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"But
if I should be delayed, you should know how to behave in the household of God, which is the church
of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth." 1 Timothy
3:15
"If I Were Not a Catholic..."
by Archbishop Fulton J Sheen
"If I were not a Catholic, and were looking for the true Church in the world today, I
would look for the one Church which did not get along well with the world; in other words, I would look for the Church which
the world hated. My reason for doing this would be , that if Christ is in any one of the churches of the world today,
He must still be hated as He was when He was on earth in the flesh. If you would find Christ today, then find the Church
that does not get along with the world. Look for the Church that is hated by the world as Christ was hated by the world.
Look for the Church that is accused of being behind the times,as our Lord was accused of being ignorant and never having learned.
Look for the Church which men sneer at as socially inferior, as they sneered at our Lord because He came from Nazareth.
Look for the Church which is accused of having a devil, as our Lord was accused of being possessed by Beezlebub, the
Prince of Devils. Look for the Church which, in seasons of bigotry, men say must be destroyed in the name of God as
men crucified Christ and thought they had done a service to God. Look for the Church which the world rejects because
it claims it is infallible, as Pilate rejected Christ because He called Himself the Truth. Look for the Church which
is rejected by the world as our Lord was rejected by men. Look for the Church which, amid the confusions of conflicting
opinions, its members love as they love Christ, and respect its Voice as the very voice of its Founder, and the suspicion
will grow, that if the Church is unpopular with the spirit of the world, then it is unworldly, and if it is unworldly it is
other-worldly. Since it is other-worldly, it is infinitely loved and infinitely hated as was Christ Himself. But
only that which is Divine can be infinitely hated and infinitely loved. Therefore, the Church is Divine.
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If, before Jesus ascended into Heaven, He established
a Church, then He had to stamp this Church with some indelible marks in which we could tell which was His True Church.
He did; we call these the Marks of the Church and we profess our belief in them in the Nicene Creed: "We believe
in one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church". As the Catechism of the Catholic Church states: "The Church
does not possess them of herself, it is Christ who, through the Holy Spirit, makes His Church one, holy, catholic, and apostolic,
and it is He who calls her to realize each of these qualities." (CCC 811)
The Church is ONE!
(UNITY)
20 I pray not only for them, but also for those who will believe
in me through their word, 21 so that they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and
I in you, that they also may be in us, that the world may believe that you sent me. 22 And
I have given them the glory you gave me, so that they may be one, as we are one, 23
I in them and you in me, that they may be brought to perfection as one,
that the world may know that you sent me, and that you loved them even as you loved me. (John 17:20-23)
14 I am the good shepherd, and I know mine and mine know me,
15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I will lay down
my life for the sheep. 16 I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. These also I must
lead, and they will hear my voice, and there will be one flock, one shepherd. (John 10:14-16)
What an astonishing mystery! There is one Father of
the universe, one Logos of the universe, and also one Holy Spirit, everywhere one and the same; there is also one virgin become
mother, and I should like to call her "Church." (St Clement of Alexandria; died about the year 215)
"For though languages differ throughout the world, the content of the Tradition is
one and the same. The Churches established in Germany have no other faith or Tradition, nor do those of the Iberi nor those
of the Celts, nor those of the East, of Egypt, of Libya, nor those established at the centre of the world. . ."
--St. Iranaeus, Adversus haereses (A hearer of Polycarp, who was a disciple
of St John the Evangelist)
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The Church is ONE in Her founder - our Lord and Saviour, Jesus
Christ.
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The Church is ONE in Her head - the office and person of the pope.
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The Church is ONE in doctrine - Catholics all over the world believe
in the same articles of faith.
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The Church is ONE in Her public worship - the Seven Sacraments
and the Liturgy of the Mass are the same everywhere, only with variation in language and culture.
The Church is HOLY!
(Sanctity)
The Church is CATHOLIC!
The Church is APOSTOLIC!
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TOTUS TUUS
(Totally Yours, to Jesus through Mary)
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