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Bishop Emeritus Joseph E. Strickland The Watchman's Lamp The Sound of Silence Silencing the Holy Ghost TWL Episode 40
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00:30There's an old song by Simon and Garfunkel called The Sound of Silence.
00:36Many of you know it.
00:37One line says,
00:40People talking without speaking.
00:42People hearing without listening.
00:45Those words have echoed in my mind as we approach Pentecost.
00:50Because we are living in an age filled with noise.
00:54Endless talking, endless commentary, endless statements, endless meetings,
00:59endless documents, endless discussions.
01:03And yet beneath all the noise, there is a terrible silence growing in the world
01:08and even within parts of the church.
01:13Not the holy silence of prayer.
01:16Not the silence of a soul kneeling before the blessed sacrament.
01:20Not the silence of monks or cloistered religious listening for the whisper of God.
01:26But the silence that comes when men stop listening to the Holy Ghost.
01:33This Sunday we celebrate Pentecost.
01:37When the Holy Spirit descended upon the apostles as tongues of fire.
01:43The frightened men hiding behind locked doors became fearless witnesses of Jesus Christ.
01:49They did not emerge from the upper room uncertain.
01:53They did not emerge speaking ambiguously.
01:56They did not emerge trying to accommodate the spirit of the age.
02:00They emerged proclaiming truth boldly.
02:04Even when it would cost them their lives.
02:08That is what Pentecost does.
02:12The Holy Ghost is not the spirit of confusion.
02:15He is the spirit of truth.
02:18Our Lord said in the Gospel of St. John,
02:22But when he, the spirit of truth, has come, he will teach you all truth.
02:29The Holy Ghost does not contradict Jesus Christ.
02:33The Holy Ghost does not reverse divine revelation.
02:38The Holy Ghost does not erase sacred scripture.
02:41The Holy Ghost does not bless what God has called sin.
02:45The Holy Ghost does not spend 2,000 years teaching one thing through the church
02:51and then subtly inspire the opposite in modern times.
02:58And yet we are living through a moment in the church
03:01where confusion is spreading from places entrusted with guarding the deposit of faith itself.
03:11We now see discussions and study groups emerging from the Vatican
03:15that speak about homosexuality in ways that create grave confusion among the faithful.
03:23Bishop Athanasius Schneider recently referred to some of these proposals as heresy.
03:33Heresy is not a small disagreement.
03:37Heresy is the corruption of revealed truth.
03:42And the faithful have a right to ask,
03:45How can these things even be discussed within the church founded by Jesus Christ?
03:52How can confusion about grave sin become normal?
03:56How can ambiguity replace clarity?
03:59How can shepherds speak endlessly about inclusion
04:02while remaining strangely silent about repentance,
04:06conversion, holiness, judgment, and salvation?
04:11Brothers and sisters, these things could not happen
04:15if men were truly listening to the Holy Spirit.
04:20The tragedy of our age is not that the Holy Ghost has stopped speaking.
04:25The tragedy is that many no longer wish to hear Him.
04:31St. Paul warned us plainly,
04:34Quench not the Spirit!
04:38But we have spent decades quenching the Spirit in countless ways.
04:43We quench the Spirit when truth is softened so the world will not be offended.
04:48We quench the Spirit when shepherds fear headlines more than they fear God.
04:54We quench the Spirit when sin is renamed accompaniment.
04:59We quench the Spirit when Catholic identity is surrendered to worldly approval.
05:05We quench the Spirit when silence fails where warning should be heard.
05:13And that silence has consequences.
05:18Because if men continually resist the voice of God,
05:23their consciences grow numb.
05:25Hearts become hardened.
05:28Souls become deaf.
05:29The world praises the deafness as tolerance or progress.
05:35But spiritually, it is a catastrophe.
05:39The silence we face today is not peaceful silence.
05:43It is the silence of compromised conscience.
05:46It is the silence of shepherds afraid to speak clearly.
05:50It is the silence that comes when the spirit of the world grows louder
05:55than the spirit of God.
05:58And nowhere is this conflict more visible than in the attacks against Catholic tradition itself.
06:08We are now hearing increasing threats and pressures surrounding the Society of St. Pius X,
06:15the SSPX,
06:16in the traditional Latin Mass.
06:19Think carefully about what this means.
06:22Catholics who cling to ancient liturgy, reverence, doctrine, and continuity with the past
06:28are treated as dangerous or offensive,
06:32while voices openly challenging settled moral teachings
06:36are welcomed into dialogue and positions of influence.
06:41What kind of inversion is this?
06:45The faithful are watching this unfold with confusion and sorrow.
06:51Those attached to tradition are scrutinized.
06:54Those creating doctrinal confusion are celebrated as pastoral.
06:58Those defending what Catholics always believed are labeled rigid.
07:03Those adapting the faith to modern culture are praised as prophetic.
07:11Does this sound like Pentecost?
07:13Does this sound like the apostles filled with the fire of the Holy Ghost?
07:18Or does it sound like a church increasingly afraid to proclaim difficult truths?
07:25At the first Pentecost, St. Peter stood before the crowd and called sinners to repentance.
07:31He did not apologize for truth.
07:34He did not soften divine revelation.
07:37He did not try to harmonize Christianity with pagan culture.
07:41Empowered by the Holy Ghost, he preached Christ, crucified and risen.
07:48And what was the result?
07:51Three thousand souls were converted.
07:55The modern world tells us that clarity drives people away.
08:01Pentecost proves the opposite.
08:04Truth spoken in the Holy Ghost pierces hearts.
08:10The church does not need less truth today.
08:13She needs more saints willing to speak it with courage and charity.
08:20There's another kind of silence growing today as well.
08:24It is the silence of Catholics who know something is terribly wrong, but are afraid to say so.
08:32Many faithful priests remain silent because they fear punishment.
08:36Many bishops remain silent because they fear isolation.
08:41Many lay Catholics remain silent because they fear ridicule.
08:46Parents remain silent while the children are catechized by the world.
08:51Good men remain silent while wolves roam freely among the flock.
08:58But silence in the face of confusion is not charity.
09:03There are moments in history when silence becomes cooperation.
09:08And this is such a moment.
09:11St. Catherine of Siena did not remain silent when corruption spread to the church.
09:17St. Athanasius did not remain silent when much of the hierarchy embraced error.
09:25St. Pope Pius X warned against modernism because he recognized it as a poison attacking the faith from within.
09:34And we are living in that age, an age when clarity is demanded of faithful Catholics.
09:41Not hatred, not bitterness, not despair, but clarity.
09:47The Holy Ghost is not ambiguous about truth.
09:51The Holy Ghost is not modernist.
09:53The Holy Ghost is not confused about marriage, sexuality, the priesthood, or the uniqueness of Jesus Christ.
10:01The Holy Ghost does not inspire inter-religious confusion, but treats all religions as equally pleasing to God.
10:10Jesus Christ is not one path among many.
10:14He is the eternal Son of God, the only Savior of the world.
10:19The church has always taught this clearly.
10:23Yet increasingly we hear language suggesting that doctrinal certainty itself is somehow dangerous.
10:30We are told that insisting upon clarity is divisive.
10:35We are told that preserving tradition is rigidity.
10:38We are told that questioning confusion is disobedience.
10:42But authentic obedience can never require silence before error.
10:49The saints understood this.
10:53True obedience is obedience to Jesus Christ and the perennial faith handed down through the apostles.
11:01And that faith was not invented yesterday by committees, synods, or study groups.
11:08And it was sealed by the blood of the martyrs.
11:12This is why Pentecost matters so much right now.
11:16Because Pentecost reminds us what the church actually looks like when she listens to the Holy Ghost.
11:26She is fearless.
11:28She is clear.
11:30She is holy.
11:32She speaks truth even when the world rages against her.
11:36The apostles after Pentecost were not seeking acceptance from the Roman Empire.
11:42They were seeking fidelity to Jesus Christ.
11:45And because of that fidelity, they were hated by the world.
11:51Nearly all of them died martyrs.
11:56Today, many within the church seem desperate to avoid the hatred of the world.
12:02But our Lord never promised us worldly approval.
12:06In fact, He warned us of the opposite.
12:20Perhaps part of the silence we hear today comes from fear.
12:24Fear of being labeled intolerant.
12:27Fear of losing status.
12:29Fear of criticism.
12:31Fear of punishment.
12:33Fear of isolation.
12:36But Pentecost was the death of fear.
12:41The Holy Ghost did not descend upon the apostles to make them more acceptable to the world.
12:47He descended to make them witnesses.
12:50And the church desperately needs witnesses again.
12:54Not celebrities, not managers, not public relations experts.
13:00Witnesses.
13:02Priests willing to preach difficult truths.
13:06Bishops willing to defend the faith no matter what the cost.
13:10Parents willing to protect their children from spiritual poison.
13:14Religious willing to live visibly holy lives.
13:19Young people willing to reject the emptiness of modern culture.
13:24Faithful Catholics willing to stand with Christ even when standing with Him becomes costly.
13:32The sound of silence is growing louder in our world.
13:38But Pentecost is heaven's answer to that silence.
13:45Pentecost is the fire of divine truth breaking into darkness.
13:49Pentecost is the Holy Ghost calling sleeping souls awake.
13:55Pentecost is courage overcoming fear.
13:58Pentecost is clarity overcoming confusion.
14:01Pentecost is truth overcoming compromise.
14:04And Pentecost forms a certain kind of man.
14:09Look at the apostles before Pentecost.
14:12They hid behind locked doors.
14:15They were fearful, uncertain, intimidated by the world around them.
14:21Then the Holy Ghost descended and suddenly weak men became fearless witnesses to Jesus Christ.
14:31Peter, who trembled before a servant girl, stood before rulers and crowns and proclaimed Christ crucified without fear of prison
14:42or death.
14:45That is what the Holy Ghost does.
14:48The Holy Ghost does not create weak shepherds who apologize for truth.
14:53The Holy Ghost does not form men who speak endlessly in ambiguity.
14:58The Holy Ghost does not create leaders who blur the lines between holiness and sin, truth and error, the gospel
15:07and the spirit of the age.
15:10The Holy Ghost forms men like St. Peter after Pentecost.
15:15The Holy Ghost forms men like St. Athanasius, who stood nearly alone against widespread error within the hierarchy.
15:24The Holy Ghost forms men willing to lose everything rather than betray Jesus Christ.
15:33But we are now in a time when the voices rising to power do not sound like Pentecost.
15:41When Bishop Athanasius Schneider recently warned openly that certain proposals emerging from Vatican study groups amount to heresy, Catholics should
15:52pay attention.
15:53That is not a small statement.
15:56That is a bishop sounding an alarm because revealed truth is itself endangered.
16:05And yet instead of clarity, the faithful are given more ambiguity.
16:11Instead of strong correction, confusion is tolerated.
16:15Instead of defending settled Catholic teaching boldly, church leaders continue elevating voices that openly undermine confidence in the faith.
16:27Why are bishops continually appointed who weaken Catholic doctrine rather than defend it courageously?
16:34Why are men promoted who speak more like the modern world than like the apostles?
16:40Why does Fr. James Martin continue to flourish publicly while creating continual confusion regarding homosexuality and Catholic moral teaching?
16:54Why does Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernandez remain at the head of the dicastery for the doctrine of the faith despite
17:02scandals, confusion, and writings that have deeply disturbed faithful Catholics throughout the world?
17:10These are not small matters.
17:14The dicastery for the doctrine of the faith exists to defend truth, to guard the deposit of faith handed down
17:22from the apostles.
17:25Catholics are watching men placed into positions of enormous influence who often seem more interested in adapting the church to
17:34modern culture
17:35than proclaiming eternal truth clearly and without compromise.
17:43The faithful are not confused because Catholic doctrine is unclear.
17:48Catholic doctrine has been clear for 2,000 years.
17:52The confusion comes because too many shepherds no longer speak with the unmistakable clarity that Pentecost produces.
18:02The Holy Ghost is not confused.
18:05The Holy Ghost does not inspire contradiction of sacred scripture or apostolic tradition.
18:12And yes, souls can dull themselves spiritually to the voice of the Holy Ghost.
18:20A man immersed in impurity, worldliness, moral compromise, or rebellion against divine order does not hear clearly.
18:30A church leadership consumed with pleasing the modern world will not hear clearly either.
18:37The spirit of the age drowns out the spirit of God in those circumstances.
18:46That is what we are watching happen now, at this very moment.
18:52Doctrinal innovators are welcomed and protected,
18:56while faithful Catholics devoted to tradition face continual pressure and scrutiny.
19:03Faithful Catholics look at this inversion and ask themselves,
19:06What spirit is driving this?
19:10Because it does not resemble the fearless clarity from Pentecost.
19:18The first Pentecost did not produce compromise with the world.
19:22It produced martyrs.
19:24It produced saints.
19:26It produced bishops who defended truth even at great personal cost.
19:31It produced missionaries who converted nations.
19:34It produced men who feared God more than emperors, mobs, governments, or public opinion.
19:41And the church desperately needs that spirit again today.
19:47Not endless committees.
19:49Not endless ambiguity.
19:51Not endless dialogue detached from truth.
19:56The church needs bishops who speak clearly again.
20:00The church needs priests who preach repentance again.
20:04The church needs shepherds formed by the fire of Pentecost,
20:09rather than the approval of the modern world.
20:13Because the sound of silence growing within the church today is not holy silence.
20:20It is the silence that falls when too many shepherds stop listening to the Holy Ghost.
20:29The Holy Ghost is still speaking.
20:32He speaks through sacred scripture.
20:35He speaks through sacred tradition.
20:38He speaks through the saints, the martyrs, the faithful shepherds,
20:42who refuse to compromise with the spirit of the age.
20:46He speaks through bishops willing to stand almost alone and still proclaim the truth clearly.
20:53He speaks through every priest who still preaches repentance, holiness, and fidelity to Jesus Christ without fear.
21:04But ours is becoming a world that no longer wishes to listen.
21:08We are surrounded by noise yet starving for truth.
21:12We are drowning in endless discussion while clarity disappears.
21:17And increasingly, even within the church,
21:22those who defend what Catholics have always believed are treated as the problem,
21:28while those sowing confusion are protected, promoted, and applauded.
21:36Pentecost did not produce that spirit.
21:40And that is why the silence spreading across the church today is so dangerous.
21:46It is not the silence of prayer.
21:48It is the silence that comes when men stop listening to the Holy Ghost.
21:54It is the silence that falls when the spirit of the world grows louder than the spirit of God.
22:02And perhaps that is why those old words still echo so hauntingly today.
22:12And the people bowed and prayed to the neon God they made.
22:34May Almighty God bless you and keep you faithful to Jesus Christ and His Holy Church.
22:41In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.
22:47Amen.
22:48Amen.
22:50Amen.
22:50Amen.
22:51Amen.
22:51Amen.
22:52Amen.
22:52Amen.
22:52Amen.
22:53Amen.
22:53Amen.
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