Day 187: The Church’s Sacrificial Unity (1369-1372)

• It’s Day 187!!

• The Church is not just the visible Church that we see here on Earth

• There are also all the Saints in glory in Heaven and the faithful departed in Purgatory

• They are ALL part of this great sacrifice

• The saints in Heaven continually cry out in praise to the Lord 

• They continually lift up and join in the praise and glory of God the Father

• The saints in Purgatory also receive the graces of this great sacrifice of Jesus Christ, the Son of God to the Father in the Power of the Holy Spirit

• So let’s pray!!

Prayer by Fr. Mike: “Father in Heaven, we give you praise and glory and thank you. We thank you for your universal Church. We thank you for the Church that is visible, that we have a structure, that we are united with our bishop. We thank you that we are united with the Holy Father, our Pope, that you gave to us. Lord God, thank you for giving us this visible structure of the Church that we can point to, that we can look to, that we can hear from it, that we can be led and taught by. We also thank you God for the invisible Church, your invisible Body, that we cannot see, but we do know is even more real than anything we can see. All the saints and angels in heaven that continually give you praise, we thank you and unite our prayers with their prayers. We thank you for all the souls in Purgatory who by your great love are being purified at this very moment so that they can see you face to face for eternity. Lord God, may you be glorified, please care for those-purify those souls in Purgatory. Help them become-to have hearts like yours so that they can see your face and experience your glory. Help us the same way, Lord God. Help us in that same way that purify our hearts, mend our broken hearts, strengthen us so that we can race towards you with your grace, with your help, with your love as our fuel. We make this prayer in the mighty name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen”

• So there we have it!!

• The whole Church is united with the offering and intercession of Christ

• Not just the invisible Church

• The visible Church as well

• We have the Pope and the bishop and they are mentioned at every single Mass

• Why?

• We realize that it’s not just one person’s local parish or local diocese that is the Church

• It is the UNIVERSAL CATHOLIC CHURCH that is represented and is participating in and is being offered to the Father in the Power of the Holy Spirit in Christ as the Body of Christ

• Unity with our bishop is so critical

• The unity with the Pope is so critical that it goes all the way back to the year 107

• St. Ignatius of Antioch was a student of Polycarp, who was a student of John, the beloved disciple

• So there is this LIVING FAITH

• There is this LIVING TRADITION

• St. Ignatius of Antioch says in Paragraph 1369, “Let only that the Eucharist be regarded as legitimate, which is celebrated under [the presidency of] the bishop or him to whom he has entrusted it.”

• There are people who read John Ch 6

• Jesus said, “My flesh is true food, my blood is true drink.”

• We believe that HOLY COMMUNION REALLY IS JESUS

• Jesus said at the Last Supper, “Take this, all of you, and eat of it. This is my Body.  Take this drink of it. This is the New Covenant in my Blood.”

• WE BELIEVE THAT!!

• BUT…

• If a person does not have the ministerial priesthood united with the apostolic succession then it is NOT LEGITIMATE EUCHARIST

• There is a relatively well known Christian who has been convicted in a really powerful way 

• So let’s listen to Fr. Mike tell the story…

• There’s an issue here…

• A person who doesn’t have any sense of the sacraments has no sense of what apostolic Tradition and apostolic succession is all about

• So there is this sense that since Jesus did it, I CAN DO IT

• I could get some unleavened bread and wine and say this is my body and this is my blood and it really is

• THAT IS FALSE!!

• From the very beginning, the power and capacity to confect to the Eucharist, to offer the sacrifice so that the bread and wine are transformed into the Body and Blood of Christ has ALWAYS been done by those VALIDLY ORDAINED IN APOSTOLIC SUCCESSION 

• This is not a medieval invention

• It is beautiful that someone is realizing the truth about the Eucharist

• BUT…

• There is this really critical piece

• The Eucharist HAS TO BE UNITED WITH THE BISHOP AND THE UNIVERSAL CHURCH

• The Eucharist HAS TO BE CONNECTED TO APOSTOLIC SUCCESSION

• This goes all the way back to 107 AD

• THIS IS A PRETTY CRITICAL THING FOR US!!

• Paragraph 1370 says, “To the offering of Christ are united not only the members still here on earth, but also those already in the glory of heaven. In communion with and commemorating the Blessed Virgin Mary and all the saints, the Church offers the Eucharistic sacrifice. In the Eucharist the CHurch is as it were at the foot of the cross with Mary, united with the offering and intercession of Christ.”

• THIS IS SO BEAUTIFUL!!

• That is where we are at every Mass

• We are at the foot of the Cross with Mary

• Paragraph 1371 says, “The Eucharistic sacrifice is also offered for the faithful departed who ‘have died in Christ but are not yet wholly purified,’ so that they may be able to enter into the light and peace of Christ.”

• We talked about Purgatory before

• There are the faithful departed that have a relationship with God and no mortal sin that has broken or corrupted that relationship

• BUT…

• They need to be perfected

• They are not yet wholly purified

• So we offer the Mass for them

• The Mass actually is efficacious 

• IT DOES SOMETHING!!

• What are the two things that the Mass does every time?

• Gives God the Father glory and saves the world

• Who belongs to the Church, the Body of Christ?

• Not only the souls on earth and in heaven but also the holy souls in Purgatory

• From the very beginning, the Church has recognized that we offer the sacrifice of the Mass for those who have died

• St. Cyril of Jerusalem says in Paragraph 1371

• St. Augustine says it in his book “Confessions”

• Let’s listen to Fr. Mike tell the story

• “I simply ask you to remember me at the Lord’s altar wherever you are.”

• From the very beginning, it was common in the Church to say that we are offering the Eucharistic sacrifice for all the holy souls in Purgatory because we have always believed in Purgatory

• What did the early Church believe?

• They believed in Heaven, Hell, life on earth, and Purgatory

• THey believed that our prayers actually assist those people in that process of purification in purgatory

• It’s not just a common belief of Christians, it is a common practice

• You may have loved ones who have died and felt so helpless

• You may have thought there’s nothing more you can do for them

• That’s not true

• YOU CAN PRAY FOR THEM!!

• You can offer Rosaries or the Chaplet of Divine Mercy

• You can pray in any way you want

• You can also have the Mass offered for them

• This is a powerful thing to do

• One of the ways we can express our love for someone and our faith in Jesus Christ who has conquered death

• Too often we have funerals and we look at them as if they are merely a celebration of life

• That’s fine

• They can be a way to say goodbye

• That’s wonderful and beautiful

• Sometimes it is necessary for us

• BUT…

• At the heart, funerals are PRAYERS FOR THOSE WHO HAVE DIED

• How common do you think it is for someone to die and go straight to heaven?

• Jesus said, “The road is wide that leads to hell and it is narrow that leads to heaven.”

• If someone dies in God’s grace, that is amazing

• WHAT A GIFT!!

• INCREDIBLE!!

• BUT…

• The assumption that they don’t need our prayers because they’re in heaven right now is a bit premature

• In all of our hearts at this moment there are things that we love more than we love God

• They don’t have to be bad things

• But there are things in our heart that we are attached to more than we are attached to God

• BUT…

• Our hearts have to be purified by small loves so that the great love, the great commandment to love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength

• How many of us do that right now?

• Very very few of us, if any

• AND YET…

• THAT IS WHAT WE NEED TO HAVE!!

• We need to have hearts that life the Lord our God with ALL OUR HEART, MIND, SOUL, AND STRENGTH

• If we don’t, then Purgatory is this incredible gift of the Lord’s mercy that purifies our hearts so we can love God with ALL OUR HEART, MIND, SOUL, AND STRENGTH

• The Mass assists in this and is efficacious

• So PLEASE continue to pray for those souls who have died

• DO NOT JUST PLACE THEM IN HEAVEN BECAUSE IT MIGHT NOT BE TRUE AND IT WON’T HELP THEM!!

• BUT…

• You CAN help those you love by OFFERING UP PRAYERS FOR THEM and by having the holy sacrifice of the Mass being OFFERED FOR THEM as well

• So today we pray for all the holy souls in Purgatory, those of our loved ones, our friends, our family, and those who have no one to pray for them

• Fr. Mike is praying FOR YOU!!

• Please pray for Fr. Mike and for each other!!

• I cannot WAIT to see you tomorrow!!