12 Mar 24 – Cardinal Burke’s Nine Month Novena

[0] Welcome to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[1] My name is Terry Barber, and every week we have two shows with Bishop Strickland, sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ.

[2] Bishop Strickland, thanks again for taking time in your busy schedule to do this.

[3] Thank you, Terry.

[4] God bless you.

[5] And we always start off now with the gospel of the day.

[6] And this is much neat, Bishop Strickland.

[7] I almost get to go to weekly Mass because I hear the gospel.

[8] I know you preach this for decades, these gospel readings.

[9] and now we all get to hear them.

[10] So it's the Gospel of John Chapter 5, verse 1 to 16.

[11] Could you proclaim that gospel and give us a commentary, please?

[12] Sure.

[13] A reading from the Holy Gospel according to John.

[14] Glory to you, Lord.

[15] There was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

[16] Now, there is in Jerusalem at the sheep gate, a pool called in Hebrew, Bethesda, with five porticos.

[17] In these lay a large number of ill, blind, lame, and crippled.

[18] One man was there who had been ill for 38 years.

[19] When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had been ill for a long time, he said to him, do you want to be well?

[20] The sick man answered him.

[21] Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stork.

[22] it up.

[23] While I'm on my way, someone else gets down there before me. Jesus said to him, rise, take up your mat and walk.

[24] Immediately the man became well, took up his mat and walked.

[25] Now that day was a Sabbath.

[26] So the Jews said to the man who was cured.

[27] It is the Sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to carry your mat.

[28] He answered them, the man who made me well told me, take up your mat and walk.

[29] They asked him, who is the man who told you?

[30] Take it up and walk.

[31] The man who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had slipped away since there was a crowd there.

[32] After this, Jesus found him in the temple area and said to him, look, you are well.

[33] do not sin anymore so that nothing worse may happen to you the man went and told the jews that jesus was the one who had made him well therefore the jews began to persecute jesus because he did this on a sabbath the gospel of the lord praise to you lord jesus christ well tarry this gospel from john really gets to one of the main complaints against Jesus from the Jews and from the leaders, especially, the scribes and the Pharisees.

[34] He dared to do this on the Sabbath.

[35] In another place in the gospel, of course, Jesus will say, the Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath.

[36] And I think that that idea of respecting the Sabbath, is always something that we need to reflect on and understand what is Christ's point.

[37] Of course, the people there, even the man who he cures, it says clearly in the gospel, he didn't know who this was.

[38] He was just cured and following the instructions of the one who cured him, taking up his mat and walking, like exactly what Jesus said.

[39] certainly from our perspective, we know that Jesus is the Lord, you know, the Son of God.

[40] And as he is revealing who he is, very often, and I think we can understand that.

[41] But I think it reminds us to always keep our priorities straight, to remember the purpose of our laws, the purpose of, you know, the Catholic Church, many would say probably that, well, the Catholic Church kind of follows on the Jewish faithful with all the laws that we have.

[42] Many people would say we need to get rid of these laws.

[43] But Christ really, as we know, says the opposite.

[44] He says that he came not to change the law, but to fulfill the law.

[45] And I think that is really pertinent to this gospel as well.

[46] Fulfilling the law of the Sabbath is to remind people what those laws are about, to draw them closer to God, to make them realize that they're not just journeying through this life without a connection with God.

[47] But the Sabbath, you know, the day of rest, and we still, I mean, it's been changed to Sunday, the Lord's Day for us in the Christian world.

[48] But we believe, and we've lost a lot of that in our present culture, even, you know, as Catholics.

[49] I'm sure both of us remember the world was different even when we were kids.

[50] Absolutely.

[51] And Texas, we had what were called blue laws that meant, and some of them were still in place.

[52] even when I was a kid growing up.

[53] But there were certain stores that were closed.

[54] There were certain things you couldn't buy.

[55] And gradually, little by little, that got relaxed so that, you know, as far as commercially, Sunday doesn't look much different than Monday through Friday.

[56] So I think we really need to pay attention to what this gospel speaks of with the idea of the Sabbath.

[57] But really, I think the message of this gospel is broader than even understanding the Sabbath for the Jews or for us, that day of rest.

[58] And I think that the gospel, it really touches on several things that are significant for us.

[59] It connects, Jesus makes it very clear as he tells this man, go and sin no more.

[60] And, you know, that connection that Jesus makes very clearly between what this man has dealt with for 38 years and sin, I think it's something we need to pay attention to.

[61] I think we can get the wrong idea that this and Jesus really addresses this and other places in the gospel.

[62] It's not so much this man's individual sin that caused him to be paralyzed for 38 years, but it's living in a sinful world.

[63] And Jesus basically tells him, sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you.

[64] So I think we really need to, all of us, reflect on what Jesus makes clear, a case.

[65] connection between our suffering and our sin.

[66] Not always a direct connection, but when we sin and ignore what the truth that God is revealed to us, that's basically what sin is.

[67] It's our will rather than God's will.

[68] Then there are consequences.

[69] And I guess that to me is the main thing that I believe we need to learn from this gospel for our Lenton journey is that our sins bear consequences, sometimes very directly connected to the sins we commit or to the sins others commit.

[70] And sometimes less directly, but sin always has its consequences.

[71] And I think especially in the church and in the world today with the de -emphasis of sin and many saying, oh, well, certain categories of sin we don't really need to pay much attention to anymore.

[72] They're kind of no big deal.

[73] I think Jesus, if we listen to him, really says the opposite and reminds us in the mystery of our journey in life.

[74] I mean, we're called to turn from sin, to repent.

[75] I haven't been successful in completely doing that.

[76] And I'm sure you haven't.

[77] We're sinners.

[78] We need to stay at it.

[79] We need to keep striving.

[80] That's what Lent is about is doing our best to really for these 40 days to root out sin in our lives and be more and more living the virtues of the gospel.

[81] But hopefully we make some progress there.

[82] But we remain sinners and we remain vulnerable to the temptations that we face, sometimes repeating the same sins and sometimes coming up with nuisance.

[83] I know in my own experience, hopefully we start to look a little more closely in our examination of conscience, and if we've really made progress as we age and hopefully have some good experience, we make better progress in certain areas and you know we can pretty much eliminate some sins from our lives but there's always more to deal with and frankly um i think to me that's something of what bish uh jesus is saying in this gospel passage is do your best to repent of sin and turn away from sin because you're vulnerable to making something worse happen if you don't pay attention to the sinfulness in your life.

[84] And I think that's very important for all of us now in the 21st century to be aware that we're constantly called to this repentance and the seeking to live the virtues of the gospel more fully.

[85] And finally, the good news, this man is healed after 38 years.

[86] Wow.

[87] I think that is a reminder.

[88] Our journey is never hopeless.

[89] When we follow Christ, there's always hope that may not answer our prayers the way we want, but we need to be people of hope.

[90] Amen.

[91] Amen.

[92] When we come back from the break, we'll talk about more of that hope.

[93] Who was our hope?

[94] Jesus Christ.

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

[96] Welcome back, indeed.

[97] Bishop Strickland giving us some commentary on John Chapter 5.

[98] I like when you said, our Lord said, do not sin anymore so that nothing worse may happen to you.

[99] To put a little story together on this, yesterday I went to the bank and I ran into a gentleman who had done some construction work for me 30 years ago.

[100] And I hadn't seen him for years.

[101] And he graduated with my brother, so he's two years.

[102] years older than I. I said, you know, I told him, I said, remember my brother Dick?

[103] Yeah, he would have been 69 years old, March 4th.

[104] He says, well, I've already turned 70, and I don't like it.

[105] I said, what do you mean you don't like it?

[106] He says, nobody ever told me that getting old, you wouldn't, you know, you feel like you don't even want to get up in the morning.

[107] I have no energy.

[108] I feel lethargic, and I just don't like it.

[109] And so I had to break the news to him lovingly.

[110] I said, well, hey, you know, I know you're baptized Catholic, but you know what original sin did.

[111] Look, I don't have hair.

[112] That's because I can't take it to the next life.

[113] This is original sin says we're going to die.

[114] Life is short and eternity is forever.

[115] So, you know, we got to have our focus on God or yeah, life is not fun.

[116] He says, well, I think life sucks and I shouldn't be, you know, why is it that you got to get old?

[117] And I said, well, that's because you got to look at what your purpose is in life and understand that this life is just a test.

[118] It's like summer school.

[119] If you do well, you get eternal life.

[120] If you do bad, well, you're going to go to hell for all eternity.

[121] He looked at me, and Bishop Strickland, I'm not sure if I communicated well to him, but he just looked at me and he shook his head and he walked away.

[122] I have no idea what's going to happen to that man, but I want to tie it back into this gospel.

[123] St. Thomas, we quote him all the time, for willing the good of the other.

[124] That's how you love somebody.

[125] So it seems to me that our Lord showed us how to love by showing people that we shouldn't be sinning against God.

[126] And I just want to bring this up to you because you're a bishop.

[127] You got more authority and responsibility to share the gospel that Jesus Christ taught in season and out.

[128] And I'm just going to ask you again, we as listeners, we're looking for more of our shepherds to give us, you know, examples.

[129] And I'm going to give one example to you and take your comment.

[130] The bishops of Arizona, all of the bishops, not just one, I don't know how many bishops are in Texas, but we have a lot in California.

[131] But all of the ones in Arizona, they signed a letter saying, our flock, we have a responsibility for life.

[132] The government right now of Arizona is trying to pass a law that makes abortion a right for anyone in the state of Arizona and put that in our little constitution.

[133] And I want you to reject it and say no to that.

[134] That's the kind of example I'm looking for, bishop.

[135] Well, I think all of us are, and we need to.

[136] And we are, I'm grateful to those bishops who spoke up and said, no, this is not according to our faith.

[137] It's not according to what God is revealed to us.

[138] And to be shepherds and to help those in lawmaking and in whatever branch of the government to really re -examine.

[139] what they're doing.

[140] I was glad to see the same sort of thing from the bishops of France.

[141] Amen.

[142] Sadly, Bishop, I mean, France had made a right to abortion.

[143] So many people are pushing in this country, and sadly, in other countries, France has fallen to that false message and to that destruction of the sanctity of the life of the unborn.

[144] But thankfully, the bishops of France spoke up and said, this is going in the wrong direction for the eldest daughter of the church that France is often called.

[145] It's just a sad thing to see.

[146] We have to just pray that those kinds of bad legislation and bad court decisions and bad laws will be reversed as people wake up recognize that this isn't the way we want our nations or our world to go.

[147] In addition to that, Bishop Strickland, I see people like you, bishops, coming out stronger and stronger on the perennial teachings of the church.

[148] It seems like we've turned a corner.

[149] I'm hoping at least we're turning a corner.

[150] And it was just a month, a couple months ago, when the Vatican came out with a document that undermined the idea of a blessing same -sex couples.

[151] And you were among the first to say, let's just say no. And every week I see more and more bishops around the world, not just in Africa, but Europe and America, and they're coming out and say, no, this is a bad thing.

[152] We need to rescind it.

[153] Get rid of it because it's undermining the deposit of faith.

[154] And I don't say this to vindicate you.

[155] No, I'm just saying you are doing your duty, no less, no more.

[156] That's it.

[157] You know that this isn't right.

[158] And you're willing to say, hey, excuse me, Holy See, this is not a good thing to do.

[159] This is not what the church has always done and, you know, rescind it.

[160] So thank you for taking it on the chin, so to speak.

[161] Thank you.

[162] Well, yeah, and I think it's important to recognize that I'm sure we've both seen reports from Exorcists saying, this really opens the door.

[163] Yes.

[164] Because it's, you know, with all the confusion and all the trying to explain it away.

[165] Yeah.

[166] It's very clear to most people.

[167] Yeah.

[168] And it's being embraced with the clarity that suddenly we can bless sin.

[169] And blessing sin in not calling people to repentance.

[170] No. It's logical, sadly.

[171] There's a sad logic to it that if you're saying sin's perfectly fine, Certainly, that's going to make the devil happy.

[172] That's going to go with his agenda to destroy us.

[173] And I'm glad that some have spoken up and said, this is opening the door to evil.

[174] And we've got enough evil in the world already.

[175] We don't need to open any more doors.

[176] Well, said, and I also noticed one of our friends who've been on the Terry and Jesse show.

[177] I don't believe we've had him on your show, Monsignor Charles Pope, and he's a seasoned priest in Washington, D .C., an exorcist, and works with deliverance ministry.

[178] He criticized in public the dialogue among some prelates regarding Freemasons and emphasized the grave sin and the spiritual danger of freemasonry, which he says invites demonic influences.

[179] Here again, Bishop Strickland, a priest, a good holy priest publicly saying, look, I have an obligation.

[180] to tell the faithful, stay away from Freemasonry.

[181] Your thoughts?

[182] Absolutely.

[183] And I think we have to be once again strong on that message as well, because Freemasonry is antithetical to Jesus Christ and the church, the Roman Catholic Church that he established, and to pretend that they can be somehow aligned is giving in to evil.

[184] And we simply, it's just mind -boggling that that's even being suggested by some.

[185] But we've got to say no, once again, we can't cooperate with evil.

[186] It goes back to the gospel that we reflected on.

[187] If we just embrace sin, it has its consequences.

[188] And if we embrace evil, it has its consequences.

[189] It's not about all of human.

[190] humanity just becoming this homogenized group where we all agree with each other.

[191] If that agreement is at the expense of the truth that God has revealed to us, then we're not doing humanity any favors.

[192] We're sending humanity to destruction if we don't once again return to the truth that God, that is God.

[193] And he sent his son, Truth Incarnate, to show us what truth is.

[194] Truth has a face.

[195] Amen.

[196] The face of Jesus Christ.

[197] Very well said.

[198] On our next segment, I want to tease everybody to hang on.

[199] We're going to have Cardinal Burke explain something very important about a nine -month novena to our lady and why he is encouraging all of us to join in that.

[200] Bishop Strickland, also, you're coming to the spiritual warfare conference here in Pomona, California at St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Covina.

[201] Pomona.

[202] And Father Chad Ripper will be there, Kyle Clement, Dan Schneider.

[203] The same group came last year.

[204] Jesse Romero is the master's ceremonies.

[205] We've been sold out for about eight weeks, but people can get registered online at Virgin Most Powerful Radio for streaming rights.

[206] So whether you're in Australia or New York, wherever you are, you won't miss it because our crew is going to be there to film it and shoot it out to the whole world, and you could participate from home because we don't have any more tickets for you to sit and watch this.

[207] So go to vmpr .org to do that or call 877 -5262151.

[208] Bishop Strickland, I also wanted to ask something, and this will be in our, this is our segment after Cardinal Burke.

[209] But I just want to bring this.

[210] up because I think we need to really have good morals in a sense of how do we know something is wrong?

[211] How do we know something is right?

[212] How do we form our conscience?

[213] And it seems to me that many of us just didn't get a well -formed conscience, whether it's a Catholic school system or CCD, but people my age and under, many times have a very elementary understanding of the faith.

[214] and so you made some strong statements and we're going to talk about a moral question after Cardinal Burke's next segment and I'd like to ask you about that but I also want to give a plug to your new YouTube channel and tell us a little bit what you're doing because it's growing leaps and bounds which it should.

[215] Tell us a little bit of what you're doing on YouTube now.

[216] Well just approximately once a week trying to post something that's pertinent to the conversation that you and I have that's pertinent to living our faith in Jesus Christ in as committed and vibrant and joyful way as possible.

[217] The segments are six or seven minutes.

[218] Very watchable and just topical on various things.

[219] Most recently, I repeated a recording of the letter to my brother bishops that we talked about before.

[220] Sure.

[221] Well, that's great.

[222] And then just click on you like it so that what's going to happen is you'll get notices whenever that weekly presentation becomes, you'll get a notice in that.

[223] It'll make it easy so you don't miss any of those.

[224] So I want to do that.

[225] And then, like I said, when we come back from the break, Cardinal Burke, who I've had him at family conferences over the years, he's been just a wonderful cardinal archbishop and bishop and priests, I might add, all of the buff.

[226] And he's encouraging all of us to get involved in a nine -month novena.

[227] And you're going to say, well, why nine months?

[228] Well, he's going to share.

[229] And I think he's really pulling out the heavy artillery when it comes to spirituality.

[230] So I think you're going to want to listen to that and much, much more when we come back.

[231] Also, I want to just publicly thank our listeners who have been supporting us here.

[232] at Virgin Most Powerful Radio.

[233] I give you this pitch because it's true.

[234] For the last 30 or 40 years, I've been recording people like Dr. Scott Hahn, Tim Gray, all these wonderful Jeff Kavens, Jess Romero.

[235] I got all these recordings, and I put them into digital format.

[236] Now, you can go to CatholicRC .org and download those, but you'll pay for that.

[237] I want you to get them for free.

[238] What do you mean for free?

[239] Well, if you're a supporter, a monthly supporter, a Virgin Most Powerful, all you've got to do is go to vmpr .org, sign up as a monthly donor, and all these recordings come to you each month.

[240] And what's it going to do, form you in the faith.

[241] Some of the best speakers in the country are there.

[242] Stay with us.

[243] We're going to have Cardinal Burke on giving a presentation on a nine -day novena.

[244] Stay with us, family.

[245] We'll be right back.

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

[247] Welcome back.

[248] Indeed.

[249] I promised Cardinal Burke is going to explain to us this night.

[250] Nine -day, nine -month novena for our world, and it's in a heap of trouble.

[251] So if we could let the Cardinal speak about why he's encouraging us to do that, I'd like to play that right now.

[252] The Cardinal has got a project.

[253] It's a novena, a monthly novena for the next nine months that's going to begin in March of this year, 2024.

[254] And so Cardinal Burke, we thought we would just give you an opportunity to tell our viewers and our listeners, what this novena is and why are you proposing it now?

[255] Well, I think that all of us understand that we're living in a very troubled time, both in the world and in the church.

[256] Any thoughtful, any sincere Christian is deeply concerned about the future, about the direction in which our world is going, and about the direction in which the church is going.

[257] And oftentimes we feel that things have gotten beyond repair, and many, I find, are becoming very discouraged and even despairing and inspired by the intervention of our Lady Guadalupe in 1531, at a time in which what is today, Mexico was in a seemingly hopeless situation, a massive human sacrifice and part of the Native Americans and a conflict between the Spanish explorers and settlers and the Native American peoples, which seemed without any possibility of resolve, our Laird sent, the mother of his divine son, our lady, to humble, convert to Catholicism, a Native American, deep faith, St. Juan Diego.

[258] She brought the message of hope.

[259] The hope is Jesus Christ.

[260] And she appears to St. Juan Diego pregnant with our Lord, fully manifesting her being as the mother of God.

[261] And with that appearance of our lady and the response.

[262] of those who came on pilgrimage and prayed through intercession.

[263] The human sacrifice was ended, and the deadly conflict found a resolution and such that even to this day, the people of Mexico recognize this, La Morinita, this person of mixed -blood Spanish and Native American as their mother.

[264] and within the space of a very few years, millions were converted to the faith and they developed this whole wonderful Christian culture under the maternal care of Our Lady.

[265] And so I...

[266] It's really one of the great miracles of the church.

[267] I think it's the only continent that just was en masse converted after a kind of a miraculous apparition.

[268] I don't think there's anything like it in Christian history.

[269] And I think a lot of people don't realize how strong you would have been in trying to maintain that devotion to Our Lady.

[270] I noticed that you're actually calling this Novena a return to Our Lady.

[271] What exactly did you mean by that?

[272] I think that many have forgotten in this situation to invoke the intercession of the, the mother of God as she has been invoked throughout the history of the church in times of great crisis and one of the earliest prayers to our lady from the early centuries of the church is a prayer to our lady to intercede for us and all our needs the subtoum presidium so i'm inviting catholics throughout our country and also be far beyond to join in a prayer invoking the intercession of her lady and asking her to come to to our aid in the present crisis even as she did it in 1531 and as she has done at other times but I I quite agree with you that what happened in 1531 is truly extraordinary and it's not sufficiently known it needs to to be better known because then it inspires us to do what we can in this time of of crisis to do our part, to bring peace, to bring order again into our lives, and of course, the fruit of that order, which is peace.

[273] We see so much today this rebellion against God, an open, bold -face rebellion against the good order, which God has placed in our human nature, which has taught us through divine revelation.

[274] And so we pray that once again we might listen to the voice of God and our own conscience, the voice of God as he makes himself known to us in his son, Jesus Christ, and drawing near to Christ, know God, and are able to live in love of him and in love and peace with one another.

[275] How exactly is this going to work?

[276] I noticed, I should mention, there's a website where people can go and see kind of a video trailer.

[277] for this.

[278] It's called novena .cardinalberg .com.

[279] Let me say this again.

[280] It's all lowercase.

[281] Novena .cardinalberg .com.

[282] As I understand it, when people go to that site and they can see basically what it's going to be about, they can register and they will receive on a monthly basis.

[283] Is that going to be a message from you?

[284] A reminder to keep the novena.

[285] Right.

[286] It often happens with us.

[287] We start out with a great deal of enthusiasm.

[288] But if we are, receiving reminders and helps we can flag along the way and this is a long novena this is a novena this is a novena of nine months leading up to the feast day of our lady in December 12th of this year so each month I will be giving a message and there will also be prayers and devotions offered for those who go on the website so that they can really observe this novena and that it is truly a time of intense prayer for the world and for the church, the church in her mission of the salvation of the world.

[289] And so that will be the great resource for those who are making the divina to use.

[290] The novena is fundamentally a simple thing.

[291] It's an intense time of prayer calling upon our lady to intercede.

[292] that might be peace and good order restored in the world and in the church.

[293] And, of course, for us in the United States, this coming period of time is very significant because it will be the campaign period for the election of a new president.

[294] And, of course, the President of the United States is a tremendous responsibility of leadership in times like these.

[295] And so we want to pray very much that a worthy candidate is elected to this office.

[296] Yeah, I think all that is wonderful.

[297] So if I can kind of just pull some of these threads together, there's the kind of larger praying for the world, but also individual persons who are engaged with us, should kind of take this into their own lives, because this is not just about something abstract that's out there.

[298] Each of us has got to find that connection with God and that peace in ourselves if the society is going to be anything like what we hope it could be again, not only in the United States, but I think around the world.

[299] No, absolutely.

[300] Thank you for making that point because we recognize this is something that the saints teach us so beautifully that the conversion of the world takes place by the conversion of human hearts, by the conversion of human homes and families.

[301] And to the degree that we have God -fearing homes and God -fearing families, we have homes and families who are fostering a love of God through the knowledge and love of our Lord Jesus Christ, to that degree, each one of us will be contributing to the transformation of our society and our world, and, of course, ultimately preparing for the final coming of our love.

[302] So it is something deeply personal, and I'm, thank you for making that point clear, because we shouldn't think that we're simply praying for a situation outside of us, even far away from us, but a situation which we're all deeply involved to the degree that our hearts are not yet sufficiently united at the heart of Christ, united the heart of God, and did.

[303] doing his will in the world.

[304] And so I'm hoping that this novena will be a worthy help to all good Christians to intensify their life in Christ for the sake of peace in their own personal lives, but also peace in the wider society and in the world.

[305] Wow.

[306] Bishop Strickland, I played that whole clip because it gave people a real good understanding of what the Good Cardinal is saying.

[307] And, you know, he must eat from the same trough that you eat from because he mentioned the urgency of things that you've been saying.

[308] What's your take about the Good Cardinals' message on the Novena?

[309] Well, Terry, I think it's inspired and I want people to sign up.

[310] I've already signed up myself.

[311] I'm just finishing here that I've encouraged people to pray a 54 -day novena and culminating on March 19th.

[312] So these two novenas will overlap a bit, but appropriately, as we're in the season of Lent, I really urge people to embrace the Cardinals call to really throughout the world, but especially in this country, he is an American Cardinals.

[313] and he's very strong in proclaiming the truth of our faith, calling us to follow Jesus Christ and not waver in our commitment, no matter what voices, are calling us to embrace changes that simply aren't of Christ.

[314] So I really think that Cardinal Burke is reminding us of the power of prayer, and it's really echoing what our lady has said in her various apparitions, calling us closer to her son, calling us to deeper prayer, calling us to repent of our sins.

[315] Mary just keeps repeating herself.

[316] And I also applaud Carter Burke for really promoting our lady of Guadalupe.

[317] Yeah.

[318] He's not as well known as she should be, the great miracle of our lady of Guadalupe.

[319] I want to continue when we come back after the break about this.

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

[321] Welcome back indeed.

[322] I hope you enjoyed Cardinals Burke's interview on the nine -month novena.

[323] Bishop Strickland, I'd like to ask you, Bishop Cardinal Burke talked a little bit about what happened in 1517 at Guadalupe with Juan Diego or, you know, the apparitions and how many millions, I think it was in nine years, something like eight million Catholics were brought in.

[324] But at the same time, another part of the world, the Protestant Reformation, the Protestant Revolt, sorry, but they were leaving the Catholic Church.

[325] And I want to ask you, is it an exaggeration?

[326] I don't think it is, but you correct me on the air.

[327] I don't mind.

[328] You've done it before.

[329] You'll do it again.

[330] But I see four out of five Catholics not practicing their faith today.

[331] And this is not just in America, but there's a worldwide, I call it apostasy, of people leaving and not practicing.

[332] And it seems like our lady is the natural place to go to to bring them back.

[333] Am I onto something?

[334] Absolutely, Terry, and I really support Cardinal Burke in this effort with the Novena and also, hopefully, through the Novena, getting more people with a better awareness of the miracle of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

[335] We need a renewal of that miraculous story that happened in 1531.

[336] In just a few years, we'll be celebrating the 500th anniversary.

[337] of our Lady of Guadalupe's apparition there on Tepeyak Hill there to Juan Diego that truly did transform a culture.

[338] As you said, millions of people converted.

[339] And what I think is something I was just there.

[340] I was blessed to be there at the shrine of our Lady of Guadalupe less than a month ago.

[341] And one of the things that really struck me, I think we already talked about it, but it's worth repeating that we were talking about it in the group that was there and as cardinal Burke alluded to human sacrifice was common and practiced 500 years ago in Mexico and it virtually stopped after the apparition of our lady of Guadalupe became known and millions as you said millions converted to the Christian faith, to the Catholic faith, to Jesus Christ.

[342] And that's why now, you know, there's, we've lost ground, sadly, as we have in so many places, but Mexico is still considered to be a Catholic country, as as much of South America.

[343] The world was really transformed, especially the new world with that apparition of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

[344] And it truly is a miraculous story.

[345] The tilma, that's what the image of our lady of Guadalupe is there on the telma.

[346] And the telma was a simple, kind of like if you're familiar with Mexican culture today, kind of like a serapi.

[347] The same kind of cloak that Juan Diego was wearing made out of simple, rough, um, cacta, woven cactus cloth.

[348] And the fact, just, just one reality of that Tillma, yeah, the fact that that kind of cloth is still in pristine condition, 500 years later, that's a miracle unto itself.

[349] I mean, the miracles from our lady of Guadalupe are just one miracle stacked on another miracle.

[350] I would encourage people because it really amazes me how little knowledge there is of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

[351] Certainly in Texas, where I'm from, it's very well known.

[352] But you get outside of Texas, and many people are not familiar with Our Lady of Guadalupe and the history and the miracle that transformed the new world.

[353] And we know.

[354] need that transformation all over again, as we mentioned earlier, with beautiful countries like France adopting, once again, human sacrifice and the form of abortion as a right.

[355] That is going down a dark path.

[356] We need to pray.

[357] We need to awaken to the truth that Jesus Christ has proclaimed.

[358] And every time, as we know, every time we turn to our lady, whether it's through lords or through Fatima, through our Lady of Guadalupe, Lord and Fatima are newer apparitions.

[359] Our lady of Guadalupe, soon to be 500 years ago, we need to educate ourselves, learn about the mysteries there, be inspired in our faith, and do what our lady tells us.

[360] Follow her son.

[361] Listen to the truth that the Son of God, who is Revelation incarnate, the truth that he's revealed to us.

[362] So I think that I'm, as you can probably tell, hopefully, I'm really inspired by what Cardinal Burke is trying to do.

[363] And it's exactly what we as shepherds need to be doing.

[364] This is what needs to be happening throughout the church in all kinds of different ways to promote the faith and encourage people to fall to their knees and pray.

[365] And in, and, in, and beg the intercession of our lady and of all the saints for our broken world that's deeply caught in turmoil.

[366] But as they said on that little video clip of Cardinal Burke, it's never hopeless.

[367] We should never despair.

[368] We should never say, well, I'm done praying because it's not working.

[369] Let us be faithful and let us trust, just as our lady is faithful through all these centuries, continuing to lovingly warn us, but urge us to repent of our sins and to turn to prayer, which is our greatest strength.

[370] That's what we need to just keep saying as the broken records that we both get accused of being.

[371] Just keep repeating the message that the world needs to know, not just the United States, not just the Americas, but all the world needs to know the wonder of the truth revealed to us by Jesus Christ, and embrace it and be willing to be changed by it and quit trying to change the truth to fit our image and likeness, because that just brings us to darkness.

[372] Bishop Strickland, why don't you really tell me what you think?

[373] Josh, you know what?

[374] I know.

[375] I know.

[376] But I'm just on the edge of my chair.

[377] I'm going, wait a minute, isn't it God's design 2 ,000 years ago that our lady's role was to give us Jesus Christ?

[378] that first Christmas?

[379] Of course.

[380] So doesn't it make sense?

[381] This is when I tell my separated brothers.

[382] I say, think about it.

[383] This was designed by God, not by me, or you.

[384] Doesn't it make sense to go back to get to Jesus Christ through our lady?

[385] And it seems throughout history, not just our lady Guadalupe, but these apparitions have been going on throughout Christendom for a long, long time.

[386] And it seems like it's a re, as Paul the 6 said, St. Paul the 6 said, it's a reaffirmation of the gospel.

[387] What our lady is telling us, go back to my son.

[388] I mean, it's a consistent thing.

[389] And so I think it would be beneficial.

[390] I know my wife and I went to Guadalupe for part of our honeymoon.

[391] Believe it or not, Fatima and Guadalupe, because of our love for our lady.

[392] And it was moving.

[393] We still talk about that trip down there, and I've been there several times after that because why?

[394] I got inspiration from our lady.

[395] And I think that most people, if you don't have a devotion to Mary right now, I would just do what Scott Hahn did probably 40 years ago.

[396] He told me that he decided to get the rosary beads out from one of his dead relatives, his aunt, and say, Mary, if you're really real, I'm not, I'm going to pray this rosary.

[397] I hope I'm not offending God.

[398] And he prayed the rosary and meditated on the scriptures.

[399] and it was a game changer for Dr. Scott Hahn, if you've ever heard or read his conversion story.

[400] It seems like our lady has been instrumental.

[401] I just will say this, Bishop Strickland.

[402] I wrote a book years ago, No Jesus, K -N -O -W, you'll know, no Mary, you'll know Jesus.

[403] And it's 11 stories of people who fell in love with Jesus Christ through our Blessed Mother.

[404] And if people want a copy of that, I think we have it on our Catholic R .C. or Virgin Most Powerful Radio website.

[405] And it's just people like Father John Caropi.

[406] I even put Bishop Sheen in there to talk about her lady.

[407] So if you want to have a good understanding of the role of Blessed Mother, you might consider getting that book.

[408] Bishop Strickland, we're at the getting close to the end of the show.

[409] And I want to, for tomorrow, I'd like to discuss it as a teaser, something that you said about some young lady pop singer, Olivia Rodriguez.

[410] she's pledging part of her ticket sales to an upcoming Texas concert to groups that will help women kill their babies.

[411] And you couldn't resist by saying, I'm not going to be quiet about this.

[412] I'm going to lead people to say, don't go and tell them how serious it is when you support someone knowingly, you're potentially separating yourself from God.

[413] We're going to talk about that when we come back tomorrow.

[414] at this time, could you give us a blessing, please?

[415] Sure.

[416] Almighty God, we thank you for all the opportunity of being on Virgin Most Powerful Radio, learning about our faith, growing closer to the Lord, turning from sin.

[417] And as we pray now, Lord, we ask your blessing and guidance to help us embrace the messages of the woman you chose to be the mother of your son, Jesus Christ, and especially in her apparition, our lady of Guadalupe, the same Virgin Mary that bore your son in Bethlehem.

[418] Let us be inspired by our lady calling us to turn from sin and to live the gospel of your son.

[419] And we ask this blessing in the name of the Father, the Son, of the Holy Spirit.

[420] Amen.

[421] Thank you so much, Bishop Strickland.

[422] Folks, I want to encourage you to take these shows from vmpr .org's website and send them to your friends.

[423] share these shows with your friends also go to our YouTube channel are you ready for the title full sheen ahead because of Bishop Sheen we have hundreds and hundreds of videos there that should inspire you to fall deeper in love with Jesus Christ that's why we do what we do today we get up in the morning why we want to share the good news of Jesus Christ because he's shared it with us and I want to also just make a plug because I'm going out tonight to another parish during Lent to speak on evangelization.

[424] Let's keep our minds fixed on sharing the gospel.

[425] I wrote a book again.

[426] I keep saying, he wrote a book, I only wrote two books.

[427] The book is called How to Share Your Faith with anyone?

[428] How many of you right now, listening, have been formally taught how to give your witness story, your conversion story.

[429] Only about 3 % of the population of Catholics have ever had this happen.

[430] And I think it's important.

[431] Bishop Strickland has his own story.

[432] I have my story.

[433] please consider going to Virgin Most Powerful Radio pick up that book I think it's only a $10 book so it's cheap you can do that and much more when we come back for tomorrow's show this is a teaser you won't want to miss this this is very important because Bishop Strickland came out and made some strong statements in regards to tickets bought from a musician who's pledging the proceeds to fund the killing of unborn babies and I didn't hear too many people say anything other than one lone American bishop, Bishop Strickland.

[434] Stay with us for tomorrow's show.

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

[436] And thanks again for supporting us here at Virgin Most Powerful Radio.

[437] And I can say it, we're too blessed to be stressed, too anointed to be disappointed.

[438] And if hope was money, we'd both be billionaires as our hope is in Jesus Christ.

[439] God love you.