Holy Mother Church: Mediatrix of Grace

The necessity of the Church as the means through which Jesus bestows His graces to save mankind was prefigured in the Old Testament in the vision of Ezekiel

Written by Fr. Sean Sheehy for Catholic Unscripted

The Church: A Different Kind of Building

The Roman Catholic Church throughout the world annually commemorates the dedication of St. John Lateran Church in Rome on this day. It is the diocesan cathedral of the Bishop of Rome who is the Pope of the universal Church which Jesus founded on Peter in communion with the other Apostles. It was dedicated by Pope Sylvester in 324 A.D. Its official title is “The Archbasilica of the Most Holy Saviour and Saints John the Baptist and John the Evangelist at the Lateran.” It is known as “The Mother of all churches,” the oldest Church building in the history of Christianity. Its dedication marked the legitimisation of Christianity by the Roman Emperor, Constantine, in the Edict of Milan in 313 A.D.

Why commemorate a building?

The dictionary defines the word ‘building’ as the act of constructing or erecting something. A building, then, is a structure. In commemorating a building the Church is reflecting on herself as a particular visible structure whose purpose is the continuation of the Good News of Jesus Christ that He came to save mankind from sin. The form of a building or a structure is determined by its purpose. In commemorating the dedication of the Church of St. John Lateran, Catholics are reflecting on Jesus and His Church in which He is sacramentally present to all who freely choose to believe in Him as the only Way to Heaven, the only Truth about who God is and what human beings need, the only Life that enjoys and happy eternity.

Jesus and His Church are One

Jesus made faith in Him and in His Church synonymous. We can’t truly believe in Jesus without believing in His Church and neither can we believe in His Church without believing in Him. Jesus founded His Church on Peter (Mt 16:18) to whom He gave the keys to God’s Kingdom with the authority to make laws or to dispense from laws (Mt 16:19) along with the power to forgive or deny forgiveness of sin (Jn 20:23). To highlight the unity between Himself and His Church Jesus revealed to Peter, “He who hears you hears me. He who rejects you rejects me. And he who rejects me rejects Him who sent me” (Lk 10:16). Jesus warned that, “Whoever acknowledges me before men I will acknowledge before my Father in Heaven. Whoever disowns me before men, I will disown before my Father in Heaven” (Mt 10:33). The Church is the structure wherein all people are given the opportunity to both privately and publicly acknowledge Jesus before the world. It is within the structure of the Church that Jesus provides believers with the necessary graces to resist the temptation to deny Him before others especially when disordered desires enter our mind.

The Physical and Spiritual Building

The Church founded by Jesus isn’t a material building, although the material building visibly symbolises the presence of His Church. The Holy Spirit inspired St. Paul to reveal that the Church is the People of God. “Brothers and sisters, you are God’s building… Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person; for the temple of God, which you are, is holy.” He also tells us that the Church’s only foundation is Jesus Christ. “No one can lay a foundation other that the one that there is, namely Jesus Christ” (1 Cor 3:9-17). Jesus emphasized the intimate relationship with His Church when He described the relationship as that between a bridegroom and his bride. God revealed through Isaiah, “As a young man marries a young woman, so will your Builder marry you; as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so will your God rejoice over you” (Is 62:5). Through St. Paul, the Holy Spirit declared Jesus’ intimate relationship with His Church as the standard for husbands in loving their wives. “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the Church and gave Himself up for her” (Eph 5:25).

Graces Flow Through the Church

The necessity of the Church as the means through which Jesus bestows His graces to save mankind was prefigured in the Old Testament in the vision of Ezekiel (47:1-2, 8-9, 12). God showed Ezekiel the Temple from which water flowed out of the sanctuary into the sea and made the saltwater fresh, enabling all living creatures to multiply and all plants and trees to be fruitful providing food and medicine. This is an image of the Church from which God’s graces flow to refresh mankind with the grace of repentance and the gift of forgiveness. This image was reinforced by the Psalmist (46:2-9): “There is a stream whose runlets gladden the city of God, the holy dwelling of the Most High. God in the midst; it shall not be disturbed …” Jesus assured His Church that she would continue until the end of the world and would be unconquerable. Before He ascended into Heaven Jesus commissioned His Apostles to “Teach them (all men and women) to carry out everything I have commanded you” (Mt 28:20a). Then He promised Peter and the other Apostles, and through them, His Church: “And know that I am with you always, until the end of the world!” (My 28:20b). As the Bridegroom, Jesus promises to never abandon His Bride, His Church. Because the members of the Church constitute the Bride of Christ He will never abandon them

When Jesus saw the Temple in Jerusalem being used as a market selling birds and animals, even though they were used for offering sacrifices to God, He became angry and shouted, “Take these out of here and stop making my Father’s house a marketplace” (Jn 2:13-22). Why? Because the Temple, which was designated as a holy place for worshipping God had now become a place for making money. He quoted Ps 69:10: “Because zeal for your house consumes me, and the insults of those who blaspheme You fall upon me.” The Temple prefigured the Church founded by Jesus. Jesus is zealous for His Church because He made her a necessary means through which He offered salvation to mankind. Zeal for Jesus is impossible without being zealous for His Church. Why?

Essential for Salvation

The Church is essential for salvation simply because Jesus founded her as the visible body on earth through which He would continue His saving mission received from His Father. The Church is the visible sign of the Kingdom Jesus established on earth. In the Name of Jesus, her bead, the Church, as His body, announces to all generations that, “This is the time of fulfilment. The Kingdom of God is at hand! Reform your lives and believe in the Gospel” (Mk 1:15). Jesus has come; He suffered, died, and was raised from the dead by His Father, and is here now in His Church. It is in His Church that Jesus can be heard in the preaching and teaching of His Word of Truth. It is in His Church that Jesus can be seen through the eyes of supernatural Faith, tasted, and touched in her Sacraments, particularly in the Holy Mass, and in carrying out the corporal and spiritual works of mercy. Nowhere else, other than in Jesus’ Church which He founded on Peter and continues down to today through their successors, the duly ordained Popes and bishops, faithfully handing on the Apostolic Tradition and moral teaching given to the Apostles directly by Jesus and the prompting of the Holy Spirit, can we hear and meet Him in the most intimate of settings and experiences. Jesus founded only one Church that gives witness to the fact that, in the inspired words of St. Paul (Eph 4:5), “There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all, and works through all, and is in all.” The Catholic Church provides the only hope for unity among those who want to follow Jesus and be saved. As Jesus Himself declared, “There is only one flock and one shepherd” (Jn 10:16) characterized by four marks: Unity, Holiness, Catholicity, and Apostolicity. She is Jesus’ personal instrument through which He saves His followers, preserves His Truth, and enters into a personal and communal relationship with His community through her Sacraments.

Only One Way to Be Jesus’ Church

Over the past number of years there has been an attempt to provide a “new way to be church.” The fact is that there is no “new way.” There is only one way, namely Jesus’ way – the Way of the Cross. That Way is the divine way for all ages spelled out in the Holy Scriptures and the teaching of His Church. The Church is not a building, a structure like other buildings or structures in the world. It’s not just another organization that’s non-governmental. The Church is a building of humans joined together by Jesus as the Centre around Whom and in Whom they are graced to witness His sacramentally Real Presence in the world calling it to salvation. The Church is old and yet every new because she belongs to Jesus and not to any particular age or generation or political regime. She is counter-cultural through calling all to let Jesus love them by learning and keeping His commandments (Jn 14:15). By default we must recognize that if we don’t know and obey Jesus’ commandments we don’t love Him and so deprive ourselves of following His Way to Heaven – the only way; His Truth – the only truth about God, ourselves, our world, our destiny, and our true purpose; His Life – the life that only He can give us and the only life that brings eternal joy and happiness. Yes, the Church is a Divine building, symbolized in human buildings where Jesus builds sinful human beings into saints by structuring their lives through lovingly obeying the Ten Commandments and practicing the Beatitudes. It is an indestructible building created and maintained by Jesus who assures her faithful members of God’s unconditional love, entry into which is attained only by accepting Jesus who revealed, “I have come to call sinners (to repentance) (Lk 5:32)… that you might have life and have it to the fullest” (Jn 10:10).

Builders of Eternity

Isn’t it strange that princes and kings

And clowns that caper in sawdust rings,

And ordinary folks like you and me,

Are builders of eternity.

To each is given a bag of tools,

An hour-glass and a book of rules,

And each must build, ere time is flown,

A stumbling block or a stepping stone.

(R. L. Sharpe)