19 Jun 24 – Sacred Heart Enthronement

[0] Welcome to the Bishop Joseph Strickland Hour.

[1] This is Terry Barber with Virgin Most Powerful radio.

[2] Today we're going to have our gospel of the day, but we're also going to talk about the sacred heart of Jesus, one of Bishop Strickland's favorite topics.

[3] And I want to talk about home enthronements and how important it is to enthrone your house with the sacred heart and immaculate heart of Mary in this month of June.

[4] So Bishop Strickland, welcome again to another show, my friend.

[5] Thanks, Terry.

[6] Thank you.

[7] So the gospel for Wednesday, the 19th of June, is taken from Matthew, chapter 6, verse 1 to 6, 16 to 18.

[8] So if you could read the gospel and give us an explanation, that'd be grand.

[9] A reading from the Holy Gospel according to Matthew.

[10] Glory to you, oh, Lord.

[11] Jesus said to his disciples, take care not to perform righteous deeds, in order that people may see them.

[12] Otherwise, you will have no recompense from your heavenly father.

[13] When you give alms, do not blow a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets to win the praise of others.

[14] Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward.

[15] But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing.

[16] so that your almsgiving may be secret, and your father who sees in secret will repay you.

[17] When you pray, do not be like the hypocrites.

[18] The love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on street corners, so that others may see them.

[19] Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward.

[20] But when you pray, go to your inner room, close the door, and pray to your father in secret.

[21] And your father who sees in secret will repay you.

[22] When you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites.

[23] They neglect their appearance so that they may appear to others to be fasting.

[24] Amen, I say to you, they have received.

[25] their reward.

[26] When you fast, anoint your head and wash your face so that you may not appear to others to be fasting except to your father who is hidden.

[27] And your father who sees what is hidden will repay you.

[28] The gospel of the Lord.

[29] Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

[30] Well, Terry, it probably many hear this and are reminded of a few months back, because this is proclaimed on Ash Wednesday.

[31] And it's a great reminder of those themes that are part of Lent, prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, that are really part of living Christ always, living our Catholic faith.

[32] I think it's a great reminder, here we are in June, it's a great reminder that what we hear about and what we focus on, and we should focus on during Lent, is not to be totally forgotten and neglected throughout the year.

[33] And what Christ gets at in this passage is, to me, captured in the very last words that we hear in this passage.

[34] And your father, who sees what is hidden, will repay you.

[35] To me, that's a great reminder, Terry, that God knows all that we do.

[36] he knows the good and the bad.

[37] And that's a little striking, a little, it should alert us.

[38] Certainly, he knows our sins.

[39] But he also knows our good intentions, our bad intentions.

[40] And that's what Christ, in each of those examples of not praying or giving alms or fasting for show, for appearances.

[41] And I think it's obviously when Christ said those words, it was part of human nature and it was something that obviously he was very aware of that people tended to do these things to for appearances, to look good, to gain points with their neighbors, say, oh, doesn't this person look holy?

[42] Or aren't they generously giving or, you know, to work, to win.

[43] worldly recognition.

[44] And that is something that is very prevalent in our time.

[45] It's a natural human tendency.

[46] I mean, as children, we start to worry about, you know, how do we look to other people and all of that.

[47] It's natural.

[48] But Christ is reminding us, especially when it comes to prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.

[49] When it comes to doing the holy things that we're called to do, do it to impress each other is missing the point.

[50] And as Christ says, when we do that, we get our reward sometimes.

[51] If people are impressed, then that's the reward you get.

[52] If you keep it hidden, then your reward will be great in heaven.

[53] And, you know, I'm sure we both dealt with this.

[54] I mean, it all often kind of mind for me. And it's something what we all have to pay attention to as the two of us trying to be men who are true disciples.

[55] We've got to listen to what Christ is saying.

[56] And am I praying just to be noticed?

[57] prayer?

[58] Am I giving to be noticed or to get some kind of worldly favor?

[59] Am I fasting so that people notice, oh, isn't Bishop Strickland so holy and he's fasting?

[60] If that's our motive, as Christ says, we'll get our worldly reward with a few people impressed with what we're doing.

[61] But the much greater reward awaits us if we do it in secret and we don't, don't let people know what we're doing to seek holiness and to seek all of those holy things, prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.

[62] And I think the point that the Father sees our intentions, he sees what we're doing, we can, I mean, you know, as a sinner, I think all of us as sinners, at least for that moment, maybe we just sort of block God out or we pretend to ourselves that, well, I can get away with this time, just keeping it secret, but nothing's secret to God.

[63] And I think a great point that needs to be emphasized in that as well is God loves us, knowing that some of our intentions are bad, knowing that sometimes we made fast just to impress our fellow parishioners or even our family members.

[64] We may give alms to impress someone else or to get in good with someone who is going to be impressed with that kind of generosity.

[65] We may pray to, you know, carry our rosary beads and walk down the street just so people will notice.

[66] We all can fall into those traps.

[67] We've all probably done it.

[68] But I think we need to remember whether it's these holy things that get distorted if we're doing it for the intention of other people noticing or the flip side of what I hear.

[69] Maybe it's because I am a sinner and I hear when God sees everything, he sees our sinfulness as well.

[70] And not to despair in that because God doesn't stop loving us when he sees a sin.

[71] It grieves his heart.

[72] It grieves the sacred heart of his son.

[73] It grieves the Blessed Virgin Mary, the woman he made sinless as a model for us.

[74] The woman who is as our mother constantly repeating, turn away from sin and live the way of my son.

[75] Live his good news.

[76] It grieves the holy ones to see us either sinning or.

[77] seeking holiness in a counterfeit way that just is ultimately motivated by worldly recognition.

[78] Another thought that comes to me, Terry, is, you know, I'm sure you've had generous donors.

[79] Generous donors assisted me in building and programs and all kinds of things as a priest and then as a bishop.

[80] Some donors, you know, want their name emblazoned on the building.

[81] other donors say, I don't even want people to know that I've given this.

[82] And I always thought that, you know, I don't want to judge someone.

[83] I mean, there may be good reasons to have a name on a building.

[84] But I think I'm always impressed, especially with donors that are being tremendously generous and really helping a project move forward.

[85] they tell you they want to do it anonymously.

[86] I think those people, without judging the others, I think we can definitely see that those people who don't even want their name mentioned have read this gospel passage and taken it to heart.

[87] And we all need to take it to heart.

[88] Well, said, when we come back from the break, we're going to be talking about the sacred heart of Jesus.

[89] It's interesting because devotion goes all the way back to the 11th.

[90] century.

[91] Isn't it great to be a Catholic?

[92] And it wasn't until hundreds of years later in 1856 that Pope Pius Xen 9th made the feast of the sacred heart into a universal celebration.

[93] And so Bishop Strickland, I know you do sacred heart enthronements because I have a friend who he did their home.

[94] And I want to talk a little bit about why it's important for all of us to have a great love and devotion, the sacred heart of Jesus, and we'll do that right after the break here on the Bishop Joseph Strickland Hour on Virgin Most Powerful radio.

[95] Stay with us now.

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

[97] Welcome back, indeed.

[98] Bishop Strickland, I know you have a great love for the Sacred Heart.

[99] We've talked about that.

[100] You've tweeted about the Sacred Heart.

[101] This is the month of the Sacred Heart, and I just would like to ask you to spend a little time sharing your love for the sacred heart and encouraging others to have a great love for the sacred heart of Jesus.

[102] Thank you, Terry.

[103] I'd definitely love to speak of the sacred heart of Jesus Christ and the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

[104] Those two hearts really are essential.

[105] They remind me of the two pillars in St. John Bosco's vision, the church in a terrible storm.

[106] And I think anyone who is awake in their faith recognizes the church is in a terrible storm.

[107] Yeah.

[108] The Lord is with us.

[109] We aren't devastated by that, but we do need to be awake.

[110] And the sacred heart of Jesus, the immaculate heart of Mary are two ways, the two pillars, our heart, the heart of Christ and the Eucharist, the Immaculate Heart of Mary, always pointing us back to the sacred heart of Christ in the Eucharist.

[111] They're just essential elements.

[112] And I would emphasize that word.

[113] I think a lot of times, and honestly, I will admit that in the past, you know, there are many different devotions, many different saints, many different ideas in the church, which are good.

[114] Yeah.

[115] Beautiful devotions and people say, oh, I'm a devoted to this saint or that saint.

[116] I would say it's essential, especially in this time, that all of us develop or strengthen and deepen our devotion to the sacred heart of Christ.

[117] As a Catholic priest and bishop, I will tell you, Terry, at every mass I seek, I mean, that's part of my prayer.

[118] The silent prayers that I offer as I'm celebrating Mass and consecrating bread and wine is a prayer that I will be woven more deeply into the sacred heart of Christ.

[119] And it's not just for me. It's not just for bishops, priests, deacons, not for just the holy people.

[120] It's for all of us, as we're talking about, the universal call of the holiness.

[121] So I believe that this is a time of the sacred heart.

[122] And we've all heard probably the immaculate heart will triumph in this time.

[123] And the immaculate heart of Mary will triumph because the same.

[124] sacred heart of Christ, her son is being embraced.

[125] There's no separating that.

[126] It's not like, well, Mary's Immaculate Heart will triumph, but not the sacred heart.

[127] It's really one reality because there's one truth, one salvation in Jesus Christ, the son of God.

[128] So I do get enthusiastic about talking about the sacred heart.

[129] And in just a recent, letter that you allowed me to read in its entirety last week.

[130] Yes.

[131] The letter on the sacred heart and that sacred pause that I spoke about.

[132] Right.

[133] I would encourage everyone to really read some good literature on the sacred heart.

[134] St. Margaret Marialico in the 19th century is well known.

[135] for promoting and having visions of Christ saying bring people closer to my sacred heart.

[136] Really, Terry, I have to say I'm impressed, and you probably know some things that I don't in regard to how far back the devotion to the sacred heart goes.

[137] I mean, I know St. Catherine is Siena, for one, was devoted to the sacred heart of Christ.

[138] But talk a little bit about just how far back that goes, because in a very real sense, even though the language may not have been used, the apostles were devoted to the sacred heart of Christ.

[139] And early on, the martyrs, I would wager that every martyr, even though they may not have actually used those terms, the sacred heart of Christ, they knew the heart of Jesus Christ, God's son, deeply that by definition, if they were martyred in those early centuries or whatever, in the church.

[140] That's an indication that someone has come to know the heart of Christ and is willing to die for that love, no matter what the threat is.

[141] So talk a little bit about some of those earliest references to the Sacred Heart.

[142] Okay.

[143] Well, I'm just going to tell you the truth is I know it because I read a lot.

[144] That's all.

[145] I'm reading from an article about the devotion of the sacred heart and how it took centuries to become a universal celebration so yeah it goes back to the 11th century but like you mentioned st margaret elico had multiple visions of the sacred heart between 1673 and 1675 remember what was going on at that time the french revolution the men turning away from god however it wasn't until 90 years later that in 1765 that the feast was officially celebrated in France.

[146] And then in 1856, Pope Pius the 9th made the feast of Sacred Heart a universal celebration.

[147] You can see how it's developed.

[148] And then, as I mentioned, even before St. Margaret Mary Alico had her visions of the Sacred Heart was recorded, and this is very interesting.

[149] I didn't know this until I read St. Jean Eudes composed the first office of mass of the Sacred Heart, the first Feast of the Sacred Heart was celebrated in August of 1670 in France.

[150] Now, that Feast of the Sacred Heart is scheduled to be celebrated, you know, we're now in the church calendar on Friday after the octave, so the 8th day of the Feast of Corpus Christi.

[151] That's what we have now on the church calendar.

[152] Corpus Christi is traditionally the Thursday after the Trinity Sunday.

[153] However, in the United States, as you know, it can be celebrated on the following Sunday.

[154] So despite this feast, despite this, the Feast of the Sacred Heart still takes place 19 days after Pentecost.

[155] And if you don't mind me mentioning something else about the promises, Bishop, would you allow me to talk about a little bit about the promise.

[156] The promises get me excited because, I mean, I used to spend years doing home enthronements when I was in my, with the Legion of Mary when I was a teenager.

[157] Can you imagine?

[158] And I love the first promise.

[159] I will give them all the graces necessary for their state in life.

[160] Wow.

[161] So why wouldn't you have devotion?

[162] Number two, I will establish peace in their families.

[163] I'll just go through 12 real quick.

[164] I will comfort them in their trials.

[165] I will be their secure refuge during life and above all in death.

[166] I will shed abundant blessings on all their undertakings.

[167] I can tell you, the Lord has blessed me. me, and I believe the devotion to the sacred heart has been key in my life.

[168] And then I like number six, because I'm a sinner.

[169] Sinners will find in my heart an infinite ocean of mercy.

[170] I have been blessed, and then I mean blessed, that I understand the sacrament of confession.

[171] And we're going to be talking about that after the next segment of the catechism of that great sacrament.

[172] And I love number seven.

[173] Lukewarm souls will become fervent.

[174] Number eight, fervent souls will rapidly grow.

[175] holiness and perfection.

[176] Number nine, I will bless every place where this image of my sacred heart shall be exposed and honored.

[177] Number 10, I will give priests the great gift of touching the most hardened hearts.

[178] That's what you're doing, Bishop Strickland.

[179] You've got devotion to sacred heart.

[180] You're touching the most hardened hearts.

[181] Number 11, the names of those who promote the devotion will be written in my heart, never to be plotted out.

[182] Sign me up.

[183] Number 12, I promise the excessive mercy of my heart and my all -powerful love will grant to all those who receive Holy Communion on first Friday of nine consecutive months the grace of what final penitence they shall not die in my disgrace nor without receiving the sacraments.

[184] My divine heart shall be their safe refuge and their last moments.

[185] Bishop Strickland, these are the promises of the sacred heart and for me very touching and it motivates me to want to have everybody know why devotion to the sacred heart is essential.

[186] I'm going to use the word essential for them to know who Jesus Christ is.

[187] Your thoughts?

[188] Well, that's exactly the word.

[189] And I think both of us clearly agree that, especially in this time, where as you go through that list, so many people are weak in so many of those areas.

[190] And the world is weak.

[191] The church is weak.

[192] People don't like hearing that said, but it's.

[193] just the reality.

[194] But it doesn't have to be.

[195] The sacred heart is available to all of us.

[196] And I have to say as a priest, I mean, I was reading in prayer this morning that Christ, especially once his priest close to his sacred heart, close to his Eucharistic face.

[197] So as I tell people all the time, We need to pray for our priests.

[198] Priest, thankfully, like we've said earlier, there's a lot of hope in the younger priests that are being ordained.

[199] The Diocese of Tyler had a good young man ordained June 1st a couple of weeks ago.

[200] And we have good young men who know their faith, who are bold enough to teach the truth, even though that may not be the popular thing, even within the church.

[201] Thankfully, they're good formation in good seminaries, not all, but there are many places that are waking up to the poor formation and catechesis that even priests were receiving.

[202] So the future looks bright because Christ leads us to the future, and many young priests are embracing devotions like the devotion of the sacred heart.

[203] So I know that both of us promote an enthronement and a concept of the sacred heart and to the immaculate heart in your home.

[204] And again, I would agree with you the word essential.

[205] If you're not into scapulars, you're not into this or that, the devotion of the sacred heart.

[206] Because just as the Eucharist is the source and the summit of our time, Catholic faith.

[207] Yep.

[208] I think the sacred heart is an essential devotion because it's not a great saint, which are wonderful.

[209] It's not some other wonderful image.

[210] It's Christ's heart, the heart of the Son of God.

[211] And those promises just really logically follow.

[212] If you are devoted to the heart of Christ, logically, if those promises are going to going to unfold in your life.

[213] You're going to be blessed.

[214] You're going to be called further away from sin.

[215] And you're going to be following a path that is the path to perfection.

[216] So I don't think either of us can emphasize as strongly as we would like.

[217] Be deepen your devotion to the sacred heart of Christ.

[218] If it already exists, if you've been thrown your home, deepen that devotion in every way you can, and especially pray for that devotion to grow stronger every time you receive him.

[219] When you receive communion, you are receiving the fullness of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, body and blood, soul and divinity.

[220] Amen.

[221] One of the most beautiful images is of its sacred heart in the Eucharistic miracle.

[222] I love it.

[223] You get me fired up.

[224] We come back.

[225] We're going to talk about concession, but also Bishop Strickland leading a procession to the streets of Tyler.

[226] We'll hear about that much more.

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

[228] Welcome back indeed.

[229] I want to do ask Bishop Strickland about an event that took place in his diocese where more than 200 people took part in a 2 .5 mile procession in Tyler, Texas, that included the relics of St. John Vieni, St. Tarsis and St. Matthew the Apostle.

[230] And it looks like it was raining in the picture.

[231] I don't know if it was raining when you did it, but there's a picture of people walking.

[232] But anyhow, I got this thing and I thought, you know, this could be a model for other people.

[233] But Bishop Strickland, what made you do this?

[234] Is this people just asking you to say, we want to have devotion to the saints?

[235] How did that all happen?

[236] Yeah, thanks, Terry.

[237] Yes, this was the initial.

[238] of the lay community in Tyler, they asked me to join in, and I was glad to.

[239] They wanted to, it was inspired by the processions of the Eucharistic Revival that happened.

[240] Some of them were very successful, and that's what inspired them.

[241] But they wanted to do it in a way that really lay people could do, which was, It wasn't with, it wasn't a Eucharistic procession, which is beautiful and a wonderful thing.

[242] But that's the reason we use the relics of St. Tarsisius, St. Matthew, and St. John Viani.

[243] Right.

[244] Because light people can do this.

[245] They don't have to get any permission.

[246] I mean, yeah, it took some organizing.

[247] I mean, to, they did get police escort.

[248] for safety and you want to take care of safety and all of that which they did an excellent job you know i just showed up the organizers took care of all of it they had a little pilgrim shell that people could receive for completing the walk they had some follow cars for people if there was any any kind of problem uh there was a little girl that was feeling a little sick so she rode in the car um you know so those kind of things need to be consistent but I thought it was an excellent example.

[249] Really, Terry, it reminded me of Dodger State.

[250] I knew you were going to say that.

[251] And the same example there of just going out into the public square, going out into our communities, in prayer, representing faith.

[252] I mean, Tyler is a very non -Catholic area, as we talked about.

[253] And I'm sure there were people, saying, what are those people doing?

[254] But, you know, that's a good way to demonstrate that we love the Lord, that we are absolutely Christians committed to Jesus Christ.

[255] In this area, a lot of people still say, you're Catholic, but I'm Christian.

[256] It's like, we're Christian too.

[257] Believe me, we're Christians.

[258] But there was one woman mowing her yard.

[259] And she said, Oh, thanks.

[260] I'm taking a break while y 'all come back to your house.

[261] But I think it was, to me, the great thing was it was something that lay people initiated.

[262] I supported it, but you certainly don't need a priest or bishop or any clergy.

[263] I mean, it would be great, but it's not necessary.

[264] Right.

[265] So if people live in a neighborhood and say, hey, we'd like to do this, you can do this Same thing.

[266] It's funny that you thought in the picture, you know, how pictures are, but thought it looked like it was raining because people might have appreciated a little rain.

[267] It was hot.

[268] I'll put it this way.

[269] It wasn't Texas hot, but it was hot.

[270] It was up in probably the mid -90s.

[271] For us, you know, that's just getting warm.

[272] And it was, you know, it was hot enough to, again, think about the safety things and make sure people had enough water and all of that.

[273] We did it sort of like a Eucharistic procession.

[274] We had prayed the rosary as we walked.

[275] Yeah.

[276] I gave little talks.

[277] We read scripture.

[278] I gave, you know, some reflections on those scripture passages.

[279] Good.

[280] And we went to five different homes and the two and a half miles.

[281] Wow.

[282] We just went to neighborhood, started at a park and returned to that park, and everybody got a popsicle to end it all.

[283] It was very, very family -friendly, very faith -filled, very simple, and being out there, being public about our faith, which I think we need to be.

[284] So it was a great, great experience.

[285] I hope that people are inspired.

[286] to do it all over the diocese and all over the country.

[287] Well, it inspired me, and after listening to what you said, I think we could organize one here at our Sacred Heart Chapel.

[288] And I think, I know we have a relic on the altar of St. John Henry Newman because of the Anglican Ordinariate parish that's here.

[289] So that would be wonderful.

[290] And I appreciate you sharing that.

[291] Bishop Strickland, I'd like to shift gears.

[292] and again, tie in the Great Sacrament of Reconciliation, also to the Eucharist.

[293] In other words, we're having this Eucharistic revival.

[294] Great, I'm held for this.

[295] And it seems to me that going to confession is very important in tying it into Eucharistic piety.

[296] So I'd like to take Chapter 15 of the Catechism, the Way of Christ's Students' book I have from the Diocese of Tyler, Texas.

[297] St. Philip Institute of Catechesis and Evangelization published this.

[298] And if you want to get more, I would go right on their website.

[299] I assume that you can get it by going to St. Philip Institute.

[300] All right.

[301] Question one, which is important.

[302] For those, I mean, recently I bring this up, I'm just blown away by how few people really understand their faith.

[303] And I remember being in line for a confession, not that long ago and I saw this young person standing behind me and I said God bless you for going to confession you know that's very biblical and she said to me what do you mean it's biblical so I shared with her the gospel of John 20 and showed her where this sacrament is in she was like I didn't know that and I only say that because she probably was 25, 30 years old and for some reason she missed it She didn't get catechized well enough to know that.

[304] And so that's why I keep going over this catechism class with Bishop Strickland, that we can share the fundamentals.

[305] I continue to study my catechism right here, the big thick one.

[306] Why?

[307] Because there's gold in that book, the scripture, there's the saints.

[308] I mean, it's an awesome book to study.

[309] And here's the bottom line, Bishop Strickland.

[310] We live in a world that can distract us with all kinds of.

[311] kinds of things going on.

[312] But what's more important than the salvation of your soul?

[313] Nothing.

[314] So let's go to the first question.

[315] What is the sacrament of reconciliation or confession?

[316] Reconciliation is the way God restores our relationship with him and forgives us our sins committed after baptism.

[317] It is also called, as you say, the confession of penance.

[318] And Bishop Strickland, you're a priest, I think I asked you this the other day.

[319] and I would think that this is just a joy for you for you to be part of a reconciliation of a sinner by going to confession and they leave you knowing that their sins are forgiven.

[320] You've given them penance, but you're just a little bridge builder there.

[321] So how do you see the great sacrament of confession in the church today?

[322] Well, I think it, as I said before, it needs a revival of its own.

[323] And beautifully, Terry, a blessing for myself has been a clear recognition that it's another encounter with Jesus Christ, different than encountering him in the Eucharist, which is a material.

[324] material presence that is, you know, bread that has become his body and blood, soul, and divinity.

[325] But a very real encounter with the mercy of Jesus Christ.

[326] As you pointed out, I'm just an instrument.

[327] I'm not the one forgiving.

[328] I'm a sinner like the sinner that is being forgiven when I hear a confession.

[329] And I went to confession myself yesterday, as I say, not because I'm holy, but because I'm not holy enough.

[330] And really, Terry, I'm so glad we're this opportunity to talk about the sacrament of confession because it ties in with the gospel that we read yesterday about being perfect.

[331] And I think this is an important point about confession.

[332] A lot of people, I've had people tell me. I mentioned you've heard the same thing in the poor catechesis of even those people coming into the church.

[333] I've had people tell me that are converts to the church.

[334] They said, they were told, oh, you don't have to worry about confession unless you kill somebody.

[335] That is such a watered down, really false understanding of what confessions about.

[336] It really, in light of what we just talked about in the gospel, be perfect.

[337] as your Heavenly Father is perfect.

[338] Confession is a key element for that.

[339] How in the world can we become perfect?

[340] Well, only by the grace of God, ultimately, of course.

[341] But we can work in cooperation with that grace of God by seeking to turn away from temptation and sin and seeking to be more and more holy, seeking that call the holiness that we've talked to.

[342] Confession is a waystation of mercy that we all need that, and we need it often to stay aware of that call to perfection that seems so overwhelming.

[343] And I'm sure there are many people, maybe the majority of people in the church today would say, ah, God can't really mean that.

[344] Even believers say, God can't really be calling us to perfection, you know, to be perfect as our Heavenly Father is perfect.

[345] But he is.

[346] That's the word of his son.

[347] Yeah.

[348] We need to take it seriously.

[349] And I've found, and I think that I know you've found, that the sacrament of confession helps us say, well, I'm going to take seriously this call to perfection.

[350] Amen.

[351] Norrifying.

[352] Yeah.

[353] More with Bishop Strickland.

[354] and we come back about confession and the fruits of it.

[355] Stay with us.

[356] We back after a quick break.

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

[358] Welcome back, indeed.

[359] We're talking about the great sacrament of reconciliation, confession, and the healing power of this.

[360] And one of the questions in the catechism says, well, who can receive reconciliation?

[361] Who can go to confession?

[362] Can a non -Catholic come?

[363] I'm like, where's the answer?

[364] Baptized people who have reached the age of reason are sorry for their sins and firmly intend to amend their life.

[365] That's who can receive.

[366] Bishop Strickland, have you ever had, because I've had priest friends tell me that my Protestant friends who, like, want to know, they have a sense that confession would be good and they've gone to their reconciliation room for confession and they're not Catholic.

[367] And, you know, it was instrumental in them becoming Catholic, but my priest friend told me that, I gave him a blessing.

[368] You know, I said, God bless you.

[369] And, you know, but this is how it works.

[370] And he said, well, sign me up.

[371] I want to become a Catholic.

[372] I want my sins forgiven.

[373] So it was just an interesting comment.

[374] Have you ever had that happen in your priesthood?

[375] Oh, yeah.

[376] Actually, fairly frequently with the 12 -step program.

[377] Oh, yeah.

[378] Because part of the step is to, you know, to confess your sins.

[379] And people, you know, even though they're going through that AA program, the 12th step, you know, they wanted to be kept private and they trust, I mean, the priest is obligated to that.

[380] I mean, it's not sacramental.

[381] But so they, that it happens frequently.

[382] And like you said, as the Eucharist is something that draws people to the faith, the presence of the Lord, he's present in his mercy and confession, and people are drawn to that as well.

[383] Yeah, very good.

[384] Here's another question.

[385] Why must I confess to a priest?

[386] That's a real common question.

[387] The answer here, we must confess our sins to a priest because Jesus gave the apostles and their successors, bishops and priests, the ability to forgive or retain sins.

[388] This is Gospel of John, chapter 20, 21 to 23.

[389] For the bishop or the priest to know which sins a person is sorry for and seeking for forgiveness, that person must confess those sins to the bishop or the priest.

[390] All mortal sin must be confessed in number and kind to the best of our ability.

[391] Good advice.

[392] Yeah, and a good understanding of what the sacraments about.

[393] You know, because even, I mean, in my experience, there's some probably very inappropriate approaches to confession.

[394] I mean, for a while it was when I was even before seminary, and some of the time in the seminary, it may still happen in some places, but what's called general absolution, you know, to just, you know, say, oh, well, I, basically what the church says, is no, it needs to be individually confessing to a priest to be absolved of your sins.

[395] I mean, a reconciliation service is not a bad thing to, you know, like we do in mass, the penitentiary.

[396] Sure.

[397] But it's not a substitute for celebrating the sacrament of confession, which is individually with a priest.

[398] Right.

[399] Now, Mr. Stricken, you mentioned already a priest.

[400] has to keep silence on the confession of people and keep the seal, they call it.

[401] So here's the question.

[402] Can a priest tell someone else your confession?

[403] The answer is no. The priest is bound by the seal of confession, not to disclose anyone's confession for any reason.

[404] So if the government came down on you and said, Father Strickland or Bishop Strickland, you're going to jail if you don't tell us about Joe Smith, who went to confession, we need to know if he said something about this or that.

[405] to say, take me to jail.

[406] Right?

[407] Absolutely.

[408] And there have been in recent years, as we can see, I mean, there are so many people that are antagonistic toward the church.

[409] I think we've actually talked about some of those efforts to pierce that absolute seal of confession.

[410] I mean, that's a reason that word is used.

[411] It's sealed because, and as I've always explained it to people, it really is not me as a person hearing this.

[412] Yes, I hear it, but it's between them and God.

[413] I'm the instrument of God working his mercy.

[414] So I have a deep obligation, and if it came down to it, I mean, if they said, we're going to shoot you if you don't divulge, you'd have to be willing to be shot.

[415] That's right.

[416] Of course, you know, there are probably both of us have dealt with a lot of what if question and situations.

[417] And certainly the priest can and should, I mean, let's say someone comes in him and confesses murder.

[418] Yeah.

[419] You know, the priest doesn't divulge that.

[420] Right.

[421] And offers absolution.

[422] But if you're, if that, if that, if that, if that.

[423] If this person is really repentant, they need to confess outside the confessional.

[424] That's right.

[425] They confess to the authority.

[426] That's right.

[427] You know, because part of, you talk a lot, we need to talk about reparation.

[428] That's right.

[429] And at these times, yeah.

[430] Part of reparation for our individual sense, let's say someone, you know, murder is so volatile and it's terrible.

[431] But let's say that someone confesses that they stole a million.

[432] dollars from their company.

[433] And I think a lot of people, especially non -Catholics, have the idea, well, you can get off Scott free for doing things in the Catholic Church.

[434] You just go confess and you're okay.

[435] That priest's obligation is to instruct the penitent that says, I stole a million dollars from my company.

[436] Part of the, yes, you can absolve them.

[437] But part of that is to make restitution, either to give back them.

[438] million dollars if that's impossible to do everything they can to make restitution because god's about justice he's not about some you know secret code in a club that lets you get off scot free because you went and talk to a priest i mean it's it goes back to the sacred heart of christ and it goes back to what the gospel also said god knows what we're doing god knows that you stole that million dollars Of course.

[439] And thankfully, you're learning enough to be able to confess it to a priest, but you've got to make it right also.

[440] And I think that gets lost sometimes.

[441] You know, you see the classic movie of a mafia don, you know, having these terrible things, and then it goes to confession.

[442] You know, it's not some sort of freebie pass.

[443] It's knowing the Lord more deeply.

[444] That's what confession's about.

[445] I mean, yeah, a mafayadine can go to confession, maybe get absolution, but it becomes meaningless if there's not what the church calls a firm purpose of amendment.

[446] Amen.

[447] We have to be willing to say, I've repented of this sin.

[448] I'll do my best never to do it again.

[449] then absolution's appropriate.

[450] If, you know, I've never had a mafia dawn that I know of come to confession to me, but it's the priest's obligation to tell that person or if it is something where it's clear they're not repenting.

[451] If they're not going to change their lifestyle, the priest can't give them absolution.

[452] If they haven't repented, if there's no firm purpose of amendment of their lives, all of that, you know, it gets a big complicated, not really deeply, but, you know, it all has to fit together.

[453] It's not, and I think that's a lot of Catholics and non -Catholics reject the idea of confession because they think of it as getting some kind of free paths, and that's not it at all.

[454] It's about a deep and meaningful relationship with God, with his son, in his spirit.

[455] And if you're not seeking that, and whatever your sins are, it's kind of becomes meaningless, even though you may receive absolution.

[456] Well, said, this next question reminds me of how important a good examination of conscience is.

[457] And I keep repeating this over the years, the Fathers of Mercy have a downloadable PDF of an examination of conscience that's very, very good.

[458] So if you Google Others of Mercy, examination of conscience, you can get that because this next question makes it so that you need to know the difference between mortal sin and venial sin.

[459] The question is, what is the difference between mortal sin and venial sin?

[460] And the answer, a mortal sin is a grave or serious sin committed with here comes, full knowledge of its gravity and full consent.

[461] mortal sin is a serious sin that destroys a person's relationship with God and removes sanctifying grace from the soul after committing a mortal sin the person must be reconciled with God through reconciliation venial sin is less serious sin that damages one's relationship with God and weakens charity in one's life can you give an example of a mortal sin and a venial sin Bishop Strickland?

[462] Well, a venial sin.

[463] It's less grave matter.

[464] Maybe, you know, I think to keep it on the level, you know, I stole something.

[465] Yeah.

[466] To steal, I mean, to intentionally, I mean, any sin requires an intention.

[467] But to steal a pencil is not the same as stealing a car.

[468] that's right um so and that's it's basically the weight of the gravity i mean sin is sin all sin is doing something that's contrary to the commandments contrary to the truth that god has revealed to us telling a lie um it's a sin to not tell the truth if but lying about um you know did you stop and get the milk, you know, and you lie and say, no, I mean, yeah, or, you know, you lie about it.

[469] Sure.

[470] That's, that's a venial sin.

[471] There you go.

[472] But you lie about something, you know, critically important.

[473] Right.

[474] It becomes a mortal sin.

[475] That's right.

[476] Good, good examples.

[477] And this is interesting.

[478] Why are we assigned a penance?

[479] That's a great question.

[480] He says, a penance is a task.

[481] usually set of prayers assigned to the penitent by the priest.

[482] Penance has two key aspects.

[483] First, it helps us join with Jesus to make up for the wrong we have done.

[484] Number two, penance helps us form good habits to keep us from the spiritual damage.

[485] Wow, I just heard the music, Bishop Strickland.

[486] When I get carried away, I do get carried away with catechises.

[487] I'm sorry.

[488] This is a good chapter.

[489] We'll pick up next week on it.

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

[491] Thank you.

[492] My God, we ask your blessing for everyone listening.

[493] Help us to all grow closer to the sacred heart of your son through the immaculate heart of Mary.

[494] We ask this, in the name of the Father, the Holy Spirit, May. Thank you so much, listeners, and family.

[495] I hope you can listen to the next week with us, and check us out at Virgin Most Powerful Radio .org.

[496] pick up our YouTube channel Full Seen ahead.

[497] May God bless you and your family.