14 Feb 24 – Ash Wednesday and the Four Last Things

[0] Welcome to this special Ash Wednesday edition with Bishop Joseph Strickland on the Bishop Strickland hour.

[1] Thank you, Bishop Strickland.

[2] I'll just say happy Ash Wednesday.

[3] Thanks, Terry, you too.

[4] Thank you.

[5] And we have the gospel chapter 8 of Mark, verse 14 to 21.

[6] And take your time on teaching us this gospel and the application for Ash Wednesday.

[7] So if you could be so good to read the gospel and comment on it, we'd appreciate it.

[8] Sure.

[9] This is actually the gospel of Matthew chapter 6.

[10] Oh, okay.

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

[12] Otherwise, you will have no recompense from your Heavenly Father.

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

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

[15] But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing so that your alms giving may be secret, and your father who sees in secret will repay you.

[16] When you pray, do not be like the hypocrites who love to say, stand and pray in the synagogues and on street corners so that others may see them.

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

[18] But when you pray, go to your inner room, close the door, and pray to your father in secret, and your father who sees in secret will repay you.

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

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

[21] Amen, I say to you.

[22] They have received their reward.

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

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

[25] The gospel of the Lord.

[26] Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

[27] Well, really, that passage is perfect for Ash Wednesday as we enter into this season.

[28] And what occurs to me, Terry, is if you think about those scenarios that Christ lays out, don't blow a trumpet, don't look for who's seeing you do this.

[29] What occurred to me is that's how little children are.

[30] They want to be seen doing something good.

[31] Mommy, mommy, look what I'm doing.

[32] Daddy, daddy.

[33] And God, knows us it got god knows that it's it's built into our human nature if we're doing something we believe is good we want we want to blow the trumpet we want to be recognized we want to be noticed it's very powerful in our culture today it always has been but especially now with all the the video and the media people want to do something that that gets them recognized and And you see that with young people, especially with a lot of the social media.

[34] They do things just to be noticed, just to get clicks or, you know, to get friends on whatever social media platform.

[35] And I think all of that just reminds us that God knows our nature.

[36] He created us.

[37] He knows what we're prone to.

[38] He knows how concupiscence, the reality of around.

[39] original sin and living in a sinful world, how it distorts and exaggerates those tendencies that we have.

[40] And so really, you can read this gospel as a reminder that during Lent, beginning Ash Wednesday, it's a time to seek deeper spiritual maturity.

[41] And I think the last line in that gospel, let me see if I can pull it up again.

[42] And your father, who's sees what is hidden, we'll repay you.

[43] I think that says a lot to what the journey of Lent and beginning with Ash Wednesday is really about.

[44] It's kind of reminding ourselves that God, our Heavenly Father, loves us, but he sees all that we do.

[45] He sees the good, the bad, the waste of time, the focus on wrong things, the sinful things.

[46] I think we, I need to be reminded of that because I think all of us tend to think, well, I can do this and hide it from God.

[47] Certainly, we can do things and hide it from our parents or hide it from our superiors, hide it from the authorities.

[48] And that's what a lot of people spend a lot of energy trying to do.

[49] But we can't hide anything from God.

[50] He sees what is hidden.

[51] And I think that's in some ways frightening, but also.

[52] sobering to be aware that God sees everything that we do.

[53] And hopefully it motivates us to do our best for God to say, I saw good things from Terry today.

[54] I saw good things from Joe today.

[55] He certainly sees it all.

[56] Yeah.

[57] But it hopefully motivates us and reminds us that really nothing is hidden.

[58] You were mentioning the particular judgment earlier, kind of tied in with the four last things and all of that.

[59] What the church teaches us about the end of our line.

[60] Particular judgment is beautiful in acknowledging that it is our first encounter with God, knowing God as He is.

[61] And so I'd encourage all of us to look at that side of particular judgment.

[62] It's our encounter with God after death where we see God as He is.

[63] We can't even do that in this life.

[64] As the Lord tells us in Revelation, it would destroy us to see the fullness of God.

[65] but particular judgment to me, I guess what I'm saying is use that as an even stronger encouragement and a drive to seek holiness, to seek to be in the presence of God, as we've said many times before.

[66] There's not going to be any committee.

[67] There's not going to be any USCB for me as a bishop.

[68] there's not going to be some group of supporters from you and VMPR radio that you are going to be it's particular it's each of us individually but i think there's a beauty there that we need to not let go of either it's i mean it's a little frightening frankly because i know i'm a sinner uh and we need a little that fear of god oh yeah but also hopefully the motivation can be to present our souls as close to God as we can possibly do by his grace always, but it needs our cooperation.

[69] Our free will has to embrace the virtues of the gospel.

[70] God is not going to force us.

[71] God leaves us free.

[72] But we are free to choose the good, the beautiful, the true.

[73] And so that particularly, judgment, I think, and tying it into this gospel that we just read, Christ is telling us, basically he's reminding us not to be worried about what we look like to the world, be worried about what we look like to God, because he'll be the one ultimately that is examining our lives and passing judgment.

[74] Thank you.

[75] We call that facetiously the exit interview of life, that when we meet our God at death, that's the final exit interview that we're going to have that will determine where our soul goes for all eternity.

[76] Thank you, Bishop Strickland.

[77] Talking about the catechism, yes, we're on the chapter of the four last things.

[78] And I like the question the catechism asks, what is heaven like?

[79] And I love this.

[80] It says, heaven is the state of everlasting union with God.

[81] who gives us perfect happiness and joy.

[82] Heaven is a wonderful place because it is where we are united to God forever.

[83] In heaven, there is no evil, sin, or sadness.

[84] And we get a lot of this from the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 5, verse 12, 18, and 19.

[85] And I think about this, Bishop Strickland, that I think it's a good and healthy thing to dwell, you know when we do our examination of conscience at the end of the day which we've been all taught to do if you haven't been doing this folks for lent do it because it's a really good thing to examine your day and I always did this with my children where we all examine our conscience at the end of the rosary and and then a meditation on heaven And I thought about that because that's our longing to be with God for all eternity.

[86] And I think with Lent starting today, it wouldn't be a bad idea to apply the question about what is heaven going to be like as to keep you motivated in living a Christ -centered life.

[87] Your thoughts?

[88] Yeah, I think it's a great way to remember.

[89] And I think that's a very positive approach, Terry, instead of, it's just avoiding condemnation.

[90] Instead, it's embracing going home, going to where we came from.

[91] We came from the love of God.

[92] We're called back to that love.

[93] But we're free to choose the opposite.

[94] And in sin, that's what we're doing.

[95] So I think it's a great reminder that it's not about avoid.

[96] avoiding things, but it's about embracing real life, everlasting life, in the love of God.

[97] Well, so we come back, we're going to give you hell.

[98] What?

[99] I'm just joking, but we're going to talk about what is hell and what the church officially teaches about that.

[100] Stay with us, family.

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

[102] Welcome back, indeed.

[103] I love this topic, hell.

[104] What is hell like?

[105] You know, Bishop Strickland, about 20 -some years ago, I had Dr. Scott Hahn, I had Brandt Petrie, I had Dr. Michael Barber, Jeff Kavens, all these big shots at a family conference.

[106] And every year I would put them in a studio and we would film a video called what every Catholic needs to know about the Bible, about the Blessed Mother, about hell.

[107] and hundreds of thousands of these recordings have gone through YouTube.

[108] So if you go to a full Sheena Head YouTube channel, you'll see what every Catholic needs to know about hell.

[109] And the reason I redid this again is because there's been a lot of controversy last years about, does anybody go to hell?

[110] And I thought, well, let's have these guys, it was Kimberly Hahn.

[111] I mean, it was a great lineup of lay theologians, and that particular video was played on EWTN for years and this was in the old days when St. Joseph Communications was putting out videos and so now it's on YouTube so you can check it out but we're right at the catechism section what is hell like and the catechism here says hell is a horrible place yeah that's for sure because it is eternal separation from God Jesus himself called it a place of never -ending, ever -burning fire in the Gospel of Matthew 18, verse 8 to 9.

[112] Some people think that human beings invented the idea of hell full of pain, but Jesus himself taught us this concept, that people in hell are never happy and always miserable because they are away from God, there is even physical pain in hell.

[113] Now, Bishop Strickland, we're living in a time right now where we have high officials in the church dressed like you who are saying, well, we don't really know if, you know, souls go to hell.

[114] We're just, you know, I kind of hope that nobody's there.

[115] And, you know, I get concerned as a layman to say, Time out.

[116] Let's really teach what the church is taught, part of the perennial teachings, about hell.

[117] And so it concerns me that officials in the church who should know better are saying things that really bring back ambiguity about even if anybody goes to hell.

[118] Does that concern you?

[119] Yeah, I think it should concern all of us.

[120] And once again, I know I talk to many people and they ask me, Bishop, how do we navigate all of this confusion and all the wrong messages?

[121] And the simplest answer that I have, and to me the most profound answer, is to look to Christ.

[122] Amen.

[123] Does Christ say there's no hell or that he hopes there's nobody in it?

[124] Nope.

[125] He simply warns us if we don't repent, if we don't listen to him, if we don't reform our lives, we can go there.

[126] Yes.

[127] And he makes that very clear in numerous passages that.

[128] So scripture and Christ is, he's the word incarnate.

[129] but I look specifically to what does Christ do and how does he act?

[130] I mean, another, you know, if you're looking for concrete evidence of hell.

[131] Yes.

[132] What are all these demons that Christ runs into and frees people from?

[133] Right.

[134] If hell's empty.

[135] Yeah.

[136] You know, where are the demons?

[137] They're somewhere.

[138] So, and we understand that they're in hell.

[139] They come out of hell to try to draw us there sometimes, but hell is full of demons and lost souls, human beings, fallen angels.

[140] So I think we have to look to Christ and he gives us the answer.

[141] And there are many things, as we've said, the messages of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the messages of saints, our own experience.

[142] And I guess for anyone listening on this Ash Wednesday, who really is maybe still not convinced that with scripture and all of it, that hell is real, how could God do that?

[143] How could God condemn us?

[144] Well, we have to remember that it's us condemning ourselves, really.

[145] Hell is a consequence, a mysterious consequence of, existence.

[146] So it's the opposite of love in many ways.

[147] But I think that if anyone is doubtful about the existence of hell, or maybe we talk to people that are constantly saying, oh, you Catholics or you believers, you talk about hell, we know it's not real, it's just something made up.

[148] What I would point to is the hell that too many people go through in this life.

[149] I think I was alluding to it earlier, but drug addicts whose bodies have been racked and they are, they're just living a miserable, horrible, horrible life, usually toward the very end of their life.

[150] That's a little taste of hell.

[151] Other people that get into relationships that the church tells us are immoral and wrong.

[152] And I'm not just talking about, yes, homosexual activity, but all kinds of relationships that are wrong, prostitutes.

[153] And I mean, you know, certainly we don't judge anyone.

[154] And someone may be pushed into a lifestyle that is devastating.

[155] But I guess my point is to just see the people that are in these, lifestyles that the Catholic Church and the catechism talks about as sinful lifestyles, I guess my main point is there's hell in this world.

[156] There are hellacious consequences to living a deeply sinful life.

[157] I mean, look at some of the things with the drug cartels and the horrible things they do and the horrible things that people are forced to do because they're following orders and they've decided to give up on living a virtuous life and they're just following the orders.

[158] They end up living hell right here and now.

[159] You know, you think back to the Nazi prison camps and people live through halacious kinds of experiences with great suffering.

[160] The only difference for anything in this world, it's only a little taste of hell, because a big part of what hell is, is knowing that you've abandoned God.

[161] From what I understand, and I'm glad to be corrected, but I believe that part of what the church teaches, hell is the absence of the beauty and the goodness and the truth of God.

[162] Amen.

[163] The longing for that.

[164] I mean, even scripture talks about it with the Lazarus, the man at Lazarus is his name.

[165] He's, he's been condemned and he's asking for mercy, asking for help.

[166] But once you're in hell, it's too late for mercy.

[167] What's, what's beautiful about what some of the mystics have talked about, and they're, they're mystics.

[168] I mean, it's private revelation.

[169] It's not official teaching of the church.

[170] But I think it's, it really reminds us, they speak of Christ as wanting and hoping and pulling for mercy and redemption for all of us to the last nanosecond of our life in this world.

[171] We have to be very cautious about saying, well, I'll just wait till the last nanosecond and Christ is longing for me. And then I'll say, yes, Lord, I repent.

[172] We need to do it right now because we don't know when those last moments will come.

[173] But I think there is a great mercy and a great consolation to know that at least these images that are given to us, that Christ in his incarnate love and his desire for the salvation of all of us, he is in any opening, any moment that anything that he can say, okay, this person can be saved.

[174] That's what Christ is pulling for.

[175] And I think especially many of us, have been touched by the tragedy of suicide.

[176] And to hold that hope, we don't know.

[177] In the churches, the catechism basically says we rely on God's mercy, but we don't know what happens to a person who takes their own life.

[178] And we have to caution people always.

[179] Life is never so dark that we should even contemplate taking our own lives.

[180] But people do, sadly, more and more, it seems.

[181] It's like an epidemic in our world and in our nation.

[182] And I think to know that especially it's a consolation for the loved ones left behind that if we have someone that we loved that took their own life, trust that God's mercy is reaching for them even to the last moment.

[183] And it's all mystery that we don't know.

[184] We can continue to pray.

[185] But I think it's a reminder.

[186] Hell is the absence of God, the absence of mercy, the absence of light.

[187] It's all darkness.

[188] It's, I mean, many of the images are, you know, burning in hell and like the unquenchable fire that Christ talks about.

[189] All of that is devastation.

[190] And the bottom line is, as we celebrate this Ash Wednesday, It's a wake -up call, once again, this year happens to be Valentine's Day, a very interesting Ashwin's Day.

[191] But it's a wake -up call to say, do everything you can to be saved and with God for eternity and to avoid hell.

[192] So I would encourage people not to get so overwhelmed by the possibility of hell that they're just fearful and frozen in fear.

[193] Right.

[194] Let it be something that ignites that fire of love to say, let me do everything I can to avoid the possibility of going to hell, to live the truth, to preach the truth, to share the truth with others, and to be willing to, any time we wander into the darkness of what is false and evil, to come back and to repent, we can.

[195] repent over and over and over again, and that's what we need to do.

[196] Well, said, and I remember our Lady of Fatima said, souls are going to hell because no one is there to pray and make sacrifices.

[197] Mom and dad, relatives, we can pray for the conversion of sinners.

[198] This is an incredible opportunity for us to understand the economy of salvation.

[199] It's amazing.

[200] And I think about reparation, too.

[201] We did a little show today on that and explaining to people, hey, we can intercede for the church right now by making reparation.

[202] We see sacrilegious.

[203] We see things that are bad.

[204] Don't get mad.

[205] Pray.

[206] Get down on our knees.

[207] See, I'm going to pray for that bishop or that priest or that layperson who's not giving what the church teaches.

[208] And that way we contribute to the good of the church.

[209] And we've heard, you know, St. Faustina talk about.

[210] Hell.

[211] Our Lady of Fatim has talked about hell.

[212] More souls go to hell because of sins of the flesh.

[213] That was back in 1917 before we had rampant pornography.

[214] Think about it.

[215] And when we come back, we'll talk more about how a loving God can send people to hell.

[216] How's that work?

[217] Stay with us, family.

[218] We'll be right back.

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

[220] Welcome back.

[221] I love this topic of hell.

[222] Bishop Strickland, when I was a young man, and I was a young man, and I was a young man, someday about 45 years ago and at night we would have a priest come and say mass at our house and then we'd take the life of Christ's catechism and we would study our faith with this priest and one of the best topics that we had that we would stay up now remember we're teenagers and we're early you know young adults we would spend eating pizza at midnight talking about the four last things it was fascinating to us And one of them was, how can a loving God send people to hell?

[223] We talked a little bit about this.

[224] He said, in the catechism, it says, our purpose is to give God, give glory and praise to our creator eternally, eternally.

[225] But God does not force us to do this.

[226] Likewise, God does not force us to be with him in heaven.

[227] It called free will.

[228] You talked about it.

[229] He gives us a clear choice to make either good or evil.

[230] and then respects our decision.

[231] God does not force a person into hell.

[232] People choose hell through their own sins and the rejection of God.

[233] You kind of talked about that, but I mean, the only value in saying yes to God is you have the freedom to say no. I mean, without free will, how can you merit heaven or hell?

[234] It just seems so logical, but we have people who kind of say that, well, God, can't do that.

[235] Really?

[236] Why can't God?

[237] He allows us to live with the decisions we make.

[238] Am I on to something?

[239] Absolutely.

[240] And I think even just on a natural human level, we all know that love and God is love, as John's gospel says so beautifully, God's very essence is love.

[241] Love cannot be forced.

[242] Love has to be free, a free choice.

[243] And so we're called to love God.

[244] We're made to love God.

[245] God created us.

[246] He gave us life.

[247] But it's sort of part of the mystery of that life that if it becomes forced, it becomes not love at all.

[248] And so God knows that, of course, better than we ever would.

[249] And so he's not going to force us to love him, even though he knows that if we don't, we're damned.

[250] But it's got to be our free choice.

[251] And that's, you know, the real freedom is the freedom to choose what is good, what is true, what is beautiful.

[252] You know, and we hear a lot about freedom these days that isn't really freedom at all.

[253] But God gives us true free will and allows us to make our choice.

[254] And like you said, Terry, it's the only way that we can really make the choice of love is to be free to do so.

[255] Yeah.

[256] If, and even on the human level, if we are.

[257] are forced to love very often the opposite happens because it's just it's antithetical to love for it to not be a free choice yes that's what love is the free choice to will the good of the other and when it's forced even with the best of intentions it's not love and ultimately it collapses or becomes evil.

[258] Well said, you know, Bishop Strickland, it's so nice to hear the teachings of the church with such clarity.

[259] And I mean that.

[260] In other words, this is what the church teaches.

[261] It's always taught this, and it's not going to change.

[262] And I think that's so reassuring for us lay people to hear our shepherds speak with clarity and charity.

[263] Here's another question that comes up in the catechism.

[264] We talked a little bit about the term purgatory.

[265] He says, what is it?

[266] Well, it says purgatory is a temporary state of purification for those souls who die in God's friendship, so in the state of grace, but who still bear the effects of sin.

[267] Since heaven has no sin, but many who die in God's friendship have some sin, they must be purified of this sin to enter heaven.

[268] Purgatory is the process of that purification.

[269] Pergatory is not a second chance to avoid hell.

[270] We quote second book of Matthews is good and holy to pray for the dead.

[271] Also Matthew chapter 5 verse 25 to 26 in Corinthians.

[272] It seems to me that I have an analogy and see if it limps a little.

[273] Purgatory is like summer school.

[274] You didn't get it quite right.

[275] And there needs to be a little purification of going over the fundamentals.

[276] and I think they didn't quote this of the book of Revelation, but the book of Revelation says, nothing but perfect and pure will enter the kingdom of God.

[277] And so last time I looked, Bishop Strickland, I'm a sinner.

[278] You're a sinner.

[279] We died tonight.

[280] I'm going to have masses offered for you.

[281] I'll tell you why.

[282] It's because it's the prudent thing to do.

[283] You can't assume, even if you die in the state of grace, that you go straight to heaven because that's not biblical.

[284] And so the idea of having Gagorean Masses offered for your loved one, it just makes sense.

[285] Your thoughts?

[286] Absolutely.

[287] And I think it's good to bring up on this Ash Wednesday the proper disposition for faithful Catholics, really for faithful Christians, but especially the Catholics.

[288] I mean, the church has a beautiful theology of life and death.

[289] And I think too often, and it's woven, as you say, offering masses for someone who has died.

[290] That's the greatest Catholic prayer and the greatest thing we can do for someone who has died, really.

[291] But I think that too often they, I mean, at least, the funerals that I'm aware of, even Catholic funerals, there's a tendency to kind of presume salvation.

[292] And I think we really need to be careful about that.

[293] And certainly not either to presume damnation, but to just know, like you said, we need to pray, just like Maccabees says, it's a holy and pious thought to pray for the dead.

[294] We need to do that seriously.

[295] I tried to do that as a priest at every mass to really pray for all who have died.

[296] I mean, the Eucharistic prayers, all the different forms, have a moment of prayer for the dead.

[297] And I think it's a very Catholic approach.

[298] And I think it's the approach of Christ and his truth to say, yes, we pray for these individuals.

[299] Not that, I mean, it really reinforces.

[300] are teaching on purgatory, I mean, it all is logical.

[301] Certainly, if there was no purgatory, there's no need to pray for someone who has died.

[302] They're either saved or damned.

[303] Right.

[304] And in the Protestant area where I live, many of the people assume, you know, and they talk that way at someone's death.

[305] Oh, they're in a better place and they're, you know, they're with their relatives.

[306] and it's like immediately gone to heaven.

[307] That's not what the church teaches.

[308] And I think that creeps into our approach at funerals.

[309] And even, yes, it is a work of mercy to console the mourning and to be there for people that are mourning, the loss, the death of a loved one.

[310] But we need to be careful about assuming that they are.

[311] in heaven.

[312] I mean, one to just, you know, kind of put a finer point on it, an infant that is baptized, you can assume.

[313] That's right.

[314] You can say they're an angel.

[315] I mean, they're not, they're not an angel.

[316] They're a human being.

[317] They're a whole, they're a saint.

[318] Yeah.

[319] And we can say that.

[320] That's right.

[321] Because an infant that has been baptized and is never, of court, by definition, an infant hasn't had a chance to commit personal sin.

[322] And so they become a saint.

[323] And I would say the same thing, extending that.

[324] And I think these are things that we need to think about and be aware of.

[325] Because the great and beautiful world that God has given us, too often it's eclipsed by just not really thinking about it or not having the proper theology.

[326] As I talk about an infant who has died, anyone who has what we call special needs these days, but anyone, whatever they age they live to, if they have never had the ability to, you know, to reach the age of reason, to choose good and bad, to choose sin or virtue.

[327] then they too are baptized, they go, I mean, they become saints when they die.

[328] Because if they haven't committed any personal sin, I mean, even for them, they need to be baptized and freed from original sin.

[329] Right.

[330] But if they haven't committed a personal sin, and, you know, I think, again, we have to be careful about presuming, because even families that I've talked to that may have a special needs child, I mean, many of them will say they need to go to confession, even though their understanding may be somewhat limited.

[331] The presumption is, if they're a human being of seven years or older, the presumption is they've reached the age of reason.

[332] But I guess what I'm saying, and again, we leave it in God's hands often.

[333] We don't really know.

[334] But if there's someone who hasn't committed personal sin, because they haven't really reached what the age of reason represents, then when they die, they don't have to go through purgatory.

[335] Because purgatory, I think that's a good way to remind ourselves as well.

[336] Pergatory is is about personal sin.

[337] It's presuming you've been baptized and you've been washed clean of original sin.

[338] For those who were never baptized, you know, I'm, you know, I guess I'm kind of out beyond my depth, which isn't hard to do.

[339] I don't know what the church teaches really in that question.

[340] Maybe you do specifically, but I would presume.

[341] that because of baptism is necessary, that we do everything we can to see that people are baptized.

[342] If they end up not being baptized, they're in God's hand.

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

[344] We're talking about the four last things.

[345] You know, I have to say this, Bishop Strickland, we could be talking about, you know, the Super Bowl game or whatever.

[346] whatever you want to talk about.

[347] But really, that's kind of fleeting.

[348] The thing that's ultimately important is, when you die, where do you go for all eternity?

[349] It seems like this is really important.

[350] And I want to, while you were talking earlier in this last segment, you know, I do 200 funerals a year.

[351] I've got one coming up right after this.

[352] And I was so amazed.

[353] There was a young man who unfortunately was a manic depressant, he had mental issues, and he committed suicide.

[354] Big Catholic family.

[355] So we had the funeral Mass, and after the Mass, the dad got up to do a little eulogy and other people and relatives came up.

[356] And he said something that really touched me. And believe me, I mean, I have thousands of funerals over the years I've gone to, which is like, wow, I mean, it's part of what we do here at VMPR at our chapel.

[357] And the father said, please do me a favor.

[358] Don't come up to me and say, my son is in a better place.

[359] Please don't do that.

[360] Do this.

[361] Have prayers and mass is offered for my son.

[362] That's what you can do for me. And I was just like blown away because I'm not normally, I don't hear that from the families.

[363] So this dad, who was an older gentleman, probably as old as I am in the 60s, somehow he got it that we need to pray for the dead and I thought well if only people really understood that all right Bishop Strickland we're in the catechism section on why why might a person go to purgatory before heaven now we did talk a little bit about this but the catechism says because there's no sin in heaven who die in God's friendship still bear the effects of sin And like I said earlier, how many of us are going to die in heroic virtue?

[364] In other words, without any purification from our own selfishness.

[365] But before entering heaven and being in God's presence, we must be fully purified from the effects of sin.

[366] So it's pay now?

[367] I like this.

[368] Our pay later.

[369] We either purify ourselves with sin on this earth or we will be purified.

[370] purified after death in purgatory.

[371] Purgatory is a place where God cleanses us from the sins from which we did not completely separate ourselves during our time on earth.

[372] And they quote the book of Revelation chapter 21 to 27, only perfect and pure enter heaven.

[373] Father Benedict Rochelle, who I knew quite well, he's been here at the chapel over the years, and he said to me, when I died, Terry, make sure you have masses off.

[374] for me because I know I deserve a long time in purgatory and I thought man if he could say that this was like 20 years ago when he told me that I thought wow I'd better have it clear that when I pass that my relatives know to have masses offered for me because I'm like anyone else I'm a sinner and I know I'm not perfect and pure and so this is always a good thing to do is they have masses offered for us.

[375] Bishop Strickland, when you were a child, I'm going to go back when you were a kid, did you understand as a child that we needed to pray for the poor souls and purgatory?

[376] And if yes, how did that relate?

[377] Because I want to share my understanding as a child that we would pray for poor souls and purgatory.

[378] Your thoughts?

[379] Yeah, that was my understanding, even as a kid.

[380] And I guess the main thing that taught me that was the tradition in our family of having masses offered for people when they died.

[381] And certainly, again, because I had many non -Catholic relatives, I remember conversations with, you know, my parents saying, well, they say, I mean, they say, oh, they're in a better place and all those kinds of consoling phrases.

[382] but we learned a different approach and mainly, you know, to pray, to pray the rosary, to have a mass offered, and to pray for those who have died.

[383] And as we were talking about death, judgment, heaven, and hell, it occurs to me that we talk really mainly about judgment, heaven, and hell.

[384] I think we need to talk about death.

[385] as well.

[386] We live in a time when with a lot of people, we have, I'll put it this way.

[387] We have more control over death than ever before in history.

[388] That's true.

[389] And what I'm talking about is people who are chronically ill or nearing death.

[390] We have ways to manage that that even 100 years ago didn't exist.

[391] That's true.

[392] I mean, we have certainly respirators and things that are hopefully always directed toward trying to prolong life.

[393] But sometimes, you know, the medical technology or just the medical options that we have can really be misused.

[394] And I think that what I wanted to make a point about is when someone, is approaching death, we need to give them every opportunity to have a good death in the spiritual sense.

[395] Yes.

[396] And I think very often people are medicated so much that that's interfered with.

[397] I agree.

[398] So I would just encourage people, I mean, I know it's easy.

[399] And I'm not saying, I mean, certainly to endure pain can be, you know, suffering souls and joining that suffering to Christ.

[400] And I know many people that have chronic pain that they deal with.

[401] And they do make that effort to join it to the suffering of Christ.

[402] But I guess what I'm talking about is people who are really nearing death and And I think the loved ones, and I would encourage people in everything they can to prepare for a situation like that, to let people know that they want to die with their faculties as much as possible.

[403] I think an awful lot of people die these days, and they've been so medicated.

[404] And maybe, I mean, sometimes it can be an immoral kind of euthanasia.

[405] Of course, that is devastating and wrong.

[406] But even when it's really not euthanasia, I think we need to, and honestly, this is something that pastorally, even we as pastors, need to advise people and give people the opportunity to be conscious, as conscious as they can be up until their death.

[407] instead of being so medicated that really the ability to make a moral choice is gone.

[408] When if they're unconscious, I mean, unconscious people can't make a choice.

[409] And I have a good friend who tells the story of his own father where they were saying, oh, he needs this medication or that.

[410] And they were, the medical people and even some of the family were promoting that this person needing to be medicated so much that they wouldn't have had the chance to call the briefs and to make a good confession, to really consciously acknowledge their sin and seek God's mercy for themselves.

[411] I mean, yes, we pray for them, and it's a good thing to offer masses, but really the primary agent there, is the individual person who's dying.

[412] And it's not really mercy to eliminate that possibility, especially if we know someone really has been far from the church and maybe hasn't gone to mass or confession in a long time.

[413] Part of how we love that person as they come close to death is to keep the door open, even though they may say, oh, I don't want to see a priest.

[414] And I mean, many times people will say, oh, you know, don't send me the priest.

[415] That means I'm dying.

[416] Yeah.

[417] I think we need to educate people that let the priests come so that you can make a good confession, whether you die or not.

[418] If you need to go to confession, you need to go to confession.

[419] So I think that as we talk about death, judgment, heaven, and hell, we really need to look at the way.

[420] we allow people to die in modern society that very often the faith question is not very high on the list of issues being dealt with.

[421] And it needs to be at the very top.

[422] I agree.

[423] You know, Bishop Strickland, I had a good friend, World War II veteran who I was with when he was dying.

[424] A very holy man, he spent 35 years praying rosaries at abortion clinics and he was a retired school teacher, very holy man, father of eight children, and I was with him on his deathbed, and he repeated this prayer, Jesus, Mary, and St. Joseph, I give you my heart and my soul.

[425] Jesus, Mary, and St. Joseph assist me in my last agony.

[426] And he repeat that over and over again.

[427] And I thought about this.

[428] This is a man who prayed debris for the last 25 years of his life, just a real holy man who live next door to me was by our godparents for my children and he was just a holy man but he died a holy death and i'll never forget him here he is in the agony of death repeating this simple prayer jesus mary and st joseph i give you my heart and my soul jesus mary and st joseph assists me in my last agony and the man expired and i got to tell you it moved me as a friend of his to watch him die with the prayers on his lips of asking the assistance of the holy family to help him in his agony.

[429] That I will never forget as long as I live.

[430] Wow.

[431] Well, Bishop Strickland, we're at the end of the hour.

[432] Again, could we also please get your blessing for our listeners?

[433] Almighty God, we ask your blessing for this Ash Wednesday.

[434] May it truly be the beginning of a beautiful Lenton journey that draws us further from sin.

[435] and more deeply into living holiness, living the virtues that you have laid before us through the revelation of your son.

[436] May the saints and the Queen of Saints, the Immaculate Virgin Mary, intercede for us, especially as we enter into this Lenton season.

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

[438] Amen.

[439] I wanted to remind everybody, this segment was sponsored by Tan Books.

[440] Go to VMPR.

[441] and click on the Tan Book logo to shop for all your good Catholic book needs.

[442] And Tan gives us a little bit of a commission back to VMPR because we're promoting their books and Tan Books is a good one.

[443] And I just want to encourage you to support the good Catholic publishing houses because they need your support and you need to read good holy books because St. Alphonse has said it.

[444] Only God knows how much good can come from one holy book.

[445] Thanks again for listening and may God richly bless you.

[446] Thanks for supporting us here at Virgin Most Powerful Radio.

[447] God love you.