Embedded Files
How Do We Trust in Church Authority?
Bishop Andrew Cozzens joins us today to PRE-INTRODUCE the SECOND PILLAR OF THE CATECHISM today!!
The SECOND PILLAR is THE SACRAMENTS!!
The THIRD PILLAR is LIFE IN CHRIST/THE MORAL LIFE!!
The FOURTH PILLAR is PRAYER!!
In this FIRST pre-episode (I could have sworn this is the SECOND pre-episode!! Didn’t Jeff Cavins join us like a couple weeks ago? Did I imagine that?? 🤔🤪), Bishop Cozzens will share with us a little bit about his background as a Bishop, his involvement in Catechism in a Year, and he will also offer us some GUIDANCE as we prepare to learn about the AUTHORITY AND THE MISSION OF THE CHURCH which are SO CRITICALLY IMPORTANT
ESPECIALLY as we launch into this whole year as we study the Catechism and what God has to say THROUGH HIS CHURCH TO US IN OUR DAY AND AGE
When Bishop Cozzens taught at the seminary (the one Fr. Mike attended) everyone who had his SACRAMENTS class, particularly the class on the Eucharist, they raved about his class
Too bad Fr. Mike missed those classes, eh?
Would you like to hear Bishop Cozzens’ story?
OF COURSE YOU WOULD!!
Bishop Cozzens grew up in a good Catholic family
He was blessed to have a family that shared the Faith with him
He wanted to be a priest from a very young age
He had his First Holy Communion in First Grade
His parish priest pulled him out of his first grade and chose to have him receive First Holy Communion EARLY so that he could serve Mass with him
He began to serve Holy Mass in first grade
Right from the beginning when he started serving Mass, he wanted to be a priest like Monsignor Barry who was a mentor for him
He also grew up in that time period in The Church where there wasn’t always great catechesis
Although he LOVED The Church and always believed in the REAL PRESENCE of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, we did not always have a GOOD UNDERSTANDING of the FULLNESS OF THE FAITH
THE RICHNESS OF THE FAITH
It wasn’t until he went to college when he met some people who were taking their Faith seriously
He met some NET (National Evangelization Teams) Missionaries
These were missionaries who traveled the country sharing their Catholic Faith
One of the members happened to be Bishop Cozzens’ sister, which is why he went on the retreat they were giving!!
When Bishop Cozzens met people who were ON FIRE WITH THEIR FAITH, he really had a desire to learn MORE about The Faith and STUDY IT MORE as a young adult
That’s also when his thoughts about priesthood became much more serious
It had always been a childhood dream, but it was in college when he really began to STUDY his Faith that he became MUCH MORE CONVINCED that God might be calling him to the priesthood
He had a couple of years after college where he served as a missionary with NET and with another ministry called St. Paul’s Outreach
After that, he decided it was time to go to Seminary
While he was in Seminary was when The Catechism of the Catholic Church came out
St. John Paul II was his HERO (Totally understandable why!! 😁)
He was the man that Bishop Cozzens wanted to be like
He was SO ALIVE
He was SO FULL OF ENERGY
When his Magisterium (teaching) produced The Catechism, it was SUCH A GREAT GIFT when it came out
They devoured the Catechism when they were seminarians (They had a lot of time on their hands)
To have the kind of FULLNESS and BREADTH of it and ALL THAT IT WAS
So Bishop Cozzens really loved The Catechism from the very beginning
Then as he grew in his own Faith journey, he began to realize the importance of things like The Catechism and study
He did a Doctorate in Sacred Theology with a focus on Sacraments
He then taught Sacraments in the Seminary where he had gone
He really TREASURED the opportunity to STUDY THE FAITH MORE DEEPLY
Bishop Cozzens has a Doctorate in Theology, BUT HE STILL USES THE CATECHISM when he wants to teach on certain topics
It is such a PRACTICAL and DEEP TOOL
It is still a very helpful thing
He taught at Seminary for about 8 years and was eventually made an Auxiliary Bishop in the Twin Cities (Minnesota for those who are wondering)
A Bishop is a TEACHER, it is one of the things that a Bishop is called to do
Teaching is something he LOVED TO DO in the Seminary and he found great fulfillment in it
It became part of his broader ministry that he was called to do ALL THE TIME
He found The Catechism to be a GREAT REFERENCE
Eventually, he was elected as a Bishop, to be The Chair of The Committee on Evangelization and Catechesis in the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB)
As the Chair of the Committee that oversees The Catechism; you know The Church OWNS The Catechism we would say; so part of the committee’s job is to OVERSEE The Catechism
For example, the committee ensures that when people write textbooks for religion that those religious textbooks are in ACCORD with The Catechism and actually TEACH what The Catechism says, to have some credibility
Bishop Cozzens heard about the idea for Catechism in a Year and thought it was a GREAT IDEA
For the average person to go through The Catechism day by day throughout the year is a GREAT IDEA
Another part of Bishop Cozzens’ work with the USCCB and the Committee on Evangelization and Catechesis is to lead a NATIONAL EUCHARISTIC REVIVAL!!
This is one of the most exciting and largest projects the US Bishops have taken on and a REAL WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
It is also exciting for Bishop Cozzens to talk about Part II: The Sacraments when the time comes
He studied and taught The Sacraments, especially the Eucharist course
He has really come to understand the IMPORTANCE OF THE EUCHARIST IN OUR LIVES AS CATHOLICS
He is so excited about The National Eucharistic Revival to see The Church Herself say, “We need to actually renew the heart of our Church through The Eucharist and through our faith in the Eucharist”
THIS IS INCREDIBLE!!
So Fr. Mike had just been confirmed in high school and The Catechism came out the next year
Fr. Mike already had a conversion toward the Lord by that point
It was such a big deal that The Catechism was published because in Section II: The Sacraments, it labels the FIVE EFFECTS OF CONFIRMATION
Fr. Mike remembers thinking, “I wish I would have known this before I had gotten Confirmed!”
Well, he knows it now and is is very grateful for that
So for someone who has a DOCTORATE, he uses The Catechism
So for someone who is a BISHOP, he uses The Catechism
Think about ALL OF THE PEOPLE who are going to be journeying with us, maybe with doctorates, maybe without them
Maybe some Bishops, maybe some non-Bishops
THIS IS FOR ALL THE FAITHFUL!!
Fr. Mike heard a story that someone had written to Pope Benedict (or maybe he got some flack from some German Bishops) who said, “Why would you use a Catechism? No one is going to buy it. No one is going to read it at all.”
Pope Benedict wrote an ancillary supplementary book to The Catechism that said, “Well, maybe no one is going to read it but it is on the BESTSELLER list in multiple languages!”
Bishop Cozzens has been reading The Catechism for a LONG TIME
He keeps it on his table where he prays every morning
He doesn’t read it every day
BUT…
He might read it every day when the podcast starts because he is excited to follow along (As are we all!! 😁)
It’s nice to have that ability to go through something a little bit every day and get the consistency down
When The Catechism came out, people were SURPRISED by the IMPACT it had
Bishop Cozzens was surprised by the BEAUTY of The Catechism
It is such a BEAUTIFULLY PUT TOGETHER DOCUMENT
Those very first paragraphs where it talks about the kind of God that we have, and how God loves us, and how He ALWAYS draws near to us, and this whole understanding that we have that EVERYTHING we have in The Church flows from ONE SOURCE
THE TRINITY!!
The whole pedagogy of The Catechism is a beautifully put together document
Bishop Cozzens STILL finds that when he reads it, IT REALLY HELPS HIS PRAYER!!
It’s an interesting thing because people think of DOGMA or TEACHING (The Greek word for “teaching” is DOGMA) as hard cold facts
NOTHING COULD BE FURTHER FROM THE TRUTH!!
IT IS BEAUTIFUL!!
ACTUALLY…
It is telling us about INFINITE TRUTH
It is telling us about INFINITE GOODNESS
It is telling us about INFINITE BEAUTY
Your prayer gets ENRICHED by Dogma
Your prayer NEEDS TO BE ENRICHED by Dogma
Dogma is actually putting you into DIRECT CONTACT WITH GOD
It helps you to EXPERIENCE AND KNOW GOD
You CAN’T LOVE what you DON’T KNOW!!
It is a document that can STRENGTHEN your relationship
NOT JUST YOUR INTELLECT, BUT YOUR HEART!!
One of the goals behind The Bible in a Year was to recapture a BIBLICAL WORLDVIEW
One of the opening lines is “...To see life through the lens of Scripture…”
That’s what we mean by the BIBLICAL WORLDVIEW
BUT…
As we are describing The Catechism, we realize that YOU CANNOT LOVE WHAT YOU DO NOT KNOW
Here is not just INFORMATION
BUT…
It is an INVITATION TO TRANSFORMATION
It’s not just DATA
It is GOD HIMSELF in FATHER, SON, and HOLY SPIRIT in THREE PERSONS revealing HIMSELF and revealing OURSELVES to us through not just the Sacred Scripture
BUT…
ALSO THROUGH SACRED TRADITION
One of the questions people have is, “What is the authority of Sacred Tradition?”
“What does Church Authority mean?”
We are going to say, “Ok here is what The Church teaches. Here is The Catechism.”
So what does that mean?
Where does it come from?
All the AUTHORITY in The Church comes from JESUS CHRIST!!
The Church gets Her authority from the PERSON OF JESUS CHRIST!!
The Church is THE BODY OF CHRIST!!
The Church is THE CONTINUATION OF THE PRESENCE OF CHRIST IN THE WORLD!!
ALL AUTHORITY OF THE CHURCH COMES FROM CHRIST!!
The TEACHING AUTHORITY of The Church is an attempt to be FAITHFUL TO CHRIST’S TEACHING and to HIS REVELATION
Cardinal John Henry Newman had a wonderful way of speaking about the NEED FOR INFALLIBILITY IN THE CHURCH
INFALLIBILITY is a big word
What does that mean?
Who actually thinks that ANYONE is infallible?
BUT…
We know that GOD IS INFALLIBLE
God is not capable of MAKING AN ERROR because HE IS GOD
THEREFORE…
Jesus, BECAUSE HE IS GOD, is INFALLIBLE
Jesus is INCAPABLE OF MAKING AN ERROR
Jesus gives us a TRUTH that is ESSENTIAL FOR SALVATION
IT IS ESSENTIAL TO KNOW THIS TRUTH IN ORDER TO GET TO HEAVEN!!
IT IS THE TRUTH OF HIS WORD!!
IT IS THE TRUTH OF HIS TEACHING!!
IT IS THE TRUTH OF HIS MORAL LIFE!!
ALL THOSE THINGS!!
God would not give us a TRUTH that we need to get to Heaven and NOT also give us a way to KEEP THAT TRUTH SAFE THROUGHOUT ALL OF TIME
So that’s why He gives us The Authority of The Church
It is The Church’s job to PROTECT this truth of REVELATION which is ESSENTIAL FOR SALVATION
Because we know it is capable of being corrupted when you look at the history of the world
Sometimes that teaching can get corrupted
We could lose the saving teaching if we didn’t have the INFALLIBILITY of The Church
The INFALLIBILITY of The Church is, of course, THE HOLY SPIRIT!!
THE HOLY SPIRIT IS GOD HIMSELF!!
God is LEADING The Church
God is GUIDING The Church
The Catechism is BEAUTIFUL about this because it explains that there are DIFFERENT LEVELS OF AUTHORITY
NOT EVERYTHING that a Pope or Bishop says is INFALLIBLE
THAT IS FOR SURE!!
Bishop Cozzens is wrong all the time 😉
BUT…
When it comes to REVELATION, which is what God has REVEALED which is NECESSARY FOR SALVATION, God GUARANTEES that that saving TRUTH will NOT be lost throughout all of time
God gives HIS OWN AUTHORITY to The Church
There is another aspect that is beautiful
Authority is not very well liked today
We are taught to QUESTION authority
“Well, by what authority do you have to teach?”
Authority is a GREAT GIFT because it ALLOWS US TO BE OBEDIENT
What was it that saved us?
It was Jesus’ OBEDIENCE, right?
St. Paul said, “By the OBEDIENCE of one Man, Salvation was won. By the DISOBEDIENCE of one man, Salvation was lost (Adam). By the OBEDIENCE of one Man, Salvation comes to us.”
The SAME THING has to come in the life of every Christian
I have to be OBEDIENT to the TRUTH of WHO GOD IS and His REVELATION
That OBEDIENCE is what unites me to Jesus’ OBEDIENCE which unites me to GOD HIMSELF
WOW!!
It’s not just a LEAP
It is a DIRECT CONNECTION
We need AUTHORITY in order to have OBEDIENCE because it is the LOVE OF GOD in Jesus Christ OBEYING His Father that brought about the SALVATION OF THE WORLD
It is then OUR SUBSEQUENT OBEDIENCE that allows us to participate in that SAVING ACTION and allow it to CHANGE OUR LIVES
We could not do that WITHOUT AUTHORITY!!
WOW!!
St. Paul calls it “The Obedience of Faith”
The Catechism makes this point in The Creed
The Creed PRE-DATES The Scriptures
In that sense, they are SUMMARIES of what was revealed in The Scriptures
The OBEDIENCE of Faith is to say, “I believe that what is REVEALED in this Creed is TRUE and that is what leads to SALVATION.”
It’s helpful to approach AUTHORITY that way rather than the “Prove it to me” mindset
I want to be SET FREE in OBEDIENCE
I want to know THE TRUTH rather than, “This needs to be PROVEN before I accept it”
So it is the openness of TEACH ME vs PROVE IT TO ME
The Scriptures themselves don’t often make an argument
They reveal God’s revelation of HIMSELF
He is not arguing for His EXISTENCE
He is not arguing for His GOODNESS
He is JUST REVEALING HIMSELF
Something similar to that is when people say, “Well does The Catechism offer a proof for X, Y, or Z?”
The Catechism just TEACHES
It gives a reason for the teaching a lot of times
But it is NOT trying to CONVINCE YOU
TEACH IT TO ME VS PROVE IT TO ME
You can go A LOT FURTHER in The Catechism when you say, “TEACH me rather than PROVE it to me.”
Jesus says, “It is the Truth which sets us free”
One of the gifts of The Catechism is that we are dealing with 1988 years of experience (because The Catechism of the Catholic Church was written in 1988 or so)
This is the gift of The Tradition of The Church
It is the WISDOM of the SAINTS
It is the WISDOM of ALL THE TEACHERS that went before us
It is the WISDOM of ALL THE ECUMENICAL COUNCILS
The Bishops of the world gathered together
They discussed
They debated
They decided things
It is this long stream that BEGINS WITH JESUS and as it goes, it actually GROWS with INCREDIBLE WISDOM still from the SAME SOURCE
It becomes MORE UNDERSTOOD
It becomes MORE ABLE TO BE RECEIVED
The Church Fathers talked about THE TREE
Jesus plants THE SEED
Then it GROWS
That TREE begins to to develop ALL THESE OTHER BRANCHES
These BRANCHES were already PRESENT IN THE SEED
BUT…
We can FULLY UNDERSTAND them now because of the beautiful teachings of St. Leo The Great in the 4th Century
OR…
St. Augustine
OR…
St. Thomas Aquinas
These are some of the most brilliant, wise persons in the HISTORY OF THE WORLD
They have ENRICHED and STRENGTHENED this whole Tradition that we now get to receive in The Catechism
It is all SUMMARIZED and ORDERED for us
We can receive tastes and parts of this whole Tradition along the way
One of the things that surprises people about The Catechism is how much it quotes THE SAINTS!!
And of course Scripture
SO MUCH SCRIPTURE
SO MANY SAINTS
It’s the accumulation not only of the data of Scripture but also this resource of these people who LIVED IT OUT and lived lives of DISCIPLESHIP
OF HOLINESS
Their words have WEIGHT to them
THEY LIVED IT
THEY INTERIORIZED IT
It actually TRANSFORMED THEIR LIVES
THAT IS FULL!!
“We stand TALLER because we stand ON THEIR SHOULDERS!!”
The beauty of The Catechism is that it presents all of that to us in such an easy way to grasp
Bishop Cozzens is on the Committee for Evangelization and Catechesis
So Catechesis
But also Evangelization
So what is the connection, or maybe even the mission, between The Catechism and Evangelization
THEY ARE ESSENTIALLY UNITED
The PURPOSE of the Catechism is for EVANGELIZATION
Because the PURPOSE of The Church is for EVANGELIZATION
The reason we have The Church is to SHARE THE SAVING LOVE OF JESUS CHRIST
THE GOOD NEWS!!
So that more people can come to experience the great gift of SALVATION
The Catechism is at the service of that mission
It is meant to be an EVANGELIZING DOCUMENT
As EVERYTHING we do in The Church is meant to be EVANGELIZING
Sharing the TRUTH OF OUR FAITH
Sharing the BEAUTY OF OUR FAITH
Sharing the GOODNESS OF OUR FAITH
SO THAT OTHERS MIGHT BE SAVED!!
IN FACT…
This is one of the important things about The Catechism
It’s not just simply a list of teachings
The teaching of The Church is ALIVE
Because it’s the TEACHING OF JESUS
AND JESUS IS ALIVE!!
In that sense, we speak about a LIVING TRADITION that we are all a part of and that we are experiencing
When we receive it, it creates NEW LIFE in us
NEW INSIGHTS
NEW WAYS TO LIVE THE GOSPEL
It creates SALVATION because it is connected to DIVINE REVELATION which is the source of SALVATION
So it’s meant to be an EVANGELIZING DOCUMENT
Part of the reason The Catechism uses SAINTS and other people is because of the WITNESS FACTOR
All evangelization comes from WITNESS
It’s the WITNESS OF ALMOST 2,000 YEARS that is coming to us now
The WITNESS of all those who have lived The Faith and the various aspects of The Faith throughout these 2,000 years
That becomes a very evangelizing thing for us
People who study The Catechism find their Faith being INCREASED
THAT MAKES SENSE!!
How could you love what you do not know?
The MORE you come to KNOW The Lord
The MORE you come to TRUST The Lord
The MORE you can have the capacity to LOVE The Lord because you know what you’re loving
Whenever it comes to Faith and growth in Faith, Fr. Mike is a simple guy
There are so many incredible ways to try to communicate WHAT IS FAITH
Sometimes it seems that Faith isn’t just, “I believe these propositions.”
The essential part of Faith is TRUST
It is RELATIONAL
I TRUST YOU BECAUSE I KNOW YOU
There is that sense with The Lord as well
In some ways we have to approach Him without SKEPTICISM but with a disposition of TRUST
When we approach The Catechism there might be the temptation of SKEPTICISM VS TRUST
TEACH ME VS PROVE IT TO ME
So how should we approach The Catechism with a disposition of TRUST and OPENNESS?
Faith is ALWAYS a relational act
We have FAITH IN A PERSON
We don’t have FAITH IN A THING
NATURAL FAITH
When you come up to a four-way stop and you are stopped and the other car is coming, you go before that car stops because you have FAITH that the other guy is going to stop
We don’t have faith in the STOP SIGN
We have faith in THAT PERSON
IT IS A RELATIONAL ACT
It’s the same thing with EVERY PARAGRAPH of The Catechism
Why do we believe it?
Because we have FAITH THAT JESUS IS GOD
We have FAITH THAT WHAT GOD SAYS IS TRUE
We have FAITH THAT THE CHURCH IS THE BODY OF CHRIST
We have FAITH THAT THE CHURCH IS ESSENTIALLY CONNECTED TO JESUS
The Church is this community of believers that Jesus Christ, God, founded
He founded it so that we can carry His teaching and His saving mysteries throughout the time of the world
The Church is the GUARDIAN OF THAT TRUTH
We have FAITH in the Person of Jesus
We have FAITH in the Holy Spirit guiding The Church which is why we believe all the paragraphs of The Catechism
It is ALWAYS AN ACT OF TRUST IN A PERSON
The beauty is that even if you are a doubter, and we all struggle with doubts, you can TEST IT and IT WORKS
IT IS PROVEN TRUTH
Proven not in a sense of PROVABLE because we are talking about DIVINE REVELATION
Things that are BEYOND OUR MINDS
It is proven that it WORKS
You can read about the life of the SAINTS and look at the people that have lived this FAITH and you see that it WORKS
It’s the line from G.K. Chesterton, “Christianity has never been tried and found wanting. It has been found too difficult and left untried.”
When you try it, you discover that it does actually help you understand the way the world is and the way your life is
It leads to FULFILLMENT
That requires a sense of TRUST first
That sense of not just TESTING OUT
“I’ll dabble. I’ll stick my toe in and see if I’m blessed or if I’m less blessed”
As opposed to…
“Ok, I’m going to trust you and move forward”
Sometimes we can only come to FAITH once we have started MOVING
When we talk about the AUTHORITY of The Church and recognize that “I trust in The Church because I trust Jesus. And I know that Jesus has established His Church and he has promised that He has given it all authority in Heaven and on Earth to guide into ALL TRUTH”
AND YET…(there it is 😉)
One of the things people come back with is, “Yeah but there is so much brokenness in The Church. Look at history. History demonstrates that. You want to talk about proof? History proves and our current experience proves that The Holy Spirit is the soul of The Church. But also, there is a bunch of broken people in it too.”
So how do we reconcile that?
One Catholic writer said, “Original Sin is the ONLY Catholic Dogma we can prove.”
You don’t have to go far to prove it, just read the newspaper
Just look into your own heart and you can prove it
We know that we are fallen, broken human beings
AND THAT IS THE POINT!!
ALL of the brokenness of The Church can be credited to FALLEN BROKEN HUMAN BEINGS
Human beings have not lived up to the Gospel that Jesus left us
Because of that brokenness, lots of damage has been done at different times in the world
BUT…
That is actually a PROOF OF and EVIDENCE FOR why The Church can be TRUSTED
Because DESPITE all those errors and brokenness throughout 2,000 years and all of the ways the leaders of The Church have often messed up, and some of them have done very sinful and terrible things, the fact is the TRUTH has been MAINTAINED
There is the famous story of Napoleon when he had one of the Cardinals of Rome in prison
Napoleon said, “We are going to destroy your Church.”
The Cardinal replied, “You can’t destroy The Church. We priests have been trying to do it for 1,500 years. We can’t do it!”
Because The Holy Spirit is guiding The Church, She has continued to remain FAITHFUL and ALWAYS WILL to the TRUTHS that God has REVEALED
Even though there is a lot of brokenness and sin and will continue to be, sadly, in her members and leaders sometimes
So it is important to make that distinction between the brokenness and sinful actions of individuals and the TEACHING OF THE CHURCH which continues to come down to us through the ages
There is a sense of all of the things that people point to and say the reasons why you wouldn’t be able to trust The Church all come from the FAILURE OF ITS MEMBERS TO LIVE UP TO THE TEACHINGS
Every one of those people we point to actually are FAILING TO LIVE UP TO THE CONSISTENT AND BEAUTIFUL AND ENTIRE TEACHING OF THE CHURCH
THE TEACHING ITSELF ISN’T WANTING!!
IT IS US LIVING UP TO THAT THAT IS WANTING!!
It’s important to keep that in mind
So does Bishop Cozzens have any last words for us as we get ready to press play on Day 1?
If you spend time studying and reading The Catechism, you are going to find:
PRACTICAL HELP
DEEPER UNDERSTANDING
DEEPER INSPIRATION
DEEPER LOVE
INCREDIBLY INTERESTING FACTS
You are going to find that what’s rolled out before you is, in fact, THE MOST BEAUTIFUL THING IN THE WORLD
Because it actually a STUDY OF GOD
The Catechism is a STUDY OF GOD HIMSELF AND HIS REVELATION
IT ALL FLOWS FROM GOD
IT ALL LEADS BACK TO GOD
The Trinity is the SOURCE OF IT ALL
The more you study BAPTISM
The more you study THE MORAL LIFE
You are actually seeing a part of the BEAUTY OF GOD
THAT IS GOING TO CHANGE YOUR LIFE!!
IT IS A BEAUTIFUL THING WHEN IT HAPPENS!!
Whenever we read The Catechism, we discover something NEW that helps us understand more deeply WHO GOD IS
Hopefully, it will push you EVEN DEEPER INTO YOUR OWN STUDY AND RELATIONSHIP BEYOND
BECAUSE WE WILL NEVER TIRE OF STUDYING GOD!!
THAT IS GREAT!!
YES!!
Practical help
Deeper understanding
Deeper love
WE WILL NEVER TIRE OF COMING TO A DEEPER UNDERSTANDING OF GOD!!
If you are interested in getting your copy of The Reading Plan for Catechism in a Year go to: www.ascensionpress.com/ciy
OR…
If you want to speed up that process, you can text the letters “CIY” to the number 33777
That’s a very Biblical, Trinitarian, Sabbath number 😉
You can also subscribe on your podcast app such as Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, etc to receive daily updates
Prayer by Fr. Mike: “Father in Heaven, we give you thanks and praise because you have revealed yourself to us. You have given us your Son. You have given us your Son who lived for us, who died for us, who rose from the dead for us, who sent The Holy Spirit, with you Father, to us and gave us your Church. You established that Body of Christ so that we can be led into all truth. We ask you to please continue to fill us with your Holy Spirit. Continue to guide The Church. Continue to help us to overcome skepticism, to overcome discouragement, to overcome doubt, and to learn what it is to trust in you. To learn what it is to hope in you. And to learn what it is to allow ourselves to be loved and led by you. Thank you for this opportunity to talk with Bishop Cozzens. Thank you for every person who is joining us on these pre-episodes as we begin to prepare our hearts and our minds to listen to The Catechism in a Year. We thank you for every one of them. I ask you, Father, to bless every one of them right now in this moment. You know their needs. You love them in their need. Come to us all in this moment. We make this prayer in the might name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.”
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse