19 Dec 23 – To Proclaim the Truth Is Never Useless

[0] Welcome to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

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

[2] I'm honored every week to talk about how to fall in love with Jesus Christ and his bride the church.

[3] Bishop Strickland, thank you for doing this weekly show every week to help people fall deep in love with Jesus.

[4] Thank you, Terry.

[5] Thank you.

[6] Now, you were in Ohio.

[7] We talked about this on our network, gave it a lot of time.

[8] about the pro -life work the folks were doing to try and stop this law, this election that was going to make it easier for people to have abortions and killing the innocent life of babies.

[9] And I think there were over 3 ,000 people that showed up for this event, along with yourself and Jim Cavizo and others.

[10] And unfortunately, the next day, which was yesterday when we were filming this, it didn't pass that for us we were able to not stop.

[11] But Bishop Strickland, two things.

[12] I want to hear your take on what happened.

[13] And also, you suited up, you got in an airplane, you flew out up to Ohio.

[14] There were thousands of people that got there to pray their rosary.

[15] They made an effort to try and stop this atrocity.

[16] And I would imagine that at their exit interview when they meet God, that that's going to look good for them.

[17] Your thoughts?

[18] Absolutely.

[19] And I think, Terry, we really have to continue to with charity and clarity, as we always say, and that's exactly the tone that was there in this rosary rally.

[20] That's what it was.

[21] And I was honored to lead the rosary.

[22] It was great to be with Jim Caviesel and Abby Johnson and young lady Chloe.

[23] I forget her last name, but she had gotten caught up in the transgender agenda.

[24] And she woke up, thankfully.

[25] Beautiful young woman.

[26] She's got a lot of suffering that she's gone through and continues, but at least she's coming to realize a lot of truth, and she's very strong.

[27] And I was very proud to be on the stage with her, and General Mike Flynn, just some great prayer warriors and great people of faith willing to take their time.

[28] I mean, all the people there could have been doing something else.

[29] And I thanked them for being there.

[30] It was about three hours of just speeches and prayers and an opportunity.

[31] They had a statue of Our Lady of Fatima that they processed around with during the rosary.

[32] Just strong faith, and that's what we need.

[33] And we need to really keep modeling that.

[34] reminded me a lot of the Dodger Stadium event.

[35] And the culture is, I mean, the vote didn't go that way.

[36] And I think it's an important reminder to us that, yes, we need to work for just laws.

[37] We need to work for the sanctity of life and all of its aspects.

[38] We absolutely need to do that.

[39] But to remember, the laws aren't our salvation.

[40] That's Jesus Christ.

[41] And we have to, who knows, the people that were drawn closer to the sacred heart of Christ, the people that were there, the people that heard about it, obviously, it didn't have the results in the polls that we would have hoped.

[42] But it's never, to proclaim the truth is never useless.

[43] A lot of people would have said, and, you know, probably did say, say, Jesus Christ wasted his life in being willing to die rather than give up speaking the truth.

[44] And so many people through the ages, I mean, today we celebrate a wonderful saint, Teresa Benedicta, known probably better as Edith Stein, woman that grew up Jewish and then got intellectual and became an atheist, and then reading St. Teresa Vavila, she became a Catholic and then a Catholic nun and died at Auschwitz.

[45] What an amazing story.

[46] Only those who have converted to Jesus Christ.

[47] They're the only people that have those kind of stories.

[48] Can I add something about her life that I think is fascinating, Bishop?

[49] And that is that when she was kind of searching she read the book of the of the St. Teresa Vavula was very impressed with that but what got her to read the book was she was visiting friends and they were going out for an outing out to the country and they ended up having to go to a funeral of Catholic funeral and she was so moved by the faith of the family that lost their husband and the death and because of their faith they just they were sparkling and it got her to think, wow, what do they have that I don't have?

[50] And that was instrumental in giving her her conversion.

[51] The message I tell people, I mention this on my radio show, that people watch us, and people don't care how much you know until they know how much you care.

[52] And so by going out and living your faith, that in itself is a sermon.

[53] And so that funeral was instrumental in helping a future saint in the Catholic Church.

[54] Yeah, that's a great story.

[55] So there you have it.

[56] Now, Bishop Strickland, my question, my next one is I wanted to, on your tweets, you sent a tweet, and I thought it was just really a good tweet because you said, once we abandoned the old moral doctrines regarding sexual matters, how will we be able to maintain our old moral doctrines regarding the other commandments lying and cheating and stealing not to mention our teaching regarding the use of physical force well i wanted to when you sent that i said to myself wow he's knocking it out of the park because once you fall into mortal sin then it just gets worse and worse because sanctifying grace isn't there in your life can you talk a little bit about that?

[57] Absolutely.

[58] And that's just basic moral theology.

[59] If you fall into mortal sin and stay there, you don't go to confession.

[60] You don't repent and ask God's forgiveness.

[61] He's always ready to forgive.

[62] We hear a lot about mercy, but we don't hear much about repentance in the church these days.

[63] And we need to emphasize both.

[64] And sadly, a lot of humanity, doesn't believe in sin, doesn't believe in mortal sin, for sure.

[65] But we have to realize, as you said a moment ago, before we started recording, things are either true or not.

[66] You can't live in a world where everything's true, or it just doesn't make sense.

[67] There's no logic to it.

[68] And I think that that's what really struck me with that article that you're referring to that I tweeted, if we, if sin is serious, which we know it is, if that's the reality, then when we ignore it, we're just distorting our lives more and more in getting further and further from God.

[69] It's not like you, well, you live a sinful life and things just stay the same.

[70] It gets worse and worse.

[71] I think it's the same thing.

[72] I think it's the same thing with our physical bodies.

[73] If you have an illness that goes unaddressed, you're not going to just stay the same.

[74] Your health is going to continue to deteriorate.

[75] And that's the same thing with your spiritual health.

[76] If you are in a mortal state, deadly, you're in deadly sin.

[77] It just makes sense that that deadly sin is going to continue to do harm and you're you're less able to love you're less able to love yourself you're less able to have a holy and proper outlook on life and sadly that's where a lot of people are yeah i'm sure we've both seen the studies on pornography and how that begins to really deteriorate a person, their relationships, if they're married, it begins to have a destructive effect on their marriage.

[78] And really, it leaves people empty and devastated.

[79] And that's why it's not just, a lot of times you hear, even from people high up in the church, that it's like, all these rules and they keep talking about rules and doctrines, the rules are there to help us live love, to help us live the way God created us to live.

[80] And when we ignore the rules, we're not helping each other.

[81] We're not helping ourselves.

[82] I think we've, certainly, we don't just focus on the rules, but the rules are there to save us and to strengthen our ability to live virtuously, to live the reality of love, that we have come from.

[83] God is love.

[84] So the logic is not there in saying, oh, the moral standards that we used to have, the church has been wrong for these 2 ,000 years, we need to change all of that.

[85] We need to allow moral standards that are contrary to scripture and to the doctrine that's been taught for centuries upon centuries.

[86] The logic is, and that's what that article really talks about, then nothing, everything's up for grabs.

[87] And why can we say, thou shalt not steal if the other commandments have been relegated to history and canceled, then really none of the commandments apply.

[88] And that becomes chaos.

[89] And we're seeing a lot of that chaos.

[90] I'm sure we both see, you know, clips on the news.

[91] and just horrible things that people do, maybe just attacking an elderly person for apparently no good reason.

[92] There is no good reason, but, I mean, just the atrocities that people commit, there's a reason that we're seeing more of that because people are ignoring the basic moral code that guides humanity.

[93] You got it more when we come back.

[94] We're talking about a powerful sermon by a priest who got filled in a car accident, much more when we come back on the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[95] Stay with us, family.

[96] Welcome back to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[97] Welcome back, indeed, Bishop Strickland Hour, Terry Barber with Virgin Most Powerful Radio.

[98] I love this tweet about a wonderful priest, Father Mark Beard, out in Louisiana, great pastor, and he was a preacher.

[99] I mean, he didn't hold back.

[100] saw evil, he went and said what it is.

[101] He called truth, truth, and evil, evil.

[102] So he has a powerful prophetic chilling homily.

[103] It's on YouTube.

[104] And I just want to say, wow, when he had his judgment, I imagine that went well for him because he was a pastor who really didn't care about wearing about who would be offended if he spoke to truth.

[105] He was more worried about who would be misled, deceived, and destroyed if he didn't.

[106] So Bishop Strickland, you heard the powerful homily.

[107] You tweeted it.

[108] Is that something that you did just to show people that there are pastors still, you know, wanting to let the flock know what's going on?

[109] Absolutely, Terry.

[110] And Father Mark Beard, he died three days after that last homily.

[111] Wow.

[112] in a car accident and he's just a great model of and he spoke about it he said i mean he didn't know he was going to die in three days but he said when he died whenever that was but he said in that homily that he had to answer for what he's told people and i think he had to have heard well done my good and faithful servant.

[113] If he didn't, I'm in big trouble because he was powerful.

[114] He had some humor in the homily.

[115] He wasn't attacking anyone, but he was very clear.

[116] And I loved his image.

[117] He said, and he really, I mean, I would love for every priest, every bishop to hear that homelin because he reminds us of what we need to do.

[118] He said, We need to pitch the truth.

[119] Whether people catch it and run with it or not, that's their business.

[120] That's their choice.

[121] That's what Christ did.

[122] He pitched the truth.

[123] Many accepted it.

[124] Many didn't.

[125] The same is true for us in our time, but we've got to pitch the truth.

[126] That's the job of a preacher to speak the truth, not to water it down because, well, people may not accept it, that's their choice.

[127] It's our job to share the truth.

[128] And there's too much of the timidity, and I accuse myself of it.

[129] I need to be stronger.

[130] But we all, again, with charity and clarity, and I mean, that homily of that priest, it wasn't long, but he spoke with clarity and charity.

[131] Amen.

[132] And this kind of leads me right up to you as a bishop.

[133] The bishops start to teach, govern, and sanctify the church.

[134] This is the role of bishops.

[135] And a gentleman by the name of Shane sent a little thing out on the internet, tweeted.

[136] He said, a thing to dear U .S. Catholic bishops, including yourself, he said, Jesus Christ did not commission you to save the environment, nor did he commission you to rescue illegal aliens, nor did he commissioned you to solve the issue of poverty, health care, or education.

[137] That's the lady's job, not yours.

[138] Rather, Jesus Christ commissioned you to save souls by baptizing them, getting them to forsake sin and bringing them into a sacramental life within his church.

[139] You literally have one job.

[140] Please just do that.

[141] Thank you.

[142] Well, you tweeted, thank you, Shane.

[143] And you said, It's sad that you need to say this, but I promise to do my bet to fulfill Christ's mandate for his church, which you stated so clearly.

[144] Do not despair.

[145] Christ is Lord of earth and heaven.

[146] Let us follow him joyfully and never tire of sharing his call, which is the gospel call, repent and believe.

[147] How did you see this little note from Shane?

[148] I mean, I missed it.

[149] Yeah, I think it was a tweet that I saw, but it just, he said it very well.

[150] And really, it's what we need to remember.

[151] Absolutely.

[152] And people along the times will say, oh, you know, Bishop Strickland, he doesn't talk enough about helping the poor.

[153] Absolutely.

[154] We have to help the poor.

[155] But we're going to help the poor better if we know this.

[156] truth that Jesus Christ has shared with us.

[157] If we know the moral code that we're supposed to live, I mean, an awful lot of the reason for poverty, a lot of the reason for the border crisis that we have in this nation and in other nations, a lot of the, well, I would say all the ills of society flow from not living the commandments and it's our job as preachers to teach the commandments and to call people to live the truth and then we will have a society of greater justice and greater love greater charity, you know, the disparities that create such poverty.

[158] I mean, there's tremendous wealth.

[159] And at the time of Christ, that was true.

[160] He said the poor you will always have with you.

[161] And we certainly have the poor with us in our time.

[162] But I think that the agenda that many are pushing, says, forget the morality and just do exactly what he listed, care for the environment, get into all these social issues.

[163] Really, the preachers need to teach the truth.

[164] And if people will, going back to the homily of Father Mark Beard, if we pitch the truth to them and they catch it, then they'll find ways to solve the ills of our society.

[165] to help people out of poverty, to guard the sanctity of life, to do all the things that need to happen.

[166] I was talking to someone just today that said they work for a company that is run by a good Catholic.

[167] And they decided with, you know, so many of these corporations say, oh, we'll fly you across the country to have your abortion.

[168] Thankfully, the good solid Catholic that owns this corporation said, let's do the opposite.

[169] Let's make sure that what they did was double their maternity leave and provide assistance to women who find themselves, maybe with an unwanted pregnancy.

[170] a lot of times that's the accusations that thrown at us and it's it's really not valid but you know people can say things that aren't true and get away with it but but I thought it was a great reminder that's what we need to do is act with clarity and charity not just speak it but act and that's what this company did they said we're going to be especially friendly to family and to pregnant women and to provide assistance and to provide support rather than providing an avenue for women to go and murder their children committing mortal sin of murder to assist them and to provide opportunities for them to save that child, put it up for idea of getting the taking care of their problem.

[171] I just thought it was a great example of exactly what we need to do as Christians and as Catholics is to constantly look for the ways that we can apply the truth of the gospel to the real situations.

[172] And that's what Shane is talking about in that article that I tweeted just a brief portion of it.

[173] Yeah.

[174] To remind us that we need preachers.

[175] We need the truth.

[176] And if people hear and embrace the truth, then their lives are transformed and they can transform others' lives.

[177] But we're in a sad state where too many leaders in the church are saying, well, let's change the truth to make it easier and forget the morality issues that are going to help shape individuals and families and moral way.

[178] And we're seeing it unfold.

[179] I mean, like I mentioned, the Chloe that was the young woman that had been on a path of becoming a, you know, trying to do this transgender path and mutilated her body to some extent.

[180] But thankfully, she's trying to come back from that.

[181] She's still got a lot of suffering, but she's doing it heroically.

[182] And she is a great testimony to, no, don't try to change who you are, but listen to the Word of God.

[183] And in charity and clarity, do your best to live that truth.

[184] We all have burdens.

[185] We all have things that we have to deal with, temptations that we have to overcome, disappointments about different aspects of our lives.

[186] But rather than ignoring God, this young woman said, I'm going to embrace the life that God has given me. And we need to compassionally reach out to all of those who are caught up into evils and the distortions.

[187] And sadly, too many of the church are promoting the evils and the distortions rather than speaking up for the truth.

[188] You know, Bishop, we're going to take a quick break.

[189] And we're going to talk about the truth.

[190] St. John Paul 2, I call him the Great, because he's the most influential Pope in my own life that I really read, and I went, wow, this guy's calling him out.

[191] He did a document called The Splendor of the Truth back 30 years ago.

[192] We just celebrated the anniversary, and it was really a document that addresses a lot of the moral ambiguity that was even going on 30 years ago with these moral theologians.

[193] It came right after the council.

[194] most of my friends who are older than me tell me that the herons and the Carl Reiner's and all these different guys that were coming in with all these new ideas on proportionalism.

[195] What is that?

[196] What is it?

[197] St. John Paul II took them all on and pointed out using to mystic philosophy, traditional teachings, on the splendor of the truth.

[198] And when we come back, I'd like to at least address something because what St. John Paul 2 made very clear 30 years ago, it appears from reading the present Holy Father that the two don't mix, Amorous Letitia and the splendor the truth.

[199] And so for me, as a layman, I'm just going to say, I have to ask myself for consistency.

[200] I'm, you know, the deposit of faith.

[201] Which one's following the deposit of faith that has always taught moral morality from a biblical, view, and I have to say St. John Paul II, Splendor the Church, splendor the truth, does that, and Amorce Letitia, especially Chapter 8, deviates, I mean, I can show you the document where one document says this, from Pope Paul, from Pope John Paul 2, one document says from Pope Francis, and you're going to yourself, okay, well, which is it?

[202] Well, Bishop Strickland, when we come back, I'm not here to cause controversy.

[203] I'm here because I want to know the truth.

[204] about Jesus Christ and his moral teachings.

[205] And I'm going to say this right up front.

[206] St. John Paul, too, was consistent with the perennial teaching on these moral teachings, and that's who I'm going to go with.

[207] When we come back, I'd like to get your take on that, and much more here on the Bishop Strickland Hour, on Virgin Post -Pariful Radio.

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

[209] Welcome back to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[210] I'm getting confused.

[211] Someone, a priest's friend of mine, just texted me something.

[212] I'll be honest with you, this is live radio here, I'm talking, and he said Costco's selling tabernacles, Catholic tabernacles now.

[213] I'm thinking, whatever happened to sacredness, Bishop Strickland, this is, I just don't get what's happening.

[214] But this comes to the point that I just mentioned at the end of the last segment about Veritatis Splendor.

[215] You and I mentioned impossibly maybe we could just go through that document sometime because it would answer a lot of the problems in the church because right now there's a lot of ambiguity.

[216] I will say that I'm being generous, but some of it is actually being said on the moral issues that just contradict what the Catholic Church has always taught.

[217] So what did you have to say when you tweeted this Veritatis Splendor and Morris Letitia?

[218] What did you say there, Bishop Strickland?

[219] well in the little clip there that i tweeted basically i said i'm going with verita de splendor because it is consistent with scripture and tradition yeah we can't invent a new truth no matter how much somebody wants to and like we were saying earlier once you start to i mean just logically if you say, well, yeah, we can change this truth that's been taught for centuries upon centuries.

[220] Then does that mean we can change all the truth, that every truth is changeable?

[221] And that seems to be the tone of a lot of what you're hearing from Rome, from the Vatican.

[222] I mean, this Archbishop Fernandez that is going to be the new head of the CDF, I don't know the man, but from what I understand, he was a big part of writing of Moris Letitiae.

[223] And part of the article that I was referring to talks about, he says it's in, he says that Veritat de Splendor is inadequate.

[224] and to call the truth inadequate is pretty serious.

[225] Yes, it is.

[226] And especially when you start to really look at it, as I've said before, you know, I'm a simple guy.

[227] I don't claim to be some great theologian, but I can spot the truth when I see it.

[228] And if we look to Jesus Christ, he died on a cross.

[229] I mean, going back to Edith Stein, sister Teresa Benedicta, of the cross, that was a big part of her conversion.

[230] She recognized the mystery of the cross of Jesus Christ.

[231] And part of his cross is being willing, as he tells us, deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me. And a lot of what is being pushed is not acknowledging the cross.

[232] in acknowledging that, yes, it's tough to live the truth.

[233] Both of us fail.

[234] Everyone does.

[235] We're all sinners.

[236] Amen.

[237] But thankfully, God is merciful, and he gives us a chance to grow in virtue, to turn from sin more and more fully, and to grow in virtue.

[238] That's what we need to do.

[239] I went to confession yesterday.

[240] And as I say to people, I know I've said it here before, I go to confession often, not because, I'm so holy, but because I'm not holy enough, because I'm a sinner.

[241] And we talked about grace earlier.

[242] If we believe in what the sacraments are, outward signs instituted by Christ that give grace, then we want that grace.

[243] We need that grace.

[244] It helps us to do a better job of being a good man or good woman, it helps us to do a better job of whatever our calling is in life.

[245] I mean, the grace helps me to be a better bishop.

[246] The grace helps you to be a better husband and father and a virtuous man. Yep.

[247] To face the things that we see in the world and not attack anyone, but to say, no, I'm not going to embrace that because it's not the truth.

[248] Grace helps us to live the truth more fully.

[249] Jesus Christ is truth incarnate.

[250] And I guess we talk about it a lot, Terry, but joy comes from living the truth.

[251] Amen.

[252] That's why the splendor of truth is such a great title for that document, because truth is splendid.

[253] It's not some burden that we need to cast off.

[254] It's not some shackles and chains that need to be gotten rid of.

[255] That's the way it's spoken of too often in these days.

[256] People act as if the ancient truth of the church needs to be gotten rid of because it's just chaining us to live moral values that have become obsolete.

[257] They haven't become obsolete and they will not become obsolete.

[258] if we look at society, are we in better shape because too many are casting off these shackles of living a moral code?

[259] Absolutely not.

[260] Cities are a mess.

[261] The world is a mess.

[262] I mean, I was reading about the tragic situation in Maui in Hawaii at this time with fires and people desperate and diving into the ocean to get away from these fires, those kind of things remind us that we need to live a virtuous life because we don't know what's down the road.

[263] We don't know what disaster may befall us.

[264] And in their tragedies, and we certainly need to humanly reach out to those who are suffering and to bring assistance wherever we can, but that's where we come back to the essential nature of teaching the truth so that people who are facing calamities of whatever kind, whether it's disease or natural disasters or some violence that is perpetrated by another person, whatever people experience, if they know how to live the virtues and to take up their cross.

[265] It doesn't eliminate the suffering that they may endure, but it puts them on a path that ultimately ends in joy rather than in devastation.

[266] You know, Bishop Strickland, I appreciate you saying that.

[267] And one of your tweets, you encourage people to do things that Bishop Sheen encourage us lay people to do, and that is spend time before our Eucharistic king in adoration.

[268] You encourage us to pray the rosary.

[269] And then you thank us for paying a prayer warrior.

[270] That's what we're called to do also.

[271] And you said, please continue.

[272] And if your answer to the above is no, I encourage you to seriously consider both powerful forms of prayer.

[273] All of us, all of our prayers draws closer to the sacred heart of Jesus.

[274] Now, I got to just say thank you because I'm convinced Bishop Sheen got me to make the daily holy hour.

[275] He's made me by his plea and by his teaching on the faith to go to daily Mass. Why?

[276] I think it's a great grace that he's done that for me. And now here Bishop Strickland is saying do it because here's the challenge Bishop Strickland.

[277] Reparation needs to be made for all the sacrilegious that are going on in the world and inside the church.

[278] I can say some crazy things that went on at World Youth Day.

[279] We can either get mad, or we can pray and I prefer to pray because I think God is pleased when we can offer up any sacrifices for our church for our bishops for our priests for our pope because I think this is the key for lay apostolate number one we can become prayer warriors and I thank you for encouraging us to do that yeah Terry I think that you know the scriptures tell us very constantly and that seems impossible, but we can grow in making prayer more and more a part of our life.

[280] It's being in tune with God and God's will, and that is always going to give assistance in whatever we're facing, whether it's just a regular day with no major events, or it's some calamity that we have to deal with.

[281] if we pray it gives us the strength and it gives us a deeper understanding of the truth because it pulls us out of ourselves and it reminds us of who we are created in the image and likeness of God and I encourage people you know certainly I believe in my life and I know you would say the same.

[282] The rosary and Eucharistic adoration.

[283] I'm reminded of the image of St. John Bosco's vision with the pillar of Mary and the pillar of the Eucharist.

[284] Mary with the rosary, Jesus Christ is the Eucharist.

[285] But those are our strength.

[286] Those are our pillars.

[287] And I encourage people who, as I've said before, maybe they are not so open to the rosary.

[288] Okay, maybe just pray a decade, see how it goes.

[289] But pray, that's the main thing.

[290] Certainly, I take the recommendation of the Blessed Virgin Mary to pray the rosary.

[291] I don't think there's a better endorsement of a form of prayer than from the mother of Jesus Christ, the mother of God.

[292] model of discipleship for all of us.

[293] But if we're not prepared to pray an entire rosary, pray a decade.

[294] Or at least reflect on the mysteries.

[295] Make yourself more and more familiar with the rosary, and I predict that people will pray it more, the more they become familiar with it.

[296] Because I like to look at the rosary as a journey through the whole, incarnation story of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

[297] If we believe he is the Son of God, our Lord and Savior, then we want to know him more.

[298] And the roachers is a great way to do that.

[299] It's sort of an outline, very brief, really, but it touches on important moments in his life.

[300] You have a wife that you love.

[301] Absolutely.

[302] And I'm sure that both of you, after many years, years of marriage, you have moments that you reflect on together that you share with each other, memories that come up.

[303] Maybe it's birthdays or holidays or a vacation or just an ordinary day where something important happened.

[304] That's what we're doing with the rosary and Jesus Christ, our wilderness.

[305] Great point.

[306] I want to get some scripture in that you tweeted from 1st Thessalonians chapter 5 verse 4 to 6 check it out open up your bibles when we come back and stay with us back to the bishop strickland hour welcome back indeed bishop strickland every time you tweet scripture you can't go wrong because it's god's word but here's what you tweeted first thessalonians says you are not in the dark brothers that the day should catch you off guard like a thief.

[307] No, all of you are children of light and of the day.

[308] We belong neither to darkness nor tonight.

[309] Therefore, let us not be asleep like the rest, but awake and sober.

[310] Boy, if that's great advice for us, that was 2 ,000 years ago.

[311] I mean, can you imagine that advice for us today?

[312] Isn't that applicable, Bishop?

[313] Absolutely.

[314] Wow.

[315] Wow.

[316] Wow.

[317] And I think too many are.

[318] In the dark.

[319] I'll accuse myself where I think we're in a culture where too often not being awake and sober, but being asleep and unaware is more the norm.

[320] There are too many people that don't seem to be paying attention to what's going on in our nation or in our church.

[321] And so I think we need to be the children of the light that Christ calls us to be.

[322] You know, Bishop Stricken, before we get to the catechism, there's one more tweet on August 8th that you sent out that I think, like I said, we're living in some times, troubled times even so within the church.

[323] and you tweeted rejoice that even as Christ and his bride are attacked from within and without we are called to stand steadfast at the foot of the cross as his mystical body is being crucified again his truth sets us free the gates of hell will not prevail hold fast to the deposit of faith that seems almost like I'd want to say something like that to my kids of my last breath of air.

[324] I mean, that's great advice.

[325] Yeah, I think it's essential for this time because there's a lot of suffering.

[326] There's a lot of confusion.

[327] There's a lot of questioning.

[328] There's a lot of turmoil in people's lives.

[329] We always have to be people of hope in the light of Christ, but also to, I mean, as I've said before, he says, deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me. To not just be so burdened by the suffering that we forget the suffering that our Lord endured for all of us.

[330] It's redemptive suffering.

[331] Amen.

[332] I think that's one of the most important concepts that we don't hear much about these days, but we need to that teaching of the church that suffering can be redempted and i'm sure people would you know holler and say oh there goes bishop strickland talking about how we need to suffer we don't need to seek out suffering and frankly we don't have to suffering suffering comes our way as the saying says into each life some rain must fall i mean they're going to be dark days.

[333] There's going to be suffering.

[334] There's loved ones that are suffering, and we suffer with them.

[335] We have illnesses.

[336] We have setbacks in all kinds of ways.

[337] We have loved ones that die.

[338] The suffering is not something we seek out, but when it comes our way, we need to remember to join it to the cross of Christ.

[339] And frankly, I think that many people that I hear from, and I see it myself.

[340] The church as the bride of Christ is suffering.

[341] Big time.

[342] There's a certain element of passion that we're experiencing where bishops are against bishops.

[343] Cardinals are against cardinals.

[344] There's too much division.

[345] We have to remember where do we find the unity?

[346] Where do we find the answers in Jesus Christ?

[347] He's always the principle of unity.

[348] He is the Lord of truth.

[349] And he died on a cross.

[350] Amen.

[351] So we have to honor him and stand fast, hold fast at the foot of his cross with whatever the suffering is, not attacking others because we're suffering, but always seeking to embrace suffering as part of the journey.

[352] And, I mean, for you as a father and a husband.

[353] I'm sure you've had to endure some suffering for the sake of your family.

[354] Of course.

[355] It goes with the territory.

[356] That's what we need to do.

[357] And that's the beauty of the Mass is to bring all of that to the altar of Christ, where it's not just a reminder.

[358] It's the reality of Jesus Christ suffering and dying and rising for us right there on every Catholic altar.

[359] That's why the reverence for the body of Christ is so critical.

[360] in calling people to a deeper faith that it's not just an image.

[361] It's not just a whole bunch of hosts that are there that can be treated like chips on a table.

[362] This is the body of Christ.

[363] And we have to encourage people to a deeper faith.

[364] And to me, that's what that passage is really speaking about.

[365] The reverence for the body of Christ that walked among us, that died, and a cross that rose from the dead.

[366] Jesus Christ and His sacred body went through all of that.

[367] And now he's seated at the right hand of the Father, as we say in the creed.

[368] But he's also in every tabernacle and at every mass, the great mystery of our faith.

[369] It's so beautiful if people will just embrace it.

[370] Well, said, and I will mention Colossians chapter one about redemptive suffering.

[371] says there in the Bible, I fill up what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ for the good of the church.

[372] And I remember Dr. Scott Hahn in the early days, I asked him, how did you understand Colossians chapter 1?

[373] He said, we didn't.

[374] We threw our arms up and said, what's he talking about?

[375] But as a Catholic, my eyes opened up.

[376] And I wanted just to leave a quote from Pope St. Pius the 10th, because Bishop Strugland, I think you've taken the saints' advice.

[377] He said the primary duty of charity does not lie in the toleration of false ideas.

[378] And I think you haven't tolerated false ideas.

[379] When you see false teachings, whether they're outside the church or inside the church, you give us not your opinion, because who cares about your opinion?

[380] We want to know what Christ and his church teaches officially about a particular topic.

[381] And that's what you give us and that's why we want to hear from you and I thank you for not being quiet and sit back and say oh no I can't say that someone might get mad at me well they get mad at you every day because you just look at the tweets or I get the stuff from the radio here for you and my point is I think we're here to please only one person and that's Jesus Christ and him crucified and I think that is the key for all of us to remember every time never worry about who will be offended if you speak to truth.

[382] Worry about who will be misled, deceived, and destroyed if you don't.

[383] And I think that's what the show is about, is sharing Christ's teachings and the deposit of faith.

[384] Just a quick note, I'm going to be in Tyler, Texas, for any of you listeners, I know, I think we've got 30 some families that have gone from California to Tyler, Texas.

[385] So I'm going to hopefully meet some of you out there.

[386] It's a lay run organization that's putting this event on, Depositive Faith.

[387] Bishop Strickland will be one of the speakers in Tyler, so I'm just going to, I don't have a website to send you yet to it, but mark the date September 1 and 2, and I'd love to see you in Tyler.

[388] I've never been to Tyler, Texas, only through this technology every week.

[389] So I'm looking forward to seeing a lot of my friends from California there at this event.

[390] And Bishop Strickland, the last thing I wanted to ask before you get a blessing, we're not going to get to the catechism, but the, The St. Philip Institute, we're going through this catechism.

[391] They published this catechism called The Way of Christ Student Book.

[392] We're on page 20.

[393] I want to encourage you to get a good catechism because many people, there is at St .Philip Institute .org.

[394] It's on the screen.

[395] Get the catechism.

[396] It's very easy.

[397] It ties into the big catechism that's kind of big, like 500 pages long.

[398] But this is short and concise, and we try to go through it.

[399] here each week.

[400] Bishop Strickland, we're running out of time.

[401] Can you just give us your priestly blessing to our audience, please?

[402] Almighty God, we ask your blessing for all who are involved in and participating in Virgin Most Powerful Radio.

[403] May we continue to joyfully proclaim the truth and be guided by that light that is Jesus Christ.

[404] And we ask this blessing in the name of the Father and of the Son.

[405] of the Holy Spirit.

[406] Amen.

[407] Thank you, Bishop Strickland.

[408] Just to remind our listeners, all of these shows are podcast.

[409] So if you go to VMPR .org, you can see all of Bishop Strickland shows for years up on the podcast.

[410] Also, all the other shows that we're doing.

[411] And I just want to encourage our listeners.

[412] We're trying now a new program coming out called The Life of Christ by Archbishop Fulton Sheen's classic book from the 1950s.

[413] And we're going to go through this Life of Christ.

[414] and hopefully attract people to see the beauty of who Jesus Christ was and is and asking people to really study his word and to study his life because we're called to imitate his life.

[415] Without Good Friday, there's no Easter Sunday.

[416] So I want to encourage you that the coming show will be with Father Charles Murr.

[417] Once a week, we're going to cover the life of Christ.

[418] Also, I want to just mention to the folks who are supporting, us here, your monthly donors, I don't do it enough.

[419] I got to thank them.

[420] They pay the electricity bill.

[421] They pay the bills of what VMPR does to produce these shows.

[422] For $25 a month, you get a couple hundred dollars worth of downloads of Scott Hahn's material, Tim Staples, Father Bill Casey, all the good guys have recorded for the last 30 -some years.

[423] They're yours.

[424] So if you want to become a monthly donor, go to vmpr .org, click on that.

[425] Also, we just put up a bunch of spiritual warfare prayers that is free.

[426] It's downloadable.

[427] And these are prayers to pray for Holy Mother of the Church.

[428] Bishop Strickland talked about praying before the blessed sacrament for the church, praying your rosary.

[429] These prayers, there's probably 50 different sets of prayers in there for you, and it's free.

[430] But I just really believe that a good prayer life will mean a good life of Christ.

[431] So I appreciate all the support here at vmpr .org and just to let you know in October we're going to have a day with Fulton Sheen October 14th look on the website there's lots of events happening and we do them all to help you fall deeper in love with Jesus Christ and his bride the church so next week I hope we'll cover again some more topics that are near to all of us about how to fall deep in love with Jesus Christ and again if you want to get the catechism go to the the St. Philip Institute of Catechesis and Evangelization, part of the diocese of Tyler, Texas.

[432] They got a lot of great material on marriage and family life, which is critical, as St. John Paul too, would say.

[433] The way the family goes is the way the culture goes.

[434] And I think St. Philip Institute is helping families be strong in Christ.

[435] Thanks again for joining us here on Virgin, most powerful radio.

[436] May God richly bless you and your family.

[437] I thought of it.