4th Sunday after Epiphany 3.2.19 The Church
The Church is sometimes called the Barque of Peter, a boat
sailing in turbulent waters; as in today’s Gospel, where the boat does not sink
because Our Lord is in it.
And so He is always ‘in’ the Church. No matter how many
enemies she has Our Lord protects the Church from all that would harm her.
There are external persecutions -whether it be Jews, Romans,
Barbarians, Muslims, Protestants, Nazis, Communists, Secularists, Satanists –
all of these have wanted to finish the Church, but have not succeeded.
Certainly, God does allow persecutions - to keep us fighting
fit; but He will not let the Church be wiped out.
Then there are internal troubles, such as division, caused
by different beliefs, heresies, schisms, and just plain old sin.
With so many difficulties people raise the question: is
there any need for the Church. Can we not just do business with Jesus Himself
and leave the Church to sink?
It is certainly the Master’s wish that there be a Church, as
He has been to so much trouble to establish and protect her.
For one thing, the Church is a necessary communion of disciples.
The epistle today calls us to charity, as do so many places in the New
Testament.
The Church is the Body of Christ, and must be One. If we are
seeking union with Him we must all converge on Him. We do not have to be identical
on all points, but must agree on the main ones.
There is also the point that just as with a human body all
the parts need each other. No one has all the gifts, or enough to get by alone
(cf 1 Cor 12,14-27).
The Church is in one way the end purpose of Christ’s coming.
He forms us into one body, by which time we will have discovered perfect
charity, which is the final state we need to reach.
In another way the Church is a working body; she has a job to
do, and that is to baptize all nations. Ideally all people would belong to the
Church. Why not, when they were all created by God, and saved by His Cross?
So we can never close down the Church, nor leave her.
These days we spend a lot of time apologizing for sins and
scandals. It is necessary to recognise these things and deal with them.
But here again it is no solution to close down or abandon
ship. In the face of sin all the more must we be holy.
Our confidence is in Christ not ourselves.
We say, Save us Lord we are going down or, we would be going
down if we take our eyes off You (cf Mt 8,25).
And He hears us. He keeps supplying us with the necessary
grace, and redirecting us.
It takes a lot of maintenance, but the help is always there,
on request.
We pray constantly for the Church and everyone in her, that
we be kept afloat, and steered in the right direction.
We do stay afloat because Our Lord is in the boat with us.
He is the Head of His own body. He protects us from sinking, from external
threats, and internal chaos, especially from sin, which is the greatest enemy.
We will not sink if we keep our eyes fixed on Him, cf Peter
walking on water (Mt 14,22-23).
We discover our own role in all this, maintaining both
personal holiness, and a true sense of what the Church is, and attempting to
do.
We are rarely completely comfortable, because to use another
image, the Church is on a pilgrimage, and that involves many sufferings; but
the hope of reaching a better land sustains us.
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