24 Nov 2020 – The Tenth Commandment

[0] Welcome to the Bishop Strickland Hour on Virgin Most Power Radio.

[1] Bishop Strickland, you are amazing.

[2] And I'll tell you why, first of all, I would kind of welcome you, but I should welcome myself here.

[3] But I just, I love your tweets.

[4] Please, if you do one thing, make a promise that you'll never stop tweeting because they're inspirational.

[5] This week, you know, I was very disappointed in the Bishop's Conference president saying that, you know, congratulating the Biden Harris for the elections, and we don't know for sure where that's going to end up, but okay, but I was very upset, and then I see your tweet, and it says this, and I want your comment, why would you do this?

[6] I hope I know why.

[7] It says a dark cloud has descended on this nation when the UCCB, that's the Bishop's Conference, and Planned parenthood, what?

[8] Speak in unison in support of a Biden -Harris administration that supports the slaughter of innocence by abortion for all nine months of pregnancy.

[9] Not only do they do that, they also promote same -sex marriage, but I'm just asking, when I saw this tweet, I said, you mean there's a bishop in America willing to just say the emperor has no clothes on when it comes to congratulating the Biden Harris administration.

[10] So why did you do that?

[11] Well, Terry, for one thing, it speaks what I've heard from my flock here in East Texas, Catholic and non -Catholic, not really focusing on, I mean, the election is confused, like so many things this year.

[12] Oh, yeah.

[13] But not focusing on that, but just focusing.

[14] on the life issues.

[15] And Planned Parenthood is a machine built on making sure abortion is available.

[16] And I mean, we've had 40 days for life here a couple of times.

[17] And throughout the country, people are praying.

[18] And it's so disheartening to those people who pray in front of Planned Parenthood to see the Bishop's Conference speaking out in, like I said, in unison with Planned Parenthood.

[19] For one thing, you know, it's anti -Catholic, what Planned Parenthood stands for, and frankly, what the Biden -Harris administration stands for.

[20] I mean, it's been made very clear.

[21] I'm just saying what they've told us.

[22] Oh, yeah.

[23] And it's like they celebrate the reality that they will make sure that abortion is available from conception until nine months for the whole nine months of pregnancy.

[24] And it's contrary to Catholic faith.

[25] It's very simple, really.

[26] And I thought about it.

[27] Obviously, that statement came out on Saturday.

[28] so I didn't react immediately, but just the more I thought about it and Planned Parenthood, I mean, they are obviously contrary to life and contrary to what the Catholic Church teaches that life is sacred from conception to natural death.

[29] So I felt obligated to speak out for my flock.

[30] I'm the Bishop of Tyler.

[31] That's all.

[32] The USCB.

[33] speaks as an organization, but they don't speak for every individual bishop.

[34] And so that, plus, I will always speak as a voice for those unborn children that are being slaughtered.

[35] And that's the word to use.

[36] And very few are speaking up for them.

[37] And the nation is embracing more and more vehemently.

[38] We talk about it probably on every one of these episodes.

[39] And I know that many people would like to tell me to, I mean, a number of people responded, a lot of positive, but a number of people said, you should resign.

[40] And well, if reading the catechism out loud means I should resign, then, okay, if that's, a bishop should resign for reading the catechism out loud.

[41] And that's, as we've talked about before, Terry, that's all I want to do is to teach the Catholic faith.

[42] I don't know enough to be able to answer the questions myself.

[43] The answers are there in the catechism.

[44] In the Word of God, in the teachings of the Catholic faith for 2 ,000 years.

[45] all captured and codified in the catechism of the Catholic Church, which we've been reviewing as we look at the Ten Commandments.

[46] Both of us are reading what the Catechism says.

[47] It's not Terry and Joe saying, this is what we think the Ten Commandments mean.

[48] It's what the Depositive Faith speaks to.

[49] And I'm reading a book now that I've tweeted, that I encourage every Catholic to read.

[50] If you haven't got it yet, Terry, I know we both have a stack of reading material that goes past the ceiling, but Ralph Martin's book, A Church in Crisis, all of us should read it.

[51] Yeah, I should.

[52] And one of the things that it speaks about that, you know, I can be dumb, really.

[53] I really feel stupid sometimes because it speaks about the bracketing of scripture that if you look at very often, the, the readings at Mass, the readings have certain verses bracketed out.

[54] And it said, well, it was lengthy or whatever.

[55] I think we should really re -examine the Word of God is too lengthy.

[56] Well, maybe you don't make a passage so lengthy, but a lot of that bracketing is about, and that's what Ralph Martin talks about in his book, that it's a avoiding the tough part.

[57] It's cutting out.

[58] It's leaving out some of the most challenging elements of the Word of God.

[59] It's the Word of God.

[60] It's not mine to manipulate.

[61] It's not yours to manipulate.

[62] Certainly, I can understand possibly maybe shortening the reading a bit, but I think we should even be careful about that.

[63] But, you know, that's just one bishop's opinion.

[64] But there's a lot in this book by Ralph Martin that I think we are a church in crisis.

[65] Oh, yeah.

[66] And we still believe in Christ's promise that the gates of hell will not prevail against the church.

[67] But I have to say I really am reexamining.

[68] exactly that means.

[69] And this nation does not have a divine mandate to exist if we ignore the divine.

[70] We're supposed to be one nation under God.

[71] And there are too many people who gleefully say, we've declared our independence from God, and we are going to be one godless nation.

[72] and that is a road to perdition.

[73] That is a road to peril for any civilization throughout history.

[74] Before Christ and after Christ, civilizations have fallen into dust when they ignore God's divine plan.

[75] So I'm going to keep speaking out as long as I wear the Zocetto and have the response.

[76] It's a heavy responsibility.

[77] That's the only reason I speak up.

[78] Well, Bishop Strickland, you remind me of St. John Paul, too, the great.

[79] Now, I put the great, I'm not in management, I'm in sales, but I think St. John Paul, too, I started St. Joseph Communications the year he was brought up to being the Pope.

[80] So I just have such a love for that Holy Father and all the things he wrote and did.

[81] but you also tweeted that St. John Paul 2 nailed it on April 1st back in 1979, and I do remember that when he said this, because it was really reaffirming what Fulton J. Sheen said, Bishop Sheen, when he said, whatever happened to sin.

[82] Here's what you tweeted from St. John Paul on April 1st, 1979.

[83] Now, this is 2020.

[84] Modern man experiences the threat of spiritual indifference, and even of the death of conscience, this death is something deeper than sin.

[85] It is the killing of the sense of sin.

[86] Today, many factors contribute to killing the conscience.

[87] What factors are he talking about, Bishop Strickland?

[88] Well, the factors of ignoring the deposit of faith, ignoring what the scriptures clearly say, And like we were talking about in another episode, going down the list of the seven deadly sins and just taking a big magic marker and just marking through it and saying, oh, well, those aren't sins to be considered anymore.

[89] And certainly we talk a lot about the sins of the deadly sin of lust and, you know, the sexual revolution.

[90] has really infected the world and distorted so much the you probably remember Helen Gurley Brown I've always thought that was an interesting name I'm not sure but anyway Helen Gurley Brown I don't know if she's still living or not but she was the editor I guess but she was basically in charge of cosmopolitan and I was reading just recently that they actually had a program of deceit where she had a list of instructions to her writers saying and one of the things that was very interesting hang on hold on bishop stricken we got to take a quick break I've had her on our radio show and I've read her book and it's awesome it's published by agnacious press but wait until you come back from the break and hear the rest of the story about a woman who worked for Cosmopolitan and then had a major conversion.

[91] You're listening to the Bishop Strickland Hour on Virgin Most Powerful Radio.

[92] We'll be right back.

[93] Welcome back to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[94] The good bishop was telling a story about a woman who worked for Cosmopolitan magazine, which is really a crummy magazine.

[95] It was corrupting the morals of the readers.

[96] Please continue your story, Bishop Strickland.

[97] I love it.

[98] Well, there was a list of instructions for the writers, and it was all promoting the sexual revolution and freeing everyone from morality, this antiquated idea of, you know, sexual intercourse should be between a man and a woman committed in a marriage, oh, how foolish and how antiquated.

[99] So that's what the whole agenda was.

[100] And what I found interesting was, of course, Cosmopolitan's offices and most of its writers were right there in New York City.

[101] And in order to promote this agenda, they would actually locate these stories of these promiscuous people or a woman being bold enough to have an affair outside of her.

[102] marriage or whatever.

[103] But the stories, instead of being New York based, they would talk about middle America and they would talk about smaller towns in states, you know, that people didn't even know about or, you know, heard very little about, just to give the impression that, well, this was Main Street America.

[104] The heart of America was changing.

[105] And it's just one of many aspects of an agenda of like we've heard, you know, the meetings they had where, again, with the pro -life issues that they would say that's where they coined the term pro -choice.

[106] I think it was in another meeting in New York where they said, let's call it pro -choice, because that way it just has a more positive spin to it than, you know, pro -abortion.

[107] So that is just one of many examples of the corruption that we've seen.

[108] And John Paul II, that's what he's speaking to.

[109] 41 years ago in the year, 1979, a year after, or less than a year.

[110] That was in April of 1979.

[111] He had just become Pope in October of 78.

[112] And he spent his papacy trying to make clear the deposit of faith.

[113] And I've often said, said that the catechism was probably in the centuries to come, that will be recorded as, I believe, one of the greatest elements of his legacy, because it gives us an anchor to hold on to when so many are denying what the catechism says and won't quote it, won't point people to it and say, listen to what the church teaches.

[114] And really, going back, to the issue of the statement of the USCB, I would have been much more supportive of a statement that said, if Biden and Harris are to be the new president and vice president, as you alluded to, there are real questions there.

[115] I mean, the media says, oh, that's foolish questions, but there are real questions.

[116] Whatever the answers are, we need the real clear answers.

[117] But I would have much preferred a statement that said, Mr. Biden, you claim to be a Roman Catholic.

[118] We urge you to embrace what the church teaches.

[119] I know that that's not politically acceptable.

[120] And if he had embraced everything the church teaches, and certainly probably no politician embraces everything, maybe some at least attempt to, But neither party certainly embraces everything about what the church teaches, but some of the basics of sexual morality, of the gender issues of the sanctity of life, I would much have referred us as a bishop's conference to speak to teaching, teaching these politicians.

[121] I mean, Ms. Harris, I don't know what faith she is.

[122] I know she's not Catholic.

[123] I mean, she's very anti -Catholic.

[124] Yes, very much.

[125] But why couldn't we use that as an opportunity to teach and to simply very clearly say if these are the duly elected leaders of the nation, please listen to the truth.

[126] It's not Catholic truth, but we believe the church is the font of truth.

[127] And we have an obligation to share that.

[128] And there's so much in the church that is shying away from evangelizing, shying away from the missionary activity that brought the faith to this new world where we live.

[129] The Catholic Church has flourished here because missionaries made sacrifices to bring the faith.

[130] And in modern times, of course, those missionaries were, you know, were abusive of the people.

[131] and did things that were wrong.

[132] Certainly, they probably weren't perfect, but they were motivated by a sacrificial gift of their lives to bring Jesus Christ to the new world.

[133] Now that is really by many in the church and certainly outside the church, but even within the church, it's frowned upon the idea that we should do what Jesus said go out to all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

[134] That doesn't seem to be the popular idea, but it's still in the gospel.

[135] It's still what the gospel says was the great mandate of Christ that commissioning of the apostles before he ascended to the Father.

[136] So I think we have to return to reading the full text of Scripture, the challenging and the consoling, and listening to what Jesus Christ, God's divine son, has revealed to us.

[137] Well, Bishop Strickland, you know, Mont Senior George Kelly, an old friend of mine who's passed many years ago, he was a priest in the Diocese of New York.

[138] and he had the Catholic Fellowship of Scholars.

[139] You had to have a Ph .D. to join it.

[140] I was the recorder.

[141] I record all their major conferences.

[142] And he wrote a book called Where's the Church going?

[143] He wrote a book called The Battle for the American Church.

[144] Ignatius publishes it still.

[145] And he said, where is the church going where its leaders take them?

[146] So Bishop Strickland, you're going to take your shepherd here in Tyler, Texas.

[147] People are going to follow your lead.

[148] And that's the tragedy that I see right now.

[149] and I'm going to shift to the next tweet that you did because it fits right in.

[150] I don't mean to be critical.

[151] I'm just saying we've got to preach Christ and Him crucified.

[152] We've got to speak out.

[153] And I'm not in management.

[154] I'm in sales.

[155] You're the management.

[156] And I appreciate you speaking out.

[157] But Monsignor Charles Pope, who we've had on our show many times over the years, he's a priest up in the Washington, D .C. area.

[158] And he is urging bishops like you.

[159] and, I mean, he's speaking right out to all the bishops in America.

[160] He said about the increasing COVID restrictions.

[161] Now, Monsignor Pope had COVID -19.

[162] He survived it.

[163] He's our age.

[164] He's 60.

[165] And he's survived it, but he's saying, we need you bishops to fight for us.

[166] And he's basically saying this.

[167] He said that these lockdowns in the spring of 2020, as well as continuing restrictions, has given many people the message.

[168] Are you ready, Bishop Strickland?

[169] I know the message that our physical health is more important than our spiritual health.

[170] Now, Bishop Strickland, I'm taking it right on the chin.

[171] This is all 300 bishops he's writing to this, and he has nine points that he's encouraging the bishops to say, wait a minute, we have to resist a little.

[172] We have to stand up for religious freedom.

[173] And Bishop Strickland, I'm not pointing it at you specifically, but this article is talking about you bishops, basically being more of a shepherd and protecting the flock.

[174] So what do you say about his article?

[175] Are you critical of him or do you think he's on to something?

[176] No, I actually tweeted his article and encouraged people to read it because I think he's on to something very important.

[177] And I think we need to be ready to address if there are more issues of, I mean, there was an announcement of a vaccine that thankfully from everything I've read and understood is a morally produced vaccine that is not built on the parts of unborn children that have been aborted.

[178] So that certainly we do need to care about people, body, mind, and spirit, the whole person.

[179] But I think Monsignor Pope is correct.

[180] And if we're just worried about the physical life, then even that becomes diminished because we're not just animals.

[181] We're not just plants and bees and dogs and cats.

[182] We are created in the image and likeness of God.

[183] We have a divine spirit that God has given us.

[184] We're created in God's very image and likeness, and that's our spirit.

[185] So, yes, these bodies are sacred.

[186] That's why we believe that life is sacred because it's the endwelling of the very life of God in each of us.

[187] You know, there are just so many issues that we have to deal with.

[188] I saw just last night on the news someone talking about the idea that this is a doctor, not a politician, but I understand that he was probably going to be included in some panel dealing with the virus if the Biden -Harris administration actually comes to be the leadership of our nation.

[189] They're already talking about a panel of people working on the virus question.

[190] And this is video that I guess would be denied later, maybe, or maybe celebrated.

[191] I don't know, but this doctor is saying that he, in his opinion, 75 is about as long as a person should live.

[192] I read that.

[193] And he started using the language that gets so dangerous.

[194] He said, after that, I don't think he used the actual words, but he started speaking the way that people talk about, the quality of life.

[195] Exactly.

[196] And as somebody is after 75, they're basically, it's questionable whether they should still be allowed to live.

[197] I mean, that's basically what this doctor is saying.

[198] Now, that was very interesting because the news commentator pointed out, you know, Vice President Biden, possibly President Biden, is over 75.

[199] 78.

[200] So if 75 is the limit, maybe we got some issues there.

[201] And it just illustrates that we think, too many think, we're in charge of life and forget that life from conception to natural death is given by God.

[202] And we're stewards of that life.

[203] And so, you know, there's so many topics that we can touch on.

[204] But what Monsignor Pope is getting at is, yes, we care for the physical life, but spiritual life is just as essential, if not more so.

[205] Amen.

[206] Especially for human beings.

[207] Amen.

[208] Because if we're reduced to the physical life, we're no longer human beings.

[209] Well, said, Bishop Strickland, we'll be back with more on the Bishop Strickland Hour on Virgin Most Powerful Radio.

[210] Welcome back to the Bishop Strickland.

[211] Strickland Hour.

[212] I'm Terry Barber with Virgin Most Powerful Radio.

[213] And Bishop Strickland, before we get to the 10th Commandment, I just really like St. Martin DePoor's comment that you tweeted because everyone listening can do this.

[214] This is simple.

[215] And I think that sometimes we can complicate the gospel that, you know, Bishop Sheen used to say every action is like a blank check.

[216] If Christ's name is on it, it has infinite value.

[217] The little flower picking up a pencil for God, for love of God.

[218] And when we have this mentality that we live in the presence of God, life is exciting.

[219] I mean, trust me, I wrote a whole chapter on my book, How to Show Your Faith with Anyone on Living in the Presence of God.

[220] But let me give this quote, and then I want to have you explain briefly your thoughts.

[221] Here's what St. Martin DePoor said.

[222] Everything, even sweeping, scraping, scraping vegetables, weeding a garden, and waiting on a sick could be a prayer if it were offered to God.

[223] I don't know if a lot of us really realize Bishop Strickland that we serve God doing our daily duty and simple things.

[224] And I'm just glad you tweeted that.

[225] What made you want to do that?

[226] Well, I think I'm a simple guy.

[227] Yeah, me too.

[228] And simplicity is, many of the saints speak of returning to a more simple life, St. Francis, St. Teresa of the Little Flower.

[229] I mean, just saint after saint, there are people that recognized that even centuries ago, life could become very complicated.

[230] And I think we do have to return like we talked about before, get back to the fundamentals, simplify things.

[231] And that's what St. Martin de Pours, he was a saint who helped the poor in Peru.

[232] And it reminds us that we don't have to necessarily do great things, but to do small things with great love.

[233] And that's Jesus Christ.

[234] If you look at Christ himself, I mean, here is the son of God.

[235] He knew as God's son, in the mystery of who he is fully, man, fully God, the intricacies of this universe were at his fingertips.

[236] But very often, he uses simple stories and simple encounters with people in the Gospels have the greatest impact.

[237] And people challenge him because he dares to reach out to a sinner, to go to a sinner's home, to do simple things.

[238] I just tweeted again, but from John's gospel, if you love me, live my commandments.

[239] It doesn't give much more simple than that.

[240] That's right.

[241] In what the commandments entail is what we call the deposit of faith.

[242] And there's a real push even within the church to change that into really manipulate the commandments.

[243] So that, I mean, as we're going through the Ten Commandments, they come from the time of Moses.

[244] They're part of the Old Testament, the Decalogue.

[245] But Christ clearly embraces them as a faithful member of the Jewish community.

[246] So we really need to return to that simple.

[247] simplicity into that clarity that the truth offers us if we'll just open our eyes.

[248] I like to say that there's no expiration date on those Ten Commandments.

[249] If we say that a lot on the radio.

[250] All right, well, talking about the commandments, Bishop Strickland, we're on number 10 right now.

[251] The 10th Commandment, you shall not covet anything that is your neighbors.

[252] You shall not desire your neighbor's house, his field, or his manservant, or his maid servant, or his ox, or his ass or anything that is your neighbors for where your treasure is there will your heart be also that's an interesting thing now bishop strickland the tenth commandment as as paragraph 2534 says unfolds the complete the ninth which we covered last week which is concerned with the concupiscence of the flesh this chapter says or this paragraph 2534 says it forbids coveting the goods of another as the root of thief, robbery, and fraud, which the Seventh Commandment also forbids.

[253] Lust of the eyes leads to the violence, injustice, forbidden by the Fifth Commandment.

[254] Averous like fornication originates in adultery, prohibited by the first three prescriptions of the law.

[255] But the Tenth Commandment concerns the intention of heart.

[256] With the ninth, it summarizes all the precepts of the law.

[257] That paragraph says a lot, does it not?

[258] It does.

[259] Oh, my goodness.

[260] You have to take it apart sentence by sentence to really understand it.

[261] And I think what it gets at, later on the catechism talks about the deadly sin of envy.

[262] And how often do we hear anything about the deadly sin of envy?

[263] Not very much.

[264] One of the cardinal sins.

[265] And I think we really have to.

[266] pay attention because, and that's what the Ten Commandment is getting at, not just like the Ninth Commandment, don't covet your neighbor's wife and all those sensual aspects, but the Ten Commandment really broadens it to not envying what you have as opposed to what I have.

[267] And it goes back to really trusting in God.

[268] And what we've talked about a number of times, Terry, I think what very often the roots of so much of the discord in families, in people's lives, in society, in our nation, in our world, in our church comes down to not really believing that God loves us, not really believing, deeply believing that we are loved.

[269] That is what parents are in God's plan, supposed to impart to their children.

[270] certainly not perfectly.

[271] Only God's love is perfect.

[272] But to give people enough of a grasp that they are loved and precious in the eyes of God.

[273] And I think that rooted in envy, and certainly, I'd have to confess that sometimes I'm envious.

[274] As a kid in high school, I wasn't great at sports.

[275] And that's what you want to be in high school.

[276] You're supposed to be great at sports.

[277] I was never great at sports.

[278] I played and I tried to be strong and do what I could, but I was never just one of those kids that had the God -given talents.

[279] And it's easy to be envious of that.

[280] But if we really believe that God loves us, that we are precious, you are, I am every person as unique beings.

[281] That's part of the whole mystery of the human person.

[282] We're an unrepeatable gift from God for all the world.

[283] I love it.

[284] There's never been another Terry Barber exactly like you.

[285] There's never been another Joe Strickland exactly like me. That's part of what it means to appreciate the life that God has given us.

[286] When we let envy take over, I think it's very often because we don't have a good enough grasp that what we have is precious.

[287] No, I didn't have the talents of some of my classmates in sports, but here I am 62 years old.

[288] I don't need talents in sports.

[289] Those are passing things.

[290] Many of the things that we become so envious about, well, basically all of them probably are passing things.

[291] Absolutely.

[292] We can be envious of, I am a kid who loved and still loved, loves cars.

[293] My dream car was a Camaro.

[294] What year?

[295] 68?

[296] I didn't care.

[297] You know, whatever year.

[298] Or a Corvette, you know, some of these cars were, you know, dream cars for me. And I envy the kids that had these fancy cars in school.

[299] But those cars are passing things.

[300] everything that we tend to envy that another person has and what the 10th commandment is talking about is all the stuff the mammon of this world and do we love god or do we love mammon do we love the stuff that god has given us which is good and should be appreciated but when envy takes over and when we start to love it more than god or than other people then that's where you know, some of the things that the Tenth Commandment talks about, that's when we start saying, well, if I can swindle somebody, if I can steal this, then I need to go after it.

[301] And that is wrong.

[302] It ultimately does damage to us rather than enhancing our lives.

[303] And I think Bishop Strickland, all of us have had a situation where we say, if only I could get that Stingray bike, when we grew up, a stingray was the cool bike because you and I are similar ages and you get it and it's like oh that's it is that all there is yeah i'm like what and then what and then what is bishop sheen would say and so what we really see and i'm hearing you speak like you know material things are here today and gone tomorrow are you know at bishop sheen used to say if souls are saved everything is saved if souls aren't saved.

[304] Nothing is saved.

[305] When we come back from the break, I want to talk a little bit about paragraph 2536 about greed, because we live in a country right now where a lot of our problems come from greed.

[306] Another deadly sin.

[307] I just want to remind everybody that if you're listening to us on YouTube, we get a thousand to two thousand people.

[308] single week on Virgin Most Powerful Radio that want to join us and subscribe for this program of Virgin Most Powerful, all of our shows.

[309] And I just want to make a plug for that.

[310] And Bishop Strickland, I want to make a plug for your Institute.

[311] You're going to smile when I say that, but it's because it's so good.

[312] Tell us a little bit about your Institute.

[313] Well, St. Philip Institute.

[314] The website is St. Philip Institute .org, Philip with 1L.

[315] and it's about teaching everything that we're talking about this glorious treasure of the deposit of faith that is for all humanity and it really unlocks a joyful peaceful fulfilling life if we will just open ourselves to it so that's what the Institute is all about great when we come back we'll talk more on the 10th commandment with bishop strickland Joseph Strickland of Tyler, Texas.

[316] You're listening to the show on Virgin Most Powerful Radio.

[317] And please like us on YouTube or Facebook and tell your friends about this show and many other shows on Virgin Most Powerful Radio.

[318] We'll be back with more to inspire you to fall deep in love with Jesus Christ and his church.

[319] Wow.

[320] This is the Bishop Strickland hour, and I can't believe I can sit in a chair for an hour with Bishop Strickland.

[321] Actually, to tell the truth, I get up every break because I can't sit this long.

[322] But Bishop Strickland, I love the fundamentals of the faith.

[323] Doesn't that just fire you up to talk about the meaning and purpose of life?

[324] Or am I just, you know, I mean, doesn't that just get you excited to talk about why we're here and where we're going?

[325] Absolutely.

[326] That's why I became a priest because it's the most important thing we can do is talk about the meaning of life and the truth that Christ has revealed to us.

[327] Amen.

[328] And we're talking about the 10th Commandment, and it's the 10th Commandment forbidding paragraph.

[329] I should give you the paragraph.

[330] So all of you don't have a catechism, please get one.

[331] You have a Bible and a catechism.

[332] Every Catholic should have that.

[333] Paragraph 2536 says the 10th Commandment forbids greed and the desire to amass earthly goods without limit.

[334] It forbids avarice arising from a passion for riches and their attendant power.

[335] It also forbids the desire to commit injustice by harming our neighbor in his temporal goods.

[336] Unlock that one, Bishop Strickland, for our culture.

[337] Well, I think greed is something that we have to really pay attention to.

[338] Because as we've talked about before, how many shoes can we wear?

[339] How many shirts can we possibly need?

[340] And there's a real push in, I mean, I believe certainly every economic system is imperfect because we're imperfect beings.

[341] All of that concupiscence affects everything that we do.

[342] But the capitalist system is sometimes denigrated because it does allow people, if they aren't guided and shepherded in the truth, greed can be.

[343] come run away as a reality, and people can say they want more and more and more.

[344] Ultimately, that doesn't, like we were saying, just like with the bicycle you mentioned, once you have it, it's like, well, I need a shinier one.

[345] I need a newer one.

[346] So that is a tendency that we all have to be greedy, and we really have to work against it.

[347] But in our society, it is something that we need to pay attention to and to call people to recognize that amassing material wealth is not the answer to that hunger they have deep within side them.

[348] Like I was loves you, you don't really need much at all.

[349] And you're glad to share with others.

[350] But if your hunger is being fed, not by God's love, because you don't know him, but by material things, it's almost logical that you're just going to keep needing more.

[351] It's kind of like the person with drugs or alcohol.

[352] Gradually, they need more and more because it doesn't, the same amount doesn't do it for them.

[353] And it's almost like the same kind of addiction that people have with material things.

[354] I mean, sometimes people have homes that they practically could get lost in.

[355] How much do you really need?

[356] It's true.

[357] And thankfully, we have many successful, wealthy people that are tremendously generous.

[358] I can point to people here in the Diocese of Tyler that are very successful, have worked very hard, and have significant wealth.

[359] And you wouldn't know it by the car they drive or by the home they live in because they're generous with that wealth.

[360] They take care of their needs and they take care of their families.

[361] But they're also very generous.

[362] And they're wise enough to know that they don't need a lot more than what, certainly they take care of their basic needs, have a nice home, have a car that's dependable and comfortable, but they don't have to keep buying more and more.

[363] And I think that that's what we all need.

[364] As a bishop, I need to live as simply as I can.

[365] And like I said, I think both of us would agree that if you know God, you have the riches.

[366] And you don't really have a lot of avarice and greed for all the things the world can provide, you're content with having your needs met.

[367] And that's where we definitely need to work for greater justice in every society.

[368] But I think what's been going on in our society, especially in the past year, is a lot of just condemning people owning things and having their own property and respecting that.

[369] There's a condemnation of that that really is not the answer either.

[370] Certainly amassing wealth beyond anything we could possibly need is not the answer.

[371] The catechism makes it very clear, but we have to listen and read what the word of God and the deposit of faith teaches us.

[372] Well said, and I think St. John Paul, too, used the term unbridled capitalism, where it's out of control.

[373] you know we're just but you know bishop stricken we've got a couple minutes left the envy uh on paragraph 2539 it continues to talk about envy is a capital sin it refers to the sadness at the sight of another's goods an immoderate desire to acquire them for oneself even unjustly when it wishes grave harm to a neighbor it is a mortal sin And then that little quote underneath it, you see where it says St. Augustine?

[374] Yeah.

[375] That really hit me. Would you mind reading what St. Augustine said, Bishop Strickland, please?

[376] Sure.

[377] St. Augustine saw envy as the diabolical sin.

[378] My gosh.

[379] From envy or born hatred, detraction, calumny, joy caused by the misfortune of a neighbor and displeasure caused by their prosperity.

[380] So envy really can grab the human heart and distort it and twist it, as St. Augustine says so wisely, in really devastating ways.

[381] And we see that happen when nations or individuals, companies become caught up with envy and greed.

[382] And it really can cause diabolical aspects of the brokenness we see in our world.

[383] Bishop Strickland, I think of these Ten Commandments as solutions to our culture right now, all ten of them.

[384] I mean, we live in a culture right now where one out of three Americans, 110 million people are walking around with STD, sexually transmitted diseases.

[385] We spend $16 billion a year taking care of their medical needs.

[386] We're out of control on our sexuality.

[387] And the Catholic Church has the answer.

[388] And I joke with people, I say it'll cut down our premiums for our medical bills every month if we would be staying with one woman for life the way God has designed it.

[389] But when we go against these Ten Commandments, there's an old saying that Monsignor William Smith from Dunwoody Seminary, taught me in my moral theology class he taught me he said God will forgive but nature never forgives and so what we're dealing with is really it's important to cover these ten commandments because that's where our happiness will come from not from doing it our way and I know I don't sing Bishop Strickland but I say this in hell there's a song they sing I did it my way there's a song they said in heaven I did it his way and so why are we spending so much time on these commandments?

[390] It's because the world is in desperate need of clarity and charity.

[391] And Bishop Strickland, these ten commandments, we've got to get this into people's hands because I'm going to be honest with you, and I think you would agree with me, we haven't done a good enough job communicating these ten commandments to our flock.

[392] Would you agree or disagree?

[393] Absolutely.

[394] And rooted in that is the idea like St. John Paul the second spoke about.

[395] When we forget sin, then what are the commandments?

[396] They're commandments to avoid sin, basically one through ten.

[397] There are all kinds of sins that we're vulnerable to that the commandments are saying, because God loves us, he's taught us, these will harm you children.

[398] Don't do this.

[399] It'd be interesting to look at the ten commandments, go through all ten with a study of the economic impact of those commandments.

[400] I mean, think about, thou shalt not steal.

[401] Oh, yeah, look at the...

[402] How much of an industry exists because of locks and of computer virus protections and all the stealing that happens without security.

[403] I mean, if we didn't have to spend the money on security, we could take care of a lot of the basic social needs of people in much more just ways.

[404] So you go down the list of the Ten Commandments, the economic impact would be in the trillions.

[405] That's right.

[406] They call that shrinkage, the stores when things get stolen.

[407] And I have a brother who works in the market industry.

[408] And he says it's big, it's a lot of money.

[409] We lose every year on shrinkage.

[410] It's a nice way of saying stealing.

[411] Bishop Strickland, I wanted to mention that a good friend of mine, a priest friend told me to me. He said, Terry, you're called to wisdom.

[412] You're called for a life of reflection, not a lot of.

[413] life of reaction.

[414] He said humility, not arrogance.

[415] He said, repentance, not revenge.

[416] He said, order, not chaos.

[417] He said, loving, not hating.

[418] He said, self -control, not self -righteousness.

[419] He said, the fruits of the spirit, not the works of the flesh.

[420] When he said that to me, I thought of our show, the Ten Commandments.

[421] All of those things are in the Ten Commandments if we live them.

[422] So, Bishop Strickland, before you give your blessing to our listeners, what recommendation would you give, now that we've completed these Ten Commandments, is this something that we need to, I know for me, I reread the Catechism on a regular basis.

[423] Would you recommend that we go back to these on a regular basis just to review them when we're doing an examination of conscience?

[424] That's my question for you.

[425] Absolutely.

[426] They're a great tool for just going through the basic Ten Commandments and reflecting on with an examination of conscience.

[427] have I violated these, have I kept God as the only God with no idols, no worship of a false God that can take a lot of different forms?

[428] So absolutely, to go through the Ten Commandments on a regular basis is a great way of preparing for confession.

[429] And that's something we need to do on a regular basis.

[430] I went to confession yesterday, and I try to go every couple of weeks because I need it.

[431] Me too.

[432] Not because I'm holy, but because I'm not holy.

[433] And I want to be holier.

[434] We are all sinners, and we have to acknowledge that, but know that God is merciful, and he wants to help us grow away from sin.

[435] Wow, before we do the final blessing, St. Augustine said, To fall in love with God is the greatest of romances, to seek him the greatest adventure, to find him the greatest human achievement.

[436] And that's what happens when we fall in love with Jesus and his church.

[437] Bishop Strickland, could you give us a blessing?

[438] The Lord be with you.

[439] With your spirit.

[440] May Almighty God bless all of those who are listening and guide us in the light and the joy of Jesus Christ.

[441] May the Blessed Virgin Mary constantly intercede for us.

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

[443] Amen.

[444] Thank you, Bishop Strickland.

[445] Thank you, folks, for listening.

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

[447] And I like to say full sheen ahead at Virgin Most Powerful Radio.

[448] God love you.