18 Apr 23 – The True Meaning of Priesthood

[0] Welcome to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[1] My name's Terry Barber with Virgin Most Powerful Radio.

[2] I'm honored again to spend an hour to talk about our Catholic faith and to introduce people to the person of Jesus Christ.

[3] Bishop Strickland, thanks again for taking time with us.

[4] Thanks, sir.

[5] Bishop Strickland, before I begin, I have to say that this holy week we had in the Easter Tritium that we just celebrated, it's such a powerful liturgical season for us.

[6] those three days are powerful readings.

[7] And I know that you renewed your promises as a priest and bishop, and I think 99 % of your priests in the diocese came out and did the same.

[8] I'd like to ask you to share with our listeners your love for the priesthood and exactly what you love about it.

[9] And I'm going to ask you, I told you off the air, I want to say, hey, young men that are listening.

[10] If you think about becoming a priest, contact Bishop Strickland through his diocese, and he'll put you in touch with the vocation director.

[11] I think Bishop Strickland at one time, you were the vocation director of the Tyler Diocese.

[12] Is that correct?

[13] Yeah, I was the first for the Diocese of Tyler.

[14] Wow.

[15] Well, let's talk about the love you have and set the stage of what happened during the Easter Tritium for all priests in the Catholic Church.

[16] Well, thanks, Terry.

[17] It actually takes place in what's called the Christ.

[18] Prism Mass. It happens either on Holy Thursday or sometime during Holy Week.

[19] We do it actually on Tuesday, just because our priests have to travel, most of them, you know, more than an hour and some more than two hours to be here in Tyler at the cathedral.

[20] So we have the chrism mass on Tuesday mornings and a beautiful celebration.

[21] part of that liturgy, it's the blessing of the oils, the chrism oil, the oil of catechumans, and the oil of the sick.

[22] Of course, chrism is used at baptism, confirmation, and ordination of priest and bishop.

[23] So appropriately, the priest renew their priestly promises at the chrism mass. And it really is a beautiful opportunity for the priest, and certainly I've joined them.

[24] I'm still a priest.

[25] As a bishop, we continue being priest, as all priests continue being deacons.

[26] Deacon, priest, and bishop, of course, the three levels of holy orders.

[27] And as you mentioned, Terry, it is a time to reflect on and to rejoice in your priesthood, just like for you.

[28] you as a married man, you celebrate your wedding anniversary, and it's a time to really appreciate your wife and your family.

[29] And that's what priests do at the chrism mass, renewing those vows or promises that priests make.

[30] And it really is, as we've talked many times, as a bishop, I made promises to guard the deposit of faith and to uphold the teachings of the church and to be faithful to the church, to be faithful to Rome and to all the teaching that the church offers us.

[31] Primarily, it's all rooted in Jesus Christ.

[32] And that's the great gift of priesthood, the humbling call of a priest.

[33] You're probably familiar with the term alter Christus, another Christ.

[34] And that is not an exultation.

[35] I mean, if you think about it, being another Christ is to be a servant and to be willing to give your life like Christ did.

[36] So altar Christus is a call of service, and that certainly is echoed during Holy Week as well, especially at the Holy Thursday Mass, the Mass of the Lord's Supper, where the option of washing the feet takes place and where we celebrate the institution of the Eucharist as a priestly people.

[37] So Holy Week, the whole week is a great opportunity for renewal of priesthood and certainly the chrism mass where we renew those priestly promises, the promise to be faithful to the church's teachings, to be faithful to Christ, and to share his message with others.

[38] That's what priests do.

[39] Well, Bishop Strickland, one of the things that you put in your letter a couple weeks ago regarding the German bishop's error and the true understanding of development of doctrine was the question that you're asked when you are being ordained.

[40] Are you resolved to maintain the deposit of faith entire and incorrupt as handed down by the apostles and professed by the church everywhere and at all times?

[41] And of course you said, I am.

[42] And to me, that is a powerful question to ask a priest that to be faithful to that is what you made a promise.

[43] And I've had, and this is just my comment, my priest friends who have been faithful to that, some of them have been punished because they wouldn't compromise on the deposit of faith.

[44] Well, I mean, through the ages, I mean, the apostles died because, I mean, we didn't have that terminology yet, but it's the truth of Jesus grimes.

[45] And they're told, remember, we're reading through Acts of the Apostles now in this octave and throughout the Easter season, beautiful, one of my favorite books in Scripture, because it tells the story of how the church got started.

[46] Yes.

[47] And the apostles basically died rather than quit speaking the name of Jesus.

[48] The authority said, as they tried to get rid of Jesus, they crucified him.

[49] And they thought, well, we're done with this Jesus of Nazareth.

[50] Little did they know because he's, yes, he's Jesus of Nazareth, but he's also God's divine son, eternal.

[51] But the apostles died rather than deny Jesus.

[52] And really, that's the promise that every priest and every bishop makes is to be willing to die rather than to deny Christ and his truth.

[53] And that's what we have to strengthen each other in.

[54] You mentioned the seminarians.

[55] We're blessed with 20 seminarians.

[56] Are going to have 20 seminarians in the diocese.

[57] And that's expensive.

[58] It's challenging.

[59] Not just expensive in dollars, which it is.

[60] It's about $54 ,000 per seminarian to educate them, to form them, to take care of their needs.

[61] Certainly, well, worth it, but it is expensive.

[62] but also we have to pray with these men and to help them be formed to be altar Christus to be Christus to be Christ in the world and like we were talking about before we started the recording without priest we don't have the church because without priests we don't have the sacraments and without the sacraments certainly if there were no priests we'd still have the Bible, which is absolutely the Word of God.

[63] Sure.

[64] But part of the beauty of our Catholic faith, I actually talked about this on Easter Sunday, that Christ died and rose.

[65] We have Word and sacraments.

[66] We're a both -hand community in the Catholic Church.

[67] And that reminds us that there's the challenge of, in some ways, it might be easier to just focus on the Word of God, but we focus on the Word and the sacraments because they're the living presence of Christ.

[68] They're outward signs of his presence in the world.

[69] He heals.

[70] He calls people.

[71] He continues to baptize.

[72] He forgives sins.

[73] The things that he did in our world for 33 years of really the 30 years of his public ministry.

[74] Jesus continues to do.

[75] He's told us he would be with us into the end of the age.

[76] Certainly the Eucharist is his presence, but he's present and working in all the sacraments.

[77] And that's what priesthood is.

[78] One of the, I would have to say, the greatest joys of my priesthood are celebrating mass and hearing confession.

[79] Wow.

[80] Also, not as often, but certainly very often, anointing people with anointing, the sick.

[81] That's a powerful sacrament.

[82] But the most sort of day -to -day sacraments that a priest celebrates, hopefully every day, is mass and hearing confessions.

[83] And both are facets of Jesus Christ alive and present in the world.

[84] I think that's what we have to emphasize in our Catholic faith.

[85] Jesus rose, and yes, he returned to the Father.

[86] I emphasize this with young people when I have confirmation.

[87] And there are a lot of confirmations during this season for all bishops.

[88] But, you know, as we profess and agree, we'll renew baptismal promises as part of confirmation.

[89] And it says Jesus is seated at the right hand of the Father.

[90] He ascends to the Father after his resurrection.

[91] But he's also with us.

[92] That's the beauty of what we celebrate in our Catholic faith.

[93] In the mass, that the priest celebrates is about connecting us to the Jesus on the altar, bread and wine that becomes his body and blood, soul, and divinity, and Jesus who reigns with the Father's Son and Spirit in heaven.

[94] That's the beauty of the church.

[95] It's we're connected to God's heavenly reign through the sacraments, through understanding God's word, through seeking to live virtuously.

[96] were talking about some martyrs of the 20th century, the martyrs are people that we can still connect to because they were willing to die for the truth of Jesus Christ.

[97] We have to have that same kind of faith and daily died to sin and rise to virtue in Jesus Christ.

[98] Well said, when we come back, I'd like to also talk a little bit more about the priesthood.

[99] We've got Cardinal Burke who sent a message to faithful priests of the church in Germany.

[100] And he also wrote a book on the priesthood that he's trying to encourage Brother Priests here in the United States.

[101] I think 30 ,000 copies are going out to every priest in America.

[102] I'd like to get your take on that.

[103] And much more here on the Bishop Strickland Hour on Virgin Most Power Radio.

[104] Stay with us, family.

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

[106] Welcome back indeed.

[107] We're talking about the Holy Priest's, with Bishop Joseph Strickland, Tyler, Texas.

[108] And I was mentioning that Cardinal Burke, who was one of my heroes, because he has been so outspoken on the faith and never compromises the faith.

[109] He wrote a letter you tweeted, you complimented him.

[110] It's a message to the faithful priests of the church in Germany.

[111] And boy, do they need that because what's happening in Germany is just a fiasco.

[112] I'd like to ask you, Bishop Strickland, if you could comment.

[113] on Cardinal Burke's letter, and I know you've given the support, but it seems that a high official like him, a cardinal, to reach out to the faithful priest, seems like a brotherly love, a brotherly thing to do.

[114] Yeah, I was really pleased to see, and it's so important for us to remember with all the controversies we see and with the, you know, sadly the majority of the bishops there in Germany voting for things that simply are not the Catholic faith.

[115] But we have to remember there were bishops that voted against it, and there are, I'm sure, many faithful priests and many faithful Catholics.

[116] And that's what really pleased me, because we do need to be reminded of that.

[117] I mean, like, in our own country, in our own churches, we have a lot of faithful people that we don't hear much about.

[118] about it.

[119] We actually, sometimes the most faithful people are being attacked and being denigrated and literally trying to be silenced.

[120] I mean, we've set, we had that Mark Halk on this program several weeks ago.

[121] We need to remember there are the faithful and we've got to support each other.

[122] We need to encourage those in Germany or anywhere where the leadership is not upholding the truth.

[123] I know that, I mean, sadly, there are people here that have a bishop who is speaking out contrary to what the church teaches too much, too similar to what's being said in Germany.

[124] Yeah.

[125] As, you know, as the bishop's conference after this synodal way that they've talked about.

[126] And so I think it's very important, and I was really pleased that Cardinal Burke reached out, mainly he was talking to the priest, but like we were talking about, with the priest, you have the church.

[127] And so supporting the priest is supporting the faithful who go to those priests for the sacraments to have a reverent and proper Eucharistic liturgy, the math.

[128] to hear your confession and be forgiven your sins.

[129] So supporting the priest is supporting all of the people in the church.

[130] And we need to do that.

[131] We need to remember whatever the controversies.

[132] They're always good, faithful people that are, I mean, and like the same thing that comes to mind as what we remember with places that are experiencing war.

[133] Yes.

[134] And the tragedy of war and division and violence.

[135] violence, that they're always good people that are victimized by that, that are willing to risk their lives to be faithful to Jesus Christ, just like the priest that we've talked about.

[136] But I think that we have to, we have to support each other.

[137] And so I was glad to be able to support Cardinal Burke.

[138] Like you said, he's spoken up.

[139] Yep.

[140] He's always orthodox and clearly with the truth that the church teaches.

[141] And we need more of those voices.

[142] And we do need to support each other in living the faith, keeping ourselves strong, even though the louder voices may be the ones that are saying false things.

[143] But let's remember, Terry, the lasting voices are the voices of truth.

[144] Amen.

[145] I mean, through the ages, there may have been guns of war and loud voices and violent voices.

[146] speaking things that are false.

[147] And they may sadly carry the day for a while.

[148] But what lasts, generation after generation after generation, is the truth of what God has revealed to us.

[149] And that's why we have to pray for these people that are caught up in the false messaging of today, whatever that false messaging is, whether that life is something that we can play with and dispose of of it our will or our bodies and how we can mutilate them according to what we've decided today all the things that are going on are just evil and harmful but they don't last and that's what we have to strengthen each other and reminding ourselves that the the things that we're dealing with will pass away yes but the word of God and Jesus Christ the incarnate word will not pass away.

[150] Mr. Strickland, this woke culture that we are experiencing, it seems like we've thrown God out and we're worshipping me, myself, and I, for an example of that, we kill the unborn babies for the last 50 -some years, and that just makes no sense other than they're saying that it solved a problem.

[151] They didn't want to unplanned pregnancy, but we're willing to kill a baby for our convenience and now it's going to us baby boomers you're the baby boomer age so am i now that we're getting old now they're pushing euthanasia on the elderly and they're saying i got a problem here you're old and you're costing us money to take care of you because you can't work you can't take care of yourself so it's time for you to get out and this is the fruit of what we call secularism that says life isn't worth anything more than my pleasure that I can receive during this lifetime because I don't believe anything beyond the grave.

[152] And I said on our show earlier, the Terry and Jesse show, that sin makes you stupid.

[153] And I'm sorry to have to use that word, but Thomas, St. Thomas isn't used the word stupid and ignorant without knowledge.

[154] But the point of it is we're living in a culture that wants to kill the unborn and the longborn, mainly because of selfishness.

[155] Absolutely.

[156] And I think it's very important, like we've said many times, and I'm proud to be known for speaking up for the sanctity of the life of the unborn.

[157] But really, you could put the reasons down for why people argue they can eliminate an unborn child in the same begins to apply for an elderly person or even a, younger person who is disabled in some way, if they're not able to speak for themselves, if they don't have any power of their own, if they're not productive in terms of society, which is true for an unborn infant and for an elderly person who may not have much ability to do anything.

[158] I mean, it is an interesting parallel that an unborn child can't speak can't walk I can't communicate I mean they can smile and even in the womb they smile and and they move around and um but their their abilities measured by the world are very few yeah but they're precious to god they are the most valuable gift that creation has is another human being in the womb where people are fighting including national officials are fighting to do to have the right to destroy those children and we're more and more seeing the same fight with people on the other end of the spectrum that may have lived for many years but when society says you've lived outlived your value yes then and people are even being convinced that, oh, you're kind of sad and you're lonely, maybe a little depressed.

[159] Go ahead and let us end your life for you.

[160] Speaking as if it's some kind of a kindness.

[161] Yeah.

[162] And like you said, it's ignorance, and it's totally disengaged from who we are, created in the image and likeness of God.

[163] But that's what happens when you throw God out of the equation, even redemptive suffering that we as Christians, believe that every action is like a blank check if Christ's name is on it.

[164] I have a sister -in -law who is in a, not a coma, but she's had strokes, and she lays in bed for almost two years, but she can understand.

[165] We play religious books on tape for her, or we see these, we read prayers to her.

[166] She's able to offer up her suffering for the salvation of souls.

[167] And I think the world doesn't see value in suffering.

[168] They see suffering as an inconvenience and has to be avoided at all costs.

[169] But our Lord taught something different that he said without good, you know, this is, our Lord's teaching is without Good Friday, there's no Easter Sunday.

[170] So all of us are going to have some suffering, but the world acts like suffering is evil.

[171] It has to be avoided at all cost.

[172] And we as Catholic Christians understand that suffering is part of the human element and that if we can give that to our Lord and unite it with the sufferings of Christ to help redeem the world as first Colossians chapter 1 says filling up the sufferings that we have then we have value and that just is a game changer for people and the world right now doesn't see any value in suffering and they really see it as an evil and has to be avoided at all costs so I appreciate you you're making that comment when we come back from the break I want to throw another curveball at you so to speak.

[173] And that is a cultural thing.

[174] The woke culture wants us to believe that there is no objective truth.

[175] It's my truth.

[176] You have your truth.

[177] And that's not what we teach in the Catholic faith.

[178] That's not what has been revealed by the Bible.

[179] So I want to talk a little bit about some of these companies, whether it's Disneyland, Disney World, Anheuser -Busch, some of these big corporations are wanting to advertise in a way that it's just devastating to their pocketbook and we're going to talk about that and also show the craziness of this that they're not living in reality when they start saying that you know i'm a woman now i want to turn into a man or vice versa and it's because i said i'm a woman now that even though i was born a man that you should celebrate that celebrate something that's not reality that's the culture we're in so when we come back i want to play a little clip of a man making the comment about Anheuser -Busch, they've lost nearly $5 billion in value since they had this new marketing plan that really was going into the woke culture that says, let's celebrate someone who thinks he's a man and now he says he's a woman and we have to, you know, let's promote that as really a great thing in America.

[180] And what's happening now is that much of America's waking up, and saying, hey, this isn't reality.

[181] This is nonsense.

[182] And now people are voting with their dollars.

[183] And I want to get your position, Bishop Strickland, as a Catholic bishop, of having people, even non -Catholics standing up and saying, wait a minute, Terry, you're not seven -foot -five just because you said it.

[184] I'm five -foot -five.

[185] And so reality is what we're looking at.

[186] The reality is we're children of God.

[187] And that's what we want to tell people so that they can meet the person of Jesus Christ.

[188] So we're going to take a quick break in a few seconds here.

[189] Stay with us because this is important to share.

[190] Because I know our listeners have run into people who are into this woke culture.

[191] And, you know, we have to lovingly show them that's just not reality.

[192] And what's really reality is our Catholic faith because life is short and eternity is forever.

[193] You're listening to the Bishop Strickland hour.

[194] We come back.

[195] We'll play a clip about Anheiser Bush that should get you.

[196] attention.

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

[198] Welcome back to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[199] I wanted to get the Bishop's response in regards to Anheiser, Bush's shedding nearly $5 billion in value since the Bud Lights, Dylan McVarney Pack sparked the outrage of the culture.

[200] So let's play the clip and then get the bishop's reaction.

[201] Hey, Bud Light, my mom's been a woman for 23 ,725 days.

[202] You didn't put her face on a can.

[203] Rosa Parks ain't on a can.

[204] Mother Teresa ain't on a can.

[205] Joan of Arc ain't on a can.

[206] Mother Mary ain't on a can.

[207] And she gave birth to Jesus.

[208] And basically, Bishop Strickland, just to catch everybody up, they're congratulating this person because they decided they're a different sex, and they're putting this image on the beer of their bud light.

[209] And I just thought, what are they doing?

[210] I mean, people are looking at that going, that's not reality.

[211] But, I mean, you must have smiled when you heard about it, because it's kind of funny in one sense.

[212] well you have to have a sense of humor about it but also have to have uh we have to speak the truth and call people including this person that has their image on a bud like can they were created either male or female and they still are one or the other DNA doesn't lie and besides all that Real compassion is the truth and to call people to the truth.

[213] I mean, both of us have dealt with people in various difficult situations, sometimes tragic situations.

[214] Oh, yeah.

[215] You can't pretend your way out of a difficult situation.

[216] If you're struggling, then face the struggle, face reality, seek some truth.

[217] And we're all obligated to support each other to do that, but we've got it backwards in society now where, you know, big corporations are supporting people that not that many years ago, we would have said, this person's deeply troubled and needs some help.

[218] Yes.

[219] Instead, these big corporations thinking, I'm sure they're thinking they're going to make lots of.

[220] money because, oh, well, this is the way the world's going.

[221] So we want to get on the bandwagon.

[222] Right.

[223] I'm glad to, at least some of the times, see that they end up losing money.

[224] I mean, either way, to deny the truth and to embrace values that ultimately long -term end up harming people, even if they made billions and billions, it's wrong.

[225] Right.

[226] I'm glad that reality's coming back to bite him a bit.

[227] And, you know, they, we need to encourage people to embrace the truth.

[228] And everyone to care for each other.

[229] It's not, it's not a compassionate thing to celebrate this person on a beer can who is clearly troubled in their life and you know I mean I guess it's they're finding it humorous or just saying they need to be congratulated but no you don't congratulate someone who's denying the truth in whatever form that takes Bishop Strickland you have shifting gears back to the pro -life side you have a tweet that said and we talked about it on the Terry and Jesse show that a federal district judge in Texas, these guys in Texas have a lot of common sense ruled that a prescription medication available for over 22 years approved by the FDA and used safely by millions of women should no longer be approved in the U .S. And here's why it matters is how the administration is going to fight it.

[230] In other words, this judge says we're not going to put this pill out that's going to kill babies.

[231] And then another judge in Washington says, no, no, we're going to challenge that in Texas, and it probably will go to the Supreme Court eventually, but the fact that Texas's judge said that this is not, we're not going to put this available, this actually applies to other parts of the country, so there's a real battle going on again over the life of the unborn.

[232] Your thought?

[233] Yeah, absolutely.

[234] And, you know, once again, we have to speak the truth and to and the thing about any form of abortion or contraception it carries harm even for the woman I mean you know maybe with a lot of abortions the woman is physically fine but she's harmed spiritually and very often they're harmed physically and certainly emotionally It leaves scars that many women have a hard time recovering from.

[235] And I saw something recently that absolutely, as Christians, as Catholics, we have an obligation to the woman who's made the tragic mistake of having an abortion.

[236] They're not trash.

[237] They're not to be denigrated or denied their value, even though they've made that tragic choice of taking the life of another person that happened to be their unborn child, they retain their value, and we're obligated as Christians and as Catholics who strive to be Christians that we have to care for that woman as well.

[238] So, and I'm proud to see the church more and more making efforts for the women who make the right choice.

[239] Yes.

[240] Maybe they're on the verge of having an abortion and they're convinced not to.

[241] Yeah.

[242] Yeah, we need to be there for them.

[243] They help them keep the child and raise the child.

[244] But when they make the wrong choice, that doesn't mean that we ignore them or that they no longer have value.

[245] They're still a precious daughter of God.

[246] Yes.

[247] Yes, they've made a drastic mistake.

[248] And most of the time they come to recognize.

[249] it.

[250] And I would imagine just like any sinful mistake that we make if we're honest with ourselves, we may bury it or we may ignore it for a while but humanly when we commit serious sin it's something that stays with us and we have to compassionally reach out to those women who make the tragic choice to murder their unborn child.

[251] Amen.

[252] Amen, amen.

[253] Last tweet, and then we'll get into the catechism.

[254] I always like to hear bishops, you know, other than yourself, come out and support the flock in a way that's very direct.

[255] And Archbishop Broglio, who is the bishop of the military, came out because in Bacedia, he said the issue, what they did is that the Catholic military base, Walter Reed, National Military a medical center.

[256] During Holy Week, to add, the most sacred days of our Christian faith, they put a cease and detest an order directing Catholic priests to cease any religious services at the hospital.

[257] Now, Bishop Strickland, the Archbishop, condemned this action and said, this is ridiculous.

[258] And you tweeted saying to him that, thank you for that.

[259] It seems that we've become too complacent when they take rights away from us.

[260] And I love it when you, bishops and priests say, wait a minute, not on my watch.

[261] This is wrong and we need to get it back.

[262] So it's refreshing to see something like this.

[263] That was my position.

[264] How about yours?

[265] Yeah.

[266] I was again pleased to see Archbishop Broleos speaking up.

[267] On behalf of those patients that are military, some of them injured in service to this country others having various illnesses but because of military they're in a military hospital and they have a right to the spiritual care that had been offered for years but then from what i understand they they removed the the catholic order of priests that was serving and they put in contractors that are just a secular contractor, you know, as if, well, I mean, it just illustrates that the people making these decisions, they don't know anything about faith.

[268] And they're just saying, oh, well, this group of contractors can go in and give counseling, I guess.

[269] It's, you know, like we were talking about.

[270] I mean, basically, our conversation kind of comes full circle because we were talking about the value of priesthood.

[271] Yes.

[272] That's what's being denied.

[273] That's right.

[274] To the Catholic patients in Walter Reed Hospital, they're not being given access to the priests of their faith, and thus to the sacraments, and thus to the reality of Jesus Christ ministering to them.

[275] I mean, think about these men who are already suffering.

[276] Yes.

[277] Maybe we want to go to confession.

[278] They can't go to confession to some contractor that they've hired in places, the priest.

[279] They can't have Mass. They can't have their Catholic faith.

[280] And that's what's being denied him.

[281] I hope that, knowing Archbishop Brolio, he's not going to give up the fight easily, but I hope he continues to call them back to what this is about.

[282] No one can provide Catholic sacraments except a Catholic priest.

[283] And you can't substitute it with some hired person who's just going to go in there and give counseling.

[284] Again, it's losing the supernatural we're leaving God out that somehow that the priesthood is just like any other thing.

[285] You know, you can counsel, but they don't see the supernatural aspect of what the priest can do with confession and mass. So that's our secular world, and so, yeah, we need to respond, and I thank Archbishop Berlio to standing up to the culture of secular humanism.

[286] Now what we're going to do when we come back from the break, Mr. Strickland, and I want to give a plug, we've got a minute or two, to the St. Philip Institute.

[287] This little catechism, the way of Christ, catechism is published by the St. Philip Institute of Catechesis and Evangelization, and we're going to be going on paragraph 6.

[288] Bishop Strickland, for those who are listening and want a copy of this catechism, how can they get it?

[289] Can they have a website?

[290] They can just order it online?

[291] yeah just go to st philip institute dot org philip with one l and uh you can see there the publications yep and find the uh the way of christ you can get the students book or the the teachers edition but we're using the students book it's available yep well we come back we're going to get on chapter six it's perfect timing pastoral mystery redemption of stay with this family we'll be back with more and Bishop Strickland Hour and now back to the Bishop Strickland Hour welcome back to the Bishop Strickland Hour we're on the chapter six of the catechism called the Way of Christ and I love this timing couldn't have been better I mean, the Pasco mystery?

[292] I mean, we're after Easter.

[293] It says here, Jesus Christ offered himself as the perfect sacrifice to make atonement for our sins and his passion and death.

[294] Jesus conquered death, sin by rising from the dead and ascending to heaven.

[295] Through his death and resurrection, Jesus offers us forgiveness of sins and a new life apart from sin.

[296] I mean, this is what we're offering the world.

[297] This is what we're offering the secular humanists.

[298] to say, life has meaning.

[299] It's just not a random thing.

[300] And Bishop Strickland, I know you preached on that during the Easter Tritium because that's what we were celebrating.

[301] Am I right?

[302] Absolutely.

[303] It's really the mystery, as it says, the paschal mystery.

[304] It's the mystery of our lives as human beings and the mystery of God interacting with us.

[305] Yeah, well, I love the catechism verse where you have question and answers.

[306] is that paschal mystery and i like the way you guys succinctly state things and not a lot of words it's really beautiful said the paschal mystery is jesus passion death and resurrection and ascension which saves us from sin offers us redemption and it's interesting the word paschal comes from an old testament event called the passover during which the israelites were freed from egyptian slavery This is the Old Testament.

[307] The paschal mystery is a new Passover in which Jesus is the paschal lamb offered at the sacrifice that brings freedom from sin.

[308] And Bishop Strickland, isn't that what everybody needs, freedom from sin?

[309] Absolutely.

[310] And sadly, in our time, and it's happened before, but it's especially strong in our time.

[311] people deny sin, people act as if the Catholic Church or any Christians, but the Catholic Church is the leader of Christianity.

[312] Even a lot of Christians will acknowledge that.

[313] And so the target is the Catholic Church.

[314] And it's as if, you know, we've just made up a bunch of rules.

[315] And if we get rid of them, the oppression will be over in humanity.

[316] What the Catholic Church is blessed with is God's revealed truth.

[317] And as we've talked about before, in our time, even just pre -revel the revelation that God chose out of love for us to reveal his truth through the people of Israel, Israel, through his own divine son.

[318] But even natural law is revealed basically by the world that God has created.

[319] People are denying just the existence of natural law and the reality of natural law.

[320] And that really And really, it all fits together in a wonderful plan of God's love for us, for all creation.

[321] When we ignore the laws of God, whether natural law or the revealed truth that is made up in, is written in scripture, when we ignore that, we harm ourselves.

[322] because it's not just a list of rules, it's how we operate as human beings.

[323] You can think of the Word of God in the Pascal Mystery is the operating manual for a human being.

[324] There you go.

[325] I've even heard people say that.

[326] And when we ignore that operating manual, we're going to be in trouble.

[327] You can go for a while, ignore.

[328] the how to operate this human person but and we're seeing that very quickly I mean as you ignore what real marriage is yes things are going haywire and the violence I mean people just don't see it's all connected you know the the tragic violence we see and hear about people don't make the connection that if we're violent and again I know people tired of me saying it, but we've got to wake up to the reality that if life is not sacred for the most vulnerable, the most voiceless, the unborn child, then these horrible mass shootings, these violent crimes against people, elderly people, all sorts of people in cities.

[329] is rampant.

[330] Yes.

[331] All of that is rooted in ignoring the value of another person.

[332] Right.

[333] And, you know, people say, oh, we just need gun control.

[334] No, we need human control.

[335] Exactly.

[336] We need to control ourselves.

[337] And that control comes from being guided by the truth that the pastoral mystery is all about.

[338] Yep.

[339] Jesus Christ, God's divine son, truly took on our human life.

[340] And that, even the early Christian church, even before it was called Catholic, there were a lot of questions.

[341] Because it's a mystery.

[342] How can Jesus Christ be fully God and fully man?

[343] But that's essential to this paschal mystery that we're talking about.

[344] It's essential that he was a real human being who really died on a cross, who was dead and placed in a tomb and then rose from the dead because he's also a divine being, fully God and fully man. But people don't realize that the paschal mystery hinges on who Jesus really is.

[345] And I mean, the resurrection.

[346] reveals who Jesus is and it reveals his power all at the same time.

[347] He's the Lord of Life.

[348] And so he's able to rise from the dead.

[349] And in the midst of that, you know, there's so many things that flow from this.

[350] Yes.

[351] Because, you know, we see the mutilation of human bodies all the time.

[352] sometimes by the choice of that person or by parents that are allowing children to mutilate their body.

[353] Right.

[354] Whoever's allowing it, we don't have, ultimately, our life is from God.

[355] That's right.

[356] And we have an obligation to keep that life sacred.

[357] It all traces back to, I mean, Jesus, not by his own choice, but by his being willing to offer himself up, he was beaten and abused and pushed to the point of death even before he did die on the cross all of that real physical suffering of the son of god he took on as the pascal lamb as the is the heart of this pascal mystery we've got to call people back to that truth and recognize, you know, so many times when I tweet things as like people are basically saying, I won't use their language, but they're basically saying stop talking about this Catholic myth that you live by.

[358] We've got to continue to speaking this truth because it's not Catholic.

[359] Right.

[360] It's just truth.

[361] Yes, we believe that the Catholic church, I mean, the sacraments and all of this that's been revealed to us.

[362] But the Basco mystery is not just a Catholic thing.

[363] It's for humanity.

[364] Right.

[365] And we as Catholics need to treasure it and take up our obligation to share it.

[366] Amen.

[367] That's what Christ told the apostles.

[368] You've got to share this truth with others.

[369] He sent them out into the world, the great commissioning, just before he ascended to the Father.

[370] He sent the apostles out to baptize all nations in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

[371] What is that?

[372] To basically bring all nations into the Pascoal mystery, because that's how we enter into the life of Christ is through baptism.

[373] Amen.

[374] It all fits together.

[375] And when we ignore it, everything falls apart.

[376] And we're witnessing that sadly, because too many people, even within the church, we're ignoring the meaning and the power of the paschal mystery.

[377] Well, Mr. Strickland, you were saying that, you reminded me of a quote from the quotable Sheen book, and I just found something that says it in a way that you were just saying.

[378] He says, an over -emphasis on the temporal security is a compensation for the loss of the sense of eternal security.

[379] So what's happened is we put so much emphasis on this world our health, and we threw a lot of fear into it, especially when we had COVID.

[380] Oh, you're going to die from COVID.

[381] We can't have the churches open.

[382] We can't have people go to Mass or go to confession.

[383] I mean, they might get sick.

[384] My point is this over -emphasis on the body over the soul.

[385] And I think that this is something that if we look at history, we need to really focus on the next world more than this world.

[386] That's the message Christ said.

[387] So Bishop Strickland, we're at the end of the day.

[388] hour can you give us your priestly blessing please sure almighty god we ask your blessing for terry and all the crew there with virgin most powerful radio and we ask your blessing for everyone listening and sharing with us this wonderful truth of a basical mystery and all the truths that guide us to be who we are children of god we pray that everyone listening and they may share it with others, and we can all continue to grow in the truth and love that God is revealed to us.

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

[390] Amen.

[391] I want to also encourage the new listeners to go to vmpr .org, our website.

[392] You can listen to all the podcasts and not just Bishop Strickland's Hour, but all the shows that we have.

[393] And I want to recommend again, because I'm promoting the Bishop Fulton Sheen beatification.

[394] We have a petition on our website that we'd like to send to the Holy See.

[395] And it says, hey, let's get Bishop Sheen beatified.

[396] All the obstacles have been overcome.

[397] Let's do it.

[398] And I think that our church needs to hear from us, Joe Sixpac, so to speak, the lay people.

[399] And it would be wonderful to have him beatified because I think the world needs Bishop Sheen's insight and his love for the Eucharist and our lady and the church.

[400] It would be a great example of the saints.

[401] thank Bishop Strickland and the Diocese of Tyler, Texas for what they do and proclaiming the Word of God, especially through this catechism, the way of Christ, and go to the St. Philip Institute to pick up that catechism.

[402] This is what it's all about.

[403] We're still learning.

[404] We're in our 60s, and I can tell you, I'm still learning about my faith every day because I study it.

[405] I would encourage you to do the same because it's a lifetime occupation, falling in love of Jesus Christ and his bride.

[406] Thanks again.

[407] Happy Easter and the octave of Easter, and man, Pentecost is coming.

[408] Yes, the birthday of the church.

[409] Stay with us next week at the same time.

[410] God richly bless you and your family.