07 Feb 23 – Bishop Strickland Calls Biden to Conversion

[0] Welcome to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[1] My name is Terry Barber.

[2] Yes, I have a little bit of a cold, so hang in there, everybody with me. Bishop Strickland, thanks again for joining us in this hour to talk about our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and to help people find Jesus who's the way, the truth, and the light.

[3] Thanks so much for joining us again.

[4] Thanks, Terry.

[5] No better way to spend our time.

[6] Oh, I'm with you 100%.

[7] Bishop Strickland, I'm hoping that we can get through a couple of these tweets, and I want to get to some catechism verses too to help study our faith on that.

[8] One of your tweets you offered was from Pope Benedict the 16th.

[9] It seems since his passing, I'm reading more and more about him, and I think it's a real blessing for the Catholic Church because he's got so many great books that help us know the person of Christ.

[10] And there's a quote here that you tweeted.

[11] He said, the world offers you comfort, but you were not made for comfort.

[12] You were made for greatness.

[13] Yeah, your thoughts, and you tweeted about the great words to ponder, so your thoughts on that?

[14] Yeah, well, I think it very, something really to ponder and to remember, you know, with, like you said, I mean, in many ways, there's been more about Pope Benedict the 16th since he died than there was in the 10 years since he retired.

[15] but it's wonderful stuff.

[16] And the wisdom, the faithfulness.

[17] I just was blessed to have the funeral of a hermit that died here in the diocese.

[18] Wow.

[19] A man that 87 years old and had lived his life since ordained as a young priest originally.

[20] He was actually mentored by Thomas Merton in the monastery.

[21] Yeah.

[22] And he died in the beautiful funeral.

[23] And it really makes me think of Pope Benedict because in many ways, he became a hermit in these past 10 years.

[24] And the life of a hermit is about prayer and the beautiful words of the deacon who gave the homily for this hermit from the diocese of Tyler.

[25] He's lived here in the piney woods for even before the diocese existed for more than 40 years.

[26] but talking about God loves us and the deacon actually because I had a conversation with this priest about a week before he died I was blessed to go and visit with him and we were talking about that if and we and I think we've talked about that before here Terry that if people really could grasp that yes that God loves us as we are and that doesn't mean we'll just stay as you are and ignore the sin.

[27] Absolutely not.

[28] It means be changed by that love of God.

[29] God loves us as we are.

[30] And because he loves us, he calls us away from sin.

[31] He calls us away from evil and darkness.

[32] And that's what this hermit's life was about.

[33] And Pope Benedict, I think, really entered into a hermit's life in the last 10 years of his life.

[34] And I think, you know, it will probably always remain a mystery in this world.

[35] exactly why Pope Benedict resigned.

[36] But I think one of the results of it, whatever his intentions were, whatever caused it, whatever his motivations, I think he truly did enter into a hermit's life, just being a man of prayer and study for the rest of his life.

[37] And just learning more deeply God's profound love for him and for all of us.

[38] And much of the the world that we see crumbling and people so angry and vicious and yelling and just the evil and the senseless murder of people, all the stuff that we're seeing, I really believe the root of it is that people do not know God and do not believe God's infinite, wondrous love for each of us.

[39] And what Pope Benedict says there, that we're must.

[40] We're not made for a cushy life.

[41] Right.

[42] We're made for greatness.

[43] And the greatness is to live our lives out, doing our best, to live up to that love that God already has for us.

[44] I mean, that's what, you know, in the positive sense, I mean, none of our parents were perfect.

[45] But I know for both of my parents, my mother and father, what was built into us was that we wanted to make them proud.

[46] Amen.

[47] And that was built on a deep understanding that they loved us.

[48] Their love wasn't perfect like God's love is.

[49] So the perfect love that God has for us really motivates us, should motivate us to greatness.

[50] And that's what Pope Benedict is getting at, to be so aware of God's love that that's the reason we turn from sin.

[51] And that is what's so counterfeit about what we're even hearing from praise.

[52] prelates in the church today that we don't need to turn from sin.

[53] God loves us.

[54] Because God loves us, we must turn from sin to do our best to embrace that wondrous love that doesn't go away, even when we do sin.

[55] And even when we ignore our sin, God still loves us.

[56] But because God loves us in his perfect love and perfect wisdom, he knows sin destroys us, sin harms us.

[57] That's why he doesn't want us to sin.

[58] It's not like he's got this huge rulebook.

[59] It's because he knows the truth.

[60] He knows real love.

[61] He is the truth.

[62] He is real love.

[63] And that, he wants us to be fully embraced by him who is ready to embrace us.

[64] It's, it's so counterfeit what we're hearing.

[65] Sadly, even within the church, we can expect a counterfeit.

[66] Sadly, the world should be echoing the truth as well.

[67] But you can kind of understand that a world caught up in wealth and pleasure and all the things that we're seeing and so much evil that the message of the world is going to be counterfeit.

[68] But when it's counterfeit from too many in the church, that's devastating.

[69] And we have to speak all the more boldly with love and compassion and patience and charity.

[70] But we've got to speak the truth, that God loves us.

[71] And because God loves us, we need to repent of sin and embrace the loving word of God.

[72] That's the complete gospel, what you just said.

[73] See, what we're getting right now is not a complete gospel from some people in the church.

[74] They're just saying that, you know, God loves you, and just loves you the way you are.

[75] You don't have to do anything.

[76] You're just going to, everything's going to be fine.

[77] No. The gospel message is what you just said, love.

[78] And all repentance.

[79] We have to be repentant.

[80] You know, Bishop Strickland, when I read this quote you sent out of St. John Paul, too, I was saying to myself, my gosh, I like what Benedict is saying, but you know, I'm going to go back to some of these sayings from John Paul too, because he addressed a lot of the problems that we're dealing with today with very clear teaching.

[81] And I think this is what we need right now.

[82] And when I saw what the Holy Father, Pope John Paul, St. John Paul 2 said years ago regarding the issue of homosexuality, I thought, well, I need to quote this, but let me read it, and then you get your take on it.

[83] You said, the Holy Father said this in the 1980s or 90s.

[84] I don't know how to have a date on it, but it says pressure for homosexual relationships to be recognized as a different form of the family, which are also entitled to the right to adopt is a violation of God's law and an ideology, and he uses the word of evil.

[85] Boy, how much clearer can you be.

[86] He says, it's an ideology of evil seeking to use human rights against humanity and the family.

[87] Now, Bishop Strickland, when I read that, I said, that's what's going on right now.

[88] people are justifying this idea of homosexuals having, you know, rights where they're going to be recognized by the state.

[89] We can't.

[90] I mean, this was like an answer to my prayer.

[91] I was wanting something that says it really succinct.

[92] Now, I went back to the 1984 document from the CDF, and it was very clear there too.

[93] But I don't know how you find this, found this quote of John Paul too, but he's spot on, isn't he?

[94] Absolutely.

[95] And that's why I tweeted.

[96] it because we need that kind of clarity now yeah and you know people so often i mean you'll even see priests online saying you know oh so many people are homophobic and all this stuff we need to be sinphobic amen we use that line about that's so funny and the the real love of anyone we all have sinful and inclination of course and this the controversy about what pope francis really said and his recent interview.

[97] I mean, it's always a controversy, I guess.

[98] But at least it was clarified that the state of being homosexual attracted to the same sex is not sinful.

[99] It is just a state of being.

[100] Right.

[101] But it does make one prone to certain sins.

[102] Just like we're all prone to certain sins.

[103] There's certain temptations that all of us find harder to fight off.

[104] than others.

[105] That's what it comes down to.

[106] To speak of homophobia is if when you condemn the sin, then you're homophobic and you're condemning the person.

[107] That's just, that's a false narrative that is destructive.

[108] And it's simply false.

[109] Right.

[110] The reality is, like we were talking about, I mean, in the people, so many people caught up in the sexual confusions that cover the gamut in the world today, going back to what we were talking about before we started recording, God loves us.

[111] And when we don't know that, when we don't deeply believe in God's love for us, then we get off the rails.

[112] And it's sad that even priests and bishops are encouraging people to just go right down these rails that are calling them, pulling them into darkness, pulling them away from the truth.

[113] So we've got to speak the truth with the love of Christ and encourage people to believe that God loves to them.

[114] And yes, I've got to change more and more each day to conform myself to this loving God, as we all do.

[115] I'm with you, Bishop Strickland.

[116] We come back.

[117] I'm going to talk about a mission plan, game plan for life.

[118] Stay with us, family.

[119] You're listening to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[120] welcome back to the Bishop Strickland Hour and I gave a teaser at the break about a game plan for life I mean we are living in times that are just crazy we've all said that but I love the tweet you said because it keeps us fixed on Christ that this is our mission and what you said Bishop Strickland you said to the world troubled hey go to confession you said attend daily Mass pray the rosary daily study and pray with scripture daily.

[121] Study your catechism.

[122] Seek holiness and make reparation for past sins.

[123] Assist those in need, fast, pray, seek Jesus Christ, strive to grow closer to the sacred heart.

[124] That's a very short paragraph, but it says pretty much everything about what we as lay people, and I include the bishops of the hierarchy.

[125] We all have the same mission statement, and that's holiness.

[126] absolutely and you know I think it is important that it starts with go to confession yes because that's where Christ starts I mean that's just what it says in the gospel I mean just recently we read him saying repent for the kingdom of God is at hand yeah and I spoke about that and reminded myself and the others that I mean as you hear me Terry I know I'm always tying the two hot topics for me of the sanctity of life and the Eucharist.

[127] And to me, that quote from the gospel, repent for the kingdom of God is at hand.

[128] What it reminded me of and what I spoke to the people about was, as a priest standing at the altar, we take bread and wine into our hands.

[129] Talk about the kingdom of God is at hand.

[130] that we think of that well you know what's christ mean and is that some distant future and it it has all kinds of levels of meaning but it just struck me that repent yeah for the kingdom of god is at hand that two the those two movements repenting of sin going to confession being as holy as we can be yeah and then embracing the kingdom um You know, Christ also says, if you love me, keep my commandments or another translation, keep my word.

[131] Christ makes it very clear that what we call metanoia or conversion or a change in life or taking a new path.

[132] All of those things are required.

[133] It's not, well, if you don't want to change, don't bother.

[134] He says, repent for the kingdom of God is at hand.

[135] It's always about us being changed, knowing God's love more deeply, and conforming our lives to that.

[136] It's a lifelong journey.

[137] Yes, it is.

[138] Like we were talking about the hermit priest that I had the funeral for, he was 87 years old when he died.

[139] Wow.

[140] And he knew he still was on the journey.

[141] Wow.

[142] And he was joyful approaching his death.

[143] He had cancer.

[144] So he had that, you know, I think often in worldly terms, certainly, in even faithful terms, for believers, cancer is a tragic disease, takes too many lives.

[145] But the blessing there, and this hermit really embraced the blessing.

[146] He was able to prepare for death.

[147] very significantly.

[148] As is often the case, he was getting a lot of morphine.

[149] He was in pain.

[150] He was fading as he got closer to death.

[151] But he was able to continue to pray and to prepare himself for death.

[152] So, you know, if we get killed in a car accident or drop dead, I mean, we're here's so many people dropping dead of a heart attack.

[153] You know, that is not the better way to die.

[154] The better way to die is to be able to prepare for that last breath.

[155] And so this hermit was a great example to me and to everyone at the funeral, I think, everyone who knew him.

[156] And certainly as a hermit, he was known of, but not well known by many people, because he spent, but he was well known to God.

[157] That's where we all want to be at the end of life.

[158] Well said, well said.

[159] Mr. Strickland, I was aware of back in December, there was a big conference of lay people, mostly, going to Rome to discuss Himani Vite, which is the church's teaching, the transmission of life, that Pope Paul VI put out many years ago, 50 -some years ago.

[160] And it was neat that there were lay people.

[161] Janet Smith was there, Dr. Professor Janet Smith and other lay people, defending the teachings as an infallible teaching.

[162] And you tweeted about a professor John Phinnis, he's from the Pontifical Academy for Life, and he's a renowned professor of natural law, and like you say, he spoke last month in Rome, and was a very compelling speech on the need to not compromise when it comes to the transmission of life.

[163] And I just, before I get your comment on it, I just find that it's interesting that lay people, whether they're professors like Dr. Janet Smith, and others, are encouraging many people dressed like you, excuse me, but are bishops and priests who are thinking, well, you know, we've got to make it, we're going to lower the bar here.

[164] And lay people are saying, please don't lower the bar.

[165] Keep it up high because our model is Jesus Christ, not the world.

[166] Your thoughts about that conference and why did you tweet saying that, you know, thank you to these professors for, you know, what reasons would you give for thanking them?

[167] well like you already said terry i think um we can't lower the bar because the bar is the love of god amen and we can never really live up to it but that's our calling you conform our lives to the love that's already there for us and to to try to water it down and and really um there were several tweets that, you know, it really got me fired up to really recognize what a disservice it is.

[168] I've had a couple of funerals recently, and I had last week I had a funeral of a woman that I'd known for many years in the cathedral parish here in Tyler.

[169] Wonderful woman.

[170] And I remembered, and I mentioned in the homily, exactly where she sat at Mass. And she was there Sunday after Sunday.

[171] Yeah.

[172] The sad thing was many of the people there, you could just tell.

[173] Yes.

[174] We're not, I mean, you know, family members or friends.

[175] It was a well -attended funeral.

[176] She was a beloved woman.

[177] But many of the people there, you could tell, had no faith.

[178] There were people there that you could tell were experiencing, I'll just put it this way, some confusion in life.

[179] Yeah.

[180] And to not give them the fullness of Jesus Christ.

[181] is a travesty.

[182] It is to give them a counterfeit gospel that somehow watered down.

[183] And as if, oh, this is an ideal that you can't live up to.

[184] What a crock.

[185] Amen.

[186] Amen.

[187] And what a disservice.

[188] What a lack of love.

[189] What a lack of faith to say, oh, the present generation can't live up to this.

[190] So we're going to water down the truth.

[191] And we're going to say, you don't really have to repent.

[192] God loves you.

[193] What this tells people is that God's love isn't real.

[194] Exactly.

[195] And God's love is reality.

[196] And that's why I guess I was so inspired with this, the experience of this Hermit's funeral, because this man knew the love of God and knew that all reality flows from that love of God.

[197] And it's such a counterfeit church, a counterfeit world, a counterfeit universe that, is being promoted when it's not focused on the love of God.

[198] Whether people believe in God or not, God loves them.

[199] And it just really struck me at these couple of funerals.

[200] It is a devastating disservice that is despicable, really, a disservice to not give the fullness of the message of Jesus Christ.

[201] And one thing that really struck me as I pray about all this, but, you know, with the controversies about the mass or whatever controversy you want to point to, Jesus Christ suffered to the depths of his being for us.

[202] Amen.

[203] His suffering was tremendous.

[204] He poured himself out.

[205] The water and blood that flowed from his side, even after he died.

[206] His body was already dead.

[207] That's what it was about.

[208] His side was fierce to prove that he was dead.

[209] Even after death, he's pouring himself forth.

[210] He gives himself so authentically, authentic love.

[211] That's what the sacrifice of the mass is about.

[212] And to water that down, it is a blasphemy against Jesus Christ, our Lord, and it is a disservice to the children of God, who are so beloved of God, we've got to wake people up to the reality of God's love and the reality of the sacrifice of his son, because watering it down means, well, Jesus kind of sort of maybe died on the cross.

[213] No, he absolutely poured himself out.

[214] That's authentic love.

[215] And we've got to call people back to embracing that and recognizing that in every, mass. That's why the reverence, that's why we should comport ourselves properly.

[216] That's why we should go to confession.

[217] That's why we should never receive in communion, knowingly unworthily.

[218] None of it are worthy, but we've got to do our best to the best of our knowledge.

[219] We have repented and we present ourselves to the Lord.

[220] Anything short of that is blasphemous and a disservice to what God's has done for us.

[221] We've got to share that with this generation and every generation to come.

[222] Wow.

[223] All as I can say is when our Lord said in the gospel, amen, amen, amen, I say to you.

[224] What you just said is a message that the world desperately is in need to hear Bishop Strickland.

[225] And when we come back from the break, I want to say that you got a tweet here that you made some promises that you made when you were a bishop, when you were brought into being a bishop in the Catholic Church, and you're reaffirming those.

[226] And to me, as a layman, this is really important that you do that publicly right on the air because to me it guarantees that, you know, you're human, first of all, and that if you make a mistake, you repent of it yourself, and that, you know, you've always said, I go to confession, I was a confession Saturday or Sunday morning at my parish.

[227] Why?

[228] Because I'm a sinner.

[229] And sometimes we need to hear our bishops and priests acknowledge that they also have a need to go to confession.

[230] And it really inspires us to go more often.

[231] So when we come back, we'll take that quote.

[232] And then I'm hoping to open up the catechism, which is the way of Christ's catechism, the study book put out by the St. Philip Institute on evangelization.

[233] And you can get that by going to the St. Philip Institute.

[234] Or you can go to the Tyler Diocese website.

[235] They can get it there too.

[236] And this is a very succinct catechism that is question and answer, which I think is a great need in the church right now for us to go back to the fundamentals of the faith.

[237] Because I think if you have the fundamentals down, everything else falls in place.

[238] So when we come back, we're going to cover a tweet from Bishop Strickland, making some promises regarding his Catholic faith to you, our listener, not just to the diocese of Tyler, but anybody who can hear this message, he's speaking to you to make some promises that I think are important for him and for the salvation of souls.

[239] Stay with us, family.

[240] We'll be right back.

[241] Welcome back to the Terry and Jesse show.

[242] Sorry, how about the Bishop Strickland show?

[243] I'm mixed up.

[244] Sorry, Bishop Strickland.

[245] I think I need to go to bed and get over this cold.

[246] Bishop Strickland, I just had a quote from you making some promises that you made a promise when you were a bishop to adhere to the magisterial teachings of the church.

[247] And if I can get the exact quote, I have it here.

[248] I don't know how it disappeared from my notes here, but you said, as a bishop, I promised to guard the deposit of faith in the Bible, the catechism, the magisterium of the church, and if I stray from the deposit or try to change the deposit of faith, please correct me. The deposit of faith proclaims the truth of Jesus Christ, and it cannot be changed.

[249] You can't get any clear there, Bishop.

[250] Thank you for making that real clear that this is not about you, Bishop Strickland, Joseph Strickland.

[251] It's about Jesus Christ.

[252] Absolutely.

[253] And every bishop makes the same promise.

[254] Yeah.

[255] Guard the positive faith.

[256] That's why I think it's so critical now, because too many are, you know, attacking the deposit of faith.

[257] And sadly, even from within the church and many people that are outside the church, I mean, they'd like nothing more than to destroy the Catholic Church.

[258] And many think they're getting the job done, that that's working.

[259] The church is suffering.

[260] But Jesus Christ suffered, like we talked about earlier.

[261] And guarding the deposit of faith is guarding Jesus Christ.

[262] He's truth incarnate.

[263] And really, Terry, I have to say, I'm a sinner.

[264] I'm weak.

[265] I do the wrong thing all the time.

[266] I try to do better.

[267] But one thing I can claim is by the grace of God and through the nudging of the Blessed Virgin Mary, I know Jesus Christ better than I have ever before.

[268] Yes.

[269] And the great thing about that, you know it because you know Jesus Christ.

[270] Amen.

[271] And the more you know him, the more you recognize how far you have to go to know him more deeply.

[272] And that knowledge means I cannot be quiet and allow people that are just blasphemously ignoring sin and marching up to communion to just do it.

[273] He's my Lord and Savior.

[274] I know him.

[275] I know him as my Lord, as all of us are called to.

[276] He wants everyone on the planet to know him.

[277] But I do know him.

[278] And I'm not going to just quietly say, oh, well, if you're going to do something blasphemous, that's your choice and that's okay.

[279] No, he's a friend of mine.

[280] Yeah.

[281] And I'm going to guard him and guard his truth.

[282] And people say, well, you know, Jesus doesn't need you to guard it.

[283] Absolutely not.

[284] He's the Lord of the universe.

[285] I'm nothing.

[286] But because I know him, it's about me and being faithful, being a faithful disciple.

[287] So I think we've got to guard the, all of us really guard the deposit of faith.

[288] And I would mention also, I've installed a lot of pastors.

[289] and pastors, it's really not part of a priest ordination, interestingly, the line about guarding the deposit of faith.

[290] Certainly, it's presumed.

[291] But specifically, guarding the deposit of faith is mentioned when a pastor is installed as a pastor of a church.

[292] I think that's very interesting, because really, that's what a bishop is.

[293] Yes.

[294] He's the shepherd, the pastor of the diocese.

[295] And when a bishop is, ordained and takes that responsibility, he promises to guard the deposit of faith.

[296] When a priest has made a pastor, he also promises to guard the deposit of faith.

[297] And really, if we're living our baptism, all of us are called to live and guard the deposit of faith.

[298] Amen.

[299] And this brings me to another tweet.

[300] I know that Bishop John Fisher is a model for you and also Thomas St. Thomas Moore.

[301] There's a quote, St. Thomas More says, I do not care if I have against me all the bishops.

[302] I have with me the saints and all the doctors of the church.

[303] Wow.

[304] I mean, you talk about someone trying to be pressured along with Bishop John Fisher.

[305] You sent a tweet about this, but why don't you explain the circumstances both of these men had and why they said that?

[306] Well, they lived in the time of Henry the Eighth, and both of them did their best to navigate that time.

[307] And St. Thomas Moore is really, he was the lawyer, the attorney, and worked in various levels of Henry the Eighth's regime and did his best to navigate it all.

[308] Yeah.

[309] But when it came to it to either deny your faith and go with Henry or be killed, he said, you're going to have to kill me, which Henry the 8th had him beheaded.

[310] The same thing with Bishop John Fisher.

[311] Most of the bishops, there was actually a document that they had to sign.

[312] I forget.

[313] It was some kind of oath, I believe, but something basically saying, yes, Henry will accept you.

[314] as head of the Church of England.

[315] Bishop John Fisher refused to sign it.

[316] God bless.

[317] And he was beheaded.

[318] He and St. Thomas Moore.

[319] And so it's interesting, it's in that quote, it's Thomas Moore speaking.

[320] Yeah.

[321] But St. John Fisher, Bishop John Fisher really lived that same spirit.

[322] Wow.

[323] Most of the bishops of England were willing, and they didn't get beheaded because they were willing to sign that document.

[324] Bishop John Fisher wasn't.

[325] You know, I'm not volunteering to get beheaded, and it's a very different time in history.

[326] But whoever is opposing the truth of the church, the deposit of faith, the truth of Jesus Christ, that's who we have to be with.

[327] That's who's going to be our judge and savior at the end of our lives.

[328] It's not going to be a committee of bishops.

[329] It's going to be Jesus Christ as God's son.

[330] and so I'm going to stick with Jesus and pray and in any way every bishop really I hope embraces that call to guard the deposit of faith but some clearly yes are speaking a different language and denying the deposit of faith as it is just listed in that quote in the Bible in the catechism in the magisterium of the church yes bishops are speaking up and denying that truth.

[331] Yes.

[332] That's not guarding the deposit of faith.

[333] That's the opposite.

[334] I'm going to stick with the Lord of truth.

[335] That's Jesus Christ.

[336] Thank you.

[337] And Thomas Moore had a great attitude.

[338] He said, Earth has no sorrow that heaven cannot heal.

[339] And I think of that because we're not here to get out.

[340] In other words, heaven is our goal.

[341] So if these guys want to take us down, Bishop Strickland, because we stand with Christ, so be it.

[342] I mean, this is, what was our purpose here for?

[343] To compromise?

[344] Now, Bishop Strickland, this is a very controversial statement that you made in a tweet because what?

[345] Oh, no, Terry.

[346] Every once in a while you do.

[347] I love it, though, because we have President Joseph Biden who outrageously claimed that Pope Francis doesn't support the U .S. bishops, you're part of the U .S. bishops who called to halt taxpayer -funded abortions.

[348] Now, this is kind of nuts that he'd make this statement, and you tweeted, Mr. Biden can't be allowed to twist the words of Pope Francis in this way.

[349] I implore, and I'm with you in this statement, I think the Vatican has to speak up for clarity purposes.

[350] You implore the Vatican Press Office to emphatically clarify that Pope Francis rightly calls abortion murder.

[351] It is time to denounce Biden's false Catholicism.

[352] Now, Bishop Strickland, he's the President of the United States.

[353] He says he's a devout Catholic.

[354] I'm just going to, I don't mean to change this topic, but in Catholic World Report, Father Peter Stravinsk, a good friend of mine, just exposed that Mr. Biden was married, in the 1970s at the United Nations to a woman who had already been married.

[355] So, first of all, he's not living according to the marriage laws of the church.

[356] And he keeps calling himself a devout Catholic, but he keeps encouraging his administration to kill as many babies as possible by using whatever means that he has as a powerful man in the United States.

[357] So why are you going after this most powerful man in the United States and calling him out regarding abortion.

[358] Well, I'll say it this way, Terry, because God loves him.

[359] Amen.

[360] He wants to get him to heaven.

[361] God loves him.

[362] And God wants him more than I ever could.

[363] Exactly.

[364] God infinitely wants him to wake up from his foolish, this world -bound agenda and recognize the call to everlasting life into living the truth that is Jesus Christ.

[365] and living the sanctity of life from conceptions and natural death.

[366] This man is in grave danger.

[367] Oh, you got that one.

[368] The way he is, I mean, and people say, oh, he's the president.

[369] Leave him alone.

[370] You know, but he claims to be a Catholic.

[371] Yes.

[372] A true Catholic.

[373] He calls himself as a devout Catholic.

[374] He needs to be.

[375] I mean, it is, talk about a disservice.

[376] It's a disservice to Joe.

[377] Yes.

[378] Yes, it is.

[379] Just Joe Biden, as I've said before, you know, he and Nancy Pelosi, for God, they're just, they're beloved.

[380] Exactly.

[381] But they're another Joe and another Nancy in the billions of people that God loves on this planet.

[382] And to let them get away with blasphemy and denying the truth just because they've got this worldly position that's going to go away like that.

[383] in death, they're not anything.

[384] They're just a beloved of God.

[385] That's wonderful.

[386] That's the most important gift we have.

[387] But the world has all these titles and all the wealth and all the influence and all this party that just says they're wonderful and they're the leaders of the party, leaders of the free world, all this stuff.

[388] It's not worth a hill of beans when that less breath is drawn.

[389] And that's the reason, and it's bad example to, you know, the max for Joe Biden to claim to be a faithful devout Catholic and be doing things that are the opposite of what a faithful devout Catholic does.

[390] St. Thomas Aquinas says, love somebody, will the good in them.

[391] And so you're willing to good to have him get to heaven.

[392] Thank you, Bishop, for speaking the truth about that.

[393] We'll come right back with the Salvation History Teaching.

[394] Welcome back to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[395] We're going to go to the catechism, but there was one more topic that the bishop has spoken on that.

[396] It's clarity, really clear.

[397] And he mentioned that people should read a article from Archbishop Samuel Aquila, who's the Archbishop of Denver, Colorado.

[398] And the title of the article is, radical inclusion requires radical love.

[399] But let me set the stage and then get you.

[400] your take on this.

[401] I read an article, The Pillar, about the theology of Cardinal McElroy, his sentinel essay, and basically his comment is not very consistent at all with the church's teaching.

[402] His concept for a Eucharistic discipline is rooted in a radically inclusive approach for all baptized regardless of their spiritual status are stayed along pursuit of holiness.

[403] So in other words, he doesn't want anybody not to have the Holy Eucharist.

[404] And he gives four points in his article saying that, you know, everybody should have it whether they're living in sin or not, which is not what the church teaches and not what the Bible teaches.

[405] And this is a concern.

[406] And I thought, wow, this is crazy.

[407] Well, Archbishop Samuel Aquila, I think he nailed it in the article.

[408] So he's comment to it is he's saying that, and he makes it good, he says that Pope Francis in the process said that in this senatal sedatoidal process, a deep listening to the Holy Spirit, the spirit of truth, charity that keeps us firmly attached to Jesus Christ, Pope Francis has made it clear that this Senate on Senateality is not about changing longstanding church teaching and is not a democratic or parliamentary process so that majority rules with voting on the moral teachings of the church So I wanted to turn this over to you, Bishop Strickland, because you've read the article.

[409] It's a lengthy article, but he just says some really clear teachings regarding our perennial teachings of the church.

[410] Your thoughts?

[411] Well, Terry, you really summarized it well, and I just read the article that Archbishop Aquila wrote, and it's excellent.

[412] Yeah.

[413] And it lays out the real beauty of the church.

[414] the beauty of the call of the church, like we were telling you about, that it all begins with believing and knowing the truth that God loves us and then doing our best to live that love.

[415] We can't earn it.

[416] We don't have to.

[417] We can't lose it, really.

[418] Right.

[419] We can ignore it.

[420] We can choose to turn from it to our own peril.

[421] But God loves us.

[422] Yes.

[423] that love is beyond our imagining.

[424] And Archbishop Aquila does a great job of talking about how, I mean, what are the sacraments?

[425] Their encounter with God's son, Jesus Christ, there's signs of what he did reminding us that he's with us, especially in the Eucharist, but really in all of the sacraments.

[426] Just recently, you know, I was blessed with an opportunity.

[427] and very difficult circumstances, a young person that was suicidal.

[428] Oh, no. And I was asked, they thankfully asked for a priest to come and give them the anointing of the sick.

[429] Yeah.

[430] And I was able to go because I was contacted.

[431] I'm a priest.

[432] Yes, I'm a bishop, but I'm a priest.

[433] And so I was able to go and anoint this person with the sacrament of healing, the anointing of the sick.

[434] And that's Christ.

[435] It's not me. It's me as an instrument just as a priest stands at the altar and says the words, bread and wine becomes the body and blood, soul and divinity of Jesus Christ.

[436] It's not about the priest.

[437] It's about Jesus Christ.

[438] And the blessing of this anointing of this young person that was suicidal, I was told afterwards that they experienced a peace.

[439] that they hadn't felt in a long time.

[440] I'm sure they're still struggling in some ways.

[441] The sacraments are not magic as Christ is not magic.

[442] He is an encounter with love incarnate.

[443] And that, what a blessing to be able to share that.

[444] And that's what Archbishop Aquila is getting at with.

[445] And as I was saying earlier, it is a counterfeit to deny the real, healing balm of an encounter with Jesus Christ that washes away our sins.

[446] If you tell someone, sure, go ahead and receive communion as they're clutching their sins as if it was their greatest treasure.

[447] That's a contradiction that doesn't allow them to fully share in the grace of the sacraments.

[448] And it allows them continue on a path of sin that is darkness and only destruction.

[449] Sin and death really fit together.

[450] Yes.

[451] I mean, if we look all the way back to Adam and Eve, an original sin, that's when death came into the world.

[452] Yes.

[453] That's when death came into the human story when they sin.

[454] Every sin is a little death, is a little embracing of everlasting death rather than everlasting life.

[455] So to allow people to say, well, I'm in communion with the Lord, but I'm ignoring the sins that I've committed.

[456] That's a contradiction that is unhealthy.

[457] It's blasphemous and it's destructive to the person.

[458] Rather than constructive, it's destructive.

[459] And I'm just very grateful.

[460] As I did in the tweet when I shared that, I encourage every Catholic, every Christian, every person to read those words from Archbishop Aquila because he says some very important things that whether people are believers or not, he lays out what the Catholic Church teaches and what we believe in a beautiful, clear way that everyone needs to understand.

[461] Not everyone embraces the Catholic faith.

[462] That's our mission to share the message of Jesus Christ in his church as fully as we can.

[463] But even if people aren't believers, if they read that and they have, have a basic intelligence.

[464] They'll understand more clearly what the Catholic Church stands for.

[465] Well, Seth, I want to end on this.

[466] There's a data from the Center for Applied Research Apostle of Georgetown University, shedding light on countries around the world that have the highest mass attendance.

[467] And Bishop Strickland, there's an interesting note here.

[468] The countries that have the highest attendance in mass are the countries that are being persecuted for the faith.

[469] For example, Nigeria, 94 % of baptized Catholics show up for weekly mass or more.

[470] Kenya, 73%, Lebanon, 69%.

[471] So I want to ask you, it appears to me, and maybe I'm wrong, but maybe we need a good persecution to get our faith back, and maybe we just have it too easy here in our country.

[472] But isn't it interesting that the countries that have the highest mass attendance are those countries that have to fight for their faith?

[473] Well, it was ever thus in the life of the church.

[474] That's right.

[475] Going back to the very beginning.

[476] Some of the strongest faith was in the first century when the church was being persecuted.

[477] Look at the apostles.

[478] The leaders of the church, all of them were martyred except for John, and I consider John the apostle having lived a white martyrdom because he was persecuted.

[479] He was imprisoned, and they tried to kill him.

[480] He wasn't martyred technically, but he gave his life in a different way, a long life to the Lord.

[481] He wrote the gospel.

[482] So that faith of the first century, and through the centuries, it's when the church is persecuted, that she flourishes.

[483] And what does that tell us?

[484] the church is directing us to a kingdom beyond this world.

[485] When we get too woven, like the church says, we're in the world but not of the world.

[486] There's too much of the church today that is in the world and of the world.

[487] And if that's the case, it's really not the church at all.

[488] And we have to realize, yes, there will be persecutions.

[489] But that's when people realize we're not.

[490] built to just live in this world, just like the funerals that I've just celebrated.

[491] The preface of the funeral mass beautifully says, in death, life is changed, not ended.

[492] We resist that change from this world to the next.

[493] But that's what we're built for.

[494] And that's what we always have to remember.

[495] That's why a persecuted church is spiritually more healthy, because it's It's got a better clarity, a better focus on where things are.

[496] We are in the illusion that the comforts and the blessings and the gadgets of this world, all that science has given us, it's like we've got heaven on earth.

[497] This ain't heaven on earth, even with all that we have.

[498] And when we start to believe that, we start to lose the real faith that calls us to a heaven beyond this world, a proclamation of the kingdom.

[499] that's why Jesus Christ came.

[500] Wow, what a catechesis this hour has been because what Bishop Strickland is taught is not his personal opinion.

[501] It's what the Catholic Church is always taught, and it's refreshing to hear that.

[502] I mean, I love it.

[503] Bishop Strickland, could you give our listeners a blessing, please?

[504] Sure.

[505] Almighty God, we ask your blessing for Terry and all of his staff, all of those who help make it possible for us to talk about the wondrous truth of our faith each week.

[506] We pray that those who listen are drawn closer and closer to the sacred heart of Christ to believe more deeply than ever that we are beloved of God that nothing can destroy that love and that it's our mission, our work, our vocation to embrace that love more deeply by turning from sin and by living the call of grace.

[507] And we ask this blessing with the intercession of the saints and the Immaculate Virgin Mary.

[508] in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

[509] Amen.

[510] I want to also mention that all the podcasts of Bishop Strickland's shows are podcast on VMPR .org.

[511] You can listen to all of them.

[512] You can listen to all the other shows that we have on Virgin Most Powerful Radio.

[513] And also, I'd like to give a good plug to the St. Philip Institute.

[514] We just have a minute here, Bishop, but could you kind of summarize the mission for the St. Philip Institute?

[515] Yeah, the St. Philip Institute is really the catechetical and evangelizing arm of the diocese, which every diocese has, and they're doing great work, producing great material, just like the catechism that we go over sometimes in our hour when we get to time.

[516] But the St. Philip Institute's doing a great job, great young people sharing the light of Christ.

[517] Thank you, Bishop Strickland.

[518] Also, good news.

[519] More stations are picking up this show, and I thank them for that.

[520] other ministries are picking it up, so we're growing about a thousand new YouTube listeners a week here every seven days.

[521] So that tells us that the truth is getting out to folks.

[522] And I thank you, please seriously consider supporting vampr .org by a monthly donation or a one -time donation to help keep us moving forward in the mission of Christ and his church.

[523] Thanks again for all of you who listen so devoutly and share this with you.

[524] your kids, with your friends, and family, but it's always on the internet for you anytime 24 -7.

[525] And may God bless you and your family.

[526] Looking forward to seeing you again next week here on Virgin Coastcarofa Radio with the Bishop Strickmanauer.

[527] God love you.