Gospel Reflection 2020/2021

The Church founded by Jesus Christ is catholic. But what does ‘catholic’ mean?

The Catechism of the Catholic Church [cf. CCC 830] teaches that the Church is catholic in double sense:

(1) 'Catholic' means universal.

The Church is catholic because Christ’s abiding presence in her makes her universal. United by the one Spirit, the Church is sent out by Christ on a mission, not only to a selected few, but to the whole of humanity.

(2) 'Catholic' also means totality.

The Church is catholic because in full communion with Christ her Head, she receives from Him the fullness of the means of salvation. Therefore, the Church possesses the totality of Christ: the correct and complete confession of faith (the TRUTH), the full sacramental life (the LIFE), and the ordained ministry in an uninterrupted apostolic succession traceable to Jesus and His apostles (the WAY).

To be truly Catholic is to believe in the Trinitarian God and the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church: to be in full communion with Christ in the Church and through the Church founded by Him.

To be in full communion with Christ and His Church does not stop at the physical reception of the Holy Communion (the Body and Blood of Christ) but it compels every Catholic to live the Holy Communion – to be truly ONE with Jesus and His Church, in heart, in mind and in spirit.

(1) To be truly Catholic is to embrace and accept the TRUTH revealed by Christ and professed by His Church.

To be truly Catholic is to accept the TRUTH handed down to us in totality. As Catholics, we do not pick and choose what we want to believe according to our whims and fancies. It is either accepting the entire Jesus and His Teaching as it is, or nothing at all. There is only one Truth revealed by Jesus and professed by the catholic and apostolic Church; it is not subject to personal interpretation or public opinion poll. There is no other alternative or variation of ‘truths’. Pope Francis [General Audience, 4 Aug 2021] clearly explained, “With the truth of the Gospel, one cannot negotiate. Either we receive the Gospel as it is, as it was announced, or you receive any other thing. But you cannot negotiate with the Gospel. One cannot compromise.”

(2) To be truly Catholic is to embrace and live the SACRAMENTAL LIFE bestowed by Christ through His Church.

Embracing and living a sacramental life is to immerse ourselves in the liturgies, sacraments and prayers of the Church. We cannot be truly alive in the Spirit without being nourished by the sacramental dispensation of the divine life from God, especially through the Sacrament of Reconciliation (Confession) and the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. If we truly know and experience the merciful Jesus in Confession and His Real Presence in the Holy Eucharist, we would never and could never leave the Catholic Church.

(3) To be truly Catholic is to embrace and follow the sacred, safe and sure WAY which the Church has navigated before us.

The holy apostles, the saints and the martyrs, the holy men and women of God had all gone before us showing us the WAY to God: they had fought a good fight, they had finished the race, they had kept the faith [2 Tm 4: 7]. For two thousand years, the Church continues to teach and preach Jesus Christ. Pope Francis [General Audience, 3 Sep 2014] tells us that, “The Church is our mother because she cares for her children and guides us on the path of salvation.”

Christ and His Church are inseparable: Christ is the Head; the Church is His Body [Ep 5: 21-32]. We cannot be in full communion with Christ as our Head without the Catholic Church.

Many of Jesus’ followers are upset because Jesus proclaims that [Jn 6: 55], “My flesh is real food and my blood is real drink.” Even until today, many Christians, and even some Catholics, discount, disagree and dispute over these words of Jesus and the teaching of the Catholic Church on the Real Presence. Sadly, there are also many who leave the Catholic Church because they regard some of the doctrines and teachings as ‘intolerable language’.

This 21^st Sunday in Ordinary Time, Jesus asks us personally, “What about you, do you want to go away too?” May we like Peter (the chief apostle and the first Pope of the Catholic Church), have the faith and personal conviction to respond, “Lord, whom shall we go to? You are the Holy One of God.”

Let our fervent prayer be:

“Dear Jesus, help me to be patient with what I do not understand.”