THE ENERGY FROM GOD: THE AUTHENTIC CHURCH IS APOSTOLIC.

This is the fourth in an in-depth look at what I consider to be often overlooked and underutilized helps that I can use to anchor myself in the presence of Christ and wait. I say that because when I am aligned with the way, the truth, and the life (not what I think it is), but in as it has been believed collectively all these years, unbroken and undiluted from the time of the Apostles (and before that in the Torah and Prophets), through the unbroken succession of the shoes of the fishermen.

My heritage is catalogued in each of the Ecumenical Councils of the Church, to today, ending up with me having a feast at the table of the Lord and being assured that what He gave us to help us to salvation is indeed the way, the truth, and the life, the realization that I do not pray alone, even if I pray in private, but rather, when I pray I am ONE, HOLY, CATHOIC AND MOST OF ALL APOSTOLIC, with all of those who have gone before me in the Faith of Christ.

My Catholic Church goes from me back through time, including the doctrinal creedances and experiences by countless believers who said, “Jesus is Lord,” unbroken in its four entaglements (one, holy, catholic, and apostolic) back to the time of Christ, only because the Holy Spirit infused it with the fingerprints of God to move FORWARD in time, holding onto what was vital to each of us being able to say they believe in God the Father Almighty (Nicene Creed). Christ is the vine, and each human is a leaf on the branches of the Church. I can bear fruit, must I must keep away the birds and pests that can spoil my fruit (sin) and so reap the reward for being a good and faithful servant of the Master, welcomed into the Kingdom of Heaven in Heaven because I practiced what Christ wanted me to do for my salvation.

It is essential for me not only to have Faith and believe what I think Jesus said, but also to do God’s will as handed down by Christ through the Holy Spirit to the universal Church of believers (Catholic Church). For me, that means linking myself to the living lines of succession from me to God, and most importantly, from Jesus down through each century to me. I don’t have the energy to be an adopted son (daughter) by myself to even say, “Jesus is Lord,” without the Holy Spirit.

As a Lay Cistercian who tries to follow the practices and charisms of the Cistercian Order (Trappist) to place myself in the presence of Christ, particularly through Eucharist and Penance, but also in Lectio Divina each day, plus praying my penitential rosary (sorrowful mysteries) in reparation for my failures to have Christ as Son of God, Savior, until just recently as a Lay Cistercian.

Just as Mary was the human receptacle for Jesus, Son of God and human, so too, the Church, my mother, keeps me safe and secure, even though, as the Prodigal Son did, I wander away from the truth in pursuit of false gods and promises (Galatians 5). The Church does not take away my personal responsibility for sin because it can’t. I have a reason for my actions and the ability to make choices that have consequences for how I view life. Even God can’t take away the choice I make to be my own God or to choose God, the boundary maker, although God could. I give to God the Father, the only thing I have that is worth Christ dying on the cross, my abandonment (dying to self) to tell God, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.” Ironically, I can only do what the world says is a fairy tale, with God’s own power coming down through Christ and the Holy Spirit, channeled through the Church as the four power lines (one, holy, catholic, and apostolic), all so that I can, as an idnvidual Catholic learn how to make new wineskins each day to whole the voluminous energy that comes from sitting next to Christ in silence and solutude and stillness of mind and heart, and waiting (“Listening the the ear of the heart” — Prologue of St. Benedicts’ Rule)

The Church, if anything, is the living real presence, the embodiment of how to keep from falling off the road of righteousness, and the strength, through Christ alone, to endure the onslaughts of the Devil as it tries to run me off the road. Think about this. Eucharist is not just fire insurance you go to on Sunday. However, it is that too, but rather making Jesus real through Holy Communion and presenting to each age and each individual the opportunity to take Jesus into the tabernacle of their inner self, to make Christ increase. At the same time, I decrease (Matthew 6:5).

I will share with you what I, myself, use to tame the unruly part of myself that seeks my will and not God’s.

• https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0109.htm
• Does your Church look like this? If not, it may not be apostolic.

APOSTOLIC is tied to the autonomic system of reality, in that it just happens as time progresses. Still, with two exceptions, it picks up those complexities it encounters as it ploughs through each generation of Catholics, constantly moving from Christ to me, and it becomes more and more complex as time goes by. Looking back at our heritage, we see it evolving as is the natural tendency of all matter, moving from Alpha to Omega.

APOSTOLICITY did not begin with Pentecost, but with creation itself, moving through space and time, containing the seeds of what we now know as the Catholic Church. Jesus tells us that, “You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, from before the creation of matter.” What Jesus wanted us to have and to do is passed down through the centuries through the Apostolic succession of all the Popes, and also the bishops. (See St. Ignatius of Antioch’s letter above.)

So that both you and I can reach out and touch Jesus, the Church is that line of communication from Jesus down through the centuries, showing us how to love God with all our hearts, all our minds, and all our strength, and to love our neighbor as we would love ourselves. Jesus is not a dead memory from 2,000 years ago, but rather present so that I can be in the presence of Christ as He is now, body, blood, soul, and divinity in heaven. To ensure that the practices and charisms he left would not be corrupted by humans, Christ established a living body, the Mystical Body of Christ, to evolve within the strict limits of nature and revelation, so that I might have the opportunity to become an adopted son (daughter) of the Father. We were not only created from star stuff, but to evolve into another paradigm, one not consistently recognized by reason and choice alone.

To safeguard these four marks of the Church and not depend upon fallible men and women to control it, Christ wisely left the Holy Spirit to be our second advocate and guarantor of the continuation of these beliefs and believers, so that it would not fail, no matter how much we humans missed the mark. As with Christ and the Real Presence, the Holy Spirit is real if we realize how to approach the Spirit of Truth in the silence and solitude of that upper room of our inner self and just still ourselves to “listen with the ear of the heart.”

Within this living energy from the Holy Spirit that pulses through the one, holy, and catholic Church, I have detected several layers of meaning. Remember, always look deeper, even if you think you know it all. I call that digging for heavenly gold, right under your feet, now. Perhaps you have heard of Earl Nightengale’s story about Acres of Diamonds. Many years ago, I am ashamed to tell you how many, I read Earl Nightendale tell a story about an African farmer. This is the best example of how I think if you don’t grow as a Catholic by digging for heavenly gold right under your feet, you miss the purpose of being Catholic. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RCLZV5MyNE

Some other layers of complexity are:

1. The unbroken succession of popes throughout the history of the Church. Who in your Church wears the Shoes of the Fisherman? The first fifty popes were martyred for their beliefs. The pope is in the position of primacy of honor among equal bishops that are linked to the Tree of Jesse.
2. If I want to use the link between me and God, it first has to be established to have been laid down, as a cable conduit is, down through all the centuries forward. The Holy Spirit supervised the laying of this cable in each age, not guarding individuals from sin, for this would violate their humanity and its core of free choice. Still, the Church Universal has been safeguarding the truth handed down (forward) with great suffering and in some cases martyrdom. http://www.ecatholic2000.com
3. The various ecumenical councils of the Church Universal, spanning centuries (I believe there are 21 of them), contain the rulings and guidelines on what the faithful should believe and what to avoid. Read a list of them in http://www.newadvent.com, then ask yourself, “Is my church there?” https://www.newadvent.org/library/almanac_14388a.htm
4. Art and the depiction of teachings from the Apostles are another source of continuity with what people believed as time progressed. CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Ecclesiastical Art
   http://www.newadvent.org › cathen Do you see your Church in these paintings and stained glass?
5. Music from the period of the Apostles down to us is another source of continuity.
   http://www.newadvent.org › library
6. CATHOLIC LIBRARY: Musicae Sacrae (1955)
   http://www.newadvent.org › library
7. My point is, unless you dig for heavenly gold and get your hands dirty in the process, you won’t find all the treasures that are buried right beneath your feet. This is your heritage and often forgotten or just ignored (at your own peril). Here are some other resources with which you might find heavenly gold (but you must dig for it).
   CATHOLIC LIBRARY: Mediator Dei (1947)
   http://www.newadvent.org › library
   
   Visit New Advent for the Summa Theologica, Church Fathers, Catholic Encyclopedia, and more.
   
   CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Religious Painting
   http://www.newadvent.org › cathen
   
   Painting has always been associated with the life of the  ..
   
   Visit New Advent for the Summa Theologica, Church Fathers, Catholic Encyclopedia, and more.
   
   CHURCH FATHERS: An Exposition of the Orthodox Faith, Book II …
   http://www.newadvent.org › fathers
   
   Includes the Catholic Encyclopedia, Church Fathers, Summa, Bible, and more — all for only $19.99… Chapter 1. Concerning æon or age. He created the ages Who …
   
   CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Metalwork
   http://www.newadvent.org › cathen
   
   
   From the earliest days, the Church has employed utensils and vessels of metal in its liturgical ceremonies. This practice increased during the Middle Ages.
   
   CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: The Sacrament of Penance
   http://www.newadvent.org › cathen
   
   A sacrament of the New Law instituted by Christ in which forgiveness of sins committed after baptism is granted through the priest’s absolution to those who …
   
   CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: The Seven Liberal Arts
   http://www.newadvent.org › cathen
   
   Includes the Catholic Encyclopedia, Church Fathers, Summa, Bible, and more — all for only $19.99… The expression artes liberales, chiefly used during the …
   
   CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Veneration of Images
   http://www.newadvent.org › cathen
   
   Includes the Catholic Encyclopedia, Church Fathers, Summa, Bible, and more — all for only $19.99… Images in the Old Testament. The First Commandment would seem …
   
   CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: The Renaissance
   http://www.newadvent.org › cathen
   
8. Being Catholic, far from being passive, is a gold mine of how to know, love, and serve God with all our hearts and our neighbor as ourselves. But, each person has to dig, and many of us, and I include myself, up to ten years ago, are too lazy or just don’t care to grow (capacitas dei) and convert ourselves daily (conversio morae). “If you always do what you always did, then you will always get what you always got.” (I don’t know the source for this quote.)
9. I discovered that the Church Universal is a work in progress and always will be.
   

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