14 Jul 2020 – On the 1st Commandment (Pt 2)

[0] welcome to the bishop strickland hour on virgin most powerful radio my name is terry barbara i'm the host and i ask myself why are we doing this program on the ten commandments why are we giving fundamental teachings of the church and i said to myself well because it needs to be done people don't know their faith and so i want to give a paragraph for those who are just tuning in i hope you own a catechism of the catholic church because paragraph 268 says it all It says the Council of Trent teaches that the Ten Commandments are obligatory for Christians and that they justify man is still bound to keep them.

[1] The Second Vatican Council confirms the bishops, like Bishop Strickland, successor of the apostles, received from the Lord the mission of teaching all people and preaching the gospel to every creature so that all men may attain salvation through faith, baptism, and the observance of the commandments.

[2] Well, we need to know those commandments, and we need to be able to apply those commandments when our examination of conscience.

[3] It's critical that Catholics need to know that.

[4] Bishop Strickland, welcome back for another week here with you on the Bishop Strickland hour.

[5] God bless you.

[6] Thanks, Terry.

[7] Thank you for joining us again here at Virgin Most Powerful Radio.

[8] Bishop Strickland, before we get into the Ten Commandments, every week there seems to be something going on in our culture that sometimes it's an actual attempt to, to discredit Christianity and even undermine Christianity and even sometimes become so wicked.

[9] And one thing happened over in Los Angeles and San Francisco where St. Honorable Sarah's statue was desecrated in San Francisco.

[10] It was blasphantly torn down.

[11] And the bishop, Archbishop Cordillian, who's a good friend of mine, I've had him at family conferences over the years, and I know he's just a wonderful bishop.

[12] and he did something that I was so proud of Bishop Strickland.

[13] What he did is he did a minor exorcism, as you know.

[14] And just for the benefit of our listeners, I'd like to play a minute and a half of him explaining what he's doing and why he did it, and then I'd like to get your comment.

[15] Mr. Engineer, play that clip.

[16] We are here at the site where the statue of Father Sarah stood in Golden Gate Park that was blasphemously torn down.

[17] An act of sacrilege occurred here.

[18] That is an act of the evil one.

[19] Evil has made itself present here.

[20] So we have gathered together to pray to God and to pray, ask the saints for their intercession, above all our blessed mother, in an act of reparation, asking God's mercy upon us, upon our whole city, that we might turn our hearts back to him.

[21] We came together to pray the rosary as our lady asks us.

[22] Our lady is always asking us to pray the rosary, asking her intercession.

[23] The rosary has the power even to change history.

[24] History has shown that it can change the course of history.

[25] We bind together in prayer and fasting and penance, but especially in the prayer of the rosary.

[26] So we came together to pray the rosary and then to offer the prayer of exorcism, the St. Michael Prayer, because evil is present here.

[27] This is the activity of the evil one, who wants to bring down the church, who wants to bring down all Christian believers.

[28] So we offer that prayer and bless this ground with holy water.

[29] so that God might purify it, sanctify it, and that we in turn might be sanctified.

[30] God bless him.

[31] Bishop Strickland, what are your thoughts when you heard that or you heard about it?

[32] What was your thinking going on?

[33] Well, as bishops, we've been ordained to share the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

[34] The reason Christ came is to conquer sin and death.

[35] And sin and death are evil.

[36] I think what the great archbishop did was acknowledge that there is evil in the world.

[37] I think as people have tended to lack faith, certainly in God, in holy, and goodness, the flip side of that is that they lack faith that there is evil.

[38] Good and evil are about as basic as it gets.

[39] And I think that's what the Archbishop is simply acknowledging that with a minor exorcism to protect the community from any evil that was there, any evil intent certainly was an evil deed to desecrate a sacred image of a saint.

[40] A reminder to all of us that we're all called to turn from sin and to live the good news of Jesus Christ, to be saints.

[41] And so as I tweeted, I applaud the archbishop for making it very clear.

[42] We need to be men as shepherds, as bishops that are all about supernatural truth.

[43] The overwhelming supernatural truth is God so love the world that he sent his only begotten son to save us.

[44] And that happened.

[45] That's reality.

[46] We live in the time of the saved, of the time of Christianity.

[47] Even if people deny that, that is still our reality.

[48] So I applaud Archbishop Cordleone for just highlighting that and acknowledging that evil was manifest in the actions of people who may not have thought deeply about it, but it certainly wasn't good spirits that motivated them to desecrate the statue of a saint who has inspired many people, a patron of vocations to the Catholic.

[49] priesthood.

[50] So I think the archbishop's action needs to be applauded and appreciated.

[51] Well, Bishop Strickland, I agree with you.

[52] And, you know, our own Bishop Barron, who's the auxiliary bishop of Santa Barbara, said that lay people need to get out there and pray.

[53] And we started this group called Catholic Minuteman.

[54] And basically what we do is we pray.

[55] When we hear of a statue going down, like last Saturday in Los Angeles and the San Fernando Mission, we're going to tell people to go to the location with your rosary and just pray.

[56] And that's all we do.

[57] We pray for the protection that our churches will not be vandalized in Los Angeles.

[58] It seems to be going more and more.

[59] And I think that when strong leadership, like yourself and other bishops, it really gives us lay people marching orders about the power of the rosary that he talked about by print.

[60] that rosary every day so important so thank you for those comments bishop strickland i'd like to now shift back to the catechism of the catholic church and again uh this is so important for our listeners if you're a new listener pick up a copy of the catechism of the catholic church i can't encourage you more to start getting educated in the faith because i think bishop strickland said it a couple weeks back that the ignorance of the catholic laity many times is what leads them of the church because they didn't know about the Holy Eucharist and the real presence.

[61] And so it's really important that people study their faith.

[62] And one section, Bishop Strickland, I'd like for you to give us a little teaching on is in a paragraph under the First Commandment, paragraph 2116, it talks about divination and magic.

[63] This is a very important couple paragraphs on the church's teaching, saying that all forms of divination are to be rejected.

[64] recourse to Satan or demons conjuring up the dead you know like the Ouija boards things like that are falsely supposed to be unveiled in the future these things that the paragraph talks about I'd like to ask you as a bishop to give us a little teaching to warn us not to be involved at all with any of these occult practices thinking that somehow it's okay because I hear people say that to me personally that well I didn't think it was it was so bad to get a Ouija board but I'm going to let i'm going to turn it over to you and and just share with us what our church teaches about these divination and magic thank you terry um pleasure i think it it really one thing i would say just in more in general terms sure is as we look at the ten commandments each one of them is literally you can write volumes about it um and i think that that's an important thing for people to realize.

[65] Yeah.

[66] The actual wording of the commandment, like in the translation in the catechism, first commandment, I'm the Lord your God, you shall not have strange gods before me. Yeah.

[67] And so people might say, well, that doesn't mention anything about Ouija boards.

[68] And I think that we have to have that same understanding.

[69] Sure.

[70] With all 10 commandments, really, it would be interesting to frame the whole teaching of the church, what we call the deposit of faith, in terms of the Ten Commandments.

[71] Like, you know, probably, as you said, Terry, people don't know the commandments.

[72] I bet if people know any commandment, and it's jumping ahead, but you shall not commit adultery.

[73] Yeah, you think.

[74] That's number six.

[75] But there's so much embedded in that that the positive faith helps us to understand that that commandment through the ages has been understood to basically say we should be chased and pure in the way we live in our sexuality.

[76] I mean, I don't want to jump way into that, but it's just an illustration.

[77] you might say, well, it doesn't say anything about any of that.

[78] It just says, you shall not commit adultery.

[79] We don't look at the commandments with a narrow definition, really exactly the opposite.

[80] It, through the ages, with different saints, different theologians, just people pondering the word of God.

[81] And certainly, even, you know, it goes back to the great Jewish traditions that I'm only basically familiar.

[82] with, but they had a great tradition of looking at teachings and expanding on them.

[83] And in many ways, the Catholic Church for 2 ,000 years has done exactly the same thing.

[84] There are many reflections and the rabbis would teach in regard to what we call the Decalogue, the Ten Commandments, which we inherit from our ancestors.

[85] Got it.

[86] I'm going to jump in because I hear the music.

[87] We've got to take a quick break.

[88] We'll be right back with the Bishop Strickland Hour talking about the Ten Commandments.

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[102] Thank you.

[103] God bless you.

[104] Keep the faith.

[105] Leviticus 1144 says, consecrate yourselves and be holy because I am holy.

[106] St. Vincent Pilate said, you must be holy in the way God asks you to be holy.

[107] God does not ask you to be a trappist monk or a hermit.

[108] He wants you to sanctify the world and your everyday life.

[109] May God show us the path to holiness and help us to follow it all the days of our life.

[110] This is Terry Barber.

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[116] Thank you so much for your support.

[117] Welcome back to the Bishop Strickland hour.

[118] Before we get back into the commandments, I'd like to ask Bishop Strickland if he could give a plug for his catechetical program in his diocese, because I really like what I see on the internet.

[119] Bishop Strickland, how can people take advantage of listening to some of the things?

[120] things you have to offer on your website, please.

[121] Yeah, it's a St .Philip Institute .org.

[122] St. Philip Institute for catechesis and evangelization.

[123] Lots of adult education podcasts and different topics.

[124] Excellent.

[125] Some things for youth, some things for children.

[126] Just really the idea is what we're calling the different seasons of life.

[127] You and I are toward the, we're not quite in the age, the season of wisdom, which starts at 70.

[128] Okay.

[129] But we're in that season of maturity.

[130] Amen.

[131] And so looking at all the seasons of life from infancy to natural death, whenever God chooses to take us home, the St. Philip Institute .org, and that's it.

[132] Philip with one L. based on St. Philip the deacon right out of Acts chapter 8 where he literally it says he runs up to the chariot to talk to the Ethiopian and share what he's reading about the prophet Isaiah so that's the whole goal of the St. Philip Institute and they're doing a great job I'd encourage people to visit and Bishop Strickland for those young men and maybe young women I don't know if you have religious in your diocese for convents, but just religious vocations in general, priesthood, religious life.

[133] Can people contact you and can you direct them in the right direction if they're interested in becoming a priest or a religious?

[134] Absolutely.

[135] Again, just go to the St. Philip Institute .org website and they can contact anyone in my office or me directly.

[136] If they want to instead, they can go to Diocese of Tate.

[137] Tyler .org in either way they can get in touch with me. Excellent.

[138] Well, we're covering the ten commandments in the weeks ahead.

[139] We're still on the First Commandment, and we were talking about divination and magic and the Ouija board and people staying away from that stuff because it can only open up doors or port holes, they call it.

[140] And one thing I would ask you, Bishop Strickland, is I've noticed that while one of the priests he's an exorcist Father I'm sorry I'm getting distracted here but he's an exorcist in the Midwest and he said that one of the reasons the devil is so prevalent right now is because so many people aren't living a sacramental life and Father Ripperger is his name Chad Ripper and he said that that that's one of the reasons why the devil is doing so much damage because so many Catholics aren't going to Mass, they're not practicing the sacraments, and I get all that.

[141] And so my question to you as a bishop, and you, I know you have a great devotion to St. Joseph, terror of demons.

[142] So I get that, Bishop Strickman.

[143] But do you think Father Chad Ripperker's onto something that maybe we're opening up a porthole for evil when we don't live, as we call it, the state of grace, that we're not living a sacramental life, that we're getting into all kinds of secular things and even non -secular, but even some of the New Age movement, it's opening doors and to the occult.

[144] Do you think he's on to something?

[145] Oh, absolutely.

[146] And I've heard of Father Chad before.

[147] And, you know, I think people tend to think of exorcists.

[148] Oh, that's just movies and it's not real.

[149] But I think we just have to look around life, look around the world, especially these days, and see that evil Israel.

[150] And all of us can, we're all born into original sin according to what we believe in the teachings of the Catholic faith.

[151] And it's reality.

[152] It's not just what Catholics believe, but we're born into a broken world, and we share in that brokenness.

[153] So the sacraments are about helping to give us sanctifying grace to help us live how God originally tended us to live full of his grace, to share his holiness and goodness.

[154] But when we don't make any effort at that, then evil has its way of creeping in.

[155] Even evil is there and it's real.

[156] And so absolutely, I think one of the best ways, thankfully, probably most of us are not in need of an exorcism.

[157] But when we're baptized, there is a prayer that is said that is called the exorcism prayer.

[158] Even in today's right of baptism, there's a prayer of exorcism.

[159] And that's an acknowledgement that evil is real.

[160] Christ has conquered it, but through our sin, we can still open the door to evil.

[161] And I would go with that image of open.

[162] the door, we let sin into our lives, and we all do, but we go to confession and close that door again and hopefully go through that process over and over again.

[163] And especially the sacraments of the body of Christ himself, the Eucharist, to have reverence for that and to receive him as worthily as possible.

[164] And to increase that worthiness, we go to confession.

[165] even if we're not aware of serious sin, we go to confession in order to be as worthy as possible.

[166] I'm not worthy, you're not worthy of receiving the body and blood, soul and divinity of God's own son.

[167] But God loves us enough that he offers that to us, even in our lack of worthiness, and we become more worthy, the more we are turning from sin, we repent, just going all the way back to John the Baptist.

[168] We just celebrated his birth a few days, his birthday, June 24th.

[169] And John the Baptist said, repent, the kingdom of God is at hand.

[170] And we believe that.

[171] We believe that for every generation, we can go through that process of repenting and welcoming the kingdom of God more deeply in our lives.

[172] And so absolutely, we need to turn from evil and sin.

[173] And what people don't realize is, oh, I'm a pretty good person.

[174] But then you just, it's sort of like, like I said, going through the door, and then you take another step, and pretty soon you're moving down a hallway toward evil.

[175] You might say a slippery slope, as we said to.

[176] Once you get on that, it's easy to do the next thing.

[177] and you're a little less virtuous and you're a little more angry and uptight and and focus just on the world and it just sort of snowballs you know bishop strickland betty brennan who was a former satanist she was a witch and she converted back to her catholic faith and i had her speak at a national catholic family conference to about 6 ,000 people 15 20 years ago and she said to us that as a Satanist they knew the difference between a consecrated host and an unconsecrated host and that her talk was called Return to the Sacraments because she said the very same thing that Father Chad Ripper told us years later that the reason her talk was called Return to the Sacraments and the reason is she said if you're living in the state of grace the devil can't do anything to you and when you're not living in that state you're opening yourself up to all kinds of evil so she just confirmed what I've heard before, and again, these are people who had played on both sides of the fence in a sense of the spiritual life.

[178] And so I want to encourage all of our listeners to read the section of the catechism on that, and it's right in the 21 -15 and about four more paragraphs.

[179] But Bishop Strickland, I wanted to ask you also that one of the challenges that our church has given to us as a in the catechism paragraph 2123 it says this many of our contemporaries either do not at all perceive or explicitly reject this intimate and vital bond of man to god the catechism and the church is telling us atheism must therefore be regarded as one of the most serious problems of our time when i read that in the catechism back in the 90s and it's still true today.

[180] Think of what is going on in our culture.

[181] Many of the people who are upset at the Catholic Church are militant atheists, are former Catholics.

[182] So Bishop Strickland, what are your thoughts about the problem of atheism?

[183] Well, I think it is a huge problem, and especially sadly among young people, it's almost the popular thing to say, oh, I'm atheist.

[184] I really personally, I think that for most people, they're really not atheist, even if they claim that.

[185] Because if you think through it logically, then what meaning is there to a life where you truly believe there is no God?

[186] And all of this just sort of fell into place and happened by, you know, strictly by chance, then it gives you no reason to have a morality to have values in your life.

[187] So I don't think many people, thankfully, many people are really true atheist.

[188] I think there's a popularization of it to kind of say, oh, well, I'm a thinker, and I'm based on science, and I believe in, and we can figure everything out.

[189] But even with people like that, I don't think if you really push it that they are truly atheist.

[190] But on the flip side of that, let me share a little story.

[191] of just a book that I'm reading.

[192] It's a very interesting book that one thing that, as we're talking, I'm sure that people would say, where are they getting all this stuff about evil and divinization and all these questions?

[193] The First Commandment doesn't say anything about any of that, but when you wander from God, you wander into darkness.

[194] But the little story I wanted to share, I'm reading a book of quotes from what demons have said as exorcists have been ridding a person of that possession, of that, maybe not a strict exorcism, but anyway, the demons talk sometimes through the person, these horrible voices, and they screech and all of this.

[195] But one of the quotes that I read recently was about the story about, one of these instances, and it's recorded by this exorcist, that the demon said, even one percent of you people, and it's interesting, the demons are really crass in the way they talk.

[196] They don't have good ethics, so you might.

[197] They're not polite people.

[198] They're not polite entities, but as you would expect.

[199] But they, you know, they're real ugly, real smart Aliki in the way they're recorded.

[200] But this demon says, if one percent of you people really believed how much God loves you and how true the grace of God is, we'd be sunk.

[201] I mean, speaking of all the demons, of all the evil entities.

[202] I just think that's a great illustration.

[203] He says, very smart, if only one percent of you.

[204] And this is an exorcist recording what this demon says as the person's being exercised.

[205] And I think it really emphasizes some important things.

[206] Bishop Strickland, we're just going to come back with another quick break.

[207] I've got a story about Louis Pasteur on atheism.

[208] When we come back, we'll hear more on the Bishop Brickland Hour.

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[219] This is Terry Barber.

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[226] This is Terry Barber.

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[232] Thank you so much for you.

[233] your support.

[234] Welcome back to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[235] My name's Terry Barber.

[236] I'm the host and Bishop Strickland gave a very powerful story about the devil 1%.

[237] Oh my goodness.

[238] And that's why it seems to me Bishop Strickland that people have to understand that.

[239] I said this earlier, that if God stopped thinking about you, you'd cease to exist.

[240] That's how much love Jesus and God has for us.

[241] But Bishop Strickland, I have a quick story to share about Louis Pasteur.

[242] And this happened on a train about 150 years ago and I read it in another book because I'm a reader like you and what happened is this college student was on the train and he saw this old man praying his rosary and the college student went over to the old man and said, oh man, get rid of that rosary don't you know science has the answer religion doesn't have any answers for the purpose of life and Louis Pasteur he didn't know it was Louis Pester he goes oh really tell me more young man so he starts telling him about what he's learning in college about atheism and so Louis Pasteur sends him a little note and says, Would you mind sending me more literature?

[243] I'd like to dialogue in the future with you.

[244] And the young college student says, oh yeah, old man, just give me your name and address.

[245] I'll mail you all this information on learning.

[246] So when he gave him his card, and he said, Louis Pasteur, the young college student goes, what?

[247] You got to be kidding.

[248] You're Louis Pasteur, the famous, what?

[249] You want, oh.

[250] And so he kind of took it back and said, well, maybe I can learn something from you.

[251] So the point of it is, Bishop Strickland, is atheism has been a big problem for a long time.

[252] And I think sometimes the witness of our joy and our love for God can really help people realize that life isn't really worth living without God.

[253] If God doesn't exist, then nothing is really important except you, you know, you live for 80 years and, you know, 70 for those who are strong.

[254] and you die.

[255] I mean, I believe that an atheist has more faith in atheism than it takes to have for God because you can reveal, God reveals himself even just through nature.

[256] So I think atheism is something that we all can, as lay people who are listening, can be a witness by our joy for God in our life.

[257] And people are going to want what you have when you're joyful with your faith.

[258] That's my take on that, Bishop Strickland.

[259] What's your thoughts?

[260] yeah absolutely and to where is the joy in life if there truly was no God I mean joy comes from knowing who we are and the meaning of life and what is valuable so absolutely and to demonstrate that joy really helps others to see that if they're thinking there's no God that maybe that that'll help to change their mind well said and you know bishop strickland in the in the brief in the catechism i want to tell everybody about in the catechism after you read the sections on each commandment they have this cold in brief it's kind of like repeating what you just learned by reading the paragraphs but i love i love this commandment it's in deuteronomy chapter six you shall love the lord your god with all your heart with all your soul and with all your straight now jesus said the same thing later in the Gospels.

[261] But I bring this up because, you know, love is really, it conquers, as St. Maximine Colby would say.

[262] And so I think that we have a lack of love in our culture.

[263] And when we don't love, I mean, Bishop Sheen's headed this way.

[264] He said, if one loves, everything is easy.

[265] If one doesn't love, everything is hard.

[266] And so an atheist has no supernatural outlook on life.

[267] I don't know about you, Bishop Strickland, but I feel sorry for people who think this is all we got.

[268] Yeah, absolutely.

[269] It leaves people empty, but, and as you talk about love, Terry, what amazes me, and we know, the gospel of John says it just as clearly as possible.

[270] Yes.

[271] God is love.

[272] Love is God.

[273] And I think that really understanding God's love is so important because we hear a lot about love, but it's an empty self -centered love that isn't really love at all.

[274] God is love in the sense that he pours himself out in creation, through his son, in the gift of his spirit.

[275] God's love is beyond our fathoming a gift.

[276] And it reminds us, we who are created in God's image, we really flourish when, like you said, when we love that way, we really flourish.

[277] And another little story or image from my experience, I love to visit our Dominican cloister Dominican sisters.

[278] All right.

[279] A lot of the people in our culture would say, man, what a boring, empty life.

[280] Oh, no. These ladies live, don't do anything fun and are just by themselves and praying all the time.

[281] These must be bitter, you know, unhappy ladies.

[282] And I always am amazed the way they laugh and the joy.

[283] It's just contagious.

[284] And one thing that just another contrast from probably, you know, I'm a priest.

[285] I was ordained to the priesthood 35 years ago.

[286] I went in the seminary eight years before that.

[287] So a good chunk of my life, I've been what you might call it, professional Catholic.

[288] I've been living in the church and being a part of that.

[289] And I was surprised how joyful these cloistered women were when I got to, as a bishop, I had the privilege of actually going into the cloister and visiting with them.

[290] And they know what's going on more than I do, and they're joyful.

[291] Even if they know what's going on, they're connected to God clearly.

[292] And that's the source of joy because the more we connect with God, the more we know we are loved.

[293] And that brings us joy.

[294] Because isn't that what every person really longs for?

[295] And all this turmoil that we see so often comes down to, if not always, but certainly an element of the turmoil and the violence and the division that we're seeing.

[296] Like we talked about earlier, tearing down statues.

[297] What's that about?

[298] Those people don't know real love.

[299] They don't know God in their lives.

[300] And if they did, they would be building.

[301] And that's what people who are joyful, that we imitate God when we're connected to him, God creates, he created us in his image.

[302] And you can look at the tremendous, you mentioned Louis Pasteur, the great accomplishments through the years, the wonderful world that God has allowed us to use our talents and the technologies and the marvelous things that we are too good at destroying, but certainly, thankfully, many creative people have cooperated with God's grace and done great things, accomplished great things in science, but they've been aware that those accomplishments originate from God.

[303] And so it is a joyful life, if we remember that.

[304] And here we are spending all this time on just one commandment.

[305] But I think, and let me just highlight that, but, you know, I think it turns, and these days, and we'll get, once we get to honor your father and your mother, those are people that give you commands or commandments, and we don't like commandments.

[306] We tend, especially as Americans, and I'm in Texas, we might say in Texas, you especially like commandments.

[307] We want to be free.

[308] We want to be able to do our own thing.

[309] Nobody's going to tell me what to do.

[310] And so commandment is a somewhat in our culture, a pejorative term.

[311] But these are ultimately commandments of love.

[312] And they really, I like to think of the Ten Commandments as more of sort of a God's manual for how to be happy.

[313] Absolutely.

[314] He knows how he made us.

[315] He made us in his image.

[316] And when we become focused on our world and on ourselves and forget God, that's why he gives us a commandment that we shall only worship God.

[317] Because when we start getting caught up in this world, it all gets distorted.

[318] And we start losing what real love and what real joy is.

[319] Well said Bishop Strickland, and I just want to add that.

[320] I have read an article from a month senior in the Rockford, Illinois Diocese about bringing people back to church with COVID -19.

[321] I know your own diocese, you know, for a certain amount of, I think it was like almost three months, we didn't have our churches open for Sunday Mass. And, you know, to implement that First Commandment, now churches are beginning to be opened up again.

[322] People are getting to mass. Confessions are being made available.

[323] I would just like to ask you, just Tyler Diocese, but what would you tell people today who might have not been going to church, you know, they're not coming back right now.

[324] They're just waiting, sitting on the sideline saying, oh, I'll go watch a stream mass, or I'll go just kind of kickback because, you know what, I kind of got used to not going to church now on Sunday because for a couple three months, I didn't go.

[325] And so I wanted to ask you, if you had a few minutes with an individual, what would you tell them today on helping them come back to Jesus in the Mass?

[326] Well, I would just really point to human experience.

[327] I've had a lot of people say just another example of we've probably all seen the images of someone in a nursing home.

[328] Yes.

[329] And for the protection of people, I understand the reasons, but it's been difficult for people.

[330] to be in a nursing home and not able to have any personal contact with another person.

[331] Another little story just to throw out there that I remember from as a kid, just quickly the story is little kid has a bad dream and is scared and comes running out of their bedroom and jumps into bed with their mom and dad.

[332] Sure.

[333] Probably a lot of us have done that.

[334] Oh, yeah.

[335] And the little kid just curls up next to mom, and mom says, Johnny, we've told you, you know, don't be afraid.

[336] If you have a bad dream, just say a little prayer, you're okay.

[337] We're here.

[338] You don't need to come running in here.

[339] And Johnny says, well, I know, Mom, but I needed somebody with skin.

[340] on.

[341] I love that little story because that's what we need.

[342] Absolutely.

[343] We need that personal contact with each other and with God.

[344] We'll be right back, Mr. Strickland.

[345] We've got to take a quick break, and we'll come finish with our last segment.

[346] Jesus said to the apostles in Luke chapter 10, whoever listens to you listens to me, and whoever rejects you, rejects me. According to St. Boniface, in her voyage across the ocean, of this world, the church is like a great ship being pounded by the waves of life's different stresses.

[347] Our duty is not to abandon ship, but to keep her on course.

[348] May our Lord help us remain ever faithful to his church to aid and defend her.

[349] Healthcare news today seems to be coming from everywhere and everyone.

[350] It's confusing, at least and untrustworthy at the worst.

[351] Dr. Assetta is a faithful Catholic in the Kern County community.

[352] He is trustworthy, well researched, and will only give expert opinion on matters in his own specialty.

[353] Catholic teaching at its entirety is of utmost importance to Dr. Ascetta.

[354] Give Dr. Aseta a call for your obstetrics and gynecological needs at 661 -695 -6617.

[355] 661 -6617.

[356] This is Terry Barber.

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[362] Thank you so much for your support.

[363] Welcome back for the final segment on the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[364] My name's Terry Barber, the Virgin Mary.

[365] Most Powerful Radio.

[366] We're going through the Ten Commandments with Bishop Strickland, and the next week we're going to be covering the second commandment.

[367] You shall not take the name of the Lord, your God, in vain.

[368] That'll be another couple weeks probably, because there's so much to talk about with the commandments.

[369] And I just want to recommend something to people, and that is, can get the catechism of the Catholic Church.

[370] This is my third appeal for it, because you need to study your faith with this time down.

[371] Now, some places are still having, you know, lockdown.

[372] Take the time rather than watching a TV show and studying a catechism with a Bible, and you learn so much about your relationship with Jesus.

[373] But Bishop Strickland, you're the Bishop of Tyler, Texas.

[374] You're on the east part of Texas, for those who don't know that.

[375] It's a small town compared to all of Texas.

[376] But here you are teaching the whole world, something that your office teaches you as a bishop to go out and teach, govern, and sanctify.

[377] I'd like you to just, and I love your stories, I've got to be honest with, the stories are what really grabbed me about the commandments, and I just want to remind everybody that it's so important to know your faith, love your faith, and live your faith, but it's hard to know your faith if you don't know it.

[378] In other words, it takes time and effort.

[379] I bet Bishop Strickland, there was a time in your life, and you can be honest with the people.

[380] When you were a young man, you were Catholic, you talked about this on the Terry and Jesse show where you really didn't know a lot of reasons why you were Catholic, but you knew you were Catholic.

[381] And as you got your formation going, things started to open up and you really, it opened your eyes and even to the point of becoming a Catholic priest.

[382] But what would you tell our listeners who still don't get the importance of knowing your faith?

[383] In other words, I'm just going to give you a quet point.

[384] I know my wife, okay?

[385] We've had four children.

[386] I know her intimately and my love for her is really sacrificial and it seems to me the analogy for our faith can be as similar to know your faith and to be intimate with Jesus Christ and I'm talking about knowing him personally not just head knowledge what can you talk about on that topic absolutely that's one of my favorite topics Terry because the way I phrase it And I just borrow this, but most of the things, like you said, we learn a lot as you go through life with the church.

[387] To put it in the terms that I like to think about, I would like to ask people, is Jesus Christ a person or a personality in your life?

[388] And I think it kind of goes back to what we were talking about in another segment about coming back to math.

[389] Yes.

[390] If Jesus is just a personality, then you can probably watch mass on your computer, and that's fine.

[391] If Jesus is a person in your life, just like you're talking about your wife.

[392] Yes.

[393] And I think that I often mention this same image at marriage formation because your wife, you are happily married.

[394] I'm sure life isn't perfect, but you help each other through the imperfections.

[395] But your wife is a person in your life.

[396] You know much about her, and you want to, because you love her, you want to know more about her.

[397] That's the relationship we need with Jesus.

[398] And ultimately, he wants us to have that relationship with God, the Father, and the Holy Spirit.

[399] God so loved the world that he sent his son so that we could know God, Father, Son, and Spirit.

[400] So is Jesus a person in your life or just a personality?

[401] You're a personality for a lot of people.

[402] I guess I'm a personality for a few people.

[403] It's true.

[404] But we all have personalities in our lives.

[405] We sports figures or, you know, Paul McCartney, I knew as one of the Beatles.

[406] I've never met Paul McCartney.

[407] He's not a person in my life.

[408] He's a personality that I'm aware of.

[409] And I think when we, that's a person.

[410] that's as much as we know Jesus Christ that he's a personality that we're aware of.

[411] We've read something about him in books or maybe even seen movies about him, heard lots about him.

[412] If he's not a person, then it just doesn't have the impact that is intended.

[413] So I would just encourage people to really continually ask themselves, is Jesus a person or just a personality?

[414] And the more he becomes a person in your life, the more you get to know him and want to get to know him more, certainly through the Eucharist, through all the sacraments, but especially Eucharist and confession.

[415] If you really haven't been to confession in a while, get to know Jesus in his forgiving love.

[416] Yes, that's transmitted through the ministry of a priest, but it's Jesus, Father, Son, and Spirit, really, but Jesus forgiving us in the name of the Father and through the power of the Spirit.

[417] Bishop Strickland, I love it.

[418] And you know what this reminds me of is our devotion to the Holy Eucharist, the body, blood, soul and divinity of Jesus Christ?

[419] I want to tell a quick story.

[420] This was in the Catholic Times, the lacrosse in Wisconsin, June 6th, 2012.

[421] Check this out, everybody, about a person of Jesus.

[422] The NASA scientist did some experimenting with special types of cameras.

[423] that could see energy levels in the human body.

[424] This is then seen on a monitor.

[425] This energy shows up as an arroyo around the body.

[426] So NASA's interest in the experiment was to investigate the effects of space travel on astronauts in orbit.

[427] Now, what's this got to do with our fate, Terry?

[428] You'll see.

[429] Experimenting in a hospital, they discovered that when a person is dying, the arroyo around the body is thinner and gets thinner and thinner until the person dies.

[430] So the scientists carrying out the investigation in the hospital and his associates were behind a two -way mirror.

[431] They could see their camera, another man coming into the room with light coming from his pocket.

[432] Then the man took the object from his pocket and did something that in the camera the whole room was filled with light.

[433] And with this camera, they could no longer see what was happening.

[434] They ran into the room to see what was causing so much light.

[435] They discovered that the dying man was being given Holy Communion.

[436] Afterwards, with their cameras, they could see that the Arroyo around him was brighter.

[437] Although the scientist was in his 50s, this scientist conducting the experiment, are you ready for this, Bishop?

[438] He became a Catholic priest.

[439] Whoa.

[440] I know.

[441] That's the kicker on it.

[442] But you see, he actually realized through his study that Jesus Christ was there in the Holy Eucharist, and he wanted to know more about that.

[443] And it impressed him so much about his belief in the real presence, it made him study to become a Catholic priest.

[444] And this is just eight years ago, the article ran.

[445] I bring this up because of what you just said about a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

[446] What's more personal than receiving the body, blood, soul, and divinity of Jesus Christ?

[447] All right, I'll turn it back to you, Bishop.

[448] Well, absolutely.

[449] It's very personal.

[450] And really, tying back into the very first commandment.

[451] God has commanded us to know him as the one true God, and he loved us enough to send his son, like I've said a couple of times already just in this program, that we might know him and we might know he is God.

[452] And that's the whole Christian project, you might say, the whole meaning of what we're involved in.

[453] It's been 2 ,000 years, and that's for eternity, that's, for eternity, that's That's a drop in the bucket, not even a drop.

[454] And I think that that is a reminder that, you know, like we're saying, those relationships with others, those are the timeless things.

[455] And that story that you told about the Eucharistic presence creating a stronger aura for this person who was ill, it's just, love is energy.

[456] And the mystery, you know, I'm a Catholic priest, but.

[457] I've always loved science.

[458] And I think there's a lot of overlap because truth is one.

[459] Amen.

[460] And so those oras that those scientists were looking at miraculously or wondrously, you know, it inspired one of them to actually become a priest.

[461] But that kind of energy of God's love is what is keeping our hearts beating right now.

[462] That's what's keeping us in existence.

[463] And that's what keeps the world with all the struggles and all the challenges.

[464] is that's what keeps the world spinning literally and ultimately good coming out of brokenness and evil because that's coming from God.

[465] Yeah, evil is real, and it's a mystery woven into all the goodness that is there.

[466] But we're created in the image of God and challenged to live that goodness.

[467] And Jesus is here to help each of us in that personal journey.

[468] Here in East Texas, people love to ask the question.

[469] The many wonderful Christians, not Catholic, but Christians, have you taken Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior?

[470] That's a great question.

[471] Absolutely.

[472] Now, I get frustrated when Catholics aren't sure of the answer, because we, like you said, if you've received the body and blood, soul, and divinity of the Son of God, you should be able to say, absolutely i've taken jesus christ as my personal lord and savior it doesn't get any more personal than receiving his body and blood in communion well said bishop strickland i'll never forget dr scott hon 30 some years ago when i did his conversion story back in 1980s late 80s and he said that very same thing when he gave a little talk on the holy euchrist he said i realized that wait a minute what's more personal than receiving the body blood soul and the of Jesus Christ.

[473] Why do I say that?

[474] Because we Catholics have so many treasures, but sometimes we've had an amnesia.

[475] We forgot about these treasures in our church.

[476] And through the 10 commandments that we're going to be teaching through Bishop Strickland's teaching, I think people are going to fall deeper in love with Jesus Christ and his bride, the church.

[477] Bishop Strickland, I want to make sure every show we can get a blessing from you.

[478] So if you could be so good to bless all of the listeners and pray for them, I would appreciate it.

[479] Sure.

[480] The Lord be with.

[481] and with your spirit.

[482] Almighty God, we ask your blessing for all listening to this program.

[483] Wherever they find themselves that they may trust that the Lord's love is sustaining them in life and blessing them in ways that are unimaginable.

[484] With whatever struggles they face, we pray that they can turn to the Lord and know him more and more personally as their Lord and Savior.

[485] We ask God's blessing for all in the name of the Father and the Lord.

[486] the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

[487] Amen.

[488] Bishop Strickland, a little teaser for next week.

[489] The Second Commandment, you shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.

[490] We have a minute.

[491] What can people expect next week on that topic?

[492] Well, watch your language, I think, is one thing that I would talk about.

[493] And I would hate to think, I mean, here we are on radio.

[494] Yes.

[495] Radio, television, broadcast of any kind.

[496] I'd hate to know the word count of how many times the name of Jesus the name of God is used in vain and we need to pay attention to that.

[497] Next week, that's what we're going to talk about the Second Commandment here on Virgin Most Powerful Radio with the Brickship Strickland Hour.

[498] I'm Terry Barber, host of the Terry and Jesse show and I'm honored to be with you today and I would just also ask God's blessing upon your family, your friends and also ask you to ask Jesus Christ for more faith every day.

[499] This is a good practice because we need strong faith in these days that we're living in.

[500] May God bless you and your family.

[501] We'll have you back again next week at the same time, same station, on Virgin Most Powerful Radio.

[502] God bless you.

[503] St. Faustina's Prayer for Priests.

[504] Oh, my Jesus, I beg thee on behalf of the whole church, grant it love and the light of thy spirit and give power to the words of priests so that hardened hearts might be brought to repentance and return to thee o lord lord give us holy priests thou thyself maintain them in holiness o divine and great high priest may the power of thy mercy accompany them everywhere and protect them from the devil's traps and snares which are continually being set for the souls of priests.

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

[506] For thou canst do all things.

[507] Amen.

[508] Virgin Most Powerful, pray for us.

[509] Virgin Most Powerful Radio.

[510] Sharing the gospel with clarity and charity.