Week of May 9, 2021

Week of May 9, 2021

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Dear Parishioners,

One of the great things about the Church that I think we often overlook is that it is visible. When Christ founded the Church, He appointed His apostles to spread and reign over the Church. He did not pick the most charismatic or the brightest or the strongest to rule His Church (as the Gospels constantly point out the flaws of the disciples) in order to show that their strength and authority comes from Him. He gave them charisms so that they could build His Church and spread the Gospel throughout the world. They did this in a public manner, being held accountable to the past revelations of God in the Old Testament and teaching the Word of God at all times.

In contrast, there was another early heretical sect that had a different view of God’s revelation. This sect was known as the Gnostics and they believed that God gave the Church secret knowledge in order to be saved. This matched their view of Jesus who they also viewed to be just God, not a human being as well. They literally believed that God was just pretending to be human and that His human body was some sort of illusion. It also matched their practice because they did not believe in personal holiness or resisting sin. They could not be held accountable for what they taught because they could always say that people did not understand them because they were not enlightened. Many New Age and cult movements still use this playbook today. Many people still believe such claims because it plays on pride and makes people feel like they are in a special group.

However, the real Church is not like that. We believe in a Church that was founded by Christ in time, whose beliefs are easily known and whose members are public. We can be held accountable for what we believe and for what we have done in the past. I think that one of the reasons Christ set it up this way is so that people can legitimately know where they can go to follow Him. There are so many pretenders who claim to witness to Christ. But there is only one Christ and He founded one Church to witness to Him to the end of time. This Church is defined in our Creed and revelation as being One (united), Holy (which means it contains the means to become holy), Catholic (universal) and apostolic (comes from the apostles). This Church is the one and only Catholic Church and we should be glad to be her members because in humility we know that it is a gift from God.

God bless,

Fr. Carter