(LifeSiteNews) — On this week’s episode of The Bishop Strickland Show, Bishop Joseph Strickland urges us this Lent to draw closer to the Blessed Virgin Mary and to proclaim and live in accord with God’s truth.
“Lent is another chance to wake up to the truth, to the divine truth, the reality that we are called to live by. And we better wake up, or the consequences are going to be dire,” Bishop Strickland says. “Like you said, you go to confession all the time. I went yesterday. I need to. It’s not because … I’m so holy. It’s because I’m not so holy. And I need to humbly acknowledge that.”
His Excellency, who called denying the reality of sin the “worst pandemic of our time,” added that Lent is all about changing ourselves and undergoing a real conversion of heart and mind.
“I really like that reading from the prophet Joel [on Ash Wednesday],” he says. “[To] give your whole heart to the Lord … [is] a challenge for all of us. If we claim to have given our whole heart, we probably haven’t.”
One of the best ways to grow in fidelity to the Lord is to develop a closer relationship with His Mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary. Bishop Strickland notes that She is “the model of who we can be by the power of God.”
“She shows us what a human being can be without sin,” he says. “And really, in my prayer, I think a lot about the love between Mary and Jesus. That’s why I encourage people to consecrate themselves to the Sacred Heart [of Jesus] through the Immaculate Heart of Mary. And She’s always there to help us grow closer to Her Son because She loves Him more than we can imagine, because She’s completely sinless by the grace of God, by the power of God.”
The best way to develop a closer relationship with the Blessed Virgin, His Excellency adds, is the tried and true method of praying the Rosary, where one truly meditates on each of the mysteries, not mindlessly reciting all the Hail Marys as quickly as possible.
“In our world where people say, ‘Oh, they love each other,’ if they’re sinning together in whatever way, that’s not love,” he says. “It’s fake love. And there’s so much fake love in the world today. But Mary and Jesus, they’re the reality of love. He’s Love Incarnate. And Mary is the human being who loves Him so deeply, because She’s not burdened by sin.”
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