16 Jul 24 – God Expects Us to Be Holy

[0] Welcome to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

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

[2] And each week I have the bishop here to talk about how to fall deeper in love with Jesus Christ and his bride to church.

[3] We use the catechism of the Catholic Church.

[4] We use his tweets and comments about the culture.

[5] Bishop Strickland, welcome to another week.

[6] Thanks, Terry.

[7] Bishop Strickland, before we get to your tweets, I'm reading a fantastic book and I'm like you.

[8] When you get a good book, you devour it.

[9] and this is Peter Kreef, a philosopher, it's called How to Destroy Western Civilization and other ideas from the Cultural of Bess.

[10] And it's Ignatius Press.

[11] And I wanted to quote something from Peter Kreef regarding a study.

[12] And then see if this makes sense to you.

[13] This is on page 65.

[14] He's saying, according to a study of Higher Education Research Institute, the percentage of Americans who thought getting rich was very important rose from 42 % in 1967 to 75 % in 2005, while the percentage who thought developing a meaningful philosophy of life was very important.

[15] Interesting, Bishop Strickland, it fell from 85 % in 1967 to 46 % to 46%.

[16] And so I want to get your take on that.

[17] And also, according to the George Burnapole, and this is really where the rubber meets the ground, this poll said Americans are very comfortable with their religious faith.

[18] Most adults and even teenagers see themselves as people of faith, but their faith is rarely a focal point in their life or a critical factor in their decision making.

[19] According to his poll, this is amazing.

[20] only 15 % of regular churchgoers.

[21] Now this is Protestant and Catholic and other religions who themselves make up only about 50 % of America give their relationship to God as their first priority.

[22] And only 35 % of regular church believers believe that God expects people to be holy.

[23] Bishop Strickland, first of all, I want to get your take on the question regarding the percentage of Americans who say they want to be rich and not have a meaningful philosophical life.

[24] What are your thoughts on that study?

[25] Well, I think it just indicates Christ said we should be in the world, but not of the world.

[26] And both of those indicate we're very much as a culture we're of the world.

[27] Wealth does not bring happiness.

[28] The culture says it does, and we can all be fooled into that, but many lives are left empty, really at their core, just empty if they focus just on material wealth.

[29] But that's the push, even in Catholic families because we all live in the same culture there's a tendency to want our kids to make a lot of money and to put them on a path to do exactly that the the reality is that we need to be formed as the children of god that we are and that is what will ultimately fulfill us and bring us hope and happiness even in this life and certainly in everlasting life.

[30] But the culture definitely teaches us and it's obvious that even religious people, even those who believe in God and want to follow God's law, that we're all affected by a culture that says getting a lot of money is what it's about and that it doesn't surprise me at all, They're not very engaged in pursuing holiness, pursuing a deeper life in God, because God's up there.

[31] Yeah.

[32] The money's down here.

[33] And the focus is down here.

[34] It's all on the horizontal plane.

[35] It's all, you know, build a better world here.

[36] And that even invades the church in many ways.

[37] Certainly, we just celebrated the Easter Tritome.

[38] And in our Easter vigil liturgy, we read all the readings, which takes a while.

[39] But it's a great panorama of divine revelation, sacred scripture.

[40] And it begins with a disordered wasteland that God gets creative with.

[41] And he builds order.

[42] He builds meaning.

[43] He builds us created in his image and likeness.

[44] we've lost touch with a lot of that in our culture and even within faith.

[45] And it's not just the Catholic Church.

[46] All of the religions, religion just as a phenomenon, tends to be watered down, compromised, and it's certainly not the dominant force, just like that poll indicates that people, People are much more worried about being in relationship with God is just not their priority.

[47] There are a lot of priorities that come before that.

[48] And that we see played out in many different ways.

[49] Because, as I've heard before, if your priest is a saint, then you are likely to be, more holy.

[50] That's right.

[51] If your priest is holy, you're likely to be, you know, at least striving for goodness.

[52] If your priest is good, then you are just trying to, you know, get by with just avoiding sin.

[53] So when the leadership is, is at one level, it's natural that the followers, whether priests or pastors, I mean, it really is across religions, It's likely that the flock is going to be one notch below that.

[54] And so when I as a bishop and not very holy, I shouldn't be surprised that the flock is a little less holy.

[55] So I need to strive for to repent of my sins and to strive for greater holiness.

[56] I certainly am trying to do that.

[57] And I'm sure a lot of pastors are, but we're definitely fighting an uphill battle, but we have to remember what we've just commemorated in our Catholic faith.

[58] The Lord climbed the hill of Calvary up to Galgotha, which was an uphill battle for sure.

[59] but he shows us that if we if we stick with following him carrying our cross he said we have to carry a cross if we want to follow him i would imagine that both of us as men of faith have felt that cross amen at different times but what i'm always reminded is i reflect on that any cross that i feel i'm carrying and sometimes you know i can get in a pity party and say oh man it's tough i'm able are resisting and have all these challenges.

[60] But then I remind myself of what the son of God went through.

[61] And as he tells us, the world hated me before it hated you.

[62] The hill that Christ climbed was steeper than any of us have to encounter.

[63] And we need to keep that perspective.

[64] It doesn't mean that real suffering isn't in our lives.

[65] But hopefully it's redemptive suffering that has a meaning and that's what Christ shows us that suffering can have a meaning but we live in a world that wants to avoid we take a painkiller we we do everything to avoid suffering and we still suffer we can't totally avoid it but the whole culture is about how do we avoid it how do we avoid it instead of saying how can I just embrace and endure this for the sake of joining myself to Jesus Christ.

[66] Well, said, Bishop Strickland, I think of a comment about a meaningful philosophical life that it was important years ago.

[67] And you know what I've noticed, to prove your point, we've got so many more suicide, so many more unhappy people since we threw God out.

[68] And, I mean, that's just a facts.

[69] Now, I made a comment to you off the air because I was taught this, that good philosophy breeds good theology.

[70] And I say this because a lot of my friends, my age, didn't get that were ordained to the priesthood, didn't get a good philosophical background, especially to mystic philosophy.

[71] And when they were ordained, they really didn't grasp on to good theology.

[72] And so there's a principle there that says good philosophy breeds good theology.

[73] Now, I didn't realize you have a philosophical degree, correct?

[74] Correct.

[75] So am I on to something when I say good philosophy breeds good theology?

[76] breeds good theology?

[77] Absolutely, because good philosophy is about thinking rightly, about looking at our world, looking at human relationships, looking at all of creation, and thinking it through, thinking about where is goodness, where is right, where is truth, and all of that is the human foundation of theology.

[78] I would once again use the image of the image of of the cross.

[79] Philosophy is kind of like the horizontal bar that establishes a foundation that the vertical bar that leads us to God can be planted in.

[80] But if you don't have that philosophical foundation, then it's hard for that vertical call to God, theology, love of God.

[81] That can be hard to to really embrace and understand, because it needs to be built in our human reality.

[82] We have that natural call to God, and we need to build on that.

[83] Well said, Bishop Strickland, we come back.

[84] I want to talk about the issue of modern -day hermits in the church today on the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[85] We'll be right back.

[86] Welcome back to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[87] I gave a teaser at the end of the first segment.

[88] I said, we want to talk a little bit about something and maybe some of you've never heard of modern -day hermits.

[89] And we've heard about the saints 500 years ago.

[90] But today, there are hermits in different dioceses and even in Bishop Strickland's diocese who give themselves totally to Christ.

[91] She says, this is this sister who says that she gives herself to Christ and she withdraws from the world to devote herself entirely to the praise of God and the salvation of the world through silence and solitude and through constant prayer and I might add penance.

[92] You know, I know a person like that, Bishop Strickland, who was in Hollywood as a stand -up comic.

[93] She was a funny girl, beautiful blonde.

[94] I mean, she was pretty.

[95] I remember 30 years ago.

[96] I wasn't blind.

[97] And so she ends up going into a convent and then didn't stay in that convent but now she is in Pennsylvania serving the diocese by being a hermit and she's praying and doing the same thing this sister is doing and it's a special vocation but Bishop Strickland what's your take on someone doing something as radical as that well it's just a reminder of what we were talking about earlier and it's taking it to maybe a new level but to be in the world, but not of the world.

[98] And I think a misunderstanding that a lot of people have is the idea that, oh, well, those people are doing anything productive or how can they disengage from what's important and those kind of things.

[99] But if we remember, if we certainly being a hermit makes absolutely no sense if you don't believe in God.

[100] Well said.

[101] And if you don't believe that we're created in the image and likeness of God, that we're connected just by our existence to God.

[102] But if you accept those two parts of our creed that we believe in God, we believe we're created in the image and likeness of God, that we are naturally called to God, then the life of a hermit or of a cloistered nun or monk is it begins to make sense because those people are embracing fully what all of us are called to embrace at least in some aspect of our lives.

[103] A hermit is probably, I think of St. Anthony, of the desert who basically just went and lived in the desert by himself and prayed that is an extreme that is as you mentioned a very unique and special vocation yes no one should feel that they are expected to go and be a hermit and I'm sure this woman that you mentioned yeah no one told her she had to that would be inappropriate but if that is a call that someone feels deeply and and it's the kind of thing that um once people discern that the i haven't talked to many hermits but that ones that i have i've talked to it's it's like they're compelled to do this it's they there it becomes without question that they know they must live their life in this way and i often say to the cloistered sisters that we're blessed with here in the diocese that I think that we out in the active world, I mean, I certainly am called to be a man of prayer as we all are.

[104] There should be an element of that hermit's life in each of our lives, time of prayer.

[105] We're all given 24 hours a day.

[106] A hermit basically gives all of that to prayer and to reflection, into sacred life.

[107] But all of us are called to give some portion of that.

[108] some greater than others but um it's a reminder of of what the hermit is doing is connecting really in service to all of us yes we're all called to serve christ gives us that model and i would encourage anyone listening to really think about how a hermit is living out that call of service to others by praying not just praying for themselves and really when we pray we're naturally drawn to pray for others and that's that's part of it Christ himself prayed for the world so a hermit though they're alone with God they are engaged with all the world through prayer and I think we probably on this side of heaven will never fully grasp how essential those prayers are.

[109] And it, to me, Terry, ties into the value of any prayer, and especially of the Mass, the importance of every Mass that is being celebrated.

[110] It's always bigger than that priest or bishop who's celebrating Mass and the congregation that's there.

[111] it may be a huge congregation but in proportion to humanity it's always a small gathering ultimately sometimes it's a very small gathering of two or three people it can be the priest all by himself but when we celebrate the mass it's the greatest prayer that we offer and I think that's a good just as I'm talking and thinking about it I think that's a good image of what the life of a hermit is is someone who is seeking that relationship with God that has, that becomes a blessing for all of us, for one of us, one member of the family, one member of the body of Christ, to really grow that deeply in relationship with God and his love.

[112] It's a benefit to all of us.

[113] Well, said, Bishop Strickland wouldn't be a Bishop Strickland hour without talking about the unborn.

[114] So I want to give kudos to Texas senators.

[115] You tweet it that some laws like this are sweeping the nation.

[116] And can you tell us exactly what the Senate passed regarding a ban on abortions?

[117] Well, I'm not sure of the real details of the law, but it was one of these heartbeat laws that I think is a great image and a great reminder.

[118] it's really pretty early on in the gestation of a child in the womb that they begin to have a heartbeat and once and certainly prior to the heartbeat they are still sacred to God from conception they are sacred persons and need to be protected but thankfully at least it's a step in the right direction to acknowledge the that when there's a heartbeat yeah it's hard to argue that this is just a blob of tissue yeah a blob of tissue doesn't have a heartbeat that's right it never was just a blob of tissue but certainly that's a step in the right direction yeah for a culture that still argues whether second trimester or third trimester is where abortion should be limited way beyond that certainly heartbeat laws at least and they're never going to be perfect And people sometimes oppose them because they have this flaw or that flaw.

[119] But I guess I supported it just because at least it's acknowledging what we need to acknowledge as brothers and sisters in humanity that when the person in the womb begins to have a heartbeat, the argument that they're not a person starts to fall apart even more.

[120] it should fall apart as soon as they're conceived.

[121] But in our culture, it's a step in the right direction.

[122] I would put it that way.

[123] Bishop Strickland, I wanted to get your take on something that it seems that when the Catholic Church proclaims its perennial teachings, non -Catholics I've found are very respectful for what we're teaching.

[124] I'll give you an example of that right now.

[125] There's an Anglican bishop up in upstate New York who just resigned because he was battling with his church over same -sex marriage.

[126] And he went through a tribunal, through their church, and they found him guilty for saying that we can't marry same -sex couples.

[127] And he gave very good, compelling reasons why he wouldn't say that this should be done.

[128] And they were many of the ones that we use as Catholics.

[129] So he resigned, and I've noticed that many of these Anglican priests and bishops, I've known several of them where they resigned because of like in 1976 they had the women's ordination and they became Catholic a priest and it's an exception to the rule but am I onto something that when we proclaim boldly the moral teachings of the church that many non -Catholics respect us for that?

[130] Oh absolutely being here in East Texas all of my life I've heard many non -Catholics, Many Christians of other communities really say they do look to the church and they appreciate, even though they haven't embraced the Catholic faith fully, they do look to the church for that authority because it's the truth.

[131] I mean, we believe it's the truth.

[132] And people that are seeking the truth are naturally going to appreciate that being shared forthrightly with love and with vigor.

[133] well said when we come back i want to uh we're going to get into the catechism in a few minutes but i just wanted to get the bishop's take on the octave of easter that we're in for eight days and i wanted to see if the bishop would be able to just chat a little bit about why uh are we celebrating easter all week long when our protestant brothers who i've i meet every saturday when i'm in town telling me yeah we had easter what did we do we had you know we did this we did that and it was over.

[134] And you Catholics, you're going to celebrate it for eight days?

[135] What's that about, man?

[136] You know, so anyhow, that's what we want to chat about.

[137] I also want to remind everybody, Bishop Strickland, before we break about your institute that you have on your website.

[138] Can you just share and direct people to that institute, please?

[139] Yeah, it's the St. Philip's institute website, saint philip institute .org, philip with one L. And it's a It's about teaching the truth.

[140] It's about everything we've been talking about.

[141] The truth sets us free.

[142] The truth allows us to know God and to know who we are, to know his son, Jesus Christ, and to be guided in God's Holy Spirit.

[143] So that's the mission of the St. Philip Institute.

[144] And I would encourage people, they just posted a very brief video of just over six minutes, I think, trying to capture just in images.

[145] the idea of why do we celebrate the Tritome?

[146] And I'd encourage people to go to the website and to look for that video.

[147] It's easy to find right there on the made page.

[148] And it's an opportunity to just reflect on.

[149] Christ has taken on our suffering and redeemed it, the suffering of sin and death.

[150] Jesus Christ took that on as he went through his passion and carried his cross.

[151] And he takes that through, conquers death, going through death.

[152] He died.

[153] He really died.

[154] And he rises from the dead.

[155] That's what the Institute really is always about.

[156] And I'd encourage people to check out that brief video of just over six, seven minutes.

[157] St. Philip Institute, check it out.

[158] There's lots of good things in there.

[159] We'll come right back and we'll just talk a little bit about the octave of Easter.

[160] and then we'll get right into the catechism of the Catholic Church.

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

[162] We'll be right back.

[163] Welcome back to the Bishop Strickland Hour before we chat about the Easter octave that we're celebrating at this moment.

[164] I want to remind people to get your catechism out because we're going to be starting on paragraph 150.

[165] I know whom I have believed.

[166] In other words, it's going to be talking about the profession of faith, which is critical for us to know what we believe as Catholics.

[167] So Bishop Strickland, again, you know, people are saying the octave of Easter, we do this for Christmas, is it that big a deal?

[168] I mean, I think it is, but what's the rationale for celebrating Easter eight days in a row?

[169] Well, I believe there's a lot of wisdom in that.

[170] For one thing, when it comes, we were talking about philosophy and theology.

[171] earlier.

[172] Yes.

[173] And when it comes to those kinds of concepts, when it comes to things of a depth like that, we need time.

[174] We need to sleep on it a bit.

[175] We need to let it not just be one day, one moment, but be something that is part of days.

[176] Actually, as you talk about the octave of Easter, we can surprise people even more and remind them that we really celebrate a season of Easter all the way to Pentecost we will be celebrating the resurrection of the Lord.

[177] And if we really reflect on what it means that God's divine son was incarnate among us and died and rose from the dead, then we know.

[178] need some time to really absorb that and say, what does that really mean for my life?

[179] I'm glad you brought up the whole season that we're celebrating, beginning with eight days, which I love the way the liturgy emphasizes it in the prayers that I offer for these eight days, and every priest at mass, we speak about the day.

[180] It's as if it's one day of celebration, eight days combined into one day, liturgically.

[181] So that it's just a way of emphasizing these, as we say, are our high holy days.

[182] And there's a Marian antiphon that we pray during the octave especially, Regina Chaley.

[183] Oh, boy.

[184] And it speaks of in Latin, Resurrection Sikut Dixit, which basically translate he rose as he said he would and as i reflected on that i mentioned it in one of my homilies that that is what our faith is he said he is the son of god he being jesus christ of course he said take this bread it is my body take this wine it is my blood he said a lot of things we believe what the divine son of God has told us.

[185] And I just love that in Latin.

[186] Resurrection Sikud Dixit.

[187] He rose because he said he would.

[188] He said he would rise from the dead.

[189] And the apostles, they're kind of like us.

[190] Here we are on the other side of the resurrection, but we can be doubtful and did it really happen?

[191] Did he really mean that?

[192] And how could that be?

[193] The apostles weren't certain.

[194] They said, maybe, but Dave thought, well, he died and they were scattered, but they did see him risen.

[195] He says, blessed are those who have not seen, but have believed.

[196] That's us.

[197] I haven't seen the risen Lord.

[198] Terry Barber hasn't seen the risen Lord.

[199] We've felt him.

[200] Absolutely.

[201] But he's never spoken to me. I've never seen him, but we believe.

[202] Amen.

[203] Because he said he would.

[204] Right.

[205] And he's the son of God.

[206] So I just love that simplicity of that hymn.

[207] And that's what we carry through eight days and a whole season of celebrating.

[208] I love to speak of the resurrection as the seed of the church.

[209] That's where it began.

[210] That's right.

[211] If we take ourselves back to that, that's even before St. Paul.

[212] basically st paul had an encounter a personal encounter it's recorded there in the acts of the apostles he did see him he saw the risen lord and it changed his life completely that is a model for all of us to we haven't seen him but our lives are called to be changed because we know the risen lord and that's what the apostles went out with after pentecost strengthened by the holy spirit They went out and took that charge, the great commissioning, at the end of Matthews Gospel, go out to all the world and baptize in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

[213] So we are the beneficiaries of that.

[214] And that's why we celebrate it for eight days and for a whole season because it's the very heart of the Corrigma, the Christian gospel, the message.

[215] of Jesus Christ, the good news.

[216] Bishop Strickland, that's why I think hope is so critical when it comes to our Catholic faith, giving people hope in Christ.

[217] I mean, politics, excuse me, okay?

[218] Politics come and go.

[219] What's going to last is our hope in Christ and our trust in Jesus Christ.

[220] I can't tell people, don't put your trust in politicians.

[221] It's a matter of fact, I'm going to be honest with your Bishop Strickland.

[222] You personally, as an individual, you're a nice man. I'm not opposed to that.

[223] But you know what?

[224] You don't determine what truth is.

[225] You just proclaim what Jesus Christ teaches and the truth.

[226] And so when we talk about how cultures were converted, whether it was the Middle Ages or the early Christianity, you always say you've got to be first century Christians, it seems to me that the answer is still the same.

[227] We need to give people hope.

[228] And right now, with the pandemic, with everything that's coming in politics, I mean, the place is a mess right now.

[229] It seems to me, rather than spending time on trying to figure out our political positions, I think we would do better for the whole country if we would proclaim our hope in Jesus Christ.

[230] That's my take on it.

[231] Absolutely.

[232] He is hope.

[233] and people as you said Terry people need hope in this time and too many people are hopeless yes and I'm sure we've both had conversations I know I have with people all the time it's hard to imagine people without faith yeah faith hope and love yeah those virtues are the foundation of living Jesus Christ the theological virtues faith hope and love and they all fit together.

[234] When we have faith, it begins to nurture the hope, and it allows us to love.

[235] Love ourselves, love God, love our neighbor, all of those three elements of love.

[236] And hope gives us the energy to go out of ourselves in that loving way, and to remember, even with the burdens we carry and people are worried, I worry too much, I confess that.

[237] People are worried, people are worried, people are confused and hope helps to counteract that and what is more hopeful than Jesus Christ Jesus of Nazareth really dead in the tomb his body in the human way beginning to decompose because that's what bodies do as soon as that life breath is gone the doctors that I've talked to immediately that that's a dead body and and I'm sure as a priest I've I've had to you know go and view dead bodies in accidents or for whatever reason certainly after being put in a coffin but even before that and what really occurred to me as a young man as I began to to most a lot of people you know I mean don't see a lot of dead bodies probably as a priest I've seen seen many more than most people.

[238] And we shy away from that, naturally.

[239] But what occurred to me early on was just how dead a dead body is.

[240] It's so obviously clear that this, and certainly we still have respect for the body because it was a vessel of the Holy Spirit.

[241] But there's nothing more dead than a human body that is a corpse.

[242] and that was Christ.

[243] And so the hope of the resurrection is the hope of a transformation of whatever is the most devastating element of our lives.

[244] If we're still alive, we have hope.

[245] And even as Christians, even in death, we have hope.

[246] Because a lot of people would see death as the ultimate end for us.

[247] And even the liturgy speaks that way, and we talk that way.

[248] we speak of people being asleep because for us as Christians, it's a transition.

[249] The liturgy says life has changed, not ended in death.

[250] It was probably surprising to some of the people at my Easter Masses, but I got some good feedback, thankfully.

[251] Maybe they weren't just being nice to the bishop, but I said, I started my homily with momentum Omori, remember death.

[252] And then I didn't stop there because Easter is not stopping at just remember death, but we do need to remember death.

[253] And then I went to the Easter candle and said, Christus Vinchit.

[254] Christ has conquered.

[255] But I think the beauty of our Catholic faith is that liturgically, through the images of the crucifix and the pascal candle, We're always remembering both and death and life or what it's all bound up in.

[256] And momento mori means, yes, we acknowledge death.

[257] And where do we go with death?

[258] We go to Christus Vinci.

[259] He has conquered it.

[260] He has conquered death and sin.

[261] That's our hope.

[262] And that's the hope we need to share with the world with greater joy and vigor than ever before.

[263] because too many people are hopeless.

[264] And you know, Bishop, how do we keep that hope?

[265] I always been asked by a good bishop or good priest told me this.

[266] Ask Jesus Christ for more faith every single day and your faith will grow.

[267] You're not going to have strong faith if you don't ask.

[268] And so that's why I encourage people every day.

[269] Absolutely.

[270] Ask Jesus for more faith.

[271] And visit Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, the source and summit of the Christian life.

[272] Spend time before Jesus in the Eucharist.

[273] That's another way to build up your faith.

[274] When we come back, we're going to open.

[275] open up our catechism.

[276] The Catholic Church, paragraph 150.

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

[278] Don't turn that dial.

[279] We're sharing more of the gospel with me. Welcome back to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[280] We're opening up our catechism to the Catholic Church, and why are we opening up a catechism?

[281] I'll tell you why, Bishop Strickland, in my opinion, the faithful need to study this catechism on a regular basis because, you know, this is a example, you're going down without the knowledge of your faith because the culture is so strong and so influential that without knowing your faith, you just can't stand up against the culture.

[282] So that's why I think it's important.

[283] So we're going to go to paragraph 150.

[284] I love the title where it says, I know whom I have believed.

[285] I believe in Jesus Christ, right?

[286] So to believe in God alone.

[287] And this is what paragraph 150 says.

[288] And Bishop Strickland, I know I repeat myself, but the catechism says, it's so succinctly, this teachings of our faith, that's why I love it because I go, oh yeah, okay, I'll just read it out loud, and then you can comment.

[289] Faith is, first of all, a personal adherence of man to God.

[290] At the same time and inseparably, it is a free assent to the whole truth that God has revealed as personal adherence to God and assent to his truth.

[291] It's Jesus Christ's truth.

[292] Christians' faith.

[293] differ from our faith in any human person.

[294] Even Bishop Strickland, right?

[295] No, it's Jesus Christ truth.

[296] It is right and just to entrust oneself holy to God and to believe absolutely what he says.

[297] It would be futile and false to place such faith in a creature.

[298] All right, Bishop Strickland, give us your take on that.

[299] Well, it points to a lot of things that we know.

[300] need to embrace and to consider more deeply.

[301] Probably both of us have talked to people that have walked away from faith, walked away from, as they say, organized religion.

[302] Yeah, I've heard.

[303] Because creatures have failed them.

[304] Yeah.

[305] And certainly as one creature, I'm a sinner.

[306] I'm sure there are people that I've failed.

[307] As every minister would, if they're honest, with themselves, we'll probably have to acknowledge.

[308] Of course.

[309] So I think it's a reminder that, as it says, faith is a personal adherence to God.

[310] Yeah.

[311] It's recognizing that the real meaning of our lives, the source of our lives, and the end of our lives.

[312] So the beginning, the present, and the end of the end, are all about God.

[313] We come from God.

[314] We are called to live here, to live God's truth, and we're destined to return to God.

[315] God doesn't force that upon us.

[316] Faith is about building that relationship of personal adherence of our lives to God.

[317] And I think that one of the things we need to emphasize in the world today, what's that is what this paragraph very briefly as you said gets into assent to the truth man many who claim to be believers or have some relationship with god have a lot of problems with the basic truths that he shared with us revealed in sacred scripture revealed in creation there are some basic truths we can sometimes call it natural law law, and certainly the revealed truth in combination with the natural law where we can, many of the philosophers, talk about being able to understand a lot of our world without what God revealed to us.

[318] Just by using our reason and looking at the world, we can figure out a lot of what is important.

[319] And then with the additional addition of revealed truth, the church teaches us that we can know everything we need to know for our ultimate destiny of salvation with God, to return to God, to be in God as we have come from God.

[320] Faith is about living with that connection.

[321] I like to go back to the basic meaning of religion.

[322] It's tied to, I've said this before that the word religion is similar to the word, and it's of the same roots as the word ligament.

[323] We have ligaments in our bodies that hold our bones with our muscles and hold us together.

[324] That's what religion is about.

[325] It's holding us connected to God to make that ligament between the creature and the creator, between us, daughters and sons of God and our creator.

[326] We need religion to help foster that faith.

[327] Sadly, as this paragraph just alludes to, many times people lose their religion because they forget who it's connecting them to.

[328] I mean, ministers are just creatures and sometimes they fail us.

[329] Sometimes we, through our sinfulness, sometimes through corruption, sometimes just through human weakness for the individual person, an individual minister, fails to be what we should be.

[330] But if the person, and the church is wise in her teaching, now I remember my mother being wise in her teaching to us as kids.

[331] She said, never let a priest cause you to leave the church.

[332] And we all need to remember that.

[333] Certainly, as a bishop and as a priest, I have an obligation to live as rightly as I can.

[334] And I do my best to constantly turn from sin and to try to live a more virtuous life.

[335] But really, all of us are called to do that.

[336] Sometimes it's not just the men but sometimes it's fellow members of the body of Christ in the church.

[337] Oh, yeah.

[338] People get disgusted with each other and say, I'm out of here.

[339] But that's putting your faith in creatures.

[340] Amen.

[341] And the paragraph there says it very well.

[342] It would be futile and false to place such faith in a creature.

[343] Naturally in our humanity, we tend to look to the creatures first, to look to each other, say, oh, this is a place where I'm comfortable and people are nice, and I kind of like what the minister or the priest says during mass or during the service.

[344] And so it's on that human level.

[345] Too often, that's where it is left.

[346] People aren't really there because of faith.

[347] They're there just because of comfortable human relationships.

[348] And so when those human relationships become uncomfortable, maybe because they're encountering truth that's hard to live or whatever the reasons.

[349] People can separate from the religion.

[350] They can break away from that that is binding them to God.

[351] So I think it is excellent to reflect on how important faith is and to remember it's faith in God.

[352] Amen.

[353] Certainly we want to have faith in each other and we want to live in a way where people can have faith.

[354] And what we say is what we believe and that they can believe us that we're saying what we know to be true.

[355] But ultimately, our faith has to be in God.

[356] And for all of us, we can be more faithful people, more truthful people, if we're living that relationship with God.

[357] Well, said, Mr. Strickland, I think of the, you talked earlier in the show about the horizontal life of a person, wherever just thinking on the natural level, but not the vertical supernatural.

[358] and it seems to me that when we understand the liturgy, and this is another element that I just bring up that I'm not quite sure our faithful have got the connection of what takes place at Mass. You talked about the beauty of the Mass and the source and summit of the Eucharist, but somehow it's not getting communicated to Joe Sixpack in the Pew, so I hope and pray that I'm convinced that when you have a sacred liturgy, whether it's in English or Latin or whatever language the people are using, if the mass is done very sacred and the priest leads the people in a very beautiful way, and not in just an ordinary way, joking and just acting like it's just some ordinary thing happening, that to me is important.

[359] And I think the priest sets the stage for the sacredness of the mass more than the other people.

[360] I think that that's an important element that I believe after 42 years I would go around and ask people about their belief in the real presence and they just didn't believe and I think somehow through liturgies that were I want to call just you know like balloons and banner liturgies people forgot about the sacredness of it and they just look at it as like another meal or something which is wrong they don't they don't understand the mass and so that might also play into the fact that we're just living on a horizontal rather than a vertical line.

[361] That's my layman's take on that.

[362] So, hey, we've got a couple minutes left, Bishop Strickland.

[363] Actually, well, no, we don't.

[364] But I will say this.

[365] I didn't realize that I talked too much here.

[366] I just wanted to point out that Bishop Strickland, you consistently give us what the church teaches on fundamental teachings, and I appreciate that coming from the bishop because I know many of your hours and your day probably are spent with administrative duties.

[367] You know, what you have to do as a bishop.

[368] I get that.

[369] But I keep repeating that the bishop is to teach, govern, and sanctify.

[370] That's what our church teaches.

[371] And you're teaching us as a shepherd to the flock.

[372] And your flock is in Tyler, Texas diocese.

[373] But because of the radio through YouTube, 30 ,000 people listening there, stations of the cross, and other Catholic stations, your diocese is expanding.

[374] And really, we look not to you as an individual, but we look that you would be faithful as a shepherd to just teach nothing more than what Christ has taught.

[375] We call the perennial teachings.

[376] So I want to thank you for taking the time to open up a catechism and just go through it with us because I think that that is really a solution to the problem in the church right now, and it's about teaching people to fall deep in love with Jesus Christ and his bride the church.

[377] so I just want to thank you for doing that.

[378] Absolutely.

[379] Now, we only have a couple.

[380] Always about him.

[381] Yes, the crucifix.

[382] We're gathered around Christ.

[383] I'm just one of the gathered.

[384] But I have the role of speaking up and pointing to him.

[385] As a bishop and as a successor of the apostle, we look for you to do that.

[386] It's a matter of fact, Bishop Strickland, I would be very disappointed if you didn't do that, okay?

[387] I really would.

[388] I'd be honest with, and I would tell you, Bishop Strickland, I don't want to hear your opinion.

[389] I want to know what the church teaches.

[390] I've actually told that to bishops, but in a loving way.

[391] And the bishop looks at me like, well, that's just how I feel.

[392] I said, I don't care about your feelings, Bishop.

[393] Sorry, tell me what Jesus Christ taught.

[394] All right, Bishop Strickland, how about the final blessing for our listeners, please?

[395] Sure.

[396] The Lord be with you.

[397] And with your spirit.

[398] Almighty God, bless us as we continue this octave of celebrating the resurrection of your son.

[399] and may the blessed Virgin Mary, who is there with him, intercede for us constantly.

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

[401] Thanks again, Bishop Strickland.

[402] You're listening to Virgin Most Powerful Radio.

[403] You can get all of the podcast of Bishop Strickland's shows and all the other shows on Virgin Most Powerful by going to our website, Virgin Most Powerful Radio .org.

[404] And I wish you the best in this Easter season.

[405] May God bless you and your family.

[406] We'll be back again.

[407] And next week, same time, same station.