I think in the life of the Church today we have lost a real
appreciation for the supernatural nature of the Church. We think the Church is just another
institution. The Church is liberal some
say, while other say it is conservative, believing it can be classified by
those terms. Many think it is just as
good or bad as any other religion. Catholics
are just like everybody else, many of us think and act. We have done a great of preaching, believing,
and living the message that there is nothing objectively superior or better
about Catholicism to other religions, and to the whole natural world. The fact is many today see the Church as a
purely human, and dare we say, political institution. Even if people acknowledge the work or hand
of God in the Church, they would think of God sort of like they see God as the
creator of the world, and that is, God is who wound the clock, and then
released it, and now really has nothing to do with it. Yes, we pray to God as a Church, but that is
it for God’s involvement in the Church now.
The climate of the world we live in does have something to
do with this. In the world today,
equality is everything. Everyone is equal,
all values are equal, and all belief systems are equal. There is no hierarchy of values. There is no moral superiority. The attitude of the world has creeped into
the Church to such a degree that the lives and beliefs of modern Catholics are
often indistinguishable from those outside the Church.
However, it is not entirely the fault of the world. Catholics have all the graces necessary to
resist the temptations of the world, which include the temptation to moral and
theological relativism. However, many of us have failed to utilize
them, and we have become, as I said, indistinguishable from everyone else. I cannot say for sure if it is because we
have fallen that the supernatural nature of the Church
has lost its visibility, or if it because of the loss of the supernatural
sense that we have fallen. I am not
sure which came first. However, I am
convinced, regardless of which happened first, they both have. We have become like everyone else, and the supernatural
nature of the Church, which includes both her supernatural nature, and
her supernatural mission, have been pushed off our radar screen.
So, how can we get it back?
How do we regain this sense of the supernatural in the life of the
Church, which will strengthen our witness as Catholics, and lead many to
rediscover and live out their Catholic identity, or convert to the Catholic
Faith if they have never been Catholic before?
Well, we have to start off by realizing what is indeed supernatural
about the Church. Here are some things.
1)
Unlike any other institution, the
Church was founded by God. Jesus
Christ is the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity. He is the Incarnate Word of God. As John said, “In the beginning was the Word, and
the Word was with God, and the word was God.” (John 1:1) No other church, no country, no school, no
government, no military can say they were founded by God. Only the Catholic Church can.
2) The
Church teaches that there are things about God that cannot be known by human
reason alone, and only by supernatural revelation. There are natural ways of coming to know God,
and the Church acknowledges that. We can come to know God by looking within ourselves
and the world around us (see my post, “Coming to know God” June 7, 2016). However, the Church teaches that there is
another order of truths that we could never arrive at on our own. These supernatural truths are revealed
through what is known as Divine Revelation (see my post “Divine Revelation” on
June 11, 2016.) In Revelation, God
reveals himself as Trinity; Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He reveals that he desires to adopt us into
the blessed inner life of the Trinity, and thus become part of the family of
God.
3) The central
message and mission of the Church is salvation through Jesus Christ, which is
the free, unmerited grace of God, a supernatural gift. Our Lord Jesus Christ, by His death
on the Cross, and Resurrection has saved us from our own death. The Church’s kerygma is we are saved by
grace, through faith, from hell, for heaven.
There is no human way possible we can earn our salvation. This
core message of the Church is that salvation is a gift from God, which indeed is supernatural.
4) The
Church’s moral teaching is demanding, and is impossible to live by human effort
alone. Therefore, there has to be something supernatural about it. No other institution out there has
such a strict moral code as does the Catholic Church. It is
only because the Church realizes she has supernatural graces to help her
members live out Christian life to the fullest that she can continue to preach
such a demanding moral message. It is
amazing that even as so many of us have failed to live this moral code , often
failing as our current President would say, “bigly”, that she continues to hold
this moral standard up. Many other
churches, especially when it comes to sexual matters, have caved in on their
teaching, in part because they do not have the supernatural graces that the
Catholic Church does. Only the Catholic
Church has kept the full moral teaching of the 2000 plus year Christian
tradition.
5) The
basic central shared experience of Catholics, Sunday Mass, is supernatural
because the bread and wine become the Body and Blood of Christ. Bread and wine becomes body and blood. That is definitely not natural, that is
supernatural. That is something only God
can make happen, and he does, through his priests. It is
a shame so many Catholics do not believe in the Real Presence. This is a miracle that occurs on Catholic
altars every day, and is happening throughout the world as I type this, and as
you read this.
6) Mortal
men have the power to absolve sin in the Church, which is a supernatural power. Think of what a priest says in that precious
moment that means so much to so many of us.
He does not say, “God absolves you from your sin.” No, he says, “I absolve you.” This is either the height of arrogance or
blasphemy for someone to say, or it is a sign of the supernatural. Priests are given this power by Christ.
7) The
Church doesn’t teach just natural virtue, it teaches supernatural virtue. Like good families, and other noble
institutions, the Church teaches goods values.
It teaches men and women to be good, and act well. It teaches prudence, temperance, justice, and
fortitude. However,
it does not stop there. It goes
beyond natural virtue, and teaches what she calls the theological virtues
(which we have also discussed in previous blog posts.) These are the virtues of faith, hope, and
love. They are supernatural in the sense
that they originate from God, they have God as their motive, and God as their
object. In faith, we believe in God and in all that he
has revealed in the aforementioned supernatural Divine Revelation. In hope, we desire eternal life, and the supernatural
graces necessary to obtain it. In
charity, we love God above all things,
and love our neighbor as ourselves. Loving God above all, and loving others as
much as we love ourselves, we must admit, requires something supernatural!
I am sure some of you could come
up with your own further evidence of the supernatural
nature of the Church. Maybe the fact
that it has been around, and survived so long could be another proof. Maybe the fact that many men and women in the Church are
able to live chaste, happy lives as professed celibates is another. (There are
those of you reading this that are doing this, and I salute you for being open
to the grace of God!) And who could
forget the Blessed Mother, the Mother of the Church, who received the supernatural
grace of being immaculately conceived!
We must learn to treasure, to
announce, and above all, to live supernatural lives, so as to win the world for
Christ and His Church. There is a human
element to the Church, and we live with, and in that reality. We can experience some pleasure, good humor,
and even brotherly and sisterly love because of that. However, let us not allow that to become so
consuming, for good or bad, that we lose sight of the supernatural in the
Church; her supernatural founding, her supernatural message mission, and moral
teaching, and her supernatural Sacraments and Priesthood. Let’s rediscover the radiant beauty of the
supernatural Church, and in doing so, make the world shine for the glory of
God!
Saint Joseph, a mortal, natural
man who received supernatural graces to become the Foster Father of the Son of
God, and Patron of the Universal Church, pray for us.
