20 Oct 2020 – The Seventh Commandment (Pt.4)

[0] welcome to the bishop strickland hour my name's terry barbara i'm with virgin most powerful radio bishop strickland thanks be to god we have another hour to share the gospel with folks all around the world how are you doing today good terry thanks i'm blessed too i always tell people i'm too blessed to be stressed that's what my shirt says bishop strickland you've been tweeting a lot and as you know those who are just brand new listeners we talk about the cultural issues of the day through Bishop Strickland's tweets and then the second half of the show we deal with some doctrinal issue like the Ten Commandments or the Sacraments.

[1] And I just want to thank, welcome all the new YouTube listeners.

[2] We had 1 ,800 new YouTube listeners since last Tuesday.

[3] Join us and that's a growing number and we thank all those folks.

[4] Bishop Strickland, here's what you sent out September 22nd as a tweet.

[5] If you can watch this, that means you weren't murdered in your mother's womb.

[6] The sad silence of society regarding this evil is an eerie echo of the silent scream of a child just before their life has ended in the womb.

[7] Before we show this clip, Dr. Bernard Nathanson had the largest abortion clinic in the Western world.

[8] He performed over 70 ,000 abortions himself, had a metanoia, had a conversion, not only converting to pro -life, but he also became a Catholic before he passed.

[9] So let's play that clip if you can watch.

[10] this.

[11] This suction tip, which you can see moving violently back and forth on the bottom of the screen, is the lethal instrument which will ultimately tear apart and destroy the child.

[12] It is only after the fluid has been broken.

[13] The sack has been disrupted that the tip will actually come against the child.

[14] But we can see the tip moving back and forth as the abortionist seeks the child's body.

[15] Once again, we see the child's mouth wide open in a silent scream in this particular freeze frame.

[16] This is the silent scream of a child threatened imminently with extinction.

[17] Now, the heart rate has speeded up dramatically, and the child's movements are violent at this point.

[18] It does sense aggression in its sanctuary.

[19] It is moving away.

[20] One can see it moving to the left side of the uterus in an attempt, a pathetic attempt to escape the inexorable instruments which the abortionist is using to extinguish its life.

[21] Well, Bishop Strickland, I'm so glad you put that out because I remember 25 years ago when that came out, that was technology that was brand new.

[22] People were seeing the baby in the womb, and they were going, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, it's not a banana.

[23] It's not an apple.

[24] It's life.

[25] And it really did shock a lot of people.

[26] Is that the reason you put that out on your tweet?

[27] Yes, Terry, absolutely.

[28] As my tweet said, people are silent about it for various reasons, but we have to speak up and speak for those who have no voice.

[29] The silent scream is because if they were.

[30] allowed to be born, they'd be screaming.

[31] But, you know, in the womb, you can't hear them.

[32] But they've got vocal cords.

[33] They've got everything that it takes to scream, except they're muffled.

[34] And we've just got to acknowledge the reality that people are ignoring life and just making their own decisions.

[35] They need to at least be honest and say, yes, we're deciding to take another person's life.

[36] That is terrible, but that's what's happening, but they like to use language and pretend that it really isn't a person.

[37] And they sell a lot of gullible people on that idea.

[38] But as you said, the technology, and it's advanced so much now, I mean, you can practically have a motion picture of the child in the womb that looks, I mean, you can see their facial expression.

[39] It's improved so much with the ultrasound.

[40] And we've got to continue to speak this truth.

[41] I feel a very strong obligation as just a disciple of Jesus Christ, but certainly as a bishop, we all need to speak up and not let the falsehoods just be dominating the airwaves.

[42] And people say, oh, well, it's just tissue or it's a woman's body.

[43] It's a whole other person.

[44] And if you're choosing to take that life, you need to at least be honest that, yes, we believe it's okay to murder this person because we have the power and we have the technology to do it.

[45] Bishop Strickland, to follow up on that, the National Catholic Register has an article by a friend of ours, Dr. Janet Smith.

[46] She's a professor retired at a seminary.

[47] she was teaching future priests for years and her article says preaching and the election how not to get in trouble but to still be effective and in this article she's challenging the priest to speak out for the unborn and in a way that will be effective but not to turn people you know off where you just slam them so my question is as a bishop you know you've got priests that are in your diocese what do you say to your priest what what are you telling your people priests, how do we become effective preachers of the gospel of life?

[48] And that's my question to you.

[49] How do we go on the altar and in a homily explain the sacredness of life in all its forms?

[50] Well, I think we simply do that and talk about the reality of, you know, all of the threats to life.

[51] Certainly abortion is the preeminent threat.

[52] We've talked about that word before.

[53] But there are many threats to life, euthanasia.

[54] You know, the elderly and the handicapped are threatened as well.

[55] With all the COVID issues, the elderly have been really mistreated in the way that certain states and mayors and governors have created situations where vulnerable people have been just.

[56] really put into a deadly situation.

[57] So we've got to preach the message of life.

[58] We are created in the image and likeness of God.

[59] And we've got to preach that.

[60] And you can say a lot without me to talk about a party or a candidate, but just talk about the issues of the gospel and what the catechism says.

[61] Right.

[62] And you know, that brings up what you tweeted about Fulton Sheen, who's my hero.

[63] He says, the refusal to take sides on a great moral issue is itself a decision.

[64] It is a silent acquiescence to evil.

[65] The tragedy of our time is that those who still believe in honesty lack fire and conviction, while those who believe in dishonesty are full of passionate conviction.

[66] Bishop Strickland, you just tweeted that.

[67] Is that because you're trying to fire us up, does not be quiet about this issue of abortion?

[68] Absolutely.

[69] And about all the issues of the faith.

[70] I mean, talk about prophetic.

[71] I mean, those words of Archbishop Sheen are from decades ago.

[72] But it could have, it sounds like yesterday on the news or this morning on the news.

[73] I mean, there are the people that are anti -faith in anti -God, are very bold about speaking out, but for whatever reasons, the believers, and especially Christians and Catholics, we tend to not speak out.

[74] And, you know, the truth really ultimately prevails, but we need to make sure that we are speaking the truth because there are many people out there that are ignorant of who Jesus Christ is, really, and what the Catholic faith is about.

[75] And we can't be silent.

[76] We have to speak the truth, just like the apostles did as the church was born.

[77] They were bold, enlivened by the Holy Spirit.

[78] We've received the same Holy Spirit, but we've allowed it to be muffled by culture and by society.

[79] We are supposed to speak out.

[80] And it's a glorious truth.

[81] It's a good news.

[82] It brings joy and fulfillment to human lives.

[83] So we have an obligation to share the good news.

[84] Well, Bishop Strickland, while you're talking on my phone, I just got a text from a doctor who's listening saying that you've inspired him to speak up stronger in his medical profession and not be silent.

[85] So I guess that worked.

[86] See, where's the church going where its leaders take them?

[87] Bishop Strickland, when you speak up like that, it gives us lay people, encourage us.

[88] to say, hey, wait a minute, hey, our leaders are speaking up, but we better speak up.

[89] So I thank you for that.

[90] One thing you just spoke up on another tweet on September 25th, as you said, it's a travesty that Amy Connie Barrett is vivified for one simple phrase in her bio.

[91] She's a practicing Catholic.

[92] If she is nominated for the Supreme Court by President Trump, she should be judged on her legal qualifications.

[93] I sense that you think there might be a little anti -Catholicism going on here.

[94] Absolutely.

[95] And it's really interesting, Terry, because Amy Coney -Barrant is a devout practicing Catholic.

[96] There are many other Catholics that are at the top of our political system.

[97] And they don't complain about them because they are not practicing Catholics, truly.

[98] They're denying the basic teachings of the church.

[99] A Catholic who is supporting abortion is not living according to what the Catholic Church teaches.

[100] I think it's very interesting and very duplicitous of people that are attacking Amy Coney Barrett because she's a practicing Catholic, the people that they aren't attacking, it shows that there's a difference.

[101] There's a difference between the two versions of being Catholic.

[102] One, they're fine with because they're denying basic Catholic teaching.

[103] They're going after Amy Coney Barrett because they're afraid of the abortion issue and afraid of people waking up to the evil that that is for those Catholics so -called Catholics that are going along with it, they're fine with them.

[104] Amen.

[105] We're going to come right back with more on the Bishop Strickland Hour.

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[117] Thank you.

[118] God bless you.

[119] Keep the faith.

[120] Jesus said in Luke 17, when you have done all that you were ordered to do, say, we our unprofitable servants, we have only done our duty.

[121] According to St. John of the Cross, God is pleased with the little deeds we do in secret.

[122] He takes more pleasure in these than in a multitude of grand works that we may do out of the desire to be seen by others.

[123] May God help us to do the things that please him, and not just to appear great in the eyes of others.

[124] This is Terry Barber.

[125] I want to thank you for your support here at Virgin Most Powerful Radio.

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[131] Thank you so much for your support.

[132] Welcome back to the Bishop Strickland Hour here on Virgin Most Powerful Radio.

[133] We were just talking about the cultural issues of the day.

[134] Don't forget, our second half of our show, we're going to be covering the Seventh Commandment, Thou Shall Not Steal.

[135] That'll be coming up.

[136] But right now I'm talking with Bishop Strickland about another tweet.

[137] We're recording this show on St. Michael, the Archangel's Feast Day.

[138] We call it the Guardian, we call it the St. Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael's Archangels, September 29th.

[139] And I asked the bishop because he tweeted about the...

[140] angels to say a few words.

[141] Why are you bringing up angels right now?

[142] Are we in need of help from our guardian angels from the angels above?

[143] Tell us what your thoughts are, Bishop Strickland.

[144] I spoke of in the homily today on the Feast of the Archangels, Michael, Gabriel and Raphael, is they remind us of supernatural faith.

[145] And I believe that's where our crisis is in many ways.

[146] Even people within the church, even leaders within the church are acting as if, I mean, we have no right to judge anyone's faith, but we do have to judge actions.

[147] Amen.

[148] We do have to say that's a wrong action.

[149] And it's just, I think there's a crisis of real supernatural faith.

[150] And so on this feast of the archangels, it's a great reminder that the tradition of the church and speaking of guardian angels, it comes out of scripture.

[151] and the idea of a guardian angel is a reminder of that supernatural connection that we have to God because of who we are.

[152] We are not angels.

[153] We are created in the image and likeness of God as human beings.

[154] But we believe that each person has a guardian angel, a spirit that is there to help guide us and to help us always seek that supernatural life.

[155] as Catholics, if we don't believe in the supernatural, then we don't really believe in what the Catholic Church teaches.

[156] Celebrating mass, bread and wine becomes the body and blood of the Son of God, the eternal Savior, Jesus Christ.

[157] We believe that.

[158] That is the supernatural act that we celebrate on a daily basis throughout the world.

[159] The angels, hopefully, help us to be strengthened in that supernatural faith.

[160] And I think a lot of people are lacking it, even people who go to Mass. If you really aren't very aware and very reverent and in awe of the fact that simple bread and wine become the body and blood, soul and divinity of the Son of God, that's the wondrous faith that we've inherited.

[161] And it gets diminished and not really powerfully proclaimed and people have lost that idea that there is a supernatural life.

[162] The fact that we're created in the image and likeness of God immediately says that we have a supernatural life that we're called to.

[163] Certainly, we're natural beings.

[164] We're part of this world.

[165] We're made up of minerals and chemicals, and we are physical beings.

[166] But that is not the totality of who we are.

[167] And too many people, even if they, exercise some kind of faith, they don't live really with that supernatural faith very strongly planted in their hearts and minds.

[168] Bishop Strickland, I'm just backing you with the Catholicism of the Catholic Church paragraph 336.

[169] It says, beside each believer stands an angel as a protector and shepherd leading him to life.

[170] The angelic ministry concerning our whole life natural and supernatural.

[171] Just what you're saying.

[172] It's right there.

[173] In the natural order, man can do many things on his own with or without the help of the holy angels.

[174] But on the supernatural level, our Lord tells us, without me, you can do nothing.

[175] John 15 .5.

[176] So we're unable to perform any meritorious act and in progress good without the help of God's grace.

[177] But this help of divine grace comes to us through the angels.

[178] This is what St. Thomas Aquinas teaches in his summa theological.

[179] This principle is true for each believer.

[180] So the good news is we all have a guardian angel and here's my line.

[181] The unemployment rate for guardian angels is way too high.

[182] Put them to work so this is a great day to ask your angel to help collaborate with you to get to heaven and to live out the virtuous life.

[183] Bishop Strickland, final one that you, final tweet that you sent out.

[184] Oh actually there's one more after that but this is a very good one.

[185] Tonight the 29th we have the debate between President Trump and former Vice President Biden.

[186] And so we're going to be able to, you know, evaluate with a Catholic mindset at this debate, what, you know, we vote for.

[187] And you have some advice in a tweet that says, vote for candidates who respect and protect marriage and protect the family.

[188] Duh.

[189] I mean, really?

[190] That's the advice I've been giving to people and just make your, look at what each platform stands for i can't i can't tell you how to vote but i can tell you you you need to be a high information catholic because you got to vote with your moral conscience because here's my point and i'll let you tell me why you sent that tweet out i'm tired of low information catholics where they vote with their pocketbook rather than their moral conviction why did you send that tweet out bishop strickland well terry it kind of goes back to what we were just talking about, we as Catholics need to vote in the context of the call to supernatural life, to everlasting life with God.

[191] Certainly, you can have different opinions about how you're going to improve the economy best and all sorts of a host of issues.

[192] But the foundational issues have to do with who we are created in the image and likeness of God, that supernatural life.

[193] So a Catholic voter should always be well -formed in what issues are the key issues that are being, that are in question with any election.

[194] At this time, certainly the question of life across the spectrum, from conception to natural death, we've got to protect the sanctity of life.

[195] The sanctity of marriage.

[196] Marriage is, once again, just as abortion is, legal.

[197] Marriage of whatever we want to make it is the law of the land.

[198] But we know that God's law is that marriage is between a man and a woman for life, open to children.

[199] And then the other issue of family grows out of marriage.

[200] And even families aren't being supported.

[201] So those are, I guess the way I would put it, Terry, those are the issues with supernatural overtones that we've got to pay the most attention to.

[202] Certainly, you can have ideas about trade agreements and all those things that are part of the complex economy, part of all sorts of issues that really aren't faith issues.

[203] They certainly should always be about the benefit of the people and the common good.

[204] That's something that's kind of gotten lost in the shuffle.

[205] But for us as Catholics, we should be especially paying attention to the preeminent issues, the sanctity of life, the sanctity of marriage, and the sanctity of who we are as men and women, there's a lot of manipulation of that as well.

[206] And people are being harmed by being told that, well, you can make yourself what you want.

[207] We should be telling people as Catholics that we should look to God.

[208] What did God make me to be?

[209] What has God called me to be?

[210] And to flourish in that instead of saying, oh, well, we can reinvent ourselves.

[211] And any of those things get to core issues that really begin to touch on the supernatural nature of who we are.

[212] And that's when we need to really pay attention and to vote accordingly.

[213] because some of the other issues that are important, but are not that significant for everlasting life, those can, you know, you can have different opinions about a lot of things, but for us as Catholics, there are some preeminent issues that really need to be addressed.

[214] And for service to humanity, like I'm often, I was told by my parents very often, of those, who have received much, just quoting the gospel, of those who have received much, much is expected.

[215] I think as Catholics, we have to acknowledge we have received more of the fullness of revelation of God through his son, Jesus Christ.

[216] Two thousand years of understanding the truth that is revealed to us in Jesus Christ.

[217] We have an obligation to share that truth because there are many people that are in the dark in the world today.

[218] And that's why some of our strongest Catholics are converts who maybe were atheist at one time.

[219] We have people working here in our St. Philip Institute and in the diocese that at one time we're atheists.

[220] But they woke up to that supernatural element of who we are as men and women.

[221] So as Catholics, we have an obligation to speak out.

[222] And certainly, I believe, as a Catholic bishop, I have even a weightier obligation because I'm called to lead.

[223] I'm called to preach and to help people see the truth.

[224] It's good news.

[225] It's a joyful message.

[226] But too many are trying to muffle that message and distort it, whether it's a Supreme Court decision or election of who the next president is.

[227] We as Catholics need to look at where are the supernatural issues that need to be dealt with?

[228] And if you're a Catholic and you're not paying attention to the supernatural, I'd encourage you to study the catechism some more, because that's who we are.

[229] We proudly proclaim that we believe God touches us daily through sacraments.

[230] The Eucharist is at the pinnacle of those gifts of sacraments because bread and wine become the son of God.

[231] If that's not supernatural, I don't know what is.

[232] Bishop Strickland, you sound like a saint.

[233] And you know what it sounds like?

[234] St. John Paul II II.

[235] He must have had a profound effect on your priesthood because I'm thinking you were ordained, what, in the 1980s?

[236] 1985.

[237] Okay, John Paul II was writing.

[238] He was like all over the place talking about the way the family goes, is the way the culture goes.

[239] Is this what you're saying?

[240] And he said something also about legalized abortion.

[241] in the gospel of life.

[242] He said that I call governments that legalize abortion, a tyrant state.

[243] And, you know, those are strong words from the saint.

[244] But I think we need to hear that because we're in the same situation today that we were, you know, 30 years ago when he was power preaching to the world.

[245] Now, Bishop Strickland, you mentioned the St. Philip Institute.

[246] I want people to go to that.

[247] Can you share for our new listeners what you're doing with the St. Philip?

[248] Institute?

[249] Well, yes, Terry, I'd encourage people to go to simply St. Philip Institute .org, Philip with one L, St. Philip Institute .org.

[250] It's all about teaching just what we've been talking about, that we are supernatural beings that, yes, we're part of this world, but we've got a call in our soul to participate in God's life everlasting.

[251] That's what the institute exists for us to teach that good news of the gospel.

[252] And we've got some very talented people that are doing a great job of getting that word out.

[253] And the world desperately needs that truth.

[254] Many of us have said, I'm sure you've, I don't think we've talked about it, but I know that I've talked to many people.

[255] I don't know how people are navigating COVID -19 and all of the chaos in the world today who have no faith.

[256] I agree.

[257] Sadly, many people, aren't.

[258] They're taking their own lives or they're We'll be right back with more with the Bishop Strickman on the hour, Virgin Most Powerful.

[259] Welcome to Daniel.

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[281] This is Terry Barber.

[282] I want to thank you for your support here at Virgin Most Powerful Radio.

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[287] Thank you so much for your support.

[288] Welcome back to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[289] This is Carrie Barber with Virgin Most Powerful Radio.

[290] For those who are listening and want to listen to previous shows, they can go to our website, virgin most powerful radio .org, and check out all the podcasts.

[291] Bishop Strickland, we've been on the Seventh Commandment for a couple weeks and we just keep going at it because there's so much, you know, I mean, I'm holding this catechism in my hand, Bishop Strickland, and I'm going, you know, I just, my prayer is that every Catholic would own a catechism and read it on a regular basis because we wouldn't have the problems we have today if they were reading the catechism of the Catholic Church.

[292] As a matter of fact, our priest, who is a convert from the Anglican Church, He told me, just at the homily, that he used to read the Catholic catechism before he became a Catholic.

[293] And one of the reasons he became a Catholic is because this catechism made so much sense to him.

[294] I'm like, wow, this is really beautiful that all this is under one cover.

[295] And that's one of the reasons he became a Catholic and then a priest.

[296] But we're talking about right now 2415 respect for the integrity of creation.

[297] and I think this is important because sometimes we hear people, you know, abuse animals or abuse the land of the earth.

[298] And I know Pope Francis has made some strong points about that we have to respect, but we've always had that teaching.

[299] This is important.

[300] Maybe we need to go back to it.

[301] But here's what 2415 says.

[302] The Seventh Commandment enjoins respect for the integrity of creation.

[303] You know, the world, the earth.

[304] Animals like plants and inanimate beings are by nature destined for the common good.

[305] of past, present, and future humanity.

[306] Use of mineral, vegetable, animal resources of the universe cannot be divorced from the respect for the moral imperatives.

[307] Man's dominion over inanimate and other living beings granted by the Creator is not absolute.

[308] It is limited by the concern for the quality of life of his neighbor, including generations to come.

[309] It requires religious respect for the integrity of creation.

[310] That just makes common sense to me, but today, sometimes you hear that Bishop Strickland and you go, wait a minute, that seems like he's over the top.

[311] I don't think so.

[312] I think the catechism is spot on.

[313] What are your thoughts?

[314] Absolutely.

[315] And it has to be put into the context of who we are.

[316] Yeah.

[317] As man has dominion over inanimate and other living beings granted by the creator, we are created as well.

[318] We are, like I said earlier, created in the image and likeness of God.

[319] So that gives us a responsibility that the rest of creation doesn't have.

[320] But I think there's a tendency in worrying about the environment to forget who we are.

[321] Certainly.

[322] We have a responsibility.

[323] Everything's a gift, just like the book of Job reminds us, naked we came forth from the womb, naked we will leave.

[324] Amen.

[325] Life itself is a gift.

[326] Every single single thing we have, we can't really claim as something that we've produced.

[327] We are the recipients of a universe.

[328] We're the recipients of the breath that we're taking in order to speak these words.

[329] Everything is a gift.

[330] And in that context, remembering that we are the children of God created in God's image and likeness, then we have a great responsibility.

[331] So that dominion over the earth, it's just like, you know, a lot of times we live as spoiled children.

[332] And we waste the earth.

[333] We waste a lot.

[334] And we hoard things that we don't really need.

[335] This is reminding us in the whole context of faith and of who we are.

[336] Absolutely, we should care for the earth.

[337] But not care for the earth as if it were God, or as if it were more important than the human beings, but because we're human beings, because we're created in the image and likeness of God, because everything is a gift out of respect for all of that, we do have to have great care for the earth, but always in the proper context.

[338] And, you know, certainly wealth in the world very often is built on the backs of people and on abuse of the planet.

[339] And so we have to take all of the whole body of truth that's been revealed to us really will guide us to a more just, more fulfilling life in this world where we have plenty, we have what we need, but we don't have more than we need.

[340] Because a lot of the saints have told us beautifully that if we have more than we need, really, we're keeping others from having what they basically need.

[341] If everyone, and, you know, that's where the economic systems are all imperfect.

[342] I happen to believe that capitalism is the best we've come up with.

[343] It's not perfect because people's greed can distort it.

[344] But the other, like communism or socialism, it takes away that human freedom, and it takes away our ability to be those beings called to supernatural life that we are.

[345] And so capitalism certainly has its shortcomings.

[346] And very often it's pointed to as abusing the planet.

[347] Certainly that happens.

[348] But it's really not the fault of the system.

[349] It's the fault of sinful people taking advantage of whatever system.

[350] And you can't tell me that every system of human government, someone through history, has taken advantage of it in unjust ways.

[351] But we have an absolute obligation to care for the environment, to care for the planet, to not be greedy.

[352] But it all has to be in the context of who we are, not lording it over creation or any group of people, but always as servants of God and in that context of who we are as the children of God.

[353] Yep.

[354] You nailed it.

[355] St. John Paul too called it unbridled capitalism, where you've got selfish people wanting just to abuse people by making money on them, and the catechism covers that.

[356] My grandmother, my Lebanese grandmother used to say, Terry, only use what you need if you have as much as the ocean, just take what you need.

[357] And so that was the same principle that, you know, we didn't, if you, you know, you don't need to have more than, you know, 10 pairs of shoes or whatever, you know, five, a pair of shoes.

[358] I mean, you've got to have 30, 40, 50 pairs of shoes, give them away to somebody that doesn't have shoes.

[359] That's basically what I get out of all that.

[360] Yeah.

[361] Bishop Strickland, the church also in paragraph 2420, talking about social, doctrine of the church.

[362] This makes some people uncomfortable, but it really shouldn't because this is the gospel.

[363] The church makes a moral judgment about economic and social matters when the fundamental rights of the people or the salvation of souls requires it.

[364] In the moral order, she bears a mission distinct from that of the political authorities.

[365] The church is concerned with the temporal aspects of the common good because they are ordered to the sovereign good.

[366] our ultimate end.

[367] She strives to inspire right attitudes with respect to earthly goods and in social economic relationships.

[368] That's paragraph 2420.

[369] Your thoughts?

[370] That is some essential truth that we really need to hear more.

[371] And it brings everything into the proper balance.

[372] The fundamental rights of persons.

[373] Yes.

[374] And we've talked about that a lot.

[375] and certainly the abortion issue, but I think we do have to emphasize that encompasses from conception to natural death.

[376] As long as a person, a human being is in this world, they have certain basic rights.

[377] And that's what this is talking about.

[378] And when those fundamental rights are infringed because someone is super wealthy or just abusing their power, then the church has to speak out.

[379] And a lot of times people get upset about a bishop speaking on what they consider political topics or kind of meddling in economics.

[380] We are called to speak out, like I've said already, in the context of the spiritual beings, the supernatural life.

[381] Like it says, the ultimate end.

[382] What is that ultimate end?

[383] Well, we wanted to be everlasting life with God.

[384] All of us have an ultimate end, whatever it is, it's either with God or without God, heaven or hell.

[385] And in that context, absolutely, we should use all of our resources to help people live a just and happy life in this world in preparation for that ultimate end.

[386] there there's a lot that it's broken about the world today as there was in the world that Jesus Christ was born into and in every year and every century since then but the message of the gospel is a message of the value of every person and calling us to avoid those deadly sins that cause us to take what really isn't ours because it really belongs to someone else if we hoarding anything than we have more than we need and someone doesn't have the basics of what they need.

[387] So that's what this paragraph 2420 is talking about.

[388] Got it.

[389] Paragraph 2427 talks about human work.

[390] Now I'm just going to back up and say, you know, we have this out in California where I live.

[391] There's a lot of strange ideas.

[392] And it's called universal income where you don't have to work.

[393] You just get a check for doing nothing.

[394] I think that undermines what the gospel says.

[395] So here's what the paragraph says in the catechism about human work.

[396] It proceeds directly from persons created in the image of God and are called to prolong the work of creation by subduing the earth, both with and for one another.

[397] Hence, work is a duty.

[398] If anyone will not work, let him not eat.

[399] He's talking about St. Paul there.

[400] Work honors the creator's gifts and talents received from him.

[401] It can also be redemptive.

[402] That's so beautiful.

[403] By enduring the hardship of work in union with Jesus, the carpenter of Nazareth and the one crucified on Calvary, man collaborates in a certain fashion with the Son of God in his redemptive work.

[404] Well, I think about that when you go to work.

[405] He shows himself to be a disciple of Christ by carrying the cross daily in the work he's called to accomplish.

[406] Work can be a means of sanctification.

[407] and a way of animating earthly realities with the Spirit of Christ.

[408] Bishop Strickland, there's a lot there, but before we ask you to comment on that paragraph, I hear the music coming in.

[409] I know we get, but that's a teaser, folks.

[410] You're going to have paragraph 2427.

[411] Look it up during the break, because this is a powerful paragraph about the dignity of work.

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

[413] We'll be right back.

[414] Logan, what has Virgin Most Powerful?

[415] Most Powerful Radio done for you.

[416] Well, Virgin Most Powerful Radio, I've got to say.

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[420] My faith as a young man and discern the priesthood and have a love for Jesus Christ.

[421] This is so seen on the Tarian Jesse Show on Virgin Most Powerful, the Un -Sugarcoated Clear Truth of our Catholic faith that is so lacking today.

[422] It's almost like the Terry and Jesse show.

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[429] And it inspires me to even go as far as discerning the priesthood to think, I should speak this.

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[434] In Luke 7, Jesus said, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven her because she has been shown great love.

[435] According to St. John of the Cross, Christians should always remember that the value of their good works is not based on number and excellence.

[436] Their value is based on the love for God that prompts them to do the works.

[437] May we always be motivated by true love for God and not worry so much about what we do, but why we do it.

[438] This is Terry Barber.

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[445] your support.

[446] Welcome back.

[447] We're talking about the Seventh Commandment.

[448] Now's not steel.

[449] And this paragraph I just read 2427, and I'm sure you read it during the break, folks.

[450] It's a powerful paragraph on human work.

[451] Bishop Strickland, tell us about that, this idea that, you know, it's a biblical teaching that if you don't work, you don't eat.

[452] I mean, it's a hard saying, but St. Paul said it.

[453] What's that all about?

[454] Well, once again, Terry, I think it goes back to what I've said several times already just today.

[455] It's part of being made in the image and likeness of God.

[456] Amen.

[457] God is the worker.

[458] He is the source of everything that is.

[459] He went to work and created a marvelous universe and the marvelous planet Earth that we live on.

[460] That is all the work of God, as Genesis tells us, God rested.

[461] And I think both we need to pay attention to.

[462] To be truly children of God, we need to work and to rest.

[463] If you notice, one -seventh of God's time was rest.

[464] Of course, God's timeless, and we all know that.

[465] But in the imagery of the book of Genesis, one -seventh of that, is a day of rest.

[466] And that's an important reminder to balance off the idea of work.

[467] Really, Terry, this paragraph, what it calls to mind for me is, is where we're broken on both sides.

[468] Yeah.

[469] Many people, all they do is work to accumulate wealth.

[470] Yeah.

[471] And families are broken, families, marriages end in divorce because sometimes these days, it was more classically, probably when we were kids, it tended to be more the husband and father was the workaholic.

[472] And always at work, always trying to make more money, and the family fell apart because it was out of balance.

[473] He didn't rest and he also didn't spend time valuing his wife and children.

[474] Now, sometimes it can be both the mother and the father or the woman and the man in a marriage that are caught up in the worldly ideas of more, more, more in gaining wealth and getting position.

[475] As I've said many times, basically the issues that we face in the world today come down to money, sex, and power.

[476] And when we get distorted, you know, there's so much money that goes into power and sex.

[477] I mean, it all gets woven together in this matrix of ugliness and brokenness that takes people down, that diminishes their lives sometimes to the point of despair.

[478] So this paragraph 2427, I think for the year 2020, is critically important that we understand this.

[479] Yes, we are called to work and be productive.

[480] that can happen in a lot of different ways, but we are meant to engage ourselves in the creation that God has given us.

[481] We're meant to have a decent amount of rest also and to celebrate life with family and to seek that balance that God reveals to us right there in the book of Genesis.

[482] So many people are out of balance in the world today.

[483] And I think this paragraph is that talks about the importance of work, it really reminds us that it comes down to we are made to be like God.

[484] We are made to operate the way God, our creator, operates.

[485] That's existence.

[486] That's the divine call of a human person.

[487] And when we forget that, when we become so rooted in this world, then, you know, work loses its spiritual.

[488] meaning and it just becomes some sort of functionary idea that a lot of the people as you mentioned in California have this idea that well certain people will work and produce things and then everyone else can just benefit from that production and it's just a distorted devaluing of the individual person I think it's connected with the idea that well ultimately some state or global entity needs to just control everything.

[489] And that diminishes our humanity.

[490] It diminishes the reality that we are created in the likeness and image of God.

[491] And we need to live that out.

[492] We need to literally, in flesh, incarnate the reality of what God has given us.

[493] And work is an essential part of that.

[494] Well said, Bishop Strickland, this is for our employers.

[495] I've been employing people for 40 years and when I read this catechism verse paragraph 2434 I said oh yeah this is big responsibility it's on a just wage is the legitimate fruit of work to refuse or to withhold it can be a grave injustice determining fair pay both the needs and the contributions of each person must be taken into account remuneration for work should guarantee man the opportunity to provide a dignified livelihood for himself and his family on the material, social, cultural, and spiritual level, taking into account the role of the productivity of each, the state of the business, and the common good.

[496] Agreements between the parties is not sufficient to justify morally the amount to be received in wages.

[497] So there's that balance, an employer and employee.

[498] How do we pay a just wage?

[499] And I think Bishop Strickland, that's a very appropriate paragraph for our culture today.

[500] What's your thought?

[501] Absolutely.

[502] And it really, I love the way that expresses it and the way you expressed it as well, because it's a responsibility on the employer and the employee.

[503] That's right.

[504] And I think we've, in many ways, lost sight of that, really A lot of people are paid enormous salaries.

[505] And if you really look at the value of what they're providing, I mean, the market says it's valuable.

[506] But a responsible employee, if you're playing a game and getting paid millions and millions of dollars, it's on that employee to say, really, boss, I don't need that much.

[507] certainly they work hard yeah and they make sacrifices and it needs to be a just wage but i think that this paragraph really points to one of the the basic ills in our society look at how important teachers are yeah in our culture and how broken our society is because our education system is and teachers are some of the the least paid individuals in our whole social makeup that needs to change if we're going to pay attention to what God's plan is and to what the catechism talks about those teachers deserve to have a wage that reflects they are shaping lives for the future they are an essential element of children and students lives and when teachers are paid so little and someone who plays a game of whatever kind is paid exorbitably that is one of the key issues that we need to deal with as moral people in the social order.

[508] And what's the problem is the socialism or communism, they try to take the control away from the individual person and say, well, the state's going to tell you you can only make this much or the state's going to tell you that the employer has to pay this much.

[509] All of that is simply not remembering that each of us is created in the image and likeness of God.

[510] I use the word subsidiarity a lot.

[511] Pope Francis just spoke about the importance of subsidiarity.

[512] I think that's one of the key issues that we need to be all reminded of.

[513] I've got my own responsibility to prayerfully and with a good conscience decide what do I really need?

[514] And what do I not need?

[515] What is in excess?

[516] And to work with the system, whatever it is for your work or working in a hospital or working in a factory or working in a school, whatever it is, it needs to be a conversation between the employer and the employee.

[517] Certainly, one of the downfalls of the free enterprise system is that the market takes over.

[518] And if the market says it's valuable, then people can get paid a lot.

[519] But if that person is really living their faith and really guided by what the catechism teaches us, they're going to refrain from receiving more than they really need.

[520] It gets complicated because as a man who's never been married, never had a wife and children, I don't need much.

[521] And I've got more than I need.

[522] I confess that.

[523] I've got more than I need.

[524] It's harder and I understand that.

[525] You're a married man with a wife and children.

[526] Probably your children are mostly grown now.

[527] True.

[528] But when you're a man with a wife and children, your responsibility extends to that family as well.

[529] So then I've thought about this very often, that as a Catholic priest, I have more than I need.

[530] I don't need a lot.

[531] I don't make big bucks.

[532] I mean, you know, what is it, $1 ,700 a month?

[533] That's nothing.

[534] And automatically, I feel required to give some of that away.

[535] But, you know, a lot of people make a lot more money, but they have a lot more obligations.

[536] And if I had 10 children, I would need to be saying, I need more for my sustenance and that of my family.

[537] So it does get more complicated.

[538] but if we're all behaving as the children of God, which is a huge if, but that is the idea of what the catechism is talking about, and the more we can promote that, the more justice and a just wage and a responsible care for the planet, all is going to flow from hearts being converted to the truth that God is revealed to us.

[539] I think too often, even in the church, today, we approach it from the opposite end and say, oh, we need to impose these controls because people we know are not living ethically.

[540] Instead, we need to be about, I feel my job is to convert hearts to Jesus Christ.

[541] And if you are truly committed to Christ, then you're going to be the first to say, I don't need millions and millions of dollars in order to sustain my family in a comfortable, healthy manner.

[542] So it does become complicated, but the basic principles are here for every person.

[543] And I think a key point, Terry, is it's not just the employer, it's not just the employee.

[544] It's always that relationship of two children of God, man and women, to come to an agreement that is reasonable, that is what is a just wage for this, situation.

[545] It's easier said than done, for sure.

[546] Well, I will just say we've got to leave because of the time, but I've met many wealthy Catholics who live fervent Catholic lives that are wealthy and have been so generous to helping spread the gospel and family life.

[547] And so it can be done, but the key is what you just said, falling deep in love with Jesus Christ and his bride to church and implementing those social teachings.

[548] Bishop Strickland, how about a quick lesson?

[549] Can you do it?

[550] We've 10 seconds.

[551] Sure.

[552] The Father, the Son, of the Holy Spirit, amen.

[553] God bless you.

[554] Thank you, Mr. Christ.

[555] St. Faustina's prayer for priests.

[556] Oh, my Jesus, I beg thee on behalf of the whole church, grant it 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.

[557] Lord, give us holy priests.

[558] Thou thyself maintain them in holiness.

[559] Oh, 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.

[560] May the power of thy mercy, O Lord, shatter and bring to naught all that might tarnish the sanctity of priests.

[561] For thou canst do all things.

[562] Amen.

[563] Virgin most powerful Pray for us.

[564] Most powerful radio.

[565] Sharing the gospel with clarity and charity.