September 15th, 2024 - 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time
St. James was the first Bishop of the Church
When Jesus finished revealing the truth of God the Father, by his birth, teaching, death and Resurrection – the Church on Earth was the responsibility of the Apostles and the Holy Spirit!
The ritual life of the Apostles was the sacrifices of the Temple and the prayers of their tradition were the psalms and the scriptures (we would call it The Old Testament). However, Jesus taught them “THE OUR FATHER” and a desire for mercy among the poor and the Gentiles (the pagans).
So, the early Church began and continued to be the Church we have today. Much like a mutual fund. (I can hear you say: “WHAT?”) Yes! I have a friend that put $2000 into a mutual fund in 1997 that he forgot about and looked at it this year to discover that the small amount of shares he bought was now worth $90,000. The Catholic Church has grown over 2000 years and developed ritual, rites and diversity that today there are:
The Eastern Catholic Churches, also called the “Eastern-Rite Catholic Churches”, are 24 Eastern
Christian autonomous (sui iuris) self-governing churches of the Catholic Church (including the Western, Roman Church), in full communion with the Pope in Rome.
Faith has grown in many directions – but, always guided by The Holy Spirit!
St. James preached from first-hand experience of hearing Jesus teach. Later, others repeated those stories as told by the original disciples and always by coming together (in synods) to compare and insure that the message of Jesus did not change. That need for unity of message is called “The Deposit of Faith”. The authority of the Church does not come from the Bible – but from the fidelity to Christ! The Church grew out of EUCHARIST and in obedience to the command of Jesus – “Do this in memory of Me!” (Luke 22:19)
The many books of the Bible compose a “CANON” of scripture that was not decided as all having been inspired by God until the Council Carthage in 419 AD. It took even longer for all the churches to agree and then came the Protestant Reformation where Luther took out 7 books from the Old Testament as not inspired by God. Forming the Canon of Scripture to form the BIBLE we have today is still a matter of discussion! So, the faith was never the matter of scripture – but, it is the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. The Church formed around the EUCHARIST – not the Bible. Read John Ch. 6!
May God Bless you!
Fr. Patrick Nelson, SDS
