14 Jun 22 – True Devotion to The Sacred Heart of Jesus

[0] Welcome to the Bishop Strickland Hour on Virgin Most Powerful radio.

[1] And I want to tell you to put your seatbelt on because every time I get Bishop Strickland in a studio to talk about the Catholic faith, it motivates me to have a greater love for Jesus.

[2] So Bishop Strickland, thanks again for joining us another hour here on your show.

[3] Thank you, Terry.

[4] This is the month of the Sacred Heart June, Bishop Strickland.

[5] And I just, I know that when we play this, it'll be the middle of June and we'll be having.

[6] great feasts in the month of June, like the Feast of Corpus Christi, Immaculate Heart of Mary, Sacred Heart of Jesus.

[7] So could you take a few minutes to share the benefits of having devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus?

[8] Oh, absolutely.

[9] And the great blessing this year, the Feast of the Sacred Heart and John the Baptist both fall on June 24th.

[10] And I think you know, St. John the Baptist is one who knew the sacred heart of Christ, the beautiful gospel passage in Luke where he leaps for joy just to be in the presence of the newly conceived son of God, just a, you know, a beautiful image.

[11] And Terry, I love to think about the reality that, you know, we're blessed with the heartbeat law here in Texas.

[12] Oh, yeah.

[13] of life.

[14] And Jesus, just like you and I, at certain point in his development, as a child, as God's son incarnate among us, a child in the womb, developing in Mary's womb, his heart began to beat.

[15] And I think that that is something really tremendous to reflect on.

[16] because the sacred heart of Christ is both his divine heart of love and his human heart, just like we have.

[17] I mean, he has, his sacred heart is both divine and human, just like he is.

[18] And many of the Eucharistic miracles have images or some connection to the sacred heart of Christ.

[19] So really, Terry, I think we've probably talked about it before in one of our conversations.

[20] And I think we've even shared that we had similar kind of childhood memories.

[21] But the sacred heart statue in my parents' bedroom on their prominent place, the only statue of that size in our home was the sacred heart of Jesus.

[22] And the interesting story was this statue was shipped.

[23] from Australia.

[24] My mother grew up.

[25] Amazing.

[26] And the hands came off in shipment, so they had to be repaired.

[27] But that image of the sacred heart, just as a little boy, seeing it there prominently on my parents' dresser in their bedroom, it really taught me, just like you've talked about your grandchildren.

[28] And how children, I mean, when Jesus is, let the children come to me yeah part of what he's reminding us of is that they naturally gravitate toward the divine toward the reality of god um and that's so the image of the sacred heart is very much woven into my experience as a child and then i go off to the seminary and it just continues to develop um right now as a bishop i you know i pray pretty much automatically, oh, sacred heart of Jesus, I place my trust in thee.

[29] I love it.

[30] Just repeat that prayer all the time and reflect on being drawn closer, knit.

[31] I like to use the words knit more deeply into the sacred heart of Christ.

[32] Because to know his sacred heart is to know the heart of love and to know what our lives are about.

[33] Yes, Jesus Christ.

[34] The Immaculate Heart of Mary, you know, corresponds with the Sacred Heart of Christ.

[35] This woman, protected from sin, chosen to be the mother of the son of God.

[36] I just wrote another reflection for our diocese and magazine, the Catholic East Texas, talking about Mary as a real mother Jesus in that beautiful image of her immaculate heart, protected from sin, they're very close, very intimately within, you know, inches of her immaculate heart, the sacred heart of the Son of God is developing in that human heart in his, the body of an infant boy as he develops.

[37] You know, there are just so many images that I think we need to reflect on.

[38] And really, it makes the presence of the Lord, for me, And I think for all of us, more real and more tangible to think about his sacred heart.

[39] I think about, you know, like I said, I love to think about and pray about his heart developing in his infant body, in the womb of Mary, his newborn heart as he's born in Bethlehem.

[40] And also, I think we need to think about his heart through all of those years.

[41] His sacred heart pouring himself out, trying to teach the truth, living the truth, being truth incarnate, going about the world, building the kingdom, proclaiming the kingdom, like we talk about in the luminous mysteries.

[42] And then I think a lot and pray a lot about the heart of Christ when it stops, when he dies on the cross.

[43] He breathes his last and his heart stops.

[44] I mean, that is a chilling moment in some ways.

[45] It's a moment full of awe and full of mystery.

[46] Yep.

[47] That here, the heart of the Son of God, the incarnate heart of the Son of God, truly stopped.

[48] He died.

[49] We know that he rose.

[50] So it didn't stay stopped.

[51] Right.

[52] But for that time, from dying on the cross, placed in the tomb, until he, resurrection.

[53] And I love to think about that also.

[54] I mean, Terry, I'm kind of laughing.

[55] Why is that?

[56] You asked me about the sacred art. It's like, okay, Bishop, we weren't going to talk about this the whole.

[57] No, I want to actually, actually, Bishop.

[58] I didn't know.

[59] We need to because devotion to the sacred heart is critical, in my humble opinion, to knowing Jesus Christ.

[60] Absolutely.

[61] And what I started to say is I reflect on.

[62] and pray about his heart stopping when he dies on the cross.

[63] Just before the soldier's lance pierces his chest and his heart and blood and water flows out as the image of the sacraments, the image of the church bursting forth from the Son of God, from his body.

[64] I mean, the mysteries there are just amazing, just the intersection of the divine and the human in, the son of God, Jesus Christ.

[65] And I love to think about, too, when he rose from the dead at that moment, his heart began to beat again.

[66] Yes.

[67] In the mystery of a risen body and say, well, does he really need a heart any longer?

[68] Well, he ate.

[69] So, I mean, I don't claim to fully understand what the risen body of Jesus Christ is.

[70] One of the greatest expositions on that or reflections is in, a book by Dr. Scott Hahn, where he talks about death and the reality of death.

[71] But he talked about the risen Lord and his resurrected body more extensively than I've read in other places.

[72] The great mystery of what is that resurrected body of Christ?

[73] Because we say in the profession of faith, the creed, we believe in the resurrection of the body as well.

[74] So there's something corporeal about life everlasting.

[75] And Christ models that as he models everything for us, his resurrected body could go through walls, but could also have breakfast.

[76] So how does that work?

[77] I don't claim to understand.

[78] So the mysteries of the sacred heart of Christ really are the mysteries of Christ himself.

[79] As we're talking about the heart of the man or the heart of the heart of the woman is the essence of who they are.

[80] His sacred heart is the essence of Christ, fully God and fully man. Wow.

[81] And you know, Bishop Strickland, when I was a child, we had our house and throne to the sacred heart.

[82] I was probably nine years old, and we signed a little document saying that we're dedicating the barber home to the sacred heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

[83] We had our local parish priests say mass at our home, and I'll never forget that.

[84] and it just made me do that when I started my own home, my own family.

[85] First thing we did, I mean, within two weeks of having a marriage coming back from our honeymoon, we enthroned our home to the sacred heart.

[86] And people can do that by just Googling, or going to the internet, and searching for enthronement of the sacred heart.

[87] And I really highly recommend families doing that.

[88] It's an outward sign that when people come into your home and you have, whether it's a statue or an image of the sacred heart, this is in our family we will serve the lord so i just want to recommend that well terry i'm glad you bring all that up because we've got to encourage individuals and families to really embrace more of that catholic culture yeah and to have an image of the sacred heart to consecrate your home and yourselves to the sacred heart of jesus you know people they all the catholics they just like these statues and images but the images are just reminders of the spiritual truth that we're called to live.

[89] And, you know, it's not just happenstance that the Catholic Church is the one that has this devotion to the sacred heart.

[90] Many of the people in our area are devoted to Jesus, which is wonderful.

[91] It's the same Jesus Christ.

[92] But the image of the sacred heart would be something they're not familiar with.

[93] And we've got to bring ourselves back to those cultural images that are all about the, supernatural truth that we're called to live in our Catholic faith and to celebrate and to embrace and to hold as the greatest gifts that we have.

[94] Sacred heart of Jesus, I place my trust in thee.

[95] Wow.

[96] Thanks Bishop Strickland for that ex -posé on a sacred heart of Jesus.

[97] Folks, stay with us.

[98] We'll be back in a moment here at Virgin Most Powerful Radio.

[99] Welcome back to the Bishop Strickland hour.

[100] Boy, I just inspired Bishop Strickland on your expose of the sacred heart.

[101] And boy, I would love to see every Catholic family in thrown their home to the sacred heart.

[102] The benefits are out of this world.

[103] Bishop Strickland, I'm going back to your tweets right now.

[104] On June 3rd, he got a tweet from the Archbishop Gustavo.

[105] I understand he's the Archbishop of San Antonio, one of the big cities of Texas.

[106] And this is in regards to all these shootings that are going on and mass shootings that we see all over the country.

[107] And Texas also has one with multiple children being shot by, you know, just 18 -year -old boy, a young man. And the tweet kind of struck me because I'm just giving you my opinion.

[108] I'm just a Second Amendment guy.

[109] I don't think the answer is taking guns away.

[110] I think that it's a family.

[111] I mean, every one of these guys that kill all these people have all kinds of problems in their family life.

[112] And let's bring dad back into the picture and mom.

[113] And, you know, it's kind of like George Bush said back in the 90s, it's the economy.

[114] No, no, no, no. It's the family.

[115] He says stupid, but I won't use that word, but the family, we've got to figure out if you get the family back in order so that these things won't happen.

[116] But here's his tweet.

[117] This is not you speaking.

[118] This is the Archbishop of San Antonio, Texas, Archbishop Gustavo.

[119] Guns are sacred.

[120] Lives in the womb are sacred.

[121] And what about the lives of the nine and ten -year -olds and many others, Catholics and people of goodwill will believe that every life from conception to natural death and all in between are sacred.

[122] Why leaders haven't stopped the carnage?

[123] Why?

[124] In other words, Congress is coming up with all kinds of answers, but it seems from this tweet, Bishop Strickland, that the Archbishop is saying, hey we're missing something well i agree um i think that as you were saying terry it comes down to the sanctity of family and the sanctity of life from conception to natural death and as as we've said many times um once life is not valued not held sacred at whatever stage then all All lives are vulnerable.

[125] And sadly, the breakdown of family and the violence, it all seems to be connected.

[126] The guns, I mean, I'm not a gun owner, and I don't, I mean, I'm not interested in being a gun owner.

[127] But we need the freedom and the ability to defend ourselves that that represents.

[128] and, you know, that's what's sacred.

[129] I mean, a piece of metal that is shaped into a gun is not sacred, but the sacred defense of individuals and of families is something that we need to hold sacred.

[130] And, you know, we've seen throughout human history when that ability of self -defense is taken away, yeah it it ultimately further erodes the sanctity of life because it allows those in power to to do what they want and that is always always needs to be checked by the individual every life is sacred yes and that is what we we have to uphold it's a it's a tragic time that we're in it's a there are many forces of evil at work, but we've got to get back to the basic principles of the sanctity of life and the sanctity of the family.

[131] People tend to discount.

[132] I mean, with all the different definitions of family, if it's not according to God's plan, then it's going to go off the rails, and that's what we're seeing.

[133] We need to remember that every life is sacred.

[134] And the more we can rebuild that basic foundation, then the more we can move away from violence and its manifestation with the tragic gun violence and all the ways that violence pervades our society.

[135] Well, you know, Jesse Romero, my partner, has been a cop for 20 -some years and Richard Ramirez is one of those serial killers who's in prison and Jesse actually had a chance to chat with this man because he worked the jails at the time and he made a comment saying to a cop Jesse said look you guys kill him in the womb that's life in the womb we just kill him outside the womb and I thought that was an interesting comment from a mass murderer saying that but there's another quote here from mother Teresa you know she talks about you know if you can kill a child can kill him.

[136] You can do anything.

[137] But the one that got me was when she said, a nation that kills its children is a nation that has lost its soul, its supernatural soul.

[138] And I thought, well, that's profound.

[139] And Bishop Strickland, it seems to me, this is my connection.

[140] I think mother was right with that if we're killing millions of babies in this country, and that's violence to the baby, obviously, it just seems that it would spill over to other forms of violence and I noticed the violence level as abortions were becoming legal our violence in this country went sky high and it's still sky high do you think that there is a connection through the killing of innocent life and violence killing people outside the womb do you think there's a connection there absolutely and sadly it's all violence I mean a child in the womb doesn't die except violently.

[141] I mean, it may be in different forms, and it may look cosmetically a little easier than some, but it's all violence.

[142] I mean, what is violence?

[143] It's disregard and abusive treatment of another person.

[144] And that's what's happening with abortion.

[145] So really, sadly, it is, for us, it's very clear.

[146] For many people, it's like, like they can't see it or don't want to see it or unwilling to see it.

[147] But we've all got to recognize that the violence, as that mass murderer said, it basically is violence toward those people in the womb begins to propagate violence in all sorts of different settings.

[148] And it's all tragic.

[149] It's all contrary to God.

[150] plan for humanity and it we've got to to wake up to it but as I've argued all along in people say oh you're just worried about unborn children and you know you're not worried about anything else actually I'm worried about everything and everything that is a threat to another person is something we need to be worried about we need to be concerned and doing what we can to to guard this sanctity of life from conception to natural death, and we've got many, many issues to work on.

[151] I mean, the drug culture, the gang culture, the treatment of people because of differences in their ethnicity or their language or whatever things divide us, it tends to propagate the violence.

[152] and even abortion is connected to all of that.

[153] So there's a tremendous amount of evil in the world, and we've got to, like we were talking about earlier, turn to the sacred heart of Christ.

[154] And listen to him.

[155] He says, if you love me, keep my commandments, live my word.

[156] And that's what we have to be challenged to do.

[157] Yeah.

[158] Bishop Strickland, you have a deacon there.

[159] Deacon Keith, I'm going to say his last name.

[160] He was Fortinier.

[161] Is that the way you're?

[162] Fortier.

[163] Fortier.

[164] I met him 25, 30 years ago, I read Stubanville, years and years ago.

[165] And I really was impressed with him as his mind and what he was willing to stand up for.

[166] And now I understand he's in your diocese.

[167] And you actually tweeted something he said, which I thought was rather, it could be taken the wrong way in the sense that he's being a little critical, but I think he's putting the criticism in the proper perspective that we need to do better than we're doing now on the side the church.

[168] He said, the feast, Pentecost Sunday, we celebrate today in the Catholic liturgical calendar points us to the power we need for the restoration.

[169] I love it.

[170] Of the weakened and wounded church.

[171] See, he's calling it for what it is right now.

[172] And the rescue of morality, collapsing culture.

[173] Boy, that's he nailed, what a good way to say in it.

[174] He said, we need a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

[175] We need, and this is his last statement here, we need the fire from heaven.

[176] What made you tweet that?

[177] I mean, I know he works in your diocese, but were you as impressed as I am?

[178] Yes, and he really, we talk all the time.

[179] I didn't realize that, okay.

[180] And that was sort of, I mean, the main thing I talked about on Pentecost Sunday was that image of, why did the Holy Spirit come on Pentecost in the form of tongues of fire?

[181] because we need to be on fire with the truth and to be strong.

[182] I mean, fire can be a great power of construction or destruction.

[183] And certainly with the Holy Spirit, it has the opportunity to build a better world, to invigorate humanity with the truth in ways that we desperately need.

[184] And the church is supposed to be.

[185] that on -fire community.

[186] That's what we read about in Acts of the Apostles.

[187] Those apostles, I use that image too.

[188] I mean, the disciples on the road to Amas, their hearts are burning.

[189] Yep.

[190] I mean, those images of fire are images of strength, of clarity, and of power that we need.

[191] there's too much of compromise and just sort of keeping things all sort of cool and lukewarm.

[192] Yeah.

[193] I mean, what does Christ say?

[194] If either be hot or cold, lukewarm, you know, you get spat out.

[195] That's right.

[196] And, you know, so I think that the imagery of the fire, to me, there's a very clear reason.

[197] the Holy Spirit also appears as a dove, but it's not as a dove at Pentecost.

[198] It's as tongues of fire.

[199] And a lot of people say, oh, violent imagery and everything, but the power of love is a burning power of truth and goodness and light and hope that we need in the world today.

[200] I want to give a plug to the St. Philip Institute.

[201] wrote an article for your newspaper but let's get a little plug for why people should go to the st philip institute bishop well it's it's all about what we're talking exactly promoting jesus christ promoting his sacred heart promoting that truth that we so desperately need that it's not a relativism world but it's a objective truth that has been revealed to us we can you know as we'll talk about as we get into the catechism, we can come to an understanding of the truth in more or less a natural way, basic truths that are important and foundational.

[202] But God has chosen to reveal his truth to us.

[203] That's what Catholicism is, is really from the Hebrew story, the people of Israel.

[204] that's the original revelation and then his son Jesus Christ well said Revelation incarnate you're listening to the Bishop Strickland Hour stay with us family we'll be right back welcome back to the Bishop Strickland Hour Bishop Strickland you quoted C .S. Lewis in a tweet he said human history is the long terrible story of man trying to find something other than God which will make him happy and I thought of something I emailed to you before the show that St. John Paul 2, the great, 43 years ago, said, and it just echoed something that you've been saying ever since I met you several years ago about everything we turn our whole lives over to Christ.

[205] And here's what the saint said back in 1979 in Poland.

[206] This is where the crowd said, we want God, we want God.

[207] The chance thundered towards heaven as the Polish people responded from the depths of their heart to a white -haired priest who stood before them.

[208] Though nearly denied a visit to his native land by the communist, St. Pope John Paul II would not allow the evil of communism to have the final say.

[209] As he celebrated Mass on the vigil of Pentecost back in 1979 before a crowd of 270 ,000 people at Victory Square in Warsaw, he reminded his people, and this is you, Bishop Strickland, And I want, I mean, it seems that you were ordained during his pontificate.

[210] And I don't, maybe he rubbed off on you because this sounds like you saying this.

[211] He reminded his people in all humanity that man is incapable of understanding himself fully without Christ.

[212] He cannot understand who he is, nor what his true dignity is, nor what his vocation is, nor what his final end is.

[213] He cannot understand any of this without Jesus Christ.

[214] Therefore, Christ cannot be kept out of the history of man in any part of the globe.

[215] That's what you've said.

[216] The exclusion of Christ from the history of man is an act against man. And the history of each person unfolds in Jesus Christ.

[217] In him, it becomes the history of salvation.

[218] I just wanted your reflection because it goes on.

[219] And it's basically a powerful presentation to the Polish people and to the world that unless Jesus Christ is the center of your life, you will not understand who you are, where you're going.

[220] And I just wanted to get your thoughts on that.

[221] Well, absolutely.

[222] And we have to remember historically, St. John Paul II, St. John Paul II, is saying that when communism is still the rule of, of Poland, his home country.

[223] We know that a few years later, that changed and the Berlin Wall fell and all of that changed.

[224] Sadly, we've lost ground again since then.

[225] But what he says is true for then, it was true.

[226] It's timeless truth.

[227] That's right.

[228] And that's what we need to remember.

[229] And there's a tendency, even within the church these days to say, well, you know, don't push Jesus on somebody.

[230] You know, it's it let people believe whatever they want.

[231] And that's simply not the mission of the church.

[232] Jesus said, go and baptize all nations in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

[233] And teach them this revealed truth that he is the incarnation of.

[234] So Pope St. John Paul II really you know, there and in so many ways throughout his pontificate, throughout his life.

[235] Yes.

[236] As a priest and a bishop and then a pope, he's constantly repeating that same message.

[237] And I think the fervor of Pope St. John Paul II, part of that flows from that being threatened.

[238] And he grew up in communism, which we can't forget that communism is.

[239] pushing atheism.

[240] Exactly what John Paul is saying can't happen.

[241] It's pushing Jesus Christ and any religion out of the public sphere and saying, you know, get rid of religion.

[242] That will free us.

[243] And what we, it seems like we just have to keep learning the same lesson as the human family, that the more we push God out of, the picture, the more we're at each other's throats.

[244] Yep.

[245] And the more that human rights and human values are diminished powerfully in our world.

[246] And certainly, I mean, through the edges, the church is imperfect.

[247] She's holy, but she's also made up of sinners.

[248] And, you know, that people argue against the church.

[249] against faith and against any belief in God.

[250] But Jesus Christ, if we look at him, he's a model of humility.

[251] This month of June, I've been promoting daily the humility in the sacred heart of Jesus Christ.

[252] And St. John Paul II is reminding us we have to have Jesus.

[253] As the people there in that setting, as you said, that historic moment, a vigil of Pentecost, where the people are chanting, we want God.

[254] And St. John Paul II is embracing that and saying, you want Jesus Christ.

[255] If you want God, you've got to look to Jesus Christ because Jesus Christ is God's son that he sent to set us free from sin and death.

[256] We've got to joyfully and vigorously continue to proclaim the message of the kingdom of God is that I sent my son so that you might know me and know the power of my spirit.

[257] We've just got to keep repeating that and calling people away from the darkness that John Paul knew very well.

[258] I mean, he had to be in the seminary, secret because it was outlawed in his time.

[259] And people in this country probably can't really imagine living in a world where living your faith openly was outlawed.

[260] But we better be aware we can lose that freedom that we still enjoy if we're complacent and if we're not strong in faith and joyfully sharing the truth of Jesus Christ.

[261] So as John, Paul says, and I think a main point that he says there is Jesus Christ is for humanity, not just for this group of people, not just for the poor, not just for the wealthy, not just for the talented, not just for the weak.

[262] It's for all of us.

[263] And that's what we have to keep proclaiming Jesus Christ is the savior of all humanity.

[264] Well said, in Bishop Strickland, I see something in the catechism that talks about Article 1 on the moral law, a paragraph 1950.

[265] We see even inside the church, we see some people using moral relativism to try to change eternal truths of morality.

[266] Okay.

[267] And you know what I'm talking about.

[268] And everybody does because we see what we call dissent from the moral teachings of the church.

[269] I'd like to read a paragraph that I think addresses what we're talking about when we say the moral law and how it's not your opinion, Bishop Strickland.

[270] Who cares about Bishop Strickland's opinion?

[271] I want to know what God's word says, what the church has always taught on a moral issue.

[272] So let me read this paragraph then if you could just share an explanation on that.

[273] paragraph 1950.

[274] The moral law is the work of divine wisdom.

[275] Wow.

[276] Its biblical meaning can be defined as fatherly instruction, God's pedagogy.

[277] It prescribes for man the ways, the rules of conduct that lead to the promised beatitude.

[278] It prescribes the ways of evil which turn away from God and his love.

[279] It is at once firm in its precepts, and in its promises, worthy of love.

[280] Can you break that paragraph down?

[281] Because I love the first statement that the moral law is the work of divine wisdom.

[282] Woo!

[283] That says where it's at.

[284] Well, what this paragraph 1950 really is getting at is the moral law is telling us who we are, how we're made, you know, how humanity works.

[285] and to deny that or to go contrary to it begins to erode the human individual and human society.

[286] I mean, what is society?

[287] It's made up of individuals.

[288] And when the individual loses that moral compass, the moral law, that each of us, I mean, that's what the laws are for.

[289] I mean, not just the moral law, but the laws that govern a nation, the laws that govern the laws that govern a community.

[290] It's to guide every individual.

[291] That's why, you know, what is crime?

[292] It's acting contrary to the laws, moral or the laws of the state that are there, if they're just laws, they're there to guide each individual to live in the community in peaceful and productive ways.

[293] So the moral law is essential in its God's love.

[294] I mean, as it ends here, it is at once firm in precepts and in its promises worthy of love.

[295] And that, you know, just that old paragraph, probably most of us, and certainly when we're younger, we see a dichotomy between law and love.

[296] But what this paragraph is reminding us, there's not a dichotomy there between the moral law that God has revealed to us and the fact that God loves us, every one of us, beyond what we can imagine and fully understand, that is where the moral law flows from.

[297] It's just like you.

[298] I refer very often to you as a father and a grandfather.

[299] because you love your children, because you love your grandchildren, you're going to have certain laws that you guide them to live by.

[300] God, the Father, is exactly the same way.

[301] Certainly, wiser than Terry.

[302] Amen.

[303] But basically the same principle.

[304] Out of love comes guidance and the law.

[305] And that's what is being so rejected in our time, but the rejecting doesn't make the law any less true.

[306] Well, said, wow, we're going to come back to another catechism paragraph here on the Bishop Strickland Hour on Virgin Most Power Radio.

[307] Stay with us, family.

[308] We'll be right back.

[309] Welcome back to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[310] We're going through the catechism of the Catholic Church.

[311] And for those who don't have a catechism, I really want to recommend that you get one for a couple of reasons.

[312] Number one reason, this is a summary of what the Catholic Church officially teaches on a number of topics, anything from A to Z. And sometimes I just have to say we're living in times where maybe even a priest or a bishop, someone high in the church might teach something and you go, well, you know what, I'm not sure if that's right.

[313] You can look it up in the catechism.

[314] As a matter of fact, Bishop Strickland says this all the time.

[315] If he was teaching something that wasn't according to the catechism, he would want me to say, excuse me, Bishop Strickland, but, you know, that doesn't square with this paragraph.

[316] And he's going to say, hey, if he's, okay, I stand corrected.

[317] I think that give anybody the benefit of the doubt, whether they're a priest, a bishop, or cardinal, whoever, that maybe they just didn't misunderstood something or you misunderstood them.

[318] Give them the benefit of the doubt.

[319] But always refer to the catechism of the Catholic Church, and I think you're safe.

[320] Bishop Strickland, this next paragraph, I love, half way through the paragraph, it says, all law finds its first and ultimate truth in the eternal law.

[321] See, that's so important when we're talking about morality.

[322] Here it comes.

[323] Paragraph 1951.

[324] Law is a rule of conduct enacted by competent authority for the sake of the common good.

[325] I love it.

[326] The moral law presupposes the rational order established among creatures for their good and to serve their final end by the power, wisdom, and goodness of the Creator.

[327] And this is the statement.

[328] I love this one.

[329] All law finds its first and ultimate truth in the eternal law.

[330] Well, I'm going to repeat that.

[331] All law finds its first and ultimate truth in eternal law.

[332] Law is declared and established by reason as a participation in the providence of the living God, creator and redeemer of all.

[333] Such an ordinance of reason is what one called law.

[334] Wow.

[335] Bishop Strickland, your thoughts.

[336] Well, it speaks of elements of our human reality that are critical to living and flourishing according to God's plan.

[337] We're governed by laws, whether we like it or not.

[338] And the higher level that this refers to, established among creatures for their good and to serve their final end.

[339] We are creatures and we really need to embrace that reality as a great joy of we are creatures created by the creator of all.

[340] There are a lot of creatures that are not governed by the moral law because they can't make moral choices.

[341] That's the unique being created in the image and likeness of God that is part of being human.

[342] We can make choices.

[343] And we can make choices that are ultimately contrary to our own good to the, to the, to, to, Contrary to our final end, as this says, the law is guiding us always to our final fulfillment.

[344] And what I think is important, Terry, is to remember that it's God's divine will that we share eternity with him.

[345] That's what his will is, ultimately.

[346] And so we are.

[347] the moral law is presented to us to guide us on that path, to make it clear to us how we need to live, what choices we need to make.

[348] We're sinners.

[349] We make the wrong choices.

[350] But we have the opportunity to always return to the power, wisdom, and goodness of the creator through the law.

[351] And it's something that we all need to read and ponder and be much more clear about than we have been in recent decades, really, of humanity.

[352] Not just within the church, but within all aspects of human society.

[353] It's like we've lost a lot of this.

[354] Sometimes for very specific agendas that people are wanting to pull us away from this.

[355] Yes.

[356] Other times it's just sort of a drift away from who we are, where we came from, what life is about, as it says, the goodness of the creator, and the final good good that we're created to establish among ourselves.

[357] You know, Bishop Strickland, I look at paragraph 1950.

[358] and I remember Pope Benedict the 16th in 2009 when Nancy Pelosi was visiting Rome, he called on natural law and divine law to try and educate her on the pro -life issue.

[359] She rejected it, but he made an attempt to tell her she's doing, endangering her whole soul.

[360] And I appreciate what Benedict did to Nancy Pelosi because she really understood clearly that her position has nothing to do with the Catholic Church.

[361] She's opposing that when it comes to the sacredness of life.

[362] And I love what Benedict did because everybody else would know that she's for -pro -a -killing -a -wabies and that that's not part of being a Catholic.

[363] As she says, she's a devout Catholic.

[364] It has nothing to do with being a devout Catholic.

[365] That's just the opposite.

[366] So I love it when, you know, authority gently but firmly says, no, I care for your soul.

[367] You need to know that you're leading yourself to hell if you want to promote your position the killing of innocent life.

[368] Now let me give you the paragraph and then let's get your take on it.

[369] Paragraph 1952 says there are different expressions of moral law.

[370] All of them interrelated.

[371] There's eternal law, a source in God of all of all law, natural law, revealed law, comprising the old law and the new law or law of the gospel finally civil and ecclesiastical laws can you explain all those laws wow well it's it sounds complicated but it really flows from the law of god and reminding ourselves like the other paragraph that the idea that we are creatures That's a basic element of understanding law.

[372] The divine creator has established in all creation.

[373] We've talked about before.

[374] There are lots of laws that guide reality, that guide creation.

[375] And then the moral laws tell us how we are called to live and navigate this creation.

[376] But there are laws of nature that we can, you know, try to manipulate or try to pretend aren't laws, but ultimately the laws of nature remind us, hopefully humble us to realize that we've got to look to God for all dimensions of law and to understand, you know, what our lives are about.

[377] Well, said, I want to just see if we can get paragraph 153, and before we have to go with a blessing too, it's the, says paragraph 1953, the moral law finds its fullness and its unity in Christ.

[378] Jesus Christ is the person of the way of perfection.

[379] He is the end of the law, for only he teaches and bestows the justice of God.

[380] Christ is the end of the law that everyone who has faith may be justified.

[381] So basically, Bishop Strickland, correct me if I'm wrong, but when I read that, I think about, wow, you don't have any authority to change this law.

[382] It's Jesus Christ's law.

[383] Isn't that you've been saying for years to me?

[384] Yeah.

[385] And that, I mean, the, the, the catechism is masterfully written.

[386] Yeah.

[387] Because this was compiled by church officials, a lot of theologians.

[388] But it was something that was done during the time of Pope St. John Paul II.

[389] And Terry, it harkens back to what we were talking about with that speech from John Paul the second.

[390] Basically, in a slightly different way, paragraph 1953 is saying the same thing.

[391] that he was saying to those people when he visited Poland on that vigil of Pentecost that it's all about Jesus Christ.

[392] Amen.

[393] And that's where we've got to be very strong and joyfully proclaim that Jesus Christ, who he is.

[394] He's Lord of all.

[395] He's the model of humanity.

[396] Christ is the end of the law that everyone who has faith must be judged.

[397] justified.

[398] He, you know, it, that's quoting Romans chapter 10.

[399] Yeah.

[400] But it, it really, it's all about Jesus Christ.

[401] Amen.

[402] He is the model of fulfillment of the law.

[403] And he guides us and going back to the, to his sacred heart.

[404] Yes.

[405] That's why as a bishop, I need to continue to cultivate that devotion to the sacred heart of Christ because that saves me from my sinfulness, from my arrogance, from all the ways that I can wander if I'm constantly seeking to go back to the sacred heart of Christ, then I'm constantly seeking to go back to fulfilling the law at its very root, and that is Jesus Christ.

[406] He is truth incarnate, and we can say he is law.

[407] incarnate.

[408] Wow.

[409] Breastiff Strickland, could you, amen to that.

[410] Could you give our listeners a blessing, please, before we have to go?

[411] Sure.

[412] Almighty God, we ask your blessing for everyone listening that we may continue to humbly and joyfully seek fulfillment of our lives in the law that you have laid before us, personified, incarnate in your Son, Jesus Christ.

[413] Lord, help us all to trust that the more we can know Christ, the more we can know your truth and your law.

[414] And the more we will be guided by your Holy Spirit, that is the Spirit of Father and Son, sent to the world to guide us, to be our advocate.

[415] We ask your blessing for all of us that we may joyfully embrace this living out of the law that is your Son.

[416] In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

[417] Thank you so much, Bishop Strickland.

[418] Remember, folks, you can go to the podcasts of the Bishop Strickland Hour on VMPR .org.

[419] As a matter of fact, you can get all the shows that we produce here at Virgin Most Powerful Radio.

[420] I pray that you'll pass these shows onto your friends and family because that's how the word gets spread by you, our listener.

[421] And I would also add to Bishop Strickland, blessing that I hope and pray that God will bless you.

[422] to enthrone the sacred heart of Jesus in your home.

[423] And that's going to be a blessing that will be out of this world.

[424] God love you and your family.

[425] We'll see again next week on Virgin Most Powerful Radio.

[426] God love you and your family.