26 Jul 22 – The Truth Will Set You Free

[0] Welcome to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[1] My name is Terry Barber, and I'm always honored to be here once a week with the good bishop to teach us the faith.

[2] I learn a lot from him, and Bishop Strickland, thanks for doing what you do as a successor of the apostle.

[3] Thanks, Terry.

[4] God bless you.

[5] Now, we cover the catechism of the Catholic Church.

[6] We're under right now what Article 3 of Social Justice.

[7] We're going to get to that.

[8] But also your tweets that you're doing, there's so many good things.

[9] tweets.

[10] I don't get to all of them, but I would encourage people to go to how to get tweets.

[11] How can people get tweets from you?

[12] What's your food?

[13] Well, Bishop of Tyler.

[14] There you go.

[15] That's it.

[16] All right, that's it.

[17] Now, I love my first tweet that you did.

[18] You did this, and I love Justice Scalia, and you quoted him.

[19] And put your seatbelts on, folks.

[20] This is a quote that should be like mandatory for all of Catholics to say, hey, these are our marching orders.

[21] He says this, God assumed from the beginning that the wise of this world would view Christians as fools, and he has not been disappointed.

[22] I laughed off my chair.

[23] I thought that was a great, great comment.

[24] And then he says, if I have brought any message today, it is this.

[25] A powerful head.

[26] Put your seatbelt on.

[27] He says, have the courage to have your wisdom regarded as stupidity be fools for Christ like St. Paul says and have the courage to suffer the contempt of the sophisticated world.

[28] Bishop Strickland I think you are good example when people say, Bishop Strickland, stop talking about the deposit of faith.

[29] Bishop Strickland, you know, can't you just, you know, be quiet?

[30] And I see what the Justice Supreme Court former Justice Supreme Court is saying, it seems very a biblical principle.

[31] Your thoughts?

[32] Well, I agree.

[33] I think it's a principle of our faith.

[34] And what we need to remember, Terry, I always try to remind myself, this is good news.

[35] It's a joyful message.

[36] Amen.

[37] Joy to the world, the Lord has come.

[38] It is not some dower, drag us down, heavy and draining message.

[39] Yes, it's challenging.

[40] It's, I don't live up to it and really no human being can claim to fully live up to it.

[41] Even the saints were sinners.

[42] And I'm a sinner, I'm weak, but the truth is joyful.

[43] It's fulfilling.

[44] It's a message of joy and hope and light.

[45] It is not some sort of noxious burden.

[46] The way people treat it is really the opposite of what it is.

[47] The truth allows us to breathe freely.

[48] allows us to flourish, allows us to unburden ourselves of anything that is false and broken.

[49] And because all of that, all that is false and broken is not of God.

[50] The truth is God.

[51] And when we engage more and more deeply in the truth, we're really more and more alive.

[52] Amen.

[53] That's what Justice Scalia is getting at, is the world rejects the truth because of concupiscence because we're a broken, sinful world.

[54] The story of Adam and Eve explains that where we got off track.

[55] Thankfully, the story of Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord tells us where we got back on track or at least have that option.

[56] We have free will to choose to flourish in God's truth.

[57] And that's what we need to continue to remind people of and to joyfully share the good news.

[58] That's what gospel means.

[59] It's good news for all humanity.

[60] And we just need to stay with it patiently, joyfully sharing the news that, yes, is going to be rejected over and over again because we step away from God.

[61] We make ourselves God.

[62] And we do ourselves harm.

[63] We do the world harm in all the sins that burden us become the commonplace.

[64] We need to trust in the good news that sets us free.

[65] Amen to that.

[66] Wow, that's such a great quote.

[67] Bishop Strickland, you also tweeted the little flowers quote, and I hadn't really thought of this quote.

[68] I remember it years ago because of the content about souls going to hell like snowflakes from Our Lady of Fatima's quote.

[69] But here's what it says in the tweet you said a woman of true faith let us heed her wise words yeah she's a doctor of the church here's what she said we have only a short moments of this life to work for the god's glory the devil knows this and that is why he tries to make us waste time in useless things i needed to hear that she says oh let us not waste our time.

[70] Let us save souls.

[71] Souls are falling into hell innumerably as the flakes of a snow on a winter day.

[72] Jesus weeps instead of consoling him, we are brooding over our own sorrows.

[73] Wow.

[74] Go ahead and comment on that quote.

[75] Wow.

[76] Well, she just reminding us what life is about and to embrace the goodness of life that God offers us constantly and to do our best to turn from sin which ultimately is destructive to the happiness and the life that God wants to share with us.

[77] Well, said, I love these tweets because they're so short and to the point.

[78] Here's another tweet.

[79] You said, Amen, let us continue to introduce people to Jesus.

[80] evangelize in spite of scandal i love it here's what the quote says being a christian is not an ethical choice or a lofty idea but the encounter with an event a person which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction pope benedict the 16th said that your thoughts well i think the the thing that really appealed to me about that quote from pope benjamin is it's about a person.

[81] It's about a real person.

[82] The second person of the Trinity, God's eternal son, but also a real man who lived on this planet for 33 years.

[83] I just spoke to a group of young people last night here for a pro -life conference and reminded them that everything that God gives us is a blessing.

[84] and we come from God.

[85] He wants us to flourish.

[86] And I think that that's what we need to remember, that life is not, yes, it can become burdensome because we live in a very imperfect world.

[87] We're very imperfect people.

[88] But the truth really does set us free.

[89] And we need to embrace it and share it.

[90] And embracing the truth is embracing Jesus Christ, a real, Son of God, who is with us in the sacraments, especially in the Eucharist, with us in his word, and who really lived among us.

[91] Really, Terry, ironically, I think that all the question and the heartache that we see about people, Catholics, by not believing in the blessed sacrament and not treating it, treating him present in the blessed sacrament.

[92] with the utmost respect, I believe that the Lord is using that to wake us up, maybe not all of us, but to wake many of us up to what a treasure it is and what a wonderful plan God has for us.

[93] He so loved the world that he gave us his only begotten son, not just 222 years ago, but at every moment since he's giving us his son.

[94] We only have to choose to recognize his presence among us and to live in the light that he brings to the world.

[95] So I think we really need to reawaken to what Pope Benedict says and that Jesus is the person that we have to embrace.

[96] He is truth incarnate.

[97] And he's with us.

[98] Amen.

[99] He is present in our world.

[100] let us turn to him listen to his word listen to the guidance of his church quit trying to change the world in our image and be willing to be changed in his image it's a much more fulfilling much more joy -filled destiny to be changed into the image of god we're already created in his image but it's like we're I love the image that comes to mind for me as Michael Angelo said that he could see something like the Pieta captured in the stone.

[101] That beautiful work of art that is timeless captures a mother holding the body of her dead son.

[102] Her son happens to be Jesus Christ in that image of art. But Michael Angelo said that he could see.

[103] as an artist, it was his job to set free that image captured in stone.

[104] It's our job to let God, the artist, set free the wondrous work of art that all of us are called to be if we'll just listen to God's truth and be guided by it.

[105] I love it.

[106] It reminds me of what Pope Benedict said years ago about the gospel.

[107] He said, there's nothing more beautiful than to be surprised by the gospel by the encounter with Jesus Christ.

[108] There's nothing more beautiful than to know him and to speak to others about our friendship with him.

[109] You know, Bishop Strickland, that's what we try to do every week here.

[110] We're not talking about you personally or myself.

[111] It's all about Jesus Christ.

[112] And so I think that this is very, very important.

[113] Hey, before we take a break, I want to give a good news story.

[114] Air Force COVID jab mandate temporarily blocked by personal seeking religious exemptions.

[115] This is a huge victory for our country and religious freedom.

[116] I know many of us like myself have been very vocal saying people should be able to not make a decision whether they want the vaccine or not.

[117] For me, because of the moral consequences, I said, no, I'm not going to do it.

[118] When we come back, Bishop, I'm going to ask you a couple other.

[119] news stories and then we'll get back to your tweets.

[120] Stay with us family.

[121] You're listening to the Bishop Strickland Hour on Virgin Most Powerful radio.

[122] Welcome back to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[123] My name's Terry Barber and I just gave a good news story about the Air Force COVID jab mandate temporarily blocked by a federal court for the personal seeking religious exemptions.

[124] I've signed so many letters, Bishop Strickland, for people here that it's nice to see the federal court is acknowledging that certain Christians have moral objections to the vaccine because of the tie -in with abortion.

[125] Now, I know you've gotten hot water because you made that point.

[126] You know, for me, another 10 years, even if it gave me 10 years of life, I'm not going to compromise what I believe my moral conscience says.

[127] So I just want to say it's good news that one of the major branches of the military is acknowledging that we do have objections to this.

[128] So there you go.

[129] It is good news and the freedom of conscience is something that we need to really speak up about because it's too easily taken away and that's one of our most basic freedoms yeah it's right in the catechism another good news story catholic stewardess on well it was southwest airlines and I fly a lot on southwest the flight attendant was fired for her pro -life view she was one of those first century Christians who said, no, I'm going to go against the culture.

[130] I'm going to stand for life.

[131] And she sued her employer.

[132] And believe it or not, she won.

[133] So she's got her job back and the $5 .1 million damage suit goes against the Southwest Airlines.

[134] I'll continue to fly on it.

[135] But the point I'm making is Christians need to say, hey, wait a minute, I'm not going to be abused by my pro -life stance, it's not fair for me to be fired because I believe in the sanctity of life.

[136] And thanks be to God, we still live in a country where we can go to court and have our say.

[137] So there you go, another good story, Bishop Strickland.

[138] Absolutely.

[139] All right, hey, this is a story in Germany.

[140] You've tweeted a lot about the challenges of the church in Germany.

[141] And every attack on pro -life, whether it's in Germany or America or wherever, we have to stand up, whether it's in China.

[142] You said we cannot remain silent, and I quoted you today on our show, to Terry and Jesse show, what you said, we cannot remain silent as others advocate for national policies for murdering, and I like that, that's what it is, unborn children.

[143] This is a worldwide plague and must be denounced vigorously.

[144] Bishop Strickland, and amen to that, and I say that because what you were referring to as a leading laywoman, a co -president of the German Sedanel Way, calls what?

[145] She calls the leading woman, she calls for the German senatoral way that is demanding that abortion be made available nationwide.

[146] And I say to myself, this is scandal, Bishop Strickland, when Catholics who should know better, and I'm going to actually say it's scandalous, and I pray for the clergy and the hierarchy in Germany, because they're job is to confirm us in our faith.

[147] And if you don't speak out on the unborn, you're missing a big segment of the church and the most vulnerable members of our church.

[148] So I just want to say thank you for calling them out in a nice charitable way.

[149] Thanks, Terry.

[150] We've got to do it.

[151] And for this woman, you know, being part of the sentinel way in Germany and voting abortion, we just need to call it out charitably and clearly, but we've got to speak up for the truth that is Jesus Christ.

[152] Just going back to Pope Benedict's quote, it's a person we're living in relationship with the Lord of truth that is Jesus Christ.

[153] So standing up for the truth is standing up for Jesus Christ.

[154] And through the ages, many saints have done that to the point of death.

[155] And we have to be willing, I mean, all we're doing is talking at this point.

[156] Yeah.

[157] Maybe it'll escalate beyond that.

[158] If it does, we pray for the strength to continue to stand for the truth, no matter what the resistance.

[159] And the resistance is, as we were talking a moment ago, the resistance has been powerful, just like in that Judge Alito quote, the resistance has been powerful since the dawn of time.

[160] people don't want the truth.

[161] But we've got to teach it, speak it lovingly.

[162] It's the greatest way to love is to speak truth, to whomever, to an authority that is missing the truth, to an individual, to a nation, to a church, to whomever is losing the truth.

[163] The charitable, loving thing to do to speak up and say, I'm sorry, brother or sister, or brother and sister, you're wrong.

[164] We've got to stand with the truth.

[165] And that follows right in your next tweet where you said, let's follow Jesus.

[166] And this tweet, I'd never seen this before, but it's so true, Bishop Strickland, says Jesus fed 5 ,000, right?

[167] But only 500 followed him after that lunch.

[168] And then he says, he had 12 disciples, but only three went further into the garden.

[169] and only one stood with him at the cross.

[170] The closer you get to the cross, the smaller the crowd becomes.

[171] Now, I want your response because Bishop Fisher is another example of this point.

[172] He was the only bishop who stood in England.

[173] So I guess what I'm hearing, Bishop Strickland, this gives me inspiration to say, I need to stand up.

[174] Is that pretty much what you did, why you wanted this to go out on a tweet?

[175] Absolutely.

[176] In that simple tweet, sort of cleverly stated, but it states a profound truth.

[177] And there are too many movements in the world and in the church today, oh, let's go with the crowd.

[178] Let's go with the world.

[179] Let's go with the big numbers.

[180] And what that simple quote reminds us, Jesus didn't go for the big numbers.

[181] He said, if people don't receive the message that you bring them, the good news that he brings from his father, shake the dust of their town from your feet and move on.

[182] Not to attack, not to belittle or in any way denigrate the individual who is ignoring the truth, but not to say, well, okay, we'll kind of collapse on this and we'll collapse on that and we'll compromise over here.

[183] We've got to stand with the truth.

[184] Amen.

[185] And that's the greatest service, really, the greatest love for even those who don't want the truth is to simply continue to calmly, joyfully, forthrightly proclaim it.

[186] And that's what we have to do.

[187] Yep.

[188] Wow.

[189] Well, you just nailed it.

[190] And your next tweet talks about the source and summit of the Christian life, the Holy Eucharist.

[191] and you quote one of the, I make models of saints, St. Maximian Colby.

[192] I was at his canonization, and I'm a knight of the immaculata.

[193] And you quote this, you said, you're quoting a saint, St. Maximian Colby, says, Eucharistic adoration is the greatest power in the universe.

[194] More than the sun, yep, capable of transforming us and changing the face of the world.

[195] Bishop Strickland, I read his life, St. Maximian Colby, when he was in Nicapacoloma and Poland, there were a thousand monks.

[196] It was one of the largest Franciscan monasteries ever.

[197] And all those guys would be an adoration, Eucharistic adoration.

[198] Can you imagine that?

[199] These are the same guys that had one set of sandals for three different people.

[200] They never lived in poverty.

[201] And I think, and I'm just giving you my take on this Eucharistic adoration, it seems that when you get too many, goods in your life, you know, the gadgets that we have, the distractions that we have, ball games, we can go, I'm not against going to a ball game, but what I'm trying to convey is these things can take us away what was most important in us our prayer life.

[202] So Eucharistic adoration is such an important thing.

[203] What made you want to quote this great saint on that topic?

[204] Well, as you've said, Terry, Eucharistic adoration, people ask me, you know, where do you get the strength or what makes you speak up so much.

[205] It's because of Christ present in the Eucharist.

[206] And if we really believe he's there, the Lord of the universe is there present in a mysterious way, but in a real way, if we really believe that, it makes absolute sense what St. Maximilian Colby said, that, you know, it's the greatest.

[207] He is the power of the universe.

[208] He is Lord of all.

[209] To have him there humbly present to us and veiled in consecrated bread, it's just mind -boggling the power source that is there if we just pay attention.

[210] And we have to pray for all the bishops and priests and all the ordained, bishop, priest, and deacons, though there are the three levels of ordination, if you are ordained, You're either ordained a deacon, a priest, or a bishop, and a bishop is called the fullness of holy orders.

[211] So we need to pray for all the ordained, deacon, priest, and bishops to be the ones who lead the priestly church, the royal priesthood that is the church, the body of Christ, we need to lead them in plugging in to the greatest power source we have, and that is Jesus Christ present and the Eucharist.

[212] Amen.

[213] Can I make a small suggestion to our radio audience to just try it.

[214] I like you.

[215] They say that, try this drink.

[216] You'll like it.

[217] You're going to like making a 15 -minute, 10 -minute visit.

[218] Even if you just stop in for five minutes on the way home from work, so many people have told me this, Bishop Strickland, that they did, well, you know, I tried it.

[219] And now every day I come home from work.

[220] I go by a church, I pull in, I come and see Jesus.

[221] I talk to him about my day.

[222] I thank him for me. my day and my i just um so much more fulfilled by adoring jesus and these people tell me first i started five minutes 15 minutes now they're doing a weekly holy hour in addition to their visits why because the eucharist it's not it's not brain surgery it's jesus christ what do you expect okay so there you have it bishop strickland i know we got time for this before the break comes oh yeah we got two minutes you quoted this truth is our greatest gift wow and our greatest strength boy to share truth is to love god in every person in church and state business family lies destroyed truth binds the most loving thing a person can do for another is to share the truth Jesus Christ is the face of truth share that you just gave the answer to our church's mission but go ahead I'm going to ask why you did that well because it is our church's mission Jesus Christ again talking about it all begins to fit together yeah Jesus Christ is truth incarnate he's present in the eucharist so to share the truth is the greatest act of love and charity and to ignore the truth or to twist the truth, really, we have to say, becomes a great act of hatred, really, to not share the truth with another.

[223] When we know the truth, but for political reasons or because it's not the popular thing, or maybe we can make a lot more money or whatever the motive is, if we say, you know, I know the truth, but I'm not going to share it because it's to my advantage, apparently, to share something that's false because I'll gain more followers or more people will listen or things will calm down because there won't be the divisions in the world.

[224] We've got to share the truth.

[225] And that's what that tweet tries to capture.

[226] And the scriptures say the truth will set us free.

[227] And I remember what Bishop Sheen said, if souls are saved, everything is saved.

[228] If souls are not saved, nothing.

[229] is saved.

[230] We'll come right back with more on the Bishop Strickland Hour on Virgin Most Powerful radio.

[231] Stay with us, family.

[232] Welcome back to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[233] Boy, we got a lot of good food for thought here.

[234] Bishop Strickening, the last tweet before we get into the catechism, you said this, and I think this needs to be communicated well because sometimes we're really tired, but when this Supreme Court decision came over for the protection of the unborn to have but each state decide, rather than just a national policy of abortion, it seemed to really fire up to pro -life people, and it's exciting that that's doing that.

[235] But here's what you said.

[236] May we never tire.

[237] Never tire of offering your heart, contrite, and humble to Jesus.

[238] Never tire of resolving to turn from sin with a firm purpose of amendment, seeking deeper virtue and Jesus.

[239] us never tire of forgiving those who revile and reject you because you follow Jesus never tire your thoughts well I think that says it we we do grow weary we grow tired I do all of us do but we need to support each other and and take up that cross that that tired path and just continue and to rekindle the joy of knowing how much God loves us and how much he wants for us if we will just be faithful and continue to follow his son and to live in his life.

[240] And thankfully, when we do grow tired and maybe we lay it down for a moment, we get lazy.

[241] God is there in his mercy to forgive us, to give us another opportunity.

[242] So we should never give up on ourselves or anyone else because we did grow tired, but we need to continually rekindle that hope and joy and light that comes from Jesus Christ.

[243] Amen.

[244] I'd like to ask everybody to open up their catechisms of the Catholic Church to paragraph 1934.

[245] We're talking about the social justice teachings of the church, And what's really beautiful is it's very, very beautiful rewritten each paragraph on the respect for human life and the quality of people.

[246] And it just shows who we are.

[247] This is why we can never, I mean, even our enemies, we can't treat them in a way that disrespects their dignity.

[248] So here's what paragraph 1934 says.

[249] Created in the image of the one God, equally endowed with rational soul, all men have the same nature and the same origin redeemed by the sacrifice of christ all are called to participate in the same divine beatitude all therefore enjoy an equal dignity okay i got it let's hear about it universal call I'm all ears.

[250] Well, it says profoundly what we need to embrace and believe and live as fully as we can.

[251] Recognizing, I mean, the title of this section, that 1934 is the first equality and differences among men.

[252] Yep.

[253] Look at all the division and the vitriol and the terrible things.

[254] that happen in the world in our society today, reacting to those questions of equality and differences.

[255] This says so clearly and so beautifully that we are equally endowed with rational souls.

[256] All men have the same nature and the same origin.

[257] Redeemed by the sacrifice of Christ, all are called to participate in the same divine beatitude.

[258] all therefore enjoying equal dignity.

[259] Equal dignity is something that we really need to promote throughout the world, in our governments, in our schools, in our churches, equal dignity.

[260] There are many questions about the dignity of persons.

[261] This reminds us of that baseline that we all need to return to.

[262] All the differences that are, real that divide us tend to make us see one group or somebody sees the group we're in as lacking in dignity.

[263] But this paragraph reminds us of a very basic foundation that we need to reinstate in our society at every level.

[264] Think about this just in the context of a family.

[265] Yeah.

[266] the man and the woman have equal dignity amen every child has equal dignity there's no dividing line that well the man has more dignity than the woman or the woman than the man no it's equal dignity and if we can start there we can begin to build a stronger family and then stronger communities and then continue from there it's challenging because Sometimes even the individual doesn't believe in their equal dignity.

[267] But this reminds us it comes from God.

[268] He's the source of our dignity.

[269] We're all different.

[270] We all have disabilities and we have abilities.

[271] We have things that we can accomplish and we have things that are simply beyond us.

[272] But God has created us with an equal dignity.

[273] And we need to, the laws in our state, and the teachings and our churches need to reflect that reality, that we share an equal dignity.

[274] And there's much to be done that continues to be a need where people are denigrated because of a certain judgment of a society.

[275] We all have equal dignity, and we need to return to that basic foundation.

[276] Well said, I put in my catechism that includes the born and the unborn, all of us.

[277] And that's why this is such a tragedy, because our church teaches that everyone has a dignity.

[278] And I think that, yeah, that applies to the unborn, obviously.

[279] Paragraph 1935, the equality of men rest essentially under dignity as persons and the rights that flow from it.

[280] There's what the rights.

[281] Every form of social or cultural discrimination is fundamental personal rights on the grounds of sex, race, color, and social condition language or religion must be curbed and eradicated as incompatible with God's design.

[282] Says it all there.

[283] Yep, from Gaudium at Sves.

[284] And it, I mean, really, Terry Wood strikes me is if we could just everyone in this nation if we suddenly all read this and say, you know, that's true, how many differences would it make in how we treat each other and how we live together, every form of social or cultural discrimination in fundamental personal rights on the grounds of sex, race, color, social conditions, language, or religion must be curved and eradicated.

[285] That's freedom.

[286] That's what we're called to.

[287] And the divisions that we have really flow from forgetting this basic truth.

[288] And the last two words are probably the most important.

[289] It's God's design.

[290] That's what we need to wake up to and return to.

[291] This nation was founded by people who were seeking God's design.

[292] Not perfect.

[293] It certainly has a history of imperfection, but we need to just keep going back to what is God's design?

[294] What is God's plan for us as individuals and for the human community?

[295] Refocusing on God's design rather than our own design and making ourselves God, that's a fundamental change that needs to happen for us to begin to take care of.

[296] of the rights that are not held sacred on the grounds of sex, race, color, social conditions, language, or religion.

[297] There's so many ways that that doesn't happen.

[298] We have to return to God's design in order to help make it happen.

[299] Well, said, I remember a friend of mine, Alex Jones, who is an African -American convert to the Catholic faith, and he gave his conversion to her, and he said, the truth has no color.

[300] In other words, it's universal.

[301] And I think that your key about God's design, this is why we say that prayer, thy will be done according, thy will be done, not my will.

[302] And this is the key, I think, what you just said in the whole church and in the whole world, let's don't do it a democratic way, let's don't do it the Republican way.

[303] Let's always say, what's God's design?

[304] What's God's way?

[305] If we keep that as our number one focus, I think we could turn this around.

[306] That's my take.

[307] All right.

[308] Paragraph 19.

[309] Let's see.

[310] Do I have time?

[311] I don't think so.

[312] Yeah, I do.

[313] 1936.

[314] On coming into the world, man is not equipped with everything he needs for developing his bodily and spiritual life.

[315] He needs others.

[316] Differences appear tied to age, physical abilities, intellectual, or moral aptitudes.

[317] The benefit derived from social commerce and the distribution of wealth, the talent, are not distributed equally.

[318] Yeah, I love this paragraph.

[319] Go ahead.

[320] I want to hear your thoughts on that one.

[321] Well, it just reminds us.

[322] I think that the basic foundation for this is to remember what the other paragraph said, a paragraph said, that we are equal in dignity.

[323] Exactly.

[324] This paragraph is reminding us, yes, we're equal and dignity, but we're not equipped with the same abilities.

[325] And we need to just accept that.

[326] Acknowledge it, man. That's part of the beauty, really.

[327] Yeah.

[328] Every person is different.

[329] If we were equal in dignity and equal in every single way, equal in all of our abilities, we would just be carving copies of each other, and it would be pretty boring.

[330] Exactly.

[331] You wouldn't have the differences that make us creative, that make us able to, when we're getting it right, to use those differences to build a better world, a better society.

[332] So these paragraphs really come to the heart of a lot of the challenges we face in the world today.

[333] I love it.

[334] And I think of that because the world says everybody is equal, but not in the sense of what God says, in the sense that everybody gets a trophy.

[335] No, if you can run faster than the other guy, then you're quicker.

[336] Let's acknowledge that.

[337] but you might not be able to do something better than that person.

[338] We'll come right back with the Catechism of the Catholic Church on the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[339] Stay with us, family.

[340] Wow, I love this paragraph.

[341] I read it during the break, 1937 Catechism of the Catholic Church, says the differences belong to God's plan.

[342] Oh my goodness, that's right.

[343] He made me six foot five.

[344] No, he made me five foot four.

[345] So here comes.

[346] The difference.

[347] belong to God's plan.

[348] Who wills that each receive what he needs from others?

[349] And that those endowed with particular talents share the benefits with those who need them.

[350] Beautiful.

[351] These differences encourage and often obliged persons to practice generosity, kindness, sharing of goods.

[352] They foster the mutual enrichment of cultures.

[353] That right there in itself says a lot, Strickland.

[354] Wow.

[355] It does.

[356] And it speaks so much to, sadly, what is so broken in our time.

[357] We've forgotten this.

[358] We've turned away from it.

[359] We're trying to create the world in our image.

[360] And it's a very diminished image.

[361] Well, said, and I think there's a quote from St. Catherine of Siena.

[362] Did I get that right?

[363] Yeah.

[364] Yeah.

[365] I mean, this quote, I never read this from her before, so I must have missed it when I read this catechism before.

[366] It says, I distribute the virtues quite diversely.

[367] I do not give all of them to each person, but some to one, some to others.

[368] I shall give principally charity to one, justice to another, humility to one.

[369] Wow, a living faith to that one.

[370] And so I have given many gifts and graces, both spiritual and temporal, with such diversity, that I have not given everything to one single person.

[371] so that you may be constrained to practice charity towards one another.

[372] I have willed that the one should need another and that all should be my ministers and distributing the graces and gifts they have received from me. Oh my goodness.

[373] Your thoughts on that, saint?

[374] Wow.

[375] Yeah, she really captures the truth that we need to remember.

[376] and that everyone has something to offer, and everyone has something they need.

[377] That's God's design for us to live in the human family and for economies.

[378] And I mean, we can take that all the way through the relationships of nations.

[379] Yes.

[380] We would just listen to God's plan, God's design.

[381] His design is for us to flourish.

[382] And when we ignore his design, we diminish our ability to flourish.

[383] I think that's what St. Catherine of Siena is ultimately saying.

[384] Well, in paragraph 1938 goes right there, what you just said, there exists also sinful inequalities that affect millions of men and women.

[385] These are in open contradiction to the gospel.

[386] And here's the quote, their equality, dignity as persons demand that we strive for fair and more human conditions.

[387] Excessive economic, social disparity between individuals and people of one human race is a source of scandal and militates against the social justice equality of human dignity as well as social and international peace.

[388] great advice for the world oh my goodness absolutely and sadly we see i mean as you read these paragraphs we can see why i mean it just makes sense sadly the divisions that we have the wars that go on the violence of one people toward another and then even individual senseless violence yeah attacking people it's all rooted in having forgotten this truth and almost boastfully saying, we've turned from God.

[389] We've got this.

[390] We're running the world ourselves.

[391] And sadly, we're running it into the ground.

[392] Yeah.

[393] Well, and you know what I thought of, St. John Paul, too, one of his documents was unbridled capitalism.

[394] And he talked about selfishness.

[395] You know, we have a great system.

[396] There's no perfect system here in America or anywhere else in the world.

[397] But we can abuse the free enterprise system by manipulating it in a very selfish way.

[398] So I think the Holy Father is saying unbridled capitalism is wrong.

[399] He's absolutely right.

[400] A lot of my friends who love capitalism, I do.

[401] I love free enterprise, but it can be abused.

[402] And so I think that this is the message many of us who have been blessed, like myself, that I have a moral obligation to share my blessings with my brothers and sisters who don't have the things I have.

[403] You know, this is something that has been the Catholic Church teachings from day one.

[404] If you remember, as Bishop Strickland constantly says, we have to be first century Christians.

[405] And, you know, the zeal they had to convert the world was just phenomenal, but it was because they were radical about following Jesus.

[406] And I think that message needs to be heard today in the church and in the world.

[407] Absolutely.

[408] Well, Bishop Strickland, we just have a couple minutes.

[409] It's, I know you did something on a tweet about, and I don't have it in front of me, but I saw the partial of the video talking about how we need to get back to God.

[410] And it was kind of like a warning.

[411] Does that ring a bell?

[412] There's a video you were promoting on a, I think it was a, maybe it was your blog.

[413] Was it the precious blood blog?

[414] Does that ring a bell to you for the month of July?

[415] Not sure.

[416] Okay, no problem.

[417] I reason I bring that up is I thought I saw that.

[418] and I didn't watch it all, but I just want to take the last couple minutes here to talk also about your institute, the St. Philip Institute, because I've been going to that and just looking through things, and there's some great resources.

[419] So I kind of want to do that every show to promote it because you guys are doing great work there.

[420] Yeah, the St. Philip Institute really is continuing to make progress and sharing the good news of Jesus Christ, sharing the truth.

[421] evangelizing and catechizing.

[422] And joyfully, we have some great young people that are involved in the Institute on the staff.

[423] It's a small team, but they're doing a great job of getting basic truth out there that we've tended to forget.

[424] And so I encourage everyone to just go to St .Philip Institute .org, Philip, with 1L.

[425] And it has a lot of resources, and a a lot of opportunity to continue to learn and to grow in our faith, in our relationship with Jesus Christ.

[426] Well said, and I, again, I want to encourage other people to do that also.

[427] We have a couple minutes left, and I'm just going to go back to something that should encourage our listeners.

[428] You tweeted something on Philippians chapter 4, verse 13, that, you know, talks about, may we never, tire and you mentioned that of doing the right thing but it's a quote that says I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me so I just think that that's one of those scripture verses that would be good when you get up in the morning and you say I feel terrible or I feel like give me my coffee or I don't I'm kind of hyper so it doesn't I don't do that but many people tell me they get up and like I got to face another day well this verse I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me, seems like a great quote to use for scripture every day.

[429] What are your thoughts on that, Bishop Strickland?

[430] Absolutely.

[431] And it reminds us that we're connected to Christ, God's own son.

[432] He's with us, and he does strengthen us.

[433] And that, I think we need to, even people of faith that go to church regularly and are very much involved, we need to be reminded.

[434] We're not our own strength.

[435] No. We don't gain strength just from our own plans and our own abilities.

[436] Kind of going back to what these paragraphs talked about.

[437] We need each other.

[438] We need Christ.

[439] We need the strength of others that come, it all comes from Christ.

[440] And we need that expression of strength from others to help us.

[441] and I think that quote, I can do all things in Christ who strengthens me as a reminder that we need to be people of hope as well.

[442] There's a lot of burden in our world.

[443] There's a lot of fear.

[444] There's a lot of concern about where we're headed.

[445] We have to remind ourselves.

[446] And I have to remind myself.

[447] I'm just like anybody else.

[448] We can all get down.

[449] We can get burdened.

[450] We can have a dark day.

[451] And I think we need to turn.

[452] to the light and remember that it's God's world and God's church, and we're here to cooperate with His truth.

[453] We have to trust in God's divine plan and God's divine will, in His divine design for all of us.

[454] Well, said again, and again, I just want to remind everybody that many of these shows are on our podcast at vmpr .org.

[455] You can check those out at any time and any other show that we produce here at Virgin Most Powerful Radio.

[456] I'll just want to remind you, Bishop Strickland's on once a week.

[457] Bishop Athanasia Snyder has agreed once a month to come on Virgin Most Powerful Radio.

[458] I want to give a plug that I've been plugging for a couple months because you talked about the Holy Eucharist today, Bishop Strickland, and Bishop Joseph, Joseph, excuse me, Bishop Athanasia Snyder has come up with a book called the Catholic Mass that everybody I have this book, they read it and they go, wow, I was missing so much from the Mass and I learned so much from the good bishop.

[459] So I want to recommend we keep a stock of these books at vmpr .org.

[460] And he has another book called The Springtime that didn't come and it's questions and answers.

[461] And I love giving the recommendation to go to get books by Bishop Snyder because he's a holy bishop but he has a way of speaking the truth in a way that just is so attractive and shows the historical perspective on different aspects of the faith and the perennial teachings of the church so I want to recommend anything by bishop Athanasia Snyder pick it up go to vmpr .org and you can get that online or you can just go to the sophia press publisher I don't care if you go here or there because the most important point is you get the book and you read it because St. Alphonseus Legory said it well what one holy book can do to convert a soul and we know St. Ignatius was converted at Manresa reading the lives of the saints and so I just want to recommend a book list I know Bishop Strickland you're a reader I read books all the time because I want to learn more about my faith how about a final blessing before we have to go Bishop Strickland Almighty God, we ask your blessing for Terry and myself, for all of us involved in this radio program to share your truth and to rejoice in the light your son brings.

[462] May all who listen be reinvigorated with hope and light and joy in Jesus Christ.

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

[464] Amen.

[465] Thank you, Bishop Strickland, for your time again sharing the gospel and giving us your blessing.

[466] I want to recommend to people to listen to any of the other shows that we produce at Virgin Most Powerful Radio by going to vmpr .org, become a monthly supporter.

[467] The benefits are out of this world.

[468] And I also want to just thank all those who have been donating to a Virgin Most Powerful.

[469] It gives us the opportunity to share the gospel in many powerful ways.

[470] May God richly bless you and your family and hope to see you again next Tuesday, same time, same station.

[471] God love you and your family.