07 Sep 21 – Covid Vaccinations Must Never Be Required

[0] Welcome to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[1] My name is Terry Barber.

[2] I have the honor of meeting with Bishop Strickland for an hour with you, our listener, and to talk about our Catholic faith through the catechism of the Catholic Church and also the tweets that Bishop Strickland sends out every week.

[3] And these tweets usually have something to do with meeting the person of Jesus Christ.

[4] Bishop Strickland, I'm always honored to be here because I love talking about Jesus, the church, our lady, the Eucharist, the sacraments, the commandments, all the above.

[5] And it seems like we talk about all the above every single week.

[6] So thank you for your commitment to Christ and his church.

[7] Thanks, Terry.

[8] I want to lead off with a tweet that you gave August 27th.

[9] You said, I encourage priests in our diocese to pray the St. Michael Prayer, Hail Mary or Marian hymns after Mass. Certainly it should be after Mass. As concluded, these prayers can start.

[10] strength in all who are praying together toward a deeper reverence.

[11] Well, I agree.

[12] That's what we do out here, and I know that St. John Paul 2 in the early 2000s, it told people right there, the vigor of Christ as a saint now, he said we should bring back that prayer.

[13] So you're in good company, but what made you do that?

[14] I mean, what's the focus here?

[15] Well, I actually several months ago, I'd encourage the priest to to pray those prayers.

[16] And as I tried to emphasize in the tweet, certainly to understand that they're separate from the liturgy, they should take place.

[17] We shouldn't be adding to the liturgy.

[18] But as the people are gathered, I think it's a great way to just, as I said in the tweet, to strengthen people's faith.

[19] And we need all the strength we can get right now.

[20] As the St. Michael's prayer says, there are demons roaming the earth trying to ruin souls.

[21] And we need to be aware of that, not frightened so much as just awake and alert so that we can embrace holiness and not allow the evil that is very present in the world to overcome us.

[22] You know, Bishop Strickland, you made me think of something today.

[23] I made the bank deposit for the Virgin Most Powerful, and the lady said, can I talk to you privately?

[24] I said, sure, what is it?

[25] She says, well, my sister -in -law died in a fire with her eight -year -old son.

[26] Tragic story, right?

[27] And she says, what do I say?

[28] How do I think?

[29] Well, she's a fallen -away Catholic, and so I was giving her prayers to pray and just, you know, have a supernatural view of all that takes place here on planet Earth, that we have a goal to get to heaven and saying prayers for the departed.

[30] And she was so open, but here's my point.

[31] I think people seem to be more open when crisis has come in their life.

[32] And I know Bishop Sheen calls it, Pain is God's megaphone.

[33] But I gave her my cell number, and after hour she's going to call me. And, you know, this could be an opportunity for her to really come back to church through the death of her relative.

[34] And I see that happening here at our chapel.

[35] We just had a funeral today, and we have one tomorrow.

[36] And I see opportunities when death knocks on the door.

[37] door, it seems like people come to realize that, hey, you know, there's more to life.

[38] So thank you for the St. Michael prayers, because I encourage everybody to pray that prayer also.

[39] All right, the next one.

[40] This is about your own state of Texas.

[41] I'm always bragging about Texas, and you're thanking a local bishop, Bergbridge, for his excellent and timely statement, and you said, we must embrace this beautiful truth and share it for the salvation of humanity, a catechesis on human person and gender ideology.

[42] What's going on in Texas that's different from everyone else?

[43] Well, that's really not Texas, but I did appreciate Bishop Burbage statement.

[44] Okay.

[45] What was his statement?

[46] Just talking about the sanctity of life.

[47] Oh, Arlington Diocese.

[48] I see.

[49] Arlington, Diocese.

[50] Yeah, yeah.

[51] Arlington, Virginia.

[52] Yeah, sure.

[53] a very good diocese.

[54] I've heard nothing good, good things there.

[55] Well, here's the thing.

[56] I want to remind everybody on the Terry and Jesse show, we're going to be talking about some of that topic about gender ideology tomorrow, and you can always hear it on Virgin Most Powerful on the podcast, and we have a powerful guest coming to talk about that.

[57] All right, well, what about Texas will become the first state to ban abortions?

[58] Court allows heartbeat law.

[59] Texas appears likely to become the first state.

[60] first state in America to allow and enforce a law banning abortions once the unborn baby's heartbeat that came from life site news that's really good news yeah that's great news how'd you pull that off and what did you guys do well thankfully Texas just yeah has a lot of people that know that life is sacred and is a gift from God and it it's important to uh to emphasize here, a heartbeat, how can you claim that there's not another person there?

[61] There's a human heartbeating, and it just emphasizes what we know to be the truth that from the conception of that child, there's another person there.

[62] Right.

[63] And the heart beating, it makes it really undeniable in any reasonable way to direct, I recognize that, you know, we probably talk about it every time we get together.

[64] Yeah, we do.

[65] And we need to.

[66] Sure.

[67] Because it's a critical issue that reminds us that every life on the planet is sacred.

[68] It's a gift from God.

[69] The tragedy going unfolding in Afghanistan.

[70] The tragedy of the hurricane, the natural disaster that just hit the Gulf Coast of Louisiana yes um in mississippi it um you know we need to remember that life is sacred and that's the reason that we mourn the loss of any life when it's taken through disaster through murder through whatever uh intervention that between conception and natural death natural death is what god's plan is but through a broken world sometimes it is a natural disaster too often it's human violence in the violence of abortion in the womb we've just got to wake up to the sanctity of life you're consistently talking about that i think of a fulton sheen quote when he says as because you're always talking about truth here's what bishop sheen said i want your response As men become indifferent to right and wrong, disorder and chaos increase.

[71] And the state steps in to organize the chaos by force.

[72] Seems like that's happening today.

[73] Dictatorships arise in such a fashion.

[74] Such is the essence of socialism, the compulsory organization of chaos.

[75] Bishop Strickland, Bishop Sheent, I think, believed in objective truth.

[76] And that comment about the chaos and disorder, when we forget about what's right and wrong, you've said it with truth.

[77] When we forget about what truth is, then anything goes.

[78] And what's the truth?

[79] The truth is about a baby.

[80] That's a baby in mama's womb.

[81] It's not a banana.

[82] It's not an apple.

[83] It's an individual human, and it has rights.

[84] And we're going to continue to say that.

[85] But it seems to me that as the world denies the, baby in the womb, it makes the world really stupid regarding all the other issues.

[86] It seems like that is the issue.

[87] If you can't tell that that's a baby, then I think you're going to miss a lot of things about what truth is because it's pretty simple.

[88] Mama's pregnant with a baby, okay?

[89] And we can't figure that out with our culture right now.

[90] Tell me, all the other problems I think stem from what I call denial of what we call truth.

[91] So I agree with you on that.

[92] Bishop Strickland, this is something that I just warmed my heart.

[93] I mean, I was excited when I saw that Archbishop Newman, who's the Bishop of the Pro -Life Committee and the Bishop's Conference?

[94] I think you know who he is because you go to Bishop's Conference.

[95] He came out and you tweeted saying that Archbishop Newman rejected COVID -19 vaccine mandates aback's prophetic witness against the abortion tenet jabs.

[96] Now, I got to say something.

[97] I got the article right here.

[98] I wanted to kind of go over, but I mean, he says Catholics can and should insist on their conscience rights and religious liberties based on the authoritative teachings of the church found in the catechism, papal and ecumenical council documents, congregation of the doctor of the faith, and other sources.

[99] I'm going to say something right.

[100] now, Bishop Strickland, you've been saying that for a year now, and I just see more bishops stepping up to the plate and saying, yeah, that's Catholic teaching.

[101] It's called Vatican 2.

[102] We'll go through some of the documents here, but Vatican 2 says we have to have an informed conscience, and nothing can stop, you know, in other words, we have a right for that.

[103] But let me ask you quickly, why do you find right now that it seems like the mandate right now is that, like in California, they're going vote quickly about this, making it mandatory for every person in California to have the poke.

[104] And we see lawsuits take coming now.

[105] So it seems to me that bishops like you are now speaking more boldly about this.

[106] What's your take from the bishop's comments?

[107] Yeah, I want to hear your take.

[108] Well, the reason I tweeted that is because I was very pleased to see Archbishop Nowman, a good bishop, and we've had a chance to have conversations.

[109] And I know he believes deeply in the sanctity of life.

[110] And I'm glad he's spoken up, really echoing a letter that he signed way back in April of 2020 when abortion tainted vaccines were just a possibility.

[111] Now they're a reality.

[112] Certainly, as we've said before, People don't have a lot of options.

[113] If they feel the, if they make the free will choice to take this vaccine, acknowledging what the reality is, they don't have other options.

[114] We need to continue to demand ethical options.

[115] And that's part of what Archbishop Nauman says.

[116] So I'm very glad he spoke up.

[117] We'll talk more about this document.

[118] He came out with protecting the rights of people to choose whether they want to take.

[119] a vaccine, so -called vaccine are not.

[120] You're listening to the Bishop Strickland Hour on Virgin Most Powerful radio.

[121] Stay with us when we take a quick break.

[122] Welcome back to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[123] My name's Terry Barber.

[124] We're chatting about the issue with COVID -19 vaccinations that are mandated in certain areas in the country.

[125] And people are either having to say, I gotta lose my job or if I don't want to take the vaccination shot or the jab or I take it with you know an objection and I you know I've got to feed my family and I get all that we're taking a document that Archbishop Newman from Kansas City Kansas wrote regarding saying that people should have options he said this the most charitable and just posture is to seek accommodate the consciousness of all persons, he continued.

[126] It is indeed a fundamental pillar of medical ethics that there should be free and informed consent, no coercion when deciding on a medical intervention.

[127] Bishop Strickland, you mentioned before the break that people need to know that if they feel in their conscience that they don't want any connection with the abortion issue that our church teaches that we should let the manufacturers know that we're against it.

[128] Number one, number two, it seems to me that if there's no other alternative, the church teaches, if there's no other alternative other than a vaccine to take care of your needs, then use it if you have to.

[129] But I have to, I argue Bishop Strickland, and maybe you can disagree with me, but when we talk about COVID -19, especially when 99 % plus people who get COVID, like my brother, Jesse Romero, is coming back tomorrow.

[130] He had COVID for about eight days, and he was able to get over it.

[131] So my question to you is the benefits are probably outweighed.

[132] I see other doctors who say that, like, I have natural immunity from it because I had it.

[133] It's unnecessary from the perspective of a doctor to go and get a vaccine when those people who have already had COVID -19 have the antibodies to fight it.

[134] And so I think, you know, the church made that point, but I don't hear that point too often, even from the top of the church, that we have to be aware that disconscience, that we have an informed conscience, and that we should be able to say no and not feel like it's being jammed down our throat.

[135] And so the bishop is making that point that, you know, that people should be able to choose whether they want to take it and not be forced, I mean, he pointed to bishops of Wisconsin, Colorado, South Dakota, and others have said the same thing, but it seems like we're, we have a polarization in the church on that issue, and, you know, it is what it is.

[136] But I appreciate people speaking as clear as you are.

[137] So it must still make you happy when you hear other bishops coming up and saying, wait a minute, wait a minute, people have the option.

[138] They don't, you can't force this on them.

[139] So my question to you is, as more bishops are stepping, stepping up to the plate, whether it's Wisconsin, Colorado, or South Dakota, I think Bishop Olmsted just came out two days ago saying, yeah, people have a right to choose.

[140] So you've been saying that for a long time.

[141] You're, you still see that as your position, correct?

[142] You think people still need to have a right to choose on this vaccination, correct?

[143] Absolutely.

[144] God given free will is connected to God -given life.

[145] We're created in the image and likeness of God and free will, the ability to make our choices guided by hopefully a well -formed conscience is part of being the children of God, part of being human.

[146] So to me, it's essential.

[147] Not just, as you allude to, there are a lot of questions about the vaccine.

[148] There's a lot of questions.

[149] We hear little about natural immunity, about herd immunity, that, you know, people being, having certain antibodies after they've had the disease.

[150] I think we just need to encourage people to be as informed as possible if after forming their conscience as fully as they can, listening to the truth as much as they can.

[151] And it's hard to find sometimes.

[152] There's, I mean, so -called experts contradict each other every day.

[153] Yes.

[154] But listen to as much substantial information as you can find and make your decision.

[155] Everyone should have the freedom to do that, to use their free will.

[156] If we enter into, in any aspect of society, where free will is taken away and mandates are just, blanket, then we've lost something very important, more important than any specific vaccine or any specific question.

[157] We must stand for free will.

[158] And I think regarding the vaccine, like you said, there's been very little noise about demanding that big pharma provide ethically produce vaccines.

[159] But the church has called for that virtually every time the question has been raised, sort of in a lower tone, and it's not what gets emphasized, but it needs to be emphasized.

[160] We need to say no to a vaccine that is in any way connected to abortion and demand that these pharmaceutical companies, thankfully there's some in development.

[161] but the big money has been poured into these that are ignoring the sanctity of life.

[162] And people argue, oh, it was a long time ago or whatever.

[163] The reality is that, as we've seen too many times, it's just become part of the public record that is hard for people to deny any longer that aborted children have not just been aborted and slaughtered in the womb, but they've also, their bodies have been used over and over again and continue to be used for scientific research of all kinds.

[164] We've got to say no. Yeah.

[165] None of us can go back and change the past.

[166] Right.

[167] But we can for today and tomorrow say we choose a more life rooted future, a future that respects the sanctity of the life.

[168] And life of every person.

[169] And so that's what I continue to speak for.

[170] And I am glad that more bishops and other leaders are speaking up and saying no mandates.

[171] Right.

[172] Yes.

[173] Take this seriously.

[174] People are suffering and you need to make a well -informed free will decision.

[175] But it needs to be yours.

[176] Yes.

[177] You don't need to be coerced or mandated into doing something that goes against your conscience.

[178] And frankly, I refuse to be.

[179] I mean, they can do whatever they decide in regard to my life with the mandates.

[180] But I'm not going to take a vaccine that I believe is wrong.

[181] And I'm not dictating that choice to anyone else.

[182] Everybody's got to make their own choice.

[183] but I want to be free and I want everyone to be free to choose freely whether or not to be vaccinated and to be supported and not for either side of the decision we need to give people the right to exercise their free will.

[184] Well said and I will give some sections of the catechism of the Catholic Church as the bishop was saying the catechism of the Catholic Church that persons have a serious obligation to form their conscience well and to obey a well -formed conscience under the pain of sin.

[185] He said, section 1776 through 1802 of the catechism.

[186] Check that out, read it.

[187] We're going to be talking, we're getting the catechism open in a minute or two here.

[188] So it's important that we reflect on the gravity of the violation involved in coercing a person to do something that he or she belongs, believes is wrong.

[189] See, that's the point.

[190] They're forcing you to do something against your will.

[191] That's wrong.

[192] Now, the Vatican two documents also talk about religious freedom.

[193] It says a person is not forced to act in a manner contrary to his conscience, either by secular or religious authorities.

[194] Now, with so many others, he says, I pray for an end to the COVID -19, but I also pray that in combating the epidemic, we do not create additional victims, the rights of conscience.

[195] Strickland, I have to say this to you, we've had a lot of people wanting, you know, the forms for religious exemptions against COVID -19.

[196] We've had a lot of people say, our employer can care less about your religious freedom.

[197] Go pound sand, okay?

[198] And they're doctors, I've got documents, there's lawsuits coming out now, so, you know, lawyer up, we're going to probably go to court over all of this, you know, issue of the vaccine mandatory vaccines.

[199] but what I will say is it seems that the more we push back right now it seems that they're surprised more people are coming out and saying wait a minute I'm going to speak up for myself I don't agree with this and I'm not going to do it and I think this is my take that we're going to force the issue that lawsuits are going to come we're going to have the courts come out and I believe that religious freedom is is actually instilled in our constitution and that we will prevail at the end and even if we don't when we go to our interview our exit interview at the end of our life okay what's going to happen our lord's going to say what did you do here and we said well we fought it because we thought it was wrong lord good job that's what he's going to say faithful servant now on the other hand we could say well lord i you know and that was the pressure on me and um you know i didn't really look into I just thought, you know, I got the Dodger game to go to tonight.

[200] You know, I got to go do this.

[201] See, right now we have to be serious about our faith because the world, the devil, and the flesh is coming down on us, and we have to be high information Catholics.

[202] That's why at Virgin Most Powerful Radio, all of our shows are geared to give you information on the faith and to introduce you to the person of Christ.

[203] So Bishop Strickland, I appreciate your tweets this week.

[204] I want to open up the catechism of the Catholic Church, if we could right now to paragraph 238 it's on the revelation of God as Trinity we've been talking about the trinitarian life I mean this is you know incredibly important for a foundation of who God is and let me see the time on that yeah we got actually you know what I'm going to wait until right after the break but I am going to say this folks if you want to get to a conference on St. Joseph we have it's going to be a virtual conference on the 18th of September just a couple weeks from now here at the Sacred Heart Chapel in Covina.

[205] We've got Father Wozniski coming.

[206] We've got Father Mur coming.

[207] We've got my wife speaking on the life of St. Joseph.

[208] I want to encourage people who have had early life where maybe they're growing up, they didn't have a really good father.

[209] Maybe their father was an alcoholic.

[210] I think St. Joseph can fill in those shoes even when you're an adult.

[211] And we're going to talk about that at the conference.

[212] Having devotion to St. Joseph leads you to Jesus Christ.

[213] talk about total consecration to St. Joseph, but I think if you can come or at least watch it on the internet, that'll be the 18th of September.

[214] Go to vmpr .org or you can call in to register at 1877 -5262151.

[215] When we come back from the break, we're going to talk about the catechism of the Catholic Church.

[216] We're going to talk about the Trinity, and I want to encourage people last week I said it too.

[217] Scott Hahn did a whole catechesis of three hours on the Trinitarian life.

[218] Very popular set.

[219] I'm giving it away because I want you to understand the Trinity, at least the best you can.

[220] It's a mystery, but Scott does a good job on it.

[221] Call 877 -526 -21 -5 -1.

[222] We'll get you a download so you can take that course from Stubanville from right in your home because we're going to send it to you for free.

[223] If you want to make a donation, fine.

[224] If not, that's okay too.

[225] Stay with us, family.

[226] We're going to open up the catechism of the Catholic Church and talk about the Holy Trinity.

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

[228] Welcome back to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[229] We're going to open up our catechism to the Catholic Church.

[230] I hope I convict you right now to open up this catechism.

[231] A good holy priest said to me, how can we become part of the solution in the church right now?

[232] And he says, the only way we can do it is by uniting ourselves to Christ.

[233] And he asked this question.

[234] And that's a question I asked myself, Bishop Strickland, I have.

[235] answers this.

[236] Everybody's a question.

[237] It says, how much time each day do we spend taking in the message of God compared to taking the message of the world?

[238] So are we reading the newspaper for 30 minutes a day?

[239] Are we on the internet?

[240] Looking at news stories versus, you know, reading God's word or studying our Catholic faith?

[241] That hit me between the eyes, Bishop Strickland, because I, myself, I do my reading first thing in the morning when I say my prayers and I try to get inspiration to go forward in the day, and at the end of the day I do my examination of conscience, but in between the morning and the day, you know, I try to call to the presence of God, but he's challenging me to really take advantage of my faith, whether it's an adoration before the Blessed Sacrament, which we have here at our chapel.

[242] So I think reading the catechism could be a really good exercise, if not daily, at least once a week, to study your faith, because I'm convinced Bishop Strickland that people have a very low, they're very low on information when it comes to their faith, and I don't want to get into the reasons, but St. John Paul II said that this is a sure norm, and that's why we do this every single week to study our faith.

[243] So paragraph 238, a title, The Revelation of God as Trinity, the Father revealed by the Son.

[244] Here's what I'm going to, I'll read it, and then give me your take on it, and many religions invoke God as Father.

[245] The deity is often considered the Father of God's and of men.

[246] In Israel, God is called Father, in as much as He is creator of the world.

[247] Even more, God is Father because of the covenant and the gift of the law to Israel, his firstborn son.

[248] God is also called the father of the king of Israel, most especially he is the father of the poor of the orphaned and the widowed who are under his loving protection.

[249] That's paragraph 238.

[250] Your thoughts?

[251] Well, it just emphasizes we know from John's gospel and others that God is love.

[252] and speaking of God as father is one facet, one aspect of that love.

[253] God is love beyond our ability to fathom because God is pure love.

[254] We get glimpses of love.

[255] We can feel aspects of love, but God is love.

[256] His very essence is love.

[257] And so when we speak of God as father, We know that even in our human reality, the love of a father is a special kind of love, a life -giving love, a creative love.

[258] And so that is one way of speaking about God's love.

[259] You know, Bishop Strickland, I thought about this.

[260] I've read some books on the spiritual life, and they said that a lot of times people don't really embrace the faith is because they really don't think God is big enough to take it.

[261] take care of their needs.

[262] And so they don't have that relationship with Jesus, God the Father, the Trinitarian life.

[263] And so when things are tough, they've been taught, well, you've got to rely on yourself, me, myself, and I, the unholy Trinity.

[264] And it seems to me that when you understand the attributes of God, when you understand who God is, then it makes more sense to embrace and say, I give myself to Christ.

[265] It seems hard to give yourself to someone who you don't know.

[266] If you know what I'm trying to say, is that they've got to meet the person of God, who God is.

[267] And that's why, in my opinion, the attributes of God, who God is, is essential in understanding.

[268] You know, you have to set the groundwork because it doesn't make sense if you don't know who God is that you're going to give yourself to God.

[269] Does that make sense?

[270] Absolutely.

[271] It just throws me away.

[272] So here's 2 .39 now.

[273] It says, by calling God Father, the language of the faith indicates two main things.

[274] That God is the first origin of everything and transcendent authority.

[275] And that he is at the same time goodness, loving care for all of his children.

[276] God's parental tenderness can also be expressed by the image of motherhood.

[277] which emphasizes God's immensity, the intimacy between creator and creature.

[278] The language of faith thus draws on the human experience of parents who are in a way the first representatives of God for man. But this experience also tells us that human parents are fallible and can disfigure the face of the fatherhood and motherhood.

[279] We ought, therefore, to recall that God, transcends the human distinction between the sexes.

[280] He is neither man nor woman.

[281] He is God.

[282] He also transcends human fatherhood and motherhood, although he is their origin and standard.

[283] No one is father as God is father.

[284] Your take on that.

[285] I think this paragraph is very significant for our time and all the confusions that happen in society and in the church, emphasizing that God is God.

[286] God, I think what this paragraph really counteracts is the tendency, as I'm sure we've talked about before, we're living in a time where one of the basic issues is that we tend to create God in our image, rather than humbly acknowledging that we are created by God in God's image.

[287] And because of that, I think this paragraph is essential.

[288] It does remind us, God is not male or female.

[289] Right.

[290] God is not father or mother in the way that a human man is a father or a human woman is a mother.

[291] but God encompasses and goes well beyond the virtues, the human virtues, that are really merely a shadow of the fatherly love of God and the motherly love of God.

[292] Men and women, mothers and fathers, can both look to God to be their model of how they live out their human reality as loving mothers and loving fathers.

[293] I think this paragraph really is very important for Catholics to embrace because even in the church, the gender confusions and the gender role blurring has affected people.

[294] And because, as it says so well, our human reality is weak and broken.

[295] and so the various models of living fatherhood or living motherhood are always distorted by sin and the brokenness that we bring into the picture we need to look to God for perfect love for love beyond all telling for love purely and in in the very essence of love God can help us to be better men, better women, better fathers, and better mothers.

[296] We need that image of the perfect love that only God offers us.

[297] I was talking to a high school class this afternoon in one of our, in our Catholic school here in Tyler, and we talked about the reality that having a relationship with God, ultimately always comes back to the reality that it's always going to be beyond us.

[298] God is simply beyond us.

[299] We get frustrated with that in a human reality that thinks we can control and understand everything.

[300] But ultimately, we are always, no matter how sophisticated, no matter how learned we become, no matter how much we unfold the intricacies of existence and of creation.

[301] Before God, we're always children.

[302] We're always should be childlike.

[303] Sometimes we're childish and get, we kind of throw a tantrum and say, we want to be God, we want to control it all.

[304] The reality is that we just have to acknowledge.

[305] that we're not God, that we don't really come close to fathoming the wonder of life and the wonder of creation that comes from God.

[306] We don't fathom the fullness of love that God is by his very essence.

[307] This paragraph inspires me to really reflect on all of that basic truth to just get over ourselves and be aware.

[308] No, we're not God.

[309] No, we're not God.

[310] we're never going to fully understand the mystery of life, the mystery of creation.

[311] Yes, God has given us human intellects where we can choose, freely choose to do the good and to shape creation, shape the world that God has given us in the human context of family.

[312] We can choose to shape it to make it more and more an expression of God's love and goodness.

[313] But part of that shaping is to always realize we fall short.

[314] And sadly, we see the brokenness of our world, and we very clearly not just fall short, but we distort and break the creation that God has given us.

[315] Well, said, I was thinking about that paragraph when I was a little boy, Bishop Strickland, I saw my father in the house on his, knees praying with his hands and his face, just deeply in prayer.

[316] And I remember saying, Dad, you're the most powerful person I know.

[317] Who, you know, and then he shared with me about God, the Father in heaven.

[318] And it really taught me something as a child that, you know, I mean, he's serious about his religion.

[319] In other words, about who God is.

[320] And as a child, it was only natural for me to fall in love with Jesus, the Trinity, because I saw an example by my earthly father.

[321] When we come back, we'll continue to go right into the catechism on the Revelation of God as Trinity.

[322] You're listening to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[323] You can listen to all these podcasts by going to vnpr .org and listen to any of them.

[324] They're all titled there.

[325] Any of the other shows we have, you can get that too.

[326] But when we come back, we'll look for paragraph 240.

[327] Stay with us, family.

[328] Welcome back to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[329] My name's Terry Barber.

[330] We've been covering the Trinitarian life through the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

[331] We're on paragraph 240.

[332] Can you imagine this happening once a week for us all, taking the Catechism of the Catholic Church and reading these paragraphs?

[333] It gives us really the meaning and purpose of life.

[334] It really sets the stage for a very peaceful life because think about the world right now where there's fear right now all through the world because of COVID -19.

[335] the problems in the Middle East there's all kinds of problems but by learning your Catholic faith that's the piece that no one can take away from you and that's why I encourage you to study your faith on a daily basis paragraph 240 says Jesus revealed that God is father in an unheard of a sense he is father not only in being creator he is eternally father in the relation to his only son son, who is eternally son, only in relation to his father.

[336] No one knows the son except the father, and no one knows the father except the son, and anyone to whom the son chooses to reveal him.

[337] Now we're getting into the New Testament.

[338] Your take on that, Bishop Strickland?

[339] Well, as you said, it's getting into the New Testament, and really very, very, very, succinctly, as the catechism does so often, really explains that relationship between Jesus and his father, father and son, God, the Creator, and Jesus, His Son, and Jesus, His Son, the Redeemer of the world, that relationship, that intimacy between Father and Son, eternal father and eternal son is is beyond us as it says quoting Matthew's gospel no one knows the son except the father yep and no one knows the father except the son and anyone to whom the son chooses to reveal him that is our great hope as disciples of Jesus Christ as followers of the Messiah is that one day we will know God in what we call the beatific vision, but we are those to whom the son chooses to reveal him if we will only follow the son.

[340] And embedded in that is the understanding that in this life, we will never fully know father, son, or spirit.

[341] We will never fully know God because it's beyond us.

[342] It goes back to the images of the people of Israel.

[343] They, what was revealed to them is that they couldn't see the face of God because they would die.

[344] It would destroy them.

[345] That's right.

[346] We see the face of the human face of God, which mysteriously is also the face of the divine sun in the, you know, the language of theology, the hypostatic.

[347] union.

[348] That is Jesus, the full union between God and man and the person of Jesus Christ.

[349] It's beyond our imagining.

[350] How can the same being be fully God, fully man, how can he be in time and out of time?

[351] I mean, we can spend the rest of our lives trying to unravel that mystery.

[352] We will never get to the end of that unraveling because it's beyond us.

[353] And like we were saying, earlier, we just need to acknowledge the fullness of the mystery of God is beyond us.

[354] But isn't it a wonder?

[355] And that's what we have to hope in.

[356] That has to be our joy that we can, through the son, come to know the Father.

[357] Because Jesus, it says, and anyone to whom the son chooses to reveal him.

[358] The son, as he dies on the cross and rises for all humanity, he chooses to reveal his father to every human being.

[359] But the part of the mystery is he leaves intact our free will, like we were talking about earlier in another context, but the free will of our choice.

[360] We can choose to follow the son or not.

[361] But we can choose to follow the son so that he, who has already chosen to reveal God the Father to us, the fullness of God, to follow him, and to embrace that fullness of revelation beyond this life, but in the life to come.

[362] That's our journey.

[363] And it, again, it doesn't denigrate the value of this life, it really enhances it because it reminds us that every moment along this path, if we're choosing the will of God, every moment is a step closer to that fulfillment, and it becomes a beautiful path of sharing more and more in the glory of God right here and now to culminate in that fullness of God that is beyond anything we can describe because it is beyond us.

[364] It's the fullness of love, the fullness of life, the fullness of what existence means, of what creation means.

[365] Well, this next paragraph is really beautiful because here at the Sacred Heart Chapel, we have the Anglican Ordinariate Mass, which prays the 1st John in the beginning was the word, the word was God and I love that just every Sunday Mass we have that.

[366] Here's what paragraph 241 says.

[367] For this reason the apostles confess Jesus to be the word.

[368] In the beginning was the word and the word was God and the word was God as the image of the invisible God as the radiance of the glory of God and the very stamp of his nature.

[369] That paragraph is sweet.

[370] I mean, wow.

[371] Go ahead, Bishop.

[372] I mean, we hear that, you know, here in the liturgy, like I said, 1st John, in the beginning was the word, the word was God.

[373] That just is burned into our heads because we hear that every weekend here at the chapel.

[374] But your thoughts about that paragraph.

[375] Well, as you said in the old liturgy before the reforms, it was always the last gospel proclaimed.

[376] And we should all be very aware of that and really ponder it on a regular basis.

[377] In the beginning was the word.

[378] John's gospel has always been one of my favorites because of, as they say, it's a very high theology.

[379] It gets deep into the mystery that all of the gospels that Jesus Christ is the mystery, the word incarnate.

[380] But here we have in the beginning was the word.

[381] word before the incarnation and then when we look to Jesus the incarnate word it you know it really is the great theology of our faith that that shows us as john 316 says so beautifully god so loved the world that he revealed this word that was there in the beginning the eternal word coming forth from God the Father, the Son, revealed to us in the person of Jesus Christ, a child conceived in the womb of Mary, born among us, grew among us as a boy and then a man, lived for most of his life in that beautiful hidden life of just being a carpenter, working in the neighborhood, doing what whatever carpenters did in first century Palestine and then entering into his mission of three years of revealing gradually step by step more and more revealing who he is the eternal word who has become incarnate among us it is the message of the Christian gospel and it is the wonder of who Jesus Christ is and I have to Terry tell me even though this doesn't get into the Eucharistic theology, how beautifully it enhances what we know and believe to be true about that simple, consecrated bread.

[382] Here is the word who is there in the beginning is present with us.

[383] Yes, present to feed us.

[384] It just all of the mystery of our beautiful Catholic faith begins to really resonate through our hearts and minds as we read a paragraph like this.

[385] And as we read that beginning, the first gospel, the beginning of the gospel according to John.

[386] Might be a good idea for all of us, including myself, to open up our Bible and read the gospel of John.

[387] And even if it's just five or six chapters, but that chapter six is, you know, the Eucharistic discourse.

[388] and I just, I've actually tried to memorize that chapter because I can think of it while I'm driving around unless you eat in my body and drink of my blood, you have no life in you, my flesh is real food, my blood is real drink.

[389] It fires me up to even think about it that way.

[390] So if I can, if a knucklehead like I can memorize some scripture, hey, the Protestants don't have an extra gene, man. All of us Catholics can memorize certain scripture verses, and I want to just throw this out.

[391] I have a cheat sheet with about a, 180 biblical verses for Catholics that will back up their faith.

[392] And if you want it, we can get it downloaded.

[393] Just email Terry at St .S -A -I -N -T -J -O -E dot com.

[394] And I'll send you an eight -by -and -a -half 11 piece of paper with all these biblical teachings.

[395] And it'd be good for you to have it because it shows you how biblical are churches.

[396] And just reading the catechism today, Bishop Strickland, how many scripture verses were we quoting today?

[397] They're all there.

[398] Yeah, it's woven.

[399] As I like to tell people in every page of the catechism you're going to see scripture because that's the original revelation the word of god himself that helps us to understand all that's unfolded since the incarnation of god's son well said bishop strickland just a quick note i know we're going to get a blessing from you but i like to promote what you're doing in your diocese with your institute because i think the world of it can you share that one more time with us please please.

[400] Absolutely.

[401] It's the St. Philip Institute, St. Philip with one L, St .Philip Institute .org.

[402] I encourage people to go to the website and they can see podcasts and videos and teachings and articles from our Catholic East Texas, our online newspaper that in the fall we're going to be able to return to a printed version.

[403] Awesome.

[404] And it's just a great opportunity.

[405] opportunity to to rejoice in the truth that the catechism is full of and to see it applied here in the 33 counties of the Diocese of Tyler helping young people, helping families, helping married couples, helping everyone grow in God's plan for us to flourish in his love and flourish in his truth.

[406] Well said Bishop Strickland, how about a blessing for our listeners, please?

[407] Now, Almighty God bless everyone listening and participating in this broadcast.

[408] In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

[409] Amen.

[410] Thanks again, Bishop Strickland.

[411] Folks, you can hear all these shows on podcasts.

[412] Go to vmpr .org.

[413] You can listen to all the different shows we have to offer, and they're all centered on one person.

[414] His name is Jesus Christ, our Savior.

[415] May God, richly bless you and your family.

[416] And we'll see you again next week, same time.

[417] same station.

[418] God love you.