23 Jul 24 – How To See God in Nature

[0] Welcome to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[1] My name is Terry Barber with Virgin Most Powerful radio.

[2] Bishop Strickland, welcome back from your trips across the pond.

[3] And I think you were in Wyoming.

[4] So I just want to say, it's nice to have you back on the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[5] Thanks, Terry.

[6] Good to be back.

[7] Glad to have you back.

[8] I feel like I was fighting to fight without you because every week we do these shows.

[9] And I always get inspiration.

[10] And I know our listeners do also.

[11] Bishop Strickland, we were talking about what everybody's talking about all week long.

[12] The apparent assassination attempt, apparent because the guy was a sniper trying to kill former President Trump out in Pennsylvania on Saturday.

[13] We all heard about it.

[14] I mean, I think I heard you say that you were just coming off an airplane and your phone just blew up.

[15] Can you give us your take on this?

[16] And also, I think, the spiritual aspect of how close.

[17] I mean, you see all these videos of our lady pushing the bullet away or St. Michael the Archangel and how the story about President Trump's son who gave a statue of St. Michael the Archangel to a priest.

[18] And that was given to President Trump to be in his bedroom.

[19] There's just so many connections on the spiritual realm.

[20] Can you give us your take on the shooting?

[21] Yeah, and I think, Terry, it's a reminder that as people of faith, we need to look at everything that happens as part of divine providence.

[22] Amen.

[23] We don't know that, but I think we need to look at things through the lens of faith and ask ourselves, what does this say about our faith?

[24] What does it encourage us?

[25] What does it challenge us?

[26] I mean, because as we know, we're on a journey to eternal life with God.

[27] That's what this life is about.

[28] So I think we need to look with eyes of faith at things like the assassination attempt.

[29] Thank God, it was only an attempt.

[30] We'd be in a very different place today if that sniper had been successful.

[31] There are many different levels.

[32] to look at this, frankly, and I believe they're all disturbing, to just soberly look at, for one thing, here we have a, the highest of high profile individuals, whether you love Donald Trump or you hate Donald Trump.

[33] I think everyone would agree.

[34] He is about as high profile as any human being in the country and even in the world.

[35] So the lapse in security, the confusion, the lack of clarity about that surrounds all this, I mean, you know, they're positives about it and they're real negatives.

[36] One of the positives is to recognize that there were a lot of people with cell phones recording stuff.

[37] Yes.

[38] So we have a lot of what you could say, unofficial.

[39] recordings of what people saw happen.

[40] That's right.

[41] And you see there people yelling, this man on the roof has a gun.

[42] I mean, you can hear that on some of the video.

[43] He's got a gun.

[44] And from what is coming out, it was either a plan that involved people that were, that's supposedly should be protecting this man, or it was grave incompetence.

[45] Yeah, either way, it's bad.

[46] Absolutely.

[47] I don't claim to know exactly what happened, but immediately there were, you know, people saying, oh, this is all just a setup, and this is all just Hollywood.

[48] A man died.

[49] Well, actually, the perpetrator, the shooter, the shooter was killed.

[50] Yes.

[51] We have to pray for him.

[52] Oh, big time.

[53] But we also especially pray for the man who died heroically protecting his family.

[54] What a great story that is.

[55] That were injured, including Donald Trump.

[56] I mean, from what I've read, you know, a millimeter or two, and he would be dead.

[57] Yeah.

[58] But even the injury to his ear was not insignificant.

[59] I mean, there's a lot of bleeding there, possible hearing.

[60] damage, but certainly far short of losing its life, which all the reports are showing us that that was just a matter of him happening to move his head at the right moment.

[61] And all of that, like I said, we have to look with eyes of faith.

[62] One thing that was very positive that I saw and that needs to be highlighted was the reaction of the crowd.

[63] I mean, certainly people were scared, but we didn't have a stampede.

[64] We didn't have people turning to violence.

[65] We didn't have people responding in that group, the MAGA group, the people supporting Donald Trump there at a rally in Pennsylvania.

[66] The rhetoric you hear from the left would have said, oh, these people are, something like this happens, these people are going to explode in violence and start ripping people's heads off.

[67] That's didn't happen at all and the converse of that is when other events have happened that's when people from the left do start burning cars and attacking and becoming violent so i think we need to pay attention to that as well um violence is never the answer we believe in jesus christ and he said love your enemies do good to those who hate you and that has to be the the ethic we strive to live by i mean it's it's easy to get angry it's easy to become fearful but again we need to pray for every soul involved whether it was the the shooter or the man who protected his family or the others from what i understand there were some other injuries and then of course Donald trump himself.

[68] And we need to pray for all and pray for the nation.

[69] One thing that's been pointed out to me, which is a positive, is people have turned to prayer.

[70] Yes.

[71] And some of the officials in Washington that you wouldn't hear mentioned God before have been talking about God.

[72] Yeah.

[73] And that's a positive thing, because our reality comes from God, our creator.

[74] And to ignore him and to deny him is something we need to, as a nation, we need to move away from.

[75] And hopefully this tragic event, I think it's having that result.

[76] And as I've prayed, that it's not just like so many things, quickly forgotten.

[77] But let's remember the important good lessons we need to learn from this.

[78] And everyone who is in high -profile positions, they need the best security we have because there are people out there on whatever side of the spectrum politically that are prone to turn to violence.

[79] We have to make it virtually impossible for them to attack anyone violently, whether it's Democrat or Republican.

[80] or independent, whoever they are, if they are high -profile seeking public office, they need to not be under a threat of losing their life for speaking what they believe the truth to be.

[81] And then it becomes what's incumbent on us as people who know the truth and know that Jesus Christ is truth incarnate.

[82] We have to do everything we can to influence these leaders.

[83] As we were talking about earlier, no platform politically is adequate, and some of them have devastating elements of supporting the anti -life agenda and supporting things that are not true.

[84] And so as Catholics, we should absolutely vote, but we should vote in an informed way.

[85] and I would urge people that have just sort of voted by tradition.

[86] The traditions are gone.

[87] They've fallen apart.

[88] Neither party is what it was even 10 years ago.

[89] And certainly when we were kids.

[90] And people need to get over the idea of it.

[91] Well, I've always voted this way.

[92] They need to look at the reality of what these parties and these candidates stand for and vote for the very best.

[93] None of them are perfect.

[94] All are flawed, but some have better standards than others in these platforms.

[95] I mean, the Republicans came out with a platform that is seriously flawed.

[96] I don't happen to believe it's as deeply flawed as the Democrats.

[97] We have to just acknowledge both are flawed.

[98] Neither party and neither candidate is our savior.

[99] That's only Jesus Christ.

[100] But because we know Jesus Christ is the Lord of truth, he's truth incarnate, we have a deep obligation to vote the best way we can and then to speak up and urge those who are elected to follow the truth as fully as they possibly can.

[101] Well said, we're going to take a quick break.

[102] And again, this is so important.

[103] If you don't vote at the election, I don't believe that you're doing your duty.

[104] We talked about this on the Terry and Jesse show with the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaching the responsibilities of Catholics when it comes to voting.

[105] And I think it's so important because if you don't vote, then you don't have a say in it.

[106] And to me, that's a sin of omission.

[107] I just say it to the way.

[108] I'm honest.

[109] Okay, when we come back, I'd forgotten that we didn't do the gospel.

[110] The good news of Jesus Christ, I do that too many times.

[111] shows you the humanity of this knucklehead, Terry Barber.

[112] So when we come back, we'll do the gospel, and we'll get more into the situations of the day here on the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[113] I'd like to say this every day, and I say it to myself, I'm too blessed to be stressed.

[114] I'm too anointed to be disappointed.

[115] And if hope was money, I'd be a billionaire, because my hope is in Jesus Christ.

[116] Stay with us, family.

[117] We'll be right back.

[118] And now back to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[119] Welcome back to the Bishop Strickland.

[120] hour indeed.

[121] We have the gospel for July 23rd.

[122] Terry, you just forget, I can't believe you do that.

[123] Oh, I can.

[124] It's Matthew chapter 12, verse 46 to 50.

[125] And I'd like to see if the big good bishop could read that gospel and give us some commentary on it, Bishop.

[126] Sure.

[127] A reading from the Holy Gospel according to Matthew.

[128] Glory to thee, O Lord.

[129] While Jesus was speaking to the crowds.

[130] His mother and his brothers appeared outside, wishing to speak with him.

[131] Someone told him, your mother and your brothers are standing outside, asking to speak with you.

[132] But he said and replied to the one who told him, who is my mother?

[133] Who are my brothers?

[134] And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, here are my mother and my brothers.

[135] For whoever does the will of my Heavenly Father is my brother and sister and mother, the gospel of the Lord.

[136] Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

[137] Well, Terry, I think this gospel, very simple, very human reality of Christ.

[138] He's there speaking to the crowds.

[139] His mother and brothers, and we would understand his family, not literal brothers, as we would know, but members of his family are there with his mother.

[140] and they'd like to speak to him.

[141] And Jesus says, who are my mother and my brothers?

[142] I suppose you could see, and certainly where I live, sometimes this gospel passage would be pointed to and say, see, Mary's not important.

[143] She's just a woman.

[144] But if we look a little more deeply, it emphasizes just how important the Virgin Mary is, because Jesus defines those who are closest to him, his family, his mother, brothers, and sister as whoever does the will of my heavenly father.

[145] That highlights the Blessed Virgin Mary, even beyond the fact that she's the biological mother of the son of God who bore him in her womb, her greatest status as queen of heaven and earth, which she is crowned as, is that she did the will of God, the father.

[146] And Jesus points to the same thing in the Garden of Githemeny.

[147] Thigh will be done.

[148] He asked if the chalice could pass him by.

[149] And so that definition of those closest to Jesus, family is as close as it gets.

[150] And basically, Jesus says, those who are my family are those who do the will of my Heavenly Father.

[151] And the beautiful element of that message is that makes it possible for all of us to answer our call to be part of the family of God, to be God's children, to be brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ.

[152] How do we do that by living God's will?

[153] So I think it beautifully reminds us, it's available to every human being.

[154] That's why we treasure our Catholic faith in our relationship with Jesus Christ, seeking to live God's will as we pray in the Our Father.

[155] We treasure all of that because through the Catholic faith, we know the will of God as in basic terms.

[156] I mean, it's hard to know.

[157] what's God's will for me or for you or for your family?

[158] But we're guided to know if we're living the commandments, if we're staying true to Christ, if when we fail in sin, which we all do, if we repent of our sins and humbly ask God's forgiveness, then we're doing all that we can to seek God's will.

[159] And to pray, as we do in the Our Father, that God's will is done on earth, as it is in heaven.

[160] So this gospel passage really highlights a great hope that we have.

[161] Really, I mean, it's huge, and it's greatly challenging, but all we have to do is live the will of the heavenly father, live God's will in our lives.

[162] And that makes us family, brothers and sisters of Christ, members of the household of God, members of as God's children.

[163] I mean, it really makes us who God created us to be when he created us in his image and likeness.

[164] So in this one passage from the gospel, we're reminded of really what it's all about in everything we have talked about and we'll talk about.

[165] If it's worthwhile, it's about finding God's will and living it.

[166] Well said, whenever I read this gospel, I always think of a book that I was a teenager in a Jesuit retreat house, gave me a book called Abandonment to Divine Providence by Pierre de Cassad.

[167] And I memorized so much of that book where it said, God's will is manifested moment by moment as long as we're staying faithful to our duties and our state and life.

[168] And what you just said is spot on, and I would recommend that book.

[169] I put it on cassette tape back in the 1980s.

[170] It's available on our Catholic Resource Center's website for a download if people want to get that.

[171] I also, today's a feast of St. Bridget, and I love St. Bridget because she was a mama of eight children.

[172] And I thought, I thought like, you know, think of all the holy women.

[173] I'm sure, well, we can talk a little bit about it, but while you were in Wyoming, I know you had families that were there with, you know, large families.

[174] And I can imagine you saw some moms there, mothers, who were just holy women, you know, raising their children in a wholesome environment.

[175] And I think of St. Bridget, because she was born back in 1303, mother of eight children, and she's a canonized saint of Sweden.

[176] She also founded a religious order and wrote many works on the ascetical and mystical life.

[177] So St. Bridgett pray for us.

[178] Bishop Strickland, did you have any thoughts about that, St. Because to me, as a lame person, I was always attracted that she was a mother of eight children.

[179] And I thought, wow, you see, moms are called to holiness, that universal call to holiness that were all called to.

[180] But she's a great model for moms.

[181] Wouldn't you agree?

[182] Yeah.

[183] And as you mentioned, in the trip to Wyoming, which was on a ranch with horse riding and fishing and all of that, there was the mother of eight children there.

[184] I think the smallest family that was there, I think, was five children.

[185] Wow.

[186] But there was a mother with eight children.

[187] Beautiful family.

[188] Every Sunday at 3 o 'clock, they welcome friends and family to pray a rosary together.

[189] I mean, they're truly joyfully Catholic.

[190] A beautiful thing was the littlest of the eight was probably about two years old, maybe, maybe not that old.

[191] But, I mean, she was full of life and active.

[192] And the beautiful thing was that we prayed a rosary with that family.

[193] And this little one was leading one of the decades.

[194] She had to get a little help with the Hail Mary's, but she was participating.

[195] I love it.

[196] And the oldest daughter, I think, is about 21, the youngest, about two.

[197] And all eight were there on.

[198] And to me, that was a testimony to the goodness of a family as well.

[199] Because, you know, I mean, I don't want to put other families down, but it's hard to get eight children all to participate in anything as busy as things get.

[200] And especially once they become adults, but this family, and I'm sure, and I know they recognized what a blessing it was to have all eight of their children there.

[201] with this experience.

[202] So, and as you mentioned, St. Bridget, I think it's just one more reminder, and we need to constantly be reminded, Terry, that the saints were real people like the people that live next door, like all of us.

[203] They were people who, going back to this gospel, who knew the call to live God's will and the fact that they're canonized saints basically says the Lord greeted them and said, well done, my good and faithful servant.

[204] I prayed a votive mass to St. Joseph this morning.

[205] You know, that was the communion antiphon for that votive mass of St. Joseph is, well done, my good and faithful servant.

[206] So that's what we all hope.

[207] to hear.

[208] And that's what St. Bridget heard as a Canaanine Saint, St. Joseph heard.

[209] And we pray that the mothers and fathers that are raising families now will hear the same thing because that's the salvation of souls.

[210] That's what it's all about.

[211] And you know, Bishop, well, I'm listening to you, I'm thinking the world and the church in some aspects are really bad right now.

[212] Okay, let's just be honest in both sections, public and even in the church.

[213] And to have families being focused on their life and their family and not getting distracted by these corruptions in the government and in the church, I think is commendable.

[214] And I think we all can keep that in mind when we hear about horrible things that are going on in the church or in the government is to keep our eyes fixed.

[215] Again, I have this crucifix on Jesus Christ.

[216] And that's what it sounds like you were experiencing with all the families out there in Wyoming.

[217] And can you make a little comment about the beauty of nature out there?

[218] Because I would imagine I've never been to Wyoming.

[219] I haven't been there.

[220] But I heard that there are sunsets.

[221] There's a lot of beauty, natural beauty out there.

[222] Is that correct?

[223] Oh, you're surrounded by it.

[224] And we were there very close to Yellowstone Park.

[225] Oh, yeah.

[226] And surrounded, in this valley, literally surrounded.

[227] by mountains.

[228] Some of them still have a little bit of snow.

[229] They said that the snow does through the summer completely melt off and then it snows again in the winter.

[230] But a beautiful setting.

[231] And that easily, I mean, I had mass there each day with the families.

[232] There was another priest on sabbatical there as well.

[233] And, you know, in one of the masses, I talked to.

[234] about the beauty of nature and how important it is, when we're in nature, we're close up to the creation that God has given us, when we're in the caught in a, in the middle of a city or even in our homes, where we're surrounded by man -made things, which are good.

[235] I mean, if we remember that every man -made thing ultimately comes from God indirectly because God's the one that's given us the ability to create all this technology and to build beautiful buildings and to do all that we do comes from God because we come from God.

[236] But it's good to go right directly to the source in nature.

[237] And one of the reflections that was shared by a family, another family, family with eight kids.

[238] As I think about, there were two families, the sponsoring family as eight kids as well.

[239] I held your thought.

[240] I want to hear that story about the family when we come back from the break here on the Bishop Strickland Hour, talking about meeting holy families out in the wilderness.

[241] Stay with us.

[242] We'll be right back.

[243] And now back to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[244] Welcome back.

[245] Indeed.

[246] Bishop Strickland was talking about.

[247] his little vacation out in Wyoming with a bunch of good Catholic families with large families.

[248] Bishop Strickland, go ahead and tell us what happened.

[249] Well, as I was mentioning, there were two families with eight kids and one of the host family that owns the ranch.

[250] The dad was talking about the mountains that surround us there.

[251] And just how the mountains remind us of suffering.

[252] I thought it was very interesting, especially from a dad of eight kids, because, you know, they know struggle and suffering and challenges anyone who's raising children, you're going to face some of that.

[253] But he talked about the mountains and how, you know, the weather, the challenges that come with just how a mountain is formed.

[254] I mean, there's stresses there.

[255] And I think it was a good way to think about, we think of the mountains as so stable and unchanging, but it's a reminder of the frailty of creation and how it's a treasure that we need to be aware of.

[256] And also, it's a good metaphor for the sufferings that we endure.

[257] We are like the mountains shaped by the good and the bad, the joys and the sorrows, the sufferings that we endure.

[258] And I guess the main thing that this, the main point this father made that I think was important was a reminder that suffering is built into our lives.

[259] Jesus Christ tells us that, as we've said before, he says, deny yourself, which involves some suffering.

[260] Take up your cross, which involves more suffering, and follow him.

[261] That's the solution to the suffering.

[262] That's the meaning that all the suffering is for.

[263] Because certainly if we follow Jesus Christ, we're going to enter into his passion with him, but we're also going to share in his resurrection.

[264] And I think, I guess that prompts me to remember, and all of us need to need to remember what we talk about in Catholic terms is final perseverance.

[265] Final perseverance is about following Christ through it all.

[266] And there's a tendency always in our humanity.

[267] And we see it happen very often.

[268] People will follow Christ in terms of living their Catholic faith when things are going well and when the church seems solid and things are great, but there's a tendency, and we're seeing it.

[269] People abandoning the church because they're disheartened, they're scandalized, they're angry, they're confused, whatever the reasons.

[270] But I think we need to emphasize, Terry, that there is no reason to walk away from the church.

[271] because, yeah, they're flaws, their disappointments.

[272] I mean, the leadership of the church today is deeply flawed, as we were talking about the political parties of the nation are deeply flawed.

[273] I mean, we can, you know, it's sad to say, but I think we just have to acknowledge.

[274] The Republican Party is flawed, the Democrat Party is flawed, and the Catholic Church is flawed.

[275] And every iteration of Christianity, it's not like, oh, the Catholic church is flawed, but we're going to find a church without flaws somewhere else.

[276] If we go somewhere else, we're leaving the true church, the church that Christ established, which we can't do, and we plead for people not to leave the church.

[277] But really, I think it's basically the same thing with the flaws that we see in the church, like we were talking.

[278] tell you about regarding the political world, we just do the best we can to emphasize where there is truth, where there is beauty, where there is goodness, and that's the best way to not kind of paper over the flaws or in a corrupt way cover them up, but to acknowledge the flaws and look for the healing ointment that is the precious blood.

[279] of Christ.

[280] I mean, we're still in July, the month of the precious blood, and we need to know the power of the blood of the Son of God that has been shed for us and that comes to us at every holy mass. We need to be strengthened by all of that truth, and not thwarted by the corruption in government, by the corruption in the church, by the corruption in business.

[281] by the corruption in Hollywood, by the corruption in the medical world.

[282] We see it everywhere.

[283] But we can't throw up our hands and try to leave the world.

[284] We've got to stay and stand and sometimes fight for the truth.

[285] I'm saying amen, because I was leading right into the precious blood of Christ.

[286] That was my next question, because this is the month of July, because you tweeted something about that.

[287] You said, as we continue this month of the precious blood of Christ, let us resolve to honor him by avoiding sin.

[288] Thank you for calling that word that we don't hear enough of and seeking to grow in virtue.

[289] The blasphemies against our Lord are overwhelming.

[290] Let us counter them with heroic love and commitment to his teaching.

[291] May we seek an atonement and reparation for every drop of his precious blood.

[292] You know, Bishop Strickland, when I read that, This is what I keep saying.

[293] I say it a little different, but I say, Our Lady of Fatima said souls are going to hell because no one is there to pray and make reparation.

[294] We see all this chaos going on.

[295] Don't run from it.

[296] Embrace the cross.

[297] It's heavy to see our church suffer.

[298] Yes, I don't like seeing things I can bring up that are just so bad.

[299] I'm embarrassed to speak about these things.

[300] But they're going on.

[301] And so what's our response?

[302] What you just said, the precious blood of Christ, let's resolve to honor him by avoiding sin live holy lives that's the response don't run your thoughts well absolutely terry and we need to i think there's a lot of corruption that needs to be exposed because i guess the analogy that i would use it's like an infection yep if you have an infection in your body.

[303] And sometimes there are chronic infections that are there for even for years.

[304] Yes.

[305] But that is harming you.

[306] Right.

[307] And to ignore it, to be unaware of it, is not the way of health.

[308] I think that, you know, and sadly, you have to acknowledge, and we're all prone to it.

[309] I don't want to point fingers at anyone.

[310] But any time we come, compromise the truth because we're, oh, we don't want to cause scandal or we don't want to harm people's faith.

[311] I think what we've learned, what we hopefully have learned in the past several decades of the church is, I mean, I think of the sexual abuse scandal, but there are other scandals as well.

[312] But when we attempt to cover it up, basically to lie, Then we do more harm.

[313] For one thing, I mean, I think it's a topic that I see a lot.

[314] And it was there in our face at Fatima and Lords.

[315] You know, the church there in Lourdes.

[316] Oh, Rubnik.

[317] facade has the Rupnikart.

[318] I saw that.

[319] It needs to be removed.

[320] Amen.

[321] And I mean, they had this commission to study what, what should be done.

[322] Forget commissions.

[323] We need to just live the truth.

[324] I mean, going back to the gospel that we just reflected on, living God's will.

[325] And I don't, you know, we don't need to judge or condemn Father Rupnik or anyone else.

[326] But the best way we can love him is to challenge him to turn from evil and to live the truth.

[327] Really, honestly, I believe, that a real conversion for Father Rupnik would be for him to wake up to all that he's done.

[328] He's an artist.

[329] He can use that talent in other ways.

[330] Wouldn't it be marvelous for him to publicly say, I repent of the sins that I have been alleged to have committed and many, people have witnessed to, for him to say, I want to remove this art and I want to take a different path and create something new.

[331] Wow.

[332] You know, I would love to see that.

[333] I want to hold my breath.

[334] Pray for it.

[335] But that's what we need to do is because like, you know, we're saying, when there's corruption, and all of us are sinners.

[336] I mean, to say, okay, the only artist we can have are sinless artists.

[337] Then we're not going to have any art. But corruption comes when you don't seek the will of God, when you don't seek conversion, when you don't acknowledge the sin.

[338] I need to acknowledge my sin.

[339] You need to acknowledge your sin.

[340] Men, we need humbly confess, be forgiven, washed in the precious blood of Christ and start over seeking to live virtuously.

[341] That's where all of us are called to.

[342] Yep.

[343] From Pope to the most recently baptized Catholic.

[344] And, you know, we can't ignore that in any attempts to cover it up or to pretend that, you know, this is okay.

[345] It's just not.

[346] It's as simple as, is it the will of God that we're seeking to live?

[347] live and that's what we need to challenge each other to in the most it's the greatest love we can offer is to encourage people i mean you've done it with your own kids and your grandkids when they're doing something that is contrary to the truth clearly contrary to god's will i mean sometimes in discernment it's hard to know which way to go but if we know we must avoid anything that is false and embrace everything that is true, that will help us a long way toward living the will of God.

[348] Well said, I hear the music, so we've got another break coming.

[349] You're listening to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[350] We've been chatting about his time out for the summer break.

[351] And when we come back, I'd like to go to some of his tweets that he said.

[352] I already covered the one on the precious blood, but we also want to cover one about Cardinal Burke about the Sacred Heart and the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

[353] Stay with us, family.

[354] We'll be back after a quick time.

[355] And now back to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[356] Welcome back, indeed.

[357] Look who's behind me. They just brought Bishop Sheen in.

[358] Another image of a little cardboard image of Fulton Sheen with his full regalia.

[359] This is a picture I got out of a book on the Seven Sacraments by Sheen.

[360] And so we're going to be taking that to promote.

[361] his cause as a layman.

[362] And I think that, you know, why not?

[363] So Bishop Strickland, what do you think of us lay people promoting Bishop Strickland, Bishop, Bishop Fulton Sheen, and doing what we can to promote his cause, even though right now it's on pause, don't you think we have a right?

[364] I mean, as a bishop, don't you encourage us to continue to promote the cause of Fulton Sheen?

[365] absolutely um i was just reading today about um a little boy that was healed yeah with there was attributed to prayers to fulton shee yeah um so absolutely yeah um you know we're we're the body of christ the church is certainly the hierarchy has significant authority and responsibilities but every faithful Catholic can, can and should promote those causes for saints where they've witnessed and they know the sanctity of an individual.

[366] Amen.

[367] That happens a lot.

[368] Yep.

[369] Well, let's get back to your tweets.

[370] One of your tweets regarding Cardinal Raymond Burke, who's one of my favorite cardinals, this is a handful of them I love because they are speaking the truth and charity.

[371] Cardinal Burke said, today we have a terrible situation.

[372] in Germany with this so -called senidal way.

[373] And in general, this whole notion of senidality, I've spoken about it on this on many occasions, that no one can define what senedality is.

[374] It isn't a term that has ever existed in the history of the church, but it seems to be the kind of placeholder in which all kinds of ideologies can enter in and lead to the division of the church.

[375] before you respond to that, I saw synodality as synonymous with the spirit of Vatican 2, meaning it's whatever you think it is.

[376] It's ambiguous, and that's the problem.

[377] Now, that's just a layman who's got, you know, a Ph .D. in common sense.

[378] But I wanted to ask you, you actually thank the Cardinal for saying it so succinctly.

[379] What made you speak out like that?

[380] Well, because as you said, I have great respect for Cardinal Burke.

[381] I thank him for speaking clearly on the truth when there's so much confusion.

[382] And as he points out, even the word synodality, it's sort of the expression of confusion.

[383] Everything that's confusing in the church, synodality sort of covers that it's like an umbrella term for confusion.

[384] We don't need confusion.

[385] We need the clarity that Jesus Christ brings.

[386] And what I keep repeating to people is they ask me, what are we supposed to do in this confusing time?

[387] Look to Christ.

[388] Look to what he did.

[389] Look to what he said.

[390] Yes.

[391] If he had been confusing, If he had talked about things like synodality, they very likely wouldn't have crucified him.

[392] He was clear and spoke plainly and, you know, stepped on toes of leadership, the religious and the state leadership of his time was uncomfortable with him.

[393] And that discomfort reached the point where they said, we got to get rid of.

[394] this Jesus of Nazareth.

[395] So Jesus wasn't and isn't confusing.

[396] Yeah.

[397] And that's, so I applaud Cardinal Burke for making it very clear.

[398] And once again, here we are going through a hot summer.

[399] And more and more, we're going to hear about this synodon synodality once again in October, all of October.

[400] to me it's a waste of time, it's a waste of resources, and it's worse than that when it doesn't bring clarity, but brings more confusion.

[401] And that seems to be where it's headed once again.

[402] Well, one of the things that just came out while you were gone in Wyoming was some of the bishops, Archbishop John Wester of Santa Fe, New Mexico, was very vocal in his criticism of the U .S. conflict conference of bishops for making cuts to the catholic campaign for human development this is an organization and you've spoken on this criticism about it you've i think you even said it at the bishops conference we have to look into this gentleman so i don't know if you saw the article but these some of these bishops are upset that uh they're cutting this money that was funding political things that were illegal and even immoral with some abortion organizations and I just wanted to get your take.

[403] I assume that you are very excited and happy that they're finally cutting this funding.

[404] Is that a fair statement?

[405] Absolutely.

[406] And I would have hoped, I mean, the campaign for human development needs to be cleaned up.

[407] Amen.

[408] And if it can't be cleaned up, it needs to be shut down.

[409] They had some votes.

[410] Of course, I don't go to the meetings now, but from what I understand, that was a topic.

[411] And I'll quote one of the bishops.

[412] I won't use his name, but he was bold enough to say, and I saw it quoted in an article, he was bold enough to say that some of the bishops were liars.

[413] And that's pretty strong.

[414] You think?

[415] But he was strong enough to say that.

[416] And it was involved in the conversations, the debates they were having about how to handle this.

[417] campaign for human development.

[418] It's another aspect of the corruption.

[419] And bishops just need to be honest, if they don't believe that promoting contraception and promoting abortion, sometimes in Africa or foreign, I don't care where it is on the planet, but if they don't believe that's wrong, they need to just clearly say, I don't believe this.

[420] I don't believe what the church teaches.

[421] I mean, we've had, you know, Archbishop Vigano excommunicated because of things that he said, well, you know, if that can happen, then the clarity needs to be there.

[422] Do we believe, as I said, you know, six years ago on the floor of the bishop's conference.

[423] And the question still hangs out there very heavy.

[424] Do we believe or not?

[425] do we believe what Jesus says in today's gospel that we've talked about, that ultimately to be part of the family of God is to do the will of the Father and not try to twist that according to our own will.

[426] Do we believe that?

[427] Too many.

[428] In the highest ranking offices of the church, by their actions, by their fruit, you shall know them.

[429] Jesus says, too.

[430] And the fruit that we're saying is, no, they don't believe.

[431] And they're upset that, you know, there's no funding for sinful things.

[432] Terrible.

[433] How tragic is that?

[434] How corrupt is that?

[435] We've got to keep speaking.

[436] And, you know, I am glad that the issues of the campaign for human development.

[437] I'm sure part of it was that it was financially a wreck.

[438] Yes.

[439] And so they had to address it.

[440] Yeah.

[441] But maybe that's God's way of saying you can, you can ignore my will for a while, but ultimately there will be a day of reckoning.

[442] When you're treating people and teaching people false messages disguised as charity disguised as human development it's just wrong and it needs to be exposed it needs to be cleaned up the Catholic faithful deserve a church leadership that they can trust and that they know when they give their hard -earned dollars it's going to be used to promote Catholic faith and not to promote corrupt practices.

[443] I'll just add one step further, and I've said this to some bishops, I won't use their names over the years, but when I've run into bishops who have compromised on the church teaching, I ask them, if you don't believe it, Bishop, do us a favor, step down.

[444] And I mean that.

[445] Now, I'm not in management, I'm in sales, but I said, I would be happy.

[446] I'd respect you even more.

[447] More I would respect if you say, you know what, I just don't believe this.

[448] And so I can't, you know, play, I'm going to move on.

[449] I'm going to step down and say, I just can't keep playing this game.

[450] I need to move on.

[451] And I just wish they would do that because I think that would be a service to the church.

[452] I'm not condemning them.

[453] I'm just saying, if you don't believe, you shouldn't be a position to lead.

[454] That's all.

[455] All right.

[456] Am I over the top?

[457] I would call that.

[458] I'm just saying, to me, it's common sense.

[459] If you don't believe, then step down.

[460] Get somebody in that will believe in these perennial teachings.

[461] All right, it's time for the end of the show.

[462] I want to give a plug to your YouTube channel.

[463] I know you're back in the saddle.

[464] I've been watching some of them.

[465] Bishop Strickland, how can people get to your YouTube channel?

[466] Just go to YouTube and look up Bishop Joseph Strickland.

[467] Pretty difficult.

[468] Yeah.

[469] And they're each one's about six or seven minutes, just talking about one of them, I think it's out this week talking about the Eucharistic Congress, which hopefully is a very good thing, but hopefully is just the beginning of this Eucharistic revival that we talk about, because it needs to happen in all kinds of ways.

[470] And I think, as you've often said, not just a Eucharistic revival, but a penance, a confession revival to get people to have both a confession and the Eucharist.

[471] They go together.

[472] And I was just with my nephew who's visiting from Colorado, Dr. Barber.

[473] And we were talking just about that.

[474] He said, yeah, whatever happened to a confession, you know, you can see five, six people and they're the same people every Saturday night that go to confession and then you've got thousands of people going to Holy Communion.

[475] Well, I said, Dr. Barber, I have no Ph .D., but it makes sense to me that we need to get that back in place because we need to understand what sin does to the soul.

[476] So there you have it.

[477] We're going to take a break here for the show.

[478] And then tomorrow we'll have another show with Bishop Strickland.

[479] I want to remind everybody that all these shows are on our website, vmpr .org.

[480] That way you can download any of the shows that we have, not just Bishop Strickland, but all the other shows that we have.

[481] Bishop Strickland, I'd like to ask if you could give us your blessing to all of our radio listeners and our podcast people.

[482] Almighty God, we ask your blessing for all of us as we continue to seek to live your will, all at Virgin Most Powerful Radio and all the listeners that we may continue joyfully seeking to live in the way of your son, to share his light with others.

[483] And we ask this in the name of the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit.

[484] Amen.

[485] Thank you so much, folks, for listening.

[486] Don't forget.

[487] You can download any of these shows, share them with your friends.

[488] Our YouTube channel is Full Sheen Ahead.

[489] Many of the show's sound bites are on that channel.

[490] Go to YouTube, type in Full Sheen Ahead and enjoy those clips.

[491] Thanks again for joining us.

[492] Tomorrow, same time, same station.

[493] We'll be again with the Bishop Shickman Hour.

[494] God, Richly, bless you and your family.