09 Nov 21 – Let Us Become Saints

[0] Welcome to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

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

[2] Bishop Strickland, thanks again for joining us for another hour to talk about our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

[3] Thanks, Terry.

[4] Our pleasure.

[5] And, you know, this is the day we call it All Saints Day.

[6] This is the day we're recording this program.

[7] And so I love that line.

[8] You know, be a saint.

[9] What else is there?

[10] You know, so that's what we can talk about a little later in the show about the Saints.

[11] But you've got some tweets.

[12] And for those who are brand new, what we do is we go through Bishop Strickland's tweets for the past week, and then we open up our catechism of the Catholic Church, read from that, and learn about our Catholic faith.

[13] It's a great combination, really, to study our faith as a lifetime occupation.

[14] Bishop Strickland, your first tweet, I like what you had to say because we're living in some challenging times.

[15] It says, come let us sing joyful songs to the Lord.

[16] this simple anthophon from the morning prayer is a great reminder we all have worries we all carry burdens but if we live each day as a gift from the lord the burdens are lighter this is not pretending it is remembering god is love what does that message need to be heard today is what made you do that?

[17] Well, it just very often praying morning prayer or one of the other parts of the office, it just strikes me. And I say, I need to share that.

[18] People need to, not everybody praise the book of Christian prayer.

[19] Everybody's welcome to, but not everybody does.

[20] But it's good for all of us to be reminded of those messages from scripture, from some of the writing.

[21] of the saints that we do need to be joyful.

[22] We need to remember that every day is a gift.

[23] And in that context, and I'm the first to admit, sometimes I complain the gift's not the right size or it's not the color I wanted.

[24] We complain about, oh, this is a crummy day.

[25] Even the crummiest day is another gift from God that we wouldn't have had without his love.

[26] and sometimes the we can control we we can always control how we approach it we can't always control exactly what unfolds every day sometimes tragedies do happen sometimes disappointing things sometimes we sin and people sin against us but the the joy of living is knowing like you just said that we're called to be saints and what else is there what what is more important Nothing.

[27] What is more long -lasting?

[28] Nothing.

[29] So let us be joyful, even in the midst of a lot of fears, a lot of confusions, a lot of anger, a lot of division.

[30] We can look at all the negative things.

[31] They're always there.

[32] You know, sometimes they say it was ever thus.

[33] And you can look at the time of Christ.

[34] I like to think about the world that he lived in, not just as he entered into his suffering, which was tremendous, but just living in the, basically he lived in Nazareth, growing up, lived in Nazareth, which was occupied territory.

[35] They had this puppet leadership for the Jewish, for the people of Israel, a false king, but the Roman Empire were really ones running the place.

[36] And I'm sure there were things that were frustrating and things that were troubling about growing up and living there and occupied territory in the first century.

[37] Christ knows that's one of the beauties of having Christ the greatest gift from God the Father.

[38] He so loved the world that he gave us his only begotten son.

[39] And his son knows what it is to live in this world.

[40] So, and I like to imagine, we don't hear about those hidden years of Christ, which was most of his life.

[41] We don't hear anything.

[42] But I can't imagine that he wasn't a joyful presence in the community with his family, with Mary and Joseph, as long as Joseph lived.

[43] Mary was there, obviously, until he began his public ministry.

[44] So I think we can look to Christ and be more joyful and more aware of the great gift that every day is and remind ourselves it's natural humanly that some days are crummy some days are dark and burdensome but even in the midst of that to remind ourselves that the lord is with us and we need to seek out the joy well said i always say that attitude of gratitude is welcome just about everywhere and i remember st thomas moore's comment that always i write in my book because I try to read this a lot of times.

[45] It says, Earth has no sorrow that heaven cannot heal.

[46] And so when things are tough, I try to look at things from my eternal perspective, and it's amazing that helps so much.

[47] Now, Bishop Strickland, you tweeted something that, believe it or not, everybody, Virgin Most Powerful Radio, I have this already to the printer, and they're going to be printing prayer cards for people to read this little reflection regarding our call to become saints.

[48] And here's what Bishop Strickland tweeted.

[49] It's a cardinal from Italy.

[50] He says, now put your seatbelts on because this is one of the most powerful things I've read in a long time.

[51] He says, the saints are the only people who remain calm and undisturbed in the midst of a worldly adversity.

[52] They are always content because they live in God.

[53] Their lives are in full conformity with His words.

[54] will guided by his love and dedicated to his service.

[55] Wow.

[56] As a result, they live in a kind of spiritual, I love this stratosphere for above the storms of this world, there they are above the clouds of pride, ambition, avarice, and all the other vices.

[57] There they see and contemplate everything in the light of God let us become saints then we shall have solved all the problems of life amen cardinal Bishop Strickland I don't know where you find these things but this is the reason Virgin most powerful radio exists to have inspiration not to expose error that's part of what we do with the truth of the gospel because it exposes error but what I really think it does is what our goal is to inspire people to become saints.

[58] And when you read something like this from this cardinal, I mean, I'm going, wow, so I have this, I'm going to make it so that people can put it in their bathroom where they're brushing their teeth and they can read this prayer.

[59] And I, you know, I talk about being a spiritual fitness trainer sometimes on our shows.

[60] And I'm going to say, okay, everybody, got to read this prayer before you get out to work today because this is going to give you an attitude of gratitude.

[61] So I want to hear from you, Bishop Strickland.

[62] How in the world did you find that nugget?

[63] Well, I have a lot of people that send me a lot of that.

[64] So I don't have time to find it all myself.

[65] But people send me great things, prayers and images.

[66] And a lot of times, that's what I share is something somebody else has sent to me. Got it.

[67] Well, that was a home run as I use a baseball analogy, since your Houston Astros are trying to come back to win a World Series.

[68] series.

[69] I'm not a Houston fan, but I won't tell you that to me. Oh, did I say that?

[70] That's true.

[71] All right.

[72] Hey, Bishop Strickland, here's another one that I think was very good.

[73] You mentioned it last week.

[74] I won't do that.

[75] We were talking about Jim Cavizo, but people want to hear his speech.

[76] Just go into YouTube and type in his name.

[77] He's got a very inspirational speech he did about two weeks ago.

[78] Now, Bishop Strickland, here's what you said on October 26th, I don't claim to have all the answers.

[79] Well, I'm sure glad you don't because I wouldn't want to be with you if you thought you did.

[80] But here's what you said.

[81] I don't claim to have all the answers, but I'm willing to speak up because any connection to slaughtered unborn children is simply unacceptable.

[82] For sure, if we really believe unborn lives are sacred gifts from God, how in the world can remain silent?

[83] Now, Bishop Strickland, for almost a year, we've been on this show with you.

[84] I don't know of a time where we've had a show where we didn't talk about the unborn, but do you know any other issue that kills millions of babies worldwide?

[85] I mean, I don't know of any other issue that even comes close to the killing of innocent life.

[86] Is that your point?

[87] Absolutely.

[88] And it's life being destroyed before it really can get started.

[89] before they can even be born.

[90] So, as we've said before, none of the issues that we face or that children face or teenagers face or elderly face, none of those issues are issues for those who are destroyed in the womb before they can be born.

[91] And they also, as we've talked about before, it's a poverty to lose those solutions.

[92] It's not just a about, you know, the unborn never have to worry about anything, but we lose whatever they would have contributed to the world, even if it wasn't something that made great headlines, just to be a great mother or father, a great husband or wife.

[93] We need many more of those.

[94] Whatever those children were going to be in God's plan, we aborted the plan, not just the individual child, but the plan of God.

[95] And that's why it's diabolical.

[96] And any connection of anything to that is something that we should oppose, because it's built on lies, it's built on death, and how can it be good if it's built on death and the destruction of life?

[97] Well, said, when we come back from our break, I want to give a little, a plug out in Baltimore.

[98] They're going to be having a men's march to end abortion.

[99] And I think Bishop Strickland is going to be, there and I'm going to see if my schedule because I'm going to me to Baltimore I think on the 16th to give a talk and so I'm going to try and be there with him so when we come back from the break we'll talk about that and also one of the greatest things I've heard the bishops have done are you sure yes it's going to happen at their bishops conference I'm serious when I tell you what they're doing it'll bring warmth to your heart it sure did mine you're listening to the Bishop Strickland Hour on on the Virgin Most Power Radio Stay with us, family.

[100] We'll be right back.

[101] Welcome back to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[102] I made a little teaser for you telling you that the Bishop's conference is coming up in November, middle of November, and they're doing something that's extraordinary, in my opinion.

[103] I mean, 20, 50 years ago, we would have said that's ordinary, but it's really neat that Bishop Strickland tweeted this.

[104] He said, I'm so pleased to see this initiative.

[105] Thank you, Bishop Gazone, and the committee members.

[106] I just signed up for perpetual adoration for the November UCCB assembly page.

[107] So basically they're going to have adoration of the Blessed Sacrament while they're meeting.

[108] And Bishop Strickland, I had, I mean, is this the first time this has happened?

[109] Well, it's been a bishop.

[110] Since I've been a bishop, yes, it's the first time.

[111] And I'm glad to see it happening.

[112] Yeah.

[113] And that's what I would encourage you all.

[114] priests and bishops to really make time with the Lord and the Eucharist really present and really a part of their routine.

[115] I've encouraged reading a document that I've just been focusing on with all the focus on the Eucharist.

[116] Yes.

[117] Ecclese de Eucharist de Eucharist Ecclese de Eucharist de Eucharist de Eucharistia, Latin.

[118] Basically, the church lives in the Eucharist.

[119] And it's, I mean, it's just like all the, this was written in 2003.

[120] And it just, it speaks about Eucharistic adoration.

[121] It speaks about the basic truth that we believe about the presence of Christ in the Eucharist.

[122] And we need that strength and we need that focus as bishops.

[123] and as priests.

[124] That's beautiful.

[125] And I think of what I read from Bishop Sheen during the Second Vatican Council in the early 60s, Bishop Sheen was on a bus.

[126] And what was going on is you had a couple thousand bishops from all over the world meeting in Rome and they go back to their hotels after they have their meetings.

[127] And Bishop Sheen on the bus said, gentlemen, we're missing something.

[128] So what is that?

[129] We should have perpetual Eucharistic adoration at the hotel rent one of those rooms where all it is is a room that has us for a prayer room to pray that the Lord will use us at this time of the council and not be counting on ourselves but on the Lord more so he actually got his American bishops to have an adoration chapel at the hotel room which I thought was just magnificent and Bishop strickland I'm going to tell you something that you don't even know and I was there when I was at the Institute, I'm used to going to church early.

[130] I mean, I have a church right in my backyard, and I have the key, so I can go early in the morning to pray.

[131] And I was at the Napa Institute, and there were lots of priests and bishops at this institute.

[132] Bishop Strickland was there.

[133] So I go into the chapel about five in the morning before everybody, you know, things get going and there's going to be, I think, a six or six -fifteen mass. So I'm in there.

[134] And four or five bishops, including Bishop Strickland, pop into the chapel, get down on their knees, rip out their rosary, and start praying.

[135] Now, you'd say, well, that's what bishops do.

[136] No, as a layman, you have no idea what that did for me to see bishops humbling themselves on their knees, praying before Jesus and the Blessed Sacrament.

[137] I mean, I just had never experienced four or five bishops.

[138] Archbishop Cordillian came in.

[139] There were names of all.

[140] You know all the good guys that were in there.

[141] but the point of it is adoration of the blessed sacrament i mean st john paul two said in that document let their adoration never end and that's what we encourage people to do and that's why i'm convinced and now i'm going to throw in my two cents in bishop strickland that the euchrist and the rosary are really are you ready i know this is a play on words that's the vaccine that i want I want to be able to go to the Eucharist, I want to pray my rosary, and I believe that that's going to inoculate me from serious sin because I'm going to confession, I'm praying, and that's what I tell people to do.

[142] That's the real antidote for life.

[143] It's not the jab.

[144] It's the sacraments of the Catholic Church, and the Eucharist is the source and summit, so I appreciate you, you know, sending that tweet out, Bishop Strickland.

[145] Terry, I'd like to kind of jump on that.

[146] I got a little carried away.

[147] That's all right.

[148] And you said something that I think we really need to make it our habit and our vocabulary.

[149] What's that?

[150] Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.

[151] Yeah.

[152] Not just talking about the Blessed Sacrament.

[153] Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.

[154] I think we need to just make that the phrase that not, you know, just Jesus or just the Blessed Sacrament.

[155] Blessed Sacrament, but Jesus and the Blessed Sacrament.

[156] Because he's really there.

[157] It's a person.

[158] Amen.

[159] It's a personal presence.

[160] And going a little further with that, I am learning as a bishop, and hopefully I continue to learn until my last breath.

[161] We all need to because the great mystery of God's truth, we can never say, oh, I got it figured out.

[162] I can relax now.

[163] That is foolish because we all have little figured out, really.

[164] God has revealed what we need to know for salvation, but even that is immense for any one of us to understand.

[165] But I'm learning to focus not on personalities, but on the personality of Jesus Christ.

[166] Wow.

[167] Well said.

[168] You're a man, I'm a man. We both know good men and good women in our lives.

[169] And I think there's a lot of focus in the church and in government and in everything, a lot of focus on personalities.

[170] And I want to do my best to focus not on this personality or that personality in leadership in the church or in leadership in the nation or in the state or in Hollywood or in business.

[171] but to focus on Jesus Christ, he's really the only personality that I need to focus on.

[172] And I use that word intentionally because we need to know Jesus Christ as a person in our lives in a very personal way.

[173] He's a man who lived in this world for 33 years, incarnate, fully God and man. And in the Blessed Sacrament, Jesus present in the Blessed Sacrament, he's still there.

[174] And we need to know him.

[175] And all the, we need to know and share his truth.

[176] It's my responsibility to share his truth and to not get caught up in personalities.

[177] Because they're just one more son or daughter of God.

[178] They do good things.

[179] They do wrong things.

[180] We all do.

[181] we're all sinners.

[182] We all are imperfect.

[183] And so I want to do my best to really work on focusing on the person of Jesus Christ, focus on sharing his truth, and let the personalities in the church and in the world and the nation, let them, you know, follow their own path.

[184] And when they say something that isn't the truth to call that out, but to not get caught up in sort of personality cults.

[185] Jesus Christ is the only personality in that I think is a great gift of our Catholic faith if we really listen and we really pay attention.

[186] One of the reasons the Catholic Church is, I mean, it has a divine guarantee.

[187] That's the real reason it's still here.

[188] But part of the Part of how that divine guarantee lives out in human history is that, you know, whether it's a pope or a cardinal or a mother superior of a religious community, it's not focused on them.

[189] It's focused on Jesus Christ.

[190] Popes come and go, bishops come and go, cardinals come and go, all of us come into the world.

[191] We're here for a time.

[192] we're given the mission of becoming saints, and then we go.

[193] We leave this world really very quickly, if you think about the span of life that we all have.

[194] So the church in her wisdom, guided by the Holy Spirit, has never gotten caught up in a personality cult.

[195] Our only personality is Jesus Christ.

[196] And we've all seen so many through the ages, not just in modern times of televane, and whatever, but there have been people through history that have risen to the moment, and they're almost worshipped as God at some point sometimes, but they're gone.

[197] Yep.

[198] They go away.

[199] Jesus Christ is yesterday, today, and forever, and that's what I want to constantly remind myself, to focus on him, focus on his truth.

[200] And that encourages every person in the world, whether it's leaders or just all of us who are doing our best to live that call to sanctity, focusing on Jesus Christ is what it's all about.

[201] Amen.

[202] And in addition to what you just said, and I think that was beautifully stated, you also tweeted something else that we can all do when we do see blasphemies.

[203] When we do see those things in our church, as I've seen them over the years.

[204] I like what you tweeted.

[205] You said, I employ all to offer prayers of repentance, reparation, atonement for all the blasphemies against Jesus Christ, especially the reception of his body and blood with no thought of confessing mortal sin.

[206] This desecration of his sacred body and blood is an abomination.

[207] We must repent.

[208] Now, Bishop Strickland, that's a bold thing to say, but it needed to be said, because for a lot of people in the church, high officials in the church, we have compromised on what I would, no reason other than maybe because we don't want to tell people the truth and it would be uncomfortable to be with someone to tell them that you need to repent and turn away from sin, but we all can offer reparation.

[209] I mean, I've seen it.

[210] I was just with a deacon last week, friend of mine, and the pastor will not let him give out Holy Communion, because he wants the lay people to give out Holy Communion.

[211] Now, he knows that he's an ordinary minister of the Eucharist, like a priest and a deacon.

[212] But he's offering that suffering up right now.

[213] He's being obedient to his pastor, and the pastor won't even let him on the altar, okay?

[214] He really's downplaying clericalism, so to speak.

[215] But this man knows that there'll be a time, and his pastor is very sick now, and we pray for his recovery.

[216] but the point of it is he handled this for what a year and a half two years of being pushed around and he's just offering that up and i'm saying man you're a better man than me because he's able to offer that for the salvation of souls and so his suffering has redemptive suffering and i say this because he's in the right he should be giving out holy communion that's an abuse okay now i was a layman talk to the pastor about it and i say excuse me father but you know canon law says this and can you mind if we just implement what the church teaches rather than our personal preferences i'm the pastor you do it the way i say it yes sir so you see this is what we lay people run up to and you're a bishop you've seen it yourself but the point i'm making is reparation atonement we can all make that because prayer is powerful that's what changes hearts hey when we come back bishop strickland i only have one more tweet and then i want to jump into the catechism.

[217] You have a quote from Benedict the 16th, and boy, I remember reading him, oh, I guess a decade ago, and going, wow, he's got his thumb on the pulse of the culture.

[218] We'll be back with more.

[219] Stay with us, family.

[220] Welcome back to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[221] My name's Terry Barbara.

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

[223] If you want to hear more of Bishop Strickland shows, you can go to vmpr .org and listen to the podcasts of all the shows.

[224] In fact, you can hear all the other shows also.

[225] Bishop Strickland, before we go into the tweet from Pope Benedict XVIth, I like giving a plug to the Diocese of Tyler.

[226] I really mean that.

[227] Your Institute, you guys got lots of good things that are going on in your diocese, but it's not just for your diocese.

[228] You open it up to the whole entire world through the Internet.

[229] Can you share a little bit about the Institute?

[230] Yeah, the St. Philip Institute.

[231] St. Philip Institute .org is the website.

[232] and they're developing more and more great resources for teaching.

[233] And we have the Catholic East Texas online, which is a diocese and newspaper, a lot of good articles on just trying to be living the faith in a day -to -day way.

[234] So I do encourage, I thank you for bringing it up, and I encourage people to visit the website.

[235] There are things you can purchase there.

[236] We have a great artist that has done some beautiful paintings that is part of the St. Philip Institute.

[237] So there are a lot of things.

[238] We need to remember that it's something from the Dominican, St. Albert the Great, and St. Thomas Aquinas, to focus on the good, the true, and the beautiful.

[239] And that's what the Institute tries to do.

[240] The truth of Jesus Christ, the beauty of life in him.

[241] and the goodness that we can live when we embrace Jesus Christ.

[242] So I do encourage people to visit St. Philip Institute.

[243] Bishop Strickland, something just crossed my mind.

[244] I thought that the children of God has some connection.

[245] Somebody went to work.

[246] You're doing some of that work with a pro -life work from your diocese.

[247] Does that ring a bell to you or maybe I'm not?

[248] Oh, yeah.

[249] Tell me about that.

[250] Children of God for Life is an organization that's been working on.

[251] And really, the whole issue of abortion and the use of aborted children in all kinds of scientific research.

[252] So, yeah, the children of cog for life, COG for Life .org .org .org is their website.

[253] They're actually located here in the Diocese.

[254] Oh, good.

[255] But it's not directly affiliated with the Diocese of Tyler.

[256] but it is a good organization that just looks at the scientific research and other parts of our culture that deal with the question of the sanctity of life.

[257] Good.

[258] Well, I'm glad to plug them.

[259] Here's my requirement.

[260] If it helps people fall deeper in love with Jesus Christ and his bride to church, I like to endorse things.

[261] So that's great.

[262] Here's what Bishop, here's what, excuse me, here's what Pope Benedict XVI said years ago, and you tweeted it, We are moving towards a dictatorship of relativism, which does not recognize anything as definitive and has its highest value in one's own ego and one's own desires.

[263] He just described our culture.

[264] Yeah.

[265] Well, and that's why I tweeted it, because it is, dictatorship is a strong word.

[266] Yes.

[267] And I think it is a dictatorship of relativism.

[268] And there's so much, you know, the issues of cancel culture and the ways that people with a certain point of view are, it is a dictatorship.

[269] It's just, they're shouted down and sometimes even physically pushed aside because they're speaking a truth that we know is the truth.

[270] but it's not the relativism agenda of saying, well, it's all relative and you just kind of make up your own truth.

[271] All of that is really not logical if you really think about it.

[272] But a lot of times in today's culture, we're not really taught to think well and we don't think through well, if this is the truth or this relativism idea is what guides us, then everything begins to fall apart.

[273] It doesn't, all the ethics that we know are so essential, the primacy of family, the living out of marriage between a man and a woman.

[274] I mean, every aspect of society is affected by this dictatorship of relativism.

[275] And it's, I mean, I don't believe that was said even by Pope Benedict, whether he said it while he was Pope or before, I know it was a few years ago, and it just becomes more and more evident this dictatorship of relativism.

[276] Yeah.

[277] You know, Bishop Strickland, I just reread Bishop, Pope Benedict the 16th, 1969 radio interview.

[278] You might have seen it.

[279] I think we might have tweeted it months ago.

[280] But I bring it up because he said that the church is going to be smaller, that its prestige is going to be pushed aside.

[281] This was an interview in 1969.

[282] He saw what was coming in the culture.

[283] And he said, though, that the church would rebuild with holy people, lay people, and there would be a smaller amount of people, but it would be everybody so serious.

[284] They would live holy lives, and then we would re -evangelize the world.

[285] And I thought, man, that was.

[286] 50 years ago, and look what's going on.

[287] The church is smaller.

[288] They're closing churches all over the world.

[289] It seems that we've kind of come along with the world in many cases.

[290] People see us as not being separate from the world.

[291] And I think Pope Benedict was prophetic, and the reason I say that, is because I see it happening right now.

[292] There fewer people are really into their faith in the sense, even showing up for mass. We've got the pandemic that just hit us.

[293] We've got a scandal going on in the church.

[294] But I'm confident that the church will rebuild and it's going to be rebuilt on saints.

[295] Am I on to something there, Bishop Strickland?

[296] Oh yeah, absolutely.

[297] The saints have lived through the ages in times.

[298] Our times are dark and confused, but the saints have lived through very similar time and when you know the light of Jesus Christ then it guides you that is just the reality yeah I agree folks I want to encourage you to open up your catechism if you're not driving in a car at home to the catechism of the Catholic Church I want to go to paragraph 253 that's 253 and it's a dogma of the Holy Trinity and some people might say dogma do we still believe in dogma yes i'm not showing this is why it's important to study your catechism because the catechism is a sure norm that's what st john paul too said so here's what the catechism says in two fifty three the trinity is one we do not confess three gods but one god in three persons the consubstantial trinity the divine persons do not share the one divinity among themselves but each of them in God whole and etire the father is that which the son is the son that which the father is the father and the son that which the Holy Spirit is so by nature one God so that's you study that that's important predatory in life he says in the words of the fourth Lateran Council this was in 1215, each of the persons is that supreme reality, divine substance, essence, or nature.

[299] Bishop Strickland, what's your take on that?

[300] Well, it's just getting to the basic idea of who God is and the mystery of God.

[301] It's always, we need to remember a mystery that's beyond us.

[302] but God has revealed some essential elements of who he is through his son and through the power of his spirit.

[303] And that's really what this section of the catechism is talking about, the very mystery of God.

[304] And it's so important that we know that.

[305] I remember as a youngster learning about the attributes of God.

[306] And I thought, wow, that is so neat as a little boy saying how big God is.

[307] That's how I described it.

[308] God's huge.

[309] Look at the ocean that I was at yesterday, and I see that with my wife.

[310] I said, honey, when I was a little boy walking on the ocean, and my dad, I said to my dad, who made this ocean?

[311] He said, God made this ocean.

[312] And I can still remember going, Dad, what's on the other side of that ocean?

[313] You know, my dad said, well, that's China, or, you know, I forget what he said, but he said, there's land there, but God made it all.

[314] and I was just mystified that God was so big that he could make this ocean I couldn't even see on the other side it was so long but this is important for us to understand who God is because if we don't get this formation when we're young it's more difficult I say when you get to be older so this is why the catechism really articulates some really powerful mysteries about our faith but it gives us an understanding so we know who God is Now, 254, paragraph 254, you know what, we're going to take a quick break and we'll come back to 254.

[315] I want to make a little commercial about Father Chad Ripperger.

[316] He's coming to Pomona January 29th and 30th for a spiritual warfare conference.

[317] His whole team is coming out.

[318] He's going to be training priests in the Archdiocese of L .A. on spiritual warfare and just how to deal with the demonic.

[319] and I want to encourage people to come.

[320] You can actually see this on the internet once it's done.

[321] We're going to have it streamed for people to watch.

[322] But go to vmpr .org and sign up for either watching it or being in person because there's only, I think there's 900 seats.

[323] That's all we can put in.

[324] But after that, you'll have to watch it on the internet.

[325] It's going to be a great conference.

[326] Go to vmpr .org to check that out.

[327] and you can sign up right there it's secure for you to do that or if you want to call it in it's 877 -526 -215 -1 I want to give another good news story before we break Bishop Strickland it seems that Texas kudos to Texas they seem to be saving a lot of lives with their new law and can you imagine the babies that are being saved right now in Texas 20 years from now meeting those young men, those young women because Texas made these laws to protect the unborn.

[328] I would be in tears if I ran into someone like that.

[329] We have to continue to fight for the unborn and that's what Texas is giving us a good example for the rest of the nation to do.

[330] When we come back to the Bishop Strickland Hour, we're going to continue to discuss the catechism of the Catholic Catechism regarding the divine persons of the Holy Trinity.

[331] Stay with us, family.

[332] We'll be back with much more to inspire you to fall deeper love with Jesus and his church.

[333] Welcome back to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[334] We're right now into the Catechism of the Catholic Church and studying our faith.

[335] What a great idea.

[336] It's a lifetime occupation.

[337] I read my Baltimore Catechism when I was a kid.

[338] And Bishop Strickland, when I was a teenager, I found the life of Christ.

[339] I found different catechisms that I started reading.

[340] And Father John Hardin's Catechism when I was in high school really helped.

[341] me out.

[342] I just think it's so important to really understand the workings of our faith and not rely on hearsay.

[343] Because this is an authoritative document we're reading from.

[344] This isn't Bishop Strickland's personal opinion.

[345] As a matter of fact, excuse me, Bishop Strickland, I don't care about your opinion on the Trinity.

[346] I want to know what Holy Mother the church teaches.

[347] Same with me. Forget about Terry Barber.

[348] I want to know the deposit of faith, and that's what you get when you study the catechism.

[349] So I encourage people to study.

[350] If you don't have a catechism, I'll send you one.

[351] Call 877526215.

[352] See, that investment of a catechism brings big dividends.

[353] And before I get to this paragraph, Bishop Strickland, because it's the month of November and tomorrow is all souls day, here at our chapel, Monsignor, Harris is going to be saying three masses because a priest has the authority to do three masses for the souls in purgatory so we're going to, I think we have like six masses at our chapel because the Anglican ordinary it's coming, the Melkites, and our church is going to be a busy church with masses, but what's the focus?

[354] The church suffering, that we're praying, and here's the benefit for everybody, praying for the poor souls in purgatory, when they get to heaven and you've got a partner there, you've got an advocate for you.

[355] Now they're going to be praying for you in heaven, so it's just a good idea and the catechism if you want to know where that is just look in the index under purgatory because some people don't think we still believe in purgatory I hate to have to say that Bishop Strickland but I still get people saying is that still the case?

[356] Oh yeah hasn't changed well all right now let's get to the Catechism of the Catholic Church 254 the divine persons are really distinct from one another God is one, but not soteri.

[357] Father, son, Holy Spirit are not simply names designating modalities of divine being, for they are really distinct from one another.

[358] He is not the father who is the son, nor is the son, he who is the father, nor is the Holy Spirit, he who is the father or the son.

[359] They are distinct from one another in their relations of origin.

[360] It is the father who generates the son who is begotten and the Holy Spirit who proceeds.

[361] The divine unity is triune.

[362] You know, Bishop Strickland, that paragraph, you probably could read three or four times to really grasp that, because that's something.

[363] that it's not easy to follow.

[364] That's all.

[365] I'm just saying it's got to really read that.

[366] Yeah.

[367] And it, as you were saying, Terry, is not a commentary.

[368] No. And I think that's important to recognize that paragraph has a number of footnotes going back to documents through the ages.

[369] Yes, it does.

[370] From different councils, from different leaders of the church, Lateran Council 4 and 1215.

[371] What my point is, when we read a paragraph like this, we're not reading just another commentary, not an opinion, but we're reading what has been revealed to the church through the ages from sacred scripture and from the basic councils that begin.

[372] The earliest council mentioned there is in six seven.

[373] The Council of Toledo.

[374] It's a reminder of the riches that the catechism has, really going back to the sources.

[375] These, you know, each page, they're probably, I've never really looked, but as I just flipped through, there are very few pages of the catechism that don't have numerous footnotes.

[376] True.

[377] Because it's going back to the very sources.

[378] of how the faith is developed with sacred scripture and with the early fathers of the church and then the councils making their declarations and great encyclicals, especially in recent centuries, but great writings that we continue to go back to.

[379] And this paragraph is the fruit of a lot of that reflection on the Word of God of who Jesus Christ is and of great theologians through the years, really emphasizing, like the very first line says, the divine persons are really distinct from one another.

[380] How does this work?

[381] And as you said, it's pretty dense and you have to kind of reread it over and over again.

[382] It's ultimately a mystery.

[383] But this paragraph, like you said earlier, it's giving us some of the attributes of the Trinity.

[384] It doesn't, you can't say that any, the catechism doesn't fully explain the Trinity, but it gives us some basic information that has been developed in the understanding of the church and really guiding us away from the heretical or the false understandings that are easy for all of us to get caught up in.

[385] I've heard priests say that anytime you give a homily on the Holy Trinity, you have to be careful about not saying something that's heretical because it has to be so precise and carefully worded.

[386] But as just people of faith, hopefully it reminds us of the basic truths.

[387] There are three persons in God, Father, Son, and Spirit.

[388] And each of those, one of the beautiful things that's alluded to here, I believe, is that they, like we were talking earlier, a person has personality.

[389] And the personality of the father, son, and spirit, they're distinct, but they're the same God.

[390] And they complement each other in the ways that they express the triune God, father, son, and spirit.

[391] It really, even in this brief paragraph, it gets to be sort of mind bending, but it helps us to navigate these great mysteries and understand as much as we can.

[392] And to develop, it's just like you and I, we've met each other finally in person a couple of times.

[393] That's right.

[394] And that helps you know a person.

[395] We've spent hours together.

[396] talking about important things.

[397] We know each other a lot better than we did, you know, when we started.

[398] That's right.

[399] It's the same thing with what this paragraph hopefully inspires us to come to know God better through reading, through reflection, through prayer, through sacred scripture, all the different ways that we can come to know the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit in a deeper way.

[400] always acknowledging that even for us as mere human beings, I would say you probably wouldn't want to say that you have your wife fully figured out.

[401] Yeah, I don't know.

[402] There's still some mystery there and that's the beauty of your relationship.

[403] And I'm sure she would say the same thing about you because, and I guess that's a good way to sort of bring to a close my thoughts on this paragraph.

[404] I think it's easy to understand that the mysteries of God, three persons and one, one trium God, Father, Son, and Spirit, three persons, just for me and you, just for Joe and Terry.

[405] We're mysteries, because we come from God, we're created in the image and likeness of God, we are persons that you can't ever say you've got them totally figured out.

[406] And God, of course, is much deeper than that.

[407] We're only in the image and likeness of God.

[408] But there's enough mystery in us to keep spouses busy for 60, 70 years, always knowing a little bit more of the mystery of that person.

[409] And that's true, even in a deep friendship, to say that you fully understand and fully know this person, there should, in a relationship of caring and love, there should always be more to discover, and that's what this is saying about God, Father, Son, and Spirit.

[410] Absolutely.

[411] Wow.

[412] Bishop Strickland, before we ask you for a blessing for our listeners, I just want to leave a quote from St. Pope Felix III back in 475.

[413] We're talking about the history of the Catholic Church.

[414] Nothing's new under the sun.

[415] And it seems that this saint, he's a Pope, he said, not to oppose error is to approve it, not to defend truth, is to suppress it and indeed to neglect to confound evil men when we can do it is no less a sin than to encourage them.

[416] I say that that was what 1500 years ago but Bishop Strickland Saint Pope Felix the third statement is still true because we believe that truth is eternal.

[417] In other words what's true a thousand years ago is true today and a thousand years from now it's still going to be true.

[418] Isn't that beautiful thought to have in our church?

[419] It is, and it's essential.

[420] And what I would add to that is truth has a face.

[421] Yeah.

[422] God sent his son.

[423] Jesus Christ is truth incarnate.

[424] Amen.

[425] So we look to him, and it goes back to that paragraph on the Trinity, reminding us that the truth is the truth of a person, the truth of three persons, Father, Son, and spirit and all the creation that flows from their love.

[426] And so to know the person of Jesus Christ is to encounter truth in a very personal way.

[427] And that's why the relationship with Christ is so essential to each of us.

[428] A well said.

[429] How about a final blessing for our listeners?

[430] And before you do that, I just want to remind people, you can listen to all these shows by going to vmpr .org.

[431] Also, if you have a Catholic radio station in your backyard and you want to say, hey, why can't they pick up Bishop Strickland Hour?

[432] They can.

[433] They just have to ask us.

[434] We send this to all kinds of stations around the country and that we can do it any of yours.

[435] So just be a big mouthpiece for us because we believe that it's important to share the truth of the gospel in season and out.

[436] How about a final blessing, Bishop Strickland?

[437] The Lord be with you.

[438] And with your spirit.

[439] Almighty God, we ask your blessing for all who listen to this podcast and this opportunity to reflect on the catechism and the truth you have revealed to us, Father, Son, and Spirit.

[440] May all the saints inspire us to know you more deeply.

[441] And we ask your blessing in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

[442] Amen.

[443] Thank you again, Bishop Strickland.

[444] Folks, if you like what you hear and you want to hear more, go to vmpr .org.

[445] You'll hear lots of other good Catholic programming.

[446] That's our role.

[447] The Virgin Most Powerful Radio's role is to introduce people to the person of Jesus Christ and to help them to get to heaven.

[448] Because, you know, like we said before, this is All Saints Day.

[449] Be a saint.

[450] What else is there?

[451] May God richly bless you and the family.

[452] And we hope to see again next week at the same time here at Virgin Most Powerful Radio.

[453] God love you and your family.