02 Nov 21 – Stand Up for Jesus

[0] Welcome to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

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

[2] I have the honor of being with the bishop each week, and you do too with the advent of radio and podcasts to talk about our Catholic faith and help people get to heaven.

[3] Bishop Strickland, thanks again for this one hour of your time and sharing the gospel.

[4] I appreciate that.

[5] Sure, Terry.

[6] Glad to do it.

[7] Well, I just want to get right into your tweets, and I have a special tweet from Jim Cavizo that fits right in with your tweets.

[8] I think you actually tweeted this, but let's go with the first one.

[9] You said, through the ages, martyrs have continued to inspire and strengthen people of faith, like us.

[10] Those who lack faith can't understand, those who have faith, understand, and know that we are all called from our baptism to be willing to follow Jesus even unto death.

[11] And then you put holy martyrs pray for us.

[12] Well, before I play this clip, I want to ask you, why?

[13] Why at this time are you quoting, saying that the martyrs were willing to lay down our faith?

[14] Are you insinuating that maybe some of us might have to do the same thing today?

[15] Well, really, Terry, no. I'm saying we absolutely have to do the same thing.

[16] We may not have to shed our blood, but we need to lay down our lives.

[17] We need to lay down whatever we have for the truth.

[18] And, yeah, it might come to shedding our blood, but we need to.

[19] to do it now.

[20] It's not some future possibility.

[21] It's, and it's a joyful calling.

[22] There's nothing more joyful than to join our lives with Jesus Christ.

[23] Amen.

[24] Yes, he suffered, but he also brings great joy.

[25] He brings the light of truth, and he brings his glory to us.

[26] So what's a little suffering when you, it allows you to embrace the glory of Jesus Christ?

[27] that's what it's about.

[28] So it's not a future possibility.

[29] Certainly, what kind of, what form the martyrdom takes.

[30] Yeah, dry martyrdom maybe.

[31] Yeah, it can take different forms.

[32] But people right now are losing their jobs because of the principles that are guiding them.

[33] They are having to lose privileges.

[34] They're suffering in all kinds of ways.

[35] that's a martyrdom of a kind that, and we all have to be ready to sacrifice whatever, including our lives, in order to live the truth of Christ.

[36] It's, it only makes sense if you know who Christ is.

[37] He's the Lord of everlasting life.

[38] This life is a brief journey.

[39] We know that.

[40] And it gets, it goes more quickly the further down you get on the path as we're both 60 plus.

[41] The time speeds up.

[42] So we all need to.

[43] And the greatest compassion, I know I've said it before, but the greatest compassion for all these politicians and all these people that love to yell at us and yell at me and say I'm crazy or I'm off my rocker.

[44] The greatest compassion for anyone who yells at me is to simply say the truth because the truth is what sets us free.

[45] As you refer to that talk by Jim Caviesel, he was quoting, I honestly don't remember, but when it's the truth, you're just glad to re -quote it.

[46] But he said something very important.

[47] Yes, he did.

[48] Said real freedom is the right to do what we ought.

[49] Absolutely.

[50] That is very simple, but that's what freedom is.

[51] The right to do the right thing, the right to do what we ought to do.

[52] and that is we've lost that idea of freedom of freedom is to do whatever you think you want if you feel like today that's not real freedom no real freedom is the right to do what we ought to do that's the right to do the right thing to live the truth and there's only one truth it doesn't change it's not this today and that tomorrow it's one truth that is everlasting so that is the greatest love is to guide people to that truth well said and uh st john paul we're going to talk about him a little later in the show he said that at baltimore stadium back in 1987 i'll that quote was very similar to what you said about following the truth um you mentioned jim koviso and we're going to play a clip and get your seatbelts on everybody because i want to i every time i hear this clip i stand up and say praise be jesus christ now i and forever because what he said was so true.

[53] Now this was a quote, part of it was from Braveheart.

[54] If anybody saw the movie, I didn't see it, but a lot of my friends did.

[55] But he also changes some of it and uses his own words, especially about St. Michael and the, oh, it's just beautiful.

[56] So I'm going to ask the engineer to play the clip and then ask Bishop Strickland to comment on it.

[57] I see before me a whole army of my countrymen here in defiance of tyranny.

[58] You've come Come to fight as free men.

[59] And free men, you are.

[60] What will you do without freedom?

[61] Will you fight?

[62] This man says, no, we'll run and we'll live.

[63] Yep, fight and you may die.

[64] Run and you'll live for at least a while.

[65] And dying in your beds many years from now, would you have been willing to trade all the years from this day to that for one chance?

[66] Just one chance to come back here and tell our enemies.

[67] That you can take our lives, you can never take our freedom every man dies not every man truly lives you you you you we must fight for that authentic freedom and live my friends by God we must live and with the Holy Spirit as your shield and Christ is your sword may you join St. Michael and all the angels and defending God in setting Lucifer and his henchmen straight right back to hell where they belong Sign me up Bishop Strickland I love that I can't I just, it's so true what he said, and he's an actor.

[68] I mean, Bishop Strickland, I met him 25 years ago at our family conference, and he was just coming back to his faith.

[69] And I didn't know he was going to end up playing Jesus in the year 2000, and he'd be such a fervent Catholic.

[70] Praise God for that.

[71] But let me ask you, Bishop Strickland, when you hear this man speak the truth with such passion, as a man, doesn't that just fire you up?

[72] Absolutely.

[73] And, you know, really, Terry, I'm thinking, as a bishop, that's how I need to talk.

[74] And we need to be strong.

[75] We need to be joyful.

[76] Yes.

[77] We need to be clear, not attacking anyone, but saying, yes, I will die for this freedom.

[78] Because real freedom, like we were already just talking about, Real freedom is about choosing to live the way of Christ.

[79] Amen.

[80] And that's what we have to be willing to sacrifice anything for, for our communities, for our families, for every aspect of society that we can have any effect on.

[81] We have to be men who will stand up for the truth.

[82] And truth is Christ is truth incarnate.

[83] So standing for the truth is always standing for Christ.

[84] As we read weeks ago in the catechism, and I still remember it, a brief paragraph that said, all of sacred scripture speaks of Christ.

[85] It is Christ because He is the incarnate word.

[86] So when we are standing for the truth, we're standing for someone, not just something.

[87] Just recently, someone shared with me that truth has a full.

[88] face.

[89] And it's the face of Jesus Christ.

[90] Amen.

[91] That's what we have to be inspired by.

[92] And Jim Caviesel and the greatest preachers, it's really not Jim that's inspiring us.

[93] It's the truth that is Jesus Christ.

[94] That's what inspires him to go against the norms of Hollywood to risk, maybe never getting another job because of the liberalism in Hollywood that wants to reject God and mock Christ.

[95] He's making movies that really elevate the truth of Jesus Christ.

[96] That's what we all need to do.

[97] I'm no movie star, but we all need to.

[98] As a bishop, you as a radio broadcaster and evangelist, we all need to be proclaiming the truth and that's simultaneously proclaiming Jesus Christ because he is the truth.

[99] Well, Bishop Strickland, thank you for Stryckland.

[100] Thank you for that because it reminds me now, and that is, I just saw that the industry, the trucker industry, the dentist industry, all kinds of industries came to President Biden and said, if you implement the 100 employees or more to get vaccinated, one -third of my staff are going to leave and not get vaccinated, and that's going to turn our company into bankruptcy.

[101] That's what they told the president and they said at least give us more time give us more time now why do i say that because i don't condemn anybody who wants to get the vaccine okay my moral conscience says from when i've demonstrated you've demonstrated that not for us we're not going to have any tainted a vaccine from abortion i'm not going to do it if it means living another 10 years in my dying in my bed as jim kovisa says now i would rather and bishops strickland i already got COVID and I survived it.

[102] But if I didn't survive it, oh, well, was I living in the state of grace?

[103] Praise God.

[104] So my question to you is you tweeted a comment about the vaccine and about abortion.

[105] And what did you actually say?

[106] Because I don't have the, generally, what was your message regarding the COVID -19 vaccines tying into abortion again?

[107] What was your thought on that?

[108] Well, it's more and more evidence, which I've known since, even before the vaccine came out.

[109] Yeah.

[110] I was already telling people, we have to watch this because I was already through, I mean, I don't know anything.

[111] I don't claim to be a scientist.

[112] I'm not.

[113] But thankfully, I was in touch with people who were saying they had clear evidence, acknowledged, documented by these companies that they were using aborting children.

[114] And it's connected to vaccines.

[115] It's connected to so many things.

[116] And we need to wake up and say no. We can't go back and change the past, but we need to change the future.

[117] Well, said, we're listening to the Bishop Strickland Hour on the Bishop Strickland Hour on Virgin Most Power and we come back.

[118] We'll talk more about his tweets and how they should inspire you to fall deeper in love with Jesus and his church.

[119] Stay with us.

[120] Welcome back to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[121] I call this show today Stand Up for Jesus because Bishop Strickland's been tweeting so many inspirational statements from either the saints or scripture or from good holy priests to inspire us to stand up right now because we're facing a major obstacle in our culture.

[122] The world is acting like God doesn't exist and we have the fullness of the truth in our Catholic faith and we're asking people to stand up for Jesus and say no to the culture of death.

[123] Now, Bishop Strickland, you did another tweet where you said, you quoted a priest of Father Terence Henry.

[124] And I like what he said.

[125] The age of casual Catholicism is over.

[126] The age of heroic Catholicism has begun.

[127] We can no longer be Catholic by accident.

[128] But instead, we must be Catholic by, conviction.

[129] Boy, that says a mouthful.

[130] Yeah, and I think he's right.

[131] And spot on.

[132] To be sort of lukewarm as a Catholic, it just doesn't work any longer.

[133] And too many sadly are instead of really saying, I'm going to be on fire with the faith, they walk away because it's asking more than they're willing to give.

[134] They're still beloved of God.

[135] And I think that that's one of the main things that we need to remember.

[136] We can all get caught up in the controversies and really very exasperated with people that don't know the truth and really say vile things to us or about us.

[137] But we have to remember that, you know, it's very simple and it sounds sort of like a nice little greeting card.

[138] But if we really know what we're talking about, about when we say they will know we are Christians by our love, if we know what Christian is and we know what love is, then we definitely need to demonstrate it.

[139] They need to see in our actions in the way that we live.

[140] And certainly in our time, I guess it's always been the case, but with social media and all the sound bite culture that we live in, people can hurl barbs at us that.

[141] really don't make any sense, but they can, you know, kind of take jabs and try to strike down an argument for the truth.

[142] We don't hate anyone.

[143] We don't attack anyone.

[144] We simply, clearly, as men and women of God, we stand for the truth.

[145] There's a men's march that's coming up November 15th.

[146] It's going to be in Baltimore.

[147] I just, again, tweet.

[148] encouragement to participate in that.

[149] And as I said, if you can go to Baltimore, go to Baltimore.

[150] But if you can't, then gathering in your hometown with faithful men who want to stand for life.

[151] That's what it's about, a march for the end of abortion.

[152] Amen.

[153] We men need to stand up and make our voices heard for the voiceless.

[154] We talk about it all the time.

[155] but I think it is one of the, if not the most critical issue of our time, because so many things, it's like a giant evil octopus and it's woven into the tentacles of abortion are woven into the economy.

[156] They're woven into the breakdown of family and marriage.

[157] They're woven into the denigration of women and human trafficking.

[158] It's woven into everything and into the vaccine and too many other medications.

[159] We need to say no to abortion as one basic step toward a holier world and a more peaceful world.

[160] Well said, Bishop Strickland, well said.

[161] All right, on October 21st, you did another tweet.

[162] And it just seems, again, stand up for Jesus.

[163] This is the theme of today's show.

[164] And I want to use that word syncretism.

[165] I'll define that.

[166] It's like one religion is as good as another.

[167] And sometimes Bishop Strickland, my concern is, even in our church, we're giving mixed signals when it comes to the kingship of Christ.

[168] In other words, the uniqueness of our Catholic faith.

[169] And I'm not pointing fingers other than saying, let's get one voice on that that says, everyone on the planet, you know, we want them to know Jesus Christ and accept Christ and follow Christ because that's the only way to salvation is through Jesus.

[170] I mean, is that too hard to say?

[171] So here's what you tweeted.

[172] Too many voices are speaking of many lords, many faiths, many baptisms.

[173] Disciples of Jesus Christ know there is one Lord, one faith, and one baptism.

[174] Well said.

[175] Any contrary message is a false gospel.

[176] The apostles and many early Christians died for this one faith.

[177] Will we follow Jesus?

[178] Now, I'm sorry to have, I gave you my commentary already.

[179] I shouldn't have said that, but it just makes me cringe when I don't hear bishops like you.

[180] You're saying it clearly.

[181] There's one faith, one Lord, one baptism.

[182] Is that too much to ask?

[183] I don't think so, Bishop Strickland, but I'm only asking you to explain why you felt that you needed to be so clear about the uniqueness of Jesus Christ.

[184] Well, Terry, I've felt that I needed to be so clear because there's too much lack of clarity.

[185] There's too much noise.

[186] And that's all it is, is noise.

[187] It's not truth.

[188] It is not love.

[189] It is not of Jesus Christ.

[190] There's noise saying, oh, well, everyone can just take their own path and everyone has their own belief.

[191] That is not.

[192] If we believe who Jesus Christ really is.

[193] is.

[194] Amen.

[195] And honestly, Terry, I think a lot of times it comes down to that.

[196] Yeah.

[197] Do we believe that Jesus Christ is fully God, fully man, second person of the Holy Trinity, the Son of God, the eternal word, all that we profess about Jesus Christ?

[198] If we really believe it, then we're obligated.

[199] If we care about anyone else in the human population.

[200] We have the obligation to share that truth with everyone we can.

[201] Certainly, as we've talked about before, in other contexts, God has given us free will.

[202] Yes.

[203] And many people choose after they hear of Jesus Christ or think they've heard of him, they walk away.

[204] God leaves us free to do that.

[205] And we have to be.

[206] And we have to respect that freedom of the individual to say no, that I refuse to accept Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior.

[207] But we who know him, who know he is fully God and fully man, who know he is God's divine son, we have the obligation to share that truth with our brothers and sisters and continue to love them as God continues to love them, even when they reject him.

[208] ultimately they will come to their judgment and and like we were saying before we got on the air yes that's what motivates me and that's what motivates you is ultimately our own personal salvation we're selfish responsibility but we all the people that we care about yes we then extend that same message to them yes because real love is sharing the truth and jesus christ is truth incarnate.

[209] So really, I think part of the crisis of our time is people don't know how to think.

[210] They don't know logical steps from if we say Jesus Christ is fully God and fully man. If we say that Jesus Christ lived, suffered, died, and rose for all humanity, then logically we have to say well let's get this message to every person let's get his message of salvation to every individual he says in in the gospel if you don't eat my body and drink my blood you have no life in you and if we believe his message we have the obligation to share it as he calls us to he doesn't force anyone and we should not force force anyone.

[211] There have been times in history when individuals have gone too far and have tried to force the faith in, and not just in the Catholic Church, been in all kinds of different situations, to almost brainwash people into living Jesus Christ.

[212] That is not the Christian tradition.

[213] No, it isn't.

[214] We don't brainwash anyone.

[215] We don't take away human freedom.

[216] That's contradictory.

[217] But we urge people to use their freedom to learn, to form their conscience, and then make their conscience -driven choice.

[218] We hope and pray to embrace Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior, to live his truth.

[219] If they choose not to, we continue to say, God loves you, and to continue to pray for them as God continues to give them life and the opportunity.

[220] to make that ultimate choice to follow his son to the father.

[221] Jesus Christ says he is the way, the truth and the life.

[222] He doesn't say, I'm one of many ways.

[223] I'm one of many truths.

[224] I'm one of multiple possibilities of life.

[225] He's the one Lord, the one faith, the one baptism.

[226] That's what we have to share with others.

[227] And if we really love, You as a father and myself as a pastor and a spiritual father, we have the obligation to share that truth in every way we can.

[228] You have children of your own.

[229] You can't force them to follow Jesus.

[230] Hopefully they are.

[231] If they aren't, at a certain point, it becomes their responsibility.

[232] It's your responsibility to share the faith as a Catholic father, but you can't force.

[233] your children to live that faith.

[234] And I know it's the heartache of many solid Catholic parents, mothers and fathers, that their children are ignoring the faith and walking away.

[235] But once they become adults, they have to make their own choices.

[236] We still love them.

[237] As parents continue to love their children, even when they walked away from the truth, as God continues to love all of us when we walk away from his truth incarnate in his son.

[238] But that's what we have to.

[239] to keep telling people and bringing them back to the love of Christ.

[240] Well, said, before we take a quick break, I love to promote the institute that you have in your diocese.

[241] Can we get a plug for that institute, Father, our bishop?

[242] Absolutely.

[243] The St. Philip Institute, saint philip institute .org is a great resource.

[244] They're doing great stuff every day to share the truth, to tackle tough subjects, to guide people away from the ugliness of pornography.

[245] We had a great podcast on that just recently.

[246] To tackle the hard subjects of really helping people to navigate this crazy world in the truth of Christ.

[247] It's the truth that truly sets us free.

[248] And so the St. Philip Institute, I couldn't be more proud of the work they're doing and more people, along with many other great institutes and associations like your radio program.

[249] Sharing the truth of Christ is the greatest joy that any of us have.

[250] Amen.

[251] And any institute, any organization that is doing that needs to be supported and applauded for doing that good work.

[252] Well, said, if you'd like to get more of the Bishop Strickland's shows on our podcast, go to vmpr .org.

[253] All the podcasts for all the shows are there.

[254] You download the free app.

[255] at vmpr .org, and you'll listen to a lot of good programs that will inspire you to fall deeper in love with Jesus.

[256] When we come back, Bishop Strickland tweeted something about a new movie on John 6.

[257] Hey, that's a good teaser.

[258] We'll be back with more.

[259] Stay with us, family.

[260] Welcome back to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[261] I mentioned at the end of the break that there's a new movie coming out on John 6 that demonstrates the Eucharist in a very powerful way.

[262] We're familiar with who's doing it.

[263] Actually, I'm sending people November 6th up to the Tehachapi Mountains to have, they need extra people for the filming when Jesus, you know, blesses the 5 ,000 with bread, with extra bread, and I want to just encourage people to go to that, you know, be part of it, at least pray for the success of this movie.

[264] Bishop Strickland, you actually interviewed here on your show, Angelo, who is the producer of this movie.

[265] Obviously, it's talking about the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist.

[266] Is that pretty much why you wanted to promote it because it's the truth about what they're doing?

[267] Absolutely.

[268] And as you can imagine, Terry, I get contacted by people all the time from all sorts of different areas with all sorts of different ideas and projects.

[269] Yep.

[270] And, you know, my filter is, is it about the truth of Christ?

[271] Christ.

[272] And like, you know, I tweeted Jim Kavisel's talk because that's what he was talking about.

[273] I don't even know the context of that speech, but I knew that I believe, and I'll stand for with him everything that Jim Kavisel said.

[274] Yep.

[275] That's what I have to make my judgments on.

[276] There are a lot of false messages out there.

[277] There's a lot of controversy.

[278] Yeah, there are a lot of conspiracy theories.

[279] Yeah.

[280] I'm not into any of those.

[281] I want.

[282] to proclaim the truth of Jesus Christ and who he is, what his message is about for all humanity.

[283] So, and absolutely, as we talked about before, the real presence that Jesus said in our Catholic faith that the churches believe since the very beginning, since the earliest days of Christianity, Christian said, we believe him.

[284] He's the son of God.

[285] We believe when he says, this is my body, this is my blood, we believe he meant it.

[286] And the thing about this movie, what really got my attention is that what they're needing extras for is to dramatically show vast crowds of people walking away when Jesus says, you must eat my flesh and drink my blood to have life in you.

[287] The Gospels record that a lot of the crowd walked away.

[288] And so as a cinematographer wants to have an impact, they want vast numbers of people shown walking away.

[289] Because, yes, that's what happened.

[290] As we talked about earlier, God gives us free will.

[291] His son on earth didn't force anyone to do anything.

[292] He called them to the truth.

[293] He called them to conversion.

[294] He called them to know that without his body and blood, they would have no life in them.

[295] and many people rejected that of their own free will they rejected that truth we need to continue to proclaim that truth and really Terry I'm I live in a culture here in East Texas where the vast majority are not Catholic they are Christian sure and we feel a fellowship there with brothers and sister Christians in this community but many people are not Catholic And it's funny, because I'm a cradle Catholic.

[296] I grew up in the Catholic faith.

[297] I've always, since I was taught making my first communion when I was about seven years old, we were taught that Jesus is really there.

[298] And I've always believed what I was taught as the Catholic.

[299] What's interesting is the intricate arguments that people come up with to say, he didn't really mean it.

[300] He didn't really mean it.

[301] He said it.

[302] And Catholics, and the most ancient Christian tradition is, he said it, he meant it.

[303] As there's a hymn that I love, it's a Marian hymn, but it says Resurrection Seekut Dixit, which basically translates, he rose as he said he would.

[304] He told the disciples that he would die and that he would rise on the third day.

[305] They didn't understand what that meant.

[306] The gospel records that they didn't really know what he was talking about.

[307] And Peter, at one point in the gospel, tries to talk him out of it and says, Oh, Lord, you can't suffer.

[308] You don't need to die.

[309] And Jesus, what does Jesus say?

[310] Get behind me, Satan.

[311] So I like to just take what Christ has taught us at face value.

[312] I'm not a complicated guy.

[313] I'm not a great scholar.

[314] I'm not the most learned of Catholics.

[315] I'll be the first to admit that.

[316] But I believe what he taught us.

[317] I believe what he died for.

[318] And when he says, you must eat my body and drink my blood, the church believed it from the very beginning.

[319] The disciples that formed the church, it was originally called the Way and then called Christian, and then a few centuries later began to be called Catholic.

[320] That just means universal.

[321] that's all Catholic means is the universal Christian community covering all of the earth there was known at that time and then since the discovery of the new world it truly is all of the earth it's a universal faith but we believe what Jesus said he said he would rise from the dead he did he said you must eat my body and drink my blood to have life in you and we believe that and we need to cling to the that belief and be willing, as we talked about earlier, even to die for it, should that become necessary.

[322] Because that's what Catholics have done through the ages.

[323] Well, Bishop Strickland, I just say that what you have is a world biblical view.

[324] You take the word of God, you read it, and you embrace that word and live it.

[325] So that's what we're all called to do.

[326] And your tweet, you said, Jesus, the way the truth and the life, the sole redeemer of humanity, that is a very clear statement there's no ambiguity here and I think that's the beauty of our faith if we really look at our faith there's no ambiguity Jesus and John 6 said unless you eat of my body and drink of my blood you have no life in you for my flesh is real food my blood is real drink and it goes on in John 6 I would encourage everybody to read that chapter over and over again on a regular basis and that just gives me an opportunity to promote another great movie.

[327] Well, it's on YouTube called The Mass of the Ages, which talks about the extraordinary form of the mass and the beauty of the mass, what it is, how this has touched people through the centuries.

[328] I've cried during that.

[329] I mean, it was so moving for me to see young people, old people, the explanation of what the mass is.

[330] I've been going to Daily Mask for over 50 years now.

[331] When I was 14, I'm 64 now.

[332] And so I said to myself, wow, that's something that, today I said I'm there present at that one eternal sacrifice the angels are all there to say I mean wow I mean think about the supernatural aspect of John 6 and I'll tell you that will touch your soul for life now Bishop Strickland after that quote you mentioned about Jesus the way the truth in the life our soul redeemer of humanity you have St. John Paul too saying and without the love of Jesus everything else is useless now I mean Bishop sheen says if souls are saved, everything is saved.

[333] If souls aren't saved, nothing is saved.

[334] What a great quote from a saint that says, without the love of Jesus, everything else is useless.

[335] What a powerful statement for the world today.

[336] Your thoughts?

[337] Absolutely, Terry.

[338] And we need to, we really need to ponder that and take it deeply into our hearts and minds.

[339] Without the love of Jesus, everything else is useless.

[340] That means all the things that people fight wars over, all the things that create such division, it's all useless.

[341] And it really is a reminder of putting things in perspective.

[342] Just to share something, you know, an insight that I had today.

[343] Yeah, tell us.

[344] You know, we live in a world where, I mean, right there, as your broadcasting radio, we can push buttons and make things happen, instantaneous.

[345] Yep.

[346] You know, in a few minutes, after we're talking, I'll get in my car.

[347] It's one of these newer cars.

[348] You push a button.

[349] Don't use a key anymore.

[350] You just push a button.

[351] The car starts and off we go.

[352] What occurred to me, and I think this is just a simple insight, but I share it because I think it really is.

[353] important.

[354] We're so caught up in a world of technology, a world of our making.

[355] But really, if we look at nature, if we look at the world, if we look at our own lives, if we look at the world that God created, it's not about instantaneous things.

[356] It takes time.

[357] We plant a seed.

[358] It doesn't just pop out of the earth in a moment, it gradually grows.

[359] For us, as, I mean, we were both infants in the womb, then, you know, newborn little boys, and then we grew.

[360] We're still moving toward the end of our lives whenever that happens.

[361] It happens gradually.

[362] And I think there's something there that we need to pay attention to.

[363] If we look to nature, the way God works, it takes time.

[364] It takes a process.

[365] It takes a journey.

[366] We're so caught up in the instant that the instant world tends to leave God out.

[367] And I think that's part of the reason is because we lose patience with things that take time.

[368] And, you know, there's such an effort in our culture to hold off.

[369] death and to hold off aging, we need to learn to age gracefully.

[370] Amen.

[371] I mean, whether we age gracefully or not, we're going to age.

[372] We can't change that.

[373] If we're going to, if we stay alive, we're getting older by the minute.

[374] And we should be at peace with that.

[375] It's part of God's beautiful plan, but it is a gradual unfolding in a journey of life.

[376] And there are even things that have us in our human journey because of the instantaneous world that we're so influenced by.

[377] Not that many years ago.

[378] A couple of centuries and all the buttons, all the instantaneous ability to change our world in a moment is gone.

[379] But as creatures created by God, the most glorious aspects, the beauty of creation is still there with us.

[380] Too often it's hidden behind the instantaneous automatic world that we live in, but as people of faith, we need to get more in touch with all of that that unfolds gradually.

[381] Even the sun rises slowly.

[382] It doesn't pop up into the sky and then pop back down.

[383] It's a gradual movement.

[384] We need to reenter that world where God is in charge.

[385] Amen.

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

[387] Stay with us, family.

[388] We'll have more.

[389] Welcome back to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[390] We're going to be going into the catechism of the Catholic Church in this last segment.

[391] But I also wanted to just, there was one other tweet that I think it's tied into a church situation, but it's really our Supreme Court.

[392] And then I want to tie that over to the Eucharist.

[393] But you said this, what a tragic place to find our nation at this time.

[394] The Supreme Court is expecting their examination of a law that says, says a person in the womb with a heartbeat should be protected.

[395] That's a no -brainer, really.

[396] And you said, is this any doubt?

[397] So sad that we are even asking the question, a heartbeat.

[398] Bishop Strickland, thank you for standing up for life again and again.

[399] Well, sadly, Terry, we find ourselves almost on a daily basis having to speak up for the sanctity of the life of the unborn, until natural death, all across the spectrum.

[400] Every life is sacred.

[401] And there's so many issues in our world where life is denigrated and not held sacred.

[402] And it starts in the womb.

[403] I wanted to tweet that.

[404] And just even as we've been talking, I looked at my phone and another message comes across that in the state of Vermont, They're trying, they're pushing for, and I guess the state legislature, I guess it's as, you know, as they say, a bicameral system just like the national or the federal.

[405] But evidently their legislature has already approved a constitute, for Vermont, an amendment to the Vermont constitution, making abortion a right.

[406] So sad.

[407] That is, so that's why we have to keep speaking up, because more and more people are trying to institutionalize, and it's already pretty institutionalized, I have to say.

[408] I mean, thankfully in Texas, we have this heartbeat law, but even that is still allowing abortion of too many.

[409] I mean, it shouldn't be allowed for any, but, you know, we've got to take the wins that we can.

[410] But in Vermont, they're trying to make it a state law.

[411] Yes, terrible.

[412] You have a right to murder unborn children.

[413] Terrible.

[414] That's just continuing the diabolical approach that is really infecting our whole world.

[415] I mean, we talk about the pandemic.

[416] The real pandemic is the murder, the slaughtering of the unborn that is more and more, you know, taking over the whole world.

[417] I mean, how many millions of children have died to abortion?

[418] It's tragic when any life is taken by disease or any other thing that intervenes with natural death.

[419] That's what the church teaches.

[420] Life is sacred from conception to natural death.

[421] But to be institutionalizing and setting up laws like they're trying to do in Vermont.

[422] And sadly, that is probably what we're going to.

[423] to see happen.

[424] Whatever the Supreme Court decides, individual states where they're legalizing murder is what it comes down to.

[425] It really has to be opposed by people who believe that life is sacred.

[426] We cannot remain silent any longer.

[427] There's too much silence.

[428] In the voices of the unborn, they never get a chance to speak.

[429] So it's, as you said, we keep.

[430] repeating it, but we need to.

[431] And I'm going to keep repeating it as long as I have a voice because I feel an obligation to speak up for the voiceless unborn.

[432] And for all the suffering people whose lives are not held sacred in all kinds of broken facets of our world.

[433] Well, Bishop Strickland, thank you for that strong voice, but I'm going to speak as a layman and might get you a little uncomfortable.

[434] But I'm going to say it anyway because it's the truth.

[435] and the truth is we're looking for leadership in our church to protect the unborn.

[436] And I want to say next month, I'm going to be in Baltimore, God willing, and I'm going to be there praying for you, for all the bishops, not just for you, but all the bishops at that meeting in Baltimore in November.

[437] And one of the topics that I understand will be addressed, and I talked to Bishop Cordellione just in August about this, that the issue of giving holy communion to politicians or to anyone who objectively says killing unborn babies is okay, he's for it, and they're still going to receive holy communion.

[438] And I just find that reprehensible, and I'm hoping and praying that the leadership of the bishops will speak in one voice, because I really do believe Bishop Strickland that it's scandalous that our leadership in the church isn't as clear as what you're just saying, because you don't have to have a Ph .D. in theology to understand that when someone received holy communion that they should be doing an examination of their conscience and if therefore killing unborn babies they should not be receiving holy communion um i don't mean to point the finger at the bishops but there are leaders man i'm expecting the bishops to to lead us in the truth about the gospel when it comes to receiving holy communion properly so uh i guess i'm making you a little uncomfortable because you've got brother bishops who don't agree with what you're saying Well, it doesn't really make me uncomfortable.

[439] It really is a tragic reality where, I mean, people talk about, you know, we need unity in the church.

[440] We need unity among the bishops.

[441] Yeah.

[442] Where do we find the unity?

[443] The truth.

[444] In Jesus Christ.

[445] Amen.

[446] It's truth incarnate.

[447] Yeah.

[448] And if we can't agree in basic church teaching that life is sacred from conception to natural death, Yeah.

[449] And again, it's almost like as just one among many bishops in a smaller diocese that many people don't know where it is, but that doesn't really matter.

[450] I have the same apostolic responsibility as the archbishop of the largest archdiocese in the world.

[451] Yep.

[452] even if I were bishop, if they found the very smallest diocese in the church, I would still have the same spiritual responsibility to proclaim Jesus Christ and proclaim his truth, with love, with clarity, with a lack of ambiguity.

[453] And that's really what I pray for for the bishops of this country, and not just this country, but the bishops of Canada, the bishops of Australia, the bishops of Great Britain, the bishops of Germany, the bishops of Italy, all the bishops, wherever we are.

[454] We're really not the bishops of the United States.

[455] We're bishops of the Catholic faith.

[456] We're successors of the apostles that Jesus Christ chose.

[457] We are members of the universal church, the Catholic community.

[458] The geography, certainly, it is part of who we are.

[459] are, but it's not the most important thing.

[460] We're not primarily bishops of the United States.

[461] We're primarily successors of the apostles of Jesus Christ.

[462] He is the one who unifies us.

[463] Jesus Christ is the way the truth and the life that guides us and the ambiguity and the lack of clarity and the spectrum of division that is there, whether, I mean, certainly Christ prays for unity.

[464] in the Gospels.

[465] He prays for us to be one.

[466] But the only way that we can be one, the only way for us to be united is in Him.

[467] He's incarnate truth.

[468] And the divisions that we find are sociological and based on all kinds of things besides Jesus Christ.

[469] If we, you know, we frequently go to the catechism and read paragraphs from the catechism, that spells it out for us, but there are bishops that basically disagree with various paragraphs of the catechism.

[470] And as I've said, if I say anything that contradicts a paragraph of the catechism, I would ask to be corrected because I want to be faithful to Christ and I want to be faithful to his church.

[471] But the interpretive, and the sort of ambiguous statements that the catechism, as we've read it, and I don't claim to be a great scholar, and I don't think you do either.

[472] No. But we've got brains, and we can read those words, and we can understand what it says.

[473] It's not ambiguous.

[474] The catechism is not ambiguous.

[475] It states clearly the basic truth of our faith.

[476] Beautifully.

[477] Exactly.

[478] Quoting scripture, going back to the church fathers, that's what we need to go back to.

[479] And that's the only unity we're going to have is in Jesus Christ, truth incarnate.

[480] He is the great unifier.

[481] He is the one son of God who has come from the Father.

[482] They both sent the Spirit to guide us.

[483] We need to look to God, Father, Son, and Spirit to be guided in the truth that sets us free.

[484] wow thank you for saying that a big amen to that we're at the end of the hour i just want to encourage everybody to get that catechism of the catholic church that bishop strickland was referring to we usually get to it this time we didn't uh but the format is using bishop strickland's tweets and then getting the catechism at the end of the show to help confirm and teach us the faith what you just said though bishop strickland is inspirational to us lay people because nothing you said was ambiguous.

[485] It was very clear that we have a mandate to follow, and it's Jesus Christ.

[486] And, you know, I always say this, and this is my line, that we don't follow a bishop like you, Bishop Strickland.

[487] We don't follow a priest, Arminear, Archbishop, Cardinal, even the Pope.

[488] He's the vigor of Christ.

[489] He's not the superior of Christ.

[490] So what do we do?

[491] We follow, who's on that cross behind me?

[492] It's Jesus Christ.

[493] And I want to just encourage everyone.

[494] to continue to look these things up in the catechism of the Catholic Church, know what the perennial teachings of the church are so that you feel comfortable when it comes to knowing your faith.

[495] Is this what the Catholic Church teaches?

[496] The way to look it up is, look, there's an index.

[497] Look up like, for example, purgatory.

[498] Next week, we're going to talk about it because we'll be in the month of November.

[499] Some people say, well, that's something we don't teach anymore.

[500] Wrong.

[501] Look it up so that you can feel comfortable about what's, the church teaches and don't feel like, gee, I don't know what to believe anymore.

[502] No, you know what to believe.

[503] It's taught in the Catholic faith's perennial teachings of the church in this catechism.

[504] St. John Paul II said it well at the opening of the catechism.

[505] This is a sure norm of the faith.

[506] So if for some reason you run into a priest, a bishop who's not teaching the Catholic faith, pray for him.

[507] But don't argue.

[508] I really mean that.

[509] Pray for him.

[510] Because this shouldn't affect your faith in a bad way because when you know the faith, it's what sets you free.

[511] Bishop Strickland, could you give us your blessing?

[512] We're down to just a minute now.

[513] Sure.

[514] Almighty God, we ask your blessing for all who are participating in this radio program and all the work that Virgin Most Powerful Radio does to proclaim the truth of Jesus Christ, the one Lord, the one faith, one baptism of our Catholic faith, guiding us through the ages.

[515] we pray that all who are listening may be strong in their faith, joyful in knowing Christ and energetic and sharing his message.

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

[517] Amen.

[518] Folks, I want to mention you can go to vmpr .org to get all the podcasts of Bishop Strickland.

[519] I hope this inspired you.

[520] This show is being called Stand Up for Jesus Moment.

[521] That's what we're called to as Catholics and committed ones.

[522] So thanks again for joining us.

[523] We'll see you again next week, the same time, same station.

[524] God love you and your family.