09 Feb 2021 – Bishop Strickland Comments on Archbishop Gomez’s Letter

[0] Welcome to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[1] My name's Terry Barber.

[2] Bishop Strickland, we're at it again every week to talk about Jesus and his bride the church.

[3] Thanks for doing this for us.

[4] I really appreciate it.

[5] Thanks, Terry.

[6] Bishop Strickland, today we're going to be going into the catechism later in the show.

[7] But I love getting your tweets because your tweets are very uplifting, even when you have to be critical of the culture that we're in.

[8] and I'd like you to give us your comments on a tweet that you recently did commenting on Mark chapter 1 verse 15 I know it was a whole homily but take a few minutes to share that message because it's the core message of Jesus Christ thanks Terry it is and what really struck me this past weekend it was the gospel for Sunday the third Sunday of ordinary time mark chapter 1 And it begins with John the Baptist has been imprisoned.

[9] I think that's worth, I mentioned that as well, because that's worth reflecting on.

[10] Here is, as Jesus calls him in another gospel, the greatest man that ever lived.

[11] And he's imprisoned.

[12] Why is he imprisoned?

[13] Because he's standing for the truth against the leaders.

[14] of his day against Herod and saying, I'm sorry, you can't marry that woman.

[15] She's not free to marry.

[16] And this is in the time of Christ himself.

[17] And so John the Baptist is imprisoned.

[18] That's the context in which Jesus Christ, the son of God, begins his ministry.

[19] I believe that's very significant.

[20] He begins with his herald being imprisoned.

[21] And what are the very first words of Jesus Christ in Mark's gospel?

[22] Certainly, there are three other versions, but in Mark's gospel, which many of the scholars say is likely the first gospel written.

[23] So you could say chronologically, the very first words of Christ recorded in a gospel are repent and believe in the gospel.

[24] And it really reminds us one thing that I love to emphasize, and it's beautiful.

[25] It's good news.

[26] We always have to emphasize that it's good news.

[27] It brings us joy and fulfillment in life to follow Jesus Christ.

[28] Amen.

[29] Many people don't believe that, but it's still the truth.

[30] It was true when Christ walked this earth, and it's true now because he's with us in the Eucharist, in the sacraments, in the Word of God, in the life of the church, in each of us, he's present in our world.

[31] He didn't leave.

[32] He's just here in a different form but we i recently heard uh on retreat that as catholics we are both and that's right and i think that's essential we are both scripture and tradition we are both word of god and sacrament we are both and in all kinds of ways and what does jesus say he says it's about both repenting of sin.

[33] So getting sin out of our lives as fully as we can, we're called to holiness.

[34] And holiness is virtue taking over and sin being eliminated.

[35] So it's both repentance and embracing the good news of the gospel.

[36] really i was talking to someone just today and we've kind of thrown in the towel for what the church's mission is the for we just recently celebrated the um conversion of paul and the in the office of readings what the reading talks about is that paul went out to all the world as all the apostles did.

[37] The message of the gospel is for every man and woman that lives and breathes on this planet.

[38] We don't really seem to act that way in the church any longer.

[39] The great missionaries of old, that's why they went across the world to the new world and began to preach because they believed this message, this good news is for every person.

[40] It brings joy to the human heart.

[41] to know Jesus Christ.

[42] Yes, it's challenging, but it's good news.

[43] So Jesus, his very first words, he says, well, I'll just quote verse 15.

[44] And his very first words are that we have to, this is the time of fulfillment.

[45] The kingdom of God is at hand.

[46] Repent and believe in the gospel.

[47] So those are the very first words of Jesus Christ, both repentance and embracing the good news.

[48] We need to remind ourselves that this is a mission for the world.

[49] I was just reading a novena.

[50] You know, we're in the year of St. Joseph.

[51] I was reading a novena this morning and it focused on Joseph Day 25 of this 31 -day novena, and it really said something that I thought was very important.

[52] St. Joseph, as we know, is the patron of the Universal Church.

[53] And what this novena said is that logically, if St. Joseph is the patron of the Universal Church, and the church's mission is to bring salvation, to bring repentance and the gospel to every person.

[54] St. Joseph is the patron of the entire world, of all humanity.

[55] And I think that speaks of a perspective that we've lost touch with.

[56] We tend to live our Catholic faith as if it's one choice among many, and if you don't want it, it's okay.

[57] You can find God in other ways.

[58] And through God's mercy, you can find God in other ways, but you're finding God through Jesus Christ if you find God.

[59] He is the way, like the early Christians talked about.

[60] So I think it's critical that we remain filled with the joy of the good news and that we both repent and believe in the gospel.

[61] What the tendency is now is say, oh, believe in the gospel, and we'll welcome you, and this is wonderful, which it is.

[62] But without the repentance, you never really embrace the gospel.

[63] We talk a lot about relationship with Jesus Christ, and you can't really know Jesus Christ if you're, life is full of sin.

[64] Sin is disordered.

[65] I'm a sinner and there's an element of that disorder in my life.

[66] Terry, I hate to tell you, I think you know, but you're a sinner.

[67] Amen, brother.

[68] And so to the extent that we are sinners, there's disorder in our lives.

[69] Our objective is to eliminate that disorder.

[70] And there's too much of a tendency to say, Oh, well, ignore the disorder, or don't even call it disorder.

[71] Ignore what the word of God says regarding sin, regarding the list of sins that St. Paul makes very clear.

[72] Some of them sexual morality, some of them treating people ethically in business, some of them, you know, the Ten Commandments.

[73] All of that, we are to repent of sin.

[74] that we do beautifully the liturgy continues to have a penitential right that it starts with takes different forms but every time we approach the eucharistic altar of jesus christ the altar of thanksgiving that he is with us and he wants to nurture us the church calls us thankfully the church calls us to repent of our sins the confidier is a beautiful prayer that we need to take to heart through my fault through my fault through my grievous fault Bishop Strickland right on my take on all of this is the since the second Vatican Council I believe there's been a misunderstanding or misrepresentation of what the council actually taught about evangelization and Fulton Sheen was one of the fathers of Vatican to he spoke longer at Vatican 2 than any of the other 2 ,000 bishops She's the only one that when the bell rang, they didn't care.

[75] They let him kept going, keep speaking.

[76] Well, here's what he said, that we've become one with the world.

[77] We've lost our sense of our unity with Christ.

[78] And I think of another saint, I look at St. Bishop Sheen is going to be a saint someday, but St. John Paul II came out in the year 2000 with a document called Dominus Jesus, which showed the uniqueness of Christianity, of the Catholic Church, the bride of Christ, and Pope Benedict the 16th was the prefect of the doctrine who also helped write that and I remember that coming out Bishop Strickland where you probably were a bishop no you weren't a bishop at the time but my point to you I know you're not that old I remember some of the bishops and even cardinals my own cardinal was upset with that document saying that it's going to bring the ecumenical push the ecumenical movement back 30 years and so when I see that happening and as a layman i'm going what's going on with our leadership okay bishop strickland i'm just acknowledging that unless we get back to the core gospel message that you just said we're going to be lost the world is not going to even be interested in what we have to say because we're too much one with the world i hear the music so i had to get my two cents in sorry but you always know that hey when we come back here on the bishop strickland hour we'll talk more about his tweets and much more catechism of the Catholic Church.

[79] You're listening to it on Virgin Most Powerful Radio, and we'll be back with more after a quick break.

[80] Welcome back to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[81] I'm Terry Barber, with Virgin Most Powerful Radio.

[82] At this point, for all you brand new listeners, I think we got just under 500 new YouTube listeners, not to mention AM and FM stations.

[83] I want to welcome you.

[84] And you can always listen to all these podcasts by going to Virgin Most Powerful Radio .org.

[85] We're talking about some of the tweets that Bishop Strickland sends out.

[86] He sends a lot of tweets, and he communicates with a lot of souls that way.

[87] Bishop Strickland, something very powerful took place last week of transfer of power in the United States.

[88] And thanks be to God, it was a peaceful transfer of power to the new president, President Biden.

[89] And Archbishop Gomez had, he's the president, for those who don't know, he's the president of the bishop's conference in the United States of America.

[90] He's my Archbishop here in Los Angeles also.

[91] Well, he wrote a letter that was basically urging, and that's a good word, urging President Biden, to seriously consider the teachings of the Catholic faith on family, life, and morality, specifically on marriage and on abortion and some of the other issues.

[92] And you pointed out that the Catholic faith brings the light of Christ's, to the problems we face in the world, and we must be faithful.

[93] Now, I'm going to be objective here.

[94] I thought that took guts to say that to the president.

[95] I mean, he said, you know, congratulations for being the president, but hey, let's deal with some of these family issues with the culture, and he's calling him to say, you're a baptized Catholic.

[96] You know, look at what your church teaches here.

[97] So what made you actually make this tweet affirming the archbishop?

[98] well i i do commend him for and it it does take guts um it takes courage to as it did in the time of christ it took courage for john the baptist to stand for the truth rather and be jailed and ultimately beheaded rather than knuckle under and we're doing too much of the knuckling under where we're bowing to the culture instead of saying no A couple of few days ago, we celebrated St. Agnes, a 12 -year -old girl who died rather than do what, I think it was the Emperor Diocletian was demanding that she pay homage to his gods.

[99] And she says, my love is Jesus Christ, and I'm not going to do it.

[100] It does take courage.

[101] And so I commend Archbishop Gomez.

[102] He has a very difficult job.

[103] And what ensued with that statement, it became very controversial.

[104] There was a lot of back and forth about it.

[105] Ultimately, it was issued, and I'm glad it was.

[106] But some people tried to stop it.

[107] And it just made it very clear if anyone is unaware of the divisions in the church, then they're more aware than they were.

[108] it's sad, but in some ways, it's the truth, and the truth needs to be out there.

[109] Whether it's the political truth or the truth about the church, the truth, Christ says the truth sets us free.

[110] It frees us from the manipulation and the darkness and the confusion that is so prevalent today.

[111] So I commend Archbishop Gomez.

[112] He spoke the truth.

[113] He did the attack anyone.

[114] No. He spoke very cordially to, which we should.

[115] Yeah.

[116] He's the president of the United States.

[117] He was elected by about half of the people, but certainly the people that didn't vote for him are being denigrated.

[118] And thankfully, Archbishop Gomez didn't get into any of that politics.

[119] He spoke as a pastor.

[120] And we need to, as I've said before, for all those who claim to be Catholic that are in Congress, in the Senate, in governors, in the presidency, whatever role of leadership, what I always remember myself, when I die, I'm not going to be, oh, this is the bishop, you know, I'm just going to be one son of God.

[121] Yes, I've had the responsibility of being a bishop, and that's how I'll be judged by the Lord.

[122] But, All of the worldly trappings, I think we all need to recognize that all falls away at death.

[123] And, you know, death is a great equalizer.

[124] We don't want to think about it or to acknowledge it.

[125] But Joseph Biden is a son of God.

[126] And he's not young.

[127] He doesn't have that many more years to be alive in this world.

[128] He's got the tremendous responsibility now of being president, of being the leader of this nation.

[129] And he needs all the truth he can get.

[130] He needs all the moral strength he can find.

[131] And denying the value of a huge part of our population is not the way to get that moral strength.

[132] So we need to pray for President Biden and for Vice President Harris.

[133] We need to pray for them.

[134] We need to pray for a conversion of heart.

[135] Wouldn't it be marvelous?

[136] Oh, make time.

[137] If both of them or one of them said, really, I've prayed and my heart has changed.

[138] Of course, it would infuriate a lot of people, but it would also bring God's truth back into the picture.

[139] That is what they will be judged on, what I will be judged on, what you will be judged on at the end of our lives.

[140] And so, as we've talked about before, Archbishop Gomez really, actually, as far as just a person, the person Joseph Biden, the president of the United States, he's a man. He's a son of God.

[141] He, in his statement, made a great act of charity, a great act of love to call this man who claims to be Catholic to really live and believe the fullness.

[142] of Catholic teaching.

[143] I know, you know, the abortion issue is part of it, but it's not the only issue.

[144] President Biden is on the wrong side of family, of basic moral issues.

[145] He has basically said, we need to embrace as a nation, the moral confusion, the sexual confusion of boys thinking their girls and girls thinking their boys.

[146] And it's really interesting, besides the morality of that, which the church clearly teaches as wrong, I saw an interview of a young woman who's very committed to athletics, and she was very concerned because whether someone decides they're male or female or not, there's a basic DNA and a basic makeup of the person as God has intended that we are born either male or female.

[147] When a person born male decides to change their sex, some of that doesn't change.

[148] They can have operations.

[149] They can change their behavior.

[150] They can demand to be treated as a female, but some of that doesn't change.

[151] And I think that's what this young woman athlete born as a female, and now she wants to be a female athlete, she's concerned and she's rightfully concerned.

[152] The science is on her side.

[153] That when someone who has the makeup of a male, when they alter that, they still have the strength.

[154] They still have the strength.

[155] They still have the ability and it was very it it's just such a confusing time that we're living through because actually one of the advocates for her side was someone who has been very strongly promoting you know the the freedom of people to to make these changes and who they are male becoming female female becoming male and now the president making it the law of the land that boys that decide their girls get to run the race with the girls.

[156] And they've already got the statistics to show the boys beat the girls.

[157] Duh.

[158] People may be infuriated by that, but that's how God made it.

[159] Women have a lot of gifts and blessings that men don't have.

[160] They bring beauty to the world that men will never bring.

[161] But we're not the same.

[162] And to say we're interchangeable, it's just wrong.

[163] And so for the president to ignore his faith and to go with the liberal agenda saying, oh, well, boys can decide their girls and girls can decide their boys, it's just not positive for humanity.

[164] Because we're ignoring the way God's plan is.

[165] And that's what it comes down to.

[166] certainly the morality is a critical part of the issue but there are a lot of other issues as well so you know what archbishop gomez did was a great act of charity that's right and the fact that other bishops called him out and said he was irresponsible um that just illustrates that we're very divided on some of the basic issues of the teaching of the church and the teaching hasn't changed But a lot of the proclamation of that teaching has, as we've talked about before, the tendency to bracket out things that make it, you know, tough to push your agenda, people bracket out the truth.

[167] And one, another, the reading of the word of God is always marvelous.

[168] But sometimes it is just tremendously impactful for that time.

[169] in that moment.

[170] The second reading from Corinthians this weekend said the world as we see it now is passing away.

[171] Really?

[172] Yeah.

[173] That truth is in the Word of God.

[174] And that's how we need to navigate this world.

[175] The world as we see it now is passing away.

[176] And I mean, as I said to the congregation in my homily, I think these days, we're glad some of this is passing away.

[177] I mean, we want the mask and the virus and all of this confusion that we've been dealing with.

[178] A lot of it needs to pass away.

[179] But what it ultimately reminds us, this world, this life is a journey back to God, to everlasting life with God.

[180] Or if we make the wrong choices, everlasting life without God.

[181] It's called hell.

[182] It's called damnation.

[183] Of course, you don't hear a lot about that.

[184] And certainly, we're not all about just saying, ah, damnation and hell and evil and sin.

[185] But again, it's both and.

[186] Grace is abundant.

[187] Grace is God's mercy.

[188] Grace is God's love.

[189] grace is God.

[190] But there's also sin.

[191] There's also the devil.

[192] There's also all the darkness and evil.

[193] We're a both -and -people in the Catholic faith.

[194] We need to keep both aspects in in working and in focus because when we leave out the darkness, the light begins to diminish also.

[195] It's just teaching what the Bible is looking right now.

[196] Welcome, welcome back to the Bishop Strickland hour.

[197] This is Terry Barber.

[198] We've been commenting on Bishop Strickland's tweets, and I wanted to give some good news stories.

[199] I love good news that talk about people falling in love with Jesus Christ and his bride to church.

[200] Number one, there's a religious order in Italy, and they're called the Consoling Sisters of the Sacred Heart.

[201] Can you imagine four sisters, from one American family joined this order.

[202] They're so packed.

[203] They have four sisters in a room in their convent.

[204] They have to get a bigger convent.

[205] And I see the picture of them and they're all under 30 years old.

[206] And I might add, they're beautiful women, okay?

[207] Now, brides of Christ.

[208] And I thought about this Bishop Strickland that the traditional orders that I've seen here in the States and throughout the world, the ones that stick to their charism of their founder, they seem to flout they seem to blossom and then the orders that I've experienced even in my own Los Angeles diocese they have died in the 40 years that I've been involved I've seen them not getting vocations because they look more like real estate agents than sisters and I'm sorry to have to say that it's just it's just a fact so I just want to commend those sisters also a good news story the oldest abortion clinic on the West Coast which I'm sitting on in Los Angeles in Portland Oregon, there was an abortion clinic that was open 50 years ago.

[209] The doors closed January 16th, 2021.

[210] Thank you, Jesus.

[211] And I might add, Joe Scheidler, who just passed away, a good friend of mine, wrote a book, 99 ways to close an abortion clinic.

[212] It took a while, but those, there were people there praying the rosary all those years, for all those years praying.

[213] And some of them have already gone to the eternal reward, okay?

[214] But there's still some who saw the close of that clinic.

[215] So praise God for that.

[216] Bishop Strickland, I was going to ask you to comment on another Archbishop in San Francisco.

[217] Real quickly, just that he's also speaking out.

[218] It seems like I ain't to say this Bishop Strickland, but you are a minority.

[219] I don't hear a lot of bishops coming out and speaking out when they see error by putting out the truth.

[220] And our good friend Archbishop Cordillianne told Nancy Pelosi, who Speaker of the House, that no Catholic and good conscience can favor abortion.

[221] And basically, he called her on it and said that she doesn't speak for the Catholic Church.

[222] Now, he could have been quiet, Bishop Strickland, and got along with her because he lives in San Francisco.

[223] He's got to meet with her on other issues.

[224] And Bishop Strickland, I bet you know how uncomfortable that is when you have to talk to a politician who's on the other side of the moral issue.

[225] Not easy, but that's what it's called to do, speak the truth and charity.

[226] So I just want to, I bet you're going to tell me you think that was a good thing he did.

[227] Am I on to something?

[228] Absolutely.

[229] Similar to what Archbishop Gomez did, we need people that, I mean, many people don't claim to be Catholic and think the Catholic Church is this antiquated, you know, myth that needs to go away.

[230] It's not going to.

[231] It's not antiquated.

[232] It's ever ancient, ever new.

[233] But that's what the attitude of many is.

[234] But for Catholics, for those who go to Mass and proclaim to be faithful Catholics that aren't being faithful, that are not living according to what the church teaches.

[235] I know Archbishop Cordleone and And he's a good man. He's got a tough job there in San Francisco and the Archdiocese.

[236] And once again, he didn't attack Nancy Pelosi, but she pretty much attacked me and others who are on the other side.

[237] And it's the responsibility of us as pastors.

[238] Once again, it comes down to.

[239] Nancy Pelosi is not a young woman.

[240] I know it's not polite to talk about a woman's age, but it's obvious.

[241] She's not a young woman.

[242] She rejoices it being a grandmother, and that's wonderful.

[243] But she's not a young woman, and she needs to think about her eternity as well.

[244] Because as vehemently pro -abortion as she is, and, you know, certainly.

[245] abortion isn't the only issue, but it's a primary issue.

[246] And there are many issues that Nancy Pelosi is on the wrong side.

[247] She's on the opposite side than what the Catholic Church teaches.

[248] So Archbishop Cordleone spoke to his constituent, his parishioner, a member of his flock.

[249] She's from there in San Francisco.

[250] She has a significant job in the U .S. government and she needs to be Nancy and wake up to the truth because she's not going to be around that much longer either.

[251] I mean, none of us know how long we're going to be here.

[252] We need to adjust our lives as if we were told tomorrow's or today is the last day.

[253] Or do we believe there's a judgment.

[254] And I think that is a question.

[255] Do we really believe what the church teaches?

[256] I do.

[257] Amen.

[258] And we were talking about St. Paul earlier.

[259] He had a tremendous conversion.

[260] So it is possible.

[261] Of course, Jesus Christ spoke to him.

[262] Jesus may have to speak to some of these people directly in order to wake them up.

[263] But the truth that Jesus died for remains the truth.

[264] The truth doesn't change.

[265] And a lot of people in the church and in government act as if what was true 50 years ago, oh, we've learned more and we've gotten more sophisticated.

[266] That's just not the truth.

[267] Black doesn't turn into white.

[268] Truth doesn't.

[269] turn into falsehood, light doesn't turn into darkness just because we want it to.

[270] But there's a lot of that attitude and there's a lot of people in power that have just decided they've got their own truth.

[271] And that truth, just like the Roman Empire had its own truth.

[272] Where is it?

[273] It's gone.

[274] every institution that founded itself on a truth that they had crafted it may last for a while but eventually it disappears because sin and falsehood and evil yeah they have their day but they don't last and what last is what god is created and the closer we are to that the more we share in his life now and an everlasting life well said you know if bishop sheen was alive and he was tweeting I've got something that just says exactly what you just said he said the fact the enemies of God must face in that modern civilization has conquered the world but in doing so has lost its soul wow and in losing its soul it will lose the very world it gained just what you just said Bishop Strickland even our own so -called liberal culture in these United States, which have tried to avoid complete secularization by leaving little zones of individual freedom is in danger of forgetting that these zones were preserved only because religion was in their soul.

[275] And here's the cash value of the tweet.

[276] And as the religion fades, so will freedom, for only where the spirit of God is is their liberty.

[277] Bishop Strickland, doesn't that sound like he just wrote that today?

[278] Yeah.

[279] That's what's amazing about so much of what Archbishop Sheen said.

[280] It applies.

[281] He was warning people about what he was seeing and what was coming.

[282] We're dealing with what he warned them about.

[283] And that's why it's so poignant for today.

[284] Yeah.

[285] He's speaking of the evils that are just overwhelming, virtually every part of human civilization today.

[286] We still have the light of Christ.

[287] We still should be people of hope, but there's a lot of darkness.

[288] Well, you're giving light with your tweets because you're quoting a lot of the fathers of the churches over the years and the doctrines of the church.

[289] You're the saints.

[290] St. Francis DeSales wrote a book called Introduction to Devout Life.

[291] And when I was a young, youngster in my teens, I read it too.

[292] That was part of our formation when I was in a Franciscan monastery.

[293] And I love that book.

[294] It's really good because it's good for lay spirituality.

[295] Here's what you tweeted just last week.

[296] Do you desire to belong entirely to God?

[297] Why then do you fear on the account of your weakness?

[298] Do you hope in God?

[299] And shall he who hopes in God be ever confounded?

[300] be not afraid of your fears.

[301] Can you give a little commentary on that?

[302] Because my thought is, the spiritual writers have taught me that one of the reasons people don't give their life to Christ is because they don't really think that God's big enough to take care of them.

[303] Yeah, well, yeah, there's doubt.

[304] And what that quote from St. Francis DeSales really reminds me of, Terry, is Jesus Christ calls us to be all in.

[305] Yeah.

[306] And that's really a large part of what's wrong with the world and the church today.

[307] People say they're Catholic, but they're not all in.

[308] That is not there the motivating factor of who they are, their relationship with Jesus Christ.

[309] They, their motivating factor is power or influence or wealth or pleasure or something else.

[310] And you might label that the words I use motivating factor, you can, it can become so ingrained and so deeply sought that it really becomes their God more than God himself, more than the son of God.

[311] It, what, what makes people tick is grasping for power, grasping for wealth, grasping for what the world has to offer.

[312] And like we talked about earlier, the Corinthians reminds us, the world that we see around us is passing away.

[313] So should we invest in something that ultimately is decaying before our eyes or invest in something permanent.

[314] That's what St. Francis de Sales is getting at.

[315] Sign me up.

[316] I love it.

[317] And embrace Jesus Christ and his bride to church.

[318] When we come back, open up for the catechism, the paragraph 54, we'll be back with much more on the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[319] Welcome back to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[320] We're going to be opening up our catechism with the Catholic church to teach the teachings of the church.

[321] But before we do that, I wanted to give a plug.

[322] I try to do it each week to the St. Philip Institute, which is run by the Diocese of Tyler, Texas.

[323] And Bishop Strickland, can you tell our listeners again the resources you have available there?

[324] Yeah, Bishop Strickland .com is part of the website for the St. Philip Institute.

[325] People can access my tweets and other articles that I put up.

[326] I published on my website just last week a great commentary by a great deacon that works here with me, Deacon Keith Fornier, talking about how we need statesmen in using St. Thomas Moore as the example.

[327] But we need statesmen in government and not just policy.

[328] politicians.

[329] And so, but that's one thing on the St. Philip Institute .org website that is available.

[330] Lots of teachings, lots of podcasts, great family.

[331] So I'd encourage people to visit the St. Philip Institute website.

[332] Excellent.

[333] Well, we've been going through the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

[334] We went back to the beginning just to kind of set a stage.

[335] And the reason I asked Bishop Strickland to teach this catechism is because we talk about bishops is to teach, to govern, and sanctify.

[336] And one of the big problems in the church from what I can see, Bishop Strickland, is Catholics just don't know their faith.

[337] And, you know, we have a great gift of the Second Givetic Council, which is the catechism of the Catholic Church.

[338] I remember Bishop Sheen saying that, even in the 70s that we need a catechism because of the confusion.

[339] and we have it now.

[340] So when every, I always ask people to do this, Bishop Strickland, see if you agree with me on this, that when there's some confusion going on in the church, ask yourself to pull out your catechism, open up, find out what the catechism teaches on that topic, and I say that you find out what the perennial teachings of the church are on a particular topic, and then you're going to feel comfortable to know whether that priest or even a bishop, you could be saying something that's not contrary, which is contrary to the church teachings, and you just, you can look it up on your own.

[341] You don't have to say, well, Father said it or the bishop said it, that makes it right not necessarily, Bishop Strickland.

[342] This is what's neat about it as a layman.

[343] I can check you what you're saying from this catechism.

[344] And you know what?

[345] Absolutely.

[346] I think it's a fantastic gift to the church right now, the catechism.

[347] I think it's a, it's a huge, one of the most significant parts of the legacy of St. John Paul II is that catechism.

[348] And he certainly didn't do it single -handedly.

[349] He had a commission that worked on it.

[350] But it's something that we desperately need.

[351] And as I've said many times as we've talked, Terry, truly, if there's anything I say that is not what the catechism says, I stand corrected.

[352] I don't want to say anything that is not the true teaching of the church.

[353] church regarding anything.

[354] And there's a lot there.

[355] And I don't claim to be an expert on the catechism.

[356] But so anytime you hear me say something and say, Bishop, that's really not what the catechism says, then please correct me. Because ultimately, who I want to follow is Jesus Christ.

[357] Amen.

[358] He's the Lord of truth.

[359] He is truth incarnate.

[360] I believe the catechism, captures his message.

[361] Amen.

[362] And so that's why I want to follow the catechism.

[363] You know, Bishop Strickland, I've said it this way.

[364] I don't want your personal opinion, Bishop Strickland.

[365] I want to know what the church teaches.

[366] And you do that.

[367] And I thank you for that.

[368] Paragraph 54, it's a title, In the beginning, God made himself known.

[369] Some people might say, well, why are you guys going back to this, you know, fundamental stuff?

[370] I'll tell you what, I've found out by asking like young people, my age and under, now I'm not very young.

[371] I'm in my 60s, but I always ask them about, you know the attributes of God?

[372] And they look at me like, what planet are you?

[373] And what do you mean attributes of God?

[374] Well, I learned those attributes, and it actually helped me in a relationship to know who God is.

[375] And that's why the catechism is so important.

[376] So that's why we're going back to the beginning.

[377] It says, God who creates and conserves all things by his word.

[378] Isn't that interesting?

[379] By his word.

[380] The word became what?

[381] Flesh!

[382] I'm sorry, I had to add that in.

[383] provides men with the constant evidence of himself and created realities.

[384] And furthermore, wishing to open up the way to heavenly salvation, he manifests himself to our first parents from the very beginning.

[385] He invited them to imitate communion with himself and clothe them with resplendented grace and justice.

[386] We were talking about Adam and Eve, are we not?

[387] Yep.

[388] that's how it all started yep and so give us thought bishop strickland why is it important to know how everything started in our faith in other words started in a sense of who god really is because my question to you and it goes to most people look at god if they have a good relationship with their father on earth they sometimes have a better understanding of god the father but let's face it we have a lot of brokenness and fatherless families and so i just my question to you is this comment that god who creates and conserves all things by the word and provides men with constant evidence of himself and the created realities i know you've talked about look around just go outside and you see god's creation but isn't that a good way to explain who god what god is create it just to give people a foundation on who God is?

[389] Yes, and what this paragraph really talks about is how God, what does God do as a loving father?

[390] He conserves all things in his word.

[391] He provides constant evidence of himself.

[392] He's engaged with us.

[393] He gives us his son.

[394] He gives us his spirit.

[395] He offers us life.

[396] And so one of the things as we continue the year of St. Joseph, I've heard people say, and I absolutely agree, I think one of the blessings of St. Joseph in the church, who is the adoptive father of Jesus Christ, he chose to adopt him.

[397] and St. Joseph is the father of all of us, the father of the patron of the Universal Church.

[398] So what I've heard, and people actually do this in various programs of counseling and working with people that may be very broken because of a bad relationship with their father.

[399] To turn to St. Joseph.

[400] Amen, I agree.

[401] For a spiritual father.

[402] And to remember that as great as St. Joseph is, he's only an image of God, the father.

[403] Any father.

[404] I'm sure you're not a perfect father, but I'm sure you're a good father.

[405] You're a loving father to your children.

[406] God is the perfect father.

[407] And so even St. Joseph, who ate to tell you Terry, but he was probably a better father than you.

[408] He was probably holier.

[409] Amen.

[410] But he wasn't perfect either.

[411] Nope.

[412] Only God is the perfect father.

[413] But we need those images, even though not perfect.

[414] And every father has some good qualities that they contribute.

[415] No father is perfect.

[416] No father is totally devoid of goodness.

[417] sadly you know there's a lot of brokenness in that call of fatherhood and when a father just disappears too many people never knew their father because he left he fathered them and then left that is about as minimal a gift of fatherhood that a person can experience but even then to recognize that they do have life.

[418] They are blessed with living in this world and to turn to St. Joseph, to look for a better model of father and to know that he is their father, I think can be a real healing for people that are really burdened with a very broken father in their experience.

[419] Well said.

[420] Bishop Strickland, than going to another paragraph, we only have a few minutes left.

[421] Lent is right around the corner.

[422] And I always asked this question.

[423] I did last week to you also.

[424] And that is, you know, preparing for Lent, this time of season, holy season of Lent, time of penance, time of, you know, preparation for, you know, the Easter trinium, all that good stuff.

[425] And it's great.

[426] But what would you recommend to our listeners, are there any books, any maybe try the stations of the cross?

[427] I don't know meditations on the passion through the rosary.

[428] What spiritual exercises or what suggestions would you have for our listeners to make this lent the best lent ever for them?

[429] Well, I would certainly endorse everything you've just mentioned.

[430] I think the stations of the cross really are significant because they remind us that Jesus, the Son of God, always fully God, and the great mystery of who Jesus Christ is.

[431] But he was fully man also.

[432] He was a real man, a real human being.

[433] And so the passion story is something I think we need to be very in touch with, especially during Lent.

[434] I mean, Lent is more or less modeled on the 40 days that Christ was tempted in the desert.

[435] So we have 40 days of preparing for the resurrection, for Easter, for the great event of Christ being risen from the dead.

[436] So anything we can do to really deepen our relationship with Christ and repent of our sins and do penance and reparation.

[437] I think especially in this time, we need to make reparation for our personal sin and for the sin of the world.

[438] Maybe the divine mercy chaplet to really, if you're not too familiar with it, make that a goal this length.

[439] It's very simple, but it's beautiful as well.

[440] And also, I have to recommend, speaking of St. Joseph, Father Calloway's book, The Consecration to St. Joseph.

[441] Great book.

[442] great book bishop strickland that we're hours over how about a a bishop's blessing to all the listeners if we could get a blessing that would be grand the lord be with you and with your spirit my almighty god bless you in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit amen thank you so much bishop strickland remember for those who just tuned in these there's quite a few back shows that you can get on podcast by going to virgin most powerful radio dot org and there's lots of other shows you can get jesus 9 -1 -1 terry and jesse's show the bar of history much much more we're glad to have you aboard and may god richly bless you and your family until next week have a great week a holy week god love you saint fastina's prayer for priests oh my jesus i beg thee on behalf of the whole church granted love and the light of thy spirit and give power to the words of priests so that hardened hearts might be brought to repentance and return to thee, O Lord.

[443] Lord, give us holy priests.

[444] Thou thyself maintain them in holiness.

[445] O divine and great high priest, may the power of thy mercy accompany them everywhere and protect them from the devil's traps and snares which are continually being set for the souls of priests.

[446] May the power of thy mercy O Lord, shatter and bring to naught all that might tarnish the sanctity of priests, for thou canst do all things.

[447] Amen.

[448] Virgin Most Powerful.

[449] Pray for us.

[450] Virgin Most Powerful Radio.

[451] Sharing the gospel with clarity and charity.