Know About Our Catholic Church

Just to refresh our knowledge about the Church: The Apostles' Creed, Art. 9 proclaims: "I believe in....the Holy, Catholic Church, the communion of saints." Here we express our belief that Jesus Christ has founded only One True Church, the Holy Catholic Church. This means that all these Christian sects and denominations were not founded by Jesus Christ. Remember that they said that their particular group is the true church because all their teaching came directly from the Bible, yet all of them differ and contradict each other in matter of doctrines and practice.
Now to begin with, let us explained first what the word "church" mean as it is used in the New Testament ( we will not discuss here its etymological and formal meaning to spare space). We read in Eph.5:23 "For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the CHURCH, his BODY, of which he is the Savior." Also in Col. 1:18 "And he (Christ) is the head of the BODY, the CHURCH;...." Here we learned that the Church is the body of Christ and Christ himself is the head of this body. What kind of body is this? definitely the verse was not referring to the physical body of Christ. In 1 Cor. 12:12-13, 27 "The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. 13. For WE ARE ALL BAPTIZED by one Spirit INTO ONE BODY - whether Jews or Greeks, slaves or free - and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. 27 Now YOU ARE THE BODY OF CHRIST, and each one of you is a part of it." So the body of Christ refers to all the baptized believers and not to the physical body of Christ. Therefore, the Church is the body of Christ - a group of all baptized believers and a person can become a part of it through baptism. The Catholic Church defines Church as the Mystical Body of Christ - the union of all baptized persons united in one true faith and sharing the same sacraments under the authority of the Pope. What else do we know about the Church? Eph.4:4-5 "There is ONE BODY, and one Spirit -just as you were called to one hope - when you were called - 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism,;" So there is only one body, meaning there is only ONE CHURCH with one Lord, one faith and one baptism. It is very clear. This is in confirmation with the very words of Jesus Christ, Jn. 10:16 "I have other sheep that are not of this pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice and there shall be ONE FLOCK, and ONE SHEPHERD." Also Jn 17:16b "...Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name - the name you gave me - so that they may be ONE as we are ONE.". So there is only one body of Christ - ONE TRUE CHURCH!!! But what do we find nowadays hundreds of churches claiming to be of Christ but they were contradicting and hurting each others?- which of them belongs to Christ? Are all of them founded by Jesus Christ? Is Christ divided into many christian sects and denominations - remember that they were teaching different to each other - so if one of them is teaching the Truth then the rest are not. In our next sharing we will discuss about, "How are sure that among these hundreds of Christians churches, "the Catholic Church is the True Church founded by Jesus Christ!". Please feel free to share your comments, poems, original christian songs, questions and experiences. In this way we can help one another to strengthen our faith as we wait for the coming of the Lord. Thank you for your patience. God bless us all!!!