08 Jun 21 – Bishop Strickland On Who Should Be Receiving Communion (And Who Should Not)

[0] Welcome to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[1] My name's Terry Barber with Virgin Most Powerful Radio.

[2] I'm excited because every day I wake up and I say, dear Lord, give me what you want me to do.

[3] Give me the grace to do it and the strength to do it.

[4] And that is to share the good news of Jesus Christ.

[5] The world is dying because it doesn't know the meaning and purpose of life.

[6] Bishop Strickland, welcome back to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[7] God love you.

[8] Thanks, Terry.

[9] I'm fired up because Bishop Strickland, right before the show, you tweeted something about the Holy Eucharist, and that is what fires me up more than anything.

[10] And can you share with our listeners what you just tweeted, not just minutes ago or an hour ago?

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

[12] Sure, absolutely.

[13] What I tweeted was a post on my website, Bishop Strickland .com, that I would urge, which I did in the tweet, I urge everyone to read.

[14] It is a statement from a blessed, not even canonized, but a blessed from the year 1000, just a little beyond the year 1 ,000.

[15] So the 11th century, here we are at 2021.

[16] So this is just about a thousand years ago.

[17] blessed Lomfranck talking about, and let's remember, this is prior to St. Thomas Aquinas in that more developed theology.

[18] But this saint speaks beautifully of the Catholic faith around the year 1 ,000, talking about the real presence that we believe bread and wine, still has the appearance of bread and wine, but it's become the body and blood soul.

[19] and divinity of Jesus Christ.

[20] Amen.

[21] All of this controversy about politicians, and they call themselves Catholic, and should they receive the Eucharist, and should they be allowed, it simply comes down to, I believe, do we believe in the real presence?

[22] If I believe that this bread and wine after consecration is the body and blood, soul and divinity of the Lord of the universe, the second person of the Trinity, the son of God, this supernatural event that every mass is, if we believe all of that, we should all approach receiving communion with fear and trembling.

[23] Amen.

[24] And anyone, I don't care if they're a politician or a leader in some other part of society, whether they own a huge company, whoever they are.

[25] Yeah.

[26] If you're denying basic aspects of the teaching of the Catholic faith that we believe is the teaching of the bride of Christ that Jesus Christ established, the Catholic Church.

[27] If you're denying that, if you're denying the sanctity of life or the sanctity of marriage or that God created us male and female, or the basic moral teachings of the church, that sexual expression is only for a man and a woman committed in marriage, open to children.

[28] If you don't believe in some of that teaching, then you better really stop and think about whether receiving the body of Christ, the body of that teacher, he is the great teacher, he is the great high priest, his teaching contained in scripture and in the tradition of our Catholic faith as captured in the catechism.

[29] If you are bold enough to say, I don't believe some of those things that Christ that Christ established, the Catholic Church, I don't believe some of those things that the church teaches.

[30] If you're bold enough to say that, I would urge everyone to not be bold enough to receive his body and blood in the Eucharist.

[31] And what I believe it all comes down to, the reason that politicians or businessmen or movie stars or anyone, the person sitting next to you in the pew that says, I don't believe this stuff, but still receives communion, I think it comes down to they don't really believe that it's the Lord of the universe, that it's the Son of God, the second person of the Trinity, that this is body and blood, soul and divinity, Jesus Christ.

[32] If they really believe that, then if they're sane, it doesn't make sense to receive his body and say, but I don't believe in some of what he teaches.

[33] And that's what I believe it comes down to Terry, that's where I got fired up in reading this and sharing this posting on my website and then tweeting it, because that's what it comes down to.

[34] All of this discussion that the bishops conference is supposed to have in the middle of June at the June meeting that we'll do through Zoom, that discussion doesn't need to happen.

[35] I agree.

[36] What needs to happen is people say, do you believe this or not?

[37] Do you believe this is the body and blood, soul, and divinity of the Lord of the universe, the Son of God, that died for us, that rose from the death?

[38] If you believe it's him, none of us could be worthy to receive him, and we better do everything we possibly can to grow in worthiness.

[39] And that's living as teaching.

[40] So that's what it comes down.

[41] down to, I believe, and we've got to wake up to really standing for what we believe as Catholics.

[42] This ancient faith that Blessed Lanfran talks about is ancient already.

[43] It was ancient in the year 1000.

[44] It's twice as ancient now, but too many people are not so sure they believe in this ancient faith of the Catholic Church.

[45] They need to decide.

[46] And we, we, we are not so sure.

[47] They believe in this ancient We are all in trouble until we clearly embrace that faith and say, just like we celebrate the martyrs, St. Justin Martyr, one of my favorites.

[48] He lived in when the church wasn't ancient, it was brand new.

[49] He lived right around the year 100 and died for his faith.

[50] And I love it in what I read about St. Justin Martyr, just very down to earth.

[51] very basic.

[52] He's talking to this procurator of Rome or one of the Roman officials.

[53] And there's Roman officials, says, do you think that if we take your life, we kill you because of this Jesus?

[54] Do you think that you will be with God in eternal life?

[55] And St. Justin Martyr's response, I just love it.

[56] Yeah.

[57] He doesn't say, I don't think so.

[58] I know it.

[59] I love it.

[60] I know I will be with God in eternity if you take my life, which they did.

[61] They beheaded Justin Martyr and others, unnamed Christians at the same time.

[62] They took their heads off.

[63] They beheaded them.

[64] And Justin Martyr, before he died, said, I don't just think so.

[65] I know it.

[66] That's the kind of faith that Justin Martyr died with.

[67] that's the kind of faith all of us need to enkindle in our own hearts would we be willing to beheaded rather than deny Jesus Christ or his real presence in the Blessed Sacrament Bishop Strickland I've been on this show for months with you what you just said is a big amen and I hope this microphone is on because what you just said doesn't just apply to lay people okay what you said applies to the entire church because all of us are in the church from the pope all the way down to a low guy like me a layman because we all have to have that supernatural outlook on the real presence that we believe that it is the body blood soul and divinity of Jesus Christ now bishop strickland i mentioned this off the air that 80 % of catholics don't believe in the real presence and only about less than 10 % of us catholics are even showing up for sunday regular sunday mass now i'm not i'm not to put i want to point the finger first of all at myself because i am responsible for my kids to get to mass my family my center of influence of people uh i had a beautiful testimony of a old high school coach from 45 years ago he stopped going to church i had lunch a breakfast with him on saturday and on sunday he came to mass for the first time in 16 months uh because of the pandemic and he was in tears now all as it was was an invitation Now, I don't have an extra gene.

[68] I'm not a bishop like you, okay?

[69] But we can all invite our relatives and friends back to church because I got to tell you, a lot of our people aren't returning after this pandemic.

[70] And they need to be invited back.

[71] And you need to even share what Bishop Strickland just shared about what we believe about the real presence of Christ and the Eucharist.

[72] If we really believe that that's Jesus, wouldn't we want to go there on Sunday?

[73] And maybe even every day of our life, I hope so.

[74] Now, I'm going to switch gears because what you just said touched my heart and my desire to want to share that teaching.

[75] And I hope you have an opportunity at the Bishop's Conference, your Zoom meeting, to actually do what you did when it came down, oh, two years ago, it's on YouTube, when you set a similar statement regarding homosexuality.

[76] Do we really believe that St. Paul was right?

[77] Because there's a priest running around the country saying he disagreed.

[78] with the Catholic Church in St. Paul, and he even says, I know what St. Paul said, but I don't agree with him.

[79] And he's being allowed into diocese.

[80] And Bishop Strickland, I'm not in management.

[81] I'm in sales.

[82] But I have asked bishops before to enforce the perennial teachings of the church.

[83] And sometimes I just get a blank look like, what am I asking me to do?

[84] You're going to ask me to do something that's uncomfortable.

[85] Well, I'm sorry, Bishop Strickland.

[86] If you're not willing to lay your life down maybe we need somebody else i'm sorry i say that to every bishop and when we come back i know i'm fired up we're going to get a quote from bishop strickland's quote up from pope pious the 12 regarding truth you're listening to the bishop strickland hour on welcome back to the bishop strickland hour that last segment that bishop strickland gave a catechesis on the real presence of christ in the Eucharist from a thousand years ago.

[87] Bishop Strickland, I'm somewhat well read, not well, but I read books all the time for 50 years on the Catholic faith.

[88] I never heard of that saint.

[89] That got me fired up.

[90] I'm going to take that tweet and however our social media people pass that on because that was very, very powerful.

[91] Now, I wanted to give our listeners a little taste of what you tweeted regarding Pope Pius the 12th.

[92] And your comment was, you said, the powerful truth from Pope Pius to 12, the ironies that he said it 80 years ago.

[93] Here's why he would say that, but here's what he said.

[94] Think about this.

[95] This is 2021.

[96] Now, go back 80 years ago, and the vigor of Christ saying this, the accusations of the oppressive rigidity made against the church by the new morality, in reality attacks in the first place the adorable person of Christ himself.

[97] Now, Bishop Strickland, you know, 80 years ago, it was fashionable to condemn modernism.

[98] It was.

[99] It was clearly going on 80 years ago, and the church in many of its places, the Holy Father right down to bishops, they condemned it.

[100] And it seems today that what he just said, like you said, was a powerful truth about the church today.

[101] Is that why you did it?

[102] Yeah, like I said, it really struck me that even though it was 80 years ago, it sounded like he could be speaking today.

[103] Yeah.

[104] Because that issue of rigidity is something that we hear about now.

[105] And it seems to have to do with basic teachings that are hard, that are challenging, that are difficult to live up to.

[106] I would say that every Catholic or every Christian, really, there are plenty of non -Catholic Christians that are deeply committed to Christ.

[107] Oh, yeah, I know.

[108] And I think we'd all agree that there are some really challenging aspects to living the way of Christ.

[109] I mean, he tells us, take up your cross and follow me. And that cross takes as many different forms as there are people.

[110] Every one of us faces great challenges.

[111] And I think there's a tendency to sort of label the most challenging aspects of living the gospel as rigid and lacking in mercy, lacking in compassion.

[112] But the truth is the good.

[113] greatest compassion.

[114] Christ shows us that with his very life, and we see that in his teachings, that there's really a tendency.

[115] Obviously, it was there in the time of Pice the 12th, long before either of us were born.

[116] That's true.

[117] Many people would say those old guys, but before we were born, the issues were there.

[118] Yeah, that's right.

[119] What, we have to be strong enough to say is the truth is not rigid.

[120] The truth is challenging.

[121] And it may feel like it's beyond us to live up to the truth.

[122] But Christ promises that he'll give us the strength that we need.

[123] That's why he sends an advocate, the pericles, the Holy Spirit, to strengthen us.

[124] just as I'm talking, it occurs to me that the transformation would just come out of the Easter season, my favorite book that we read of Acts of the Apostles, the transformation of the apostles, the 11, and then they add Matthias, and it's 12 again, but the transformation we see in them, certainly St. Paul joins them.

[125] having been Saul, and he was strong.

[126] I would imagine many of the people of the Pharisees that as a faithful Jew, Saul was part of, probably people would have said, oh, Saul, he's a little too rigid for us, for the Jewish community.

[127] And then he becomes Christian.

[128] He becomes one of the chief proponents of the Christian message, of the message of Jesus Christ.

[129] And I'm sure through the ages, many of people have said, I've heard them.

[130] And I can understand.

[131] People say, oh, Paul's too tough.

[132] He's too rigid.

[133] He's too clear on the truth.

[134] But ultimately, it's that clarity of truth that sets us free.

[135] That's right.

[136] Truth that is watered down and sort of lukewarm and sort of, you know, compromised, that doesn't set us free from anything.

[137] It keeps us all bound up in the world and in in the lack of clarity and the confusion that we see so much of.

[138] So using the term rigid may appeal to a lot of people, but rather than worrying about whether it's rigid or not.

[139] I think what we're challenged to do, I'm challenged as a bishop, you're challenged as a layman that's a husband and father and grandfather.

[140] We're challenged to say, is it the truth?

[141] If it's the truth, then all the labels fall by the wayside.

[142] The truth that marriage is only between a man and a woman committed for life, open to children, some might say oh well that's getting into rigid stuff it's not rigid it's just truth and let's look at one aspect of that that probably isn't the most frequently as i say is what i just said oh there goes bishop strickland you know being rigid in eliminating the that's two men or two women can be married sorry it's just the truth yeah If you consider that rigid, then take it up with Jesus Christ.

[143] I'm just representing what he said.

[144] Bishop, you're spot on.

[145] I don't mean to continue, but it's refreshing to hear such clarity from a bishop.

[146] Thank you.

[147] Keep continuing because I want to hear more.

[148] But let me take another aspect of that.

[149] Yeah.

[150] Marriage is between a man and a woman for life, open to children.

[151] Amen.

[152] That last part doesn't get emphasized as much as it should.

[153] Absolutely.

[154] Open to children, meaning that contraception is immoral.

[155] Not being open to children in your marriage is sinful in ways that other aspects of that are sinful.

[156] And we've got to look at the whole picture.

[157] Yes, it's challenging, but we've got to look at the fullness of what Christ teaches.

[158] We all do.

[159] I'm a sinner.

[160] I've got to look at that and continually ask myself, where am I failing to live the fullness of the message of Jesus Christ?

[161] Am I really caring for my neighbor the way I should?

[162] Am I living morally the way I should?

[163] Am I living the fullness of the truth?

[164] We all fail in one way or another.

[165] That's why I need to go to confession often and frequently.

[166] But let's look at that question of Real marriage is open to children.

[167] If a woman has had an operation so that she can have no children, that is an issue that is an issue that needs to be dealt with because that means you're no longer open to children.

[168] If the man had the operation or if they're taking medication, the woman's taking the pill or, you know, whatever means you're using to not be open to children, then you're not following the teaching of Jesus Christ.

[169] And like we were talking about before, you know, with the whole real presence of Christ in the Eucharist, we've got to challenge ourselves, all of us, am I walking up in the communion line, but I'm living in a marriage that isn't open to children, we've got to ask that question, and we've got to say, how can I change my life?

[170] How can I be more in line with what Christ teaches?

[171] I've got to do it.

[172] You've got to do it.

[173] We all have to do it.

[174] As bishops, we have to urge people to examine their own hearts without judging each other, but putting ourselves before the judge that is Jesus Christ and asking myself, am I doing my best to align my life with Jesus Christ?

[175] And if not, then it's not rigid.

[176] It's simply living his truth.

[177] That's what we're challenged with in our present age.

[178] And there are too many leaders in the church, certainly leaders beyond the church that say, well, just live your truth, live the way you believe, and your truth may not be my truth.

[179] If it's truth, it's truth.

[180] It doesn't change from one person to the next.

[181] So all that relativism is part of what Pies the 12th was talking about.

[182] and it's very alive and well and really taking over not just the world but the church in too many ways wow wow you're on fire today bishop strickland i all as i can say is that's false compassion to give somebody a way out when they're in sin to tell them oh it's okay and i love what father bill casey taught me years ago of fun of the fathers of mercy he said the most merciless thing you can do is let someone wallow in their sin.

[183] And that kind of ties in before we take the break.

[184] I want to tease everybody.

[185] You're talking about an informed conscience in one of your tweets saying that this is much bigger than even the vaccine.

[186] Well, the vaccine supposedly, and we're going to get into that again, is going to stop you from maybe living another, or it's going to help you live another 10 years if by chance you get the coronavirus, which 99 % of the people will survive.

[187] It seems that we're more worried about our physical health than our spiritual health.

[188] And when we come back from the break, I'm going to quote Bishop Strickland regarding vaccines and also how these vaccines were actually ascertained.

[189] And why for him, and I happen to be with you 100 % on this, I'm not going to get the poke because I'm not willing to take a vaccine that's been developed through aborted babies.

[190] I'm not willing to do an experimental vaccine.

[191] with no guarantees, there's a lot of reasons, but number one reason is, I find it morally unacceptable in my informed conscience to take this, and I would rather die 10 years shorter or whatever I'm, I'm going to be, I'm 64 years old.

[192] Guess what, Bishop Strickland, last time I looked, nobody gets out alive.

[193] I'm rounding third base, and if it meant, you know, teaching the Catholic faith, and I'm dying because of that, because I held a line for morality, Well, I think our Lord would say, thank you.

[194] You did a good job.

[195] I think so, because it was the truth.

[196] Like Bishop Strickland said, what is the truth?

[197] So when we come back to the Bishop Strickland hour, I'm going to ask him a question regarding vaccines and the issue of abortion and why it's important to have an informed conscience when it comes to making moral decisions.

[198] And the perennial teachings of the church is what we look to.

[199] Don't turn that dial.

[200] Stay with us.

[201] We'll be right back.

[202] Welcome back to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[203] I gave a little tease.

[204] Bishop Strickland's going to tell us about why an informed conscience is absolutely essential to living a Catholic life.

[205] And also living in the state of grace without a good conscience.

[206] It makes it very difficult.

[207] Bishop Strickland, you tweeted this, it's bigger than vaccines, why you should care about your conscience.

[208] And you quoted Elizabeth Slayton.

[209] She said, our conscience can't and should inform every single.

[210] single thing we do.

[211] And then you had a response that said to talk about your conscience.

[212] It sounds like your conscience got pricked by that when you said the fellow humans who were murdered in abortion to help produce these vaccines.

[213] Oh, I forgot.

[214] They were never given a voice, a life, a chance to voice anything.

[215] They died too young.

[216] Their lives are a very serious matter indeed.

[217] Well, you're giving them a voice right now, Bishop Strickland.

[218] What are your thoughts on that?

[219] Well, it's interesting.

[220] You said that, Terry, because that's what motivates me very often to speak up for the unborn is because they never had a voice.

[221] And they never had the chance to form their conscience.

[222] Their life was taken away way before they were able to embrace the fullness of the life that God gives us, not by their own fault, just because.

[223] individuals in our society said this life is not worth continuing.

[224] They played God, basically.

[225] And what that article is, it was in our Catholic East Texas, which is the online magazine that Elizabeth Slaten works on.

[226] I thought it was an excellent article that just reminds us, certainly for the vaccine issue, but really for everything that we do, we part of being created, in the image and likeness of God means we make choices every day.

[227] We choose.

[228] And a lot of them are what we call habits that we just do habitually.

[229] You know, there are many things that are just part of our routine.

[230] When we drive a car or brush our teeth, we're not consciously thinking of every step.

[231] That would drive us crazy.

[232] But the important things, the moral choices that we make need to be human choices.

[233] They need to be informed by what we know.

[234] And as I've said to people, I've learned a lot over the past couple of years about how abortions are used just in medical research.

[235] And that, like I said, and I know people think we're crazy, but we should be free.

[236] Freedom of conscience is one of those things that should remain the holiest of holy things for people.

[237] Because if that freedom is taken away, the freedom of conscience, then really we're taking away that individual's ability to live in the image and likeness of God.

[238] Because that freedom of conscience is embedded in what it means to be human and to be a child of God.

[239] And so we've got to fight for those freedoms.

[240] And when we when we have that freedom, thankfully we still do.

[241] And ultimately, like the martyrs that we talk about, you can take their life.

[242] but you can't take their freedom to choose whether to follow Christ or not.

[243] But that on the flip side of that is then the great responsibility we have to make our choices and to learn what we need to learn, to not close our eyes to something because, oh, I don't want to think about that.

[244] It's the little kid that doesn't want to know that, you know, just a silly example maybe, but let's say there's a child grade school age who doesn't know that it's wrong to take a piece of candy in the store.

[245] And so they have the habit of going in and, you know, it's in a place where nobody notices and they just have the habit of going into the store and taking a piece of candy.

[246] Maybe it's only penny candy, but it's still stealing.

[247] Yep.

[248] If that little kid develops this habit, they're going to be upset if somebody tells them Johnny, you can't do that.

[249] That's not yours.

[250] That's stealing.

[251] Johnny probably would burst into tears and say, well, nobody told me. Sure.

[252] That's a silly example of how we all operate, even as adults.

[253] I don't want to know that truth that begins to mess with my habits and my desires and what I'm accustomed to.

[254] And, you know, we find out something that I've been doing for years.

[255] It's wrong.

[256] At the point you find out it's wrong, even if you truly didn't know before, then you've got a moral choice to make.

[257] You've got to make a decision.

[258] Am I going to continue to do this and pretend, well, I don't think it's wrong.

[259] I disagree.

[260] We have all kinds of contortions that we go through to try to explain it away.

[261] But once we've come to know that the truth and that it's wrong to do this, then continuing to do it is sinful.

[262] Yep.

[263] And we may not like that.

[264] But we have an obligation to find the truth and to find out what is the right thing to do and then to do it.

[265] That's what forming your conscience is about to deflect it and say, oh, I don't want to know.

[266] Don't tell me. That's a moral choice itself.

[267] It's really too late.

[268] You know, if we don't know the details, but we don't want to know the details and we're not willing to find out the truth.

[269] that we need to know in order to make a moral decision, we're making our moral decision right there.

[270] Clarity with charity, that's what you just did.

[271] Bishop Strickland, I like when you quote the Bible, especially in the New Testament and with these tweets because it gives me courage and it really builds me up.

[272] You have a quote from 1st Corinthians chapter 6, 19 to 20, and it says, you must know that your body, is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is within the spirit you have received from God you are not your own you have been purchased and at a price so glorified God in your body and then you point out and saying that our culture needs to hear this message profoundly in other words they need to know the message of the meaning and purpose of life is what you're saying but you know Bishop Strickland without people like you in our church we're not going to hear that from the secular media.

[273] And as a matter of fact, Bishop Strickland, what you just quoted, I would love to have that quoted all over the Catholic Church today.

[274] But it seems that in many cases, these hard teachings that say that, you know, like what you just said, you know, you've been bought as a priced and, you know, you've been purchased at a very high price.

[275] And people don't realize that giving themselves to Jesus Christ and saying, Jesus, take me, take my will, take my, I want to serve you, that that is the key in finding true peace.

[276] They think, possibly that the world has an other alternative to say, you've got to find yourself.

[277] I've always said, you don't have to find yourself, you've got to find Christ.

[278] Yeah, absolutely.

[279] And I was talking about that quote with some young people.

[280] and glorify God through your body.

[281] I think we really need to deeply reflect on that.

[282] All of us, young and old.

[283] Sure.

[284] Because we live in a culture where, and certainly we immediately think in which we need to, the sexual morality issues.

[285] Yeah.

[286] But there's so many other ways that we don't glorify God with our body.

[287] Right.

[288] when we don't take care of ourselves, when we don't get proper exercise, when our diets are all out of whack, that glorifying God with your body really needs to be embraced in, certainly the sexual aspect, that's a big part of it, and that's a big part of our brokenness in the world today but I'd encourage and I the the young people that I was talking to I encouraged them to really embrace that idea with glorifying God with your body with all that you do um how you use your hands where you walk with your feet what what you what you take into your body you know what kind of food do you pay attention to keeping yourself healthy and I mean we've got huge obesity problems in this country that glorifying God with your life, with your body really needs to be much more deeply embraced.

[289] And it's not just the sexual aspects.

[290] That's a huge part of our brokenness.

[291] But we need to glorify God with all that we do.

[292] Glorify God with what you look at and how you use your, what you listen to.

[293] Yep.

[294] What how you use.

[295] How you use.

[296] your senses.

[297] All of that is so far from what modern culture tells us, and we're so much immersed in that culture that the message of Christ sometimes has a hard time breaking through.

[298] But I urge all of us, and I'm the first to acknowledge that I need to look for the ways that I glorify God with my body in much more profound ways.

[299] I like it because it made me think of Bishop Sheen.

[300] I've said it over and over again, but I think of it.

[301] Every action is like a blank check.

[302] If Christ's name is on it, it has infinite value.

[303] And the little flower said basically the same thing that we could pick up this pin for the glory and honor of God.

[304] You know, Bishop Strickland, I said this before to you.

[305] I know I've said this, But I remember as a teenager hearing that, and I thought, I can praise God by picking up a pin for God.

[306] That blew me away.

[307] So I just think that going back to the fundamentals of the faith that you're giving us, it really is critical for us today.

[308] When we come back, Cardinal Sirrah, you're quoting him, and anything by Cardinal Sirrah, can I tell everybody, get his books from Ignatius Press.

[309] One of the holiest cardinals in the Catholic Church today is Cardinal Sirah from Africa.

[310] and he has a comment about following Christ you won't want to miss. So stay with us here on the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[311] This is going to inspire you to fall deeper in love with Jesus and his church.

[312] Welcome back to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[313] Normally we go to the catechism of the Catholic Church reading different paragraphs.

[314] But Bishop Strickland, this particular week of tweets, you quote saints, you quote holy men in the church, this is inspiring us to fall deep in love with Jesus.

[315] and Cardinal Sirrah, you said in a tweet, reminds the followers of Christ.

[316] That's us, that if we want to grow and be filled with love of God, it is necessary to plant our life firmly on three great realities.

[317] All the saints tell us this.

[318] What are those great realities?

[319] The cross, the Eucharist, the mother of God.

[320] These are the three mysteries that God gave to the world.

[321] You're a broken record, but play that record one more time.

[322] Go ahead.

[323] love it.

[324] Well, absolutely.

[325] And I was blessed, the diocese was blessed with the ordination of four men to the priesthood this past Saturday.

[326] Time out.

[327] Your little diocese of, what, 120 ,000?

[328] How many Catholics do you have in your diocese?

[329] 120 ,000?

[330] About 120 ,000.

[331] Okay.

[332] And I have 5 .5 million people in the Los Angeles diocese, and you had more ordinations than us.

[333] Really?

[334] Go ahead and tell us about your ordnia.

[335] I want to hear this, four in one year.

[336] Yep.

[337] Very blessed, great men.

[338] I truly believe that they are deeply committed to living the fullness of the priesthood of Christ.

[339] Certainly need our prayers and our support, but they're great.

[340] But what called it to mine, Terry, was the closing hymn for this ordination may have been a little surprised.

[341] for people but I thought it was an excellent choice.

[342] What was it?

[343] Not sure who chose it, but lift high the cross.

[344] Oh, I love it.

[345] Lift high.

[346] So that was the closing hymn for this ordination.

[347] Very appropriate.

[348] And I actually intended to mention it in the homily, but I didn't want to get too long.

[349] So I didn't mention it in the homily.

[350] But hopefully a lot of people saw that and saw the connection.

[351] That's what priests are called to do, to join our lives to the cross of Christ, because that sacrificial altar of the Eucharist wouldn't be there without the sacrifice of the cross, and it's all woven together.

[352] Certainly, the altar takes us to the glory of the resurrection also.

[353] The whole message of Christ is captured there.

[354] in the Eucharistic altar, but, and there's such a tendency, like we were talking about before, with forming your conscience means taking up that cross and in being very clear that we all have to suffer to some extent.

[355] That's suffering is woven into the mystery of being created in the image and likeness of God, of being human.

[356] And, There's such a tendency to, even for people of faith, certainly for people who have no faith, what's a big part of the human reality?

[357] For those who don't believe anything, they just medicate or pleasure or some way to avoid the pain, to avoid the struggles, to avoid any discomfort.

[358] And if you think about it, and I do think about it, I reflect on the reality that Jesus Christ was incarnate in what you might say in these terms, a very uncomfortable time of human history.

[359] the creature comforts that you know honestly I take advantage of and that we sort of take for granted and expect air conditioning to make it cooler or hotter so that we're not as we're not uncomfortable there's so many aspects there you know the huge industry of much of our society is about making sure that people are comfortable.

[360] Exactly.

[361] And what we have to humbly acknowledge as Americans, I mean, thankfully, we're still in a place where we're kept comfortable in many ways.

[362] Many people in the world don't have that.

[363] It's true.

[364] And we have to be very aware of that.

[365] There are people that don't even have decent drinking water that they can trust is not going to make them sick.

[366] and that even just a matter of taste, you know, is palatable for drinking water.

[367] Many people don't have that.

[368] And thankfully, there are many people that are working to make basic needs like drinking water and shelter and clothing available to people that don't have them.

[369] but it's we do have to be very aware of the the tendency to I mean here I am kind of going off on a tangent about you know carrying the cross but it all is woven together when we deny the cross when we deny any sort of suffering and we want to be comfortable all the time then we start to harm each other is what it comes down to.

[370] We start to be selfish.

[371] We start to ignore the basic needs of others because we don't want to be uncomfortable, then we don't pay attention to the basic needs of others.

[372] It gets complicated, but I think the spirituality of embracing the cross, meaning, you know, I may not need some of those things and to give some of that up for the sake of others is an attitude, a spiritual attitude that we need to cultivate in the world because when it all becomes meeting my needs and keeping myself comfortable, then somebody's going to lose out.

[373] somebody is forgotten in that picture.

[374] And we're all challenged to try to remember the needs of others.

[375] God wants us all to have our basic needs met.

[376] But what are those basic needs?

[377] And I think when we when we take the cross out of the picture, we're in danger of forgetting that a little discomfort is spiritually healthy.

[378] Well, said, and you know, Bishop Strickland talking about the priest you've ordained for, the theme music that we use for your show is taken from the ordination mass. And people ask that question, what's so beautiful, what should be for an ordination and priests?

[379] But Bishop Strickland, in the few minutes that we have left, you tweeted about seminarians, and I just have to prep this.

[380] I have over, well, 40 years, but I've met many seminarians that lost their faith in the seminary.

[381] I mean, it's tragic, Bishop Strickland.

[382] They lost their Catholic faith, and they rejected Jesus because of scandal.

[383] And I've tried to reach out to them, and it seems that you're reaching out to a seminarian where the seminarian, you know, talked about, well, you said, this dear seminarian, the reason to remain Catholic are truly infinite because Jesus Christ is infinite.

[384] The church is all about him, signed one week and sinful shepherd to a seminarian.

[385] And then this is what he tweeted out when you responded to that.

[386] He said, is there any reason why I should remain Catholic?

[387] Now, Bishop Strickland, this is a young man in formation to become a Catholic priest.

[388] And I'm just going to say this as gently as I can.

[389] I have met even just today I met another guy who was through the phone call that was in the seminary and he was scandalized so much that he left the seminary but he came back to his Catholic faith but he said he didn't believe that they actually believe in the church teachings and he said if they don't believe why should I so what made you reach out to this seminarian well it's just as you're saying it's troubling for and there've been a number of young people not just seminarians but just Catholics who've reached out to me over the past several months saying basically the same thing it's like convince me not to leave the church and it's about Jesus Christ.

[390] Certainly the church can be disappointing to all of us.

[391] I'm sure I've been dishearting.

[392] I'm sure I've been disappointing to people.

[393] And I know that I've hurt people.

[394] Sometimes, even when you make the best decisions you can, it still may cause hurt that causes people to leave the church.

[395] I think about my own mother who basically taught us as kids, don't let anything cause you to leave the church because the church is about Jesus Christ.

[396] Amen.

[397] And yes, the human aspect of it, We hurt each other.

[398] We're sinners.

[399] There's corruption.

[400] There's disappointment.

[401] There are all sorts of human reasons that make it very reasonable to say, I'm walking away from this.

[402] But those are human reasons.

[403] What we have to remember is the supernatural reason that it's Christ Church.

[404] And even the sufferings that the church herself inflicts on.

[405] on us, which she does at times because of human brokenness, even that can be saving grace.

[406] That's right.

[407] Many of the saints were persecuted within the church.

[408] Amen.

[409] Many of the saints talk about, I mean, they went through times different saints that were exiled and abused for their faith and really mistreated, many of them.

[410] Yep.

[411] but they kept the faith not in an institution, but in Jesus Christ.

[412] And that's why they're saints now.

[413] So that's the great path that is there for all of us to follow that reminds us if we remember the churches about Jesus Christ.

[414] Yeah.

[415] Through this life, which is fleeting, we may suffer greatly.

[416] We may be misunderstood.

[417] We may be exiled or relegated to insignificance, but Christ prevails.

[418] That's right.

[419] And if we believe in Christ and we do our best to stay faithful to him, then what the world, what the church throws at us as a worldly institution, and it is part of the world.

[420] It should be in the world, but not of the world.

[421] none of that will ultimately prevail over Christ and that's what he tells us well said before you ask for a blessing i want to just give an endorsement for the first ever national men's march that's that's going to protest the mass murder of abortions on june 12th and no you're behind that is that a fair statement bishop strickling did you tweet oh yeah i support it very much yeah good good and then again tomorrow next week we'll have another show at bishop strickland if you want to get the podcast, go to virgin most powerful radio .org, listen to all the different shows.

[422] How about a blessing, Father, or Bishop Strickland?

[423] Almighty God, we ask your blessing for all who are listening to Virgin Most Powerful Radio.

[424] And then I'm the Father, the Son of the Holy Spirit.

[425] Amen.

[426] Thanks again for joining us here on the Bishop Strickland Hour on Virgin Most Power Radio.

[427] May God richly bless you and your family, and take heed to this show, share it with your friends and family.

[428] Make sure that your family knows the faith well, so they can live the faith well.

[429] God love you.

[430] Cole Sheen ahead here at Virgin Most Powerful Radio.