“Faith of our Fathers! Holy Faith! We will be true to thee till death.” This hymn, written in honor of Catholics martyred during the time of Henry VIII in England, reminds us that we must continue to stand strong on the firm foundation of our Catholic faith, regardless of the evil that has infiltrated the Church.
This time in which we are living is indeed a time of unparalleled evil. And to see the Church, the Mystical Body of Christ, so infiltrated by evil can make us feel that the very ground under our feet has become shaky. This is all the more reason that it is so important in these times to realize that we are not on shaky ground at all – instead we are standing on a firm foundation within His Church – because our cornerstone is Jesus Christ!
No matter what evil comes against the Church, and no matter how overwhelming it seems to be, the Catholic Church will not fall. As the Catechism of the Catholic Church states: “The Church is both the means and the goal of God’s plan: prefigured in creation, prepared for in the Old Covenant, founded by the words and actions of Jesus Christ, fulfilled by his redeeming cross and his Resurrection…” (CCC #778). Therefore, even the gates of hell cannot prevail against her. She is One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic.
She is One because Christ instituted One Church as His means of bringing salvation to all people through all time. She is Holy because she is not merely some man-made institution or charitable organization; she was divinely instituted by God Himself to be our sure refuge and vessel to Heaven. She is Catholic because she is universal – meant for every person, everywhere, and for all time. And she is Apostolic because she was instituted by Christ and then handed on to the apostles (and later to the bishops, the successors of the apostles) as a visible sign of His continuing presence with us always (cf. Matthew 28:20).
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