30 Mar 26 – Bishop Sheen’s Reflection on the Passion

0:00Music Welcome to the Truth and Justice Show. It's Monday, March 30th of Holy Week. I call it the week that changed the world and we're going to take it from right from the best of the gospel with Bishop Sheen's life of Christ to talk about that week. It's going to be especially the crucifixion. It will be great meditation for you and your family. But before we get to that, let's get to the gospel. And the gospel for today is John chapter 12 verse 11. It starts out by

1:00six days before the Passover. Jesus came to Bethany where Lazarus was whom Jesus had raised from the dead. They gave it dinner for him there in Martha served. While Lazarus was one of those reclining at table with him, Mary took a leader of costly perfume oil and made from the genuine Aramaic Nard and anointed the feet of Jesus and dried them with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of oil. Then Judas Askeria, one of his disciples, and the one who would betray him said, Why was this oil not sold for three hundred days wages and given to the poor? He said this not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief and held a money bag and used to steal the

2:08contributions. So Jesus said, Leave her alone. Let her keep this for the day of my burial. You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me. That's a great statement. The large crowd of the Jews found out that he was there and came not only because of him, but also to see Lazarus, who, whom he had raised from the dead, and a cheap priest plotted to kill Lazarus too. Because many of the Jews were turning away and believing in Jesus because of him. The gospel of the Lord. Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ. I love that line. You will always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me. And that's important. I think it's also important that where they're trying to kill Jesus because this new

3:11religion is going to take people away from Judaism and they didn't want that. That's why they were interested to see is did Lazarus really raise from the dead? Well, if he did, we'll kill him. We don't want that word to get out and we'll kill the one who did it. And they did. So this is a gospel that I think is powerful. All right, let's bring the smartest guy into that home. Full, sheen ahead. It's this classic Holy Week without good Friday. There's no Easter Sunday. So here we are going through the Passion Week and it's Easter tritians coming. It's just good material for all of us to really dig deep into the meditations, the passion. And we're going to let Bishop Sheen do that through his life of Christbook a little later. So that's my take on the gospel. Now I'd like to shift gears call all during Lent. I've been reading from my daily bread missile and we've been learning about the spiritual

4:14life and how to stay focused on Jesus Christ. And the chapter 34 in this book, my daily bread, you can get it from the comfort of the precious blood folks in New York. That's where I got mine. All right, helps and hindrances to holiness. Remember the second Vatican Council, Clarion Call was universal call to holiness. We're all called not just the sisters of the priests or the nuns, every one of us. I've six year old grandson. Yeah. All right, here comes my child. There is one thing that stops many from making spiritual progress and keeps them from improving themselves. It is a fear of the difficulties or of the work required by their effort laziness is what it is the problem. Yeah, we got to say, come on, get off. Let's do it. The people who raise who rise highest in holiness are

5:20those who are brave enough to fight against whatever holds them back from me. No matter how hard are disagreeable the effort may be. The more you try to master your feelings and blind desires, the greater are the graces which I offer to you. If you keep on trying, you will gain as much success as I desire of you. So never give up, right? Winston Churchill, if you fall, I only have one question. Did you get up? That's the question that my father would ask me. All right, different men have to face different obstacles. Yet a diligent and zealous person will make greater progress in virtue, even though he may have to fight more defects than others. Some people have fewer defects to overcome and still they do

6:25not advance in holiness because they are less fervent in the pursuit of virtues. And we can think about this. This is holy weight. We got to be thinking about this. Many are frightened by the thought of changing their ways in daily life. I'm comfortable the way I am. No. We got to have that metanoia, a Greek term of conversion. Yet the way, the way can be quite simplified if only they will make the effort. First, they need a spiritual director to guide them along and to help them see themselves without prejudice or fear. Second, they must be honest and striving for the virtues opposed to their main faults. Third, they must realize their feelings and blind desires will go on rebelling and making their daily efforts more difficult.

7:31Lastly, they must learn to gain spiritual profit from all occasions, imitating the virtues which they see in others and avoiding the defects of their neighbors. So we got to keep our eyes on Jesus. Here's a prayer we can pray. It's a beautiful prayer. It says, O Holy Spirit, my God in sanctifier, grant me the light to see whatever, what a glorious opportunity I have now in the beginning of a better life. Help me to take whatever steps are necessary to purify my soul by a desired daily effort. You will not deny me the strength which I need. If only I will try to develop the virtues which I need most in my daily life. That is a very beautiful prayer. See,

8:36we're always striving to move forward. Have you noticed that? This is Holy Week. This is the week that changed the world. We need to dig deep in our prayer life. And I love this where it says, My child, not everyone can make use of the same spiritual exercises. One devotion suits this person while another suits the person, another person. At times, a change of spiritual exercises will do you good. Yeah. Some devotions will help on ordinary days and others will be more helpful on Holy days. You may need one type of spiritual activity in the time of temptation. Yep. And another in time of peace. When that temptation comes, replace the thought to something positive. Yep. And that's what you know, what are you going to meditate on? Right. That's the, that's the question I ask.

9:39We all can meditate. Just what are we going to be meditating on? A man like certain thoughts when he is sad. But in time of spiritual joy, he prefers other thoughts. So there's a variety in the spiritual life. So you don't have to just continue on the same thing. Mix it up. It's going to help you live a richer life. And I might add a whole year one. Make your spiritual goals. Write them down. And you're ready to let resolutions according to the spirit of the different seasons of the church calendar. So basically, live around the the church calendar. We call it liturgical calendar. Plan your interior life as one who is eager to give me better service. Live as one who looks forward to heaven. If I can say that one more time, I'm an old man now, but live as one who looks forward to heaven. I'm looking

10:40forward to heaven. I'm almost 70 years old. It can happen soon. I hope when God calls me home, I want to be ready. Think of death, folks, as a gateway to heaven. Learn to look upon your earthly life as a great opportunity to make a worthy preparation for heaven. If I have not called you yet, consider that it is better you are not yet well enough prepared to receive the heavenly glory, which is being reserved for you. Then plan how to prepare yourself for that heavenly reward. Never forget the words. Blessed is that servant whom the Lord finds watching when he comes indeed. I tell you he will be pleased over all his possessions. Stay with us. We're going to come back with more on the truth and justice show at this holy week, the week that changed the world.

11:47Stay with us family. We'll be right back after a very quick break. Welcome back to the truth and justice show here on Virgin, most powerful radio. We're doing a holy week meditation on the passion. Don't forget Bishop Strickland who was here last week announced the Nineveh fast to make reparation for grave sins. Check that out on his website Ninevehnovena.org. All right, I want to continue and then we'll go right into Bishop Sheen's meditations on the passion. It is so easy to fall into a routine and stick to it. Many go day after day doing the same thing in the same old way. Variety makes life interesting, yet too few have the ambition and energy to put a variety into their daily lives. In prayer, I shall try to learn various methods in case I should need them to avoid the

12:52dullness of routine. I can read the lives of the saints and see where I may make a few changes in my own spiritual life. My spiritual director can give me ideas on how to freshen my zeal for God's glory and for the help of my neighbor. Let's pray. O Holy Spirit, my God, in sanctifier grant me light to see how I can make my daily life more fruitful in doing good. Let me not fall into a rut and stay there. Life is a glorious opportunity to do great things to become more like you, my God, by the good and love which I can give to others. Help me to see more ways of increasing the good in my daily life. Give me unselfishness and strength to do good for your sake. Amen. I give you these meditations because this is the week

13:57that changed the world and we really do need to ask ourselves, are we following the Lord Jesus Christ? And this Holy Week, we're going to go through his passion and realize that this is like I say, the week that changed the world without Holy Week. You know, the Easter Tritium coming Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday. This is where it all comes together. So I'm taking from Bishop Jean's book Life of Christ, chapter 48, on the crucifixion. And he makes some really good meditation points. He says, the procession of the cross was usually preceded by a trumpeter to clear the road. This is picture this right in your imagination. If you're not driving, you're at home listening. A trumpeter would clear the road, then following a Herod announcement, the names of the criminals who were being led to the execution. This is picture that this was taking place 2,000 years ago.

15:01Sometimes the name of the criminal and the reason for the combination was written on a board in hung about his neck. Two witnesses of the council, which sentence the one condemned to death were also to accompany the procession. A centarian mounted on horseback, along with considerable detachments of soldiers formed part of the procession. So what Bishop Jean is giving us is a mental picture of the upcoming crucifixion. And I think the week that James the world is the best time to kick this around and meditate. Now a centarian, one of the soldiers mounted on horseback, along with considerable detachment of other soldiers formed part of the procession. There were also the two thieves who were to be crucified with our Lord. He bore the full weight

16:03of the cross on his back and shoulders, which were already raw from the scourging. You ever have a back injury? Scratch on your back? Nothing like a big crossbar on your back. Now the Sunday previous, we're talking about being Palm Sunday, our Lord was hailed as king. That morning the people shouted, no king but Caesar. A Jerusalem that saluted him was now the Jerusalem that disowned him. Isn't that beautiful? Oh my, he painted it well. Since the temple priests had found him accursed, they exiled him from Jerusalem. This was the law of Leviticus that the sin offering should be driven outside the city gates or a camp. As for the transgression victims, the Bullocks and goats,

17:07whose blood was carried into the sanctuary to make expiation there, the carcass must be taken away from the camp destroyed by fire, skin and flesh and dung together. That's right taken from Leviticus chapter 16 verse 27. Now Jesus Christ, the ultimate in a sin offering, is driven like a I love this term, scapegoat outside the city. Think about that. I'm picturing this. St. Paul suggests that the moment the city foretold its claim to greatness and was replaced by a heavenly Jerusalem. This is right from Hebrews chapter 13 verse 12 to 14. Here's Hebrews. Thus it was that Jesus when he would sanctify the people through his own blood, suffered beyond the city gate,

18:12let us to go out to him always from the camp. Bearing the Edminity he bore, we haven't ever lasting city, but not here. Our goal is the city that is one day to be. That's heaven. Now Isaiah also foretold that his government would be on the shoulders. It's now becoming clear that the cross was his government or law of life. He had said that anyone who was to be his disciple must take up his cross and follow me. That's why at the beginning of the show, she's quote, without good Friday, there's no Easter Sunday. There are people that are Christians who think, I don't need to suffer. Jesus Christ did it all for me. No, our Lord is calling all of us

19:12to the cross. Now, fearful that the long scourgings, the loss of blood, the crowning with thorns would bring his end before the crucifixion. They thought, well, he's not going to survive this. His enemies compelled a stranger, Simon of Cyrene, to help him carry his cross. A lot of people ask me, why was he helping him? Because they were afraid he was going to die. Cyrene was torn on the northern coast of Africa. But Simeon's nationality is uncertain. Very uncertain. He would have been Jewish judging by his name or a Gentile. It may be that he was even a black African judging by his native locality. And the fact that he was forced to help our Lord carry the cross,

20:15it was the first time that our Savior laid his cross on anyone to Simon, belongs the privilege of first sharing the cross of Christ. Wow. And now we can share in the cross of Christ. Matthew chapter 15 says, they forced a pacifier who was coming in from a country to carry it one Simon of Cyrene, the father of Axelan Alexander and Rufus. Now Simon did not undertake this task willingly. For the Greek word used in the gospel was adopted from a Persian word which signified the compulsory employment of beasts for delivery of male in the Persian empire. Simon was probably one of the curious thousands who were interested in seeing a man go to death.

21:26Yeah. And who stood on the roadway until the long arm of the Roman law forced him to share the dignity of a cross. Though at first reluctant because compelled he nevertheless must have found as our Lord said his followers would, the yoke sweet and the burden light. Otherwise his two sons would not later have been mentioned by Paul as pillars of the church. Good point, our Lord during his public life taught gentleness and return for injury. And now he's living it. Matthew chapter 5, if a man compels the to attend him on a mile's journey, go two miles with him of their own accord. You know, that's a good principle. Simon may never have heard these words,

22:34but the words were not needed when he followed the word. Along the procession route, two were too many women. They are numerous instances of men falling in the crucifixion such as the apostles who slept in the garden. Judas had betrayed the Jewish and the Gentile courts who condemned. But there's not a record of a single woman ever asking for his death. A heathen woman had interceded for his life with pilot. On the cross there will be four women but only one apostle. Isn't that interesting? Four to one. During his last week, the children shouted, Hosanna, God save us, right? The men cried crucify, but the women wept to the weeping women he said. See if I have time to tell you what he said. Yep. It is not for me

23:37that you should weep daughters of Jerusalem. You should weep for yourselves and your children. Behold, a time is coming when men will say it is well for the barren, for the wombs that never bore children and the breasts that never suckled them. It is then that they will begin to say to the mountains. Fall on us and to the hills. Cover us. If it goes so hard with the tree that is still green, what will become of the tree that is already dried up? This is powerful meditation on the Passion of Jesus Christ. I am going to remind everybody last week we had the spiritual warfare conference with Father Chad Ripperger, Kyle Clement, Dr. Dan Schneider, and Jesse Romero. I was very

24:41happy to see the conference there. If you would like to get recordings of it, go to vmpr.org. That is virgin, most powerful radio.org. Our call is at 877-526-215. When we come back, we will continue to meditate on the Passion of Jesus Christ through the eyes of full machine and scripture on this week that chase the world. Stay with us, family. We'll be right back. Welcome back to the Truth and Justice Show. We've got the full machines book called The Light of Christ. I recommend it to anybody, especially during this holy week. We always call it the week that changed the world because without holy week, we wouldn't have salvation. I'm reading from Bishop Sheen's chapter on the crucifixion. He's giving a very descriptive description of what

25:46took place. It's really good for our meditation that we, especially during holy week, think about our Lord's sacrifice. So our Lord has referred to the words that he's already spoken concerning the approaching doom of Jerusalem. He wrote it and it's right in Luke chapter 19 verse 43 to 44. You all remember this. The days will come upon the when the enemies will fence the around about and encircle thee and press the heart on every side and break down to ruin both thee and thy children that are in thee, not leaving one stone of thee upon another and all because that this does not recognize the time of my visiting thee. This is right from Luke chapter 19. Now describe this. You're in the garden, as the garden he told the soldiers to take him and let the apostles go. Remember that?

26:53Go away. He told the women not to mourn over him, for he was innocent, but to mourn over the destruction of Jerusalem, which was a symbol of the destruction of the world at the end of time. Actually, when destruction of Jerusalem did come, Josephus recorded that the people of Jerusalem hid themselves in dens and rocks of the mountains. Now this was the first time since the interrogation before Pilate that our Lord broke his silence. It's a great point. It was the passion sermon of our Savior, our Rather, the first part of it. The second part consists of his seven last words, and Bishop Sheen did a beautiful series on that. We're going to play it later in the week.

27:55If you ever want to get these meditations with Bishop Sheen's own words of him speaking, we have it at our website, go to vmpr.org, especially it's called a voice from Calvary, awesome set, or you can call the 877-526-2151 number. Now if there was any one moment when our Lord might have been preoccupied with his own sorrows and have taken the tears of others as a solace for his grief, it was this moment on the way to Calvary. And yet he bade the woman to shed no tears for him. He who wept at Bethany and whose blood now wept on the road of Jerusalem. Bade them not to wept for him, for his death was a willed necessity. Willed freely by him,

29:04but a necessity for men. You see the distinction? Furthermore, since he had promised to wipe away all tears, tears for him were needless. Good point. The green tree was himself. Oh, I love this, exe jesus. The dry tree, that's the world. He was the green tree of life, transplant it from the garden of Eden. Wow. The dry tree was Jerusalem first and then the unconverted world. Do you see the meditation you're getting from Fulton Sheen? Awesome. His warning means that if the Romans so traveled him, who was innocent, how would they treat Jerusalem that had condemned him to death? If he was so bruised because of his transgressions of others,

30:05how in the final judgment would the guilty be punished for their own inequities? When there is a fire in the forest of his analogy, the green trees with sap and moisture darken, but how the old dried trees which are rotten to the core will burn up. If he who has no sin suffered, how will they suffer who are rotten with sin? Do you see the analogy? Wow, Bishop Sheen, you're awesome. He's going to be beatified. I'm sure, and I think it's the 24th of September. We're going to be there for that. Wow. And here's what he said, Peter, who was not mentioned in this scene, but who lived so intimately with the Savior, later picked up that same theme and wrote, if the just man wins salvation only with difficulty, what will be their plight of the goodness of the

31:13sinner? Why then let those who suffer in fulfillment of God's will commend their souls all innocent into his hands? He created them and he will not fail them. That's first Peter, chapter four, verse 18 to 19. No tears of Delilah would have kept Samson from his work today. No superficial whaling of women in Jerusalem would weaken him and his determination and purpose of the sacrifice. Their dowry of tears could not make them the bride of his heart. If he were just a good man going to his death, then let them open the fountain of tears. But because he was a priest going to sacrifice, then let them weep only if they are availed

32:18themselves, not of its fruits, as he would purge death of death by rising from the grave. So he now purged tears of lamentation by showing that sin alone was worth tears. They were weeping for him as a good man, but no such tears would he have at his deathbed. By rejecting their grief, he showed them that he was not a good man sent to death, but the God-man saving sinners. See the distinction? I think that's very important to make. Wow. Hidden in his words was a plea for faithfulness to advert the doom of Jerusalem. It's destiny was in the hands of women. Did you hear that? Did they but repent on this as many

33:24others occasions? He bade their hearts look to the state of their own soul. He diverted attention from himself who was sinless to those who needed redemption. When the young man told our Lord, he wanted to be his disciple. Our Lord told him he had nowhere to lay his head. Do you remember that gospel? Was the condition of the youth soul for it for such poverty? When Peter said he would die for him, our Lord told him the apostle how weak his soul was. So now the women were told not to have misplaced sorrow, misplaced sorrow. Let them look to their souls, their children, their city. He needed no tears they did. The place assigned by the crucifixion was Galgotha

34:31or the place of skull. Legend has it that it was the burial place of Adam. I knew that. Isn't that interesting? I read this book before. Representatives of the crucifixion often show a skull at the foot of the cross to indicate that the new Adam was dying for the old Adam. Think about this week of the change in the world. This is a great meditation for all of us. But certainly it was a place where the dead bones were thrown after execution. Once on the hill, the executor stripped him of his garments, opening a new wound of his sacred body. In all, there were seven distinct blood sheddings. The circumcision checked us out the agony in the garden, scourging, the crowning of thorns, the way of the cross, and now the two that are following the crucifixion, the piercing

35:34of the sacred heart. The cross prepared over it was placed an inscription written by pilot in Hebrew, Latin and Greek, reading Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews. Now his death and also his kingship were proclaimed in the name of the three cities of the world. Check this out. This was very insightful. Jerusalem, Rome and Athens, in the language of the good, the true and the beautiful, in the tongues of sion, the form and the apocalypse. Pilot would be asked to change what he had written, but he would refuse. What I have written, I have written. His kingship remained proclaimed through for the moment, a cross would be his throne.

36:35His blood, the royal purple, the nails, his scepter, the crown of thorns, his demon, did him. The truth was made to speak when mad ridiculed him. You know, bishops, you nailed it. When we come back, we're going to talk more on this meditation in the last segment. But this is food for thought right now, as you go along with the week that changed the world here at Virgin, most powerful radio. I want to remind you that real estate for life is one of our sponsors. If you're going to get a house or a seller or buy a house, go to real estate for life, our call him at 877-543-3871. Tell him you want to support Virgin, most powerful radio, and you'll get a good pro-life agent that helps you navigate through the process. Stay with us, we'll be right back after a very quick break.

37:43Welcome back to the truth and justice. I always like to say I'm too blessed to be stressed, to annoying it, to be disappointed, and if hope was money, I'd be a billionaire. This is the week that changed the world, Monday of Holy Week, and I'm going through the life of Christ by Fulton Sheen, and his insights are just so beautiful. Here comes the crucifixion, picture this in your mind. As Bishop Sheen says, being stripped of his garments meant that he was no longer localized by dress. In his nakedness, he became the universal man. Exiled outside the city, he now gave up upon the country as well as life. The sacred heart was confined by no frontiers. The rough nails were applied to that hand from which the world graces flow, and the first dull knock of the hammer was heard in silence.

38:44Can you imagine nails going through your wrists? Ouch! Blow, follow, blow, and was quickly re-eckled from the city walls beneath. Mary and John held their ears, the echoes sounded as another stroke. Feet two were opinion, the feet which sought the lost sheep among the thorns. Every detail the prophecy was being fulfilled. A thousand years before, David looked forward to the role, the role hammer and nails would play, and greeting the Messiah, as carpenters would put to death him, who carpentered the universe. Isn't that a beautiful sight? What? Bishop Sheen, God bless you. Here's the Psalm 22. My enemies ring me around, packed close as a herd of oxen, strong as bulls from Basan, though might a lion threaten me with its jaws,

39:47drawing for its prey. I am spent as spit, split water, all my bones out of my joint, my heart turned to mold and wax within me, parched in my throat. Like clay in the baking, and my tongue stick fast to my mouth, through haste laid me in the dust to die, prowling about me like a pack of dogs. Their wicked, conspiracy hedges me, and they have torn holes in my hands and my feet. See the crucifixion? Wow, I can count my bones one by one, one, and they stand there watching me gazing at me in triumph. Now Isaiah had foretold that in his death that a Messiah would be linked up with criminals and wrongdoers, being a vicarious victim

40:50for sinners. See, in place of us, he was accounted no better than the scum of the earth. As Isaiah prophesized, Isaiah 53, this is famous. A victim yet he himself bows to the stroke. No word comes from him. Sheep led him away to the slaughterhouse. Lamb that stands dumb while it is shorn. No word for him. So many lives ransomed, foe so violent barked at their spoils. Such is his, too, that gave himself up to death and would be counted among the wrongdoers, bore those many sins and made intercession for the guilty. This is all foretold in the Old Testament because crucifixion was the most excruciating of all torments. It was customary to offer a condemned, a drink of deadened sensitivity to the pain.

41:58Probably the women of Jerusalem had bought such a portion with them. Did you know that? I didn't. In any case, the soldiers offered him the drought of wine, mixed with mirror, which he would not take. That was the gospel of Matthew, or Mark 15. Our Lord, when it was brought to his lips, knowing it to be a sedative, he refused to sip it. So his body already exhausted, cried out for water. He would not drink that which was would dull his role as the mediator. See any kind of pain relief? At his birth, his mother was given the gift of mirror. See how it comes back? And accepted it as a sign of his ransoming death. Wow. At his death, he would refuse the mirror, which would deaden the reason of his coming. And he told Peter the night before that he would drink the cup.

43:04His father had given him. But to drink the cup of redemption, he must not drink of the cup that would drive a wedge between his body and his spirit. Our Lord used many pulpits during his public life, such as Peter's bark pushing into the sea. The mountain top, the streets of Tyrell and Sidon, the temple, the country road near a cemetery, all these places, a banquet hall, but all fail into insignificance compared to the pulpit which he mounted now. What is that pulpit? The pulpit of the cross. It was now lifted slowly off the ground, wavered in midair for a moment, tearing and lacerating, his own flesh, when suddenly with a deep thud that seemed to shake

44:13even hell itself, it sank into the pit prepared for it. Our Lord had mounted his pulpit for the last time, great meditation. He ends like this. He says all of the orators, he overlooked his audience. Far off in Jerusalem, he could see the guided gilded roof of the temple, reflecting its rays against the sun, which would soon be hidden its face to shame. Here and there on the temple, walls, he could catch a glimpse of those who were straining their eyes to see him, whom the darkness knew not. The edge of the crowd were timid followers, ready to flee in the case of danger. There too were the executioners getting their dice,

45:13ready to shake for his garments. Close to the cross was the only apostle present, John, whose face was like a cast molded out of love. And for Mary Magdalene, she was there too, like a broken flower, a wounded thing. But foremost, among all, God pitted her, was his own mother, Mary. Magdalene, John, innocents, petitions, patients, and the priesthood, all three types of souls would be found beneath the cross of Christ. I hope this little meditation helped you as it helped me understand the significance of the crucifixion. Because this is something that for a lot of us,

46:17we don't think about enough. We get busy in life, and life keeps us busy on that. But we forget that it's the crucifixion that opens the gates of heaven. And that's why I'm bringing this up to you is because we need to have our eyes focused on Jesus Christ, not on anything else. That's why I'm holding this crucifixion because it's the crucifixion that opens the gates of heaven for us to get in with redemption. And so that means all of us are going to need to really make sure that the crucifixion is in our life. And what I mean by that is the suffering that we go through is wasted pain if we don't offer it in union with the sacrifices of the mass in union with Jesus Christ. And this is why I think it's important that for all of us to realize

47:26that this week that changed the world we're going through right now is a time for us to stop and focus on what's really important about our Catholic faith. And really realize that everything we do, everything is like a blank check. If Christ's name is on it, it has infinite value. But if it just has the value for us, it's useless. That's why I want to encourage you this holy week to really take the time. We have that bushing audio recording, a voice from Calvary. We have the true meaning of Easter. That's another audio cassette I've used. It's a download now on our virginmostpowerfulradio.org. I take the best of Fulton Sheen's meditations on Easter and we'll give those to you. This is so important that we stay focused

48:32this holy week to make Easter Sunday the best Easter we've ever had in our lives. That's why this whole week of Holy Week, I want to focus on that. I have our good friend Steve Ray. He's coming this week. And what's he going to be talking about? I'll tell you right now. Our friend Steve, way on Tuesday, the 31st, we'll be talking about 20 things Jesus saw from the cross. And I had him on last year. And everybody knows that he's been to the Holy Land like 200 times. And he takes a lot of his meditations from right at the location in Jerusalem. So that'll be on Tuesday. And I want to also take this time to thank our listeners. We just finished the spiritual warfare conference.

49:34And Father Chad Ripperger was with us, Paul Clemmons, Dr. Dan Snyder, and Jesse Romero. Check out the recordings by going to vmpr.org. You can purchase those recordings, video, and audio. I hear the music. I get it. I just say bye. But I want to also remind you, our Lady of Fatima said souls are going to hell because no one's there to pray and make sacrifices. Well, this is Holy Week. There's a time to make sacrifices. It's right now. Look what our Lord did during Holy Week. Remember our Lady of Fatima said it. She said souls are going to hell. Why? Because no one's there to pray and make sacrifices. Are you willing to help? Souls, get to heaven. Okay, if you're five years old or 105, we can all unite our sufferings, with the sufferings of Christ to help redeem the Lord. You want to scripture verse? Colossians chapter 1 verse 24. Check it out. Thanks again for all your support. Hope you have a

50:38great Holy Week and meditating from the Passion of Jesus Christ. May God, richly, bless you and your family.