Hello By My Side Friends,
Welcome to MJ’s August 2024 By My Side post. It’s been an amazing summer filled with lots of special visits at the lake from my husband Lynn, our kids, and wonderful grandchildren. We have also enjoyed the summer games in Paris watching as the different athletes from all the countries competed on the world stage.
It felt like the world stopped in time to show its support and the good-hearted competitive nature among the nations. It was a refreshing change from the constant news of war, political strife, and election leadership division that has been frequently reported.
Circling this back to the topic of division within Christianity, today I thought I would touch briefly upon the difference between the many different denominations of Christianity and our Catholic Church. Matthew Kelly says there are 45,000 different denominations of Christianity in the world today. That seems like a lot to me. What is the one thing that makes the Catholic Church unique? Well, there are actually many things that make the Catholic Church unique.
The principal differentiator between the Catholic Church and the churches on every other street corner is the Eucharist. Jesus Christ, the Lord of Lords, is truly present — Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity — in the Eucharist. He is the difference.
As Catholics, we believe that during the Act of Consecration in the Eucharist at Mass, the substance of the bread and wine is changed by the power of the Holy Spirit through the priest’s words into the actual body and blood of Jesus Christ. Jesus’ proclamation at the Last Supper that the bread and wine were His body and blood must be taken literally since God is truth. The physical appearance of the bread and wine does not change, but the inner nature changes to become the body and blood of Christ. This change is called the Transubstantiation. Many miracles have been reported over the years that support this mystical truth.
What is Jesus’ main desire for each and every one of us? It’s that we develop an intimate personal relationship with Him through daily prayer. Transforming people one at a time is at the heart of God’s plan for the world. It’s the key to solving the problems we face as a church, as a society, as a country. God doesn’t transform parishes, businesses, schools, or countries. God transforms people, our hearts, one at a time. He then collaborates with those He’s transformed to continue the process.
The outcome of these individual transformations is that marriages, family relationships, parishes, businesses, communities, schools, and countries are transformed. Our God is a deeply personal God, and He takes a deep personal interest in each and every person. What better way to renew and replenish our inner intimacy with God than to receive Him daily or weekly at Sunday Mass in the Eucharist.
The Seven Sacraments of the Catholic Church are not what we do for God as much as they are what God does for us by putting them in place in the Catholic Church. They are there to accompany us along our lives at different intervals, to hold us accountable when we sin, to strengthen us, to reset our core morals, values, and priorities according to God’s word within the Bible, to work on virtuous habits, and to respect and honor His 10 Commandments.
He offers us a chance to admit our wrongdoings through the humble virtue of humility in the Sacrament of Penance (Confession), repentance, contrition, forgiveness, reconciliation, and healing. Jesus says, “These people are human; they will sin. I’ve got to give them an outlet to let them get things off their chest and to try harder and do better.” God is the ultimate psychologist when He created the Sacrament of Confession. His love and mercy for us are so generous. He always forgives but expects us to forgive each other as well if we expect Him to forgive us our sins.
Confessing to another person, a priest, who can only forgive sins through the power of the Holy Spirit, shows our willingness to Jesus to make the effort to go and assures us that our sins are truly forgiven through the priest’s words of absolution. When we confess to Jesus privately in prayer, we hope our sins are forgiven, but when we hear the Words of Absolution in Confession by a priest, we are assured of our sins being forgiven by Jesus. Weights and freedom are lifted off people daily who regularly practice this sacrament.
Remember, priests are human; they sin as well and go to confession regularly. Jesus loves sinners and came to free them as well. I often feel bad for people who decide to leave the Catholic Church due to the scandals of priests. I feel it’s shortsighted of them. Why would I leave the church that Jesus founded, with its richness and support, just because some people don’t know what it means to be a priest or live the way Jesus intended them to live? Remember, for every one priest that the media highlights in a scandal, there are thousands of priests throughout the world living in the authenticity of Jesus’ teachings as they minister to people within their Catholic communities and beyond.
In The Sacrament of Confirmation, the baptized person is “sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit” and is strengthened for service to the world. The Holy Spirit comes into our lives in confirmation to console us, advocate for us, and guide us according to Jesus’ will for us. The Holy Spirit provides us with inner strength, perseverance, clarity, self-control, self-discipline, and motivation when we need it. He provides Jesus’ wisdom, guidance, joy, and great inner peace when we talk to Jesus and the Holy Spirit in prayer about all that is going on in our hearts and minds.
In the Sacrament of Holy Communion, we encounter Christ sacramentally when we receive Jesus into our bodies, and then we are more completely assimilated into Him. This is rekindled each week through Sunday or daily Mass when we receive Holy Communion.
Jesus accompanies us in the Sacrament of Marriage and promises to stay with and guide a couple through married life. It is way more difficult to navigate marriage without our Lord’s advice and wisdom when the struggles and temptations occur within a marriage. Jesus can change disordered thoughts and help bring loving passion back into marriages when couples pray to Him.
Baptism, Anointing of the Sick, and Holy Orders are the other three special sacraments Jesus offers us in His Catholic Church.
When I witnessed the camaraderie of the athletes competing and congratulating each other from all over the world these past couple of weeks, I felt joy, inner peace, and a glimpse of God’s inner workings in people. In their authentic spirit of competitiveness and the sincere joy they expressed for each other’s successes, I see the Spirit of God working one person at a time among people in this crazy world today.
Enjoy this little “food for thought” over the rest of your summer.
Love always,
MJ xo.
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