By Paul Dion, STL
Brothers and sisters, it is a catechetical teaching that there are four marks of the true Church. These marks are rather easy to memorize because they are contained word for word in the Apostles' Creed. That's your clue.
You may already know them off the top of your head, but you may not know what the deep significance of each one is.
The question is, "What are the four marks of the True Church?"
The challenge is, take a guess at what the one(s) that you don't quite get are really meant to signify. Is one of them that the true Church has always kept Latin as the sole and unique language of its public liturgy, i.e., the Mass?
Share your thoughts with us. Post a comment.
The four marks of a true church are:
ReplyDeleteOne
Holy
Catholic (Universal)
Apostolic
One- "Let them be one, as we are one"
ReplyDeleteHoly- "without spot or wrinkle"
Catholic- "Upon this rock, I will build my church... go therefore and teach all nations"
Apostolic- "And they gave them lot, and the lot fell upon Matthias, and he was numbered with the eleven apostles"
... The Latin issue is very sensitive. It is not essential in the formula of "unity". However, when Latin was the standard for all places in the Latin rite, a person could go anywhere in the world, and worship comfortably in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass... except for the sermon of course. Nowadays, I have a hard time finding a church and time which fits my schedule. Sad to say, but I went to a Spanish Mass out of necessity, and I knew where I was in the Mass better than most of the folks attending. Many did not know when to sit, stand or kneel (It was a small crowd of 25, so it is not in any way representative of the whole). We need catechesis in our churches, not just sermons on love...
-Laurence