplify it so that people could understand and it's on the Catholic Exchange and they could understand. You know, defeating modernism that it's like diving into a lake with many water moccasins and one of those water moccasins well, all of them are going to bite if you're diving into a pool of them, and it's the final one that gives the lethal dosage. And so what I try to do is I try to help and I want to arm our fellow believers, because I want to help people understand this insidious heresy and so they could stay away from it and also tell others about it.
Speaker 1:Let's bring up some specifics now, because when they hear it, what are they talking about and what specifically is on your mind when you say that?
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's another good question because, for example, like one of the leaders in the church has recently said in our country, he said we need radical inclusion. We need to include people that are living seriously sinful lives and how else did he put it? Well, those that are divorced and remarried to a different spouse but have never received an annulment going to the table of the Lord. So this bishop well, he's actually a cardinal has said we need to have radical inclusion and include those people and people that are living a homosexual lifestyle. We need to let them come to the table of the Lord.
Speaker 2:What, actually, the best, most loving thing to do is not let them come to the table, because they need to go to confession first and deal with their sins and in some cases they need to get an annulment. It depends on their circumstance. Well, everyone that's divorced and remarried should get an annulment, but what I'm saying is if they're in a different lifestyle of sin, like, let's say, fornication, they might need to go to confession. So in all cases, they can't just come to the table of the Lord if they have mortal sin. It's a clear thing that the Lord has given us.
Speaker 1:Yeah, is that cardinal on your mind, the name of that cardinal?
Speaker 2:Yes, Cardinal McElroy.
Speaker 1:Yes, I was afraid of that. So you know, as we know, he just got promoted as the Cardinal, the Bishop, the Cardinal in charge of DC, right? So this is a big deal in the. United States. It's a very visible role and, unfortunately, pope Francis you know. God bless his soul. We can't say much bad about him now because he's deceased for a couple of days here yet.
Speaker 1:But unfortunately he knew that about McElroy and he still promoted him. You know what happens, jim is most of the time and tell me if there's other things on your mind besides but most of the time, what we're seeing in the modern era, these are all about sexuality. You know, most of the heresies we're seeing, most of the modernism we hear it's got to do with sexuality. It's an amazing attack and there's a reason for that, I think. You know you wrote a book, our Lady's Prophecies. I want to hear about that a little bit God's messages for our time. But I'll just say this John Paul II saw this coming, as did Bishop Sheen, this modernism, the secularism, and basically saying there is no truth.
Speaker 1:Right, you know, we're going to be able to adapt, the church is going to adapt the teachings, you know, which is preposterous, because you think God is the truth, that God's not going to change, right, god says, hey, this is the truth, this is the beauty of marriage, this is the beauty of the family, this is the beauty of the way I designed this thing. And why would I change, you know? I mean, you know it's pride again, isn't it, jim? It's pride, you know it's. It's. It's it's pride again, isn't it? Uh, jim, it's pride, and it's it. We're at the, and think about this. We're at the tree of genesis, chapter three, standing there and and satan goes you won't die, you'll be like gods, right. Who can then decide what is good and what is evil? And it, and in today's time, it's always about sex, sex. They're pushing it on the kids when I said earlier about stolen innocence, obliterating their moral imaginations and, unfortunately, these shepherds.
Speaker 1:Jim, the Pontifical Institute for Marriage and the Family. He put a beautiful Monsignor who became Cardinal Caffara, in charge of that, and Cardinal Caffara felt this attack from inside the church that you're describing and also from the outside. So he wrote Sister Lucia, the main visionary from Fatima, and she wrote back this long letter. But in that letter she said the last great battle between our Lord and Satan is going to be over marriage and the family. And this is where we're at now. Right.
Speaker 2:It's exactly right, it's, you know, it's been predicted by Our Lady of Good Success, of the Purification, which I wrote that book on and it's all about. You know, she predicted that in the 19th and 20th century, spilling over into our century, there would be a moral collapse, or, you know, a collapse throughout society and a disdainment of the sacraments disdain me, a disdaining of the sacraments and also there would be many heresies. So we see this right now, and it's happening right before our eyes, this proliferation of heresies of many different kinds. And Pope St Pius XII, he saw modernism as the synthesis of all heresy, and so it's.
Speaker 1:So let's unpack that a little bit. Can you unpack that a little bit? Because? Why? Because he wrote an incredible. Was it an encyclical that he wrote?
Speaker 2:He wrote an encyclical and he also wrote an oath and he did a lot of reforms to call the church not to accept this. Because the early modernists 150 years ago they would mess with a lot of things, but they would not mess with the church's moral life. And so you know you didn't have a lot of what you're mentioning about the lies and the falsehoods being told about sexuality. They didn't have that problem back in the early modernists but nonetheless they still were denying Scripture as God's Word.
Speaker 2:And to deny Scripture as God's Word and to deny the dogmas of the church is pretty darn serious. In fact it's like taking an ax to the root of the tree rather than just having an ax to go to the branch, so it's the whole tree that they were chopping away at. So that's why it's particularly dangerous, because it's denying all truth in a sense. And they, you know if you deny scripture you deny a lot of truth right there. You know you deny it as God's word and because it is God's word and you know people may not fully understand what God is saying at certain times, but it's pretty plain and simple. In a lot of scripture is plain and simple and clear, and so we shouldn't use that excuse that well, we can't understand it.
Speaker 1:There are parts of it that are— Well, you know, jim, and I think for people maybe—not everybody's Catholic that listens to this, some of them might become a Catholic, whatever. But you know, I work with a lot of evangelicals, but the beauty of the Church is the. But you know, I work with a lot of evangelicals yet, but the beauty of the church is the tradition, you know, and most of these encyclicals and all these things that are written are to do exactly what you said to take the beauty of Scripture and for people that don't understand it in that time to write about it. And most of what we've written in the church's documents coming down are because somebody asked a question. Right, somebody would be questioning a certain scripture. How does that pertain to us today? And this is the truth.
Speaker 1:And so the popes would write about it and the cardinals would write about it and they'd say well, you know, here's the way we interpret this today, in today's time, right? So it's the beauty, again, of the faith, of this living tradition coming down to us, that's so important, and it's not supposed to do anything but support Scripture and the teachings that have flowed down all these years. So when you say that Pius X said this is the synthesis of all of these heresies coming before. What did he see? What was he seeing, jim, you know that made him make that's a pretty profound statement.
Speaker 2:It is. And you know he was seeing that, like by the modernist way of thinking, you know, and the things that they were putting out in their books, he could see that they weren't just denying, for example, the divinity of our Lord, they weren't just denying the virgin birth, they were denying the whole thing. So that's what makes modernism dangerous is it denies all the truths of the faith. Even a heresy that denies one truth is dangerous, but one truth is easier to deal with than denying all truth. And so, for example, you know, like they would deny they might, you know, in the time it first came out, where they were denying the divinity of Christ and the virgin birth and a whole slew, and so in a sense they were taking the ax to the root of the tree. And that's why Pope St Pius X, he saw that this was a very serious heresy and he put a lot of reforms in place and they held up for a lot of years. So they were very, very effective in reforms.
Speaker 1:Do you remember any of the reforms off the top of your head?
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:To give us an example.
Speaker 2:For example, he had bishops looking at the publications that were in their particular diocese to make sure there wasn't any teacher or someone that was teaching falsehood and was teaching modernistic, the modernist heresy in some form or fashion. So he had any kind of writing material pamphlets checked into to make sure they were Orthodox. And he would also do the same. He had everyone in the church take an oath that they would uphold the Orthodox truth. So through his both his checking into having each bishop check into what was being taught in the seminaries and also checking into individual teachers he was correcting and making sure that the Orthodox truth was out there.
Speaker 1:Yes, and when John Paul became pope and Benedict was with him and of course Benedict became pope, they tried to do these too. It was very difficult because homosexuality was accepted and even promoted in the seminaries. All this teaching had come in. It was difficult. And then bishops were being promoted because of their homosexuality in many cases. And now they're in the church. This was my point, not just to complain, but now they're in the church, and now they become cardinals.
Speaker 1:They're going to say, they're going to say exactly what things like McCarrick would say, and then McElroy after him, and you know, and they're all coming from that same cloth and they're pushing this down. Now, I'm not saying that they were, you know. I'm not saying McElroy is homosexual or whatever, but he's pushing, whether he is or not, he's pushing that, that acceptance, down Right, and so so here, here again, is you know, jesus loves all of us, but he loves us too much, doesn't he, jim, to leave us in our sins, and he wants you to be with him forever. And so these are difficult things for the modern world to understand, and I think that when you see this attack that you were describing on Christ's divinity itself, on God, on the Trinity itself, then it would be natural, once that started to fall, to go after the Imago Dei right.
Speaker 1:Marriage and the family is made in the image and likeness of God, and so that's what John Paul saw. He saw that, look, satan would love to take out God, but God's too big for him. So he's going to take out the image and likeness of God in the world, which is a man and a woman and a child right, that beautiful reflection of Trinitarian love in the world. And this is very scriptural. And when you bury that, you open a big can of worms, don't you Jim?
Speaker 2:You really do, and it's like you're hitting a nail on the head that you know the Lord is our shepherd and he wants to shepherd us. And the reason he says he calls sin sin is because he knows it's going to lead to the person's destruction, and so he's trying to save the people person's destruction and so he's trying to save the people. And these people that say everyone can come because radical inclusion are missing the point that God has intended to have radical love, not radical inclusion. And radical love sometimes demands saying no in order for a person to get their act together and then they could come to the table of the Lord. Ultimately, god wants everybody at the table of the Lord, but he doesn't want people to come to the Eucharistic table and to come to communion if they've got mortal sin on their soul. He does not want that. He wants them to be able to get rid of that and then they can come to the table of the Lord.
Speaker 1:Yes, yes, it's really a shame when that happens. You know, when you mentioned earlier Our Lady of Good Success, and so your book Our Lady's Prophecy is great God's messages for our time, this was the Lady, our Lady of Good Success. Is that what you were focusing on?
Speaker 2:Exactly.
Speaker 1:So give us a little background Again. I know Our Lady of Good Success but I don't remember the exact years and stuff. So give us a little background on when that came about and who she appeared to at that time.
Speaker 2:It was about 400 years ago that Our Lady appeared to Mother Mariana. She was a nun in Quito, ecuador. Before it was a country or a republic, it was a colony. So this was a time. At the same time Galileo had found the four moons around Jupiter. So it was way back 400 years ago and it was approved early on, when Mother Mariana was still alive. It was approved in 1611 by Bishop. His name was Salvador Rivera of Avalos. It was approved at that time. What was the year? Jim 1611? That time, what was the year Jim 1611? 1611? It was approved and it was upheld by every bishop since that time, and even John Paul started the devotion. So that started. It was underway. So you know, this apparition spoke about our times and it prophesied the modernist crisis, because it talked about many heresies that would be promulgated at this particular time in history and that the enemy would have a certain ascendancy before he's vanquished.
Speaker 1:So Did she look at this time? I don't remember anymore. Did she look at this time as getting near the end times? And I know we're not supposed and we're not going to go there, we're not going to predict the end time. In fact, catholics are not to do that. We never know the time. Jesus said right, he said only the Father knows the time. So we get that. But we do know from scriptures that I mean as soon as Christ came in, we were really in the end times. We, you know. We just don't know exactly when this is going to be. But with that said, did she have an inclination that you know? That is this evil ratcheted up which we all feel.
Speaker 2:Jim.
Speaker 1:I mean, you know, we all sense this when I'm talking to people, even if they're not religious, they go something's going on right. I mean, we understand that. Did she feel like this acceleration was leading someplace, jim?
Speaker 2:Well, it's actually leading to her intervening at this particular epoch, so it's not necessarily I don't believe it's referring to the end of the age.
Speaker 2:I believe it's referring to the end of an epoch or an era, and so Our Lady will come in and vanquish the enemy. God will send Our Lady to intervene, and so that's beautiful, because we have to keep that in mind, that this will not keep on going on, this era where the enemy seems to have an ascendancy, certain ascendancy, but God is going to intervene through Our Lady and it's going to vanquish evil at this particular epoch, and then, of course, I believe there's going to be additional epochs before the end of the age. So that's my own personal belief.
Speaker 1:So where are we at right now?
Speaker 2:I think we're on the end of the fifth age of the church and there are seven ages. That's my own personal belief.
Speaker 1:You know Bishop Sheen wrote about I think we call this the fifth age too that you know we had that first 500 years and you know he did it almost by years, by these 500 year epochs, like you said, you know, and he saw us coming in. Now I don't remember you know whether he, how he saw this coming out, but he knew that the civil, he saw Western civilization falling and he said it's already in decline and and it's already falling and we see this in Europe, right, I think, jim, you know if President Trump—I have a Trump hat Usually I take it down for interviews, so I apologize for that. And the reason I put it up there is because we work with young men in Gen Z high school to almost 30 years old, and they saw they also sent something wrong and they saw President Trump. Not this wasn't Republican or Democrat to them, this wasn't left or right. They just saw someone that had moral courage and that would stand up, especially after he got shot, and say fight, fight, fight. Well, they sensed something was wrong. They were getting pushed down as young men, emasculated in so many ways, and they saw something there and it sparked them to vote for him. That's why I put that up.
Speaker 1:You know he's not Jesus Christ, you know he's not God, but he stood up for something and he's trying to fight the corruption and I have to hand it to him for that. So I really respect him. You know for that. He's not a perfect man, we know that, and neither am I, by the way.
Speaker 1:But but he's inspiring to these young guys and I and I and I do this weekly podcast, jim. In fact, maybe you could say a word or two for these young guys, because we do a weekly podcast for them, which is not today's session per se, we do it on Fridays. But I like guys, men that are mentoring young people, to have a word of encouragement, because they really need it in our times, and to stand and look for the truth. What would you tell them, jim? Because I know you even wrote in the article there's ways to find the truth right and we need to have our antennas open. So, with that in mind, if you're mentoring a young guy who's really looking, because they don't know what direction to go, they just know something's got to change and they're looking for the truth, jim.
Speaker 2:I would tell them that the truth is a person, jesus Christ. Yes, thank you.
Speaker 1:Let's wait, let's wait for that. Just let's do that again, right? Truth is not a something, truth is a somebody. And what's his name? Jim, jesus Christ. Yes, thank you for that. See, when you're looking for the truth, remember that. The wristband what would Jesus do? I think we should put those back on again. Jim, I'm sorry to interrupt you. I didn't want people to blow through that because that's so important.
Speaker 2:That is, and you know. Another thing they can do is read Scripture and the Catechism of the church. Yes, because they will learn the truth from reading the Word of God in Scripture and the teachings of the church which are spelled out in the catechism, and so they will understand if they're questioning something, and the church has answers for things.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:For everything really and so I would encourage them to do more reading, especially of good material like Scripture and the Catechism. And I'll tell you what if they want to start off, they should read Catholic Exchange. There's a lot of good articles on Catholic Exchange, and my article Defeating Modernism can help them better understand modernism and how come it is destructive. We kind of touch on a lot in that article, but it's something I would encourage young people to do is don't be afraid to read good sources, because that's going to change your life.
Speaker 1:Yes, thank you, and we'll make sure we put a link to your article in the show notes, jim, so people can link to it. You know this catechism I'm going to hold that up that you're referring to. This is so beautiful, you know. You would think that the catechism you know everything Catholic it's a pretty thick book, right? You would think this is going to be dry reading, right? And you would think it starts out with some moral teachings. You know some heavy theology.
Speaker 1:You know what it starts out with for everybody listening today. It starts out here, section one, chapter one, paragraph one, with desire, with desire, desire of the heart. What do you seek? What are you looking for? And you're exactly right, it's number 27 in there Desire, desire of the heart. What do you seek? What are you looking for? And you're exactly right, it's number 27 in there it starts out. You know, with the introduction to the catechism what it's all about. But when it really starts, number 27, it's just. You know it's listed one, two, three, blah, blah, blah, all the way through. It starts with desire of the heart, you know. And with St Augustine, you know, our hearts are restless, lord, until they rest in you. That's correct. Yeah, and Jim, that's not a dry read, is it, you would think?
Speaker 2:the.
Speaker 1:Catechism would be a dry read. It's one of the most fascinating reads you can undertake Absolutely.
Speaker 2:It's you know from reading the Catechism and learning the truth on a lot of subjects people don't have to be confused's.
Speaker 2:you know from reading the catechism and learning the truth on a lot of subjects people don't have to be confused about. You know what's the right way to go. I was working with this young person who was really confused as to pronouns because his university was caught up into pronouns, so he was trying to figure out what to call a person running down the street like a girl running down the street, and it's like I felt sorry for the kid because he's confused about something so simple. He doesn't need to be confused about that. And there's a wide array of topics that are covered by the catechism. And we should also pray for our bishops because you know they need to warn the faithful and take steps to safeguard their dioceses against this heresy. That's another thing that can be done.
Speaker 1:Yes, yes, thank you. Thank you so much for that. So you know we have this. If you went to our website, jim, it'll be in the show notes too, but it's called Claymore. See the sword behind me. That's a big Claymore sword and it's hanging horizontally behind me so you can only see parts of it, but it's a big sword made famous by William Wallace and Braveheart, and what it is it's to signify.
Speaker 1:John Paul II said that the first battle, the primary battle in every man's heart is between love and lust, and it always starts in the individual heart. Almost all the evil you see out in the world today started in the heart. It started with men cooperating with evil, and so, in order to change the world, you always start with your own heart, and that's what we're talking about here to overcome these modern heresies, to search for the truth. You know, that's why God gave us reason, right, jim? I mean, he gave us reason. That's actually John Paul talked about this philosophy, st Thomas Aquinas. It's to search for the truth. That's primarily why your reason is there, reason in the intellect, to know the truth and then use your free will to choose the good.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, and you know, that's why we have freedom is to do what is right. Yes, Not to have freedom to do whatever we feel like doing, because that can be driven a lot of times by the passions and driven by other things other than the truth. And so you know this is another thing the more young people and people in general learn the truth, the more they are going to become saints, because that's the bottom line is. A saint is not a person who unhappy, but a saint is, is happy because they found the truth and they continue to drink from that wellspring of truth.
Speaker 1:Yes, yes, we always think that, oh my gosh, what we're just trying to make Puritans out of everybody, and it's not the truth. The most passionate people that that I and I know them well. Now, my beautiful mystic sisters like St Teresa of Avila, st Therese of Lisieux, st Catherine of Siena, st Lucia, st Faustina and John Paul II was a mystic of his own. Padre Pio, john of the Cross. I mean it's amazing power that they had right. These were very sensual, very passionate people and, like you said, joyful even, while they took on the suffering that we all take. I mean, this world is not so easy to get through, is it, jim?
Speaker 2:No, not at all. It is far better to take on the difficulties and challenges of life with the truth than with, you know, with the scripture and in the tradition, and they want to follow after that truth and learn from that truth. Beautiful.
Speaker 1:And I'm going to put your book. I'll put a link to your book in the show notes too. One major before we let you go. One major takeaway from Our Lady of Good Success. One thing that you'd say yeah, you know this. I really understand when she was pointing to our time today, that this was really. This is really clear, you know.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I would say. When she talked about three swords, she showed Sister Mariana a vision and one of the swords was heresy.
Speaker 2:I think you know the heresy of communism and I see communism and I also see modernism as heresies, and so Our Lady was telling us ahead of time and the good news is to encourage each other that the enemy only has so much time.
Speaker 2:He's running out of time, and so we have to realize that we should be encouraged to know that it's only a short amount of time that he's going to bring havoc on the world, and then he's going to be out of time and Our Lady is going to step in and correct things for this epoch, and so that's what my book is about. But one takeaway is our lady predicted the moral collapse, but also the heresies and the blasphemies and the impurities of our age that she talked about specifically. That would begin a little after, around the 1960s, and we can see that that's when they took prayer out of the schools and that's also when the sexual revolution began, the first one. And so I would suggest people learn about the heresy of modernism, especially the learn the truth, because it's like dealing with money the more you learn the truth, the more you'll be able to spot the counterfeit.
Speaker 1:Very good. Well, thank you so much. And modernism? If we had to put this into a box, would it be mostly a form of moral relativism, would you say Jim, or would you expand it out, In other words, moral relativism. The young people that we meet, so many of them subscribe to moral relativism, and it's not their fault. They've been given this right, They've been pushed this, which basically says there is no truth right, there's only my truth or your truth.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:And there's just versions of the truth. What else would we say about that when somebody is saying or thinking about you know the heresy of modernism.
Speaker 2:What else would you add to that? Well, I would say that anytime that they're going against something that the church has taught dogmatically, an immutable truth, you've got to look at that and say that's not true, because the church is not revealing this truth of its own. It has been given this truth and it is God himself that they're going against. So whenever you hear something a little bit unusual or strange, make sure that it's true, and by looking at the scripture and the catechism and perhaps talking to a good priest about it, if it's a question of that.
Speaker 1:Beautiful. Well, Jim, God bless you. You're a blessing. Thank you so much. Thanks for coming on the show today. We really appreciate it. Everybody look in the show notes and read Jim's article and grab his book. Jim, thank you so much.
Speaker 2:Thank you for having me on your show. I really appreciate it.