13 Dec 22 – The Meaning of Divine Revelation

[0] Welcome to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[1] Terry Barber here.

[2] And we are going to be talking to the good bishop about Jesus Christ and his bride to church.

[3] And today's theme is what does the church really teach about divine revelation?

[4] What does that mean?

[5] Because what we're going to be doing for the grand new people that are listening, we take the bishop's tweets, but also we're going to be delving into what I call a very simple catechism.

[6] It's published by the St. Philip Institute in the Diocese of Tyler, Texas.

[7] It's called The Way of Christ, the Students' Book.

[8] And I assume people can purchase that book if they go online to purchase it.

[9] And I think you're going to want to when we start going through this catechism.

[10] And the reason I think this is so beautiful, folks, is because not only does it give succinct answers to questions about the faith, it gives you references in the big catechism, the big fifth catechism with paragraphs so that you can actually go deeper into it if you want.

[11] So Bishop Strickman, thanks for taking the time to teach us about Jesus.

[12] Thank you, Terry.

[13] Before we start on the catechism, I got a couple tweets that you sent out.

[14] And I got to tell you, Cardinal Sirrah is a hero for us lay people.

[15] I assume, you know, from what you're doing, that he inspires you as a bishop.

[16] Is that a fair statement?

[17] Absolutely.

[18] That's why I share because he's just hitting it out of the park over and over again.

[19] Basic divine revelation, the truth, the glorious truth of the church.

[20] So we need that voice.

[21] We need many voices.

[22] Sadly, their voice is contradicting that.

[23] And we need the voice of truth that is everlasting coming from God.

[24] Well, that's what you tweeted.

[25] more wisdom from Cardinal Surrah, let us support God's plan.

[26] He said this, and he said, the family is the natural preparation for communion with God.

[27] That is why the devil attacks it.

[28] Well, that's kind of what we heard, Mother, excuse me, St. Lucy, one of the children of Fatima, said that the last battle will be with the family.

[29] So Cardinal Soraw seems to be spot on.

[30] And, you know, St. John Paul too said in his letter, back in 1993, the way the family goes is the way the culture goes.

[31] And I've got to tell you, Bishop Strickland, your St. Philip Institute has a lot of resources for Catholic families and even people who are thinking about Catholic.

[32] Is that one of the charisms of the St. Philip Institute to help Catholic families and just families in general fall deep in love with Jesus?

[33] Absolutely.

[34] To form disciples and the best place to form a disciple.

[35] is in a family.

[36] And that's true for all of us, even in our ongoing journey.

[37] We need something similar to a family that supports us, challenges us, nurtures us.

[38] That's what the parish family should be.

[39] Even for those people who are beyond growing up in the household of their family, the parish family should be supporting it as well.

[40] I have a tweet here about another brother bishop.

[41] You said, and thank you, Bishop Daly.

[42] We must teach the truth in the face of this evil and destructive agenda.

[43] The human body is a sacred temple of the Holy Spirit and must be treated with respect when it come to God and we're called back to God.

[44] What are you referring to this bishop?

[45] What did he do?

[46] Well, thankfully, Bishop Daly is in charge of, of Catholic education from the USCB, that committee on Catholic education.

[47] And he's been very clear, I guess he took that office a year ago, but he's been very clear that we have to say no to the gender confusions and what too many public schools are pushing and other even religious schools are cooperating with the mutilation of children and trying to say, well, a child can decide to change their gender, sometimes even as they get a little older, not even with the consent of their parents.

[48] And thankfully, Bishop Daley is pushing back against that.

[49] And going from divine revelation, that God has revealed that we're created in the image and likeness of God, male and female he's created us, that is sacred truth.

[50] And thankfully, Bishop Daly is speaking up and saying, no, we can't allow these agendas that are evil and totally uprooted from anything in divine revelation, any even natural law that should govern us.

[51] So I'm glad Bishop Daly is speaking up.

[52] I am too.

[53] If it's the same Bishop Daly from Spokane, was he in Spokane one time?

[54] Yeah.

[55] Well, he and my wife went to school at USF, and I've had many dinners with him.

[56] I wasn't sure because when he was the auxiliary bishop of San Francisco, he and Father Fesio were close.

[57] So I can, yeah, yeah, he's a good man. He comes to all the pro -life meetings.

[58] He's a solid guy.

[59] Mr. Strickland, there's a news that came out today, and I'm really proud of the bishop's conference.

[60] And I'll tell you why, they're making some strong moves.

[61] They're campaign for human development.

[62] It comes out every November.

[63] Supposedly, it's to support needy people, but unfortunately, over the years, it's been funding things that are undermining Catholic moral teachings.

[64] And this has been something I've known for 30 years.

[65] And, you know, the Lepanto Institute came out, and we had them on the air last week, pointing out these problems.

[66] And what's happened is the Bishops Conference, Secretary, said, no, we're not going to fund them anymore.

[67] now that this has been brought up.

[68] My point to you, Bishop Strickland, is I'm wondering, it seems to me that lay people are going out and saying to our, you know, leaders, you know, bishops, wait a minute, this isn't right.

[69] This group is funding, you know, pro -abortion.

[70] I would think we're doing bishops a favor when we do the groundwork to research these things.

[71] You verify them, and you can make that judgment.

[72] I mean, does that make sense to you?

[73] Or does that offend the hierarchy when we lay people call you out?

[74] on something that say, wait a minute, we're funding this.

[75] This is wrong.

[76] No, we need that advocacy for the truth.

[77] I mean, as we've said many times, Terry, the truth simplifies.

[78] The truth clarifies.

[79] The truth doesn't change.

[80] And these things that have wandered off into the agendas that are false and harmful to people, we need people like Michael Hitchborn.

[81] I'm so glad that the USCB is beginning to respond to that truth.

[82] Because for too long, it's just been dismissed as fake news.

[83] It's not fake news.

[84] And we need to address those things and bring things to light.

[85] And certainly every bishop is very busy.

[86] It's our church.

[87] It's not the bishop's church and let them run it.

[88] It's your church.

[89] The laity are a whole lot more people than even the priest and the bishops and the deacons put together.

[90] We need the laity to be engaged in their faith.

[91] And when they see something wrong, we need them to speak up because, you know, hopefully giving the benefit of a doubt, maybe bishops aren't aware of some of these things.

[92] But once they're made aware, they need to be acted on.

[93] The bishops have the authority to do that, and we need to exercise that authority with prudence and with compassion.

[94] The campaign for human development has great potential to do good things, but promoting contraception or sort of turning a blind eye to abortion and third, anywhere, anywhere in the world is simply wrong.

[95] And I hope that more and more moment.

[96] builds at the USCB to address these things in whatever committee, whatever group, whatever organization we're supporting, I'm on the board of Cross Catholic, and I've told them very clearly.

[97] And there have been some investigations and things have been taken care of in the past.

[98] As far as I understand, Cross Catholic only promotes true.

[99] good gospel -based assistance to people around the world.

[100] It's a huge and very significant organization.

[101] But the minute cross -Catholic gets involved in something that is contradictory to the faith, we need to call attention.

[102] I know the good people there don't want to do that.

[103] And that's what we need to do with any Catholic organization that is working for the U .S. bishops.

[104] They have to be clearly staying away from the political and helping people.

[105] As Jesus says, when you help the poor, you're really helping him.

[106] He is the body of Christ.

[107] Well, said, well, I want to get to another tweet, two more tweets and then get into the catechism the way of christ but i just i just will be a quick comment and then i'm going to ask you to talk a little bit about hillary clinton because she said something that i was just like i'm like really what planet are you on i mean i need to pray more for you because your comment about abortion i mean i just blew me away but we'll get to that after the other side of the break but quickly bishop or cardinal mueller said something that i just It's just, it was like, and this is news?

[108] It seems to me that it should be just straightforward.

[109] He says, we cannot make a compromise with the LGBT lunacy.

[110] There's no possible compromise.

[111] That's absolutely wrong and absolutely false, absolutely dangerous for the people.

[112] You know, he doesn't sound like a cardinal to me. You know what he sounds like Joe Sixpack saying, hey, wait a minute, we can't compromise.

[113] This is wrong.

[114] Adultery is wrong.

[115] We can't say it's legitimate because.

[116] circumstances that it's it's against the commandments and so uh what made you tweet that because when i saw that i thought i thought you was some you know just local guys saying this is this is cardinal muller the prefect for the doctor of the faith at one time he just calls it up the fact that he has to say that i'm cardinal mueller Welcome back to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[117] My name is Terry Barber.

[118] I kind of asked the good Bishop Strickland a question about Cardinal Mueller.

[119] And because Cardinal Mueller just, I mean, spoke so plainly about something that's obvious to most people that we can't compromise on this LGBT stuff that says that homosexuality is okay, that it's absolutely wrong.

[120] It's absolutely false.

[121] Absolutely dangerous for people.

[122] Dangerous to your soul.

[123] But what I find ironic about it, Bishop Strickland, that's the kind of language you use.

[124] You know, and to hear Bishop say yes, I almost sense a frustration that, come on, do I have to say this?

[125] Your thoughts?

[126] Well, exactly.

[127] That's why I shared that message from Cardinal Mueller, because we need to be that plain spoken.

[128] We need to be clear, like we say always, with clarity and charity, but it needs to be plain spoken so that everyone fully understands.

[129] No, we condemn no one.

[130] That is not of Jesus Christ.

[131] But we do condemn the sins that we all fall into.

[132] We all have evil that can grab a hold of us.

[133] And it's our obligation to tell people there's no compromise.

[134] You can't sin a little.

[135] I mean, if it's sin, we need to reject it.

[136] And that is basically what the Cardinal is saying.

[137] And with this whole LGBTQ agenda, it's harmful to people because it's teaching them things that aren't true.

[138] What is lasting is the truth.

[139] truth lasts for all eternity and we if we want to be with God we have to embrace that truth the challenge is all of us there's something of sinfulness and evil in each of our lives and part of this advent journey is about penitentially turning from sin and living the gospel just like st john the baptist says in the gospel well said this was true i have a hard time even saying what Hillary calls Clinton said, so I'll let you clarify what she said and why you tweet it back, because this is a woman that needs a lot of prayer.

[140] She seems to be, and I excuse the language, hell -bent on killing unborn babies.

[141] It's like it's her mission.

[142] And she made a comment on PBS.

[143] And so could you share that with us and give us your response, please?

[144] Well, she made a lot of comments that are wrong and that are contrary to the truth.

[145] But what really prompted me was comparing pro -life Christians to the Taliban, to evil forces that are wanting to destroy people.

[146] That is just false, and it's rhetoric that doesn't need to be allowed.

[147] I mean, certainly we believe in free speech, but that's hate speech toward pro -life Christians, and it doesn't need to continue.

[148] You know, I said what I said about Hillary, acknowledging that, I mean, she's a daughter of God, has always tried to remember, and I always have to remind myself.

[149] but she's promoting an evil agenda in that sense calling her evil is for her own good because she needs to wake up she needs to understand what the truth is and it's it's our obligation we who have been blessed with the truth whoever rejects it is rejected by the people in the time of Jesus Christ they crucified him because they didn't want his truth but we like the martyrs and all the saints through the ages, we have an obligation to share that truth.

[150] It's a glorious, joyful, life -giving, fulfilling beyond anything this world can offer us.

[151] And Hillary Clinton, and sadly, she represents a lot of people.

[152] She doesn't hold office today.

[153] She's a former presidential candidate, a former, former, former.

[154] She is not presently serving.

[155] And that's what I said.

[156] She needs to be silenced, and people say, oh, he's, you know, he's saying to attack her.

[157] Absolutely not.

[158] We don't do that as Christians, but that message that is false doesn't need to be allowed to just continue.

[159] Sure, she has the right of free speech, but I have the right of free speech as well.

[160] And there is something called hate speech.

[161] If she was saying something like that about certain other groups, they be all over.

[162] But we Christians, especially conservative pro -life Christians, which to me is the only kind of Christian we can be.

[163] We have to be pro -life because life comes from God.

[164] That's part of what God is revealed to us.

[165] So out of all charity, I said something similar, maybe said it a little better to this person that is, I forget the name, but promoting all the, you know, saying that we need to promote this transgender agenda and to, you know, make sure that children have, you know, hormone blockers and all sorts of diabolical stuff that is contrary to our created nature that comes from God.

[166] He made us male and female.

[167] And so I said, this has to be opposed as well.

[168] And all of that agenda, we're too docile sometimes.

[169] Of course, we don't attack anyone.

[170] And every person we have to remember is precious to God.

[171] God loves us more than we can imagine.

[172] And that's true for Hillary Clinton.

[173] That's true for every person that may hold values that are totally contrary to what God is revealed to us.

[174] But we have an obligation to call them back into the life, call them back to the truth, with compassion and with the real mercy, the real charity that is love in action, calling people to the truth.

[175] That's the greatest charity.

[176] So the greatest charity toward Hillary Clinton is to call her to the truth and to recognize that if we don't do that, that is the greatest act of hatred and harm to her is to say, oh, go ahead and ignore the truth, keep saying things that are false.

[177] But a lot of people hold her in esteem.

[178] And we need to let them know that she is saying things that are simply not true.

[179] Really what really lit the fuse with me was because she's influential.

[180] If she were to change this rhetoric, it would have an effect on a lot of people.

[181] And we need to call it out when they say, oh, well, a woman has a right to do with her body what she wants.

[182] True.

[183] But the baby in her womb is not her body.

[184] That's scientifically, biologically founded on science.

[185] That's what God is revealed to us.

[186] There's another child of God there.

[187] and we need to call it out anytime we hear that, we need to say, no, that isn't the truth.

[188] Yes, a woman, the integrity of the woman's body is something that she absolutely has a right and a responsibility to protect and to care for.

[189] We're supposed to be stewards of our bodies, reminding ourselves that our life and our bodies or a gift from God.

[190] We come from God, and we need to respect that.

[191] Every man, every woman needs to respect that.

[192] But to disrespect the child in the womb, who has their own God -given body and life, that is diabolical and it's evil, and we've got to continue to call it out every time someone says that because there are too many people who don't think deeply and just say, oh, well, somebody like Hillary Clinton said this, so I guess it's the truth.

[193] No, it's not.

[194] And we need to remind people for their own sake, for Hillary Clinton's sake, and for the sake of the unborn child.

[195] Absolutely, we have to take care of the woman who is carrying that child, but we've got to remember when you see a woman carrying a child in her womb, you're seeing two people.

[196] One is very visible.

[197] The other is hidden in the womb.

[198] But there are two people there.

[199] And that's the mindset.

[200] We need to just accept and acknowledge and call it out when people say, oh, it's just a clump of cells or it's something that the woman has a right to eliminate.

[201] That's simply not the truth.

[202] You know, Mr. Shrigan, thank you for speaking up for the unborn because you know what they don't have anybody to speak up they can't speak up for themselves and i really think when you know when when john paul two i think i've said this before on the air i repeat this but st john paul too was was being criticized by some people in the church saying you seem to always be talking about the unborn and can't you lay off a little bit on that and his response was when they stopped killing the unborn babies to the number of that we have worldwide, you won't hear from me. But until that happens, I'm going to continue to speak out because, as he said, they don't have a voice.

[203] And I think that that's what's nice about what we can do here with our show.

[204] We can have that voice because let's think about it.

[205] The most merciless thing we can do to somebody is let them wallow in their sin.

[206] So actually Bishop Strickman, you're admonishing the sinner.

[207] And what I mean by the objectively, what Hillary Clinton is saying is contrary to God's law.

[208] That's it.

[209] And so if we let her go and say, well, you know, who cares?

[210] That tells me that you don't care about her and her eternal salvation.

[211] And we should be caring about everyone, whether it's President Clinton, whoever the president is, high officials, makes no difference.

[212] Everybody is a child of God.

[213] You've said that over and over again.

[214] So I appreciate you calling this out because, like, you said, a lot of people just say, oh, Hillary Clinton said it.

[215] Oh, it must be true.

[216] Well, no. And I think that's important.

[217] What I'd like to do when we come back from the break is take the chapter one of the catechism called The Way of Christ.

[218] I got the copy of the students book.

[219] I think that the St. Philip Institute of Catechitis and Evangelization published this back in 18, 2018.

[220] I'd like to give it more exposure because it's so basic on catechises.

[221] I think Bishop Strickland, this is something critical because I keep hearing people saying to me, well, I didn't know that.

[222] I didn't know that.

[223] It's like, really?

[224] I got to shake my head.

[225] I said, well, where did you get, where did you go to get your catechises?

[226] Well, I didn't.

[227] I mean, you know, I just kind of got pushed through and went, well, tell me about your catechia.

[228] we had pizza, we had drinks and soda, and that's what we did.

[229] We helped people out, but we never got into doctrine.

[230] It seems to me that church has a great need to teach the fundamentals of the faith, and I think that that's what we're going to do when we come back, chapter one on the divine revelation.

[231] Before we break, Mr. Strickland, is this something that the St. Paul, not a thought, I think St .Code Institute, it took years to develop.

[232] I mean, is this something that was a big project that took a long time to put together?

[233] Well, it took a while.

[234] The Institute started in 2017, and we had had some people that worked on the basics of this even prior to the Institute existing.

[235] But it was refined and worked on and had some great people develop this.

[236] Great.

[237] When we come back, we're going to get right into the way of Christ.

[238] Catechism.

[239] Welcome back to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[240] We're going to talk about divine revelation.

[241] What I like about this Bishop Strickland is it's kind of a question -answer format.

[242] And I grew up with the Baltimore Catechism.

[243] And I've got to tell you, it worked for me. I mean, as a young man, I love having question -answer.

[244] I learned so much.

[245] So we can go through this, and I'd like to get your commentary, because the way this is set up is the question, and we're going to respond with the answer.

[246] And then I like what the way they set the stage saying that God fully revealed himself in Jesus Christ in order to be in relationship with us.

[247] You individually, Jesus Christ established its Catholic Church to preserve, pass down, and interpret his teaching.

[248] Jesus' teachings are passed down through, sacred scripture and sacred tradition that paragraph right there in itself says more i would hope that all catholics know that bishop strickland but when i brought this up to people it's new to them this is i'm assuming even our listeners right now i know thousands of people 5 000 people every every week listen to on life site news on your show and i bet you a good percentage of them haven't heard that taught to them and if it was it was probably decades ago so here's the first question what is divine revelation and it says divine revelation is god's act of revealing both himself and his plan of salvation god revealed himself in order to have an intimate relationship with us he revealed himself to the jews over time and then by sending his son jesus christ Jesus fully revealed God and God's plan for our salvation.

[249] Can I just jump in and say that if God stopped thinking about Bishop Strickland or Terry Barber, we cease to exist.

[250] And I think that paragraph says a lot about what we're trying to relate, that we need that relationship with Christ, but your thoughts on that.

[251] Yeah, Terry, I think it captures well, you know, the basic belief.

[252] And as it asks, what is divine revelation?

[253] I would add the question, who is divine revelation?

[254] Because, and as we go through this, just these two pages that cover this first section, section one in the book, the way of Christ, it goes on to remind us that Jesus Christ is the fullness of revelation.

[255] And the beauty of that is he is the word of God incarnate, as we've talked about before.

[256] And the catechism explicitly says that scripture is Jesus because he is the word.

[257] He is the incarnate word.

[258] And the great mystery of that.

[259] So just John 316 comes to mind.

[260] God's soul of the world that he gave us his only begotten son.

[261] That's Jesus Christ.

[262] So revelation begins, as this text tells us, with what we call the Old Testament, the Hebrew scriptures, from the book of Genesis all the way through to Maccabees at the very end of the Old Testament.

[263] All of those books are setting the stage among the people of Israel for the coming of Jesus, the Messiah.

[264] The Gospels tell the story of that Messiah.

[265] So Jesus is the person of divine revelation, and the scriptures tell us the story of divine revelation.

[266] One of the, and what I'd like to do as we go through these things, Terry, is to think about the pressing issues, you might say, or the real controversies that are around us.

[267] And I would point people, they don't have the text yet, but I hope they can order it through St .Philip Institute .org.

[268] Just, you can go to the website and the way of Christ.

[269] It's not expensive.

[270] And it's a great basic text, even for those who are well versed in the faith, it's a great simple review to just remind ourselves of the richness of our faith.

[271] And there's a section, Find Out More, going to the Catechism.

[272] You referred to it already.

[273] And there's one that says, can tradition change?

[274] That's a critical question.

[275] And there are two paragraphs of the Catechism that it refers to, paragraph 83 and paragraph 174.

[276] And those paragraphs, I mean, we could really go to them, but even I'd encourage people, if you have questions, go to those paragraphs of the catechism.

[277] And what they're basically going to remind us is the truth doesn't change.

[278] Yes, we can understand it more deeply in a very real sense.

[279] That's what the history of divine revelation is.

[280] The people of Israel came to know the one true God.

[281] And then with Jesus, his son coming to fulfill revelation, revelation, revelation in the person of the incarnate son of God, the Jewish people were presented the fullness of that truth of who God is, one God and three persons, the Trinity.

[282] God is one.

[283] So that truth of, I think that's a great illustration of what we always have to remember, how the dynamic of Revelation works.

[284] The truth that God is one didn't change.

[285] It didn't disappear.

[286] it didn't get updated and sort of erased.

[287] We went deeper into understanding.

[288] God is one.

[289] But in that oneness is the mystery of three persons in the one God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

[290] That's revealed through the Son, and the Father and the Son, ultimately sending the Holy Spirit in giving birth to the church.

[291] That's how we always have to approach Revelation.

[292] The truth, the truth doesn't change.

[293] Yes, we and our limited human understanding can come to understand it more deeply.

[294] And the great revelation will happen.

[295] We pray that we will be in the beatific vision.

[296] That's where God wants us to be with Him for all eternity.

[297] And then talk about, I mean, And what occurs to me, Terry, is for, and many of the Jewish people, the people of Israel, the chosen people, rejected this deeper revelation because they said, no, God is one.

[298] How can he claim to be God?

[299] And there was all sorts of controversy, even in the time of Christ.

[300] And ultimately, that was the crime that the Jewish people cooperated with its crucifixion for.

[301] It wasn't just the Jewish people.

[302] It was the Roman authorities as well.

[303] So you could say the whole world ganged up on the Son of God to eliminate him, to get rid of him.

[304] They didn't want what he was revealing, the beautiful and glorious truth that he was revealing.

[305] But it was still the truth.

[306] And his resurrection showed that they tried to get rid of him, but they couldn't.

[307] What we have to remember is that progression of revelation, we can't claim to fully know God.

[308] The scriptures make it very clear that God is a mystery that is beyond us.

[309] The Hebrews, the people of Israel had that tradition that you couldn't see God or it would destroy you.

[310] And we still believe that.

[311] To see the fullness of God, to see God in all of his glory, we couldn't take it.

[312] And even saying that it would destroy us is really not quite the point.

[313] It's just we couldn't exist in the presence of the fullness of God.

[314] It would just literally blow our minds.

[315] So when Jesus comes, we can understand.

[316] I mean, the church, through her growth and wisdom, has helped us to understand.

[317] that we should have compassion for the people of Israel.

[318] We should pray for the chosen people.

[319] They remain the chosen people in the mystery of God's plan, but they couldn't embrace this revelation of truth in the person of Jesus Christ.

[320] But we have to remember in these paragraphs, even without reading them, I know that they give us that basic truth.

[321] No, the truth doesn't change.

[322] Yes, we can know it more deeply, more profoundly.

[323] And ultimately, all the truth we know in the Bible, I love, I've quoted before, what St. Thomas Aquinas says, one of the greatest theologians in the church's history.

[324] And he said everything he had written was straw compared to the truth that he was writing about, the truth of God.

[325] We always have to approach divine revelation in that context.

[326] Well, sad, and I really enjoy the dialogue here, question, answer, and again, I appreciate you saying, let's apply this to today's modern man, and where many of us in the church are making a mistake, because if this divine revelation doesn't change, that it's at the death of the last apostle that was it, then we should be reassured that what Jesus taught will not change just because of 2 ,000 years later.

[327] So here's the next question.

[328] How are the teaching of Jesus Christ passed down to us?

[329] Answer.

[330] They are passed down to us under the action of the Holy Spirit through sacred scripture, sacred tradition, the Magisterium.

[331] The Holy Spirit inspired sacred scripture.

[332] It preserves sacred tradition, assist the leaders of the church in interpreting scripture and tradition.

[333] What a quick summary.

[334] And I know that the catacism is like four or five verses that talk about the leaders of the church.

[335] What a responsibility for leaders of the church.

[336] Wow.

[337] Yeah, absolutely.

[338] That's why one of the promises we make as bishops is that guard the deposit of faith.

[339] That's exactly what is talking about.

[340] What is the truth that has been revealed to us.

[341] And this lines it out very well.

[342] Sacred scripture, sacred tradition, and the Magisterium, the teachings of the popes and the bishops through the centuries that help us to understand the truth that's been revealed more.

[343] profoundly and more deeply, interpreting what it means.

[344] And that is essential for all of us to have a deeper understanding of and to continue to hold to that treasure of the deposit of faith, the sacred tradition that teaches us who we are and who God is.

[345] Well, so we're going to take a quick break now and then we'll continue on divine revelation what does the catholic church teach stay with us family we'll be right back we'll come back to the bishop strickland hour feel like this is a bible study and we're going through what the catholic church teaches on basic teachings on divine revelation and what a great thing to do maybe you can't get to a bible study at your parish but this basic material here should help you understand some basics on the bible One of the questions that come up next, and they kind of just follow like the old Baltimore Catechism, who are the leaders of the church?

[346] Question mark.

[347] Jesus is the invisible leader of the church.

[348] The church's visible leaders are the Pope, the bishops, in union with him.

[349] Jesus first established the apostles as leaders who gave their authority to bishops.

[350] They ordained as their successors.

[351] the unbreakable line from the apostles to the present -day bishops and priest is called, and I love this term, an apostolic succession.

[352] We're an apostolic church, yeah.

[353] Jesus also made the apostle Peter, the leader of the whole church, when he gave him a symbolic sign of the keys to the kingdom of heaven.

[354] We can reference Matthew chapter 16.

[355] When he said, Peter, you are Peter on this rock, I will build my church.

[356] The successors of St. Peter, the Pope, is the highest visible authority of the church.

[357] And it says the last paragraph, the Pope and bishops in union with him, make up the Magisterium.

[358] The church is teaching office.

[359] The Magisterium is the authoritative interpreter of divine revelation.

[360] Because Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to guide the Pope and those bishops in union with him, The Magisterium exercises its teaching office to the highest degree when it gives an infallible teaching on faith and morals, which it hardly ever has done in 2 ,000 years.

[361] But Bishop Strickland, your thoughts.

[362] Well, I think in the present time, what's critical about that paragraph three is Jesus is the invisible leader of the church.

[363] the church's visible leaders of the Pope and the bishops and union with him.

[364] It all starts with Jesus, and that's what we have to remember.

[365] Anything that is contradictory to what Jesus has revealed through his church, through the ages, we have to say no. And that is where there's a lot of confusion now because there are just a lot of voices that are contradicting what Jesus said.

[366] And, you know, we've got to just keep going back to Jesus is the really the invisible leader of the church.

[367] And we've got to look to him and to everything that has gone before.

[368] And like we talked about, the truth doesn't change.

[369] It develops and deepens.

[370] And I think that what I've said to people very often is just like, I mean, you know, both of us, are men in our 60s, we've gotten older, but we're the same person.

[371] A person, really, there's an essence of a person.

[372] Certainly, we grow and we learn and hopefully get more mature and less sinful and all of those things, but we're the same person that we were as 10 -year -old boys when we were kids.

[373] That's the reality of the person.

[374] That's the beauty of the person, that we are unique sons of God as Jesus Christ is, the unique divine son of God.

[375] But when we put the truth into the context that it's talking about a person, it's talking about knowing Jesus Christ, I find that easier to be reminded that, yes, I mean, as people we develop, we grow, but we don't change into.

[376] something else.

[377] We don't change drastically the basic truth of who we are.

[378] And neither is Jesus Christ.

[379] Yeah.

[380] Mr. Strickland, we're going to go to the next question, but I just want to reassure him with that statement said that Jesus is the invisible leader of the church.

[381] The pope is the vigor of Christ.

[382] And I know this hurts people for me to say this.

[383] He's not the superior of Christ.

[384] And what I mean by that is he also, has to answer to Jesus Christ's revelation, just like you as a bishop, because he made a promise to confirm us in our faith.

[385] I mention that because I pray my rosary each night and my intention for the Holy Father is to confirm us in our faith because that is his job description from Scripture.

[386] And I just wanted to mention that.

[387] Before we go to the last one, I think we can get this last one hand.

[388] Well, maybe not.

[389] Maybe we'll try.

[390] When is the Magisterium infallible?

[391] The Magisterium speaks infallible in two main ways.

[392] The first way is an ecumenical council, a meeting of the Pope and the bishops from around the world.

[393] There have been only 21 ex -demeanical counsel in 2 ,000 years of history and circuits.

[394] The second way is when the Pope teaches infallibly from the whole of church, or they call it ex -cathadio, cathedral from the chair of Peter.

[395] The probability does not mean the Pope or the vicious will be great examples of holiness, nor that they will pick the winning sports team.

[396] Yes, that was like it.

[397] They are only infallible on issues of faith and moral.

[398] That's important.

[399] Then for the Magisterium is the final authority for interpreting scripture and tradition, which it does by formulating creed to proclaiming doctors and declaring dog was.

[400] Those are important points.

[401] Your thoughts.

[402] Yeah, absolutely.

[403] And I think part of what people have to understand is the infallibility is that is a gravely important step.

[404] And as you said, there have been very few ex -cathodros statements in the history of the church.

[405] Infallibility deals with faith and morals.

[406] And so we have to understand like this says, I mean, sort of in a humorous way.

[407] It's not about picking the right sports team or about the personal holiness of a pope or bishop.

[408] Certainly, again, looking to Christ as Bishop of Rome or Bishop of Tyler, we're both challenged to turn from sin and live the gospel of Jesus Christ more fully.

[409] But it's always Christ is the reference point.

[410] And to go back to for the church as she is in.

[411] the year 2022 and the 21st century, we look through all the magisterial teachings, all the scriptures, everything that's happened until now.

[412] That's what the Pope and the bishops have to look to.

[413] It's that deposit of faith that we've talked about.

[414] The deposit of faith captures the truth that God has revealed to us through his son, Jesus Christ.

[415] That's why a bishop promises to guard it because we're guarding the very lifeblood of the church in those truths that God revealed to us.

[416] This chapter is called divine revelation.

[417] And that's what we're called to guard because we need that truth in order to be freed from sin and death and to share in the everlasting life that God offers us through his son.

[418] Bishop Strickland, you know, I'm listening to you.

[419] And I'm saying to myself, I've got to believe what you're doing here in teaching the fundamentals of the faith is probably one of the most important things a bishop could be doing.

[420] And I mean, I understand you have administration and fundraising and doing all.

[421] There's a lot of hats you wear.

[422] But I don't think there's anything more fundamental than teaching people how to fall in love with Jesus through Revelation.

[423] Absolutely.

[424] Do you agree with that?

[425] Absolutely.

[426] I mean, you can really see the church.

[427] I'm a simple guy, and I like simple concepts.

[428] But the job of a bishop, the job of any priest, really the job of every disciple, every baptized Christian, is to introduce our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, more fully to every person we encounter.

[429] That means we have to know him more fully.

[430] And, you know, as a sinner, as someone who's not that, I mean, I'm not any super intellect, I've got to keep working at knowing Jesus more and more deeply.

[431] Certainly, grace builds on nature.

[432] So when we study and we read the scriptures and we pray and we do all those things we're supposed to, then the grace of God is there to help us in ways that we could never accomplish on our own.

[433] But really, the essence of the church is sharing the message of Jesus, sharing the person of Jesus Christ.

[434] So that's the work that all of us are called to do.

[435] It's called catechesis and evangelization.

[436] That's what the St. Philip Institute is striving to do.

[437] And that's what this text is about.

[438] And it's a truth that is joyful.

[439] It frees us from the burdens of this world.

[440] It reminds us of who we are.

[441] It really is a glorious message that more and more people in our modern world need to know about.

[442] The more people know about it, the more people, we're still at free will.

[443] People don't have to embrace it.

[444] And not everyone will.

[445] But we have an obligation to share it and to know that many people have embraced it and will embrace it.

[446] Wow, bless it.

[447] Amen to that.

[448] How about a blessing for our audience, please?

[449] Almighty God, we ask your blessing for Terry Barber and all involved with Virgin Most Powerful Radio.

[450] May we continue to share your truth with joy and with vigor, always ready to speak against falsehood and darkness and evil, but always doing so with compassion for those who are on the wrong path and seeking always the light that your son brings to our lives personally and to the church and to all the world.

[451] We ask your blessing, Lord, for all of us, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

[452] Amen.

[453] Mr. Frickel, I'm going to recommend our listeners pick up a copy of the Way of Christ's student book by going to the St. Philip Institute's website.

[454] It's not expensive.

[455] And we're going to be going through this in the months ahead.

[456] So you can just follow along.

[457] And I'm going to give you one guarantee.

[458] And I'll give you your money back.

[459] I will personally, whatever that book costs, if you get it, and you don't like it, and you think, oh, this was bad, call me, I'll send you a check.

[460] I'll give you the money back because I'm so convinced that when you study your faith, your faith grows.

[461] And that's something that is so important.

[462] And I also want to recommend that you go to vmpr .org to check out more of the podcasts from Bishop Strickland's Outwork.

[463] We're getting more and more people picking up the show and wanting to listen.

[464] You can do that at vmpr .org.

[465] Matter of fact, you can pick up all the shows that we have on our website.

[466] And I want to thank the good bishop that he's taking the time to teach the faith, which is, you know, like I said earlier, I think it's the most important thing a bishop can do is to teach governed and sanctify.

[467] That's what our catechism says.

[468] So I'm happy to do that with Bishop Strickland here at Virgin Most Powerful Radio.

[469] Bishop Strickland, also, I want to encourage people to go to your website at the diocese and give a donation, the year -end donation, because we're at the end of the year, for their seminarians, for any work that they're doing in the diocese of Strickland, because I think it's important to support diocese that are out evangelizing.

[470] And I think that's Tyler Diocese.

[471] May God richly bless all of you and your family, and we'll see you, please, God, next time on the Bishop Strickland Hour on Virgin Most Power Radio.

[472] God.