28 Dec 21 – Cardinal Müller and Bishop Strickland Agree

[0] Welcome to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[1] My name's Terry Barbara.

[2] I'm at Virgin Most Powerful radio.

[3] Bishop Strickland, thanks again for joining us here with this hour.

[4] Thanks, Terry.

[5] I'd love you.

[6] Now, this is going to be a powerful show, and I'll tell you, put your seatbelts on, folks, because I'm going to ask the bishop some questions regarding Cardinal Mueller, his article, his interview with the National Catholic Register.

[7] And it's really a powerful interview because.

[8] he's addressing something that's very important that many of us kind of want to look the other way and there's a lot of fear in the world.

[9] It says, no, no, we can't, you know, we can't deal with this.

[10] We've got to just do whatever we're told to do.

[11] And the Cardinal's letter or interview is titled Cardinal Mueller calls COVID -related sacrament restrictions grave sin.

[12] What does he mean by that?

[13] Well, this interview took place not too long ago, the beginning of the month, December 1st, and it was with the register and he was the former a prefect for the congregation of the doctor of the faith and he also said that that this response of the some of the bishops and priests to close churches are to deny sacraments he's pointing out to the bishops he's calling them out is a grave sin that goes against their God -given authority well bishop strickland that's just the first paragraph I mean that's pretty much contrary to what a lot of prelates are saying he's kind of he's kind of just a handful of guys that would agree with that and my writer is this something that uh you agree with that absolutely and hopefully there's much more than a handful but uh the the phrase that i capture there is god given yeah god given um we've seemed to have forgotten what jesus said just before he returned to the father all power in heaven and on earth has been granted to me, the Son of God.

[14] That's Jesus.

[15] And we need to remember that.

[16] All power in heaven and on earth.

[17] The bishop's power is supernatural authority.

[18] And it comes from God.

[19] Amen.

[20] And the state authorities need to remember that ultimately all power is God.

[21] Of course, you know, when you have so many state authorities, and not just in this country, but across the world now, they don't even believe in God.

[22] Of course, they don't acknowledge that it's God's power, but that is, as bishops, that's what we need to emphasize.

[23] You know, in Christendom, it was all kind of woven together, the divine right of kings and all of that.

[24] We've moved far away from that and certainly there was corruption with that in in the time of the kings and queens but we've really as bishops we need to remember the only authority I have is spiritual yeah and that reminds me humbly to exercise that authority is vicariously exercising the the authority of Jesus Christ.

[25] And if I veer from that, I don't have any authority at all.

[26] And sadly, and as just one bishop, but we have to acknowledge the bishops have very little, they carry very little weight, as we would say.

[27] The authority of the bishops carries little weight with people.

[28] We can decree things, and certainly a lot of good faithful Catholics will still live.

[29] listen, but the time when the world even just respectfully paid attention to what a bishop said, that's pretty much gone.

[30] I mean, that's for all kinds of reasons, the abuse crisis, the corruptions, the lack of accountability, all sorts of things.

[31] And that's on all of us, but we really can't abdicate the responsibility.

[32] even if people don't grant us the respect of the authority that they should, it's still our responsibility to speak the truth and to govern in Christ.

[33] I mean, teach govern and sanctify.

[34] That's a threefold work of a bishop.

[35] And it's something that we all have to pay attention to.

[36] And the faithful need to recognize as well and support the bishop.

[37] and sometimes challenge the bishop to live up to his authority, but always guided by the supernatural authority that we believe Christ said he has, and we believe he does.

[38] He continues to have authority over all things.

[39] That's why the name of Jesus is so powerful.

[40] Well said.

[41] Amen to that.

[42] One of the questions that they asked the Cardinal was, some.

[43] What is your reaction to these increasingly severe mandates, particularly in Europe and Australia?

[44] And he says, only in extreme emergencies can a legitimate state authority impose general vaccination requirements on citizens.

[45] And he gives an example.

[46] He says, the common good must be determining factor which under certain circumstances can restrict, if not abolish the freedom of the individual.

[47] Number two, the production of vaccines must be ethically sound.

[48] Number three, the medical and psychological and social consequences and side effects must be measurable and remain.

[49] I love this word in the catechism.

[50] They use this proportionate to the expected benefits.

[51] He says, unfortunately, many governments have lost the public trust through chaotic measures that have a contradictory logic.

[52] Can you tell us what your thoughts on that are?

[53] Because I think I know where he's going with.

[54] Yeah, I totally agree.

[55] And in the The Cardinal is based on very solid theological teaching and not just theological, but philosophical as well on what does authority mean?

[56] And certainly there can be extreme measures and extreme circumstances, but that, I would say, and just reflecting on what the Cardinal is saying, the more extreme the measures, the higher the bar, the higher expectation for clarity and absolute transparent truth about what's going on.

[57] And we're so far from that in this pandemic, you know, with the church, with the government, with businesses, with airlines, with everything.

[58] We're so far from really having solid truth being shared that it really diminishes any ability for.

[59] for extreme measures to be reasonably taken.

[60] When did all this start?

[61] It started with two weeks to flatten the curve.

[62] And that sounds like a joke now.

[63] But that's how we all took it very seriously.

[64] Oh, we've got a lockdown for two weeks to flatten the curve.

[65] That didn't work.

[66] And the propaganda and the false messaging and the hiding of facts, all of that has just continued.

[67] and really grown worse.

[68] I mean, with these variants, and you have people in the government contradicting each other and say, oh, we were blindsided by these variants.

[69] And then somebody else says, oh, no, we knew all about it.

[70] We've been planning for the variance.

[71] It's like, who do you believe?

[72] And frankly, a lot of people don't believe anyone.

[73] Yeah, I agree.

[74] You know, Bishop Strickland, the Cardinal was asked this question, and I would love to ask you this question, but the Cardinal answered it.

[75] So why do you think the Vatican and bishops, almost without an exception, have tended to be publicly silent about this discriminatory and some would say totalitarian policies, especially when the vaccine's efficacy is preventing transmission remains debatable?

[76] So the number of COVID cases is rising in Australia, Germany, and other countries despite widespread vaccination.

[77] And then he says, and when the congregation for the doctor of faith ruled against mandatory vaccinations in December of 2020, he says, bishops and priests are ministers of reconciliation of people with God.

[78] And he quotes the Bible, 1st, 2nd Corinthians, chapter 5, verse 19, and the reconciliation of people with one another.

[79] He quotes Vatican 2, Lumen Gensium.

[80] Their mission and authority comes from Jesus Christ.

[81] Not the state, I said that.

[82] no, Jesus Christ, and they are made effective in the Holy Spirit.

[83] He said this, this is really, I thought was really profound because he said, servants of Christ in the apostolic ministry must not offer themselves as carriers, in other words, as messengers to the rulers of this world, and make themselves propagandists.

[84] According to our Catholic faith, the Pope, besides being the first witness of supernatural revelation of God in Jesus Christ, also the supreme guardian of, and I underline this, natural moral law.

[85] The church's magistrate is therefore entitled and obliged to point out the limits of temporal power which ends at the freedom of faith and conscience.

[86] Bishop Strickland, wow, that's powerful.

[87] I mean, that's powerful what he just said.

[88] Do you agree with all that?

[89] Absolutely, and that's what needs to be said, the limits of temporal power ends at freedom of conscience.

[90] And that's what we're not seeing is just the riding roughshod over the freedom of conscience of individual people.

[91] And again, we're obligated to seek to have a well -formed conscience to know the truth.

[92] And it's hard to have a well -formed conscience when you can't get the truth.

[93] You can't get a straight answer to things.

[94] And it's all politicized and propagandized.

[95] And it's just, it's a mess.

[96] It is.

[97] But the freedom of conscience still has to be held sacred.

[98] Amen.

[99] This is the article, go to the National Catholic Register.

[100] Read it for yourself.

[101] Cardinal Mueller calls COVID -related sacrament.

[102] restrictions at grave sin, and he gives some advice to the leaders of the church, which I happen to agree 100%.

[103] When we come back, we're going to go to the tweets of Bishop Strickland, and then we're going to get into the catechism of the Catholic Church.

[104] Put your seatbelts on, folks.

[105] I've got a quote from a previous pope that'll knock you off your chair, so I'll be sure come back.

[106] We'll be right back.

[107] Welcome back to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[108] We just finished doing a little review of Cardinal Mueller's article interview with the National Catholic Register relating to the the COVID restrictions.

[109] And I just want to point something out, Bishop Strickland, like this just happened yesterday in Toronto.

[110] A man without a vaccine passport was barred from entering the market to buy food.

[111] And, you know, that's just not right.

[112] I mean, what happened to his freedom to choose whether he wants to take the vaccine or not?

[113] And I say this, I got a little thing that came in the mail that says, this will make you probably smile.

[114] And I think our listeners will smile.

[115] A little picture of the old 1950 little girl saying, do you remember when we treated viruses with soup, vitamin C, and plenty of rest?

[116] And then he undernating it says instead of communism.

[117] I thought, well, little girl, there's a lot of wisdom there.

[118] All right.

[119] So, Bishop Cardinal Mueller, thank you for your clarity.

[120] And Bishop Strickland, thank you for your clarity.

[121] I want to switch gears to some of your tweets.

[122] The one, and all the months we've been doing this show, I don't know if it's a year, but months at least.

[123] I read your tweets, you know, religiously.

[124] And this one, man, I just about, I read it and I go, wait a minute, let me read that again.

[125] Is that what I thought it said?

[126] Well, he's quoting, first of all, you made the comment.

[127] I'm going to say you said strong words, but important to ponder.

[128] It reminds us that Jesus was betrayed by one of his own apostles.

[129] And then you ask for prayer, which I think is great.

[130] Pray for me, Bishop Strickland, all bishops to guard the deposit of faith.

[131] Bishop Strickland, thank you for talking about the deposit of faith because it's so important.

[132] People need to know that.

[133] And you point, thank you for guarding the...

[134] You said, pray for bishops to guard the deposit of faith, care for the poor, absolutely, the marginalized to be faithful to Jesus Christ who is truth incarnate.

[135] I love that line, truth incarnate.

[136] That just says it all.

[137] Now, here's what you were quoting.

[138] Pope Pius X. 11th said this.

[139] all right put your seatbelts on everybody drum roll because i just fell off the church's worst persecutors have been her own unfaithful bishops priests and religious opposition from the outside is terrible it gives us many martyrs but the church's worst enemy is her own traitors and bishop strickland you don't have to say it i'm going to say it i've been around 60 years i've seen our leaders in the church very much disappoint me by their actions.

[140] And it's almost like they're attacking the church from inside.

[141] And I'm not talking just about freemasonry.

[142] I'm talking about people who should be living moral lives and examples for us as shepherds, and they have left us as just, you know, sheep without a shepherd because they got off and were scandal ran in.

[143] And so they, in my opinion, is who Pope Pius I, the 11th, is talking about persecution from unfaithful yeah i'm going to say it bishops because he said it priests and religious uh what's your take on that bishop strickland well terry the reason i quoted it and in what i added yeah to pray for me and all bishops yeah because in in the the degree that i'm a sinful man which i am me too i'm not being faithful and so i point to myself first And I think we all have to.

[144] We have to, I mean, what we've talked about before, once we are being judged by Christ, and that's in the gospel, he says we will be judged, the sheep separated from the goats at some point.

[145] Yeah.

[146] That's all of us.

[147] That will just be us alone.

[148] We will be standing alone before God.

[149] He wants that to be a glorious moment to welcome his sons and daughters to their eternal destiny.

[150] But we're going to be alone.

[151] And I think what we all need to remember, and I try to remember as one shepherd, is to keep that in mind as I make decisions.

[152] I have a lot of authority and a lot of responsibility to make decisions about.

[153] people's lives, priest and laity, deacons, and all, everyone in the church.

[154] And so I have to look into my own life and ask myself, am I being as faithful to Christ as I can?

[155] And the answer is always, to some extent, no, I need to do better.

[156] But we see too many that at least, you know, not judging another's actions, but we can judge the product, we can judge what's happening.

[157] And it certainly appears that they're not really paying much attention to the gospel, to the deposit of faith, to the standard that the catechism sets, which is a pretty high bar, if you think about it.

[158] And then you look at the great saints and the mystics, and the bar, frankly, goes to the roof.

[159] I mean, because we're not called to just avoid sin, but we're called to sanctity.

[160] And as a shepherd, that is the call that I must take seriously.

[161] And what I'm reminded of, Terry, is I don't even know who said it, but it makes a lot of sense that if the, if you're, pastor, could be a bishop, could be a priest, but if your pastor is a saint, the congregation is going to be holy.

[162] Absolutely.

[163] If the pastor is not a saint, but he's holy, the congregation is going to be pretty good.

[164] If the pastor's only pretty good, the congregation is going to be mediocre.

[165] Yeah.

[166] If the pastor's mediocre, the congregation's going to be slipping toward not very good at all.

[167] And I think that illustrates that it's my responsibility to set the standard, to be the shepherd.

[168] And in many ways, it's analogous to, for yourself as a father and husband of a household, as the man of the house, and people bristle at that these days, but it's still going.

[169] God's plan.

[170] Absolutely.

[171] The man of the house has the responsibility of setting that standard for his wife and children, of saying, family, this is what we're going to live.

[172] These are the ethics.

[173] These are our values.

[174] These are what we do.

[175] These are the things we do.

[176] We pray.

[177] We live ethically.

[178] We care for others.

[179] We manage our time and use it wisely.

[180] I mean, that's all set by the leader.

[181] and the husband or the father is the head of the house.

[182] Certainly with great support by the wife and mother in the household.

[183] And I'm sure, Terry, that you would be the first to say you couldn't be the leader without the support of your wife.

[184] It's a different role.

[185] You got it.

[186] But it's a role that is essential.

[187] That's how God made the human family.

[188] Yep.

[189] And analogously, the pastor has a responsibility to set the standard of holiness for the flock, for the congregation.

[190] And then the pastorized collaborators, no pastor, whether bishop or priest, can do it by themselves.

[191] If they try to do it by themselves, they're not going to do the best job that they could because nobody can do it by themselves.

[192] You need the supporters.

[193] others collaborating with that ministry.

[194] But ultimately, it's about leading people to Christ.

[195] And I think that's what that quote is getting at is when, I mean, we talked about different levels of holiness, but when the shepherds are ignoring some aspects of the deposit of faith and of the truth of Christ, then it causes real problems.

[196] And we see that.

[197] where the sheep are just wandering off a cliff, off into darkness, because there's no shepherd guiding them.

[198] Well, Bishop Strickland, I can say amen to that.

[199] As a layman, I see ambiguity all over the Catholic Church from the top, down to the bottom.

[200] Now, Monsignor George Kelly said it this way.

[201] Where is the church going where its leaders take them?

[202] And unfortunately, I think the Holy Father's, the Popeye 11th comments, are very appropriate for today in the church because look at Germany, look at other parts of the country and the world, and we see leaders that are supposedly, you know, we're supposed to bring us to Christ, but they're collaborating so much with the world.

[203] You wonder, who's influencing who?

[204] Is the church influencing the world, or is the world influencing the church?

[205] I'm here to say right now, Bishop Strickland, I think the world has infected the church way too much.

[206] That's my perspective.

[207] Now, I want to switch gears to one of your tweets of a great saint that affected the church and the world very positively, because today is the saint's feast day, St. Peter Kinesis, he served the church in the 16th century.

[208] You made that point in your tweet, and you said by delivering the decrees of the Council of Trent to the bishops of Europe, he said this was no easy task in time of lawlessness and resistance to the truth of Jesus Christ and his church.

[209] and you said we need St. Peter's strength in our day.

[210] Bishop Strickland, he did something that you're doing right now.

[211] I don't know if you're aware of this.

[212] I looked into that saint's life, and it says in the Roman bravery about all the catechisms he published in nine languages and 55 editions.

[213] When he saw that seven or eight million Catholics left for Protestantism, his answer was not to say, woe is me, or, well, let's just get a little.

[214] along with them.

[215] No. What he did is he took the catechism and started teaching Catholics their faith because they were leaving, not knowing their faith.

[216] They didn't make the difference between Protestant and Catholic.

[217] But what he did is he opened up a catechism, kind of like what you're doing in the 21st century, to teach people the faith so that they know the faith.

[218] And I thought, you know, what a great man to follow today.

[219] And I saw your tweet and I said, hey, this is very appropriate for us because we're living in a time where millions of Catholics have left the church in the last 50 years.

[220] I remember Dr. Scott Hahn's quote, a quarter of a billion, 250 million Catholics have left.

[221] This was, I'll never forget, August 4th, 1993 at a family conference.

[222] Dr. Hahn pointed out this from Christianity today.

[223] And I thought, that was back in 93.

[224] Hundreds of millions of Catholics have walked away.

[225] and I'm convinced, tell me if I'm on to something, that many of them left because they didn't even know they were Catholic and what it meant to be Catholic, and they just, like, fell right into secularism or Protestantism or other religions because they didn't know better.

[226] Do you think that's still happening today?

[227] Oh, absolutely.

[228] And sadly, it's gotten worse in the years since 1993.

[229] agree.

[230] But what I like to say is we need to have the fervor of first century Christians in the 21st century because the whole world was against them.

[231] I mean, Christians were considered to be just this sect that needed to be gotten rid of.

[232] And it is spread to be truly a universal church, but we can't ever cease to evangelize and to call people to the truth that the church proclaims.

[233] Jesus Christ is the face of truth.

[234] He is truth personified.

[235] Repeat that every day, everybody.

[236] Truth personified.

[237] Oh, my gosh.

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

[239] Stay with us, family.

[240] We'll be right back.

[241] Welcome back to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[242] I enjoy this hour because, well, the tweets are great, I get that, but we're going to be shifting into the catechism in a few minutes, and I just love the catechism because of its clarity on the meaning and purpose of life, and I just keep saying people need to own a catechism, study that catechism.

[243] Bishop Strickland, we did a show on gaming and how, since the COVID -19 restrictions, the gaming industry just shot up like 200 percent, and people are addicted to gaming, they can't get their night's sleep because they're just constantly on their computer trying to win or try to get this done.

[244] And I see that and I go, gosh, can you imagine if they spent even half that time studying their faith, are praying their rosary, are just spending time before the Lord and the Eucharist?

[245] My heart goes out to these people because the world is so distracting right now, these electronic things that we have.

[246] I'm just going to make a comment.

[247] We're preparing for Christmas.

[248] this will be the day after, I guess, no, the day before Christmas.

[249] This will be Christmas Eve when this show, well, it'll be after Christmas, actually, the 28th.

[250] So Holy Innocence Day.

[251] But the point of it is, is we need to have that quiet time because the world is just so distracting right now to us.

[252] But Bishop Strickland, you had a comment about something I didn't expect you to tweet about, but I didn't even know about it, but I'm glad you did because all kinds of people are doing this.

[253] He said, there's a march on Washington, and you said, I'm glad people from across the spectrum are uniting to say no to tyranny.

[254] People must be free to make decisions based on their own informed consciences.

[255] I'm assuming you're referring to, like, vaccinations as an example.

[256] Is that what you're thinking of there?

[257] Yeah, the mandates, as Cardinal Mueller refers to them, that to just ignore the freedom of conscience and to have all these mandates, I'm glad that people are, and from what this march, I believe, in Washington, D .C., from what I understand, it was people that are vaccinated or not vaccinated, people of Republican or Democrat.

[258] So from across the spectrum, just saying these mandates are not part of our democracy and not part of the moral teaching of the faith.

[259] Well said, I can't let a show go by without defending on life of the unborn.

[260] And you didn't either with your tweet.

[261] And what I saw here was a tweet from Archbishop Cordillone from San Francisco.

[262] And he said something very strong about abortion.

[263] But man, I think he's spot on.

[264] But here's what he said.

[265] Abortion is a child sacrifice.

[266] It's demonic.

[267] Wow.

[268] This is a spiritual warfare that we're in.

[269] He calls abortion demonic.

[270] You said, thank you, Archbishop, for boldly speaking the truth.

[271] A child's eyes developed as early as 14 days after conception.

[272] Let us work tirelessly to ensure that they will see the light of day.

[273] And then your last statement is, to destroy them in the womb is of the devil.

[274] Well, Bishop Strickland, that's pretty strong language.

[275] I happen to agree with it, but do we really believe?

[276] that because if that's true, it doesn't seem like we're doing much to protect it as a church, as a society, and what's it going to take to wake people up to know that this is coming from the pit of hell?

[277] Well, Terry, I'm not sure what it's going to take.

[278] I feel an obligation to keep speaking for the voiceless in that part of the tweet talking about, you know, it's interesting because people said, oh, the eyes don't develop for three weeks instead.

[279] Well, okay, maybe 14 days is a bit early.

[280] But the reality is as a child develops, their eyes develop, their fingers and toes, the whole human body develops in the womb very quickly starting to look like nothing but a human child very early on.

[281] And even before that, when maybe they don't want.

[282] look like that, they're still growing to be a human child.

[283] And it just struck me that look at all the children that are being slaughtered before those eyes that God gave them are able to see anything.

[284] Wow.

[285] And also before they can voice anything.

[286] I mean, I believe that we, I feel very strongly and I feel a moral obligation myself as a man a human being and as a bishop of the church to continue to speak up about because to speak for the voiceless ones yeah the ones who have no voice and to I mean I'm proud to get people aggravated if they say oh I wish Strickland would quit talking about this.

[287] I mean, they say it all the time.

[288] But I'm going to continue to speak up because the children that are being murdered never got a chance to say a word or make a cry.

[289] They never got a breath in this world.

[290] And that is diabolical.

[291] It is evil and we've got to wake up to it because I believe that much of the evil we're seeing in the world.

[292] And that's what I've tried to tell people.

[293] Yes.

[294] Terrible violence.

[295] Terrible.

[296] Mind.

[297] harmless harm that is done to people, maybe for, you know, just something meaningless as far as value.

[298] People are robbed and murdered for nothing.

[299] And it's because there's no value to human life even outside the womb.

[300] And it's rooted in that lack of value for human life in the womb, the most innocent, the most voiceless, the most powerless.

[301] It's just logic.

[302] It's a sad logic that if they are destroyed and treated like trash, then other people are going to be treated like trash as well.

[303] Because it tells the people in society that if you've got the power, you can do what you want.

[304] And too many people are acting like that.

[305] In our cities, the murder rates are going up.

[306] All of that is rooted in a lack of recognizing.

[307] that every person is sacred, and if the unborn aren't sacred, sadly, the consequences are that none of us are sacred.

[308] Well, Sad, when I was listening to you making those statements about abortion, I remember 34, 35 years ago, I had the honor to meet Dr. Bernard Nathanson at conferences that I recorded for Human Life International.

[309] And I didn't realize he was coming to California, Cyprus, California, back in 1987 or 88.

[310] And we, I got involved with our Protestant brothers to fight abortion.

[311] We prayed the rosary at the clinics and then counseled women for years there.

[312] But we ended up collaborating with Operation Rescue.

[313] And I was a single man at the time.

[314] And we decided to close the abortion clinic by just standing and sitting in front of a sit -in, the abortion clinic where they closed it down because there were so many of us.

[315] And when the police arrested us.

[316] I had locked arms with the gentleman to my right, and I looked, and it was Dr. Bernard Nathanson.

[317] And I said, my gosh, he came out from New York because he wanted to protest this.

[318] Now, we got thrown in jail.

[319] We had to do some time in the sense of community services.

[320] But I'm going to tell you, it was really a motivating time for me, Bishop Strickland, because I said, I want to make a stand for abortion, and about 30 ,000 of us got arrested that year.

[321] And I think it did.

[322] It made people realize this is killing unborn babies.

[323] And I'm not saying we need to do it again, but we need to really speak up for these babies because no one else will.

[324] If you don't speak up, who will?

[325] And so I encourage everyone to realize that this is coming from the pit of hell.

[326] I know that sounds strong, but the devil loves this because he loves to see the death of people, especially the death of souls from committing murder.

[327] That's what abortion is.

[328] Now, whenever I say that, Bishop Strickland, I always like to remind people that we have an all -merciful God.

[329] So if somebody listening to this show that might have had an abortion 20, 30, 40 years ago, maybe he hadn't gone to confession to confess that, do it!

[330] Because God is there waiting for you to repent of any past sins.

[331] And I just want to make that clear that you're not condemned to hell.

[332] You have an opportunity to confess those sins.

[333] Whether you're the dad who brought your girlfriend to the clinic, yes you're part of that you need to confess that now again that's an examination of conscience we all have to make but thank you for standing up for life bishop strickland let's shift gears if we could and i love this paragraph 268 i'll give you a chance to 68 to open up your catechism to which we call the profession of faith and i love it because it talks about i call it the attributes of god I remember as a child learning about the attributes of God.

[334] Now, many people don't hear that in a modern church because they didn't get it taught with some of these, let's say, modern catechisms.

[335] But the catechism of the Catholic Church has that, and here's what paragraph 268 says, and then I'll have Bishop Strickland comment.

[336] All the divine attributes, only God's onipotence is named in the creed.

[337] To confess this power has great.

[338] bearing on our lives.

[339] We believe that his might is universal for God who created everything also rules everything and can do everything.

[340] I love that.

[341] Everything.

[342] God's power is loving for he is our God and mysterious for only faith can discern it when it is made perfect in weakness.

[343] Now Bishop Strickland, before I give you this comment, before you give your comment, when I taught my kids as little boys and even my grandson right now, he's just starting to talk at, you know, 23 months old, and the question I asked my kids, who made you?

[344] And they say God.

[345] And then I say, who made the son, God?

[346] Who made the earth?

[347] So I go through a litany of all the things God made.

[348] And I have my kids on video responding from 30 years ago to this.

[349] And it's funny because they'll look at me after all these things and then they look at me and say, God made everything, Daddy.

[350] And so what am I drilling into the kids?

[351] I'm drilling into them that God is all powerful, basically.

[352] So your thoughts on paragraph 268, Bishop Strickland?

[353] Well, I think it is an essential truth of the catechism that we really need to focus on because we tend to think of human beings.

[354] beings is having all the power.

[355] It's true.

[356] And I think that that's partially connected, and I'm not anti -technology, but we've got to keep technology in its place.

[357] That's right.

[358] Everything that is man -made is really ultimately from God as well.

[359] Amen.

[360] Hang on.

[361] Hang on a second.

[362] I want to hear about that technology direction on Catechism of the Catholic Church.

[363] You're listening to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[364] We'll come right back to paragraph 26.

[365] Let Bishop Stringen explain his points.

[366] Stay with us.

[367] Welcome back to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[368] For those who just tuned in for the last segment, we're talking about paragraph 268.

[369] And Bishop Strickland, you were just explaining about technology here for it, but there are some limitations.

[370] I'm all ears.

[371] Well, this paragraph talking about Almighty God and his omnipotence, we tend to, we're kind of shielded from.

[372] that because I mean both of us now we're in offices with all sorts of equipment we have we flip a switch and the lights come on we can control the heat and the cold we we we we I think it's kind of soaked into our our psyche as human beings that we're in charge yeah and certainly that's promoted by a lot of people who scoff at the even the idea of God right For civilizations that are closer to nature, it's just evident.

[373] You see, you only get light when the sun comes up or when you can light a fire.

[374] I mean, it's just much more basic.

[375] And I'm not saying that we all have to go back to that, but spiritually speaking, we need to be in touch with the earth.

[376] We need to be in touch with nature.

[377] because one thing, the way that Almighty God works is what we call organically.

[378] It's a process.

[379] You don't just push a button and a tree grows.

[380] It takes years.

[381] We're 60 plus year old men.

[382] It's taken us 60 years to get where we are.

[383] And, you know, the baby that's born changes quickly.

[384] but not in an organic way, in a way that corresponds with the rest of creation.

[385] Every mammal animal that is born has a process of development and growth.

[386] And I think we just, all I'm saying is what this reminds me of is that we need to be in touch with that.

[387] Because when you see a beautiful sunset, you know that wasn't manufactured.

[388] right that was created by god when you see a beautiful forest or you see the ocean or see a beautiful person you you can be reminded of the wonder of almighty god right and all of creation is a reflection of his almighty power so i think that's what i'm reminded of is we read this paragraph 268.

[389] Wow, that's so true.

[390] Paragraph 269 covered.

[391] He does whatever he pleases.

[392] Here it is.

[393] The Holy Scriptures repeatedly confess the universal power of God.

[394] He is called the mighty one in Jacob, the Lord of hosts.

[395] A strong and mighty one.

[396] If God is almighty in heaven and on earth, it is because he made them.

[397] I love it.

[398] Nothing is impossible with God who disposes his works according to his will.

[399] He is the Lord of the universe whose order he established and which remains holy subject to him and at his disposal.

[400] He is the master of history governing hearts and events in keeping with his will.

[401] It is also always in your power to show great strength and who can withstand the strength of your arm.

[402] Okay, there you go.

[403] Power of God.

[404] Your thoughts.

[405] Well, it's just a reminder of where the real power is.

[406] And how we need to, as people of faith, we need to be aware of that.

[407] And getting back to what we were talking earlier with Cardinal Mueller, the power of the state does not override the power of God.

[408] And I think a lot of times in modern times, states operate as if they're gone.

[409] And they can deem us worthy of this right or that right.

[410] but if they take it back they can but um real rights the right i mean and that's what's great about the constitution of our nation it's it's based on god -given inalienable rights that god's given us and all of this reminds us of that that god is almighty and all powerful and all love it it reminds us that what is real love?

[411] It's an exercise of Almighty God.

[412] It's an exercise of that awesome power that brings us into existence.

[413] And that whole perspective is something that I think we need to really study more and embrace more as a way of living and not just something to know.

[414] from the catechism, but how does this affect the way we live and how we operate in life and how we recognize that any authority we have is vicarious and it's borrowed, its source is God.

[415] Yeah.

[416] And that's humbly.

[417] That is.

[418] We need a dose of humility in the world today.

[419] You know, Bishop Strickland, you made me think of one of your tweets while you were just saying that.

[420] we're going to be in the octave of Christmas when people listen to this show and you put a tweet out saying we must put God back in the first place not only in our personal lives but also in the life of our society you pointed out it's critical that people of faith heed this call and then I love this because we're approaching the nativity of our Lord Jesus let us resolve to put God first in every aspect of our lives and our world.

[421] We're going to be, as I say, the octave of Christmas when you're hearing this show.

[422] Give us your final thoughts about the Christmas season, because by the time this is played, we will be in the Christmas season.

[423] What advice would you give other than what you just said about putting Christ first in your life?

[424] Is there anything else you want to give advice with this octave of Christmas?

[425] that we're going to be celebrating now?

[426] Well, what we're celebrating is the wonder, and I think we all need to just use this octave, to really ponder what Christmas is about.

[427] And the wonder that God, the Creator, we just talked a couple of paragraphs about God created all.

[428] Jesus is the second person of the Trinity, the son of God.

[429] with God at creation, and to think about the reality that what we're celebrating at Christmas is the profound change in the very fabric of that creation where the creator becomes a creature.

[430] And again, this says all things are possible with God.

[431] Yes.

[432] for us it seems impossible how can the infinite all -powerful god become an infant in the womb and then a newborn infant and really i think that one thing i would point out terry is that the readings for all who are listening and hopefully many go to daily mass but the readings of these last days of Advent and the readings of Christmas from the gospel, they are really readings about, you could say readings about the gestation period of the Son of God as he's in the womb.

[433] Yes.

[434] Those are the readings that we really celebrate at Christmas.

[435] So beginning March 25th with the conception of Jesus in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary, what this octave and what Christmas is about is celebrating.

[436] that whole mystery of the Son of God being conceived in the womb, becoming a creature at that moment, a microscopic human person, but part of creation.

[437] Here, what we're celebrating in a profound way is that God, the creator, becomes part of creation.

[438] And he enters into it, just like we have.

[439] we all started the same way as a microscopic newly formed human person in the womb of our mother the son of god did exactly the same his father the holy spirit his god his mother the human mary of nazareth but created in the womb in a mysterious way that we we can't fully understand but that is what we're celebrating and that the creator of God becomes a part of creation and really enters into our lives.

[440] We were both newborn little boys and so was the son of God.

[441] And he honors every little boy and every little girl that's born as having been there with us.

[442] And that is what we celebrate at Christmas.

[443] beautifully stated.

[444] How about a blessing for our listeners at this Christmas season, please?

[445] Sure.

[446] Almighty God, we ask your blessing for everyone listening that we may rejoice in the gift of Christmas that is your son born among us, the nativity.

[447] But it calls to mind the very beginning of that nativity with his conception in the womb.

[448] His development in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary for nine months as every human child, approximately nine months in the womb, we pray that this octave of Christmas may be a time to be more aware of the wonder of Emmanuel.

[449] God is truly with us living through his journey in the human life that all of us live and knowing what it is to be one of us and guiding us.

[450] to the Father in the life of the Spirit.

[451] We ask this blessing in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, amen.

[452] Wow, and this is the Christmas season now, folks.

[453] This is really, I joke with people, Bishop Strickland.

[454] We're a little different than the secular world.

[455] At the day after Christmas, a lot of people throw their tree out, and we just started.

[456] Now, Bishop Strickland, I know there's some question of when the season ends.

[457] You know, some people say the baptism of the Lord, February 2nd, some say the Epiphany, whatever, but let's keep celebrating Christmas because you know, God became man. What a great meditation for us today.

[458] And also I want to give a plug to Bishop Strickland's Institute.

[459] One quick note, what's the name of the Institute and what can we expect to get out of it?

[460] St. Philip Institute, website, saint philip Institute .org.

[461] Okay.

[462] And it's all about the truth of Jesus Christ.

[463] Amen.

[464] The incarnate, son.

[465] of God.

[466] He's truth incarnate.

[467] Well said, and I want to thank all those who support us here at Virgin Most Powerful Radio.

[468] This is the end of the year.

[469] You want to make a donation to help support what we're doing with proclaiming the truths of the Catholic faith.

[470] Go to vmpr .org or call us at 877 -526215.

[471] You can get all of the shows that we produce on our website with podcasts, share them with your friends.

[472] And I want to really, from the bottom of my heart, wish you a merry, Christmas in this wonderful season that we get to celebrate the octave of Christmas.

[473] May God richly bless you and your family.

[474] We'll see you again next week.

[475] Same time, same station.