The Church then is not like a School board in which one ‘elects’ leaders, then petitions and lobbies for these leaders to change policy

Pentecost Sunday May27th 2012

Today we celebrate the birth of the Church. As we heard in our first reading, it is the day when the Holy Spirit came upon the apostles in the upper room, after they had spent the previous nine days in prayer with the Blessed Virgin Mary, spouse of the Holy Spirit. The coming of the Holy Spirit fulfills the promise of Christ to send the Holy Spirit to the Apostles in order to lead them into all truth; and after receiving the Spirit of truth, that they might go forth and draw all men to Christ with this same truth.

The Apostles on this day are actually empowered by the Holy Spirit, to use the divine authority given to them from Christ Himself when He breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained. This divine authority that Jesus gives to these twelve and consequently to their successors, the bishops, enables them to go forth and carry on Christ’s mission. It is very important then to remember that this mission of the Apostles is always carried out in and through the Church, which is the Mystical Body of Christ and the temple of the Holy Spirit.

A little while ago I reread an intriguing book entitled the “Ratzinger Report.” This book is a complete text of an interview with our current Holy Father, Pope Benedict, some 20 years ago when he was still Cardinal Ratzinger. In this interview Cardinal Ratzinger points out many of the roots to the crises that the Church was facing during the time of the interview. The Church however, faces the same crises today and Ratzinger has again pointed out these roots in two more interviews published since he has been pope.

In the “Ratzinger Report, the then Cardinal Ratzinger points out very clearly the true nature of the Church, as the Mystical Body of Christ and the temple of the Holy Spirit. He says in our day there is a great misunderstanding of the nature of the Church, and that many, while not purposely denying what the Church really is, have lost the authentic Catholic understanding of the reality of “Church.”

The then Cardinal explained that many no longer believe or understand that the Church is a divine institution willed by the Lord himself. Many see the Church as just a human institution, one created by humans. And as a result, if it is seen merely as an instrument created by us, then we ourselves think can freely change and organize it according to the current attitude and opinions of the day-In other words, according to the current polls, according to what we want.

In this mistaken notion of what the Church really is, the Church becomes solely our Church instead of Christ’s Church. And the cry becomes, “We are the Church!” Ultimately, this mistaken notion fails to realize that we are merely members of the Body, in which Jesus is the head. In other words, the Church is not our church in the sense of which we can dispose of Her as we please. She is, rather, God’s Church, Christ’s Church and we belong to Her by His Divine Mercy and Grace.

This error about the nature of the Church has many consequences. In his interview, Ratzinger says one of the most gravest of all consequences is the decline of the authentic concept of ‘obedience’ to the Leaders that Christ has placed in authority of His Church on earth and to whom He has promised the Holy Spirit in order to lead them into all truth. These leaders are the hierarchy, the successors of the apostles, the Pope and the bishops in union with Him. The Cardinal states that too many think of obedience to these leaders of the Church, not as a true Christian virtue, but see it instead as a leftover of an authoritarian, dogmatic past, hence something to be overcome, something to get out from under.

I think it is important to be clear here about the fact that the Pope, the bishops, the priests and all of the faithful must submit themselves to Christ and to His teachings. A Pope or Bishop or priest may not alter or change any of the teachings of Jesus given to the apostles and passed along in the unchanging teachings of the Church. When we read about scandals in the Church these days, when a Bishop or priest has been unfaithful, we must realize that their sins cannot alter the teachings of Christ nor the nature of the Church. Sin is sin no matter who commits them. Christ has placed His teaching authority above the personalities of man and beyond the changes in times and cultural traditions. The teachings of the Church are timeless because they are divine in origins- they come from God, and are needed in order for us to return to the God in heaven from Whom we came.

If the Church is in fact “our church,” if we alone are the church, if her structures are not willed by Christ, then it is no longer possible to conceive of the existence of a hierarchy as a service to the baptized established by the Lord Himself. Once the authority of this hierarchy, authority given by Christ and the Holy Spirit is denied, then the Church becomes merely a political structure in which the consensus of the majority of the members of the dictates policy and belief. But this could never be the nature of the true Church of which Jesus has promised the gates of hell will not prevail against.

In this interview as a cardinal and in recent interviews as the Supreme Pontiff, our Holy Father Benedict, rightly points out that the Church of Christ is not a political party, not an association, not a club. Her deep and permanent nature and structure is not democratic but hierarchical. And this hierarchy, made of bishops who share their power, Christ’s power, with priests, this hierarchy is provided to lift us up to union with God Himself by providing the members of the Church the life giving waters of the grace of the Holy Spirit through the Sacraments of the Church.

The sacraments, in other words, exist because of the hierarchy which gets its power through apostolic succession and the laying on of the hands. Here again, authority is not based on the majority of votes or the will of the people, but on the authority of Christ himself, with which He willed to pass on to men who were to be his representatives until his definitive return at the end of time. He literally gave them His own authority and power to preach the truth, to forgive sins, to change bread and wine into Jesus Himself, and to sanctify all men through power of the sacraments-and the sacraments are, of course, the essential way of encountering Jesus. So, far from this power and authority, being oppressive and restrictive, it actually provides us with the most intimate and personal encounters with Jesus that are possible, that of the encounter with Christ in the Sacraments, and especially in the Most Blessed Sacrament, which is Jesus Himself. If not for the Priesthood, a real encounter with Jesus in the Holy Eucharist through the power of the Holy Spirit would not be possible.

The Church then is not like a School board in which one ‘elects’ leaders, then petitions and lobbies for these leaders to change policy; and if these leaders don’t listen to the majority opinion they get “voted” out. The Church, while it has some of these visible human dimensions to it, transcends the merely visible elements of Her structure--at Her heart She is a divine institution created by Christ, which operates by the power of the Holy Spirit. The leaders of the Church, the spiritual fathers of the Church, the bishops and priests, are not “elected” into office but instead are called into office by their ordination into the priesthood of Jesus Christ; and they don’t preside, they aren’t presidents but rather personal representatives of Christ who operate in His stead in persona Christi et capitis—in the Person of Christ the Head. Hence they can only give the policy, the truth that they received from Christ himself, Who is the Head of the Church. If they give anything else they abuse their authority and damage is done to all the members, which make up the body of the Church; but their abuse of authority does not negate the legitimacy of their authority which comes from Christ.

All this being said then, when one watches the news networks or hears theologians or others which call for or hope that a new pope will change policy, will change church teaching, one quickly realizes how they haven’t a clue to the true nature of the True Church. These misguided individuals only see the Church as a political organization, instead of a divine organization will by God, One that is empowered by the Holy Spirit to lead all men to an intimate and personal encounter with the risen Christ and so to salvation.

The Church is our true Mother on earth, She is the Mystical Body on Church; Her Soul is the Holy Spirit Himself, Her Head is Christ and Her heart is the presence of His human nature in the Holy Eucharist. Her members, birthed by the womb of Her baptism become by the power of the Holy Spirit beloved Sons and Daughters of the almighty Father; they are sealed in this grace by the Holy Spirit through Confirmation in order to receive the power to live as such. By the same divine power of the Holy Spirit, they are fed and nourished by the Holy Eucharist the risen body and blood of Christ, cleansed by the sacrament of Confession, healed by the Anointing of the sick; they produce more beloved children for the Father through the Sacrament of marriage; and all the above is possible through the same Holy Spirit working through the Sacrament of Holy Orders.

How wonderful is Our Holy Mother Church! Let us through the Power of the Holy Spirit, love her and defend her, be obedient to her by being obedient to her hierarchy, pray for her and even lay down our life for Her, so that through Her maternal care we may be one with the Father through the Son in the unity and love of the Holy Spirit.

Come Holy Spirit; come by means of the powerful intercession of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Your well beloved spouse (x3). Amen.