Episode 3223: Not All Help is Holy: Learning to Love Without Enabling

www.catholic-reboot.com
Nightly Zoom Coordinates for Rosary:
Meeting ID: 865 8978 0399
Passcode: Wjjv4960!

Speak Lord for your Servant is Listening
Book Recommendation of the Day
The Pastoral Care (Liber Regulae Pastoralis) by Pope St. Gregory I (Gregory the Great)
This book is more “pastoral” and practical: it addresses how clergy must live and guide others, how they must avoid scandal, correct the erring, stay spiritually vigilant, Not all of it is exactly what you covered, but lots of overlap especially on discernment, avoiding enabling sin, and spiritual leadership.
As we grow in the spiritual life, something begins to happen that can be both painful and liberating: we start to pull away from certain people. Not because we think ourselves better, and certainly not out of arrogance, but because dialogue that once seemed tolerable now feels empty even dangerous to the soul.
The Fathers of the Church recognized this truth. St. Augustine wrote: “Bad company corrupts good morals, for the words of the wicked creep into the heart and cling like disease.” St. Basil likewise warned that a man who spends his time among the impious soon shares in their ways.
When Christ draws us deeper, He also calls us higher. That means detaching from influences that keep us chained to sin or distraction. There comes a point when continuing to listen, argue, or compromise is not charity but waste, waste of grace, waste of time, waste of opportunities to grow in holiness.
This is why the saints often walked alone. It wasn’t pride, but purification. It wasn’t arrogance, but clarity. They saw what was truly valuable and refused to spend their lives on what could not save.
And so, when we begin to pull away from the gossip, the blasphemer, the unrepentant sinner, or even friends and family who will not walk with us we must not see it as a rejection of them, but as fidelity to God. True charity never wastes itself in indulgence, but directs every word and act toward salvation.
Not All Help is Holy: Learning to Love Without Enabling
The world tells us charity means saying yes to everyone. But the Fathers of the Church remind us that true charity is ordered to truth.
St. Gregory the Great warned: “He who gives to the unworthy is cruel, for he strengthens their sins.” And when we live this way, when charity is joined to truth, the world often despises us. St. John Chrysostom said: “Nothing is more despised in the world than the man who refuses to join in its laughter.”
So today we’ll consider two realities: whom we must not help wrongly, and how fidelity often means walking a lonely road.
Segment 1: Charity Ordered to Truth
St. Paul writes in Philippians, “That your charity may more and more abound in knowledge, and in all understanding.”
The Fathers tell us love without truth is indulgence. St. Augustine: “He who loves his neighbor as himself will not suffer him to remain in error.” St. Gregory said indiscriminate giving isn’t mercy but folly.
Charity isn’t always about saying yes it may mean saying no for someone’s eternal good.
Reflection Question: When I give help, do I ask: Is this leading them closer to Christ or keeping them away from Him?
Segment 2: Seven Types You Must Not Help
1. The Habitual Sinner
Chrysostom: “To spare the wolf is to wrong the sheep.” Supporting obstinate sin feeds rebellion.
Reflection: Am I strengthening chains or helping break them?
2. The Blasphemer
John warns not to greet those denying Christ.
Augustine: helping error is poison. We must pray for them, not promote them.
Reflection: Do I confuse kindness with cooperation in sin?
3. The Slothful
Scripture: “If any man will not work, neither let him eat.”
St. Basil: aiding the lazy feeds vice, not virtue.
Reflection: Do I support responsibility or laziness?
4. The Gossip
Proverbs: “A whisperer separates friends.”
St. Anthony: “Life and death are in the neighbor’s tongue.” Gossip spreads death.
Reflection: Do I lend my ear to gossip, becoming part of it?
5. The Violent
Scripture warns: “Walk not with them that shed blood.”
St. Ambrose: “He who helps the violent shares in the crime.”
Reflection: Do my resources fuel injustice or works of mercy?
6. The Heretic
Titus: avoid the heretic after correction.
St. Athanasius: “The floor of hell is paved with the skulls of bishops.” Even leaders can mislead.
Reflection: Do I support truth or rebellion masked as progress?
7. The Proud
Proverbs: “Rebuke not a scorner lest he hate thee.”
St. Bernard: pride is the root of sin; humility the ladder to heaven.
Reflection: Do I feed arrogance or encourage humility?
As Chrysostom warned: “He who encourages the sinner in his sin is worse than the sinner himself.”

Segment 3: The Loneliness of Fidelity
Jesus told us: “If the world hate you, know ye that it hated Me first.”
St. Cyprian said: “The world is large, but the faithful are few.” Thomas More stood against a king. Joan of Arc stood abandoned. Martyrs stood against Caesar.
Fidelity is costly. The world loves compromise, not conviction.
Reflection Question: Am I willing to stand alone for Christ, even if it costs friendships, status, or comfort?
Segment 4: The Witness of Holy Solitude
Abraham left all, Moses lived in exile, Elijah fled into the wilderness, Christ prayed alone in Gethsemane.
St. Basil said of Elijah: “He fled men, but found God.” The Desert Fathers embraced this truth. St. Anthony fled into the desert; St. Arsenius said, “Flee, be silent, pray always.”
Solitude isn’t emptiness it’s the place where God purifies the soul.

Reflection Question: Do I avoid silence because I fear what God may show me in it?
Segment 5: The Narrow Road and the Cross
Jesus said the way is narrow and few find it.
Augustine: “Right is right even if no one is doing it.” Luke 9:23: we must each take up our cross. St. John of the Cross taught the dark night is purification, not abandonment. St. Gregory of Nyssa: “The road to God is a ladder rising from suffering.”
Reflection Question: Do I see trials as punishment or as the cross by which Christ unites me to Himself?
Segment 6: Hope in the Communion of Saints
Hebrews tells us we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses.
St. Ignatius of Antioch said: “When I am with Christ, I am never alone.” Every Mass, every Rosary, every act of fidelity unites us to heaven
Reflection Question: When I feel lonely, do I remember that the saints, angels, and Our Lady are truly with me?

Conclusion
We’ve seen how charity requires discernment, and fidelity requires solitude.
To refuse to enable sin often means walking alone but in that solitude, we discover Christ, who bore His Cross alone for us.
As St. Athanasius declared: “They have the churches, we have the faith.” Fidelity may isolate us now, but it prepares us for eternal communion.
Epistle – 1 Peter 5:1–4, 10–11
"Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking care of it, not by constraint, but willingly, according to God: not for filthy lucre’s sake, but voluntarily: neither as lording it over the clergy, but being made a pattern of the flock from the heart. And when the prince of pastors shall appear, you shall receive a never-fading crown of glory... To Him be glory and empire, for ever and ever. Amen."
Reflection on the Epistle
The words of St. Peter echo down through the centuries to all pastors and bishops. Shepherding is not about power, prestige, or control it is about sacrifice, service, and example. The shepherd must imitate the Prince of Pastors, Jesus Christ, who laid down His life for His sheep.
St. Linus, whose feast we celebrate, embodied this shepherding spirit. Though little is written of his papacy, Tradition holds that he worked to maintain the unity of the early Church in the face of persecution, ensuring that the faith handed on by St. Peter was preserved intact. His fidelity, even unto martyrdom, shows us the true measure of pastoral leadership: not domination, but service; not comfort, but sacrifice.
For us, the Epistle reminds us that we, too, must shepherd the souls entrusted to us whether as parents, teachers, or spiritual guides. The Christian vocation is always about leading others closer to Christ, not for personal gain, but for eternal glory.
Gospel – Matthew 16:13–19
"Thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will build My Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven."
Reflection on the Gospel
This Gospel passage is the cornerstone of Catholic ecclesiology. Christ Himself institutes Peter as the visible head of the Church, entrusting him with the keys of the kingdom and the authority to bind and loose. This is not a human invention it is a divine constitution.
St. Linus, as Peter’s immediate successor, is the first living proof of this promise. After Peter’s martyrdom, the Church did not collapse. The faith was not lost. Instead, Linus took up the keys, ensuring continuity, unity, and fidelity. Through him, and through all of Peter’s successors, the promise of Christ resounds: “The gates of hell shall not prevail.”
This is especially vital for us as traditional Catholics. In times of confusion, scandal, and doctrinal compromise, we cling not to personalities or trends, but to the enduring promise of Christ. The rock is not moved by the storms of history. The Church stands firm, not because of human strength, but because of divine foundation.
Feast of St. Linus
St. Linus is remembered as the first Pope after St. Peter, serving around A.D. 67–76. According to ancient tradition, he is mentioned by name in the New Testament (2 Timothy 4:21), and he worked to strengthen the early Roman Church under the threat of persecution. He is honored as a martyr, a witness to the faith he received from the Prince of the Apostles. His example reminds us of the importance of continuity: the faith we hold today is the same faith proclaimed by Peter, Linus, and all the saints who followed.
Application for Today
• For Shepherds: Bishops and priests must remember their calling is one of service, not power. They must imitate Christ, the Good Shepherd.
• For the Faithful: We must pray for our pastors, support them in holiness, and demand fidelity to Tradition, not novelty.
• For All Catholics: Cling to the rock of Peter and the deposit of faith. Even when the Church is tried by scandal or heresy, Christ’s promise remains: the gates of hell shall not prevail.
Conclusionary Prayer
O God, who didst establish Thy Church upon the firm foundation of the Apostles, and didst crown St. Linus with martyrdom for his fidelity, grant that, walking in the Spirit, we may remain steadfast upon the rock of Peter, faithful to Tradition, and persevering in charity until the Chief Shepherd appears.
St. Linus, pray for us.
St. Peter, pray for us.
Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us.
Immaculate Heart of Mary, intercede for us.