20 Jul 21 – I Am Who Am

[0] Welcome to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[1] My name is Terry Barber.

[2] Bishop Strickland is traveling, and he'll be coming in on Skype in a few minutes here.

[3] There he is.

[4] And Bishop Strickland, welcome, and thank you for taking the time on your busy schedule as you're traveling and preaching the Word of God, which I just love it because, to be honest with you, Bishop Strickland, the administration of a bishop would not excite me. What would excite me is when you can preach the Word of God and touch souls about how to get to heaven.

[5] Is that pretty much what gets you excited more than administration?

[6] Absolutely.

[7] Certainly the administration is necessary.

[8] It's like a dad helping to run a household.

[9] But the joy is being with the family and teaching the family and guiding the family as a spiritual father.

[10] Well, I want to welcome the new listeners that are coming and to say you can listen to all the podcast of Bishop Strickland Hour by going to vmpr .org.

[11] and all the other shows that are on that air, on the air there.

[12] Bishop Strickland, for those who are brand new, we take your tweets that you do each week, and after we go through the tweets, then we take the catechism of the Catholic Church, which is a joy to have here, and we read right from the catechism and teach people the meaning and purpose of life, which I think in our culture right now, especially in our church, the great need for catechesis, for teaching them the faith, because we all know that many Catholics are not showing up for Mass right now and are not being active and we would like to call if you're one of them back to church, back to Mass, back to the sacraments because I think that's where you're going to find your peace of soul in this life and in the next life.

[13] So Bishop Strickland, the first tweet you have here is you are employing us to turn to the Holy Family of Nazareth says as we face the challenges of the day.

[14] Jesus gave his sacred heart first to the Immaculate Virgin Mary next to his adopted Father St. Joseph Mary and Joseph are models of discipleship and Jesus God's son let us follow him as they did so we're going to imitate Jesus as what is St. Paul say Mbby imitators of me as I imitate Jesus the Holy Family is our model is it not Absolutely and I'm presently.

[15] As you mentioned, I'm out of town and I'm at the Catholic family camp here in Ohio, near Stuponville, Catholic family land, it's called.

[16] Some wonderful families, joyful moms and dads, lots of kids.

[17] And that's what Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, model for us.

[18] Living as a man, living as a woman, living as a child, the son of God, but a real human child also growing in the midst of a family.

[19] So we need to all of us look to the Holy Family for that model of human living, of how do we treat each other, how do we live in community?

[20] And even if you're a single person or a widow, old or young, wherever we find ourselves, all of us can turn to the Holy Family.

[21] I mean, I'm a single man celibate by commitment to the priesthood in the church, but I'm called to look to the Holy Family for those models, the Blessed Virgin Mary, the St. Joseph, both responding to the presence of Christ, the incarnate Son of God in their household.

[22] We have to believe that the Lord is with us and that we look to.

[23] him as Mary and Joseph did.

[24] They were really the first woman and the first man disciple of Jesus Christ.

[25] Well said, Bishop Strickland, I think of St. John Paul II's letter to the families back in 1994 when he said the way the family goes is the way the culture goes.

[26] So strong families, strong church, strong culture.

[27] So I appreciate that.

[28] I know many of my priest's friends that are chaplains for the confessions, and they just brag about that family land out there in Ohio and so many families with large amounts of kids coming, and they just love it.

[29] So thank you for being there.

[30] Bishop Strickon, your next tweet is really a Benedictine's tweet, I should say, because you said it's well worth reading.

[31] St. Benedict prayed for us about withdrawing from the world to save it and um you pointed out as the world appears to be come more and more like rome before it's fall we are called to christify the culture so i just to set the stage rome fell with all these with decadence they had um they had not only that they had um all the characteristics that we have in our country right now with immorality.

[32] And so it's interesting that you would bring that tweet up about the Benedictine style because we have orders of priests and nuns that are cloistered who are doing great work for the church while we are actively doing what we're doing.

[33] So I guess my question is, why are you putting an emphasis on that today?

[34] Well, for one thing, we just celebrated St. Benedict, and it reading that article really inspired me, and I learned a lot from reading that article.

[35] I didn't realize.

[36] I've studied the rule of St. Benedict some, but I've never been a monk.

[37] I've never lived in a monastery, so I've never really taken it as my rule.

[38] But what this article says is that St. Benedict originally wrote it.

[39] as a rule of life for the whole community, not just a monastery, but for all people, for all Christians.

[40] What he was reacting to, and that's what I found very interesting, this article said, which I didn't know, I learned some things that, I mean, I knew Pope Benedict, I mean, St. Benedict was in that era, but I didn't realize, at least according to this article, he left drunk four years before it, fell.

[41] And to me, that dramatized the reality of what he experienced.

[42] A pagan culture caught up in sexual promiscuity, worshipping various idols, and totally broken.

[43] He fled Rome and went to be basically a hermit.

[44] And during that time, so he's in Rome.

[45] He experiences the broken culture there that you just have to look around our culture with a confusion of who we are and worshiping idols instead of God.

[46] Maybe people don't do that overtly.

[47] Some do.

[48] But in many ways, our culture has made all kinds of idols out of what we've decided we want to be or what we want the world to be rather than paying attention to what God has revealed to us.

[49] That's what St. Benedict reacted to in the early parts of the first millennium.

[50] And so he reacts to that, leaves Rome.

[51] And while he's gone, as a hermit, he writes this Benedictan rule to bring sanity to life.

[52] Ora at Labora, pray and work, to have a rhythm of daily hours where we refocus on who we are and who God is.

[53] To me, that's what the Benedictine rule really comes down to, is paying attention that we're creatures of God.

[54] He's made us in his image and likeness and really reminding ourselves of that periodically throughout the day.

[55] I think that the genius of the Benedict and rule, which we really do need to bring out into the regular culture, most of us are not called to live in a monastery, But we are called to know who we are and to know who God is.

[56] And that's what I liked in that article that really reminds us to remember we're sons and daughters of God.

[57] We're creatures, ultimately.

[58] We look to God for the meaning of our lives and for the direction of our lives.

[59] That's what the Benedictine rule on a regular scheduled basis in a very stable way.

[60] it reminds you not every hour but many hours throughout the day of who you are, that you are a son or daughter of God and you're called to live that truth and to live it in the virtues that God is revealed to us through his son.

[61] So I think the benefit and rule really is something that all of us can benefit from, simply reminding us we come from God, we're made in God's image, likeness, male and female, God has made us.

[62] There's so much in what I've just said that our present culture is in conflict with.

[63] We need to go back to sanity and back to who we are and who God is.

[64] Well, I couldn't agree with you more.

[65] Reality sets in when you hear about Benedict.

[66] This is the reality that we really is true.

[67] It seems like we're living in law, law land.

[68] Bishop Strickland, you're like I say you're in your 60s so am I but 30 40 years ago if someone would have told you you know that this guy comes up to you and he says I'm a woman I'm honestly I'm a woman I decided I'm going to become a woman and that's who I am he would probably be told to go to the mental hospital if somebody did that we would say then he's unstable based on his outward appearance and what he's saying he's not in reality and that would be he needs help help.

[69] And so 30 years later, now we're complimenting him and saying, well, that's great.

[70] Fantastic.

[71] Now, it can't be true.

[72] One's wrong.

[73] One's true.

[74] It can't be, we can't change it.

[75] Objective truth is that it's true today, tomorrow, and 500 years from now, a thousand years from now.

[76] So you can't change who you are by saying that you're now a woman.

[77] But in our culture now, we've changed.

[78] We've change the reality to not know our meaning and purpose of life, that now our meaning and purpose of life is, I'm going to be who I want to be, when I want to be, and that's what makes me tick, which is, like I say, living in La La Land.

[79] When we come back, we're going to talk a little bit more about some of the tweets from Bishop Joseph Strickland from Tyler, Texas.

[80] He's visiting Ohio right now, family land.

[81] And don't turn the dial.

[82] We're going to come right back, family will give you more inspiration to follow Jesus Christ and his pride of the church.

[83] Welcome back to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[84] My name is Terry Barber with Virgin Most Powerful Radio.

[85] And we're talking about some of the tweets that Bishop Strickland sends out each week.

[86] And you should get on with Bishop Strickland to get his tweets because they're always inspirational and they use a lot of common sense and they take from the fathers of the church, the saints.

[87] So it's always good.

[88] You know, Bishop Strickland, Your next tweet comes back down to reality again, and it really says to me that we're a mixed -up culture when it comes to our identity of who we are.

[89] You pointed out that the rainbow has been co -opted as a sign of a sinful pride and rebellion against God's commandments instead of a sign of hope from the Old Testament.

[90] Let us pray for the world and the church to reject the man -made idols of our time and to once again bow humbly before Almighty God and then you of course call on St. Joseph to pray for us.

[91] So Bishop Strickland, I'm assuming you're referring to people mixed up about their sexual identity as the rainbowsman, a big promoter, especially this last month of June as Pride Month, which really is totally just abusing the rainbow as a biblical view compared to now using it for their own agenda.

[92] So is that why you, what made you talk about the rainbow?

[93] Well, yes, as you just said, Terry, it's dominating the culture and even too often within the church.

[94] Instead of calling people lovingly, respectfully, every child of God, we're beloved of God, and we always need to remember that.

[95] even the person that we may totally disagree with, even the person that may be abusing us verbally or in violence or just attacking us and attacking our character, every person is beloved of God.

[96] And I think we always need to remember that and to operate in those terms.

[97] What I'm reminded of is what Pope Benedict spoke of often as a cardinal and then as a cardinal.

[98] as Pope, the tyranny of relativism.

[99] And it is a tyranny.

[100] There's a tyranny of idolatry of what I've decided is true.

[101] And it truly has become idolatry.

[102] We as a culture, we see so often, and people get really overheated about that this is what I've decided.

[103] and this is the choice I've made.

[104] I've made it my personal idol because what is an idol?

[105] It's something that is lifeless that we've placed before God.

[106] And I think there are many ways that idolatry is lived out.

[107] People may not think in those terms because they're not people of faith very often.

[108] But I think what we have to remember, Terry, is even people of faith who deny God, or beloved of God.

[109] And we who know that, who know the sanctity of every human person, we always have to operate in those terms.

[110] And sometimes when it's a temptation for all of us to forget that, when we get angry, when we get overeated, when we get exasperated by the evil and the foolishness and the misguided proclamations that we're.

[111] we hear.

[112] And when we see someone freely choosing to diminish their life, just for you as a father to see your son or daughter doing that, you're going to speak up.

[113] For me, as a spiritual father, we naturally, we should speak up and say, don't do that to yourself.

[114] But we're more and more in a culture where the voices and the powers of even in the church in times, but certainly in the culture and in government and in business, it's like, you can't tell that person that.

[115] You can't instruct them in the truth, but we have to.

[116] And rejecting the truth is certainly God has given us free will.

[117] God has given us the freedom to do that.

[118] But also, anyone in leadership, we have have an obligation to guide people toward the truth, lovingly and respectfully, but powerfully.

[119] And the idea of using the rainbow that still occurs in nature, and it's a beautiful side.

[120] On a rainy day, the sun comes out, and there's a rainbow, or sometimes a double rainbow.

[121] What biblically that reminds us of is God's care for us and God's mercy.

[122] but it's been twisted in a way that totally ignores its origins and why did think about it what had happened before the rainbow the world was destroyed by a flood Noah and a very few faithful to God were the remnant of humanity and the rainbow was God promising never again to destroy all of human beings with a flood.

[123] But that's the limitation of the promise of the rainbow, that he promised he would never destroy humanity again with a flood.

[124] But if we look into the story of Sodom and Demora, that that community or those two communities were destroyed, not by a flood, but apparently by some sort of cataclysmic event.

[125] you can still visit the Holy Land, and they will point out where Sodom and Demora were, and it's still a devastated, lifeless area there in the Holy Land.

[126] I think we need to just open our eyes to the truth that God is revealed to us.

[127] Many people say the Bible is just full of myths and that our religion is just one big myth.

[128] I saw something recently, someone responding to something I said saying, you know, talking about me basically saying this poor fool, he's based his life on empty myths, and he's going to find out one day that it's all empty.

[129] Well, I hate to say it, but if that person were right, and I know they're wrong, I know that God has created us, God has created the world, we are built in the image and lightness of God for a destiny that is eternal life.

[130] That's eternal damnation or eternal salvation.

[131] Those are the two choices.

[132] That's what God has revealed to us, and that's what we know to be true.

[133] But for that person, let's say the atheist is right, then why bother with any of this?

[134] Why even go on?

[135] And sadly, many don't.

[136] They get devastated and they end their lives, and they demand the right to, you know, assisted suicide into taking their own life because they see no meaning in life.

[137] we know that God lovingly has revealed that meaning.

[138] And I'm not going to let go of it because a few foolish people have turned away from God.

[139] If you embrace that there is a God, if you believe in the supernatural, if you have faith, then we need to listen to the scriptures and listen to what the church teaches.

[140] And too many people, it's kind of like humanity today is sort of straddling the issue.

[141] Yes.

[142] We say, oh, yeah, I believe in God, but we want to shape God the way we want him to be, and not the way he's revealed himself to be.

[143] We better pay attention to who God has revealed.

[144] Even in Jesus Christ, today's gospel, Christ said, I came to bring a sword of division.

[145] That's not the Christ that many people want to talk about, but it's a Christ that we have to embrace the full message.

[146] Yes, the beatitudes, but also Christ speaks of fire and damnation and the gnashing of teeth.

[147] We need to listen to everything our loving Savior has taught us through the Father in the Holy Spirit.

[148] So all of that is, it's a false narrative that ultimately leads us to destruction.

[149] And really, Terry, I've heard, had many people contact me and thank me for speaking up about what God is revealed to us.

[150] Because when they buy into this false gospel, this false narrative, ultimately, many people wake up and realize they're being led to destruction, to a life even in this world that is full of division and full of angst and anger.

[151] And it is just not what God's plan is for us.

[152] So we need to lovingly call every person and remember, as people of faith, because it can get heated.

[153] And I'm sure you've had people, you know, speak out powerfully against you.

[154] I have as well, but we always need to respond in love, in the strength of the truth, and remembering that always that God holds all of us precious in his sight.

[155] Even the person who's railing against him and fighting everything that is about religion and about faith in God, even those who are embracing Satan, God doesn't stop loving them.

[156] He mourns that they have turned away from him because of their free will choice.

[157] But God still loves even the person who proudly proclaims themselves to be a Satanist and full of, evil and embracing the devil.

[158] God gives us the freedom to choose that.

[159] But as a father and as a spiritual father, we would be negligent not to speak up and say, children of God don't fall into the hands of the devil.

[160] The demons love to come into our lives because they don't have a body.

[161] They don't have a life.

[162] They're jealous of us.

[163] And Christ has conquered all of that.

[164] We don't need to be fearful.

[165] But I think there are a lot of demons that are dancing and reveling in the fact that too many humans are now acting as if there is no God and acting as if anything we want to do, any choice we want to make today or tomorrow, or to totally change it the next day, we're free to do anything we want.

[166] That really isn't freedom at all.

[167] That's self -destruction.

[168] and too many are on that path so as loving fathers spiritual or actual fathers like you are we have an obligation to lovingly peacefully but powerfully speak the truth man bishop strickland it's so refreshing to hear a bishop preach the salvation message of jesus christ turn away from sin and believe i mean what you just said in the last six or seven minutes i'm going to put on the internet, I'm going to put that clip and say, here's the message of Christ.

[169] You know, Bishop Strickland loves you so much that he's willing to tell you the truth about the meaning and purpose of life.

[170] That tells me you love everyone.

[171] Because not speaking about salvation tells me that you just don't want to tell me because you're afraid that maybe someone will attack you or say that you're mean -spirited.

[172] And, you know, I look at it as a sin of omission.

[173] when I don't share the gospel, when I have an opportunity to share it with somebody, and I don't do it because of my self -respect, that's terrible.

[174] But I want to just say, anyone who just listen to that, we send that to your friends because this is a successor of apostle, Bishop Strickland saying, I love you enough to tell you the truth about the meaning and purpose of life.

[175] When we come back, I just had a big smile on my face because it's refreshing to hear a bishop, preach like a bishop, a successor of the apostle, to tell me, Don't wash your hands.

[176] Let someone else tell me that Bishop Strickland.

[177] Tell me about Jesus Christ and his saving works and how we're saved by the blood of Christ.

[178] I love it.

[179] You're listening to the Bishop Strickland Hour on Virgin Most Powerful Radio.

[180] We'll be right back, family.

[181] Welcome back to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[182] Bishop Strickland, you just power preach today.

[183] That last segment, I already talked on a break up to everybody.

[184] We're family.

[185] Folks, that last segment's going to get on YouTube or whatever we can do it.

[186] using social media, and I put it down as Bishop String tells Pete, Bishop Strictlin gives people the meaning and purpose of life.

[187] That's it.

[188] He just laid out salvation there.

[189] Bishop Strickland, you've been a supporter of a priest father, James Altman, where he came out and said some strong things on the pro -life issues and on just fundamental teachings of the Catholic teachings, whether it's on homosexuality, showing what the catechism teaches.

[190] and I know this priest has been in trouble because he's been very outspoken.

[191] And just last week, his faculties, which for those who don't know what that is, a bishop, it gives you faculties to say mass and hear confession.

[192] And if for some reason he can take those away canonically, and then the priest can actually test it to Rome, it takes about a year to say, okay, what really went on here?

[193] Let's get all the facts.

[194] is it legitimate so the bishop has to justify why he's doing it and then if the priest contest it it goes all the way to Rome and then there's a decision being made but I have to say this to set the stage people like Padre Pio there's been saints throughout our 2000 year history I have a saying that there's never been a saint that hasn't been persecuted by the church that's another famous saint saying but it's true and so I would just ask you, I see the article you have been quoted in LifeSight News, that, yeah, you said that I know that it gets frustrating when you're being asked to be obedient in a way that you think is inappropriate, but I would advise, and I presume, he has to look at that question of balancing obedience and truth.

[195] Can you elaborate on that?

[196] yeah i think it's a very basic principle of our faith that ultimately we're obedient to god to his son father son and spirit we're obedient to god's will that is where we flourish as those created in the image and likeness of god when i'm disobedient to the will of god in my life.

[197] God allows us to get away with it for a while, but ultimately it is not what allows us to flourish and to grow in His grace and goodness.

[198] The religious communities take a vow of obedience.

[199] Priests and bishops and deacons in holy orders make promises of obedience.

[200] Obedience is very important.

[201] Certainly there's a hierarchy of obedience, and we're first.

[202] obedient to the truth that God is revealed to us, we're obedient to Jesus Christ.

[203] And in the case of Father Altman, I was asked that question, what would be my advice?

[204] And I don't know, Father Altman.

[205] I've never met him.

[206] The reason I spoke up in support at all was because he was speaking about the sanctity of life, the sanctity of marriage, the reality that God created us male and feet.

[207] mail, some basic truths that are too open for, even with people in the church, too many questions are being asked.

[208] Too much is being watered down.

[209] Too much truth isn't being proclaimed.

[210] Father Altman, I know, expresses some strong opinions that are his opinions that I don't necessarily agree with.

[211] Many of the things he said, I don't embrace as, and as we've talked about it.

[212] Yes, we have.

[213] over my opinion.

[214] We don't need a priest or a deacons or a bishop's opinion.

[215] Certainly, we're all human.

[216] We all have our opinions.

[217] And we're living in a time, even within the church, where opinion and truth, it's all blurred together.

[218] That's one thing that we all have an obligation to do is to be clear about what is church teaching and what is my opinion.

[219] And as I've asked you on this program, every week.

[220] If I'm expressing an opinion that is straying away from the catechism, we need to be very clear about that.

[221] I mean, I can have all kinds of opinions, but what my job is is to teach the truth of Christ as he's revealed it to us.

[222] There's a blurring of that, definitely.

[223] And with Father Altman, he has some opinions that I would consider that I don't embrace and I don't agree with.

[224] That gets all blurred together with the truth that he's speaking.

[225] I don't know what the interactions that he's had with his bishop have been.

[226] He needs to respect that obedience to Christ in his teaching and to his bishop.

[227] And I think it touches on something that is a sad part of our time.

[228] What's that?

[229] With all the, I mean, like your radio work, and we're blessed with all kinds of media.

[230] But we don't have a good, basic, I guess what I would call an ethic of media.

[231] I mean, Terry, I can say that I don't think we've ever had an exchange, as you and I have talked.

[232] We've disrespected someone or we've forgotten that any time we're talking about another person, we're talking about someone who's beloved of God.

[233] That's right.

[234] Even if they're on a totally wrong path.

[235] So we always have to have that respect.

[236] In the present Catholic media and otherwise, sometimes that gets very overheated.

[237] But what I look for is the truth.

[238] And yeah, there are lots of opinions expressed and sometimes a lack of respect for individuals that I don't think is appropriate.

[239] but to cancel the truth because maybe it's not being presented as appropriately as it should be, I think we have to be careful about it that as well.

[240] And so it's complicated and it's difficult.

[241] But what I try to keep going back to, and as I talk to people a lot of times, they say, Bishop, you talk about...

[242] Okay, I just lost my connection with Bishop.

[243] Strictly so we'll get them right there you go we're back again Bishop Strictly yep yeah sorry no continue because what you're saying is very very important to everyone to hear this go ahead let me see if I can get that camera back there we go it's important to remember yeah that the truth we need and we present that truth it should always be with respect and with an understanding and I understand that we get frustrated.

[244] I get frustrated.

[245] But I would encourage everyone in Catholic media around the world, really.

[246] I mean, I know people that are working in Catholic media in Rome.

[247] We need the truth.

[248] We need clarity.

[249] We need respect for every person.

[250] And to balance all that, you know, it's a challenge.

[251] And all of us can make mistakes.

[252] And I would ask forgiveness for any time that I've failed to respect the other person.

[253] I really work at not making that mistake.

[254] But we all need to be very careful.

[255] But sometimes, frankly, what I see happening in the regular media, even in Catholic media, is a tendency to cancel the person and to cancel the truth that they're sharing because maybe there doing it in a way that is not as politically correct as we would like.

[256] And not as respectful.

[257] That is, I think we have to be very careful not to cancel the truth.

[258] And, you know, if you look at a figure like John the Baptist in scriptures, he was probably considered pretty politically incorrect in his time.

[259] And certainly, I don't claim to be a prophet like John the Baptist.

[260] And I think we have to be in humility, very careful about claiming to be a prophetic voice.

[261] And so we can say things in a sort of drastic way.

[262] But we do need the truth.

[263] So what I keep going back to is, and that's why I talk about Jesus Christ as much as I do, is because he is truth incarnate.

[264] Amen.

[265] Are we listening to him?

[266] Are we listening to his full voice?

[267] Are we listening to all of Scripture?

[268] Are we listening to the passages that speak of Gahena as well as the passages that speak of the wonderful mercy of God?

[269] We've got to listen to it all.

[270] That's a challenge, but I think desperately we're in a time where we need to honor the truth, to honor each other, and to not allow the truth to be canceled when it's spoken in a less than respectful or inconvenient way.

[271] Well, Bishop Strickland, people don't care how much you know until they know how much you care.

[272] And one of the things that I try to teach through my book, how to share your faith with anyone, is to never ridicule the other side, no matter if they come to you, like, for example, and I'll just give my example of a fundamentalist anti -Catholic person comes up and says, you Catholics are all going to hell.

[273] I've had them say that to me. And I smile at him, I say, can I have your name?

[274] oh Mike Mike can I ask you a question yeah tell me how you fell in love with Jesus Christ brother see how I just then he tells me how he's in love I said can I tell you how I fell in love with Jesus and so I didn't even I didn't ridicule him I try to get something common with him that we both love Jesus and then I tell him about how I fell in love with Jesus in the Holy Eucharist and give my scripture and I take time to share then we have something in common And so I think even when we have to expose error, we don't have to do it in an arrogant way.

[275] We can do it in a nice way to say, I love you so much, Mike, that what you're doing, brother, if I didn't tell you was wrong, then I wouldn't be loving you.

[276] In other words, if I love you, I tell you the truth.

[277] So understand this.

[278] I have nothing against you.

[279] I love, I want to see you get to heaven.

[280] But being a fornicator or an adulterer or are living a same sex.

[281] a marriage, so to speak, what's called marriage, it isn't, but living out that activity is offensive to God, whether you're fornicating, committing adultery, or committing a homosexual acts.

[282] And so I wouldn't love you if I didn't tell you the truth.

[283] And I think that's what you're saying, is that we need to do it in a way that is loving, rather than just giving the facts out and saying, you're going to hell, you're going to hell.

[284] No, who knows if you're going to hell?

[285] we're saying that this action leads you to hell, objectively speaking.

[286] So Bishop Strickland, the last advice you gave, oh, that music's on.

[287] The last advice you gave to Father Altman and to the bishop, I thought was gold.

[288] And when we come back, that's my teaser, everybody.

[289] And then we're going to get into the catechism, the last segment.

[290] But I think that it's so important to share the gospel with joy and love, not so much just the truth because you have to do it in a way that is going to attract people like St. Francis de Saleson.

[291] We'll be right back with more.

[292] Welcome back to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[293] I like when Bishop Strickland's traveling.

[294] I'll tell you why, folks.

[295] He's fired up about the faith more when he's on the road than when he's at home.

[296] I'm the same way.

[297] And you've been giving us some great advice today about our Catholic faith and about the meaning and purpose of life.

[298] and just to follow up regarding Bishop, our Father Altman's situation, he's been taking, his faculties have been taken away, you gave him some advice about obedience, but your last comment that's in this article said that you're calling for prayers not just for Father Altman, but also for his bishop so that Bishop Callahan might also be obedient to God's truth and to his representatives as a bishop.

[299] I think that's so important to be.

[300] be praying for our leaders in our church.

[301] So was that just a comment at the end that you thought maybe we need to remember to pray for the bishop in this case?

[302] It goes back to what we talked about earlier, remembering that the priest and the bishop, all of us are precious to God.

[303] We're beloved.

[304] We need to remember that.

[305] We need to presume that this bishop and this priest both.

[306] Love God and love the church and are doing their best.

[307] Both says.

[308] They're in conflict right now.

[309] I really know very little about it.

[310] And I've heard various things as we all have.

[311] We need to pray that they can come to a resolution to this for their sake as men of God and for the church's sake.

[312] Because in today's world, it's probably known around the world, all of this conflict.

[313] between a priest and a bishop.

[314] And that's one thing that I think we need to, like I was talking about the media before, we're at a time where we have the advantage of being able to communicate as we are right now, but we also have the bombardment of media, of fake news and real news.

[315] And that happens in every aspect of media in the world.

[316] We hear things, we've both heard things that, oh, well, this is happening, happening in Rome.

[317] And we find out it's totally fictional.

[318] It's totally unsupported.

[319] It's not the truth.

[320] And so it's a difficult time because we're bombarded by all of that.

[321] So one thing that I wanted to say, Terry, is to remember that even a hundred years ago, priests and bishops got into conflicts and misunderstandings or even disagreements.

[322] Just flat out disagreements.

[323] Just flat out agreements.

[324] But the world didn't know about it.

[325] Probably most of the rest of the diocese didn't know about it.

[326] And I think that we live in a time where everyone knows about it and everyone kind of takes aside.

[327] We need to, as people of faith, who love the church, who love the Lord, who love his church, we need to pray for both the bishop and the priest.

[328] And it's played out in a lot of different places.

[329] I'm a bishop and I know that I've made mistakes in dealing with my priest and priest had made mistakes in dealing with me. It happens.

[330] It's a human condition.

[331] We need to be willing to forgive each other to seek reconciliation.

[332] And I think that we need to be reminded to pray for these two men who are in a very public conflict.

[333] I don't pretend to know exactly the components of that is I presume you don't pretend no you kidding me probably very few of us can really pretend to know what's really going on between these two men of the church we need to remember and respect that they are men of the church we need to pray for them and we need to pray for wouldn't it be wonderful for the next thing we hear to to hear that they've reconciled they've come to an understanding and that they're moving forward That is what we need to pray for.

[334] We have to presume that the bishop and the priest are doing the best they can to live up to the commitments they've made.

[335] But we have to remember there's so much that we don't know.

[336] Well, you know, these St. Ignatius spiritual exercises say exactly what you said when you're dealing with people.

[337] Always give people the benefit of the doubt.

[338] My wife is very good at that.

[339] I'm not as good as I should be on that.

[340] but she corrects me, so I'm very blessed to have a wife that will remind me of that principle.

[341] It's a beautiful principle.

[342] Bishop Strickland, the minutes that we have left, I'd like to ask everybody to open up their catechism of the Catholic Church to paragraph 206.

[343] That's 206.

[344] And this is really, I'll just say, this is taken right from Exodus chapter 3 where it says, Moses said to God if I come to the people of Israel and say to them the God of your fathers has sent me to you and they asked me what is his name what shall I say to them God said to Moses I am who am and he said say this to the people of Israel I am has sent me to you this is my name forever and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations.

[345] Thousands of years later we're reading this.

[346] Isn't that amazing?

[347] I am who am.

[348] Paragraph 2006, and I want to get your take on this, the catechism says, in revealing his mysterious name, Yahweh, I am who is, I am who am, or I am who I am, God says who is he and by what name he is to be called this divine name is mysterious just as God is mystery it is at once a name revealed and something like the refusal of a name and hence it is better to express God at what he is infinitely above everything that we can understand or say he is the hidden God.

[349] His name is ineffable and he is the God who makes himself close to man. I guess Bishop Strickland is, why is this important way back in the Old Testament that God is revealing himself here?

[350] What was the point here?

[351] Well ultimately we know the rest of the story.

[352] Jesus Christ of course is incarnate as the fullness of the revelation of God, the God who is I am who I am, God who is being itself, who is existence itself.

[353] That's what the name really expresses, that God is everything that is.

[354] All of the creation, all of our lives, the world that we live in, the universe that we are part of, all kinds of.

[355] comes from the God who is.

[356] If God chose, it would all disappear in what we would call a nanosecond, in an instant.

[357] But to remember that God is the author of all that is is the basic under...

[358] Yeah, Bishop Strickland, one of the things that got me is that if God stopped thinking about we would cease to exist.

[359] And I think that that's an important aspect right now when you read the Old Testament.

[360] And you see that God loves us so much.

[361] And I say that because one of the things the catechism talks about is the importance of the attributes of God.

[362] He's all knowing.

[363] And Mr. Engineer, let me know when Bishop Strickland comes back on the air.

[364] We've got a little connection mess up, but it'll come back.

[365] And I just think that that scripture, that verse from the Catechism 206 really is important to know because we have to know the genesis of all of this, our faith, that we're fulfilled Jews as Christians, as Catholics.

[366] And so by reading the Catechism of the Catholic Church, it's helping us to understand the meaning and purpose of life.

[367] And that's why Bishop Strickland every week reads these catechism to us, talks about the tweets for one purpose to get to know Jesus Christ and his bride the church in a way that will help us get to heaven because life is short eternity is forever and I'm presuming that we're not going to get the bishop back on and we only have another minute and a half of the show I want to also just thank all of the listeners who have been supporting us like us on your social media send this show to people this is how we grow the show I mean Bishop Strickland is known for being a no -nonsense Catholic bishop in America send these shows to your friends say hey listen to this bishop he's really telling it like it is I mean it's refreshing to have a bishop who understands that he's supposed to teach govern and sanctify the people of God and I want to ask you for the prayers for Bishop Strickland because he needs it When he speaks like this, he's not making a lot of people outside the church or he's sometimes even inside the church happy.

[368] Oh, there's Bishop Strickland.

[369] Bishop Strickland, we just have a few minutes, a minute and a half before the break or before the end.

[370] I want to make sure you give us a blessing.

[371] But I want to give a plug also to your institute there in your Tyler, Texas.

[372] Can you tell us one more time about your institute?

[373] Nope, he just got cut off again.

[374] All right.

[375] I will have to hold off on that.

[376] I just want to implore you to pray for Bishop Strickland.

[377] He's a busy man. I know he's going to the Napa Institute later this month up in Northern California at a very important conference.

[378] I would ask you for your prayers for him because wherever he goes, people really do want to know more about Jesus and his church.

[379] And they know that when they asked Bishop Strickland a question, he's not going to give his personal opinion.

[380] He's going to give what the church teaches.

[381] and that's what I respect most about him here at Virgin Most Powerful Radio that fits our charism that's why the fit has fit so well and I want to thank Bishop Strickland and others who have been praying for us at Virgin Most Powerful Radio because we talk about truth and clarity we want the clarity of the faith so there's no ambiguity so you know what we Catholics believe because I think that's very attracting to non -Catholics and when we come to next week we'll have Bishop Strickland again to cover his tweets the catechism and if we get him back before the end he'll give us a blessing today but I also want to mention to go to the Bishop's website Tyler Diocese in Texas the diocese of Tyler Texas lots of great resources there and I hear people every day telling me they're moving to Tyler and hey God bless them they want to get through an area where the bishop is really strong in the faith, and I get it.

[382] All right, we have one minute left.

[383] I want to thank all of our listeners.

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[387] You'll get all kinds of material.

[388] Well, next week, Bishop Strickland will be back.

[389] God willing, may God richly bless you and your family.

[390] And as I say here at Virgin Most Powerful, full sheen ahead.

[391] And what I mean by that is the truth will set us free.

[392] God love you.

[393] And we'll see you next time.

[394] Don't forget to download all the past shows by going to dmpr .org.

[395] God love you.