EXCLUSIVE: Bishop Strickland exhorts pro-lifers to ‘stand against evil masquerading as good’

(LifeSiteNews) — In a luncheon talk at The Club at Pelican Preserve in Fort Myers, Florida, on May 8, Bishop Joseph Strickland reflected on Isaiah 5:20: “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.”

Bishop Strickland observed that the prophet warns his hearers to be alert to the ways that language gets twisted to change meaning. Too often these days language is manipulated, “denigrating the good and lifting up the evil.”

“The sacred becomes mocked and called evil or worthless, and the profane is raised up as freedom and opportunity,” he added.

‘We need to stand for the truth that we know.’

The luncheon was sponsored by a local Catholic pro-life group, United Prayer Vigils for Life, which gathers daily to recite the Holy Rosary and other prayers in front of the Fort Myers Planned Parenthood. Prior to the luncheon, Bishop Strickland joined nearly 100 faithful Catholics on the sidewalk in front of this abortion clinic to lead the Rosary and prayers of deliverance.

The bishop urged on all those who defend life and truth: “We are still in these Easter days celebrating the resurrection of Our Lord. This is what gives us strength. All of you are prayer warriors and life warriors in a time when it takes strength. We need to stand for the truth that we know.”

He reminded the faithful of their responsibility. “If the bishops won’t stand up, then the faithful have to. That is not rebellion, that is not disobedience. It is deeply obedient to stand with the truth. And we need you.”

EXCLUSIVE: Bishop Strickland says ‘real obedience is to be obedient to the truth that is Jesus Christ’

Real charity is always the truth, he said. Yet we have to humbly acknowledge that the truth we speak, however charitably it may be offered, may not be received and embraced. How often in the gospels is Christ speaking truth that is outright rejected?

“But how does he respond? With charity. With patience. He does not go on the attack,” the bishop stated. We must always use His words and actions as our model.

‘She is always the Mother of Life like her Son is the Lord of Life.’

His Excellency also reflected on the Virgin Mary who carried Jesus Christ in her womb. The Son of God was fertilized into existence, and “from that moment she has been bearing Christ into the world.” Our Lady is always pointing us to Jesus. “Any authentic honoring of Mary will take us closer to the Sacred Heart of her Son.”

He observed that these words from Psalm 139 remind us of the wondrous beauty that is present in every life: “For you created my inmost being. You knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful. I know that full well.”

The bishop proposed that these words “are the secret to proclaiming the sanctity of human life to our world, to our nation, to our families, to every aspect of the human community.”

Our broken world can fall into not believing that we are “fearfully and wonderfully made.” The Blessed Mother knows the meaning of these words because she is full of grace, Bishop Strickland said.

“I believe the Blessed Virgin Mary is that voice that guides us to know what true language we need to use to proclaim the sanctity of life, always with love and charity, always with strength and clarity. But always, day in and day out, doing our best to proclaim that life is sacred because God has made it so,” he stated, indicating that through these words of Psalm 139, we and others can embrace the wonderful gift that life is.

“Too often our sin tempts us to remake ourselves in a worldly image, but thankfully the Lord will always forgive us, if only we will repent, if we will return to these words and embrace them once again. No matter how often we let go of them and wander into darkness, we can always return, we can always be strengthened to know that the Lord ‘knit us together’ in our mother’s womb and that we are ‘fearfully and wonderfully made.’”