11 Jun 24 – Bishop Strickland’s Letter on the Sacred Heart of Jesus

[0] Welcome to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

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

[2] Every week, a couple times a week, we have a show with Bishop Strickland to encourage us to fall deep in love with Jesus Christ.

[3] And this show is like the authors, but I really like the topic of today's show, which is the sacred heart of Jesus.

[4] This is the month of the sacred heart and the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

[5] And I love the letter that you just sent out called A Sacred Pause.

[6] But first of all, I want to say, welcome Bishop Strickland.

[7] It's nice to have you back in the saddle.

[8] Thank you.

[9] Thank you.

[10] And it'll be good to reflect on the gospel as we celebrate St. Barnabas, one of the apostles.

[11] That's right.

[12] Well, that's what we're going to do.

[13] And then I want to let people know we're going to get the tweets.

[14] from Bishop Strickland and a couple other articles that he can comment on.

[15] So if you could be so good to read the gospel of today and give us the commentary.

[16] Sure.

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

[18] Glory to you, O Lord.

[19] Jesus said to his disciples, You are the salt of the earth, but if salt loses its taste, with what can it be seasoned?

[20] It is no longer good for anything, but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.

[21] You are the light of the world.

[22] A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden, nor do they light a lamp and then put it under a bushel basket.

[23] It is set on a lamp stand, where it gives light to all in the house.

[24] Just so, your light must shine before others that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly father.

[25] The gospel of the Lord.

[26] Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

[27] This gospel passage seems very timely and very important as we celebrate one of the apostles, St. Barnabas, one of the first of the successors of the apostles as he joins the group and is not one of the original 12, but becomes, is called an apostle because apostle means witness.

[28] And I think that's a great reminder to me and to all of us.

[29] That's what apostle is about, not just the ones chosen as the 12, very important, but the basic qualification for apostle is witness.

[30] And that's true for our time as well, as the successor of the apostles.

[31] I'm called, and all bishops are called, to witness to the truth that is Jesus Christ.

[32] As I love to say, he's truth incarnate.

[33] In this gospel passage, I think, is very important because we desperately need all of us as baptized Christians.

[34] And especially those baptized and knowing the fullness of the sacraments in our Catholic faith, the world needs us salt and light.

[35] Amen.

[36] Like never before.

[37] And too many, I think it's a very striking image that is given to us in this gospel passage, where we have Jesus say, but if salt loses its taste, with what can it be seasoned?

[38] It is no longer good for anything, but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.

[39] So salt in these terms of what our Lord shares with us in this gospel passage, it has tremendous opportunity to be a seasoning for the world, to bring people to the truth, to bring people to Jesus Christ.

[40] But if that salt loses its purpose, loses its flavor, it becomes worse than nothing to be trampled underfoot.

[41] And I think that's a reminder for all of us baptized.

[42] If we live as salt for the earth, then we are with the angels and the saints.

[43] We are living a glorious calling.

[44] But if we reject that calling from our baptism, like we've talked about recently, that universal call to holiness, if we reject it, if we don't respond, if we say, no, I'm going to hide my light under a bushel basket, and I'm not going to dare to salt things up because I don't want to get in trouble.

[45] I don't want to lose my position.

[46] If we operate like that, then what does the gospel say?

[47] We're fit to be trampled underfoot.

[48] So I think in Christ's images, we are reminded, we have the highest calling, those created in the image and likeness of God, and then baptized into the new life offered by the Son of God, Jesus Christ, we have the calling of sharing with the world this wondrous, joyful, powerful, powerful truth.

[49] But if we reject that calling, we're worse than those who have no baptism, who never had the opportunity to be salt and light for the world.

[50] So I think that we need to really, especially in this year of 2024, in this month of June, the month of this sacred heart, we need desperately to pay attention to the Lord's words for this daily gospel celebrating St. Barnabas, we need to be reminded to engage in the culture, to bring salt and light to all the different issues that, you know, both of us try to do.

[51] I'll speak for myself.

[52] I do it very imperfectly.

[53] I need to constantly seek to do a better job to be more purified salt and brighter light.

[54] Amen.

[55] But at least we're trying.

[56] And thankfully, many are trying.

[57] That's one thing that as I am in this new chapter of my life, removed as Bishop of Tyler, but very active as a bishop still.

[58] Thankfully, I'm seeing a lot of people who know this gospel passage isn't just nice words, but it's a mandate for all of us.

[59] Be salt for the earth, be light for the world, in a world that is wandering in darkness and losing its savor of the gospel, losing the light of Christ, we desperately need the body of Christ, the mystical body of Christ that we are, the church, to stand up and be joyful and strong like the saints of old.

[60] I mean, last week we celebrated St. Boniface, an early martyr and bishop of the church.

[61] I love the story.

[62] And I think it reminds us of what we need to do.

[63] It was a tree that they were worshipping.

[64] I believe it was dedicated to the God Jupiter.

[65] And St. Bonifus, imagine how bold he was.

[66] Talk about salt for the earth and life for the world.

[67] He was so bold that he chopped down this tree that was being worshipped and built a church using the wood from that tree.

[68] That's a great model.

[69] What we need to do in the 21st century, like St. Bono, did, I believe in about the 7th century, we need to be that bold with our faith and not hide and say, oh, we don't want to disrupt our culture.

[70] We don't want people to get upset with us.

[71] Let get upset.

[72] Let people get angry.

[73] Let people say, how dare you speak as soul for the earth and light for the world?

[74] They don't know that we are loving them by sharing the light of Christ, like this kicker that we talked about before.

[75] Harrison Baxter.

[76] Yep.

[77] That's exactly what he's doing.

[78] He's living this gospel.

[79] That's right.

[80] And all of us need to do it in the company where we work in our neighborhoods.

[81] And bishops and the church and politicians in their service to the community, all of us need to really take this to heart.

[82] And I guess that's what one thing I think we need to be reminded of by this gospel passage.

[83] Yes.

[84] Talking to all of us, this is Christ saying, what does this universal call to holiness really mean?

[85] Amen.

[86] He's reminding us that this is not just the job of the bishops.

[87] It's not just the job of priests or deacons, those in holy orders.

[88] Right.

[89] It's not just the job of the holy men and women in monasteries with consecrated life.

[90] It's the job of the baptites.

[91] Those are the ones that are called to be sold for the earth and life for the world.

[92] So we need to get with it.

[93] We need to joyfully proclaim the truth of Christ and re -evangelize those who call themselves Catholic, but are not living their Catholic faith.

[94] Well, said Bishop Strickland, I just think this is the week where we're doing our little fundraiser for monthly donors.

[95] yesterday I got a call from one of our supporters out in Peoria, Illinois.

[96] Ten years ago, he was very depressed and was going to commit suicide, he tells me last night, and he put on his stereo, he clicked it on, he had been listening to Catholic Radio for a little bit, but this time he turned it on, he was going to play some loud music before he committed suicide, and he happened to hit it at the right time because Jesse and Terry were on talking about the Holy Eucharist.

[97] And he said it got his attention.

[98] He listened to the whole show and made a decision.

[99] He was calling me to tell me, 10 years ago, I made a decision not to kill myself and that to find out more about my Catholic faith, especially in the Holy Eucharist, he started perpetual adoration chapels in these past 10 years, started the Knights of Columbus at his parish.

[100] He's an on -fire Catholic.

[101] Well, here's my point.

[102] Any good we do comes from God.

[103] We thank him for it.

[104] But he was calling me back to say, I support you.

[105] And I tell our listeners, that's what we're here for.

[106] What we do every day is for people like him.

[107] So if you want to support us, go to vmpr .org or call us at 877 -526 -215 .1.

[108] When we come back, I'd like to talk about the sacred heart of Jesus this month of June.

[109] Stay with us, family.

[110] Yes, we're blessed by the best.

[111] Jesus Christ, stay with us.

[112] We'll be back after a quick break.

[113] back to the bishop strickland hour welcome back indeed i'm fired up anytime anybody wants to talk about the sacred heart of jesus uh you know i've consecrated our family when i was a kid my parents did the enthronement of the sacred heart as soon as i was married i think it was like two days we got back from our honeymoon we had our house enthroned to the sacred heart so bishop strickland you call this a sacred pause it's another letter but i'd like you to read it to our listeners i know it takes a little time, but I really read this today, and I was moved by it.

[114] So if you could share that message you gave on this letter about the sacred heart, I'd appreciate it.

[115] Okay, let me pull it up.

[116] I got it in front of me, a sacred pause.

[117] Yeah, it's awesome.

[118] And again, folks, if you get a chance, type in on Google sacred heart enthronement, you can do it with the forms right off of Google.

[119] All of it is available to enthrone your heart.

[120] House to the Sacred Heart, while Bishop Strickland is getting the document before we do this.

[121] Also, I just want to remind everybody, the men's conference comes up on the 15th with Jesse and Johnny Romero.

[122] You can go to VMPR to sign up for that.

[123] Are we ready, Bishop?

[124] I'm ready.

[125] Okay, let's go.

[126] Okay, this is titled, The Sacred Pause.

[127] It begins Psalm 33, verse 11.

[128] But the plan of the Lord stands forever.

[129] the designs of his heart through all generations.

[130] There is a storm coming, the likes of which has never been seen upon the earth.

[131] The church, the bride of Christ, has weathered quite a few squalls and gales, and though many of these have left the ship damaged at times and taking on water.

[132] Each time the master shipbuilder has restored her, polishing the wood and making her seaworthy once more.

[133] And those on the ship, although tattered and weary, have often been blessed and healed by her blessed mother who walks among her children.

[134] So, what is different about this storm that is now coming?

[135] It is the fact that this time the ship itself is in such a weakened state.

[136] from the hidden sins and corruption within its sacred halls, that it has already started to take on water, and it is ill -equipped to weather the storm that is coming.

[137] So as evil reaches a previously unseen level of saturation in the church and in the world, the ship is already so compromised by sin and corruption that it is in danger of capsizing.

[138] As St. John Bosco reminds us, there are two pillars that have served to keep the ship upright through the ages.

[139] These are the Eucharistic presence of our Lord and devotion to our blessed mother.

[140] However, the ship is not now so firmly anchored to these pillars as it has been in the past.

[141] The lack of supernatural faith has weakened its ties to the Eucharistic pillar and the indifference to our blessed mother and the disregarding of her warnings and admonitions, as well as a refusal to acknowledge the words she still brings, have weakened the ties to the other pillar.

[142] therefore the storm that now comes brings unprecedented danger many will say why worry the master ship builder will once again restore his pride however the time is now upon us when we begin to receive the fruits of what we have sung and the court of mercy which has long been extended from heaven to earth is even now being replaced by the rope of justice.

[143] As the evil in the world accelerates, steadily advancing and unrelenting in its seemingly victorious march, and as every day we hear about new abuses, new scandals, new heresies within the sacred halls of the church, where does that leave us?

[144] Terrified?

[145] Dismate?

[146] Wait.

[147] Listen.

[148] Be still.

[149] For even as the den of the demons becomes deafening, underneath the wailing and the gnashing and the clashing, there can be found a profound silence, a sacred pause.

[150] And in this profound silence that forms a barrier between your soul and the world, You will hear a sound if you listen closely.

[151] It is a heartbeat.

[152] It is the sacred heart of Jesus.

[153] Evil marches relentlessly forward.

[154] And every day new atrocities come to light.

[155] And the faithful shudder and wonder if it can get any worse.

[156] The answer is, it can and it will.

[157] But underneath it all, In the profound silence of the sacred pause, you can hear a sound if you will only listen.

[158] The heartbeat of his sacred heart.

[159] The heart of Jesus began to beat the rhythm of love in his infant chest only days after he was conceived in Mary's womb.

[160] His heart, human and divine, continued to beat throughout his life in this world.

[161] For 33 years, his heart proclaimed love with every beat until the awful moment of his death on the cross.

[162] Scripture tells us that at his death the earth was shaken to its depths because the Lord of Creation breathed no more.

[163] All of creation entered into a sacred pause when literally the breath of the universe was taken away.

[164] I love that.

[165] This, though, was only a pause, devastating, but passing.

[166] The Lord of all arose, and his heart began to beat anew.

[167] His heart is not stopped since the moment of his resurrection, when his heart began to beat again with a vigor like never before.

[168] The beating of the heart of our risen Lord, who has conquered sin and death.

[169] Twenty centuries have passed, and through it all, his heart beats on.

[170] Yes, there is a storm coming, the likes of which has never been seen upon the earth.

[171] However, as it increases in intensity, if you feel overwhelmed, just stop, pause, and enter into a sacred pause.

[172] St. Margaret Mary Alicoe said, I understand that the devotion of the sacred heart is the last effort of his love towards the Christians of these latter days by offering to them an object and means so calculated to persuade them to love him.

[173] The coming days brings, which we could never have imagined, would take place in the Lord's Church.

[174] But do not despair.

[175] Stop.

[176] Pause.

[177] There is a sound.

[178] It is his heartbeat.

[179] Let us ponder his sacred heart.

[180] All of the chaos of the past and the increasing chaos of our time will never overcome the sacred heartbeat that emanates from the heart of Christ.

[181] The heart of God's son brings us a message that echoes through the ages.

[182] Be still and know that I am God.

[183] As we go forward into June, the month of the sacred heart, I feel a powerful urgency to call us all deeper into the sacred heart of Christ.

[184] Psalm 33 speaks of the designs of God's heart.

[185] It reminds us that his love is everlasting.

[186] It is profoundly important as the storm gathers moment.

[187] momentum, that we all draw closer and closer to his sacred heart, and that we know the heart of Christ, which is truly and fully present in the Eucharist.

[188] So many Eucharistic miracles throughout the ages point to the incarnate flesh of the heart of our Lord.

[189] Even now, his sacred heart bleeds for us in order to draw us closer to his Eucharistic face.

[190] Let us not be blind in death to the wonder of Jesus Christ, truly present at every Mass, in every tabernacle, and on every altar of Eucharistic adoration.

[191] This month, may we begin to enter into our own sacred pause.

[192] And as we hear the heartbeat of his sacred heart, let us drink in the tremendous blessing of knowing that Jesus Christ is with us.

[193] in the storm.

[194] Bishop Joseph E. Strickland, Bishop Emeritus, of Tyler, Texas.

[195] Thank you, Bishop Strickland.

[196] I read that just before you read it yourself there.

[197] And I was moved by the point that you make that Christ is with us and that, you know, giving us these encouraging words that, yes, we're in a storm.

[198] But hang on to Jesus Christ and everything will be fine.

[199] Hang on to his sacred heart.

[200] This is a message the world desperately needs today when we, you know, we just, I'll just set the stage.

[201] I mean, everything's in chaos.

[202] We got war out in the Ukraine.

[203] I guess NATO is now sending some missiles into the Ukraine that's going to irritate the Russians.

[204] The war seems to be imminent.

[205] And this could lead to a nuclear war.

[206] So it seems to me that, that these issues of like global warming and other issues of, you know, recycling, they don't seem that important.

[207] You know, I mean, honestly, I do recycle and I have solar panels and I'm all for doing that.

[208] But it seems to me that you went to the core of life and that is Jesus Christ and that to turn your life over to Jesus Christ, his sacred heart is there beating for us.

[209] So what compelled you to write this letter?

[210] Is it the month of June or is it a combination of things?

[211] Because I think God really used you in that in a very powerful way, because it touched me and I think it's going to touch a lot of people.

[212] Well, it is a combination of things.

[213] It's, you know, the concerns that we've talked about in so many different corners of the church and society, it's concerns about this nation in this election year with all the craziness that's going on in that area of our lives.

[214] It's many concerns.

[215] and in the context of June, the sacred heart, the month of the sacred heart, and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I think it just really, as I say in the letter, I felt compelled to really urge people.

[216] We need to, you know, when we pause, hopefully we wake up.

[217] We start hearing more clearly.

[218] A little silence goes a long way to help us cut the through the noise of life.

[219] And all of our lives are noisy.

[220] And we can easily be so distracted by the noise that we're really not hearing anything.

[221] So all of that combined really compelled me to share this message and to urge people to be consecrated to the sacred heart of Christ through the immaculate heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

[222] Amen.

[223] Well said.

[224] Oh, gosh, let's get that message out to as many people as possible.

[225] When we come back, I want to get some tweets that Bishop Strickland challenges us about following Christ with the gospel.

[226] Stay with us.

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

[228] Welcome back, indeed.

[229] Before I get to the scripture verses from a tweet that Bishop Strickland sent out, I had some, I thought it was a moving presentation.

[230] You tweeted this also about Candace Owens.

[231] On Thursday night, last Thursday, she gave a presentation.

[232] in Phoenix about what she revealed was what draw her, drew her to the Catholic Church.

[233] And it was given on May 30th.

[234] She opened up about her recent conversion and developed that saying that it was studying history that opened her eyes to the truth of the Catholic faith.

[235] And I kind of chuckled Bishop Strickland because I think of other great people.

[236] I say this.

[237] John Henry Newman said that.

[238] I've heard Scott Hahn.

[239] I've got so many converts that I know who said, yeah, we went back to the fathers of the church.

[240] We started looking at history and we realized that the Catholic Church is the way I need to go.

[241] She also said that it was her husband who also said he became a student of history and why he became a Catholic convert.

[242] So she said, I never really understood why he did this until she herself delved into history.

[243] Your thoughts.

[244] Well, I've heard that story over and over again.

[245] And really, Terry, I think it's an important reminder for all of us.

[246] Yes.

[247] We talk a lot about the lack of really solid catechesis.

[248] Yeah.

[249] Well, all of us can't.

[250] We have the ability to correct that problem.

[251] We do.

[252] And studying history really, because the history of Western civilization, the history of the last 2 ,000 years, I mean, just one point on your history exam.

[253] Why do we call this 2024?

[254] Because of Jesus Christ.

[255] Amen.

[256] And I would love to see just a list of realities that we take for granted in the world because of Jesus Christ, the Son of God incarnate among us.

[257] We all know about Christmas, even though we may not celebrated for the right.

[258] reasons, but history will bring you to Christ because he's the Lord of history.

[259] He's the Lord of all.

[260] So I'm not at all surprised.

[261] I would have predicted that that was part of what drew Candice Owen to the Catholic faith.

[262] Certainly, the example, encouragement of her husband and of many other Catholics that I'm sure she's been associated with, sadly, probably even because she's a smart woman.

[263] I've never met her, but I've heard a lot of things she said and the recommendation of many people.

[264] I think that what I started to say is probably even the bad example of some of us Catholics probably spurred her on to find out what does the church really teach?

[265] What is the church really about?

[266] And we all need to do the same thing.

[267] We need to be inspired to know the truth more deeply.

[268] And if we feel like we weren't catechized as well as we should have been, like Candace Owen, we can take care of that.

[269] And I would encourage, and I would imagine, as Candace was studying history, I'm sure she was reading the fathers of the church as well.

[270] Because they're a big part of the history.

[271] We just celebrated St. Justin Martin.

[272] We celebrated St. Boniface, we have some wonderful saintly scholars from the earliest days of the church that help us to know what this history means.

[273] So I'm not at all surprised that that was part of Candace's story, is it has been part of so many converts.

[274] It needs to be part of our story is cradle tablets as well.

[275] Amen to that.

[276] Bishop Strickland, I love when you use scripture on your tweets.

[277] I really do.

[278] I mean, I like to see articles, but you know, the gospel is so powerful.

[279] You quoted John, 1st John chapter 2, verse 3 to 6.

[280] I want to read it.

[281] And it's just, it's liberating, okay?

[282] It's really challenging, too, about following Christ.

[283] It says this, the way we can be sure of our knowledge of Christ is to keep his commandments.

[284] The man who claims, I have known him without keeping his commandments, is a liar.

[285] In such a one, there is no truth.

[286] But whoever keeps his word truly has the love of God been made perfect in him.

[287] The way we can be sure we are in union with him is for the man who claims to abide in him, to conduct himself just as he did.

[288] Wow, the word of the Lord there.

[289] Bishop Strickland, I hadn't read that for a while.

[290] I mean, when I read that yesterday, I went, there you go.

[291] You're conforming your life to Christ.

[292] This is what the Bible, this is why it's so important, in my opinion, to keep reading scripture because it speaks really right through it all.

[293] It says, man, this is what we need to do.

[294] We need to have knowledge of Christ and, How many times I've seen that in the Bible about keeping the commandments?

[295] Your thoughts?

[296] Well, it's constantly repeated, and it needs to be in our time, because people are very openly claiming, oh, the commandments need to change, and we need to revise our understanding of Scripture.

[297] That is simply not the truth, and it's deeply harmful, especially when leaders of the church are leading people away from Christ, away from commandments, saying, oh, here we are in the 21st century, and we've got it figured out better than they did for 20 centuries before us.

[298] I'd love to have people like St. Boniface confront this message, this false message of our time that's coming too often from church leaders.

[299] Wow.

[300] And then you got a second one.

[301] You said this, let us pray over this passage as we face deepening corruption in the church and the state.

[302] In every aspect of the world, these corruptions will collapse.

[303] Cling to the Lord.

[304] That's a great message.

[305] Now you're going to read from Romans.

[306] I'm going to tell you, Scott Hahn did a series on Roman.

[307] He called it Romans, Romanism and Romans.

[308] And it was a 13 and a half hour.

[309] Bible study, and people want to get that.

[310] That is one of their most illuminating Bible studies I've been on, and we do have that at vmpr .org.

[311] But here's what chapter 8 says, verse 18 to 21.

[312] See if this just relates to us right now in the year 2024.

[313] Give me a break.

[314] It says, the sufferings of the present are as nothing compared with the glory to be revealed in us.

[315] Indeed, the whole creation would eagerly awaits the revelation of the sons of God.

[316] Creation was made subject to fertility, not on its own accord, but by him who once subjected it, yet not without hope, because the world itself will be freed from its slavery to corruption and share in the glorious freedom of the children of God.

[317] The Word of the Lord, thanks be to God.

[318] What made you pick Romans chapter 8?

[319] I've got to ask you that question.

[320] Well, it just comes up in the prayers that we offer.

[321] And a lot of times, you know, as I read those passages, so often they speak so clearly to what we need to remember right here and now, what we're dealing with.

[322] Yeah.

[323] And I love one aspect of that passage.

[324] We talked about it before.

[325] It speaks of all creation.

[326] Yeah.

[327] Yes, creation is important.

[328] Yes.

[329] I mean, Jesus says, go out and share the good news with every creature.

[330] So I think that's a reminder of, yes, creation's important.

[331] But in the proper order of things, following Christ and his truth, that's what, and that's the job of the church.

[332] If we get people following Christ and his truth, the truth he is revealed, the truth that is the truth, then creation will be taken care of.

[333] Creation will be respected and loved as a sign and an image of the creator.

[334] Absolutely, creation is sacred, but not, before the life of Christ, and not before us, created in the image and likeness of God.

[335] Yes.

[336] Bishop Strickland, I hesitate to get this last, this next tweet that you sent out.

[337] And the reason I hesitate is I really like to focus, like we talked about, our focuses on for the month of June on the sacred heart of Jesus.

[338] But you tweeted something, and I'm going to tease everybody right now, because we've got a couple minutes.

[339] and I don't think we can get through it all about what happened at Notre Dame that's scandalous.

[340] And we need to not only call these out when these things happen and say, hey, you're a Catholic college, act like a Catholic college, and by the way, I'm going to be praying prayers of reparation for what you did because you're misleading the flock that Jesus said it would be better for you to put a millstone around your neck and be thrown into the sea than to scandalize these little.

[341] little ones.

[342] Well, who are these little ones?

[343] I don't think it's just size.

[344] I think the little ones are the flock of Christ.

[345] And that this idea that you have responsibility as a shepherd for your flock, I think this is very biblical.

[346] Think about what happens to the flock when the shepherds scatters them.

[347] They all go everywhere.

[348] So I'm going to talk about, I'm asking you to talk about what you tweeted regarding the Notre Dame School, University of Notre Dame, I mean, one of the preeminent Catholic colleges, but they're doing things that undermine the deposit of faith and the morality of the Catholic faith.

[349] And, you know, we can be silent.

[350] But here's the point.

[351] We have to call them to fidelity out of love for them.

[352] Not because I want to, oh, look at Notre Dame, look what they're doing.

[353] No, I do it because there's the salvation of souls at Notre Dame.

[354] These are young people that their parents sent them to the university thinking that they're going to get a Catholic education in whatever field they're in, and then this comes in.

[355] No, we have to call the leaders out in a nice way, brave for them, and we're going to talk about that and much, much more.

[356] I want to just remind everybody this week, this is the last week of our monthly donor drive.

[357] That's how we pay our monthly bills.

[358] I told you about this young man calling me now.

[359] He's 40 years old, but 10 years ago, he was going to commit suicide, and he heard our show.

[360] This is the power of the media.

[361] This is why we do what we do here at Virgin Most Powerful Radio.

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[363] Go to vmpr .org or call us at 877 -526 -215.

[364] We come back and talk about what's happening at Notre Dame.

[365] Stay with us.

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

[367] Welcome back.

[368] Indeed.

[369] Oh, it was a teaser.

[370] What did Notre Dame do now?

[371] Well, what they did is they sent out this, are you ready for this?

[372] The Sacred Heart Month.

[373] No. They talked about the Pride Month.

[374] What?

[375] In keeping, it says, in keeping with our Catholic character, we seek to build a community in which all students are welcome.

[376] We're talking about homosexuals.

[377] Okay.

[378] Feel a sense of belonging and can flourish on a campus in our Notre Dame family.

[379] To all the members.

[380] members of the LGBTQ plus community, including our own students, alumni, faculty, and staff, we're glad you're here.

[381] And for more resources and support, follow us here.

[382] You know, I'm glad you're here.

[383] Don't get me wrong.

[384] But where's the call for repentance at all?

[385] Now, you stated this in your tweet, Bishop Strickland.

[386] This stance of Notre Dame is not Catholic.

[387] Why don't you really tell me what you think?

[388] It's you're right.

[389] It's diametrically opposed to the Catholic teaching.

[390] Of course, all should be welcome, but welcome to repent.

[391] That's what I just said, repentance and conversion, not welcoming to continue in the path of sin.

[392] We must pray for the conversion at Notre Dame.

[393] Now, Bishop Strickland, what made you speak like that?

[394] What was your motive for calling out Notre Dame?

[395] I assume you don't have anything personal about Notre Dame.

[396] What made you speak this message to them?

[397] Well, I guess a lot of reasons, but really at the very heart of it, speaking of the heart, as I mentioned earlier, it's the sacred art of Christ, but accompanying the sacred art of Christ is always the immaculate heart of Mary.

[398] As in the letter I alluded to, I love to reflect on the beauty of the sacred heart of Christ developing in the wound of his mother, beating next to her heart.

[399] Yeah.

[400] So we speak of the sacred heart.

[401] Right.

[402] And always also embrace the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

[403] And any time we embrace the Immaculate Heart of Mary, the first thing she will do is send us to the Sacred Heart of her son.

[404] Amen.

[405] And so if we look at the name of this university, it's not, you know, just any name.

[406] It's Notre Dame or Notre Dame.

[407] Dom, it's Our Lady.

[408] Yeah.

[409] It's the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

[410] She should be reigning gloriously there, guiding all of those students closer to the sacred heart of her son.

[411] And as Jesus says, the one who is the sacred heart, Jesus Christ says, deny yourself.

[412] Yeah.

[413] Take your cross and follow me. I don't hear that in what the leadership of Notre Dame put in that message.

[414] Yeah, I agree.

[415] If I say that, great, make it clear that you're calling people to follow Jesus Christ at the university named after his mother.

[416] Otherwise, get back on the proper track.

[417] I think, sadly, I mean, there have been many issues with Notre Dame with what?

[418] politicians that are clearly the message of the gospel.

[419] Right.

[420] With all sorts of compromising, it goes back a long way.

[421] Yeah, it does.

[422] When I was just a kid, but the erosion of the university dedicated to our lady is tragic, and that university needs to live up to the name or change it.

[423] Stop calling yourself Notre Dame.

[424] University, if you're not honoring the woman who says over and over and over again, repent and follow my son.

[425] Yeah, it's scandalous.

[426] I have to tell you, Bishop Stricken, about 20 years ago, Boston College was giving a friend of mine who was a donor of ours out on the West Coast an honorary doctorate because he's been a big benefactor for Boston College.

[427] And when he told me he just wrote a $300 ,000 check.

[428] Remember, this is 20 years ago with inflation.

[429] It's probably double now.

[430] And I told him that the school is now promoting at that time a pornographic, really a pornographic play.

[431] I won't even say the name of it.

[432] It was offensive.

[433] It was going to all the Jesuit universities 20 years ago.

[434] And I said, you shouldn't support the school financially.

[435] I won't say his name.

[436] He's gone.

[437] He was eternal reward, but he wrote that $300 ,000 check.

[438] He said, well, Terry, what can I?

[439] I do.

[440] And I said, stop payment on the check.

[441] So he stopped the payment on the check.

[442] And then the school called Mr. Whoever I won't say his name.

[443] God rest his soul.

[444] And they said, they said, well, Mr. Smith, did we offend you some way?

[445] Your check was stopped.

[446] He said, oh, no, no. My good friend Terry Barber told me you guys were doing a bunch of bad things.

[447] And I should stop payment on the check.

[448] So I did.

[449] And they said, well, the development person and a couple other people, on the line.

[450] They said, well, put Mr. Barber on the line.

[451] We'd like to talk to him.

[452] So at the time I was homeschooling the kids at the library.

[453] My wife, I, oh, honey, I got to go outside.

[454] This is an important phone call from our benefactor.

[455] So I go outside in the parking lot of the library.

[456] And these guys are grilling me about Boston College and how it's got such a good reputation.

[457] And so I told him, I said, well, what you're doing is you're corrupting the young minds of the people by showing pornographic plays and I gave the name of the play.

[458] I said, how do you explain that?

[459] Oh, well, that's just created.

[460] They gave some explain.

[461] They said, Mr. Barber, what kind of education in the Catholic fate do you have?

[462] Because we're PhDs.

[463] And I said, well, I have a PhD in common sense.

[464] And right now I don't see common sense being that common.

[465] And so we got into this debate for about 20 minutes and then finally, I won't go into all the details, but he held his line.

[466] He never gave him that money.

[467] Well, you can imagine I'm not welcomed at Boston College today.

[468] And you know Bishop Strickland?

[469] I have nothing against them personally.

[470] But you know what?

[471] I held him accountable for what they did.

[472] And I'll do what I can to stop undermining the morals of our young men and women that go to school.

[473] If you do that, we're going to vote with our dollars and say, stop.

[474] So anyhow, Mr. Smith, I'll call him, called me back and said, Terry, that was the most enjoyable dialogue.

[475] I surely enjoyed listening to you, defend that.

[476] And so, anyhow, the point I'm making Bishop Strickland is that these things happen.

[477] I don't do it out of animosity.

[478] You're not doing it out of animosity.

[479] We have the love of Jesus Christ.

[480] When we see muck and corruption inside the church, especially me as a layman, I have to let Canon 212 speak.

[481] I've got to let you guys know the needs.

[482] And there's no need to corrupt our young people.

[483] The need is to catechize them and introduce them to not me, not to you, but to Jesus Christ.

[484] That's the message.

[485] And I haven't said really anything about this, but I'm going to, you inspire me to speak up.

[486] And it's not about me. I mean, you know, people will, you know, rail against me. Go ahead.

[487] But it's about the truth of Jesus Christ.

[488] But there have been numerous times, and I know it's going to continue.

[489] you.

[490] But just today, I was notified.

[491] People had asked me to come and speak at their gathering, a lot of times about the sanctity of life or whatever.

[492] And I'm glad to do it if we can work it out on the calendar and everything.

[493] But I was notified this morning that the bishop of the diocese, where I'd been invited, said, I wasn't welcome.

[494] What?

[495] Really, Terry.

[496] I'm glad to not be welcomed by bishops or by some so -called Catholic university.

[497] If they're not strong enough in the faith to welcome truth of Jesus Christ, then I don't want to go there.

[498] To me, it's tragic.

[499] And that's the reason I'm not welcome in numerous diocese.

[500] And I'm sure, I mean, I'm not going to sit by the phone and expect a call from a Catholic University or from Georgetown or a lot of these so -called Catholic universities, I'm not going to expect that invitation because I'm not welcome there because, oh, I'm too rigid, I'm too traditional.

[501] All the truth of Jesus Christ.

[502] And really, I consider it a badge of honor to be told that I'm not welcome in certain places because I'm too clear about the message of Jesus Christ.

[503] Knock the dust off your feet.

[504] I mean, wow, that's sad.

[505] But you know what, Bishop Stricken, this is a sign of our times.

[506] And I want to, last week I gave a presentation down in San Diego.

[507] And I talked about standing up for Christ in spite of scandal.

[508] And I was so surprised because I told stories like the one I just said about Boston.

[509] And the people said to me, you inspired me to stand.

[510] up to my priest, to my bishop, and tell them the truth and not stay quiet.

[511] And I said, yeah, I hope I inspired you to make reparation also, because that's the other part of the equation, because these are sacrilegious.

[512] What's going on at Notre Dame shouldn't be going on.

[513] But if people rise up and say, hey, you know, that tuition that I'm paying, I'm not, you know, continue doing that if you keep doing this, because this is undermining my children's faith.

[514] And I think more of that needs to happen.

[515] Bishop Strickland, we're about out of time for the first show.

[516] I want to give a plug to a couple things.

[517] One, your YouTube channel.

[518] Tell us again, for those who are brand new, what, what you do on YouTube periodically?

[519] What, six, eight minute video?

[520] Is that what you do?

[521] Yeah, six to seven minutes on various topics.

[522] I'm actually, it's on my calendar to produce some more because it's been a while since I've had a chance to do that.

[523] But really just talking about the greatest thing we can talk about.

[524] That's what both of us get fired up on these, record these, because what better is there to talk about?

[525] I hear you.

[526] How the world is collapsing, how the nation is a mess, how corruption has touched everything.

[527] Or we can talk about Jesus Christ.

[528] I like to talk about him, the life of the world.

[529] I'm sorry, I'm chuckling because I'm like, I'm right behind your Bishop Strickland.

[530] This is one of the reasons that, you know, one of my highlights each week is to do these shows with you.

[531] And I'll tell you why.

[532] I mean, I'm fired up a lot.

[533] But when I can see a successor of the apostle, take that responsibility and speak the truth and charity like you're doing right now with your tweets, with your letters, it inspires us lay people.

[534] Okay, I don't know about what it does to other bishops or priests.

[535] Well, actually, I do.

[536] The priests tell me all the time.

[537] They say, like, over the weekend, tell Bishop Strickland, we love them.

[538] I said, well, you know, I'll tell them, but I hope you love Jesus Christ.

[539] So anyhow, that's the key, because we're not, you know, we're just the messenger.

[540] That's who, that's all we are.

[541] Bishop Strickland, I hear the music.

[542] Could you give us a blessing, please, to the group?

[543] Almighty God, we ask your blessing as we continue this beautiful month of the sacred heart of Christ.

[544] May through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, may we all grow closer to the sacred heart of Christ that continues to beat a message of love and truth and wonder and grace to bring joy to our lives.

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

[546] Amen.

[547] Thank you so much, Bishop Strickland.

[548] We've got another show tomorrow.

[549] on Wednesday.

[550] I hope you can join us.

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[556] Look forward to having you again tomorrow.

[557] Same time.

[558] Same station.