(LifeSiteNews) — On this week’s two-part episode of The Bishop Strickland Show, Bishop Joseph Strickland discusses the importance of stepping away to pray, clinging to Christ’s Eucharistic presence, Father Ripperger’s election prayer, and more.

Bishop Strickland begins the first part of the episode by offering commentary on Luke 6:12-19, in which Our Lord chose the apostles. The bishop first highlighted that right at the beginning of this Gospel reading, Jesus stepped away to pray, reminding listeners that He did this often in the Gospel.

“He is often going away to pray. Certainly, Christ obviously needed to commune with His Father in spirit, in the great mystery of the Trinity. But He also always is teaching. He’s giving us an example of what we need to do: step away and pray,” His Excellency said. “[It’s] very often that prayer is interrupted by the needs of the people; this time it appears He spent the night in prayer to God, and when day came, He called His disciples to Himself.” Strickland further noted that Our Lord often went to pray before He made important statements, and we see in this Gospel passage that He named His apostles, a major moment in His public ministry.

The bishop then underscored how this passage goes on to speak of ” agreat crowd of His disciples” – a distinction is thus made between the 12 apostles and other disciples. “I think we need to be very clear about that distinction in the Church today. We know that bishops are successors of the apostles, the successors of these 12 that Christ chose. Of course, sadly, Judas Iscariot, one of them is a betrayer, a note and a sobering reminder that that element of betrayal remains in the Church, that element of infidelity to Christ. But thankfully 11 of the 12 were deeply committed – not perfect, and they stumbled along the way at times with denials and confusion just like us, but these 12 are chosen to be apostles.”  

Looking at the latter portion of this Gospel, namely where Jesus healed the crowds of diseases and freed them from unclean spirits, His Excellency underscored that everyone in that crowd wanted to touch Him because they saw the great power that came forth from Him.

“I think it’s really important to focus on the reality that humanity is the same [now] as it was then. Many resist, but many want to touch Jesus Christ. And I think we, especially in our Catholic faith, we need to be reminded that that isn’t just a wish or a hope, but it’s possible for us to touch Jesus Christ, His Eucharistic presence, to actually be nurtured by His Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity,” he said.

Strickland later noted that today, many people in the world had heard of Our Lord while He was here on earth but didn’t bother to show up in the crowds – the same way people today know about Jesus and His presence in the Eucharist but go about their business as if He’s not there. “Certainly, it’s a matter of faith; they don’t believe in His Eucharistic face, but let’s remember the Gospel doesn’t say, ‘Those who believe saw His power.’ The whole world saw His power, and we need to proclaim that.”

Later in Part 1, the bishop recited Fr. Ripperger’s prayer consecrating the 2024 election to the Blessed Virgin Mary and encouraged listeners to say this prayer every day in the run-up to the election. Host Terry Barber then asked Strickland about his recent statement announcing that he would be doing fewer speaking engagements and spending more time in prayer. Tying this to the Gospel reading, the bishop said he made this decision after spending time in prayer.

“Our deepest commitment is to the Lord… We all have to discern what we need to do specifically, and I’ve really felt very specifically called again. I haven’t heard a voice, no supernatural manifestation, you could say, but just through prayer and through just reflecting myself and listening to others and their reflections, I’ve come to the conclusion… I just wanted to be more careful, I guess, more discerning,” he said.  

Strickland added that while many of the faithful need to hear the voices of their shepherds, even Our Lord stepped away for prayer numerous times, such as in this Gospel of Luke and during His great Agony in the Garden. Getting back to Fr. Ripperger’s prayer, Strickland suggested praying that prayer before or after the daily Rosary and emphasized that we need to pray for our country, and especially the Holy Rosary.

“So, it is a great gift that Fr. Ripperger has offered to all of us to pray and to remember, yes, it’s not just prayer. We need to act on our faith, we need to vote, we need to make choices, we need to resist temptation in all the ways we can, we need to seek holiness, but prayer needs to always accompany that.”

Reminding listeners that history was changed by praying the Rosary at Lepanto. “Let’s believe that same power is available to us if only we will embrace it,” His Excellency said.

Bishop Strickland begins the second part of the episode by offering commentary on Luke 6:20-26, in which Our Lord tells the disciples about the Beatitudes. Strickland emphasized that this is one of the most misunderstood Gospel readings of our time.

“[M]any people will point to the Beatitudes and say, ‘See, it’s not morality, it’s not all the things the Church teaches, it’s just the Beatitudes. Just live the Beatitudes, be poor, be hungry, all of that,’” His Excellency said. However, he stressed that those people are actually missing the point, and unfortunately many clergy in the Church, especially religious communities, are also missing the point.

“One thing that’s telling is that people in the Church, many religious, many leaders, but especially religious communities that have all been about evangelization and prayer and spirituality, many of the religious communities, you could say, are linking arms with social workers and forces in the world that are just about the worldly kingdom, and they would point to the Beatitudes and say, ‘That is all that Jesus said, that’s all that it’s about, living the Beatitudes.’” Strickland clarified that the Church does teach us to embrace the Beatitudes – but to embrace them according to what Christ actually said in this Gospel.

Strickland said he believed the most telling phrase in this Gospel passage that is lost by so many in the Church is, “Rejoice and leap for joy on that day; behold, your reward will be great in heaven.”

“To me, that’s what’s being lost by so many in the Church, and it’s not just they’re forgetting it, or they’re not understanding, but they’re rejecting the idea that ‘your reward will be great in heaven,’” Strickland said, stressing that we now have a crescendo of leaders in the Church saying the kingdom is here on earth, not in heaven. Reading some of the Beatitudes again, the bishop said, “Blessed are the poor, the hungry, blessed are you when they hate you because of the Son of man. But all of that is getting to the point that, if we are poor, don’t despair because your reward will be great in heaven. And then it goes on to list the woes and basically telling the rich people and those who are filled now and those who laugh now and those who are spoken well of that if that’s what you’re counting on as your kingdom, then you’re going to be left desolate.”

His Excellency added that we should absolutely assist the poor, but we also need to recognize that the greatest poverty in the world today is the lack of faith in the supernatural, which is rife even among Catholics. “Too often those working vigorously to promote a false church, really, they say little about Jesus Christ; if anything, they don’t focus on Jesus, and they don’t listen to what He said. They’ll take part in what He said, but if you listen to the whole message here in this passage, it’s beautiful.”

Later in Part 2, Barber asked Bishop Strickland about recent church burnings in France. The host noted that it seems like practically every two weeks, another major French Catholic church gets torched, and the French government doesn’t seem to care at all. He added that the same is true for churches being burned and vandalized in Canada, the United States, and all across the globe.

“It’s a really a militant effort to destroy the Church. I mean, there are literally people who want to burn the Catholic Church in a symbolic way. And I think these buildings being burned down are a connection to that,” the bishop said, emphasizing that these events tell us that there are people who are anti-Christ, anti-Christian, and anti-religion in general who think it’s their day.

On the French government’s non-response to the destruction of churches, Strickland said they don’t care about all the vandalism because they would love to see the Church disappear.

“It’s not going to happen; Church will never disappear. But there are many forces working against it.” The bishop concluded by giving listeners a message of hope: “Goodness and truth and love have overcome evil for all time. We need to align our lives with that, whatever happens around us. And, like the woes and Beatitudes we read about in the Gospel, make sure we’re seeking the kingdom. And then, whatever happens, we can still seek the kingdom.”

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 video page dedicated to The Bishop Strickland Show.