Who is God?
What is the Church?
community of faith
The Church is the community of believers in Jesus Christ, united with the Pope. Christ did not leave his earliest followers – the apostles and other disciples – alone. He sent his Holy Spirit to be with us until the end of time, when he will come again. United “in the power of the Holy Spirit”, we are members of the Church and continually inspired by the same Spirit to “Go out to the whole world and proclaim the Good News” (Mark 16,15) of the salvation brought by Jesus Christ.
We become members of this great body through baptism. Thanks to the power of baptism, which, freeing us from sin and making us children of God, bestows upon us the Holy Spirit, we are united with the entire Trinity – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – in a powerful way even on this side of the grave. In fact, the Church is sometimes called the Mystical Body of Christ, to signify its intimate connection with Christ with whom it remains one, under the power of the Holy Spirit.
Christ said to St Peter, “You are Peter, and on this Rock I will build my Church” (Matthew 16,18). Through the laying-on of hands, the successors of St Peter (the Pope) and of the other apostles (the Bishops) receive the divine mandate to act as pastors on behalf of Christ’s faithful. That succession has never been broken.
The Church grew, under the influence of the same Holy Spirit. In the early days the Church consisted of small pockets of believers dotted around the eastern Mediterranean. But as time went on, it became easier for Christians to become established.
It is tempting to think that the Church is for ‘holy’ people – bishops, priests, nuns. This is not the case. The whole point of Christ’s coming was to save us all for eternal life in heaven. We need people to be active in the Church so that the whole body of believers will be united under Christ, the head. That mission is for everyone. After all, Christ commanded his apostles (and therefore he instructed the Church too), to “Go out to all the nations … baptising in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything I have told you” while knowing that he is with us always, “until the end of time” (Matthew 28,19-20).
The Church offers the sacraments as one of the chief means to help us on the way. Another gift is the Bible (also called the Sacred Scriptures).
But none of this will make any sense unless we admit to ourselves that we need Christ. And if we need Christ, then we need his Church, since the two cannot be separated.
The Church is the community of believers in Jesus Christ, united with the Pope. Christ did not leave his earliest followers – the apostles and other disciples – alone. He sent his Holy Spirit to be with us until the end of time, when he will come again. United “in the power of the Holy Spirit”, we are members of the Church and continually inspired by the same Spirit to “Go out to the whole world and proclaim the Good News” (Mark 16,15) of the salvation brought by Jesus Christ.
We become members of this great body through baptism. Thanks to the power of baptism, which, freeing us from sin and making us children of God, bestows upon us the Holy Spirit, we are united with the entire Trinity – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – in a powerful way even on this side of the grave. In fact, the Church is sometimes called the Mystical Body of Christ, to signify its intimate connection with Christ with whom it remains one, under the power of the Holy Spirit.
Christ said to St Peter, “You are Peter, and on this Rock I will build my Church” (Matthew 16,18). Through the laying-on of hands, the successors of St Peter (the Pope) and of the other apostles (the Bishops) receive the divine mandate to act as pastors on behalf of Christ’s faithful. That succession has never been broken.
The Church grew, under the influence of the same Holy Spirit. In the early days the Church consisted of small pockets of believers dotted around the eastern Mediterranean. But as time went on, it became easier for Christians to become established.
It is tempting to think that the Church is for ‘holy’ people – bishops, priests, nuns. This is not the case. The whole point of Christ’s coming was to save us all for eternal life in heaven. We need people to be active in the Church so that the whole body of believers will be united under Christ, the head. That mission is for everyone. After all, Christ commanded his apostles (and therefore he instructed the Church too), to “Go out to all the nations … baptising in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything I have told you” while knowing that he is with us always, “until the end of time” (Matthew 28,19-20).
The Church offers the sacraments as one of the chief means to help us on the way. Another gift is the Bible (also called the Sacred Scriptures).
But none of this will make any sense unless we admit to ourselves that we need Christ. And if we need Christ, then we need his Church, since the two cannot be separated.
The Saints
A huge number to help us on the way
We need to be holy. Not ‘Holy Joes’, or ‘Holier-than-thous’ who look down on everyone else. Holiness means trying, with God’s help, to become what God is asking us to be. For that task, we have the weapons given to the Church, through the apostles, by Christ. Those weapons are the sacraments and the word of God (the Bible, the Sacred Scriptures) sustain us in our efforts to become holy.
And there’s more: the Church is made up of a countless number, both visible and invisible, living and dead. The angels (pure spiritual beings) and saints (those who have gone before us in the way of holiness) are there to help us. Together with the angels and saints in heaven and the souls in purgatory, we all make up the ‘Communion of Saints’.
The Communion of Saints is a huge number of witnesses to Christ, “impossible to count”, says the book of Revelation (Revelation 7,9) who are enjoying the presence of God and each other forever. And they want us there with them.
The ‘Universal Call to Holiness’
“Be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5,48) says Our Lord to those who would listen to him. This is a call to all of us: the wholehearted devotion to God’s glory and to the needs of our neighbour. It is nothing short of an invitation to holiness. To be holy means to live out our lives to the ‘full potential’ for which we were created. Holiness means to become more Christ-like every day. All of us need to become holy if we are to become like Christ and inherit eternal life. The challenge is nothing short of that!
Getting to know a saint or two
What better way to help us than the example of the saints themselves? There are thousands upon thousands of them. Some are officially recognised by the Church to be in heaven: these are the ‘canonised’ saints.
There are the big guns like St Peter, St Paul and St John. These are the apostles who lived with Jesus. St Peter was the first Pope, St Paul brought the Gospel to uncharted territories, St John was the ‘Beloved Disciple, who wrote a Gospel, some letters and the book of Revelation (the Apocalypse). St Mary Magdalene and St Martha are also great figures of the Gospels. St Mary Magdalene, St Martha.
Other saints down the ages light up the history of the Church: St Augustine, St Athanasius, St Mary of Egypt, St Cecilia being examples from the early period.
There are saints famous for their theology: St Thomas Aquinas, St Catherine of Siena. Others are famous for founding great religious orders: St Benedict, St Francis, St Dominic. Others still are famous for their missionary zeal: St Ignatius Loyola, St Francis Xavier.
Still more inspire us to pray more: St Teresa of Avila, St John of the Cross.
Then there are the martyrs of England, put to death for refusing to accept the authority of the King or Queen over that of the pope in the 16th and 17th centuries. Some, such as St John Plessington or Blessed Thomas Holford, were priests, and brought the Mass to communities in secret. Others, such as St Margaret Ward and St Margaret Clitheroe, were brave laypeople who would rather sacrifice their lives rather than their fidelity to the truth.
There are patron saints of families (St Maximilian Kolbe, St Joseph), of students (St Jerome, St Joseph of Cupertino), of the unemployed (St Cajetan), of shepherdesses (St Bernadette), of actresses (St Pelagia), of astronauts, of flour merchants, of glovermakers, of printers, of politicians…
Get to know a saint. Start with your own patron (your name-saint), if you have one. Look him or her up. Speak to your saint. Ask him or her for guidance. They will, even immediately, be of immense value on your road to holiness.
We need to be holy. Not ‘Holy Joes’, or ‘Holier-than-thous’ who look down on everyone else. Holiness means trying, with God’s help, to become what God is asking us to be. For that task, we have the weapons given to the Church, through the apostles, by Christ. Those weapons are the sacraments and the word of God (the Bible, the Sacred Scriptures) sustain us in our efforts to become holy.
And there’s more: the Church is made up of a countless number, both visible and invisible, living and dead. The angels (pure spiritual beings) and saints (those who have gone before us in the way of holiness) are there to help us. Together with the angels and saints in heaven and the souls in purgatory, we all make up the ‘Communion of Saints’.
The Communion of Saints is a huge number of witnesses to Christ, “impossible to count”, says the book of Revelation (Revelation 7,9) who are enjoying the presence of God and each other forever. And they want us there with them.
The ‘Universal Call to Holiness’
“Be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5,48) says Our Lord to those who would listen to him. This is a call to all of us: the wholehearted devotion to God’s glory and to the needs of our neighbour. It is nothing short of an invitation to holiness. To be holy means to live out our lives to the ‘full potential’ for which we were created. Holiness means to become more Christ-like every day. All of us need to become holy if we are to become like Christ and inherit eternal life. The challenge is nothing short of that!
Getting to know a saint or two
What better way to help us than the example of the saints themselves? There are thousands upon thousands of them. Some are officially recognised by the Church to be in heaven: these are the ‘canonised’ saints.There are the big guns like St Peter, St Paul and St John. These are the apostles who lived with Jesus. St Peter was the first Pope, St Paul brought the Gospel to uncharted territories, St John was the ‘Beloved Disciple, who wrote a Gospel, some letters and the book of Revelation (the Apocalypse). St Mary Magdalene and St Martha are also great figures of the Gospels. St Mary Magdalene, St Martha.
Other saints down the ages light up the history of the Church: St Augustine, St Athanasius, St Mary of Egypt, St Cecilia being examples from the early period.
There are saints famous for their theology: St Thomas Aquinas, St Catherine of Siena. Others are famous for founding great religious orders: St Benedict, St Francis, St Dominic. Others still are famous for their missionary zeal: St Ignatius Loyola, St Francis Xavier.
Still more inspire us to pray more: St Teresa of Avila, St John of the Cross.
Then there are the martyrs of England, put to death for refusing to accept the authority of the King or Queen over that of the pope in the 16th and 17th centuries. Some, such as St John Plessington or Blessed Thomas Holford, were priests, and brought the Mass to communities in secret. Others, such as St Margaret Ward and St Margaret Clitheroe, were brave laypeople who would rather sacrifice their lives rather than their fidelity to the truth.
There are patron saints of families (St Maximilian Kolbe, St Joseph), of students (St Jerome, St Joseph of Cupertino), of the unemployed (St Cajetan), of shepherdesses (St Bernadette), of actresses (St Pelagia), of astronauts, of flour merchants, of glovermakers, of printers, of politicians…
Get to know a saint. Start with your own patron (your name-saint), if you have one. Look him or her up. Speak to your saint. Ask him or her for guidance. They will, even immediately, be of immense value on your road to holiness.
Who Am I?
As human beings, we have a distinct place in creation. We are made in the image and likeness of God, created to think, to choose, to love and be loved in return. That sets us apart from even the most intelligent creature in the rest of the animal kingdom. The fulfilment of human existence is not found in what we can achieve, but in God. As creatures made in God’s image and likeness, we have a lofty destiny – eternal life with him.
Deep within us, we sense that all is not as it should be. Even the most happy occasions can leave us not quite satisfied. We can easily feel isolated, even among a crowd of friends.
That is because we have an inbuilt yearning for eternity. Through prayer and reflection, we begin to recognise this thirst, and come to realise that we achieve true greatness not through success in the ordinary sense of the term, but through the gift of ourselves. That is because God, in whose image and likeness we are made, is himself in relation. He does not exist ‘for himself’. We too are like that: we are created to look beyond our immediate concerns and towards the needs of others. That is what love is. The more we are aware of this, the more our lives will make sense and in fact become fulfilled.
Life is not aimless. It has a purpose. God sent his Son into the world to die for me. I have an infinite value and am loved unconditionally by God. The task is to recognise that and do something about it! How?
The Blessed John Henry Cardinal Newman said, “Fear not that thy life shall come to an end, but rather that it shall never have a beginning”. And therein lies the task – to make something of our lives. For a Christian, that ‘making something of our lives’ has an extra flavour, a greater impulse than the drive for mere ‘success’ understood in conventual terms. The call is to offer ourselves back to God who created us and loves us, in a way which he desires for our greatest happiness. He has a great plan for each one of us.
A mission for me
Cardinal Newman also wrote the following, which underlines the point:
God knows me and calls me by my name.…?
God has created me to do Him some definite service;
He has committed some work to me
which He has not committed to another.
I have my mission—I never may know it in this life,?but I shall be told it in the next.
Somehow I am necessary for His purposes…?
I have a part in this great work;?
I am a link in a chain, a bond of connection
between persons.?
He has not created me for naught. I shall do good,
I shall do His work;?
I shall be an angel of peace, a preacher of truth
in my own place, while not intending it,?
if I do but keep His commandments?and serve Him in my calling.
Therefore I will trust Him.?
Whatever, wherever I am,
I can never be thrown away.?
If I am in sickness, my sickness may serve Him;?
In perplexity, my perplexity may serve Him;
If I am in sorrow, my sorrow may serve Him.?
My sickness, or perplexity, or sorrow may be
necessary causes of some great end,
which is quite beyond us.
He does nothing in vain; He may prolong my life,?
He may shorten it;?
He knows what He is about.?
He may take away my friends,?
He may throw me among strangers,
He may make me feel desolate,
make my spirits sink, hide the future from me
—?still He knows what He is about.…
Let me be Thy blind instrument.
I ask not to see—?I ask not to know—I ask simply to be used.?
from Meditations and Devotions,?”Meditations on Christian Doctrine,” “Hope in God—Creator”, March 7th 1848
That just about sums up who I am.
(Photo: mazur/catholicchurch.org.uk)
Deep within us, we sense that all is not as it should be. Even the most happy occasions can leave us not quite satisfied. We can easily feel isolated, even among a crowd of friends.
That is because we have an inbuilt yearning for eternity. Through prayer and reflection, we begin to recognise this thirst, and come to realise that we achieve true greatness not through success in the ordinary sense of the term, but through the gift of ourselves. That is because God, in whose image and likeness we are made, is himself in relation. He does not exist ‘for himself’. We too are like that: we are created to look beyond our immediate concerns and towards the needs of others. That is what love is. The more we are aware of this, the more our lives will make sense and in fact become fulfilled.
Life is not aimless. It has a purpose. God sent his Son into the world to die for me. I have an infinite value and am loved unconditionally by God. The task is to recognise that and do something about it! How?
The Blessed John Henry Cardinal Newman said, “Fear not that thy life shall come to an end, but rather that it shall never have a beginning”. And therein lies the task – to make something of our lives. For a Christian, that ‘making something of our lives’ has an extra flavour, a greater impulse than the drive for mere ‘success’ understood in conventual terms. The call is to offer ourselves back to God who created us and loves us, in a way which he desires for our greatest happiness. He has a great plan for each one of us.
A mission for me
Cardinal Newman also wrote the following, which underlines the point:
God knows me and calls me by my name.…?
God has created me to do Him some definite service;
He has committed some work to me
which He has not committed to another.
I have my mission—I never may know it in this life,?but I shall be told it in the next.
Somehow I am necessary for His purposes…?
I have a part in this great work;?
I am a link in a chain, a bond of connection
between persons.?
He has not created me for naught. I shall do good,
I shall do His work;?
I shall be an angel of peace, a preacher of truth
in my own place, while not intending it,?
if I do but keep His commandments?and serve Him in my calling.
Therefore I will trust Him.?
Whatever, wherever I am,
I can never be thrown away.?
If I am in sickness, my sickness may serve Him;?
In perplexity, my perplexity may serve Him;
If I am in sorrow, my sorrow may serve Him.?
My sickness, or perplexity, or sorrow may be
necessary causes of some great end,
which is quite beyond us.
He does nothing in vain; He may prolong my life,?
He may shorten it;?
He knows what He is about.?
He may take away my friends,?
He may throw me among strangers,
He may make me feel desolate,
make my spirits sink, hide the future from me
—?still He knows what He is about.…
Let me be Thy blind instrument.
I ask not to see—?I ask not to know—I ask simply to be used.?
from Meditations and Devotions,?”Meditations on Christian Doctrine,” “Hope in God—Creator”, March 7th 1848
That just about sums up who I am.
(Photo: mazur/catholicchurch.org.uk)
