01 Mar 22 – Praying for Priests

[0] Welcome to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[1] My name is Terry Barber.

[2] I'm a little under the weather like the bishop.

[3] We have something in common, but we're going to make it.

[4] Fight the good fight.

[5] Bishop Strickland, thanks again for taking the time to spend an hour to share your love for Jesus and his church.

[6] Thanks, Terry.

[7] Thank you.

[8] And I know you have a priest retreat going on, so I want to make sure everybody continues to pray for our priests and bishops and the Holy Father as a standard thing every day to do because they need our prayers, especially because.

[9] Bishop Strickland, on the topic that one of the tweets you gave, it seems so appropriate to be praying for the clergy on a regular basis because, let's face it, they're up against the world, the devil, and the flesh.

[10] And if I had to answer the question, who's influencing who?

[11] It seems the world is influencing the church more than the church is influencing the world.

[12] And you gave a tweet on February 21st about St. Excuse me, Doctor of the Church, St. Peter Damien, you pointed out he fought corruption and sexual immorality among the clergy 1 ,000 years ago.

[13] And you make a little prayer.

[14] He said, Dear St. Peter, pray for the church to be renewed in purity and chastity.

[15] St. Peter pray for all victims of abuse.

[16] And may we repent and seek reparation, atonement for all these sins.

[17] And then I'd like you to, if you have it in front of you, you quote St. Peter Damien, would you like to quote him or should I state the quote from him?

[18] Because I thought it was appropriate.

[19] Yeah, you can read it.

[20] It is not sinners, but the wicked who should despair.

[21] It is not the magnitude of one's crime, but the contempt of God that dashes one's hopes.

[22] Wow.

[23] Yeah.

[24] Wow, it's right.

[25] I thought that was very important because it really gets to how the mercy of God and its abundant blessing, how it works.

[26] We're all sinners, but we have to do what we can to repent of that sin.

[27] And in humility, seek the mercy of God.

[28] And we hear too many voices in the church and certainly otherwise that act as if mercy is just sort of a paint, a coat of paint over everything.

[29] You just keep doing what you're doing and trust in God's mercy.

[30] That's not our faith.

[31] That isn't what Christ is promised.

[32] The real mercy is glorious because we acknowledge the brokenness.

[33] And the Lord brings his healing ministry.

[34] It flows from his pierce side on the cross.

[35] Blood and water are that mercy.

[36] And we've got to help people understand that real mercy is always humbly repenting of sin.

[37] Like St. Peter Damien says, it's not the sinner, but it's the flagrant one who doesn't ask forgiveness.

[38] And I think St. Peter Damien really is a saint for our time.

[39] He lived almost exactly a thousand years ago, and he fought a lot of the same corruption in a few of the clergy that were in his time.

[40] As you said, we're on a diocese and priest retreat here for the Diocese of Tyler.

[41] We have about 50 priests here.

[42] None of us are perfect from the bishop.

[43] down.

[44] We're all sinners, but I believe these men are striving to do their best, to repent of their personal sin, call others away from sin, and to live the life of grace.

[45] That's what it's about.

[46] The priests were talking about having to add time to their confession times because they're overwhelmed, which is really a wonderful sign of the good work they're doing.

[47] It's hard work.

[48] It keeps them busy, but we're all sinners, and we need to not ignore the sin, but to turn from it.

[49] And that's what St. Peter Damien really encouraged, as we were talking before we started recording, we need to pray for all the ordained, for bishops, priests, and deacons, for Pope Francis, for all the cardinals, for all the archbishops and bishops, for every priest and deacon, for all of us ordained because by the grace of the Holy Spirit, we have been ordained to be ministers of the Church of Jesus Christ, the church that he established.

[50] And therefore, we're called to be a model for others.

[51] And when corruption and immorality enters the clergy, it's devastating for the clergy and for everyone else.

[52] As we said so many times before, Terry, the greatest mercy, the greatest compassion is to tell the truth.

[53] Amen.

[54] And we've got to pray for any member of the clergy, any member of the hierarchy that has turned to deaf ear to the real message of the gospel, it's not going to bring them joy.

[55] It's not going to bring them fulfillment.

[56] It may bring them something that they see as fulfillment in this world, but as we know, this life is passing very quickly, and we need to all be more aware of that.

[57] St. Peter Damien was well aware, and he lived a thousand years ago, but he spoke the truth of Christ.

[58] Like we've said many times before, the truth doesn't change.

[59] The truth is everlasting because it is Jesus Christ incarnate among us.

[60] He's the face of truth.

[61] And so the same truth that St. Peter Damien challenged popes and cardinals and bishops of his time to live.

[62] It's the same truth that we're all challenged to live.

[63] As we celebrate today, the chair of St. Peter, a significant feast in the calendar of the church, February 26th.

[64] second.

[65] We need to pray for Pope Francis as we pray for every Pope.

[66] Every Pope is a sinful man as we all are.

[67] None of them are without sin.

[68] None of them are perfect.

[69] Pope Francis needs our prayers.

[70] He's Pope and probably one of the most challenging times in church history.

[71] We're living through it with him.

[72] We need to pray for him and for all the cardinals to root out sinfulness from their own hearts, not try to change the gospel, not try to take a worldly path, but in humility acknowledge that we're all sinners.

[73] They're powerful forces that are against the church, but there were powerful forces that thought they had eliminated the whole Jesus problem when he died and a cross.

[74] And that really turns out in our faith, Christ's death on his cross was his greatest glory because it opened him through really dying to rising from the dead and beginning the life of the church, sending forth the Holy Spirit.

[75] So it's all about supernatural faith.

[76] It's all about the salvation of souls, including every member of the clergy that has turned the deaf ear to the gospel and has just embraced a life in this world, they may be lost right now, but Christ longs for them to return to him.

[77] And we've got to pray.

[78] I feel a special calling to pray for the priest.

[79] They need bishops that are fatherly, loving servants of their priest.

[80] And that's what I try to be.

[81] I fail all the time.

[82] I'm a a sinner, but we need all bishops to pray for your bishop to be a real spiritual father to the priest and to be strong enough to call them away from sinfulness and into a life of greater piety, of greater chastity, of greater holiness.

[83] When we ignore the sin, it's just like we were talking earlier, you're the father of six children.

[84] If you ignore their sins, probably most of them, if not all, are adults now.

[85] But when they were children, you had to do your best to tell them what was right and what was wrong.

[86] Certainly, the priests that serve in the Diocese of Tyler are adult men making their own choices.

[87] But all of us are children before God.

[88] And we need to be reminded of what real virtue is.

[89] There's not, there aren't enough strong voices in the church today, just reminding us, live the virtue, turn from sin, acknowledge your sin, be humble and acknowledge that we're all sinners and that we have a need for God's mercy.

[90] Go to confession.

[91] Thankfully, our priest on retreat will have the opportunity to go to confession.

[92] Hopefully that will be an opportunity that they take advantage of many, many times throughout their lives.

[93] We need to stay close, especially to those sacraments I like to call the sacraments of the journey, confession and the Eucharist.

[94] Confession is the best way to be reverent toward the real presence, body and blood, soul, and divinity of Christ and the Eucharist.

[95] If we go to confession often, we're still sinners and we're still weak.

[96] What will be strengthened in his grace and the efficacy of receiving his body and blood, soul, and divinity, and communion will be that much stronger.

[97] That's what makes saints.

[98] If you read the lives of the saints, they were devoted to the Eucharist, that were humbly people who humbly confess their sins.

[99] We need to pray for all the clergy of the church around the world to turn more deeply to the sacred heart of Christ and to repent of their sins.

[100] Sorry, I'm getting all free.

[101] No, I want you to.

[102] Keep going.

[103] It's something that we need to focus on with great compassion, with great mercy, with great joy, and to speak plainly.

[104] We must repent of sin, make reparation for our sins, and seek the light of Christ and His mercy.

[105] Well, said, when we come back from the break, I want to bring up an individual situation that we're praying for a cardinal.

[106] And, you know, the thing that I like about Bishop Strickland, and what I say about Virgin, Most Powerful, I'm going to tell you on the other side of this break that I think it's a balance of praying for our clergy is so important that you just mentioned.

[107] You're listening to the Bishop Strickland Hour on Virgin Most Power.

[108] Stay with us, family.

[109] Welcome back to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[110] The good bishop had been chatting about praying for priests and talking about St. Peter Damien, who's a doctor of the church, and how a thousand years ago we had a very similar situation in the church.

[111] And so today, I would ask Bishop Strickland if we ask St. Peter Damien to intercede for us today for the conversion of many priests and bishops, especially when he regards to homosexuality, because we have a cardinal now who's, you know, he's the president of the commission of bishops' conference in the European Union.

[112] he believes the current teaching on homosexuality is wrong.

[113] Well, in a very gentle way, in a loving way, I'm just a layman, I'm going to tell the cardinal, no, you're wrong.

[114] You need to embrace Jesus Christ's teaching on sexual morality that has always taught that homosexuality, active homosexuality, is against the moral teachings of Christ.

[115] And I would say you keep his Cardinal Jean Claude Hollerick of Lutzenberg in Germany, he's saying this, and I would publicly, what I like about what you do, Bishop Strickland, and I know a lot of people don't like it because you speak out so boldly, but I notice you have the one -two punch.

[116] You not only say this is wrong if a priest or somebody says something that's contrary to the teachings of the church, because you made a promise when you were ordained and when you were consecrated the bishop to uphold that, but you also always say, let's pray for them that they will have the eyes of faith to see their error.

[117] Because I'm going to be honest with your, Bishop Strickland, he's a cardinal.

[118] Here's a little guy, Terry, a little short, little bold -headed old man, saying, Cardinal, I'm going to pray that you will see the light of what the church has always taught on this issue of homosexuality.

[119] You're going into sociology, and you're saying you're putting your trust in man than in what God's word says.

[120] And I know that sounds like I'm condemning him.

[121] No, I'm lovingly saying to the cardinal, I love you enough to call you back to the bark of Peter in the sense of the church's perennial teachings.

[122] Now, Bishop Strickland, that's what gets you into trouble.

[123] And that's one of the reasons I like you because you're not afraid to lovingly call people that are objectively saying things that are contrary to the church and to the perennial teachings of the deposit of faith.

[124] say no no no that's not what the church teaches i want to lovingly correct you because i love you now if that's not a description of what you've been doing for the last so many years tell me i'm wrong but that's how i see you well i'm glad that's how you see it because that's really what it comes down to terry um real love is sharing the truth and i like that you bring up the cardinal because whatever the status and we we pay a lot of of attention to status in the world, in the church, in business, in Hollywood, people have a certain status.

[125] Before God, we're all just sons and daughters.

[126] He loves us all beyond our imagining.

[127] And we need to remember that with Cardinal Holerick.

[128] He's a son of God.

[129] And there's no special category that, well, if you're part of the hierarchy, then the morality issues are Are different?

[130] No, all of us are children of God.

[131] As a matter of fact, being a member of the hierarchy or a member of ordained clergy or being a father or a mother to children means you have an added responsibility, not just to live the truth yourself, but to share it.

[132] And so we need to pray for the cardinal because he's not only on the wrong path for himself as a son of God, but as a cardinal.

[133] he speaks up and people listen, and he's leading people astridden.

[134] There are probably many people that say, oh, well, thank goodness, we can just live our homosexual lifestyle, and there's no problem, because the church will just finally catch up with us.

[135] That simply isn't the truth.

[136] That isn't what the church is taught, and it's not part of the deposit of faith.

[137] It's not what scripture says.

[138] It's not what the catechism says.

[139] it's not what the Magisterium has said through the ages.

[140] God is love, and real love has to be a sacrificial love that we're all challenged to.

[141] I know that people that are drawn to a homosexual lifestyle, it can be a very challenging path.

[142] And I've talked to many that have embraced it and then have tried to pull away.

[143] And it's difficult.

[144] But telling people to continue down a path of darkness is not love.

[145] So it comes down to the individual son or daughter of God to lovingly bring the truth to them.

[146] And really, Terry, it ties in for me we're soon to enter into the season of Lent.

[147] And I think especially for this Lent 2022, I'm feeling a very strong call for this year, for this time, with all the turmoil in the world, the turmoil among nations, the turmoil in the church, the turmoil and families, there's just so much division and turmoil.

[148] I think people of faith, and I really want to, it's my responsibility to lead this as one shepherd in the church, but I would urge everyone to really look at this meant as a time of reparation, and atonement for sin.

[149] For my own personal sin, I have plenty of reparation and atonement to do for my own personal sin, but also for the sin of the world to offer your prayers, to pray rosaries, to pray litanings, to read the scriptures, to do everything you can in your spiritual life in this coming length.

[150] To fast.

[151] You know, we're called to fast on Ash Wednesday.

[152] And then on Good Friday, fast and abstain, there's abstinence for the Fridays of Lent.

[153] Really raise that bar, do a little more than just the minimum required.

[154] Certainly, care for your health.

[155] But most of us in, I mean, I could speak for myself, I could easily skip a few meals out of reparation and atonement in a spirit of fasting and prayer.

[156] And it's not going to damage my health.

[157] Certainly, people need to, we're sacred to God.

[158] We need to take care of this vessel that God has given us.

[159] But probably for a lot of us, eating a little less, it's probably a healthy step.

[160] But certainly it is spiritually.

[161] So I really would encourage people.

[162] We've talked about, you know, St. Peter Damien and really the terrible, reports that we see, I don't know what's true and what isn't.

[163] But both of us and too many people, too many people have got left and discussed, left the church, because they've seen such corruption.

[164] McCarrick is not the only corruption that was there.

[165] And we need to lovingly call every ordained minister of the church who is not living a life of chastity and morality, to wake up and to change their lives for their sake and for the sake of the flock they're called to serve.

[166] So the moral corruption has to be called out and lovingly called any minister who is not living, seeking sanctity, which we're all called to, then we've got to do everything we can to reform our lives.

[167] I'd encourage everyone to pray especially during this Lenton season that any clergy that are not embracing the morality, the moral standards that the church has taught for centuries that are in the catechism, in the Word of God, deeply embedded in the writings of St. Paul, if they're not paying attention to that, let us pray that all clergy and really all the faithful will enter into this season of Lent as a time of reparation, a time of repentance, a time of atonement, and a time of simply acknowledging what real sin is.

[168] Certainly, the sins against morality are not the only sins, but very often those sins, what are the seven deadly sins, lust, greed, gluttony, wrath, sloth, envy, and pride?

[169] We all need to know those by heart and to pray that the Holy Spirit will guard us from falling into any of the deadly sins.

[170] And lust in our time is one of the most deadly, greed following close behind.

[171] And really all the deadly sins are that they're deadly.

[172] but let us use this Lenton season as a time of reparation for our sins, and a time to really joyfully embrace the call of sanctity, the call to holiness that the Lord offers us.

[173] All of us need to simply say from today on, I'm going to work to be holier, to avoid sin and temptation, and to pray the St. Michael prayer, to pray all the prayers, even the Our Father, we say, deliver us from evil.

[174] And so we need to make this Lenton season deeper and more spiritual than ever because we're living in a very dark time where people are fearful.

[175] But we know that Christ has conquered sin and death.

[176] He's conquered Satan.

[177] He's conquered all the power of evil.

[178] But we've got to embrace the power of good.

[179] We've got to make our own personal choice and all of us who have responsibility urging others in our families or in our flock to do the same well said bishop strickland i also mention i meet homosexual men who have left the church because they say to me well if it's not the lifestyle that i should be living why isn't the church speaking out and then i run into people who confirm me in my sin and i'm confused see that's what's happening here in los angeles at least i meet guys So this is why reparation, atonement, expiation are needing to be said with our prayers.

[180] But remember everybody, and I know some people get mad at me for saying this, but personal holiness, that's what you're called to.

[181] The universal call of the Second Vatican Council.

[182] So you be holy, in spite of bad example.

[183] How do you do that?

[184] What Bishop Strickland is talking about, getting to confession, your prayer life.

[185] You know, this is incredibly important.

[186] Also, one more thing I want to plug for you, Bishop Strickland.

[187] I saw that the St. Philip Institute has something going on for Lent.

[188] I think it's a Bible study, and that might be also something that people like to grab onto.

[189] How can people participate that from all over the world by, you know, participating?

[190] How can they do that?

[191] Yeah, our great Faith Formation Director, Dr. Luke Eradondo, wrote this for 47 days of reflecting on scripture.

[192] a journey through Lent, or really through any time, but it's perfect for Lent.

[193] You can go to St .Philip Institute .org and order one of these books.

[194] They're only $5, and it's a great way for people to enter into Lent in a really biblical Christ -centered way, because Bible is Christ and Christ is Bible.

[195] Well said.

[196] I also want to recommend something that you mentioned about confession.

[197] We're going to give a quote from Dr. Scott Hahn when we come back.

[198] But if people want to pick up a free CD, a download of Scott Hahn's talk on the hidden power of confession, I think we've distributed about 500 ,000 copies through Lighthouse.

[199] I'll give it away for free because I still have the rights to do that.

[200] And it would be a phone call, 8775 -26 -21 -500.

[201] Ask for the download.

[202] More with Bishop Strickland when we come back, family.

[203] Welcome back to the Bishop Strickland hour.

[204] Bishop Strickland did a tweet with Dr. Scott Hahn on the power of confession.

[205] And my people heard me say what I want to say.

[206] I do things explicitly.

[207] And if you go to Catholic rc .org, use the code Strickland at the checkout.

[208] You get a free download of Scott Hahn's powerful talk, the hidden power of confession.

[209] I might be underestimating, but I think we distributed over a half a million copies of that CD back in the 90s and that it was a, you know, just a home run talk on confession, and I found it interesting Bishop Strickland because you stated in a tweet February 16th, a good confession is one of the finest ways to reverence the Eucharistic face of Jesus Christ.

[210] That sentence right there just got me. I like, that's cool.

[211] I like that.

[212] Let us humbly repent, confess our sins, make ready for our souls to welcome the king of kings into our hearts, where he's will nature us into his joy, light, and grace.

[213] And then you put this quote from the St. Paul Center, which is Dr. Scott's Hahn's organization that I support, Scott says, nothing brings peace to a soul like a confession that's well prepared, clear, concise, contrite, and complete.

[214] If we hadn't been to confession in a while, and even if we have, we should make every effort to make the practice habitual.

[215] that's a doctor scott hann uh bishop strickland um you just repeated i mean what scott hans was saying earlier when you said get to confession and repent and believe but you know this has been a two thousand year teaching of the catholic faith that people need to repent of their sins so you're really just echoing the fathers of the church and i get a kick out of it because it's like wow what do you what else do you expect the bishop to say but you know what bishop strickland i have to say it's not as common as i would like it to be yeah it does need to be it needs to be commonplace absolutely you remind me of of st john bosco who was a great saint who taught young boys young men to be saints to be men of faith and he he talks to the young boys in the school that he had, but it really applies to all of us.

[216] Boys and girls, men, and women.

[217] But he tells them to stay close to confession to reverently receive the body and blood, soul and divinity of Christ in communion, and to pray in adoration of the blessed sacrament, or the presence of the face of Christ, the Eucharistic face of Christ.

[218] Those three things, those are Lenton practices that need to be universally embraced and adopted in every way possible.

[219] One thing that struck me as we were talking, you know, we always talk about the catechism.

[220] And we haven't mentioned a specific paragraph today, but everything we're talking about is what the catechism says and it occurs to me that people may the faith is challenging it's challenging to turn from sin it's challenging to grow in holiness and it's not something that is supported in the culture the culture says be entertained get get pleasure you know just enjoy yourself and to disqualify and to disqualify disciplines, that's why they're called spiritual exercises, it can be challenging.

[221] But what occurred to me, as we were talking earlier, is people need to recognize that everything we've talked about is the catechism.

[222] A lot of times people will tell me, oh, it's hard to read.

[223] It's too dense.

[224] It isn't easy to read.

[225] No, it's not an easy read, but what occurred to me, is I'll give people a guarantee.

[226] Okay.

[227] If you spend time with our Lord in Eucharistic adoration, you will find the catechism easier to read.

[228] And if you read the catechism, you'll find it easier to go to the Lord and spend some of your time with him in Eucharistic adoration.

[229] They feed each other.

[230] Just like I've said before to groups, praying the rosary and Eucharistic adoration feed each other also.

[231] If you find it difficult to pray your daily rosary, then go to the Lord in the Blessed Sacrament.

[232] If you find it difficult to take the time and to really give of your time to be in prayer before the Lord in his Eucharistic presence, then pray the rosary.

[233] Again, they feed each other.

[234] And we need to, we need to do that.

[235] We need to model it for each other.

[236] Because really, Terry, for my life, for our lifetime, there's been a de -emphasis of sin.

[237] And what the saints tell us is, what does Jesus say?

[238] What does Mary say?

[239] Repending from sin is just the first step.

[240] so we live through a time where people are even told don't worry about taking the first step it's is like oh sin's no big deal sin is a huge deal because it incrementally and sometimes in mortally devastating ways separates us from God but even the smallest sin moves us a little further from God than we should be growing in holiness and virtue, moves us a little closer to God.

[241] So we've lived through a time, and we're kind of seeing it all come to a sad fruition, a very corrupt fruit, but the fruit of our lifetime of turning from sin, of ignoring sin and turning from God, is gotten us where we are today.

[242] With so many young people despairing and lost, suicide rates are up, people leaving the church and droves, all the rampant lack of supernatural faith, we've got to repent of sin and then continue to seek holiness.

[243] Because what the church, what the catechism teaches is not just repenting of sin, but that's just the beginning.

[244] That's getting things that's sort of clearing the playing field so that we can begin.

[245] building a life of virtue and of holiness.

[246] And that is what God has built us for.

[247] So we've got a lot of work to do individually and as families, as a church, and as a culture.

[248] But the beautiful thing is, we talked about St. Peter Damien, the light of Christ that guided him is just as bright, just as wondrous, just as powerful as it.

[249] was for St. Peter Damien or for St. Peter, the first Pope, St. Peter the Apostle, as we celebrate the chair of Peter.

[250] So in the first hundred years, the light of Christ was bright for the church.

[251] A thousand years ago, a thousand years after St. Peter the Apostle, St. Peter Damien, the light of Christ was bright and powerful.

[252] Here we are in the year 2022.

[253] The light of Christ is just as bright and powerful as ever.

[254] We have to remember that it's the light of Christ that guides us.

[255] The light of this world may be flashy, maybe temporary, bright, but they fade.

[256] The light of Christ doesn't fade.

[257] Wow, I agree a big amen to that.

[258] Bishop Strickland, one of the other things that I like about your approach to sharing the gospel is you're not afraid to even talk to our politicians about the gospel.

[259] I mean, I mean that, because sometimes we want, oh, we can't get involved with, it's politics to not to try to stop abortion.

[260] That's everybody, they got to do that on their own.

[261] No, you just tweeted something for our legislators that you pray for our legislators, but that they will reject this bill that's coming up that seeks to codify the murder of unborn children.

[262] Roe versus Wade, the Supreme Court decision.

[263] So you're telling people, speak up in every way you can for the voiceless unborn children whose lives are threatened by those legislators who do not value human life.

[264] Now, Bishop Strickland, I live in the state of California.

[265] My governor makes me really upset that he tells women in Texas, we'll pay for your airfare to come to L .A. or come to California, and we'll kill your baby for you.

[266] You see, that's why we have to speak up.

[267] We should have, we should be angry about this because what about that child?

[268] Who's speaking up for that child?

[269] So your tweet is encouraging people like me and others to say, no, no, no, no. We have to put our faith into action, even at the voting booth.

[270] Yes, absolutely.

[271] And certainly my, I believe that ultimately, it's about, changing hearts.

[272] Yes, of course.

[273] But the laws need to support the truth so that hearts are encouraged to be changed.

[274] We need to pray for Governor Newsom and for every politician who is misled by the culture, by lack of faith, by ignoring the Word of God and the teaching of the faith.

[275] You know, some politicians claim to be Catholic.

[276] Others don't make that claim at all.

[277] But it's the same truth.

[278] And we need to pray for our politicians to embrace the truth and to establish laws that are about the truth.

[279] As the left is concerned that Roe v. Wade, and it's certainly all parties, I mean, whatever party or whatever group people are part of, the left is pushing the right to abortion, the right to murder these unborn children.

[280] And as the Roe v. Wade decision is contemplated, most likely it will be, well, here in June of this year, what the Supreme Court decides.

[281] It's so sort of preempting that, the Senate has this bill to just bypass the Supreme Court and make it a law that you can murder your children, the unborn children if you want.

[282] And that's where we need to speak to our politicians and pray for them to see the truth.

[283] Well, said Bishop Strickland, when we come back, I want everybody to open up to that catechism, Bishop Strickland talked about, to paragraph 1621.

[284] It's about the celebration of marriage.

[285] We'll be back with more, family.

[286] Stay with us.

[287] Welcome back to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[288] For those who are brand new to our show, I just want to welcome you.

[289] I know that some of you are picking up the station because we were at the big program that came out in California with all the truckers.

[290] They were inspired to do something similar to what they did in campus.

[291] Canada.

[292] And so they're starting, well, to be tomorrow, we're going to be there handing out cards for Virgin Most Powerful Radio.

[293] So if you're listening now, I want to welcome you to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[294] We're supporting those truckers because they want to be able to have a right not to get vaccinated by COVID -19.

[295] And they're putting on their faith in the sense of their belief in the freedom of religion and of a right.

[296] So they're taking a drive from California to Washington, D .C. And I publicly, supported through Virgin Most Powerful because I think it's the right thing to do.

[297] So there you have it.

[298] Bishop Strickland, I'm quoting from the catechism of the Catholic Church on marriage because last week where we took a quote and it really did help.

[299] I had a lot of good feedback from it because we are having a marriage and family conference May 7th here at the chapel with Dr. Sandoval, my faithful bride, Mary Danielle, and myself.

[300] and we are going to be taking the catechism, the Bible, and Cardinal Sirrah's book on marriage to inspire people to have stronger marriages.

[301] And that's what you do when you quote things.

[302] And I noticed Bishop Strickland, I think it was last week you said that you spent, I think, 13 or 14 years on the marriage tribunal, so you've had a lot of experience talking to couples.

[303] And it's pretty obvious.

[304] So I want to give a quote from the catechism, and then if you can give a little commentary, but this is a meaty paragraph.

[305] It's rather long, but, man, there's a lot of theology in it.

[306] It's paragraph 1621, the celebration of marriage.

[307] Gaticism 1621 states, in the Latin right, the celebration of marriage is between two Catholic faithfully, normally takes place during Holy Mass because of the connection of all the sacraments with the paschal mystery of Christ.

[308] in the Eucharist the memorial of the new covenant is realized New covenant is which Christ has united himself forever to the church his beloved bride you see the connection folks for whom he gave himself up it is therefore fitting here comes mom and dad that the spouses should seal their consent to give themselves to each other through the offering of their own lives by uniting it to the offering of Christ for his church made present in the Eucharistic sacrifice and by receiving the Holy Eucharist so that communicating in the same body and the same blood of Christ, they may form but one body in Christ.

[309] That's a mouthful, Bishop Strickland, but that's very inspiring.

[310] Well, it is beautiful, and it brings a lot to together, what it reminds a married couple, or anyone who wants to live the love of God, God is love.

[311] It's about sacrifice.

[312] It's about what Christ does with his life.

[313] He is love incarnate, and he acts on that by giving himself that we might be saved from our sins and from death.

[314] The beautiful thing about the connection of Eucharist and a married couple is that sacrificial love.

[315] You've been married to your wife for many years.

[316] And there are a lot of sacrifices that you've been called to make and that she's been called to make.

[317] Sometimes as simple as sacrificing what you'd rather do with what's best for your spouse or.

[318] for the children that have come along.

[319] That wishing the good for the other, living the good for the other is what Christ models us as real love.

[320] And that's where marriage and the Eucharist, because the Eucharist is Christ, he's the son of God, God is love.

[321] It all, it basically has a logical progression.

[322] God is love.

[323] God has sent his son.

[324] God's son gave himself out of love, a sacrificial love.

[325] That's what in our Catholic faith, we know that every Mass is a celebration of that tremendous act of self -giving love that Jesus Christ offers.

[326] It was a one -time, once -for -all sacrifice that we tap into at every Mass, not recreating his crucifixion, but tapping into the power.

[327] that continues to radiate from that wondrous act of love of the Son of God.

[328] You as a married man and your wife is a married woman.

[329] When you go to Mass, that's what you're called to do, is to offer your sacrifices and combine them to the sacrificial love of Christ.

[330] There's so many things like that that I'll just put it on myself.

[331] I need to do a better job of making that connection.

[332] But the preparation of the gifts, what's often called the offatory, is not just about collecting money so we can pay the bills, and it's not about just giving symbolic things, but it's about that sacrificial connection.

[333] As a priest, you as a married man, your wife as a married woman, we all need to be spiritually putting our lives on that altar as well.

[334] joining our sacrificial love to the sacrificial love of Christ.

[335] That's what that paragraph is talking about.

[336] And Terry, we could talk about it for hours because it gets down to the very basics of everything we've talked about.

[337] When you short -circuit that love and you call something love that isn't really love at all, then you begin to do damage to that family, to the church, and to the family of God's people to all of civilization.

[338] And that's what we see unfolding is when false love begins to be celebrated and not just allowed, but encouraged as if it were real love, it damages us because it's not the truth.

[339] And so your work as a married man, my work as an ordained man, your wife's work is a married one.

[340] woman, is that much more critical to pray, to seek holiness ourselves, to make reparation for our sinful world, to, in a sense, we can say put God's love back at the center of everything.

[341] And when that isn't the truth that we're living, we're living some false gospel, where God's love is not even there, then we're hurting everyone.

[342] We're hurting ourselves.

[343] We were talking about making reparation earlier.

[344] And you remind me and talking about marriage and the Eucharist, there's so many ways that blasphemies happen in masses that are offered with a lack of reverence and not just a lack of reverence, but a lack of remembering what the mass is.

[345] It's all about Jesus Christ.

[346] I just saw something of an image, a video clip just recently where the priest blesses the people with a guitar.

[347] Yeah, I saw that.

[348] That is blasphemy.

[349] That's not something even to laugh at.

[350] That's something to weep at because what should be the most sacred focus on Christ, for whatever reason, I don't even know where it happened.

[351] But this priest, it was video, so I presume it really happened, sadly.

[352] But this priest blesses the people with a guitar as if it were in the same way that a priest can and should bless the people, not at Mass, but at benediction, with Christ himself in the monstrance.

[353] It is a mockery that we have to speak against.

[354] out of love for that priest or out of love for every person that was there out of love for anyone who saw that and doesn't recognize how blasphemous that is and how making a mockery of the sacred is the definition of blasphemy and it harms us it harms every person even seeing it is harmful hopefully it reminds us to be that much more reverend and hold sacred the real presence of Christ and the Eucharist and the whole meaning of the mass. But those kinds of things we must speak against out of real love and encourage everyone to wake up to the blasphemous practices that are really sweeping across our nation and across the world and even across the church.

[355] Well said, Bishop Strickland, we're right at the end of the show so maybe we could ask you, and I know we will continue to pray for your priests, for the priest retreat that's going on and Tyler, maybe you could please give us a blessing, please.

[356] Almighty God, we ask your blessing for all of us, your priestly people.

[357] We pray in a special way for priests who are burdened, who are hurting, some are wandering in darkness because they've been led into darkness by others.

[358] We pray for a priest to truly be priest of your son, Jesus Christ.

[359] His authentic priesthood is a priesthood of sacrifice, of love of the truth, and a priesthood of constant repentance, reparation, and atonement for sins in the world.

[360] We celebrate the great priests of old and the great priest now.

[361] who are living lives of repentance and reparation as priests guiding their priestly people away from sin and darkness.

[362] We pray for priests to be strong, to never despair, to look to the bright light of Christ to guide them.

[363] And we ask God's blessing for priests and the priestly people they serve.

[364] In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, amen.

[365] Bishop Strickland, there's a prayer that the angel of Portugal taught in 1916 to the three children before the Blessed Sacrament of Reparation.

[366] It said this.

[367] As the Blessed Sacrament, the angel was holding it up in front of the kids.

[368] It says, Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, I adore you profoundly.

[369] I offer you the most precious body, blood, soul, and divinity of Jesus Christ, present in all the tabernacles of the world.

[370] In reparation, for the outrages, sacrilegious, and indifference by which he is offended.

[371] And through the infinite merits of his most sacred heart and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I beg the conversion of poor sinners.

[372] Now, that was said over a hundred years ago, Bishop Strickland, and I got to think that that prayer needs to be said many times when we're at Mass or in church, and we see craziness going on and lack of reverence.

[373] Get down on your knees.

[374] Pray the prayer that children was taught by the angel, Portugal to teach the children to make reparation.

[375] Remember, our lady said, souls are going to hell because no one is there to pray and make sacrifices.

[376] I hope I, Bishop Strickland, were all called to intercede for our brothers and sisters in Christ.

[377] Thank you for listening, and you can listen to all of Bishop Strickland's podcast.

[378] I go to vmpr .org.

[379] That's virgin, most powerful radio .org.

[380] Matter of fact, you can get all the shows there.

[381] Thanks again for joining us, and may God richly bless you and your family.

[382] St. Faustina's Prayer for priests.

[383] O my Jesus, I beg thee on behalf of the whole church, granted love and the light of thy spirit, and give power to the words of priests, so that hardened hearts might be brought to repentance and return to thee, O Lord.

[384] Lord, give us holy priests.

[385] Thou thyself maintain them in holiness.

[386] O divine and great high priest, May the power of thy mercy accompany them everywhere and protect them from the devil's traps and snares, which are continually being set for the souls of priests.

[387] May the power of thy mercy, O Lord, shatter and bring to naught all that might tarnish the sanctity of priests.

[388] For thou canst do all things.

[389] Amen.

[390] Virgin Most Powerful.

[391] Pray for us.

[392] Virgin Most Powerful Radio.

[393] the gospel with clarity and charity.