19 Oct 21 – God Is Very Generous

[0] Welcome to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

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

[2] Each week we have Bishop Strickland's tweets to deal with, and then we delve into the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

[3] Bishop Strickland, thanks again for taking the time to share the gospel with us and our listeners.

[4] Thanks, Terry.

[5] Thank you.

[6] I'm looking at a tweet that you did back on October 5th, and I love St. Faustina and the whole message of divine mercy.

[7] And the quote you use, and you took in this tweet, I'm going to read it, and then give us your take on what made you do that for this time that we're living in.

[8] You said, St. Faustina said, God is very generous and does not deny his grace to anyone.

[9] Indeed, he gives more than what we ask of him.

[10] Faithfulness to the inspirations of the Holy Spirit, that is the shortest route.

[11] That's powerful.

[12] Absolutely.

[13] And I love, I continue to read St. Faustina's diary.

[14] In the, in a nutshell, what the divine mercy teaches us is that God's mercy is immense.

[15] It is a beautiful gift.

[16] the what tends to be forgotten too often in today's world is the idea that we open the door we choose you and I Terry yeah I'm Joe you're Terry all the Joe's and the Terry's the Janes and the carols of the world what we do is when we repent of our sins when we humbly acknowledge that we are sinners and turn from that sin, then we open the door to that flood of mercy and grace and life and joy that God longs to share with us.

[17] He won't force it on us.

[18] He won't coerce us to receive it.

[19] He lets us freely choose whether or not we will accept the gifts of his divine grace or not.

[20] But if we will, and that's where what that quote from St. Faustina really inspired me to remember is that God is always opening the door, always offering the mercy.

[21] No, to everyone in the world, to the most hard -hearted business person or politician or anyone that, if you could name the most hard -hearted business person or politician or anyone that, if you could name the most.

[22] despicable person in the world.

[23] Maybe.

[24] Who knows who that might be?

[25] But God loves them.

[26] Amen.

[27] And God is giving them the opportunity to repent of their sins, to embrace His mercy, and to shower his forgiveness upon them.

[28] But too often we hear about mercy disconnected from any idea of repentance or reform of your life.

[29] And God's mercy is calling us to the truth.

[30] When we sin, we're embracing something that's false, something that's wrong, something that is contrary to God who is all truth.

[31] So God is always longing for us to wake up from our sinfulness.

[32] I'm a sinner, and thankfully, I continue to wake up more and more.

[33] But that's what we're called to.

[34] If either of us, trying to be virtuous Catholic men, if either of us say, hey, I've arrived, I can coast from here.

[35] We're not going to coast.

[36] We're going to go downhill quick.

[37] Yep.

[38] Because there's arrogance in that.

[39] No humility.

[40] With humility, we recognize, thankfully, hopefully we overcome this big sin and temptation in our life.

[41] But then what virtuous people are called to is move on to the next challenge of the next sin and the next.

[42] And that will take the rest of our life breath to continue on that journey.

[43] Final perseverance to turn from sin.

[44] So St. Faustina and the whole idea of divine mercy, her whole story is very inspiring and very important for our time to understand what real mercy is.

[45] It is not a sort of a sugarcoating the sin and saying, Oh, well, we've changed Scripture, and we have a different understanding.

[46] No, it's going down to the deep roots of how hard it is to change our lives, to conform them more with Christ, to repent of our sins.

[47] That's when the mercy flows.

[48] Amen.

[49] Well said, Bishop Strickland.

[50] You also tweeted on October 7, Feast of the Holy Rosary, that Pfizer whistleblower leaks emails.

[51] We want to avoid having information about this fetal cells out there.

[52] That was what the folks are saying over at Pfizer.

[53] And we talked a little bit about that last week also.

[54] I just think the truth has to come out that there's an agenda here.

[55] I mean, is that why you wanted to expose this to let people know the truth about this?

[56] Absolutely.

[57] And that's from Pfizer emails themselves saying, oh, we don't want this to get out.

[58] It might, you know, people might not like the idea.

[59] They didn't even argue, which many people do in the church or otherwise.

[60] Oh, there's really no connection to abortion or it was so remote.

[61] Doesn't sound like it was very remote to Pfizer.

[62] No. They're saying, let's cover this up because it might disturb people.

[63] It might make our stock.

[64] go down.

[65] That to me is just validation that this vaccine connection to abortion is much more real than a lot of people want to believe.

[66] And that among many reasons, and still, I would not mandate anyone to not take or to take the vaccine.

[67] We should remember free will and freedom of conscience and let people decide for themselves.

[68] That's God's stance with us.

[69] Neither of us are forced to do anything by Almighty God.

[70] He gives us the freedom.

[71] He loves us and he longs for us to use that freedom wisely, but he doesn't force us.

[72] His son, Jesus Christ, never talked about forcing people to do the right thing.

[73] So people should have their free will, their freedom of conscience, and If they, I mean, we have an obligation to form that conscience well, in the truth.

[74] And I think this information that's coming out hopefully helps people form their conscience.

[75] And I would encourage people that maybe they've taken the vaccine and they're regretting it.

[76] Don't beat yourself up.

[77] Just move forward in the most virtuous ways you can.

[78] Again, God is merciful.

[79] Amen.

[80] There's no, you know, there's no final decision that we make.

[81] except to ignore God's mercy and grace and to stay hard -hearted in our sin.

[82] But the more truth that people can have, the better they can make their free will, conscience -driven decision.

[83] And that's what I support.

[84] And mandates aren't about that.

[85] No. Mandates from whomever is saying, you don't know what's best for your body.

[86] You don't know what's best for you.

[87] We're going to tell you.

[88] that is not American.

[89] It's not Christian.

[90] And it's, you know, a lot of people rail against me in my questioning of the mandates or my call that the mandates are not morally valid.

[91] But that's just where we are in the world and in the church today.

[92] But people, absolutely, they have the free will.

[93] If they want to do whatever, they need.

[94] need to have the free will to do it we certainly i have the obligation to teach people these things are immoral don't do them but to coerce and to mandate that a lot of people through the ages have accused the church of that um but it doesn't work for one thing ultimately the human heart has to decide on its own and that's where free will comes in well said i just for the benefit of those people who know a little background on fyser a good priest friend of mine who worked in new york had a young lady who was involved with fiser in the 1980s and she had a massive conversion back to her catholic faith and when she was telling father about the contraceptives that fiser was involved producing father explained to him to go find it quit your job and get another job because you don't want to participate in that kind of industry.

[95] And she did.

[96] She told Pfizer that I'm out of here.

[97] I had stock.

[98] I just, I'm done because I now have a moral conscience.

[99] But you see, Father, or Bishop Strickland, that's an example of somebody having their conscience informed and then saying, you know what?

[100] I don't want anything to do with, you know, killing unborn babies.

[101] I don't want anything to do with contraception and I leave.

[102] And I think that that's a good example, but it does give an example of why Pfizer is in what they do.

[103] They've been in the contraceptive business for years, and so I guess my point is birds of the feather flocking together, this would fit right in with a company like that.

[104] All right, let's move on to the next one.

[105] St. Anthony of Padua, please pray for us.

[106] Let me see the time frame.

[107] Oh, yeah, we got a minute here.

[108] The Spirit of Humility.

[109] You just talked about humility just a minute ago.

[110] Is this a quote from St. Anthony of Potua?

[111] The spirit of humility is sweeter than honey, and whoever is fed by this sweetness produces fruit.

[112] So let's talk for a minute or two about the hidden power of humility.

[113] Well, really, Terry, as we both acknowledge, we're both sinners.

[114] Yep.

[115] When we sin, that is pride for sure.

[116] It may be other sins as well, but it's prideful to do something.

[117] that we know is wrong.

[118] And that's what's the definition of sin, to willfully do something that you know is wrong.

[119] And we've got to have the humility.

[120] We're in an age of tremendous arrogance across the board in humanity.

[121] We need to be more humble.

[122] Amen, and when we come back, I've got a great teaser.

[123] Thoughts of about a new Pieta.

[124] What?

[125] Are you kidding me?

[126] Wait, you ain't heard nothing until we come back.

[127] Stay with this family.

[128] You're listening to the Bishop Stricklandauer.

[129] Welcome back to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[130] I gave you a little keys, but before we get to that topic, where Bishop Strickland tweeted, what has happened to the sense of the sacred.

[131] I just want to give another town in Texas.

[132] Kudos.

[133] The 40th city bans abortion declaring itself a sanctuary of the unborn.

[134] This is the city of Cisco, Texas.

[135] Are you ready, Bishop Strickland?

[136] Here's the population, 3 ,913 people.

[137] It became the 40th city in the nation and the 37th in Texas.

[138] What does that say?

[139] Texas is pro -life, man. That's why people keep moving to Texas from California.

[140] I'll just be quite frank.

[141] But I just want to say, thank you very much, Bishop Strickland.

[142] I think what you folks have been doing in Texas to protect the unborn has been magnificent.

[143] And I know that the administration, President Biden, has been trying to stop what you guys are doing to protect the unborn every turn.

[144] And thanks be to God, so far the judges have said, no, you're going to continue to put the ban, and it's saving thousands of lives.

[145] Can you imagine Bishop Strickland?

[146] Say 20 years from now, one of those babies grows up, and he becomes somebody who, that's a famous person because he developed some vaccine, or he figured out something in the universe that, you know, broke through, and it was because he was born and he had an opportunity to live and he affected thousands of people's lives.

[147] I can see that happening.

[148] I probably won't be here to see it, but can't you see that?

[149] Well, absolutely.

[150] That's God's plan.

[151] He shares new children with the world that through the ages, people have accomplished tremendous things.

[152] And as I've said before, we're aborting our future when we push abortion not even in a few years back it was well it's it's sort of a necessary evil and we need to allow it now they're just pushing it as a right and it actually many call it a blessing and it's it's truly evil and you know we just have to continue to voice that every person is sacred even that person who is advocating the murder of other unborn persons, they're still sacred to God, and he longs for them to have a change of heart.

[153] Well, said, Bishop Strickland, I think for the benefit of those who don't know, you have an Australian blood in you.

[154] Is that correct?

[155] Your mother?

[156] My mother was from Sydney, Australia.

[157] All right.

[158] Well, you're going to like this.

[159] It's a beautiful country.

[160] Yes, well, you're going to like this.

[161] It's really suffering, right?

[162] Oh, well, here's some good news in Australia.

[163] Australia.

[164] Pro -life advocate becomes head of Australia's largest state.

[165] will be a voice for the voiceless.

[166] It's in New South Wales, treasurer Dominic Perotti, has been selected to take over the premier of the Australian's largest state, and he has been criticized.

[167] My good, like you've been criticized for the same reason, Bishop Strickland, he's defending life.

[168] And he is saying this, that I cannot, in good conscience, support any bill that stops the beating of a heart of an unborn baby.

[169] And he also said this.

[170] I like his clarity.

[171] He says, I'm also criticized because people say that, you know, I'm four unborn babies.

[172] He said, he said this.

[173] The real question is, what kind of society do we want to be?

[174] Hopefully, one where new life is cherished, cared, and celebrated.

[175] One where we recognize the importance of mothers, challenges they face, and the difficulties they ensue.

[176] He's basically 100 % pro -life.

[177] I pray for that man because he's going to have a lot of people out to get him, just like anybody else who stands up for life anywhere in the world.

[178] Another good news story, Bishop Strickland, this is kind of interesting.

[179] Here's a young lady.

[180] She's in the Miss World Competition.

[181] So she's a beautiful young, 21 -year -old girl from Western Europe, and she said, I'd rather not receive, I don't want to have received the vaccine, so they're going to take her crown away from her.

[182] She says it goes against my principles and that's something I never have done and I won't do it now to go against her principles.

[183] And I thought about this.

[184] You know, she said that yeah, I did not explain why she doesn't want to take the judge.

[185] She said she's just wanting to make a stand for what she believes is right and wrong.

[186] So it's kind of like, you know, simple.

[187] It's a A or B and she says no. And then another person who inspired me, basketball player, Gary Irving, he said he told fans that he will not be pressured into taking the jab despite being suspended by his club for the entirety of the upcoming NBA season.

[188] And what he said, Bishop Strickland and inspired me, he said, he complained that no exemptions are being granted and argued that everyone should have a right to choose what to inject into their body.

[189] He says, I've never made a good choice out of fear in my life.

[190] And I like that line.

[191] making a choice out of fear.

[192] We should never make choices out of fear.

[193] And he had other basketball players pushed back and said that, tell me, his explanation was, I'd like you to explain something to me, that there are people who have been vaccine, they've been, they've received the vaccine, and they're still getting the COVID.

[194] So these are people who might not have the same reasons I have for not receiving the vaccine, but I think they're valid reasons.

[195] And so, So I just say, thank you very much for those people standing up for what they believe their moral conscience is telling them what to do.

[196] Now, Bishop...

[197] Well, really, Terry, it is a bigger issue than just whether the vaccines are a good idea or not.

[198] It really has grown to be going beyond that to simply, are we free or not?

[199] Yeah.

[200] What's the next mandate?

[201] If you say, okay, well, I disagree with this, but it's being mandated, so I'll do it.

[202] Then what's next?

[203] Somewhere, you've got to say, no, I'm not going to do it just because you mandate it.

[204] And that, who knows what next crazy thing will come up.

[205] But, you know, it's a, it's base, it gets to some basic principles.

[206] And I'm glad to hear these people.

[207] that have been educated enough to know they've got to make their own choices and for it to be a mandate is contrary to human freedom much less the freedoms of the nation or the freedom of conscience that we all it it just gets to some very basic questions that too many because they have the power and they have the voice just and too many people are sheep and they just go a lot of with it without thinking it through as these people have.

[208] So thankfully they're speaking up.

[209] I'm going to go out on a limb right with you right now, Bishop Strickland.

[210] You can call me. I'm a crazy Terry.

[211] But I think the next thing that they're going to try and close us down on is global warming, which has not been determined as a fact.

[212] As a matter of fact, the South Pole had its coldest winter this year.

[213] But I think what they're going to say is, hey, how many children should you have?

[214] Because, you know, your footprint, you're making too big of a footprint on the, on the environment so they're going to start telling us we can't have you know more than two or three children or they're going to say you can't drive your car because you're oh no we can't do this and they're going to put all kinds of restrictions under the disguise of global warming now i said that today what is today the mid mid mid october of 2021 see if i'm right in a year all right bishop strickland i thought i'd stand on that one uh here's a here's a tweet that you sent out on the eighth of october it says happened to our sense of the sacred.

[215] What were you referring to, Bishop Strickland?

[216] Well, some very bad art, at least.

[217] That's being nice.

[218] Yeah.

[219] It's the reason I tweeted that because, and this, from what I understand, it, you know, yeah, I'll acknowledge, I don't think it is, or I probably would have been bombarded by now, but it could be fake news.

[220] I'm not there.

[221] It's a picture where it's claimed to be in a church in Rome.

[222] And that bad art should not be in any church anywhere, in my opinion.

[223] And whoever said, sure, put it in church, I'm not, I can't imagine, well, the question, where is our sense of the sacred?

[224] Yeah, it's gone.

[225] I mean, frankly, to have that image, the so -called new Pietit, which it doesn't preserve the dignity of even using that name.

[226] But it definitely shouldn't be in a church, in a Catholic church.

[227] If we reverence Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and the Immaculate Virgin Mary as his mother, that then becomes blasphemous.

[228] And to put it in a church is a double.

[229] double blasphemy, in my opinion.

[230] I don't know what the artist intended, but I know what I see.

[231] Yeah.

[232] And it should not be in a church.

[233] And it's offensive to anyone who believes that Jesus Christ, at his name, we should bow and bend our knee.

[234] And people are putting something like that in a church.

[235] It's just lunacy.

[236] It truly is.

[237] And so I couldn't resist, you know, calling it out and saying, I mean, you know, it was pretty mild.

[238] I just said, where is our sense of the sacred?

[239] But I think you can argue that it's blasphemous.

[240] And there's too much of that against the holy name of Jesus Christ, the holy name of God, father, son, and spirit.

[241] The Immaculate Virgin Mary, there's just too much.

[242] I mean, we've both seen the ugly art. that comes out occasionally, you know, doing something blasphemous and in the context of a crucifix or an image of Christ.

[243] And to do these things is bad enough for it to be in a Catholic church as it claimed the tweet claim that it was.

[244] We need to call it out.

[245] We need to say no. I believe to sit silently for the Lord to say, to be blasphemed in our time is sinful on my part.

[246] I mean, I can't change all the hearts in the world and I know people get tired of me speaking up, but I feel an obligation to speak for what I know is sacred because children, a lot of people can be influenced one way or the other, and I feel an obligation to speak up for what I know is true and sacred, our Lord and Savior, and to, allow him to be blasphemed in any way and to remain silent, I think is just further blasphemy.

[247] I totally agree with you, and I like what you said in your tweet about Lord Jesus, this little prayer, we beg your forgiveness for the countless blasphemies of your sacred name and divine persons in our world today.

[248] So many of us love and worship you as our Lord and Savior.

[249] We must speak with vigor and clarity against all the blasphemy of your holy truth.

[250] Jesus, forgive us.

[251] You know, that's just echoing what our children at Fatima said about making reparation.

[252] And last night, every Thursday night, that's what we do for two hours, pray before the blessed sacrament.

[253] We pray for priests, bishops, and the Holy Father to confirm us in our faith.

[254] And we also make reparation for those blasphemies that are going on in the world.

[255] And I might add, even in our church, and I would say this, Bishop Strickland, you can correct me because I'm happy to be corrected, because I do say some things.

[256] that it might be a little off.

[257] But I see, and we're going to take a quick break, but I'm going to make a comment about the loss of the sacred goes all the way back to going to church on Sunday and having very loosey liturgies so that we don't get fed with the sacredness of going to Mass in a way that they should, and so that just spills over so nothing is sacred anymore.

[258] Mass isn't sacred, what is?

[259] We'll come back.

[260] I'll get your comment on that and much more on the Bishop's Scripture.

[261] Welcome back to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[262] We'll be getting to the catechism of the Catholic Church in a little bit.

[263] I had made a comment to Bishop Strickland that we talked about blasphemies and the sacredness and what has happened to the sacredness in our church and in our world.

[264] And Bishop Strickland, I want to point the finger also at the liturgy that, and this is not the Second Vatican Council's document on the liturgy.

[265] I'm talking about people who have had the spirit of the Vatican 2 document on the liturgy where the sacredness of the mass becomes entertainment and people don't get the impression at all that they're having anything done that's sacred when in fact that's the most sacred thing we can do is worship at mass and so I'm making a connection and you can correct me if I'm wrong that if we bring back the sacredness to the liturgy that that will affect all aspects of life because we'll understand what true worship is Terry, I absolutely agree.

[266] I believe that for the world, really, but certainly for the Catholic faith, we've got to return to an understanding of the sacred.

[267] And the Eucharist is, I mean, that is him.

[268] Amen.

[269] He is present.

[270] It's not a thing.

[271] It's a who.

[272] Jesus Christ, present in the form of consecrated bread.

[273] That is our Catholic faith.

[274] And the dimensions of that and the facets of that are really something we can't fathom.

[275] That's probably my, after, you know, we talk a lot about the sanctity of the life of the unborn.

[276] Yes.

[277] which i will keep talking about and i think it's essential but specifically for us as catholics the the sacred right of the mass with sacred in all caps is is what must be restored and as you alluded to terry um in whatever form in whatever proper approach that is officially authorized by the church if you really read the second the documents of the second vatican council much of what we saw develop that i became accustomed to i'll admit sure because that's what was presented but much of that was not what was intended by vatican two right there were documented moves to to dilute the sacred, to change the liturgy, not in the documents of the council, but in things that came out later from individuals.

[278] And that concerted effort to downplay the sacredness of the Eucharist and of the Mass, as you point out, it's done us a lot of harm.

[279] because many Catholics and many people have no sense of the sacred.

[280] And you see that in all sorts of facets of society.

[281] So I totally agree.

[282] I think renewal in the church, renewal in the body of Christ beyond the church.

[283] Because we're called to be light and eleven.

[284] We're called to be the renewal of the world.

[285] We're called to be the evangelizers as baptized and confirmed Catholics, nurtured by the body and blood, soul, and divinity of Jesus Christ.

[286] We're called now in the 21st century to go out into the world like the first century Christians and to bring the good news of Jesus Christ.

[287] Amen.

[288] To call people to repentance and to live the virtues of the gospel.

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

[290] That's what the church's mission is, to be missionary.

[291] going out to all those who have ignored the message of the Son of God for all these centuries.

[292] And we can do that only if we recognize his sacred presence at every Mass and with every priest and every priestly person there.

[293] It's a cooperative effort.

[294] It's not all just up to the priest.

[295] It's not all just up to the people in the pew.

[296] it's everyone focused on Jesus Christ and that's why I support those who want to have what's called odd orientum most often but turning facing the altar rather than facing the people if that helps us to focus on Jesus Christ then absolutely it's a valid way for the mass to be celebrated So I would hope and pray, and that's what I'm working on in this diocese, and I hope every bishop works on the same thing to enhance that idea of the sacred, enhance the idea of the reverence that we need in the presence of the sacred.

[297] I mean, when we approach the Eucharistic altar, we were approaching the king of the universe.

[298] And we need to do it with awe and trembling.

[299] The Lord invites us.

[300] He said, he insisted that we must eat his body and drink his blood to have life in us.

[301] And so it's more than an invitation.

[302] He urges us to receive his life, to be nurtured by his body and blood, soul, and divinity.

[303] But again, he gives us the free choice, the free will, many of the people, who when he spoke that way, as he lived on this earth, many of the people walked away.

[304] Be interesting to know the story of those people's lives.

[305] Maybe some of them eventually wandered back.

[306] Maybe some of them walked away permanently.

[307] But the Lord gives us the freedom to walk away.

[308] But he longs for us to be fed by him.

[309] So I could go on and on.

[310] I love this.

[311] This is enhancing faith and the real presence, body and blood, soul, and divinity, what that means, that he really is there.

[312] I just read a quote from one of the saints again talking about, and I thought it was a great image to be reminded of.

[313] We all know the story of the three wise men, of the three magi, the three kings, going to find the newborn infant king of Israel.

[314] That's what the scriptures say they were looking for.

[315] Imagine, and the gospel doesn't really fill in a lot of the story, and they paid him homage and gave their gifts.

[316] But humanly, they must have been a little surprised to find just this baby in a poor manger with no finery.

[317] I mean, if he was a newborn king of Israel, they probably expected, a palace.

[318] They probably expected him in a golden cradle and with servants surrounding him, taking care of his every need, with Mary and Joseph on royal thrones.

[319] He's the king of Israel.

[320] So they had faith that he was really there in the form of a poor infant boy.

[321] And this saint was talking about that.

[322] We are called to have faith that he's really the way.

[323] there.

[324] The same Jesus is really there in this simple host of wheat, flower, and water.

[325] That's basically all it is.

[326] We're called to have the same faith.

[327] It doesn't look like where the king of the universe would reside, but he's there mainly because he said he is.

[328] We got his divine word guarantee.

[329] He said, I'm there.

[330] I believe him.

[331] Well, sad.

[332] And I love, the appearance of bread and wine, he is present.

[333] And I'm got to say, thank you for that explanation, because that's what we do need to hear more like that.

[334] There's so much more to go to, but I only have one more tweet for the day, and then we're going to go to the catechism.

[335] And I preface this with what Father Bill Casey from the Fathers of Mercy said, that the most merciless thing you can do is let someone wallow in their sin.

[336] You love somebody by telling him the truth about the gospel.

[337] and you tweeted something regarding Nancy Pelosi, you and Archbishop Cordillone have been reaching out for people to pray for her and that she will come back to her Catholic faith and you actually made her a reach you reached out to her through a tweet saying Nancy Pelosi needs to wake up to the truth before the face, before she faces the final judgment.

[338] That was charitable.

[339] You said, pray that her heart will turn to Jesus.

[340] She may have had a nice visit with the Holy Father, the Pope, but she is in gray peril because she ignores the truth that Jesus died for Nancy, for all of us, and that you mentioned that Nancy, your millions of dollars will fall to the dust.

[341] So I think what you have done, and I'm just, I want to hear your thoughts on it, but you're lovingly calling her out to say, maybe you've had bad formation because of what she said about her religious life with nuns and priest who would always allow her to be pro -abortion and never call her out.

[342] So, you know, I feel bad for those priests and nuns that gave her bad advice on that.

[343] But you just hit her straight in the, you know, with the truth about the gospel of life.

[344] And I want to ask you, I think you're going to get to a lot of trouble doing it that way because it's not common that a bishop will speak like that today.

[345] So what made you just, is it love for her?

[346] What made you do?

[347] this, Bishop Strickland.

[348] Well, absolutely.

[349] Love for her and love for the faith, love for Jesus Christ.

[350] Amen.

[351] Present in the Eucharist.

[352] Amen.

[353] I mean, for one thing, as a bishop, it's called desecration of the Eucharistic presence of Christ for it to not be treated properly.

[354] So for me to just willingly, without saying a word, give him to someone who isn't properly, disposed to receive him.

[355] Yeah.

[356] And we can argue, you know, someone could argue that no one is properly disposed.

[357] At a certain level, they're right.

[358] But he is chosen in all of our sinfulness and all of our brokenness.

[359] And I count myself first in line as a sinful person.

[360] But the Lord has chosen to give us this food from heaven, his own body and blood, soul and divinity.

[361] Yes, I have the obligation to change my heart and to grow in virtue the best I can, to go to confession, and to continue on that path, acknowledging I'm a sinner and going to confession and doing my best to be as worthy as I can.

[362] That's all I'm asking for Nancy Pelosi or anyone else.

[363] And thankfully, I'm hearing a few more bishops speak out to politicians.

[364] Politicians, God doesn't say, oh, that's a politician, so they get a free pass.

[365] They're just children of his that he's longing to turn to the truth.

[366] Well, sad, Bishop Strickland, we come back.

[367] We'll have more on the Bishop Bickland Hour on Virgin Most Power.

[368] Welcome back to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[369] Bishop was just talking about the prayers and they need to pray for our politicians and there's no they're not anything they don't have a free pass whether they're a famous movie star politician joe six back we're all need of a we're all in need of redemption and archbishop cord de leone is one of those bishops you're referring to of speaking out he's got a program set up where over 11 ,000 people have signed up including our family where once a week we pray a rosary for nancy pelosi's for her conversion and we also fast on Fridays for her conversion because the archbishop asked us to do that.

[370] And I just thought, you know, that's the kind of leadership we're looking for Bishop Strickland.

[371] Bishops, you guys stick your neck out for what?

[372] For your faith.

[373] For our faith, you're leading us to heaven.

[374] So thank you for doing that.

[375] All right.

[376] And there's other bishops speaking out too.

[377] But let's get to the catechism of the Catholic Church in our last segment.

[378] For those who are brand new, we have a catechism of the Catholic Church that was put out back in the early 90s.

[379] And if you don't have a copy, get one because it's important to have a catechism.

[380] We are on paragraph 249.

[381] It's a section called the Holy Trinity and the teachings of the faith.

[382] So it's the formation of the Trinitarian dogmas, what we're talking about.

[383] Paragraph 249 says, from the beginning, the revealed truth of the Holy Trinity has been at the very root of the church's living faith, principally by means of baptism.

[384] It finds its expression in the rule of baptismal faith formulated in the preaching, catechesis, and the prayer of the church.

[385] Such formulations are already found in the apostolic writings, such as the salutation taken up in the Eucharistic liturgy.

[386] quotes here, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

[387] We've all hear that at Holy Mass. So Bishop Strickland, that seems to be very clear.

[388] We're not talking about the unholy Trinity, me, myself, and I. We're talking about Father's Son and the Holy Spirit.

[389] So could we say how important that is for all of us to understand?

[390] Yeah, Terry, I think this paragraph 249 of the catechism really reminds us that the Holy Trinity is embedded in sacred scripture.

[391] Really, as we know, and it gradually is revealed more and more, but the Holy Trinity is present, of course, at creation, God, Father, Son, and Spirit.

[392] And what I like to remind myself and remind others is the doctrine of the Holy Trinity is a great illustration of the whole approach of how the Catholic faith has developed over the centuries.

[393] It's one truth that's always been there.

[394] Sometimes people talk about the development of truth, especially in our time, as if the truth's going to change and what sacred scripture is proclaimed, oh, we can change that or we can understand that differently.

[395] Certainly, we develop a deeper understanding of the truth, but when we start to say that what was once true, it suddenly changed, then we're on dangerous terror.

[396] and the this as this paragraph speaks of the holy trinity to just come at it from our perspective now very clearly knowing i mean when we make the sign of the cross it's a little prayer professing our faith in the trinitarian doctrine of our catholic faith um what i like to point out is if you read Matthew's Gospel, as this points out, this is from Corinthians, the last quote, and from Ephesians, speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, a trinitarian expression.

[397] But in Matthew's Gospel, Jesus says the great commission is to go out and baptize in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

[398] That's gospel scripture.

[399] Jesus, what I've always like to point out is, yes, the word Trinity is a development.

[400] It's a different way of speaking of that same truth.

[401] The truth hasn't changed, but our understanding of it, which will always be limited, we will never be able to fully explain the Trinity in this world, in this life, but we can develop a deeper understanding, a better way of expressing, and that's what the Holy Trinity is.

[402] The Trinity have spoken of in Matthew's Gospel, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, but the word Trinity is not there.

[403] As Catholics, we should be very comfortable with saying, no, the word Trinity is not in sacred scripture, but it just comes from a word for three, and the threiness of God, which comes to be called Trinitarian, is in sacred scripture, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

[404] Well, said, I would recommend, too, for a lot of our listeners to open up some books on the early church fathers of the church.

[405] This is something that a lot of my friends who were Protestant, when they read the fathers of the church, it brought them into the Catholic Church because so many of these things that were done in the early church are being done today.

[406] And they're going, wait a minute, does the Catholic Church have it right here?

[407] Could it be?

[408] People like Dr. Scott Hahn.

[409] You know, all these people that I've met over the last 40 -some years who were Protestant, reading the early fathers, it seems like there's a consistent thread there that gets them to become Catholic.

[410] So that would be a good recommendation.

[411] I think Juergen's book, The Faith of the Fathers, it's a three -volume book, that would be something I would recommend.

[412] Paragraph 250, again, during the first centuries of the church, again, fathers of the church, early part of the church, the church sought to clarify its trinitarian faith, both to deepen its own understanding of the faith and to defend it against the errors that were deforming it.

[413] This clarification was the work of the early councils aided by the theological work of the church, the fathers sustained by the Christian people's sense of the faith.

[414] Again, Bishop Strickland, your thoughts, but it just seems like the early church really worked these things out.

[415] And many people were very adamant about it because there were some people inside the church that denied the Trinitarian life.

[416] Absolutely.

[417] And the Trinitarian issues, of course, are linked to the Christological issues.

[418] Oh, you nailed it.

[419] Really the early church, and it makes sense in the human journey aspect of the church growing and unfolding.

[420] At first, the disciples didn't, I mean, they knew that Jesus was someone special and they, you know, there are various expressions of faith.

[421] But all of that, we have to recognize comes, comes post resurrection.

[422] The resurrection was the event that...

[423] Game changer.

[424] Change changed everything.

[425] Exactly.

[426] They witnessed he really died.

[427] And that's one thing that I think we really need to emphasize.

[428] Yeah.

[429] That Jesus truly did die on the cross.

[430] Because if he didn't really die, then he didn't really rise and it all falls apart.

[431] We know he did.

[432] He really died.

[433] He was buried in a tomb.

[434] on the third day he rose.

[435] That is what we call the charygma, the very heart of the Catholic faith.

[436] And the church believed that.

[437] But then, as this paragraph points out, specifically talking about Trinitarian conference controversies, but a lot of those were Christological because they had to figure out who Jesus really is, fully God and fully man. And that helps to first, understand, well, if Jesus is truly God, then the understanding of God, Father, Son, and Spirit really is, it fits more, and it's sort of a logical progression of, but the early church struggled with who Jesus is and how he could be God.

[438] Yeah.

[439] How is it?

[440] Because as we both know, the beauty of the faith of the the people of Israel, the ancient faith of Israel, on which Christianity is built, and on which his church, the Catholic church is built, the faith of Israel was there's one God.

[441] They're not all this multiplicity of God that the pagan communities believed in, the God of the sun, the God of the moon, the God of water, all of those.

[442] The revelation to Israel was there is one God.

[443] and God is one.

[444] And so we can understand that when Jesus comes along, and some of his disciples claim he's the son of God, he is God, and then he rises from the dead, it's understandable that a lot of the Jewish community would say, wait a minute, you're messing with our fundamental faith.

[445] And so they rejected it.

[446] But the next, the great revelation to Israel, there is one God, one creator of all, one creator of love that is still sustaining us in his love.

[447] The great revelation of Jesus, his son, the incarnate word, is that God is Father's Son and Spirit, and that He sent his son to save us, and His Spirit continues to guide the church.

[448] All three present in the mystery of the Trinity, but with that role of the three divine persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

[449] So as this speaks of the deepening understanding of the Trinity, right along with it, is a deepening understanding of who Jesus Christ is.

[450] And then as the paragraphs go on, as you know, it talks more about who the Holy Spirit is, Father, Son, and Spirit, the great mystery of God.

[451] And some of the fathers of the church that you alluded to and the great saint.

[452] of the church speak in those terms of coming to know God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in an ever deeper way that we call the beatific vision that we all are destined for if we'll just listen to God.

[453] Sign me up.

[454] I love it.

[455] I love it.

[456] Bishop Strickland, thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedule to teach us the faith and the catechism to keep sending those tweets out to people.

[457] I want to recommend people go to the St. Philip Institute.

[458] Also, I always recommend that for more resources on our Catholic faith.

[459] Bishop Strickland, could we get a blessing, please?

[460] Almighty God, we ask your blessing for Terry and all of his associates that they may continue to grow in faith and share the light of your son, Jesus Christ, with the world.

[461] Thank you, Father, the Son of the Lord.

[462] Amen, thanks so much, Bishop Strickland.

[463] Folks, go to the CatholicRC .org.

[464] There's a lot of downloads there.

[465] That's our Catholicrc .org website, and I wish you the best.

[466] I hope you have a great week.

[467] And until next week, this is Terry Barber for Bishop Strickland's Hour.

[468] You can listen to all the other podcasts by going to vmpr .org.

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[471] I love you.

[472] See you next time.