10 Aug 21 – Do Not Work for Food That Perishes

[0] Welcome to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[1] My name's Terry Barber.

[2] I'm excited today to share the gospel with you and the bishop through the catechism of the Catholic Church.

[3] One of the teasers I'm going to give you is we're going to be covering paragraph 222, the implications of faith in one God.

[4] It's so beautiful to connect with the catechism.

[5] It's so powerful.

[6] Bishop Strickland, welcome to another episode of your show.

[7] Thanks, Terry.

[8] Thank you.

[9] And Bishop Strickland, we're going to cover your...

[10] tweets what we do every day, every once a week here on the or on the Bishop Strickland Hour on Virgin Most Powerful Radio.

[11] I love the tweets.

[12] This is timeless material.

[13] One of the things you tweeted was an archangel's prayer.

[14] I had not seen this prayer.

[15] When I read it, I said, wow, this is powerful.

[16] I'm going to read it, and then you tell us why you did it.

[17] It says, a prayer to St. Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael, and the archangels.

[18] Heavenly king, you have given us Ark. angels to assist us during our pilgrimage on earth.

[19] St. Michael is our protector.

[20] I ask him to come to my aid and fight for all my loved ones and protect us from danger.

[21] St. Gabriel is a messenger of the good news.

[22] I ask him to help me clearly hear your voice and to teach me the truth.

[23] St. Raphael is the healing angel and I ask him to take my heed for healing and that of everyone I know.

[24] Lift it up to your throne of grace and deliver back to us the gift of recovery.

[25] Help us, O Lord, to realize more fully the reality of our angels and their desire to serve us.

[26] Holy angels pray for us, amen.

[27] What a beautiful prayer.

[28] What are your thoughts about that, Bishop Strzarin?

[29] What made you put that out?

[30] Well, Terry, we just need to be more aware of the angels, of the goodness of God that surrounds us and always available to us.

[31] Evil is very real and evil is here also.

[32] Evil has been conquered by the son of God Jesus Christ.

[33] But really we just, in this age of so much lack of faith, all of us who are believers, really need to just keep reminding ourselves that the, the, the, The grace and the, we say in the creed, we believe in all that is visible and invisible created by God.

[34] The angels are invisible, but they are the archangels and all the angels, our guardian angels, are reminders of the tremendous, really overflowing abundance of God's life and love that has always overcome evil.

[35] and Christ has definitively conquered evil, but we have to use our free will.

[36] And the angels are there to help us to make those daily choices, to be godly men and women, to be focused on the reality of who we are.

[37] You know, there's so many things that come to mind for me. I could go on and on.

[38] But the angels are a reminder of the supernatural.

[39] Yes.

[40] We need reminders of the supernatural.

[41] in our world where we're told constantly is that all there is, that this is it, this world, what we can see.

[42] And really, that is such a impoverization, if that's a word, it's a poverty to say this world, what we can see and touch is all there is.

[43] That's the shadow.

[44] What is invisible is the real lasting, powerful presence of God's life and love.

[45] And that's what we, we're built to be tuned into that, but the world is constantly bombarding us with the idea that if you can't see it and touch it, it's not real.

[46] The opposite is the case, that the most real and the most lasting is that love that is inside us, the goodness that God is created in us, the value of the other person, all the what we call intangibles are the most lasting and most real.

[47] You know, Bishop Strickland remind me, I say it all the time about devotion to your guardian angel and to the archangels, and that is the unemployment rate for guardian angels is way too high.

[48] You're to basically, put them to work, and that's the thing.

[49] I'm convinced that if we realize that we're living in the presence of God moment by moment, that our prayer life will get, will increase.

[50] our desire not to sin will grow just think about it if you realize that god is present with us your guardian angel is there and when you have a temptation remind yourself of that and that's going to help you say no to sin but i think what you just said that hey we're living in a world if i can't touch it feel it uh then it's not real well try the wind can you touch it can you can you see it no but you can feel the effects well let me give you an idea and that is the effects of a prayer warrior is tremendous on the church.

[51] So our prayers do have an efficacy throughout the entire church.

[52] And so when we realize that, our life becomes meaningful because every action becomes like a blank check, as I say all the time.

[53] So thank you for promoting devotion to the angels, Bishop Strickland.

[54] Now, you got another good tweet here, because this is really meat and potato's Catholicism.

[55] And you know, Bishop Strickland, as I get to know you, you don't talk about the esoteric.

[56] In other words, these highfalutin, like, you know, I'll give you an example.

[57] You don't talk too much about the hypostatic union.

[58] Now, I got it.

[59] I like that stuff.

[60] The nature of God's human and divine nature interact.

[61] That's good stuff to talk about.

[62] But you seem to just talk more about the basic salvations, about who Jesus Christ is, the Eucharist, salvation, defense of life, and you're beaten on the fundamental.

[63] So thank you.

[64] Here's what I got on a tweet July 27th.

[65] You said, let us strive to make Jesus Christ the living cornerstone of our daily lives.

[66] The world tells us that we are in charge.

[67] Boy, doesn't it, me myself and I, the unholy Trinity.

[68] Okay, he says, the world tells us that we are in charge.

[69] We don't need God.

[70] That's what the world is saying.

[71] The truth is that we depend on God for everything.

[72] Think about this.

[73] You said, every breath, every heartbeat is a gift of our loving, merciful God, listen to his son.

[74] Boy, those are words of wisdom, Bishop Strickland.

[75] Well, I certainly believe that's true.

[76] And we're living through an age where we think we have it all.

[77] And there are beautiful things in this modern world.

[78] But when we disconnect from God, it all begins to fall to dust around us.

[79] And sadly, that's what we're seeing.

[80] Things are, people are fearful, people are confused, people are angry.

[81] I mean, the violence in our cities is just becoming, you know, epidemic.

[82] Evil is becoming epidemic.

[83] I mean, we have this pandemic that we're dealing with.

[84] But that really is just the tip of the iceberg.

[85] if we think about all the evil that is running through our world and why for so for so much of it i mean very little is under your control or my control and even in the the world that humanity thinks it can control yeah if we'd all just step back and realize let's listen to god let's listen to his word Let's listen to the truth he's revealed to us.

[86] Let's pay attention to what God has said.

[87] So many of the tragedies we see unfolding around us would begin to diminish.

[88] But sadly, we seem to be going the other direction, just more and more.

[89] Oh, well, we've got to control it more.

[90] We've got to control it even more.

[91] We have to control everything.

[92] We're taking people's free will away.

[93] in control.

[94] And it's not working.

[95] It's backfiring constantly, but we who have faith need to be strong and joyful and clear that God is in control.

[96] In all the controls of the state or the controls of mandates or whatever, that is not our salvation.

[97] It's God's control that we need to rejoice in because his control is always because God is love man and really Terry I think it it probably comes down to what we've talked about it before but the ills of our world come down to really not believing that God is love because people say oh you believe in a judgmental God or a harsh God or how could God allow these things to happen God allows evil to happen because he knows that we have to be free to choose good.

[98] If, you know, if all of creation were simply responding to God's will, it would be beautiful.

[99] But we created in God's image and likeness, we couldn't be a part of it.

[100] we're that fly in the ointment in a sense in creation, we have the free will.

[101] But the beautiful thing is we can use that free will like the saints have modeled before us.

[102] We can use that free will to choose God and to choose to make Christ the cornerstone of our lives, to choose the truth that guides us.

[103] But so many are not making that choice that it's, It really is corrupting our world in very serious ways, but we should, as people of faith, we should never despair.

[104] We should never forget the power of love, the power of God's truth.

[105] We have to continue returning to that in joy and hope.

[106] But we have to be very strong.

[107] That's why we turn to the guardian angels to strengthen us.

[108] I'm weak.

[109] I'm sinful.

[110] I can easily wander off into the dark.

[111] if I don't have everything I can grasp at that is of God and of his love that can help me. Well said, Bishop Strickland, when we come back, we're going to hit another common theme that sets you up about the pro -life, and that is just reminding people about the harmonic D .K. anniversary we just celebrated.

[112] We'll be right back.

[113] Stay with us.

[114] Welcome back.

[115] Bishop Strickland's been tweeting a lot, and if you want to get on him to get his tweets, just go right on the place to get all that.

[116] I wanted to say, Bishop Strickland, your comment about Hermannivete, but it made me think last week I read an old church document.

[117] When I say it's old, it's Casti Canobey, 1931, Pope Pius I 11th.

[118] And I read it because it was on marriage.

[119] My wife and I read that together 30 -some years ago before we got married.

[120] It was such a beautiful document.

[121] But what he said, what the Holy Father said was so profound.

[122] And I thought today it would be great to say this and he said that our public officials have a grave moral responsibility to protect the vulnerable in society and he called it the infant in the womb he didn't call it the baby he said the and i never heard that term the infant in the womb and he really called out all officials catholic and non -catholic he said it that way it seemed like he was making no distinction that even though you're not catholic you're still obligated to defend life.

[123] And I thought, you know, I like hearing that because sometimes I hear people say, well, that's just the Catholic position.

[124] And you know, you Catholics are all wet on that.

[125] But it seems to me natural law is for everyone.

[126] So you tweeted that, again, it was March, excuse me, it was the 25th of July, 1968 is when Pope Paul the 6th, St. Paul the 6th put out this document that the world and even some people in the church poo -pooed it.

[127] But you didn't, I can tell, because I've talked to you about this document.

[128] And on your website, I've seen you talk about Hamanavite as being a great thing to get out to people.

[129] But you said, as we just marked the anniversary of Hamanavita, let us all be reminded that all human life is a gift from God.

[130] This basic truth is at the heart of the Catholic Church teachings on immorality, of birth control, when we know and live that God is in control, his peace flows.

[131] I see a connection with what you just said, birth control and our control, and who's in control?

[132] So can you kind of break that apart for us?

[133] Yeah, absolutely, Terry.

[134] And I think that just that term birth control really does go to the very root of a lot of what's wrong in our world.

[135] as we've said before, it's, you can keep tracing back.

[136] Where did the corruption that we're seeing?

[137] Where did the breakdown of church and state and of family and so many things that seem to be broken in this time of the early 21st century?

[138] When we think we're in control, we can get away with it for a little while, but not very long.

[139] And that humans controlling the world or thinking we are and getting further and further from God, it begins to corrupt things more and more.

[140] I do believe that Humanevite is one of those root issues that for lots of reasons.

[141] And just philosophically for that idea that, we can control life.

[142] Where does that take us?

[143] Then you move to, well, if there was a conception that we decide we don't want, the infant in the womb, well, then we can take control again.

[144] And it's like we want to control life, and life is not ours.

[145] Life is a gift from God.

[146] There's nothing clearer than that life, is a gift from God.

[147] And even with all the technology that's developed since Humane Vite was issued, we still can't create life and we never will.

[148] We can manipulate it.

[149] We can think we're controlling it.

[150] And sadly, we can destroy it.

[151] That's what we tend to do.

[152] When we take control, it's like we wreck it.

[153] if we allow God to the natural processes to work, and that's where Humane Vite comes in because the natural family planning that is encouraged by the church uses the natural processes that are God -given.

[154] And certainly, it allows us to be aware of when a conception may or may not happen, to whatever a couple is, is planning for.

[155] So natural family planning is about allowing God to still be in control, but to use those controls that are God given for, you know, the choosing of when, you know, when we would be allowing a child to be conceived or not.

[156] But cooperating with God is what it comes down to.

[157] But when we when we seize control, and that's really, as you were talking, it really does go to the root of so much that is wrong beyond production, human reproduction between a man and a woman in marriage.

[158] By the way, that's the only place that it should happen.

[159] but when that mentality of control begins to take over and in so many ways that's what we're facing a mentality of human control whether rather than allowing God to be in control he ultimately is but we can pretend to ourselves that we're in control and ignore God's commandments, ignore natural law and what God is naturally revealed to us, even before the specific revelation of the Word of God and the traditions of the church and the teachings that guide our Catholic faith that are so rich and so beautiful, when we think we're in control, we diminish ourselves.

[160] We diminish the great plan of God, who is so far beyond us.

[161] And if we put it only in human terms, it diminishes everything we're about.

[162] So I think we really face the challenge in our time of allowing God back into our own personal lives.

[163] We talk a lot about prayer and prayer before the Blessed Saccharacteries.

[164] all of that ultimately Terry for me as a bishop the time that I spend praying before the body and blood soul and divinity of Christ in the Eucharist the best lesson that I learn is God's in control it reminds me as a bishop that you know I have a lot of authority and a lot of responsibility the two tend to go hand in hand as you as a father and husband and a family have a lot of responsibility and a lot of authority.

[165] We need to use that in a godly way rather than in a selfish way.

[166] And when we disconnect all of that authority that we do have from God, we begin to really mess things up.

[167] And that's what we're seeing.

[168] Really, it's, it's struck me recently, Terry.

[169] and it's it's kind of stark and it sounds hopeless, but we've always got to know that Christ is our light, he is our hope.

[170] But really, as I look at the world today, I'll just say it.

[171] I think that we are in the midst of a chastisement because we're destroying the lives of children.

[172] we are massacring unborn children at a rate that has never been seen before in history because we have the ability to do that with all our technologies and this really worldwide embrace of abortion, the killing of the unborn.

[173] Many people, I'm sure you've heard it, Terry, and I've heard it from people of faith saying, how long is God going to put up with this?

[174] Well, I think we've stepped on God's last nerve.

[175] I think that we have reached the limit.

[176] He still loves us, and he is, because he loves us, he's calling us to wake up, but too many people, those in power, as I say, those pulling the levers of authority in the world today, are not waking up.

[177] And they're not paying attention that we better recognize that he is the author of life.

[178] And as long as we ignore that and pretend that we're in control, the worst things are going to be.

[179] There's always hope.

[180] We've always turned to the light of Christ.

[181] We should see the joy of being created in the image and likeness of God.

[182] And no one can take that away from us.

[183] No one can take our free will.

[184] Yes, they can kill us.

[185] They can seriously curtail our freedoms as people of God, but they can take away that very essence of who we are, free beings that can choose from our hearts to say yes to God or not.

[186] Some of the great martyrs of our faith are people who are willing to say, okay, kill me, but I'm not going to deny my God.

[187] And that's the free will that thankfully no technology can take away from us at this point.

[188] I want to record what you just said, Bishop Strickland, we did because that needs to get out to a world that acts like God doesn't exist.

[189] I think you did a marvelous job on that.

[190] I think of what Fulton Sheen used to say, if we give God our time, he will give us his eternity.

[191] And so when we commit ourselves to Christ and live a Christ -centered life, I mean, Bishop Strachian, We're in our 60s, okay?

[192] Think about this.

[193] I mean, if someone tells you, hey, if you do this, you might live an extra 10 years.

[194] What we do?

[195] Okay, and I mean that to compromise your faith for 10 years, it's not worth it for all eternity.

[196] And I keep saying what Sheen said.

[197] He said, there's a song they sing in hell.

[198] I did it my way.

[199] And then he says there's a song we sing in heaven.

[200] I did it his way.

[201] That's as simple as I can put it.

[202] And I'm listening to you thinking of what Sheen's, has said, Bishop Strickland, I know we just have a minute before the break and I want to tease everybody.

[203] You didn't know I was going to ask you this, but there's several Catholic bioethics out of Pennsylvania who a young priest that runs it I knew him as a teenager before he was a priest Father Chad.

[204] And they're making a big strong statement with two other lay organizations saying that they're against mandatory vaccinations.

[205] And they're saying the Catholic Church is against this.

[206] You should have If you have a moral objection to this, you should be able to object to it.

[207] And I've signed a couple letters for students in college here in Southern California for them to get that exemption.

[208] But it seems that all around the world, it seems like it's being pushed on us that they're taking our free will away from this.

[209] And I want to get your take that, you know, your question or your answer to people who say, you know, when the organizations are saying, stop it.

[210] We should have a right to choose if we want to get vaccinated or not.

[211] It shouldn't be forced on us, and I have an idea what you're going to say, but I just think it needs to be said, and I think now it's coming more and more clear that in certain parts of the world, those rights are being taken away, and some people think it's coming to the states, and I think actually they might be right, but I want to get clarity on this issue, and when we come back, we'll talk about that and much more.

[212] Also, we're going to talk about a crisis magazine cartoon that I think is great.

[213] We also talked from Cardinal Sirrah regarding the problems in the church and what we could have solutions, which I think he's a marvelous cardinal.

[214] When we come back, we'll get right into that question about the vaccines and the mandatory vaccines.

[215] Is it Catholic teaching, is it not?

[216] Stay with us, family.

[217] Welcome back to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[218] I teased you a little bit about the issue on COVID vaccines and how it seems that many people, people are being told in different parts of the world that you don't have free will.

[219] You have to take the vaccine or, you know, this is, you don't get to go to the grocery store.

[220] You can't do anything.

[221] You can't go to church.

[222] And I just, I was edified by different Catholic ethics groups out of Pennsylvania that just said, you know, that's just not right.

[223] That's not Catholic teaching when it comes to vaccinations.

[224] So Bishop Strickland, I didn't tell you I was going to ask you this question.

[225] But, I mean, I figured you'd have an opinion.

[226] Or in other words, you know, what the church teaches about that, what would you tell people when they say they're going to make it mandatory?

[227] Well, we were talking earlier about free will, and that's what it comes down to.

[228] We believe that you should, I mean, that's what real freedom is, is to follow your own conscience.

[229] Certainly, institutions have said this vaccine is acceptable and that people should take it.

[230] that they're free to make that statement but every person should be free to it's a medical procedure right now it's still experimental even it even if it goes beyond the experimental stage with any other medical procedure there's something called informed consent that's right and someone is, you know, signing off on the risk that they know the risk they're taking and they know the benefits of having surgery or taking a medication or getting a therapy or whatever you're going to do.

[231] And to treat this differently, I'm glad the ethics groups have spoken out because it flies in the face of Catholic tradition.

[232] And not just of Catholic tradition, but just of the freedoms, even as a nation.

[233] I mean, to mandate a medical procedure of any kind is really going against our tradition as a nation, in our freedoms, and as a faith.

[234] And I think that people need to be able to make their own choices, certainly different groups are saying, well, you can't work for us if you don't do this and you can't attend this.

[235] I would encourage any entity to be very careful about that.

[236] But hopefully we can continue to support the conscientious decision to not be vaccinated.

[237] And there'll likely be some consequences of that choice that may or may not be reasonable or just, but I'm willing to take the whatever the consequences.

[238] But I think people need to be the freedom to choose a medical procedure needs to be left intact, even in the midst of a pandemic.

[239] Because, and frankly, there are a lot of issues with these vaccines that I think people have the right to question and not to just say, oh, well, forget about the side effects, forget about the reports of harm that's been caused.

[240] Forget about all of these.

[241] And there definitely is a push to say, oh, well, everyone should be vaccinated.

[242] And I believe we need to be very careful.

[243] about that and so i'm glad that yeah the ethical groups have spoken up to say that's contrary to our catholic moral teaching to impose a medical procedure of any kind and um you know is the next thing going to say that everyone must have a tattoo that says whether they've been vaccinated or not I mean, if you start allowing just those basic freedoms to be swept aside because of a pandemic, then which we've done plenty of that already.

[244] I would hope that any of the mandates would not be returned.

[245] People need to be informed.

[246] People need to make their choice about how they intend to live.

[247] And the choices, but they need to to be left free to make those choices, especially when it's an invasive procedure that affects your body.

[248] Yeah.

[249] It's only, we only get one body.

[250] And it's only yours.

[251] Nobody else has a right to tell you what you're going to receive.

[252] I mean, we've heard so much about that when you turn to the abortion debate.

[253] Yeah.

[254] Frankly, the science is with us.

[255] Exactly.

[256] The sign says there are two bodies.

[257] When a woman, as soon as a woman has conceived a child in her womb, there are two children of God precious in his sight.

[258] One may be still microscopic, but there are two women, two bodies.

[259] So there's the woman, the mother, and the child, the infant in her womb.

[260] Both are valuable, absolutely.

[261] And some people say, oh, well, you don't care about the woman.

[262] Absolutely.

[263] We care about the woman.

[264] We care about the child.

[265] Both are precious in the eyes of God.

[266] But the idea that it's her body is not scientifically accurate.

[267] But I absolutely support that the woman who is not got a child in her womb and the man who is, you know, those two children of God do have a right over their own.

[268] own bodies.

[269] Just as that child in the womb, if they're allowed to grow and reach the point where they're an adult, they can make those choices.

[270] Parents need to have the freedom to make the choices for their own children.

[271] That's what parents are for is to make the choices for human beings who have not reached the point of adulthood where they can make their own human choices.

[272] And certainly, That's a transition period.

[273] I mean, children reach the point where they can make a lot of choices of their own, but the ultimate choices, even in our society, are still left for minors in the hands of parents.

[274] And so it comes down to free will choices, and we better enforce that free will and uphold that sacred right to make your own.

[275] choices about your own body.

[276] It's your certainly the reason I bring this up.

[277] I had a little fall and I needed to get an x -ray to make sure I didn't break part of my body.

[278] So I went into an ER room and first of all, the doctor went right away, said, are you vaccinated?

[279] I can take care of that right now for you.

[280] And I said, well, I'm actually not wanting to get vaccinated, Doc.

[281] And so we had our little discussion and we agreed to disagree.

[282] And it was very respectful, but she was convinced that I needed, you know, that I would put my life in serious danger if I didn't get vaccinated.

[283] So there was a lot of pressure put on me, but, you know, I smiled, call her by name and asked her questions and just, you know, we agreed to disagree, and I smiled.

[284] Now, before that, when I got into the hospital, they asked me questions about your name, address, and then they asked me a funny question.

[285] What do I identify as male or female?

[286] And I said, are you joking?

[287] You can't tell them a man?

[288] This is a young Hispanic woman.

[289] So I tried to play a little bit, and I said, come on.

[290] this is you know what's going on i said obviously i'm a man i said you know um why would you even ask me that question and she says well i have to and i said you know don't you realize that they're forcing us to you know do things that really are just not real like the emperor has no clothes on right you remember that nobody wanted to say that when are we going to just say hey god made a male and female and she says i can't say that i'd lose my job and i said i understand but just remember, when good people are silent, evil will prevail.

[291] She went like, oh, my gosh, you want me to speak up?

[292] I said, well, I think you need to pray about that one, but I really think that this whole idea, what do I identify?

[293] As I said, young lady, you ask me my size.

[294] I shouldn't have said I'm 5 foot 4.

[295] I should have said I'm 8 foot 4, right?

[296] Because I believe it.

[297] Would you believe that?

[298] She said, of course not.

[299] I said, this is what we're up against in the culture.

[300] We need to stand up.

[301] anyhow i bring that up bishop strickland we have about four or five minutes before the break and this is an amazing tweet that you sent down it's from crisis magazine i would recommend people to subscribe to crisis magazine online and it uh you said in your tweet it all comes down to the value of human people of the of the of the person which you've been saying in this show and here's i can describe the picture the picture of a a guy with a suit and tie on like the doctor pointing to a a mother with her baby who's obviously pregnant.

[302] And it captioned says, a Catholic politician who doesn't think there is a person here pointing out to the pregnant woman.

[303] That's not a baby.

[304] That's just you know, tissue.

[305] And then on the other side of this picture, the same guy pointing at a monstrance with the Blessed Sacrament and says probably doesn't think there's a person here.

[306] I had never seen that before, but there's a lot of wisdom in that.

[307] Wouldn't you agree?

[308] Well, that's why I tweeted it because someone sent it to me and I think it does in a cartoon form.

[309] It gets down to the very core issue.

[310] If you believe Jesus Christ, the second person of the Trinity, the Son of God is present in that monstrance as we believe, then you're going to be very cautious about denying his teaching that the woman with the child in her womb is there they're actually you could tweak that a bit and say there are two people in the one picture and there's a there are two persons and another person three persons in that i love it the woman the child in the womb and the son of god present in that monstrance.

[311] Beautiful.

[312] So I think it does make a point in a in a cartoon format that we need to remember.

[313] And I think they're right that if if you really believe that the divine son of God is present in that monstrance in the form of consecrated bread, then you're going to really I can't imagine that you're going to cavalierly just say, but there's no child in that womb and you can dispose of that tissue anytime, any way you feel like.

[314] It just doesn't match up.

[315] I agree.

[316] When we come back, we're going to get into the catechism, which is powerful about the implications of faith in one God.

[317] But I want Bishop Strickland to comment on a very holy cardinal, Cardinal Surrah has some advice for the church, I think is really good.

[318] Stay with us, Stanley.

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

[320] Welcome back to the Bishop Strickman Hour.

[321] I'm the host, Terry Barber.

[322] And I wanted to finish these tweets with one powerful tweet from Cardinal Robert Surrah.

[323] I've written several of his books, and it's right out of one of his books.

[324] Bishop Strickland, he's pointing the finger at his own brothers, the bishops and the leaders he says the church is dying because her pastors are afraid to speak in all truth and clarity we are afraid of what are we afraid of so here's the point you tweeted this obviously you really respect the cardinal and what is he you know is this something that you take heat as a pastor that you're you know why did you tweet this?

[325] Because I think he really nails it on the I mean he nails it.

[326] It's we have to be stronger shepherds.

[327] We have to be stronger mothers and fathers.

[328] Amen.

[329] We have to be sharing the truth.

[330] And really be bold enough to not let anyone silence us.

[331] There's too much compromise and there's too much of exactly what Cardinals Sarab says, just a lack of strength.

[332] The only, you know, I sometimes I talk to you, Terry, and say, I wouldn't say it exactly that way.

[333] Yeah.

[334] The church isn't dying.

[335] The church will never die.

[336] Right.

[337] I know what Cardinal is trying to say, but we need to really remember the church will live because Christ has promised that it will live.

[338] But the institutions, the way the church operates.

[339] all of that all the system which is just a system it's a human institution but what it's at the heart of the church will never die but it is i agree that it is deadly what is happening to the church it won't die but because too many people want the church the catholic church to die yep That is not going to happen, but we do have to recognize, and that's why I shared the message of the good cardinal is because that is what I try to do is to speak the truth and to say it when it's not popular, even when others in the church are saying, oh, you shouldn't say that.

[340] it's interesting it reminds me of something i've heard recently that you know of this group or that group or that person or this voice is harming the church terry we harm the church when we sinned so i'm a sinner you're a sinner amen we harm the body of christ to the degree that we sin we bring healing it's not me or you, but we allow that healing balm of Christ and his love to flow when we do our best individually one person at a time, repenting of sin and seeking to live in virtue.

[341] So who's harming the church?

[342] To an extent we all are, because we're sinners.

[343] Who can save the church?

[344] All of us can.

[345] Because we can turn from sin and live of more virtuous life.

[346] And sadly, too many in the hierarchy of the church, too many of the pews, too many that call themselves Catholic, whether they're politicians or movie stars or sports stars or whoever they are in the public eye, when we ignore what the church teaches, what Christ teaches.

[347] It's not some institutional teaching.

[348] It's not some, you know, rules of being a Catholic that we have to abide by because it's like membership rules.

[349] It's God's truth.

[350] When that is abandoned, then we're in trouble.

[351] And that's what we're seeing too often by even people that are in the hierarchy of the church.

[352] And that's what the Cardinal Sarah is talking about.

[353] As bishops, we have to be successors of the apostles.

[354] We have to defend the deposit of faith whole and entire as we promised we would and that is the challenge of our time well said i want to open up now the catechism of the catholic church in the last moments we have on this fourth segment paragraph 222 222 and the title of this heading is the implications of faith in one god paragraph 222 says believing in god the only one capital life one and loving him with all our being has enormous consequences for our whole life you know bishop strickland that short paragraph says it all what are those implications and consequences of following jesus christ well i'm sorry i just i love that paragraph because it says it says it all yeah absolutely And that's what we see unraveling in our time is that believing in God and loving him, like the Great Commandment, love God with all your heart, mind, soul, and love your neighbor as yourself, that we're so far from that.

[355] And pretending again that we're God and we're in control, and it really has, it does have enormous consequences, enormous consequences of good when we're doing that, when we're acknowledging, believing in the one true God and loving him with all that we are.

[356] Look at all the saints who have accomplished so much.

[357] Look at the good, the body of the Catholic Church.

[358] I read something recently that said that historically, the Catholic Church is the greatest force, The greatest force for good of any institution that's ever existed, if you accumulate everything that the church has done over 2 ,000 years.

[359] I mean, people attack the church and say, oh, it's bigoted, or it's caused this, or it's caused worse.

[360] But if you really look at the history, the enormous amount of good that the church has accomplished is, I mean, if you put a dollar amount on it, it's worth more trillions.

[361] than any other institution that's ever existed.

[362] For one thing, it's been around longer.

[363] And that isn't some kind of pride, but it's a reminder when you do this, when you believe in God and love him with all your being, the enormous consequences for good are beyond imagining.

[364] when you reject God and do not love him, the enormous consequences for evil are mind -boggling also.

[365] The reality is we can choose to turn from evil like that.

[366] Yep.

[367] Each of us can make that choice, and many people do, thankfully.

[368] Their conversions happening all the time.

[369] And we need to have that hope and that joy of the power of good.

[370] is more powerful, but the power of evil seems to be ruling the world at this time.

[371] It's not, ultimately, and the power of good is still there, but we all need to make that personal choice to love God, to believe in God, and to love him with all that we are, and to see the wonderful, enormous blessings that will flow from just making that choice.

[372] Well said, Bishop Strickland, here's paragraph 223.

[373] This is right out of the catechism, and I would highly recommend, before I quote this, I have a document from our Jewish friend, that's what the letter is called, and this Jewish friend outlined 2 ,000 years of history of Christianity, and he was thanking the Catholic Church for being so generous and serving people.

[374] And he pointed out, he was like a businessman.

[375] He said, you know, for the Catholic Church to do all these good things, I'm not Catholic, I'm Jewish, but I got to acknowledge that nobody's done as much as the Catholic Church.

[376] And I have that on a file.

[377] If people want to email me, Terry, T -E -R -R -R -Y at Saint, S -A -I -N -T -J -O -E, I'd be happy to forward that document to you.

[378] All right, paragraph 223, it means coming to know God's greatness and majesty.

[379] behold God is great and we do and we know him not therefore we must serve God first Bishop Strickland why did you break that apart because I have a I have a thought that hit me right between my eyes that paragraph but I want to hear from you first what are your thoughts on that well of course God is great and we know him not that comes from Jeremiah or Job actually and it just that describes our world as we are seeing things unfold now the greatness of God doesn't go away he is the author of everything he's the author of creation but if we know him not that's what Job is warning people if we know him not we are on a path that leads to darkness thankfully like i said we can always turn we can repent of our sins and return to god um so that's serve god first as it says that's what we're called to do yeah that last paragraph last sentence serve god first put god first in your life is essential especially again the world that we're living in acts like god doesn't even exist.

[380] Let's be that light to the world by our actions, by what we say and what we do.

[381] Bishop Strickland, I just, I know we have just a couple minutes, but I want to recommend people to go to your website and to your institute, especially regarding the documents of Vatican too, because I think there's been some confusion, even inside our church.

[382] I'm just saying, to be honest with you, what do the documents actually say?

[383] And your institute really clearly teaches not the spirit of Vatican 2, but the actual documents of Vatican 2.

[384] How can people get a hold of those?

[385] Well, St. Philip Institute .org, go to that website and you'll find all kinds of great teaching.

[386] We've got some really talented people that are working to get the truth of the Catholic faith, the truth of the gospel out there, because we need it.

[387] We need all of that wisdom to help us navigate the crazy world that we find ourselves in.

[388] But the Vatican 2 was guided by, inspired by and guided by the Holy Spirit.

[389] Amen.

[390] How it's been implemented, you know, that human frailty gets in there.

[391] And we think we're in control instead of really reading the documents and listening to what the Holy Spirit is guided.

[392] But the Second Vatican Council, we need to recognize is a divinely inspired.

[393] document, all those documents, and if we really read them, we need to keep reading them, returning to what the document actually says, because it brings us challenges that we tended to shy away from in the years since the council.

[394] Well said, Mr. Strickland, how about a blessing for all of our listeners, please?

[395] Almighty God, we ask your blessing for all who are listening or participating in this radio broadcast that it may be an opportunity to grow in faith and love and the power of God.

[396] Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, amen.

[397] Thank you so much, Bishop Strickland.

[398] Folks, you can listen to all the shows on Virgin Most Powerful on podcasts.

[399] All of the Bishop's shows are also podcasts by going to vmpr .org.

[400] May God richly bless you, and next week we'll go out it again with Bishop Strickland's Sweet and the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

[401] God love you.