24 Oct 23 – Union with Christ Through Redemptive Suffering

[0] Welcome to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

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

[2] I'm honored each week to take an hour to talk about how to fall in love with Jesus Christ through his teachings.

[3] Bishop Strickland, thanks again for coming again to talk about our Lord.

[4] Thank you, Terry.

[5] Thank you.

[6] And I know that you just did another letter, which is a pastoral letter on suffering, redemptive suffering.

[7] so we're going to be talking about that and other issues of the day.

[8] But I wanted to just set the stage for all of our new listeners that we do this.

[9] We go through Bishop Strickland's tweets and then, well, if he has a letter that we can talk about, but we also want to go right back into the catechism of the church because I think we both agree that there's such a lack of catechesis in the church that teaching the fundamentals of the faith, like you did on these letters, important for the flock.

[10] Is that a fair statement?

[11] Absolutely.

[12] Yeah, that's what I see it too.

[13] So I wanted to mention right off the bat, Bishop Sheen.

[14] Well, last weekend we had a conference here at the chapel a day with Bishop Sheen, and I just thought this was a fun story, David, because you have a tweet about Bishop Sheen, and I have a three -year -old grandson, folks, and Bishop Strickland will blush a little here, but it's fun.

[15] Today, after Mass, we have a little prayer that we pray for the beatification of Archbishop Fulton Sheen.

[16] Well, my three -year -old grandson said to me, well, let's don't just pray it for Bishop Sheen.

[17] Let's pray it for Bishop Strickland.

[18] And I just chuckled so loud.

[19] But again, folks, it's a three -year -old.

[20] You see the simplicity of their faith?

[21] And I just think that, you know, sometimes I think of what the little flower said.

[22] It's her way, you know, a child.

[23] I just think there's so much beauty in having a simple faith in our Lord.

[24] So that was a fun story.

[25] And I appreciate the prayers.

[26] Oh, absolutely.

[27] Why not?

[28] Exactly.

[29] So here's what you quoted today, the wisdom from the great Archbishop Fulton Sheen.

[30] This sounds so appropriate for right now, and we don't know what's going on in the country and the world.

[31] We do not know what the future holds, Bishop Sheen says, whether the battle will be bloody or unbloody.

[32] We only know that the world is beginning to polarize and that the good are becoming better and the bad are becoming.

[33] worse.

[34] Whether swords will be used, we do not know.

[35] Whether they will be sheathed or unsheathed, we do not know.

[36] There is only one thing that we do know.

[37] That is that if truth wins, we win.

[38] And if truth, but truth can't lose.

[39] And you know, I thought Bishop Strickland, this quote was so appropriate because not just on your show but all of Virgin Most Powerful Radio that's what we say we quote the truth will set us free so we can't let anything get in the way of proclaiming the truth your thoughts absolutely Terry and I think that's essential for right now with all the turmoil in the church and the world with these multiple wars that people are worried about just cling to the truth that is Christ.

[40] He's truth incarnate it like we've said before.

[41] We just need to keep repeating it because certainly there are people listening and people that inspire us, just like Archbishop Sheen.

[42] But we need to inspire each other.

[43] We need to just keep repeating and keep reminding ourselves because all of us can get dragged down by the latest headline or the latest story that we hear of people just doing insane things and the violence and these wars.

[44] It's just, it's very burdensome.

[45] And I think we can easily, people despair, people get into darkness.

[46] We should be joyful and hopeful because Jesus Christ has conquered the evil that we face.

[47] Amen.

[48] The more we cling to him, I mean, I think you'll probably bring it up, and I'll go and bring it up anyway.

[49] The martyrs that we're celebrating today, St. John DeBrabouf and And Isaac Jokes and their companions.

[50] And these are what I think is important to remember, our faith is ancient.

[51] Amen.

[52] These martyrs are relatively modern compared to Ignatius of Antioch, one of the very earliest that we celebrated just a few days ago.

[53] We have saints from 2 ,000 years ago, from 1 ,000 years ago, from 1 ,000 years.

[54] years ago, Isaac Jokes and John DeBrew Boeuf and their companions are probably in the 1600s, I would imagine, the 17th century.

[55] That seems like, oh, it's so long ago.

[56] But that's the new world.

[57] That's 16 or 1500 years after Ignatius of Antioch.

[58] And I think it's just a reminder.

[59] We have more than we could just say a little bit.

[60] If we wanted to talk, we wanted to talking about all the martyrs in the church's history, we've run out of time, just even mentioning their names.

[61] We need to remember that glorious history that is really the glory of Jesus Christ, because all of these martyrs, the thing that they would tell us in 2023 is stay with Christ, carry your cross with him, be willing to die for him.

[62] Many of the saints aren't martyrs.

[63] Many are.

[64] We are called to be saints.

[65] So we're either going to be the white martyrs that all the saints are or the red martyrs giving their blood like Isaac Jogues, John de Brubuf, Ignatius of Antioch, and so many others.

[66] But we're called to do that.

[67] We need to just acknowledge it and get about the business of being saints.

[68] You nailed it.

[69] Bishop Strickland, the last two minutes, what you just said, is ultimately our goal in life, to be a saint, to live in union with God.

[70] And we're going to talk more about how to do that with your letter later in the show.

[71] So thank you for that.

[72] I wanted to bring something up that you tweeted out, who shared.

[73] I guess it's a blog, your blog, a timely and important message from St. Vincent of Lorenz.

[74] It says that he was a fifth -century Celtic monk.

[75] I didn't even know that.

[76] This is educating me here.

[77] He wrote on the practice of our faith, and he had a thing that was in your office of readings where priests and bishops read.

[78] This is something that every single Catholic priest should have read not too long ago.

[79] And, man, it woke me up because I don't do the office of readings.

[80] I'm a layman, and I know I can, but I don't.

[81] So I missed it.

[82] But he said he offers a timely guidance on the issue of development.

[83] of doctrine in the Catholic faith.

[84] Why is that so important?

[85] Because we hear this idea from very high officials in the church that this development of doctrine is, you know, oh, well, it can change doctrinal teachings.

[86] When what we read here, and you tweeted is that St. Vincent Lorenz, certainly there is development, but it must truly be development of faith, not altering of the faith.

[87] development means that each thing expands to be itself but alteration means that a thing is changed from one thing to another now you summarized it but if you don't mind can I quote his actual words and then you absolutely what he said about the idea that we can the development of doctrine he said this on the contrary what is right and fitting is this there should be no inconsisting consistencies between the first and the last, but we should reap true doctrine from the growth of true teaching so that when, in the course of time, those first swings yield an increase, it may flourish and be tended in our own days also.

[88] Now, I talk about the transubstantiation that we have that St. Thomas helped us develop.

[89] We always believed in the real presence of Christ and the Eucharist, but it got articulated by some big fancy words that helped us.

[90] But did the change, did the teaching change about the real presence?

[91] No. Now, we have people who say we need to change the doctrine on marriage, and you've covered that in your letter.

[92] We have people who say that we need to change on sexuality, of saying that we need to bless at least homosexual couples who are not married, but we've got to people in the church that say even if they're married they should be given a wedding so we've got this where it changes everything so my question to you bishop strickland as a successor of the apostle you made a promise when you were ordained as a priest to promote the deposit of faith so what this saint says is consistent with your position which you haven't wavered and that is we can't change doctrine because of feelings absolutely and i really terry i know we're about to break, go to the break.

[93] I would encourage that we talk about this in the next section as well, because I think, you know, honestly, with everything that's going on, it's like, oh, that's the critical question of the day.

[94] Yeah.

[95] I think this, the development of doctrine and a proper understanding, because there's so many voices saying, oh, this needs to change or that needs to change.

[96] One of the best ways that I've heard it expressed, the true doctrine of the church, the true teaching of the church, we need to change and go deeper into the faith.

[97] So when we take that approach, absolutely, we individually, the whole mystical body of Christ that is the church made up of us human beings seeking holiness, the truth.

[98] Church needs to change in that sense in the way that all of us need to collectively know the truth more deeply, embrace it more fully into our lives.

[99] But that is us changing, not the truth that we've received changing.

[100] That's the teaching of the church.

[101] That's what makes sense.

[102] That's what we've got to hold to.

[103] Absolutely.

[104] We need to look for better ways to do what today's gospel of for the martyrs that we read, the last part of Matthew's Gospel, the great commissioning, it's called, go for them baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

[105] That doesn't change.

[106] What changes is the ways we do that.

[107] How do we do it better?

[108] Well said, Bishop, we'll talk about that development.

[109] But we come back on the Bishop Strickland Hour.

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

[111] Welcome back, indeed, to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[112] We're talking about.

[113] talking about the development of doctrine, St. Vincent of Lorenz, 5th century, a Gaelic monk, who wrote a very orthodox Christian practice on this, and it's part of the readings for the office of readings for priests and bishops, and the Holy Father, everybody to read this who are religious.

[114] And Bishop Strickland, you had a few more comments you wanted to make about this, because you said it's so important because so many times people are using this as an experience.

[115] excuse to change doctrine when that's not the case.

[116] Yeah, and I think that St. Vincent's illustration that he uses is just perfect.

[117] We were talking a few minutes ago about your three -year -old grandson.

[118] He's three years old, little boy, little hands, little feet.

[119] He's probably, you know, a couple of feet tall.

[120] Just over three feet tall, three feet tall, that same little boy in God's plan, and we pray that he stays healthy and he grows to be a young man. And that young man that he is in 20 years, he's 23, he's the same little boy, the same child of God, the same son of God, that he is at three years old.

[121] And that's the illustration that St. Vincent of Lorenz uses for how the development of doctrine really works.

[122] He's the same little boy.

[123] He's the same son of God.

[124] You're the same as you were when you were three years old, the same as I was.

[125] It's the same person you've grown and you've developed and you've, you know, your body's changed, your mind has grown.

[126] hopefully every aspect of us grows and develops, and we learn the truth, we learn from our mistakes, we grow in living the truth.

[127] But it's the same person.

[128] That's the illustration that St. Vincent used and talking about the development of doctrine.

[129] It's not that we turn into a different person that we change that drastically.

[130] It's just a deepening and maturing of what is already there.

[131] And I think that that's how we have to approach in one of the best ways that we've talked about before is remembering what is doctrine.

[132] It is the truth that God has revealed to us.

[133] And Jesus Christ is that person, that truth incarnate, that he reveals to us, as he says in John's gospel, he reveals the Father to us.

[134] When we see Him, we see the Father.

[135] When we see the Father, we see Him.

[136] That is what the Revelation of Christ is.

[137] So because he's a person, then no, he's not going to change.

[138] He, we deepen our understanding, just like you and your wife have come to know your, you're each other more deeply.

[139] Of course.

[140] Through your experiences, through mistakes, through triumphs, you, you know each other more deeply than you did when you got married all those years ago, but you're still married to the same person.

[141] Right.

[142] It just makes sense and it's, it's very vital to understanding the church.

[143] so that all these things being discussed at the Senate, ultimately, yes, we can develop better ways of understanding, more compassionate ways of bringing the truth of the gospel to people, do a better job of going out like the great commissioning in Matthew's Gospel.

[144] Go out to all nations, baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

[145] We can find better ways to do that.

[146] how do we reach so many people that still have not embraced life in Jesus Christ?

[147] Amen.

[148] But it's got to be the same Jesus Christ that we present and follow the same practices that have proven to bring others to know Christ.

[149] And you know, Bishop Strickenwell said, we don't do a show without talking about the sacredness of life, of human life, especially with abortion.

[150] and I just want to bring a story up that it really actually touched me. Britney Spears, famous Britney Spears, says she aborted a child while dating Justin Timberlake calls the decision agonizing.

[151] And in this letter, this article, she says, I know people aren't going to want to hear from me on this, but if I could do it over again, I would have had that child.

[152] Mr. Strickland, you know how many millions of women here in America who have had abortions, when they were young in their teenage years or early 20s and have told me, oh, I regret.

[153] They haven't told me personally, but I know hundreds of people that I've talked to.

[154] They regret doing it because they were pressured.

[155] And I just want to bring up the mercy of Jesus Christ.

[156] This woman, Brittany Spears, shows some part of a repentance by the very fact that she regrets doing it.

[157] So that's the first step.

[158] So I just wanted to ask your thoughts on encouraging people who have had abortion.

[159] early, maybe 30, 40 years ago, that there's mercy in Jesus Christ.

[160] Absolutely.

[161] Things like the Rachel Project that is available in various areas is a great effort to welcome what we have to remember, and we've talked about before, but it's always worth repeating because there's so many people that haven't heard the message and are told false messages from about, oh, these Catholics, they're condemning a word.

[162] woman that's had an abortion?

[163] No. We're always remembering that Britney Spears is a beloved daughter of God.

[164] God's love for her didn't stop when she chose to take the life of her unborn child.

[165] God mourns with her that that beautiful life that could have taken her life as the child's mother.

[166] on a very different path.

[167] Brittany's had a trouble life.

[168] I think that's one reason.

[169] She's probably speaking up now.

[170] Yes.

[171] And that choosing to have an abortion is part of that.

[172] But she's never condemned for those.

[173] Yes, we condemn the sin of abortion, the taking of an innocent unborn life.

[174] But the woman who does it or those who are involved in it, they're not condemned with it.

[175] They're called to repentance.

[176] They're called to turn from that sin.

[177] And I pray that Brittany, wouldn't it be wonderful for her to become a real advocate for the sanctity of the life of the unborn?

[178] It's happened so many times when we've talked about Dr. Bernard Nathanson.

[179] Abby Johnson, we've got many people who have awakened to the brokenness and the sinfulness that is there in.

[180] taking the life of an unborn child, God never writes us off.

[181] He's always ready to share his mercy.

[182] We've got to wake up to the wrong things we've done, to the sins we've committed.

[183] We've got to repent and embrace that mercy.

[184] If we do, and we can pray for Brittany to continue on that path and to repent of her sins.

[185] And if she gets on that path, then she is as a...

[186] a beloved daughter of God, she's on the path that God has wanted her to walk throughout her life.

[187] Beautiful, beautiful.

[188] Amen to that.

[189] Bishop Strickland, I like to shift into your latest pastoral letter on redemptive suffering.

[190] And I, you know, I can't read the whole thing.

[191] People can go to Bishop, is it, Bishopstrickland .com.

[192] I'm sorry.

[193] Correct.

[194] They can download that document and read it.

[195] But I love the way you started out, all these letters.

[196] You know, dear sons and daughters, in Christ.

[197] See, a spiritual father.

[198] See, you've recognized that's the role.

[199] You didn't get, God put you in that position.

[200] It has nothing to do with Joe Strickland.

[201] I'm sorry to say it that way, but it's all about what God has given you a role to play as a spiritual father, as a bishop.

[202] He said, it has been an honor and a joy to share some basic and essential truths of the Catholic faith with you through the series of my pastoral letters.

[203] Today I'd like to discuss the seventh and the final letter, the final truth that I listed in my pastoral letter of August 22nd, 2003.

[204] Just right there in itself, Bishop Strickland, all of these letters, I hope somebody puts them into a little booklet so people can read them quickly, quickly in the sense of having all in one place, because these letters are not groundbreaking.

[205] You know what it is, Bishop, from my perspective, as a layman?

[206] It's a summary of what we've always have taught.

[207] on these topics of marriage, on salvation, on redemptive suffering now.

[208] It's basically a short course in Catholicism.

[209] So if somebody said, well, I want to know what you guys actually believe, I think these seven letters would do a pretty good job.

[210] Not the whole thing, but it would give people a good understanding.

[211] And I say this because my take on it is we desperately need to go back to the basics.

[212] Is that one of the reasons you wrote these letters?

[213] Absolutely.

[214] And And really, Terry, like you said, I mean, there's a whole catechism.

[215] These seven letters don't cover everything.

[216] But what I tried to do is cover some controversial topics that need to be clear.

[217] We need to be clear about, just like this seventh letter talking about redemptive suffering.

[218] That's a critical element.

[219] Oh, big time.

[220] The wondrous gift of the Son of God, Jesus Christ, redeeming us.

[221] redemptive suffering is woven into that.

[222] And if we ignore that part of it, expressed primarily in his cross, then we're taking the power and the vigor out of what Jesus Christ is all about.

[223] So these letters are about basic truths.

[224] Like we've said, I didn't invent anything.

[225] I don't want to invent anything.

[226] We need to glory in the truth that Christ has revealed to us.

[227] It's not some, you know, we're always in our society about the latest thing.

[228] Oh, the latest thing that's been done or some of this great new invention.

[229] But we need to celebrate also the ancient things, the ancient foundations of who we are as children of God, of what this world is about, of who God is and who we.

[230] are.

[231] That's, in these seven letters, I just tried to touch on some of the areas that are making headlines that people are talking about.

[232] Oh, well, this is up for discussion.

[233] There's really nothing to discuss if we know we can discuss it to say, let's understand it more deeply.

[234] But if we're saying, hey, let's change these things, that really doesn't make sense.

[235] And it's not our Catholic faith.

[236] You know, this whole topic on redemptive suffering is a game changer.

[237] What I mean by that, Dr. Scott Hahn, who I've had the pleasure of meeting when he was converting, well, he was a recent convert to the Catholic faith.

[238] I did a lot of his recordings, his conversion story, now famous.

[239] And when I talked to him about redemptive suffering, he said, I said to him, Scott, how do you understand Colossans chapter one as a Protestant?

[240] And he said, well, when we read that, and we'll get to that today, I fill up what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ for the good of the church.

[241] he said, what's he talking about?

[242] Christ died on the cross.

[243] See, that was our perspective.

[244] But when he came to understand redemptive suffering, he thought, what?

[245] That's amazing.

[246] It was incredible.

[247] And when we come back from the break, we're going to talk about what Scott Hahn thought was incredible by going deeper into this teaching on redemptive suffering because he realized that every action is like a blank check.

[248] If Christ's name is on it, it has infinite value.

[249] So everything we do, we can unite this with Jesus Christ.

[250] What a teaching.

[251] Stay with this family.

[252] We'll be back with more to talk about redemptive suffering.

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

[254] Welcome back indeed.

[255] You know, Bishop Strickland, I'm smiling because this whole topic of redemptive suffering, I just came back from a little surgery on my foot.

[256] And I thought about this.

[257] I said, oh, man, offer it up, man. And it was a little piece of metal that got stuck in my heel, and it was irritating my nerve.

[258] And I thought, well, I thought it was a sliver.

[259] So it's all better.

[260] I mean, I'm completely back on my feet, and thanks be to God.

[261] But it was an opportunity to unite that little suffering because it felt like someone was stabbing my foot when I walked, if I walked on my heels.

[262] But then I thought, hey, here I am talking about redemptive suffering when I come back from the surgery.

[263] And now I'm feeling, I'm in great shape.

[264] So Bishop Strickland, this whole letter that you wrote, you really showed that when we follow Jesus Christ, we follow Jesus Christ, his life, death, and resurrection.

[265] I don't want to read everything in this book, but can we talk a little bit about what you said that it's about following Christ, we were willing to take up our cross?

[266] Tell us a little bit more about that.

[267] Well, he tells us we have to, if we want to follow him, when we have to take up our cross.

[268] And I think the beautiful thing about the concept of redemptive suffering, it really does unite us to Christ in a very personal way.

[269] Yes, it does.

[270] It's like you said.

[271] I mean, it's a great example.

[272] Just having the pain and your heel because of the sliver of metal.

[273] Yeah.

[274] We all go through things like that.

[275] We're told in our society, turn to medications.

[276] or, I mean, it's like, don't suffer, don't allow any pain in your life.

[277] And certainly, as I say in this letter, we're not expected to go seek out pain.

[278] No, we're not masochists.

[279] I get there.

[280] We're not.

[281] But when it comes, we can turn that to join it to the cross of Christ.

[282] And really, we could have a whole other segment on this aspect of it.

[283] Yes.

[284] But for those who are listening, who are committed Catholics, this is one of the reasons the mass is so beautiful.

[285] And when we talk about full and active participation in the mass, it's recognizing that our suffering really does complete the suffering of Christ.

[286] Not in any way to say that somehow something was lacking for him, but it's lacking for us.

[287] It's, we are called to be the body of Christ.

[288] We are the mystical body in the church.

[289] And so that's a beautiful aspect of the celebration of the Eucharistic sacrifice at the altar.

[290] And you can even think of that in terms of, you know, a lot of times we think of the offatory or the preparation of the gifts, the preparation of the altar for the Eucharist as we transition.

[291] from the Liturgy of the Word to the Liturgy of the Eucharist, people think of that, oh, well, that's when you make a donation of money.

[292] Certainly, spiritually, that can be part of it.

[293] Yes.

[294] To make some sort of a sacrifice that you're joining to the sacrifice of Christ.

[295] But it's also all the things that have happened since we celebrated the last mass to bring that to the altar and to join it to this unendent.

[296] sacrifice of Christ, the mass, the Eucharist, all of it is such a great mystery.

[297] It's hard to, and there are volumes trying to put it into our understanding, like we were talking about with the development of doctrine.

[298] We can, humanity for the rest of history, can continue to seek to know and understand the Eucharist more deeply.

[299] And we're never going to reach the bottom of that mystery because it's beyond us.

[300] We can find new and better ways of expressing, just like, it seems like, so long ago for us.

[301] But at one point, the transubstantiation was a new concept that caught on that is a human expression of, like you said, the mystery that was always there since the last supper, since Christ took bread and wine and said, this is my body and this is my blood.

[302] blood.

[303] The mystery of the Eucharist has been offered to humanity, but there have been milestones of deeper understanding.

[304] Some of that coming from people like Ignatius of Antio.

[305] Talking about, what does he talk about?

[306] Redemptive suffering.

[307] He's headed to his martyrdom, and he says, you know, let the wild beast crush my bones, my flower to be made into, I mean, he, he, He gets very graphic about it, but the beauty of Ignatius of Antioch, and what he's saying is that he is joining, literally joining his body and blood, his humanity, his whole life, his whole existence, he's joining it to the Eucharist, to Jesus Christ.

[308] That's what we're all called to do.

[309] Wow.

[310] Not necessarily to all be, you know, mauled by why.

[311] wild animals, but to whatever suffering comes our way, to rather than rejecting it, embrace it as part of what we can offer and joining to the cross of Christ.

[312] I think we're going to take the next show with this because I'm going to take each paragraph.

[313] It's going to take a while to get through all this, but it's very important.

[314] I didn't see anything about Our Lady of Fatima talking about offering our daily duty as a sacrifice to God.

[315] But see, everybody who's listening, whether you're a three -year -old's grandson of mine, he has to do his daily duty, keeping his room clean, you know, doing, eat well, clean beer, you know, this is pleasing to God.

[316] And so this whole idea of redemptive suffering is so pleasing to our Lord because what we're doing is we're imitating him.

[317] And the, in the daily duties of one state in life, can be a real sacrifice to do it well, like getting up on time to go to school, to do your homework.

[318] These are little things, but little things become big.

[319] So I'd like to shift gears, if I can, to your paragraph on the first parents, because I think it's really important to understand, you know, Adam and Eve.

[320] I don't want to get into the pretty natural gifts that they had, you know, it's kind of deep, but the idea that they chose, you know, to disobey God and what was the consequences of that and how it relates to the topic.

[321] I mean, you quote the catechism of the Catholic Church.

[322] So this isn't your opinion.

[323] But tell us a little bit about Adam and Eve and that whole scene about disobedience and how it fits in.

[324] Well, it's really where suffering enters into the world.

[325] The reason that we needed a redeemer is because Adam and Eve stepped away from God.

[326] That's it.

[327] With original sin, we all have what we call concupiscence, that tendency to take our own path.

[328] and to really the worst of it is to pretend that we're God.

[329] It's interesting, as we talk about this, Terry, just recently I read that one way of looking at the Old Testament, and I'm reading through Old Testament prophets right now, but so often they are creating their own gods.

[330] False gods are prevalent.

[331] I mean, it's one of the, The worst sins of Israel, people of Israel in the Old Testament all the way through, they're making, they're making their own gods, their idols.

[332] That's what Adam and Eve do, ultimately, rather than embracing the world that God is given, then they want to make their own.

[333] And it ultimately becomes idolatry because it's stepping away from the one true God.

[334] God's mercy sends his son to redeem that.

[335] But each of our lives, and that's a beautiful aspect of our faith, really.

[336] Yes.

[337] Because a lot of times, I mean, you and I, I mean, we do things, but you can feel like, what does my life matter?

[338] I hear you.

[339] What, you know, do we count?

[340] I mean, we think of in terms of the world, people that are world famous and people that are wealthy, the billion.

[341] But in the kingdom, we all count.

[342] That's exactly.

[343] We all have the same ability.

[344] And the saints illustrate this.

[345] I mean, like St. Therese, the little flower.

[346] She's the childlike, the simple.

[347] All of that reminds us that we all have a significant role.

[348] In the family of God, we are, as St. Paul says in one of his letters, God, it doesn't say it this way, but God doesn't play favorites.

[349] God is not, I think what St. Paul says is God's not partial.

[350] We're all sacred expressions, unrepeatable.

[351] That's why, you know, again, the sanctity of life is so important because we need those expressions, unique expressions of God that we all are.

[352] in order for the world to be what God intends for it to be.

[353] And what on the topic of redemptive suffering, if we could all embrace this, then for one thing, we're not going to inflict the suffering on each other the way we do nearly as much because we begin to recognize that when I cause harm to another person, when I hurt someone, it diminishes me and it creates more and more of the turmoil that sin and death create in the world.

[354] When, like you're saying about your grandson, Beau, three years old, the more he can live a life responsible in the light of Christ.

[355] Doing what he's supposed to do, the more harmonious the world is.

[356] the more we can live in peace.

[357] We pray for peace at this time of multiple wars going on at the same time and division in the church.

[358] We need peace, but it has to be peace in Christ and following his will, turning from sin and living the gospel.

[359] It all fits together.

[360] It does.

[361] And your paragraph says it so well.

[362] It says it's important for us to recognize in our suffering that God's will for us always includes mercy.

[363] I love that.

[364] Yes.

[365] And that trusting God involves believing he loves us perfectly.

[366] If we understood that God loves you so much that if he stopped thinking about you, he needs to exist, I keep telling myself that because it's true and that he has compassion for us.

[367] However, this can be difficult to realize, you said, and accept especially where there seems to be no relief of pain, no healing from disease.

[368] However, when God provided the ultimate sacrifice, his divine son.

[369] This sacrifice covered the whole world with his compassion and his mercy.

[370] Wow.

[371] The sufferings of Christ on the cross?

[372] It's our hope and our eternal life allows us the opportunity to enter in that hope and promised by uniting our sufferings with his and to recognize that without our pain and suffering can be found in immense compassion and the mercy of God.

[373] Well said, let's talk more about redemptive suffering when we come back on the Bishop Strickland Hour.

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

[375] Welcome back.

[376] Indeed.

[377] We're talking about Bishop Strickland's letter as pastoral letter on redemptive suffering.

[378] And I love when you quote scripture and the catechism because it's so important that we know both of those work together.

[379] And I know your paragraph where you said you talk about the catechism of the Catholic Church teachings that all suffering can be redemptive meaning for sins of others if we unite it to Christ's passion.

[380] This is paragraph 1502.

[381] That in itself might be a revelation to most Catholics.

[382] That's huge.

[383] Yeah.

[384] And to think what our Lady of Fatima said, Bresher strictly, souls are going to hell because no one is there to pray and make sacrifices that we can participate in the salvific work of Jesus Christ by uniting our sufferings with the sufferings of Jesus Christ on the cross, I mean, that in itself is mind -boggling, in my humble opinion.

[385] Can you also add a little bit what you said about the catechism, but he said that Christ not only allows himself to be touched by the sick, but he makes their miseries his own.

[386] How can he do that?

[387] Well, as the Lord of Life, it all is, I mean, he's the author of all of it.

[388] And I think the best way I can understand that is to look at what he's, does in his ministry here on earth.

[389] Yeah.

[390] I mean, so much of that is alleviating suffering, whether someone has died and he brings them back to life or whether they're near death or whether they're, you know, having a hemorrhage for 12 years.

[391] He is addressing suffering in all kinds of different ways because he's the Lord of everything that is good.

[392] Yes.

[393] He is, and that's just come to me as we're talking that as the Lord of Life, the Lord of goodness, he is truth incarnate.

[394] He is all goodness incarnate among us.

[395] So the suffering that's in the world, which originates with the sin of Adam and Eve and with the concubicence, the brokenness in the world, that all of that contradicts the very existence of Christ.

[396] And so his redeeming act, the fact that he enters into suffering, it's just, it kind of blows your mind.

[397] And I can't claim that I have a full understanding and can really talk about that in the ways that I would like to.

[398] Because if you look at the passion of Christ, here is truth incarnate, goodness incarnate, beauty incarnate the goodness of the universe and he is taking on this evil yes that from our perspective it looks like it overpowers him but even as he dies evil hasn't overpowered him yes he has been willing to for his the body he's taken on he's willing to die for us but as he promises he's going to rise.

[399] And that illustrates that he is the Lord of Life, that death couldn't ultimately conquer him, even though it looked like it did.

[400] And he truly died.

[401] His physical body died.

[402] I reflect on that a lot.

[403] But it's all woven together.

[404] The mystery of the Lord of the Universe be willing to do this for all of us in order to free us from this burden.

[405] Yes.

[406] It's just like you were talking about, the perfect love of God, Father, Son, and Spirit is expressed in the saving the salvific work of the son that the father said yes to.

[407] Yes.

[408] Yes, my son, you must do this in order to allow love to be unleashed on the world.

[409] You know, as I'm listening to you, I just pulled out of my quotable sheen binder.

[410] I've got a little binder of his statements.

[411] He says, all suffering endured with love of God profits our families and even the world.

[412] And I think of a dad, right now you're listening to Father, and you go off to work and you make a sacrifice of working eight hours, maybe even in an office that you don't like because the office manager is not the greatest guy.

[413] But you offer that up for your family.

[414] You go there every day and work.

[415] And now what happens is it's a game changer because, you're no longer going, that guy makes me sick.

[416] It's almost like the little flower.

[417] You remember the story Bishop Strickland about the rosary beads that one of the nuns behind the little flower would hit up against the pew and it irritated her and she couldn't focus on God.

[418] And then she changed her focus.

[419] So wait a minute, wait a minute, I changed my mind.

[420] I'm going to offer that inconvenience of hearing that bead hitting and bothered me to God.

[421] And now it's not bothering me. and I would say this, Bishop Strickland, in my own life, I don't know if this applies to you, but for me, things that used to be irritating to me, when I would offer them to God many times, not every time, but many times they didn't irritate me anymore because I said, I'm going to give it to God.

[422] Am I on to something?

[423] Oh, absolutely.

[424] It's part of the mystery that we're talking about.

[425] I'm reminded of one of my favorite saints and favorite devotions that we just celebrated, St. Margaret Mary Alico with the sacred devotion to the sacred heart.

[426] Yes.

[427] She suffered a lot as a young child and then as a young woman.

[428] And ultimately, through the revelation of the sacred heart, I mean, the sacred heart of Christ is a heart of suffering, a heart of holiness.

[429] It's the heart of the Son of God that we've been talking about.

[430] and St. Margaret Mary Alico, like so many of the saints, we think that, oh, well, these holy people, we can imagine that they didn't suffer.

[431] But very often, they suffered tremendously.

[432] But like you said, they turn it around.

[433] And when you connect that suffering to Christ, it really, it truly becomes redemptive.

[434] Yes.

[435] Not just in the sense of the end of life, but even as we journey through life, It frees us from the burden.

[436] It lifts us up.

[437] In a sense, you could say, we're already sharing in the power of the resurrection.

[438] And I think we see that in the saints, the joyful lives they lived in the midst of suffering.

[439] I think of St. Teresa of Calcutta, commonly called Mother Teresa.

[440] As we find out after she died, she suffered tremendously.

[441] But no one would have seen that because it was suffering.

[442] joined to Christ that ultimately became redemptive, even as she still walked the journey of this life.

[443] That's a beautiful reminder to all of us, because I'm sure that everyone listening, we all have sufferings to deal with.

[444] Exactly.

[445] Some people suffer with tremendous chronic pain or tremendous division in their families or tremendous alienation from loved ones.

[446] I mean, And there's all kinds of suffering that people have to deal with.

[447] Think of the people in these wars right now.

[448] Oh, yeah.

[449] Innocent people who have lost family members and maybe lost their homes and they're suffering deeply.

[450] We have to pray for them to come to know the message of Christ who didn't just say, take up your cross.

[451] He took up his cross and said, take up yours and follow me. That's the whole mystery.

[452] And we can't water it down.

[453] We can't lose the power of that by saying, oh, you don't really have to suffer and you don't need to worry about a cross, just embrace Jesus.

[454] No, it's about going through our suffering to embrace Jesus.

[455] Well said, and I want to give a plug to your men's conference coming up on the 28th of October.

[456] This is a conference that I think many people would enjoy if you're in the Tyler area.

[457] If you just Google men's conference, Tyler, Texas, it'll post you.

[458] pop up.

[459] This is on the 28th of October, so I think we still have time to promote that.

[460] Bishop Strickland, this is a timely topic.

[461] As you just said, so many people are suffering, especially in the Middle East, and you've got the Russia war going on and Ukraine.

[462] And just everywhere in the world, it seems that there's suffering going.

[463] and so understanding this from a biblical perspective of Colossians chapter one says I fill up what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ for the good of the church we can really participate in this great salvific work last thing I have I think we have just a couple minutes a two minutes to summarize I want to continue next week with the less part of your your letter but it seems to me that when people understand that every action is like a blank check, like we said at the beginning of the show, then you really get to participate in the life of Christ through his life, death, and resurrection.

[464] Not just as some people will say, the resurrected Christ, no, the whole Christ, the life of Christ, we are trying to, that's one of the reasons here at Virgin Most Powerful.

[465] We cover Bishop Sheen's book, The Life of Christ, every Monday on the Terry and Jesse show.

[466] We want people to know intimately who Jesus Christ is, correct?

[467] that's it and i want to ask if you could because i know we got to close out the show um i wanted to also plug your um your catechism that we st philip institute dot com website people can get not just a catechism from st philip's institute but other resources especially on the family the family has been under attack and i think what you guys have done is a tremendous service because i know this is not all about you you have people working every day on this st philip institute project so i want to just encourage if mr engineer can put it up on the screen that would be fine too so people who are watching it on youtube that'd be great bishop strickland could we get a blessing from you please sure almighty god we ask your blessing for all that virgin most powerful radio and all listening that we may all continue to join our sufferings to Christ and be strengthened in the power of his love and the perfect love that God has for us, Father, Son, and Spirit, and seek God's blessing and seek reparation and atonement for all the sins in the world as there's so much turmoil that we face.

[468] Help us to be strong in faith, full of hope and joy because we know, and we know you and the face of your son, Jesus Christ.

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

[470] Amen.

[471] I might also add, we're coming towards the end of October.

[472] November comes in.

[473] That's the month for the poor souls in purgatory.

[474] You know who else we can be offering our sacrifices for?

[475] Yeah, the poor souls in purgatory.

[476] So keep that in mind.

[477] And don't forget, you get a soul out of purgatory, man, he's going to be working for you.

[478] He's going to be praying for you.

[479] I hope and pray that one day, please God, we get to heaven that we'll be able to meet many souls that said, thanks for praying for the souls because I needed it.

[480] I can't do it.

[481] I was relying on, you know, the church militant to help me. So that's important.

[482] Also, if you want to hear any other shows that Virgin Most Powerful Radio plays, we have them on our website, vmpr .org.

[483] You can hear all of the podcasts from Bishop Strickland shows.

[484] I love the Jesus 9 -1 -1.

[485] It's on spiritual warfare.

[486] Also, the Terry and Jesse show and many other shows that should help you fall deep in love with Jesus Christ and his bride of church.

[487] And for those who have been supporting us, I want to thank you because we couldn't do it without your prayerful support and your financial support.

[488] May God bless you and thanks for listening.

[489] Thanks for passing these shows on through the internet of friends and family.

[490] God love you and we'll see you.

[491] again, God willing, next week.

[492] Same time, same station.