12 Jan 2021 – The Seven Capital Sins

[0] Welcome to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[1] My name's Terry Barbara.

[2] I'm with Virgin Most Powerful Radio.

[3] And I am honored to do this once a week with Bishop Strickland.

[4] Bishop Strickland, Merry Christmas, first of all.

[5] Merry Christmas.

[6] Thank you very much.

[7] Happy Octave.

[8] Happy octave.

[9] Eight days we're celebrating.

[10] I love it.

[11] Bishop Strickland, this is being pre -recorded a week before it actually plays, but something big happened, two weeks before it plays, that's right.

[12] something big happened today and I want to get your comment I know we're going to get into the seven deadly sins and things like that but I'm so excited because I do have a personal devotion to St. Thomas Beckett for a number of reasons and I understand you do too but today Bishop I mean Cardinal I mean the Holy Father no I'm sorry I'm being funny it was the president of the United States is saying that he's marking the 850th anniversary of the death of Thomas Beckett Now, he officially noted this, and he's calling for an end to religious persecution worldwide.

[13] Our president is doing this, not a bishop or a cardinal or a pope.

[14] Now, he pointed out in his news release, he said, Beckett was killed in 1870 in Canterbury Cathedral by the knights loyal to King Henry II, according to this.

[15] Today, as he said, is this is the 850th anniversary when he was killed.

[16] Trump said in a proclamation, this is the President of the United States making a proclamation about a saint in the Catholic Church.

[17] Is this microphone on?

[18] Am I really?

[19] Yes, it's true.

[20] Thomas Beckett was a statesman, a scholar, a chancellor, a priest, an archbishop.

[21] And I love the last part in this.

[22] This is great.

[23] This sounds like, again, a bishop who's on fire.

[24] A lion of religious liberty.

[25] A lion of religious liberty.

[26] I love that.

[27] Now, before the Magna Carta was drafted, before the right to free exercise of religion was enshrined in America's first freedom in our glorious Constitution, as you know, Bishop Strickland, that Thomas gave his life so that as he said, this is what he said, and his dying words, the church will attain liberty and peace.

[28] The president said Beckett's death changed the course of history.

[29] Who did it?

[30] Not a father of the church, a father of the United States, a Catholic bishop.

[31] He said it eventually brought about numerous constitutional limitations on the power of the state over the church, thanks be to God, across the West.

[32] Trump said Thomas Beckett's death serves as a powerful, timeless reminder to every American that our freedom from religious persecution is not a mere luxury or an accident of history, but rather essential element of our liberty.

[33] It is our priceless treasure and inheritance, and it was bought with the blood of it.

[34] martyrs.

[35] Wow.

[36] This is the part I really like what the president said.

[37] He said, on this day, we celebrate and revere Thomas Beckett's courage to stand for religious liberty, and we reaffirm our call to end all religious persecution worldwide.

[38] He said, a society, this is, this is the cash value of his statements.

[39] A society without religion cannot prosper.

[40] A nation without faith cannot endure because justice, goodness, and peace, cannot prevail without the grace of God.

[41] Bishop Strickland, I read this this morning and I was like dumbfounded.

[42] What is your response to the statement by our president regarding Thomas Beckett?

[43] Yeah, an anniversary.

[44] Well, marking that anniversary, I think, shows true leadership.

[45] And really, I would hope people would really pay attention to what President Trump is pointing to.

[46] I know that many are against him, but I hope they can listen to just what he said.

[47] And regardless of what they think of President Trump, Bishop Thomas Beckett is St. Thomas Beckett.

[48] And he was martyred for the cause of freedom.

[49] As I was sharing with you, as we were preparing for our conversation, on my cell phone, the screensaver is a picture of the perpetually lit candle that marks the spot where Thomas Beckett was murdered by the henchman of the king there in Canterbury Cathedral 850 years ago.

[50] It's really, I would hope people, and I haven't even seen, that much about it in the media.

[51] I mean, I haven't been watching the news, but a lot of times you would see something like that really making the news.

[52] But I haven't seen it emphasized very much, but it should be emphasized.

[53] Regardless of what you think of President Trump, he says things in that proclamation that are significant for the United States and for the world.

[54] Religious freedom is one of those fundamental freedoms that is threatened in many places and can be threatened even in this nation if we remain asleep to some of those threats.

[55] So I am very glad to see that.

[56] And St. Thomas Beckett is one of my heroes in the faith because he, like numerous bishops through the centuries was willing to die rather than buckle under any other authority, anyone who was denying Christ and denying the ability for the human person to be free in conscience to pursue the life that Christ offers us.

[57] That is what religious freedom is about.

[58] Bishop Strickland, I assume that you have devotion by just the very fact of what you have on your cell phone.

[59] I had a question to ask you about Thomas Becker.

[60] He kind of went against or not kind of.

[61] The tenacity that he had to have to stand up for religious principles, it seems that all of the bishops, not just you, should have a great devotion to him because if something happened like, I'm just saying, next year with the vaccine issue, let's say the government said nobody can go into a store religious facility like a church without getting a vaccine that has been tinted by abortion some way.

[62] If that happened to you in your diocese, would you have the strength?

[63] I mean, what response would you tell the government when they tell you that your people can't come to church unless they have this vaccine?

[64] I mean, that possibly could happen in the coming years.

[65] At least I see it happening.

[66] What kind of response would you give the government if they asked you and forced you and said that you have to do this or your people can't come to church?

[67] Well, I would resist and try to be smart about it.

[68] Certainly, we're a country of loss and if it would be illegal to do that right now.

[69] And if they try to change the laws, we would need to protest that vigorously.

[70] But I think like you said, Terry, I think we need to be ready for those kinds of challenges to living our faith.

[71] And really, I was pleased that what the Vatican put out in regard to the vaccines did have a bullet point that spoke about that mandating these vaccines was not something that should happen.

[72] So I'm glad that's already on the record, and we need to resist.

[73] And, you know, certainly I don't expect to have to die because I'm resisting a vaccine.

[74] if it came to that, it comes to that.

[75] Certainly it came to that for Thomas Beckett.

[76] It came to that for St. John Fisher with Henry VIII hundreds of years later.

[77] It's not something new to Christianity or new to just civilization that people have had to make great sacrifices for what they believe in.

[78] And Sometimes that sacrifice even means that they sacrifice their very life.

[79] They die for what they believe in.

[80] Honestly, Terry, I'd be praying to, and I am praying to St. Thomas Begott, St. Thomas Fisher, all the great martyrs and saints and certainly the Blessed Virgin Mary to intercede for me and to pray for me to have the strength to be the shepherd I need to be.

[81] that's my constant prayer.

[82] I'm just bishop of one diocese, and I'm sure, as you mentioned, I'm sure many bishops have a devotion to St. Thomas Beckett.

[83] Yeah, I hope you.

[84] And probably know a lot more about him than I do.

[85] But I know the essential elements, and I know that he was willing to die rather than to deny what he believed in.

[86] And that's the kind of faith that absolutely, our Savior Jesus Christ offered to the world and the martyrs through the ages have lived.

[87] And we have to be ready for a new age of martyrdom, maybe just a white martyrdom of giving up some freedoms or suffering in some ways.

[88] But if it is to the point of death, we need to pray for the strength of the martyrs because the church had apostates early on, people that basically denied their faith so that they could, you know, in the early times of the church, not be fed to the lines literally, or, you know, to not be martyred, not to lose their life.

[89] Many people said, okay, well, I don't really believe in Jesus Christ, but the tests that we have could reach that extreme, and whatever they are, we need to really believe and be willing to at least suffer the white martyrdoms of whatever suffering it means, whatever ostracizing it means, whatever going against the norms of the day, the politically correct world, in order to be faithful to Jesus Christ.

[90] And frankly, there are many opportunities for white martyrdom in the world today.

[91] And we need to be ready for that and stand for Christ, no matter what resistance It's the area.

[92] When we come back, I've got a big question to ask the Bishop.

[93] You won't want to miss it.

[94] You're listening to the Bishop Strickland Hour on Virgin Post -Caropor Radio.

[95] We'll be right back.

[96] the possibility that I see it coming regarding hate crime.

[97] We got cut off YouTube about three months ago when we were doing the Ten Commandments, and we did the Sixth Commandment, Thou Shall Not Commit, Adultery, and they took the show off the social media because it offended their listenership.

[98] And I chuckled, and you chuckled and said, oh, yeah, that's whatever.

[99] But, you know, we're not going to change.

[100] I mean, it's the Ten Commandments.

[101] You know what?

[102] We don't have a choice.

[103] We have to proclaim it.

[104] Bishop Strickland, I see the day coming that when we are Christians define marriage between a man and a woman, that that could become a hate crime.

[105] And we could be fined and possibly even put into jail for not compromising regarding marriage.

[106] And so I want to ask you as a bishop, because that inspires us when we hear bishops say that we've got to stand for, we've got to be maybe martyrs for the faith if necessary.

[107] So my question to you, Bishop Strictly, Ricklin, if the government told you that you can't preach that marriage is between a man and a woman, and if you say anything that resembles like you're not giving same -sex marriage the same legitimacy, that that would be considered hate crime and that you could be not only fined, but even thrown into prison, what would your response be?

[108] Well, I would hope to be smart, not because I'm smart, but, hopefully guided by the wisdom of God and the Holy Spirit.

[109] Because certainly to just haphazardly say, oh, well, just throw me in jail, that doesn't accomplish much.

[110] Right.

[111] But if those kind of things started happening, for one thing, we can't deny the truth.

[112] And we should resist to whatever degree necessary, any attempt to keep us from sharing the truth, in whatever context we feel called to, certainly in our churches, but even to try to box it in and say, okay, you can preach about that in your church, but you can't put it on social media or you can't send out something that gets on the internet or something.

[113] And so we'd have to be smart about it.

[114] And the first thing to do would be, like I mentioned already, we're a nation of loss, and we would have to look to the legal system to continue to defend our right to free speech to the basic rights that this country is founded on.

[115] So we would, that would be the first effort.

[116] And one advantage of, you know, getting into the legal system, it takes time.

[117] Yeah, I sure does.

[118] the snap of a finger, they take time.

[119] And the advantage of that would be hopefully that if we resist using every legal means available to us, drawing, you know, having a lawsuit, protesting, maybe even laws that may get proclaimed, that they're unconstitutional.

[120] So that would be the first step.

[121] I really, as we've talked about St. Thomas Beckett and St. John Fisher, I really look to another great saint, not a bishop like Bishop Fisher and Bishop Beckett, but St. Thomas Moore was an attorney.

[122] That's right.

[123] And I love his story because he used every legal means at his disposal to try to keep from getting crossways with Henry VIII, but he wasn't ultimately willing to deny the truth that the church teaches about marriage.

[124] Ironically, I mean, St. Thomas Moore died, not because Henry VIII wanted to marry a man, but he wanted to marry a woman when he wasn't free to marry another woman.

[125] St. Thomas More was willing to die for that basic issue.

[126] If he was, had been willing to knuckle under, which many were willing to, and just say, well, it's okay to sort of turn a blind eye to what Henry VIII wants to do.

[127] Thomas Moore wasn't willing to do that, but he was very smart about it, and he did, he used every legal tool that he had in order to stay alive, but not deny his faith.

[128] And then when it was finally pushed to the limit, he was willing to die rather than to deny the faith.

[129] I would be inspired by St. Thomas Moore, along with all the other martyrs, but especially his crafty, legal maneuvering, which absolutely, he used his good mind that God gave him.

[130] He used his knowledge of the law that he had learned, and he did his best to avoid martyrdom, which is, is.

[131] is a good model for all of us.

[132] We shouldn't just easily give up our lives, but if we're pushed to the limit between a choice, I mean, it's what martyrdom is through the ages, even prior to the time of Christ.

[133] People in the Hebrew scriptures, the Old Testament, died rather than deny the one true God.

[134] And we have to be willing to do the same, but really hoping that martyrdom is not the ultimate result of our resistance, but using all the legal means.

[135] And I think that's what we have to get ready for is to fight in the courts and to use the Constitution and to fight any attempts to, you know, create amendments to the Constitution that deny the basic truth that has guided us and continues to guide us.

[136] Men certainly can make laws that are, um, not the truth.

[137] Laws can be made by a majority or by a court, just like it's legal to kill unborn children.

[138] Just because the Supreme Court of the United States says that it's legal to kill unborn children doesn't mean that we ignore the law of God that says every life is sacred.

[139] So that is the measure of the truth that we have to turn to is what God is revealed to us.

[140] but we should be wise and crafty, even if we have to be, to use the laws and use every means available to legally challenge any limitation of our ability to proclaim the truth of Jesus Christ, the Ten Commandments, the teachings of the church, and whatever entity wants to limit that ability, we should resist to the degree that is necessary in order to continue to proclaim the truth.

[141] Sadly, we know that in various places in the world, and certainly in China, we know that there is religious oppression and oppression of the Catholic Church.

[142] We know that that's happening, and whether people want to ignore it or deny it or not, it is happening.

[143] And I just read about a businessman in Hong Kong that was, is imprisoned, I believe, or at least greatly curtailed in what he's able to do.

[144] He's a Catholic businessman.

[145] And he is threatened by the state there in Hong Kong because of his standing up for the truth.

[146] He could be, I mean, we pray that he doesn't lose his.

[147] life but he certainly is experiencing a white martyrdom already because he is unwilling to buckle to the state in deny what he knows to be the truth as a Catholic man. He's a convert to the Catholic faith.

[148] His first name is Jimmy and I've read all about him and he inspires me as a person here in the United States because he's very wealthy.

[149] He's done very quite, he's quite well, but he will not compromise his Catholic faith.

[150] So there's another good example.

[151] Bishop Strickland, thanks for, you're using the word prudence came to my mind.

[152] As you were giving these principles, we have to be prudent in how we handle these kinds of situations.

[153] And I think you just gave us wise advice.

[154] Bishop Strickland, now let's get to some of your tweets.

[155] Yeah, I know.

[156] I'm laughing because there's so many tweets that you do.

[157] And I want people to get a hold of these tweets.

[158] A Bishop Strickland has a handle for that.

[159] it's just Bishop of Tyler and that's what it says here at Bishop of Tyler and that's how you can get a hold of him on that for the tweets but I love when you tweet anything by Archbishop Fulton Sheen I hope to someday to see it as Bishop as St. Bishop Sheen but this quote has been used by so many people for so long this was done in 1953 and you think that Bishop Sheen said it today in 2020 He says, moral principles do not depend on a majority vote.

[160] Wrong is wrong, even if everybody is wrong.

[161] Right is right, even if nobody is right.

[162] Bishop Strickland, that is so profound in the sense of where we have a culture that says, I'm a man or I'm a woman, if I'm not, I believe I'm, in other words, all these crazyness that's going on, these moral principles, people just say, well, since I said it, it must be right.

[163] And Bishop Sheen is really putting out that moral principles do not depend on majority vote.

[164] He's talking about objective truth.

[165] What made you tweet that again?

[166] Because that's not the first time you've tweeted that.

[167] Well, I just think it's so right on with the controversies of our day and our time.

[168] And we need to remember, I mean, we are a democracy and we operate with the majority vote.

[169] I mean, the majority is what, it's how we're structured.

[170] But it reminds me of what writers have said, even as the, the United States was beginning, that this, it's still considered an experiment in many ways.

[171] It's not, it's more than 200, but not 300 years old, this experiment of the United States of America.

[172] and it's threatened that we're, we aren't going to make it to 300 if people don't wake up to the value of the Constitution and what the United States has really founded on.

[173] But what commentators have said through the history of the United States and even in the very beginning was the idea that it really was an experiment that was going to depend on the values of faith.

[174] And specifically, some have even said Christian.

[175] values because, and I think that's just logical.

[176] Yep.

[177] If a majority, a society guided by majority opinion or majority vote, if it's guided by the majority and the majority is close to God, I mean, certainly we need freedom of religion.

[178] We need people to be able to follow their own conscience for what it means to believe in God.

[179] But some basic principles.

[180] that flow from faith, flow from a belief in a supernatural power that we have been created by that we know as God for us, God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the Trinitarian God.

[181] The values of that state or society have to be guided by that.

[182] If they aren't, then the majority can say all sorts of insane, what I would consider insane things.

[183] If you just have strictly without any value system and just say whatever the most people say is what they want, that's what has to guide the nation.

[184] That can get us in a lot of trouble.

[185] And I think that's in many ways we're facing.

[186] Well said, Bishop Strickland.

[187] We'll come right back after a short break.

[188] Welcome back to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[189] My name's Terry Barbara.

[190] I'm with Virgin Most Powerful Radio.

[191] We're talking about some of the cultural issues of the day.

[192] And Bishop Strickland tweeted on December 23rd regarding the vaccine, which is a very hot topic, he said, I will not accept a vaccine whose existence depends on the abortion of a child.

[193] Really?

[194] That makes sense to me. But I realize others may discern a need for immunization in these extraordinarily hard times.

[195] We must voice a united, strong cry.

[196] for companies to stop exploiting these babies for research.

[197] And then you put no more.

[198] I would just add one word.

[199] Amen.

[200] So Bishop Strickland, can we talk again a little bit about the vaccine?

[201] Because millions of Americans right now are being vaccinated and they're being used with at least a connection to a baby dying through abortion.

[202] Give us your take right now.

[203] And why did you retreat that?

[204] It sounds to me like you're just pointing out what you've been saying consistently.

[205] But the question I'm asking is, how do we deal with something as serious as we've got COVID -19?

[206] Many people who are elderly who have compromised systems are going to die with COVID because they have other issues, not from it, but with it.

[207] And they need to be vaccinated.

[208] But as of right now on this date, we don't.

[209] don't have companies that have vaccinations that are not tinted by abortion.

[210] Now, there will be some coming, but what made you retreat this whole topic again?

[211] Because you've been speaking on it.

[212] You're like a broken record, which I appreciate, because you've been consistent in your position.

[213] So what made you do it again?

[214] Well, basically, I was encouraged to send that out because a lot of people have had questions and because, you know, the Vatican has spoken and said it's okay to take these vaccines, and the USCB has said it's okay to take these vaccines.

[215] People were saying, oh, well, Strickland's rejecting the church, and he's going to start his own church, which is absolutely ridiculous as far as I'm concerned.

[216] So that's the reason I thought I need to be very clear that, for one thing, just some basic moral principles.

[217] As bishop, it isn't my responsibility or my right to co -opt your conscience, Terry.

[218] Right.

[219] I am called to shepherd and to speak about the deposit of faith, to share the truth, as I believe it from the teachings of the Catholic Church, from the catechism that we've been reviewing.

[220] But it isn't my responsibility to make the...

[221] that decision for any other person except myself.

[222] And that's why I frame it in that way.

[223] In good conscience, I will not accept a vaccine that is anyway through testing or that if unborn children that had been aborted weren't used, if they said, well, the vaccine wouldn't exist if we hadn't use that, then I say I won't take it.

[224] Thankfully, there is progress being made, and I just saw today another group that is working diligently to offer ethically produce vaccines that aren't tainted by the death of unborn children.

[225] I'm all for that.

[226] And we need to, I actually tweeted that and encourage people to support those efforts and to pray for those organizations that are working for those kinds of vaccines.

[227] A lot of times people like to lump it all together, but we've got to be intelligent, we've got to be discerning.

[228] And I'm not an anti -vaxxer, as they say, but I think we have to be very cautious.

[229] And it's a deal breaker for me that the vaccine's available right now, are dependent on using for some part of the process, and it gets very complicated.

[230] And I think what we tend to do is bury things and complications these days.

[231] Yes, it's complicated, but ultimately, it's very clear to me if the vaccine used unborn children for its testing, its production, for some part of the process of, okay, here's the vaccine.

[232] If that is what it took to produce the vaccine, I refuse it.

[233] And whether that it becomes mandated or not, it shouldn't, and we need, as we were talking earlier, that may be one of the things that legally we will have to fight against.

[234] But we need to, you know, really resist any mandate that says taking away our freedom of conscience and say, you must take this vaccine, which there are many other questions, and that's why I've encouraged in my statement very simply, I mean, it's longer than that, but what it boils down to, what I shared with the block here in East Texas, and this is what I believe, I said, I cannot in good conscience accept a vaccine that is tainted with abortion in whatever way.

[235] I don't condemn someone that does make that choice, but I can't.

[236] I can't do it.

[237] I'm not going to do it.

[238] I did encourage people to wait for an ethically produced vaccine.

[239] And I think there are more reasons than the most important reason, the sanctity of life, the life of the unborn that had been murdered in abortion to use them.

[240] It's like extending that evil even into our own lives.

[241] But I mean, that kind of gets off into another topic.

[242] But if the vaccine is using aborted children, I simply refuse it.

[243] I need to have the right of refusal of that kind of vaccine.

[244] I don't condemn, like I said, I don't condemn anyone who makes a different moral choice, but I encourage them if they have qualms about it, then wait.

[245] Wait for a, a vaccine produced without the taint of abortion.

[246] And I think there are good reasons for that.

[247] There are many things we still don't understand about this virus.

[248] And it seems to be even changing and mutating.

[249] From what I understand in England, there's a different strain of COVID -19 already that the England is dealing with and probably in other places.

[250] So, and they talk about these vaccines, they may be useful for a few months, and then they really don't know.

[251] There's so much unknown about the virus and about the vaccines.

[252] I think reasonable people should be allowed to just say, I think I'll wait and see what develops here, what the very best options are, because every person's life is sacred.

[253] No one should be playing fast and loose with the sacred gift of life that God has given them.

[254] But I'm not willing to basically extend my life for months, years, or whatever, because I use something that took an unborn child that was murdered to produce it.

[255] I'm simply not willing to accept that.

[256] And I will resist that as far as I have to.

[257] And I would encourage others to feel supported at least by me. And I think, by the truth that God is revealed to us if they say, I'm not going to accept a vaccine of that type either.

[258] And to encourage, that's what I wish, I was thinking today, that whether it's whatever entity, all who believe in the sanctity of life, we need to speak up.

[259] That's right.

[260] People of faith that life is sacred, we don't have to depend on this group of bishops or that statement from the Vatican, we all as believers need to speak up.

[261] And there are many people that may not really have any faith in an organized religion, but believe that life is sacred and is a gift from God and that abortion is intrinsically evil.

[262] Those who believe that, we need to fight for a vaccine that is ethically produced and wait for that as far as getting a vaccine.

[263] If it's never one that is ethically produced, then I will never accept a vaccine.

[264] I'm not guaranteeing that I would accept one even after it is ethically produced because I have a few other questions.

[265] But definitely if we can't have a vaccine against this COVID -19 that is ethically produced and doesn't involve using once again, I mean, it's bad enough that these unborn children where their life was taken, they were murdered before they could even be born.

[266] But then to use, it's just, you know, even more diabolical, more evil, as far as I believe, to even use those lives that were taken in an evil manner to use those lives again.

[267] It just, you know, multiplies that evil.

[268] And I think we all should, as humanity, we should really be.

[269] thinking about what we're doing in taking that kind of step.

[270] I'm a, you know, we were talking earlier about majority opinion.

[271] In my opinion, I think, is definitely the minority opinion in the world today.

[272] But Jesus Christ was found to be in pretty much of a minority.

[273] He ended up on a cross because the majority of his day said, this guy's bad and we need to get rid of him.

[274] We know he's the savior of the world.

[275] Whether the majority of the people on the planet believe that or not is not the issue.

[276] The truth is the issue.

[277] So I believe in what I have, I believe that I've studied it.

[278] I believe that I am making a reasonable choice.

[279] And if my life ends in a few months or in a few years and it would have been long if I'd taken this vaccine.

[280] I'm glad to it for it to end if it has to before that because I didn't take this vaccine because, you know, I just don't believe I can extend my life because of the death of another child of God, even though they were unborn and many in the world deny that they have any value at all.

[281] I believe they have the same value that I do.

[282] Once they were conceived, they are a person, a child of God.

[283] And to take that life violently and in the intrinsic evil of abortion is, like you said, I'm a broken record, but I'll keep spinning as long as I have breath to spin because I think it's a diabolical movement in the world where many are pressuring people to take these vaccines and disregarding the fact that unborn children died in order to produce these medications for us.

[284] And people argue, oh, it was years ago.

[285] Nobody told me when the expiration date is on the sacredness of life.

[286] Well, Strasch, and oh, we'll be right back with more.

[287] Welcome back to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[288] Bishop Strickland, I think you're going to blush when I tell you this.

[289] It's so refreshing to hear a bishop speak with common sense.

[290] I don't, I don't really give you a Ph .D. in common sense, because common sense ain't that common.

[291] That was G .K. Chesterden's saying that.

[292] I'm saying it now because what you just gave to us needs to be repeated throughout the church because it's the truth.

[293] And, you know, this whole idea, you sound like a man that has a supernatural outlook on life, and you act like life is short and eternity is forever.

[294] You actually believe that.

[295] And it's refreshing.

[296] I know that sounds like it's a crazy thing to say, but after 42 years of being involved with the church, I have had so many scandals in my life with leadership in the church that I, you know, I don't worship a bishop, a pope.

[297] It's Jesus Christ who I worship, but it's refreshing to have a successor of the apostle speak so clear.

[298] Because your last quote, your last tweet on the same topic, you just, I'm going to read it to you because I want to get into the seven deadly sins at least talking about the mercy of God on all these things you said all the rhetoric about vaccines wanders from the simple truth that children were murdered just what you said their body parts were used we have a vaccine that will give us a few mere years of life call me by your favorite speculative by cussing at you i get it i continue to speak for the dead innocent ones i want to repeat that and i will continue to speak for the dead innocent ones even when people are condemning you, Bishop Strickland, as being antiquated, old -fashioned.

[299] And I would just say thank you for sticking to the perennial teachings of the church.

[300] That's all.

[301] You're not doing anything big.

[302] You're just giving what the church has given to us for 2 ,000 years.

[303] Bishop Strickland, I know we've been going through the catechism of the Catholic Church, and we've been going through what mortal sin, venial sin.

[304] This is something that if those who didn't hear previous shows you can get on our podcasts, We went through the Ten Commandments, but we're trying to go through what is sin, and we've already covered that, and then there's a paragraph in the catechism that really talks about the capital sins.

[305] It's paragraph 1866.

[306] It says, vices can be classified according to virtues they oppose or also be linked to capital sins, which Christians' experience have distinguished following St. John Casson and St. Gregory they're great.

[307] They are called capital because they end gender other sins, other vices.

[308] They are pride, avarice, envy, wrath, lust, gluttony, sloth, and acedia.

[309] Now, I just, I know you talked to me off the air about the capital, the capital, well, yeah, I would say, see the sins that are most common in our culture and how we can overcome them through grace.

[310] But would you like to just give a maybe 10 minutes of just kind of inspiring.

[311] us to know that all of these sins can be overcome through our faith in Jesus Christ and by asking for mercy, true mercy.

[312] Absolutely.

[313] And I think they are, the idea of the capital sins is those vices that, what comes to mind to me for as an image of this is, it's kind of like a spider web.

[314] And each of these sins, they overlap with each other, they get tangled with each other, and they have tentacles that go out like a spider web, various threads of, you know, they, as I reflect on the seven capital sins, and I use them for my own examination of conscience as part of that, because we need to ask ourselves, am I prideful?

[315] Am I avaricious, am I envious, am I wrathful, am I lustful, am I gluttonous, am I slothful?

[316] And if we're honest with ourselves, we probably would have, I mean, I can say without, you know, getting into my own personal confession, but there are three or four of them that sort of, you know, the lights go on and I say, yeah, if I'm honest with myself, I have to be aware that I have tendencies of sinfulness in that area.

[317] And we need to reflect on that.

[318] The beautiful thing about being aware of our sinfulness is that Jesus Christ died to free us from them.

[319] And the sacrament, in our Catholic faith, the sacrament of confession, is that tapping into mercy that Christ offers us from the cross, we know the image that is recorded.

[320] in the Gospels, where blood and water flow from the side of Jesus Christ as he dies on the cross, and the beautiful imagery of that in Scripture and in the fathers of the church, as they reflect on that, they speak of the sacraments flowing from that.

[321] So mercy literally flows from the body of Christ, from the dead body of the Son of God that rises, of course.

[322] and that's part of the mystery of his saving power for us.

[323] So when we're willing to look at these sins to be honest with ourselves and really do an examination of conscience, thinking about the seven deadly sins really is about freeing us from those burdens.

[324] One of the things that the language that the confirmation write, which I celebrate frequently in my life as a bishop, it speaks of the empty promises of Satan and we reject the empty promises of Satan.

[325] And Terry, I can tell you that that's significant for my own prayerful reflection and examination of conscience because I sin and to the degree that I sin, I'm giving him to the empty promises of Satan.

[326] We as human beings, the way God has, has made us.

[327] We don't naturally, it's not our nature to choose something that is evil and that is ugly that is going to destroy us.

[328] It's our nature to choose something that looks good.

[329] And so Satan is clever and his minions are clever woven into the broken world that we're part of.

[330] And that's what we call temptation, when it looks like, if I tell this lie, life will be better.

[331] That's what the empty promise of Satan tells us about lying.

[332] And as little kids, it may just be lying about that piece of bubble gum that we took from the counter without paying for it.

[333] Not a big deal, but sin is like a wound, and without addressing it, it can grow until the point where, like any wound, it can become infected and kill us.

[334] It can become gangrenous and kill us if we just ignore a physical wound on our body.

[335] Sin is the same.

[336] It can become mortal when it started off as just stealing a piece of bubble gum.

[337] But a little kid that thinks, hey, I got away with that.

[338] And that felt pretty good.

[339] Those are the empty promises of Satan that, hey, it was neat to be able to steal a piece of bubble gum.

[340] Maybe next time it would be the toy car that looked so shiny and great.

[341] And you just kind of slip that into your pocket.

[342] And then when you get to be a teenager, it's not a toy car, but it's a real car and then maybe along the way you have to murder somebody because they saw you steal the car you know it just escalates and you might say ah this guy is really crazy a little kid steals a piece of bubble gum and then he's got him you know murdering somebody over a stolen car but it happens that's how it works that is what happens in life you got it and so we all need to be honest with ourselves.

[343] And with whatever the, you know, I guess, whatever the sin that is tied to that, I guess avarice would be the one for stealing.

[344] But pride is a huge temptation for many of us, envy, wrath, lust, gluttony, sloth, they're all deadly and capital sins, because they're very serious things that can get us into trouble, even in this world.

[345] I mean, people end up in prison because they've broken one of these.

[346] They've entered into a life that embraced one of these capital sins in a significant way.

[347] When we do that, we damage this life in the natural world, and we threaten supernatural life and threaten our life ending up in the eternal damnation of hell.

[348] And that's what we are called to.

[349] We have an obligation to avoid eternal damnation.

[350] And so we have an obligation to begin with the small things and do our best to as the scriptures tell us in the gospel Christ says, you must be perfect.

[351] Who's perfect?

[352] Well, it's God perfecting us that we have to rely on.

[353] But we have to put our effort into being as virtuous as possible and being absolutely grateful for God's mercy.

[354] But a lot of times in the context of sin and mercy in the world today, even in the church, you will hear too many talking about, oh, God's mercy is abundant.

[355] God never condemns us.

[356] Absolutely.

[357] But that doesn't mean we can't condemn ourselves through our sinfulness.

[358] And that's what we have to be awake to.

[359] God doesn't condemn us.

[360] He longed for us to turn from our sin and to embrace the virtuous life that takes us to everlasting life with him.

[361] But he gives us our free will and we can choose to condemn ourselves.

[362] Anyone who goes to hell is not God's fault.

[363] Amen.

[364] You can't blame God.

[365] Really, you can't blame Satan.

[366] I remember the comedian years ago saying the devil made me do it.

[367] Flip Wilson.

[368] The devil doesn't make us do anything.

[369] Yes, he tempts us.

[370] Yes, he shows us these empty promises.

[371] But when we sin, we're making the choice, and you can't blame anyone else.

[372] Well, Bishop Strickland, I know that there's always mercy, but we have to ask for it.

[373] It's not automatic that we just get forgiven.

[374] We participate by asking our Lord by going to confession, and that's another great sacrament that will resolve.

[375] I think it's Thomas Moore who said there's nothing on this earth that I cannot handle knowing what's going to be for me in heaven.

[376] So when we have this supernatural virtue of our hope in heaven, all of these things that are coming down on our pike, we just have to look at them from a supernatural view.

[377] Bishop Strickland, we have about a minute left.

[378] Can you give us a Christmas blessing to the audience?

[379] The Lord be with you.

[380] And with your spirit.

[381] Almighty God, we thank you for this octave of celebrating the nativity of your son and the ways that the Blessed Virgin Mary is woven into this story in so many beautiful ways, reminding us that she is the model of the virtuous disciple that we can all look to to be reminded, it is possible in your grace to live your goodness, to live your truth, and to turn from sin.

[382] May these Christmas days, this octave as it continues, continue to guide us closer to Jesus, born in Bethlehem, dying on the cross and rising.

[383] from the dead.

[384] May we be more alive in its grace and love.

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

[386] Amen.

[387] Thank you again, Bishop Strickman.

[388] May we bless all for our listeners.

[389] And again, if you want to listen to other shows of Bishop Strickland, go to Virgin Most Powerful Radio .org and listen to all the podcasts.

[390] God love you.

[391] Full Sheen ahead here at Virgin Most Powerful Radio.