Since we are both spiritual and corporeal creatures (CCC 362), God knew we needed a visible Savior to come into the world, so He sent us His beloved Son, Jesus.
Jesus Christ is therefore the visible personification of God (Col 1:15), the divine Person, the perfection of humanity.
The Bride of Christ
God also knew we needed a visible Church–one that we can trace all the way back to Christ Himself–the Catholic Church.
Sacred Scripture says the Church is the “Bride of Christ” (Rev 19:7) and the “New Jerusalem” (Gal 4:26).
Like Christ, this institution is also dualistic in nature, composed of both human and divine elements (CCC 771).
The fallen human elements should be fairly obvious on many different levels, from the spineless shepherd in the hierarchy, to the irreverent lay person in the pew.
Yet it is the invisible divine Person, the Holy Spirit, Who guides the Church, safeguarding it from error (in Her doctrines and dogmas), no matter how sinful its human members.
In case you haven’t noticed, the Catholic Church is also indestructible. Since Christ, men have tried and failed to take it down (from within and from without).
A false church
Doesn’t it makes perfect sense then, for the devil to inspire certain individuals to create a false church–an imitator with the same rites and rituals, yet without reference to the one, holy Sacrifice of Christ?
Blessed Fulton J. Sheen (1895-1979) prophesied that there would be a final deception before Christ’s Second Coming in the form of a copycat–what he called the “ape” of the Catholic Church–and that many will be deceived and follow it instead. In his book, Communism and the Conscience of the West, he writes:
Because his religion will be brotherhood of Man without the fatherhood of God, he will deceive even the elect. He will set up a counter church which will be the ape of the Church, because he, the Devil, is the ape of God. It will have all the notes and characteristics of the Church, but in reverse and emptied of its divine content. It will be a mystical body of the Antichrist that will in all externals resemble the mystical body of Christ. . . .
During his 1976 visit to the United States, Pope St. John Paul II referred to this counterfeit Church as the “anti-Church” that will look and sound like the Catholic Church but without Christ at its center.
It will instead have worldly ambitions with unclear undefinable phrases like: “synodality,” “universal brotherhood,” “social justice,” “dialogue,” “acceptance,” and “tolerance.”
Christianity without the Cross
This “anti-Church” will be Christianity without the Cross.
Confusion will be its fruits, and it will ignore the 5th, 6th, and 7th Commandments in the name of acceptance, while remaining silent on the exploitation and murder of the most vulnerable people.
It will focus solely on this world instead of shepherding us into the next.
The corporeal works of mercy (feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked, ransom the captive, harbor the harborless, visit the sick, and bury the dead) (Baltimore Catechism, no. 19, q. 819) will be emphasized while the spiritual works of mercy will be ignored. In case you are wondering, the spiritual works of mercy are as follows:
- admonish the sinner
- instruct the ignorant
- counsel the doubtful
- comfort the sorrowful
- bear wrongs patiently
- forgive all injuries
- pray for the living and the dead (Baltimore Catechism, no. 19, q. 813).
For instance, if certain churchmen only emphasize worldly peace and justice, the environment, or embracing immigration solutions while ignoring the Four Last Things (death, judgement, heaven, and hell), we get a pretty good idea whether they belong to the “Synodal Church” or the Catholic Church.
Not that it is bad to seek justice or take care of God’s world; but these should be the fruit of prayer and a means to an end–not an end to a means.
The purpose of God’s true Church is to make disciples of all nations (Mt 28: 19-20) by bringing the world to heaven–not heaven to the world.
The battle
And let’s face it: when we look inside ourselves we see a battleground (Psalm 13:4).
Since we are dualistic creatures, we live either for our spiritual selves to prepare for the next world (heaven) or gratuitously to satisfy our sensual (worldly) desires.
Like all things in this life, it is a struggle (Rom 7:21-23). Every day, we need God’s grace in our fight against our sins. And every night, we must ask ourselves: which part of me came out on top–my selfish inclinations, or my obedience and acceptance of the will of Christ?
No one is exempt from this “struggle of wills,” whatever our state in life.
And when there is no struggle at all, we know the devil is winning.
Jesus said we will know how we’re doing by the fruit we bear in our lives, (meaning the fruits of the Holy Spirit [CCC 1832]).
If I don’t know how I’m doing, this alone makes a great examination of conscience!
Proving ground
The world will never be our permanent home. It is instead our proving ground in the great celestial battle between good and evil. Every day we must choose which side we serve (1 John 2:15-17).
The human members of the Catholic Church should aspire to love God and become saints, not accept sin and befriend a world that refuses to turn to God.
Jesus made it clear that while we should take care of our bodies, we should be more concerned about our souls than our bodies, because it is the part of us that carries us into eternity (Mt 9:1-7).
Today, on this Feast of All Saints, it is a healthy reminder that all of heaven is watching, and their prayers aid us in our battles on our journeys back to God.
Deo gratias!
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us…”