(Beginning Today and continuing every Friday, Catholicismanew will present lessons from “The Church Complete” from Prof Felipe Aquino. These articles come to us from Prof Aquino in English. We hope you will enjoy our Friday lessons on the truth of the Roman Catholic Church in this powerful way of learning of the Church universal. Professor Aquino heads up Cleopas publishing in the city of Lorena, Sao Paulo state, Brazil and has graciously offered these articles for our English language readers of Catholicismanew.–ed.)
When He founded HIS Church. Jesus addressed Peter and told him: “…you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build MY church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16, 18). With these words, Jesus made it clear that the Church is HIS property. He only spoke of one Church, not of two or more.
In fact Church is, according to God’s Will, the very Own Body of the Lord. He wanted the Church to be His Mystical Body, constituted as the “universal Sacrament for the salvation of mankind” (LG, 48); as it is stated in the Vatican Council II; the Church is the means God chose to save everybody.
The Church is the extension of Jesus’ Incarnation among human beings, to create the great family of God’s Children inside Him. “The Church is the trajectory of the Christ through centuries.” Bossuet would rather say: The Church is Jesus Christ poured and communicated onto the whole earth.” All that can be said in brief with the words of a great priest of the first century, Saint Ignatius of Antioch BM (deceased on 107 AD):
“Catholic Church lies at the place where Jesus Christ is.”
Sin has dispersed mankind since its origin, it broke the union and communion between human beings and God, interrupted the beautiful plan of love that earth paradise shows us.
God the Father created human beings for Himself, so that we could be His family; our destiny was to live in intimate communion with Him and enjoy His Blissful life. Sin – the saddest reality of all – broke up this beautiful Plan of love and “scattered” God’s children, tore His family apart and wounded God Himself. The Father thus wanted to rebuild His creation through Jesus and the Church, bringing His children back to Communion with Him. In this sense, the Official Catechism of Catholic Church estates:
“The gathering together of the Church is, as it were, God’s reaction to the chaos provoked by sin” (CCC 761).
The Catholic Church is the only one founded by Jesus Christ two thousand years ago and She has never ceased to be. There is no other institution on earth so old and so new at the same time, capable of overcoming all the persecution She has been suffering since the times of the Roman Empire. At present we have a Pope, who is the 264th Pope departing from Saint Peter. Which Institution would be capable of that? Only a divine Institution, founded by the Lord Himself.
Professor Felipe Aquino
Professor Felipe Aquino is a widower, father of five children. On TV Canção Nova he presents the program “Escola da Fé” [School of faith] and “Pergunte e Responderemos” [Ask and respond], on Radio he presents the program “in the heart of the Church”. On weekends he preaches deepening meetings throughout Brazil and abroad. He wrote 73 books of Catholic background by publishers, Loyola and Cleopas and Canção Nova. His teacher’s page:www.cleofas.com.br Twitter: @pfelipeaquino