St. Timothy and Titus

Beloved in Christ, one of the things taught in the Catechism about our Faith, is the 4 marks of the Church.

For any Church to be the True Church of Christ, it must have these four things. We say them in the Creed each Sunday: the Church is One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic.

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How is the Church catholic? The word ‘catholic’ means universal. In other words, the beliefs of the True Church must be the same everywhere. Japanese Catholics believe the same thing as Catholics in the Philippines and in Nebraska. And this universality of the Faith must be true, not just geographically, today, but – through time. So today’s Catholics believe the same thing that our great-grandparents, and Thomas Aquinas, and St. Agatha believed.

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The True Church of Christ is also ‘Holy.’ How is the Church holy? Well, Christ lives at the center of our Church – in the Holy Eucharist. This is holiness par excellence. Our Blessed Mother is the first member of the Church, and countless saints live in the Bosom of Mother Church. We still struggle here for holiness, but the Church triumphant in heaven, is very holy.

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How is the Church One? The Church is One, in that there is a unity among her. When I was in Greece, we met up with a group of Catholics from Korea and Singapore, and there was an immediate fraternal bond in Christ even though we did not speak the same language. We share in the same Sacrifice of the altar, the same sacraments, and we are under the vicar of Christ: the Pope.

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Finally, the True Church must be Apostolic. This means, that we have the Faith and the priesthood which have been passed down to us from the Apostles. We read of this today in the scriptures, on this Feast of Timothy and Titus. St. Paul says to Timothy, who is a bishop: stir up the grace that is in thee by the laying on of my hands (2 Tim 1:6) Do not lay hands hastily upon anyone. (1 Tim 5:22)

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St. Paul tells Titus, his other bishop, to appoint presbyters – that is, priests – in every city. So the Church of Christ must have Apostolic succession by the laying on of hands. Which we do. This is how the priesthood and the power of the sacraments is transmitted through the generations. We possesses all 4 marks of the True Church. One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic.