06 Dec 22 – The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass

[0] Welcome to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[1] My name is Terry Barber, and I'm honored to be here with the bishop once a week.

[2] To do what?

[3] To teach the faith to our faithful, and to show them that Jesus is the way.

[4] And I think it's so beautiful because Bishop Strickland constantly talks about the truth.

[5] So Bishop Strickland, thanks again for taking the time to be with this hour.

[6] Thank you, Terry.

[7] I like to bring up the day that we're recording, sometimes isn't the day of the most of the time it's not the day that it's broadcast.

[8] But we are on the Feast's Day of St. Catherine of Alexandria.

[9] Excuse me, we are not.

[10] We are on St. Andrew the Apostle.

[11] I'm mixing it up the 30th of November.

[12] And I wanted to just ask you, Bishop Strickland, to give us a little background because the saints are our model.

[13] And, you know, you constantly have said this to us that we have to become first century Christians.

[14] And, well, here's a saint who is a disciple of St. John the Baptist, so that goes way back.

[15] So can you tell us a little bit about this St. Andrew the Apostle?

[16] Yeah, well, we don't know a whole lot, but we know the most important things.

[17] We know that he is one who began to follow Christ.

[18] It's interesting the different gospel passages.

[19] Matthew has Christ find.

[20] them basically finds Peter and Andrew and calls them and then James and John.

[21] In John's gospel, Andrew encounters Christ and then goes and tells Peter.

[22] But I like both stories and especially the John version where I think it's a great model for all of us.

[23] We hear so many saying, oh, don't evangelize.

[24] That's exactly what St. Andrew did.

[25] Even before Christ had the great commissioning to send people out and share the good news.

[26] I mean, we can say that St. Andrew was one of the very first evangelists.

[27] That's right.

[28] He brought his own brother to Christ, his own brother, Peter.

[29] And what I think is interesting about that, too, for our reflection, is that that Peter becomes the first pope, the leader of the apostles.

[30] And Andrew, certainly, it played a significant role as all the apostles did, but he sort of takes a back seat to Peter.

[31] But that is, I'm sure that Andrew, if he could speak to us now, he'd say, what an honor that was for him to be the one to bring his brother that the Lord would choose to be Simon Peter.

[32] and to be the first of the popes to be the leader of the apostles.

[33] And I think that's a great reminder to us of doing God's will and proclaiming Christ to others.

[34] We have no idea either of us.

[35] I mean, I'm a bishop in a small diocese.

[36] You work with your family and have this radio apostolate, but we have no idea who we might inspire that can become a great leader in the church or a great person in our society.

[37] So I think St. Andrew is a great model of what it means to evangelize.

[38] As you say so often, it's not promoting us, it's not promoting our ideas, it's promoting the message of Jesus Christ.

[39] And we're all called to do that.

[40] Amen.

[41] Amen.

[42] Amen, amen, amen.

[43] You know, Bishop Strickland, when you say that, I just, I get so many texts.

[44] You were on our Terry and Jesse show earlier today and I got several people who texted me saying, wow, I needed to hear that.

[45] You know, I said something that I think is just taken from basic catechesis about praying and this was a prayer that maybe you've heard this.

[46] I write it in my book, in my book, my daily reminder of anything that's really powerful that touches me, I will write it down.

[47] And it says, Jesus, Mary, and St. Joseph, I give you my heart and my soul.

[48] Jesus, Mary, and St. Joseph assist me in my last agony.

[49] And it's just a prayer that a man taught me dozens of years ago when he was dying.

[50] And I thought, what a way to go.

[51] And then people say, oh, can you send me that prayer?

[52] I have a brother.

[53] I have a father dying.

[54] And you see, we never know what we're going to, like you said, I have no idea.

[55] Any good I do comes from God.

[56] I thank him for it.

[57] But that prayer is going to be prayed at this man's deathbed.

[58] And the graces are there for him to accept Christ and to really accept, you know, the ultimate, which is death, but asking the saints to be there for him.

[59] And I can't think of a better saint than St. Joseph, patron of the dying.

[60] So this is the kind of stuff that, you know, really moves you to say, I get up and swing the bat for Jesus because I never know what's going to happen and you don't either.

[61] So talking about St. Andrew, it seems to me, if maybe you were going in that direction, but he seems like a model saint for us in our time because today we're also, especially what happened just Tuesday when the issue on marriage is saying that our government is looking like they're going to sanction same -sex marriage as the law and that those of us like, dressed like you, and even laymen like me, we have a biblical worldview of marriage, and we say, no, no, we don't buy that.

[62] That's not a godly, that's a sinful, in our opinion, that's against God's natural law, and we're not going to accept it, and we're going to stick with a biblical worldview that marriage is between a man and a woman, and that possibly could get us arrested for not following.

[63] the law of the land.

[64] And I would imagine that St. Andrew would say, so be it, because I'm not compromising.

[65] And I think, is that, is that the model that we're following that we can't compromise when it comes to the truth of Christ?

[66] Absolutely.

[67] And that so many of the first century Christians and through the centuries, many of them martyred, many of them may be experiencing what you would call a white martyrdom where they didn't actually die, but they gave their lives and sacrificed a lot.

[68] And we're called to do the same thing.

[69] Too many times the world tells you, oh, well, you know, make a lot of money.

[70] And if being Catholic or being a Christian, a disciple of Jesus, diminishes your ability, your earning power, then back off on your faith.

[71] And the, you apostles and the martyrs and the first century Christians, any real Christians will tell you, invest in eternity.

[72] Forget what's going to make you a few dollars for now that are gone all too quickly.

[73] Invest in something that last literally, eternally, as we are meant to be with God eternally.

[74] So the saints are a great inspiration, and I think we do need to encourage people to really, really be aware of the saints and look at those models.

[75] Most of them had rough lives.

[76] A lot of them died young.

[77] They, even in the way they live, they model what our faith is about that we don't in everything in this world.

[78] Yes, we're called to make this world a better place in the light of Christ and to deal with those who are suffering and to help those who are poor, but always in the context, context of helping them to get to where God wants us to be with him in eternity.

[79] Beautifully stated.

[80] And that's what comes to your next tweet.

[81] Another great saint, St. Catherine of Alexandra, she was martyred in the third century because she refused to denounce her faith in Jesus Christ.

[82] You tweeted, she was brave enough to rebuke the emperor.

[83] So he was determined that she should be tortured to death.

[84] The instrument of the torture failed, and she was beheaded.

[85] You know, Bishop Strickland, I'm thinking, oh, my, I got this stained glass window in our church of her with the wheel.

[86] And, wow, I mean, you know, the way she was martyred is pretty sick.

[87] But here's the point again.

[88] Here's another early saint in our 2000 -year history who was willing to give it all up.

[89] Yep.

[90] and that's that's what they model for us and that's really we have to have that same attitude every day that's what we need to do to live with that i mean that's we've talked about the um the season of advent which we are now in right we talked about it as we were approaching it's penitential and that's what penitential means it means reminding ourselves that ultimately nothing feeds that longing deep in our hearts other than God and life with God because we come from God.

[91] Yes.

[92] We're created in his image and likeness.

[93] Wow.

[94] So beautiful.

[95] And I saw that you quoted one of my favorite Cardinals in the Catholic Church, Cardinal Sirrah, and I'm going to wait a minute because we're going to take a break and this is going to be a teaser.

[96] It's almost like Cardinal Sirrah was seeing what was going on in the United States and encouraged us to say, stand firm Christians and I'm thinking wow now that's how I saw it now my might be exaggerating Bishop Strickland but when we come back from the break let's talk about that before we break can you give a little plug about the St. Philip Institute yes thanks Terry the St. Philip Institute for catechesis and evangelization it's built to share the truth of Christ primarily working here in the Diocese of Tyler but the truth can be shared everywhere, and we have some great people working on marriage and family, working on catechises, working on just building that culture of faith that we need so much for families, for married people.

[97] For us, priests and bishops, I mean, it's so easy to get pulled into a secularized world that forgets God and we have to instead truly be under God in all that we do well said folks when we come back cardinal sirrah who's one of my well he is my favorite cardinal in the catholic church because he's reading his books he's such a prayerful man but he's also very insightful we come back he's going to talk about unnatural law what's that about stay with us family right back St. Paul says, So there abide faith, hope, and love, these three.

[98] According to St. Ignatius of Antioch, faith is the beginning and love is the end.

[99] And God is the two of them brought into unity.

[100] Then comes everything else that makes up a Christian.

[101] May God grant that we may attain all the virtues that make for authentic followers of his son.

[102] This is a minute meditation from Virgin most powerful Radio.

[103] Wisdom is the reflection of the everlasting light and a spotless mirror of the power of God.

[104] Wisdom 726.

[105] St. Clair of Assisi said, Every day, look into the spotless mirror that is Jesus Christ and study well your reflection.

[106] In that way, you may adorn yourself, mind and body, with every virtue.

[107] Dear Lord Jesus, kindly help us.

[108] us to think often on the manner in which we are following you.

[109] Like St. Clair, help us strive each day to become more and more like you in all things.

[110] This has been a minute meditation from Virgin Most Powerful Radio.

[111] This is Terry Barber.

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

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[119] Thank you so much for your support.

[120] Welcome back to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[121] I'm Terry Barber with Virgin Most Powerful radio.

[122] And Bishop Strickland sent a tweet out regarding Cardinal Sirrah, who is a, you know, retired Cardinal, but man, he's been writing a lot of books.

[123] He's been talking about things regarding our soul.

[124] And he said this to said this in a tweet that Bishop Strickland sent out.

[125] Dear young Christians, fight against any unnatural law that one would like to impose on you.

[126] Oppose any law against life, against family, be among those who take the opposite direction.

[127] I like this last comment, dare to go against the current.

[128] Oh, praise God.

[129] We need that kind of clarity.

[130] Bishop Strickland, he's talking about the life issues, abortion, marriage, family life.

[131] This guy is amazing.

[132] Yeah, well, that's why I'm sure.

[133] I loved what he says, especially speaking to young people.

[134] because young people, you can't really blame them in our culture.

[135] They haven't been taught well.

[136] They haven't seen good models.

[137] They've seen tremendous corruption in institutions, including the church.

[138] And they still have been, have a God -given ability to reason and to choose themselves.

[139] But there are a lot of bad influences that they have to fight against.

[140] So I'm glad he encouraged and urged young people to dare to live the truth and to dare to go against all the wokeness and all the stuff that we hear about that is just it is just unhinged.

[141] It's not based in reality.

[142] You mentioned the natural law.

[143] People don't even know natural law exists, much less what it is anymore.

[144] But we need to know that truth because that foundation.

[145] of unchangeable truth is what holds us together in difficult times.

[146] Just because you know the truth doesn't mean the times don't become difficult, that you don't face challenges of all kinds, but it gives you the strength to know what is unchangeable instead of everything changing, just like, you know, you feel good one day, you feel bad the next, that's how society is operating.

[147] It's all unfeeling.

[148] Yep.

[149] And, Ricklin, I love when you quote scripture, because in my take, and you can correct me if I'm wrong, I don't think I'm, I might think I'm on to something.

[150] I have found that when I get people to read the Bible on a regular basis and just read the gospel of Matthew or even Mark, you know, something short, and it gets them hooked on the readings from the Bible, and they're like, wow, now I see it in a new perspective.

[151] He said, I've had people tell me, I hear it at church on Sundays.

[152] but when I read it, when it's quiet or before the Blessed Sacrament, it's almost like he's speaking to me in God's world.

[153] I said, that's what we're supposed to be doing, folks.

[154] So we need more of that.

[155] So here's your quote from 2nd Corinthians, chapter 1, verse 3 to 5.

[156] Praise be to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of Mercies, and the God of all consolation.

[157] Wow.

[158] He comforts us in all our afflictions, and thus enables us to comfort those.

[159] those who are in trouble with the same consolation we have received from him.

[160] Now, anybody who would read that reading from God's Word, I mean, it says so much about life that where we're supposed to be.

[161] I think that Bishop Strickland, are you quoting Scripture?

[162] It really does give people the graces to say yes to Jesus.

[163] But why are you quoting Scripture so often?

[164] Is that one of the reasons?

[165] Absolutely.

[166] And for us as Catholics, especially, I think I try to remind people that I tweeted something about this just recently.

[167] Yeah.

[168] But the scripture is Christ.

[169] Yes.

[170] That's what the catechism tells us.

[171] I know we've talked about it before.

[172] The Word of God, Old and New Testament, all of the Bible, because he's the incarnate.

[173] word, the word of God, the truth, spoken to creation, the truth that makes creation come into existence.

[174] And what occurs to me, I'm glad we're talking about this because I think we really to continue to face the challenge of really understanding what happens at the mass and how we do fully and actively participate in it.

[175] Not just, you know, let me say, as a priest for 37 years, the vast majority of masses that I go to, I'm presiding.

[176] And you, you, in the, in the model that we've kind of embraced of full and active participation that Vatican II rightly calls for, but it's been this misinterpreted.

[177] I think the model that the, that commonly in it, and we preach.

[178] have done it as much as anyone.

[179] But it's like, well, you know, the presider is the one who's most fully and actively participating.

[180] That should be true in the fullest sense of what that means.

[181] But it may or may not be true.

[182] It's a challenge that I face just as a man, as a human being.

[183] I can get distracted.

[184] I can get out of focus.

[185] I can fail to really fully and actively participate in what I'm celebrating as the presiding priest.

[186] I think that understanding what we are called to do at mass, to encounter the Lord, to worship God, to be drawn into heaven, really.

[187] It's supposed to be a glimpse of the heavenly court worshiping God for all eternity.

[188] That's what we tap into in the mystery of the mass. And if we approach it in that context, like you said, I mean, they're baby, hopefully, I mean, thankfully we're here babies crying in our churches.

[189] That's a good thing.

[190] I love it.

[191] We want children there.

[192] Amen.

[193] But when the word of God is proclaimed, it should simply be a reminder of what we already know.

[194] And I've encouraged people many times who will say, well, how can I enter better into the Mass?

[195] I don't like, I mean, I try and encourage people not to say, how can I get more out of the Mass?

[196] It's really, how can you put more into the Mass?

[197] And then you'll receive, because then you're really doing what the Mass is about, which is worshiping God.

[198] But if you really want to enter more deeply into full and active participation in the Mass, read the readings beforehand, be aware so that if you can't quite hear or the reader's got an accent or the microphone's not working, you're not totally dependent and saying, I don't know what they're saying.

[199] You should be able to say, I know exactly what they're reading from Isaiah or from the letter to the Romans.

[200] And certainly we're there to hear it communally and to hear Christ proclaimed in Word, as we prepare to approach him really present in the form of consecrated bread and wine on the altar.

[201] They're both Christ, and I encourage all of us to enter into that more deeply and to really reflect on what we're doing.

[202] We're encountering the Son of God, the eternal word, in the proclamation of that word, and in the Eucharistic altar where bread and wine become.

[203] the word incarnate.

[204] If we get both of those mysteries together, then we are really encountering Christ in multiple ways.

[205] We're hearing him.

[206] We're seeing him on the altar in the form of bread and wine.

[207] We're celebrating the Son of God who takes us to the Father in worship and in sacrifice.

[208] Great catechesis right there, folks.

[209] I love it.

[210] That's what we need.

[211] Now, We talked about some of the saints earlier in the segment, Bishop Strickland, but you also quoted Cardinal Joseph Zen, who's been on our show many times, that you gave an update in a tweet that he's been found guilty of failing to register a now -defunct fund that aimed to help people arrested in a widespread protest across Hong Kong three years ago.

[212] I think the fine I read was $4 ,500 American dollars.

[213] And the point of it is, is he's a cardinal who's standing up to atheistic communism, and he's like a model, but I don't hear a lot of people dressed like you saying, hey, we need to pray for Cardinal Zen.

[214] He's a very brave man. I think you've actually tweeted that a week or two ago.

[215] And I appreciate that because he's making a stand that I think, again, for all of us to say, wait a minute, I'm not going to stop doing my duty, even if the state says, you can't proclaim this or you can't do that.

[216] I'm willing to take it a fine.

[217] I'm willing to go to prison.

[218] And again, this is a modern day happening right now in another part of the world.

[219] But that doesn't say it can't happen here, Bishop Strickland, right?

[220] Absolutely.

[221] And, you know, I don't claim to understand China or what goes on there.

[222] A lot of it's kept secret, and a lot of it is.

[223] is manipulated.

[224] I mean, there's certainly too much of that, even in our own nation.

[225] But in China, I think we see a warning of what happens to us if we don't continue to treasure our ability to speak the truth and to speak freely and to celebrate our faith.

[226] Because the church there is interfered with by the state.

[227] And that is, that is chilling for Christianity because there are too many people in our own nation who would like to quiet the voices of faith and would like to shut down the Catholic Church or any Christian church.

[228] And China has a system where they're interfering with the free and authentic expression of the faith.

[229] That's what Cardinal Zinn has been speaking against and urging people to support the Chinese Catholics and really just the Chinese people.

[230] Certainly, we know that the truth of the Catholic faith is the greatest truth of all and the most essential for all humanity.

[231] No, Jesus Christ, Savior of humanity.

[232] We all need to know him.

[233] And to interfere with that and to say, oh, no, you have to rely on the state for your salvation, which is some of what they preach.

[234] It's like you're supposed to worship the state instead of God.

[235] That's blasphemous.

[236] And Cardinal Zen is simply, like the martyrs, hopefully he's not, I think he's experiencing already a white martyr.

[237] But we hope and pray that he doesn't have to experience an actual blood martyrdom, but he is living what the martyrs did.

[238] And many times it took them to martyrdom because they simply would not stop proclaiming the gospel, stop speaking the name of Jesus, and stop proclaiming the truth that Christ has given us to guide our lives.

[239] that's what cardinal zen is doing in a culture that doesn't want to hear it and you know i think this the trial that he was put on was just one more way to try to intimidate him and to get him to quit speaking up and he doesn't look like he's going to be intimidated good when we come back dr scott hon has a clip about what bishop strickland is talking about the mass that i think was really beautiful and i think it's something that we all need to know uh we call it the Eucharist Source and Summit of the Christian Life.

[240] So stay with us.

[241] Dr. Hall will be back with a quilt and then clip of him.

[242] We'll be back.

[243] Hi, this is Terry Barber with Virgin Most Powerful Radio.

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[274] This is Terry Barber.

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

[276] Here's an easy way to do it.

[277] If you're going to sell or buy a house, call real estate for life.

[278] 877 -543 -3871 because they're going to get you a Christ -centered agent to purchase your home or to sell your home.

[279] And at the close of escrow, a portion of his commission goes right back to Virgin Most Powerful Radio.

[280] Call 877 -543 3871.

[281] Thank you so much for your support.

[282] Welcome back to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[283] Our good friend Dr. Scott Hahn has a YouTube click, a little short video about the mass and the different forms of the mass. Just to set the stage, I liked the way Pope Benedict XVI laid it out when he said we have the ordinary form and the extraordinary form.

[284] This was maybe 25 years ago, 20 years ago.

[285] I like it because In other words, we have the mass of Vatican II, the ordinary, and then he talks about the extraordinary form, which is the, we call it the Trinantine Mass, the Latin Mass. So I want to ask our engineer to play the clip and then have Bishop Strickland give us thoughts on it.

[286] I find that the best way to help people is to restore the sense of holiness, that it's the holy sacrifice of the mass. whether it's the novice order or the TLM, if it's a valid mass, it's got more than enough grace to make us saints.

[287] And at the same time, it's the holy sacrifice of the mass. And so it's a sacrifice first and foremost.

[288] And so the one up front is not primarily a celebrant or one who presides, but a priest.

[289] And so the Lord's table is what Malachi refers to as the altar.

[290] But we want to subordinate the idea of the sacrificial, communion that we receive from the sacrificial act, which the human priest is offering, and the heavenly high priest is offering everlastingly.

[291] Bishop Strickland, your thoughts?

[292] Well, I tweeted that because I think Dr. Hahn just does a great job of reminding us where our focus needs to be with whatever form of the mass. And I think it highlights for me, like you were telling about what was for a while under Pope Benedict called Ordinary and Extraordinary.

[293] The reality is there are many forms of the liturgy.

[294] They're different rights.

[295] And I mean, like here in this area, you're probably familiar with the Maronite right.

[296] Yeah, absolutely.

[297] Have it in our chapel.

[298] And those different rights remind us.

[299] I mean, what's the commonality?

[300] They're all about the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

[301] And I think that's one thing, you know, I guess I tweet things that I agree with.

[302] But imagine that.

[303] I've tried to emphasize the same thing that we need to have respect for every form of the mass because we have respect for our Lord Jesus Christ.

[304] Amen.

[305] And as Dr. Hahn said, if it's a valid mass, It's the very center of it is celebrating that sacrifice.

[306] And I like the way he reminds us that Jesus is the high priest.

[307] Amen.

[308] That's part of the great mystery and the wonder of the mass is that we use the phrase in persona Christ in Latin in the person of Christ.

[309] That's the priest there acting in the person of Christ.

[310] But it's Christ making the person of Christ.

[311] the sacrifice.

[312] And that is, is theology that is sort of hard to rep your mind around.

[313] But that's what the church teaches.

[314] Amen.

[315] That when the mass is being celebrated, it is the once and for all sacrifice of Jesus Christ that is being made present and real and bringing its power, as Dr. Hahn said, to make us saints.

[316] So I think through this time in the church, hopefully, we come out of this with a greater appreciation that it's all about Jesus Christ.

[317] I mean, there are different controversies about Adorientum or versus Populam or all the different things that you can do.

[318] You can have the priests facing one way or the other.

[319] What is important is that we're facing Jesus Christ.

[320] Amen.

[321] Our hearts and our minds.

[322] And we're fully involved in worshiping God the Father as Jesus is in the power of the Spirit.

[323] So I think Dr. Hahn said some very important things in that brief video to remind us, look to Christ, and whether it's in Latin or in Spanish or French or whatever language, whatever form it's in, it needs to be reverent, it needs to be beautiful, it needs to be focused on Christ because it's all about Him.

[324] It's not about me as the presider.

[325] It's not about the people gathered in the congregation.

[326] It's about all of us, children of God, coming to worship God.

[327] That is what we need to just keep reminding ourselves.

[328] Because, frankly, as we've said before, I fully believe in the beautiful message of Vatican 2.

[329] But a lot of that message, it did open doors that people use to take things off track in the liturgy included.

[330] If you read the real documents of the council, it doesn't take anything off track.

[331] It did leave some openness and some would argue, well, that was too much.

[332] But one way I look at Vatican II is it's kind of like you've had kids.

[333] And I'm sure, I mean, you're a good parent.

[334] I'm sure, but you're not perfect.

[335] And if one of your kids wasn't quite ready for that responsibility, things can go wrong.

[336] Yep.

[337] And I think with Vatican II, the church gave us more, it expected more maturity out of us than was there.

[338] Oh, yeah.

[339] And so many things, it's like, oh, well, we're not going to mandate what sort of sacrificial offering you make now, give up meat on Fridays.

[340] And so people stop making any sacrificial offering.

[341] Yep.

[342] I mean, it's not, no meat on Fridays, it's nothing now, because we weren't as mature as the church presumed we were.

[343] But going back to the liturgy, we need to remember that it's all about Jesus Christ.

[344] That is full and active participation.

[345] It's full and active participation in the one that we just heard the story in the gospel about, who was also there.

[346] on the altar in the form of consecrated bread and wine.

[347] Well said, good catechises, I want to mention Dr. Hahn 30 -some years ago.

[348] I met him and I promoted his conversion story, but he gave a talk called a fourth cup and a lamb supper, he wrote a book about.

[349] I have a disc that I'm promoting for probably 25 years of the best of Dr. Hahn on the mass. So you heard maybe two minutes, but I'm going to talk about classic.

[350] I'll just briefly say I went to student if I paid, are you ready for this?

[351] I'm going to really laugh.

[352] Curtis Martin, focus.

[353] You ever hear of him?

[354] He's the president.

[355] He used to work for me. What he did was when he was going to school, he would record Dr. Hahn's classes.

[356] And our listeners right now can get that by calling 800, excuse me, 877 -526 -215 .1.

[357] You can also get that on our website at virgin most powerful radio .org.

[358] It's an MP3 disc.

[359] 25 hours of teaching of Dr. Hahn.

[360] It sounds like how can anybody talk that long on the mask?

[361] Well, I'll tell you why, because there's just so much to talk about when we talk about the Holy Eucharist.

[362] So I wanted to recommend that to our listeners.

[363] Bishop Strickland, let me see, we got, yeah, we still got time on this break before the break.

[364] I wanted to congratulate, which I need to do when I see things that are really good to the bishops' conference.

[365] I have a letter here that they just came out on November 23rd a letter to Congress and basically saying, hey, you shouldn't be voting for same -sex marriage.

[366] This is offensive.

[367] It relates to religious liberty.

[368] If it's passed, the Amendment Act will put our ministries of the Catholic Church and people of faith and other Americans who uphold traditional meaning of marriage at a greater risk of government, discrimination, and persecution.

[369] And I'm like, wow, thank you, bishops.

[370] The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops put this out, signed by his eminence Cardinal Timothy Dolan.

[371] We've got most Reverend Robert E. Barron and Archbishop Cordillian up in San Francisco.

[372] And you tweeted saying, you know, I'm glad they're doing it, right?

[373] You're happy to see it too.

[374] Absolutely.

[375] We need more of that.

[376] We need to speak up.

[377] We do.

[378] And you know, Bishop Strickland, I have to say this.

[379] is that it seems that, and this is just my take, and you correct me again, because I'm not, I'm not however.

[380] But it seems like we're so worried about offending man rather than offending God.

[381] In other words, even in our church, come on, the most merciless thing to do is let someone wallow in their sin.

[382] So we have to call them out with charity and clarity.

[383] And I kind of think that some people think it's the spirit of Vatican too just to let people live any way they want and don't judge any action.

[384] Am I on to something?

[385] Absolutely.

[386] And what comes to mind for me, Terry, is we were talking about being first century Christians like St. Andrew.

[387] Yep.

[388] The church would never have gotten off the ground if the attitude that prevails today was the attitude.

[389] Oh, don't say anything controversial.

[390] Don't bother anyone.

[391] Don't challenge people and what they're doing.

[392] the church would never have happened.

[393] I mean, people engage the culture.

[394] And I mean, just like we were talking about St. Catherine of Alexandria, an early century saint who went up against the emperor and the leaders of her time and said, you've got to live the truth.

[395] And she died for it.

[396] But that is the kind of commitment that we need.

[397] If we believe this is a truth that all, humanity needs and can be blessed with we've got the obligation to share it and there's too much of that attitude of just oh well don't ruffle feathers don't just let people go along and get along get along you know on their way to hell you know we need to tell people because I mean even as I've said so often even in terms of living in this world Thankfully, what the gospel is about is calling us to return to our Heavenly Father, the God that we came from, the God who brought us into existence, it sustains us in existence.

[398] But even if there were no eternity, the message of the gospel is the best way for humanity to live.

[399] I mean, look at the Great Commandments, Love God with all your heart, mind, and soul, and love your neighbor as your soul.

[400] yourself.

[401] If we really all were at least attempting to live that, the atrocities that happen, and the corruption and all the evil that we see in the world would diminish drastically if we were simply living what we've been taught.

[402] Well said, another teaser, Cardinal Sirot, comes to the rescue.

[403] What do you mean by that?

[404] He's going to give us a comment about the UN.

[405] And what he has to say about that, they think he's spot on.

[406] I won't want to miss that.

[407] Stay with his family.

[408] We'll be right back after a quick break.

[409] Here's a great way to support Virgin Most Powerful Radio.

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[420] Welcome to Daniel.

[421] You're on the line.

[422] What's on your mind, brother?

[423] Hi.

[424] I just wanted to share a testimony about Virgin Most Powerful Radio.

[425] I had a buddy at work who, you know, he looked at a warm Catholic guy and I wanted him to start listening to the Terry and Jesse show, so I kept telling him to download the app and he kept putting me off.

[426] So one day, I grabbed his phone and I downloaded the app for him.

[427] I went on vacation and, you know, I kept telling him to listen to it.

[428] He was kind of put me off.

[429] I came back from vacation.

[430] He comes to my cubicle and he says to me, hey, man, I've been listening to Terry and Jesse show and it's great and it's made a big impact in his life.

[431] The guy, he's going to weekly adoration a couple times a week.

[432] He goes to the Mass in the morning.

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[438] Daniel, thanks for your testimony, brother.

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[440] You're welcome.

[441] This is Terry Barber.

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[448] Thank you so much for your support.

[449] Welcome back to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[450] It seems like Cardinal Sirrah is stepping up to the plate and being really vocal regarding our Catholic faith.

[451] Bishop Strickland, you tweeted on November 25th that he said the fundamental values promoted by the UN are based on a rejection of God.

[452] I mean, that's pretty strong.

[453] I mean, what makes him say that?

[454] I'd love to ask him, but he's spot on, but I don't know if everybody wants to criticize a big organization like, you know, the UN.

[455] Well, I think, as you said, I think he's spot on.

[456] And there are just too many forces in the world leadership that is ignoring God.

[457] and blasphemously, you know, acting as if God doesn't exist and sort of we've replaced God with ourselves.

[458] And I think, you know, Cardinal Sarad, thankfully he speaks up and we need to awaken all believers to the challenges that we face and say, no, we're not going to just, you know, knuckle under and just be told what to do.

[459] I mean, again, we need to be those first century Christians in the 21st century and say, no, we're going to follow Jesus Christ.

[460] He's our Lord and Savior, not some UN group.

[461] Well, Bishop Strickland, it sounds like you're following him suit because your next tweet was regarding Clause Swab saying that God is dead and that the W .E .F. is blasphemy.

[462] God is dead according to the World Economic Forum who has also declared other terrible things and you said this in your tweet I thought it was pretty courageous of you to go after these guys every believing Christian Catholic Protestant must denounce this evil vigorously the voices of the world economic forum speaks blasphemies against Almighty God Father, Son and Holy Spirit and must be denounced we must resist them and their evil great reset, the great reset at every turn.

[463] Why don't you really tell me what you think?

[464] I love it.

[465] Well, we need to speak against that.

[466] And, you know, people fire back and say, oh, it's just Strickland's into conspiracy theories.

[467] Give me a break.

[468] It's not a conspiracy theory.

[469] And frankly, Terry, even if all of that, if I were told none of that was true, Klaus Schwab doesn't exist.

[470] still, I think as a man of faith, I have an obligation, even when that's out there on the airwaves, even it's all just made up, which it isn't.

[471] But if it was, for things to be said like the message, the truth and message of Jesus Christ and his resurrection is fake news, I mean, that's one of the things that was said in that article.

[472] We need to speak up against that even if it is just all made up, which it isn't.

[473] But it's, we can't allow our Lord and God, Father, Son, and Spirit for people to just say anything they want.

[474] I mean, you look at other religions and they're not allowed to do that.

[475] And I think we need to be stronger as Christians and certainly as Catholics.

[476] The name of Jesus is sacred.

[477] It is a name at which every knee shall bend.

[478] I mean, that's what scripture tells us.

[479] Amen.

[480] To simply allow it, even if it were a joke to allow that, we need to speak up.

[481] And no, the Lord doesn't need us to defend him, but for our own sake, for our own sanctity, and for our own well -being, we need to fulfill our obligation to honor God.

[482] and to worship him and to not allow any voice to speak that God is dead or God never existed or it's just all a fairy tale or it's fake news.

[483] That's blasphemy that we are obligated to speak against and not just say, oh, well, that's your opinion, doodoo, you know, no, we say no. We don't believe that all of us are created by the same God.

[484] force any of us to believe in him.

[485] And I mean, I get frustrated.

[486] I guess you can tell Terry just a little.

[487] Get frustrated with you.

[488] Because religion period is treated as an accessory to human life that foolish people want that accessory.

[489] We'll let them maybe.

[490] A lot of people are saying, no, let's just eliminate the possibility of having that accessory called religion.

[491] But even for us as Catholics, too many Catholics treat our Catholic faith as if it's an accessory that they happen to say, oh, yeah, I want that accessory, and I want to go to Mass when I feel like it, and I want some of the Catholic things, but don't start telling me to do things that are too challenging.

[492] the truth that the church proclaims, again, going back to the first century, I guess that's our thing for today, is being first century Christians, this was good news for humanity, for all humanity, for all time, and to treat it as if it's sort of an optional idea that you can buy into or not, it's just it dilutes the message till it's unrighteous.

[493] recognizable and that's not what our faith is that's not why Jesus Christ died yeah that's not why all these martyrs and great saints have lived and died for the name of jesus bishop strickland we got about five minutes left and i want to make a pitch for the diocese of tyler texas and i'll tell you why i don't hear a handful of bishops saying things that you just said today in these tweets and on the radio this is going all over to the New York area.

[494] It's going to about 50 stations.

[495] And I want to just ask our friends who are listeners to say, end of year, you want to write a good income this year and you need a write -off, write a good fat check to the Diocese of Thailand.

[496] Why?

[497] I'll tell you why.

[498] Because they're giving the truth to the priest, to the lay people in that diocese.

[499] I know Bishop Strickland, you've got vocations that you're, I think it's 20, last time I looked, it was 20 guys, young men that you have to feed and educate to become priests, that's not cheap.

[500] So that needs, you know, they need funding for that.

[501] And how can people just, do they go to the diocese?

[502] Can you tell us how they can donate?

[503] That's the question.

[504] Well, if people want to donate, they can certainly go to the Diocese of Tyler.

[505] Diocese of Tyler .org is the website.

[506] St. Philip Institute, which is associated with the diocese as well.

[507] And Bishop Strickland, the idea of your diocese, I realize you have a geographical area, but the St. Philip Institute, what you're doing here is going all over the world because the Catholic faith is universal.

[508] And so by supporting the diocese of Tyler, Texas, you're helping the bishop put into place employees, a priest being formed for the priesthood.

[509] And again, there's no comprehensive.

[510] compromise here.

[511] Can you tell folks?

[512] I mean, I can.

[513] Every week I listen to the bishop speak, it's never about him.

[514] It's always about what did Jesus Christ teach us, the truth, the perennial teachings of the church.

[515] If you, like I, are impressed with what Bishop Strickland is doing in the diocese, you can be in Tucson, Arizona.

[516] You can be anywhere in the world and say, hey, I'm going to support them with a one -time monthly donation.

[517] And you don't have to say what it's for, just say, well, I'm just going to support you, and the bishop will take it and put it at the needs of the diocese.

[518] And again, that St. Philip Institute, they're publishing catechisms, they're doing all kinds of good things that are helping form people in the authentic teachings of the church.

[519] So that's why I'm not, I'm not saying send it to L .A. No, I'm not.

[520] You know why?

[521] Because there's a lot of crummy things that go on in my diocese.

[522] But I can tell you right now, you know, Bishop Strickland's diocese is not perfect.

[523] I'm not saying it.

[524] is.

[525] But I can tell you one thing.

[526] They're out there to support the perennial teachings of the church.

[527] They're giving people the faith.

[528] So again, check that out by going to the diocese of Tyler .org.

[529] Bishop Strickland, anything else that you could tell us, because we got two or three minutes that you have like some project.

[530] If you had funding, what would you be doing with those funds to encourage our listeners to donate to?

[531] Well, we're doing a lot, doing the best we can.

[532] You know, have seminarians that we're blessed with more than 20 that we're looking at.

[533] And one of the things is really working on youth ministry in our schools.

[534] We only have a few Catholic schools, but youth ministry, of course, covers all of the youth.

[535] So, you know, there are plenty of things that need to be done.

[536] And I think we need to all remember that we have an obligation to share the good news that is Jesus Christ.

[537] There's much brokenness, especially young people, like I said earlier, I was glad that Cardinal Sarab talked to young people directly because they're facing a lot of headwinds in their lives and a lot of struggles here in East Texas.

[538] everywhere, and we need to do everything we can to share the message of Christ that is their salvation and our salvation.

[539] We need to joyfully share the good news of Jesus Christ.

[540] Amen.

[541] That's what we need to do is right.

[542] And I want to just ask if you could give us a blessing.

[543] And also, I like last thing that you did on a tweet for the first Sunday of Advent, you quote it Romans, let us then throw off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light.

[544] What a great theme for us this coming week that we have.

[545] And each week we've got different themes for Advent, and I just think it's wonderful that we can acknowledge that.

[546] And I would encourage people for Advent.

[547] One more last thing is what you're doing for adorational blessed sacrament.

[548] Can you just take a minute and tell us more about that, Bishop Strickland?

[549] Yeah, what we're calling it as Gaudetay week leading up to Gaudetay Sunday in the cathedral having adoration 6 a .m. to 7, mass at 7.

[550] Good.

[551] Just encouraging people, certainly if you're in the Tyler area, you're welcome to come to be there physically present, but we can join together in prayer.

[552] And we need to enter into the Advent season to prepare our hearts and minds to welcome.

[553] Christ more deeply into our lives.

[554] So Gaudete just means joyful in Latin and it's similar to Laitare Sunday in Lent.

[555] But that Gaudetay week is a time to really pray in reparation, pray in Thanksgiving to spend time with the Lord.

[556] How about your blessing, Bishop Strickland?

[557] The Lord be with you.

[558] And with their spirit.

[559] Almighty God, we ask your blessing for for Terry and his crew and all who are participating in this radio program that we may know your truth and be guided in the light of your son, the Father, the Son of the Holy Spirit.

[560] Amen.

[561] Folks, you can hear all these shows on Virgin Most Powerful Radio.

[562] All of Bishop Strickland shows are podcasts along other shows that we produce.

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

[564] May God bless you in this second week of Advent.

[565] And thanks again for spending time here on Virgin Most Powerful Radio.

[566] St. Faustina's Prayer for Priests, O my Jesus, I beg thee on behalf of the whole church, grant it love and the light of thy spirit, and give power to the words of priests, so that hardened hearts might be brought to repentance and return to thee, O Lord.

[567] Lord, give us holy priests.

[568] Thou thyself maintain them, and holiness.

[569] O divine and great high priest, may the power of thy mercy accompany them everywhere and protect them from the devil's traps and snares, which are continually being set for the souls of priests.

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

[571] For thou canst do all things.

[572] Amen.

[573] Virgin most powerful, for us.