The Sunday Sermon Archive

Dear Friend,

Christ performed miracles not so much for the temporal welfare of men, but for their eternal salvation. His miracles were intended to give us convincing proof that He is the Son of God, and that as such He is worthy of belief. Everyone that is of good will is convinced of the Divinity of Christ.

Miracles are no longer necessary because the Catholic Faith has been spread over the face of the earth. And this true Faith has already been confirmed by God with so many miracles that one must be blind to doubt its truth and divinity. But the question is: "What is the ordinary way by which men can come to the faith?

Many non-Catholics wrongly think that we must find the truths of faith from Holy Scripture only.

The Sacred Scripture was never the way by which men arrived at the true faith. For about two thousand five hundred years (until the time of Moses) there was no Sacred Scripture. All the truths that God had given us were related to us orally. But even after Moses we find that the Pentateuch does not contain all that God has given us to believe. The Pentateuch gives us but a faint indication of the immortality of the soul and of reward and punishment after death; yet the Israelites from the beginning believed these fundamental truths of religion. There has always been a teaching body established by God to preserve the faith. Christ says: "The Scribes and the Pharisees have sitten on the chair of Moses. All things, therefore, whatsoever they shall say to you, observe and do."

Christ, Himself, always taught orally. He did not tell His Apostles to write down His doctrine and to give their writings to the Jews and Gentiles for their conversion; but He commanded them to announce the gospel orally; "Going, therefore, teach ye all nations; baptizing them ... teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you." The Apostles did this; they dispersed all over the world and preached the gospel. There were already many thousands of Christians before the Apostles and disciples had written a syllable. They afterwards, indeed, wrote the four gospels and several epistles, but it was by no means their intention that henceforth the truths of the faith should be exclusively drawn from these sources. The supposition that it was their intention, is contradicted by the fact that they everywhere appointed bishops and priests and committed to them the office of teaching.

The reason why some of the Apostles and their disciples wrote was owing to the particular circumstances of certain congregations. Errors arose here and there, dissensions in matters of faith and morals occurred, and the Apostles and their disciples wished to rectify them; therefore they wrote gospels and epistles, because they could not appear personally. We can ascertain the true faith only from the Church, whose teaching is infallible. No Christian denies that Christ established a Church, for during His public life upon earth He established a society of men who received His holy doctrine with a believing heart, lived according to His rules and used His means of grace for the attainment of eternal salvation.

The infallible teaching authority established by Christ in His Church has existed without interruption until now, and will so exist to the end of time. This infallible teaching authority is found only in the Catholic Church, for the promises of Christ , that He and the Holy Ghost would abide with Her for ever, and teach her all truths, refer to Her alone; because She alone is the Church established by Christ.

Christ has given His Church a visible head in the succession of true popes. He has appointed bishops to succeed the Apostles and priest to succeed the seventy two disciples. That spiritual power we have in the Church to this day. We can prove that these spiritual superiors have immediate succession from those whom Christ appointed and from them have received their commission.

We need not seek and search in order to find the true faith; all we need do is to go to the Catholic Church; for in Her is infallibility in teaching, because She is the Church established by Christ. Let us give thanks to God from our hearts that we belong to the Catholic Church, and let us stand firm by our holy faith, like the many millions who have poured out their life's blood for it. But let us also live according to its precepts, leading a blameless, pious life, that we may so shine before those who are not of the faith, that by the light of our good example we may be deemed worthy to associate with all the saints in heaven and there receive the crown of eternal glory.

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