26 Oct 21 – Justice Prevails

[0] Welcome to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[1] My name is Terry Barber.

[2] I want to welcome all the new folks who are coming on to our app and also different AM and FM stations across the country.

[3] What we do here is we ask the good bishop to talk about some of the tweets he sends out each week.

[4] And also we open up the catechism of the Catholic Church for him to teach us some of the fundamental teachings of the Catholic faith, especially in these times of confusion.

[5] Bishop Strickland, thanks again for joining us for this hour.

[6] Thanks, Terry.

[7] Thank you.

[8] Bishop Strickland, before we go to your tweets, I got all excited.

[9] And I'll be honest with our listeners, if you were here before the show, I'll call Bishop Strickland and say, Bishop Strickland, this is something that I got excited about.

[10] What do you think of this paragraph in the catechism?

[11] And so I want to ask all of our listeners to turn their catechism paragraph 2295, because it applies to the mandates that are being done regarding the vaccine.

[12] And I think, you know, we've made the position that if you want to get vaccinated, that's your decision.

[13] But we've talked about that we should have free consent of the will.

[14] And when I found this paragraph in the catechism, I'd like to read it out loud and have Bishop Strickland comment on it.

[15] It's paragraph 2295.

[16] It says, research or experimentation on the human being cannot be legitimate acts that are in themselves contrary to.

[17] to the dignity of persons and to the moral law.

[18] The subject's potential consent does not justify such acts.

[19] Experimentation on human beings is not morally legitimate if it exposes the subject's life or physical and psychological integrity to a disproportionate or avoidable risks.

[20] Experimentation on human beings does not conform to the dignity of a person, if it takes place without, here comes, informed consent of the subject or those who legitimately speak for them.

[21] Your thoughts, Bishop Strickland.

[22] Well, really, Terry, what I would emphasize in that paragraph from the Catechism 2295 is that it correctly highlights informed consent.

[23] that really is the main point that I've tried to emphasize, because that's where the moral question comes in.

[24] I don't claim any medical expertise, and sadly, it's hard to get clear medical information.

[25] You hear a lot about vaccines.

[26] Maybe I've just missed it, but I've heard very little about how to prevent what how do we beef up our immune system heard a little bit very little about that I've heard very little about treatments for COVID -19 most of the treatments I've heard of the the medical community as has said oh that doesn't work or don't do that but I would think in our excellent medical community that there are treatments or at least clearly tell us there are not.

[27] There are no treatments, but others have told me there are treatments available.

[28] So people need good information, and that's really hard to come by.

[29] That's what this paragraph really presumes.

[30] Inform consent means you have information to make your own free will, conscience -driven choice.

[31] And that's what I've tried to emphasize.

[32] Mandating that overrides, your conscience and your free will choice is not according to that paragraph of the catechism or other paragraphs of the catechism.

[33] I don't claim any medical expertise, and absolutely.

[34] I mean, half of the time we talk on this, as we talk, Terry, we talk about the sanctity of life.

[35] That's from conception to natural death.

[36] There's no expiration date for us as human beings, for when that sanctity of life expires, it doesn't ever expire.

[37] And even for us as Catholics, we could go to the Gaticism and find where we're told that the body remains sacred even after death.

[38] That's why we don't say, sure, you can scatter yourself to the winds or have your ashes thrown over your favorite ski resort or whatever.

[39] No, the body remains sacred.

[40] So from conception to natural death or even unnatural death, all that spectrum of life is sacred.

[41] And those who throw at us saying, oh, you just want people to be born, but then you could care less.

[42] They know that isn't true.

[43] That we hold life sacred from conception all the way through, from childhood, from teenage years, from, doesn't matter.

[44] I mean, you see, sadly, we see the, um, we see the, um, I'm sure you see, I see the advertisements for supporting wounded warriors that have been mutilated in war, but thankfully survived.

[45] Their life remains sacred.

[46] If they are still able to live and breathe, and even if they aren't able to move, they are still sacred, that is the Catholic teaching.

[47] And that's what people want us, want to shout down and put aside.

[48] And that's what we can't allow.

[49] We don't need to shout back, but we need to, with the love of Christ, with the love of God, God is love, just simply, calmly keep repeating that life is sacred from conception to natural death.

[50] We need to remember that about our own lives.

[51] Just recently, I heard tragically of the death in southern Louisiana of a Catholic priest who took his own life.

[52] No. Anyone taking their life is a tragedy.

[53] That is not God's plan.

[54] And for a Catholic priest to get into a place, we don't judge that priest.

[55] We pray for God's mercy.

[56] And thankfully, the Gaticism says, we rely on the mercy of God when it comes to suicide.

[57] Suicide is wrong.

[58] It's a violation of the sanctity of life.

[59] But we have to presume that something was seriously distorted in that person's life.

[60] And so we rely on the mercy of God.

[61] God is the only judge.

[62] But getting back to this paragraph, we need to hold sacred the informed consent that it speaks of, the free will of every individual.

[63] If people aren't listening to whatever this expert says, then the expert needs to do a better job.

[64] If they truly have the absolute truth that people need to know, know, they need to do a better job of getting it out there.

[65] We haven't benefited from that kind of clarity from really the government or the medical community in all of this.

[66] I mean, there are too many disparate voices.

[67] I guess that's just a function of the world that we live in right now.

[68] Who do you trust?

[69] Who do you turn to?

[70] Well, all I can say, Terry, is I'm going to trust Jesus Christ.

[71] Amen.

[72] I'm going to trust the catechism of the Catholic Church.

[73] There's such beautiful wisdom here.

[74] Just that one paragraph gives us so much to reflect on for this crazy time that we're living through.

[75] People would argue that we're not talking about research or experimentation.

[76] Okay.

[77] Show us the evidence that that isn't what's happening.

[78] I mean, from what I understand these vaccines, all of them for COVID -19, are still in the category of medical experiments.

[79] Experimental treatments, as it says here, a person with informed consent, with their free will, if they choose, and people do that sometimes for medical research, they're willing to knowing the risks and knowing what's involved, they give in form consent to maybe for they believe to experiment and use this experimental treatment.

[80] A lot of times people going through cancer, which we have to have tremendous compassion for those people.

[81] We just lost a priest in the diocese.

[82] We have his funeral on Thursday, died because of cancer.

[83] And a person going through cancer treatment, sometimes they'll be told you don't have much hope.

[84] There is this experimental treatment.

[85] If the doctors fully informed them and they give informed consent, then the individual is free to try that, to see maybe this will work.

[86] Maybe it'll help further medical science, even if it isn't effective for them.

[87] But it has to be informed consent.

[88] And it has to be their free choice to make that decision.

[89] That to me is what has to be emphasized.

[90] And that's what's been forgotten in too much of the rhetoric that we've heard.

[91] Quit shouting at people and just tell us, this is the information you need for preventing whatever disease.

[92] But COVID -19 is the one still on the airwaves and making all the headlines.

[93] What are the preventions?

[94] What are the treatments?

[95] And what are the realities of the vaccines pro and con. There's too much misinformation on every side.

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

[97] Like I said, I'm not a medical person.

[98] I don't claim to be.

[99] It would be totally malpractice.

[100] I don't practice medicine.

[101] So I guess it's not malpractice, but it would be unethical, absolutely, for me to be telling people, oh, take this treatment or don't take that treatment.

[102] But I'm telling people, be in informed, inform your consent as fully as you can, and make your decision.

[103] But when that decision is taken out of your hands, we have to pay attention on whatever side of the decision you're off.

[104] If it's taken out of your hands and say, if you're told you may not have this vaccine or you're told you must have this vaccine, something's wrong because they're the informed consent, the free will of the person is being trampled.

[105] That's what I want to uphold because it's the moral question.

[106] I mean, like we've talked about, we're all going to die.

[107] But how we are when we die and where we are in light of Jesus Christ in the judgment of God, that's everlasting importance.

[108] A voice of common sense, Bishop Joseph Strickland here on the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[109] I love it.

[110] We come back.

[111] We'll talk more about Bishop Strickland's tweets.

[112] Stay with us, family.

[113] Welcome back to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[114] And Bishop Strickland tweeted just recently that he quoted St. Hescenta from Fatima.

[115] And I think Bishop Strickland, this quote says it all about life.

[116] If man only knew what waits for them in eternity, they would do everything in their power to change their lives.

[117] You know, Bishop Strickland, I want to hear your take on this, but my thought is, if they understood that eternity, there's either two places you're going to go for all eternity.

[118] Heaven or hell.

[119] I just kind of think that people haven't been convinced that there is any existence after death.

[120] So I think this is an important tweet.

[121] well i agree and certainly it's a warning um but really terry i i feel blessed to uh to take a very take it from a whole different angle okay if you read that tweet yes if you read what saint jacenta said it's a reminder of the glorious plan god has for us yeah well said That's why, I mean, yes, we need to be scared straight sometimes.

[122] We need to be, because we're foolish.

[123] But really, Terry, I can tell you my own prayer with the Lord and the Blessed Sacrament, it just makes me realize how the Lord weeps for his children because we're so foolish.

[124] And we find it so hard to embrace his call to an eternity of glory beyond imagining, of sharing in the very life of God.

[125] So that's the way, yes, I mean, we're in an age where people need to be warned.

[126] And that's one way of taking what St. Jacenta says, that if we knew how horrible hell is, we would change our lives.

[127] But also, just I feel blessed to know.

[128] I mean, honestly, Terry, yes, I want to avoid hell.

[129] But more importantly, I want to embrace heaven.

[130] Amen.

[131] I want to share in that glorious life that we get a glimpse of in the transfiguration and the resurrection of the Lord and all of his miracles.

[132] I want to embrace that life.

[133] And that's why, sure, kill me, beat me, do whatever.

[134] But I'm not going to let go of that because, I mean, we talk about the martyrs so often.

[135] They're people who got it, who understood what St. Jacenta is saying.

[136] And they did know that turning from sin and living the virtues of the gospel is the way to glory, the way to everlasting life.

[137] And we do need to be warned of the path to perdition if we don't turn from sin.

[138] So it's both and it's both turning from sin and embracing the life of the gospel.

[139] Bishop Strickland, one of your tweets followed up to talk about the martyrs.

[140] We're recording this show on October 19th, St. John D. Propro and Isaac Job and his companions, they were the martyrs.

[141] And I remember listening to a book on cassette tape in the 1980s, and their story impressed me so much because they not only died for the faith and they were persecuted and all that, but they were persecuted and they were persecuted.

[142] They got one of them, Isaac Job's, escaped, went back to Europe to heal his wounds from the persecution from the Indians and told his superior, I want to go back and evangelize those.

[143] guys and I remember as a young man going dude those guys are real men so he went back to share the gospel and of course he died but the thing that I was really impressed with is the Indians had this tradition that if you killed somebody was a really warrior they would cut the heart out and eat it and I thought but this is what St. Isaac did these men laid their life down for the faith and they passed the faith on to these Indians and think of the effect that it had had on hundreds of years later and so anyhow, Bishop Strickland, I don't know about you, but these martyrs really impressed me. Do you remember reading about them?

[144] Because you and I, you and I are both pretty much the same age.

[145] I mean, did the martyrs impress you?

[146] I was impressed with their story too because here they are men from France up in the northern territory, as it was called then, what we now call Canada and you know that that blood of the martyrs the Canada needs that faith now because that's country is suffering all kinds of persecutions that that are you know too much present in these United States but thankfully we're in better shape and certainly better shape in Texas than too many in Canada so we pray to those martyrs Isaac Jokes and John de Verboeuf that they will pray for the land that they gave their lives for in order to share the truth of Jesus Christ.

[147] And the martyrs through the ages, you know, the martyrs are a tremendous gift.

[148] And really all the saints, as we emphasize, have emphasized before, this is an age where we need the saints because their lives only make sense.

[149] if what we know to be true is the truth.

[150] If they are examples of turning from sin and living the virtues of the gospel and being willing to sacrifice as our Lord Jesus Christ sacrificed himself, that's why the blood of the martyrs has an impact, because it echoes the blood of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

[151] Well said, well said.

[152] Bishop Strickland, you know, one of the things I respect about you is you always ask yourself, what's the truth about a particular topic?

[153] And the tweet that you said really kind of shook me because I was just like, wow, this is really good.

[154] We have to be called to fidelity.

[155] Here's what you said in a tweet.

[156] I said that Biden's anti -life agenda was an anti -Catholic before he was elected.

[157] The nation and the church.

[158] voted to ignore this truth.

[159] Now, you're saying, and I agree with you, but I just don't expect a bishop to, I wish I had more bishops that I knew of who would say that, look, I know you want me to be political, but, you know, when we're talking about thousands of babies' lives being snuffed out through abortion, we need to make good decisions when it comes to voting, and the information just wasn't out there because many Catholics did vote for a pro -choice or pro -abortion candidate, and it seems to me that the church did fall on that because it wasn't clear that our leadership wasn't clear on saying these are the Catholic principles we should be voting for, and we cannot vote, you know, this is our position to kill unborn babies and say this is a legitimate candidate for us when especially we have another candidate who was there that was protecting unborn baby.

[160] So I just want to commend you, but do you feel a little heat doing that?

[161] Well, yeah.

[162] I bet.

[163] That's okay.

[164] You know, I just wish more bishops had spoken up.

[165] Some have spoken up since Biden became president.

[166] But really to give President Biden his due with the abortion issue, he didn't cover up anything.

[167] No. It's not like he lied to it.

[168] No. He was he was up front.

[169] I mean, you know, and people cheered him up.

[170] I mean, that's probably one factor that got him elected because people thought, oh, this is wonderful.

[171] This guy is really pro -abortion.

[172] He made no bones about it.

[173] He made it very clear.

[174] And sadly, as Catholic bishops, you know, I was really about the only one.

[175] And I'm not, I don't want any credit.

[176] I didn't make any difference.

[177] But at least for my own conscience, I said, don't do this.

[178] Don't vote for a man who promotes the slaughter of children.

[179] We need to wake up.

[180] And I know people, you know, go on the attack when I say those kind of things, but go ahead.

[181] Go on the attack if you wish.

[182] But you're, I mean, what we have to remember, Terry, as you can imagine, I don't just tweet.

[183] I talk about the sanctity of life a lot.

[184] And what we have to remember and what I believe will ultimately help us to change hearts.

[185] is to remember the most adamant pro -abortion, pro -slaughter person, they're still precious in the eyes of God.

[186] And, you know, I don't know a lot of those people personally.

[187] I mean, frankly, they probably run the other direction if they see me. So I don't have an interaction with a lot of people that are saying, you know, I get responses on tweets that I very seldom read, but occasionally I get sucked into reading those tweets, but for the most part, the people that I interact with are people who believe that life is sacred from conception to natural death.

[188] But even those, like I said, the most adamant pro -abortion person, the doctors and nurses that are, you know, really gloating about how many abortions they perform today, that's a horrific tragedy.

[189] That's the truth, but they're still precious in the eyes of God, and we've got to always remember that.

[190] So standing for the sanctity of life is never about attacking anyone.

[191] It's loving, and it's calling people to love themselves.

[192] Really, Terry, and I'm sure a lot of people would say, oh, that's pretty simple.

[193] But I like simple things.

[194] Me too.

[195] And I think a lot of the abortion issue, a lot of the sanctity of life issue from across the spectrum, from conception to natural debt, I think the solution is all of us really believing that we are beloved of God.

[196] If God could just convince us every person on the planet that we are beloved, by him, the person in the greatest dire poverty who is starving to death because of human brokenness and our broken world, whoever we are, we are precious in the eyes of God.

[197] If we could just even accomplish a 10 % increase in the people believing that, the world would start to change.

[198] That's how we change the whole abortion industry, is to, let people and pray that people will really start to believe they are beloved of God, their creator.

[199] If we believe that, then it's going to change the way we treat each other and the way we treat this creation that God has given us, including the unborn children that are part of that creation.

[200] Well, said, I always like to say this is black and white Catholicism.

[201] I say it on our show that we're not right versus left, we're right versus wrong.

[202] It's simple.

[203] When we come back, I want to talk to the Bishop Strickland about a tweet where he said that this is the single bravest thing I've seen in years.

[204] Well, what would that be?

[205] When we come back, I'll see what he's tweeted.

[206] And I think it's well said for that, for this.

[207] So you're listening to the Terry, you're listening to the Bishop Strickland Hour on Virgin Most Power Radio.

[208] We'll come back with more with the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[209] They with us family.

[210] and more inspiration.

[211] Welcome back to the Bishop Strickland hour.

[212] I gave you a little tease before the break, and I said that Bishop Strickland talked about a tweet that said, this is the single bravest thing I've seen in years, and God bless the pilots, the heroes we need them right now.

[213] What are you referring to?

[214] And I like your comment, if this is arch -conservative, count me in.

[215] I thought that was kind of funny.

[216] So what was going on here with this pilot, Bishop Strickland?

[217] Well, he's basically saying what we were talking about earlier, once again, the mandates, and basically arguing for, I mean, he was arguing more from the freedoms of this nation, which I absolutely support.

[218] And when it's truth, it doesn't matter whether it's government or religious.

[219] It's truth.

[220] It's truth.

[221] So, and I thought this pilot was very brave.

[222] he reminded me, frankly, of the young soldier who called out the generals and ends up in the brig because he was willing to put his life on the line, at least his reputation, his career, by saying, guys stand up and take, you know, take responsibility for what's going on.

[223] This pilot was willing to do the same thing instead of just knuckling under.

[224] And I think his statement seemed to be primarily focusing on if we let this mandate happen, what's the next mandate?

[225] And I think that does need to be considered.

[226] So, you know, like we were talking about before, that's really why I retweeted.

[227] that because we need to support people who are strong enough to say, this is my informed consent decision, and I'm not going to do it.

[228] And, you know, we're just not hearing that from public figures and from the, you know, establishment, you might say right now.

[229] It's, it's all, oh, well, you know, accept this mandate and just do what you're told and you know like I said before I don't want to just keep talking about the mandate I'm kind of tired of mandates actually but we need to use our free will you need to have informed consent and coercion that that isn't the way of the land of the free and the home of the brave that I'm aware of and I think we need to stand up and say no. Yeah.

[230] And if people say, you know, I mean, there are plenty of choices.

[231] I mean, I'm a Catholic bishop.

[232] There are many people that say, oh, you Catholics, you're just off the wall and you need to go away.

[233] They're free to say that, but I'm free to say, I know the truth.

[234] And this truth sets me free from whatever mandates you want to throw at me in this world.

[235] So, you know, we live in the land of the free, and we need to hold on to that.

[236] We need to fight for it.

[237] And I think too many people are just taking it for granted.

[238] And so that's why I supported that pilot.

[239] Don't know him from Adam, just a video on a tweet.

[240] But I think he said some important things that people need to think about, make their own choice.

[241] if they want to support mandates, that's another free will choice.

[242] But by nature, mandates are overriding the free will of whoever says, no, I don't want this.

[243] Well, Mr. Strickland, you're going to make me laugh when I tell you this, but I know you have Australian blood in you.

[244] I can tell, I like my Australian friends.

[245] I love the way they speak also.

[246] But one thing that made me laugh in one sense, it's true, but the Aborigines in Australia were being forced to get vaccinated.

[247] And I got a tweet from a very good priest friend of mine showing that the people, the Aborigines pulled out their bows and arrows and pointed it at the police and said, get off my property.

[248] And I just thought, here it is some archaic people who probably can't, they probably don't understand all the ins and outs of all this vaccine, but they're saying, leave us alone.

[249] We want to live our life the way we live and stay out of our business.

[250] But I laughed.

[251] But another group here in America, the Quakers, had a similar response.

[252] They're, they've antiquated people, right?

[253] They don't have educations like we have in America.

[254] And what did they do with the COVID -19?

[255] What they did is they allowed herd immunity to come through.

[256] They all got sick.

[257] They survived, and they kept working, and they worked through it.

[258] And I'm just kind of amused by this, because we kind of pride ourselves on our intellectual knowledge, and, you know, we're so sophisticated.

[259] But I see two groups of people using common sense, and it seems like common sense ain't that common.

[260] So I just want to thank you for having that Australian blood in you.

[261] All right.

[262] Bishop Strickland, you've complimented a couple of your bishops, your brother bishops and Archbishop Gomez and then another bishop who is in charge of the pro -life efforts.

[263] Can you talk about that?

[264] Yeah, I liked what Archbishop Gomez said about the value of the human person.

[265] Yes.

[266] And we as a culture, and it's not a Catholic thing, but I'm glad Archbishop Gomez spoke as a Catholic bishop because we know it's the truth.

[267] But we need to remember the most precious gift we have is each other.

[268] Every human life.

[269] If we are precious in the eyes of God, which we know we are, every person, there's no devalued person in the eyes of God.

[270] If they've been given life and they're living and breathing, they are precious in the eyes of God.

[271] We need to treat each other that way.

[272] And if in that context, all the wealth.

[273] in the world, all the power in the world, all the influence in the world, all the popular, all the things that the world says are so valuable, pale in comparison to the value of one child of God.

[274] That's what Archbishop Gomez was emphasizing, and I applaud him for it, because we've wandered so far from that that people are literally aborted, they're trafficked, They're abused.

[275] They're taken advantage of.

[276] And in more ways than we can count because our culture doesn't value people.

[277] It values power.

[278] It values wealth.

[279] It values pleasure.

[280] There's a long list of things that our culture values.

[281] Not just here in the United States, but it's really worldwide.

[282] But we need to value the person is the greatest gift we have.

[283] And then, really, Archbishop Naumann's calling out Biden as the abortionist that he is.

[284] I mean, he's promoting the abortion industry as president.

[285] And thankfully, Archbishop Nalman called him out on it.

[286] And that it's basically the same issue that both archbishops are talking about.

[287] Life is sacred.

[288] Man. Life is a gift from God.

[289] We need to remember that about ourselves.

[290] as I mentioned suicide earlier, the great tragedy of suicide is that that person, for whatever, maybe they're out of their minds, maybe they're under the influence of some kind of drug when they take their own life.

[291] But to take your own life is to throw the gift of life back at God.

[292] And I mean, you know, that is a tragedy because life is a gift.

[293] And that's what both archbishops are emphasizing.

[294] We need to remember.

[295] And we need to pray for President Biden, Nancy Pelosi, all the politicians, Catholic or not, whether they use the name Catholic or not, we need to pray for them because they are precious children of God who are not acting according to God's will and according to God's plan.

[296] And that puts them on a perilous path.

[297] puts all of us on a perilous path.

[298] So I applaud these two archbishops for speaking up.

[299] And I think you've also applauded Archbishop Cordillone, who started a prayer campaign for Speaker Pelosi, who under the last four years, 4 ,676 ,000 babies were killed in abortion during her Speaker of House tenancy.

[300] So I think that we've got to also talk about these bishops who are speaking up, because it gives us inspiration as laypeople.

[301] people to see that they're willing to, you know, put it on the line and say, this is wrong and this is right.

[302] We need more clarity from our leadership.

[303] And I thank you for that, Bishop Strickland.

[304] Bishop Strickland, before I go to a little further, I want to talk a little bit about your institute there that's at your diocese and how people can benefit by going to your website on that.

[305] Could you share a little bit with us on that?

[306] Sure.

[307] The St. Philip Institute.

[308] St. Philip Institute .org is the website.

[309] fill up with one L. And they're just doing great things every day, sharing the truth, sharing the catechism with youth and with children and with families and with couples approaching marriage and nurturing those marriages, talking about the sanctity of life, just really.

[310] And so they're all young people that they could all be my kids.

[311] But they are doing an excellent job of sharing the truth.

[312] And I encourage people, if you're looking for some uplifting truth, go to the St .Philippin Institute .org website, and you'll find it.

[313] Well, that's great.

[314] I want to also mention Father Chad Ripperger is coming to our spiritual warfare conference in January, January, 28th, 29th, and 30th.

[315] And folks, his whole crew is coming out.

[316] It's a big, big program, three days worth of.

[317] of talks on spiritual warfare.

[318] The way you can register is go to vmpr .org, register online.

[319] You won't regret it.

[320] We got people coming from all over the country and even outside the country.

[321] We have 600 people we can put in our facility.

[322] And if you register now, you'll be guaranteed a seat.

[323] And this is coming up in January 28, 29, 30th at the St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Pimona, which is locally in Southern California.

[324] You won't want to miss that conference.

[325] Again, Jesse Romero will be there.

[326] I'll be there, and I'll get a chance to meet all of you.

[327] But this is going to be really important for those who want to understand the devil and how he operates and how to defend your family from the devil's influence.

[328] You've got Father Chad Ripper who's been an exorcist for 15 years.

[329] He's very well read on this topic, and I think everybody would enjoy coming to that conference.

[330] Go to vmpr .org.

[331] When we come back, Bishop Strickland quoted St. Teresa of Avila, one of the great doctors of the church.

[332] And I think when we come back, you'll find out why it was an important tweet.

[333] Stay with us, family.

[334] Welcome back to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[335] I was teasing you about St. Teresa Vabula.

[336] This just came across my desk.

[337] In California, we have a popular burger place called In -N -Out Burger.

[338] I never heard about it in Texas.

[339] Oh, yeah, I know in and out.

[340] Oh, my gosh.

[341] Well, it's a Christian company, and they really do live out that message.

[342] And what happened in San Francisco is they shut down the In -N -Out Burger for not enforcing the jab mandate.

[343] And they basically said we've refused to become the vaccination police.

[344] So here, also, L .A. County, if we go to a restaurant, the restaurant's supposed to ask us to prove that you're vaccinated with your card.

[345] Nobody's doing that in L .A. County, Bishop Strickland.

[346] And here in San Francisco, they just shut it down.

[347] The police came in, the vaccination police.

[348] And so they're closed.

[349] They show a picture of one in Los Angeles by L .A .X., which I've been to many times on my way out to fly.

[350] I always go to In -N -N -Out and Out.

[351] I just want to encourage people listening to support In -N -Out Burger because I think that they're in a good position to say, yeah, we're not the Gestapo to enforce the jabs.

[352] So I just thought I'd bring that up.

[353] I don't need a comment from you, Bishop Strickland.

[354] I don't want to get you in trouble.

[355] I'm in trouble.

[356] Who cares?

[357] The point of it is there's got to be a pushback on this because if people just continue to roll over, more of our rights are going to be taken away.

[358] Would you agree with that, Bishop?

[359] Absolutely.

[360] And I want to sort of go back to what you were saying just before the break about Father Ripper.

[361] Oh, yeah, Chad Ripperger.

[362] I tweeted today a, a book called Slaying Dragons by Charles Fron, F -R -A -U -N -E.

[363] And I recommend it for people to just be more aware of the reality of evil.

[364] Father Ripperger has seen the reality of evil head on as he's dealt with exorcisms.

[365] And especially as we approach Halloween, I just think it's important because a lot of people kind of play around with that.

[366] Even I noticed, you know, the television, there are all kinds of movies that are being replayed, Halloween, however many different Halloween movies they got to, Halloween 24 or something.

[367] But, you know, all of that is really not to be played around.

[368] with and children need to know that holiness is is the greatest power because a lot of that can be frightening to children I mean a lot of people just kind of treat it like a toy but it's not to be played with and so if I would just encourage people slaying dragons is is basically a compilation of what exorcists have experienced.

[369] Evil is real.

[370] Amen.

[371] Jesus Christ, it's our faith that Jesus Christ has conquered evil.

[372] Just in the readings for today from Romans, St. Paul talks about how one man, Adam, brought evil into the world with the help of Eve.

[373] But St. Paul focuses on one man alone brought evil into the world and one man alone conquered evil through Jesus Christ.

[374] Of course, he's also always the son of God, fully God and fully man. But he was a real man, one real man who conquered evil.

[375] And so evil has been conquered, but God, like we were talking about earlier in a different context, we have free will.

[376] God doesn't force us to reject evil.

[377] And some people embrace us.

[378] And some people embrace to destroy even their life in this world, much less eternal life in the next world.

[379] But people need to be aware that evil isn't a toy to be played with and to just not so much be frightened, but just to be wise, to be alert.

[380] just I'm reminded of another book I'm reading right now called From Darkness to Light It's by Steve and I always forget his last name But it's from darkness to light It's about nine periods in the church's history When there's been tremendous darkness Wow And as to read that book What really struck me today, today's reading were in the sort of the Renaissance popes.

[381] And, you know, some of them were real scoundrels.

[382] And as Catholics, we have to acknowledge that.

[383] We've had popes in history that really didn't follow Christ.

[384] And we're caught up in politics.

[385] We're moral men.

[386] I mean, we're not proud of that.

[387] But to me, it's another proof that the church will survive.

[388] The church has survived because it's more.

[389] than the human beings that are working in it at any given time.

[390] And certainly we pray for Pope Francis and all the cardinals and bishops for the sanctity of every bishop.

[391] We need to be holier men.

[392] But sometimes they weren't.

[393] But what really struck me, and it's kind of connected to this book slaying dragons, because evil uses those who are called to holiness, when I fail as a bishop, and I'm a sinner, I'll be the first to admit that.

[394] Me too.

[395] And I need to humbly confess my sins and seek virtue.

[396] And like we were saying earlier, there's such joy in that, even in this life.

[397] God wants us to be happy.

[398] He wants us to be happy in everlasting life.

[399] If we follow him, it doesn't make it always easy, but real happiness comes from following.

[400] the commandments of God.

[401] But really, this book is a reminder.

[402] And what I was reading today, some of those Renaissance popes were so foolish.

[403] Any of us are just incredibly foolish to be sort of pretending that we're followers of Jesus Christ, but doing it in a way that really is embracing more the wealth and the power and the pleasures of this world.

[404] And that's what happened with too many of the, well, all of the Renaissance popes, at least for about a hundred years.

[405] And, you know, what happened in that hundred years of the Renaissance popes?

[406] The Protestant Reformation.

[407] The rebellion of many who said, oh, this Catholic thing, it has to be wrong, because these people are not living what Jesus Christ talks about.

[408] They were right, but the mistake they made in the Catholic Church's perspective is that they abandoned the true church because the church was not as holy as it should be.

[409] So we need to pay attention to the power of evil because evil can affect the church.

[410] There's no automatic protection.

[411] I mean, Christ has shared his power with the church through his Holy Spirit.

[412] But just because I'm a bishop doesn't mean I can't get caught up in sin and evil.

[413] All of us can.

[414] Oh, yeah.

[415] We need to turn to Christ.

[416] And in humility, recognize he's the power that protects us, not how much wealth we have or how much influence we have or even how many people we can bring into our fold.

[417] it's about living the truth and following Jesus Christ well said Bishop Strickland I want to give you the quote that you mentioned on your tweet about St. Teresa of Avila to finish up the day it says as I see it we shall never succeed in knowing ourselves unless we seek to know God profound let us think of his greatness and then come back to our own baseness by looking at his purity we shall see our foulness by meditating upon his humility, we shall see how far we are from being humble.

[418] Boy, if that's not humbling to read that and go, oh, do I need a long ways to go.

[419] That was a beautiful quote, Bishop Strickland.

[420] Yeah.

[421] St. Teresa of Abilis, St. Teresa of Jesus is also one of her titles.

[422] And she's a great, she's a doctor of the church, a very wise woman who knew the truth and did a good job of living that truth in her life and we treasure her example along with all the saints well said the last one before we get a blessing you tweeted the age of casual catholicism is over the age of heroic catholicism has begun we can no longer be catholic by accident but instead we must be catholic by and i i don't see the end of this thing but i would say by our commitment to be Catholic.

[423] But you said, wise words to be Catholic is to follow the way of Jesus Christ unto death.

[424] That's a great way in the show.

[425] Wow.

[426] Very good.

[427] Let's get a final blessing if we could, Bishop Strickland for the folks.

[428] Heavenly Father, we ask your blessing for all listening and participating in Virgin Most Powerful Radio.

[429] We ask your blessing for Terry and all of the staff and crew that helped to make this possible.

[430] Help us to joyfully seek your truth and to be changed by that truth, guided in the light of your son, and strengthened in your love.

[431] May all the saints, especially St. Joseph and the Blessed Virgin Mary, intercede for us.

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

[433] Amen.

[434] Again, Bishop Strickland, thank you.

[435] You did mention Father Chad Rippager, the Exorcist, and he's coming again for those who missed it, to 28, 20.

[436] and 30th of January, 2022, to Southern California for a spiritual warfare conference.

[437] You know, people can't come.

[438] They can see it on the internet.

[439] We are going to be streaming it.

[440] Just go to vmpr .org.

[441] You can register online or you can be there in person.

[442] We can hold up to 600 people for this event.

[443] Jesse Romero will be there.

[444] All of Father Chad's team will be there to speak on exorcisms and on to talk about the devil and how to understand spiritual warfare in light of the Catholic Church teachings.

[445] And he has something that I think is very unique when it comes to spiritual warfare.

[446] He goes back to St. Charles Baro Mayo from like I think that's the 15th century and takes an approach that St. Charles Borromeo had in regards to exorcisms and to fighting the devil.

[447] And Father Chad, if you go online to YouTube, you can see lots of his videos, but actually you can actually meet him in January here at our conference or watch it on your computer go to vmpr .org and you can register there and I guarantee you won't regret doing that.

[448] Bishop Strickland, final thoughts.

[449] I know we got one minute left but I want to bring something about Bishop Sheen later in the month you're going to be out to get a Bishop Fulton J. Sheen Award.

[450] I hope and pray that you'll continue to promote the great Archbishop Sheen because I believe he should be soon I hope and pray that he'll be a saint someday because his writings are so profound and I think it's quite a compliment to receive that award so God love you for that and again we'll be back at the same time if you want to listen to any of the other podcast of Bishop Strickland and, in fact any of the shows here at Virgin Most Powerful Radio go to vmpr .org we've got a new show starting up next week with Barbara McWigan, who is on EWTN, Fight the Good Fight, the Pro Life show.

[451] It's coming on Virgin Most Powerful Radio.

[452] May God richly bless you, folks, and I hope to see you again next time with the Bishop Strickland Hour on Virgin Most Powerful Radio.

[453] God love you and your family.