(LifeSiteNews) — On this week’s two-part episode of The Bishop Strickland Show, Bishop Joseph Strickland discusses a letter urging bishops and cardinals to seek a revocation of Fiducia Supplicans and says that the thought of hell serves as a “wake-up call” to repentance.
Part 1 sees show host Terry Barber introduce a new segment that will begin the show every week: a reading from the Gospel from the Daily Mass in the Novus Ordo, followed by Strickland’s commentary.
Offering commentary on a passage from St. Mark’s Gospel in which Our Lord warns the disciples to guard against the leaven of the Pharisees, Strickland says that, much like the disciples, we ourselves do not fully understand the presence of God, even in the Mass, and that part of what we are trying to do is understand “more deeply” and get to know Christ’s truth.
To Strickland, what Christ is doing in the passage is remind the disciples that “He is the source of light and grace and power,” a thing that we ourselves need to remember. Strickland continues by opining that Christ’s admonition of vigilance is a reminder that His Kingdom is not of this world, and as such we should not look for “worldly answers.”
Speaking to the choice to begin the show with Gospel readings, Strickland says, “I think it’s good to remember we can all look at the Gospel and be reminded of spiritual truths, and be uplifted, and encounter of the Lord, to really approach, whether we go to daily Mass and hear the Gospel proclaimed, absolutely then, but also if you aren’t able to go to Daily Mass, read the daily Gospel, or some people are reading the Bible in a year.”
“Why do we stand at Mass, during the liturgy? I think it’s to remind us, ‘Sit up. Stand up. Pay attention. Be alerted that the Lord is speaking,’” he adds.
Strickland connects daily Gospel reading with the daily Rosary, observing that Our Lady has asked people to pray the Rosary in her apparitions. The Rosary, he says, will “take us more deeply” into the Mass.
Returning to his commentary on the Gospel, Strickland believes that since we do not and never will completely understand Our Lord, we should not be discouraged and lose our faith. Since the disciples did not completely understand either, that puts us in “in good company.” However, since we are in the Presence of Christ in the Eucharist, we have a great blessing but also a great responsibility, noting that from one who has been given much, much is expected.
Later in Part 1, Strickland discusses the open letter signed by scholars and clergy urging bishops and cardinals to petition for the revocation of Fiducia Supplicans.
Strickland, speaking of the blessings the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith’s (DDF) declaration allows, observes that such blessings will give the message that sinful lifestyles are legitimate and “on an equivalent footing” as non-sinful lifestyles.
To Strickland, pastors should not “bide their time” in silence but have a duty to speak up for the salvation of souls, since we know neither the day nor the hour of death. “I believe we as pastors have to speak up today, not wait till maybe the atmosphere’s a little easier or it’s less politically volatile,” he asserts. “I think now is the time to speak because now souls are in jeopardy, and if we don’t speak up, countless souls will walk a path that ultimately leads to destruction.”
In Part 2 of the episode, Strickland discusses the Church’s teaching on hell, after offering a commentary on the Gospel from the Mass for Ash Wednesday, this year the same in both the Old and New Rites.
For Strickland, the Pharisees described in the Gospel, who seek the adulation of others for good works, are like children incessantly looking for attention. Rather, he says, we should seek “deeper spiritual maturity.” He also says the Gospel for Ash Wednesday is a “sobering” reminder that God sees everything that we do. Tying the two thoughts together, Strickland calls on people to use the thought of the particular judgment to motivate them to seek greater holiness.
Speaking about hell, Strickland notes that man came from God, and that man is called back to Him, though man also has the free will to choose something other than God. He also agrees with Barber that it is concerning how many clerics in our day question whether people go to hell.
Strickland, following the teaching of the Church, notes that hell is indeed populated by both the devils and the damned, which he offers as a proof for hell. Christ, he further notes, warned that the unrepentant go to hell. For Strickland, hell is a “mysterious consequence of existence” and in many ways is “the opposite of love.”
Strickland further stresses that God does not send anyone to hell, but that people freely choose hell themselves. He also observes that the lives of those in sin are a “little taste of hell,” with the lives of those in sin often being miserable, the only difference being that “a big part of what hell is, is knowing that you’ve abandoned God.” That the lives of those in sin are a “little taste of hell” he also mentions as a further proof of hell. Once one is there, he continues, one can no longer hope to obtain mercy – hell is eternal.
Hell, he says, is “the absence of God, the absence of mercy, the absence of light; it’s all darkness.” The images of hell, furthermore, such as the fires Christ mentions in the Gospels, is “devastation.”
At the same time, Strickland says that the thought of hell is a “wake-up call” for us to do whatever we can to be saved by God and avoid damnation, especially because we know not the day nor the hour of our judgment.
“I would encourage people not to get so overwhelmed by the possibility of hell that they’re just fearful and frozen in fear,” he says. “Let it be something that ignites that fire of love to say, ‘Let me do everything I can to avoid the possibility of going to hell, to live the truth, to preach the truth, to share the truth with others, and to be willing to, anytime we wander into the darkness of what is false and evil, to come back and to repent.’”
“We can repent over and over and over again, and that’s what we need to do.”
To watch all previous episodes of The Bishop Strickland Show, click here to visit LifeSite’s Rumble page dedicated to The Bishop Strickland Show.