13 Mar 24 – Supporting Concerts Funding Abortion Is a Grave Sin

[0] Welcome to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

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

[2] We have an opportunity to share with the gospel of Jesus Christ with the good bishop twice a week.

[3] Bishop Strickland, thanks again for joining us today.

[4] Thank you, Terry.

[5] And we got a great way of starting your show.

[6] It's not about Bishop Strickland or Terry Barber.

[7] It's about the person of Jesus Christ.

[8] And so we start off with the gospel for March 13th, Wednesday.

[9] with the Gospel of John, chapter 5, verse 17 to 30.

[10] And I always ask the bishop if he could read it and give us his insights on that.

[11] Okay.

[12] It's the gospel of John.

[13] Jesus answered the Jews.

[14] My father is at work until now.

[15] So I am at work.

[16] For this reason, they tried all the more to kill him.

[17] Because he not only broke the seven, but he also called God.

[18] God, his own father, making himself equal to God.

[19] Jesus answered and said to them, Amen, amen, I say to you.

[20] The son cannot do anything on his own, but only what he's the father doing.

[21] For what he does, the son will do also.

[22] For the father loves the son and shows him everything that he himself does.

[23] And he will show him greater works.

[24] than these, so that you may be amazed.

[25] For just as the father raises the dead and gives life, so also does the son give life to whomever he wishes.

[26] Nor does the father judge anyone, but he is given all judgment to the son, so that all may honor the son just as they honor the father.

[27] Whoever does not honor the son does not honor the father, sent him.

[28] Amen, amen, I say to you.

[29] Whoever hears my word and believes in the one who sent me has eternal life and will not come to condemnation, but is passed from death to life.

[30] Amen, amen, I say to you.

[31] The hour is coming and is now here when the dead will hear the voice of the son of God, and those who hear will live.

[32] For just as the father has life in himself, so also he gave to the son the possession of life in himself.

[33] And he gave him power to exercise judgment because he is the son of man. Do not be amazed at this, because the hour is coming in which all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and will come out, those who have done good deeds to the resurrection of life.

[34] but those who have done wicked deed to the resurrection of condemnation.

[35] I cannot do anything on my own.

[36] I judge as I hear, and my judgment is just, because I do not seek my own will, but the will of the one who sent me. The gospel of the Lord.

[37] Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

[38] Well, as always with John's gospel, there's a lot to absorb.

[39] been a lot to reflect on here.

[40] And one of the main things that strikes me in this passage is where it speaks of Jesus, the son of God, being the one who has been assigned to judge us, I think that really is a reminder of the abundant mercy of God, that I think, especially, as we continue this Lenton journey, I think this gospel is something for us to really reflect on and pray about and really try to embrace more deeply in our understanding.

[41] Because we're all familiar with another part of John, John 316, where it says, God's so love the world that he gave us his only begotten son, Jesus Christ.

[42] That should be well known because it, it, it It really captures a significant part of the heart of what the gospel is.

[43] God's love for us.

[44] And it's echoed, I think, in this passage later on in John's Gospel, where Jesus is talking about his intimate relationship with the Father.

[45] I love John's Gospel as it speaks of, really, from our perspective, for us who know the Catholic Catechism and Catholic teaching, the reason we make the sign of the cross, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, we know that the reason we're baptized, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is because of this relationship that Jesus speaks of in today's gospel passage.

[46] We call this understanding of God the Holy Trinity.

[47] God is a triune God.

[48] God.

[49] Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

[50] And really the facet of that that I'm reminded of that I believe is a beautiful element of who God is and how much he has loved us, he sent his son to reveal fully his truth to us.

[51] We can read in Exodus about Moses encountering God, but he doesn't allow him to see his face.

[52] And I think that what I'm reminded of, I just recently read that passage from Exodus.

[53] And I think it's a beautiful reminder of who Jesus is.

[54] He's the face of the Father.

[55] Amen.

[56] The face that we can see.

[57] And in our Catholic faith, in Eucharistic adoration at every mass, we see the face of God.

[58] Wow.

[59] It was impossible as God the Father tells Moses, in that encounter in Exodus, he says, Moses, you can't see my face.

[60] And there's that beautiful passage where Moses sees God go past him, but he can't see his face.

[61] God loves us so much.

[62] He has sent his son to show us his face, to show us his glory.

[63] And the part that I think is very significant is the one that has walked with, us.

[64] In all things but sin, Jesus Christ who knows temptation, knows our day -to -day journey of life for 33 years, knows this world of creation by actually drinking the water and eating the food and being willing to lower himself to be one of us.

[65] He's the one that judges us.

[66] Even thinking about our court system in the United States.

[67] We have a right to a jury of peers.

[68] And in an astounding way, certainly, he's always God's divine son, only God and fully man. But what this passage reminds me of is the one who judges us, the person of the Trinity who judges us, is the one who is our peer, if we can use that word.

[69] The one who has walked this life with us, who knows what temptations like.

[70] And he's the one, to me, that's a wondrous element of the love of the father.

[71] God could have done it a different way.

[72] He's God.

[73] He could have just judged us outright.

[74] But he chose to send us his son, a son who walked with us, the journey of being a creature in this world, being a human being, but showing us what we can do when we are like him in all things but sin.

[75] Sin is what separates us from being what God has created us to be.

[76] Jesus has conquered sin and death and enables us to see the face of God.

[77] And thankfully, to me, it's just beautiful mercy that God, we have to be judged.

[78] And Jesus makes it very clear in that passage we just read that at the end, those who have been faithful to the commandments will receive the eternal life of heaven.

[79] Those who have not, who have done wicked things, who have sinned, who have denied the commandments, will receive eternal life also, but an eternal life of condemnation.

[80] Jesus makes it very clear.

[81] We've talked before, Terry, about the question of heaven and hell, the last things, and how many people will go to heaven, how many will go to hell.

[82] To pretend that hell is empty, I mean, certainly we would like to think that the majority go to heaven.

[83] there's much in revelation that doesn't really confirm that hope.

[84] The hope is always there for you and for me individually, but we can't bank on just sort of floating along with the majority.

[85] Oh, most people are going to go to heaven, so we'll just go along with the crowd.

[86] That's not what Revelation tells us.

[87] And Jesus tells us that many are, but few are chosen.

[88] There are many different passages that remind us we need to wake up to the reality.

[89] And really, Terry, as I've reflected on that just recently, because I've been asked questions about what we've talked about before.

[90] Is it the vast majority of people who will be saved?

[91] Or is it a small remnant of humanity?

[92] Sadly, I think if you look at the world today, And, you know, we have to work with all the vigor we can to seek holiness to turn from sin.

[93] But I would hate to say if the judgment happened today, just boom.

[94] Judgment is happening.

[95] I think we'd have to say the vast majority of people are not close to God in His commandments.

[96] But then the church is no guarantee.

[97] So I think we need to wake up to that reality.

[98] We're never hopeful, but our hope is hoping and God.

[99] We'll be right back with more in the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[100] Stay with us.

[101] And now back to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[102] Welcome back, indeed.

[103] Bishop Strickland, not so long ago, just about a week ago, there's a news item about Bishop Strickland.

[104] It's a grave sin to buy tickets from musicians who use proceeds to fund abortion.

[105] This pop singer, Olivia Rodriguez, is pledging part of her ticket sales for an upcoming Texas concert to groups that help women get abortions.

[106] So, why are you speaking out on this?

[107] I don't hear anybody else talking about it, but what made you so compelled to speak up on this?

[108] And why?

[109] Well, very simply, Terry, I was asked, is this a problem?

[110] Is this an issue?

[111] And I gave a brief response that, yes, it's a problem because certainly many things are happening in our society that we disagree with.

[112] Of course.

[113] Our taxes are you for that we disagree with.

[114] But to directly choose to, you know, let's say, I mean, these tickets for these concerts are expensive.

[115] Let's say it's a $50 ticket.

[116] If even a penny of that goes toward support, I mean, and you're told this is going to support abortion.

[117] Yep.

[118] You need to say no. Exactly.

[119] And I know people often get, I'll say, antagonistic toward me because I say these kinds of things.

[120] certainly we live in a very complicated world and and I don't believe that God is calling us to just you know go live on an island I mean even that island is going to be affected by some aspect of the sinfulness that we're in but as we were talking earlier in that gospel we just read it's about being judged it's about making our own judgments right people are often saying oh, judge not let you be judged.

[121] Yes, that's scriptural.

[122] But it doesn't mean that we're not supposed to make judgments about exactly this question that was posed to me. Is buying a ticket of this artist who, from what I can say, I don't even know who this artist is.

[123] But if they are aggressively and proudly saying part of my ticket price is going to support abortion, then you need to find another artist, and there are plenty of them.

[124] But to support that intentionally really becomes a question of sin because you're intending to do something, and it comes down to, you know, directly supporting abortion by helping to fund it.

[125] I mean, we can't do that in any circumstance.

[126] And so.

[127] I think it's that kind of thinking through things logically.

[128] We need to help people learn to do better because that hasn't been much of a focus in our lifetime.

[129] It's just, well, how does it feel?

[130] How does it feel is one thing.

[131] It may feel fine, but you can use your brain to logically think about, okay, what are we doing here?

[132] If you're helping to fund abortion, that is.

[133] not something you can just lightly say, oh, well, it's not that much or not a big deal.

[134] It is a big deal.

[135] And the more we can, I mean, if this artist got the message very clearly, because people aren't buying tickets for their concert.

[136] Oh, yeah.

[137] But sadly, you know, it's probably good marketing in our broken world.

[138] It's probably good marketing because many people would say, oh, that sounds great.

[139] Now I'm going to buy a ticket because it's supporting abortion.

[140] So it's all the more reason all of us who know that abortion is the taking of the life of an unborn human being, it's murder, then we need to do everything we can to raise our voices and use our pocketbooks to say this artist isn't going to get any support from me. The more we can clearly make those statements.

[141] And we've seen things where marketing, it can make a difference if it will speak up.

[142] Yeah, well, sad.

[143] Thanks for explaining your position on that.

[144] I agree 110%.

[145] Bishop Strickland, this seems to be a story that Grace builds on nature in the sense when you try to fool mother nature, there are effects.

[146] The leaked messages from a top pro -LGB doctor, he performs transgender hormones for kids who are boys to become girls and girls to become boys.

[147] He's admitted it's causing cancer and even death to these young people.

[148] And I just want to get your take on that because I always, my moral theology teacher was Montsenor William Smith, and he said something to the effect that God can forgive, okay, but nature never forgives.

[149] so when you abuse nature like we're doing to give these hormones there's going to be some bad effects on that what are your thoughts on that well i think that's something we really need to pay attention to in our time because there's so many things that are artificial so many things that are man -made and i think that we have to acknowledge that much of what we're dealing with in the world I mean, like the prevalence of cancer.

[150] Yeah.

[151] I mean, I can't say definitely this is the reason for it.

[152] But I think it's clear that a lot of the artificial things that are, we consume, a lot of the chemicals that are even in our water system for all kinds of different reasons, I think it's got to make a difference.

[153] And I think what you point out, Terry, is.

[154] God is creator of the universe.

[155] God has set creation in a beautiful order.

[156] I mean, they're just wonder after wonder.

[157] I mean, just a plant developing and the intricacy of individual plants and animals and the things that happen in the natural world, God has set an order to the world, and we're part of that order.

[158] order, or we're called to be, we're the ones that have the free will to work against that order if we so choose.

[159] We call it sin.

[160] And certainly, some of the things that have been done in the developed world, as we say, may not be, you know, something sinful.

[161] I mean, people think they're doing good things.

[162] But sometimes the consequences we have to deal with it.

[163] And as you said, what I think it is something that we need to be conscious of is that as God has created the natural world, ultimately there's going to be a rebellion by nature to the things that we do that are contrary to nature.

[164] They're just going to be consequences.

[165] Just a simple example that to me is one of, one example that at least is an image to consider.

[166] I mean, we've all seen, you know, that a lot of our planet is now covered with concrete.

[167] Yep.

[168] But ultimately, nature wins the battle there.

[169] If you look at a sidewalk, unless you maintain it, unless you keep working at killing the weeds and all of that.

[170] Exactly.

[171] really, the weeds and even the other plants, the natural world is going to take it back.

[172] That's right.

[173] We've both seen, you know, run down houses or whatever the situation is, something that man made.

[174] If we don't keep at it and keep, you know, in a sense, beating back nature, nature fills the vacuum and you know plants will take over that that concrete it may take a while but eventually the plants will take over and I think that's just an image and a reminder God is about eternity God is about the long term we tend to be instant and short -sighted I mean You know, I grew up in East Texas, and many of us lament, we don't have many old buildings in East Texas because we're, you know, things were built quickly and then are often torn down quickly.

[175] I mean, and that's not just East Texas.

[176] It's part of our modern world.

[177] But, you know, I think it's just a reminder, even the things in ancient Rome that will stand.

[178] And after 2 ,000 years, ultimately, they will not last either.

[179] And I think it's just a reminder that we need to pay attention, ultimately for the salvation of our souls, we need to pay attention to the truth that God has revealed to us.

[180] But even in the natural setting, we need to be stewards of the earth.

[181] We need to be caring for the world.

[182] We need to be guardians of the world, the way the Lord is, I mean, from Genesis called us to.

[183] But we need to always remember what the purpose of the world is.

[184] And it's to be the home that nurtures all of us created in the image and likeness of God.

[185] And we need to respect nature and recognize when I sin to some degree I'm going against nature.

[186] and there are consequences.

[187] I wanted to add one more if I could.

[188] Contraception, putting chemicals in a woman to make her so she's infertile many times and abortifation takes place.

[189] People don't realize this.

[190] And if you've never looked into this who are listening, mom and dad, contraception is really a horrible thing to do not only for the child that maybe comes into this life, but you're really separating something that God had designed for a man and a woman who are married with an embrace that always is open to life.

[191] And one of the problems now that science has shown us, they thought in the early 60s the pill was going to be this great thing, and we found out that not only is it bad for the baby, but it's bad for mama.

[192] We've got all kinds of breast cancer connections with contraception, but more importantly, the connection of going against God, natural law is something that many women have not been taught and if you have never been taught that you might want to check out the official teachings of the church on contraception because I think it's important that people know this because I get people over the years who tell me nobody ever told me that Bishop Strickland I thought I was I mean the priest even asked me what form of birth control are you going to use what is that implying see this is what we're up against we just have a minute here but wouldn't you say that the the love and life of what John Paul 2, Paul the 6th, read the document, Hermione Vite, folks, and you'll see what the church is teaching and how beautiful that teaching from Holy Mother the Church really is about marriage and life.

[193] Your thoughts?

[194] Well, I just echo what you have said, Terry, and we need to pay attention because, like I said already, there are consequences when we ignore God's plan.

[195] Amen.

[196] At whatever level we do that.

[197] When we ignore God's plan and say, no, we're going to do it our way, there are consequences.

[198] I've always said that.

[199] Whenever I do it my way, I always regret it.

[200] Do it God's way, and you'll be a happy camper.

[201] And when we come back, we'll get some more of the tweets, but also we've got the catechism coming up on the sacraments and the liturgy.

[202] Stay with us here on the Bishop Strickland Hour on Virgin Most Power.

[203] We'll be back after a moment.

[204] And now back to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[205] Welcome back indeed.

[206] Bishop Strickland, you tweeted about Neil McDonough.

[207] He's a devout Catholic actor in Hollywood.

[208] I remember when this happened.

[209] He said he won't do a kissing scene.

[210] And he says, I'm a married man and have five kids.

[211] Well, McDonough lost an estimated $1 million in a role in a 2010 ABC show called Scoundrels as he refused to act in sex scenes.

[212] with an actress.

[213] And I really, I mean, to me, that a boy.

[214] And you tweeted, God bless you, Neil, we need more real men in Hollywood.

[215] Well, real men stand up for life and stand up for morality.

[216] Is that what got you to comment on that?

[217] Yeah, because I think that, you know, Hollywood can do great things.

[218] And there's no reason.

[219] I mean, you know, not in our lifetime.

[220] The movies, you know, they began to take the wrong path, but there were movies that certainly you knew what they were alluding to, but they only alluded to the scenes that are so explicit now.

[221] Yeah.

[222] Those, that explicit, it's kind of, really Terry just comes to mind for me that it's sort of analogous to using bad language.

[223] Yeah, there you go.

[224] It's just not very imaginative.

[225] It's not very creative.

[226] Nope.

[227] I mean, you can get your point across.

[228] Yeah, you don't have to be plain language.

[229] Yep.

[230] You can get your point across without just, you know, be artistic.

[231] Don't just stick people's nose in some kind of scene that doesn't need to be seen and too often becomes almost pornographic, if not just truly pornographic.

[232] So I think that this.

[233] Neil, I've seen him in movies, and I think that more, part of the reason I tweeted is to encourage those who may be young actors.

[234] There's a lot of pressure there for the men and the women to do things that should be against their moral code.

[235] And if more will stand up and say, I'm not going to do this, the studios will figure it out because they want to make money.

[236] And they will ultimately, if enough took the stand that Neil took, that it would change the industry.

[237] But sadly, too many of them don't seem to have any values that you can detect at all.

[238] But there are good people in Hollywood.

[239] And thankfully, they'll, you know, take a million dollar loss.

[240] That's significant for a family that has five kids to give up that kind of money.

[241] But I know that he and his family.

[242] will be blessed and are blessed to have a husband and a dad that has those kinds of values.

[243] It was awesome because it wasn't that long after that.

[244] What happened to me, I had a commercial building that was off Interstate 10 where 270 ,000 cars would go back and forth.

[245] And they contacted me about putting a freeway sign above my building.

[246] And they were going to pay me about $2 ,500 a month for nothing.

[247] Basically, we'll put the sign up.

[248] So I said, well, time out.

[249] Let me, let me see something.

[250] It sounds good, but let me, you mean to tell me you can put any sign you want?

[251] Yeah, so I mean, like Planned Parenthood or, I mean, this was a Catholic bookstore at the time that I had on, in West Covina.

[252] And I said, no, I'm not going to do it.

[253] And the guy that was the salesperson trying to sell me, says, wait a minute, you mean to tell me, you don't have to a darn thing, and you're going to get $2 ,500, this is a 15 -year lease, and then he adds up the money and tells me how much money it is.

[254] And I said, yeah, I said, that's right.

[255] Because of my moral position on killing unborn babies, I just don't find it, you know, socially accepted.

[256] As a matter of fact, I don't want to be part of someone who's going to murder a baby because I advertise their business on my building.

[257] And the guy could not figure me out.

[258] It never got the idea that this was more, There's a moral issue.

[259] But you see, again, this movie star actor, he said, no, there's more to life.

[260] And I want to stay in the state of grace, not in mortal sin and participate in something as sinful in morality as he does in the movie house.

[261] And I still think I made the right decision that, hey, I could have had that money, but what's that money going to do when I come to my judgment seat and our Lord says, hey, Terry, remember the time you took the money from the advertising company?

[262] I'll kind of forgot.

[263] No, I didn't forget it because everything we do comes back to us at our judgment exit interview.

[264] So Bishop Strickland, I think it's important that we have men and women who make a stand for life.

[265] And I even say yourself, Bishop Strickland, I'm going to be honest with you.

[266] I don't mean to be political or even in my church.

[267] You could have stayed in Tyler, Texas, if you just zipped your lip, okay?

[268] And you didn't say anything.

[269] and just go along to get along.

[270] But I say, thank you.

[271] I think birds of the feather are flocking together.

[272] You and I have something in common.

[273] It's our love for Jesus Christ above any other thing in this world, whether it's recognition from highest areas of the church.

[274] That means nothing to me, Bishop Strickland.

[275] I'm just a layman, but you know what?

[276] It means the most that I've served our Lord Jesus Christ.

[277] Absolutely.

[278] That's what it's all about.

[279] And I'd like to underscore also with this issue about Neil I forget the last name.

[280] McDonough, McDonough.

[281] McDonough.

[282] The respect for the woman that is his wife and mother and children.

[283] Oh, yeah.

[284] I mean, we hear a lot about women's rights and beg for women and all of that.

[285] That is how a woman needs to be respected.

[286] Big time.

[287] That he's unwilling to, have any kind of interaction with another woman that should be only appropriate for his wife.

[288] Amen.

[289] And I mean, I'm sure that it really was a great blessing to her.

[290] Oh, yeah.

[291] Imagine her having a husband that was willing to, you know, really treat her like a queen and treat her as a sacred woman, a sacred person in his.

[292] life with that kind of respect.

[293] I'm sure a lot of women would love to have the man in their life treat them with that kind of respect.

[294] Well, said, I'd like to shift now if we could to our catechism.

[295] We haven't had that for a little bit.

[296] And it's important.

[297] We obviously, I mentioned earlier in the show how we have, you know, 80 % of the Catholics not participating in the church.

[298] They're outside the church.

[299] And I tell stories of the funerals here that I have.

[300] where six kids come in just last week and their mother died and none of them are practicing the faith and it's just tragic.

[301] And so one of the reasons I think this is a problem is because we've done a very poor job and I'm looking at myself first and I'll look at the church too.

[302] We have catechizing of teaching our faith to the next generations and we've had a couple generations that just didn't get well formed in the knowledge of Jesus Christ.

[303] and I might say that personal relationship with Jesus and also the knowing of the sacraments and grace and how, you know, life of Christ works in us.

[304] So I'd like to continue in Chapter 11, the sacraments and the liturgy, we are on what are the different sacraments?

[305] And people, I guarantee you, Bishop Strickland, if I ask people listening right now to name the seven sacraments of the church, they'd have trouble because I've been doing it for a long time and asking people, but it just, sometimes I've stopped doing it because I've embarrassed people.

[306] But it shows that we just, this is like, it's not a priority in our life to know Jesus Christ.

[307] We have to have it as the number one item of our life because, you know, this is critical in getting to heaven.

[308] If you don't know Jesus, I know God can work, you know, outside the sacraments, but normally he doesn't.

[309] So let's talk about those seven sacraments, baptism, Eucharist, Holy Communion, Confirmation, Reconciliation.

[310] We call it penance, confession, marriage, holy orders, and an anointing of the sick.

[311] Now, those are our sacraments that God has given to us to bring grace.

[312] And Bishop Strickland, I think you talk so much about the Holy Eucharist out of the seven sacraments that, you know, the church has actually called it the source and summit of the Christian life.

[313] can you talk a little bit about why the Holy Eucharist is important in all, in the lives of Catholics, especially Catholics.

[314] Well, bottom line, Terry, is because it's him.

[315] Amen.

[316] It is Jesus Christ.

[317] Body and blood, soul, and divinity.

[318] And all of the sacraments are Jesus at work.

[319] Yeah.

[320] And we need, they're treasures because, I mean, like when I hear confessions as a priest.

[321] It's Jesus forgiving.

[322] Exactly.

[323] Like in the gospel passage that we read about, Jesus is the judge that the father has appointed.

[324] He's the one forgiving us and sharing his mercy with us.

[325] So it's important to recognize the significance of all the sacraments, but because the Eucharist is his real presence, then all of the sacraments are really related to the Eucharist because he is present in the Eucharist.

[326] And so he's healing and the anointing of the sick.

[327] He's forgiving sins and confession.

[328] He's welcoming and forgiving sins in baptism.

[329] He's strengthening and anointing with his Holy Spirit in confirmation.

[330] In holy orders, he's ordaining new ministers to share his message in matrimony that you and your wife live as a sacrament.

[331] That's a beautiful thing about matrimony.

[332] It's a unique sacrament because you and your wife, every husband and wife who are sacramentally married, married in the way of the Catholic Church, they are a sacrament unto themselves.

[333] I mean, that has to be awesome for you, Terry.

[334] You and your wife are a sign that Christ is in the world, that Christ is really present with us, complimenting his Eucharistic presence.

[335] In a different way, I mean, I mean, I have the blessing of holy orders, and I stand at the altar and use his words and through my voice, he transubstantiates bread and wine that becomes him.

[336] But you are yourself a sacrament.

[337] The same isn't said about me. I mean, we are as deacon, priest, and bishop and holy orders, especially priests are called to be altar Christus, Christ.

[338] But it's different for the sacrament of matrimony.

[339] It's a beautiful reminder of the significance of all of the sacramers.

[340] We'll come right back after a quick break with the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[341] Stay with us.

[342] And now back to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[343] Welcome back.

[344] I hope all you married couples just got a rise in your life because what Bishop Strickland was saying is spot on, and only if every married couple knew that.

[345] See, this is why teaching the catechism is so important for our children and two of the adults.

[346] And if you're one of these people that said, you know what, I missed all my CCD classes.

[347] I mean, I got baptized, I got confirmed with, you know, but I don't really know my faith.

[348] I'm going to encourage everybody to get a catechism.

[349] You can get this one from the Diocese of St. Philip Institute in the Diocese of Tyler, Texas.

[350] It's of St. Philip Institute of Catechesis and Evangelization, or you can get the big catechism of the Catholic Church.

[351] Just type in catechism of the Catholic Church and pick one up, because the benefits are out of this world.

[352] And I think that when we look at how much time we spend in life working, you know, doing projects, and then ask herself, how much time do we spend studying the Word of God and the catechism that teaches us about the meaning and purpose of life if it's very little, let's consider doing more for that.

[353] Bishop Strickland, this next question, I question and answer catechism.

[354] It's kind of funny for me, but I guess some people could see it this way.

[355] Are the sacraments similar to magic?

[356] No, the sacraments are not magic or like magic.

[357] The sacraments, this is a good statement, are channels of grace.

[358] What's grace, the life of God in us?

[359] God has promised to give us his grace through these sacramental signs.

[360] the sacraments will always give a grace as long as the proper minister performs the sacrament and the proper matter and form or use those are important still we must have faith for the sacraments to be fruitful in our lives god gives us grace in every moment why is that important to know but god does not force grace upon an individual he lists us we would still with free will your thoughts on this well it says yes exactly what we need to to know yeah and i think it's it really underscores it's a free gift from god yeah and he leaves us free to embrace it or not yeah and he leaves us free um i think it's important to recognize especially i'm thinking about baptism yeah That doesn't.

[361] It changes us.

[362] It leaves an indelible character, as the church says, of one who has had their sins forgiven and has been received the life of God, the life of grace.

[363] But as we both know, living your baptism is a day -to -day choice that we all have to make.

[364] And many people, kind of going back to that question, I think it's sort of silly.

[365] Yeah.

[366] But the sad thing is I think a lot of people treat the sacraments as if they were magic.

[367] Wow.

[368] Or as if they were just ceremonies that really don't have any power.

[369] But we have to cooperate with the grace that comes from the sacrament.

[370] to recognize how many baptized Catholics are in the world that have chosen not to live their baptismal right and duty to live as a member of the body of Christ that is the church.

[371] So baptism opens the door.

[372] God doesn't force us, even with that door open.

[373] He leaves us free.

[374] And I can imagine both of us at different times.

[375] It's like, God, maybe a little too much freedom here.

[376] Exactly.

[377] We can easily mess up in our sinfulness the freedom that we have.

[378] But hopefully, we learn along the way that that that's, that's the way it has to be.

[379] Because God is love and real love, even in human terms.

[380] Yeah.

[381] Love can't be forced.

[382] Love has to be free.

[383] And that's why I believe is the bottom line for why God, because God is love, he doesn't force those created in his image and likeness to do what he knows we need to do.

[384] Yeah.

[385] If we want to flourish what we must do, just like we've talked about already, the rules that God has laid down for creation and for us, ultimately, there are consequences to not, excuse me, not living those rules.

[386] Yeah.

[387] When you ignore nature, ultimately, nature's going to win.

[388] The long term is nature is going to win.

[389] And, you know, because we're both sinners and everyone is a sinner, we see the consequences of those sinful choices over and over again.

[390] But we always need to remember, it's never hopeless, no matter what devastation we brought on ourselves through our sinfulness, God always leaves it free.

[391] And that's beautiful about what we've talked about in the gospel before.

[392] And there's so many images and stories in the gospel about God's abundant mercy.

[393] Yes.

[394] We, I think the balance is we don't presume on that mercy and say, well, God's merciful.

[395] So he's going to save us all.

[396] But we do rejoice in that mercy because as I make the mistakes of sin, as we all make the mistakes of sin, we always can choose freely to turn from sin and to embrace the life that God offers us through his son more deeply.

[397] Where we have to be cautious again about not presuming, we can't presume that we have tomorrow for that repentance.

[398] It's true.

[399] We need to repent now in this moment because we don't know what the next moment brings.

[400] And not to live in constant fear, but to be aware that every moment of life is a gift from God.

[401] And to do our best to be good stewards of that gift by turning from sin over and over again, embracing the challenges of living the virtues of the gospel more deeply.

[402] And trusting that by God's grace, we'll make, you know, sometimes it's one step forward, two steps back.

[403] That's for sure.

[404] But we're still, if we're moving in the right direction, God's grace is there to assist us.

[405] Well said.

[406] The last question we got, and I love this one about the liturgical year.

[407] I love it because it's the life of Christ.

[408] We go through every year, the life of Christ.

[409] And so we can really just constantly looking at what Jesus.

[410] did.

[411] For example, it says here in this catechism, what's the liturgical year?

[412] It's an annual celebration of the mysteries of our faith.

[413] So once a year, we go through all these things.

[414] There are different seasons throughout the liturgical year that focus on different periods of Christ's life.

[415] These seasons balance joys and sorrows and feasts and fasts.

[416] And I love, you know, it just goes to Advent, Christmas, ordinary time, Lent, the Tridium, you know, the week to change the world, Holy Week.

[417] They got Easter, Saint Days.

[418] We only have about three minutes, but Bishop Strickland, doesn't it really help you personally?

[419] We have this liturgical calendar that just every year we're going through the life of Christ.

[420] Absolutely.

[421] And we need to pay more attention to that.

[422] Pay attention to the Saints days.

[423] The Saints are all people who have modeled what we're trying to do and can be a great inspiration.

[424] So the liturgical calendar, I really encourage, especially mothers and fathers that may be listening, especially young mothers and fathers, to try to recover some of that piety that was part of knowing your saints day and knowing what celebration or feast it is today, that so much of that's been lost.

[425] And there's a great treasure there in helping us to day by day make those choices that draw us further from sin and closer to God.

[426] And that's the real genius of the liturgical calendar.

[427] Well, one thing it reminds us of what we talked about earlier.

[428] Jesus has walked this journey with us.

[429] He lived through 33 years.

[430] He lived in a lot of it we inherit from the Jewish approach to having feast days and having days of celebration like the Passover.

[431] That was originally a Jewish feast that has become part of Holy Week for us and leading to Easter, the resurrection of the Lord.

[432] So the liturgical calendar is something that people I would encourage be more familiar with because it's very enriching and it helps, you know, it helps us turn from sin and to live the gospel to be reminded of those commitments and when we fail to know that God's mercy is always there.

[433] Well, said Bishop Strickland, and again, I want to encourage people to pick up a catechism.

[434] If you're listening and you don't own a catechism, this is a simple one from the St. Philip Institute of Catechesis and Evangelization from the Diocese of Tyler.

[435] It's called the Way of Christ.

[436] And it also ties in this little catechism with paragraphs from the big catechism of the Catholic Church.

[437] So this might be a first step before you get to the big catechism.

[438] And there's one more thing I will mention because people have been asking me about it.

[439] At 25 years ago, we built a Baltimore Catechism DVD with sacred art, so we went through 58 minutes of the four marks of the church, the commandments, the sacraments, all the attributes of God, all these things that maybe many of you didn't get.

[440] And I would encourage you to pick up our Catholic faith DVD from CatholicRC .org, our mother company, our 501c3, and pick that up our Catholic faith, or call us at 8777.

[441] 526215, and I think it's a whole $10 video.

[442] So, but here's what it's good for.

[443] Children, adults.

[444] People have told me, I learned more from that little 58 minute on the Catholic faith than 12 years of Catholic education.

[445] Well, they went to the wrong Catholic church or Catholic school because they should have known all these things.

[446] But this is the problem, and this is why at VMPR, Virgin Most Powerful, and Bishop Strickland joined us in proclaiming the deposit of faith.

[447] That's what we need to do today.

[448] I mean, we can talk about a lot of things, but we do need to talk about the person of Christ and to introduce people to that personal relationship.

[449] Bishop Strickland, how about a blessing for our listeners, please?

[450] Almighty God, we ask your blessing for everyone participating in Virgin Most Powerful Radio, that we may be drawn closer to your truth, further from sin, live the call of grace more deeply.

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

[452] Thank you.

[453] Thanks again, folks, for listening to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[454] If this is your first time, you can go to Virgin Most Powerful Radio's website, vmpr .org, click on the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[455] Lots of shows to go back to, and they're all with topical titles.

[456] So you can do that.

[457] I want to thank all of you who have been supporting us in this ministry of sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ and his bride, the church.

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

[459] God love you.