01 May 24 – Apostasy Is From Within

[0] Welcome to the Bishop Strickland Hour here on Virgin Most Power I want to thank the good bishop for joining us.

[1] We really get to talk about how to fall in love with Jesus Christ and his bride the church every week, a couple times a week.

[2] I mean, does it get me better than that, Bishop Strickland?

[3] That's what it's about.

[4] That's what it's about.

[5] That's what we're here for.

[6] And what we normally do, unless I forget, we will do the gospel.

[7] for the day, which is Wednesday, May 1st.

[8] And again, the month of May is dedicated to our blessed mother.

[9] So what a wonderful month to crown our lady.

[10] Well, we have the gospel of John 15, verse 1 to 8.

[11] And if the good bishop could read the gospel and give us a little teaching on that, that would be grand.

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

[13] Jesus said to his disciples I am the true vine and my father is the vine grower He takes away every branch in me That does not bear fruit And everyone that does He prunes so that it bears more fruit You are already pruned because of the word that I spoke to you Remain in me as I remain in you Just as a branch cannot bear fruit on its own unless it remains on the vine so neither can you unless you remain in me i am the vine you are the branches whoever remains in me and i in him will bear much fruit because without me you can do nothing anyone who does not remain in me will be thrown out like a branch and and withered people will gather them and throw them into a fire, and they will be burned.

[14] If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask for whatever you want, and it will be done for you.

[15] By this is my father glorifying, that you may bear much fruit and become my disciples.

[16] The gospel of the Lord.

[17] Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

[18] Another beautiful passage from the God, of John.

[19] And really, Terry, what strikes me as I'm reading this, it's so critical in our world today that we listen to this, that priests preach about this basic truth that we've so, as our world, our society, we too many have forgotten what Jesus Christ, the soul.

[20] Son of God tells us in this passage from John's Gospel.

[21] One of the key elements is, without me, you can do nothing.

[22] We need to emblazine that on our hearts and remind ourselves, without Christ, we can do nothing.

[23] And he doesn't say only in certain areas of your life.

[24] He says, without him, we can do nothing.

[25] And I think we need to to ponder that and truly believe what he says.

[26] And is that how the world's operating?

[27] Absolutely not.

[28] Sadly, I mean, earlier in the passage, of course, he speaks of being the vine and we are the branches.

[29] And our world is operating as if, oh, you can sever your.

[30] yourself from this vine of Jesus Christ.

[31] And frankly, a lot of people consider that they're really growing in wisdom when they finally cast off these shackles of belief in Jesus Christ, belief in the supernatural.

[32] And then we start to really flourish as human beings.

[33] That's not what Jesus Christ says.

[34] Right.

[35] And I'm going to continue to to strive to believe what he says and to share belief with others.

[36] And he tells us, I mean, it's a pretty stark message if you really, I mean, it's kind of in the poetic language of, I'm the vine, you are the branches.

[37] But what does he say to the branches that get severed from the vine?

[38] They will die and wither and be thrown into the fire to be burned.

[39] What's he referring to?

[40] He's referring to hell.

[41] Amen.

[42] And to say, oh, there are very few, or maybe nobody's in hell.

[43] That's misleading to people because Christ seems to indicate because if you just think through what he's saying here, how easy it is for each of us to sever ourselves from the vine that is Jesus Christ.

[44] How do we do that?

[45] through our selfishness, through our pride and sinfulness.

[46] We're all sinners.

[47] And that's why we believe and why the church teaches us when you are through your sin, and that's a great way to think of our sin.

[48] When we sin, we're pulling away from the source of our life, from the vine that we are grafted to by our very lives.

[49] Through baptism, we're grafted on to the vine that is Christ.

[50] When we sin and mortal sin, devastatingly pulls us away from that vine.

[51] If we stay there, we're dead.

[52] And we will be those withered branches that are thrown into the fire.

[53] The imagery here starkly reminds us in very understanding.

[54] terms.

[55] I mean, any, again, even a kid can understand that when the branch is severed from the vine, it's going to, it dies.

[56] Yeah.

[57] I mean, the wonder is that even if I sever myself from the vine of Christ, that is my life through mortal sin, it can be healed.

[58] We can be re -grafted.

[59] on to the vine of Christ by going to confession, by seeking repentance of our sins.

[60] But we refuse to repent.

[61] And really, Terry, I could, again, I could go on and on about this gospel passage because it's so important for our time for people to hear these words and understand what Christ is saying, because there are too many in the church that are speaking as if you can sever yourselves from Christ.

[62] That's okay.

[63] Just do your thing.

[64] And then you can follow him.

[65] That's contradicting what Jesus says.

[66] When we're living in a sinful lifestyle, when we're separating ourselves from Christ, we're not going to be able to follow him.

[67] We're going to wither and die and ultimately be thrown into the fire and burnt.

[68] So all of that leads up to what Christ says, without me, you can do nothing.

[69] Again, Terry, I think those are critically important words.

[70] Yep.

[71] Because so many in our world today turn away from their Catholic faith and say, oh, I'm, you know, I'm casting off those shackles of faith.

[72] Yeah.

[73] I don't need faith.

[74] I'm going to go delve into science or delve into everything that's wonderful that this war.

[75] world has to offer, which it is wonderful.

[76] But we need to all remember.

[77] I mean, if I had the money to do it, I would put this on a billboard around the world.

[78] It says, without Jesus Christ, we can do nothing.

[79] Exactly.

[80] And wake up the people that think they're running the world.

[81] And if, I mean, we're really in a battle at this time with so many voices in the world say, we need to get rid of faith in Jesus Christ in order to do everything we want to do.

[82] We need to, as people of faith, we have to listen to him.

[83] Yes.

[84] We recognize that we can do nothing without him.

[85] Right.

[86] Then finally, it goes back to the last words of this passage, by this is my father glorified, that you bear much fruit and become my.

[87] disciples we were talking before about the glory of God yeah and I forget which of the early father says that you may remember but I've always loved yeah the glory of God is man fully alive yeah I'm not sure do you remember but I've heard yeah but I don't know who did that but it's it's a beautiful reminder that who God is and who we are.

[88] Right.

[89] That longing for glory that we all have can be fulfilled if we stay grafted to the vine that is Jesus Christ.

[90] But, you know, through that lens we can look at so many of the things that we'll probably talk about in the later segments today.

[91] or we have talked about, when people wander into scandalous things like euthanasia, they're separating from the vine of life that is Jesus Christ.

[92] They're going their own way.

[93] Separating from Christ leads to death, spiritually and physically at times.

[94] And so we're obligated to constantly tell people, who is the source of their life.

[95] And we must stay grafted in.

[96] And when we, through our own sinful free will, when we sinned mortally and sever ourselves, thankfully we can come back if we choose to and we need to tell people to repent of their sins and return to the Lord because ultimately they're not really alive if they don't return.

[97] to the vine that is the source of our life.

[98] Well, Sad, this is May 1st, so it's the memorial of St. Joseph, the Worker.

[99] I'd like the good bishop when we come back to say a few words about true devotion to St. Joseph and why it's important.

[100] Stay with us.

[101] We'll be back before on the Bishop Strickland Hour.

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

[103] Indeed, welcome back.

[104] Before we get to this important letter by Bishop Strickland, And I just have to say, it's May 1st, the month of May is dedicated to our lady, but today is St. Joseph the worker.

[105] And Bishop Strickland, I know you know this, there's a lot of significance of why the church came out, I think it was in the 1950s, to point this feast out in response to communism.

[106] So could you share a little bit about your love for St. Joseph and this feast?

[107] Sure.

[108] Well, the title of St. Joseph for this feast, Day is very specifically related to what the May Day of the 1st of May and the communist world is celebrating the worker that going back to the gospel we just talked about all separated from the branch, the vine that is Jesus Christ and just the worker in terms of simply this world.

[109] So the Pope named May 1st the Feast of St. Joseph the Worker to remind us as Catholics and hopefully the whole Christian world to remind us that our work is done in the context of being grafted into the vine that is Jesus Christ, in the nobility of work.

[110] And that's one of the things that needs to be highlighted because, you know, in the communist and socialist world, more and more you hear about people getting a, you know, a standard wage for doing nothing and just sort of being on the on the dole of the state.

[111] That isn't the human dignity that Christ has revealed to us.

[112] And we see that happen when people are placed in a situation where they're not able to use their God -given talent.

[113] and they're simply given a basic sustenance income, that that is not human flourishing.

[114] So St. Joseph, the worker, is a beautiful reminder to us of the dignity of work and the importance of work.

[115] God created this world for us to be stewards of and to care for, to care for the earth, to be productive, to help to live in that image and likeness of God that we are by being creative and building a better world, always with the understanding that we're not going to build heaven here, but we need to have justice and peace and the goodness that can come from being connected to the vine that is Jesus Christ.

[116] So all of that is highlighted in this feast of St. Joseph, the worker on May 1st.

[117] Well, said, I wanted to mention that Father Charles Murr did his show with me at 6 a .m. this morning, the time we're recording this show.

[118] And he brought something up from Pope Pius the 12th that I think fits into your letter, Bishop Strickland.

[119] And he pointed out this in his book, The Godmother, that I have in my hand, the secretary to Pope Pius the 12th.

[120] And he pointed out this in his book, told Father Charles Murr this story that it was in 1953 both Pius the 12 would go for walks in the Vatican Garden and in that particular day he was stunned because he saw the miracle of the son that took place in 1917 at Fatima and he was just overwhelmed by that seeing that miracle and the secretary was a nun said to the Holy Father what happened and the Holy Father used the A word, which is apostasy.

[121] I found that very interesting because your letter of last week talks about an apostasy.

[122] And so I saw it on the news that Bishop Strickland slams a crescendo of apostasy by Vatican forces against Catholic liturgy and doctrine.

[123] And I just will set the stage, and then I want you to tell us.

[124] what's in the letter, but one of the strongest things I saw in the letter was where you said too many prelates not only exhibit a lack of supernatural faith on their part, but they are hell -bent on eliminating every vestige of supernatural faith from the church.

[125] This has been building momentum over many decades, but we must open our eyes to the crescendo of apostasy that we are now witnessing.

[126] Now, Bishop Strickland, I've read your letter.

[127] but I've not read a letter like this where you're saying, you know, that we have apostasy.

[128] We have people in the church who have just basically severed themselves from what we call the deposit of faith.

[129] But first of all, I want to turn it over to you.

[130] Tell us what's in the letter and why you wrote this letter.

[131] Well, it really is focusing on the supernatural faith that we always talk about.

[132] and I think we just have to be very clear without people accuse me of being divisive all of this I'm not the one causing division no the ones causing division are the ones who are either confusing or outright contradictory right everything we talk about is we talk every week for a couple of two different days for an hour each day.

[133] But what the deposit of faith is, what our Catholic faith is, the treasure, the pearl of great price, our life in Jesus Christ.

[134] And when people are watering that down or trying to reverse direction, we've got to speak up.

[135] And I guess I feel that more clearly and with greater strength all the time as as too many voices are out there contradicting what we know the truth is.

[136] We can't be just complacent and silent about it.

[137] That is not our faith.

[138] We believe in the free choice of everyone to say, yes or no. That's, we look again to the model of Christ.

[139] When people are saying, we're leaving because, you know, especially when he talks about the Eucharist.

[140] When he says, this is my body and this is my blood and you can't have life in you unless you eat my body and drink my blood, the gospel says, many said this is too much.

[141] We're leaving.

[142] And Jesus doesn't say, oh, well, I'll change what I'm saying.

[143] I'll water it down or I'll make it easier.

[144] He just says, if you leave, okay, you're free to leave.

[145] Everyone is free to leave or to embrace the truth of Christ.

[146] But the reason I wrote this letter is there, there are too many in the church, too many in the Vatican, too many that have significant offices, and they are seeking to convince.

[147] people that, I mean, it's tragic if they have no supernatural faith personally.

[148] But what's beyond tragic is for them to try to distort what the church is about in order to fit their worldview where they have no faith.

[149] That's devastating.

[150] And that's a difficult.

[151] reality to face, many people don't want to face it.

[152] And I know many people wish I would just shut up.

[153] But I can't.

[154] Thank you.

[155] I can't quit talking any more than Peter and John could quit using the name of Jesus because they were told to.

[156] I can't do it.

[157] The world needs our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

[158] The world needs his truth.

[159] Amen.

[160] And for those voices in the church to be trying to diminish that truth, it's devastating.

[161] But we all have to speak up.

[162] Parents have to speak up and tell their children.

[163] This is what we believe.

[164] And sadly, if their bishop or priest is contradicting it, that's why I said when I was first removed that morning, I was interviewed.

[165] and I said, learn your faith.

[166] Stay with the church and learn your faith more deeply.

[167] Because we're in a time, like we were saying, and sometimes through no fault of their own, bishops, priests, and laity don't know the faith like we should.

[168] That can be through no fault of their own.

[169] But ultimately, we all have to take the responsibility of knowing the faith ourselves.

[170] And if, I mean, I think people still have that census fee day that the church speaks of.

[171] We know what's true and what's not.

[172] We know deep down in our gut that something doesn't ring true.

[173] Even like, again, going back to children.

[174] Your grandchildren know if something isn't.

[175] really making sense, even as they just begin to learn how the world works.

[176] And if we're fed false messages, like going back to that example we talked about, of, you know, trying to vote in euthanasia and saying we can we can terminate people or we can allow them to terminate themselves if they don't like the way they're living their life or they just don't want to live anymore, we can't say, okay, well, yeah, let's just do that.

[177] This is not the truth.

[178] And we've got to stand for the truth and share the truth and oppose anyone, anyone who is speaking a false message.

[179] And sadly, too often we hear it coming from prelates of the church.

[180] Just because they're ordained as priests and bishops doesn't mean they can change the truth.

[181] And we've not to be clear and strong and know what the truth is, just like the gospel we were just looking at.

[182] Jesus Christ is divine, not me, not you, not anyone else.

[183] Jesus Christ is the vine that connects us, like that passage beautifully says, connects us to the life of God, our Father and Holy Spirit, to the Trinitarian God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

[184] we know that Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life.

[185] He is the only way truth in life.

[186] And if some prelate tells us, oh, there are many ways, and he's just one, hot wash. That's not the truth.

[187] That isn't our faith.

[188] And we need to be strong enough and clear enough to know our faith and say, no, father, know your excellency.

[189] That isn't the truth.

[190] Just like we were talking about If we were facing that bishop, I mean, hopefully he just misspoke.

[191] But what he said isn't the truth.

[192] And he needs to be told that.

[193] He needs to learn that.

[194] And he needs to correct that false message because what that bishop said, oh, Jesus is in the body.

[195] I mean, Jesus is the bread and the wine.

[196] That leads people away from faith.

[197] Amen.

[198] And not deeper into faith.

[199] So the reason I wrote this letter is not just because there's a, it's devastating that there's a lack of supernatural faith.

[200] People haven't been taught.

[201] Right.

[202] But the, the energetic effort to eliminate elements of supernatural faith, we can't stand for that.

[203] We can't be silent in the face of a real concerted effort to eliminate supernatural faith.

[204] We're going to talk more about your letter when we come back on the Bishop Strickland Hour on Virgin Most Power.

[205] Stay with us, family.

[206] We'll be right back.

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

[208] Welcome back.

[209] Indeed, we're covering Bishop Strickland's latest letter.

[210] about the supernatural faith, but how we need to have is supernatural faith.

[211] And one of the sections in your letter, you quoted Pope St. Pius the 10th in 1910 was the modernism document that he put out warning the church.

[212] This is a document we put on our website at vmpr .org when we started because we thought as a lay organization that VMPR, this was, be one of our objectives is to fight modernism and talk about the supernatural faith and then well and behold a couple years after we start vmpr we run into bishop strickland and you seem to be on the same page and it's a marriage made in heaven but i wanted to ask you uh bishop strickland about that section of your of your letter um you said you talked about a devastation of the the bride of christ and um you mentioned that too many prelates not only exhibit a lack of of supernatural faith on their part, but they are hell -bent on eliminating every vestige of supernatural faith from the church.

[213] This has been building momentum over the many decades, but we must open our eyes to this crescendo of apostasy that we're now witnessing.

[214] I witnessed it through my own life, and I'm 67 years old.

[215] Bishop Strickland, I've seen bishops tell me things about the faith, and I won't take the time to get into it, but they were living a double life.

[216] homosexuality was rampant and it all came out at the end that this bishop didn't believe in the supernatural grace of the church he thought it was just a facade and he didn't have the guts to say i'll step down but you know i pray for his soul he died but the point i'm trying to convey is is that what you're talking about bishops who just think that they're like administrators rather than shepherds Absolutely.

[217] And sadly, it's in this country.

[218] It's really in the church around the world.

[219] I mean, there are good bishops and good priests.

[220] Sure.

[221] There are also too many.

[222] There should be none.

[223] And one is too many.

[224] But there are many more than one that everything they do, I mean, you know, we're not to judge and we pray.

[225] I mean, we should absolutely pray for.

[226] And I urge anyone.

[227] I mean, we should.

[228] When people will talk to me and say, oh, the bishop did this or that, or they're concerned about something from the Vatican, I always urge, we need to pray.

[229] We believe in supernatural faith.

[230] We know that the truth is tremendously glorious and beautiful and challenging, but life -giving.

[231] So we always need to remember that.

[232] Yeah.

[233] We need to remember that, it's like we say all the time, truth with clarity and charity.

[234] Amen.

[235] Always remember that charity part that we need to be loving.

[236] We need to live our faith in love.

[237] I mean, if we allow the anger to just take hold of us and we're forgetting that all of these bishops are ultimately just men like you and I that are, you and I are, you.

[238] sons of God, and whether they're living up to their call of that sonship or not, that's up to them.

[239] But so God loves us all.

[240] God is wanting the salvation of all of us.

[241] And for that reason, the most charitable thing that we can do is when a bishop or a priest says something that we know isn't true, the charitable thing, respectfully, but the charitable thing is to say, no, father, know your excellency, go back to what the faith teaches, go back to the scriptures, go back to the teachings through the centuries that are this wonderful deposit of faith, go back to the truth.

[242] I mean, in those terms, again, with this gospel that we read, graft yourself back into Christ.

[243] Yeah.

[244] That, I mean, we need to very seriously pray.

[245] for that kind of conversion for too many in the church today.

[246] As I say in this letter, in the Vatican, in the local diocese of wherever we are in the world, in local parishes, if a priest or bishop is saying things that don't ring true with the faith, pray for them, and urge them to, they can be, all of us can, we wandering, darkness and all of us make mistakes.

[247] We're all sinners, but we can always return.

[248] And that's what we need to pray for.

[249] A great, I mean, I use the word apostasy.

[250] That's a strong word.

[251] It is.

[252] But it needs to be used when the faith is being contradicted by people whose job, whose very reason for being, is to share the faith and guard the deposit of faith, to do the opposite.

[253] That's devastating for them, and it's devastating for the church and for the world.

[254] So we've got to speak up, and we've got to be clear and know that supernatural faith ourselves.

[255] And if I can add one more element, because I experienced this not last Sunday, but the Sunday before when I was sick, that's reparation.

[256] So when you hear these things go on, offer your prayers of reparation like our lady of fatima talked about i had a situation where i my voice was gone so i went to a noon day noon sunday mass because i wanted to receive our lord and savior jesus christ so i went to a local parish i won't say where but the pastor was bragging about the he's the silliest he's the silliest that's what i want to go down for you know as being the silliest and then he taught us of that there's no difference between transubstantiation, trans -signification, and trans -finalization.

[257] They said, how many of you even know the difference?

[258] It's not necessary.

[259] It's all the same.

[260] And I'm sitting in the pew shaking my head.

[261] My voice is gone.

[262] And I said, Jesus, what do you want me to do?

[263] I'm guardian angel.

[264] Enlighten me. Do I stand up with my horse, my voice where I can't speak up?

[265] No, because I've been around.

[266] I know that that's not going to work.

[267] What did I do?

[268] I just got down on my knees and I prayed reparation prayers.

[269] Yeah, that's all I could do.

[270] But you see, this is happening.

[271] So for you to make this letter, talk about the apostasy, I know many of our listeners have been there at parishes because they call me a lot or they text me or they send me emails describing what happened at their parish.

[272] And many times, it's just horrendous.

[273] It's like a zoo.

[274] But what do you do?

[275] My, you know, yes, stand up, write a letter.

[276] get to your local bishop but also we're at this point right now of just reparation too we have to make atonement and pray for the conversion of a priest or even a bishop that they will come to know of the fullness of the faith because from what they just said it indicates a lack of supernatural faith just based on what they said so i think that's important i think this letter is important for all of us to read bishop strickland is it on your website bishop strickland .com it is good good what else do you want to tell me about this letter and you know i know why you wrote it because of that but is there any uh i you know like anything else that we should uh know if they're you know about this letter and why uh it's important to have an attitude that has in other words i'll give you an example some of your scripture scholars will say read scripture with doubt in other words and that's not what the church says you read the documents of vatican two on scripture it's you know we have confidence that what is in the scriptures is what jesus actually did and said and you see that's a huge difference i look at that as an example maybe i'm wrong correct me on the air but i see one approach from suspicion of the gospel and the other approach from a supernatural aspect that this is actually the inerrancy of scripture and that the bible can be trusted Yeah, I think that's a critical aspect of what we're dealing with because when I was in the seminary, they were, there were professors that would say, oh, the multiplication of the loaves and the fishes, that was just people being generous.

[277] Oh, no, no, no. A miraculous event.

[278] And we believe in miracles.

[279] I mean, that's one way of saying we have supernatural faith.

[280] That's right.

[281] I mean, just assume everything's a miracle, but we don't just assume everything's a miracle, but we believe.

[282] We believe in miracles.

[283] And again, Terry, it always takes me back to our Lord on the Eucharistic altar.

[284] Yes.

[285] That is the foundational supernatural faith.

[286] We know and we believe that that bread and wine does become a who.

[287] That who is Jesus Christ?

[288] Right.

[289] But blood, soul and divinity.

[290] Yes.

[291] If you have that faith.

[292] And Terry, I've seen it.

[293] I know we've talked about before.

[294] Sure.

[295] When people have that strong Eucharistic faith, they're still sinful.

[296] I mean, we're all, we struggle, but their lives fall into place.

[297] That's right.

[298] They come to embrace all the teachings of the church.

[299] I would wager that an awful lot of the people out there that say they're not so sure.

[300] about what we believe about the Eucharist, and I think it's just a symbol, I would wager that a lot of them are couples that use contraception.

[301] No question about it.

[302] A lot of them are families that said, well, it was a difficult situation, and we sent our daughter off to another town to get an abortion.

[303] I mean, if you don't really believe, then it all falls apart.

[304] Yep.

[305] It does.

[306] I do really believe it all begins to fall into place.

[307] And it's glorious.

[308] It's beautiful.

[309] It's joyful.

[310] It fills us with hope.

[311] And that's why, I mean, I know that's what keeps both of us going.

[312] Got that right.

[313] Because it's such a wondrous truth that God has revealed to us.

[314] As Christ says in the gospel, if the stones will shout his name, if we don't.

[315] that creation will proclaim the glory of God if humanity doesn't do the job and proclaim who God is because it's too wondrous.

[316] Exactly.

[317] I love that comment.

[318] That is so beautiful.

[319] Think about what you just said about that nature will proclaim it.

[320] And it does proclaim it every morning when you see the sun come up.

[321] Oh my goodness.

[322] Bishop Strickland, I'd like to use this last segment if you don't mind, unless we can talk more about your book, your article.

[323] Get back to, like we did yesterday, the Holy Eucharist from the catechism.

[324] So if we could do that when we come back, that would be grand.

[325] We've been covering a catechism teaching on the Holy Eucharist, the source and summit of the Christian faith.

[326] It's like we did yesterday.

[327] We'll do another segment when we come back.

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

[329] Stay with us.

[330] right back and now back to the bishop strickland hour welcome back indeed bishop strickland i have to tell you i love listening to you talk about your letter i enjoy talking about you know the problem solution of the church but i enjoy more just going through a catechism and i'll tell you why every time i read a catechism my faith is stronger and why is it because I reread things that I know but it just affirms me to have a deeper love for my faith when I study my faith.

[331] There's something about study and faith that go together.

[332] All right.

[333] Absolutely.

[334] So here's the next section we're on of the Eucharist.

[335] Question three.

[336] When else did Jesus talk about the Holy Eucharist?

[337] Well, we talked about John 6, Jesus foretold the sacrament of the Eucharist and the need to eat his body blood to attain eternal life He called himself the bread of life And said that his body is true food His blood true drink Many of his disciples found it difficult to accept his teaching And no longer followed him The apostles had great faith And accepted Jesus' teachings Even though they did not fully understand Your thoughts well i think that that last part is probably one of the most significant things that we need to really be aware of because we're in an age where we think we can understand everything yeah we can answer all the questions we can scientifically analyze it and calculated and just eliminate all the mystery of life um but the disciples remind us I mean, here they're the, they're the witnesses.

[338] I mean, that's what Apostle means, really.

[339] It's a witness of the ministry of Jesus Christ and of his resurrection.

[340] And they don't fully understand.

[341] Right.

[342] And I think that that is just, it's part of the humility that we need.

[343] The childlike approach to living our faith is to recognize, it's beyond us.

[344] It's, you know, again, I think of children.

[345] When they, when parents and grandparents are, are really being that presence in a child's life.

[346] Right.

[347] They should be.

[348] A child naturally accepts what their elders tell them.

[349] Right.

[350] And they're curious and they ask more, questions.

[351] But I think ultimately, a child will, when it gets something beyond their understanding, they will accept grandma or grandpa, mom or dad telling them that you may not fully understand, but I mean, it's having faith in that person.

[352] And so that's really what it comes down to with all of us in our relationship with God.

[353] Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

[354] We trust that God loves us, that God created us out of love.

[355] And when we have that kind of relationship with God, we're okay with not understanding everything.

[356] I think we've talked about before, but I think it's an interesting something to reflect on.

[357] because to realize that, you know, there are many questions we have.

[358] And I know I've talked to people that maybe we're close to the end of their life or maybe not.

[359] But just saying, I'm going to, I look forward to getting all the questions answered when I go to heaven.

[360] Oh.

[361] And the reality is you won't have the questions any longer because you will be.

[362] in the presence of the fullness of truth.

[363] You will be in the beatific vision.

[364] Yeah.

[365] And I've actually talked to people that are kind of disappointed that you mean I don't get to ask all those questions?

[366] And it's like, well, you'll know the answers, which is what it's about, but you don't have to ask the questions any longer.

[367] And I think that's just a beautiful reminder of just the wonder.

[368] that we're talking about when we speak of Almighty God, that beyond our understanding, but what we hope for and look toward is one day, having all the questions answered without even needing to ask the question.

[369] Because we're in the presence of the wonder of truth and love and goodness and beauty that is God.

[370] So, I mean, that section of the Catechism, I want to share something that just recently, I started another book, just started, but it's a book by Christine Watkins.

[371] Oh, yeah.

[372] On the miraculous medal.

[373] Yes.

[374] The St. Catherine Laboree that presented the miraculous medal.

[375] medal.

[376] Yep.

[377] There it is.

[378] Yep, right here.

[379] And just the wonderful stories of faith in this book.

[380] I mean, like I said, I just started it.

[381] But that is part of the supernatural faith that we need to nurture for people.

[382] Yes.

[383] Too easily people pass off the miracles that do happen as, oh, there's scientific explanation or that's just, you know, a coincidence or, but the, I mean, really things like the miraculous medal remind us of who's really in charge of this.

[384] And the reason the Blessed Virgin Mary, who is the image on the miraculous medal, the reason she has any power at all is because she's in that presence that I was just talking about.

[385] She knows God fully and completely in heaven as queen of heaven and earth.

[386] And she was full of grace in this life.

[387] I mean, the Blessed Virgin Mary is just a wonder as a true human being.

[388] And we have to always be very clear that she is not divine.

[389] She is not God, but she knows God.

[390] And she points us to God.

[391] And all the apparitions that the people hear about from Guadalupe to Fatima to Lords and many others, she basically says the same thing over and over again.

[392] So when we talk about this section of the catechism and remind ourselves that the apostles didn't fully understand neither did mary in the reality of her human journey yeah but she trusted yes and she had faith and the the faith that mary had i mean the great mystery of the blessed virgin mary is she was protected from that sin that we've talked about she's the only one Jesus Christ isn't protected from sin.

[393] He's just, he's God, he's God's divine son, and sin isn't possible for him.

[394] But Mary is a model for us of what our goal is to share fully in the life of God.

[395] And that's the purpose of the catechism that we're reading is to guide us.

[396] again, for that image I used before, make a withdrawal of the deposit of faith.

[397] Nurture your Eucharistic faith.

[398] Nurture your faith in miracles.

[399] Nurture your faith that something like the miraculous medal isn't superstition.

[400] Right.

[401] It isn't just, you know, I mean, it's not something that is required of us, but it's very smart for us to embrace things like the miraculous medal and read those stories of wondrous miracles that have happened connected to the miraculous metal.

[402] And if I could be so bold to say that the miraculous metal story that I was taught by the Opus Angelorum will take a minute or two, but it's a powerful miracle where in 1964 in their newsletter they wrote about a situation in 1944.

[403] in Germany after the war where a man was walking down a country road and he heard a little boy yelling for help and the women were screaming because the little boy was drowning in the lake and by golly this man said well I know how to swim I jumped over and I saved the little boy's life and then the mother was so happy she decided you know can I give you some food to eat yeah yeah I'm hungry so she gives them some food at a picnic and says thank you for saving my son's life by the way can I give this miraculous medal that my son is wearing can I put it on your neck as a way of commemorating you saving my son's life and the guy says oh that's fine go ahead so that's what happened well many people in germany migrated to Brazil and this man did too unfortunately when he was in Brazil he got to be an alcoholic and he lived on the streets of Brazil for 20 more years and he was in the hospital he was dying and there were some nuns there and they tried to get this man to go to confession but he wouldn't go he threw the nuns out said i don't want to go get out well they came back to the convent mother superior was there they said mother what can we do this man is going to die he's got a bad liver mother says well do what our lady said sacrifice for this man pray that he will have the grace to say yes to jesus at the end of his life and the sisters did and when they and mother said also there's a new chaplain from Germany, who speaks German, obviously, send him over to the room and maybe he could get this man to go to confession by asking him in German.

[404] So they did.

[405] And the young priest went into the room and saw the man there and he was wearing the miraculous medal.

[406] And the young priest said, yeah, hey, fine, nice to meet you.

[407] I noticed your Marinette medal.

[408] Did your mother give it to you?

[409] He said, no. What happened was I was walking down the country road in 1945 after the war and there was a little boy drowning in a lake and I saved his life and the mother gave me this medal and the priest says you got to be kidding me he says no father I did that he said that was me you saved my life and then the father said that to the man and the man said to the father father I'm glad it was you and he said yeah me too and then the man said father will you hear my confession he heard the man's confession he saved his spiritual life then and the next day he died that's a miraculous medal story that I tell all over the country.

[410] Bishop Strickland, I had to share it when you said that.

[411] You're reading the book on the miraculous medal.

[412] Wow, the time went by fast.

[413] Bishop Strickland, I'm going to ask you again, can you give us a blessing, please?

[414] Sure.

[415] Almighty God, we ask your blessing for all of us on our Virgin most powerful radio that we may continue to live your truth and grow in supernatural faith to seek to be more and more grafted to the vine that is our source of life Jesus Christ.

[416] And we ask this, in the name of the Father and of the Father and of the Son of the Holy Spirit, no. Thank you so much, folks.

[417] Thanks for listening.

[418] Go to our website to learn more about the shows we have to offer.

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[420] May God richly bless you and your family, and thanks again for supporting us.

[421] God love you.