02 Feb 2021 – God Reveals His “Plan of Loving Goodness”

[0] Welcome to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[1] My name's Terry Barber.

[2] I'm with Virgin Most Powerful radio.

[3] Bishop Strickland, thanks again for putting an hour of your time and teaching people how to fall in love with Jesus and his church.

[4] Thanks so much.

[5] Thanks, Terry.

[6] Our pleasure.

[7] Bishop Strickland, we always have a same format for those who are brand new.

[8] We take your tweets of the week, and then we have questions about why you tweeted that.

[9] And then we're going to go to the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

[10] some people would say wow i don't want to read a catechism can i tell everybody something we need to understand who god is and our catechism does that and we're going to cover god reveals his plan of loving goodness paragraph 51 and so forth on that with the catechism and it helps us understand who we are and who god is but before we start with the catechism we're going to take some tweets and i love you had a tweet by St. Thomas Aquinas, the angelic doctor, you said in your tweet, in quoting St. Thomas, some saints are privileged to extend to us their patronage with a particular efficacy in certain needs, but not in others, but our holy patron, St. Joseph, has the power to assist us in all cases, in every necessity, in every undertaking.

[11] Well, this is the year of St. Joseph.

[12] How a appropriate.

[13] So tell us a little bit more about St. Joseph, Bishop Strickland, why you use that quote.

[14] Well, he is the patron of the Universal Church, and we're in the year of St. Joseph.

[15] And he's a saint that everyone probably knows of, but we may not be that acquainted with.

[16] And there's a lot of writing that I've discovered recently, Father Calloway's book, 33 -day consecration to St. Joseph.

[17] He has some great resources there.

[18] There's a lot there.

[19] And I would encourage people during this year of St. Joseph that Pope Francis has declared that we all get to know St. Joseph better.

[20] There's very little in sacred scripture about St. Joseph.

[21] But what is there is very important.

[22] What I'm reminded of, Terry, is fairly often as a priest, I've celebrated funerals for people that I didn't know very well.

[23] And I always try to be very, because I think it's, you know, it's disheartening to a family who absolutely knows their dad or their uncle very well for the priest to talk and sort of act as if they know them, but they know that they really didn't know them.

[24] say some things that say, that's not Uncle Tom.

[25] What are they talking about?

[26] So I've tried to always be real about it and just acknowledge that I may not have known much about this person that we're offering a funeral mass for, but I know that because we're there offering a mass, that they were at least a person seeking Christ.

[27] Amen.

[28] And what else do we need to know about someone, really?

[29] And so I think that comes to mind as we think about St. Joseph, we know that he was the first guardian of the body of Christ.

[30] Amen.

[31] The first one who certainly Mary, and she nurtured Christ in her own womb and then gave birth to him.

[32] And absolutely, Mary, if you're talking about rank, I guess the Blessed Virgin Mary outranked St. Joseph.

[33] But again, talking about rank, he's really next in line.

[34] That's right.

[35] Because just like Mary, he said yes to being.

[36] And I like the terminology that I've heard more recently of the adoptive father of Jesus Christ.

[37] Because I think that sends a connotation that we really need to pay attention to.

[38] Certainly we respect those who are foster parents.

[39] but calling St. Joseph the foster father of Jesus really doesn't round out the whole picture because St. Joseph chose to take Jesus as his adopted son.

[40] And I think that's the important distinction that adoptive parents have signed documents and they've made a commitment that this child is mine.

[41] take a child as their own.

[42] And we really need to honor that choice of adopting, certainly not to denigrate the, it's a beautiful choice to foster parent as well, but it's a different choice.

[43] It's a kind of temporary situation.

[44] When a man or a woman chooses to adopt a child, they are making them truly their own child and committing to that for the rest of their lives.

[45] That's what St. Joseph did.

[46] And I think it's a beautiful way to really kind of round out more of an understanding of St. Joseph that he adopted the son of God as his own son.

[47] And so he helped him to grow as an infant, as a little boy, as a young boy, a young man. And then as long as St. Joseph was there in the home in Nazareth with the Holy family.

[48] He was Jesus' true earthly father.

[49] St. Joseph adopted Jesus as his son.

[50] And I think that's important to recognize that intention.

[51] Mary didn't have to adopt Jesus.

[52] She truly is his mother.

[53] But St. Joseph made that decision.

[54] And I think there's a beautiful parallel there with St. Joseph and the Blessed Virgin Mary, a man and a woman, really the beginning of the church, the beginning of those who foster and support and nurture the life of Jesus Christ in the world.

[55] Mary and Joseph were those original disciples who said yes to the will of God the Father.

[56] And I think so it's beautiful to really reflect more on St. Joseph in the important role that he played.

[57] And the fact that we know little of him in scripture is a great reminder of the humility that we all need to have.

[58] St. Joseph was willing to guard Mary and Jesus and to care for them, to provide for them without getting any worldly recognition at all.

[59] actually he made the decision to keep the secret of who Jesus really was so that he could grow and flourish in the human family that the holy family of Nazareth is as God's divine son.

[60] So St. Joseph, I think, is a real hero and especially for our time because men are told to be confused about who they are by today's culture.

[61] And it's like, well, men's roles and women's roles are interchangeable.

[62] And even, you know, going beyond that to really immoral choices where men and women become interchangeable and a man can become a woman.

[63] A woman can become a man. St. Joseph reminds us, as people of faith, we have to reject all of that modern approach that is not the truth.

[64] God created as male and female.

[65] And certainly, with great compassion for people that have those kind of confusions or those kinds of questions, but the answer isn't to change the reality God has given us, but to support each other in embracing that reality.

[66] And I think, therefore, St. Joseph is a great model for our time, a man who knew he was a man, and chose to be the adoptive father of the son of God, and chose to be a chaise spouse to the Blessed Virgin Mary.

[67] All of those aspects of St. Joseph are essential elements, like we've talked about before.

[68] You as a married man are still called to chastity, to treat your wife as a sacred vessel of the Holy Spirit.

[69] and to recognize, even though you have the intimate relationship with your wife, to still do that in a chaste and respectful way, to not just treat her as an object, which happens too often, even in marriages.

[70] So St. Joseph is a great reminder of so many elements for men and women, but especially a model for men of how we are called to live.

[71] as disciples of Jesus Christ, his adopted son.

[72] Wow, wow.

[73] All I can say is, wow, I know my friends who have a ministry to people with same -sex attraction, the first thing they do, many of them they ask, what was your image of your father in your life?

[74] And about 50 % of them will say, well, I had a bad image of my father.

[75] And then they would say, well, let's take St. Joseph as your spiritual father.

[76] and look at who St. Joseph is and that helped them deal with their same -sex attraction.

[77] Believe it or not, that's what my friends have told me. And I use that when people tell me they have same -sex attraction and I say exactly what you just said.

[78] We're called to chastity.

[79] I'm a married man, a single man, celibate, we're all called to chastity.

[80] And St. Joseph is such a great model for living a chaste life and living a holy life.

[81] So I would encourage people, whoever, whatever, whatever, circumstances are to have great devotion to St. Joseph.

[82] When we come back from the break, Bishop Strickland, you've got some Bishop, you have some Bishop Sheen quotes that I really want to talk about because it blows me away.

[83] Here's a man who died 41 years ago, much of what we're quoting 70, 80 years old, and you're going, wait a minute, this applies to us in 2021.

[84] And you're going, how does that work?

[85] well you know how it works because truth is going to be true today tomorrow 500 years from now the truth will set us free and that's why we're going to talk about what is truth and how the truth will set us free here on the bishop strickland hour on virgin most powerful radio tell your friends to like us on youtube and help us to get more people to watch this show to be right back welcome back to the bishop strickland hour.

[86] You're just joining us.

[87] We're talking about Bishop Strickland's tweets that he does every single week to get the word out about the love of God.

[88] And he quoted the venerable Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen.

[89] But before I give this quote, I just want to mention something that just happened recently.

[90] Now, by the time you're listening, it's not going to be President Trump, former President Trump on the last week of his office, he is honoring Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen.

[91] What?

[92] Yep.

[93] Nellie Gray, who's the pro -life lady for the March for Life, in an upcoming Garden of American Heroes, President Trump has decided Archbishop Sheen at Supreme Court Justice Anthea Scalia, who just passed away a couple years ago, among the historic figures to be honored.

[94] You know, Bishop Strickland, I'm going to be honest with you.

[95] I see this guy, former President Donald Trump, as a guy, he just surprises me. He talks about, you know, his preck and he says, pro -life, a message that this was a man who never supported pro -life as a younger man who's like a playboy.

[96] It just goes to show, in my humble opinion, what prayer can do.

[97] And I'm going to talk a little later about our new president to pray for him to have a conversion like President Trump did regarding pro -life because right now, the President Biden is definitely for killing unborn babies during and even after an abortion, which is totally reprehensible, but I mean, let's pray for his conversion, because he's a baptized Catholic.

[98] He's got a guardian angel working there.

[99] Let's call on the angels.

[100] And remember what our lady said at Fatima, souls go to hell because no one's there to pray and make sacrifices.

[101] I, for one, I'm going to make sacrifices for President Biden that he will see the beauty of his Catholic faith and embrace the teachings on life from the moment of conception to natural death.

[102] But let's get back to Bishop Sheen.

[103] You pointed out in your tweet about the venerable Archbishop Fulton Sheen, we do not know what the future holds.

[104] There is only one thing that we do know.

[105] That is that if truth wins, and we win.

[106] And if the truth, you know, is what we're looking for, the truth cannot lose.

[107] And you know, Bishop Strickland, you have been like Fulton Sheen in the sense of consistently talking about, what is the truth about our life?

[108] What is the truth about X or Y, and that's all you're searching for, not your opinion.

[109] Matter of fact, Bishop Strickland, I hope you're not offended by this.

[110] I don't really care about your personal opinion.

[111] I want to know the truth, and I don't want Terry Barber's personal opinion.

[112] I want to know what God has revealed to us about the meaning and purpose of life.

[113] And I think that's what Bishop Sheen is getting at when he says the truth can't lose.

[114] Why did you pick that quote?

[115] Well, I think it's a, it really is a critical question for our time, for where we find ourselves in the church and in this nation, in the world that we live in, there are a lot of questions about media and reporting and what we hear on the news.

[116] And if we listen too often, what we're hearing is opinions and reporting, even the word itself, a reporter, what does that say?

[117] It has the connotation that you are reporting on something that's happened, a concrete event, words that were actually said, real things that happened.

[118] I think we as a nation, and really throughout the world, we need to get back to that.

[119] We need to understand the great profession of reporting is investigating, finding the truth, and reporting that truth.

[120] Too much of it these days is expressing opinions.

[121] and it's almost like, you know, a lot of the news, and this is all the networks, all the news media outlets that basically tend to have people sharing a lot of opinions.

[122] And very often, because their opinions don't necessarily line up with the truth that may be out there, they don't report the truth.

[123] they kind of leave it out of the picture because it doesn't go with the agenda of their opinion.

[124] I think that's very dangerous.

[125] And we're seeing a lot of things unfold that are dangerous because, I mean, frankly, I think both of us would agree.

[126] Yeah.

[127] It's hard to find the truth.

[128] And, you know, I know that I've been criticized because, oh, I've said this or I've said that.

[129] And I'm sure I have been mistaken sometimes because getting to the actual facts of the truth of what's happening is difficult because the agenda of someone else's opinion.

[130] And I think we've both seen that even these big news outlets that are owned by Billy Bill.

[131] millionaires or millionaires.

[132] And they're about making money, frankly.

[133] They want to market things.

[134] They want to get the most viewership.

[135] And so I'm sure we've both seen, and this is on both sides of the spectrum, left to right, Republican, Democrat, whatever part of the spectrum of society.

[136] too often people get instructions this is the scenario that we're adopting as news station X and so what we report has to correspond with that this is our opinion about what's happened and then we will choose stories and slant things according to that corporate opinion that's very dangerous that isn't what democracy is founded on.

[137] So as Archbishop Sheen so often talks about things that are critical for our time, that understanding of sharing the truth and the truth that sets us free, that is critical.

[138] We need the truth.

[139] We need the truth about everything that's happening, whether it's a politician or whether it's this COVID -19 or the vaccines.

[140] We need the truth about everything so that we can make our decisions based on truth and not based on somebody's opinion of what they think we should be doing or deciding.

[141] So that's part of the reason that I quoted Archbishop Sheen because we live in a time of great confusion.

[142] It really, in every aspect of society.

[143] society.

[144] And it's hard to get to the truth.

[145] For people that just want to know the truth and make their decisions based on that, it's hard to get to the truth.

[146] And you hear all these different theories and these different opinions.

[147] And that just creates more confusion and causes people to make decisions based on somebody's opinion rather than being based on what the facts are.

[148] What is the truth.

[149] Wow.

[150] To summarize that, you know what we say on the Terry and Jesse show?

[151] We're not right versus left.

[152] We're right versus wrong.

[153] Absolutely.

[154] Black and white Catholicism.

[155] And, you know, some people criticize us, Bishop Strickland, for being so direct.

[156] And, you know, now I'm not going to say everything is so easy.

[157] You've got to dig.

[158] You've got to do some research.

[159] But, you know, the church teaches very clearly, the perennial teachings of the church are there in our catechism.

[160] We can look it up if we have a question about something.

[161] I think of what Bishop Sheen said on the Terry and Jesse show.

[162] We quoted him on the quotable Sheen book.

[163] He said, we justify want of faith by saying, I don't go to church, but I'm better than those who do, as one might say, I don't pay taxes or serve the nation, but I'm better than those who do.

[164] And here's the cash value of Bishop Sheen's quote, if each man is his own judge and standard then who shall say he is wrong Bishop Strickland I see Bishop Sheen saying this to our culture that we don't have your truth and my truth there's no such thing as that and we hear that even in our culture today this was written 70 years ago the bottom line is we have Jesus Christ revealed truth and that's why we quote the catechism of the church here at the Bishop Strickland hour because we want to have the truth about the meaning and purpose of life.

[165] So you said it well there.

[166] I have another quote that you gave on Fulton Sheen, and you've used it before.

[167] I use it a lot, too, because think about 2021, and you got Bishop Strickland saying, America is said, but it's Bishop Sheen.

[168] He says, America has said is suffering from intolerance.

[169] It's not.

[170] It is suffering from, it's suffering.

[171] from tolerance tolerance of right and wrong truth and error virtue and evil christ and chaos our country is not nearly so overrun with bigots as it is overrun with the broad -mindedness of people bishop strickland that was 70 years ago i mean in other words we have right now in our culture that says well if abortion's wrong for you bishop strickland that's your that's your opinion okay but i personally think that it's a great thing to do so get over it well you see that's a problem in our culture right now everybody thinks they have the truth so who judges them see i believe and you believe that god jesus christ has revealed the truth to us and this mysticism is all about right now talking about how revelation of god came to us it sets the groundwork for understanding who we are with god so i just want to get your take is that you seem to think that Bishop Sheen's comment about tolerance and intolerance, doesn't that apply to us today?

[172] Absolutely.

[173] Like so many things, he said, it's like he could have, he could be alive right here and now.

[174] Because he's addressing the culture from many years ago, but we are in many ways, I think, seeing an even more extreme version of the culture that he already saw.

[175] moving away from objective truth and moving more and more into relativism.

[176] And it really, we hear about the dictatorship of relativism, but it really is a dictatorship because then it's whoever has the loudest voice or the strongest voice gets to decide what's true.

[177] And that is, that's a dangerous path for humanity, for any nation, for any individual.

[178] We need the real truth.

[179] We need the objective truth of what reality is.

[180] And certainly it applies to religious faith, but it applies to everything we experience.

[181] And there are many ways that the truth is not what is popularly proclaimed.

[182] It's more what's been shaped by others according to what they want the truth to be.

[183] and that really is harmful to the fabric of civilization well said i want to get to the catechism but i have one more quote that you use on humility and when we come back from the break i'd like to ask you about that because i've heard from the saints that without humility nothing gets done and um i'd like to do that before i do that quick break bishop strickland tell us real quick about your institute and how people can reach it with all the resources you have the st philip institute st philip institute dot org philip with one l it it's about the truth it's about sharing the truth in ways that people can really grasp it and bring it into their hearts and their lives great we're going to come back and talk about humility and then we're going to cover paragraph 51 of the catechism of the catholic church on the revelation of god listening to the Bishop Fricklandauer, we'll be right back.

[184] Welcome back to the Territ for the Bishop Frickland Hour.

[185] I get confused sometimes, Bishop, sorry about that.

[186] Hey, we are talking before the break about humility, and you quoted, I don't know who you quoted, but it says this on a tweet, I saw the snares that the enemy spreads out over the world, and I said, groaning, what can get through from such snares.

[187] Then I heard a voice saying to me, humility.

[188] Wow, how does that apply to us today with the snares of sin?

[189] Go ahead.

[190] I'm listening.

[191] Yeah, I think humility, I know for myself, it's a key virtue that I have to work at.

[192] Yeah.

[193] I think all of us do.

[194] Amen.

[195] And really, we've been talking about the truth and the root of humility it's the same word as humus earth it's down it means living the truth certainly you can have a false humility and that is not the truth that's literally falsifying what is the truth what is rooted in reality what is the truth And as I reflected on that, I think it is one of the essential elements of our modern society in the church and otherwise.

[196] And if you think about Jesus Christ, he is the model of humility.

[197] Here is the Lord of the universe, the son of God, the eternal word, and he chose.

[198] to be so humble that he was willing to become conceived in the womb of a human woman.

[199] And in every moment of his incarnation is a model of humility.

[200] Certainly, just becoming one of us is tremendous humility.

[201] And he not only does that, but he does everything he does in his end.

[202] incarnate presence in the world.

[203] And certainly on top of all that, I mean, it's almost unfathomable how humble the Son of God is.

[204] And we certainly look at him carrying the cross, and that's a great sign of humility.

[205] But I think what we need to reflect on, and that's what I had in mind in sharing that tweet is humility truly is what unlocks that divine spark in all of us.

[206] Look at Satan.

[207] He's the opposite of humility.

[208] He is pride incarnate.

[209] You got it.

[210] Jesus Christ is humility incarnate.

[211] And he shows us that when we are humble, we're getting to the root of truth of who we are.

[212] And Jesus demonstrates that in tremendous ways.

[213] And we really have to pay attention to that humility of the son of God.

[214] What we do in our pride, and we all do it, we're all sinners.

[215] I confess that, that pride is one of the sins that I need to struggle against.

[216] And I think it is really one of the hallmark sins of our time.

[217] Because we've done so much, we've accomplished so much, technology makes us think we're in charge of the world.

[218] And that pride is ultimately, individually, and as a human civilization, that is the root of destruction for all of us.

[219] We've both seen that in people's lives.

[220] We're all sinners.

[221] And when that prideful sin just takes hold of us in whatever sinful activity we get caught up in, it literally destroys us.

[222] And I'm sure we've both seen people that destroyed their lives through the pride of sin, whatever that sin, whatever shape it took, and they literally destroyed themselves.

[223] God wants us not to be destroyed, but to flourish in his grace and love.

[224] But pride is, that's why it's called a deadly sin.

[225] And it's the opposite of humility.

[226] We are desperately in need of humility in.

[227] each of us and in the world today.

[228] Well, said, I wrote this down from a saint.

[229] I don't know who said it, but I read it in my brain years ago.

[230] He said, pride is the death to the soul.

[231] And pride, and my humble opinion, that's my biggest problem.

[232] So I try to remember what Sheen said about any good that we do comes from God, and we thank him for it, and we just cooperate with God.

[233] Let me mention something, Bishop Strickland in the church today.

[234] It seems to me that many of the people, who are trying to teach teachings of the church, whether they're priests, bishops, or whoever, where they're not teaching the perennial teachings of the church, it seems to me that that's very prideful.

[235] Like if someone says, oh, you know, homosexuality, well, the Bible got that one wrong.

[236] So I find that as pride because they're taking God's word and saying, you know what, I know better than God's word.

[237] And so I just say that it seems to me that our church would be better off.

[238] especially, and I don't mean to be pointing to people dressed like you, praise, bishops, that if we really took humility and said, you know what, maybe I don't agree with the church on this issue, maybe I'm the one who's missing up and not following that.

[239] And I must be missing something like Henry Newman used to say.

[240] If I don't say, you know, it must be that I read it wrong or I just don't understand it properly.

[241] And you have a humble attitude towards the church's teaching rather than saying, yeah you know what i know better than holy mother church so she's been around 2 ,000 years i've been around 58 years i'm a pretty i got a phd i'm so sorry but that sounds to me like pride and that's one of the problems i see in the church today bishop strickland even among our clergy is that they think they know they've like for they have a better idea rather than just proclaiming the perennial teachings of the church Am I being a little too judgmental, or is that, do you find that to be the case right now is one of the problems in the church that pride is indeed deep into the church right now?

[242] Yeah, I think you're on to something very important.

[243] And what comes to mind as you're talking, Terry, is pride and the rejection of the truth, really, saying, I've decided something different.

[244] that's very prideful and humility is so tied to obedience oh there you go um sometimes you may like you were saying we need to have the humility of saying well what the church teaches on this topic i don't really fully understand or fully embrace but the proper response is to be obedient to that truth.

[245] And it's very humble to recognize that maybe, just maybe, somebody understands this better than I do.

[246] But we, and certainly in our culture, and I love the United States.

[247] I love being an American.

[248] I think we've got many blessings, but we've got a lot of problems too.

[249] We do.

[250] And I think that it's kind of the American ethic to say, you know, sometimes you use the terminology of a rugged individualist.

[251] And that's taken too far, like most things, taken too far, it can really become a problem.

[252] Because ultimately, all of us should be and are called to be, and for our own sake need to be, obedient to God.

[253] he is god almighty and uh in prides too often we lack that obedience i mean that's when i sin i'm being disobedient to to what god has revealed to us as the truth and so humility is is closely connected to obedience and what we learn is obedience really ultimately allows us to flourish and God wants us to flourish.

[254] God doesn't want us to be destroyed, but he wants us to flourish.

[255] But we can't flourish if we ignore the truth and if we allow pride to take us away from what really is true.

[256] So we need to be obedient to the truth and do our best to discover that truth.

[257] And that's the challenge of living in the world today because too many voices are saying go with your pride forget about obedience just do what you've decided and that too often leads us down a path of destruction wow you're spot on on that i can see that in my own life you know one of the things i've said bishop strickland is on my concupiscence which includes my pride that all of this leaves me about five minutes after I stopped breathing.

[258] In other words, I'm going to have to deal with this pride issue, the rest of my life!

[259] And when I think of the great saints, like St. Andre Beset, the great saint of St. Joseph's Oratory in Montreal, and I think of that story, Bishop's stricken, about humility.

[260] Here he is among his Notre Dame, or Holy Cross fathers who teach at Notre Dame, and their erudite speakers and their erudite theologians, and they have PhDs, and they have the Porter, who is Brother Andre at the door, who opens the door for people, never went to college, never went to higher education than just regular school in Montreal.

[261] And here's what happens.

[262] He's at the dinner table.

[263] They're reading from the lives of the saints during Lent about the passion and death of Christ.

[264] And everybody's saying, that's beautiful.

[265] And then, Brother Andre, you have anything to say?

[266] And he just memorized and says some beautiful things about the passion.

[267] And the brothers go, Brother Andre, where did you get that insight on the passion of Christ, what book did you get that from?

[268] I weren't even sure if he could read.

[269] He says, oh, I got that on my knees in front of a crucifix.

[270] And the guys looked at him and said, oh, I get it.

[271] It's not all book knowledge.

[272] See, he had a relationship with Jesus Christ through prayer.

[273] And I don't mean to downgrade Bishop Strickland.

[274] I'm sure you've got higher education.

[275] You didn't get here without, you know, some good education.

[276] But I just think that sometimes we put too much of an emphasis on getting a Ph .D. or a master's degree, and I have been, I have seen in my lifetime a lot of highly educated knuckleheads, and even in our church, who say I have a master's degree, but they don't, they have no idea of what the teachings of the church are.

[277] They have their own ideas, and they have a false pride that really can mix people up.

[278] So when we come back, we're going to go right to the catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 51, God reveals his plan of loving goodness here on the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[279] Don't turn that dial.

[280] We'll be back with more on Virgin Most Powerful radio.

[281] Welcome back to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[282] My name's Terry Barber.

[283] I'm excited because now we're opening the catechism of the Catholic Church.

[284] But I'm also excited for those who came late to the show.

[285] I believe what Bishop Strickland talked about on the first segment about having devotion to St. Joseph is something you want to hear over again.

[286] go to virgin most powerful radio .org to hear that in all of the shows from Bishop Strickland.

[287] As a matter of fact, all of the shows we produce here at Virgin Most Powerful Radio.

[288] Bishop Strickland, I love the catechism.

[289] Maybe I'm just old school, but as a child, I used to read my penny catechism that Mother Teresa would send out from England and distribute.

[290] And I'll never forget, we got Lighthouse Catholic Media to pick up those penny catechisms and put them in the back of churches, because I was so convinced that it was important for individual people who are Catholic, who might not have gotten really good formation to get a good catechism in their hands because it answers the basic questions of life.

[291] Now, we're starting at the beginning of the catechism right now.

[292] This is paragraph 51 called the Revelation of God, and I'll read the paragraph, and then if you could just teach, because that's what a bishop does, teach, governs, and sanctify.

[293] so here's what paragraph 51 says it pleased god in his goodness and wisdom to reveal himself and to make known the mystery of his will his will was that men should have access to the father through christ the word made flesh in the holy spirit and thus become sharers in the divine nature whoa we just celebrated christmas tell us about that paragraph break it down for us please well as we've been talking about truth god is truth yep and god loving us enough to reveal himself reveals the truth of of creation of who we are as human beings of every aspect of everything that exists and god choosing to reveal himself as a personal god really begins to unlock the mystery of who we are because as we know we're created in the image and likeness of God.

[294] So God revealing himself reveals who we are.

[295] And what this paragraph really reminds me of is how destructive it is when, we turn from God?

[296] Because we're turning from the truth.

[297] We're turning from who we are.

[298] And that is a path just deeper and deeper into darkness.

[299] And I think we see a lot of people that are, I started to say through no fault of their own.

[300] And to a large extent, it isn't their fault.

[301] Certainly, God is given all of us free will.

[302] And we have a response.

[303] responsibility to seek the truth.

[304] But there are many people that have grown up in a way and live through their lives in a way that is really devoid of God.

[305] And so we have to more and more bring the wonderful truth that God is.

[306] God has revealed himself.

[307] But we can choose to close ourselves off from that revelation.

[308] And I think that happens a lot.

[309] And then the consequences of that are not just for that person, but for those around them as well.

[310] I think of children that have a natural sense of God, you know, when they're kind of pre -learning in a sense, before they can read, before they can really start beginning to understand the world.

[311] They have a natural sense.

[312] sense of God, but sometimes that is really taken out of their perspective by the way they're brought up.

[313] So this paragraph, which comes from Dave Verbum, one of the documents of the Second Vatican Council, it in Dave Verbum just means word of God, God's word.

[314] All of that reminds us that we really have an obligation to share the truth and to share the truth in the context of who God is.

[315] It says, in his goodness and wisdom, he reveals himself.

[316] Ultimately, and it goes on to mention a word that is key is the mystery of his will.

[317] God ultimately remains a mystery.

[318] not in the sense of some sort of puzzle that we can figure out, but it's just beyond us.

[319] Just like I think it's interesting that scientifically, as much as science has discovered, there are many things that medically and scientifically in every aspect, the scientists ultimately run up against unexplainable realities that they may not like the word.

[320] mystery, but they can't explain what has happened.

[321] And I think we need to acknowledge that, that the truth is always bigger than we are.

[322] As the church is taught through the ages, God has revealed what we need to know for our salvation.

[323] But that doesn't mean he's revealed everything.

[324] And I think that that is echoed in various ways in in scripture and in in the truth in in revelation if we saint john mentions it in his gospel and i think it's important to remember what saint john says that that all the books in the world couldn't contain the truth that he is sharing with us because Jesus Christ is truth incarnate.

[325] He is the very literally the embodiment of truth.

[326] He is a man like us in all things but sin.

[327] And he reveals through that human reality, the fullness of God.

[328] And I guess what I'm reminded of is Jesus always remains a mystery.

[329] We have the four gospels that tell us a lot.

[330] certainly the church understands that even the Hebrew scriptures, the Old Testament, is speaking of Christ.

[331] Because if it's true, it's about Jesus Christ.

[332] But what I think this paragraph reminds me of that we all need to remember is that the Gospels don't tell us everything.

[333] I love to reflect on those years from 12 to 30, which the Gospels mention nothing.

[334] We presume from at 12, he's living with Joseph and Mary in Nazareth, and it says he grows in wisdom, age, and grace.

[335] But that is not exactly a lot of detail for what happened in the law.

[336] life of the Son of God from 12 years old until he's a full grown man at 30 being baptized by John the Baptist and going out to begin his three years of ministry before he dies for us.

[337] I think those hidden years of Jesus are something that we all need to ponder and to reflect on because I think they can teach us a lot about what is true about ourselves.

[338] there's a lot about you that maybe your wife knows but if she's probably the only one that knows the full story of Terry Barber and in a sense that's part of the beauty of your relationship as a husband and wife there are always new things to discover about each other because every person is full of mystery because we're full of God grace.

[339] We are temples of the Holy Spirit, just like we were reminded in the reading from Corinthians chapter 6, 1st Corinthians this past Sunday.

[340] The reality that we are temples of the Holy Spirit means that we need to remember there's a great mystery in each of us, that the wonder of creation, the wonder of God, is so far beyond anything that we can cataloged and fully understand.

[341] Hopefully that's a reminder of how beautiful life is in the good news of the truth.

[342] Mr. Strickland, you quoted St. John's gospel about the books not being big enough to hold it for all of Jesus said and did.

[343] I just want to reference, that's at the end of the gospel of St. John for those who want to look that up.

[344] It's right there in the Bible.

[345] I've heard people say, what?

[346] Where does it say that?

[347] I saw, there it is at the end of the gospel.

[348] Bishop Strickland, we only have a couple minutes left.

[349] I want to ask you just to finalize before you do your blessing.

[350] A little words of, by the time we have this show, we're going to be just a couple weeks away from Lent.

[351] Believe it or not, we just had Christmas, but Lent comes early.

[352] And I want to ask you just for a couple of minutes reflection on, what should we be doing to prepare for a good Lent this year?

[353] Well, we've talked a lot about truth, this broadcast, and I think that that is what I would encourage people to do to embrace the truth about their own lives, about the world that we live in, and to know that the more they know the truth, the more they can live virtuously.

[354] Sometimes that truth is going to be challenging, and we have to face, you know, the hard truth.

[355] sometimes we say about maybe mistakes that we've made or the ways that we need to improve our lives.

[356] But the more we can face that truth, even when it is a hard truth, the more we're going to benefit from the grace of a time like Lent, which is a time of renewal.

[357] And ultimately, all renewal is about knowing the truth more deeply.

[358] Well, said, I want to also recommend Bishop Strickland that people go to your diocesan website because there's many good things that are there.

[359] Also, if people want to know more about COVID -19 and the vaccines and things like that, it would be good.

[360] You have like a letter there that's still on your website.

[361] Is that still on your website?

[362] Yes.

[363] So as a resource, tell your friends, and is it just the Diocese of Tyler?

[364] Is that your website?

[365] Dioceseof Tyler .org.

[366] got it well let's get a bishop blessing for all of our listeners and their families if we could bishop strickland the lord be with you and with your spirit my almighty god bless you in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit amen bishop strickland i always end our shows on the terry and jesse show asking people what state we should be living in i got a minute i'm just going to say a state of grace is what we're shooting for and if we ever fall into sin which we do there's always that great sacrament of confession and bishop strickland i know i need to go and you even go on a regular basis even as the bishop and i think that needs to be heard because some people don't think the bishops do that well you do we all need confession absolutely hey next time we'll do it again here on virgin most powerful radio may god richly bless you and your family and you can listen to all the podcasts of bishop strickland on virgin most powerful radio dot org god love you and your family we'll see again next week, same time, same station.