18 Jan 22 – Do Not Fear the Conflict, Do Not Flee It

[0] Welcome to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[1] My name is Terry Barber.

[2] I'm so happy to be here to talk about Jesus with Bishop Strickland.

[3] Bishop Strickland, thank you for taking the time.

[4] This has almost been a year and a half of your time each week talking about our Lord, the catechism, the Bible, the saints, pro -life.

[5] You name it.

[6] If it's tied into godly issues, you're talking about him.

[7] So thank you for doing that.

[8] Thanks, Terry.

[9] What else is there to talk about?

[10] That's the line I use.

[11] What else is there?

[12] Bishop Strickland, you've got some tweets, and I was like, I used it on the Terry and Jesse show.

[13] I'll tell you what I did is I have a Fulton Sheen section.

[14] For those who don't know, the Terry and Jesse Show, I'm Virgin Most Powerful, where we bring in Fulton Sheen every day on a Choo Train.

[15] We say, full sheen ahead.

[16] And this particular day I said Fulton Sheen has a passenger, and his name is St. John Chrysostisim, and here's what he has to say.

[17] And this is a tweet from Bishop Strickland.

[18] do not fear conflict and do not flee from it where there is no struggle there is no virtue where faith and love are not tempted it is not possible to be sure they are really present they are proved and revealed in adversity bishop strickland today's mass the reading talked about suffering and following christ it seems to me that this quote is very apropos, I mean, it is a thousand years from now, but still, today, do not fear conflict.

[19] We've got so much conflict in the world and even in the church.

[20] And he's saying, do not flee from it?

[21] Well, there's a lot of wisdom there because if you have the truth, that's what he's really saying.

[22] If you have the truth, the truth is Jesus Christ.

[23] And if you have him, certainly he faced a lot of conflict.

[24] But if you look, I mean, really, Terry, that's what we need to do.

[25] As Catholics, hopefully by definition, as Catholics, we are disciples of Jesus Christ.

[26] Amen.

[27] And we desire to live the fullness of his truth.

[28] And when you take that approach, when you embrace Jesus Christ, he gives us.

[29] the model, fully God, fully man. Yes, he is God, but he lived in this world for most of his life in a hidden journey of just living ordinary human life as a man there in Nazareth, growing with his family, and learning to work, learning to be a part of the neighborhood, learning his Jewish faith.

[30] He was part of the people of Israel, of course.

[31] And so we can look to Jesus and see how we should respond to conflict.

[32] He doesn't ignore it, but he doesn't get fearful either.

[33] How often does he tell his disciples?

[34] And we are his disciples in 2022.

[35] How often does he tell them in the scriptures, be not afraid.

[36] He tells his disciples that.

[37] He tells people that he heals and cures and forgives their sins.

[38] He says, I'd love to just go through the Gospels and see how many times Christ says, be not afraid.

[39] Don't be fearful.

[40] Don't let not your hearts be troubled.

[41] And that's what we need to, especially as you said, there's lots of conflict in the world.

[42] And it's, there's a lot of fear, and that's what conflict can do to us.

[43] It makes us fearful, whether it's about the coronavirus or it's political or within the church and what mass can be celebrated.

[44] There are all kinds of conflicts.

[45] You know, Terry, I have to confess, I don't like conflict.

[46] I mean, when, you know, running the diocese or working with the priests or working here in the administrative offices here at the Chancery of the Diocese, I admit that I kind of, I tend to shy away from conflict.

[47] And it's not that we should run around trying to find conflict, but what Christ shows us and what I'm, I need to be humble enough to follow Christ better is he, he confronts the conflict and calls people away from when there's conflict, it's usually between something that's true and something that's false.

[48] Some people are embracing the truth and some people are embracing whatever's not true.

[49] Of course, truth incarnate is always encouraging people to embrace the truth.

[50] And so in that way, conflict is necessary.

[51] We need to separate darkness from, light.

[52] We need to seek the light, to seek the truth.

[53] And when there's conflict, like I said, I am too often prone to try to smooth it over, try to run from the conflict.

[54] Oh, we don't want conflict.

[55] But if it's a question of truth and falsehood, we need the conflict.

[56] Bishop Strickland I know you and I are very similar because I ran you know several Catholic Apostolates and I always tried to be the intermediator for conflict and kind of smooth things over with people but and sometimes I probably was on that side where I tried to make it work when I wasn't going to work and I had to make a decision and sometimes I'm a little slow at that so I think you and I have something in common but I want to bring up something this quote made me think about that where it says where faith in love are not tempted, it's not possible to be sure that they really are present.

[57] They're proved and revealed in adversity.

[58] I noticed something about our faith.

[59] When we're challenged by our faith, we either reject the challenge and say, I don't care, I don't know.

[60] But I've noticed many souls that have been challenged about their Catholic faith, and they go and they look up things in their catechism or their Bible, or they go and go to a class and they learn about their faith because somebody challenged them on it and that's a good thing and sometimes i think right now even to the core of our church sometimes and i guys dressed like you that might not be proclaiming the perennial teaching of the church and you as a layman have to say now how does that match up to this book right here the catechism of the catholic church and if it doesn't match up to it, I know who to believe.

[61] It's not you.

[62] It's the catechism.

[63] So I tell people that simple fact, and that kind of helps them because we have a lot of clergy that are not as accurate as they should be.

[64] Maybe they're just loose.

[65] I'll give them the benefit of the doubt.

[66] They just say it in a wrong way.

[67] Maybe they know what they're doing, but I don't know God will judge them.

[68] But the fact remains that people have to have, good formation to know and not be scandalized when somebody in the hierarchy of the church says something that isn't consistent with the 2000 -year teaching.

[69] And so I just bring this up because that's why I'm so happy that you agree every week to teach from this book.

[70] This isn't Bishop Strickland's teaching.

[71] This is the Catholic Church teaching.

[72] So thank you for that.

[73] All right, that quote got me all fired up.

[74] So thank you for doing that.

[75] I have another quote from a great saint that you sent out, St. John Newman.

[76] We celebrated his feast on the 5th of January.

[77] And again, it's either the Eucharist, the Mass, the Blessed Mother, protecting unborn babies.

[78] It's always consistent with you, Bishop Strickland.

[79] And the quote that you give today is from a great saint, he says, my Jesus, my love, my all.

[80] Gladly would I endure hunger, thirst, heat, and cold to remain always with you in the blessed sacrament.

[81] Now, Bishop Strickland, this is the saint who started 40 hours devotions all over the East Coast.

[82] Isn't that the case?

[83] Yeah.

[84] So his love for the Eucharist is an example for all of us to follow.

[85] And I would say this, and this is just my take, but I assume you just were wanting to promote Eucharistic piety in today's church.

[86] Is that why you sent that out?

[87] absolutely and and i'm glad you uh you pick up on my basic themes because they do just keep repeating yeah because we need to grow closer to jesus he is our lord and savior man his mother's always pointing us to him i i put out something uh just recently and people are saying oh there go those catholics worshiping mary and you know again conflict yeah and sometimes as Catholics, we can shy away from talking about our devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary because it causes conflict.

[88] But what we need to do is speak all the more about the wonderful model that she is.

[89] There's no fear that the Blessed Virgin Mary is ever going to do anything but take a third closer to her son, read the Gospels.

[90] I was just talking to somebody recently who grew up in the Baptist faith, good people seeking to follow Christ.

[91] But she said, as a kid growing up in the Baptist Church, she really knew nothing about Mary.

[92] Even not much, even though what's mentioned in the gospel.

[93] She said that, you know, they'd have a Christmas play in their church.

[94] And all she knew was that Mary was one of the characters.

[95] And there was no emphasis and no real understanding of Mary.

[96] So this woman is now converted to the Catholic faith.

[97] But as a child, she really had no idea who Mary is.

[98] And people need to know Mary.

[99] She's there in the gospel.

[100] Even if they don't embrace the Catholic faith, we have to acknowledge that she is mentioned frequently in the gospel.

[101] Absolutely.

[102] So she's a woman of the gospel.

[103] And certainly we know that she's the Godbearer, the mother of Jesus.

[104] So she needs the honor that we Catholics give her.

[105] Well said, Bishop Strickland, we come back.

[106] We're going to talk about another one of your topics in life missions.

[107] We'll be right back.

[108] Welcome back to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[109] We're going through Bishop Strickland's tweets.

[110] And I just want to make one comment about our lady that you were mentioning about how she brings us to Jesus.

[111] Just look 2 ,000 years ago.

[112] What was her role at that nativity scene?

[113] She was the first tabernacle in our church.

[114] Jesus was inside her.

[115] And then what did she do?

[116] She brought Christ to us.

[117] She's been doing that for 2 ,000 years.

[118] All right.

[119] Bishop Strickland, this is a good one.

[120] You said this is critical for all of us to embrace.

[121] Another way to say it, there is no stopping abortion without Jesus.

[122] He is the Lord of life, the face of truth.

[123] Seek deeper devotion to him, his Eucharistic face, be ambassadors of the Eucharist for all.

[124] Now, you're tying in this tweet, pro -life and the Eucharist.

[125] What's the connection here?

[126] Well, the best way our world is going to relearn the sanctity of life from conception to natural death is to learn and to come to know deeply the Lord of life, Jesus Christ.

[127] He is God's incarnate son.

[128] He brings the life of the Father and the Spirit to.

[129] us.

[130] He walked around bringing God's love.

[131] God is love incarnate.

[132] Christ is love incarnate.

[133] God is love.

[134] And so it just makes sense to if we want to know how sacred we are, we look to the origin of everything, including us, created in the image and likeness of God.

[135] So that's why I really, I shared that because it was an article from a priest that was talking about how we must be devoted to the Eucharist to Christ present in his Eucharistic presence in order to have the strength and the clarity and the love to promote the sanctity of life.

[136] We were talking about conflict earlier.

[137] Yeah.

[138] And certainly what we need to remember is that every person is sacred before God.

[139] And so often what happens in the church and certainly in society and government and business, people, when there are, when there's conflict, too often, it results in someone being attacked, sometimes physically, and if not physically, at least emotionally and verbally attacked.

[140] that's that's never appropriate right i mean you know we're all centers and i i i'm not because i'm so averse to conflict i probably um i mean i don't know it's not my mode to attack people yeah for some people it is they quickly we call it flying off the handle they get angry very quickly i sort of probably do the opposite and ignore the person or try to avoid the person.

[141] And that's not loving either.

[142] And I'll confess that.

[143] I admit that.

[144] But we, rather than avoiding conflict by just saying, oh, well, you know, just go along and get along and tolerate everything, we need the truth, Jesus Christ.

[145] And so I think absolutely as this priest, and that's what inspired me to share that, was talking about we need truth incarnate who is with us in the Eucharist.

[146] We know that as Catholics.

[147] The Lord is here.

[148] He's our strength.

[149] He's grace for the world.

[150] He's light for the world, and he's here.

[151] And we need him to strengthen us to deal with the issues of abortion.

[152] And all the threats to the sanctity of lives that come, if a child manages to be born, that doesn't mean they're off -scot -free.

[153] They're constant threats to children, to teenagers, to young boys and girls, to young men and women, to older.

[154] I mean, and sometimes the threats really increase when it's an older man or an older woman who's lost some of their ability to defend themselves.

[155] then once again, they become more vulnerable.

[156] And, you know, our society says on both ends of that spectrum, well, if their quality of life isn't what we think it should be, maybe we should just get rid of them or help them, you know, sort of help them to die in a respectful death, you know, all of that is just false and it's harmful and it's just not of Christ.

[157] Again, if we look to the Lord of truth that is Jesus Christ, he'll guide us for all these different conflicts that we face.

[158] Well, said, well, that fits right in with your next tweet because the church is being purified.

[159] We've talked about Pope Pius XI.

[160] 11's comment when it says the church's worst persecutors have been her own unfaithful, bishops, priests, and religious.

[161] opposition from outside is terrible, it gives us many martyrs, but the church's worst enemy is their own traitors.

[162] Well, this follows up with another tweet weeks later where you said, the church is indestructible because love is indestructible.

[163] God is love, and love never fails.

[164] And then you quote St. Thomas Aquinas.

[165] He says, The church has ever proved indestructible.

[166] Her persecutors have failed to destroy her.

[167] In fact, it was during times of persecution that the church grew more and more.

[168] Well, that's very reassuring Bishop Strickland in the times we're living in because we have seen a drop in church attendance and fervor and also the influence of the church in culture has gone way down.

[169] What made you quote St. Thomas and this, you know, what were you thinking there?

[170] Well, it's just very short but very true.

[171] what he says that, and Christ says it in a different way in the gospel, the gates of hell will not prevail against the church.

[172] And what struck me as I was looking at that quote from St. Thomas Aquinas, and then I tweeted it, is that when Christ says the gates of hell will not prevail against the church, he's not telling us something new to reassure us.

[173] He's simply saying in a different way, the church is about the truth.

[174] Truth will never be destroyed because truth is of God.

[175] All of creation will one day cease, but truth will continue because God is truth.

[176] God is love.

[177] All that is true, all that is good, all that is beautiful comes from God.

[178] So I think what it, we need to be reassured with those words of St. Thomas Aquinas because many people would love, I mean, it certainly, it began with them crucifying Christ and praying today.

[179] The sorrowful mysteries, you know, I often reflect on, because when I do the sorrowful mysteries, I think about the stations as well.

[180] But Jesus before Pilate, the Roman Empire, and sadly the religious leaders as well, not all of them, but the powers that were said, we're going to get rid of this Jesus problem.

[181] And they thought they had.

[182] They thought they had, they crucified him, were done with the Jesus problem.

[183] little did they know that by crucifying him, by killing the son of God, they unleashed his grace that would ultimately result in his resurrection in a powerful way that transformed the world.

[184] Christ.

[185] So I think that we have to remember how powerful truth is, because truth is of God.

[186] We need to learn all the truth we can.

[187] And, you know, you mentioned that we've been doing this since July of 2020.

[188] Neither of us could remember how long we've been doing it because we're busy people and you just say, okay, it's Tuesday again.

[189] Let's do this.

[190] But that is a reminder of how important it is to share the truth.

[191] It's not mine and it's not yours.

[192] And as we both said, if we get it wrong, I'll be glad to stand and be corrected.

[193] Amen.

[194] If I misread the catechism.

[195] But thankfully, it's there.

[196] It's written.

[197] It's a codified truth.

[198] The deposit of faith isn't some sort of ether cloud.

[199] It's there.

[200] It's been worked on for 2 ,000 years.

[201] And we have the wonderful catechism that was promulgated during the time.

[202] of John Paul the Great.

[203] It's one of the greatest things he did.

[204] And he did a lot of great things as Pope and now as saint.

[205] But it's so good to have the truth.

[206] It does set us free.

[207] And as we urge people all the time, not just to listen to a few things that we say about the catechism, but to make it a project to constantly refer to this document of truth.

[208] It refers, absolutely.

[209] The Word of God, the Bible, sacred scripture is the truth.

[210] And the catechism is constantly referring back to sacred scripture.

[211] I've never had the time to do it, but I would bet you couldn't find a page of the catechism that doesn't quote scripture at least once.

[212] And usually it's a long list of scripture quotes.

[213] Well said, Bishop Strickland.

[214] Just a quick comment.

[215] I know you've been very vocal for the last year and a half to two years about the vaccine, so -called COVID vaccine, that is tinted by abortion, whether it was in the studies or in its practice, and that you will not endorse the vaccine.

[216] But it's just interesting.

[217] On another level, I've got an article here, says, study, report adverse reactions to COVID vaccine 18 times higher than any other vaccine we've ever done.

[218] And Bishop Strickland, I know the tie -ins with the.

[219] the abortion, but even on just the medical issue, we used to stop any kind of vaccine that had some adverse, like, you know, czars or scars or any of these other ones that were out there, they wouldn't let them continue if there were just a small percentage of people getting adverse reactions to it.

[220] And here we are 18 times higher than any other job, jab, and they just keep it going.

[221] I just bring this to your attention to point out that, yes, the level of the morality of it is there.

[222] I get that.

[223] Your conscience says I'm not going to take it.

[224] It's mine too.

[225] But I'm encouraging parents, and I hope you are too, not to give their kids this vaccine.

[226] I just buried a little boy 11 years old here at the chapel a week ago today because he took the vaccine and then never woke up.

[227] And then a little girl here in this article here in Argentina, three years old, she dies of a heart attack one day after taking the COVID vaccine.

[228] Now, I'm not saying everybody's going to die if you get this vaccine, but 99 .99 % of children are going to survive the COVID.

[229] And we're willing to give them this shot.

[230] I'm sorry, Bishop Strickland.

[231] I just think it's crazy.

[232] But would you agree that we shouldn't be giving this to our children?

[233] Absolutely.

[234] And certainly, as we've said, it needs to be.

[235] be a free choice.

[236] It needs to be, and a parent has to make that choice.

[237] But I would encourage them to be very careful before they vaccine their child against something that has a point zero -zero something threat to their life.

[238] Amen.

[239] When we come back, open up your catechism to paragraph 279 folks to talk about creation.

[240] Stay with us.

[241] Welcome back to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[242] We're going to be covering the catechism of the Catholic Church right now.

[243] This is something that is fundamental to our faith.

[244] I'm just going to share with you my own little formation in the morning.

[245] One of the things I read every day is I read one page of the catechism of the Catholic Church.

[246] I read my Bible too.

[247] Then I have my life of Christ, a little meditation, and then I have my prayers.

[248] but I'm not, this isn't taking, you know, hours to do, but it's part of my formation.

[249] I'm on the marriage, on the sacrament of marriage right now, reading about that.

[250] And you'd be surprised how fast you get through if you just do a page or two a day.

[251] So I would encourage everybody to read their catechism and be a high information Catholic.

[252] So paragraph 279, it's under paragraph 4 called a creator.

[253] In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

[254] Holy Scripture begins with these solemn words.

[255] The profession of faith takes them up when it is confessed that God, the Father Almighty, is creator of heaven and earth.

[256] Remember the Apostles' Creed?

[257] Of all that is seen and unseen, you know, the Nicene Creed.

[258] We shall speak first of the Creator, then of the creation, and finally of the fall into sin from which Jesus Christ, the son of God, came to raise us up again.

[259] Salvation history right here.

[260] Go ahead, Bishop Strick.

[261] Paragraph 279 gives us an understanding of how it all started.

[262] Well, really, Terry, probably that paragraph, as much as any in our world today, it should just be on every social media, in every newspaper, on every television program to just remind people, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

[263] And then, you know, as the different creeds say, creator of heaven and earth, of all that is seen and unseen, that there's so much there just in those phrases and just in this one paragraph, because there's so much of life that is, seen.

[264] Oh, yeah.

[265] I mean, you know, we certainly see our bodies, but we don't see the intricate processes that basically keep our bodies functioning.

[266] I'm always, ever since I was a little kid, I've always been amazed by the human body.

[267] Yeah.

[268] And I was, didn't really pursue it to any extent.

[269] But But I've always loved the medical world and learning about medicine.

[270] And the intricacy of just for us right now, the really millions, probably billions of things that have to be happening for us to be able to speak, for our brains to be functioning, for everything.

[271] And, you know, even the things that are happening automatically.

[272] Imagine if we had to think about everything that's happening to keep us alive.

[273] So all of that is, I mean, just thinking about the human being, besides the rest of creation, if you really start to study human life, it just takes you.

[274] beyond imagining the things that are we just take for granted and when you know when your heart quits working properly or your liver or your kidneys then we notice but when you're healthy um all of these processes just hum along and that is just a little microcosm of all of creation I mean, the oceans and the forests and in everything that makes the planet work, we do need to have a love for creation, but also sometimes in the midst of that, it's like we forget the hierarchy.

[275] And it's very clear in Genesis that, yes, creation is sacred, but we are the pinnacle of creation.

[276] That is a great blessing, but it's also a great responsibility to each other and to the rest of creation.

[277] Well, said, I think of that paragraph, and it makes me think I'm part of that creation that God, if God stopped thinking about me or Bishop Strickland, you would, and I would cease to exist.

[278] See, I think that if people understood that we're not just in a mistake, you know, we just didn't just show up, but that God specifically loved.

[279] loves us more than we can love ourselves.

[280] What?

[281] Yeah.

[282] And so, anyhow, that's something that may crosses my mind when I think of creation.

[283] All right, paragraph 280.

[284] Creation is the foundation of all God's saving plans, the beginning of the history of salvation, that culminates in Christ.

[285] Conversely, the mystery of Christ casts conclusive light on the mystery of God's.

[286] creation and reveals the end for which in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth from the beginning God invested the glory to the new creation in Christ.

[287] So again, coming back to creation.

[288] Yep, absolutely.

[289] And what we're just celebrated Christmas.

[290] And what I like to reflect on there is the wonder that Jesus Christ, the Creator, with God, the Father and the Spirit, the Word, as it's spoken of in John's Gospel especially, the Creator becomes a creature of his own creation.

[291] That's the wonder of the incarnation.

[292] I think it's a reminder to us of God's, as this mentions, God's saving plan.

[293] You know, because sometimes the theologians debate whether, if Adam and Eve had never fallen, would there have been a need for an incarnate son of God?

[294] And my understanding, I don't think it's really addressed in the catechism, because it's sort of a speculative question.

[295] It's not necessary for us to know, really, because we know that Christ did come.

[296] But what I like to think is that God so loved the world that he would still have given his son, even if he didn't have it to give him to redeem us, because that's the beautiful act of the incarnation, even besides his salvific act of giving him.

[297] himself, his very life for us, merely entering into creation is a beautiful gift of God's love because the creator becomes a creature.

[298] And if you think about Christ conceived in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary, just like you and I, we came to be at the conception for us, but, you know, from our mother and father for Christ from the Holy Spirit.

[299] and the Blessed Virgin Mary, but we started the same way as a microscopic person in the womb of our mother.

[300] And for the creator of all to humble himself to that extent and to truly become incarnate and go through the journey of growing in the womb and then being born and everything he did in 33 years of life, that really, as this begins to touch on God's saving plans, it is God coming to us in the most intimate way he could by becoming one of us.

[301] That's powerful.

[302] I was just looking at paragraph 281, and it's so neat that the Catholic Church has two lungs, as St. John Paul, too, would say, a lung of the east and the lung of the West.

[303] And now we're quoting, it says here, paragraph 281.

[304] And so the readings of the Easter Vigil, the celebration of the new creation in Christ, begin with the creation account.

[305] Likewise, in the Byzantine liturgy, the account of creation always constitutes the first reading at the vigils of the great feast of the Lord.

[306] According to ancient witnesses, the instruction of the Catecumans for baptism followed the same itinerary.

[307] That's interesting.

[308] You know, the eastern, I don't know about you, Bishop Strickland, but I go to a Melkite Mass on the 22nd of each month.

[309] It's St. Charbel's special mass here at our chapel.

[310] And it's a very rich liturgy.

[311] They repeat things in sets of three.

[312] And, I mean, at first you're, you know, you don't speak Arabic and Greek.

[313] I get it.

[314] but it seems so rich in a supernatural liturgy that they have, that they really are serious about that.

[315] And I'll just mention one quote too.

[316] I was with the priest Sunday who purifies the chalice after Mass. No layman, and we're not supposed to have lay people doing that anyway, but in the eastern right, the priest was telling me, I was commenting, I said, thank you for being so careful with the chalice and with your purification of the sacred vessels.

[317] and he said, what?

[318] I better.

[319] It's my responsibility.

[320] I don't want to, I'm going to make sure it's perfectly done.

[321] So I thought, what a, see how serious he was about the liturgy.

[322] Not that, oh yeah, we'll say mass today.

[323] You take care of this.

[324] No, the liturgy is sacred.

[325] So anyhow, I just bring that up about the Eastern Byzantine liturgy.

[326] But your thoughts on paragraph 281.

[327] Well, I certainly agree with you with the business.

[328] liturgy.

[329] And what this is getting at is the wisdom, the Holy Spirit, guiding the church in those very early centuries, it talks about the catacumans preparing for baptism.

[330] We talk about a lot, Terry.

[331] Go back to the fundamental.

[332] Exactly.

[333] Who made you?

[334] God made you.

[335] What did he make you for?

[336] To know love and serve him in this life and be happy with him in the next two.

[337] And that's what the catechists, the catechism, or the teaching the catechumans, the instruction of the catechumans, it's about going back to those basics, to those fundamentals of who is God and who are we and how has Christ, the son of God, come to bring us salvation.

[338] If only we will embrace it.

[339] Wow, I always think of that.

[340] If you're going to be a good baseball player or good boxer, you know, major on the fundamentals.

[341] What about our Catholic faith?

[342] same thing that's why this catechism is so important to read on a daily basis we come back we'll continue to talk about the catechises of creation stay with us family welcome back to the bishop strickland hour we're covering the catechism of the catholic church which is so important to study as i said we're talking about the catechesis of creation paragraph 282 and this is so fundamental to our faith.

[343] The catechism teaches that the catechesis on creation is of major importance.

[344] It concerns the very foundations of human Christian life, for it makes explicit the response of Christian faith to the basic question that men of all time have asked themselves.

[345] Yeah, that's right.

[346] Where do we come from?

[347] And where are we going?

[348] That's been asked for long time.

[349] What is our origin?

[350] This is what our faith gives us.

[351] What is our end?

[352] Where does everything that exists come from and where is it going?

[353] The two questions, the first about the origin and the second about the end, are inseparable.

[354] They are decisive for the meaning and orientation of our life and actions.

[355] If the world knew this, you know, this paragraph, I'm sorry, I'm going to let you talk on, but it gets me excited when I read this, because I think of that, how many people are living without any understanding of purpose in life other than go to work, go home, pay the bills, but no supernatural aspect of where they're going at the time of their exit interview, their death.

[356] Absolutely.

[357] These paragraphs are critical to teach humanity.

[358] Yeah.

[359] And one thing I would emphasize, Terry.

[360] tell me it really strikes me this isn't catholic teaching this is just reality amen this is human reality and that i think we need to remember certainly the catechism includes a lot of things the sacraments and in a lot of different things that are specific i mean we believe it's for everyone but it is catholic teaching these paragraphs are not catholic teaching yes they're Catholic teaching, but they're human teaching, not just for, I mean, even for those who don't believe in God, all of this still applies.

[361] It's right.

[362] It's the same truth.

[363] And so really, we need to share this treasure, this, and this is an aspect of the deposit of faith, some of the most fundamental truth that God is revealed to us.

[364] where we come from?

[365] Where are we going?

[366] What's life about?

[367] Aren't those the basic questions that so many people are grappling with?

[368] Yep.

[369] We have the answer.

[370] Big time.

[371] Many reject these answers, but we've got to keep lovingly and patiently, but clearly sharing the truth.

[372] And I think in our lifetime, basically, the church has kind of got to keep lovingly and patiently, but clearly sharing the truth.

[373] And I think in our lifetime, off track here.

[374] Instead of sharing the truth lovingly and patiently, it said, oh, well, we don't want to ruffle feathers or we don't want the conflicts.

[375] Little children can't understand.

[376] Yes, they can.

[377] Little children, a lot of times, have more wisdom than we do.

[378] Amen.

[379] There was a real movement when we were little kids to say, oh, the catechism, it's too complicated.

[380] It needs to be I don't, they probably didn't use the terms, but what they did was water it down.

[381] It's like, oh, we'll just love each other and be kind to each other.

[382] How do we do that?

[383] By remembering where we came from, where are we going, and it keeps pulling us back onto the path.

[384] But I think it's very important for us to remember that this isn't some, oh, if you belong to the Catholic club, then this is stuff that guides you.

[385] This, if you belong to, the human club.

[386] This is your truth.

[387] And we need to boldly and joyfully share this with everyone.

[388] Absolutely.

[389] Amen to that.

[390] And Bishop Strickland, the world would be changed if it understood the supernatural, rather than centering on man, but on God.

[391] I just think that this is so important.

[392] Paragraph, well, we got a few more minutes.

[393] Paragraph 283 says, The question about the origins of the world and of man has been the object of many scientific studies which have splendidly enriched our knowledge of the age and dimensions of the cosmos and the development of life forms and appearance of man. These discoveries invite us to even greater admiration.

[394] That's right.

[395] For the greatness of the creator, prompting us to give him thanks for all his works and for understanding and wisdom he gives to the scholars and researchers.

[396] With Solomon, they can say, it is he who gave me unerring knowledge of what exists, to know the structure of the world, the activity of the elements for wisdom fashioned of all things taught me. You know, I'm just going to jump in again, Bishop Strickland, you're nailing it if people only understood the meaning and purpose of life.

[397] And also what you said earlier about creation, I like what you said last week.

[398] I still remember it.

[399] You would go out as a little boy and walk in the forest and you would just look at the leaves and the trees.

[400] I mean, I do that too.

[401] We're very similar in a lot of ways.

[402] It scares me sometimes.

[403] But anyhow, creation is beautiful.

[404] It's an expression of God's love for us.

[405] And this paragraph...

[406] I really...

[407] I think that's one of the things that we need to pay attention to in today's modern world is we need to make the effort to be in touch with creation, to see the lilies of the field, the birds, all of creation, to just marvel at it and be, because being more in touch with creation puts us more in touch with the creator.

[408] And again, that applies to every living, breathing human being.

[409] If you go out into the wilderness, whatever wilderness you're in, maybe it's hills and trees, maybe it's the ocean, maybe it's desert, maybe it's mountains.

[410] But all the aspects of creation, they echo the creator.

[411] And there's so much built in here that is so easily forgotten when even you know kids are that let's say when we were seven years old yeah so much of what seven year olds today play with or are caught up with didn't even exist that's right i mean we never heard of a video game no i mean the first one i saw saw was much later pong i think but that was when i was a teenager right um but seven year olds today are surrounded by so much they may never see a living plant or a tree or an animal out in the wild um and we need to see that because those are that is how god has written his love into creation is through everything visible and invisible certainly includes us but we need and i think that's one of the maladies that we face as humanity.

[412] Not in any given nation, but so much of humanity is isolated from the creator because we're isolated from creation.

[413] Well, my oldest son would agree with you.

[414] He has a thousand acres up in Nevada, and he's got a farm with cows and sheep and all kinds of pigs, and he's a farmer.

[415] And he said to me, Dad, I don't want to live in the city.

[416] it doesn't do anything for i want to have creation i want to see my sunsets out there in nevada and what do i see i see god's loving creation with my farm animals and i see how it all works and there's so much that the farm animals teach me about the meaning of life and i thought well good point and you know i try to do that same thing with my grandson i have a little rhino you don't know rhino is it's a little off -road motor, like a cart, golf cart, but it can, his four -wheel drive.

[417] I take him up on the hill.

[418] We go hiking, and he's two years old, and he'll go for a half a mile hiking, get back in the rhino, come back home, but we'll look at a sunset, we'll look at the tree, we'll talk about things.

[419] He likes grabbing the leaves and then throws him up in the air and watches him fall down.

[420] And see, this is what little boys need, Bishop Strickland.

[421] They don't need to be sitting in front of a video to watch, I don't care, whatever is popular.

[422] This, I'm convinced, the development of children is much better when they're in nature.

[423] And also, I also believe that this is a great way to teach kids about God through nature.

[424] That's my take.

[425] That's what I did with my kids, at least.

[426] Absolutely.

[427] And this paragraph 283 really reminds me, you know, the Catholic Church gets bash for a lot of things, but really the scientific endeavor began in the Catholic Church.

[428] That's right.

[429] Don't forget that focus.

[430] With a desire to know more about this creation.

[431] Many of the great scientists were monks in the early development of science.

[432] And look how far it's come.

[433] But sadly, too often science takes us away from God when really it should take us even more deeply.

[434] into him.

[435] I mean, look at what we know, just like I was talking about earlier, about how the human body function.

[436] At the time of Jesus Christ, they didn't know, I mean, certainly there was a lot of wisdom that they had of when somebody was sick or something, but as far as how the human body actually functions, they knew very little.

[437] But now we know so much about the intricate mechanisms that keep us healthy and alive and that should take us even more into the marvel of the creator who made all of this instead of oh saying well now we can control it and can manipulate it that's where it begins to break down and harm everyone including the the person whose body we may be manipulating or taking life from well said bishop strickland a few minutes that we have left i want to just mention we're in a liturgical year called Ordinary Time.

[438] Can you comment what that's all of?

[439] Sounds like Ordinary Time.

[440] What's that about?

[441] Well, interestingly, Terry, as you probably know, there's a lot of language that can have different nuances and all.

[442] In the context of the liturgical calendar, we just started Ordinary Time in the new calendar after the baptism of the Lord.

[443] That's the first Sunday of Ordinary Time and with that Christmas season ends, and we enter into this period of ordinary time before Lent is the next liturgical season.

[444] Ordinary in this sense is ordinal, and I really like the idea because it really comes from counting.

[445] And so we're counting the days until the next festival season, which will be lent.

[446] But that's what ordinary time is not ordinary in the sense that we think about it, it's counting the days until you get to the next liturgical season.

[447] Awesome.

[448] How about a blessing for all our listeners, Bishop Strickland?

[449] Sure.

[450] Almighty God, we ask your blessing for everyone listening and participate in this podcast.

[451] It may be a time to grow in faith and to join in love.

[452] Thank you so much, folks, for listening.

[453] You can listen to the podcast by going to VM.

[454] p .r .org or just tell your friends that go to different means of on our website we have lots of things you can get other shows also on bmpr .org may god richly bless you and we'll see you again next time god love you