21 Dec 21 – What the Church Teaches about Private Revelation

[0] Welcome to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[1] My name's Terry Barber, and every week we have an interview with Bishop Strickland about his tweets, and then we delve into the catechism of the Catholic Church and put your seatbelts on because the paragraphs that we're going to be going to in the second and third and fourth segment, our home run segments that everybody needs to understand.

[2] So we'll be doing that.

[3] But welcome Bishop Strickland to another hour together here.

[4] Thanks, Terry.

[5] Thank you.

[6] And I wanted to jump right into, well, we have Christmas in a week now, and we, you've tweeted just on December 9th that the angels here offering fitting worship of the body and blood, soul and divinity of Jesus Christ, really present in the Eucharist.

[7] This is a tweet.

[8] How can we do anything less?

[9] May all of us approach him with contrite, humble hearts, and beg all who receive him while denying the sanctity of life to stop.

[10] You know, that's a prayer that needs to be prayed.

[11] And I see the image you have of angels worshipping Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, this monstrance on the altar.

[12] You got six candles.

[13] You got like six angels kneeling down in adoration.

[14] But the part that I really thought was appropriate, and I'm wondering if this was why you did it, you said, let's beg all of the people who receive him while denying the sanctity of life to stop.

[15] In other words, when we do an examination of conscience, if we're for killing unborn babies, then our conscience should tell us that, you know, it's against the commandments, okay?

[16] Thou shall not kill, which is murder.

[17] And so I'm wondering, was this just a prayer that came to your mind, or did you see something?

[18] What's the reason you're putting this tweet out, Bishop Stricken?

[19] Is it to really recognize that when we receive Holy Communion, we should be at peace and at union with God?

[20] Is that the point?

[21] Exactly.

[22] It really is for all of us.

[23] It's not for any category of persons.

[24] It's for every single man and woman and child and teenager, every person coming forward to receive the body of Christ.

[25] We all have to ask ourselves, am I in communion?

[26] And we just need to really telegraph very close.

[27] clearly, that if you support the murder of unborn children, you're not in communion.

[28] And you need to rethink your stance.

[29] Isn't it more than rethink?

[30] Isn't it repent?

[31] Because it's...

[32] Yeah, absolutely.

[33] You need to repent.

[34] But if, you know, people that are ignoring that, obviously don't think they're sinning.

[35] So they need to think about it and recognize.

[36] that it's sinful.

[37] I mean, it's called the commandment, thou shalt not kill.

[38] That's what it comes down to.

[39] Number five, thou shalt not kill.

[40] And it's the killing of persons.

[41] And so I just keep repeating that sort of message.

[42] And it is connected to the Eucharist because it probably is just absolutely heartbreaking to think of how many Catholics don't really strongly oppose abortion or maybe don't even think it's wrong and think, you know, there's, their groups say, you know, pro -abortion Catholics, Catholics for free choice, that sort of thing.

[43] And we just have to be clear and loving and joyful.

[44] Real love is to call people to the truth.

[45] The truth is abortion is murder.

[46] And to condone murder is evil and sinful, and it's certainly not an appropriate stance to take and then to be coming up to receive the body of Christ, the body and blood, soul and divinity of the Lord of the universe, the creator of life.

[47] It's a contradiction that puts people in a very dangerous place.

[48] hear the receiving the Lord of Life and supporting the the murdering of children yeah well you seem to be very consistent in teaching the fundamentals of the faith you seem to be very like not redundant but yeah in other words just going over and over again and it's just what I think we need we need the fundamentals and you know one of your tweets you mentioned that as we prepare for the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ you said let us read rejoice that he is the only son of God, fundamental teaching, the only savior of humanity.

[49] Yeah, that's unique.

[50] To love him is to keep the commandments.

[51] That's fundamental.

[52] The first of which is, thou shall not have false gods before me. Let us be firm in our worship of the Trinity.

[53] Bishop Strickland, those are so fundamental to the faith.

[54] I love it because You know, this is what we need.

[55] It seems to me that, you know, people say these false gods.

[56] Well, give me an example of false gods in our culture today, so we know what we're talking about.

[57] Well, a lot of people worship wealth.

[58] A lot of people worship pleasure.

[59] A lot of people, you know, are caught up in pornography.

[60] And they wouldn't think of it.

[61] Oh, that's not a God, but if it's taking them away from God, that's how they're treating it.

[62] That's what a false God does is get you so that you're denying the truth that God is revealed.

[63] And false gods can take a lot of different forms.

[64] It seems to me that self -abandonment is the key to not having false gods.

[65] In other words, saying, Jesus, I give my life to you.

[66] I don't own anything.

[67] Everything is yours.

[68] Let me do whatever you want me to do, I want to embrace your will.

[69] And I remember Bishop Sheen on one of his.

[70] cassette tapes that I heard when I was a youngster say that there's a song they sing in hell and the song is I did it my way and my way for our culture is the worship of false gods and the fruit of that is hell I'm sorry but that's how Bishop Sheen saw and then he said there's a song they sing in heaven I did it his way and I think it's it you know talking about being simple I'm a simple guy I like simplicity.

[71] Tell me how do I embrace Jesus Christ?

[72] Well, by giving myself to him, by following his commandments, you know, you say all these points right here are just really beautiful, fundamental points.

[73] So thank you for your clarity on that.

[74] Sure.

[75] All right.

[76] Hey, St. Maximilian Colby, you quoted something.

[77] I'm a knight of the immaculata.

[78] I was at St. Maximilian Colby's canonization October 10th, 1982.

[79] So I love him.

[80] He's a model.

[81] I was in a Franciscan monastery for some time.

[82] and he was our patron.

[83] So I love what you said.

[84] You said, not just for saints, but for all of us, we most importantly will say yes to the will of God, whether the two crowns or none at all.

[85] What is you referring to?

[86] Well, you quote St. Maximine Colby, saying, that night I asked the mother of God, what was to become of me?

[87] Then she came to me holding two crowns, one white, the other red.

[88] White one's purity, red ones, martyrdom.

[89] She asked me if I was willing to accept either of these crowns.

[90] The white one meant that I should persevere impurity and the red that I should become a martyr.

[91] I said that I would accept them both.

[92] Now, Bishop Strickland, I know that story quite well because the reason St. Maximilian Colby had that experience is he was a little boy and he disobeyed Mama.

[93] And Mama looked at little Raymond, his name was Raymond, Raymond, what will ever become of you?

[94] And he felt so remorse over that because he, you know, he disobeyed, and he went to prayer, and then our lady asked him these questions about the two crowns.

[95] So it seems to me, Bishop Strickland, that St. Maximilian Colby was just what you had said about giving himself to Christ through Mary and was wanting to do whatever God's will was in his life.

[96] Is that pretty much why you tweeted this quote?

[97] Absolutely, because God's will is our greatest fulfillment.

[98] And we live in a world that so foolishly ignores that.

[99] And things you can be fulfilled in all these worldly things that leave people empty.

[100] And too often, not just empty, but destroy, literally losing their lives.

[101] and to seek God's will is, I mean, it's at the very heart of the Our Father.

[102] Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

[103] And we need to really embrace that and ask ourselves.

[104] Terry, ask himself, Joe, ask himself, every one of us.

[105] Yes.

[106] Ask ourselves, what does that mean for me?

[107] What is God's will over my will?

[108] Yeah.

[109] Sometimes, you know, in making a choice, it's hard to know.

[110] what is God's will, but we need to seek God's will.

[111] And to place ourselves like great saints like Maximilian Colby, that's, I mean, he wrote some great stuff about living in the will of God and the immaculata.

[112] It's right.

[113] He talks about all the time.

[114] Mary is the model of that.

[115] We just celebrated her immaculate conception from the moment of her existence.

[116] God protected her from sin.

[117] And she embraced God's will throughout her life.

[118] She still had a human will.

[119] That's right.

[120] She wasn't some sort of automaton that had to say yes.

[121] She chose.

[122] That's right.

[123] I mean, and she was blessed to be in line with God's will, but she still had her human free will.

[124] As in the mystery of Christ, he had his human free will as well as his divine will.

[125] and he, as a human being, said yes to the will of the father.

[126] Awesome.

[127] You know, there's a book called Abandonment to Divine Providence by Pierre de Kassad, and I would recommend it to anyone.

[128] It was a 17th century Jesuit.

[129] He was a believing Jesuit, and he wrote letters to these sisters, and he talks about God's will being manifested moment by moment, as long as we're staying faithful to our duties in our state and life.

[130] and he talks about the sacrament of the present moment.

[131] All this good stuff.

[132] We have it on cassette tape.

[133] No, we did back in the 80s.

[134] It's now a download.

[135] If you want to go to virgin most powerful radio .org and you can download the abandonment to divine province.

[136] That book will give you much solace about just giving yourself to Christ and doing God's will.

[137] When we come back, I want to quote Pope Pius the 9th regarding the Immaculate Conception and much, much more.

[138] here on the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[139] Stay with us, family.

[140] Welcome back to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[141] I want you to know that a little later in the program, we're going to be opening up our catechisms to paragraph 66 and 67, title there will be no further revelation.

[142] I mean, I'll tell you, it's awesome what our catechism has to state about that issue.

[143] It's a huge topic.

[144] So stay with us.

[145] But I wanted to get two more quotes from tweets from Bishop Strickland in.

[146] And he was, he was just pointing out that Pope Pius the 9th back in 1854 was talking about defining the immaculate conception and he quoted that the Holy Father said the most blessed Virgin Mary in the first instant of her conception by a singular grace and privilege ranted by Almighty God in view of the merits of Jesus Christ the Savior of the human race was preserved free from all stain of origin sin.

[147] So mainly he was pre -redeemed.

[148] So when people say, how could Mary be immaculately, you know, this is how, the Holy Father explained that in that document.

[149] Now, Bishop Strickland, you made a strong statement yourself about that, and you said, I'm hoping it's a Pope, I hope it's St. Pope Pius the Ninth some day, because I like his reading, his writings, but he says, you said, Pope Pius, the ninth states clearly hear what our Catholic faith teach.

[150] No one, including Pope Francis, can change this truth.

[151] That's true.

[152] As a bishop, you're talking to bishop, I'm obliged to believe, teach all that the Catholic Church believes and teaches.

[153] That's a promise you made, yep.

[154] Enough confusion.

[155] This is the part I really liked this last statement, because there's so much confusion in the church.

[156] You said, enough confusion.

[157] May all of the bishops teach the truth in Jesus Christ.

[158] That's a bold statement, Bishop Strickland, because as a layman, my prayer is that same prayer that all bishops will be on the same page.

[159] And it's not like individual pages.

[160] No, the page that what Jesus Christ and his church has taught the perennial teachings of the church.

[161] So my question to you is, your statement is prophetic from my perspective.

[162] What made you speak so clear about this?

[163] Is it because of some confederate?

[164] confusion in the church or maybe other issues?

[165] I'm asking because I thought it was profound what you said.

[166] Yeah, because there is enough.

[167] There's too much confusion.

[168] And if you read the catechism or you read the statements from, you know, the popes.

[169] And so by definition, I mean, that's the point I'm trying to make is that no one, no human being.

[170] Yeah.

[171] Maybe I should have said, including Bishop Strickland or including Terry Barber, including any of us.

[172] We can't change the truth.

[173] And there are, you know, there are many voices out there.

[174] Priests, bishops that are acting like we can.

[175] And the truth has somehow changed.

[176] The deposit of faith is, and that's what we'll talk about with the catechism, it's right there.

[177] and black and wine.

[178] And it's, it's a beautiful deposit that we're always as individuals or as communities, as a new religious community to develops, they need to look at their constitutions and their, what the fabric of what makes them a community.

[179] And you, and compare it to what the positive faith says.

[180] If they're doing something contrary to the deposit of faith, it needs to change.

[181] The catechism and the word of God really capture the deposit of faith.

[182] Well, you're a good friend, my good friend, Dr. Ralph Martin, he was pointing out that with this confusion, some people believe that Catholic Church's charism for saving souls has been hijacked.

[183] This is his strong language.

[184] to believe that people think that it's all about getting vaccinated or cleaning up the planet.

[185] And we forgot about, you know, the idea of sin in the sense of offensive against God, whether it's abortion or we haven't put an emphasis on personal sanctification.

[186] We've kind of thrown it all out to talk about, you know, global warming and kind of like being with the world.

[187] Now, that's Ralph Martin's comment.

[188] I happen to believe what he said is true, Bishop Strickland, and it's refreshing to hear a bishop say, no, no. You know, what's most important is the salvation of souls, promoting the revelation of Jesus Christ to the flock.

[189] That's been the goal of the Catholic Church is the salvation of souls.

[190] I think, I keep repeating this.

[191] I'm sorry, but canon law at the end says, you know, if he says that it's all about the salvation of souls.

[192] Bishop Sheen says, if souls are saved, everything is saved.

[193] If souls are not saved, then nothing is safe.

[194] So we can save the planet, we can recycle, we can get COVID vaccinations, but if people are living in mortal sin and they go to hell, then we miss the boat.

[195] Now, I'm saying it pretty clearly, Bishop Strickland, but am I putting words into your mouth or would you say that that's a pretty clear statement that the church needs to have the mission for saving souls is number one?

[196] Absolutely, Terry.

[197] And really, I would go even further.

[198] Yeah, I'm listening.

[199] to, if we think about all the ills on the planet, and we are supposed to be stewards of the earth that God has given us.

[200] If in an instant, we all became fully aligned with the will of God, and we were all, every person on the planet was suddenly saintly, yeah, that really, I mean, then we're going to be.

[201] the good stewards of the environment that we're supposed to be of course then the war cease all the violence in our city cease yep all the the graft and the dishonesty and business ceases that's right it it really makes for a better planet with people who realize this isn't this is an eternity yeah this is the launching pad for saints i like that launching where a saint's not where a saint's live and that what I what mystifies me is we're in a time where we've forgotten that the very best thing for humanity is to be a saint yes I mean the the saints through the ages have been people they weren't great consumers very often they had great wealth and gave it away exactly so we need to help the poor absolutely the best way to learn how to help the poor is to grow in saintliness.

[202] And really, Terry, we begin to realize we don't need a lot of stuff.

[203] No. We need to give it away.

[204] We don't need wealth in terms of lots of money in a huge house and fancy cars.

[205] All of that really starts to fade in its attractiveness.

[206] It's not even a temptation any longer.

[207] And that's what we see in the Saints.

[208] I was reading about St. Catherine of Siena today.

[209] We know her well, but I learned some things.

[210] Oh, tell us.

[211] I love her.

[212] She used to sleep for 15 minutes a night.

[213] Oh, no. I didn't know.

[214] That's not enough for me. I'm not saintly enough to need only 15 minutes of sleep.

[215] She slept on a board with another board for her pillow.

[216] Yeah.

[217] But that's the model, the saint.

[218] If people are concerned about the environment, look at some of these saints.

[219] They don't run around in jets.

[220] They don't have cars or fancy cars.

[221] You know, yeah, let's be saintly.

[222] That will be the best healing for the planet and the best healing for humanity.

[223] Excellent point, Bishop Strickland.

[224] I just want to mention it points out there's a survey I got in my hands where it shows that nearly two out of five Americans rate their current mental health as fair to poor.

[225] And I think of when we throw God out of our system, then, yeah, your mental health because they're scared.

[226] They have fear in their life because of COVID -19, and they have no trust.

[227] And this is just another statistic showing people's mental health are going south as we go away from God.

[228] Now, one thing you support your position about the true.

[229] is that you quote St. Maximine Colby, and he was quite a philosopher too.

[230] He said, and you quote him, more wisdom from a great saint, and this is supporting what you're saying, he says, no one, this is St. Maximine Colbyn, no one in the world can change truth.

[231] Well, you just said that.

[232] You're backed with the saint.

[233] What we can do and should do is to seek truth and to serve it when we can, when we have found it.

[234] And I think of that, often about what is truth.

[235] Remember Pontius Pilate saying, you know, what is truth?

[236] I had to tell you, I think there's a lot of Pontchus pilots running around, even in our church.

[237] I'm sorry, I've met people who say, we don't know what truth is.

[238] And I'm like, wait a minute.

[239] You're wearing a hat, you're wearing a collar, and you don't know what truth is.

[240] And, you know, my Lord Nature is saying, what are you doing?

[241] You know, you should, you know, be honest.

[242] And don't, because we need people that are filled with faith.

[243] who understand that, it's the truth that sets us free.

[244] So I appreciate you banging on that bell every time about we need to follow the truth wherever it takes us.

[245] And really, Terry, I would emphasize truth is a person.

[246] We are blessed to live in the age of the world these past couple of thousand years when truth has been incarnate among us.

[247] Truth has a face.

[248] Yes.

[249] Truth is a person that we can.

[250] know.

[251] Truth is a person that we can look to.

[252] Yes.

[253] To model what truth does.

[254] Yes.

[255] Truth sacrifices.

[256] That's right.

[257] Truth stands strong, even in persecution.

[258] I mean, Jesus is the face of truth.

[259] He's true incarnate.

[260] And that really is the mission of the church to help people know him so that once you get to know Jesus, it changes you.

[261] And it's much easier to live the truth, to avoid sin.

[262] I mean, we all remain sinners, and we have to be humble and recognize that.

[263] But we are challenged to grow more and more in sanctity and move further and further from sin.

[264] And coming to know Jesus Christ as who he really is, truth incarnate, that gives us the strength to grow in virtue and to turn to away from sin more and more completely.

[265] Well said, I always say that when you know the meaning and purpose of life, it's a game changer because too many of us in our culture think that, hey, I get to live 60, 70, 80 years and then I'm done?

[266] And there's nothing after that?

[267] That's a lie.

[268] And the world has embraced that.

[269] I continue to talk when a St. Thomas Moore is one of my favorite saints.

[270] And a quote I put in my daily reminder that I read almost daily.

[271] it gives me focus he says earth has no sorrow that heaven cannot heal see i'm looking long term i'm rounding third base and i say to myself like wow what are we going to do with the church that we have here where we work out of well the fathers are religious order takes over uh the church continues to work when i'm gone and that's what we're going to do because they're going to get the church for nothing it's it's theirs why do we do that because we're looking long term.

[272] I'm going to be checking out for my exit interview soon, but we want to see the good work continue, like for you, as a bishop, you're putting institutes together.

[273] You're doing work that hopefully when Bishop Strickland's gone, it'll continue to spread the faith for years after it.

[274] When we come back, folks, we're going to talk about the catechism paragraph 66 and 67, so open it up.

[275] It's on, there will be no further revelation.

[276] What's that mean?

[277] Let's talk about that for the next two segments because it's that important.

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

[279] Stay with us, family.

[280] This is going to be important to understand.

[281] Welcome back to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[282] This is the section of the show where we go and open up the catechism of the Catholic Church.

[283] And I'm excited because I'll be honest, Bishop Strickland said, yeah, let's discuss these paragraphs.

[284] This is important.

[285] I said, oh, I read him and I's like, oh, I can't wait for the show to begin.

[286] So we're going to open up the catechism to paragraph 66.

[287] The header on it is there will be no further revelation.

[288] I'll read the paragraph and then Bishop Stricken let's talk about it.

[289] The Christian economy therefore since it is the new and definitive covenant will never pass away and no new public revelation is to be expected before the glorious manifestation of our Lord Jesus Christ.

[290] That's a powerful statement.

[291] Yet, even if revelation is already completed, it has not been made completely explicit.

[292] It remains for the Christian faith gradually to grasp its full significance over the course of centuries.

[293] All right, let's delve into that paragraph.

[294] Well, it kind of takes us back to what we were discussing earlier, there will be no further revelation because revelation is fulfilled in Jesus Christ.

[295] Amen.

[296] He's truth incarnate.

[297] He's the fullness of revelation.

[298] He reveals the Father and the Spirit to us.

[299] And so that I think is a good way for people to approach this.

[300] There will never be another Jesus Christ.

[301] There will not be a change of who Jesus Christ is.

[302] He's a person.

[303] He's the eternal son of God, and he became incarnate.

[304] And so he is a personal being as his god, father, son, and spirit.

[305] So to me that helps to recognize that what we're talking about when we're talking about the deposit of faith or the fullness of revelation, it's ultimately.

[306] a personal revelation of the person of who God is.

[307] And when you put it in that context, at least for me and hopefully for others that are listening, it makes it easier understand that this is not something that changes every century, but it's something that we can grow in understanding.

[308] Any person that we know, I mean, You've been married to your wife and loved her for many years.

[309] Amen.

[310] But I'm sure you continue to grow in your understanding of her, to grow in that relationship.

[311] Absolutely.

[312] You didn't, you know, after however, after 20 years of marriage, you don't say, oh, we don't need to talk anymore.

[313] I know you.

[314] I figured you out.

[315] We don't treat a person that way.

[316] And if we do, we call it impersonal.

[317] So to treat the truth that Jesus Christ has revealed.

[318] as something that can be changed or we can lop off this part or can say, oh, well, we misunderstood who Jesus was 500 years ago, but we know him now.

[319] That isn't knowing a personal truth.

[320] That isn't knowing the person of Jesus Christ.

[321] So I think this paragraph gets into the point that revelation is complete.

[322] We know Jesus Christ is the, the fullness of revelation.

[323] But we do, we know him fully.

[324] We can always, and as you look through the centuries, the church continues to know Christ more deeply.

[325] I mean, just as an example, the Eucharist was there from the very beginning, Christ himself, body and blood, soul, and divinity.

[326] The word that St. Thomas Aquinas used came many centuries into the history of the church.

[327] The church had been experiencing the Eucharistic presence of the Lord long before the word transubstantiation that St. Thomas Aquinas offered, and I think others had used it, but he used it most definitively.

[328] And even that doesn't say it fully explains the great mystery of the Eucharist, but it's the best language we have.

[329] I think that's a good example of finding better language, finding better human understanding, but the truth doesn't change.

[330] And I think we all hear voices in the world today, some in the Catholic Church and some in other places, that act as if truth can change.

[331] And, oh, well, we need to change this scripture because that's not what we understand anymore.

[332] That is just contradictory to what we what the catechism says into what our Catholic faith says.

[333] So I think this paragraph really lays the foundation.

[334] And it's not in the second part.

[335] Yes.

[336] Yet even if revelation is already complete, it has not been made completely explicit.

[337] That means that I as an individual can continue to understand this more deeply.

[338] And we as the body of the church can continue to understand the same truth more deeply.

[339] But I think we're living in a time where there's a temptation to say, oh, we found a different truth.

[340] The catechism is basically very clearly saying, and this isn't, I mean, this is from Dave Verbum, one of the documents of the Second Vatican Council.

[341] It's also First Timothy and the letter of Titus.

[342] So it's scripture and very, very, very important.

[343] recent tradition that is used to support this.

[344] It's basically quoting Dave Erbam.

[345] And I think it's, it's just a very important point that we need to be very clear about.

[346] I agree.

[347] I agree.

[348] And we were talking about Punch's pilot's question.

[349] What is truth?

[350] Truth incarnate.

[351] The face of truth was standing before him, but he was blind to it.

[352] Yeah.

[353] the same can happen to me and to all of us we can all be blind to certain elements of the truth and certainly i hope for my lifetime and certainly i can say up until now i continue to more deeply understand what the truth means we were talking earlier about that phrase from the lord's prayer the our father thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven those words don't change That is still the truth that the Our Father expresses, but yes, we need to understand it more and more deeply.

[354] What does it mean to say, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven?

[355] And all the saints, the Blessed Virgin Mary, and Jesus himself really help us, as we get to know them more deeply, can help us to understand what it means to me, what it means to Terry, what it to all of us.

[356] Well said, Bishop Strickland.

[357] It made me think of the term syncretism, and that is one religion is as good as another.

[358] And, you know, sometimes we hear that even in the church.

[359] We say, oh, you know, we're worshiping the same God.

[360] What's it matter?

[361] You know, we'll put anybody out.

[362] It doesn't matter.

[363] But, you see, that's not consistent.

[364] I believe the Second Vatican Council talks about other religions having a portion of truth, but that the Catholic Church has the fullness of the truth.

[365] So I can acknowledge, you know, one of our Protestant brothers have, you know, two of the sacraments, or they have, you know, they've got the Word of God, at least most of the Bibles, books in the Bible.

[366] But none of them have this fullness of the truth that we have, and that's one of the uniqueness about our Catholic faith.

[367] And so this whole idea that sometimes you hear that it doesn't matter what religion you are as long as you love God, it sounds kind of flowery, but that's not what the Catholic Church is taught and that's not what the Second Vatican II Council has taught so I just find it rewarding when you can go to the catechism and read exactly what the church teaches and you know you know and so sometimes you hear things out of the pulpit that aren't consistent with that and I would just say Bishop Strickland I encourage everybody to own the catechism and check out if it stands up to what we teach in the catechism because that's what St. John Paul said was a sure norm.

[368] So your thought about that and in a sense of that the Catholic Church has the fullness of truth.

[369] Absolutely.

[370] And I think this last phrase says it very well.

[371] It remains for Christian faith gradually to grasp its full significance over the course of the centuries.

[372] That's speaking of fullness of truth.

[373] Yes, it does.

[374] And that applies to the Christian faith as a community throughout the world today.

[375] and to each of us individually to gradually grasp its full significance over the course of centuries, or we can say for the individual, over the course of a lifetime.

[376] Wow.

[377] The church has continued to grow as the body of Christ, and we individually, we need to have that humility to know, hopefully, if I live 10 more years, I will have learned more about the truth and know it.

[378] with its fuller significance over my lifetime, as I can say, when I was 53, and now I'm 63, 10 years ago, I've learned a lot, but I still have a lot to learn.

[379] Its fuller significance should always be unfolding for us.

[380] And that makes living our life in Christ, living our Catholic faith, an exciting journey.

[381] Amen.

[382] It should never be boring because there's always more to learn.

[383] the mystery is always deeper than where we are now awesome and that's why i want to recommend the best place to go to meditate on these mysteries is before the blessed sacrament i mean that's where jesus is his whole body is the fullness of truth is right there i love it and when we come back we want to talk about what the church teaches about private revelation and what it isn't yeah it is very important and especially when today we hear so many people saying, oh, the Blessed Mother came to me. I get that probably once a month, and she's given a message to me, and I'm like, okay, first of all, calm down.

[384] You know, that doesn't happen too often, but the very fact that you're telling me that's probably not a good thing, but let's see what the church teaches about private revelation when we come back to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[385] I want to give a plug to your institute.

[386] I heard just some big news that you're now running.

[387] Can you talk a little bit about the institute in the diocese?

[388] that you have?

[389] Sure.

[390] It's continuing to develop.

[391] We have some great young talent that is very full of faith and very alive in Jesus Christ.

[392] And they're joyfully sharing the truth.

[393] Good.

[394] St. Philip Institute .org.

[395] I encourage everyone to check it out.

[396] There's some great treasures there because the truth is a treasure.

[397] Well said.

[398] We come back again.

[399] We'll talk about paragraph 67.

[400] Open up that catechism, the paragraph 67.

[401] This is a game.

[402] changer.

[403] You won't want to miss it.

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

[405] Stay with us, family, for one more segment with the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[406] Welcome back to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[407] We're talking on the catechism of the Catholic Church.

[408] I want to encourage people, I say this for all the years I've been involved in evangelization.

[409] Our Catholic faith is a lifetime occupation.

[410] What I mean by that?

[411] We're constantly learning things about our faith.

[412] I'm 65 now, so I just just...

[413] turned 65.

[414] So I'm a little over there in Bishop Strickland, but I said to myself, I'm a senior citizen now and rounding third base, but every time I read a new book, I like, I read this book on Christmas by Dr. Michael Barber, my nephew, and I'm like, wow, how these guys are just amazing, how they do the research on the Old Testament.

[415] I would have never known that.

[416] And now that I learned it, it's just like I'm a better follower of Christ by knowing more about Jesus.

[417] And that's something we have to strive every day for.

[418] What new thing can we learn about Christ and I'll make one other comment before we get in there's a little book called the meditations on the gospel by the confraternity of the precious blood out of new york and they take the life of christ and you meditate on these meditations of the life of christ and i'm telling you i'm like wow this is really edifying so when i go to sleep i think about the wedding feast of cana and i put myself in that wedding feast of cana sitting on a rock so this is how scripture comes alive you think about that and now when you go to sleep you're thinking about Jesus rather than what am I going to do tomorrow morning and I'm stressed because I got a big meeting you've got to take the scriptures and really think about it and meditate on them and that's the value of studying our faith Bishop Strickland Bishop our paragraph 67 really says a lot throughout the ages there has been so -called private revelation some of which has been recognized by the authority of the church like Fatima.

[419] They do not belong, however, to the deposit of faith.

[420] Very well said.

[421] It is not their role to improve or to complete Christ's definitive revelation, but to help live more fully by it in a certain period of history.

[422] Guided by the Magisterium of the Church, call it the census fidelity, William, knows how to discern and welcome into these revelations, whatever constitutes an authentic call of Christ or his saints to the church.

[423] And then we'll take the next paragraph after that.

[424] Let's take that first one.

[425] Well, it talks about something that's very important that I've learned a lot about just recently.

[426] There are many private revelations that are recorded, especially in our communication.

[427] education age, people, you can find them all over the place.

[428] Some have been officially recognized by the church as not in conflict with the deposit of faith.

[429] And I think that's an important point for all of us to be aware of.

[430] It's sort of like there's a model that these private revelations are measured against.

[431] Right.

[432] And that's public revelation, the deposit of faith.

[433] Jesus Christ, the fullness of revelation.

[434] So I think it's important for all of us to recognize because in a sense, all of us can maybe have a private revelation.

[435] I don't claim any, but it's something that a lot of people receive an insight or something that is specifically something that they experience.

[436] themselves through prayer or through a dream or however it comes to them.

[437] It needs to be measured against the public revelation, the revelation that is in the catechism, that is in the Word of God, and is Jesus Christ, the person of Jesus Christ.

[438] It's always the truth that any revelation is measured against.

[439] There are many private revelations that have not been accepted.

[440] And the paragraph, the second paragraph that we can get to, hopefully, gets into that.

[441] Yes.

[442] But I think the important thing that I see here is they do not belong, however, to the deposit of faith.

[443] It's important for people to realize is as beautiful as some of the private revelations are our lady of Fatima, our lady of Guadalupe, all the apparitions of Mary.

[444] Yep.

[445] But they're in the category of private revelation.

[446] That's right.

[447] So they're not essential for people to believe.

[448] Right.

[449] I mean, if people say, oh, I just don't know if I can believe that, that's okay.

[450] Different from the deposit of faith, the public revelation, Jesus Christ and the fullness of his message, that is required to be believed.

[451] And that's a distinction that I think is not very clear in our time.

[452] There are things in the deposit of faith that we may say, well, I find that hard to understand or I'm not really understanding this, but we should accept it on faith, as we say.

[453] The private revelations, we don't have to accept on faith.

[454] You're free to, and frankly, I mean, like, Our Lady of Fatima, I believe that.

[455] I believe that Mary truly spoke to those children of Fatima.

[456] Our Lady of Guadalupe that we just celebrated, a beautiful evangelization of the Americas in Mexico on a hill called Tepeyak, our Lady of Guadalupe.

[457] and, I mean, you've got the tilma there that I've had the blessing of seeing up close and personal there in the Basilica of Mexico City, the same tilma that was given to Juan Diego.

[458] So, but that's a private revelation.

[459] Yeah.

[460] That's not something that is part of the deposit of faith that we say, we must believe this.

[461] I find it very helpful.

[462] And as it says here, it's helpful to live.

[463] living the faith in a certain time in a period of history.

[464] And so these, and there are many private revelations in the 20th century that have been recognized or haven't been recognized.

[465] Many of those, I mean, we were talking about St. Maximilian Colby.

[466] Yeah.

[467] He had some private revelations.

[468] And he's a canonized saint now.

[469] many of those who receive private revelations are now beatified, some of them canonized, and that is even more of a seal of approval on the church that these private revelations are worthy of belief, but not essential to be believed, like the deposit of faith.

[470] We need to make those distinctions because we're in an age, not just in the church, but just in regular human communication, the finer distinctions very often are left out of the picture.

[471] And people make these broad statements that need more precision.

[472] And certainly in the life of the church, that is true.

[473] To guard the deposit of faith, which is one of the promises I made, is essential really for all of us, but especially for me as a bishop, for parish priest.

[474] The installation of a priest as pastor talks about guarding the deposit of faith as well.

[475] And it's important, but there's a real distinction between private revelation that a person, a good, a person of goodwill may say, as you were saying, Terry, Mary spoke to me or one of the saints spoke to me, or I have this revelation about what this word of God really means.

[476] means, that needs to be tested.

[477] It needs to be measured against what we know to be the truth, the unchanging truth, as it said in the earlier paragraph, the truth is not going to pass away.

[478] It's not going to morph into something else, again, because it's a real person.

[479] Jesus Christ is not going to change into a different person if we just go through enough millennia.

[480] It's until the end of time that this is the truth.

[481] And I think the important point about private revelation, so anything that is said in the church, I mean, you as a faithful Catholic, you need to certainly respect the priest or the bishops and listen, but measure it against the deposit of faith.

[482] And as I've said many times, I can make mistakes.

[483] I do it all the time.

[484] And if I make a mistake and misquote the catechism, I want to be corrected.

[485] And hopefully every priest and every bishop has that attitude.

[486] We need to be corrected.

[487] And you as a lay Catholic, do it with respect, certainly.

[488] But to say, no, I'm sorry, Father, or I'm sorry, Bishop.

[489] that isn't what the deposit of faith says.

[490] That isn't what the catechism teaches us.

[491] That isn't what Jesus Christ teaches us to, again, personalize it with the person of Christ.

[492] And if we have that relationship with him, if we love the Lord, as I know we both do, that love continues to grow.

[493] But if you love the person of Jesus Christ, you don't want to do anything that is contrary to him, truth.

[494] You want to know him more deeply.

[495] It's just natural to us as personal beings, to want to know another personal being that happens to be the son of God.

[496] We want to know him more deeply.

[497] So we can always measure private revelation against who he is.

[498] Hold it up to Christ.

[499] Hold it up to the lens of Christ and see, does it fit or is it contradictory?

[500] If it's contradictory, we need to reject it.

[501] Well, you just said what St. Paul VI said about Fatima.

[502] It's a reaffirmation of the gospel.

[503] All this is based on divine revelation.

[504] So if a private apparition takes place, it's judged based on is it reaffirming what we Catholics believe for the millennial.

[505] I want to make sure we get this last paragraph in Bishop Strickland.

[506] It says Christian faith cannot accept revelations that claim to surpass or correct a revelation of which Christ is the fulfillment, as in the case of certain non -Christian religions, and also in certain recent sects which base themselves on such revelations.

[507] Let's talk about that.

[508] That is a critical short, but a very critical paragraph.

[509] Christian faith cannot accept revelations, in quotes, false revelations, basically, that claim to surpass or correct the revelation of which Christ is the fulfillment.

[510] It says much better than I did and much more succinctly, exactly the point I was trying to make.

[511] Christ is the fulfillment of revelation.

[512] Nothing can surpass or correct him.

[513] And we hear too much, even within the church of, oh, well, this, we'll get to the real truth later or we'll correct this.

[514] That's not what we believe.

[515] Amen.

[516] That's not what the Catechism says.

[517] Amen.

[518] It cannot surpass or correct the revelation of which Christ is the fulfillment.

[519] Doesn't get any clear.

[520] Bishop Strickland, how about a blessing for our listeners, please?

[521] Absolutely.

[522] Almighty God, we ask your blessing for all of us continuing to grow in our faith and listening to the Word of God and to the Catechism.

[523] I ask this blessing in the name of the Father of the Son.

[524] Amen.

[525] Thank you, Bishop Strickland.

[526] Folks, you can listen to all the Bishop Strickland shows on podcast by going to vmpr .org.

[527] Matter of fact, you can listen to all of the shows we produce here at Virgin Most Powerful Radio.

[528] I thank you for listening, and may God richly bless you and your family.

[529] God love you.