What is the Catholic Church?

Define Catholic: cath·o·lic /ˈkaTH(ə)lik/ adj. “including a wide variety of things; all-embracing; universal.” 

Define Church: church /CHərCH/ noun “a building used for public Christian worship; a community of belivers.”

If we put those all together, we see that the Catholic Church is a universal, all-embracing community of believers. The Church Jesus Christ established through his disciples in the first century has worked towards the unity of humanity since its beginnings. Isn’t that incredible? 

Matthew 16

Jesus speaks of changing the disciple Simon’s name to Peter. Which translated to the language of the time, it means ‘rock.’ Jesus then proceeds to explain why He gave him a new name, “and upon this rock, I will build my church.” Through Peter, we have the foundation of the Church Christ began for the salvation of the world. This post is a short overview of what it means to be catholic, so I’ll talk about this more in-depth some other time; in the meantime, I recommend you watch this video by Ray explaining the significance of this passage. 

The point is since Jesus was going to ascend back to heaven, he knew we would need a representative to speak on His behalf. This is why we have a leader, better known as the pope, who keeps the whole Church in line with the teachings of God. 

We can see the works of our first pope, St. Peter, in the Book of Acts. He takes the initiative on challenging topics; he goes out into the world preaching the gospel, healing people, and ultimately spreading the love of Jesus Christ. He was nevertheless human, so there were moments of mistakes, but through the power of God, we see the Church growing even though they would get persecuted. I bring up his humanness because people often criticize the pope as divine, among other misconceptions, some of which I speak about in “Misconceptions about Catholicism” and in “Misconceptions about the Pope”

The power of God

Jesus did not expect us to be able to handle everything by ourselves. We had not been able to do that, ever, so even though He ascended into heaven, he promised in John 14 a helper would come to guide His Church and fulfill what He said in Matthew 16:18, “the gates of hell will not prevail against [the Church].” I encourage you to read all of John 14, as it explains the love Jesus has for us and His desire not to leave us “orphaned” as we go around doing the will of the Father. 

The Church Works for God’s goodness.

This beautiful community of believers has gone from 12 men to over one billion people! It’s mind-blowing to come to understand how God created us with a purpose. The creation story is fascinating as it speaks of God’s love for us, then us betraying Him, God staying with us, us crying out for help, God helping us, us turning our back on Him, God forgiving us and promising a savior, us living worldly lives, God fulfills His promise in Christ, us embracing the faith of persecution, God equipping us for battle, us struggling to remember all of this and waiting for eternal life. 

And history repeats itself. 

Our broken humanness was not taken away by the coming of Christ. We still have our free will to decide our choices: will they follow God or go against Him? That is the ultimate question. But we must remember we are not alone. Jesus came to restore our relationship with God. He invites us to a beautiful eternal union with God in heaven and gives us the means to get there. Jesus promised to be with us forever, again in John 14. He did this by His holy sacrifice. God in human flesh died for us. 

The Ultimate Sacrifice

There is absolutely nothing we could ever do to make up for our trespasses. Yes, we can apologize, and God will forgive us, but that does not take away the damage we do. So, in all His glory and goodness, God sacrificed himself to pay the cost of our sins. He unjustly suffered for us to reconcile with Him forever if we cooperate with His will of being loving towards Him and others. (Read John 15).

God is Love

Love requires a relationship to be present–a person cannot love without having someone to love. This is why we believe God is a communion of love. One being, God, three persons, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. There is a constant exchange of love within the being of God as expressed through the Father who loves the Son with the Holy Spirit, who is love.

Our human understanding confines this beautiful mystery of faith. Instead of trying to be God and have all the answers of the universe, let us rejoice that love created us. God’s selflessness invites us to be like Him in all we do. This is depicted in how he made us: male and female. 

Made to Love 

God wants us to partake in the procreation of humanity by uniting ourselves with each other. For this, the Church embraces ideas of pro-life, marriage without divorce, and celibate lives for the sake of the kingdom. 

While we are all made to be married, God invites some to live their earthly lives as we will all live in heaven: in exclusive union with God, not married to another person. Regardless of our vocation, we are all called to be disciples of Jesus who seek the will of God. That is our purpose. 

“Now that you have purified your souls by your obedience to truth so that you have genuine love for your brethren, love one another intensely with all your heart.” 1 Peter 1:22

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God bless ♡