One Faith, One Church

Our readings for this weekend give us a wonderful opportunity: to see that the Church of today is no different from the early Church. 

I’d like to look at just three things from these readings that remind us that Jesus’ Church hasn’t changed.

The first thing I would like to look at is the fact that the world is hostile to the Church. We live in an age that’s referred to as “post-Christendom” because until a few years ago at least the world understood that there was meaning to Judeo-Christian morals. That has gone by the wayside and the Church today is standing where the apostles stood: before the Sanhedrin, being told, “whatever you do, don’t talk about Jesus.” If you doubt this, look at some of the laws from places like England, Canada, the rest of Europe, where sometimes you can’t even read the Gospel without it being considered hate speech. The Church, as it did in the early days, exists in a hostile environment. In the 20th century, there were more martyrs to the Faith than in the other 19 centuries combined. And it hasn’t slowed down in the 21st. The Church exists in a hostile world. Remember Jesus’ warning to St. Peter: “Amen, amen, I say to you, when you were younger, you used to dress yourself and go where you wanted, but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands and someone else will dress you and lead you where you did not want to go.” The question for us is, how will we respond when we’re faced with that decision? 

The second point I wanted to look at, at the similarity between the early Church and the Church of today, is the idea of repentance. In our Gospel reading, we had this beautiful story of Peter standing before Jesus at that charcoal fire at the Sea of Tiberius, and three times, our Lord asks him, “Peter, do you love Me?” And of course, the image we’re supposed to have in our minds when we read those words is another charcoal fire in another place, when Peter stood at that charcoal fire and denied Jesus three times vehemently, cursing the last time: “No, I do not know that man!” And so, in a divine sense of balance, Jesus gives Peter the opportunity to make up for those three times, and He asks him, “Do you love Me?” It is a reminder that Jesus has always told us that we will be forgiven to the extent that we forgive others. Jesus gives Peter the opportunity to be forgiven to the same extent that Peter betrayed Jesus. But be mindful of the fact that when Jesus told the disciples they needed to forgive, the question was, “How many times? Seven times?” And the answer was, “No, not seven times, but seventy times seven times.” Because that’s how many times God will forgive us. I’ve always thought that we need to stop looking at the confessional just as a means of repentance. Because every time we step into that confessional back there, we encounter Jesus at our own charcoal fire, and He asks us exactly the same question: “DO YOU LOVE ME?” That’s what confession is all about - Jesus asking, “Do you love Me?” And our response is as important as St. Peter’s at that charcoal fire in Tiberius: “Yes, Lord, I love you.” The Church is exactly the same as it has been for 2,000 years, and Jesus stands at that charcoal fire waiting for us to come to Him so He can ask us, “Do you love Me?” 

The third point I wanted to point out from our readings that remind us of how similar our Church is to the Church of the early years is that of worship. “When I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, everything in the universe cry out, ‘To the one who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor, glory and might forever and ever!’ the four living creatures answered, ‘Amen!’ and the elders fell down and worshiped.” If you had the opportunity to be here for the Triduum, on Good Friday you would’ve seen Father and the deacons silently process into this church and fall prostrate in front of this altar. The Church is fulfilling what it says in the book of Revelation at the Easter Triduum. But the worship doesn’t end there; Holy Thursday, the church is filled with the smoke of incense, the bells ringing at the Gloria, and all of us kneeling in front of the Eucharist after the procession, worshipping our God. Scott Hahn, in his book The Lamb’s Supper, makes the case that the entire book of Revelation needs to be read in light of the Mass, that what it tells us is what the Mass is intended to be. We had our confirmation retreat this weekend, and I told our young people that far too often, I have people come up to me and tell me, “I get nothing out of Mass.” And I told them, “If you get nothing out of Mass, you’re there for the wrong reason.” Mass is there for us to worship God, and if we come into Mass to worship God, we will get everything out of Mass. But we must be there for the right reason. And if you want to find out what that reason is, just read the book of Revelation; we are there to worship our God with every fiber of our being. In our first reading, we are witnesses of these things, as is the Holy Spirit, who God has given to those who obey Him. 

The early Church and the Church of today is one Church. It has not changed in 2,000 years because it will not change, it cannot change. Because it’s not our Church; it’s God’s Church. We recognize the fact that we are called to worship our Lord at Mass, that we are called to that charcoal fire to respond, “yes, Lord, I love you” to the question “do you love Me?” We recognize the fact that we live in a hostile world and yet we must never stop talking about Jesus (because the Church hasn’t in 2,000 years), and that the only thing that matters is that we, as the Church of God, talk about Jesus.

And Jesus, I trust in you. Amen.