EXCLUSIVE： Bishop Strickland urges Margo Naranjo’s parents to trust God, not abandon their daughter
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Summary
In this episode, Bishop Henry Strickland talks about the case of Margo Naranjo and her family's decision to pull nutrition and hydration from her after a car accident that left her wheelchair-bound and unable to speak.
Transcript
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Common sense that I saw says, Margo's getting upset.
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And she can't really indicate and say, oh, she's just moving around.
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But I see an agitation in her that you don't see
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when her mother's not talking about ending her life.
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My friends, I'm sure you've all seen by now the case of Margo Naranjo,
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the young woman whose parents came and went viral, really, on social media platforms
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because they've been covering forever their daughter,
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who was in a very severe car accident and ended up very disabled.
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And now they're talking about withdrawing nutrition, hydration.
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And of course, that's against Catholic teaching.
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We have Bishop Strickland on to address this, to address what's really going on.
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And actually, he is intimately involved in this subject
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because he intervened in a case very similar to this one in Texas.
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So you're going to want to stay tuned to this episode of The John Hunter Weston Show.
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And let's begin, as we always do, with the Son of the Cross.
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I'll have you lead it, and perhaps with a short prayer for the family as well.
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In the name of the Father, of the Son, of the Holy Spirit.
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Almighty God, as we discuss all these important issues,
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help us to all keep at heart Margo and her parents and all the family that surrounds them
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with all of this struggle, help them to know that they are embraced in your love and compassion
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and the power of your mercy and the sanctity of life.
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And we ask this in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
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So, first of all, this is the video of the snippet of the video, anyway,
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where the mom explains what they're going to do, that they're going to pull nutrition, hydration.
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And she says, we're not going to starve her to death.
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But then she actually says, yeah, it'll only take her like four or five days,
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especially because she's not going to have hydration at all.
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Bishop Strickland, if you could tell us, what is wrong with that?
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What's the problem with this situation over withdrawal of nutrition, hydration?
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The family is Catholic, yet they seem to be confused on the church's teaching.
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Let me say first, because there's so many accusations that get thrown at us as Catholics,
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trying to speak for the moral teachings, the sanctity of life.
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Let us be very clear that our hearts go out in compassion to the parents, to the caregivers,
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to everyone involved in this situation and countless situations like it with people of whatever age.
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It's a tremendous burden to care for these people, but it's also a joyful burden.
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And I just wanted to say that before we begin our discussion, because so often it's like when we're speaking for the sanctity of life,
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we're accused of being heartless toward these parents.
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But truly, it all fits together when we remember what God has revealed to us.
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And basically, the Catholic teaching is in many ways common sense,
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but it's also refined through revelation of what God has told us.
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And that's the bottom line for respect that we always have to remember.
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We didn't start this life, and we should be, you know, with only, with great trepidation, approach ending life.
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And what the church teaches, it can, because medicine is complex, but the church's teaching is not that complex.
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It says extraordinary means of sustaining life is not morally required,
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but ordinary means is always required for life to be held sacred.
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And so, okay, what's extraordinary, what's ordinary?
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And as you mentioned before we started, you know, some would say, oh, well, you know,
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God didn't make feeding tubes, and God didn't make, you know, all the instruments.
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But, yeah, we may be using some technology to provide food and water for someone who can't swallow.
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They can get a feeding tube or whatever, or hydration, sometimes intravenously.
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I'm definitely not a physician, so I don't know all the intricacies there.
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We just know that having food and water, and you could say air, being able to breathe,
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being able to nurture ourselves with food, being able to have water to hydrate our bodies, that's basic.
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That is ordinary means, you know, that we all ordinarily, I mean, that's what keeping our health means,
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And that's what, when someone's monitoring their health and they go to the doctor,
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they check all those systems to make sure they're getting proper oxygenation,
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they're getting proper food, they're getting proper water.
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And I think the broad scope of this for what the church teaches is,
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when a child's in the mother's womb, by the wondrous design of God,
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all that's taken care of, they're getting hydration, they're getting nourishment,
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they're getting oxygenation through their mother while in the womb,
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unless someone interferes with that, which is the tragedy of abortion.
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But once born, then they breathe, and they receive food,
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and they receive water in the natural way that we all do.
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So for the rest of our lives, we are sustained by receiving that ordinary natural element
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Our bodies are physical, animal, you know, creatures that, of course, is imbued with a soul.
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So we're created in the image and likeness of God.
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And in these circumstances, the one that you've just mentioned, Margo Naranjo,
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her parents, from what I understand, have done a valiant job of taking care of her.
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We can understand that they're probably exhausted, but her life isn't exhausted.
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So to stop feeding her and stop giving her hydration, giving her water, is not morally possible.
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It's not acceptable, as it wouldn't be for a newborn infant or for a 99-year-old elderly person.
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I mean, not just at ourselves, but any animal organism needs those basics.
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And if they're withdrawn, that animal is going to die.
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We know that about dogs and cats and horses and cattle and all domesticated and wild animals.
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As creatures, we have to have those basics as well.
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If you don't give an animal water, they're going to die pretty quickly.
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They can live longer without nourishment, without food.
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And many have lasted a long...animals and people have lasted a long time without food.
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But without water, we don't last very long at all.
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And we, you know, the cases that are, you know, have come to the forefront, the Terry Schiavo case
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from years ago is still looked at and analyzed as a tragic violation of the sanctity of life
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And I saw recently a video of her brother, I think it was his brother, speaking of how she began to look like
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someone in a concentration camp because she was starving to death.
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But she was on the path of being removed from support systems.
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I really don't know the details medically, but I know that there...
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It was about when she was around two years old when her life was threatened, but she's still alive.
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And according to her mother, she's at home and she has a human life that many may say,
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you know, they use the language of quality of life.
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And that's very dangerous for us seeking to live a moral understanding of the sanctity of life.
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How can we judge whether a life has quality or not?
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And there are many that judge, oh, well, this life doesn't have quality.
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I mean, I think classically of children with Down syndrome.
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I mean, there's some nations, and it's certainly pushed here rather quietly.
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But when a woman finds that she's expecting a child that has Down syndrome, many times,
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I'm sure we've both heard testimonies where they were encouraged to get an abortion.
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And I think that's one beautiful illustration of the beauty that life has, that God has
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in plan for the life that he offers, even if it's a Down syndrome child.
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I've seen those children transform families and be a blessing to the community that they're
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We have Tinsley Lewis, who thankfully didn't succumb to the death warrant that was being issued.
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And now we have Margot Naranjo, who is in the battle right now.
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And we need to compassionately, the greatest compassion toward those parents.
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And I don't claim to understand what it must be like 24-7 to have this care.
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But, and we need to develop better ways as we have with the life of the unborn and encouraging
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Society and the church has developed many greater support systems.
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Maybe someone there to help them so that they're not, so much of their time isn't absorbed
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Just humanly, to give them some rest, give them some downtime.
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We probably need to develop care systems in our parishes and in our Catholic community to
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The needs can be overwhelming, but God's abundant gifts in giving us life are beyond overwhelming.
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And so we have to keep that treasure and nurture that treasure in every way we can.
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I mean, like we've developed crisis pregnancy centers, homes for mothers who have children
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And there are places for them to stay for a year or for even more.
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And perhaps there is a whole ministry to be developed there for people to be able to give
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relief from the pro-life, active pro-life community, which is, which is stepped up or, you know,
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in cases of abortion, that would be truly beautiful.
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A lot of people do have questions about this though, because it's hard.
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And I'm so glad you said that because people have got to realize it's no easy task.
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I've got friends in this situation who they've been urged to kill their daughter or to allow
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the quote, allow their daughter to die by withdrawing nutrition, hydration for a long time.
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It's a struggle because their daughter needs 24 hour care.
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You might say different from a Downs child because they're not able to move at all type
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of thing, or they're able to move, but not, you know, sensibly communicate in any which
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So tell us about how do you think disabled people enrich our lives or does God have a
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mission for them until at last he calls them to himself?
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And it, it really does cover the spectrum of life.
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I believe I think of, as you asked that question, my mother had Alzheimer's and was like you said,
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I mean, people can reach a point, even when they're elderly adults.
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Elderly adults can be very much like, pretty much like an infant, you know, toward the end
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And I think that that's, it just comes to me as we're talking about this, but a newborn
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I can wiggle their limbs, but they don't even, they can't even crawl when they're first born.
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But we know that's a precious life because in our human understanding, we know they're
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going to grow to the point where they can speak.
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And, you know, and parents celebrate the first step, the first word, the first everything.
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But I think we need to remember that infant was precious and giving blessings as another
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child created in the image and likeness of God.
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Long before they could say a word or have an action that was intentional, that did anything
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And so if at any point along the way, and you might see Margo in that way, I mean, she's
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in a full-grown woman's body, and she was a full-grown young woman, from what I understand,
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And she may be more like she was as an infant, you know, where she can't speak, and she can't
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move on her own, and she can't care for herself.
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And in the mystery of life, I know, I mean, I've known, and I'm sure you mentioned, you
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I've known people in my ministry as a bishop in all kinds of circumstances where this individual
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that we call disabled or impaired or, you know, even in a vegetative state, we'll use
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that language sometimes, they still are a human being.
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And for people that allow themselves to embrace the gift that they are, yes, there are challenges.
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There are challenges in having, you know well, you have a lot of children.
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There are challenges to welcoming a newborn child into the home.
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That even becomes some sibling issues, because mom and dad are so focused on this new infant
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So I think there are a lot of just natural, if we open our eyes and don't approach this
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as a problem that has to be solved, but just a mystery that we have to try to embrace and
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I think it's not that different for Margo's situation than, and I think, I'd pray that
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her parents can, and I know that it's a burden, I know it's exhausting, but her parents loved
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her as that newborn when she probably couldn't do, she was about the same circumstances.
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It's odd for us, and it somehow is counterintuitive for us to see a full-grown adult body in the
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But if they are, they're still precious to God and hopefully precious to us.
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And I guess really, John Henry, one of the main reasons that struck me as I began being
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aware of Margo's situation, one of the main reasons we need to really engage with this
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when it hits the news, when LifeSide News, thankfully, does an article on Margo, because
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there are many Margos out there that are dying with no one speaking up, no one even aware.
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And hospice, morphine and other medications are used to just zone people out to the point
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of death, and that's tragic, because we're losing something that is deeply valuable.
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We need to remember, as I started with, God is the author of life, and we should enable
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someone to draw the last breath that God grants them, and not to prematurely interrupt their
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But, you know, more or less in the spectrum of life, it's the same basic moral issues that
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We don't call it abortion when it's an adult person, but we are aborting God's plan of life
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And I think we're desperately debilitated and harmed as a human community because we're doing
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this so much, we are saying, we're denying that God's the author of life.
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Of course, there are many that deny God, period.
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But when we forget that God is the author of life, which is always the truth, whether we
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believe it or not, God is the author of this love.
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And when we start acting like we can turn it on and off and manipulate life, it is devastating
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for the individuals involved in like Margo's situation, for Margo herself, certainly, but
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I've just seen a few of the videos of the family and all, but I think a lot of people
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just, and I guess I'm not trained as a physician, I don't, but just common sense.
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If you watch some of those videos with the mother, who I believe is a loving mother, but
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needs to be guided to deepen that love and act on it properly.
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But as she's talking about ending Margo's life, common sense that I saw says, Margo's
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And she can't really indicate and say, oh, she's just moving around.
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But I see an agitation in her that you don't see when her mother's not talking about ending
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And we've probably both seen, and there are many well-recorded medical cases where people
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in Margo's situation, you know, miracles can happen, but it's not likely that she would
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ever just sort of come out of the situation she's in.
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But people in similar circumstances, comatose or in very debilitated, they have come out
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of it and they testify that they heard people talking about their life and whether it was
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And I think we need to, and I guess the final thing I would say, a great doctor that I've
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worked with, I think a very important point here is, and again, it's founded on God as
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We are not, we don't have the authority to say, this life needs to end.
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I think when it's a case, when it's a question of life, we always need to default.
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If it's, if we're not sure, if we don't know really what Margo's dealing with and what's
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going on in her mind and in her soul and in her heart.
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But when we don't know, and it's a sanctity of life issue, I believe we need to default
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to what is the most robust protection of life that we can offer.
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I mean, the medical questions about when life ends and how someone's life is in any given
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moment, I mean, I think we just, there are many, there are many mysteries still in medicine
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I think we need to default to, if we don't clearly know absolutely the answer, we need
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to say in doubt, always default to the, to the greatest respect for life possible.
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And I think in Margo's case, that's not even to me a huge question.
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She's clearly interacting in some way with her environment.
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And to, to just say, we're going to end her life.
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I frankly think Margo's saying, don't do this to me.
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And we need, even though she can't form those words, we need to, if there's a doubt of her
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condition and what she's experiencing, we need to default to protecting her life.
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One of the things I think that many people don't think about is, is that even when you
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are providing nutrition, hydration by artificial means, because you have to, as in the case
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of a, of a, of a newborn or in the case of Margo, you're not forcing them to stay alive.
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If they are dying, otherwise dying, their body can't use the nutrition, hydration and won't
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You're providing them the necessities of life so that should their life be still ongoing,
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should their bodies be able to assimilate those nutrition, that nutrition and hydration that
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they're getting, that that's, they're just alive.
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That's very important, John Henry, because in my own mother's case, she reached the point
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I mean, she wasn't eating much, she had no interest in food, but even just physiologically,
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So like you said, when you're dying, you know, you can't just say, we're going to keep feeding
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If, if they're destined to die, food and water are not going to keep them alive.
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And I think that's a great point that, you know, that's a basic component of someone
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who is living, but if they're dying, you can give them tons of food and water and that's
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So one of the really sad parts about this story, at least for me, in fact, probably the
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saddest part is that these Catholic parents who seem to have struggled mightily and done
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the best for their daughter that they could, they've, they've, they've blogged about this
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from basically day one of the accident and spent so much time in prayer, begging God
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It seems they're really confused on the church's own teaching.
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I can't help but think that involves somewhat the church's shepherds and leadership failing
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This was taught clearly by Pope John Paul II about the need to provide the basics, as
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But yet there are many, even in the Episcopate, even among the bishops, I don't know, they seem
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Even in your case of, that you mentioned of Tinsley Lewis, you were the only bishop in Texas
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who was advocating for Tinsley while the others seemed happy to, or not, I shouldn't say happy,
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but seemed ready to not speak while that child would be deprived by the hospital against the
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wishes of her mom to receive nutrition, hydration.
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Really, John Henry, I think you put your finger on something that is an issue that we need to
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address in the church throughout the world, I believe, is, you know, medicine, where did it
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It came from human beings at using their God-given intelligence and abilities to create some
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wondrous, I mean, interventions and ways to assist people that, you know, 100 years ago
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But I think, for lots of reasons, to me, it's a symptom of where we find the bishops in
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so many areas, where, you know, as a bishop, you know, I need to be stronger in being a bishop,
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And I think we've almost been trained and formed as priests and bishops to bow to, oh,
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the scientific world knows that, or medicine can answer those questions.
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We have to represent the truth that God has revealed to us.
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And we need, you do that always with love and compassion.
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But I think we need to be stronger instead of saying, oh, well, the doctor knows best.
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And I mean, they're wonderful doctors, but they're also, medicine is a huge business.
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And the medical costs are a factor that is always out there.
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We need to bring that ethical, moral voice much more powerfully, much more robustly than
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I mean, and back years ago, the Terry Schiavo case, the church wasn't strong in saying, don't
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I mean, the courts got involved in all of that.
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I mean, we tend to shy away when, well, the courts have to decide, or doctors have to
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We need to always, certainly, there's expertise there that we need to pay attention to.
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I don't claim to be a legal expert or a medical expert, but we need to be the experts of God's
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And we need to be a strong voice in the marketplace, on the public square.
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I mean, I think it's part of a whole trend that, you know, we're both aware of, not just
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religiously, but I mean, we would both agree that our Catholic faith touches every aspect
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of our lives, how we spend our money, how we treat our bodies, how we live in the culture,
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Even as bishops and priests, we tend to respond to what society tells us.
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Okay, go to a church if you want, but don't let it be on those walls.
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And even in the case of Margo, I mean, there have been voices saying, you know, how dare
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Well, I don't claim to know all the details, but if somebody, if I'm told somebody's not
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going to get food and water anymore, I have the moral obligation to speak up and say, at
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least, you know, I don't think there can be a good explanation.
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If they're dead, yeah, you don't give them food and water.
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But if they're a living person, you continue, you don't withdraw the food and water until
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naturally, maybe they quit drinking, they quit eating.
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And I think that, going back to your question, I think we just need to be a stronger moral voice
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as individual bishops, and primarily, that's where it needs to happen.
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We rely too much on the conferences to answer these questions, where, where does it happen?
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It happens locally, and we need to speak better to where is God's voice.
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It's not our opinion, but it's where's the truth that God has revealed to us.
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What does that offer us to help us understand and to navigate these difficult and challenging
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There's another aspect to this that's very disturbing, because what they're talking about
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The example that you gave of Bobby Schindler talking about his sister, he had to go in
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and they were under guard not to even put like ice cubes on her lips so that, because her
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lips were cracking and she was dying of starvation.
00:32:06.400
You could tell she looked like someone at Auschwitz.
00:32:09.540
I mean, it was insanely horrible for him, and he can't even speak about it now without
00:32:14.860
crying, without going through that trauma, because he had to watch as this forced starvation
00:32:20.700
was happening to his own sister, where he and his family, his parents were begging and
00:32:27.100
pleading to be able to give some sustenance to their child and refused.
00:32:36.320
Like, and this is what's so weird about this situation.
00:32:41.060
Even if you totally throw out church teaching, you throw out everything, and you just were
00:32:47.700
like, just a humanistic person and said, okay, I want to end this person's life.
00:32:56.360
What are you doing with this, starving them to death?
00:33:01.380
Like, hello, if you're going to be honest about it, you want to take her out, take her
00:33:05.020
Like, this, starving them to death, that's the most insane thing.
00:33:13.260
In Canada, it was revealed recently, it was on Jordan Peterson's show, the way they administer
00:33:17.680
euthanasia, and the line from those who are for euthanasia, oh, they die so peacefully,
00:33:27.540
So, in other words, their whole body can't react to anything.
00:33:31.300
And then they give them drugs that basically end up drowning them on the inside.
00:33:42.200
There's not even the courage of their convictions.
00:33:44.640
There is somehow this torture them to death by starving them.
00:33:59.600
And also, what occurs to me as you're talking, if what you just described, if it was found
00:34:07.920
out, I mean, and sadly, we see this, which is tragic, because life, even in the animal
00:34:13.840
world, needs to be held as a gift from God and something to be respected.
00:34:20.240
But if it was found out that you had a horse in your pasture, that you're not feeding and
00:34:27.900
wandering, that you're starving to death, that person would be taken, you know, taken into
00:34:43.500
I mean, and I think those laws should be in place.
00:34:46.200
Cruelty to animals is a desecration as well of God's creation and of God being the author
00:34:54.580
Well, when it comes to human beings, it's, of course, on a whole different level.
00:34:59.360
But like you said, I mean, it wouldn't that, I mean, you know, just logically, sometimes
00:35:07.320
But like you said, if, if it's determined this person needs to die, well, shoot them in
00:35:20.880
We live in bizarre times where so many things are twisted and backward.
00:35:25.340
But, you know, the, the arguments against the death penalty and how to do that, you
00:35:31.760
know, humanely, I mean, what Terry Schievel went through was not humane.
00:35:38.800
And it was something that if someone can, you know, I mean, again, moving away from just
00:35:44.700
the animal kingdom, just to someone on death row.
00:35:48.080
If, if somebody said, we're just going to withdraw food and water from this prisoner.
00:35:57.660
And sadly, like, and I want to underscore again, this is happening in quiet ways in homes and
00:36:05.320
Like you said, this family, at least they're trying and they, you know, they have the
00:36:12.040
They haven't been well-informed, but there are many families that aren't struggling at
00:36:16.360
They just decide we're going to do this and doctors cooperate with it.
00:36:20.700
And they may not have any religious affiliation at all.
00:36:25.040
And certainly in nursing homes and in hospice, like I said, through, through medicine, you
00:36:33.700
I mean, it's chemical interventions are used to just end people's lives prematurely.
00:36:40.340
And that's what we, we, we have an obligation to speak up against because, uh, it's just part
00:36:52.600
If we think about this same situation that's playing out publicly right now, going on over
00:36:59.400
and over and over every single day, many, many, many times a day, people are literally
00:37:05.500
starving to death, like in concentration camps, which is what we've been doing, not since
00:37:15.320
But in addition to that, to me, one of the saddest points is you have much of, if not the majority
00:37:22.580
of medical community, encouraging this and saying, like they did to the family, by the
00:37:35.320
And they mix that in with the advice from the church or lack of advice from the church.
00:37:40.120
So then they think to themselves, oh, and we're letting her go to heaven.
00:37:44.800
It becomes a, such an utter confusion and manipulation.
00:37:49.960
It really is, I am at a loss for words to say what the, it's just horrible.
00:37:55.240
We, we just have to continue to speak out and do everything.
00:37:58.640
And of course, pray, pray for this family, pray for Margo and pray for all of those in
00:38:04.020
similar situations, like you said, in countless places around the world, really.
00:38:09.880
And I think I'd like to end on, on one more time, addressing the issue of the purpose that
00:38:16.100
God might have for people who are severely disabled, like Margo's case.
00:38:27.400
People are, their parents or caregivers have to take care of them sometimes so much so that
00:38:40.280
Well, I think you touch on something that we do absolutely need to pay attention to, because
00:38:45.980
God's not only the author of life, but he's the, the divine caretaker of life.
00:38:51.480
I mean, every life, and we need, this is what we forget so easily because we got, what, eight
00:38:59.080
And it's like one person, what's, what, what's one person for God.
00:39:03.920
And I think this is what we really need to embrace for ourselves, for you and me as men
00:39:09.400
living in this world, our families, for everyone.
00:39:13.580
We are wondrously precious to God, and he has a divine will for each and every one of us.
00:39:31.580
I mean, certainly to not be the vibrant young woman that she was before this accident is
00:39:37.500
suffering, but that's part, that's one thread that I think we've totally discount in the
00:39:49.640
I mean, suffering souls are something for, in our Catholic faith, that are, are a precious
00:39:57.800
element of the mystery of God interacting with us.
00:40:06.820
But when we don't have the answers, what if God's plan is that Margo simply living, even
00:40:14.560
with the suffering that is involved in her family, that God is blessing others with that
00:40:22.500
sacrifice, that loving sacrifice, that is, you know, threatened to be short-circuited.
00:40:29.720
So I think that there are just innumerable ways, because it's a life, a human being, one person.
00:40:38.980
I mean, even historically, we can acknowledge that one person can change the world.
00:40:45.960
Certainly Jesus Christ, who is God and man, but many simply humans, have changed the world.
00:40:54.340
And we have to have, we have to look with eyes of faith at every person, and not just in the
00:41:01.560
I mean, one of the phrases that gets most dangerous is quality of life.
00:41:07.180
How dare we be the judge and arbiters of the quality of another person's life?
00:41:14.440
I mean, many people suffer in silence, all kinds of things, but they can be sanctified
00:41:22.680
souls at the end of their life, if they do so in a spirit of faith.
00:41:28.320
When we start to short-circuit that, and that's where it gets dangerous.
00:41:33.180
I mean, beyond Margo's situation, the more we give in to the idea of, well, if the quality
00:41:40.600
of life doesn't meet some arbitrary standard that we've set, then they can be disposed of,
00:41:53.820
And frankly, we're already there with people in the world saying, oh, we need to eliminate,
00:42:00.460
we need to downsize the population to about 500,000, because that's what the planet in their
00:42:07.420
mind will really sustain. So that means the quality of life of the vast, you know, the other
00:42:14.000
billions, in that person's judgment, their quality of life doesn't meet the standard.
00:42:21.040
That is a very dangerous path. And we're really on it as humanity right now. Thankfully,
00:42:27.880
it's not an overwhelming voice, but people that have money and power, and sometimes an extreme
00:42:35.300
money, wealthy people and powerful people are saying, we're doing, you know, they may well
00:42:45.140
deem that my quality of life and your quality of life doesn't meet their standards. Because once it
00:42:51.140
becomes an arbitrary human standard, that is, it's diabolical, and it's dangerous for the human
00:42:59.260
community. So, I mean, beyond, certainly the most important thing is to see the quality of one life,
00:43:07.640
the value of one life in Margo Navarro, Naranjo. But, you know, beyond that, if her life has no,
00:43:18.100
no value, that really no life has any value. And as many have said, when the life of an unborn child
00:43:26.700
has no value, then someone like Margo ends up where she's threatened, and too many others.
00:43:33.780
As you're speaking there, it reminded me of Bishop Fulton J. Sheen, who talked about when it came to
00:43:39.860
power, the power of offering, or the power of prayer, the power of being able to influence the world.
00:43:46.980
He ascribed the greatest power to those who were the sick and the suffering in the hospital beds,
00:43:54.440
confined to their beds and unable to do anything else because they could offer their sufferings,
00:44:00.060
their sickness, in union with the only sacrifice of the mass. That was, for him, the power centers.
00:44:05.980
And, you know, we've sort of lost touch with that. And it's a big, big deal as well for those who are
00:44:13.060
the caregivers. They are not confined, but it's a suffering. It's a real hardship. It's not a,
00:44:20.820
it's a life given in a way like a, very much like a religious who gives himself to one service over and
00:44:29.760
over again. And perhaps some people could say from some perspectives, you know, it's outside of the,
00:44:35.960
it's, it's the quality of life is so lacking because you're only doing this thing. You're,
00:44:40.800
you're doing a beautiful service. You're offering something that's probably the most powerful thing.
00:44:46.100
There's beauty there that's beyond what we can see because this life is not about, you know,
00:44:51.000
making your impact by, by building skyscrapers or whatever you think you're supposed to do,
00:44:55.860
but about serving God in, you know, knowing, loving, and serving God in whatever way he calls you to do.
00:45:00.960
So yes, absolutely. Any final thoughts for us? And I'd love for you to give us a final blessing and
00:45:06.380
perhaps another short prayer for the Nerano family, especially for Margo. Sure. In the name of the
00:45:13.280
Father and the Son of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Almighty God, we ask your blessing for all of us in the
00:45:20.780
human family. Help us to remember we are precious in your sight and help us to treat each other in that
00:45:27.480
way, to recognize that as long as we have life, you are with us and willing us to live this journey
00:45:35.780
of human life in this world. We ask your blessing in a special way for Margo and all the Margos out
00:45:42.540
there, the Naranjo family and, and all of the other families that are carrying these burdens heroically
00:45:49.940
so often. May they be guided to know your truth and to be uplifted and set free by the truth that
00:45:57.580
you have shared with us through your Son. May all the saints intercede for us and for Margo and her
00:46:03.580
family, and especially the Queen of Saints, the Immaculate Virgin Mary. And we ask this in the name
00:46:09.360
of the Father, the Son of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Thank you so much, Bishop Strickland. God bless you.
00:46:14.460
Thank you. Thank you. You too. And God bless all of you. And we'll see you next time.