15 Mar 22 – America, Wake Up!

[0] Welcome to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

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

[2] I'm always honored to do this show once a week with Father.

[3] We cover his, with Bishop Strickland, I should say.

[4] We cover his tweets that he sends out, and I encourage you to get on Twitter with him.

[5] He sends a lot of tweets out each week, and then we comment about him on the radio and also open up our catechism, the last segment, to talk about what our church.

[6] church's teachings are in the catechism to make some good points here.

[7] Bishop Strickland, thanks again for another day, another hour sharing the gospel.

[8] Appreciate it.

[9] Thanks, Terry.

[10] Bishop Strickland, you've got some tweets.

[11] Every week I go, man, this is good stuff.

[12] This is all, and you know what, it's all fundamental to the faith.

[13] Bishop Strickland, I know don't take this the wrong way.

[14] You're not very erudite.

[15] You know what you are?

[16] You're very straightforward.

[17] And I love that about you.

[18] We need straightforward.

[19] What you see is what you get, and you don't beat around the bush.

[20] And here's an example of that tweet on March 2nd.

[21] The USA better wake up to the lies flowing out of Washington, D .C., very quickly, or we will find ourselves in a tragic reality this nation has never seen.

[22] We absolutely must pray without ceasing, but we also need to use the brains God gave us.

[23] my fellow Americans wake up all right we can spend a whole hour talking about this tweet but what are you talking about well i've i had a few people say well what what lies are you talking about it's like there are too many to count and it really is not one party or one group but it's it's all over the place amen and the media is is corrupt as as all the rest of it and And really, Terry, I mean, very honestly, all I can do is turn to Christ to know his truth.

[24] And even that becomes undermined, even within his church, it's people need to, there's too much complacency.

[25] There's too much acting as if everything's fine and we're just humming along, doing our thing.

[26] no we don't need to panic because Christ has conquered evil but we need to speak up in the face of evil we need to speak the truth it's a joyful truth it's a life -giving truth it brings peace that's one thing I tweeted also that if you want peace it has to start in your own heart and the best place to attain that peace is through prayer through humbly acknowledging that none of us are in charge.

[27] Even the people who think they're in charge, the great world leaders, they're just men and women, they're just people.

[28] Yeah, they have a lot of power, so -called, but they better be very careful about how they use their power, whether in the church or in the state.

[29] because any real power, as Jesus says in the Gospels, all power in heaven and on earth has been given to him.

[30] Any power that we wield, we better do it responsibly because it's ultimately comes from God.

[31] And if we use it irresponsibly, that brings damnation on us and too many innocent people.

[32] and that's what we're seeing unfold now is as always in times of war innocent people suffer children women innocent people that have done nothing and we're seeing that unfold and there's so much misinformation it's hard to know where the truth is so we need to I guess the way I would respond to my tweet is that oh well what's this bishop talking about what's what's the What are the lies he's talking about?

[33] Anything that doesn't correspond with the message of Jesus Christ, abortion is a woman's right.

[34] That's a lie.

[35] The freedom to do what you want, that's a lie.

[36] Mandates that force you to take medications that are not real vaccines.

[37] And more and more, we're finding out people have died because.

[38] the real medication was withheld.

[39] And Terry, I don't know much, but I know Jesus Christ is Lord.

[40] And when you start looking at things through the lens that he gives us of what the truth is, and being alert to evil, Satan is real, he's the father of lies, and there's so many lies being told, it's hard to keep up.

[41] And one of those lies was for profit that the pharmaceutical companies didn't let people know.

[42] These are the ways for this COVID -19.

[43] These are the ways to prevent it.

[44] I mean, they said mask and so many people say masks, never did anything.

[45] But there are real ways to prevent it.

[46] And what was never talked about that I've heard.

[47] heard, except for people that got canceled, was these are some treatments.

[48] I mean, we've probably both seen's report coming out now that if these treatments had been used, thousands, if not millions of people's lives would have been protected.

[49] And too many times it seems to come, it points to the profit margin.

[50] these big companies are making lots of money and if if the revenue stream is strongest that's what they're going to do instead of what's best for humanity what's best for that individual person that's where we have that's where the lies are and you know people talk about conspiracy theories like I said I don't I don't have any sort of database that gives me information but I have the truth of Jesus Christ and when people are saying things that are contrary to his truth the truth in scripture, the truth in the Gaticism then we better start asking questions instead of just saying oh well you know we've decided this teaching that we've been proclaiming for 2 ,000 years oh it's wrong and we need to correct this teaching hogwash why don't you really tell me what you're to thank Bishop Strickland.

[51] I love it.

[52] That's just straightforward.

[53] Yeah, money over people.

[54] We are profit -centered.

[55] And just to be quite frank, here, I'll confirm what happened just here at our chapel.

[56] We do about 20 funerals a week, a month at the Sacred Heart Chapel, and a young 17 -year -old boy had been sick.

[57] He went to see the doctor.

[58] The doctor asked, has he been vaccinated?

[59] No. So they give him the vaccination with hours he dies from that time.

[60] He got vaccinated.

[61] Now, who's to say how he died, but they're still not wanting to put anything on the death certificate that it was the COVID shot that killed him.

[62] The point I'm making is, yes, those are lies, and I think we have to expose lies with the truth.

[63] That's what our faith tells us.

[64] That's what our Lord says.

[65] So Bishop Strickland, you explain what you meant there, but you seem to always go back, when it talks about Jesus Christ, you seem to go back to the Holy Eucharist everywhere.

[66] weak with us because, as the Second Vatican Council calls it, the source and summit of the Christian life.

[67] You quoted St. Catherine Driscoll.

[68] She said this, the Eucharist is a never -ending sacrifice.

[69] It is the sacrament of love and the supreme love, the act of love.

[70] Now, your comment to that was tweet, you tweeted this, beautiful thoughts as we seek Eucharistic revival throughout the Catholic Church.

[71] Let us remember that this is intimately tied to the holiness of our priests, because you said holy priests have a deep relationship with Jesus in the Holy Eucharist and call others to deepen the relationship with him.

[72] Anything else?

[73] I mean, that says it all.

[74] That's what the priest is.

[75] Well, what I like to emphasize what Vatican II says, what the church teaches, it's really him.

[76] Yeah.

[77] He's really present.

[78] The same Lord that healed the sick, the blind man, the lepers, raised people from the dead, taught to care for the poor, clothed the naked.

[79] Everything that Christ said, the same Lord is right there to nurture us.

[80] And really, Terry, that's why, I mean, the Eucharist, if we can revive.

[81] people's real faith that Jesus is here in the Eucharist.

[82] As someone pointed out, just recently, then we'll see him also, as he tells us, he's here in the poor.

[83] He's here really in every person.

[84] Amen.

[85] There's some type of poverty we all deal with, whether it's a spiritual poverty, material poverty certainly.

[86] We can't ignore that.

[87] People that, people that.

[88] are starving, the people that we see are, that are homeless, all of those things need to be addressed.

[89] And it begins to happen when people awaken to the Lord really present, eucharistically, in the churches, and begin to really pray, and begin to really say, I don't need more stuff.

[90] I need to help the poor instead of buying more stuff.

[91] I mean, you know, they're just, we've got to go back to Christ present in the Eucharist.

[92] And one thing that just struck me in my prayer just recently is, you know, during Lent, we pray the stations of the cross.

[93] We pray the sorrowful mysteries of the rosary along with the other mysteries.

[94] But what really struck me, Terry, is Christ's passion really began when he became.

[95] When he was conceived in the womb of Mary, and it lasts all the way through until after his death and resurrection, the Lord enters into his passion by being part of this creation.

[96] And it just, we got to honor that.

[97] The blasphemies against our Lord are atrocious.

[98] We come back.

[99] We'll talk about what you can do when you see these outrages of blessed sacrament with reparations.

[100] be with us we'll be right back welcome back to the bishop Strickland hour as I was listening to Bishop Strickland teach about the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist it made me think about Mysterium Fide that was St. Pope Paul the 6th document in 1965 at the end of the second Vatican Council he decided to write a short document reaffirming our belief in the real presence of Christ and the Eucharist.

[101] And from what I read Bishop Strickland, there were some periduses, these called experts at the Vatican Council, that were talking about this idea of trans signification, trans finalization, but not transubstantiation.

[102] And Paul the 6th, when what I read, said, wait a minute, fellas, that's not what we teach.

[103] Let's reaffirm the traditional teachings on the Eucharist.

[104] And he just read, he put the document out, which was kind of unusual at a counsel that the Pope would write a document himself, but I think it was Paul the 6th wanting to clarify that, hey, don't put any ambiguity in about the Holy Eucharist.

[105] This has got to be taught.

[106] We believe in the real presence, body, blood, soul, and divinity.

[107] Now, Bishop Strickland, that's my read on it.

[108] Am I onto something, or do you think that I read into it a little too much?

[109] No, Terry, I think you're on to something, and we see vestiges of those same perity as they're called experts so -called during Vatican 2 trying to water down the Eucharistic faith of the ages it we we really can't remain silent in the face of that and thank thank God once again for Paul the six he did that with Humane Vite yes think clearly what the evil of of contraception.

[110] Right.

[111] And he did the same thing with stating clearly transubstantiation.

[112] Yes, it's a mystery, but to try to, I mean, really taking any other path gets us onto the same road as Martin Luther got on, and look how that's splendor.

[113] I mean, our Protestant brothers and sisters are part of hundreds of different groups of churches of you know it just keeps splintering and sadly when we move away from that unifying presence of of christ in his church then we start to splendor also people talk about division yeah the only source of unity is christ amen and when men decide they've got it figured out better than he offered us in his own revelation through his body and blood, soul and divinity.

[114] He is revelation incarnate when, you know, I've been just reading a book about some of that time when Martin Luther and then Zwingley and John Calvin, it's all human ideas.

[115] Exactly.

[116] But they decide are better than the church of the ages.

[117] The same thing's happening now?

[118] Yes.

[119] Cardinals.

[120] I mean, that's what's difficult about the church today is from the very top of the church, the cardinals are saying, oh, well, we've had the teaching on sexual morality all wrong.

[121] And we've been misreading scripture.

[122] I'd hate to tell them, but scripture doesn't suddenly get rewritten.

[123] St. Paul in his letters warns us of false gospels.

[124] And we hear false Gospels virtually every day now, and it rattles people, or sadly, what it does, Terry, it confirms people in their heresy.

[125] And they've decided they want to believe something that is false, and they're getting confirmation from the highest levels of the church that, oh, yeah, you can, two men can get married to women.

[126] can get married.

[127] The German bishops are more and more taking this away from the church.

[128] Sadly, it's happened before out of Germany.

[129] And Germany, I mean, some of the most wonderful Catholics I've ever known were German people.

[130] But for whatever reasons, the heresies developed there as well.

[131] And we've just got to be, as you pointed out, I just started.

[132] using it, but, you know, I remember after the Boston bombing, that terrible event, people were saying Boston strong.

[133] We need to be Jesus strong.

[134] Amen.

[135] We need to be strong in our Lord Jesus Christ.

[136] He's the pillar of truth.

[137] He is truth incarnate.

[138] The Blessed Virgin Mary always pointing to him that, you know, I'm glad to be a broken record that people can say all kinds of nasty things about me if they want but if i'm talking about jesus christ and his blessed mother our blessed mother they can say what they want i'm going to keep saying it as long as i have breath amen and you know bishop strickland i listen to this show here in my studio and i see it as an inspiration show because you constantly are calling people back to the apostolic teachings of the church it's just what we need today in this time of confusion and You are always quoting scripture, the saints.

[139] And here's another saint you're quoting.

[140] Saint, well, St. Casimir of Poland, St. John Paul II was quoting him on his feast day, and you printed this out as a tweet.

[141] And here's what it said.

[142] This is what the saint said about a saint.

[143] I like a saint on a saint.

[144] His life of purity and prayer beckoned you to practice your faith with courage and zeal to reject the deceptive attractions of modern, permissive society and to live your convictions with fearless confidence and i might add joy bishop strickland that sounds like you no i mean it you're saying the same thing that this saint john paul too saying about don't compromise your faith yeah absolutely and where the saints we can look to for great inspiration and example we're celebrating saint perpetual and felicity yeah two martyrs of the very earliest, I think early in the third century.

[145] And they were young women.

[146] One had a child, a toddler, and the other was pregnant.

[147] And from what I remember of the story, I think it was Perpetua, was the one with the child, already born.

[148] Felicity was expecting a child.

[149] She was pregnant.

[150] And thankfully, she was able to give birth.

[151] before she was martyred.

[152] But they were both young mothers.

[153] And when Perpetua, even by her own father, he pleaded with her to deny her Christian faith.

[154] And she said boldly to the Roman authorities who were trying to get her to worship false gods.

[155] And we see too much of that going on in the world today.

[156] But Perpetua said, I am a Christian.

[157] And she died for it.

[158] that's what really all the martyrs did in different circumstances rather than to deny Jesus Christ that gave their life.

[159] I just recently ran across a holy card that I have in my bravery.

[160] We start a new bravery so I see holy cards that I haven't seen for a year.

[161] But this is St. John Fisher.

[162] A beautiful prayer.

[163] Actually just tweeted this and I'd encourage people to pray for me. One weak and sinful bishop, pray for your bishop wherever you are.

[164] If you're located in the United States or really anywhere in the world, you've got a local bishop.

[165] And we need your prayers.

[166] Pray for the bishops.

[167] The St. John Fisher's prayer beautifully says, The apostles were weak clay that was hardened into stone by the Holy Spirit.

[168] He says, by the Holy Ghost and the older language.

[169] And then he says, for today, I mean, he's talking about, you know, the England of King Henry the 8th, but he says in his time, pray for the bishops to be the not the weak, pliable clay that is all of us as human beings, but let them be stones and pillars of faith in the power of the Holy Spirit.

[170] His prayer wasn't answered, but for a lot of the bishops in England, they said, oh, yeah, Henry, we'll bow down to your plans and we'll reject the Church of Rome because the king wants it.

[171] John Fisher, Saint Bishop Martyr, John Fisher, died rather than to deny his Catholic faith.

[172] That's the strength of bishops and priests and deacons.

[173] of Catholics that we need today.

[174] And thankfully, we have many examples, but we need to pray for that strength, for every bishop especially, to teach and proclaim the truth of Jesus Christ.

[175] As St. John Paul II pointed out, and might I add joy?

[176] That's where real joy comes from, is living according to God's plan, according to God's will, bowing to God's truth, and saying, Well, it's mysterious.

[177] I may not fully understand, but I'm going to follow Jesus.

[178] That's what we all need to do.

[179] And the great thing is, Terry, no matter what happens, I mean, we pray for really all of Europe at this time.

[180] There's such turmoil with this conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

[181] It's hard to know the truth.

[182] But the truth is people are suffering.

[183] Lives are threatened.

[184] Lives have been lost.

[185] And more are likely to be lost in this.

[186] this war and this conflict.

[187] What can we do?

[188] We can pray, let's like you mentioned, the men in Poland on their knees, praying the rosary.

[189] We have to believe in the power of prayer, and the power of the rosary is a great prayer.

[190] I encourage people to pray the rosary and to pray the chaplain of divine mercy.

[191] You were mentioning St. Faustina, and she is a great saint.

[192] Just before the Second World War broke out, she died and her what she saw in visions what she shared in her diary were prophecies of what the atrocities the second world war would bring all of us ultimately as we've talked about before we will face god alone with the power of his love but also with the power of his judgment we all need to focus on that whatever today brings what whatever tomorrow brings, stay with the truth of God, stay with his son, Jesus Christ, ask for the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and come what may, we'll be okay in eternity.

[193] We'll be more than okay.

[194] We will be blessed in eternity no matter what we have to endure in this world.

[195] That's the faith that we need to cling to.

[196] Amen.

[197] And when we come back from the break, you tweeted some prayers before the blessed sacrament, and we're living in times where sacrilegious things go on in Catholic churches.

[198] We all, I mean, that's just how it is.

[199] It's sad, but what's the response from the faithful?

[200] And I think you have a good answer to that.

[201] So when we come back from the break, we'll talk just about that.

[202] But I also want to give a plug, Bishop Strickland.

[203] You have a Eucharistic Congress, and your diocese is coming up, and I don't think you mind other people coming in to it.

[204] So how can people sign up to come to that Congress this summer?

[205] Well, they can contact the St. Philip Institute .org.

[206] The website has information.

[207] We're still developing all the plan.

[208] But thankfully, Archbishop Salvatore Cordlione is coming to celebrate one of the liturgies and to speak.

[209] A great Archbishop in San Francisco.

[210] So he and I will be there.

[211] other great speakers in English and in Spanish, and the dates will be June 10th and 11th, and I encourage people to become.

[212] Wonderful.

[213] When we come back, we're going to talk about reparation, atonement, expiation.

[214] You're here on the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[215] Stay with us, family.

[216] Welcome back to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[217] I gave a teaser before the break, and I said, What do you do when you see liturgical, let's say abuses, but even sacrilegious in the Catholic Church today?

[218] I get so many letters.

[219] I got one here saying, you know, I'm having a hard time staying in the church because I see such crummy things going on where there's liturgical abuses that are just outrageous, and I'm so upset, what can I do?

[220] Well, what I tell him, Bishop Strickland, because you tweeted this, is I tell him, to offer up reparation and atonement for these sacrilegies that are going on in the church because we really, as lay people, don't have the authority to tell the priest or even the bishop, hey, bishop, look what's going on here.

[221] We can tell them, it's great to let them know in a nice way that this is going on, but we're not an authority to change liturgical practices, even when things are being done incorrectly.

[222] So you tweeted this prayer, we call it the pardon prayer, says, my God, I believe, I adore, I trust and I love thee.

[223] And I beg pardon for all those who do not believe, do not adore, do not trust, and do not love thee.

[224] And then Bishop Strickland, I'm going to let you respond, but there's a prayer that the angels taught the girls.

[225] This was 1916.

[226] I don't think liturgical abuses were as bad as they are now.

[227] I mean, that's just my take.

[228] But it said, here's the prayer.

[229] Say it three times.

[230] Most holy Trinity, father, son, holy spirit, I adore you profoundly.

[231] I offer you the most precious body, blood, soul, and divinity of Jesus Christ present in all the tabernacles of the world in reparation for the outrages, sacrilegious, indifference by which he is offended.

[232] And through the infinite merits of his most sacred heart and of the immaculate heart of Mary, I beg the conversion of poor sinners.

[233] Well, Bishop Strickland, what else can you tell somebody when you see these sacrilegious?

[234] I mean, you're a bishop, so you know what we're talking about.

[235] You've seen these things happen in the church.

[236] What advice would you give the lay people?

[237] Well, as you said, Terry, what I've encouraged, especially during this Lent, really always, but especially during Lent in a very focused way, repentance, reparation, and atonement for all of us.

[238] All of us who believe everything that that prayer says, that Christ is present.

[239] body and blood, soul and divinity in the Eucharist, and when his actual real presence is not treated with reverence, when people receive him without any regard for when's the last time I went to confession?

[240] Am I in a state of grace?

[241] Those questions, sadly, some people even laugh at them being asked.

[242] And that is another way that blasphemies.

[243] And we've just got to all all we can do, all I can do.

[244] Yes, I'm a bishop, but ultimately, just as individual believers, first we all have to start with ourselves, just like Christ shows us in the gospel.

[245] Don't worry about the plank in someone else's eye, or the splinter in someone else's eye.

[246] Deal with a plank in your own.

[247] Deal with your own heart.

[248] Deal with your own repentance, your own reparation, your own atonement for your own personal sins, and then make reparation and atonement for the sins of others.

[249] I mean, Terry, I'm sure both of us as men who believe, we would be horrified to be told that we did anything that was blasphemous or less than reverent toward the Lord.

[250] But I'm a sinner, and so to that degree, when I've sinned, I've been less than reverent.

[251] toward the Lord.

[252] And so all of us have room for reparation and atonement.

[253] And then to look beyond that to certainly for myself as a bishop to constantly, and I do pray for mercy and forgiveness for myself for anything that I've done that was less than what Christ called me to do.

[254] I mean, bishops have to make a lot of decisions and we can make mistakes.

[255] And certainly when it comes down to people's lives, it's a burden to carry as a bishop.

[256] And even priests have to do the same thing.

[257] So we all need to repent of our sins, make reparation and atonement.

[258] For ourselves, for our local parish, for the families that we know, it can just keep expanding until ultimately we have an obligation and a right to make reparation and atonement, even for the atrocities, the sufferings that people are enduring right now.

[259] I mean, in Ukraine, with all the bombing that's going on, I'm sure I haven't seen anything reported and it's hard to know what's accurately reported.

[260] But I'm sure that there are churches that have been involved in probably tabernacles that have been destroyed or the presence of the Lord, certainly the reverence for Christ present in the poor people that are being abused and mistreated and sometimes losing their lives.

[261] It's overwhelming.

[262] And I think that a lot of times when people become overwhelmed, we want to just turn a blind eye to all of it.

[263] And we can't.

[264] We can't turn a blind eye to the suffering.

[265] body of Christ in all the different forms it takes.

[266] It's easy to lose our joy in a situation like this, to become fearful, to become dark and angry and hopeless.

[267] That's not what Christ does for us either.

[268] I mean, if we are becoming hopeless, turn to the light of Christ.

[269] He's the Lord of all.

[270] And one of the things that we have to remind ourselves in times like this, Terry, all of this world is always temporary.

[271] It's a world that is passing away.

[272] As you alluded to, I mean, we don't know what tomorrow brings.

[273] And more quick, it could pass away more quickly.

[274] And I'm not talking about the end of the world, but maybe the end of your world or my world.

[275] We need to be always alert to that.

[276] In times like this, remind us this life is a temporary journey, but we are destined for everlasting life.

[277] It's a time for repentance, reparation, atonement, and refocus of where is my life headed?

[278] There are many things that neither of us can control.

[279] There are decisions being made at levels of beyond us.

[280] in the church and in the world, but we can as men of the 21st century dedicated disciples of Jesus Christ, we have our own decisions to make, and that's what we have to do, always full of hope and seeking the joy of knowing that we're living in the truth and calling others to do that.

[281] You know, Bishop Strickland, your answer is very, very good because this, turns the focus not off the negative of seeing a liturgical abuse or you know seeing crazy things going on in the church and just saying you know what i'm going to pray for the bishop i'm going to pray for that priest i like your tweet from march 5th because it says something similar you said let us all fall on our knees and adoration and humble supplication before our lord and then you point out the times are hard but Jesus Christ the Lord of all is with us see we have to repeat that Jesus I trust to thee trust in him seek him you're saying be strong in him and I love this let us be Jesus strong and trust in his mother's mother Mary's intercession for us all what you just said in that short paragraph is so fundamental that we should repeat that we she cut that little tweet out, put it on in our daily reminder book, and read that because it really keeps us focus not on man, but on God.

[282] Well, absolutely.

[283] And, you know, St. John Fisher in his prayer for bishops talks about the princes of this world and what we would call in modern terms the pushback and the sacrifices you have to make to live the truth in his world.

[284] hundreds of years ago in our world today.

[285] But the princes of this world are temporary.

[286] Yes.

[287] They think they have all the power in the world.

[288] And so sadly, so often, their power struggle is over more wealth.

[289] It was interesting.

[290] I heard somebody recently talking about one of the, I forget who it was, one of the great wealthy, tycoons of history super wealthy yeah and they said that in a conversation someone asked this wealthy very wealthy you know probably trillionaire at this point certainly a billionaire it they asked him why do you keep driving what what do you want why do you need more and and it when is it enough and his response was always just a little little more.

[291] And that's what, when you get on the track of thinking this world is all there is, you've got to have power, you've got to have money, you've got to have the pleasures of the world, then you always just want a little bit more.

[292] Ironically, in this Lenton season for all of us, is a time to give up a little more, to give of ourselves a little more, to serve others a little more generously, and to realize that when we do that in Jesus Christ, we gain eternal life.

[293] We gain not just a little more that is temporary in this world, but we gain everlasting life with God.

[294] So we're called to do the opposite as Christians.

[295] Instead of wanting a little more, let's all strive to give a little more, to the poor, to those in need, to a brother or sister that just needs someone to listen in all the ways that we can give a little more, to our own families, recognizing that's the call of Jesus Christ.

[296] He says to the disciples, he gives that beautiful example at the last supper.

[297] He washes their feet.

[298] Here's the Lord of the universe doing one of the lowliest things in that cold.

[299] culture that we could imagine.

[300] Maybe if Jesus came and was present in our culture, he would be taking out the garbage for the apostles, because that's considered one of the lowliest things in our culture, in our society, dealing with garbage.

[301] That's probably what Christ would have done because he shows us to serve in lowliness, thrill, greatness.

[302] When we come back, we're going to talk about a country that is given us a great example of their love for our lady.

[303] Stay with us, them.

[304] We find out who that is.

[305] Welcome back to the Bishop Stricklandauer.

[306] I asked you a question.

[307] I said, hey, what country is giving us a great example of their Catholic faith in regards to the invasion of the Ukraine by the Russian government and their military?

[308] And the answer is the Polish church, unlike the German church that we talked about, earlier who have decided to change things on morality.

[309] No, the Polish men are doing something Bishop Strickland that just is really impressive.

[310] Poland has obviously welcomed roughly a million refugees freeing from the violence and devastation in the Ukraine.

[311] And what they're doing as a response is men's rally, men's rosary rallies have become a common sight in Poland in recent years.

[312] They've been doing this, and I just think it's awesome because the Polish families are actually welcoming the people into their homes from the Ukraine, while others have been afforded accommodations in refugee centers, and they just seem to give us an example of going out onto the streets in this picture I see Bishop Strickland, hundreds of men on their knees in a big square with rosaries in their hand, praying.

[313] for peace in the Ukraine.

[314] And I just thought I'd bring this up to you because you're a big devotee of praying the rosary.

[315] And I think Poland is giving us here in America an example of what we should be doing.

[316] Your thoughts?

[317] I totally agree.

[318] Thankfully, Poland still has people of great faith that was, I mean, probably a lot of those men have memories of when Poland wasn't.

[319] free.

[320] And when they couldn't have done that without getting crosswise with the communist regime that was in Poland, but now they are free.

[321] And, you know, the freedom, it comes with a price always.

[322] And so we have to pray for those whose freedom is being taken away.

[323] And thank God for those men in Poland turning to the Immaculate Virgin Mary and turning to the Lord for the real strength that comes from our Lord Jesus Christ, Mary always pointing to him.

[324] Well, sir, Bishop Strickland, we have just a few minutes left, about 10 minutes, and I wanted to have everybody open up their catechism to the Catholic Church on a very powerful paragraph.

[325] And the reason I'm bringing it up is because, you know, during Lent, it's always a good thing to talk about the four last thing, things.

[326] And this is not to end on a bad note.

[327] It's actually a good thing to think about the existence of hell and who goes to hell.

[328] So it's paragraph 1033.

[329] And 1033 is going to talk about the Catholic Church teachings on hell.

[330] So when you hear people say nobody goes to hell, well, that's not what the Catholic Church teaches.

[331] And I want to read this.

[332] And then get Bishop Strickland to give us his thoughts.

[333] Paragraph 1033.

[334] We cannot be united with God unless we freely choose to love him.

[335] But we cannot love God if we sin gravely against him, against our neighbor or against ourselves.

[336] He who does not love remains in death.

[337] Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abating in him.

[338] Our Lord warns us that we shall be separated from him if we fail to meet the serious needs of the poor and the little ones who are in his brethren.

[339] To die in mortal sin without repenting and accepting God's merciful love means remaining separated from him forever and by our own free choice.

[340] This state of defensible.

[341] definitive self -exclusion from communion with God and the blessed is called hell.

[342] Your thoughts, Bishop Strickland.

[343] Well, as you said, Terry, it's important to know that hell is a real, is a reality.

[344] Yeah.

[345] That Satan, the father of lies, because he's made his choice to live contrary to God's will, then he wants to drag all of us into that because of jealousy, because of rebellion.

[346] So we just have to, and it's interesting in these tragic times like Ukraine is experiencing, and, you know, many people suffering beyond Ukraine, but those people don't have to be convinced that there's a hell they they are experiencing the realities of hatred of selfishness of everything that talks about if we don't love god is love and when we don't love our brothers and sisters when i mean the tragic stories of people even people trying to escape and they're they're killed or they're harmed or they're they're cut off from being able to get to freedom um it's all all a lack of love.

[347] So it's appropriate that we bring up the reality of hell.

[348] And the great good news is it's all up to us.

[349] Christ has opened the door to everlasting life.

[350] We all.

[351] We all are given by God, created in his image and likeness.

[352] We're given the opportunity to choose.

[353] God is not going to force us, but he keeps giving us the opportunity.

[354] And having that awareness of hell, people, you know, so much in popular conversation, people will even say, oh, go to hell or something like that.

[355] We need to be very careful how we say that.

[356] Because when people kind to glibly use that as just somebody they're angry at or something.

[357] We have to be very careful because hell is a permanent state of total separation from love and goodness and all that is of God.

[358] Permanent, eternal.

[359] It needs to scare the blank out of us too.

[360] Even think about being permanently separated with no opportunity to, it's really hard to even imagine.

[361] But we need to be aware of that so that we can make the right choice for the other permanent, permanent relationship with the fullness of God who is love.

[362] It's our choice.

[363] And we all are called daily to keep reinforcing our choice for the true, the good, and the beautiful.

[364] And the more we do that, the easier it becomes to care for those who are in need, to care for our brothers and sisters, to love our enemies.

[365] Because really what happens with the Christian is they cease to be our enemies.

[366] They may still consider themselves.

[367] They may consider us enemies.

[368] But the more we love in Christ, what does Christ say from the cross.

[369] Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.

[370] As he's dying on the cross in his crucifixion, he is offering love and forgiveness.

[371] That is supernatural, and it's beyond us without the help of God's grace.

[372] But that's the choice we always need to be strengthening ourselves to make.

[373] Like we were saying earlier, none of us knows we never know.

[374] We never know.

[375] what tomorrow brings.

[376] We can lull ourselves when things are going pretty good and where everything's apparently peaceful.

[377] We can kind of be lulled into complacency.

[378] That's harder to do in these days, even here in this country.

[379] We don't see any direct threat, but I'm sure there are things that people are worried about.

[380] But we need to turn to Christ.

[381] He is the antidote for all the evil, violence, the hatred.

[382] It's the love of God.

[383] And it's the age old answer to all the evil and the selfishness.

[384] It's even bigger than selfishness.

[385] That's not a strong enough word.

[386] But it's the age old answer is to love in God.

[387] God is love and to not let ourselves get pulled into the darkness because we can't.

[388] I'm sure both of us, you get angry.

[389] You get upset that falsehoods are driving people and injustices are happening and all the things that we see unfolding.

[390] But we can't allow ourselves to get pulled into the darkness.

[391] We just have to keep turning to the light, and that is Jesus Christ.

[392] You know, Mr. Strickland, on Monday of last week, we read from Matthew chapter 25, 31 to 46.

[393] I'll just read one segment of it.

[394] He says, he will answer them.

[395] Amen, I say to you, whatever you do to the least of these little ones, you did do it to me. And then these will go off to eternal punishment, but they're righteous to eternal life.

[396] I bring this up because it seems to me that the Bible is very clear about the existence of hell.

[397] The catechism is very clear about it.

[398] And I just think that we need to reaffirm this because imperfect control.

[399] Christian can get us to heaven.

[400] So we should not want to go to hell.

[401] I mean, we have to do it by our free will.

[402] In other words, sometimes people go to hell because they decided.

[403] God didn't decide it.

[404] He gave you free will to choose it.

[405] And he's going to honor that because he has given you that great gift, as you said.

[406] Bishop Strickland, could we, let's see, we got a couple.

[407] We got another minute or two.

[408] I was going to say, ask for a blessing.

[409] But the final thought about hell, it seems that during Lent, I've noticed a lot of people come back to the, church more because there's more penance services.

[410] People can come.

[411] The church is open for the stations of the cross.

[412] And there's more opportunity for them to meet the person of Jesus Christ.

[413] I'm going to ask you, and I know you're going to say yes, go ahead and do it.

[414] But that is a call for going to confession this lent.

[415] If you hadn't been to confession in over a month, this is a great time to go.

[416] Am I on to something there?

[417] Absolutely.

[418] And I would encourage, encourage anyone who's listening that says, oh, well, you're not talking to me because it's been too long or my sins are just too bad.

[419] We're all sinners.

[420] And there is no sin that God is not going to forgive.

[421] Except the rejection of that forgiveness.

[422] That's sort of the catch 22.

[423] The sin against the Holy Spirit is believing that God can't forgive me. Then we lock up.

[424] We lock.

[425] ourselves out.

[426] I would just repeat that last line from 1033.

[427] Yeah.

[428] This state of definitive self -exclusion.

[429] It's a self -exclusion that we have to avoid.

[430] God wants us.

[431] He created us to share his life for eternity.

[432] He gives us every possible opportunity.

[433] And Christ came to give us those opportunities.

[434] But it's still up to us.

[435] Amen.

[436] So confession is about really true contrition, confessing our sins, and believing in God's mercy.

[437] This really is a time for divine mercy and divine will to really guide all of us.

[438] Bishop Strickland, how about a blessing, please?

[439] You've got 30 seconds.

[440] Almighty God bless all of you, listening to the name of the Father and the Son.

[441] Amen.

[442] Thanks again for Bishop Strickland, folks.

[443] Go to vmpr .org.

[444] You can listen to all the podcasts of all the shows that are on Virgin.

[445] the most powerful radio.

[446] May God richly bless you, and until next week, God love you, keep up the good work and spreading the faith and falling deep in love with Jesus Christ and His bride, the church.

[447] God love.