By RAYMOND DE SOUZA, KM
Part 21
Unity in worship is a natural consequence of unity in faith, in belief. If we believe in certain things about God, we will worship Him in a way consistent with the beliefs we hold. Worship is the manifestation of our faith put into practice. The true members of Christ’s Church are one in faith. They must, therefore, be consistent and be one also in worship. Their unity of faith excludes the possibility of any disagreement among them as to the rites by which God is to be adored and man sanctified.
But unity of faith is the most important aspect of unity. It is the root of the other kinds of unity. From the very beginning of the Church, still under Roman persecution, all adult converts to Christianity believed first of all in Christ and His doctrine. Then they were baptized and called to worship God in the very same way the apostles did, or, after the death of the apostles, those who converted them did.
As the converts believed in the teachings of Christ they were bound to worship in the same way Christians did. They had no parish liturgical committees coming up with something new every other Sunday to make the parish worship more entertaining. They were bound to worship God in the manner prescribed by Jesus and to yield obedience to the superiors whom He had appointed for their guidance. So there was unity in worship among the early Christians, and, guided by the authentic authority of the Church, that unity has continued throughout the centuries.
In the Catholic Church you will find an amazing variety of beautiful traditional rites, stemming from the early days of Christianity and organically developed over the centuries. The Byzantine, Coptic, Armenian, Chaldean, Maronite, etc., etc., as well as the Latin, have enriched the worship of God in marvelous ways in various countries. The ceremonies vary, but the worship is the same.
Worship of God is aimed to imitate the thoughts and the ways of Jesus Christ. Therefore, holiness of life is a characteristic of the Church of Jesus Christ.
“Really?,” you may reply. “And what about the crisis in the faith today, the homosexual priests, child abusers, and so on? Is this a sign of ‘holiness’ in this Church of yours?”
Let us understand what it is meant by the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church. We have seen the oneness in belief and in government. Now the one in holiness.
First of all, the Church is holy in her Founder, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, God Incarnate, Son of the Blessed Virgin Mary. He is the Founder of the Church, the maker of her organization and all her works. He is her permanent Head, communicating life personally to the members through prayer and sacraments. Therefore, because of her Holy Founder, the Church of Christ is holy.
The Church is holy in her system of government, in her doctrine, in her worship, and in her purpose.
We say that the Church of Jesus Christ is holy in her doctrine. Let us elaborate a bit on this concept. It is true that many nonbelievers have admitted and admired the excellence of Christ’s moral precepts, as we have seen in a previous article. They did so merely from the natural point of view.
But Christ rose way above the low level of mere natural ethics and taught a far higher doctrine inspired by the mystery of the Incarnation. He was not content with the common natural virtues, such as truthfulness and honesty, which are practiced by many pagans.
No, He aimed far higher: He urged His followers to strive to attain the ideals of heroic virtue. And holiness is virtue practiced to a heroic degree.
He recommended to them profound reverence for God, leading to a childlike submission which would manifest itself in fraternal charity, meekness, humility, and self-denial in its various forms, for example, voluntary poverty, forgiveness, submission to persecution, self-sacrifice even unto death to testify to their faith or to relieve the sufferings and save the souls of others.
The Sermon on the Mount is a perfect manifesto for human living in holiness, peace, and order. Jesus summed it all up when He said, “You, therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matt. 5:48). Wow! That’s what you call to aim high big time! How can we, miserable human beings, come to be perfect as God is perfect? We know that Jesus cannot tell us to do something impossible. Therefore, we must understand it in its context: God is perfect according to His divine nature, and we are called to be perfect according to our human nature, filled with infirmities and needs. Jesus gave us His Church precisely to make us perfect . . . in Heaven.
The teaching on holiness was not an optional doctrine in His Church. He placed it with His other teachings in the custody of His Church: “Make disciples of all nations,” He said to the apostles, “teaching them to observe all I have commanded you” (Matt. 28:19-20). Therefore, the apostles and their successors were commanded to urge and help people to become holy, because Christ’s Church is holy.
Of course, Jesus never said that all the members of His Church, high and low, would necessarily be holy. The call was to holiness, but He did not remove our free will. So, we find that among the apostles, who had lived in intimate friendship with Him, there was a traitor. The very visible Head of the Church denied Him three times and the rest ran away when the going got tough. (Some smart aleck suggested that it was the first act of collegiality performed by Catholic bishops: They ran away together and left Jesus alone.)
Moreover, Christ compared His Kingdom (the Church) to a net that brings both kinds of fish, the good and the bad (Matt. 13:24-30), or to a field where the cockle grows among the wheat (Matt. 13:47-48).
The Sign Of Her Holiness
Still, because of His divine assistance, the Church of Christ, as a whole, will be at all times, remarkable for sanctity. She cannot fail in this object of her existence, and she must exhibit many instances of the realization of the highest ideals. Heroic sanctity must be manifested among her children in all ages. His Church is “the good tree” that “brings forth good fruit” (cf. Luke 6:43f.). She will bring forth the good fruit of virtue, for Christ, her Founder, who is God Himself, will always be with her.
He said: “These signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover” (Mark 16:17-18). “He who believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do” (John 14:12).
The saints, who believed in Him as He wanted them to believe, have performed miracles that prove ad nauseam the holiness of His Church. From Lourdes to the miracles required for canonization; from the incorrupt bodies to the liquefaction of martyrs’ blood; and finally, through the miraculous conversions of many nonbelievers — all have marked the history of Christ’s Church with the sign of her holiness.
Next article: The Church of Christ is universal, for everyone — Catholic.
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(Raymond de Souza is an EWTN program host; regional coordinator for Portuguese-speaking countries for Human Life International [HLI]; president of the Sacred Heart Institute, and a member of the Sovereign, Military, and Hospitaller Order of the Knights of Malta. His website is: www.RaymonddeSouza.com.)
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