01 Sep 2020 – The Sixth Commandment (Pt. 2)

[0] which is going to give us a lot of, welcome to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

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

[2] I'm honored to be here with our friend now, Bishop Joseph Strickland from the Diocese of Tyler, Texas.

[3] And what we do here is we're going through the commandments, the Ten Commandments.

[4] I always like to say there's no expiration date on these Ten Commandments.

[5] We're on the Sixth Commandment, and the Sixth Commandment is kind of long, so we're going to take more time on it.

[6] But Bishop Strickland, welcome again to Virgin Most Powerful Radio.

[7] Thanks, Terry.

[8] Thank you for joining us.

[9] And Bishop Strickland, before we go into the Sixth Commandment, Thou Shall Not Commit, Adultery, I'd like to ask you again, we go through some of your tweets that you've done in the past weeks that are really striking to me. And the first tweet that I really thought was good was on August 16th, you said, on the Lord's day, may St. Catherine of Sienna inspire us to speak the truth of Jesus Christ boldly, joyfully, and filled with his light.

[10] The darkness of evil loves silence, but children of light must sing out in a joyful choir of love and truth.

[11] Hallowed be God's name.

[12] I love it.

[13] Now, you were quoting St. Catherine of Sianna when she said, you know, hundreds of years ago, she said, We've had enough exhortations to be silent.

[14] Cry out with a hundred thousand tongues.

[15] And then she says, I see that the world is rotten because of silence.

[16] Bishop Strickland, this could be said in 2020.

[17] It's appropriate now.

[18] But what got you to tweet this tweet?

[19] What was behind that tweet for you?

[20] Well, I love St. Catherine of Siena just because he's such a strong woman.

[21] in a woman of faith, a woman who was willing to not be silent and to speak up in the issues of her day.

[22] As you said, she lived hundreds of years ago, but what she said could be a headline for today.

[23] And I think there is a tendency for us as Christians, not just Catholics, but all Christians, to sort of hide our light under the bushel basket, to just to be sure.

[24] shy about really speaking out what we know is the truth of Jesus Christ, because many rejected.

[25] Many rejected Christ himself.

[26] And many rejected it, obviously, at the time of St. Catherine of Siena.

[27] So many of the saints came out of times of darkness, just like ours.

[28] So let's be saints for today.

[29] You know, Bishop Strickland, St. Terry Barber of California.

[30] We're all called that's the universal call to holiness of Vatican too everybody imagine that bishop strickland this made me remember a another saint and this is what's so beautiful you tweet a lot about the saints and i think that's so important for us because there are role models but here's another saint that said something similar and it's saint pope felix the third are you ready folks back in four seventy five almost fifteen hundred years ago he said if this applies to us two thousand twenty not to oppose error is to approve it not to defend truth is to suppress it and indeed to neglect the confound evil men when we can do it is no less a sin than to encourage them Bishop Strickland maybe I'm wrong with that sins of omission we can't stay silent like St. Catherine said and I think this applies to us today so thank you for sending that tweet out sure thank you I love Felix the 4th So do I, and you know, I've heard people say to me, I'd never heard of that, Pope.

[31] I said, I didn't either.

[32] But when I found that one, I was like, wow, if that's not appropriate for us today, you've got another great saint.

[33] I love St. Maximine and Colby.

[34] I'm a Knight of the Immaculata, October 10th, 1982.

[35] I was in Rome when he was canonized to saint.

[36] I just love St. Maximian Colby.

[37] And you tweeted this.

[38] You said, we are all called to the same submission of our wills, to the will.

[39] of God, let us imitate St. Maximilian Colby's humble submission to the two crowns of holiness.

[40] St. Maximilian Colby, pray for us.

[41] What were you talking about?

[42] Well, you tweeted this.

[43] He says, and this is what happened to St. Maximilian Colby when he was a little boy, I'll set the stage.

[44] He did something that his mother was correcting him and said to Raymond, Raymond, oh, what will become of you?

[45] Because he was a little disobedient as a child.

[46] And he was so moved.

[47] He went outside, and he prayed.

[48] He says, I asked the mother of God, what was to become of me, a child of faith.

[49] Then she came to me holding two crowns, one white, the other red.

[50] She asked me if I was willing to accept either of these crowns.

[51] The white one meant that I should be preserved impurity, and the red that I should become a martyr.

[52] I said I would accept them both.

[53] And as you know, in Auschwitz, 1941, he died in a concentration camp.

[54] Why?

[55] He gave his life up for a family man who, believe it or not, I met that family man named Gail Nietzscheck here in California before he passed.

[56] He held my little daughter, Monica, in his arms, and I was honored to meet him, but he told us in his broken English what happened that night when St. Maximilian Colby stepped in and took his place.

[57] and he was relieved of going to the starvation bunker.

[58] And you know what, Bishop Strickland, Bishop, when he was there with those 10 men, they didn't die, you know, rebelling.

[59] They were singing hymns because Father Colby was able to inspire them to prepare for a holy death.

[60] So I agree, but I want to ask you, why did you quote that?

[61] I know that his feast day is the 14th, but is there a special devotion to St. Max?

[62] Or why would you send that out today?

[63] How does that apply to us today?

[64] Well, mainly it was his feast day, but I think all the saints are saints for today because they live through challenges that are different now, but evil is not that different no matter when or how you face it.

[65] In St. Maximilian, and one of the things I loved about St. Maximilian Colby, he was into technology.

[66] He had a radio station back when that was cutting edge brand new technology.

[67] And he was using radio, just like you.

[68] He's your patron saint.

[69] Absolutely.

[70] He was using radio when it was just a brand new industry, a brand new way of communicating.

[71] But he said, this is a way to get the good news of Jesus Christ out there.

[72] Just like we use tweets and Facebook and internet radio and everything today, he was on the cutting edge of that.

[73] And I had the blessing of actually visiting his radio station there.

[74] in Poland.

[75] It's more or less a museum now, but we visited the radio station.

[76] And he was well known, and that's something that I learned.

[77] I didn't know.

[78] I'd always heard about St. Maximilian Colby and that inspiring story that led to his death.

[79] But he was already living that white crown of holiness long before the Second World War even started with the radio station.

[80] He was doing the work of evangelization, living as a holy man and as a priest before the red crown of martyrdom showed up.

[81] So I think that, especially in this age of technology, to remember that all of these things can be instruments of the gospel, instruments of evangelization, if we've used them properly.

[82] Certainly, radio can be used for evil purposes, just like any medium can, but it also can be used.

[83] used for great good like St. Maximilian Colby and like your radio station.

[84] Well, praise God.

[85] He had a publication called The Immaculata Magazine that he had over a million subscriptions to that magazine worldwide.

[86] He had 700 monks living in a monastery.

[87] It was the largest monastery in the world at the time.

[88] And here's the last thing I'll say.

[89] Maybe I'm talking too much about St. Max, but I have a devotion to him.

[90] This says it all.

[91] When someone came to Nicapokalama, the city of the Immaculate, and they said, so Father Colby, what's this all about?

[92] You know, tell me what's it all about.

[93] And he said, come with me. And he took him before the Blessed Sacrament, where they had perpetual Eucharistic adoration.

[94] He said, what it's all about is, it's about Jesus Christ in the Eucharist.

[95] And I just will never forget that.

[96] And the last thing, then I'll move on to your next tweet, but I got to plug this in.

[97] St. Max taught me when I was at Maritown, when I was a younger man, he said there are three stages in life.

[98] He said, your first stage of life is your formation, which is incredibly important, especially today.

[99] That's why good catechesis is so important.

[100] Then he says you're apostolate, whether you're a married man, single man, a priest, a nun.

[101] In other words, what God calls you to be.

[102] But then he says the third stage of life for most of us is suffering.

[103] And I thought, wow, that is so appropriate.

[104] He quoted Colossians chapter 1 I fill up what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ for the good of the church and I thought about that it's so important all of us I'm getting older Father Bishop Strickland you're right behind me most likely there will be a time in our life when we get old that we won't be able to get up will be suffering and we can unite that suffering with the sufferings of Christ so St. Max and me and Colby please pray for us I'm John Bishop Absolutely and I'm before we finish with St. Maximilian.

[105] I want to highlight his middle name, Maximilian Mary.

[106] Maria, and that's where the Immaculata comes from.

[107] He had a great devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary.

[108] And I just wanted to say on Friday, I interviewed John Galton ahead of the Knights of the Immaculata.

[109] They came out with a documentary movie on St. Maximian Colby.

[110] If you go to melitiumiaculata .com, it's a free movie on a download.

[111] I'll just go to the...

[112] Knights of the Immaculata, you'll find about that movie.

[113] And what's really interesting, Bishop, this will make you laugh.

[114] This movie's been in the production for a couple years and when I was listening to it, I said, yeah, that sounds like me. They came out a couple years ago to interview me and I totally forgot about it.

[115] And then I watched the movie and there I am.

[116] So I'm laughing because God is so good and I want everybody to become a knight of the amaculata and they're all over the world.

[117] So let's move on.

[118] St. Maximine and Kobe.

[119] pray for us.

[120] When you visit with Doug Barry, tell him.

[121] We need Knights of the Immaculata in the Diocese of Tyler.

[122] Okay, I will tell him.

[123] Hey, I hear the music when we come back.

[124] I've got one more tweet that Bishop Strickland did.

[125] I just want to get his take on that.

[126] I always say I'm too blessed to be stressed, too anointed to be disappointed, and if hope was money, I'd be a billionaire.

[127] I love listening to Bishop Strickland Teach us the faith.

[128] We'll be right back with more to inspire you to fall deeper in love with Jesus Christ.

[129] Welcome to Daniel.

[130] You're on the line.

[131] What's on your mind, brother?

[132] Hi, I just wanted to share a testimony about Virgin Most Powerful radio.

[133] I had a buddy at work who, you know, he looked warm Catholic guy, and I wanted him to start listening to the Terry and Jesse show, so I kept telling him to download the app, and he kept putting me off.

[134] So one day I grabbed his phone and I downloaded the app for him.

[135] I went on vacation, and I kept telling him to listen to it.

[136] He was kind of put me off.

[137] I came back from vacation.

[138] He comes to my cubicle, and he says to me, Hey, man. I've been listening to Terran Jesse show, and it's great.

[139] And it's made a big impact in his life.

[140] The guy, he's going to weekly adoration a couple times a week.

[141] He goes to the Mass in the morning.

[142] He's on fire Catholic, and he promotes the Taran Jesse show in the Virgin Most Powerful Radio.

[143] Daniel, what a testimony.

[144] And I want to encourage our listeners to get those cards by going to Virgin Most Powerful .org and do what Daniel's doing.

[145] Go out and spread the faith by inviting people to listen to Virgin Most Powerful.

[146] Daniel, thanks for your testimony, brother.

[147] I'd love you.

[148] You're welcome.

[149] Join VMPR live on YouTube, September 12th, 2020, for our latest free conference, The Ultimate Challenge.

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[153] This is Terry Barber.

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[160] Thank you so much for your support.

[161] Welcome back.

[162] Gary Barber here with Bishop Joseph Strickland from the Diocese of Tyler, Texas, where you can get information about the St. Philip Institute.

[163] Before I get to your next tweet, Bishop Strickland, and repeat about what the St. Philip Institute's all about because I want people to have resources.

[164] St. Philip Institute.

[165] Institute .org, 1L and Phillips, St. Philip Institute .org, that's the website.

[166] It's all about teaching the good news of Jesus Christ.

[167] Amen.

[168] To families, to children, to those preparing for sacraments, to teenagers, to young marines, to old marines, to 70 plus to everybody.

[169] St. Philip Institute, and they're doing a great job, especially in the midst of all this COVID.

[170] craziness, as I call it, just using the medium of the computers, of internet, a lot of podcasts, a lot of great things, just getting the truth out there, as we talked about earlier, St. Catherine of Siena said, enough of this silence.

[171] And we need to bring it to the airwaves, to bring it to the internet, the truth of Jesus Christ.

[172] That's what the St. Philip Institute's all about for the Diocese of Tyler specifically, but we'll let other people listen in anytime they want to.

[173] Well, sign me up.

[174] Bishop Strickland, this is a very controversial tweet that you sent out, especially with the political atmosphere.

[175] You know, we're 75 days away from picking another president, if we, maybe it would be the same president, but we're not far away from that.

[176] And so here's what you said.

[177] So sad that high -profile Catholic.

[178] are being opted by those with an agenda that is completely contrary to the catechism of the Catholic Church.

[179] Let us pray that they wake up to their error, that's bold, before more serious damage is done.

[180] And you said, be faithful to Jesus, reject the latest ideology.

[181] What are you talking about here, Bishop Strickland?

[182] Well, we both know very well, all too well, Terry, that they're a lot of high -profile Catholics, both in the political world, in the entertainment world, just people that say I'm Catholic, and then promptly contradict what the Catholic says, what the Catholic catechism, our teaching, our body teaching.

[183] And I think we just have to speak up and say, no, there's a contradiction here.

[184] The Catholic Church is rooted in logical, reasoned understanding of the life that God has given us.

[185] And so when I see a contradiction, when the church sees a contradiction, we need to speak up.

[186] And to be in communion with the Catholic Church, and I use that word specifically, because there's controversy about Catholics who on one hand deny what the church teaches, and then you see them going to communion to receive the body of Christ.

[187] Certainly, as I've said many times, I'm not worthy, none of us are.

[188] But we're challenged to be as worthy as possible when we come to that Eucharistic altar to receive the body and blood of Jesus Christ, really present, the flesh and blood of the Son of God.

[189] And to receive that as something merely as part of a nice community atmosphere is wrong.

[190] It's simply wrong.

[191] And I think that whether they're in entertainment or in sports or in politics for someone who says they're Catholic, they need to be demonstrating what the Catholic Church believes.

[192] And that sadly breaks down in all kinds of areas.

[193] We aren't here to judge others, but the greatest mercy is to call people away from living a false dichotomy of life.

[194] If someone says they're Catholic, but they're living with someone that they're not married to, that's scandal.

[195] That's bad example.

[196] someone says they're Catholic, but they're promoting abortion and Planned Parenthood, that's contrary to the Catholic Church.

[197] And I think we just need to, as I like to say, I don't know if we've said it on your radio station, I probably have.

[198] I like just good old meat and potatoes Catholicism, just the basics, go back to the fundamentals.

[199] and we like to complicate things and to make it all, you know, fuzzy and gray and complex.

[200] It's really not complex.

[201] If you read the catechism, it's there in black and white.

[202] Any educated person can read the catechism and understand it and look at the references, much of it referencing scripture itself and other aspects referencing papal documents, stretching through the history of the church, documents from ecumenical councils of the church.

[203] The catechism is a great compendium of what the church teaches.

[204] And as a bishop, I'll be the first to say, if I say something and they say, oh, that's not what the catechism says.

[205] Please, correct me. I can make mistakes.

[206] I can get off track.

[207] I can get inaccurate about what I'm saying.

[208] And I'm glad to be corrected.

[209] because I want to be faithful to Jesus Christ.

[210] I want to be faithful to who is bride, the Catholic Church.

[211] And to do that, we have the catechism to guide us.

[212] So I would encourage Catholics, high profile or otherwise, all of us need to have a well -formed conscience.

[213] And I want to work on really helping people know what it means to have a well -formed conscience to basically, you know, the simplest way of you're really smart like you are, just memorize the catechism memorize the cover to cover and you'll be fine but if you can't memorize it at least use it as a reference book when you're not sure about how does a Catholic navigate question X turn to the catechism it will answer every question you have well said Bishop Strickland I just want to mention there are high profile politicians even running for the presidency in its November election and it seems to me, last week you talked about those who are high -profile people who support Planned Parenthood, who support abortion on demand and same -sex marriage, that it's false compassion to say that they should be receiving Holy Communion because they're not in communion.

[214] I think I'll quote you, you said they're not in communion with the church.

[215] And so out of what I call mercy and also charity, you tell them they shouldn't receive Holy Communion, is that pretty much your stance?

[216] Because that's what I think the church teaches.

[217] Absolutely.

[218] And what I would emphasize, I think what we, as a bishop, as we've talked about, I'm very open to say I'm 61 years old.

[219] I'll be 62 soon.

[220] My life is, there's more of my life behind me than in front of me. Me too.

[221] This life, and when we get to be our age, you're older than me. a whole couple of years.

[222] That's right.

[223] But when you get to be 60 -something, you begin to realize more deeply that what we all know, even a five -year -old knows.

[224] They don't want to focus on it, and it seems like it's forever when you're five years old.

[225] But this life passes all too quickly.

[226] It's a brief and fleeting moment in comparison to eternity.

[227] So real love, real mercy, real charity.

[228] toward any other person is to help them focus on the 99 .9 % of their life, rather than the 0 .01%, which is this human journey through this world.

[229] And that's how we tend to focus on.

[230] If you look at so many people, Catholic or not, the focus is on what's this life going to give me, how much wealth, how much fame and notoriety, how much pleasure, how much of everything can I have.

[231] What we have to recognize is we're built for eternity.

[232] And the greatest love that we can show another person is to help them embrace that eternity.

[233] Certainly, it doesn't have to be an either or.

[234] God wants us to be happy in this world, but not we have to, real happiness, as happy as you are as a married man and a father, are you a grandfather?

[235] Yes, I am.

[236] I'm proud to say I'm a grandfather.

[237] Thank you for a grandfather.

[238] But as a married man, a happily married man, a father and a grandfather, there are many joys in your life.

[239] But the greatest joy is to know that this life is not where it all ends.

[240] Amen.

[241] Share that with your children and your grandchildren.

[242] To be only focused on this world really becomes pretty empty.

[243] And that's sadly, I mean, we should have a lot of compassion for people.

[244] that are depressed and devastated, especially in the midst of this virus and all the confusing things that are going on.

[245] Because if you think all that you have is this world, then, yeah, that's depressing.

[246] When this world is falling apart around us, that's pretty sad.

[247] You know, Bishop Strickland, you nailed it.

[248] Bishop Sheen used to say, go out and help your neighbor if you're depressed, and you'll find happiness.

[249] It's a matter of fact, I'll give you a quick Bishop Sheen's story about true meaning and purpose of life.

[250] I just found this out recently.

[251] You know, Bishop Sheen got a doctorate in Louvain, and he graduated the highest, you know, you can, with, you know, great honors.

[252] He had to stand before 200 professors and defend his dissertation.

[253] Well, his first year, in 1924, he was very lonely because he was out in France going to school, and he decided to ask the professors there, give me a list of ten of the most poor families in the area.

[254] I want to go visit them and take care of them the best I can.

[255] So he did, and there was a man with 10 children, 10.

[256] The wife was gone.

[257] She had died.

[258] He was raising the 10 kids.

[259] He had very little.

[260] So Bishop Sheen helped the family out, got the kids some jobs, and they're doing quite well.

[261] Well, when Bishop Sheen was going to get his dissertation, the family knew that, so they were going to pray that Bishop Sheen could pass the test.

[262] Well, he hadn't seen him in two days.

[263] family spent two days before our Eucharistic king in front of the Blessed Sacrament praying for Bishop Sheen because he did so much for them.

[264] And Bishop Sheen said that those are the prayers that I think God was listening to that got me through my dissertation.

[265] And I say this, Bishop Sheen went out to help his neighbor and it comes right back at you for your happiness.

[266] And I believe Bishop Strickland, that's something today, especially with the COVID -19, that people are, there's got so many depressed people, they're scared.

[267] And I keep saying what Bishop Sheen says, go out and help your neighbor, and you'll get over your frightening, being frightened, and also depression.

[268] Because when you help people, that will help you.

[269] That's the bottom line there.

[270] Do you agree with that, Bishop Strickland?

[271] Absolutely.

[272] And I certainly encourage people to read anything they can get their hands on from Archbishop Fulton Sheen.

[273] I want to share if I can get it up there.

[274] I can see it.

[275] This is a little book I'm reading.

[276] Characters of the Passion.

[277] I see it.

[278] A real little jewel.

[279] It's not a big book.

[280] But it's probably 70 pages long.

[281] Wow.

[282] It talks about Peter, Judas Ascarian.

[283] The Herod.

[284] All of those punches pilot.

[285] All of those involved with Jesus and the Passion.

[286] And he does, as always, a masterful job.

[287] Awesome.

[288] I've tweeted a couple of quotes from that book.

[289] he does a great job of reminding us what life's about.

[290] I mean, he's to me, the originator of meat and potato's Catholicism.

[291] He just gets it out there.

[292] Awesome.

[293] When we come back, we're going to get right into that catechism.

[294] The Sixth Commandment, thou shall not commit adultery.

[295] We'll be right back.

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[304] God bless you.

[305] This is Terry Barber.

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[313] This is Terry Barber.

[314] I want to thank you for your support here at Virgin Most Powerful Radio.

[315] Here's an easy way to do it.

[316] If you're going to sell or buy a house, call real estate for life.

[317] 877 -543 -3871 because they're going to get you a Christ -centered agent to purchase your home or to sell your home.

[318] And at the close of Estro, a portion of his commission goes right back to Virgin Most Powerful Radio.

[319] Call 877 -543 -3871.

[320] Thank you so much for your support.

[321] welcome back to the bishop strickland hour my name's terry barber with virgin most powerful radio just want to remind everybody we have a lot of other shows that we produce if you go to virgin most powerful radio dot org you can hear about lots of them especially on spiritual warfare i also want to mention bishop strickland mentioned bishop sheen while i was at fulton sheen's funeral i i love saying full sheen ahead and anything that man wrote like bishop schickland said you should read.

[322] Well, because we're covering the Sixth Commandment, and we're going to be talking about the beauty of marriage, back in 1951, Bishop Sheen came out with a book called Three to Get Married.

[323] And I put that book on cassette tape back in the 1980s, and then on CD, and now it's on an MP3 download.

[324] And I'm going to give it away.

[325] I know.

[326] Time goes by.

[327] But I'm going to give it away.

[328] It's about a 250 -page book, and the way you can get that book is just give us your email address, and we'll send you a link and you can download it.

[329] And now you've got a great book on marriage by calling 877 -526215.

[330] Just to give you the background, I got married 30 some years ago.

[331] My wife and I read that book together, Casti Canobey from the Holy Father back in 1931, and that prepared us for our marriage.

[332] So if you think about it, you've got my permission.

[333] Get the MP3 download and send it to your friends, especially those who are going to be married, are newlyweds.

[334] And I don't care if you've been married 50 years.

[335] Let Bishop Sheen talk to you about marriage, and it's called three to get married.

[336] And like I say, it's absolutely free.

[337] If you want to make a donation, that's fine.

[338] But I want you to hear it because I believe his insights on marriage are just so beautiful.

[339] Bishop Strickland.

[340] Put a plug -in once again for our St. Philip Institute.

[341] Absolutely.

[342] People can go to St .Philip Institute dot org and find our program for marriage formation.

[343] It's awesome.

[344] I've read it.

[345] It's inspired by that same three to get married.

[346] That's what it's called.

[347] Three to Get Married.

[348] That's our marriage formation program for the Diocese.

[349] Awesome.

[350] And it's available to anyone who wants to involve through our website.

[351] Thank you, Bishop.

[352] Anytime we can help people with resources on their faith.

[353] There's no need not to know the faith in my mind with the internet.

[354] It's all available through that internet.

[355] So check it out.

[356] Bishop Strickland, the Sixth Commandment, it's taking us a couple weeks to get through it because there's just so much there.

[357] We can talk for a year on it.

[358] But we've been talking about the Thou Shall not commit adultery in different aspects.

[359] And we're at paragraph 2355.

[360] And we're covering what prostitution does to injure the dignity of the person who's engaged in it.

[361] They actually make a very strong statement where he says prostitution is a social scourge.

[362] And you know, Bishop Strickland, in Europe, in some of these countries, it's legalized.

[363] Right here, we're in California.

[364] You go to Nevada.

[365] There's places where they have a prostitution that's legalized.

[366] That doesn't make it moral, obviously.

[367] But tell us exactly what the Catholic Church teaches and why we're so much opposed to prostitution regarding the dignity of the person?

[368] Well, it objectifies the person.

[369] The human person is body and soul.

[370] Amen.

[371] It's both of those dimensions.

[372] And really, I think, a simple way to look at why is prostitution wrong or any sexual use of another person that forgets they.

[373] have a soul that's just dealing with the physical attraction and the physical aspects of the sexual activity.

[374] It dehumanizes in a very literal way.

[375] And that's why the church is so strong in that that's one of the ways that the Sixth Commandment is violated in really objectifying the person.

[376] we probably most often think about prostitution as the prostitute is a woman being really abused by a man in a prostitute relationship if you can call it that contract you might say a little more clearly but it also men can be prostitutes as well and that is something that happens either way when the the soul of the person is really at least symbolically discarded in the interest of how attractive they are physically.

[377] And all of us, you know, as men and women, we have to deal with that.

[378] God made us attractive to each other because that's the plan of a man and woman coming together in a commitment of marriage.

[379] Amen.

[380] So, you know, those attractions are, age -old ways that the human person can be devalued, even within a marriage.

[381] I mean, that's what we talk about with being in a chaste marriage.

[382] A husband and wife, it can become so distorted that they've forgotten the soul of their spouse, whether the husband to the wife or the wife to the husband.

[383] Even married people are called to chastity.

[384] And that means, I think a good way of thinking about chastity is to remember the soul of the person is always, first and foremost, with the physical aspect of the person as well.

[385] Chastity is about remembering we are body and soul, that we have a physical presence, but we also have that spark of the divine that is our soul.

[386] when you're being chased, you're remembering both dimensions of the person and not just focusing on the physical.

[387] Well, Seth, now the next section of the catechism is something I quote all the time to my friends, and I call my friends who have same -sex attraction.

[388] 2357, 2358, 2359 talks about chastity and homosexuality showing that not only married people are called to chastity.

[389] single people are called to chastity and people with same -sex attraction are called to chastity so bishop strickland these three paragraphs can we talk about how we're supposed to obviously respect the individual but also share the gospel with them on what they need to do regarding their chastity if they have a same -sex attraction absolutely um i think it comes back to what we were talking about earlier israel remembering that we are destined for everlasting life.

[390] Amen.

[391] Certainly a lot of people with same -sex attraction and homosexual issues, that is a burden that they carry that really can be quite burdensome and can really be devastating for a person's life.

[392] But I think the devastation comes when the sexual aspect of who we are as men and women it becomes all -consuming.

[393] It gets out of focus, not to, you know, get to anything inappropriate, but it's a beautiful relationship that you and your wife have.

[394] Absolutely.

[395] And sex is part of it.

[396] Of course.

[397] But it's only part of it.

[398] It's not the totality.

[399] And I think what gets distorted for people of same -sex attraction or opposite -sex attraction, where our sexuality gets distorted is when it takes a predominant place in our lives where it's out of proportion.

[400] There's a whole lot of wonderful aspects of living the human journey that are, and sex according to God's plan, is when appropriately in the proper intimacy of marriage, It can be a great blessing as part of that life, but it's only part of it.

[401] And I think that we're in an age where your sexual orientation is seen as the totality of the definition of who you are.

[402] And that's such a poverty of the richness of who we are as people.

[403] Certainly, I think when we get on the topic of same -sex attraction and homosexuality, I think that we do have to speak very clearly about the bigotry and the hatred that has been associated with the way people have been treated because of an orientation that they have.

[404] That should be spoken very clearly as not part of the Christian ethic.

[405] For someone to be treated with bigotry, treated with less than respect, and even sometimes coming to violence because of an orientation that they have, a same -sex attraction or homosexual orientation or whatever variation.

[406] And there are a lot of variations, especially highlighted in today's world.

[407] Anytime there's bigotry associated with that, that is not of Christ.

[408] That is not living according to the catechism.

[409] But I think we have a tendency now.

[410] It's almost like some of the apologies that we have for the mistakes that have been made in history.

[411] It's going too far.

[412] That's a whole other topic.

[413] But I think analogously, when we out of a, maybe out of a good -hearted desire to write the wrongs of how people have been unjustly treated in the past, And maybe unjustly treated even in our day, simply because of a sexual orientation, that is wrong, absolutely.

[414] And we need to work against that tendency that is part of human society.

[415] For people that are different to be treated in a bigoted way and to be treated less than respectfully as less than children of God is absolutely wrong.

[416] But I think that has pushed us to a point where, oh, well, treating these people, treating anyone with charity means turning a blind eye to sinful aspects of their lives.

[417] And that is simply not loving.

[418] It is not true charity to ignore that someone is living in a lifestyle or prone to a lifestyle that sense.

[419] that isn't ultimately going to be life -giving for them.

[420] It's not true charity to say, oh, well, that's your orientation, then that should be fine and just live however you feel.

[421] It ultimately leads people down a blind alley because it's not according to how God made us.

[422] Well said.

[423] It's a challenge, but it's a challenge that we need to face according to the light of Christ.

[424] it's not like a change.

[425] Yep.

[426] That's just stricken that's paragraph 2358.

[427] You're just summarizing that.

[428] If we come back, we'll continue to talk on the Sixth Amendment.

[429] Hi, this is Jesse Romero from the Terry and Jesse show also from Jesus 9 -1 -1.

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[439] Thank you for listening to Virgin Most Powerful Radio.

[440] Thank you.

[441] God bless you.

[442] Keep the faith.

[443] Jesus said in Matthew 26, stay awake and pray that you may not enter into temptation.

[444] According to St. Ephraim, Jesus, who feared nothing, experienced fear and asked to be freed from death, although he knew it was impossible.

[445] How much more must we persevere in prayer before temptation assails us, so that we may be freed when the test has come?

[446] May God grant that we may withstand temptation and carry out his will in all things.

[447] This is Terry Barber.

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[456] Welcome back to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[457] My name's Terry Barber.

[458] I'm your host on Virgin Most Powerful Radio.

[459] And we've been talking about the Sixth Commandment, Thou Shall not commit adultery.

[460] and we're at uh if you have a catechism this is really important that every person listening owns a catholic catechism just like your bible you should have it right alongside your bible we're up to paragraph 2360 but before we go into that bishop strickland a year ago wrote an article about chastity and this is the headline a breath of fresh air it is glorious chastity one bishop's reflection and bishop Strickland, I read it.

[461] It was rather short, but you nailed it when you started talking about what they called devastating sex.

[462] Can you talk?

[463] I mean, you got five points about devastating sex.

[464] Could you share that with our listeners, please?

[465] Absolutely.

[466] What I tried to, and as I shared with you earlier, I was inspired and we were talking to a group of teenagers.

[467] And it just occurred to me that we really need to help these young people and everyone understand the the coherent message of Catholic morality.

[468] Amen.

[469] It really is human morality, I would like to say.

[470] It's not just something, if you want to belong to the Catholic club, then you've got to live these rules.

[471] It's the rules for humanity.

[472] And devastating sex is what we see happening all around us.

[473] Whether it's masturbation, which occurs with a person by themselves, having sexual pleasure that's inappropriate, and we believe the Categism says, is seriously, mortally sinful.

[474] A lot of people struggle with that.

[475] And the important thing is to struggle with it, to not just say, oh, well, this is what I feel like, and I can't seem to overcome it, so it must be okay, but to continue to work toward being chaste.

[476] Because devastating sex is basically, as I say in that brief article, the path that God gives us is pretty narrow.

[477] Glorious chastity calls us to recognize that the only appropriate sexual expression is between a man and a woman in a lifetime commitment of marriage open to children.

[478] And I specifically talk about in the devastating sex and a lot of people, I'm sure many people would probably take exception to being told that a married couple using contraception that is devastating sex as well.

[479] That's right.

[480] They're interfering with God's plan.

[481] certainly we believe that a man and a woman using their minds and using their relationship to have an understanding of natural family planning where they choose to refrain from the sexual intimacy if necessary if they're not ready to welcome a child that may be conceived from that act of their love, even a married couple.

[482] And that is for many Catholics and for vastly, I mean, most of the rest of humanity, let's say this man's crazy talking about a married couple and even they are experiencing devastating sex if they're using contraception.

[483] But that's according to the Catholic catechism.

[484] And I really believe it is good news for humanity.

[485] Again, not just for Catholics, but for everyone.

[486] How different our world would be if we could just get the message of where sexuality fits into our world, look how it would transform things.

[487] It would shut down industries and it would kill families and it would bring people to understand that we are created in the image and likeness of God.

[488] We are those human beings that are divine and human, that we share in God's spark of divinity and we share in the natural human life.

[489] That is where I think what I was trying to get at, and St. John Paul II beautifully talks about this much better than I ever could, and much more lengthy, by the way.

[490] But St. John Paul II has volumes in what's called the theology of the body talking about how the the gift of a man and a woman in the proper use of their sexual intimacy is the most glorious, beautiful gift.

[491] But it becomes devastating when it gets distorted.

[492] And sadly, if you think about it, most of the ways that sex is performed in our world today is devastating sex.

[493] And it's not the glorious chaste sexual expression that God wants it to be for all of us.

[494] Well said, Bishop Strickland, and again, I want to recommend two things.

[495] One, get three to get married by Archbishop Fulton Sheen's book.

[496] I'll put it on a MP3 download by calling 877526215.

[497] I'll repeat, 877526215.

[498] And also go to St. Philip Institute and get the resources.

[499] They call it three to get married similar, and it's a whole formation class on preparing to get married.

[500] Bishop Strickland, you don't need to be preparing to get married to get a lot of good information out of this.

[501] You can be married for years and still get many good blessings from that.

[502] So I just want to recommend that to our listeners.

[503] Bishop Strickland, I love the way you're talking about in this article, and I want to put it on our website.

[504] We'll have it on Virgin Most Powerful Radio as a part of the show page, so you can download a short article on this.

[505] But you also, what I really like about what you're doing is, Our world has sex as recreational sex.

[506] They don't understand the sacredness of a husband and wife giving themselves, you know, exclusively to each other.

[507] And I think that when they realize this, many of my friends who have been contracepting for years, and then they found out that nobody ever told me that that was wrong.

[508] As a matter of fact, Bishop Strickland, I don't want to scandalize you.

[509] But my brother Jesse Romero on the Terry and Jesse show has stated that when he got married, the priest was so poorly formed that when they went to the priest to get formation the priest asked his wife Anita and Jesse okay well what form of birth control are you going to use and he gave him a choice to use now you think what in the world is going on but Bishop Strickland you know this many of the priests even were poorly catechized to not understand that this is morally objectionable to God when we practice contraception.

[510] Well it was was like six years after he got married that they found out about this little document called Jimane Vite and Jenny and Anita read it and they came to our family conference years ago when Dr. Scott Hahn had just come become a Catholic and he heard life -giving love by Dr. Hahn and they threw their pills down the toilet and said nobody ever told us this I just needed to be told so Bishop Strickland I'm taking responsibility but let's be honest about the lack of catechesis for the last 50 years.

[511] Absolutely.

[512] You know, Humane Vite was rejected primarily by men who wear this cross, bishops.

[513] Bishops in the United States and around the world said, oh, no, we don't accept it.

[514] And so the people followed their shepherds.

[515] We have to recover from that because it was the truth in 1968 and it's the truth in 2020.

[516] It'll be in the truth in 2060, it's the truth.

[517] And many people have come to understand.

[518] I really believe that a rejection of that is at the root of a lot of the brokenness that pervades our understanding of sexuality today.

[519] Because you reject that basic truth, then you start falling apart.

[520] And that's kind of what the human family has done.

[521] But God's mercy is always there.

[522] Amen.

[523] one couple at a time coming to the truth and the great thing is it's better for the woman's health it's right it's better for the health of the couple as their marriage it it demands more of the man to be a real man and to make sacrifices and not just say I want it give it to me but to understand you know his wife and her body I mean it's a beautiful intimacy that the church calls people to to follow God's plan.

[524] And so I would just want to emphasize that it's good news.

[525] And for anyone listening that's saying, oh, I've never heard this, or that sounds terrible or that's crazy, listen to the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ in the message of the church.

[526] And for the same reasons, I think what we have to emphasize is we talk about the Sixth Commandment.

[527] Yes.

[528] All it says is, thou shalt not have adultery.

[529] I mean, and it's like, you know, man, all of this comes from that, but it comes down to what sexual intimacy is about.

[530] And the reason that same -sex sexual intimacy is wrong is that there's no way that biologically another child, another person is going to be the fruit of two men or two women coming together.

[531] Certainly in society today we see two men who are fathers of children, but you know, I mean, with all the different technologies, maybe they are biologically the father.

[532] One of them is the father or their father, each one, who knows how it's all configured, but it's broken because that child did not come from those two men.

[533] That's simply not how it works.

[534] Even in our technology age, you don't take this man and another man and say, okay, they want to have a child, so let's make them have a child.

[535] There has to be the woman making a contribution to that, somehow, some way.

[536] And I think we just need to face reality, not condemning anyone, but calling to good news and to truth that ultimately sets us free.

[537] The, you know, what we've talked about in other situations, the threat to the family and people having it as part of their agenda to undermine the nuclear family, what is the nuclear family?

[538] A man and a woman and the children that result from their commitment of love in marriage.

[539] People don't want the nuclear family and they want to say, well, these two men have a right to have a family and these two women and whatever other configuration may come down in the next years, but it's simply not God's plan.

[540] I think my challenge and our challenge is to remember, we are the children of God.

[541] Yes, at times we're rebellious children.

[542] We may not like the way God made the world, but this is the world that he's given us.

[543] I encourage us all to celebrate what God's given us rather than trying to shape it according to our will, because whether we like it or not, we're not God.

[544] Amen.

[545] How about a blessing?

[546] before we have to run, Bishop, Strickland.

[547] Sure.

[548] The Lord be with you.

[549] With your spirit.

[550] God bless you.

[551] Father, the Son, a holy spirit.

[552] Amen.

[553] Bishop Strickland, ours coming to a close, but that means you can tell your friends.

[554] We have it on podcast at the virgin most powerful radio .org.

[555] Tell your friends about it each week here on Virgin Most Powerful Radio.

[556] I want to thank the bishop for taking the time to teach us a deposit of faith that's been given to him and to given to all the success.

[557] successors back to the Pope.

[558] God love you.

[559] St. Faustina's Prayer for priests.

[560] O my Jesus, I beg thee on behalf of the whole church, grant it love and the light of thy spirit, and give power to the words of priests so that hardened hearts might be brought to repentance and return to thee, O Lord.

[561] Lord, give us holy priests.

[562] Thou thyself maintain them in holiness.

[563] O divine and great high priest, may the power of thy mercy accompany them everywhere and protect them from the devil's traps and snares, which are continually being set for the souls of priests.

[564] May the power of thy mercy, O Lord, shatter and bring to naught all that might tarnish the sanctity of priests.

[565] For thou canst do all things.

[566] Amen.

[567] Virgin Most powerful, pray for us.

[568] Virgin Most Powerful Radio Sharing the gospel With clarity and charity