Dear St. Philomena Parish Family,<\/p>\n
May the Lord\u2019s blessing be upon you all this day! This past week, Fr. Daniel was away for the Diocese of Peoria Young Clergy Days\u2014an annual weeklong gathering of all the \u201cyoung\u201d priests in our Diocese who have been ordained 10 years or less. Additionally, our seminarian Danny was away helping with the Emmaus Days Program. As the \u201cold\u201d guys in the house, Fr. Albert and I split the duties on the calendar and were able to enjoy a couple of visits together. This weekend we officially welcome Fr. Albert as our parochial vicar with a reception after the Saturday evening Mass (yesterday for those reading this on Sunday). I look forward to Fr. Albert settling in and am anticipating his unique contributions to our parish life. Already in a short time, he has been a good reminder to me of how our Church is universal\u2014it truly is an amazing thing to think about. What Jesus started with 12 guys whom He called apostles\u2026the Church is now found in all corners of the world.<\/p>\n
This reflection on the universal nature of the Church is a great lead in to our focus for this week from the Four Marks of the Creed\u2026a familiar word with a couple different (and important) meanings:\u00a0 \u201cThe Church is catholic.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jesus gives us a clue to the meaning of this word \u201ccatholic\u201d when he says, \u201cI have other sheep not of this fold; I must bring them also\u2026\u201d (John 10:16). \u201cCatholic\u201d was originally used by St. Ignatius of Antioch (+107 AD) in his letter to the Smyrneans in reference to the Christian Church. The word literally means \u201cuniversal\u201d and when you see catholic<\/em> lowercase (as it appears in the Creed) it carries this meaning. When you see Catholic<\/em> uppercase, it refers to the Roman Catholic Church and the Catholic Faith, as distinguished from other Christian communities and teachings. Practically, each particular church (Diocese and parish) is a realization of the universal Church. We are united together as a people who live a continuous tradition of faith and worship, and who hold to unbroken succession of popes, bishops, and priests since Christ chose the apostles and they in turn chose their successors.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s look a little more about how the Church is universal. One of my favorite passages about the universal nature of the Church comes from the Book of Malachi: \u201cFor from the rising of the sun, even to its setting, my name is great among the nations; And everywhere they bring sacrifice to my name, and a pure offering; For great is my name among the nations, says the LORD of hosts\u201d (Malachi 1:11). This passage, which is also on the sanctuary floor or our Cathedral, reminds us very practically that the Church literally stretches all over the earth, being present all around the world. If you think about the time zones, there is a Mass going on at any given moment. I don\u2019t know if it has been verified, but during the Eucharistic Revival travel someone told me that at any given time around the world there are 6,000-8,000 Masses going on at the same time. That \u201cconstant\u201d celebration of the Mass is a great gift, especially since the Mass unites us all together in Christ! That\u2019s how universal the Church really is\u2026we are all constantly being united together through the celebration of our Lord\u2019s Passion, Death, and Resurrection!<\/p>\n Aside from the practical, there are also some theological understandings of the word catholic<\/em>. Like our other marks of the Church, the Church is universal because of the presence of Jesus Christ in the Church and the mission from Christ to the whole human race. That is, the Church is Catholic because it is intended for all people and intended for all time. Christ came to save the whole world and established the Church as the way of continuing that ministry of salvation.<\/p>\n