23 Nov 21 – Without the Truth, We Will Not Survive

[0] Welcome to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[1] My name is Terry Barber, and I'm honored every week to sit down and talk about the catechism of the Catholic Church and what we call the deposit of faith that's there in our catechism.

[2] And then we get to talk about Bishop Strickland's tweets.

[3] What are those tweets about cultural issues and how our Catholic faith is called to lead people to the truth?

[4] So Bishop Strickland, thanks again for taking time with us.

[5] Thanks, Terry.

[6] My pleasure.

[7] Now, you to talk about the issue of what's those, what?

[8] what's so important about our faith.

[9] You just tweeted something that I really like from a St. Augustine.

[10] You said, the greatest kindness one can render to any man is leading him to the truth.

[11] Yeah.

[12] And I think that that is profound and so important in our time because we talk a lot about kindness and love and all of that.

[13] And that really comes down to what love is.

[14] is.

[15] It's guiding to the truth.

[16] It's leading others to the truth of creation, the truth of God, the truth of everything, the truth of who we are.

[17] And there's so much tendency not to do that in our present civilization, not just in this country, but it really across the globe.

[18] And if it's not the truth, then it binds us.

[19] It enslaves us.

[20] The truth sets us free and falsehoods of whatever kind they enslave us and they diminish us.

[21] It's just what I'm reminded of, Terry, is the, I think we've talked about it recently before, but it's about the good, the true and the beautiful and when it's not the true it becomes the bad the false and the ugly and if you look at our world today there's too much of the bad the false and the ugly because we've let go of the true and if if you let go of the truth you lose the good and the beautiful so it's not just kind of lots of words throwing around but it comes to the very core of what you're it means to live in this beautiful creation, to be children of God.

[22] And it's so tragic that so many, even people who are officially Catholic or officially Christian, they've wandered so far from Jesus Christ, who is truth incarnate.

[23] I love the expression that I've heard recently, that he is the face of truth.

[24] And that's what it means.

[25] that Jesus Christ is incarnate among us, the Son of God.

[26] We've just celebrated Jesus Christ, king of the universe.

[27] And it's a beautiful celebration.

[28] The last Sunday of ordinary time, we'll start the cycle all over again with the first Sunday of Advent, but to just let that soak in, Jesus Christ, king of the universe, not just of the planet earth, but of all creation, of all that is.

[29] And to recognize that creation flows from the loving heart of the father, son, and spirit.

[30] That's what we're talking about with Jesus as king of the universe.

[31] And so St. Augustine's quote that I tweeted is, it's good news for modern man and it's critical news that we need to remember if we hope to not just survive but to flourish and if we if we lose the truth we won't even survive much less flourish well said bishop strickland and i want to just make an interesting note about christ the king's feast day we just celebrated it was started you know just recently 1925 and the first parish in the in the world that had Christ the King's name was in Cincinnati, Ohio.

[32] And I found that fascinating that America got the first parish almost 100 years ago.

[33] What is it?

[34] 96 years ago.

[35] So it's interesting, and I love Christ the King.

[36] What a great feast.

[37] Bishop Strickland, I like it when you endorse books because I'm a bookworm and I like reading and you tweeted something about a book.

[38] You said an important book on the precious gift of Jesus Christ and His Eucharistic presence It's from tan books.

[39] It's called Behold, It Is I. Tell us about that book.

[40] Well, it's a brand new book, actually written by our own Dr. Stacey Trisenkos in co -Arthur with one of our great priests, Father George Elliott.

[41] Great.

[42] And so they're looking at the Eucharist from a scientific point of view and from the faith point of view.

[43] So it's really just coming out.

[44] I honestly haven't had a chance to read it.

[45] But I know that those, with those two authors, I know that it's a great book delving into the great mystery of the Eucharistic presence of Christ, body and blood, soul, and divinity that is so critical to our world today.

[46] Well, said, if I can also recommend a great book that 45 years ago I read and it really helped me stay focused on the, Apostolate as a layman to go out and evangelize.

[47] This book is called The Soul of the Apostolate and also published by Tan Books.

[48] And I'll just give you the back of the endorsement from a saint.

[49] How would you like to have a book written and it's endorsed by this saint?

[50] His name is Pope St. Pius the 10th.

[51] He says, The Soul of the Apostle Book and now, my dear son, if you desire that God should bless your apostolate and make it fruitful, undertake everything for his glory.

[52] saturate yourself and your devoted fellow workers with the spirit of Jesus Christ, animating yourself and them with an intense interior life.

[53] You notice he didn't say, just go out and do jumping jacks?

[54] No, he said, an intense interior life.

[55] To this end, I can offer you no better guide than the soul of the apostolate.

[56] And he says, I warmly recommend this book to you as I value it very highly and have myself made it my bedside book.

[57] That's a saint saying that.

[58] So I would recommend man's soul of the apostolate.

[59] All right.

[60] Bishop Strickland, I love this.

[61] I love endorsing other groups that are doing great work.

[62] I do.

[63] You had an Edify video that you did that was beautiful about the Eucharist, and I just noticed that you said thanks.

[64] This was thanks for your great work, Edify team.

[65] I'm honored to join you in speaking the truth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ that our world needs.

[66] So desperately in these days, let us walk joyfully in the truth, light of Jesus.

[67] Can you tell our listeners, what was it that you did for the wonderful group called Edify?

[68] Well, they asked me to speak on my topic that I speak on a lot because it needs to be spoken.

[69] And with joy and going back to St. Augustine's quote, the greatest love that we can offer the world today in the world as we find ourselves, the truth that abortion is murder and it is a preeminent truth that needs to be upheld and it's the greatest love is to tell everyone men and women children youth everyone needs to know that truth and how our world could be transformed if we we simply all suddenly had a change of heart as humanity and recognize that truth.

[70] Wow.

[71] So that's what Edify asked me to speak about.

[72] And as you know, Terry, anytime it's about defending the life of the unborn.

[73] You're there.

[74] Because really, Terry, let me say one more time that defending the life of the unborn is really the first step of defending every life.

[75] Exactly.

[76] Until natural death.

[77] they're always attacking me for saying, oh, you just care about the children in the womb.

[78] No, because I care about all of those other lives and all the different paths we take and all the obstacles we face, whether it's being handicapped or poverty or international issues or whatever, all the value of the human person, it begins with protecting the value of the unborn human person, and then continuing through the whole spectrum until, according to God's will, natural death.

[79] Certainly, a lot of people face death in ways other than naturally, through disease, through accidents, through attacks, through violence.

[80] But all of that, all of those are sanctity of life issues because those sacred children of God, their lives are ending before their natural time.

[81] And so the challenge that we face, and it's huge.

[82] It feels insurmountable.

[83] And I go back to what the gospel simply says to us.

[84] For us as human beings, it is impossible to address all these issues.

[85] But for God, it is possible.

[86] All things are possible for God, even what is impossible for us.

[87] And so it's our mission, and it is our calling, our vocation, you could say, to guard the sanctity of life.

[88] The preeminent issue of abortion is preeminent because it's just the first step in that guarding the sanctity of life.

[89] And we need to get it right for all the other threats to life are undermined because we're not united in protecting.

[90] the life of the unborn well said and edify came out and said some of the media loved to spotlight the debate whether or not the church really opposes abortion well you know the media says that and i was with a gentleman on saturday who's 78 years old falling away catholic and he asked me that question does the church still say abortion is a sin and of course i had to share with him the gospel of life which i did but it's just sad that there are many Catholics who are wondering well do we really still fight abortion or have we just said that's just the thing we have to accept?

[91] Nope, not here.

[92] Hey, when we come back, we're going to talk more on these tweets by Bishop Joseph Strickland.

[93] I hope you're edified as much as I am to talk about our Catholic faith and how it applies to our daily lives.

[94] Stay with us, family.

[95] We'll be right back.

[96] Welcome back to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[97] I love it when other bishops agree and speak out like Bishop Strickland.

[98] I think I mentioned a couple weeks ago.

[99] November 4th when my own Archbishop came out strongly on the woke society and how it's undermining Catholicism and Christianity.

[100] And I was like, wow, Archbishop Gomez, thank you.

[101] And for him to say that, he took so much heat.

[102] I read all the articles of people saying, you know, you need to apologize.

[103] You can't say that.

[104] You can't.

[105] And I'm going, wow, I mean, I wonder, Bishop Strickland, I bet you had a little empathy for him there.

[106] Wouldn't you say?

[107] I mean, when people, you say things and then they come and they condemn you for saying things that are true.

[108] You can appreciate Archbishop Gomez's, you know, position to be in.

[109] He's the Archbishop of the largest diocese in the country.

[110] He's the president of the bishop's conference.

[111] And he comes out and says some very unpopular things.

[112] God love them.

[113] Yeah, well, when it's a truth, whether popular or not, popularity doesn't change the truth.

[114] You got it.

[115] I think we need to remember that very clear.

[116] clearly.

[117] And I commend Archbishop Gomez and any other bishop who speaks up and says we have to stand for the truth.

[118] We really need to do that more.

[119] Well, I noticed that you tweeted.

[120] I think it's Bishop Olson.

[121] I don't know who Bishop Olson is, but you said he's saying that he's gone on record as saying, the bishop saying that abortion, this is about our president Biden, is saying that abortion is a fundamental right while presenting himself as an exemplary Catholic.

[122] Bishop Olson told the Associated Press, the issue of public confusion is really at stake here.

[123] And it says, I agree with Bishop Olson regarding these comments about President Biden.

[124] That's a very strong thing to say about the President of the United States and pointing out that it's not consistent.

[125] And it seems to me that, yeah, I would take some heat.

[126] I mean, you take heat when you tell people the truth, but it seems to me that Bishop Olson was morally obligated if he loved, loves the president of the United States as a Catholic, fellow Catholic, to tell them the truth about life.

[127] That doesn't seem like that's too controversial, but it seems like in our world today, they blow that up as saying, you can't say that.

[128] Why?

[129] It's the truth.

[130] That's all.

[131] Yeah, absolutely.

[132] That's my comment on that.

[133] All right, let's move on to some gospel.

[134] I love the gospel of John, the gospel of love, as we call it.

[135] And I love when you tweet scripture verses, actually more than anything else, Bishop Strickland, even the saints.

[136] Because so much of these scripture verses just like, whoa, whoa, you hit me right between my eyes.

[137] Like this one, Jesus says in John 1415, if you love me, keep my commandments.

[138] Thus pastors, parents, and all who love Jesus must strive to keep his commandments and teach others to do so.

[139] Let us rejoice in knowing that the commandments of the Lord guide us to what?

[140] Joy!

[141] Jesus is the light in the darkness.

[142] I think that was well said, and boy, does the world need to hear that.

[143] Thank you.

[144] Yeah, well, I hear that a lot.

[145] Very often it's the gospel used at confirmations, because it's one of the gospels that the liturgy recommends for confirmations.

[146] And it can't be any clear.

[147] If you love me, keep my commandments.

[148] And Jesus, I would point out, is saying that not just to this great, or that group to anyone.

[149] If you love me, keep my commandments.

[150] And on the other aspect of that, he doesn't say, if you love me, keep most of my commandments or keep a few of my commandments.

[151] He just says, if you love me, keep my commandments.

[152] So I think we need to frame it in those terms.

[153] And acknowledge that, yes, I'm a sinner.

[154] I need to go to confession, because sometimes my love of the Lord is compromised because I don't, if I sin, by definition, I'm failing to keep the commandments at least as fully as I should be, hopefully not often mortally sinful, but any sin is failing to keep the commandments of the Lord.

[155] And so my expression of my love for the Lord is diminished by my sinfulness.

[156] Thankfully, the Lord's love for us is not diminished by our sinfulness.

[157] He still loves us.

[158] He's loving us into existence, and he loves us enough to be ready to forgive us.

[159] All we have to do is ask that forgiveness.

[160] And so, like we were talking about before, to really love someone is to lead them to the truth.

[161] and to fail to do that is the opposite of love, which, you know, is a strong word, and we kind of shy away from it in society today.

[162] But to fail to lead someone to the truth, just logically, is to hate.

[163] And I think we need to speak in those terms.

[164] Hate is a strong word.

[165] and we should not hate, but when we are failing to love, then what are we doing?

[166] We're hating.

[167] And so I think we need to really pay attention to that and to recognize, I mean, with all the controversies that we face, I think we have lost the basic conversation of just continuing to call people, out of love to the truth of the sanctity of life and you know whether or not people say oh this is a one topic bishop or whatever to me it doesn't matter because we're too divided on that basic question and a politician or a scientist or a movie star or a person in the pew next to us.

[168] If we love them, and we're called to love each other, we're called to love everyone, we have to keep calling them to the truth.

[169] Bishop Strickland, you made me think of Saturday, as I was mentioning every Saturday.

[170] I can't get there every Saturday, but I have my high school varsity baseball coach, my junior varsity coach, a couple of my friends that I graduated 45 years ago from high school there.

[171] And we have a breakfast, and I build rapport with them.

[172] And the question came up from a fallen away Catholic fireman, retired fireman, he says, you know, Terry, I deal with death for 34 years as a fireman.

[173] I was a paramedic, but now as I get old, I'm starting to wonder, I'm worried about dying.

[174] I mean, what happens at death?

[175] So here we are in a public restaurant asking the ultimate question about life.

[176] And so I have two Protestants and three Catholics there, and we get a chance to chat about sin.

[177] What is sin in the Bible and the command and, you know, if you love me, keep the commandments.

[178] And when I told the gentleman there that I go to confession twice a month, every other week I'm in the confessional because I'm a sinner, and they said, what?

[179] I can't believe you.

[180] You're Mr. Gooding.

[181] No, I said, you see, what happens is when you fall in love with Jesus Christ, you realize that you're a weak sinner and that your imperfections come out.

[182] And the problem is in our world today, everybody thinks they're immaculately conceived, that nobody goes to hell, isn't that right, guys?

[183] Yeah, and that you go to a funeral and every, babe, just one stop, man, Mike, oh, God bless my, he's in heaven today.

[184] No, the Bible says nothing but perfect and pure will get into the beatific vision.

[185] So anyhow, I shared with them a little bit.

[186] I happened to have a catechism with me, and Bishop Sheen's life is worth living, and I handed it to three of the guys, and one of the Protestant guys says to me, Terry, I don't want you to pay for it, give me a book.

[187] That is a compenium of Catholicism.

[188] I want to know, you talk about the fathers of the church.

[189] Give me a book that can give me an outline of what the Catholic Church teaches on lots of topics.

[190] Well, the catechism, I'm going to give it to them on Saturday.

[191] Now, why do I say that to our list?

[192] Exactly, Bishop Strickland, here's a guy who's an evangelical and he's active.

[193] He loves the Lord, okay?

[194] Yeah, that's the one.

[195] So he's going to get that catechism.

[196] So I'm asking all of our listeners to pray for these men because they're asking questions.

[197] I was supposed to leave.

[198] They said, only one more question, Terry.

[199] One more, or eight more questions after one more question.

[200] But what does that say, Bishop Strickland?

[201] People are searching for the truth.

[202] They see the world when they start getting into their 60s like me, and they're going, things don't make sense.

[203] What's happening is wrong.

[204] I'm not quite sure why, but show me the truth.

[205] And thank Jesus for the opportunity to share with these men, the Catholic faith, because I believe that's what's going to set these guys through, or free, is the truth.

[206] Okay, I'm done with that.

[207] Let's get one more end before we have another break.

[208] Bishop Strickland, you said on the 10th, he said, brothers, I beg you through the mercy of God to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God.

[209] You're quoting the scriptures, Romans chapter 12, verse 1 to 2.

[210] So I'll read at the end.

[211] Brothers, I beg you through the mercy of God to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy sacrifice, to a acceptable to God, your spiritual worship, do not conform yourselves to this age, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind.

[212] Boy, that's a mouthful for our culture today.

[213] Absolutely.

[214] And the heart of it is do not conform to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind.

[215] What that really gets at, Terry, is it's scripture and it's catechesis.

[216] I mean, it's catechism right there that there's, what is conforming ourselves to this world?

[217] It's called sin.

[218] Yeah.

[219] It's pulling ourselves away from supernatural life, from everlasting life with being created in the image and likeness of God.

[220] And it's conforming to this world through.

[221] breaking the commandments.

[222] I mean, it all comes back around to the basic things that we've been talking about.

[223] And to be transformed, I think a lot of people throughout history, and certainly in our time, it's like you were saying it, especially as you get older, people long to be transformed.

[224] Oh, yeah.

[225] They long to, they long for something more in life.

[226] And they long, and That's what Jesus Christ has revealed to us, is there, there is something more in life.

[227] This world, this life passes very quickly, and it is not.

[228] It is really just the, the pathway to the fullness of life and life everlasting.

[229] That's what we're built for.

[230] And we live in a time when certainly the culture, and many individual human beings, we're in a time probably of less real supernatural faith than in many times in history.

[231] And if you don't have supernatural faith and believe that this world is all there is, you aren't transformed, you are deformed, and life is diminished to, in tremendous ways and very tragic ways to think that this world is all there is.

[232] And when people have that perspective, you can see that why with the, you know, with the pandemic and all the different issues we're facing, you can see why people get depressed and suicide is up because they, if you think this world is all there is, it really sadly makes sense that you would say, well, I'm getting out of here.

[233] Exactly.

[234] But we know that we're destined for somewhere else.

[235] And Christ is the perfect model of that, of the one seeking the everlasting life he offers us.

[236] Well said, when we come back, we're going to open up our catechisms of the Catholic Church on the Trinitarian life.

[237] We're still working on the Trinity.

[238] Get your catechism out.

[239] We'll be right back.

[240] Stay with us, family.

[241] Welcome back to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[242] My name's Terry Barber.

[243] Now we're going into the section of the catechism.

[244] And this is something I'm just going to say again.

[245] Because in one of the Vatican II documents, Broom and Day talks about the deposit of faith.

[246] And I think of the catechism as being that.

[247] And St. John Paul II said that this is a sure norm.

[248] This catechism is something that we can count on for us our deposit of faith and what we believe.

[249] So I'm just excited that we get to have a bishop teach from this deposit of fate, the catechism of the Catholic Church.

[250] We're on paragraph 257.

[251] I jumped a little bit, Bishop Strickland, just because I wanted to move along, the divine works and the Trinitarian missions.

[252] Now, remember, Bishop Strickland has already told us how the Trinity, yeah, it's a mystery, but we can understand certain aspects of it so that we can understand who God is.

[253] And this is what this is about.

[254] so 257 says oh blessed light oh trinity and the first unity god is eternal blessedness undying life unfading light god is love bible says that father son and holy spirit see how he ties it in god freely wills to communicate the glory of his blessed life bishop strickland i'm not going to go all the way through let's just stop right there that that god freely wills to communicate the glory of his blessed life.

[255] That's exciting.

[256] Go ahead, Bishop Strickland.

[257] Well, what occurs to me as I read that is we can think of ourselves in all creation as the overflow of love and the heart of God.

[258] God loves so much that He created.

[259] everything and created us in his image and likeness.

[260] God, that's what we really mean when, as you said, in John's gospel, he clearly says, God is love, love is God.

[261] And when we think about what love really is, it's caring for the other.

[262] And God, Father, Son, and Spirit, in the great mystery of the Trinity, God's love overflows.

[263] And I think that that is something we do experience we creatures who are created in the image and likeness of God.

[264] I would imagine we've all had the experience of something wonderful happening.

[265] And wanting to tell someone, wanting to share it.

[266] Yes.

[267] And I know in my experience, because I've lost both of my parents.

[268] And a lot of us, you know, I mean, that's part of life.

[269] Our parents usually pass on before we die.

[270] And it's very painful for parents.

[271] My parents lost two of their sons before they died.

[272] And that's a scar on the heart of parents.

[273] parents for the rest of their lives.

[274] But what I'm getting at is when we love, we want to share goodness.

[275] It's, to me, it's an expression of what it means to be in the image and likeness of God.

[276] That's a godly quality that men and women have is that we want to share the good.

[277] That's a, that's a holy quality that just naturally springs up from the goodness that God has created.

[278] in us.

[279] And it, to me, it's striking that, and I can remember especially, you know, it, we gradually adapt and, you know, my parents have been gone for years.

[280] But when we first experienced that loss, and sometimes it's the loss of a spouse or the loss of a child or the loss of a parent or of a dear friend that we might have always been, they would be the first person we would call to share good news.

[281] Absolutely.

[282] And when they're not there anymore, that's part of the grief that we experience.

[283] And I mention all of that just because it's a beautiful dynamic moment for us, that we have an instinct when we have goodness, we want to share it.

[284] That's part of being in the image and likeness of God.

[285] That's a godly part of us.

[286] We're all sinners.

[287] We don't live the godly lives that we want to or that we're cold to.

[288] But I think we do need to embrace that kind of instinct that we have.

[289] Look at a little child, an innocent child.

[290] Maybe young enough even that they aren't at least from what the catechism teaches us.

[291] If they're younger than seven, they're not considered to be morally culpable.

[292] but I know I've seen children much younger than that who are ready to share the good news of whatever it is.

[293] It can be the simplest thing, but it's a natural thing that we do as human beings.

[294] We want to share.

[295] We want to tell someone.

[296] I have a new puppy.

[297] I want to tell someone that good news for a little child.

[298] I think that that in very simple ways.

[299] is not profound theology, but there is a profound beauty there that's expressed in simple terms, that natural instinct that just flows spontaneously from us in the goodness that God has created in us, that we want to share goodness, we want to share the beauty.

[300] I mean, you know, something as simple as just the other night.

[301] I saw a marvelous moon, you know, just a huge.

[302] It was almost like, is that really the moon?

[303] It was just gorgeous.

[304] And I felt like, I got to tell someone this.

[305] I think we need to pay attention to that instinct that we have that we want to share.

[306] And that is God.

[307] That is where creation comes from, from the heart of a loving God who is so full of love and so full of goodness.

[308] He is love and goodness itself that it overflows.

[309] And we and all of creation spring forth from that overflowing heart of God.

[310] You know, Bishop Strickland, I was smiling because I do the same thing.

[311] I'll call my friends at night when they see a beautiful moon, the setting or whatever's.

[312] Did you see that?

[313] You know, it's so beautiful.

[314] Isn't this another expression of God's love for us?

[315] Absolutely.

[316] Absolutely.

[317] The thing about it, Bishop Strickland, is when we see things with the eyes of faith, we see things that we would never see before.

[318] This is why certain people will look.

[319] I'll give you an example.

[320] Years ago, I purchased a lot of sacred art from Manresa Retreat House.

[321] It was a Jesuit retreat house that closed its doors after 80 years.

[322] It was sad.

[323] But I got all this sacred art to Mother Angelica and to third world countries.

[324] So I paid a guy to pick up this little.

[325] life -sized crucifix, and he was carrying it to the truck to be packaged and taken to Mother Angelica's, where it is now.

[326] But he fell three times carrying that cross.

[327] And I said to him, dude, did you?

[328] I said, you're doing exactly the way Jesus did on the cross, my stations of the cross.

[329] He fell three times.

[330] And this was kind of a warm day, and the guy's sweating because he's heavy, and he goes, what are you talking about?

[331] Now, he had no idea what?

[332] He had no idea what was going on there because for whatever reason he just didn't understand the value of carrying the cross and what Christ did for us but I did because I was given a gift of faith and so I could see that that was a profound imagery for me and I'll never I can still see it today what is that 15 20 years ago so it's just a powerful thought so and your comment about telling people good things my mother's been dead 12 years and I wanted to call her last week I told my wife because we had some good news for the kids that they did something.

[333] We got accepted into the sheriff's department.

[334] Oh, let's tell grandma!

[335] And I go, what do you mean tell grandma?

[336] She's been ready for 12 years.

[337] But you see how that works?

[338] It's built in.

[339] All right, great point.

[340] Let's continue on paragraph 257 in the catechism of the Catholic Church.

[341] It says, such is the plan of his loving kindness conceived by the father before the foundations of the world in his beloved son.

[342] There's no time.

[343] with God, is there?

[344] He destined us in love to be his sons and to be conformed to the image of his son to the spirit of sonship.

[345] Dr. Scott Hahn speaks so highly about sonship.

[346] Okay.

[347] This plan is a grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before the ages began.

[348] Steaming immediately from the Trinitarian love, it unfolds in the work of creation, the whole history of salvation, and after the fall the missions of the sun and the spirit which are continued in the mission of the church see how it all falls together wow absolutely that's beautiful and what occurs to me is if we could just understand the love that God has for all of us that we are creatures that come forth from his love, created in his image and likeness.

[349] And that really is the message of Jesus Christ, his son.

[350] Love one another as I have loved you.

[351] We haven't even really come close in the 2 ,000 years or so almost 2 ,000 years since Christ said that.

[352] But that is what the saints come to know.

[353] I was talking with someone just recently that we really need to renew our understanding of who the saints are.

[354] They're people that get this.

[355] Yeah.

[356] That understand the love of God.

[357] Right.

[358] But they're not sinless people.

[359] They're people like us, but they understand and they come to a deeper and deeper understanding of love.

[360] They journey away from sin as we're called to.

[361] And I think there's a tendency, even among believing people, that we tend to put the saints in a different category.

[362] They're not humans like us.

[363] There's some sort of other beings.

[364] They're not.

[365] They're sinners.

[366] The only human being, strictly human, that was sinless, is the Blessed Virgin Mary.

[367] And that's by the power of God.

[368] Of course, Jesus Christ is sinless as well.

[369] But, but But he's also the divine son of God, fully God and fully man. Mary is not divine.

[370] She is fully a human woman, but sinless.

[371] All the rest of us are sinners, and we need to remember the love that God has for us.

[372] And keep working at that.

[373] People see that as naive, but it really is the mission of humanity to finally love one another as God is loved us.

[374] Well, said, we'll be back with more on the Bishop Strickland Hour on Virgin Most Powerful radio.

[375] Stay with us, family.

[376] Welcome back to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[377] We're talking about the Holy Trinity, but for those who just tuned in, we have a catechism section every week with Bishop Strickland after the tweets.

[378] And I mentioned at the beginning of the show, the deposit of faith in that Pope John Paul 2, St. Pope John Paul 2 says that the catechism is a sure norm.

[379] Well, paragraph 84 of the catechism talks about the deposit of faith.

[380] It says the apostles entrusted the sacred deposit of faith contained in sacred scripture and tradition to the whole of the church.

[381] It says by adhering to this, the entire holy people united to its pastors remains always faithful to the teachings of the apostles, to the brotherhood, to the breaking of the bread into the prayers.

[382] So, in maintaining, practicing, and professing the faith that has been handed on, there should be a remarkable harmony between the bishops and the faithful.

[383] Well, this harmony that I see Bishop Strickland is what you're doing right now, teaching us from the deposit of faith, the catechism of the Catholic Church.

[384] So I just want to say thank you, because I think this is this, I'm not in management, I'm in sales.

[385] If we had more bishops, who would teach right from the catechism they faith, and I know they are, I've seen it, I know Bishop Sampleton up in Portland, Oregon does something similar to what you're doing.

[386] And I think it's wonderful, so I want to commend you because I think the lay people are looking for that kind of leadership to tell us without any question what we should be believing in, and no ambiguity, and I think the catechism does just that, so thank you so much.

[387] you were talking before the break about God's love and I thought of this myself that one of the spiritual writers Opus Day spiritual writer book I read he said the biggest problem in our culture is people don't know they're loved by God and I thought wow I truly agree with that um don't know I really believe that so much of the tragedy that we face the the brokenness the violence, the divisions really come down to not really believing the profound love that God has for us.

[388] And certainly, it's sort of like it just keeps happening.

[389] One thing that I've learned is how critical it is that a child knows love and because as human beings we have to experience love from other human beings their studies done of young children that are totally isolated and it breaks them it really diminishes their ability i mean they're still sacred to god and we have to do all we can to help them but when a child doesn't get that message that they are deeply loved by another human being, it's very difficult.

[390] The grace of God can always do the miracle, can do the impossible, certainly, but God's plan is that we learn his love through our parents.

[391] Amen.

[392] Through the loving mother and father in the family that we're born into.

[393] That's why, I mean, in St. John Paul, the great.

[394] constantly talks about the importance of the family and talks about, you know, we know well the quote, but as the family goes, so goes the world.

[395] Amen.

[396] And we see that unfolding, sadly, much of, well, I would say all of the violence, all the division in the human community, all of the tragedies that we face, all the hatred of one human for another, whatever label we put on it, it's because somehow we miss the message of God's love.

[397] And when we listen and know that message, even the seemingly impossible challenge that Jesus Christ gives us to not just love our loving parents or our loving siblings, but to love our enemies.

[398] That is absolutely impossible if we don't profoundly know that we are loved.

[399] And so many of the saints illustrate that.

[400] When we know deeply that we are loved, then nothing can stop us.

[401] None of the evil that the world can throw at us can cause us to hate the other or to not love our enemies or to go on the attack.

[402] So the great mission, really, that we have is to teach the truth that we are all beloved of God.

[403] That's the foundational truth that humanity needs.

[404] And certainly, in God's model, that is most profoundly said through a mother and a father.

[405] and we all know that when and certainly my parents weren't perfect your parents weren't perfect you haven't been a perfect parent but even imperfect parents can get that message across that their children are loved and when that happens then the child can begin to grow and knowing that they're beloved of God.

[406] And it puts us on a path of loving others and of living in goodness.

[407] And it puts us on the path to salvation.

[408] So it really is critical.

[409] I mean, I totally agree with that quote that at the very root of the evil in the world.

[410] And in some ways, that's what Satan wants to convince us, that oh he doesn't really love you and let me give you the world and i'll show you love and we know that's the false message of satan through the ages wow well said and that letter that pope john paul two the bishop is referring to as a letter to the families 1994 uh great letter and i just type on the computer you can read the entire letter it's a very short letter that touches me I want to remind everybody this that Bishop Strickland and I've been saying this for decades that every day you need to ask Jesus Christ for more faith because right now we're living in a time where there's lack of faith supernatural faith and you as an individual in your prayer life say Jesus please give me stronger faith in your word and in the church's teachings give me that supernatural virtue of faith because if you don't ask you don't get.

[411] And I'm of the opinion that if you don't ask, you will lose your faith in the world we're living in today.

[412] That's been my experience.

[413] You need to really petition our Lord for stronger faith.

[414] Well, Bishop Strickland, we got a few minutes left.

[415] Paragraph 258.

[416] Well, you know what I'm going to ask Borat before that?

[417] I want to talk about your institute.

[418] Because I'll tell you why, it's such a good institute.

[419] And also, before I do the institute, one quick note, I I was very impressed.

[420] You know that I met you out in Baltimore.

[421] I was there for another event.

[422] That's where the bishops were at.

[423] And I was so impressed that you told me that the bishops for the first year were going to have eucharistic adoration during the conference, petitioning our Lord for help in the conference of the bishops.

[424] And also, I think you guys even had more prayer at the beginning of the conference.

[425] So can you share, did that actually happen?

[426] Were there guys actually guys?

[427] I said, but the bishops, I mean, tell us about your conference and give us the good stuff.

[428] Yeah, the good things it went on.

[429] Yes, Terry, thank you.

[430] And there were some good developments that I was very pleased to see.

[431] Yeah.

[432] And I would encourage people that have been praying for their bishops to continue to do so.

[433] Prayer conquers the world because it connects us to God.

[434] But the fruit of their prayer, I believe.

[435] believe was the conference started on Monday morning with a morning of prayer.

[436] And that, with Eucharistic adoration, with the whole body of bishops in the main, all there where we had liturgies with all the bishops gathered.

[437] And then that spirit continued with Eucharistic adoration in the small chapel where the blessed sacrament was exposed.

[438] And I, I was able to be there for a few hours, and a lot of bishops were able to be there.

[439] So that is, that's the fruit of prayer for the bishops and for all the people praying for the bishops.

[440] I know that people are troubled, and there are lots of questions and lots of confusion.

[441] But keep up the prayer, because that is the greatest way that we can overcome the struggles and the confusions and the divisions that are there.

[442] We talk a lot about unity and harmony, and we just need to remember Jesus Christ is unity personified.

[443] He is unity incarnate.

[444] He is harmony incarnate.

[445] The unity of the bishops, the unity of the body of Christ that is the church, is always found in unity incarnate, truth incarnate, Jesus Christ.

[446] and so we know that spending time as bishops and as laity for all of us who can yes the more we spend time with jesus the more we will be united because and it's a beautiful reminder to us terry that of what truth is yes truth is not some thing it's a person god is truth is truth and And it also is a beautiful reminder that, especially in today's world, in the face of, well, that's your truth or that's my truth or my truth changed tomorrow for what it was yesterday, that all is foolishness.

[447] Amen.

[448] Because truth, if we were remembered truth personified, the truth is a person, is Jesus Christ.

[449] Truth is the divine persons of Father, Son, and Spirit, the Trinity.

[450] They are truth.

[451] Then truth has to be united.

[452] Truth has to be one reality.

[453] You can't say, oh, well, that's your truth, but this is my truth.

[454] Truth is not divided.

[455] It is the principle of unity.

[456] And that's what we have to continually pray about and refocus on, because anything else leads us to greater and greater division.

[457] Absolutely.

[458] Bishop Strickland, before I ask you for a quick blessing, how can people get to your Institute?

[459] What website can they go to?

[460] Just St. Philip Institute .org, Philip with one L, S -T -P -H -I -L -I -P -H -I -P -H -I -P -H -I -P -Hitut.

[461] And get the great things there.

[462] There's lots of them.

[463] How about a blessing for our listeners, Bishop Strickland?

[464] Almighty God, we thank you that you love us so tremendously.

[465] Help us all grow in that love, and we ask your blessing for all listen.

[466] thank you so much folks you can listen to the podcast all of Bishop Strickland's podcasts are on vmpr .org and as a matter of fact you can listen to all the shows that we have on virgin most powerful radio go to our website vmpr .org may god richly bless you and your family god love you