31 Oct 23 – Bishops, If You Won’t Talk About Jesus, Stop Talking

[0] Welcome to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[1] My name is Terry Barber, and we have the honor of having the bishop speak about our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and how to fall in love with him and how to stay focused on Christ and not on a world that is going, you know, it's burning up right now.

[2] The world is burning up and we need to be focusing our eyes on Jesus Christ.

[3] Bishop Strickland, thanks for taking the time again to do this.

[4] Thanks, Terry.

[5] Bishop Strickland, we're going to go through your tweets, but I guess I have to ask you.

[6] you.

[7] You know, I think of the bishops.

[8] We call you America's bishop.

[9] I know that makes you blush, but it is for us because we love to hear a bishop just speak clearly and not with, you know, language that you kind of say, well, what did he say?

[10] What's that mean?

[11] It's simple.

[12] Thank you.

[13] But there's another bishop on the West Coast, Archbishop's assembled in Portland, Oregon.

[14] We've met him.

[15] He's a great guy.

[16] And he did something that I think took a lot of courage.

[17] He closed his Catholic school system down and put a new director and said, look, we're going to start all over again.

[18] We want to get this right because Catholic schools are so important.

[19] And I just want to get your take because you know what that's about.

[20] You have Catholic schools and how difficult it is to make sure that, you know, the purity of doctrine is being taught.

[21] What's your take on the Archbishop's decision to close down and restart up?

[22] well i i commend him for knowing how important it is and taking the steps that i'm sure were controversial and many probably said how dare you do this but we have to be clear and the catholic schools are catholic parishes they have to be focused on jesus christ and the truth that he lived died and rose to share with us it's as simple as that as you were saying terry i i'm I'm glad to be plain vanilla, meat and potatoes Catholic.

[23] I'm a great theologian.

[24] You don't need to be.

[25] Christ didn't call us.

[26] I mean, great theologians are wonderful, and they've helped us through the ages to go deeper into the same truth, the true development of doctrine.

[27] But you don't have to be a great theologian as a husband and father and grandfather.

[28] You've learned a lot about what life is, what's important.

[29] that's what you have to teach your kids.

[30] That's what Catholic schools have to teach.

[31] And I commend Archbishop Sam, okay, we're going to reboot.

[32] That's what we do with computers.

[33] We unplug and start over.

[34] And that's what we all need to do occasionally is reboot our lives in Jesus Christ.

[35] He's the way, the truth in the life.

[36] As we were talking before we started the recording, you sounded really fired up and you get me fired up because we need to be fired up.

[37] We need to be vigorous.

[38] We need to be joyful.

[39] We need to be clear that Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life.

[40] And I'd like to share a little story.

[41] It's actually a video that someone shared with me of a man who had been Muslim.

[42] Yeah.

[43] And his story is, you may have seen the story, but Jesus Christ, appeared to him.

[44] That's right.

[45] And he said, who are you?

[46] And he said, he was Jesus.

[47] And they had this conversation.

[48] And this man's life was changed.

[49] Yes.

[50] And one of the things that really struck me is that when this Muslim man said, who are you?

[51] Yeah.

[52] And he said, I'm Jesus Christ.

[53] Yes.

[54] And as they're talking, Jesus says to him, I am the way, the truth and the life.

[55] And this Muslim man said that just hit him like a ton of bricks because in his and he was a very faithful Muslim praying all the time living his faith and he said that he was so accustomed to looking for the way through life looking through the for the path that's what it's all about and when jesus said i am the way the truth and the life it just went all over him and this man is now It developed an apostolate sharing the truth of Jesus Christ.

[56] And it's just a reminder to us.

[57] This is a modern day occurrence, just like St. Paul, just like so many saints through the ages.

[58] We've talked about it before.

[59] Thankfully, you and I have embraced Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.

[60] But we're not done.

[61] Nope.

[62] That's something you have to continually return to and deepen.

[63] And as sinners, repent of the sins.

[64] Go to confession.

[65] Keep renewing and deepening that life in Jesus Christ.

[66] That's the only path to unity in our broken world and in our broken church.

[67] And all the rest of this will fall by the wayside and needs to fall by the wayside because Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life.

[68] I have that video.

[69] We played it on Monday on the Terry and Jesse show.

[70] After the first segment, I'd like to play it with your permission, Bishop Strickland.

[71] It's an four -minute little clip of what he said in 11 minutes.

[72] Also, I just want to, when I watched that the first time over the weekend, Bishop Strickland, you know what came to my mind that our Lord is using a very direct approach to evangelize people who are outside the church?

[73] And I wouldn't say this now, you'll correct me right on the air if I'm wrong.

[74] it seems like that we're not doing the job as Catholics to evangelize Muslims, anyone who doesn't know the gospel, anyone.

[75] And so our Lord is saying, well, hey, you guys aren't doing it.

[76] I'll do it myself.

[77] And so I just think that this should encourage us to be more vocal.

[78] Like, for example, on Monday, you know, I take my grandson to the park.

[79] He loves the park.

[80] And I ran into a Filipino couple who have a little three -year -old son.

[81] And I started talking to them, and I found out that they're not going to church.

[82] They came here and they're lonely, they don't have any friends.

[83] So what did I do?

[84] People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care.

[85] I invited them to Mass this Sunday.

[86] And I said, no, you need to get back in a relationship with Christ and everything else will fall in place for you.

[87] So they said, yeah, we know we needed to do it.

[88] And I said, well, hey, just consider that God is giving you a sign that some bald -headed old man that you don't know is inviting you to come to the wedding feast of the lamb.

[89] That's how I said it to him.

[90] Well, great.

[91] Thank you.

[92] That's what we need to do.

[93] That's the truth.

[94] I mean, all the people that are troubled, fused, worried.

[95] Yeah, they are all turned to Christ.

[96] Yes.

[97] And really, that's very important, like we've talked about, the reparation and atonement, all of us who are believers, because we don't know what tomorrow brings.

[98] We never do.

[99] But these days, it's, it is.

[100] It's reasonable for people to be scared and be concerned because who knows what's going to happen.

[101] Yeah.

[102] But if you know Jesus Christ, that is the truth that you know.

[103] Yes.

[104] He is the way, the truth and the life.

[105] And that guides everything.

[106] That's right.

[107] He is our way, our truth, and our life.

[108] It means everything that you do needs to be focused on him and the sacrificial love that he models.

[109] We hear so much about loving each other, and even in the midst of these wars, absolutely, we need to love each other.

[110] But with the true model of love that is Jesus Christ, not in the false tolerance that just says, oh, we'll do whatever evil things you want and we'll love you, that's not loving you.

[111] If people are taking spiritual poison, and that's what evil is.

[112] It's poisonous to their everlasting life.

[113] life.

[114] Then the loving thing is to say, stop poisoning yourself in whatever it is with wealth, with sex, with power, with whatever the drug that people are poisoning themselves with in sinful ways and clinging to that sin.

[115] Sadly, they're being told, oh, don't worry about repenting.

[116] Don't worry about giving up your sin.

[117] Just embrace Jesus.

[118] It's like, you know, taking arsenic and saying, but drink your orange juice.

[119] I mean, it just, it isn't logical, much less is it the way of Jesus Christ.

[120] Amen, amen, amen.

[121] Every time I say amen, Bishop Strickland, it's like, what else is there to say?

[122] It's the gospel, that's it.

[123] I thought we were taking a quick break, but let me just mention this.

[124] When we come back, we're going to play the clip that you just described of this Muslim man, having an encounter with the person of Jesus Christ, and it was converted on the spot.

[125] And you'll see him.

[126] He's in tears talking about it because he's so moved by what God did for him.

[127] And you know, the other part that it's going to be a teaser for you when we come back?

[128] This was a man who was working with terrorist groups to kill Jews and Christians.

[129] He talks about that and saying hatred and anger was part of his life.

[130] And that through Jesus Christ, he's come to understand love for the first time.

[131] 1428 okay see i got a little bit off on that thank you richard so so let me just say this bishop strickland we're going to play that and about a minute and a half we'll take a break i also want to remind people and i don't have the date on it but your men's conference in tyler texas i've been telling your guy that i'm wanting to promote it and i don't see it in front of me but is that uh what week is at the end of the month the 28th yeah it's october 28th oh my memory was good okay so that's going to be taking place.

[132] And if they just type in under Google Men's Conference, Tyler, Texas, you'll get all the details on that.

[133] And I really want to encourage you.

[134] Also, this week, I should say, no, this is, yeah, that's right, the 28th.

[135] So we want to also encourage people to go to the St. Philip Institute.

[136] I always want to remind people to do that because of the resources.

[137] This is a time right now where resources are so easy to go to on the internet.

[138] There's that above the screen, St .Philip Institute .org, lots of good family resources.

[139] And I know that one of the quotes we're going to tweet today that you tweeted was the way the family goes is the way the culture goes by John Paul Too's letter to the family.

[140] That was 1994, but it's still true today.

[141] And the St. Philip Institute .org, it's ST, then Philip Institute, will give you resources on family life, especially when it comes to the sacrament of marriage.

[142] I thought you guys did a really good job on that topic of marriage and how to have a, not just a happy one, but a holy marriage with your spouse.

[143] So go to the St .Philip Institute .org.

[144] When we come back, we're going to play something that just, I think, will bring tears to our listeners' eyes who see it on the YouTube here about a Muslim who converted to Christianity directly from a visit from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

[145] Stay with us, family.

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

[147] Welcome back, indeed.

[148] Get your tissues out because this is a powerful test.

[149] testimony of a gentleman who was Muslim for all his life.

[150] Matter of fact, he read the Quran every two weeks.

[151] I wish I could say I read the Bible every two weeks if I was that committed.

[152] And our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, he said, appeared to him.

[153] So put your seat belts on because this is a, I'm just only give you maybe six minutes or five and a half minutes of the interview.

[154] You can go and find it on the internet.

[155] So Mr. Engineer, play that clip, please.

[156] I was dedicated Muslim.

[157] Not only prayed the prayers, but I read the Quran once every 10 days, cover to cover.

[158] So I was very dedicated.

[159] In my time in jail, one day as I'm praying, a man appears in front of me, normal size, but his being shines like light, and this light was not a normal light.

[160] this light carried identity in earth.

[161] You knew that he is holy and he is just.

[162] And instantaneous, I knew I am not.

[163] Even though I had prayed so many prayers, even though I had fasted so much and I had read the Quran and I had volunteered to walk on landmines or I had participated in hanging people trying to please Allah.

[164] I knew even though I have kept all the rules and regulation of Islam I knew I'm not just and I'm not holy and I knew the only just thing for him to do is to kill me but I didn't want to die so I ran to the corner of the room literally helped my head in my arms and just cried out shouting forgive me forgive me forgive me and I didn't think he will forgive me because he is just till I felt a touch on my left children.

[165] And he said, I forgive you.

[166] And I felt a weight just lifted off me. And I knew I'm forgiven, but I don't know how.

[167] And I was confused.

[168] I was like, okay, I don't understand.

[169] Only God can forgive you.

[170] You just forgive me. You are God.

[171] But you are a different God than the one I have a self.

[172] studied about.

[173] This is not Allah.

[174] So who are you that forgives me and I feel forgiven today?

[175] And he said, I am the way, the truth and the life.

[176] And I thought that's very powerful.

[177] It means a lot because as a Muslim you pray, Eidna Saratam, show me there is straight path, kind of thing.

[178] And so the way is a direction.

[179] Truth is something you measure, life is a source, but he claims to be all those three.

[180] I never thought the way is a person.

[181] The truth is a person, and life is a person, and all of them is the same person.

[182] So I said, I don't understand.

[183] What is your name?

[184] And said, Jesus Christ, and someone grabbed all my bones out of my body.

[185] I just fell, like a piece of meat to the ground, and I just began to weep.

[186] changed after that it's like you're not being color blight and then suddenly you see colors again and you realize the world is so much more beautiful than you have a thought if you ask me what made the world so colorless it's the hatred the anger that is in the heart of it through muslim i mean i hear people say why did you hate the jews i mean i hear people say why did you hate the jews I had never met a Jew.

[187] But I thought his love was a good man for doing what he did.

[188] He just didn't finish the job.

[189] I don't know why I hated them.

[190] No Jew had ever done anything bad to me. God didn't design us to hate.

[191] Didn't design us to want to see someone dead.

[192] He did not design us for these things.

[193] These are design of Satan.

[194] How do you think killing the people that God gave them this land to is going to please Allah?

[195] The God of heaven, the God of Abraham and Moses, the God of their prophets and Jesus is not a God that celebrates when Jews are killed.

[196] I'm telling you, Bishop Strickland, we could spend the whole hour on that video.

[197] I was so moved by what he said and saying only God can forgive sin.

[198] That's so Catholic.

[199] And he says that God did not make us to hate with anger.

[200] I mean, that just spoke so highly.

[201] Can I just give a recommendation, Bishop Strickland?

[202] If I had it, I would send it to our folks in Rome right now who are meeting at the Senate and put it on a big screen and show that to them and say, okay it's all about Jesus exactly this is all about yes so you I love the as I was you know I'm glad you played the clip because it just reminded me of exactly what he said the way the truth and the life is he says beautifully and that is personified in Jesus Christ we can't forget that we can't cease to proclaim from the rooftops who Jesus Christ is and no one can stop us.

[203] I love it.

[204] Amen.

[205] It's not about hating anyone.

[206] It's not about opposing.

[207] It's not about being anti anyone, any person.

[208] It's about Jesus Christ.

[209] And he is here the way, the truth and the life for every single one of us.

[210] We need to, for all of us who know that, we need to share it, just like you were talking about, in every way that we can.

[211] We can't allow his name to be forgotten by those who carry his name.

[212] Christians failing to talk about Jesus is, as that Muslim said, it's of the devil.

[213] It's not of God to ignore his son.

[214] I'm just stunned by it because I've watched it a couple times.

[215] Ambitious trickling, every time I watch it, it motivates me to get close.

[216] to Jesus Christ.

[217] Because I say, I need to deepen my faith.

[218] This man has supernatural faith.

[219] I can see it.

[220] And his response is perfect.

[221] Forgive me, forgive me, forgive me. Thinking it's impossible.

[222] How can I be forgiven for what I've done?

[223] So many of us feel that way at different times.

[224] Some people carry that burden for years and years, refusing to believe that Christ will forgive.

[225] give us if we will just ask the world needs to fall to our knees just i love the way that man shared that you know it's like all the the bones in his body disappeared and they just fell to the ground isn't that we all need to fall to our knees yes in in homage of the name of jesus christ yeah you know i wish i could talk to him directly because what i would do is i say you're talking about are my lord and my savior jesus christ let me bring you into a eucharistic chapel to spend time with the man you're talking about that you met under the appearance of bread and wine that's what came to my mind when i watched that show bishop strickland we've got a lot of our listeners saying you know you guys talk about the problems in the church but you always talk about reparation and atonement and prayer and to center your life on jesus christ i don't get that from a lot of people who are critical of things that are going on in the church.

[226] They just seem to criticize.

[227] And I take that as a compliment, Bishop Strickland, that they understand that we don't just criticize because we want to criticize.

[228] That's ridiculous.

[229] We want people to get to heaven.

[230] So we don't worry about who will be offended if we speak the truth.

[231] We worry about who will be misled, deceived, and destroyed if we don't speak the truth.

[232] And so one of the things that, as a layman, I'll bring up here, is a concern.

[233] I get frustrated as a layman when I see people dress like you as our bishop or priest who seem to not care about the ultimate truth.

[234] And here's an example.

[235] We all know about disgraced father Marco Rubnik.

[236] He's the priest, a Jesuit, when he's no longer a Jesuit now because he got kicked out of the order because he was raping women.

[237] He was doing horrible things.

[238] the church took him to court and said, you know, this guy is bad.

[239] Let's, you know, well, the Jesuits got rid of him.

[240] And now somehow people in the side of the church are giving him a new job.

[241] He's being incarnated into a Slavivivian diocese despite the abuse of history.

[242] And what I don't understand, and I don't think you could solve this, but Bishop Strickland, we see the injustice in the church.

[243] And someone you know, I know quite well now, Joshua Charles, wrote a book called persecution from within how the saints endured, how did they endure when the church was persecuting them.

[244] And it's a book by Sophia Press.

[245] I'm getting a copy sent to me right now because we're going to do an interview.

[246] But this is tied into it.

[247] I feel like as Catholics, we're being persecuted from within the church.

[248] But this is not something unnew.

[249] All of the saints, whether it's St. Anthony Claret or St. Padre Peele, they all seem to be persecuted from people who you would expect not to be persecuted.

[250] So my question to you is, when you read this kind of thing, and then you hear about Father Frank Pavone, who's now called Frank Pavone, what did he do that was so terrible to lose his priesthood?

[251] And then you've got someone, I'm going to say it right now.

[252] He's a part of the boys club.

[253] that he's able to go and go to another country and get incarnated so he can work as a priest and another diocese.

[254] And this is a man who should be in jail.

[255] So I won't bring it up to you.

[256] You can't solve the problem, but you sense my frustration as a layperson?

[257] Absolutely.

[258] And it illustrates why, and I agree with you, I feel like it's a commendation that we do remember for ourselves and to call others to reparation and atonement.

[259] Yes.

[260] Because we live in a very sinful world.

[261] Sin has always been with us, but it's like the more people ignore Jesus Christ, the way, the truth and the life, the more they ignore God, the more sinful it gets.

[262] And for, I mean, what we always have to remember is this Father Rupnik, to truly love this man, is to call him away from what he's done.

[263] Yes.

[264] And to make some sort, to call him to reparation and atonement.

[265] Amen.

[266] Rather than to ignoring and covering up whatever crimes have been committed.

[267] With all of this abuse crisis that the church has been struggling with for more than 20 years now, at least out in the open, struggling with it, but the only real love is to acknowledge the sinfulness and the brokenness and to be called away from it.

[268] And the actions like this Father Rupnik being welcomed into a diocese after all of this, it sends the opposite message.

[269] And like you said, sadly, it sends the message, if you know the right people, you can get away with anything.

[270] Well, what we need to remind people is the right person to know is Jesus Christ.

[271] And his truth doesn't let us get away with anything.

[272] He's ready to forgive us, but we have to repent.

[273] Well, said, this is the end of the liturgical year coming up in November.

[274] Remember, at the general judgment, everything's going to be exposed for ourselves.

[275] Stay with us, family.

[276] We'll come right back with more on the Bishop Strickland Hour on Virgin Most Power.

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

[278] Welcome back, indeed.

[279] What an inspirational video we just saw, folks.

[280] If you just tuned in, you can always see it on the podcast by going to vmpr .org.

[281] Bishop Strickland, one of the tweets you just sent out where you said, Let us pray, it was 12 years ago today that Cardinal Zen, 79 at the time, launched the unprecedented hunger strike against the Chinese communists.

[282] Also today in 1984, this is like in our lifetime.

[283] I mean, this is, I was an adult.

[284] I mean, you were one year away from being ordained a Catholic priest.

[285] And Father Jersey, how do I pronounce that name?

[286] Proposcal?

[287] That's close enough.

[288] As far as none.

[289] That was funny.

[290] He's calling Father Jersey.

[291] Okay, Father Jersey was killed by Polish communists for preaching and acting for the truth.

[292] Two martyr saints, and then it says, wake up America, pray for us.

[293] I look at this and I think of the martyrs, you know, like 1 ,200 years ago, 1 ,000 years, 500 years, 1500 years.

[294] ago.

[295] This was in my lifetime.

[296] These men stood up to an atheistic government and said, no, I'm not going to compromise.

[297] I'd rather die holding on to my Catholic faith than compromising.

[298] That inspired me. Thank you for sending that tweet.

[299] Yeah, it is an inspiration and the martyrs are always an inspiration to us because who do they follow?

[300] They follow Jesus.

[301] He is the one who set the model of sharing an everlasting life as children of God.

[302] We have to follow the one who died on the cross.

[303] Certainly.

[304] Not all of us are called to a physical martyrdom of giving up of our life, shedding our blood.

[305] But we're all called to live that same model of sacrificial love.

[306] And that's what too many of us have forgotten, the world and the church.

[307] need to follow Jesus Christ.

[308] There is no other way.

[309] Well, well said, I wanted to also mention you had a tweet.

[310] I love when you tweet scripture because, you know, I have a little scripture verses hanging around my house and I read it because it inspires me to stay focused on the life of Christ.

[311] And just a little plug for us.

[312] On Mondays, Father Charles Murr and myself here on and Jesse show, we do the life of Christ by Archbishop Sheen, and it's actually focusing on introducing people to Christ through the scripture.

[313] So I think it's a really needed program.

[314] So we might consider watching that by going to vmpr .org.

[315] But your tweet is about Ephesians chapter 6, verse 12 to 13.

[316] And I thought, this is so appropriate for us.

[317] It says, for our struggles is not with flesh and blood, but with principalities, with powers, with the world rulers of this present darkness, with the evil spirits in the heavens, therefore put on the armor of God that you may be able to resist on the evil day.

[318] Bishop Stricken, what made you put that particular scripture verse out?

[319] Well, you hear a lot about attacking this person or attacking that person or being opposed or supporting this person.

[320] And I get, I'm sure both of us, get attacked for, oh, you're attacking so -and -so.

[321] You're just opposing.

[322] And I think that that scripture verse really reminds all of us that ultimately, like St. Paul says, it's principalities and powers.

[323] It's the power of evil that we are fighting.

[324] And certainly, we all have to guard against becoming instruments of that evil through our sinfulness, through our bad choices.

[325] We can.

[326] We all have to be very conscious of that and constantly seeking the holiness of the saints, the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

[327] But to remember, there are forces that want to destroy humanity, that want to destroy the church.

[328] They won't destroy the church.

[329] Ultimately, Satan has been conquered by Jesus Christ.

[330] And we always have to be on that foundation.

[331] He is the cornerstone of our lives.

[332] But we have to remember that there is much evil that we must oppose and we must speak out.

[333] But I think that quote is especially important when, and I'm reminded of it, when I'm accused of attacking some individual.

[334] It's never my intention that the loving thing to do is to challenge anyone.

[335] who is ignoring or walking away from the truth.

[336] But so we don't attack anyone.

[337] That is not of Christ.

[338] But we do oppose false messages and false teachings.

[339] And it's an important reminder for me that it's the principalities and powers of evil that we're fighting.

[340] It's not an individual.

[341] Every one of us is a beloved child of God.

[342] We may be on a very evil path.

[343] God gives us the freedom to make that evil choice.

[344] But we need to always do our best to make sure that we are praying for and loving, even the person who is vehemently hating us.

[345] And that's hard to do.

[346] But that's what Christ calls us to do.

[347] Love your enemies.

[348] And there are people in war -torn parts of the world right now as we're speaking.

[349] that they are facing the extreme challenge of loving people who are attacking them and attacking their families.

[350] But as that man in the video clip that we saw, the only answer is to love in the name of Jesus Christ.

[351] It may not bring us what the world would call success.

[352] We may not appear to prevail.

[353] Many of the saints died.

[354] They thought, you know, the powers or whoever was trying to eliminate them, they said, well, we took care of that problem.

[355] They've been beheaded.

[356] They've been shot.

[357] They've been eliminated, just like this father Jersey that you did.

[358] As it turns out, I was in Rome having the opportunity to shake the hand of Pope John Paul.

[359] Really?

[360] Wow.

[361] Right around the time that Father Jersey died.

[362] I don't know the exact dates, but it was in October of 1984.

[363] The very first time I was in Rome, before I was ordained a deacon even, there and had the chance in a huge audience hall there in Rome, I had the chance to actually shake hands with a saint, with John Paul II.

[364] And someone pointed out to me, well, that's right about the same time that this father, Jersey, was being martyred, was dying for the faith.

[365] And I think that we always have to remember that.

[366] And so many of the saints model that.

[367] Christ himself says from the cross, Father, forgive them.

[368] They know not what they do.

[369] And many of the saints have echoed that sentiment as they are being attacked and murdered and they're being martyred.

[370] They have a heart of Christ.

[371] That's what a martyr is, one who loves Christ enough even to die for him and we all need to cultivate that kind of love for Jesus Christ and for his body, the church, the people of God.

[372] Well said.

[373] Wow, Dina, that was powerful.

[374] The saints do lead the way.

[375] Bishop Strickland, we have another tweet with Revelation chapter 7 verse 10 to 12 says, salvation is from God who is seated on the throne and from the lamb praise and glory, wisdom and thanksgiving, and honor and power, and might to our God forever and ever amen.

[376] And you sent that the day that we celebrated, which was Sunday, the Feast of St. John Paul 2, and you said in his strong faith.

[377] Is that why you sent that tweet out?

[378] Absolutely.

[379] I think he modeled that kind of faith that that quote from the book of Revelation speaks of it comes from god yeah jesus christ is god sent by the father they send the holy spirit we all we find our answers in the one in whose image and likeness we've been created and when we ignore god or we ignore his commandments we are in peril and i think that is an explanation for a lot of the turmoil we see in the world and in the church in this moment in history.

[380] Because too many are ignoring God or trying to reshape God in their image instead of having the humility that all of us struggle with to be humble enough to say, I need to change.

[381] I need to follow the way of Christ.

[382] And if I'm going in exactly the opposite direction, I need to turn around.

[383] I need to convert.

[384] That's what conversion means to turn your life around and follow the way that is Jesus Christ.

[385] And you know, Bishop Strickland, they have that term metanoia, I guess Greek, you know, a turning around a conversion.

[386] It appears to me that we need to talk about that more in the church about conversion rather than dialogue.

[387] It seems that our focus seems to be on, well, let me see Bishop Strickland, how you feel.

[388] Well, nothing personal, Bishop Strickland.

[389] Strickland.

[390] I mean, yeah, how you feel?

[391] Okay, great.

[392] But more importantly, how is your relationship with Jesus Christ?

[393] How can I help you dig deeper into the relationship that you have with Jesus?

[394] Can I give you a book?

[395] Can I encourage you to go to confession?

[396] Can I get you to pray your rosary?

[397] Be close and live a holy life?

[398] Where is that right now?

[399] See, this is what I think the saints are where we're focused on more of introducing people to Jesus Christ that It seems today we can learn from them and not have this worldly approach that says, you know, kind of like, you're okay, I'm okay, and let's just get along.

[400] And I think that that's a concern I have.

[401] So thanks for sharing that particular quote.

[402] I know we're going to take a quick break.

[403] It's 44.

[404] Yeah, about a minute and a half.

[405] I also want to tease everybody.

[406] We're going to be quoting Cardinal Burke because Bishop Strickland sent out a tweet that you stand with Cardinal Burke.

[407] Let me just set the stage.

[408] Cardinal Burke is an American bishop, and I met him years ago.

[409] We brought him to family conferences back in the 90s, and I was really impressed with his also simplicity when he would talk.

[410] If someone wanted to get a recording of his talk on the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Bishop Strickland, he sounds like you in explaining the devotion to the sacred heart, very, very much committed to the sacred heart of Jesus.

[411] And he is now retired.

[412] He's about 76 years of age.

[413] And he used to be the prefect for the congregation of the apostolic, for a canon law.

[414] I'll put it in simple terms.

[415] So he knows canon law probably better than most.

[416] And when we come back, I'm going to give a quote from Cardinal Burke regarding, you know, an interview he had.

[417] with Raymond and Royal.

[418] And then I want to get your take on that, Bishop Strickland.

[419] I always say I'm too blessed to be stressed.

[420] Yeah, that I'm too annoyed it to be disappointed.

[421] And if hope was money, I'd be a billionaire.

[422] Why?

[423] Because my hope is in Jesus Christ.

[424] Stay with us, family.

[425] We'll be right back.

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

[427] Welcome back for our last segment here.

[428] Boy, it went fast.

[429] For those who just tuned in, check out something.

[430] It's not Bishop Strickland.

[431] it's a convert from Islam to Christianity.

[432] And it's a powerful video that we put on just now.

[433] So check it out by going to vmpr .org.

[434] Mr. Strickland, you pointed out that you're, you know, Cardinal Burke is being persecuted for speaking the truth.

[435] Let's just be honest.

[436] In my opinion, the man speaks according to the perennial teachings of the church, and that gets him into trouble.

[437] You can relate to that.

[438] Now, some people are even asking for him to resign.

[439] Resign from what?

[440] I mean, his priesthood being a cardinal?

[441] That's just so ridiculous.

[442] But here's a quote from Cardinal Burke.

[443] He said, we are told that the church, which we profess to be one, just what you have said, one holy Catholic and apostolic, is now to be defined by senedality, a term which has no history in the doctrine of the church and for which there is.

[444] no reasonable definition.

[445] Senadality and its adjective Sedanil have become slogans behind which a revolution is at work.

[446] Now, that's a very controversial statement that he's making.

[447] But I sense he's doing that for the good of the church.

[448] It has nothing to do about attacking anybody.

[449] He's objectively looking at what's going on in the church and saying, you know, this is not part of our deposit of faith, what's going on here.

[450] So what are your thoughts on that?

[451] Well, I support Cardinal Burke because he truly is everything I read that he says he's a man of faith.

[452] He's very learned, an expert in canon law, and he simply is bold enough to speak truth that others aren't speaking.

[453] And as he said, it's one holy Catholic and apostolic.

[454] And the synodal way is, if it's, okay, if it's just another way of speaking of the way, the truth and the life of Jesus Christ, okay, but it seems to be taking people in a different way than that of Christ.

[455] And like we were saying before, if you, it'd be interesting to, probably doesn't exist because it's been, I mean, so many people talking and all it, and I'm not even that.

[456] close to exactly what's happening at the Senate.

[457] But it'd be interesting if you could do a word search and see how many times Jesus Christ is mentioned.

[458] I mean, I would hope that when, and I'm pretty confident that when you and I talk in every episode, you would find Jesus Christ mentioned frequently.

[459] Of course.

[460] Because we need to stop doing this if we're not talking about Jesus Christ.

[461] frankly, I would say the same for the Senate.

[462] If we find very rare mention of Jesus Christ, who it's all about, he is truth incarnate.

[463] He is present with us in the Eucharist.

[464] His word is still what guides us.

[465] And as Scott Hahn said recently in a great presentation he gave in Tyler, he said, as he's instituting the Eucharist, he says, do this in memory of me. He didn't say write this in memory of me. And to me, that's what we have in the treasure of our Catholic faith, in the doctrine, in the deposit of faith that we're called to guard.

[466] We have a person, just like the Muslim convert was saying.

[467] Truth is a person.

[468] And it was beautiful the way he spoke of it, that the way the truth in the life, he never knew it was a person.

[469] And that person is Jesus Christ.

[470] We know that and we can't let any voice dilute that truth or divert us from that truth.

[471] And that's what Cardinal Burke is saying.

[472] He gets a lot of opposition.

[473] He gets accused of being anti this and anti that and creating division, you know, the same way in smaller ways.

[474] that I get accused of, but it's not creating division to point to Jesus Christ.

[475] And if it is, it's the division from what is true and what is false.

[476] And that really, Terry, as we've said before, but I think that is one of the foundational, as we've said before, the fundamental issues we're dealing with in our time.

[477] It's the question of pilot before Jesus.

[478] What is truth?

[479] That is resounding through all of what's going on in the world.

[480] What is truth?

[481] We know that Jesus Christ is truth.

[482] Who is truth?

[483] Is the better question.

[484] Pylot didn't even know the truth well enough to recognize truth incarnate was standing before him.

[485] He's the one he was talking to.

[486] This Muslim man who had this wondrous encounter with Christ, he came to know that truth is a person.

[487] person, truth is incarnate in Jesus Christ, who lived, died, and rose for us.

[488] We just have to keep repeating that.

[489] No matter how many times people say, we've heard this, we want something different, we want a different path.

[490] There is no different path.

[491] There is no other path.

[492] The scriptures say this very clearly, but we have to remember the scriptures came after the person.

[493] The scriptures are not our faith.

[494] They're beautiful.

[495] They're wonderful.

[496] They're the word of God inspired by the Holy Spirit, old and New Testament.

[497] But Jesus Christ is the personification of all of that truth.

[498] He's truth incarnate.

[499] So we are obligated.

[500] And I have a greater obligation even than you do.

[501] As a successor of his apostles, I feel very clearly that I must speak up.

[502] I must speak up in the role of a successor of the apostles.

[503] not because I'm any great anything, any great theologian, any great biblical scholar, but I am called to be, I was ordained to be a successor of the apostles.

[504] I take that very seriously, and I feel I must take it very seriously.

[505] Sometimes you hear people say, oh, people are so suspicious these days, and it's such a suspicious age.

[506] And there's certainly, it's hard to know the truth.

[507] But let's be clear that when we know Jesus Christ, we know the truth.

[508] And so we've got to seek him in all the conflicts in the world and all the conflicts in the church.

[509] We've got to seek a deeper knowledge of Jesus Christ.

[510] He tells us how we have to love our enemies and live that love in caring for those most in need.

[511] we have said little in this hour about the life of the unborn, but we always talk about them because they are a reminder to us, the sanctity of life from conception to natural death.

[512] That is the span in which Christians are called to care for their brothers and sisters.

[513] And Jesus Christ makes it very clear that if we love him, we will love our neighbor, we will help them when they're hungry, when they're in danger, when they're homeless, when they need shelter, when they need assistance of any kind.

[514] That's how we live his love.

[515] And we've got to just keep going back to Jesus Christ and no matter what forces try to take us in a different direction.

[516] We have to resist with love, but with strength and the joy of knowing the way the truth and the ones.

[517] You know, Bishop Strickland, you tweeted something about the Holy Eucharist.

[518] You quoted St. Margaret Mary because we had her feast day.

[519] And I think of the Eucharistic revival that our bishops have called us to do.

[520] And it seems pretty simple to me. One of the greatest things we can do to help the Eucharistic revival, you said this in your tweet, I encourage all to who know the wondrous gift of the Holy Eucharist, adoration, spend as much time as possible with our Eucharistic face of Jesus Christ.

[521] It is a powerful opportunity that leads us to know Jesus more deeply in the mass. That's great.

[522] The state of the world calls us to deeper prayer.

[523] Great advice because here's the quote you quote one of the saints, St. Margaret Mary.

[524] She says, and this is not you speaking.

[525] This is a saint.

[526] Let every knee bend before you, O greatness of my God, though supremely humbled in the sacred host.

[527] May every heart love you, every spirit.

[528] bearer to door you, and every will be subject to you.

[529] Bishop Strickland, I see the statistics, and I'm glad the bishops are doing this Eucharistic revival because so many Catholics don't even understand the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist, but I think, and maybe I'm just oversimplifying it, but we need to introduce people to Jesus in the Holy Eucharist, and once they have that relationship, I think there's a game changer for their reverence when they go to Mass. to something?

[530] Absolutely.

[531] Once you know him, and you know he's really present in that consecrated host, body and blood, soul, and divinity, then as St. Margaret Mary says, we fall to our knees and joy, in humility, in wonder, and awe, in reverence for God present with us, leading us away from the darkness in our world, leading us in his light.

[532] well said bishop strickland we're we're out of time we have just a minute so if we could get your blessing for all the listeners who just want to fall deeper in love with jesus and we ask for your blessing and we ask for your prayers because we count on our shepherds we count on our shepherds to protect the sheep so if you could give us a blessing that would be grand almighty god we ask your blessing for everyone involved in and listening to virgin most powerful radio that all of us may continue to seek Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior to know him more deeply and to share him with others and to through his love reach out to all those in need that we can.

[533] We pray that we may be guided always in the light of Christ and we ask this in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

[534] Amen.

[535] Thank you so much, Bishop Strickland.

[536] I want to recommend Joshua Charles book how basically persecution from within he's talking about the persecution that we get just being a Catholic a loyal Catholic from people inside the church and he said how the saints endured it and this is what we need to do we need to look to the saints and how they were able to deal with persecution from within the church St. Padre Piel is a good example in our own life you can get that book i get no commission on it no you know but go to sophia press and joshua charles is the author a young man who i was very impressed he came into the church about three or four years ago and i'll be uh one of the things we do here of bishop strickland is any good organization we like to put them on the air to let people know about it and he's starting this new apostolate that is about the joy of the gospel and trying to engage in encourage people to fall deep in love with Jesus, so we want to encourage people to go and get his book so that we can mimic and model the lives of the saints because they've been through what we're dealing with.

[537] Don't think this is a first time we've ever had persecution or any kind of lack of catechesis.

[538] This has been going on for 2 ,000 years, and we need to keep in mind the saints or our role models in dealing with things like this.

[539] Also, I want to recommend that you go to our website, Virgin Most Powerful Radio, take a look at all the podcasts that we have available.

[540] Bishop Strickland shows are all there, the Terry and Jesse show, Apologetics.

[541] We've got the Jesus 9 -1 -1 show.

[542] We have actually a show that I want to really tell people about.

[543] We had the MMA, I'm not a martial arts guy, but he's the, I can't even think of the dude's name, but on Monday, Jesse interviewed him.

[544] He's a traditional Catholic, goes to daily Mass, and he's an icon in the MMA, and he talks about his conversion story.

[545] It's on Monday's show on Jesus 9 -1 -1.

[546] What an inspiration, because here's a man who was the top of the fighters, and he ends up giving himself to Jesus Christ and talks about Our Lady and the Eucharist.

[547] And I just think, what a great model to share with men who are into.

[548] martial arts.

[549] It's just a great testimony.

[550] I really am a big believer.

[551] For 45 years, I've been promoting testimonies from Scott Hahn to Tim Staples to you name it, because I think people need testimonies, and they'll follow that much more with storytelling.

[552] Also, don't forget Our Lady of Fatima said souls are going to hell because no one is there to pray and make sacrifices.

[553] We can unite our sufferings with the sufferings of Christ to help redeem the world.

[554] So sign me up for that Each day, offer up the little sacrifices so that you can help souls reach heaven.

[555] And I want to thank you for supporting us here at Virgin Most Powerful Radio.

[556] As Bishop Strickland said, but the blessing, may God bless you and your family.