(LifeSiteNews) — On this week’s two-part episode of The Bishop Strickland Show, Bishop Joseph Strickland discusses his response to Pope Francis’ recent comments that “every religion is a way to arrive at God,” our journey to the heavenly Jerusalem, becoming like children to reach the kingdom of heaven, the importance of our guardian angels, and more.

Bishop Strickland begins Part 1 of the episode by offering commentary on Luke 9:51-56, in which Our Lord was not welcomed into a city because His final destination was Jerusalem. Strickland highlighted that people today aren’t much different from the people of this city who rejected Christ because His final destination was Jerusalem, since we often reject the modern disciples of Christ because their final destination is the heavenly Jerusalem.

“If we’re baptized, we are called to be on a journey to the heavenly Jerusalem. Sadly, we know that baptism isn’t a guarantee; it gives you the grace to make that your destination, but you have to make your own choices, and many people choose to reject that call of their baptism,” the bishop said.

He added that this Gospel reading should serve as a reminder in our times that to be baptized in Jesus Christ has the same meaning as it did 2,000 years ago. His Excellency then emphasized that Our Lord was rejected from this village because he was heading for Jerusalem. He was ironically killed by the people of Jerusalem, and we need to be prepared to be rejected for our faith.

Jesus shows us that we will be rejected as He says, ‘They hated me first,’ and sometimes we are hated. And, even sadly … there is hatred from within the Church for those who are more dedicated to Christ. And I think we can see metaphorically, at least, that all of this is about, ‘Where is your destination? Where are you headed? What is the purpose of your life? What are the values that guide every day of your life?’ And if they’re more of this world than of the heavenly Jerusalem, maybe we’ll be welcomed at those metaphorical villages that we visit along the way. But to be truly Christian, you don’t want to be welcomed anywhere; our only home is the heavenly Jerusalem. And, many Catholics and Christians have forgotten that.

A bit later, Strickland noted how this Gospel reminds us that Christ respects our free will, as we see Him rebuking James and John for asking, “Lord, should we punish these people? Should we call down fire upon them?” “They are free to reject Him, and He’s not going to punish them because they’re rejecting Him. Christ knows unless they ultimately embrace Him, they will reap their punishment,” His Excellency said.

Later in Part 1, host Terry Barber asked Strickland to summarize the recent letter he wrote in which he referred to Pope Francis’ comments that “every religion is a way to arrive at God“ as “heresy” and called out the other shepherds in the Church who are not calling this out.

His Excellency said he was inspired by the prayer from the Stations of the Cross when he opened the letter with: “We adore Thee, O Christ, and we praise Thee because by Thy Holy Cross, Thou hast redeemed the world.”

Strickland explained that he was particularly inspired by the phrase “redeemed the world.” “By the cross, Jesus Christ redeemed the world. Yes, He died on the cross, but He rose from the dead, and through that saving act, He redeemed the world,” the bishop said. Strickland underscored that this is our faith and the heart of the Gospel, and Jesus said we must be baptized.

He doesn’t say, ‘Well, you can be baptized if you want, or it’s an option, or it’s an idea … if you like it.’ He says you must be baptized. … One must be baptized, and so to speak as Pope Francis did, with all [due] respect, but to speak to people that are sitting there that are Hindu, Sikh, that are other religions that don’t believe in Jesus Christ and are not baptized – to me, that was a point of real clarity for me. If Jesus says, ‘You must be baptized,’ and anyone is saying, ‘Oh, you Hindus or you Sikhs, you don’t need baptism.’ To say to the Jews, ‘Oh, you’re fine, you rejected Christ, you don’t need Him,’ that’s contradictory to Christianity and to the Church that Christ established, which is the Catholic Church.

Bishop Strickland begins Part 2 of the episode by offering commentary on Matthew 18:1-5, in which Our Lord says we must be like children to enter the kingdom of heaven. The bishop said this is a perfect Gospel for St. Thérèse of Lisieux, whose feast was celebrated this past week, because she is the saint of the “little way.”

“[H]er great realization was that it’s not greatness in this world that we’re called to, it’s not importance, it’s not the glory that the world can offer, but it’s to become small, in worldly terms insignificant. She took that little way, and it’s inspired people for many years to follow her, to walk with Christ in that simple way that He speaks of in the Gospel. To be like a child,” Strickland said.

His Excellency then dove into a particular sentence from the Gospel, “Unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven,” and underscored that this goes perfectly with Part 1’s Gospel passage about baptism being necessary for salvation, because in order to live our baptism we need to be children of God. “[I]t means to be simple, to be humble, to let go of all the worldly power, wealth, and glory to be like children.”

Strickland noted that at the end of this Gospel Our Lord says, “See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that their angels in heaven always look upon the face of my heavenly Father,” which serves as a reminder for our nation not to despise the little ones, namely the unborn. The bishop also stressed that this part of the Gospel is significant because it reminds us of the guardian angels that we all have.

“[Our guardian angels] carry the message always that you are beloved of God, I am beloved of God, all of us are beloved of God. That’s the message that our guardian angels carry to us, and hopefully, [they] wake us up to the reality that we are beloved of God and [that] we need to reject sin and live as those beloved of God,” the bishop said.

A bit later, Strickland reminded listeners that asking for the intercession and protection of our guardian angels is not just for children but important for adults as well. “People aren’t turning to them and praying for that protection. The demons are very active, but we all have angels [to protect us from those demons].”

Later in Part 2, Strickland read a letter he wrote in response to feedback he received about his letter discussed in Part 1. A reader asked for clarification on the line where he said “tolerance and religious freedom are important.” Strickland’s response focused on the distinction between societal tolerance of other religions and religious indifferentism.

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.