Day 114: The Church Is One (811-816)

• It’s Day 114!!

• We will talk about the FOUR MARKS of the Church (Marky, Bis-, Water-, and of course Birth- 🤣 🤣)

• ONE

• HOLY

• CATHOLIC

• APOSTOLIC

• What does this mean?

• They make the Church the Church

• They reveal that the Church TRULY IS what She claims to be

• We will hear traces of all four marks today

• The focus is THE CHURCH IS ONE

• The Church is ONE because of the SOURCE of the Church

• Paragraph 813 says, “The Church is one because of her source…”

• So what is the SOURCE?

• THE HOLY TRINITY

• THE UNITY OF ONE GOD

• Paragraph 813 continues, “The Church is one because of her founder…”

• Jesus Christ, the Word made Flesh, ESTABLISHED THE CHURCH

• Paragraph 813 continues, “The Church is one because of her ‘soul’...”

• The SOUL of the Church is the HOLY SPIRIT

• UNITY IS OF ESSENCE TO THE CHURCH

• Source-Holy Trinity

• Founder-Jesus Christ

• Soul-The Holy Spirit

• There is diversity in the Church so there can be UNITY AND ONENESS even in the midst of diversity

• One Spirit, many many GIFTS

• There are things that threaten unity

• It’s not diversity

• IT IS SIN

• Paragraph 814 says, “Yet sin and the burden of its consequences constantly threaten the gift of unity. And so the Apostle has to exhort Christians to ‘maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.’”

• What are some of those bonds of unity that enable the Church to stay together

• The three of them named today are the profession of ONE FAITH aka the Nicene Creed

• Secondly the common celebration of divine worship, especially the sacraments

• Thirdly is the Apostolic Succession through the Sacrament of Holy Orders

• The Pope, bishops, and priests

• AT THE SAME TIME…

• UNITY ONLY COMES FROM GOD!!

• GOD IS THE SOURCE OF THE CHURCH

• GOD IS THE SOURCE OF THE GRACES IN THE CHURCH

• GOD IS THE SOURCE OF THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH

• So let’s pray!!

Prayer by Fr. Mike: “Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, One God, we thank you. We thank you and we praise your name this morning, this afternoon, this evening, whenever we are listening to this, Lord God. We praise you now. And we ask that you please continue to maintain that gift of unity. Please, Lord God, we ask you to please continue to establish your Church in oneness. Lord God, we know that divisions are painful. We know that divisions devastate. And we know the devastation of being divided. We know the devastation of fracture when the Church fractures or when individuals, members of the Body of Christ, brothers and sisters, when we turn away. And we ask you to please conquer the sin that divides us. And conquer the sin in each of us that causes division. Knit us back together in our own hearts. Knit us back together with each other as brothers and sisters and knit us back to you, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit so that we can be one Body and one Church. In your name we pray. Amen”

• So there we have it!!

• THE CHURCH IS ONE

• IN FACT…

• The Church HAS to have these MARKS OF THE CHURCH

• ONE

• HOLY

• CATHOLIC

• APOSTOLIC

• There is something pretty bold about what the VATICAN COUNCIL I noted in Paragraph 812

• It is BOLD because it is TRUE

• Fr. Mike has made it a point to mention that the Church is DIVINE

• And the Church is HUMAN

• In that humanness we are pretty broken 

• AT THE SAME TIME…

• Fr. Mike has neglected the reality that VATICAN COUNCIL I notes

• There is a GLORIOUS REALITY of the Church in this world

• There is a VERY VERY HOLY REALITY of the Church in this world

• Vatican Council I says in Paragraph 812, “The ‘Church herself, with her marvelous propagation, eminent holiness, and inexhaustible fruitfulness in everything good, her catholic unity and invincible stability, is a great and perpetual motive of credibility and an irrefutable witness of her divine mission.’”

• Think about Her marvelous propagation…

• The Church is EVERYWHERE throughout the world

• THAT IS AMAZING!!

• It’s one thing that we inherit the Church

• It’s another thing to realize THIS DID NOT HAVE TO HAPPEN

• Coming from 12 fishermen, tax collectors, etc. to be a WORLDWIDE ORGANIZATION that is UNSTOPPABLE and is HER EMINENT HOLINESS (I think that’s what Fr. Mike is saying… 🤔)

• Yes, there are broken people in the Church like you and me

• BUT…

• There is also this MASSIVE HISTORY of all the SAINTS

• It is easy to overlook this

• For 2,000 years there has been a REMARKABLE stream of Saints who have been raised up by Jesus Christ THROUGH HIS CATHOLIC CHURCH!!

• We forget about that sometimes

• We can be proud of the fact that God has worked through history in His Church

• Yes, there is brokenness in that history

• BUT…

• We MUST recognize what VATICAN COUNCIL I says, “...her catholic unity and invincible stability, is a great and perpetual motive of credibility and an irrefutable witness of her divine mission.’”

• One of the signs of the fact that the Church has been established and sustained by God is the fact that the Church is made up of so many sinners

• AND YET…

• People, governments, and organizations THROUGHOUT HISTORY have tried to take down the Catholic Church and destroy Her

• THEY HAVE NOT BEEN ABLE TO!!!

• WE have not even been able to destroy the Catholic Church as sinners in the Church

• This points to the credibility and is an irrefutable witness of the Church’s divine mission

• This does not come from ourselves

• It can sound self-aggrandizing

• It’s not that we are part of the winning team

• IN FACT…

• Paragraph 813 says, “The Church is one because of her source…”

• The THREE SOURCES of the Church’s UNITY

• THE HOLY TRINITY

• JESUS CHRIST IS THE FOUNDER OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

• THE HOLY SPIRIT IS THE SOUL OF THE CHURCH

• For us to maintain that the Catholic Church has these FOUR MARKS to it

• ONE

• HOLY

• CATHOLIC

• APOSTOLIC

• This is not meant to be puffing our chest out and being arrogant about this

• It simply highlights that we have received this FROM THE LORD GOD HIMSELF

• We have been brought into the Catholic Church BY THE LORD GOD HIMSELF

• THE TRINITY (THE SOURCE)

• THE SECOND PERSON OF THE TRINITY (THE FOUNDER)

• THE THIRD PERSON OF THE TRINITY  (THE SOUL)

• Paragraph 814 says, “From the beginning, this one Church has been marked by a great diversity which comes from both the variety of God’s gifts and the diversity of those who receive them. Within the unity of the People of God, a multiplicity of peoples and cultures is gathered together. Among the Church’s members, there are different gifts, offices, conditions, and ways of life.”

• This is a RICHNESS of the Church’s DIVERSITY

• WHICH IS REMARKABLE!!

• IN FACT…

• Lumen Gentium says in Paragraph 814, “‘Holding a rightful place in the communion of the Church there are also particular Churches that retain their own traditions.’”

• What does that mean?

• The Latin Church or the Latin Rite, which most of us are familiar with, is present throughout most of Europe, the Americas etc.

• BUT…

• There are also EASTERN RITE Catholic Churches, ETHIOPIAN RITE Catholic Churches, MARONITE RITE Catholic Churches, etc.

• There is a DIVERSITY even in the midst of the way the Mass is celebrated according to these different rites that are still IN UNION with the Church

• Now, there are some rites that broke off and are not in union with the Church

• BUT…

• Within the Church there are still particular churches that retain their own traditions

• They DO NOT THREATEN the Church’s unity

• Diversity DOES NOT THREATEN the Church’s unity

• What does threaten the Church’s unity?

• SIN DOES!!

• Sin is the ONLY THING that threatens the Church’s unity

• So we have to hold onto not only the IDEA of unity

• We have to hold onto the VISIBLE BONDS OF UNITY

• We have to be able to test this

• We can’t just say, “I don’t feel united with you, therefore we are united.”

• Someone can’t point to us and say, “You seem different and diverse, therefore you can’t be united.”

• They have to be VISIBLE BONDS OF UNITY that establish this peace

• Paragraph 814 continues, “And so the Apostle has to exhort Christians to ‘maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.’”

• Let’s highlight them again

• Paragraph 815 says, “What are these bonds of unity? Above all, charity ‘binds everything together in perfect harmony.’ But the unity of the pilgrim Church is also assured by visible bonds of communion: -profession of one faith received from the Apostles; -common celebration of divine worship, especially the sacraments; -apostolic succession through the sacrament of Holy Orders, maintaining the fraternal concord of God’s family.”

• We do believe the SAME THINGS

• It’s one thing to say we are BAPTIZED Catholic Christians 

• BUT…

• Do we profess that ONE FAITH

• If we don’t…

• If we alter it…

• If we add to it or subtract something from it…

• If we distort it…

• Ok there’s DIVISION there

• Coming together, especially in the Eucharist, is a remarkable sign of UNITY

• Apostolic Succession is a visible sign of the Church’s UNITY

• IN FACT…

• The Catholic Church can go back and trace all the Popes ALL THE WAY BACK TO PETER

• EVERY ONE OF YOUR BISHOPS can be traced ALL THE WAY BACK TO THE APOSTLES

• They all come from that UNBROKEN LINE OF APOSTOLIC SUCCESSION

• THAT REALITY IS SO IMPORTANT FOR THE MAINTAINING OF UNITY!!

• Because THE CHURCH IS ONE

• That is one of the signs of God’s Presence

• UNITY!!

• One of the signs of the evil one’s presence is DIVISION

• We have to pray and work AGAINST DIVISION

• We have to pray and work FOR UNITY

• That’s why Fr. Mike always asks us to PRAY FOR EACH OTHER

• WE HAVE TO PRAY FOR EACH OTHER!!

• It’s not enough to be kind of united in our hearts or minds

• We need a REAL UNITY if we are really going to be a witness of God’s love to this world

• The Holy Trinity is TRULY UNITED

• So God’s Church has to be TRULY UNITED

• SO LET US PRAY FOR EACH OTHER!!

• LET US PRAY FOR FR. MIKE!!

• FR. MIKE IS PRAYING FOR YOU!!

• I cannot WAIT to see you tomorrow!!