04 Oct 22 – Will the Real Vatican II Please Stand Up?

[0] Welcome to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[1] Terry Barber with Virgin Most Powerful Radio.

[2] Love to talk with Bishop each week.

[3] Why?

[4] Because I get to know the person of Christ more.

[5] Not because of his personality, not because he's a bishop, but because he teaches us the message of Christianity.

[6] And that's about a personal relationship with Christ and his church.

[7] So thank you, Bishop Strickland, again, for coming on board.

[8] Thanks, Terry.

[9] Hey, Bishop Strickland, before we get to your tweets, there was a...

[10] a great article in our Sunday Visitor magazine, one of the old Catholic magazines, and the title is through study and prayer, it's not too late to get Vatican 2 right.

[11] Well, I'm going to set it straight that on your website, the St. Philip Institute, there's a whole section on Vatican 2.

[12] And it's really good because for most Catholics, I bet you if I asked our listeners, how many of you have read any documents of Vatican 2?

[13] Most of them probably would say I haven't.

[14] Well, I would recommend that you do.

[15] I actually put them on cassette tape back in the 80s because I wanted people to listen to them because I was a young man and I was going, hey, what's it?

[16] What this isn't Vatican tune?

[17] What's happening?

[18] It's not the same.

[19] Well, I wanted to just get your take on this opening statement from the Holy Father, who's St. John the 23rd back in October 11th.

[20] We were just little kids at the time in 1962.

[21] He said, opening up the council, addressing the council, fathers, he said, the major interest of the ecumenical council is this.

[22] Okay, you're ready, folks?

[23] I was going to use it.

[24] I was going to joke, but I'm not.

[25] This is serious.

[26] That the sacred heritage of the Christian truth be safeguarded and expounded with greater efficacy.

[27] Referring to the sweeping political, economic changes that occurred in the 19th and 20th century, the Holy Father rejoices that the church would have an opportunity to return to the essentials of the spiritual life, particularly the instruction of the faithful, free from worldly fetters that trampled her in the past ages.

[28] Holy Mother Church has a new opportunity to preach and catechise.

[29] Now, I want to get your take because he further clarified the Pope said, what is needed?

[30] This is not, you know, me, not Bishop Street.

[31] This is the Holy Father at the council opening.

[32] He says, what is needed and what everyone is imbued with a truly Christian Catholic and apostolic spirit craves today.

[33] And here's the cash value, Bishop Strickland, is that this doctrine shall be more widely known or widely, deeply understood, more penetrating in its effects on man's moral lives.

[34] For John the 23rd, this wasn't a matter of changing timeless truths.

[35] He insisted that it is absolutely vital that the church never for an instant lose sight of the sacred patrimony of truth inherited from the fathers, but rather a matter of updating the way in which the sacred, and I love this word, you use it all the time, perennial and unchanging truths are set forth in the church teachings.

[36] Your thoughts?

[37] Well, it says very well what John the 23rd's intention was and to understand more deeply the same truth that Christ proclaimed with his very words here as the son of God incarnate.

[38] The truth doesn't change.

[39] He is truth incarnate.

[40] But all of us, I think a good way to look at it, Terry, is in the 2000 years of history, more or less, close to 2 ,000 years since Christ died on the cross and rose from the dead, completed his mission and the church began.

[41] We can see that sweep of almost 2 ,000 years like our lifetime.

[42] And the same things needs to happen for the human reality, the human family, the mystical body of Christ that is the church.

[43] The same thing needs to happen as happens with us individually.

[44] Hopefully, we gain a deeper understanding of the same truth.

[45] We were both 10 -year -old boys at one stage years ago.

[46] And we had a certain understanding of what was true in the world.

[47] Hopefully, at 60 plus, we have a deeper understanding.

[48] But the truth hasn't changed.

[49] We have We've grown in embracing that truth.

[50] That's what humanity has been called to do since God gave us new heavens and a new earth.

[51] I mean, the book of Revelation talks about that.

[52] And I think what in my own reflection recently, when Christ came, when he was conceived in the womb of the Immaculate Virgin Mary, the world changed.

[53] human history changed and all of creation changed the creator became part of creation we've been unpacking that as we say these days we've been understanding it more deeply for all of that history right now there seems to be a movement to say oh we're not no we're going to change this and we're going to change that and people are wanting to change everything or just throughout the truth, period.

[54] The truth doesn't change.

[55] And that is what we need to be on a mission.

[56] And that's what reading the catechism for both of us.

[57] You have read the catechism from cover to cover.

[58] I don't claim to have done that, honestly.

[59] But I read it when I need to, and I've read a lot of it.

[60] And every time we read a given paragraph, we can understand it more deeply than the last time as it relates to other paragraphs, as it relates to the fullness of truth.

[61] That's how it works.

[62] We understand more deeply, but the truth doesn't change.

[63] And that's what we really need to proclaim joyfully and vigorously in the world today.

[64] for the secular world and for the mystical body of people that are part of the church that believe in Jesus Christ, believe in their Catholic faith, we all need to deepen that understanding, that encounter with the mystery of truth that is Jesus Christ.

[65] And like we were talking about before we started the actual recording, it's about getting to know Jesus Christ more deeply.

[66] And that's why as a priest, I do my best to continue to know him more and more deeply.

[67] And thankfully, I mean, I'm a sinful, weak, foolish man that can easily get lazy and get distracted.

[68] And I'm sinful.

[69] I mean, there are all kinds of things going wrong for me. But the more it will go right is the more I am smart.

[70] enough to take the time to know Christ more deeply, to spend more time with him, more time with his word, more time with his Eucharistic presence.

[71] And the more we know Christ in his Eucharistic presence, the more we're hungry for him in the greatest event of all, which is the Mass, the Holy Mass. And that's where we grow in wisdom.

[72] That's where we grow in responding to the grace that God gives us.

[73] And that's what we've all got to do.

[74] For me as a bishop, for you as a husband and father and grandfather, as a member of the community, we're both challenged to continue as long as we have breath, as long as we have the faculties to be able to understand more deeply.

[75] That's what we're obligated to do.

[76] And the best way to do that is in knowing God, his son, his word, in the sacraments, in the teachings of the faith that are our sacraments and word woven together.

[77] Well said, Bishop Strickland, for those who are just brand new, we go to his tweets right now.

[78] These are tweets that Bishop sends every week out to people so you can get them yourself on Twitter.

[79] I like a lot of times these tweets that just influence.

[80] inform people of resources.

[81] You do that a lot, and I think that's important.

[82] For example, you know, you said here, well, you sent out a tweet saying, here's the skinny on flu shots, basically from our Friends of the Children of God website, which is a fantastic website.

[83] And you point out, this is vitally important information.

[84] Let us all work to ensure that all future vaccines are free of any connection to abortion.

[85] And it looks like from the report, I read, the flu shots are definitely, don't have any aborted baby's connections.

[86] Is that a fair statement, Bishop?

[87] Yes.

[88] And thankfully, the flu shots, as the people at Children of God for life researched it, the flu shots for 2022 and everything that's projected even for 2023, they're free of any connection to abortion.

[89] They developed them from various animal strains and even from insects.

[90] Yeah, that's what I'm going to do.

[91] And I wanted to get that word out because it's a reminder, we can do things morally and ethically.

[92] We can safeguard the sanctity of life.

[93] The church is not anti -science.

[94] In many ways, science grew out of people that were faithful Catholics.

[95] And right now, we need to, embrace the reality that the church, I mean, the church has its own telescope.

[96] And I mean, the church is, embraces science, but never to the point that if science is contradicting the truth that God has revealed to us, which it won't if we continue down the path.

[97] You know, there have been scientific misunderstandings in the past, but the more we understand.

[98] understand the truth, the more deeply science and faith are not in conflict.

[99] They go hand in hand.

[100] Well said.

[101] When we come back, we'll continue with some more tweets.

[102] I love the scripture tweets because, you know, ignorance of scripture is ignorance of Christ.

[103] We need to constantly get these scripture verses at our fingertips and use those daily.

[104] We come back and see one of them that power.

[105] Welcome back to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[106] We're going to be going through a couple more tweets here before we get to the catechism.

[107] And 2 Peter, chapter 1, verse 10, be solicitous to make your call in election permanent.

[108] Bishop Strickland, what did these words remind you of?

[109] Because I think you nailed it when you pointed out in the tweet, because this is important.

[110] That's scriptural.

[111] Well, it's another way of saying what the, it's an older friend.

[112] that you don't hear as much, but we need to hear it.

[113] Final perseverance.

[114] And that really defines what our journey of life is about to persevere like St. Paul talks about, to run the race to the end.

[115] I stumble along the way in sinfulness.

[116] If we're honest, we all do.

[117] And we need to get up again and continue and hopefully grow away from those temptations and sins that have plagued us and grow more and more in virtue, get stronger and stronger in that journey.

[118] But final perseverance is something we all need to really reflect on daily, to really continue the journey.

[119] And to ask ourselves, how can I really retune my life to knowing what I'm here for, to grow in the wonder of life that God has given us to enjoy this journey through earthly life, but always with the goal of being fulfilled and everlasting life in that final perseverance.

[120] And that's what those words from scripture really reminded me of.

[121] Well said, now a good friend of the show, Mark Huck, his family, you tweeted about what happened to Mark, the king's man, he's got a whole ministry, pro -life ministries.

[122] He's spoken here at our chapel.

[123] He's been here on the radio many, many times promoting his great work.

[124] for those who aren't aware of it, maybe one or two people still don't know, but the FBI raided his home at like 705 in the morning in front of the kids with guns pointing at him.

[125] It was like, what?

[126] Is this America?

[127] Well, you know, Bishop Strickland, I'm going to put you on the hot seat like I normally do.

[128] I don't hear everybody else commenting.

[129] You're a bishop, and you're going to say, wait a minute, this isn't right.

[130] And, you know, you stick your neck out for him, Mark.

[131] I want to ask you, what was your reaction to that news that his family?

[132] family home was invaded by, you know, I think it was 16, 17 FBI cars with 30 agents, gun drawn, and they arrest him for something frivolous that was already resolved.

[133] It just seems like this could be something from a movie.

[134] Yeah, or something from, as I said in the tweet, a totalitarian state.

[135] Yeah.

[136] It doesn't sound like America at all, and that's tragic.

[137] That's scary.

[138] And what I've come to understand it, you know, I've just read about.

[139] about it, but, you know, people say, oh, it's a, they discount the reporters who are putting it out there.

[140] I, it really happened.

[141] And the circumstances, I've had people contact me that actually know Mark and ask for prayers.

[142] Oh, yeah.

[143] And the circumstances behind it are really sinister.

[144] Oh, yeah.

[145] And, and that's illustrated by, I mean, here's this man in his family home, all these young children around.

[146] And from what I understand it, I don't know everything.

[147] I mean, and we need the truth.

[148] But from what I understand, they had been contacted and said, sure, we'll cooperate.

[149] I mean, the case had already been dismissed.

[150] That's right.

[151] More than once.

[152] Yep.

[153] And they were contacted to say, well, we've got more questions or whatever.

[154] They were cooperative.

[155] And then the next thing, you know, this raid that is an atrocity.

[156] It's not America.

[157] And it's like, what in the world is the basis for this?

[158] I mean, this man had, you know, I mean, we have all these guns and these FBI agents, the SWAT team, like he's some sort of dangerous criminal, as if he had a stockpile of weapons at his home.

[159] Right.

[160] He had a stockpile of Cheerios and milk for all these kids, probably.

[161] anything.

[162] This is a family, it's just a violation of life once again.

[163] I mean, here's this man putting his life on the line, putting obviously himself at risk, standing for the sanctity of life of unborn children and being known for that crusade of goodness and life and love and the beauty of life.

[164] And here, his life and the life of his children is violated by, by, you know, thankfully there was no loss of life, but those children are scarred from that now and totally unwarranted.

[165] I mean, if they said they had more questions, I mean, this man was not a threat in any way.

[166] And what are they trying to do?

[167] I guess make a statement.

[168] Well, they did.

[169] That our government is way out of bounds, and we're not a totalitarian state.

[170] And those who we need an investigation, really, of who authorized this, what were they thinking?

[171] And those people need to answer for this.

[172] I doubt we'll get any answers.

[173] Right.

[174] And it'll blow over and Mark will continue to wade through all of the legal things they're throwing at him.

[175] Obviously, he'd been waiting through it already.

[176] But we're likely to never hear any account.

[177] for this atrocity toward an American family.

[178] And there, I mean, here we are on the flip side of real criminals that have killed people.

[179] That's right.

[180] And they're released with no bail or minimal bail.

[181] They're back on the streets free to kill again.

[182] And sadly, too often they do.

[183] I mean, we just saw right in the same news feed, you're seeing these teenagers.

[184] I think it was in Philadelphia, just going wild.

[185] And I guess it was a supermarket.

[186] We don't have those stores, Wawa, at this area, but I guess it was a supermarket or something like that.

[187] But, I mean, these teenagers are just destroying the place.

[188] And there wasn't a single arrest.

[189] Here we have that being played out on the national media scene.

[190] And here, then we have this raid happening at a private family home of a man who has been a leader in the sanctity of life.

[191] It's just a messed up world that we're in right now.

[192] Mr. Strickland, why don't you really tell me what you think?

[193] You know, everything you said, I concur, and I've been asking people to go fund.

[194] He has a go -fund me a fund.

[195] It's already at $78 ,000 because he's got to get attorneys.

[196] I have friends that are attorneys working with him.

[197] There's also another resource to get an update on this at LifeSight News.

[198] John Henry Weston did an interview with the family representative.

[199] I tweeted that also.

[200] Ah, good.

[201] So that's important to have that resource because he's a man that stood up for the faith.

[202] And I don't know if you tweeted this, but he would drive two hours once a week from his home to Philadelphia to spend six to eight hours at the clinic trying to persuade women not to.

[203] killed her babies for years.

[204] This is a committed pro -life man and we need to support him in all the ways.

[205] And you know, Bishop Strickland, I just got this on my email here about an elderly woman, she was shot while campaigning against pro -abortion ballot proposal in Michigan.

[206] An elderly woman.

[207] It seems now we're out of control if you're pro -life, somehow the government right now is like saying, hey, you're dangerous.

[208] You can't be a good citizen in America if you're for stopping abortion or any other immoral actions that are going on.

[209] So it really seems like we're at a time at a crossroads where the country really needs Christ even more than ever now because we've got a real battle on our hands of morality of what's right and what's wrong.

[210] Absolutely.

[211] That's my take.

[212] Well, all right, well let's go to, let's this is a tweet that I think says it all when you talk about the faith because we need to do this more and more.

[213] You said what the church, and this is great, what the church and the world need is true, and this is the key word, supernatural faith.

[214] Without real faith in revealed truth, we are doomed to wander from one feeling to another and to be dominated by the loudest voices.

[215] well said, let us seek deeper faith with humble hearts and always seek God's divine will.

[216] Mr. Strickland, the only thing I would add to that is I would say and ask Jesus Christ for more faith every day.

[217] But man, you must, this came from your prayer life.

[218] Am I on to something there?

[219] Absolutely.

[220] That's where it comes from.

[221] And just realizing, and I guess what's frustrating for me is the truth is simple, the truth is clear, and you just see all this confusion and all this smokescreen and all the corruption.

[222] We need to cut through all of that and just recognize.

[223] And a lack of supernatural faith is certainly plaguing the church.

[224] Too many people not believing what the Lord Jesus Christ has given us, his own body and blood.

[225] Too many people not really believing that.

[226] that claim to be Catholic and receiving him without any attempt to really align their lives with what the church teaches and being promoted by too many to say, oh, yeah, it's great for you to receive communion, but then to vehemently attack life and promote abortion and go contrary to what the church teaches.

[227] And not just in the abortion issue, but too many of our so -called Catholic officials are promoting the gender confusion that's going on and the alteration of bodies of children and young people.

[228] Before they're even fully grown, they're being allowed and it's being promoted that, oh, well, have this operation and change from a girl to a boy or a boy to a girl.

[229] This is just, it is evil, it is devastating.

[230] for the individual.

[231] I've had so many people contact me that have said they've gone through that journey, sometimes with some of the surgeries and all, and then they come to regret it.

[232] We don't hear about those who regret it, and it's too late.

[233] They can't, I mean, once you've had the surgeries, you've already altered the body that God has given you.

[234] And we've got to, all of us.

[235] I mean, yes, I'm a bishop, just one disciple and all of us need to speak up and say these falsehoods this false agenda has to be counteracted with the truth and we have to be joyful we have to be clear we have to always be merciful the Lord is merciful but the real mercy is to share the truth and that's what we've got to remember we've got to be stronger with resisting some of these things that are threatening life in all kinds of ways, in devastating families and individuals in ways that we've got to speak up.

[236] Well, Sadden, I just did an interview with Don Johnson, who's got the movie called The Disconnected Movie .com.

[237] It's disconnected, it's the name of the movie, the real story behind the transgender explosion.

[238] And 45 ,000 people have had these surgeries have come out.

[239] and regretted doing it.

[240] This movie comes out on the 8th of October, so go to Disconnectedmovie .com, and John Johnson is a convert to the Catholic faith.

[241] He's a good friend of mine, and you'll hear it on Friday.

[242] We're doing a whole special on that movie.

[243] So still important, Bishop Strickland, thank you so much.

[244] When we come back, we'll have some more prayer that you tweeted that are really very effective.

[245] Welcome back to the Bishop Strickland.

[246] Strickland Hour.

[247] We've got two more tweets, and then we're going to get into the catechism.

[248] Bishop Strickland, during the day, and I assume you do this because of what your tweet said, you have a tweet saying, our help is in the name of the Lord who made heaven and earth.

[249] And that's one of those little prayers that you could say during the day.

[250] And I just want to ask you, what made you tweet that?

[251] Because to me, you stay focused on what is going on in your day.

[252] In other words, bringing the presence of God into your life.

[253] Well, yeah.

[254] I mean, that's sort of my job.

[255] But that's a prayer that I pray every day, at least once.

[256] And in just thinking about it, what it says, our help is in the name of the Lord.

[257] We're all looking for help in this world.

[258] We're all looking for answers.

[259] We're all looking for clarity.

[260] We're all looking for opportunities for people and for our families.

[261] Our help is in the name of the Lord.

[262] who made heaven and earth it's basically just teaching us like we were talking about earlier to know more deeply what life's about god is our help we're not we're not god we're not our own source of salvation we have to turn to god and he's the maker of heaven and earth he's the maker of everything it really you know it's it's a taking some basic concepts from the read that we profess on Sundays and making it something we reflect on every day.

[263] And I think that that to me is one of the key things that I have to continue to learn is it's so easy.

[264] I mean, like praying the Our Father.

[265] If we really listen to what we say in the Our Father, what do we say there?

[266] Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

[267] So again, heaven and earth.

[268] God is the Lord of heaven and earth, and seeking His will is what it's about.

[269] The power is in His name, Father, Son, and Spirit.

[270] So those simple prayers that many of us as Catholics have learned, and people say, oh, these wrote prayers.

[271] But if we really listen to what the prayer says, the Our Father, the Hail Mary, Glory be to God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning as now it ever shall be, world without end, amen.

[272] There's a whole prayer reflection right there in the simple glory be, but hopefully we pray many times a day also.

[273] So we need to listen to these prayers and be changed by the truth that they're calling us that we say, we believe, and we need to be really reflected.

[274] more deeply on what that means.

[275] That's why I've shared that more than once that, you know, help is in the name of the Lord because it strikes me when I pray it.

[276] Not always.

[277] I mean, I can get distracted and it sort of just zips past you.

[278] But we need to learn to pray better like we were talking about earlier.

[279] Well, said, I just jump in and say one little prayer that I say during the day when things are just going on, especially when I see beauty or something good happens to me, and even when it's bad, like right now, I've got a bad cold.

[280] I give thee thanks, almighty, all merciful, and all loving God for all the blessings that I have received from my bounty through Christ, our Lord.

[281] Amen.

[282] Another little prayer to say, during the day, what does it do?

[283] It calls to the presence of God, and it focuses your life on Jesus Christ.

[284] I mean, that's what it's all about.

[285] Well, talk about what it's all about, Bishop Strickland.

[286] You tweeted Cardinal Burke's tweet, and this is very, very important, I thought, dealing with the condition of the world and in the church, obviously right now.

[287] Bishop, the Cardinal Burke said, no matter what confusion, and boy, there's a lot of confusion in the church, let's be honest, or even divisions, and boy, there's a lot of divisions.

[288] Enter into the church, we should never give up hope.

[289] See, we have to keep our focus on Jesus Christ.

[290] I have a crucifix in my head.

[291] That's who we worship, not a bishop, not a priest, not the Pope, it's the person of Christ.

[292] All right, he says, we should cling all the more faithfully to what the church has always taught and practiced.

[293] He's quoting the Pope from Vatican, too, that we talked about at the beginning of this show, the perennial teachings of the church.

[294] And then the last statement, he says, and that way we will really save our own souls with the help of God's grace.

[295] He said it all.

[296] Yeah.

[297] And the great thing about that, Terry, I think a lot of people who don't believe and look at, you know, all these people in religion, the great thing about the truth of the gospel and everything that, that final perseverance we talked about, if we're on that path, then we're going to be better people in this life.

[298] We're going to be caring for our neighbor.

[299] We're going to be just.

[300] We're going to, if we're really tuning.

[301] into that final perseverance, then all the sinful tendencies that we all have, we're going to more and more work to counteract them.

[302] Just again, going back to the teenagers in that store in Philadelphia, those poor young people, I mean, it's tragic for them.

[303] Amen.

[304] It's not, you know, we're not anti -young people or whoever.

[305] I mean, the criminal that commits an atrocious crime is to be pitied and to is to be reached out to in the mercy of the Lord.

[306] But there have to be consequences to what the actions that we do, to the crimes that we commit.

[307] There are too many in leadership now that want to take away the consequences.

[308] And that's why young teenagers, Instead of being at a great sports event or doing their homework or helping out at home, they're ransacking a store because the laws have said, well, if it's less than $900, then they're not even going to worry about, you know, trying to prosecute it.

[309] They're not going to correct society if, and that just creates chaos.

[310] And it's the worst thing.

[311] It is the least loving thing to do for all those teenagers.

[312] They're children of God.

[313] They're beloved before God, as we all are.

[314] And when they're doing that, even if they get away with it.

[315] I mean, from what I understand, no one was arrested.

[316] And they think, oh, I got away with it.

[317] And I stole, maybe they stole a radio or whatever.

[318] Maybe it was some food, whatever they stole from that store.

[319] and you see that happening across the country.

[320] That's right.

[321] They may get away with it, but their life is diminished by the degree to the degree that they did what was wrong and they violated the property of another person, which is a violation of that person.

[322] Their life is diminished.

[323] And if they continue to go down that path, their life gets worse and worse.

[324] And sadly, they end up homeless.

[325] they end up dead because of drug overdoses or these fentanyl polluted drugs that people take and then they're dead even if they were just experimenting for the first time.

[326] It is just tragic to see what's going on.

[327] And all of them are beloved of God.

[328] That's what we all need to remember.

[329] Those of us who know the truth, there's no person that's discardable or to be forgotten.

[330] And that's why the sanctity of the life of the unborn is so important.

[331] I mean, you know, we hear on the news just in the last few days, you know, Stacey Abrams says, oh, this heartbeat thing is just manufactured.

[332] Yeah, right.

[333] That's a lie.

[334] That's just flat out lie.

[335] But I'm sure a lot of people leave.

[336] Oh, well, she's important.

[337] She's a leader.

[338] And so she's spewing lies and people are swallowing it.

[339] we've got to counteract that with the truth, and the reality is, as I tweeted on that, I mean, even if we weren't able to detect a heartbeat, which we are, I mean, the technology is amazing.

[340] I mean, I just recently saw probably a seven, about six or seven month gestation, and the x -ray images of this child.

[341] I mean, you could see the hairline of this child where the hair was growing on this beautiful image that is from a sonogram, the way they've developed the technology.

[342] And that, I think, is what has people aggravated that don't want to believe the truth, that the child in the womb is sacred, from conception to birth, and then they're sacred until natural death, they're sacred from conception.

[343] People don't want to believe that.

[344] So they try to pretend it's not really a child.

[345] It's not a person.

[346] I mean, they split these hairs and say, oh, it's a manufactured sound.

[347] That's hogwash, frankly.

[348] And the, you know, we've got to face the truth in compassionately, after compassionally reach out to those who whose hearts are hardened the truth that a life is being destroyed.

[349] But to keep every life sacred, that is the challenge we face.

[350] Well, said, we just had a baby shower for my granddaughter last Sunday, and they gave us an image ultrasound, and one you just described, she's seven months pregnant, and I can see the image of the face of our little granddaughter.

[351] And I said to myself, So, okay, anybody coming in here?

[352] Now, we were all pro -life people that were there.

[353] I said, take a look at this, everybody.

[354] What do you see?

[355] Can you tell you what that is?

[356] It's the baby.

[357] Yeah.

[358] Okay.

[359] I mean...

[360] You can even tell which parent they look more like.

[361] Yes, yes.

[362] The detail and the clarity is just amazing.

[363] Yeah.

[364] And you're seeing this through the womb of the mother where the child is.

[365] I mean, it's just amazing.

[366] I know St. Thomas doesn't say it this way, but I have said, said that sin makes you stupid.

[367] And what I mean by that is when you're living a life that's not centered on the truth and you're living a lie, then you're going to see things differently.

[368] And I can only say on the pro -life issue side, people who say that, you know, we've got to kill these unborn babies because they're not human beings, that's a lie.

[369] And that's, I would say that if you look at that person's life, they're not seeking the truth.

[370] They're seeking what's ever pleasurable.

[371] Go ahead.

[372] Your thought.

[373] I think that's a great point, Terry, that we all need to, those of us who, it's a blessing to know the truth.

[374] It's not something I deserved or earned.

[375] It's a blessing.

[376] But what occurs to me is people are looking at life through sin -colored glasses.

[377] And it distorts everything.

[378] Amen.

[379] They're seeing life through sin -colored glasses that isn't the truth, and that really distorts their whole perception of reality.

[380] You nailed it.

[381] We come back, part four, the Catechism of the Catholic Church on Christian Prayer.

[382] Stay with us, family.

[383] We'll be right back after a quick prayer.

[384] Welcome back to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[385] We're going to open up our Catechism of the Catholic Church to paragraph 2558.

[386] And this is a section one, prayer in the Christian life.

[387] And Mr. Strickland, before we start this section, it seems to me, we talked off the air about the value of having a prayer life, an essential value of having a prayer life.

[388] It seems to me that for us Catholic Christians, if we don't have that personal prayer life with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, we are lacking a huge amount of our faith because we're not communing with the Father through our prayer.

[389] So that's why I think this catechism is going to help individuals understand the value of prayer.

[390] Am I on to something?

[391] Absolutely.

[392] And prayer is about joining our creator, knowing God more deeply, and thus knowing ourselves.

[393] Like you said, when we sin, we lose our intelligence.

[394] we lose who we are nice way of saying prayer is about regaining that that relationship god is lord of all and so prayer i mean it it really is a tremendous gift and and terry let's remind ourselves we're the only part of creation that can pray that's very important to know that's Huge.

[395] I mean, animals and plants give glory to God just by their existence, but they're not choosing to enter into a relationship with their creator.

[396] Through prayer, that's exactly what we're called to do.

[397] So it really is a tremendous gift to be able to pray and to really enter into that deeper and deeper relationship.

[398] To pray to God, Father, Son, and Spirit.

[399] I mean, and I'm sure for both of us, there are different aspects of the prayer to God, the Father, like the Our Father, Jesus, His Son, and to the Holy Spirit, the more charismatic prayer.

[400] But prayer is that relationship with God that all of us need, all of us really have.

[401] But prayer is our choice to connect with God.

[402] And it brings great strength.

[403] It brings great strength.

[404] It brings great healing and consolation.

[405] It puts us in touch with God's mercy.

[406] It is, it's the lifeblood of being a disciple.

[407] I mean, look at how many times Jesus prays.

[408] He's the son of God.

[409] That's a beautiful, just as I'm talking, I'm inspired to realize here is God's divine son.

[410] And he prays.

[411] He's illustrating to us that what a treasure it is to pray and how important it is.

[412] I mean, Jesus doesn't just pray a few times.

[413] He's constantly turning to prayer.

[414] And in the reality of his incarnation, how many times I'd love to go through the Gospels and see how many times he's interrupted.

[415] We are interrupted in prayer.

[416] That's part of the sort of tension between our incarnations.

[417] state and the call to know God more deeply.

[418] God's own son experienced that.

[419] So many times he'd go off to pray and the people are chasing him down, bringing him the people that need to be healed or bringing questions.

[420] The same thing happens to us.

[421] But Jesus persevered in that prayer and modeling for us and giving us the model of prayer that is the Our Father.

[422] Well, Bishop Strickland, what are your thoughts about setting prayer time on like a schedule like I have a reminder I have a calendar and I put at a certain time for me it's early in the morning when I when I get up the places my house is quiet I can really pray that's the best time for me now some people are night owls they like to pray at night but how important is it to put it on the calendar of your day to say this is the time I'm going to have my quiet time to pray absolutely anything else that's important we we set a time to do it and we need to do that with prayer, we should recognize that a day without praying is like a day without the essentials of life.

[423] I mean, fasting and praying, it can work together.

[424] But you can't fast for very long because you need that nourishment of, I mean, we're corporeal beings.

[425] We have bodies that need to be cared for it and nurtured properly.

[426] For most of us, they're nurtured a little too much and we can lose some weight.

[427] But prayer is that essential nourishment for the soul.

[428] And absolutely, people, and I would encourage, I would imagine most of the people listening to these programs have regular prayer times.

[429] But if not, develop them.

[430] And hopefully more than once a day, but at least for some solid time every day to spend some time in prayer.

[431] And what's, I mean, the scripture is talking about pray always, pray constantly.

[432] And it, in ordination rights, the deacons, priests, and bishops are, are urged to pray constantly.

[433] And it's like, how do you do that?

[434] How can you pray constantly?

[435] And, you know, I don't claim to pray constantly, but it becomes much more possible, much more something you can even approach if you do have set times of prayer when you really say, I'm going to turn off the television, I'm going to silence the phone, I'm going to just really enter into prayer, either in the presence of the Lord and the Blessed Sacrament or just in a quiet place.

[436] with a Bible, but to really set aside time for prayer, it makes us more prone to when we're in traffic, when we're walking somewhere, when we're just going about our daily activities to at least pause for like those moments of prayer that we were already talking about.

[437] I mean, it doesn't take very long to say, blessed be the name of the Lord or Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on me or any of these simple prayers that can put us back into focus.

[438] But that's much more likely to happen if we've taken the time, really, literally, taken a few moments out of our day and said, this is sacred.

[439] This is prayer time.

[440] So beautiful.

[441] And I think of, you know, the secret of our fate is living in the presence of God.

[442] So no matter what circumstances we're in.

[443] I mean, if they come to my house to do something bad to me, the government, I hope and pray I can say, you know what, you can't do anything that God wouldn't allow you to do.

[444] Yeah, you can't do it.

[445] He would allow it for a greater good.

[446] So I'm not going to take your whatever you do, Mr. Government, in a bad way, because I'm going to try and live in the presence of God.

[447] And one of the things I learned from St. Thomas Aquinas, and I put it in my book on how to share your faith with anyone, And it's the, it's four benefits of living in the presence of God.

[448] It preserves us from sin.

[449] It increases our faith.

[450] It strengthens our hope.

[451] And it perfects our love and brings us closer, I say, to our guardian angel.

[452] So that really is the key.

[453] No matter what happens in this world, if we have a prayer life, they can't take that away from us.

[454] They can't take our relationship of Christ.

[455] And you know, Bishop Strickland, when I read the lives of the saints and some of the circumstances that they're in, And then I think of wimpy me. Yeah, wimpy me, because I'm not being forced by a gun to go somewhere.

[456] I still have freedoms in my life that I can still pray and I can go to church, you know, to my churches.

[457] But there are places in the world today that they can't do those things.

[458] So that's all I, I just think it's important to acknowledge that we're living, you know, really in a world, at least in our country, we still have these freedoms.

[459] Now, can they be taken away?

[460] Well, ask Mark Huck about those freedoms being taken away.

[461] Of course they can.

[462] Bishop, I wanted to give a plug to the St. Philip Institute because you have some things there on prayer.

[463] You have some things on catechesis, a family life.

[464] Can you share with our listeners why it's important for them to go to that website?

[465] Sure, St .Philip Institute .org.

[466] It's trying to share the catechism.

[467] It's an institute for catechises and evangelization.

[468] And both are very important, like we've been talking about.

[469] All of us have the obligation to nurture and deepen our understanding of the truth.

[470] But we also have the obligation to share that truth with people.

[471] There are too many people in our world who really know nothing of Jesus Christ.

[472] They may have heard the name.

[473] Maybe not even that.

[474] But even here, I was amazed when I was rector here at our cathedral here in Tyler.

[475] How many people would come to our.

[476] R -C -I -A classes and say, they didn't know anything about Jesus, and they were interested.

[477] Wow.

[478] And we, I mean, I have to admit, I kind of presume, well, everyone's heard of Jesus Christ, but people can be in situations where they really don't know him.

[479] And so evangelizing, sharing the good news of Jesus Christ, the good news of God, Father, Son, and Spirit is essential work for all of us.

[480] as disciples.

[481] Amen to that.

[482] Also, I wanted to ask Bishop Strickland, we have a minute or two here to get a blessing from you and also to encourage the prayer for priests.

[483] I think you constantly have said the priests need your prayers.

[484] And I know every Thursday here at our chapel we pray before the Blessed Sacrament for bishops, priests, the Holy Father, because that Holy Thursday signified the first holy Thursday when the institution of the priest who took place.

[485] what can we do i mean you're the bishop of a diocese is it a good idea i do this and i encourage people to do it tell me if i'm on to something priests get a card from their parishioner that says father we're having a mass offered for your service here at the parish we really appreciate what you're doing would that move you bishop strickland oh yeah people send me those often and it that's what i tell people prayer is the greatest gift that we can offer for somebody else.

[486] I mean, who needs stuff?

[487] I mean, all of us have enough stuff, but prayer is the greatest gift.

[488] And of course, the mass is the greatest prayer.

[489] Exactly.

[490] Exactly.

[491] Well, how about a blessing for our listenership?

[492] And we appreciate you doing that for us.

[493] The Lord be with you.

[494] And with your spirit.

[495] Almighty God, we ask your blessing for all of us as we continue to seek to know your truth more deeply.

[496] May we come to know you more deeply in our prayer.

[497] and thus know the truth that sets us free more deeply.

[498] And we ask your blessing in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

[499] Amen.

[500] Well said, and I want to remind everybody that all of these podcasts for Bishop Strickland and all the podcasts of all of Virgin Most Powerful is on our website.

[501] That's Virgin Most Powerful Radio .org.

[502] You can get all those shows.

[503] Also, I want to talk about the priesthood.

[504] We still are giving away Archbishop Sheen's Priest retreat.

[505] this is a great way to download it give it to your priest and say father I just thought maybe you might enjoy a priest retreat with the great Archbishop Sheen and you can do that absolutely free if you want to make a donation at the time you're free to do that but we're not asking anything other than give it to your priest because we think that'll build up the body of Christ and I want to thank all of you from making Virgin Most Powerful Radio a success in the sense of introducing people to the person of Christ may God bless you and I hope to hear from you next week at the same time, Game Station.

[506] And don't be opposed to checking out all the other shows that we have on here on the network.

[507] God love you.