(LifeSiteNews) — On this week’s two-part episode of The Bishop Strickland Show, Bishop Joseph Strickland discusses the need to follow God’s will and die to ourselves, being grateful for God’s blessings and not envious of others’ blessings, Cardinal Cupich omitting Jesus’ name at the Democratic National Convention (DNC), the evils of the Democrat platform, and more.

Strickland begins the first part of the episode by offering commentary on Matthew 19:23-30, in which Our Lord tells the apostles that they must sacrifice everything to obtain everlasting life, famously saying it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.

The bishop noted how the world didn’t want to hear Jesus’ words in this passage 2,000 years ago and still doesn’t want to hear the message now, which is often misconstrued as metaphorical because a camel can’t pass through the eye of a needle. “We need to just get over it and acknowledge what the Lord is doing, which is what he says later on [in the reading]. ‘For men, this is impossible, but for God, all things are possible.’ That’s really the heart of this message that the Lord gives in this passage.”  

He added that Our Lord isn’t just talking about the materially rich, but all of us, because we’re actually all rich if we understand what Jesus is saying here. “We’re blessed with life, that’s a richness, we’re blessed with being sustained in life. I think we tend to interpret this as, ‘Oh, well, he’s talking about very wealthy people.’ But I believe Christ is talking to all of us: to be alive is to be rich. And, so, for one who is alive and rich, that’s who He’s saying, ‘It’s impossible, but for God, all things are possible.’”

Strickland reminded listeners about the importance of prayer for humility, reminding us that we’re not God. “So much that’s broken in our world and really through the ages, from Adam and Eve on, over and over again, we decide, ‘Oh, this isn’t impossible, we can do it ourselves.’ And when we take that step, ironically, we’re going further from God even then [sic] where we were before we sinned.”

His Excellency further emphasized that the real core of this passage is that achieving salvation is impossible for men, but all things are possible for God. “Really, it’s our mission through prayer, through humility, through repenting of any sin that takes us further into impossibility, living rightly, seeking righteousness – that’s what we have to do to allow what’s possible for God to open up in each of our lives.” 

Later in the program, host Terry Barber asked the bishop about the connection between this Gospel and living our vocations. Strickland noted that there’s sacrifice involved in living our vocations properly, whether one is a priest or a layman, using the example of a married layman having to commit himself to one woman. “What Jesus is talking about is discipleship, and another way He says it is, ‘Deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow me.’”

His Excellency added that the graces one can receive from denying themselves and taking up the cross will prevent the heartache and suffering of those who don’t have faith and go down the wrong path. “Really what Jesus is saying, those who give up mother and father, lands, everything, it’s the ‘deny yourself’ part. When you deny yourself, then you open yourself up to receive real life and the beauty of it.”

Bishop Strickland begins the second part of the episode by providing commentary on Matthew 20:1-16, in which Our Lord tells the parable of a landowner who hired laborers to work in his vineyard and gave those who had been working the entire day the same wages as those who had worked for only the last hour.

The bishop notes how the end of this passage is a repeat of other Gospel readings, “The last will be first, and the first will be last.” “I think it’s a great image that the Lord gives us of really how God operates. God is generous to all of us,^[1] and none of us deserve that generosity, but God blesses us with gifts that we really haven’t earned.”  

His Excellency then reflected on how easy it is for us, in our human nature, to relate to those laborers who had been working all day and received the same pay as those who had barely worked by comparison, the former probably thinking they were getting a bonus considering how generous he was to the latter.

“But as the landowner says at the end of the parable, it’s his money and it’s his generosity,” the bishop said. “The Lord’s point, I believe, is to help us look into our own hearts and to be aware of those tendencies. We all have to compare my gifts with another person’s or the blessings I have with another person’s.” 

Strickland circled back to the end of the reading, “The last will be first, and the first will be last,” and emphasized how this sentence reminds us of what it says throughout the Gospel about God’s ways not being our ways, that is, beyond our fathoming. He reminded listeners that we need to be aware of the abundant generosity God has given us.

“We’re living and breathing because God gave us life. Whatever we have, we may have worked, but God has given us that opportunity to work and earn what we have,” he said. “And I think that it’s very interesting that the Lord presents this as one more example of what the kingdom is like. What is the kingdom of heaven like? It’s like this generous landowner, who is especially generous to some but generous to all.”

Later in the episode, host Terry Barber asked Strickland about Cardinal Blase Cupich’s invocation at the Democratic National Convention (DNC) this past week. Barber noted that just blocks away from the DNC, Planned Parenthood was offering to kill the unborn free of charge and that Cupich didn’t mention the unborn or even the name of Jesus Christ during his invocation. He asked the bishop what stops shepherds of the Church from proclaiming Our Lord’s name as they were taught.

His Excellency reminded listeners that we need to pray for Cupich and all the bishops of the Church, that they truly embrace the responsibilities of their office. He said he would remind Cupich that he occupies the highest office other than the pope and carries a heavy responsibility. “To be a prince of the Church, to be a successor of the apostles, and not to even mention the name of Jesus Christ, it really is a travesty. And it’s harmful to the whole world because the world needs the light of Christ desperately.”

Strickland then underscored how scandalous the prelate’s omissions were to people watching around the world who might’ve been confused about the Catholic faith, noting he’s met people in Texas who didn’t realize Catholics believe in Jesus. “They could say, ‘See, we told you, they don’t believe in Him.’”

“I mean, where’s the evidence that he does believe in Him? He’s not speaking up against things that are contrary to the teachings of Christ’s Church, [not] very clearly saying abortions are immoral, vasectomies are immoral,” the bishop added.

To hear more from His Excellency, tune in to this week’s episode of The Bishop Strickland Show. 

To watch all previous episodes of The Bishop Strickland Show, click here to visit LifeSite’s Rumble page dedicated to The Bishop Strickland Show.