23 May 23 – The Role of the Bishop

[0] Welcome to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

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

[2] And every week we talk with Bishop Strickland about the events of the church and the world.

[3] We also cover catechism classes.

[4] Are you believing that?

[5] Yes, a bishop in the Catholic Church teaching catechism on Catholic radio.

[6] It's a great idea.

[7] Bishop Strickland, thanks again for joining us for this hour.

[8] Thanks, Terry.

[9] Thank you.

[10] Bishop Strickland, everybody's talking about the tweet you made over the weekend.

[11] regarding Pope Francis, it said that, you tweeted that I believe Pope Francis, the Pope, but it is the time for me to say that I reject his program of undermining the deposit of faith.

[12] Well, first of all, set the stage, what was going on at that time, and why did you tweet that and explain what you mean undermining the deposit of faith?

[13] Well, it all started with a video that I was willing to record that was dealing with the gift of hope and the need for hope in our world where a lot of people are hopeless.

[14] But the organization that was sponsoring this video that I was told something that, oh, they're claiming that Pope Francis isn't authentically the Pope.

[15] And I felt like I needed to clarify that.

[16] Pope Francis is the Pope.

[17] But also, as I said in the tweet, I felt like it was my responsibility to not just say, oh, yes, Pope Francis is the Pope and leave it at that.

[18] But to also say, honestly, that I have concerns about an undermining of the deposit of faith.

[19] And really, Terry, I know that.

[20] people would disagree or people, you know, people say all kinds of things.

[21] But I can honestly say the, what I did then and what I do.

[22] I mean, I'm a sinner.

[23] I'm imperfect.

[24] I make mistakes.

[25] But it was motivated by love of Christ.

[26] Amen.

[27] Love of the Catholic Church.

[28] And love of Pope Francis.

[29] Amen.

[30] What does Jesus tell us?

[31] Love one another as I have loved you.

[32] And Jesus loved us by revealing the truth to us and being willing to sacrifice his life for us.

[33] He says there's no better love than to lay down your life for a friend.

[34] I'm sure a lot of people would say, oh, well, Bishop Strickland, sure not laying down his life for Pope Francis.

[35] But in a way, I think that's exactly how I see it.

[36] Of course, that's how I see it.

[37] Because, yeah, it's like, how dare you say something, you know, criticize the Pope?

[38] It's not my intention to criticize, but if the truth is the truth, which I believe it is, I promise to guard the deposit of faith.

[39] And really, Terry, certainly it's on a global stage.

[40] And, you know, I'm in a small diocese in Northeast Texas, and it's the Pope in Rome and all of this.

[41] but people are people you know and we've talked many times you're a dad the loving thing for a dad to do is to tell his children sons and daughters this is what the truth is to share the deposit of faith and to guide them in that and even you know for your dad Terry or my dad if we as adults especially I mean you know children don't have the responsibility to correct their parents.

[42] But when the children are adults, we're all facing adult issues in the world.

[43] I mean, you can't just say, oh, my dad's doing these things that are harmful to his life, but he's dad.

[44] So I just got to respect them.

[45] Real respect is to say, if you believe something needs to be addressed that is contrary to the deposit of faith, to me, that's love, that's respect.

[46] That's what we're called to do.

[47] And so whether people believe it or not, that's what motivated me. And really, Terry, it caused me to realize a lot of things.

[48] For one thing, you know, we do need to respect the Pope Francis and really all people in positions of leadership.

[49] People in a diocese need to respect their bishop.

[50] But respect has to be properly understood.

[51] And one thing that I realize is Twitter is not the forum for respectfully dealing with these kinds of issues.

[52] Because people come at it from, I mean, there are a lot of people who have no faith there.

[53] That's one reason.

[54] I've stayed on Twitter because I try to put truth out there into that mess, just hoping that some people will see some truth.

[55] I mean, like, you know, since this last tweet, I tweeted just the other day recently, because it just came to me that this is something that I believe deeply that I will die for, and it's a beautiful gift that we have in our Catholic faith, I said, because somebody said they were going to pray for me. Yeah.

[56] And I said, well, I'll pray for you.

[57] And somehow it came to the point where basically what came to my mind and what I tweeted, as a priest, the greatest gift I can give another person is to offer mass for something they're going through, maybe an illness, or just to help them have a good and faithful and a virtuous life.

[58] But the greatest gift I can give is the mass. Right.

[59] The greatest gift I can receive is for somebody, for a priest to say, I'm going to offer a mass for you.

[60] And that's what it came from.

[61] A priest said he was going to offer a mass for me. It just occurred to me as a Catholic priest, you know, I mean, I don't have money.

[62] I don't have much of anything.

[63] But what greater gift can I give than to offer a mass and to pray the mass for another person?

[64] What greater gift can I receive than that?

[65] to have a mass prayed for me. It's a great gift.

[66] We pray for Pope Francis all the time.

[67] That's why I stay in Twitter is because it's an opportunity to continue to share the truth.

[68] But it does, this whole episode this weekend reminds me that it's not the best forum for dealing with delicate, nuanced theological situations because people just yell and people say outlandish things.

[69] And many of the people on Twitter have no faith in God.

[70] We pray for them.

[71] Out of love for them, we need to try to share the truth with them.

[72] But so I learned that.

[73] And also in reflecting on this as, I mean, I'm a man who reflects.

[74] I mean, anybody who knows me, I mean, I talk a lot while we're doing these recordings.

[75] If I'm in the car with someone driving to a confirmation or if I'm just, visiting, unless we're talking about things like this, I'm a quiet guy.

[76] I mean, people say, oh, Bishop Strickland didn't talk a lot.

[77] And you'd probably be surprised if you saw me talking on this recording, because this is the very heart of my life.

[78] I mean, I talk about Jesus Christ.

[79] I talk about his church.

[80] I talk about the need for truth in our society.

[81] But one thing And as I reflected on all this, I think just the general reaction, you know, was it reminded me of how the church has treated the abuse crisis.

[82] And I think we need to continue to learn the lesson because I'm a bishop.

[83] I make mistakes.

[84] Too many of us as bishops, when we saw abuse, the last thing we thought of was.

[85] this is wrong.

[86] This needs to be corrected.

[87] Anyone who's been harmed needs to be addressed.

[88] Too often it was, oh, how do we avoid a lawsuit?

[89] How do we cover this up?

[90] How do we not, you know, get exposed on this?

[91] This is not what we need to do as successors of the apostles.

[92] And thankfully, I mean, I'm blessed to have been in a diocese where wasn't me. I don't take credit for it.

[93] It was my predecessors who said, is this all began, they said, we're going to deal with this properly.

[94] And nobody's perfect.

[95] Mistakes get made.

[96] But when you are setting that principle that we're going to care for the people that have been deeply harmed, we're going to, for the sake of the priest who may have been, who's been proven to be an abuser, and sadly, that's happened.

[97] Sometimes there are allegations and there was nothing to it.

[98] That's tragic as well.

[99] But sometimes the abuse was proven.

[100] And even the priest would admit it.

[101] For the sake of that priest, it needs to be dealt with properly.

[102] And I think that attitude, and it's certainly not just in the church.

[103] I mean, look at the government.

[104] Look at all the cover -ups.

[105] Look at all the corruption.

[106] Jesus Christ calls us to live in the truth.

[107] And he anoints us in the Holy Spirit, the spirit of truth.

[108] So I think that what we need to learn is the truth is our greatest gift.

[109] It's our greatest value.

[110] It's our greatest power.

[111] And that's true for the whole church from Pope Francis all the way down to the most recently confirmed Canada, the Conformandi that are being confirmed all over the place during this Easter season and the church.

[112] of us are required and blessed to live the truth.

[113] And if we see, we have an obligation to the flock here and anywhere we can when we see what is contrary to the truth.

[114] And there are too many things going on that are contrary to the truth that need to be addressed.

[115] I'm not in Rome.

[116] I'm not in the Vatican.

[117] I try to give Pope Francis the benefit of a doubt, but he is the Pope, just like I'm the bishop of Tyler.

[118] I'm a responsibility ultimately.

[119] And that, it's out of that love of Christ and his church, out of love of Pope Francis, and all of us.

[120] I mean, I'm, I'm very imperfect.

[121] I'm a sinner.

[122] But I'm obligated.

[123] When I see a lack of truth, out of love, I have to act.

[124] Yeah, clarity with charity, as we always say here at Virgin Most Powerful Radio.

[125] When we come back, Let's talk a little bit more about the responsibilities of a bishop like you.

[126] Stay with us, family.

[127] We'll be back.

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

[129] Welcome back, indeed.

[130] Bishop Strickland, a quote that you said on a tweet that's got so much ink being spoken about and talking about.

[131] It was regarding the Holy Father that you clarified that the Pope is the Pope because we have people like Patrick Kaufman and Dr. Edmaza and others who are saying that the Pope isn't the Pope, which.

[132] we call him a set of a contest and that's not our position it's not your position and then you know you mentioned that it's now the time for me to say that I reject his program of undermining the deposit of faith Pope Francis but I want to make a note in 2018 the Holy Father himself told the bishops of Italy that it's okay to disagree with the Pope so I want to bring that up because it seems to me you're disagreeing with the Pope out of chair not any vindictiveness.

[133] We pray every day for the Holy Father, but I wanted to ask you to just clarify, and I think you made it the point of the sexual abuse problems that we were kind of quiet about, maybe with Cardinal McCarrick.

[134] There were priests and bishops who knew all about McCarrick but didn't want to speak, and that didn't go very far.

[135] So it seems to me that if things are going in a direction that need to be corrected and you don't speak, I think it's a sin of omission.

[136] Now, maybe I'm reading into your tweet, but it seems to me that the truth needs to be top on the category of what we believe.

[137] In other words, if the Pope said something like Jesus is only man, not God, that wouldn't be correct.

[138] And we'd have to say, Holy Father, excuse me, but that's not what the church teaches.

[139] It's human and divine, and this is the perennial teaching.

[140] Now, that's not, I'm not saying that he said that, but if he did say something like that, I feel morally obligated if I'm a follower of Christ to say even to the Pope, and I think the Pope will thank me ultimately for correcting him.

[141] Am I onto something?

[142] I think you are, Terry, because as we were saying before, the truth is what sets us free.

[143] Jesus Christ is truth incarnate.

[144] Amen.

[145] Truth has a face.

[146] It's the face of Jesus.

[147] Amen.

[148] And so seeking and living the truth.

[149] is what is beneficial to all of us.

[150] Right.

[151] And, you know, I like the image I've shared with you.

[152] It's an image that's been presented to me that I think is helpful.

[153] But the idea of a plum line, that a plum line is basically, if you want something to be vertically, perfectly straight, you use a string and a little weight that basically, by gravity, it shows you, this is a vertical line.

[154] Yep.

[155] And, you know, if it leans a little bit, as I just looked up, okay, just wanted to look up something a bit more about a plumb line.

[156] It's talking about hanging wallpaper, which is a pretty, you know, ordinary thing.

[157] But if you want to get it straight, you need a plumb line.

[158] That's right.

[159] So that it doesn't start gradually getting so crooked that it's all messed up by the time.

[160] you get the end of the wall a plum line keeps you true keeps you straight true vertical and i and i think spiritually that's what we all have to seek is some we have to be willing in in uh humility i mean i need to be humble all of us need to be humble there's too much arrogance and pride in our world and we need to be willing to be corrected.

[161] We need to be willing to be brought back to the truth.

[162] And we need to be actively seeking that clear line of truth.

[163] You know, we talk about true north.

[164] And we need to be looking for the truth.

[165] And I think that that's what are the principles involved in this, is we're collaborating as the mystical body of Christ, the Pope, the bishops, all of the faithful.

[166] We're seeking the truth.

[167] And if that's what we're after, then, yeah, we may, you know, I stumble or I get something wrong.

[168] I want to be corrected if I'm saying something like we've said many times before.

[169] If we, and you can, especially the more intricate theological discussions, you can say something as like, are you really mean to say that?

[170] You're getting into something that isn't true, isn't accurate to what the church teaches.

[171] And I think we're not living in an age of clarity.

[172] We need that clarity.

[173] And so I think that the whole controversy, we have the deposit of faith.

[174] And like we've talked about before, but our discussion about private revelation came back to mind for me. It just so happened that Saturday this weekend as I was dealing with all this I'm praying and trying to make sure that I handled it properly you know whatever mistakes I make I try to and you did is it a good example you were willing to correct it but it seemed very interesting to me that it happened on May 13th the anniversary of Our Lady of Fatima I think every Catholic knows Our Lady of Fatima is what's considered a private revelation that has been officially authorized by the church as worthy of believing that these three children saw a vision of the Virgin Mary that she gave them messages.

[175] I mean, people talk about Fatima all the time.

[176] And I just found it very interesting that all this is going on on the anniversary of our lady of Fatima.

[177] How did the church determine that Fatima was not just an apparition that some children saw that didn't fit with the truth.

[178] They compared what the children, and there was a lot of study and a lot of interrogation.

[179] They're books about how they did this, and they do this with any private revelation.

[180] The deposit of faith, the catechism, the scriptures, the magicism, the magicians, the magicians, Church are used to analyze anything like Fatima and say, does it pass the test of being according to the deposit of faith or not?

[181] So that for the church's history, that's what the church has done to measure, is this true or not?

[182] Is it according to the faith?

[183] I mean, the Council of Trent with the counter -reformation dealt with everything that had happened with Martin Luther and many others.

[184] I mean, he sort of started it, but Calvin and Zwingli, all of these different ones in history.

[185] But what did they do?

[186] They compared using the deposit of faith to say, okay, this one's an error on this issue, this one's an error on this issue.

[187] The deposit of faith is the gold standard of Catholicism.

[188] And that, I think we have to pay attention to.

[189] And any varying from that, we have to look at it and say, is this according to the deposit of faith?

[190] And ultimately, you know, the deposit of faith that may sound sort of abstract for people.

[191] But, and honestly, Terry, whether people believe it or not, to me it all comes down to being true to Jesus.

[192] The Jesus Christ, if we believe he's really present in every tabernacle, and bread and wine becomes his body and blood, soul and divinity at every mass celebrated, and that he is the incarnate word of the same word that's being proclaimed at that mass out of various scripture readings and out of the gospel.

[193] It's about Jesus Christ.

[194] Amen.

[195] If you believe in him, I mean, look at all the martyrs, including the apostles.

[196] who died rather than do something contrary to the deposit of faith.

[197] That's the kind of faith we have to have in the 21st century.

[198] You know, I don't claim that mine's there, but I'm working at it to strengthen my faith so that it is strong enough if it came to that to be willing to die rather than contradict the deposit of faith.

[199] And really, Terry, I know I'm doing all the talking.

[200] I'm hearing it.

[201] I like it.

[202] I would say, Yes, Father.

[203] I wish you.

[204] We have to be willing to die to anything, not just give up our lives, but if it means losing your position, losing your status, losing the esteem of certain people that may disagree or don't even believe, then you have to be willing to die to that in all kinds of ways.

[205] That's what Christ did.

[206] He literally died on a cross and rose from the dead.

[207] to free us from the falsehoods and the evils of this world from sin and death.

[208] And so if we're going to love each other the way he loves us, we have to do so in the truth.

[209] So I think that we all have to just remember out of love for whoever the Holy Father is, out of love for every person.

[210] I mean, Christ tells us love each other as I have loved you.

[211] He doesn't say, love this group or that group, love a few people, love only the downtrodden.

[212] He says love each other.

[213] And certainly, specific care for those, like we talk about all the time, and this is probably one of the few recordings where we haven't even really mentioned the sanctity of life issue.

[214] But it's another one.

[215] Why is abortion wrong?

[216] Because those that we're called to love are being harmed in their life.

[217] lives are being taken.

[218] So it's all about living the truth and loving as Christ loves us and being strong enough, which I'm not, I don't claim to be, but we have to work at being strong enough to speak when we see something that isn't true.

[219] And frankly, and like I said, I'm not in the Vatican.

[220] I don't have all the answers.

[221] But I have Jesus Christ.

[222] He is the answer.

[223] And, but But there are things that have come out of the Pontifical Academy for wine that are absolutely contrary to the positive faith.

[224] Amen.

[225] And I haven't heard any correction or any clarifications on that.

[226] That needs to be clear.

[227] That needs to be corrected.

[228] And all of us desperately need that.

[229] So out of love for Christ and his church, for the Holy Father, and for the entire church, living that love that I do very imperfectly but at least I'm working at it but we have to we have to live the truth the truth and love are not sort of separate categories God is love God is truth God is all goodness and beauty and Jesus Christ is his incarnate son I believe that I know that to be the truth As I was praying before him in Eucharistic adoration today, I knew that I was praying before the same Lord who taught, the same Lord who died, the same Lord who was conceived in the womb of Mary.

[230] It's the wonder of our faith, and we have to be willing to speak up for it.

[231] Well, Seth, when we come back to the next break, I'll give you a good example of Bishop Strickland, humbling himself, because he tweeted something about the SSPS.

[232] and then we tweeted not long after, hey, you know what?

[233] I was wrong.

[234] I got corrected by Brother Bishop, Bishop Athanasia Snyder, and I'll correct myself.

[235] But you see, Bishop Strickland, that's what we're looking for from our prelates.

[236] We're looking for humility, humility, and humility.

[237] So stay with his family.

[238] I want to remind everybody, if this is your first time listening to the Bishop Strickland Hour, we do have all of his shows podcast at VMP.

[239] dot org as matter of fact all of our shows our podcast on vmpr .org and all of the shows are set on one thing love for jesus christ and his bride the church the salvation of souls stay with us family we'll be right back after a quick break and now back to the bishop strickland hour welcome back indeed to the bishop strickland hour i wanted to tease everybody here's a example bishop strickland of of humility because you tweeted something and then corrected yourself I think the same day about the SSPX and you said something to the effect that you spoke with or you had a correction because Bishop Athanasia Snyder has stated that the SSPX is not in schism and he's the one who went there that Pope Francis asked him to go in 2015 to investigate that SSPX continues to hold traditions out for the Universal Church.

[240] The Eucharist of the SSPX is held as valid by the Catholic Church.

[241] We must turn to Jesus as Eucharistic Face.

[242] Now, Bishop Strickland, you got corrected by a brother Bishop.

[243] I just want to say thank you for not going, oh, no, no, I'm not going to correct myself because, you know, I'm right when I...

[244] In other words, give me a break.

[245] You've said it all the time I've known you that if you're wrong on something, correct me. And you got...

[246] This is an example where you...

[247] stated something that you found out, wait, you know, I'm not correct on this.

[248] I'll correct myself.

[249] Am I right?

[250] Absolutely.

[251] And really, Terry, I make no claim.

[252] I mean, the whole SSPX situation is very complex.

[253] I mean, actually, even after I corrected myself, I mean, so many people are saying, oh, you're wrong now.

[254] And it's like, I don't claim to really know.

[255] Yeah.

[256] But the key for me, again, you know, I'm sure people say, oh, it's Strickland, whatever.

[257] I don't, it, whatever.

[258] I am just trying to be as faithful as I can.

[259] Yes.

[260] What, what really prompted me was finding out, tell me. With all the confusion, like you just said, I mean, I think you were quoting me, but the Essence PX, Eucharist is valid.

[261] Yes, I quoted you, yes.

[262] That, if that, the truth of that is, what motivated me i mean yeah there are complexities there as pope benedict said at one point there are doctrinal issues it's complicated but when they say mass if jesus christ body and blood soul and divinity truly that's right comes there then i'm going to pay attention that's right and i don't you know like i said i don't encourage people to go the route of s sbx because it is questions there are there's a lot of confusion it's very complex right but if the euchrist is valid if christ is there then it's got the heart of the the truth that the church is so that's what motivated me to you know if i'm not humble before the body as a bishop then i'm in big trouble and you know we all have to be willing to say I made a mistake or and with the SSPX I still couldn't I mean I couldn't claim to have all the answers I understand because there's yeah you're right I mean popes have said different things and again you know I would love to see a real definitive clarification of that but it gets complicated and it gets politicized yeah it does and to be honest with you if the Eucharist is valid that is very significant.

[263] And I would just say this.

[264] I don't mean to be criticizing, but the dubia from 2015 never got answered.

[265] We want to have clarity as lay people, okay?

[266] Not just you, Bishop Strickland, me as a Catholic, I want to have clarity on all these issues, and it used to be called the doctrine of faith that would be clarifying different teachings about questions about doctrinal issues.

[267] And I don't see that as clear as it, was personally under Benedict or John Paul, too, in my lifetime.

[268] So that's just the fact.

[269] And let me just add, Terry, just add to that.

[270] Yeah.

[271] Because I think a lot of the confusion that I see, and as the Bishop of Tyler, yeah, if I say, I mean, let me just use an example.

[272] Okay.

[273] I'm proud to be known.

[274] If I'm known for anything, I'm proud to be known as a. bishop who stands for the sanctity of life.

[275] Amen.

[276] Conception to natural death, life is sacred.

[277] That's why abortion is murder.

[278] That's why it's wrong.

[279] For me to say that and then to hire somebody to work in our chancery who is working before worked at Planned Parenthood, it is deeply pro -abortion and goes down and protest in front of the cathedral.

[280] You know, that's a mixed message if I ever heard of one big time we're getting too many mixed messages yeah we need to say what's true in our our other decisions that surround it and how we respond to people in the organizations that we welcome i mean you know for me to say that abortion is evil and wrong yeah and then to appear at a planned parenthood rally that's a that's a deep contradiction of course you're not going to see it happen But we see too much of that in the church from the Vatican down.

[281] We need to be clear.

[282] If this is the truth, then all of our decisions correspond to that.

[283] Like I said earlier, the people in Planned Parenthood, we shouldn't hate them.

[284] God doesn't hate them, but they're doing things that are evil and harmful in taking the lives of innocent human beings.

[285] So we need to correct them over and over again.

[286] But to have this kind of mixed messages where we say, if I were to say abortion is wrong, it's evil, but then to appear at a Planned Parenthood meeting or to welcome the head of Planned Parenthood to come and give a talk at our cathedral, that's just going to confuse the people.

[287] That's what we've got to get away from, whether in a diocese or in the Vatican, anywhere in the church, we've got to continue to be consistent with the truth that we proclaim.

[288] Well said.

[289] And this is why I'd like to shift into the catechism that we do each week, and it's the Way of Christ's student's book.

[290] And we're just going through fundamental teachings on the faith.

[291] We're at question number 10 on page 17.

[292] and this is something that we teach a convert course on Tuesday nights, and people continually tell us every Tuesday, wow, I learned so much.

[293] Why didn't I get that when I went to Catholic school or when I did at Mass?

[294] I mean, we're learning so much, and we're just giving fundamentals.

[295] And I appreciate Bishop Strickland taking the time to just go through basic catechesis so people are grounded in the truth.

[296] And this particular question gets me all excited because we live in a way.

[297] world with a lot of pain, a lot of suffering.

[298] And the world doesn't know what to do with suffering, except maybe pop more pills or smoke more marijuana or do something to medicate themselves.

[299] Because here's the question.

[300] This is one of the greatest questions we can ask ourselves today.

[301] How can man offer his suffering with the works of Jesus?

[302] In other words, how can we unite our sufferings with the sufferings of Christ?

[303] And I mean, we can go on.

[304] a whole hour or two on this topic.

[305] But I just love this because the answer is pretty quick, much quicker than I would have said, but I love it.

[306] It says this, Jesus' suffering and death give all suffering and death meaning.

[307] Wow, just right there.

[308] Just as Jesus invites us to share in his victory and the resurrection, Jesus calls us to share in his suffering by taking up our cross and following him, by offering up all our sufferings to Jesus.

[309] We allow the Holy Spirit to configure us more into the image of Christ.

[310] We also participate in the redemptive action of Christ by uniting our suffering with Jesus' suffering for the betterment of others.

[311] And the quote is right from classic, you know, I mean, Colossians chapter 1, verse 24.

[312] This is one of those classic sites for redemptive suffering.

[313] Bishop Strickland, give us your take because you've been suffering I'll be honest before I ask you the question you suffered this whole weekend because you proclaim statements about truth you do it every week acts of Catholic priest and bishop and you take that suffering and say no it's wasted no I know you unite that suffering with the sufferings of Christ so I want to hear your take on what I call not wasting pain how do we not waste pain well the the catechism really tells gives us the answer and i think it's especially important in our time yeah because you know no one wants to suffer right but when you find meaning in the suffering and as this says i mean that first line jesus suffering and death give all suffering and death meaning because of who he is fully God and fully man and all of this is critical to the early church's challenges with who is Jesus yes is he truly God is he truly man is he both this the answer to suffering is bound up in he had a real human life he had a human body and he sacrificed that body for us.

[314] He suffered real human pain.

[315] It wasn't just sort of acting like it.

[316] He truly suffered and died.

[317] And we can all, and we need to reflect on that.

[318] We're at the point as we come to the end of the Easter season, where in our province we celebrate ascension on the following Sunday.

[319] In some places, we're recording the day before what used to be called, and some places still is, Ascension Thursday.

[320] We do it on Thursday.

[321] We're doing our thing tomorrow night.

[322] Good.

[323] The Ascension of the Lord.

[324] And all of that has meaning because he really died and really rose.

[325] And that real death and real resurrection of the Lord of the universe of the creator of all.

[326] I mean, in John's gospel, as we've gone through the Easter season, we've read a lot of the John's gospel where Jesus talks about that mystery.

[327] When you see me, you see the father.

[328] Huh?

[329] How does that work?

[330] And he talks about he's got to return to the father to send their spirit.

[331] It's the great mystery of who God is, but it's a beautiful mystery that we need to continue to share is the good news, the revealed truth, the message that Jesus Christ brings us.

[332] And it gives an answer to our suffering because of the broken, sinful world that rebelled against God.

[333] Jesus, his son suffered to heal that.

[334] And we can share in that healing.

[335] We're going to come back and talk about our Lady of Fatima in suffering and how it's a reaffirmation of the gospel.

[336] Stay with us, family.

[337] We'll be right back.

[338] Now back to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[339] Welcome back.

[340] Bishop Strickland was just giving an explanation on redemptive suffering, the value of it, and I want to talk about our lady in there, too.

[341] You know, you think about the hospitals and Tyler all over the world.

[342] People are suffering in hospitals, and if they've not been told to have an understanding of that their suffering has a value being offered up in union with the sufferings of Christ to help redeem the world, it's a game changer.

[343] I'll never forget Bishop Strickland when Scott Hahn, I met, just for those who don't know, back 35 years ago, when Scott came into the church, I did his conversion testimony, and I worked very closely with him.

[344] And he was talking about Colossians chapter 1.

[345] And I said, how did you see that as a Protestant?

[346] And he told me, he says, you know what, we didn't understand it.

[347] We just went over it, like, whatever that means.

[348] And as he became a Catholic and understood that, he said, that was this game changer.

[349] You mean every action is like a blank check that I can offer it up to God?

[350] And that really brought joy to him in his own life.

[351] Now, Our Lady of Fatima said this, Bishop Strickland, as you know, that souls are going to hell because no one is there to pray and make sacrifices for them.

[352] And so my little grandson of three years old, a 103 -year -old person, all of them can offer their suffering for the salvation of soul.

[353] So little inconveniences, now we all participate in the salvific work of Jesus Christ.

[354] To me, that's a game changer.

[355] And I was a kid.

[356] I remember that that was what I could do.

[357] And it was for me valuable because I realized that even as a child, I could participate in praying for souls.

[358] Like, for example, let's give me an example.

[359] This is a story of someone that we should be praying for.

[360] late -term abortionist Warren Heron, H -E -R -N, admits being a stone -cold killer for 50 years killing unborn babies.

[361] And he says, I have no regrets.

[362] He's out in Colorado, and he's been doing this killing of unborn babies for over 50 years, and especially he charges $6 ,000 for late -term abortions.

[363] He's happy to do that.

[364] And I just think right there, there's a sinner, okay, that I've started praying for when I read that article.

[365] I'm going to offer up some sacrifices and I would like to ask all of our listeners to pray for Warren Hearn, Dr. Warren Hearn, who admits as being a killer.

[366] Somehow his conscience has been blotted out.

[367] And this is why redemptive suffering is so powerful.

[368] Do we have a relative or a friend who's away from the church?

[369] We can pray for them.

[370] Bishop, I didn't want to So I wanted to take, I think we've got six or seven minutes on the Ascension Thursday that's coming up for the weekend and for those who are going to be celebrating it like we do at the Anglican Ordinariate on Thursday.

[371] Can you talk a little bit about the ascension of our Lord?

[372] Sure.

[373] Of course, it's one of the mysteries of the rosary that we pray.

[374] And it's the resurrection, of course, Easter, with the ascension of the Lord, as recorded in the gospel, is Christ, as we say in the profession of faith, he is seated at the right hand of God, the Father Almighty.

[375] That's when he returns to the right hand of God.

[376] And in the great mystery of all that, because, as he says, anytime we see him, we see the father.

[377] So it's not really that he and the father were separated, but he definitely was here.

[378] You know, it's beyond me to fully explain how the Lord was here and also with the Father.

[379] but we know that he and the father are one.

[380] So the great mystery, but the ascension, the way as I pray the rosary and reflect on that second glorious mystery after the resurrection, the ascension of the Lord, what always occurs to me, and again, I don't claim to have all the answers, and it's easy to make theological mistakes.

[381] And if I make one, I'm ready to be corrected.

[382] But Jesus Christ truly ascended to the Father in his resurrected body.

[383] So what I like to reflect on is that his human body is there with the Father in heaven, just like the assumed body of the Immaculate Virgin Mary.

[384] And those two words, I mean, those two words make a huge difference and really are a great way to talk about our Catholic theology.

[385] In August, August 15th, we'll celebrate the assumption of Mary.

[386] Yep.

[387] This coming, tomorrow, Thursday, for those celebrated on what traditionally was called Ascension Thursday, or like in this province, we celebrated on the 7th Sunday of Easter.

[388] Whenever we celebrate the ascension of the Lord, we're celebrating the son of God, the son of the Father, returning to the Father, under his own power, under the power of the Holy Spirit, which is always with them, Father, Son, and Spirit.

[389] Mary is assumed into heaven because it's not under her own power.

[390] just like she received i mean she conceived jesus in her womb under the power of the holy spirit she is assumed into heaven under the power of the holy spirit and i think that's it helps me yeah to understand what the ascension means when we think about mary a real human woman with a real human body yeah assumed into heaven jesus a real human human man as well as God, fully God, fully man. Amen.

[391] But even we know the resurrection stories, his resurrected body, he ate.

[392] He had breakfast with the disciples.

[393] But he also could disappear and reappear.

[394] He could go through walls.

[395] Very different than our location -bound physical human bodies.

[396] But as he showed Thomas, he still had the wounds.

[397] I mean, he was resurrected, but he still had the scars from his passion, from being nailed to the cross.

[398] So all of that is a great mystery of how does this work?

[399] But we know it to be true.

[400] And so the same Lord who walked this earth is seated at the right hand of God, the Father Almighty.

[401] I mean, that's an early formulation of a creed to help all of us through the edges to understand that Jesus is with the father, but he's also here in that incarnate presence in the Eucharist.

[402] The mystery of the Eucharist, body and blood, when we say body and blood, soul and divinity, we're not saying, well, you know, anything except that his real body and blood, soul, and divinity, in every consecrated host, in every particle of a consecrated host, every drop of consecrated wine that is the precious blood of Christ, he's there fully present.

[403] I mean, you know, how does that work?

[404] I can't explain it.

[405] I don't think anybody can't.

[406] But we can't explain what we believe.

[407] Right.

[408] And a lot of the beautiful Eucharistic reflections talk about the reality.

[409] that I mean you have a tabernacle in that chapel that I visited a couple of months ago there outside your studio right I'm a tabernacle I'm blessed to have it right here in my house the same Jesus is there present in the tabernacle there in the tabernacle here man fully present the same Jesus every dimension of who Jesus is is present there that's why we must be reverent because the Lord is really present, real presence.

[410] And that's, the ascension is all tied into that.

[411] I talk to the young people at confirmation a lot of times that, because we go through the renewal of baptismal promises, where the one, the question about Christ says, he's seated at the right hand of the father.

[412] So Jesus is seated at the right hand of the father.

[413] Yes.

[414] But he's also in the tabernacle?

[415] Yes.

[416] He's both as Lord of the Universe.

[417] And so his ascension is when he returned to the Father after really and actually being on this earth for 33 years as a man from a newborn child all the way to when he died on the cross.

[418] So all of that mystery, talking about the ascension is a great way to talk about the mystery, the whole mystery of Christ, the man, God, fully God and fully man, who dwelt among us, did all his wondrous ministry, died for us, rose, ascended to the Father, and established the church through their spirit.

[419] All of that is woven together.

[420] Wow.

[421] That is beautiful.

[422] And you know what?

[423] I want to recommend people to go and Google Eucharistic miracles on YouTube.

[424] And I'll tell you why, Bishop Strickland, there's so many beautiful testimonies of these extraordinary means that take place in miracles, whether it's Lanziano, Italy, or something as recent in Buenos Aires.

[425] This is the game changer when it comes to realizing that Jesus Christ is present, body, blood, soul, and divinity, and what we have is consecrated hosts under the appearance of bread.

[426] it's actually Jesus Christ what a mystery but these miracles are taking place all over the world and sometimes I think it's good for people just to watch those and say wow I better be more reverent when I'm in the presence of Christ that's my take absolutely all right well we have a blessing if you could give us your blessing to our listeners we would appreciate that bishop strickland almighty god we ask your blessing for all of us participating in this broadcast and those who will listen later, may it be an opportunity to rejoice in all the truth that you have revealed to us, to be reminded of redemptive suffering, to be reminded that all of us can and should be humble enough to be corrected when we wander from the truth, which we do in our sinfulness.

[427] And we ask your blessing, Lord, to guide us in your spirit and help us joyfully embrace your truth and lie more deeply.

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

[429] Amen.

[430] Thank you so much, Bishop Strickland.

[431] I want to also recommend to our listeners to listen to the previous shows of Bishop Strickland because I know lots of people tell me, oh, I like listening.

[432] How can I get the other shows?

[433] Because they're listening on AM or FM radio.

[434] If you go to our website, vmpr .org, that's virgin, most powerful radio .org.

[435] You can download all of the shows of Bishop Strickland and all the other shows that we have on apologetics, on church history, Jesus 9 -1 -1, Terry and Jesse show.

[436] All of them were for you to send you your friends.

[437] And that's how we spread the word about Jesus Christ through the media right now.

[438] We have to take it back.

[439] I want to thank all of you who support us here at Virgin Most Powerful Radio.

[440] You can go to vmpr .org and check us out.

[441] May God richly bless you and your family.

[442] And until the next time.

[443] We'll see again on the Bishop Strickland Hour and many other shows here on Virgin Most Powerful Radio.

[444] I hope your Ascension Thursday works out well and whether it's on Thursday or on Sunday.

[445] God's like you.