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Bishop Joseph StricklandDiocese of Tyler/Facebook

(LifeSiteNews) — On this week’s two-part episode of The Bishop Strickland Show, Bishop Joseph Strickland discusses why bishops shouldn’t retire, the humanity of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, embracing the supernatural miracles of our faith, and more.

Bishop Strickland begins the first part of the episode by offering commentary on Matthew 1:1-17, which gives the genealogy of Our Lord. The bishop highlighted how the genealogies noted in Scripture emphasize for us that Jesus was a real person.

“This Jesus Christ is a real man, has ancestors just like all of us, and those ancestors are connected to the whole history of Israel,” Strickland said.

His Excellency then stressed that this Gospel is a good reminder of the story of Israel, which is our story as the new Israel, and that Our Lord is the culmination of that story.

“I think the Gospel writers included it because they really were emphasizing that this really was a man, Jesus of Nazareth, that really walked among them, walked this earth. But He was also God’s eternal Son. … So it’s an important element of knowing Jesus to know the human reality. We know that He’s fully God and fully man. And the fully man part is really emphasized with his genealogy,” the bishop said.

Later in Part 1, host Terry Barber then asked Strickland about the impact of Pope Paul VI’s motu proprio Ingravescentem Aetatem, which required bishops to retire at age 75 and made cardinals ineligible to vote in the papal conclave once they turn 80.

The bishop said the Church needs to rethink this 50-year-old change and underscored that bishops should not retire because it’s not just a job but a vocation.

“You don’t retire from [a] vocation. It’s a bad ecclesiology. … Imagine a nun saying, ‘Oh, I’m retired, I’m going to take my veil off and go do something else,’” he said.

Strickland added that this change reflects what went wrong with the Church because it’s led to clergy and laity alike forgetting that the Church is not a corporation but a mystical body and a spiritual community.

“As long as your heart’s beating, you should be doing whatever the Lord is calling you to do. Certainly, it can change, but to speak of retirement, I think, is just not what the Church is about,” the bishop said.  

“We don’t retire from being baptized; I mean, it’s about something spiritual that has not been emphasized the way it should. And so, for priests and bishops, I hope one day we will rethink this,” he added.

Bishop Strickland begins the second part of the episode by offering commentary on Matthew 1:18-25 in which the nativity of Our Lord is described. His Excellency stressed that this Gospel, in describing Christ’s birth, reminds us that He was a real man but also that Mary and St. Joseph were real people as well.

“I think it’s so important to remember that because then we can be inspired by them,” the bishop said.

Strickland then dove into the humanity of St. Joseph described in this Gospel when he’s concerned upon learning that Mary was with child.

“I mean, it’s very reasonable for Joseph to be uncertain. And he’s a righteous man so he’s not going to cause scandal or expose Mary to some hardship. He just thinks, ’Well, what do I do? She’s with child; I know the child’s not mine.’ But then he listens to the supernatural message from the messenger of God – that’s what angels are, messengers of God – that tells him, ‘It’s okay, Joseph, because Mary is bearing the Son of God by the power of the Holy Spirit,” the bishop said.

“And so, Joseph … really in this Gospel is when he embraces his call to be the foster father of Jesus,” he added.

Strickland then emphasized the need to reflect on and embrace the miracle of Christ’s virgin birth and the other supernatural miracles that are the foundation of the Catholic faith, noting that some people in the Church today deny these miracles.

“People say, ‘Oh, this wasn’t a virgin birth, they were just very nice people.’ No! It’s a miracle. Get over it, it’s a miracle. And it’s just one of a series of miracles that begins with the conception of Jesus in the womb, then He performs the miracles of His life, then He dies and rises, the great miracle of His resurrection,” His Excellency said.

“We are a Church that believes in miracles. If you don’t believe in miracles, then you’re really not Catholic!” he added.

Later in Part 2, Strickland read the last paragraph from section 24 of Pope John Paul II’s encyclical Veritatis Splendor, in which the pontiff described following what is true, that is, following the moral message of Jesus Christ.

The bishop emphasized that we’re all called not to make up our own truth but to follow that supernatural truth revealed by the Lord.

“’To do what is true,’ that’s our Catholic faith, that’s what it’s all about. Not to follow a few rules and say, ‘Well, let’s change the rules now because we need to update…’ It’s the truth that we’re called to live,” Strickland said.

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.

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