Skip to main content

THE CHURCH AND HER MARKS

   INTRODUCTION 
 Catholics believe that there is one true Church which was established by Jesus Christ. This Church is a visible Church and contains the fullness of the Truth as promised by Christ, as the Bible clearly demonstrates. All other Christian Churches can have only partial truth at best.

There are 4 Marks to the Church.

  1. The Church Is One (Rom. 12:5, 1 Cor. 10:17, 12:13, CCC 813–822)

  2. The Church Is Holy (Eph. 5:25–27, Rev. 19:7–8, CCC 823–829)

  3. The Church Is Catholic (Matt. 28:19–20, Rev. 5:9–10, CCC 830–856)

  4. The Church Is Apostolic (Eph. 2:19–20, CCC 857–865)


Tertullian, c.l60 A.D. – c.220 A.D. 

Let them produce the original records of their churches; let them unfold the roll of their bishops, running down in due succession from the beginning in such a manner that [that first bishop of theirs] shall be able to show for his ordainer and predecessor some one of the apostles or of apostolic men,--a man, moreover, who continued steadfast with the apostles.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

THE SOLEMNITY OF THE MOST HOLY BODY AND BLOOD OF CHRIST, CORPUS CHRISTI (YEAR A)

1st Reading               Deuteronomy 8:2–3, 14b–16a Psalm                          147:12–15, 19–20 (R. v.12) R:// "Praise the Lord, Jerusalem" 2nd Reading             1 Corinthians 10:16–17 Gospel                         John 6:51–58 THE FOOD THAT BECOMES A HOME Friends, Pax et Bonum! Today is the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, Corpus Christi. Today is also the very first month of June. June, traditionally, is dedicated to devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.  Let us focus on the readings. We might expect the readings on this day to be full of rubrics about bread and wine, explicit instructions about the Eucharist, and clear explanations of what is happening on the Altar. However, the readings give us a hunger test in the desert in the first reading, a one-sentence argu...

11TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (YEAR A)

1st Reading                 Exodus 19: 2-6a Psalm                            100:1-2, 3, 5 (R. 3c) R:// "We are his people, the sheep of his flock"  2nd Reading              Romans 5: 6-11 Gospel                         Matthew 9:36-10:8 ALWAYS DISPENSE GRACE Friends, Peace and Goodness! Today is the 11th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A). As usual, we have three sets of readings. We shall focus on all three readings with one detail each from the three readings. The first reading is from Exodus 19:2-6a, the second reading is from Romans 5:6-11 and the Gospel passage is from Matthew 9:36-10:8. Let us dive quickly into them. The first reading, from Exodus 19: 2-6a situates Israel within the desert. Israel just left Egypt two months earlier. After the Red Sea incident, they entered th...

THE SOLEMNITY OF THE MOST HOLY TRINITY SUNDAY (YEAR A)

  1st Reading             Exodus 34:4-6, 8-9 Psalm                        Daniel 3:52, 53, 54, 55, 56 (R. 52b)   R:// "Glory and praise for ever!" 2nd Reading            2 Corinthians 13:11-13 Gospel                       John 3:16-18 TRUE GOD Friends, Pax et Bonum! Today is Holy Trinity Sunday. Today, we celebrate the Divine Community. However, when we open the Scriptures, the first reading, from Exodus 34: 4-6, 8-9, takes us back to Mount Sinai. There is a difficulty because the text of the first reading contains no formal language about the Three Persons in One God. It explicitly speaks about God's oneness. I want to suggest that there is a key to unlocking what is Trinitarian about today's first reading.  The text of the first reading looks relatively short but dense. Let us attempt to unpack...