Published in the bulletin of Holy Ghost Catholic Church in Knoxville, TN, on the 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time.
My dear Parishioners,
Peace! The ninth article of the Apostle’s Creed is “I believe in the Holy Catholic Church.” There are thirty-five (35) In Brief passages in the Catechism of the Catholic Church regarding this article of the Creed. The following is a reflection on article 780.
Christ the Lord founded His one only Church in the world during His time among us. The Church is Christ’s tool to save us and to bring us together with each other and with Himself.
We are to think of the Church as the “Sacrament of Salvation.” As such, it is important to recall just what a sacrament is. Sacraments have matter and form, something physical and something spiritual. The water, the wine, the bread, the oil … are the ‘matter’ of so many of the sacraments. The visible parts of the Church are her members, their corporal works of mercy, her institutions… While not all receive the Seven Sacraments, the Church may be ‘received’ by all at least by observation. Who on Earth who was alive and in their majority in 2005 or 1997 who does not know of Blessed John Paul II or Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta respectively? These two (2) members of the Church made visible the reality of the Church and as such serve as entry points for salvation, to be saved by Christ and His grace.
All sacraments have their visible parts and the Church serves as the visible communion between God and human beings. When we participate in the life of the Church we hear God’s word in Sacred Scripture and in the sure and certain teachings of the bishops who are the successors of the Apostles.
The Blessed Trinity is an eternal communion of Divine Persons, Father, Son and Spirit. Mother Church is a communion of persons, on Earth, in Heaven and Purgatory. When we invoke the Saints our communion with them is manifest. When the Saints intercede for us their communion with us is realized. When we pray to God for the eternal rest of our beloved dead, the communion between God and us and them is actuated.
How is it that we know anything about God? While we may know of God’s existence and goodness by means of our human intelligence and the power of reason alone, so often we are also aided with the grace of God’s self-revelation in Sacred Scripture and the sure and certain teachings of Mother Church, ‘the pillar and bulwark of truth’ (1 Timothy 3:15). When Mother Church gives us the Canon of Sacred Scripture she serves as the ‘instrument’ by which we come to know so much about the Lord and His love for us. When we receive the grace of Holy Baptism through Mother Church, she is the instrument of our communion with God. When we receive the Holy Eucharist, Christ Himself, through the ministry of Mother Church she is His instrument of our communion with Him and His people.
God bless you!
Father John Arthur Orr