Which Church is the Real Church?

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Which Church is the True Church?

How many denominations are there? How many claim to be the true Church of Jesus? How many claim to be the faithful heirs of those very first disciples? Dozens? Thousands? Tens of thousands? But it all started in one little room. In one upper room, the Church of Jesus, composed of His original followers, was born.

It was born when the Holy Spirit descended in fire, and the zeal to proclaim the Gospel drove that little group out upon the world.

That happened in Acts, chapter 2. And Acts, chapter 2 tells us the rest of what happened on that feast of Pentecost.

It tells us what that newborn Church looked like. It tells us about its basic features, its key characteristics, it’s distinctive marks. And those are the same marks that the Church bears today: One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic.

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The Church is One: it is United

Jesus never spoke about founding “churches.” He spoke about building one Church. And on that day, in Pentecost, when Peter and the Apostles preached the risen Lord, it was a unified Church that was formed.

Acts 2 says that in just one day, three thousand were added to their number. It says that all who believed were together, and had all things in common.

So which Christian Church today can unite more people? Which Church is the denomination with the most members across the world? Which Church can unite the most people in prayer, and in common belief? It’s the Catholic Church.

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The Church is Holy: it is Sanctified by the Holy Spirit and the Sacraments.

It was the Holy Spirit who came down that day and filled the disciples, so that they went out to spread the faith.

It was the Holy Spirit who made saints out of those timid apostles, the Holy Spirit who turned them into heroic martyrs and missionaries. And in that first description of Pentecost, in Acts 2, we read that the first Christian community was formed by Baptism, and that afterwards they dedicated themselves to the “breaking of the bread,” which means the Eucharist.

So which Christian Church today is known for its emphasis on holiness? Which Church preaches the universal call to holiness? Which Church has made its saints, St. Francis, Mother Teresa, St. Louis, and St. Therese – known throughout the world? And which Church puts the most emphasis on the Sacraments, on Baptism and the Eucharist?

Saint and Sacrament, they both come from the word for holiness.

The Church which celebrates the saints and celebrates the sacraments, the Church which invokes the Holy Spirit to make us all Holy: that Church is the Catholic Church.

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The Church is Catholic: it is Universal

In Acts 2 it says that the apostles preached to, and were heard by, “men from every nation under heaven.”

And the Holy Spirit granted this new Church the power to preach in every language, so that everyone, men and women from all cultures and nationalities and backgrounds, would have access to the community of Christ.

The word “Catholic” actually means universal, and it has welcomed people of every race and tongue since the very beginning.

In fact, the Catholic Church is the largest international organization on the planet.

All the cultures of the earth have brought their riches into the Catholic Church. Just look at all the different ethnic depictions of Mary. She appears in every racial type and with every native garb from Our Lady of Guadeloupe in Mexico to Our Lady of Lavang in Vietnam to Our Lady of Lourdes in France.

We are the original celebrators of diversity. We are the universal, international, community of Christ. Which Church is the most Catholic? Definitely, the Catholic Church.

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The Church is Apostolic: it is led by the successors of Peter and the Apostles

In the original Pentecost event, who does the preaching? The Apostles, with Peter as their spokesman. All the apostles are united, but when questions are asked, or objections raised, it is Peter who does the responding.

So which Church looks the most like that today? Which Church is led by the successors of the apostles? Which Church has one of those successors, the successor of Peter, as its official spokesman?

Obviously, the Catholic Church.

In the fourth century, they developed a list of four traits by which anyone could recognize the true Church of Jesus Christ, in any age. Those traits were one, holy, Catholic, and Apostolic.

We repeat that list every week in the creed at mass: I believe in One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church.

Just remember, when you say those words, that you’re talking about the same community of Christ that burst out of this upper room two thousand years ago. You’re talking about the massive tree whose sprout first began to blossom that day, long ago, on the feast of Pentecost.

And just as those first apostles invited the world into that Church – so are you called to go out of your comfortable room, and do the same.