The supernatural Church

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.