07 Jul 2020 – On the 1st Commandment

[0] Welcome to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[1] My name is Terry Barber.

[2] I'm the host for this first episode with Bishop Strickland.

[3] Bishop Strickland, I want to welcome you to Virgin Most Powerful Radio and the once -a -week show that you're going to be doing.

[4] So welcome, my friend.

[5] Thank you, Terry.

[6] Thank you.

[7] And Bishop Strickland, before we're going to be, I'll tell the people what we're doing, we're going to be going through the, you're going to be going through the Ten Commandments because it's very important that people, all of our Catholics, know the faith well.

[8] I quote St. John Paul too who said this about your knowledge about Jesus.

[9] He said deepen your knowledge of Jesus.

[10] This ends loneliness.

[11] It overcomes sadness and uncertainty and it gives real meaning to life.

[12] It curbs the passions.

[13] It salts ideals.

[14] Expands energies into charity.

[15] It brings light into decisive choices.

[16] Let Christ be for you the way, the truth and the life.

[17] That was St. John Paul too.

[18] And Bishop Strickland, that to me, is a good reason for us to cover the fundamental teachings of the church.

[19] And there's nothing more fundamental than the Ten Commandments.

[20] But before we do that, I'd like to ask you to kind of explain a little bit about what you're doing with social media.

[21] And I want people to get on board with your social media.

[22] You tweeted something regarding last week's decision by the Supreme Court about the 1964 teaching on for, the idea that sexuality somehow is tied into transgenderism, and you get to decide that, and that's the discrimination.

[23] And so I want you to give a little commentary for our listeners, for the sake of those who didn't read your tweet, and why we have to stand up for marriage that's defined by God, a man and a woman?

[24] Well, honestly, Terry, I'm not exactly remembering that tweet.

[25] I tweet a couple of times a day.

[26] But what the gist of it was, if I remember correctly, was we used the word the Supreme Court, the highest court in the land.

[27] Right.

[28] Which, you know, I love this country.

[29] I love our heritage.

[30] It's created better opportunities than any other system in human history, in my opinion.

[31] I agree.

[32] But the Supreme Court is just men and women, just human beings.

[33] Yes, it's the highest court of the land that deserves respect, and we do respect the Supreme Court.

[34] But we need to pray, and we need to do everything we can to promote a society that remembers where supreme law comes from.

[35] Amen.

[36] The supreme being, and that is God.

[37] And in my opinion, and it's not just opinion, but we have to really recognize that when our Supreme Court or any law is in conflict with the Supreme Law of God, we've got a problem.

[38] we can just look around humanity and see that God created us, as Revelation tells us, it echoes what we see.

[39] God created us male and female.

[40] And, you know, as I've tweeted on that topic a few times since I've been tweeting, I guess, two or three years, I've been doing this tweeting stuff.

[41] But the reality is those are the only two options, male and female.

[42] That is thrown in our face as members of the Judeo -Christian tradition and believing what Genesis says, God made them male and female.

[43] It's thrown in our face as some sort of bigotry and judgmentalism.

[44] and we have to, with great love and kindness, but strength, push back and say, no, that is not bigotry.

[45] That is not in any way denying the value of every human being.

[46] What we're about in the Catholic Church, you could say the Catholic Catechism is a volume that tells us why we are valuable every single person from conception to natural death.

[47] So when we get attacked, and sometimes that's an appropriate word, or we get a pushback that is really negative, we don't need to react negatively.

[48] We don't need to push back in attack mode.

[49] I just don't think that's effective, and we don't need to, because God has revealed his truth to us.

[50] I mean, you know, it's a pretty good place to be when supreme truth is on our side.

[51] And so we can be very loving and very calm, but very clear.

[52] And I guess the, you know, you probably remember the commercial from years ago, where's the beef?

[53] Exactly, exactly.

[54] My beef is, too often, we're not as clear as we should be, even in the church.

[55] I mean, yes, the church has volumes and volumes of complex theological dissertation.

[56] I mean, you can read the Sumo Theologica, and it is complex, but it also, if you read it a sentence at a time, it's not that complex.

[57] and it's clear.

[58] Sometimes clarity is complex.

[59] I mean, you can talk to a scientist about the chemistry of the human body.

[60] It's complex, but it doesn't mean it can be clear.

[61] If it's not clear, we're not getting the message.

[62] And I think in the church and in the world today, we need more clarity.

[63] And that's, God created us, male and female.

[64] There are two options.

[65] That doesn't mean that people that are in some way challenged or struggling because of who they are.

[66] Maybe some men are struggling, some women are struggling, some boys are struggling, some girls are struggling.

[67] That we reach out compassionately to them and deal with them with the truth, helping the boy to be a boy, helping the girl to be a girl.

[68] We live in a time when this false compassion is promoted as, oh, no, help them explore who they might be.

[69] We know who they are.

[70] They're male or female.

[71] In any confusion, we need to help them see the reality of who they are with great compassion.

[72] And real compassion is helping a person discover who they're.

[73] they are and not promoting the confusion that they may have.

[74] And sadly, it's all flipped over and we're dealing with confusion.

[75] Bishop Strickland, we say clarity with charity.

[76] So we teach and one of my good friends' father, from the Fathers of Mercy, Bill Casey, he said that the most merciless thing we can do is let someone wallow in sin.

[77] And so the idea is to teach people with a loving message about the gospel of Jesus Christ, and you do that very thing.

[78] Now, Bishop Strickland, before we have to break in about five minutes, what's the advice to mom and dad that are out there listening right now, trying to do their best in their marriage and sharing the gospel and living that with their daily duties, fulfilling their daily duties as good husbands, good wives?

[79] What's the best thing they can do to witness for the marriage bond of a man?

[80] and a woman in our culture today?

[81] Good communication.

[82] It sounds really simple, but I think it's probably one of the biggest challenges that we face.

[83] And it's not just in marriage, but marriage is about communication.

[84] For people that have had committed marriages for many years, you know, they have to be committed and for that, not to just survive and I want to be clear about that what the Catholic Church teaches is not just survival skills for marriage like, oh well, this is horrible but we're surviving.

[85] We want the man and the woman in a marriage to flourish.

[86] God wants them to flourish.

[87] That's why he made us male and female and that's why he made marriage the way a man finds a partner, a suitable partner.

[88] Often that is read a lot of times from Genesis in the wedding masses that I've celebrated.

[89] A lot of times I like to focus on that.

[90] It's a beautiful concept of a suitable partner for a man to find that suitable partner, a woman who is a perfect fit.

[91] And vice versa, for the woman to find that man as a perfect fit.

[92] So really, Terry, communication.

[93] Good.

[94] Communication, communication.

[95] It's all about communication.

[96] You got it.

[97] And Bishop Strickland, Bishop Sheen wrote a book, Three to Get Married back in the early 50s.

[98] My wife and I read it before we got married, and something jumped out at me. And it said that you think your marriage is going to last because you're strong?

[99] No. Bishop Sheen said, the way you have a marriage stay.

[100] excitable, in other words, in love with your wife, is that you renew your marriage vows often.

[101] And that's something that I try to do in my own marriage, and I've been married 30 -some years, same woman, old -fashioned, but when she hears me say, Mary Danielle, I take you to be my lawful wedded wife, I say this in front of people, I say, Mary, do you ever get tired of me saying that?

[102] She says, no. And I say, I'd never get tired of you recommitting yourself.

[103] It's the same principle of our baptismal promises, and that's how we stay.

[104] in love by our renewing that love through our promise to each other.

[105] So Bishop Strickland, when we come back from the break, I would like to delve right into the Ten Commandments.

[106] And I also want to remind everyone that there's a way that you can support what this show is doing.

[107] If you're listening and you know of another Catholic radio station who would want this show, contact Virgin Most Powerful Radio.

[108] We want the whole world to hear this brand new show with the Bishop Strickland Hour on Virgin Most Powerful.

[109] When we come back, we'll dive right into the Ten Commandments of the Catholic Church in the Catechism section, 252.

[110] That's paragraph 2000.

[111] We got Ernesto from Long Beach.

[112] You know, I just wanted to comment, you know, and I just wanted to thank you guys.

[113] And I kind of wanted to encourage people that are listening, maybe they are not donating, you know, because honestly, I got to be honest.

[114] I used to think you guys were a little...

[115] Too over the top.

[116] You know?

[117] You know, yeah.

[118] That's right.

[119] If God gave us a lot, you know, and I have the blessing of listening to all this.

[120] I just want to call all the people.

[121] You know, I've got five kids, you know, and I don't make a lot of money, and I'm still donating to you guys.

[122] God bless you, brother.

[123] You're amazing.

[124] We got to.

[125] We have to do this.

[126] We have to do the extra.

[127] And it's not even the extra.

[128] People see it like it's extra.

[129] Needing for communion.

[130] Saying your rosary, saying the divine mercy chaplain.

[131] It is not extra.

[132] It's what the church tells us to do.

[133] Amen.

[134] You're a good man, brother.

[135] 30 years old, 30 years old, 29 years old, five kids, and I thank you guys.

[136] But everybody else, man, get on fire.

[137] Fight for the truth, man. I know what I'm telling you guys.

[138] I love it.

[139] Ciroc 1124 says, Do not say I am self -sufficient.

[140] What harm can come to me now?

[141] According to St. Catherine of Sienna, presumption is like vermin, burrowing at the root of the tree of our soul.

[142] If we do not uproot it with great care and humility, it will eventually destroy the soul.

[143] May God keep us from all presumption of mind and heart and realize that we depend on him for everything.

[144] This is Terry Barber.

[145] I want to thank you for your support here at Virgin Most Powerful Radio.

[146] Here's an easy way to do it.

[147] If you're going to sell or buy a house, call real estate for life 877 -543 -3871 because they're going to get you a Christ -centered agent to purchase your home or to sell your home.

[148] And at the close of escrow, a portion of his commission goes right back to Virgin Most Powerful Radio.

[149] Call 877 -543 -3871.

[150] Thank you so much for your support.

[151] Welcome back to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[152] This is Terry Barber, your host.

[153] We're talking about the Ten Commandments, and I'd like to just set the stage.

[154] Paragraph 252 in the Catechism of the Catholic Church says this, teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?

[155] to the young man who asked this question to Jesus answered first by invoking the necessity to recognize God as the one there is who is good, as supreme good, and the source of all good.

[156] Then Jesus tells him, if you would enter life, keep the commandments.

[157] And he cites for his questioner the precepts that concern the love of neighbor.

[158] You shall not kill.

[159] You shall not commit adultery.

[160] You shall not steal.

[161] You shall not bear false witness.

[162] Honor your father and mother.

[163] Finally, Jesus sums up these commandments positively.

[164] You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

[165] That's paragraph 252.

[166] And that sets the stage for the teaching from Bishop Strickland on the Ten Commandments, Bishop.

[167] Thank you.

[168] What really strikes me as you read that paragraph.

[169] is recognizing how God has made us and how God has made this world.

[170] I think we live in a time when all of this is seen as sort of theoretical.

[171] I often, one of my pet peeves, I guess, or one bandwagon I get on is that we don't have enough supernatural faith.

[172] faith.

[173] And I love what it says here.

[174] And so often it's a matter of looking closely.

[175] We talked about, you know, you or previously you asked the question about how does a man and a woman in marriage, how do they really thrive and flourish and not just survive?

[176] Certainly we want the marriage to survive, but how do they thrive through communication?

[177] And it's the same thing with us with God.

[178] That communication line needs.

[179] needs to be open.

[180] What I really like about the way this is written, if you would enter life, it doesn't say everlasting life.

[181] It doesn't say the response of Jesus, if you would enter life, keep the commandments.

[182] And what I think that highlights, Terry, is the Ten Commandments about living now?

[183] How do we live ethically?

[184] How do we live lovingly?

[185] How do we live?

[186] They're part of the operation manual that comes with or that God is given for every human being.

[187] We could say every baby born, the operation manual for that child is the Ten Commandments.

[188] And certainly, as we explore the Ten Commandments, even here in the Catechism, there's, There are quite a few paragraphs that continue, much more than it's interesting, as I'm sure you're aware, later on, it says the word decalogue literally means 10 words, and there are a whole lot more than 10 words, but it can be distilled to what we just read.

[189] You shall not kill.

[190] Look at how much is broken in our world when we forget that.

[191] That basic medicine.

[192] of the sanctity of life, from conception to natural death, as we believe in the Catholic faith.

[193] When we live in a world where killing is allowed, at any portion of that spectrum, we're all under threat.

[194] And that's just one example of what the commandments bring us.

[195] They bring us basic norms for how to live, how to survive in this world, and as it's God's will, how do we flourish?

[196] We don't kill each other.

[197] That's about as basic as it gets.

[198] And for too long, we've sanctioned killing others.

[199] And as you know, I constantly repeat the message of the church.

[200] on regarding abortion, that killing the unborn is murder, it's wrong.

[201] But, and sometimes people push back for us as Catholics, say, oh, you're just worried about the unborn.

[202] Really, as Catholics, we're worried about every person.

[203] Is this person's life being respected?

[204] And some of the recent tragic controversy that we've gone through in the nation, that is really not over, but it's just continuing to kind of roll through and develop in sad ways for me, because we're, you know, we can't protect the sanctity of life by attacking other lives.

[205] And that seems to be, sadly, what happens all too often because we forget those basic commandments that God has given us.

[206] As we look at the commandments, certainly the first one, you shall worship the Lord your God, and Him alone shall you serve.

[207] And many might say, okay, that's the First Commandment.

[208] Many might say that, well, you know, we don't, there's not a lot of idle worship going on.

[209] But I think we need to scratch the surface on that and recognize.

[210] how do we fail to really keep God as God?

[211] You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him alone shall you serve.

[212] I think that word serve really starts to open it up a bit.

[213] Maybe, I mean, sadly, a lot of people don't worship God or anything, you know, in our culture today.

[214] really throughout the world, there are too many people who don't worship because they don't really believe in God.

[215] But they do serve a master of some kind.

[216] They serve a master of their own pleasure.

[217] They serve a master of wealth.

[218] They serve a master of some ideology.

[219] We all serve a master.

[220] And what that commandment says, him alone shall you serve.

[221] And I think that's a basic as we get to the First Commandment, if, you know, we, and we're all sinners.

[222] I'm a sinner.

[223] Every one of us is.

[224] And as I read something just, I like to read Augustine, just little snippets of Augustine.

[225] It's a daily reader of Augustine quotes.

[226] And he said in what I was reading recently that, you know, we have to, do our best to not sin, period.

[227] And as Augustine said in this quote, and at least avoid mortal sin.

[228] And, you know, for Catholics, mortal sin is something hopefully we're very familiar with as a basic concept of what to avoid.

[229] Mortal means deadly, deadly to us as human beings, sometimes deadly to natural life, the life, the heart that's pumping, the lungs that are breathing, being alive as a person.

[230] And sometimes mortal sins, I mean, they always threaten the supernatural life.

[231] Sometimes they threaten both.

[232] And we should do our best to avoid sin, especially mortal sin.

[233] And when we serve another master, we sin.

[234] And even if it's, you know, the terminology we use as venial sin, even if we keep our sins only at venial sins, we thank God for that, but it still is sin.

[235] It's, It's letting another master creep in in a venial way is a less significant way that even, you know, saying a good act of contrition, or going to Mass and praying the penitential right, or praying the Our Father, there are all kinds of ways that venial sins can be forgiven.

[236] the sacrament of confession is about certainly being renewed in that grace of that baptismal grace and also we must go to confession if we're aware of any serious or mortal sin and it's interesting you know terry i didn't really intend to immediately start talking sin but that's the flip side of these commandments what do you do when you break a command?

[237] You sin.

[238] And that's another aspect of what we struggle with in today's world, because too many people, including people, sometimes people of faith, don't have a good concept of what sin is.

[239] And reviewing the commandments and asking yourself, honestly, have I lived that fully?

[240] Just that first commandment, you shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve.

[241] that serving of him only is where I slip up, you know, because we can, probably primarily we serve ourselves.

[242] And when I get selfish or when I get impatient or, you know, those venial sins that we do commit when we deval you another person, not causing them any actual harm, but just not treating them with the respect that they deserve, that's at least a venial sin where I'm serving me and not serving God.

[243] The best way to value another person is to remember it's my obligation to serve only God and to that takes us away from serving ourselves.

[244] Humility is, is one of those virtues that is often lacking in every aspect of human society.

[245] And I think that just focusing on those few words from the First Commandment, you shall worship the Lord your God, and Him alone shall you serve.

[246] That's a great reminder to us of the challenge we face, because I begin to serve other masters.

[247] It may just be that I eat too much, or that I'm even the flip side of too concerned about how I look and not eating too much, that you begin to eat.

[248] you know, to serve another master.

[249] It's easy.

[250] I mean, Satan loves to creep in there and his little demons, you know, and we may not believe in Satan, but he's real, and his demons are after us all the time, not in a way that should make us paranoid or fearful, but just aware, awake, open your eyes.

[251] Again, communicate with God.

[252] I mean, if you look at Jesus in the scriptures, I mean, In his day, I mean, it seems that demons were pretty much there.

[253] I mean, he has several encounters with demons.

[254] And if they were there, then, I think they're definitely here now.

[255] And we need to just be aware and trust that he has conquered Satan and sin.

[256] Jesus Christ has conquered all evil, but it's still hanging around and it's ready to grab us if we are serving another master.

[257] Bishop Strickland, let me jump in because I'm listening to you and going, it's refreshing to hear the commandments preached by a bishop because I've lived long enough in this last 60 years where I haven't seen a lot of that being done, and I think there's a lot of ignorance out there, and I think it's great that you're willing to teach us the fundamentals and the perennial teachings of the church, because last time I looked, there was no expiration date on those 10 commandments.

[258] We're going to come right back with Bishop Strickland on the Bishop Strickland hour and talk more about the Ten Commandments.

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[281] This is Terry Barber.

[282] I want to thank you for your support here at Virgin Most Powerful Radio.

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[285] or to sell your home.

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[287] Call 877 -543 -3871.

[288] Thank you so much for your support.

[289] Welcome back to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[290] My name's Terry Barbara.

[291] I'm having a good time here.

[292] Learning and reviewing the First Commandment of the Ten Commandments.

[293] And I always say this Bishop Strickland that, you know, if you want to be a good boxer or good ball player, you work on the fundamentals and I'm a baseball nut so I love baseball so we work on the fundamentals to be a good ball player well if we're talking about our Catholic faith we've got to go back to the fundamentals and there's nothing more fundamental than the Ten Commandments and Bishop Strickland I don't mean to I'm just going to say it's refreshing because for so many years I ask people questions about the Ten Commandments and they can't even name them so I think it's important that you as a bishop teach us because that's part of the teaching the office of bishop to teach governed and sanctify so i thank you again and please continue to instruct not just me but all of our listeners to review these commandments and we're on the first commandment today absolutely terry and let me just say very clearly yeah i don't know this stuff I'm just a faithful man looking at what the church offers us in the catechism.

[294] Amen.

[295] What's interesting, as you know, there are 10 paragraphs on the First Commandment.

[296] Yep.

[297] And that's the beauty of the Catechism, is it goes in depth.

[298] And what's interesting is as 10 paragraphs on one commandment.

[299] Wow.

[300] Probably I'd have a hard time writing that much.

[301] said, okay, right about the First Commandment, you shall worship the Lord your God, and Him alone shall you serve.

[302] I mean, I'd have a hard time coming up with 10 paragraphs, probably.

[303] What's interesting is that even that is just scratching the surface.

[304] If you look at the footnotes, there are five footnotes on the first page, five more.

[305] They're about 15 to 20 footnotes on those pages on the First Commandment.

[306] So I guess my point is there is a wealth of teaching that is either captured or pointed to.

[307] I mean, some of those footnotes are, a lot of them are sacred scripture, talking about where the commandments relate to other places in the Gospel.

[308] We, of course, we know, hopefully everyone knows the commandments are first offered in the Declaration.

[309] echelog form in the book of Exodus given to Moses, but in even the, as it talks about the first commandment, we probably, I would wager that a lot of people would be able to quote the great commandment that Christ speaks of in the gospel more easily than they might be able to quote the regular 10 commandments.

[310] Jesus quotes, and this comes from the Old Testament, the Hebrew scriptures, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.

[311] And what I want to, even as we just start to scratch the surface on the Ten Commandments, I wanted to highlight that because we live in the age when people just say, oh, it's all about love.

[312] And they're right, but it's love in God's terms, not love in our terms.

[313] And I think where it breaks down is we, again, we define love according to who we serve and we're not serving God.

[314] If we really look at love, as we know from John's Gospels so beautifully, but certainly really all the Gospels, God is love.

[315] Love is God.

[316] And so you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself.

[317] The second is like it, that second great commandment that Christ quotes.

[318] I think what gets frustrating, I'm sure, for you sometimes, and for me as a bishop, it is all about love, but love in a profound depth, love that is so challenging, love that is so complete.

[319] We can never, you know, just sort of sign it off as the little slice of love that we want to embrace at that moment.

[320] When we say God is love, God is everything.

[321] God is love itself.

[322] God is love itself, and that's hard to even fathom.

[323] but we always have to keep in front of our minds that when we say this love, this God, that we should love, that we should worship no other and serve no other, God is that fullness of love that, as we really know, we can't understand.

[324] We can't embrace, we can't fully grasp the love that God is.

[325] we can look to Jesus Christ.

[326] He is God walking this earth as a human being.

[327] And what's interesting, and I think it's a great prayer and reflection that we can all do, is think about, okay, just follow the logic.

[328] God is love, and Jesus Christ is God.

[329] He's God's own divine son.

[330] So everything that Jesus does in this world is love at work, love working in our world, from being humble enough to be conceived in the womb of the Virgin Mary, of a young maiden in Palestine, in what we call now the Holy Land, in a town called Nazareth, a woman, a young woman there, a maiden, a virgin, God's act of, his first act of love as a human being is to love us enough to be conceived in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

[331] Talk about humility.

[332] Here's God, the Son of God, the eternal word, becomes incarnate at the moment he's conceived in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

[333] That's love acting.

[334] Love acting in the world.

[335] world.

[336] We don't have the time, but we could go through every moment of his life, and that's love acting.

[337] You got me excited because what made me think while you were talking about the love that God has for us, Bishop Strickland, that I always was taught as a youngster that if God stopped thinking about me, I would cease to exist.

[338] That's how much God loves me. And then the other question I have, Bishop Strickland, am I onto something, the spiritual writers that I've read said, one of the reasons people don't fall in love with God is because somehow they bottom don't think that God's going to be able to take care of their needs.

[339] Am I on to something there?

[340] Yeah, I think you are because we don't, I think it goes to the point where, you know, in a way, we're both about the same age, just over 60.

[341] We're more than half a century old.

[342] That's an old way to say.

[343] I've thought of that.

[344] I would say that both of us have learned more deeply that God truly does love us.

[345] Amen.

[346] That's why we're here doing this now.

[347] Absolutely.

[348] If Terry Barber didn't believe that God loves him, you wouldn't be doing what you're doing.

[349] And I can tell you, I wouldn't be doing what I'm doing.

[350] Amen.

[351] It wouldn't, it would not be attractive to us.

[352] It wouldn't be possible.

[353] I mean, do I fully grasp God's love for me as an individual, an unrepeatable gift of his love for the world?

[354] Not because I'm great, but because God's great.

[355] You know, he's given a lot better gifts than me, but I'm here because I'm an unrepeatable expression of God's love.

[356] We take a lifetime to learn that.

[357] And I think that you often ask as we talk about these things, Bishop, how can we promote your Institute?

[358] Absolutely.

[359] I want to.

[360] Yes.

[361] St .Philip Institute .org.

[362] I'm self -promoting that, I guess.

[363] Good, good.

[364] Because we need to promote the idea of coming to know God and learning his truth.

[365] And that's what the St. Philip Institute, and a lot of.

[366] great institutes and works of other dioceses.

[367] There are a lot of good treasures in the life of the church, like your radio program that people are listening to right now.

[368] There are some great things available, and it's all about learning more deeply for you and for me, and the rest of the approximately 8 billion people on earth at this moment, to learn that God loves us, to learn that that is true and that it won't stop, like you said.

[369] I mean, we kind of think of that as this, oh, well, that's an interesting concept for people of faith.

[370] Yeah.

[371] But we really need for ourselves who do believe, and we need to radiate what you just said is reality.

[372] If God stopped loving Terry Barber, Terry Barber would vanish, would cease to be.

[373] Not just cease to live, but cease to be.

[374] And that gets to me to another aspect of this as we look at the commandments.

[375] God is teaching us how to live in this world, but most importantly, how to live with him in eternity.

[376] Both of us know this life passes all too quickly.

[377] We can both remember when we were the little kid, you know, 10, 12 years old, thinking that life was forever.

[378] life isn't forever.

[379] And that's one of the ways that we, going back to the First Commandment, we serve other gods through our sinfulness.

[380] And even if it's not anything specifically sinful that we're doing, it's lacking focus.

[381] It's lacking understanding of what this life is about.

[382] We begin serving other things.

[383] I would imagine, I don't know you that well, Terry, but you're a man. and you're married, and you've lived more than a few years, and I can wager that you have served other gods in your life.

[384] Absolutely.

[385] God with a small G. I don't believe you've ever worshipped an idol, but we do that by looking at other things and saying, this will be my fulfillment.

[386] This is where I will come to understand that, that what God wants us all to know, that we are loved deeply.

[387] And to simply know that is the journey of life.

[388] Absolutely.

[389] I hear the music coming on.

[390] We're going to take a quick break.

[391] I'd like to summarize that and say, life is short, and eternity is forever.

[392] And that's what we're doing right now.

[393] We're learning God's commandments.

[394] We're on the First Commandment on the new show called the Bishop Strickland Hour.

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

[396] Help the Helpless, a Minnesota -St.

[397] Paul non -profit organization, chaired by Father of TIR and Volunteers, is humbly asking you for your kind support to help the poor and the handicapped children in India and Ecuador.

[398] Through financial support from the help of the helpless benefactors, the children are provided with clothing, food, education, shelter, and the teachings of the Catholic Church.

[399] The mission is to help children thrive and become self -sufficient young adults leading productive lives.

[400] We also provide aid to poor families in Ecuador with food baskets, medicines, medical assistance, and help with funeral needs for the deceased.

[401] The work in India is done by Father Antonio's organization, St. Mary's.

[402] In Ecuador, the work is being done by the Servant Sisters of the Home of Mother.

[403] You can call us at 877 -762 -8857.

[404] To learn more, please visit you.

[405] our website triple w. help the helpless .org.

[406] God bless you.

[407] Hebrews 113 says, by faith we come to understand.

[408] According to St. Augustine, understanding is the reward of faith.

[409] Therefore, seek not to understand that you may believe, but believe that you may understand.

[410] This is Terry Barbara.

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[418] Welcome back to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[419] My name is Terry Barber.

[420] I'm enjoying this hour.

[421] Bishop Strickland is covering the First Commandment, and he'll be doing all 10 commandments here, and I hope and pray that the talks that he's giving, his instruction, will help you really fall deeper in love with Jesus and his church, because right now there is, I'll be honest with you, a need for teaching right now.

[422] People are somewhat ignorant of their faith, and they need to be built up, and I believe that by going through the fundamental teachings of the church, that will happen.

[423] in your life.

[424] And so I want to encourage you to once a week tune into this show because I believe it will do just that.

[425] Bishop Strickland, you're talking about the Ten Commandments, but the first one is the first one you're talking about now.

[426] And you shall worship the Lord your God, and Him alone shall you serve.

[427] So let's continue.

[428] We have one more segment to cover this.

[429] Well, we can probably talk for weeks just about this first commandment.

[430] We can go next week and continue if we have to, but I'd like to ask you right now in this last segment to just give us some more inspiration on why is the first commandment fundamental to living a happy life, a fulfilled life, because I think sometimes people think that this is restricting you, and it's just the opposite.

[431] Yeah, absolutely.

[432] Well, there's so many things to talk about.

[433] But what you just said, Terry, reminds me, we just had a gospel where Christ says, and it's right there in the gospel, you must be perfect in order to be with my Heavenly Father in heaven.

[434] That's not a direct quote, but that's basically what the gospel, what Christ says in the gospel.

[435] You must be perfect.

[436] And it was pointed out to me recently that, you know, all the scriptures that I read, I read mostly English, a little Spanish, and that's pretty much it.

[437] I'm not a great linguist.

[438] I wish I knew Greek and all these other languages that are the original text that the scriptures were written in.

[439] But thankfully, we have scholars that teach us those things.

[440] And what I heard recently was it really struck me that, and it ties in with what you just said, that, yes, the Lord, the scripture, and that's an accurate translation to say, we must be perfect.

[441] But especially in our Western mindset, perfection has a different meaning than another translation of that same word is, We must be complete.

[442] And I think that that is something that at least I can speak for myself.

[443] And I think for most of us, Americans and English speaking, to say we must be complete seems a little more doable than being perfect.

[444] In either way, what it comes down to.

[445] And I think what we can point out is the reason the First Commandment, speaks of God.

[446] It's all about God, that you shall worship the Lord your God, worship God alone and serve God alone.

[447] It reminds us of our reality.

[448] We begin with God and we end with God.

[449] That's why the commandments begin with God, because that's us.

[450] And in order to live the truth that God is revealed to us.

[451] We have to begin with him.

[452] We have to begin with knowing God.

[453] We are called to one day share everlasting life with God.

[454] And we are made in the image of God.

[455] One way of saying it, Terry, I think is this first commandments reminds us that we are all about God.

[456] Our life is all about God.

[457] we are one more unfolding of the mystery of God in each of our lives with a lot of wrong turns and a lot of sin and a lot of things that complicate and mess that up.

[458] But really what the commandments can remind us is that we are made by God, we are made for God.

[459] And in God we flourish.

[460] And even right here and now, I think something, I remember as a kid, I think we sometimes get the idea that, well, being Catholic, following Jesus, it's about knowing God here, but it's about really being happy in the next life.

[461] And certainly the fulfillment of that happiness will only happen in the next life.

[462] It would ultimately the scriptures and the catechism as they delve into the scripture reminds us that this life only gives us a glimpse of what it means to really be alive.

[463] And so it begins in God, it ends in God.

[464] God is our, like you said, without God's love, we cease to be.

[465] God.

[466] It's God's will that we live with him eternally.

[467] And so we are challenged to put God first.

[468] And I think that's in the world that we find ourselves in in 2020, in this strange year with all the things we're dealing with, a lot of what, certainly we're dealing with things that may be natural disasters or whatever, but what the human factor that we're dealing with is too much for getting God.

[469] There are too many young people that it's almost like the fad is to say, oh, I don't believe in God, or even with those who may not be bold enough to, or maybe not even just not care enough to even say, I don't believe in God, but they certainly are allowing, they're serving other masters.

[470] And when we do that, we are, as you know, as classically said, on the road to perdition.

[471] There's a great movie with Tom Hanks in it.

[472] I love movies.

[473] Some of the more recent ones are, but there's some great classic movies.

[474] This movie is not that old with Tom Hanks, The Road to predition, but it's about a man's life that just unravels before him and on the screen.

[475] And it doesn't really explicit, I mean, he's basically a gangster in the, I think about in the 1920s, 1930s, but it really just illustrates when we ignore God's commandments, and he kills a lot of people, he destroys a lot of property.

[476] But it basically illustrates that, The road to perdition is destroying ourselves.

[477] Ironically, God gives us the free will.

[478] He gives us enough rope to hang ourselves if we choose to ignore him and ignore who we are.

[479] But God is the first to say, follow my commandments, please.

[480] I mean, he sent his son to suffer, die, and rise for us.

[481] What better message could we have that God loves us and he wants us to flourish.

[482] He doesn't want us to destroy ourselves, but the irony of having the free will that God has given us, that's part of being created in his image.

[483] We're free to destroy ourselves, and sadly we see that happen.

[484] We, even for those who do destroy this life, we pray that God's mercy allows them to still be with him in every everlasting life.

[485] But God gives us the freedom to make the choice because it's the only way that we can imitate him and be about love because God freely loves us.

[486] He insists that we freely love him.

[487] He could have made us another way.

[488] The animals love him by instinct.

[489] They're made to love God.

[490] They bow before God because that's what an animal does.

[491] God has created us in his image to choose to serve no other.

[492] And that's where it gets tough because we choose to serve other gods, at least with a small G, hopefully most of the time.

[493] Bishop, Frick Strickland, we got out a minute and a half.

[494] I want to get a blessing, but I also want to just make the comment that in the catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 2133 to 2144 is in brief.

[495] It summarizes almost word for word, what you just said, 2134 said the first commandment someone's man to believe in God to hope in him and to love him above all else basically what you said and you said it just like Bishop Sheeeman he said the only value in saying yes to God is you have the freedom to say no and this is so important that you're teaching us the commandments because I think right now in our church I just read this statistic by the time a young man or woman becomes at age of 23 87 % of those youngsters and now that are adults, are not practicing their faith.

[496] And I would say this, Bishop Strickland, in my experience, and tell me I'm all wet, but I think many of those young people who leave it by the, you know, then they're 23 were never catechized.

[497] Absolutely.

[498] You agree with that?

[499] Absolutely.

[500] That's why we established in this diocese, the St. Philip Institute, because people need to be taught the truth.

[501] Absolutely.

[502] It's the truth that sets us free.

[503] Amen.

[504] And too many people don't know it.

[505] Yeah.

[506] Bishop Strickland, could you give us a blessing to all those who are listening to this show and that they will receive the grace is necessary for their salvation because the Bible teaches that.

[507] Could you pray with us, please?

[508] Sure.

[509] The Lord be with you.

[510] And with your spirit.

[511] Almighty God, we ask your blessing for Terry Barber and all who work with him and for all who are listening to this program and all the lives that they will touch, that we may all be blessed in your grace and love, that is so abundant, you are always ready to embrace us in your love once again, no matter how many times we serve other gods and turn away from you.

[512] Help us to know your mercy and help us to strive to grow in your grace and to know your love more deeply, starting with your love for us.

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

[514] Bishop Strickland, for those young people that are thinking of vocations, How can they contact you personally or your diocese for maybe the priest or even religious life?

[515] I assume you have some religious in your diocese.

[516] How can they contact you for that?

[517] Just go to St .Philip Institute .org.

[518] Philip with one L, St. Philip Institute.

[519] The only period is between St. Philip Institute and theorg .org.

[520] They can email me through that website or dioceseoftyler .org.

[521] Either website they can get in touch with me. And I would encourage them and let me say very clearly, the church is a universal community.

[522] If they live in Guam and want to reach out to someone there, I'll help them reach out to the one they need to.

[523] Certainly we need priests here, but the world need priests or religious.

[524] so I'm ready to help anywhere, anyone, to help them come closer to the church.

[525] And Bishop Strickland, I want to thank you for also reaching out to us and teaching us the fundamental teachings of Christ and the perennial teachings of the church.

[526] So I thank you for that.

[527] And if folks would like to use this in our stations, if you're listening in a radio station you want this, go to Virgin Most Powerful Radio.

[528] We'd be happy to provide it for you for your local Catholic station.

[529] God richly bless all of you, and we'll see you again next week.

[530] Same time, same station.

[531] God love you.

[532] St. Faustina's Prayer for priests.

[533] O my Jesus, I beg thee on behalf of the whole church, granted 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.

[534] Lord, give us holy priests.

[535] Thou thyself maintain them 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 may the power of thy mercy Lord shatter and bring to naught all that might tarnish the sanctity of priests for thou canst do all things amen Virgin most powerful pray for for us.