27 Jul 21 – Bishop Strickland Responds to Pope Francis

[0] Welcome to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

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

[2] Each week we sit down and talk about Bishop Strickland's tweets that he sends out each week.

[3] And then we open up a very powerful book called the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

[4] And what we do there is we read from it because that's part of his teaching office to teach the faith.

[5] And I appreciate his willingness to be with us each week to teach us right directly from the Catechism.

[6] Bishop Strickland, welcome to another show.

[7] Thanks, Terry.

[8] Bishop Strickland, since last week, we had a very big thing happen.

[9] Pope Francis, on the 16th of July, the Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, put out a document regarding the traditional Latin Mass, and basically restricting it, unlike the previous Pope, so that now there's some questions about can we have, the traditional Latin Mass at churches, and so there were 10 points in it.

[10] I don't need to go over all 10 points.

[11] I just wanted to ask you as a bishop of the diocese, what exactly are you going to do regarding the implementation of this?

[12] And do you even have a Trinantine Mass, or we call it the extraordinary form of the mass in your diocese?

[13] And are you going to continue with those restrictions or how does it all work?

[14] I want to get your take on this.

[15] Oh, yes, Terry.

[16] It has been fairly controversial, and I know there's a lot of discussion of it.

[17] Most of the bishops that I've seen, I've done the same thing that they have done.

[18] The priests that have the permission, I've extended that permission as they've requested.

[19] Good.

[20] And to celebrate the traditional Latin Mass. And then for the rest of the issues, of where it can take place and all, I'm just taking a little time.

[21] It was issued on a Friday, so most of the bishops that I've read are taking time to evaluate it and see how to balance it properly, caring for the flock, and being obedient to the Holy Father.

[22] Sure.

[23] So that's where I am right now.

[24] People have a great love for this form of the liturgy, and I want to, to really find the ways to help continue to allow it to take place properly.

[25] And according to these norms that have been issued, it's not the clearest document.

[26] So there's some things that I think will gradually be clarified as we continue to look at it.

[27] So that's where I am.

[28] Bishop Strickland, I have to tell you, I don't really recall much of the old mass. I called it the old mass, but it's the Trinantine Mass. Now we call it an extraordinary form, as Benedict would point out.

[29] And so I really didn't have any love for the old mass because I started going to Daily Mass in the early 70s at age 14, and I fell in love with the Mass. But I will say this.

[30] I go to an Anglican Ordinariate Mass here at our chapel, which is a little older than the Trinantine Mass, supposedly, like 40 years older.

[31] but it's very similar except it's in English.

[32] And I have to tell you, the verbiage that is in the missile for that Mass is very edifying for me as not an Anglican.

[33] I'm coming in as, you know, a Latin.

[34] And when I pray that Mass with the priest, when I'm hearing Mass, it's very edifying.

[35] And I like the prayers that we pray before we receive Holy Communion.

[36] it makes it really clear who we're receiving.

[37] And not that it's not clear, you should know, but I can see why people who have a great love for the Mass, love the Old Mass, so to speak, the Trinantine Mass, because the prayers, when you read the translation from Latin to English, they're very beautiful and very uplifting and very supernatural.

[38] And so I get it, but for me, and correct me if I'm wrong, because I'm not opposed to being corrected, but both forms are valid.

[39] Both forms should be able to inspire people because it's the solely sacrifice to the Mass, whichever form.

[40] Because, I mean, there's 22 rights in the Catholic Church.

[41] So all of these expressions really give the same reality.

[42] Am I on to something?

[43] Absolutely.

[44] And I believe that needs to be the He, Jesus Christ, needs to be the ultimate focus.

[45] and once we are really deeply in love with the Lord and respectfully approaching him in the Eucharist, then all the rest, I believe, begins to fall in place.

[46] Certainly, if we understand it's the divine son of God that we are approaching as priests and as faithful at that Eucharistic altar and bred, and wine become his body and blood, soul and divinity, the basic teaching of our faith.

[47] If we really enter deeply into that, then the respect, the reverence, the awe, the supernatural reality will just continue to change us and to transform us and to bring us closer to the Lord.

[48] That's why he's there, because as he promised, he would be with us until the end of the age.

[49] And the Eucharist is a significant way that he is with us in a tangible way that we can see, that we can be fed by.

[50] And that's the focus that I encourage is that we just keep stoking those flames of Eucharistic faith.

[51] Then whatever form, whatever right is celebrated, then it's all about Jesus Christ and approaching him in tremendous humility, in tremendous awe.

[52] Well, said, you remind me of what the cure of ours had said about devotion to the blessed sacrament.

[53] Priest's friend wrote me this little newsletter that we pray for priests and bishops and the Holy Father every Thursday night at our chapel.

[54] He said, every priest is called to be a eucharistic priest with every fiver of his being.

[55] The holy cure of ours was devoted to the Blessed Sacrament, that was St. John Vanney, everybody.

[56] He was devoted to the Blessed Sacrament with the most intense passion and charity.

[57] The tabernacle was like an irresistible magnet.

[58] I love that.

[59] From which a divine force drew him to his Eucharistic Lord.

[60] When people saw him offering Mass, how he prayed, how he moved, how he genuflected, he stirred up the most contagious way in the faithful reverence and love for Christ hidden in the Blessed Sacrament.

[61] He told his parishioners most naturally.

[62] He, like you just said Bishop Strickland, He, Jesus is the one who has loved us so much.

[63] Why shouldn't we love him in return?

[64] Well, Bishop Strickland, a saint is saying basically the same thing you're saying, you're holding God in your hands when you're at Mass. So let's act like it.

[65] And also for lay people, pointing finger at myself, act like you're at Calvary.

[66] act like you're at a sacred feast and maybe even think of it as your last opportunity to receive Holy Communion and make it that way so that when you go, you don't check out intellectually or emotionally, you stay focused on what is actually taking place.

[67] Now, this quote from the cure of ours, Bishop Strickland, he's basically saying that the spirituality of a priest comes out in the way he says mass. I think you would agree I totally agree and we as a bishop as priest we need to deepen our relationship with the Lord so that that does shine through the Lord shines through what we do at his altar as we talk about the Eucharist I love to and I encourage my priest to really have this attitude I love the second joyful mystery when Mary goes to her cousin Elizabeth, Jesus is in Mary's womb.

[68] John the Baptist is older, about six months older.

[69] So he's a well -developed child in the womb of his mother, Elizabeth.

[70] He leaps for joy.

[71] This is Terry Barber.

[72] We had a power interruption here at our studio last week when I recorded this.

[73] And so I had to fill in the spots because we couldn't get Bishop Strickland's time.

[74] is so precious that he couldn't come back after we had a fixed the power surge.

[75] And I've told people on the Terry and Jesse show and elsewhere that we need to get an independent power source because in California, these power surges where we lose, they're called blackouts, where we lose our power, we can't have it with Catholic radio.

[76] We've got to be able to have a battery pack with solar panels on our, studio so that when this happens you're not going to miss out on any programming.

[77] So I wanted to ask at this time, it seems reasonable to say, look, this is what we need.

[78] We've got about $3 ,500 raised.

[79] We need $8 ,500.

[80] If you're in a position to help us market solar packs, you know, solar panels and the issue of a battery that can run continuously.

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[82] 526215 if you want to make a donation for that or go online it's secure by going to vmpr .org and just make a donation if you could because we really do need this this is an example what you just experience is why we need to have this battery pack so that we can keep broadcasting like Bishop Strickland won't be cut off like that and this is yeah And then what we're going to do when we come back from the break is I have his talk on St. Joseph.

[83] Now, it's not for everything, but I'll come back on a couple minutes after each of the segments.

[84] But it's his talk.

[85] This is the year of St. Joseph.

[86] So we're going to have him give you his comments about why we should have devotion to St. Joseph.

[87] And I'm going to tell a miraculous story in my own family that where St. Joseph interceded on behalf of the barbers.

[88] Wow.

[89] Yeah, all and much more here on Virgin.

[90] Most Powerful Radio, the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[91] When he comes back, he's going to chat about why we have devotion to St. Joseph in this year of St. Joseph.

[92] Stay with us, family.

[93] And thanks again for joining us and supporting us here at Virgin.

[94] It's great to be able to join you, my brothers, as we reflect on St. Joseph during this year of St. Joseph, I'm Bishop Joseph Strickland.

[95] Diocese of Tyler, and I've always felt the great blessing of my namesake, my patron being St. Joseph, especially as we celebrate this year of St. Joseph.

[96] I can imagine that we've all heard quite a bit about St. Joseph, and there's really a lot to say wonderfully for a man who is not recorded as having said anything, but he witnessed to the message of his adopted son, Jesus Christ, in beautiful ways and continues to.

[97] And it makes sense that in our wonderful Catholic faith and the tradition and scripture that guides us, that we honor St. Joseph as a man, as his spouse, the Blessed Virgin Mary, is a woman.

[98] St. Joseph really plays a significant role, as we all know, in bringing the incarnate son of God, Jesus Christ, into the world, nurturing him, protecting him, being an adoptive father.

[99] You may have noticed I've used already a couple of times that idea of the adoptive father of Jesus Christ.

[100] Certainly, I grew up with the idea of the foster father, St. Joseph, and certainly that's appropriate.

[101] He was Jesus foster father.

[102] But I like the term adoptive father because it seems to have more punch.

[103] It's more legal.

[104] It's more committed, at least in the framework that we understand in this country, that some of you may have been foster fathers.

[105] That's a wonderful ministry that parents choose to foster a child who is homeless for whatever reason or needs that support.

[106] But as we know, an adoptive father has signed the papers, has made it legal, has made a commitment to be, in fact, that child's father for the rest of their lives.

[107] And that is what St. Joseph did.

[108] He committed to the adoption of the son of God.

[109] And we recognize that, especially in the early centuries of the church, there was somewhat of a reticence about speaking too much about St. Joseph.

[110] And it makes sense because the emphasis was this Jesus of Nazareth was not the natural son of Joseph of Nazareth, the son of David, the part of the Davidic line.

[111] line.

[112] So we can understand that reticence in the early centuries, but as we come to the 21st century, especially with this year of St. Joseph, there seems to be a real need to turn to St. Joseph as the patron of the universal church, as the spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and as the adoptive's father of the son of God, Jesus Christ.

[113] One of the points that I would like to make, are many things that we can say about St. Joseph.

[114] But in a small booklet that I've prayed before, the 31 -day novena of St. Joseph, I just wanted to highlight some of the aspects of Joseph that are present in this book.

[115] One of those is renowned offspring of David, speaking of St. Joseph.

[116] He's part of that Davidic line.

[117] In this booklet, this novena, really, in a beautiful way, talks about the reality that St. Joseph was of royal lineage, certainly appropriate for the adoptive father of the son of God, to be very much a part of the heritage of the people of Israel, of royal lineage, of the Davidic line.

[118] But St. Joseph, the Davidic line had sort of lost its luster in the worldly sense, didn't have.

[119] the wealth, didn't have the kingdom, didn't have the position that David had at one time, and some of his sons, as the Davidic line continued.

[120] But St. Joseph had the spiritual clout, you might say, of the Davidic line.

[121] The spiritual connection, and quite appropriately then, is part of the house of David.

[122] And because of that, we know what the limited things that the scriptures tell us about St. Joseph is that he was very faithful to those responsibilities of being part of that line of royalty, even though he didn't have the worldly trappings of royalty.

[123] He had that royal stature as a man and as a part of the people of Israel.

[124] So I think that's significant about St. Joseph to realize and to recognize that he had that royal bearing, even though he didn't have the wealth in the position that would normally be presumed to go along with royalty.

[125] I think that says something very important to us.

[126] We proclaim Jesus Christ, universal king of the universe, King of the universe, Jesus Christ, king of the world, king absolutely of the church that he establishes.

[127] So we share through the son of God, through our baptism, we share in that royal life.

[128] And I think that's important, not again, for the worldly aspect, but to know that we have the stature of being sons of God, that we need to live that.

[129] We need to embrace it with joy and strength.

[130] and clarity, knowing who we are.

[131] A lot of what St. Joseph, I believe, can share with us in our confused world today is to remind us of who we are, remind us that we are not relegated to some you know, backwater or some place in in history or in our society that is that is not meaningful.

[132] Instead, we are part of a royal kingdom of the Son of God.

[133] And I think that's important, not for arrogance, but for the positive reality of being proud of who we are, being strong in Christ, being strong in His name.

[134] And St. Joseph really lives that and demonstrates that in beautiful ways.

[135] Another aspect of St. Joseph that really just comes from my own reflection, because I reflect a lot, and we've just celebrated the Feast of Corpus Christi, I believe that faith in the real presence, the Blessed Sacrament, the body and blood, soul and divinity, to really know deeply that Christ is present, the fullness of the incarnate son is with us in the tabernacle in our churches.

[136] And that's why we honor his presence and adoration.

[137] We genuflect to our Lord in the tabernacle.

[138] And especially at mass, we need to foster that deeper reverence, that clearer focus on who we are there to celebrate in whatever form of liturgy takes us there, whether it's the Latin right, mass that in Latin or in English or in whatever language, we need to focus on, I believe, who is there?

[139] Who comes to that altar, veiled in the form of bread and wine, but he's really there.

[140] It is a real presence.

[141] And one of the beautiful aspects of my reflection on St. Joseph during this year of St. Joseph that I want to share with you is the idea that he carried the Son of God in his arms.

[142] He carried the body of Christ.

[143] The body of Christ that was incarnate, was an infant, and then a little boy learning to walk, and then a toddler who was walking, and then a young boy running, and being a young boy in this world, St. Joseph was there as a father, carrying him, helping him get up when he fell, being a father, and caring for the body of Christ.

[144] I've encouraged the priests in our diocese here in East Texas, and I encourage all priests that you may be in contact with.

[145] We have wonderful priests in the church that we need to support, especially the ones that are at times under threat.

[146] Because they're simply teaching the wonderful truth of our Catholic faith, being strong and forthright in speaking up, as St. Joseph was, even though the scriptures don't record him saying a word, he stood up for the truth and put his own life at risk in order to protect Mary and his divine son, Jesus.

[147] And so we need to support our priest.

[148] And I've encouraged the priest to really reflect on and recognize the church speaks of the responsibility of bishops and priests and deacons to have custody of the blessed sacrament and to recognize that St. Joseph is a great inspiration, a great model for us of caring for the body of Christ.

[149] He cared for the body of Christ as he was incarnate, as he cared for Mary and supported her as Jesus was still in the womb.

[150] Wow, good stuff on St. Joseph.

[151] Folks, we did this because we had a power surge where we lost our power here in California in the summer months, and that's why we're trying to get a battery pack with a solar panel that will give us independence so that we're off the grid.

[152] So when they cut the power off in Southern California will still continue broadcasting so that's why we're having this but I also want to mention what he said about the mass Bishop Strickland I was with Bishop Strickland last week at the Napa Institute and I was able to serve his mass folks I got to tell you after what 42 years of ministry I never had served I've served masses for cardinals archbishops and bishops but when I serve mass for Bishop Strickland at the elevation of the host and the chalice he held Jesus up for 30 seconds and we were adoring Jesus at Mass. He took his time during Mass. We were at most reverent Mass. I was so impressed with Bishop Strickland saying his Mass in such a reverent way.

[153] So when I asked him after Mass and the sacrist, I said, Bishop, thank you for saying such a reverent Mass. It's beautiful.

[154] He says to me, I said to him, you know, especially the elevation of the host.

[155] I said, that was awesome.

[156] We got to adore Jesus.

[157] He says, well, it's God.

[158] So why not leave him up there for 30 seconds and have Jesus adore, you know, have people adore Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament?

[159] The reason I'm telling you this is I've now been doing the show with Bishop Strickland for about eight months.

[160] And every week I learn more about him and his commitment to Christ and the church.

[161] And that he's willing to say things that other bishops aren't willing to say because of political correctness or that they like him.

[162] You can see by meeting him each week that he's a man in love with Jesus Christ and his bride to church.

[163] And if you'd like to help us with this solar panel and the battery pack that we need, keep us on the air.

[164] Call us at 877 -526215.

[165] And I go online to Virgin Most Powerful Radio .org.

[166] that's vmpr .org or call us at 877 -526 -21 -5 -1.

[167] Come back more on the life of St. Joseph, Terror of Demons.

[168] Stay with us.

[169] I love to emphasize that we need to focus on, especially in our broken world, in the church or otherwise, where there's not enough clarity of the sanctity of life from conception to natural death.

[170] I love to focus on the moment of conception of the Son of God in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

[171] As the moment of incarnation in St. Joseph was there supporting Mary very quickly after that.

[172] We know the story of him thinking first he needed to step back and quietly keep Mary from being shamed by the Jewish society there, being pregnant without any marriage, that reality that St. Joseph was willing to step back, even though Mary was his betrothed.

[173] And in the Jewish custom, they were already married.

[174] But Joseph was willing to, once again, model as he does throughout everything he does in the scriptures, which is limited but very profound.

[175] Joseph is about living the will of God and listening to the message of angels, to message of dreams to care for the presence of the incarnate son of God once he has been incarnate among us.

[176] Once he knows that this child is of the Holy Spirit, the one that Mary is carrying, he says yes to the will of God, to basically become Jesus adoptive.

[177] Father.

[178] And so I love for all of us, and especially us priests, to really reflect on St. Joseph is a great patron for priests, a great patron for all of us.

[179] He carries the body of Christ.

[180] He cares for the body of Christ.

[181] He makes sure that the body of Christ, Jesus, has the food he needs, has the shelter he needs, has the clothing he needs, has the safety he needs.

[182] So that custody of the body of Christ, for us, the Blessed Sacrament, Jesus is in the custody of St. Joseph.

[183] and the prayers of St. Joseph that we're all familiar with, the writing of Father Donald Calloway, the consecration to St. Joseph, all of those reflections that have come as we celebrate this year of St. Joseph really remind us of the remarkable role that St. Joseph plays in guarding the body of Christ.

[184] Let us as men of faith, especially deacons and priests and bishops, but all of us, really, with your families, be inspired by St. Joseph, to encourage your families and all that you can influence to be reverent and care for the body of Christ in the way that St. Joseph did.

[185] Making sure that our churches are beautiful and safe and well cared for.

[186] Making sure that those who come into our churches are aware of the king they are approaching on that altar at Mass and in the tabernacle in repose after Mass, the consecrated bread that is the body and blood, soul and divinity of Jesus Christ.

[187] Let us as Catholic men, all of us, not just the bishops or the priest or the deacons, but all of us from our baptism, let us truly take up that role with the inspiration of St. Joseph of guarding the body of Christ, of being faithful.

[188] faithful to his incarnate presence among us for us in the Eucharist.

[189] I think St. Joseph really is a great inspiration for every man, single, married, widowed, with children, without children, a celibate priest or bishop, all of us can be inspired by St. Joseph to guard the body of Christ and to know.

[190] what inspires me, and hopefully as I share it with you, it's an inspiration to you as well, to be reminded that from that moment of conception, when the Son of God was conceived in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Lord has been with us ever since for those 33 years of his journey in this world, of his passion and death, he's buried in a tomb, he rises from the dead.

[191] And he's already given the apostles that instituted gift of the blessed sacrament, of the Eucharist.

[192] And they carry that on until this day that the Lord is present in this world.

[193] His incarnate presence is with us.

[194] In St. Joseph, I believe, has inspired me and continues to inspire us to be men who foster that presence, who like St. Joseph, care for the body of Christ, present among us in the form that it takes for us in the Eucharist.

[195] And in the life of the church, another aspect of St. Joseph that I'd like to focus on with you is that he was spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the husband of Mary.

[196] We know that that feast of St. Joseph, March 19th, is the original and beautiful feast of St. Joseph.

[197] May 1st, St. Joseph, the worker, comes later in the history of the church.

[198] But Joseph, husband of Mary, that is his claim to fame in a worldly sense.

[199] But that is not what he's concerned about.

[200] And he models for us what a real husband is about, what a real father is about, what a real man of faith is about.

[201] Whether we are biologically husbands or fathers, we all have that role.

[202] of husbanding and fathering the world as men of God, as men of Christ, and we need to be strong in that and support each other in that and not allow the worldly confusions that want to blur the roles of men and women and discount the role of men to be strong and to be leaders of their families, not in a dominating way, but in a way of service like St. Joseph.

[203] I heard recently that we need to be reminding each other as men, and especially husbands and fathers.

[204] And I consider myself spiritually a husband and fathers.

[205] So I have to take on the same responsibility of encouraging myself and encouraging others to basically say, I've got this as husbands and fathers to know that making your home safe, caring for, making sure that there's healthy food and there's proper clothing, all the necessities of the bodies of your family, your spouse and your children, whatever form your household takes, to say, as men, it's our responsibility.

[206] Certainly, we need the nurturing presence of the mothers.

[207] And just like the Blessed Virgin Mary for us and for the Holy Family was that nurturing presence, that prayerful, loving presence, that tenderness that only a woman can bring.

[208] But as men, we need to bring that strength of saying, we will take care of whatever the needs are.

[209] St. Joseph models that beautifully as the spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the husband of Mary, and the adoptive father of Jesus, when he gets the word that they need to flee to Egypt because already their newborn son of God, newly born incarnate son of God, is already threatened by the powers that be.

[210] And that threat really will follow Jesus throughout his 33 years of life in different ways.

[211] We read in the Gospels that very often Jesus was threatened with being thrown off a cliff or being stoned with being eliminated long before he actually died on the cross.

[212] Certainly St. Joseph doesn't appear later on in the gospel.

[213] I like to, in my own reflection, think of St. Joseph, they're present that at least we know from the Gospels that he was therefore all the joyful mysteries of the rosary for the enunciation of the incarnation of the Son of God conceived in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

[214] Joseph was around.

[215] He's not mentioned in the visitation.

[216] And we're not sure really of the timing.

[217] But Joseph was entering the picture, at least, and probably already in the picture of supporting Mary as she went to visit her cousin, Elizabeth.

[218] And then, of course, Joseph is present, supporting Mary and Jesus as Jesus is born in Bethlehem.

[219] And then fulfilling the law in the presentation, it's Mary and Joseph who take Jesus to the temple to be presented to his Heavenly Father, as every Jewish child is supposed to be, following the law.

[220] Hands on apologetics you have entered into Virgin Most Powerfuls Apologetics Dojo.

[221] Joseph Strickland speaking on the life of St. Joseph, the reason we're doing this is last week we had a power surge for those who just tuned in, where we lost power and we couldn't do the show.

[222] So I'm pre -recorded a thing on St. Joseph with him for a men's conference and we're showing it to you.

[223] But this just makes the point that we need to be independent off the grid for the studio, not the office, but the studio, so that when these things happen, we can continue to broadcast.

[224] And I want to say thanks for Amando, who just donated $1 ,000 for the new machine that we're going to have with the battery pack, and that means we're just short a couple thousand dollars left to pay for this.

[225] And if you'd like to make a tax deductible donation, you can go to VMPR .org to do that, or you can call us at 877526215 .1.

[226] Personally, I'd like you to call my cell number after the show because I want to personally talk to you and say thanks and I give my cell number out for the last 25 years.

[227] I'm the only radio host that does it and I know why people don't do it because you get lots of calls.

[228] But that's what I'm here for to help people fall deep in love with Jesus and his church.

[229] My cell number is 661.

[230] 972 -7872 if you have a question or comment or you want to make a donation for this battery pack so that we're off the group.

[231] grid.

[232] So when we have these blackouts here in California, we'll still continue to broadcast.

[233] It's important.

[234] Call me at 877 -526 -215.

[235] When we come back, Bishop Strickland will finish his talk on the life of St. Joseph and why St. Joseph is important in your life.

[236] And I will give my testimony in the next segment after Bishop speaks on St. Joseph and the Barber family.

[237] Stay with us, family.

[238] And then, of course, Joseph is there.

[239] And Mary even refers to Joseph.

[240] Your father and I have been worried as what Mary basically says when they find Jesus there at 12 years old in the temple.

[241] Then everything goes silent as far as the Holy Family.

[242] We don't know what happened to Joseph.

[243] We don't know if he was only with them a few more years or very close to when.

[244] Jesus began his public ministry, but we can be assured that as long as Joseph was there, he was the adoptive father of Jesus, the son of God, and he was the husband of Mary, caring for the home, providing.

[245] And there are different saints that have had private revelations that haven't been made part of the actual tradition of the church, but some interesting private revelations.

[246] that talk about what Joseph did in the role that he played in the Holy Family.

[247] Certainly, we know that as he did when Jesus was an infant, up until the time when he was 12 years old, we can trust that St. Joseph carried on that fostering, that adoptive father place in the Holy family, as long as he lived.

[248] The tradition of St. Joseph being the the patron of a happy death is because of the presumption of what the scriptures don't tell us.

[249] There's no mention of Joseph later on when Jesus begins his public ministry.

[250] So the church has assumed that Joseph died somewhere in that time between when Jesus was 12 and when he was about 30 when he began his public ministry.

[251] And so the patron of the happy death is because Mary and Jesus were there when Joseph died.

[252] We don't know when that happened.

[253] It may have been relatively close to when Jesus began his public ministry, or it may have been much earlier.

[254] That is simply speculation, and they're different, like I said, different saints have some private revelations that they speak of in different mystical works, but we can trust that Joseph continued to live his role until he died.

[255] And that role is to be a man of faith, a husband, and a father, like so many of you are called to.

[256] So hopefully St. Joseph inspires us to do that.

[257] As I conclude, one last thing I would would share about St. Joseph is to embrace the idea that he was a man of the word of God.

[258] Certainly, he must have, as a faithful member of the people of Israel, as a faithful Jew, he would have known scripture in his proper place, probably not a scripture scholar, but the faithful Jewish man, as he was, a husband and father, would have known the word of God.

[259] And we can imagine and use our imaginations.

[260] I love to think of St. Joseph holding the child Jesus.

[261] And then when Jesus was older, very likely St. Joseph would have introduced Jesus to the scroll of Isaiah that Jesus ultimately takes in the temple and reads from at one point in his public ministry.

[262] I love to imagine, and it is just imagination, but I think it's founded on what we know about Jesus and Joseph and Mary and the Holy Family, but to imagine that intersection, I would say, of the Word of God, incarnate in Jesus, present in the scroll of Isaiah, and proclaimed, possibly read to the child Jesus by Joseph and Mary.

[263] We're not told that.

[264] But we can imagine, just like you as fathers, have read passages of scripture, read the Bible to your children.

[265] And I encourage you to do that, to read the Word of God out loud in your homes if you still have young children or even whatever age, if you have children at home to make that a practice and to be inspired by St. Joseph, a man of the Word, a man of the incarnate word, a man of the word that is part of our tradition and our faith, the Word of God revealed to us in the Old Testament and the New.

[266] Certainly, Joseph received the Hebrew scriptures, what we call the Old Testament, and was the adoptive father of the incarnate Word of God in the person of Jesus Christ.

[267] As the catechism tells us, the entirety of the Word of God is speaking of Christ, from Genesis to the book of Revelation, from the very first verses of Genesis to the last verses of the book of Revelation.

[268] it speaks of Christ.

[269] And so Joseph as a man of the scriptures knew the word and fostered the life of the incarnate word as he lived in their home there in Nazareth.

[270] So hopefully as I conclude some of what I've shared is an inspiration to just delve more deeply in your own prayer.

[271] turn to Joseph.

[272] As I've read, go to Joseph, as you have needs for your family.

[273] There are a lot of beautiful traditions in the life of the church that radiate out of his role as a husband and father caring for the home, being there to defend, being there to guard, being there to nurture and strengthen and feed, being there to clothe, and take care of all the human necessities that the son of God was willing to take on.

[274] He needed to be clothed.

[275] He needed to be fed. He needed shelter as the eternal word of God.

[276] He took on a real human life and journey through this world.

[277] St. Joseph was such a vital part of that.

[278] And he continues to be a vital part of the life of the church.

[279] So God bless you as you reflect and pray together and especially on St. Joseph as we celebrate this year of St. Joseph.

[280] I encourage you to continue to turn to St. Joseph in your prayer and ask him to intercede for you as we ask his spouse, the Blessed Virgin Mary, to constantly intercede for us, to be the sons of God that we are called to be, and to foster the presence of the Word of God in our world.

[281] And let me conclude with a prayer and blessing for all of you.

[282] Almighty God, we ask your blessing for those participating in this conference, that all of us may be inspired by all the saints, especially St. Joseph, and that the Blessed Virgin Mary might intercede for us in powerful ways.

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

[284] Amen.

[285] Thank you very much, Bishop Joseph Strickland, Bishop of Tyler, Texas.

[286] The reason he gave this presentation was for a men's conference, but because of our power outage last week when we did show, we had to come up with a solution for the show.

[287] And I was mentioning earlier in the show that we're fundraising to get a solar panel battery pack that will run off the grid so that when we lose our power on any of the shows that we produce, we will not lose power.

[288] It'll automatically go right to the power pack that we'll be running off of, and it'll be independent of the electricity and if you'd like to donate to that you can call 877 5262151 or go to vmpr .org to donate i want to tell you i have a great devotion to st joseph this is my 42nd year in apostolic work back in 1978 i got bishop sheen's life is worth living recordings from a record put them on cassette tape and that's what started St. Joseph Communications, and it became one of the largest tape producers of Catholic content in the world.

[289] And through the grace of God, but he was our patron saint.

[290] And I want to share a miraculous story that took place in the 1970s with the Barber family.

[291] My mom was driving her 66 Falcon with the kids in the car, and had an accident where she got pushed off the side of the road.

[292] by an overpass and went down an embankment about 30 feet and as the car was going down the embankment it was tipping over and my mom yelled out St. Joseph protect us and the car just tipped back the other way and inexplicably that you know how do you figure that out who know what there's no explanation on why it would flip back other than she called on St. Joseph protect or the family, and that story has been told to me for over and over again, I've shared it with my kids, and now I'm sharing it with you on the radio.

[293] Why?

[294] Because the devotion to St. Joseph is critical.

[295] I would encourage you to read the book by Father Don Calloway that Father referred to on consecration to St. Joseph.

[296] He's the man of the time right now, where the saints have said in the last ties of a church, there would be great time.

[297] devotion to St. Joseph.

[298] Well, I don't know if this is the last days, but it sure looks like it's a tough time to be a Catholic.

[299] So the solution is always live your Catholic faith.

[300] But if you haven't had a devotion to St. Joseph, I hope this show will have you really seriously consider devotion to St. Joseph.

[301] And again, here at Virgin Most Powerful Radio, I know our blessed mother looks so much on to St. Joseph's patron of the dying.

[302] So I would encourage you to look that up on the internet about St. Joseph's the prayers for the dying.

[303] He's a great patron saint for the dying.

[304] And that would be something you can look up on the internet.

[305] Again, my last comment is here at Virgin Most Powerful Radio.

[306] we are working to stop these power outages by getting a solar panel system with a battery pack so we can be running every day on that and it recharges every day.

[307] We don't use electricity.

[308] We're off the grid.

[309] Now, why do I say that?

[310] Well, so that when any of the shows are going on, we're not going to be blacked out by a power surge where they shut our power off.

[311] and I believe Mother Angelica said it we want the best for God and the best is to continue to broadcast and not let blackouts hurt our delivery system well you can help us with that we've already raised $1 ,000 from this show and I thank Armando and others who are donating because I haven't been upstairs to see but you can call 8777 -526 -215 -1 or go online to vmpr .org and you can donate there and just say what it's for a solar panel battery pack for the studio i want to thank everybody who's a monthly donor also that helps pay our monthly bills for twenty five dollars or more we will send you about two hundred dollars worth of recordings from dr scott hon and many others as a way to keep you formed in your faith just like Bishop Strickman, teaching from the catechism, we need more catechesis in the church.

[312] I think you agree.

[313] You can sign up by going to vmpr .org or call us at 877526215 .1.

[314] I want to thank you for joining us here at the Bishop Strickman Hour and hope that next week we would not have this problem of a power outage.

[315] Thank God richly bless you and your family.