12 Oct 21 – True Devotion to Your Guardian Angel

[0] Welcome to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[1] My name is Terry Barber.

[2] I'm at Virgin Most Powerful Radio.

[3] Every week we talk to the good bishop about his tweets, about the catechism of the Catholic Church, and how you can get to heaven.

[4] Because I'm not going to talk to the bishop about the baseball playoffs.

[5] I mean, I love baseball.

[6] Bishop Strickland, I'm sure you're aware of your Houston Astros, and I'm here at the Los Angeles Dodgers.

[7] But guess what?

[8] that's not that important when it comes to eternity well bishop strickland i'm i'm going to ask you on your tweets i i love asking you about why you do these tweets and uh you mentioned on the 29th of september about a 50 day 54 day no rosary novena starting october 7th you said may all of us embrace this prayer for our world our nation and our church and then i think you just called it for what it is evil is rampant but god is still the lord of creation let us turn to his son jesus christ can you share with us a little bit about the 54 -day rosary novena you know it's just uh we did this before in the diocese and really i'm i'm calling the diocese and anyone who wants to join us basically a 54 -day novena is just six novenas one right after the diocese and really i'm i'm calling the diocese's and anyone else who wants to join us the other, but just encouraging the prayer and remembering that prayer and the rosary are really our greatest weapon.

[9] Because they remind us, we're not in charge.

[10] God's still the Lord of creation.

[11] He's the Lord of each of us.

[12] And it's just a good way to be reminded of what is true.

[13] and whatever we're facing, if we are right with God, we will overcome whatever.

[14] This world can dish out.

[15] That's what we need to pray.

[16] A lot of people are fearful.

[17] A lot of people are confused and saddened and depressed.

[18] You can't blame them.

[19] I mean, there's just so many crazy things going on.

[20] And, you know, the mandates all over the place for vaccines that, I mean, I believe people have the freedom to choose to be vaccinated or not, but they need to use their free will and not have some, anyone mandated.

[21] I mean, it's just not the way we need to operate in this country or in the church to be mandating things that are against somebody's conscience.

[22] Let me just jump in because you had a van come down from a large city in Texas to say thank you.

[23] We heard about this, but can you tell us?

[24] Because you said things that most bishops aren't saying.

[25] And I have all respect for the individuals who want to get vaccinated.

[26] All power to you, go ahead and do it, but don't force it.

[27] So what were they coming up to Tyler, Texas, to tell you?

[28] Well, just to thank me for my leadership, for speaking out on, you know, all the things we talk about here on this radio program, the sanctity of life, the sanctity of marriage, God made us male and female, the importance of living the sexual morality, and the importance of confessing our sins when we fall away from whatever.

[29] I mean, there's seven deadly sins, and they touch on the very basic ways that we can be broken.

[30] Lust is one of them, very significant in our time.

[31] But there's also greed and gluttony.

[32] There's sloth and wrath.

[33] There's envy and pride.

[34] Pick which one is your greatest weakness, and confess it, acknowledge.

[35] You know, pride is a huge sin in our world today.

[36] maybe one of the overriding sins, because when we really let pride take over, then we pretend we're God.

[37] That is the sin of our culture and our world at this point, is thinking that we're in charge and that we control it all.

[38] And so many of the people in Washington or whatever capital of the world think they're running the world.

[39] And that pride is a collective decision.

[40] destruction for all of us when we forget God.

[41] So we just need to really remember the truth and to do our best to live it with joy and strength.

[42] And, you know, that's what we need to talk about.

[43] That's what I talked to these people about.

[44] They came out in a caravan to thank me for, as far as I'm concerned, just talking, like we said reading the catechism out loud telling people you have free will use your conscience if your conscience guides you to do whatever that's what you should do and and make sure that your conscience is formed well learn the best you can yeah it's hard to it's hard to find the truth on things in today's culture because the media is too corrupt but the truth that you can find, make your best choices, using your free will.

[45] And for anyone to deny the free will of another person, it's called tyranny.

[46] Yeah.

[47] Whether it's tyranny of a state or tyranny of whatever group or tyranny of one person over another.

[48] Yeah.

[49] If you're not allowed to use your free will, it's tyranny.

[50] Well, Mr. Strickland, I'm going to throw you a curveball.

[51] I'm good at doing that.

[52] On my phone, I just got word to say that because of Texas, where you're sitting in, Texas, a great state of Texas, regarding the heartbeat law, a male Democrat lawmaker proposed in Pennsylvania legislation to force men to have vasectomies once they have three kids or before they turn when they're 40 years in response to the Texas abortion ban.

[53] Now, that's exactly what you're just talking about.

[54] how in the world are they going to for that's tyranny i mean how can they do that now i just want to get your gut reaction is this democrat male is he serious but they're upset about texas and they're doing all kinds of crazy things what are your thoughts about that well it's a it's another crazy thing and i mean we know that having a vasectomy is immoral amen and to coerce someone yes to mandate to that you do something that you know is immoral that you know that's what people have died for in the past and you know we might reach that point again where people just have to say you're going to have to take my life rather than force me to do something that I know is morally repugnant and you know there's so many things wrong with that it it's just it's just it's true.

[55] ridiculous.

[56] It's sad.

[57] It's corrupt.

[58] It's just bad.

[59] Very bad.

[60] Bishop Strickland, I know just before I get to your next tweet, I'm reading the life of Dietrich von Hildebrand, his autobiography and is called My Battle with Hitler.

[61] And in 1933, people think, well, hey, the church is kind of weak right now.

[62] We're not really speaking the truth.

[63] We've been here before.

[64] In 1933, Dietrich von Hildebrand points out that the bishops in Germany excommunicated Nazis when they were trying to take power.

[65] But as soon as the Nazis took power in 33, 1933, 10 days after that, we caved in as a church.

[66] You know what we said?

[67] We take back the excommunication, and now you're in good standings with the church.

[68] And I just think, yeah, this shocked me. I did not know this, Bishop Strickland.

[69] I didn't either.

[70] Well, but you see, people think, oh, well, this is just the modern church comp.

[71] No, we have had pressure on us before, and we've got pressure on us now.

[72] I want to look to the saints.

[73] I don't want to look to prelates who compromise because of convenience.

[74] And that's what that was.

[75] Terry, that's exactly what we need to do.

[76] And I'm glad you mentioned that because I didn't know that.

[77] I mean, I'm always learning.

[78] And we need to.

[79] remember like you've just said we need to remember that the church has always been resisted that the heresies started at the very beginning and have continued in one form or another basically the heresies that the church struggled with in the early centuries we still have those with different names or different attitudes but it's heretical when the faith is denied in whatever way, you know, there, people might say, oh, transubstantiation in the Blessed Sacrament is antiquated language or something.

[80] I mean, I've read that just recently.

[81] I know who said it, but I won't say his name, but go ahead.

[82] But that is called heretical.

[83] Heretical means contrary to the faith.

[84] Amen.

[85] Heterodox, heretical, is not according to the a deposit of faith.

[86] And that's what I keep harping on, because I promise as a bishop to defend it.

[87] Thank you.

[88] Defend a deposit of faith.

[89] If you, one of the heresies, many of the heresies have to deal with Christ himself.

[90] And if you start saying, oh, he wasn't really God or he wasn't really man, I mean, one of the heresies I was reading about that the Albigensian controversy and the kind of in the Middle Ages, one root of that or one branch of that basically said Christ wasn't God or man. He was just sort of a phantom that came and, you know, dealt with humanity.

[91] I mean, it's just you can have all kinds of heretical teachings.

[92] We know that the truth that Christ is fully gone and fully man. It's easy.

[93] I just went to a conference and they were talking about all of that, it's easy to get to mistakenly say something that's heretical, not intending to, but just because you have to use such precise language.

[94] That's why I say Jesus Christ fully God, fully man. To start expanding too far beyond that, I could get myself in trouble because it's complicated, the Trinity.

[95] It's hard to express that without saying something that you could really say that is getting away from the truth.

[96] That's called material heresy when you really don't know what you're saying and you say something wrong.

[97] Hey, when we come back, we're going to get a quote from St. John Paul, too.

[98] The Great.

[99] Oh, did I call them the Great?

[100] Yes, I did.

[101] We'll be right back.

[102] Welcome back to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[103] I don't know if you're like me, but it's the afternoon here in California.

[104] And I always look forward to talking to Bishop Strickland about our Catholic faith because what it does for me is It builds my faith, and I hope it builds your faith in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

[105] Bishop Strickland, you got a quote here from St. John Paul Too's.

[106] He gave this message back in 1978, the year I started St. Joseph Communications, what's that, 43 years ago?

[107] And it says this, but above all, I beg you, I implore you.

[108] I love this.

[109] Let us return to live in the grace of God.

[110] to frequent the sacraments, to practice the virtues, to be good Christians, faithful to the promises of our baptism, and an authentic witness of Christ.

[111] Man, I haven't seen that in years.

[112] What made you tweet that one?

[113] How did you even find it?

[114] Well, I read an article where it was quoted and just said, I need to tweet that.

[115] I need to share that because this was in 1978.

[116] yeah when he had just become pope right that was the second year I was in the seminary oh my gosh and so it's just prophetic and you know I just love the way you know he was a drama student we know that and you can hear the the the dramatic tone that he uses with the the good use of language and in calling people imploring people to wake up to the truth of Jesus Christ and man do we need that message today you got that right mr. Strickland the month 11th well the 29th of September we did the archangels we've got a guardian angels we got lots of feast days talking about angels so you tweeted angels exist for the glory of God let us follow their example and sing Ozana in the highest God save us and you said on this feast day let us thank our Lord for the archangels who have often entered into history as messengers in God's providential plan of salvation let us also remember our close connection with them in Christ and frequently turn to them for their necessary protection and assistance in times of trouble and boy are we in times of of trouble.

[117] Give us your thoughts on the angels.

[118] Well, absolutely, we need to remember the angels.

[119] And I remember a few years ago there were very popular images of angels and people talking about angels.

[120] But what I've encouraged is whether they're popular or not in the culture, they're just a constant reminder of many things, really.

[121] But one of the great things that angels remind us, is that creation and everything that flows from the love of God is so much more, it's so much richer, so much more profound than we can ever fully grasp and understand.

[122] Angels remind us that the supernatural truth that we know through the sacraments, we know in the incarnation of the Son of God, That that supernatural truth is, pervades every aspect of our lives.

[123] We tend to, in our humanity, we tend to reduce truth to the natural truth.

[124] The things that we can sense, the things that we can measure, the things of this world that we can think we fully understand.

[125] I was at a great talk recently by a physician, and he talked about the wonder of the human brain.

[126] And I've always been, I've always loved science and medicine.

[127] It's sort of, I wouldn't call it a hobby really, but I love to read articles about how the body works and the tremendous wonder that each of us is.

[128] And what always amazes me is that, you know, so many of us are walking around having what we call a normal day, and there's so much intricate chemistry and the operations of life can go haywire in so many ways.

[129] And to just have a normal day is a supernatural gift itself.

[130] It is not just normal, what we call normal.

[131] It should be seen as an extraordinary gift.

[132] And that's what I think angels remind us of, because this doctor was talking about the reality that the human mind, as soon as we are awakened to life, even in the womb, all of that's recorded.

[133] he said that he could you know i mean put a probe in a man's brain yeah and if he hit the right nerve or the right section of the brain that that man could recall the whole text of a book that he had read That's how amazing the mind is.

[134] And that's just one part of us.

[135] I mean, it's the most intricate part of us.

[136] I mean, neuroscience is just sort of ironically mind -blowing.

[137] Yeah, just how intricate the brain is and how tremendous it is.

[138] But to say that we have recorded everything we've seen in everything that we've heard, and everything that we've read is all.

[139] I mean, we talk about supercomputers and how marvelous they are.

[140] They pale in comparison to the healthy mind of one person.

[141] Wow.

[142] Wow, wow, wow.

[143] Bishop Strickland, we had the feast of the little flower.

[144] I love the little flower.

[145] I know you've talked about her in the past because she has very close to you also.

[146] You tweeted, without love, deeds, even the most brilliant count as nothing.

[147] Tell us why you wanted to tweet that about the Little Flower.

[148] Well, we have some great saints as we begin October.

[149] Of course, October 1st with St. Teresa, the Little Flower of the Infant Jesus, didn't live long and didn't accomplish anything in worldly terms, but a tremendous doctor of the church.

[150] Yep.

[151] because she knew the Lord so deeply.

[152] And her insight was, we just need to love.

[153] And I think a beautiful aspect of St. Teresa's insight is what John's gospel tells us.

[154] God is love.

[155] The very essence of God is love.

[156] And so her insight was really a tremendous insight that we need to be imitators of our God.

[157] We need to recognize that he accomplishes everything through love, that we are an expression of his love.

[158] And the more we love purely and truly in the image of God, the more we are in the image of God, the more we can accomplish through love.

[159] And it's sad that through human history, so much hatred has motivated so much destruction.

[160] when love is the greatest force.

[161] And love conquers all.

[162] Love never fails.

[163] All of that from Scripture really reminds us of what St. Therese's insight really is about.

[164] To love is to tap into the greatest power in the universe, and that is the life of God.

[165] Wow.

[166] Bishop Strickland, you got a quote here about living in the world in the 21st century, my friends just tweeted me this saying that she's in a university, I won't say the name of the university, but she said all of my classes are online.

[167] I won't take a step on the campus.

[168] I've already paid for my semester and we're a week into the classes and my university just called to tell me they are dropping my classes if I don't report to them about my vaccination.

[169] So this is just a bully to try and tell people you have to be vaccinated, even though they're not even going to see this person.

[170] They're doing their classes online.

[171] The reason I bring this up because of what your tweet just said, here's the tweet, and I'm going to tie it into this story.

[172] This is good advice to this young lady.

[173] You said, this is a thoughtful consideration of where we find ourselves in 2021.

[174] Let all who love Jesus Christ and his church seek to support each other in facing the challenges of being in the world, but not of the world.

[175] This little girl is facing a huge challenge.

[176] She's trying to get her education and they're overstepping their boundaries by forcing her to get a vaccination that she'll never see her on campus.

[177] That just seems to be like tyranny.

[178] I mean, that's just unacceptable.

[179] But Bishop Strickland, I know you've seen these stories, but what you're encouraging people, if I'm correct, is stay focused on your personal holiness and on following Jesus.

[180] But what advice would you give to a girl like that?

[181] Well, I would say stick to her guns.

[182] We need to, people need to speak up, and they're starting to.

[183] Yeah, they are.

[184] But people need to speak up for their rights and say no, that you have no right to close your institution to me because I've made my choice not to be vaccinated.

[185] It really is, and if we look at the whole since March of 2020, if we look at the whole history of this COVID confusion and everything, what were they telling us back in March of 2020?

[186] A couple of weeks, flatten the curve, it'll all be over with.

[187] really, it's hard to know what is true.

[188] But we know that didn't turn out to be the truth, did it?

[189] Nope.

[190] Whether or not they were manipulating the truth at that time, I mean, there's a lot of speculation about that.

[191] I don't know.

[192] But I do know you can look with your own eyes and use your brain to just follow what has happened since March of 2020.

[193] And so many things have not.

[194] that they I mean a president says oh we won't mandate this and then what's next it's being mandated I mean people go back on their word and not just people in government but really in all facets of society in the church and we really need to anchor ourselves in the truth that God has revealed to us Because as we look at all of this, you talk about Nazi Germany, you talk about communism, you talk about any of the periods of history through the, at the time of Christ, there was corruption.

[195] A lot of corruption is the reason he ultimately was crucified.

[196] If people had been really living the truth that they had received at that point, of course, Christ is truth incarnate, and when they rejected him, no wonder they were in bad shape.

[197] But even the religious community, the hypocrisy of the Jews not living, even if they had questions about Christ, the corruption that allowed him to be crucified was a collusion between church and state.

[198] Amen.

[199] When we come back, we're going to talk about the Guardian Angels and why the unemployment rates way too high for them.

[200] Put them to work.

[201] We'll be right back with Bishop Strickland, Virgin Most Powerful Radio.

[202] Welcome back to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[203] For those of you watching on the TV, you see me getting up.

[204] I'm too hyper.

[205] I cannot sit for more than, what, 15 minutes for a break because I'm excited about our Lord and I'm excited because we're talking about our Catholic faith.

[206] There's nothing more excitable than talking about God and how to get to heaven.

[207] And one of the things Bishop Strickland tweeted on is on the guardian angel feast day.

[208] That would have been October 2nd.

[209] And you said we're celebrating guardian angels today.

[210] Angels remind us that the world God has created for us is more full of wonder, mystery than we can imagine.

[211] Let us seek the sacred heart of Jesus and open our hearts to live his truth more deeply.

[212] O angel of God, my guardian dear, and I'll just finish my, from whom's God love commits me here, forever this day be at my side, to light, to guard, to rule and guide from sinful stain, oh, keep me free, and in death's hour, my helper will be.

[213] I pray that prayer every day.

[214] Why?

[215] Because I want to put my angel to work, because he has a job description to help me get to heaven.

[216] So Bishop Strickland, you are promoting angels big time.

[217] Again, do you have a great devotion yourself to your guardian angel?

[218] Because as a bishop, I'm told, a priest or bishop, you've got a second angel working overtime for you.

[219] Well, I certainly hope so.

[220] I can use a whole battalion.

[221] Oh, very good.

[222] But like we were saying, the angels remind us we don't have it all figured out there are mysteries beyond us life is richer than we can measure and god has created angels he's created us he's created a world and god rejoices in it um i mean that's one thing i think that we really need to remember even those who we get frustrated with and we get you know i get frustrated and i rail at politicians people in the church anyone who is saying something that i know isn't true isn't according to what the church teaches isn't not just what the church teaches but the truth that god has revealed to us there's too much false gospel out there but we always have to remember god loves all of us, God is love.

[223] He never ceases to love us.

[224] He ultimately tells us that we will all face a judgment of whether we have basically loved him back, whether we have followed the will of God and ultimately chosen to turn from sin and to constantly reform our lives according to God's will.

[225] in humility.

[226] God gives us every opportunity, but doesn't force us.

[227] That's what we have to remember.

[228] If God doesn't force us, even he knows it's for our own good.

[229] He knows that it is for our salvation, but he doesn't force us to choose him.

[230] If God leaves us free, even to not choose him, then in order to honor God, we've got to leave people free, to use their God -given free will, and to make their own choices.

[231] And to the angels, I think, remind us that we just need to always remember the wonder of life that God offers us is beyond our complete understanding.

[232] And to keep that mystery there, to keep the fullness of the story always beyond us, and to remember even those that we get frustrated with, that God's still loving them into life, giving them the opportunity until their last breath to turn from sin and to embrace the life of God.

[233] So whether it's a world leader or a national leader or a leader in the church or just a leader of a company or just the person next door.

[234] Anyone who is not teaching or living according to the truth that God is revealed to us, God's love is still there for them.

[235] And we're challenged that our love is still there for them.

[236] We need to pray for anyone who is on the path of darkness and there are many in our world that are just gleefully embracing evil and almost daring us to to even question the evil that they're embracing ultimately it does the greatest harm to them yeah yeah they can take away things from us but they thankfully can't invade our hearts and cause us to deny God they can try to make us through human suffering and through physical suffering but they can't ultimately change they can't take away our free will they can manipulate things so that what should be a free will choice is no longer available to us but even then they can't take away our free will well so that fits right into your next tweet because you talk about quoting archbishop fulton sheen thank you very much i love that he said tolerance has degenerated into indifference to truth.

[237] This was written so many years ago, but it's so true today.

[238] He said, once the world gives virtue and vice, good and evil, an equal hearing, and allows to vote to determine which will be chosen, there is no need to count the ballots.

[239] Oh, my gosh.

[240] Goodness will inevitably be led to the cross.

[241] So I think of the Church of Germany right now.

[242] I'm sorry, Bishop Strickland, that's off the court.

[243] But I'm thinking, we got to have distinctions between truth and error.

[244] What made you quote Sheen on this?

[245] Because I love that quote.

[246] Yeah.

[247] Well, I think once again, he hits the nail on the head to say that, you know, we hear so much about tolerance.

[248] And to tolerate falsehood is destructive for me and for the whole of the whole of society we have to seek and live the truth as fully as we can um tolerance is you know it i mean there's there's room for tolerance but it's distorted in our time and obviously it was in the time of archbishop sheen um i mean i i'd love for him to be in our world today oh boy as as forcefully as he spoke many times 50 years ago, I just can't imagine him not speaking just as forcefully or more forcefully about the lunacy that we see unfolding in our world today.

[249] I got to tell you, I dream that I meet Bishop Sheen now in my own life, and I have dialogues with him about the world today.

[250] And, I mean, it's stunning some of the conversations I have.

[251] Bishop Strickland, I think of someone who Bishop Sheen knew, at least through writing to, and that was Padre Pio.

[252] You did a fantastic tweet that really set us in a balance in this world because it seems like it's reversed right now in the world.

[253] You quoted Saint Padre Pio.

[254] He said, I fear God's judgment, not man's judgment.

[255] I thought that was spot on.

[256] Yeah.

[257] Yeah, it really is.

[258] Because that's what is, fearing man's judgment is what's driving the world today and too much of the church.

[259] Man's judgment is not what we need to be worried about.

[260] It's a temporary problem.

[261] Exactly.

[262] We need to worry about the eternal problem of God's judgment and do our best in humility to, embrace the will of God and turn from anything that takes us from the will of God.

[263] Man, it seems like these tweets just keep getting better here.

[264] Here's a great one from St. Francis of Assisi about the mass, the source and summit of the Christian life.

[265] This quote I'm using on my show tomorrow on the Terry and Jesse show, it grabbed me. St. Francis of Assisi said, A man should be seized with fear, the earth should tremble, and the heavens rejoice exceedingly when Christ, the son of the living God, descends upon.

[266] the altar in the hands of the priest of admirable and greatness stupendous consentous oh sublime humility.

[267] This was written what is this 800 years ago Bishop Strickland?

[268] And it's true today.

[269] Yeah that comes from this great book that I've mentioned before going through the centuries basically from the very beginning right as the church was forming all the way through.

[270] Great quotes that it is a basically a daily reading for October 4th.

[271] It had that quote from St. Francis.

[272] Wow.

[273] And some of the ways the saints speak of their faith in the presence of Christ and the Blessed Sacrament, it is just beautiful, it's inspiring.

[274] And it really is the remedy to the lack of faith that too many people have now.

[275] If we can really expose ourselves to these great saints and blessed and teachers that have lived through the ages talking about the significance of the blessed sacrament, I mean, St. Clair is known for holding the monstrance.

[276] Amen.

[277] And holding off attacks.

[278] to the monastery there.

[279] I mean, there are just so many great stories.

[280] And so I was inspired by that reading, and I was able to get just the gist of it there in that tweet of, and it speaks of fear.

[281] Holy fear.

[282] And some people would say, oh, we shouldn't be afraid.

[283] And it's not, it's awe is maybe a better word, but the idea of holy fear or awe, just awareness in, I mean, I think there are a lot of things in the world much paling.

[284] I mean, not even, no comparison with the wonder of the Eucharist that people would be in awe of or even have a reverential fear toward that it's just things of the world.

[285] Exactly.

[286] And awe of, oh, what this computer can do or what this machine can do, even of the human mind.

[287] But that should pale in comparison to the awe that we should have for the presence of the Lord in Eucharist.

[288] Amen.

[289] And don't forget the angels are with you at Mass. The church is filled with angels at the time of mass. I thought about that today.

[290] I hope you can think about that because it really motivates me. When we come back, we're going to get our catechisms opened up.

[291] Paragraph 244.

[292] Welcome back to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[293] Now we've into the format of the catechism of the Catholic Church.

[294] And the reason we do that for our new listeners is we think it's really important that we study our faith with a organized approach.

[295] And the catechism does just that.

[296] So everyone should have a catechism.

[297] And I just want to give this advice, and Bishop Strickland, correct me if I'm wrong, because I'll stand corrected if I'm wrong.

[298] But it seems to me that in the time we're living in right now where there's a lot of confusion in the church.

[299] If people aren't sure about what priest or bishop or whoever said something about the faith, that they can go into their catechism, look up that topic and see what officially is taught, and that way they can judge whether that bishop or whoever priest or unfortunately some people in the church are teaching something that's contrary to the perennial teachings, I'm asking everybody to have the catechism because that will give clarity to what the church actually teaches if for some reason you hear something like, oh, we don't really even purgatory anymore.

[300] Look up the word purgatory and see what the church teaches on that officially because what I'm hearing from a lot of people, Bishop Strickland, is that they're not quite sure because sometimes they hear things from the pulpit that just aren't in line with what they were taught as kids and they're a little confused.

[301] So my advice is pull out your catechism, look it up, reassure yourself that that hasn't changed.

[302] Is that a good advice for individuals today?

[303] Absolutely.

[304] The catechism, that's really what it's for, is to be a reference to just ask the questions that people have and make sure that, you know, they get the official answer of the church.

[305] Yeah.

[306] Yep.

[307] Well, let's go to paragraph 245.

[308] We've been talking about the Holy Spirit, the advocate.

[309] And 245 says, the apostolic faith, all the way back to the time of Christ concerning the Spirit was confessed by the second ecumenical council of Constantinople.

[310] That was back in 381.

[311] Our church is old.

[312] Wow.

[313] We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and the giver of life who proceeds from the Father.

[314] Does that sound familiar, everybody?

[315] I hope it does.

[316] By this confession the Church recognizes the Father as the source and origin of the whole divinity.

[317] But the eternal origin of the spirit is not unconnected with the son's origin.

[318] The Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity, is God one and equal with the Father and the Son, and of the same substance, and also of the same nature.

[319] Yet, he is not called the Spirit of the Father alone, but the Spirit of both the father and the son.

[320] The creed of the church from the Council of Constantapenoble confesses with the father and the son he has worshipped and glorified.

[321] Wow, we just had that same faith.

[322] What?

[323] We say that, Bishop Strickland, today.

[324] Yeah, absolutely.

[325] It's awesome.

[326] It's awesome.

[327] And that really makes some clarity of what we believe about, you know, clarity of the Trinitarian life that we're all called to be.

[328] So I just think that's a great paragraph to teach people what the role of the Holy Spirit and how it all fits in.

[329] Very good.

[330] All right.

[331] We can go to the next paragraph if you're ready.

[332] Okay, that's paragraph 246.

[333] The Latin tradition of the creed confesses that the spirit proceeds from the father and the son.

[334] The council of Florence in four The Holy Spirit is eternally from the Father and the Son.

[335] He has his nature and substance as one from the Father and the Son.

[336] He proceeds eternally from both as from one principle and through one spiration.

[337] And since the Father has through generation given to the only begotten Son everything that belongs to the Father except being father the son has also eternally from the father from whom he is eternally born that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the son wow you sure they articulate a lot there Bishop Strickland wow absolutely and it's really as great as the catechism is and the writing is it ultimately becomes a mystery where we sort of hit a brick wall of understanding.

[338] It's beyond us, and we have to simply acknowledge that.

[339] But the church has given us a lot to understand basically what we're talking about.

[340] And a lot of the heresies kind of illustrate where we can go wrong, and that's where the church helps us to get back on track with who God is, Father, Son, and Spirit and the relationship between the Father and the Son.

[341] I mean, Christ says in the Gospel that when you see the Father, you see the Son, and when you see the Son, you see the Father.

[342] And the Spirit coming forth, that paragraph 244, I really like the focus on time because we tend to forget that God is timeless.

[343] Time is a creature.

[344] Time is something that is a factor of created realities.

[345] I mean, without creation, there is no time.

[346] Time is a function of creation.

[347] It's the sun and the planets revolving and all of those things that we take for granted.

[348] But we're so rooted in time that it's beyond us to think of totally timeless.

[349] But that is God, the eternal God, no beginning, no end.

[350] I remember even as a kid thinking about that, and it literally blows your mind.

[351] But we're not meant to fathom how could God exist outside time.

[352] But I think we need to remind ourselves of that, even though we can't claim to understand what the full repercussions of that.

[353] But to just be reminded that time is part of our created life.

[354] And you start looking at the mechanisms of time and it begins to illustrate that.

[355] I mean, even as you read the book of Genesis, we use the language of on the first day and, and God's creation.

[356] And certainly that is language that helps us to get a basic understand that it's all from God.

[357] But when you talk about on the first day before there is a sun and a planet, then how does a day happen?

[358] But we don't have all the answers.

[359] But I think that this paragraph really just reminds us, God has deemed us, worthy, and I reflect on this a lot in my prayer before the Lord and the Blessed Sacrament, that Jesus in the incarnation enters into creation, enters into time.

[360] And I like to think about in my prayer that what a delight it must have been for Jesus to grow up in his creation, to like to be.

[361] conceived in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary to go through all of that gestation in the womb to be born into this world.

[362] And the teachers of the church tell us that, as St. Paul says, in his language, that he didn't deem equality with God something to be grasped.

[363] He laid it aside, even though he was still God, but he entered into what it means to be a man like you and I. to go to sleep at night, to get up in the morning, to be hungry, to need a drink, to do all the human functions, even though he is fully God at the same time.

[364] Again, we can't really fathom how that works.

[365] And so I think it's a great reminder that we're called to embrace a mystery that is beyond us.

[366] We get little glimpses as the apostles and the Transfiguration got glimpses of who Christ really was at his baptism.

[367] The cloud spoke and the father's voice was heard speaking of his beloved son.

[368] But those glimpses remind us that it's beyond our understanding.

[369] And people rebel against that, but I think it's also beautiful to remember and to end faith to be reminded that God is so much greater than we can ever understand in this life.

[370] And that, I think, is what these paragraphs really help us to capture as we contemplate the mystery of the Trinity.

[371] Well, said, I want to give a plug to your Institute, Bishop Strickland.

[372] Can you share with us that, please?

[373] Absolutely.

[374] The St. Philip Institute, St. Philip Institute .org, is chock full of these kinds of teachings.

[375] It's an institute for catechesis and evangelization.

[376] It helps people delve into the catechism in very practical ways, telling stories and teaching in ways that help all of us to embrace who we are in the mystery of God's plan for each of us.

[377] Every person is a wondrous gift from God, and that's how we need to live.

[378] And that's what the St. Philip Institute is helping us to know, God's truth.

[379] awesome can we get a blessing from you bishop strickland before we run out of time please sure the lord be with and with your spirit almighty god we ask your blessing for terry barber and all of his crew and all who are participating in this radio program those who will listen later that it may strengthen all of us and knowing the wonder of the mystery of your love and seeking that light more deeply in our lives and sharing it with our faith and sharing it with our faith family, our circle of friends, and all the lives we touch.

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

[381] Amen.

[382] Bishop Strickland, thanks again for your time on teaching us our Catholic faith and your tweets.

[383] If people want to get more tweets from the good Bishop, just go on to Twitter and type his name and you'll start receiving his tweets directly before we even talk about him on the radio.

[384] also for those brand new people we have all of the podcasts from previous shows on VMPR .org You can get all of the podcasts of Bishop Strickling by VMPR .org Matter of fact you can get all of the shows that we have produced here at Virgin Most Powerful and we have a brand new show coming up with Barbara McWiggin Fight the Good Fight.

[385] It's about pro -life and she's been involved for 40 years doing this.

[386] She's had 25 years of radio history.

[387] She's joining our as Bishop Strickland does once a week here at Virgin Most Powerful with one purpose, yes, to share the good news of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and help people get to heaven.

[388] So please, if you like what we're doing and you want to support us, you can become a monthly donor and get all kinds of good programming.

[389] A link back right to you by going to vmpr .org or call us at 877 -526 -215 .1.

[390] May God richly bless you and your family.

[391] Thanks for supporting our mission to teach the Catholic faith and to get people to heaven to its apostolic teachings, the perennial teachings of the Catholic faith.

[392] Thanks for all your support again for helping us do just that.

[393] God love you and full sheen ahead.