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It’s Day 109!!
THE CHURCH-MYSTERY OF MAN’S UNION WITH GOD
AND
THE UNIVERSAL SACRAMENT OF SALVATION
THEY ARE INCREDIBLE!!
THEY ARE ESSENTIAL!!
The Church is part of God’s plan
It is not accidental
It is not man-made
It comes from the heart of the Father
IN FACT…
Jesus Christ ESTABLISHED the Church
The Holy Spirit INSPIRES the Church
BUT…
To what end?
Paragraph 776 says, “As sacrament, the Church is Christ’s instrument.”
So what does that mean?
What is Christ’s mission?
Not only to forgive our sins
To save us
To reconcile us to the Father
To give God’s plan of divine life
To come into contact with Him
To bring us into communion with God
THIS is Christ’s instrument to do that
Paragraph 776 continues “‘She is taken up by him also as the instrument for the salvation of all,’ ‘the universal sacrament of salvation,’ by which Christ is ‘at once manifesting and actualizing the mystery of God’s love for men.’ The Church ‘is the visible plan of God’s love for humanity.’”
Our experience of the Church on earth isn’t always that
AND YET…
That’s the reason the Church exists
To accomplish Christ’s plan of salvation
To bring the love of God to the entire world
That’s one of the reasons the Church is described as THE UNIVERSAL SACRAMENT OF SALVATION
Do you remember what a SACRAMENT is?
It is a VISIBLE SIGN that conveys INVISIBLE GRACE
The Church itself is a VISIBLE SIGN
What does it do?
It brings the very Grace of Jesus Christ to this world
Every sacrament communicates the very life of God
A sacrament is a sacred sign that is instituted by Christ that gives grace
We just described THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
Jesus Christ instituted the Church
What is the Church’s role?
What is the whole point of the Church?
It is to bring that very grace that comes from God to the ENTIRE WORLD
Paragraph 775 says, “The Church’s first purpose is to be the sacrament of the inner union of men with God.”
THAT IS SO SO IMPORTANT!!
So let’s say a prayer!!
Prayer by Fr. Mike: “Father in Heaven, we give you praise and we thank you. We thank you for establishing your Church. We thank you for all that you have done in revealing yourself to Abraham so many years ago, to revealing yourself to the People of God through the voices of the Prophets, finally revealing yourself to us fully in your Son. We thank you. We praise you. We thank you that your Son poured out His Holy Spirit on the Apostles at Pentecost, at the birthday of the Church. We thank you that your work in this world, which is the Church, has reached our hearts right now. We give you praise and thanks. Please receive our thanks. Receive our praise. And keep us firmly rooted in your heart and rooted in your Church. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen”
So there we are!!
Let’s start with Paragraphs 772 and 773
THE CHURCH-MYSTERY OF MAN’S UNION WITH GOD
This doesn’t just come from the Church talking about itself and thinking it’s amazing
It actually comes from Scripture
Paragraph 773 says, “St. Paul calls the nuptial union of Christ and the Church ‘a great mystery.’ Because she is united to Christ as to her bridegroom…”
If we don’t love the Church then we don’t love with the heart of Jesus
What did Jesus do?
He loved her and gave Himself up for her, cleansing her by His very sacrifice
Jesus is the BRIDEGROOM
The Church is the BRIDE
We sometimes say that we love the bridegroom, but we don’t really love the bride
In that case, we are falling short
We are called to not only acknowledge the reality, goodness, and holiness of the Church
We are called to love and live with the heart of Jesus
We have to love what HE loves
HE LOVES HIS BRIDE THE CHURCH!!
Paragraph 773 says, “In the Church this communion of men with God, in the ‘love that never ends,’ is the purpose which governs everything in her.”
The Church is not a members only club
The Church is BRIDE to the BRIDEGROOM
Paragraph 773 continues, “The Church’s structure is totally ordered to the holiness of Christ’s members. And holiness is measured according to the ‘great mystery’ in which the Bride responds with the gift of love to the gift of the Bridegroom.”
The whole reason the Church exists is totally ordered to the holiness of Christians
The only reason the Church exists is so that God’s love can get to us AND so that we can respond to God’s love with love
This is so important to understand
We might get caught up on the structure and hierarchy of the Church
BUT…
At the heart of EVERYTHING is the love that God has for us
When we respond to Him in love, that is HOLINESS
Paragraph 773 continues, “Mary goes before us all in the holiness that is the Church’s mystery as ‘the bride without spot or wrinkle.’ This is why the ‘Marian’ dimension of the Church precedes the ‘Petrine.’”
Mary precedes Peter
To be able to receive God’s love and give it back to Him is vastly more important than the PAPAL dimension of the Church
Mary is more important than Peter because Mary most clearly exhibits and demonstrates what it is to receive God’s love and respond with love
Peter is necessary
THAT IS SO IMPORTANT!!
THE UNIVERSAL SACRAMENT OF SALVATION
Paragraph 774 says, “‘For there is no other mystery of God, except Christ.’ The saving work of his holy and sanctifying humanity is the sacrament of salvation, which is revealed and active in the Church’s sacraments…”
Everytime we come into contact with the sacraments, we are coming into contact with His mission
We are coming into contact with the reality of His salvation He has given to us
IN FACT…
The sacraments are what communicate salvation to us
THAT IS SO RADICALLY IMPORTANT!!
Paragraph 774 continues, “The seven sacraments are the signs and instruments by which the Holy Spirit spreads the grace of Christ the head throughout the Church which is his Body.”
We don’t just show up for the sacraments because that is what we are supposed to do
They are a symbol of us responding to God’s love
THIS IS RADICALLY IMPORTANT!!
Paragraph 776 says, “As sacrament, the Church is Christ’s instrument. ‘She is taken up by Jesus also as the instrument for the salvation of all,’ ‘the universal sacrament of salvation,’ by which Christ is ‘at once manifesting and actualizing the mystery of God’s love for men.’”
We only see what we can see
We only see what is right in front of us
Brokenness
Humanity
The visible Church
Because of that we miss out on seeing how God has communicated His love to the world
Paragraph 776 continues, “The Church ‘is the visible plan of God’s love for humanity,’ because God desires ‘that the whole human race may become one People of God, form one Body of Christ, and be built up into one temple of the Holy Spirit.’”
THAT IS SO IMPORTANT!!
If we are going to love like Jesus, we have to love what He loves
He LOVES His Church
He LAID DOWN HIS LIFE for His Church
This is not a recent truth
This is an ANCIENT TRUTH
Remember what happened at the Tower of Babel?
There was division and all humanity got scattered, divided by different languages
Remember what happened at Pentecost?
The Holy Spirit brought all these people who had been divided by language, ethnicity, region, and nation, INTO ONE
That is what the Church is meant to be
It is meant to bring EVERY person, EVERY race, etc. INTO ONE BODY
That is THE UNIVERSAL SACRAMENT OF SALVATION
God wants EVERY PERSON to know Him fully
To be in relationship not only with Him
BUT ALSO WITH EACH OTHER
That is why we need to pray for each other
Everytime we pray for each other we are living in the reality of THE UNIVERSAL SACRAMENT OF SALVATION
THE ONE BODY OF CHRIST!!
Tomorrow we will talk about some things that Fr. Mike is listing now
Fr. Mike is praying FOR YOU!!
Please pray for Fr. Mike and for each other!!
I cannot WAIT to see you tomorrow!!
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