Day 108: Revealed by the Holy Spirit (767-771)

• It’s Day 108!!

• Fr. Mike is going to talk about Dear Abby today

• Basically the point is that Jesus Christ started the Catholic Church in 33 AD

• This moment in time changed all of reality

• Today we will talk about THE CHURCH-REVEALED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT

• THE CHURCH-PERFECTED IN GLORY

• The Church will be perfected in Glory

• The Body of Christ will be Glorified just like Jesus’ actual body was transformed after His Death and Resurrection

• THE CHURCH-BOTH VISIBLE AND SPIRITUAL

• The Church is also HUMAN AND DIVINE

• The Church has HUMAN realities and DIVINE realities

• Because of that we live in this IMPERFECT STATE

• BUT…

• A state that is buoyed up by the Holy Spirit

• We know that sometimes we are so consoled by the Power of the Holy Spirit

• We experience God’s HEALING when we go to Confession

• We experience being FED by the Lord in the Eucharist at Mass

• When we receive the Bible and the Church’s teaching in its fullness, it is a consolation of the Lord

• IT IS SO GOOD!!

• We also know that there are people in the Church that fail us

• Fr. Mike fails people all of the time, even in these podcasts

• We fail each other as followers of Christ

• The Body of Christ has this divine reality

• The Body of Christ also has this very human reality

• We have this glorious reality as well as a very broken reality

• So let’s say a prayer!!

Prayer by Fr. Mike: “Father in Heaven, we thank you so much. Thank you for bringing us to this place in time where we get to actually touch Eternity. Thank you for bringing us to this Church where wherever we are standing in the Church, whether we stand in humble submission, whether we stand in love, whether we stand even in a posture of skepticism or a posture of cynicism, a posture of rebellion. Lord God, keep us engaged with your Church. Because I don’t want to leave your Body. I don’t want to leave the Family that you have anointed and established so that you can be known and that we can be saved. Father, keep us close to your heart. Keep us close in your Church and help us to love one another in ways that we don’t yet love. We ask this all in the mighty name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen”

• OH MY GOSH!!

• In the Catholic Church there exists what we call PARADOX

• Paradox is an APPARENT contradiction

• BUT…

• IT IS NOT A CONTRADICTION

• It is BOTH AND

• Rather than EITHER/OR

• Is the Church visible?

• YES!

• Is the Church spiritual?

• YES!

• SO IT IS BOTH VISIBLE AND SPIRITUAL!

• BOTH AND!!

• Paragraph 767 says, “‘When the work which the Father gave the Son to do on earth was accomplished, the Holy Spirit was sent on the day of Pentecost in order that he might continually sanctify the Church.’”

• Fr. Mike says this is bananas so who am I to argue?

• IT IS SO GOOD!!

• Jesus Christ established the Kingdom

• Remember the promise from the ages?

• God would give through Abraham and his descendants this KINGDOM that would bless the world FOREVER

• God then sends the Spirit

• The mission of the Son and the mission of the Spirit are the SAME MISSION

• God did not leave us orphans

• God did not leave us a loose organization of some people and teach us some stuff and tell us to go do our best

• They did their best with the inspiration, power, guidance, and wisdom of the Holy Spirit

• SO SO IMPORTANT!!

• We do not do this on our own

• The Church has the Holy Spirit as HER VERY SOUL

• Paragraph 768 says, “So that she can fulfill her mission, the Holy Spirit ‘bestows upon [the Church] varied hierarchic and charismatic gifts, and in this way directs her.’”

• What are hierarchic gifts?

• Holy Orders

• The Pope

• Bishops

• Apostolic Succession

• Priests and deacons

• There is a hierarchy here

• We have the Magisterium

• We have written Tradition

• We have oral Tradition

• So what are charismatic gifts?

• Free gifts from the Lord that He uses to build up His Church

• You and I have received charismatic gifts since we have the Holy Spirit in us

• You have some gift that God has given to you to build up the Body of Christ, the Church

• Faith

• Counsel

• Knowledge

• Words of the Lord

• Mighty Works

• Miracles

• Tongues

• You might not have ALL of them

• BUT…

• You have charismatic gifts

• If you don’t notice or recognize them, PRAY TO THE LORD FOR THEM!!

• Paragraph 768 continues, “‘Henceforward the Church, endowed with the gifts of her founder and faithfully observing his precepts of charity, humility, and self-denial, receives the mission of proclaiming and establishing among all peoples the Kingdom of Christ and of God, and she is on earth the seed and the beginning of that kingdom.’”

• THIS IS SO INCREDIBLE!!

• Why?

• Because God wants to bring EVERY PERSON into this Kingdom

• Paragraph 769 says, “‘The Church…will receive its perfection only in the glory of heaven…’”

• Just as Jesus’ body is resurrected and glorified in Heaven for all eternity, the body of Christ on earth will be glorified

• It has to go through the same process that our King went through

• The Body has to go through the same process that the Head went through

• This means that we have to experience this REJECTION

• PERSECUTIONS

• TRIALS

• Paragraph 769 continues, “The Church, and through her the world, will not be perfected in glory without great trials.”

• We have to embrace rejection

• We have to embrace the ways in which the world hates us

• Jesus said, “The world hated me, it will hate you as well.”

• It is not a matter of triumphalism

• It’s a matter of HUMBLE SERVICE

• Being strong enough to ALLOW yourself to be stepped on

• This may not be good counsel for EVERY individual

• There are times when someone has to admit their dignity is such that they should not be stepped on

• This is why the grace of the martyr is so powerful

• It’s not someone who couldn’t stick up for themselves

• The grace of the martyr who had the power to fight back

• BUT…

• For the sake of Jesus, chose not to

• That is important for us to know

• We have to have this balance between knowing your great dignity and knowing that in the midst of great dignity no one has a right to abuse you, use you, or step on you

• There are times, though, when we say for the sake of Christ, for the sake of the love of my brothers and sisters, I will allow them to step on me so that Christ may be known and glorified

• I will allow them to step on me so that THEY can know the love of God

• There is a big difference between being a doormat and laying down one’s life

• Hope that makes sense

• THE MYSTERY OF THE CHURCH

• We see the Church with our eyes

• At the same time, there is so much we do not see

• Paragraph 771 says, “The Church is at the same time: -a ‘society structured with hierarchical organs and the mystical body of Christ; =the visible society and the spiritual community; -the earthly Church and the Church endowed with heavenly riches.’...The Church is essentially both human and divine, visible but endowed with invisible realities, zealous in action and dedicated to contemplation, present in the word, but as a pilgrim, so constituted that in her the human is directed toward and subordinated to the divine, the visible to the invisible, action to contemplation, and this present world to that city yet to come, the object of our quest.’”

• SO POWERFUL!!

• SO REAL!!

• We live in this broken world

• Because of that the Church experiences wounds

• At the same time, we are made for ANOTHER WORLD

• The Church experiences the consolations and grace of being buoyed up, guided, directed, and filled by the power of the Holy Spirit at every single moment

• That’s the reality of our lives

• Sometimes it is difficult to be in this earthly reality

• That is where you and I have been called

• The Church is a human and earthly reality

• The Church is also a spiritual and divine reality

• The Church is where you and I have been called

• Fr. Mike is praying FOR YOU!!

• Please pray for Fr. Mike and for each other!!

• I cannot WAIT to see you tomorrow!!