(LifeSiteNews) — On this week’s two-part episode of The Bishop Strickland Show, Bishop Joseph Strickland discusses the Eucharist in light of a quote from St. Francis of Assisi, our relationship with God as Father, and his recent letter about apostasy among the clergy.
Strickland begins the first part commenting on an X post from last month, which consisted of a quote by St. Francis of Assisi: “Man should tremble, the world should quake, all Heaven should be deeply moved when the Son of God appears on the altar in the hands of the priest.” Strickland added: “We must embrace this sense of awe & fear of the Lord in the face of His Wonderous Truth & Beauty.”
Considering how to communicate the reality of the Eucharist, Strickland mentions his letter from several months ago that calls on priests to be more Eucharistic and Marian and repeats that call, adding that Our Lady will always point us closer to Christ and more deeply into His Heart, and that “the Eucharist is Him.”
Briefly noting that most if not all Eucharistic miracles involve human heart tissue, Strickland observes that “as abortion is the preeminent issue of the morality of life, the Eucharist, the belief in the Real Presence, is the preeminent issue of faith for the Catholic Church in the world today.”
We cannot simply lament the lack of belief in the Real Presence, the bishop contends, but “we need to be very clear that that is a basic, fundamental element of being Catholic.” If Catholics are unsure or unconvinced of the Real Presence, he continues, they need to decide if they are really Catholic.
“We need to really emphasize it in those very important terms,” he argues, “because without that belief in the supernatural, then everything begins to fall apart, and we’ve seen that.”
“A lack of faith in the Eucharist is devastating for the Catholic Church, and it’s blasphemous to Our Lord, Who is there and is not being treated with the respect, and the reverence, and the awe.”
Turning his attention to the words of St. Francis, Strickland says he “says it very well.” “Every priest should approach the Eucharistic altar with fear and trembling, and asking … ‘Have I been to confession, and am I reasonably sure that I’m in the state of grace?’” St. Francis, the bishop notes, was a great reformer of the Church because of his supernatural faith.
“We’ve got to urge people, if their faith isn’t strong enough, read Scripture, pray before the Presence of the Lord, turn to the Blessed Virgin Mary and say ‘Blessed Mother, help me strengthen my faith,’” Strickland asserts. “She will,” he continues. “She helps us to grow closer to Her Son.”
In Strickland’s opinion, however, people are not taking the issue seriously enough. The Eucharistic Revival is good, he says, but he hopes that the American bishops will see it as “only a bare beginning of what we need to do with Eucharistic Revival.”
Expounding upon what he thinks should be done, Strickland says we need to see if there are ways we could be celebrating Mass better, regardless of the form, seeing if there are ways “less than reverent and less than nurturing to Eucharistic faith.” To this end, he examines Communion in the hand.
The practice did not start in the United States until 1977, Strickland explains – and only with an indult, which is an exemption from the law. While he admits that many of the bishops would, upon hearing his call for the reexamination, say they were glad he was removed by Pope Francis, Strickland says, “I’m still a bishop, and I urge Catholic faithful and bishops to really ask ourselves: ‘Do we want that indult still?’ It’s a special permission that wasn’t really intended to just blanket the whole nation and become the absolute norm.”
Saying that Communion in the hand does harm, Strickland once again calls for a reexamination of certain elements in the Mass, asserting “that’s what a Eucharistic Revival, a real Eucharistic Revival, is going to look like.” Clarifying his position that he is not suggesting we get rid of the Novus Ordo, he says it should be made to be “truly ordered to Jesus Christ,” and anything in it detrimental to that effect should be seriously examined. Strickland examines the New Rite’s sign of peace in a similar way, before commenting on John 14:27-31 in the latter half of the first part.
Strickland begins the second part of the episode with a commentary on John 15:1-8, explaining that it is “critical” for us to heed, and for priests to preach, the “basic truth” too many have forgotten: that without Christ we can do nothing.
“We need to emblazon that on our hearts and remind ourselves, without Christ, we can do nothing,” the bishop says, emphasizing that Christ does not limit the statement to only a certain set of things, but that it is a blanket statement.
Considering what Christ said earlier in the passage, that He is the vine and we the branches, Strickland says the world is “operating” as if one can sever himself from Christ, with some believing they grow in wisdom if they “cast off these shackles of belief,” and that only then will we flourish as men. “That’s not what Jesus Christ says,” the bishop states. “And I’m going to continue to strive to believe what He says, and to share that belief with others.”
Examining the language Christ uses, Strickland calls it “stark” but “poetic,” looking to the use of the image of the vine and branches. But he notes how Christ says that if the branch is severed from the vine, it withers, dies, and is thrown into a fire, an allusion to hell. Thus, Strickland asserts that to say only a few or none at all are in hell is “misleading to people.” He also notes that the way one separates oneself from Christ is through selfishness, pride, and sin. We can, however, be “re-grafted” onto Christ through repentance and confession.
Looking to the importance of the passage for our time, Strickland says that there are too many in the Church suggesting that one can cut himself off from Christ and yet still follow Him. “That’s contradicting what Jesus says,” he exclaims. “When we’re living in a sinful lifestyle, when we’re separating ourselves from Christ, we’re not going to be able to follow Him! We’re going to wither and die and ultimately be thrown into the fire and burnt.”
Returning to the inability to do anything without Christ, Strickland says that as people of faith we must listen to Him and recognize that we cannot do anything without Him, while others attempt to take of the “shackles” of faith. Looking to the last line of the passage, Strickland notes that it speaks of the glory of the Father, and that the universal longing for glory can be fulfilled by staying grafted to the vine that is Christ.
Looking at the feast of St. Joseph the Worker in light of the Gospel, Strickland says that the Pope named the communist “feast” of May Day the feast of St. Joseph the Worker to remind us “our work is done in the context of being grafted into the vine that is Jesus Christ.”
The bishop also points out how the nobility of work needs to be highlighted, as one hears from the “communist and socialist world” of people getting a standard wage and living on the dole of the state. Strickland asserts that this is against the God-given dignity of men.
“When people are placed in a situation where they’re not able to use their God-given talents and they’re simply given a basic sustenance income … that is not human flourishing,” he says. Thus, Strickland maintains, the feast of St. Joseph the Worker is a reminder to us of the dignity and importance of work. While God made the world such that we are called to be stewards of it, we cannot make a heaven here, but we can get justice, peace, and goodness from being grafted onto the vine that is Christ.
Finally, Strickland touches upon his recent letter decrying an apostasy among the clergy. While there are those accusing him of fomenting division, Strickland responds by saying the ones guilty of fomenting division are the ones confusing or contradicting the deposit of faith, what the Catholic faith is, and our life in Christ.
“When people are watering that down, or trying to reverse direction, we’ve got to speak up, and I guess I feel that more clearly and with greater strength all the time, as too many voices are out there contradicting what we know the truth is,” he explains.
“We can’t be just complacent and silent about it,” the bishop continues. “That’s not our faith.” While people are indeed free to leave the Church, Strickland referencing the Eucharistic Discourse in John 6, he says that it is tragic if those in high office in the Church might not have supernatural faith personally, but beyond tragic if they also attempt to distort the Church to fit their worldview.
While such a situation is “devastating” and a “difficult reality to face,” and that many would wish him to be quiet, Strickland says that he cannot stop talking, much like how Sts. Peter and John could not stop using the Name of Jesus. The world, he says, needs Christ, and while it is devastating that prelates would seek to “diminish” the truth, we all have a duty to speak up and know the faith, and that he wrote the letter because we “can’t stand for” the effort to “eliminate elements” of faith on the part of clergy.
“We can’t be silent in the face of a real, concerted effort to eliminate supernatural faith,” Strickland asserts.
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