Which Church Has The Truth?

It is the simplest thing in the world to believe that everyone prays in the same basic manner and for the same basic things. As Catholics we pray for ourselves and our families; we pray for our communities, our country, and the world; we pray for our Church.

But remember from the Scriptures the story of the two men praying in the Temple. Both were focusing their prayer on themselves. One was thanking God that he was not like others. He told God about his wonderful faithfulness to the requirements of the law. He looked with scorn at other men. The other repeatedly asked God to have mercy on him. We are told very clearly which prayer was acceptable to God.

Michael had problems with ecumenism precisely because the circumstances of his life had taught him a lot about the fallen nature of Man.

This sermon was given at a weekday Mass, not at the communion service. You will hear why.

written by Laura Weston

Well, you're probably wondering why I am here, first.

Apparently we had a great experience yesterday. Father Franck and I were having conversations and he was saying that he wanted me to preach on Thursday. And then apparently the Holy Spirit came upon him.

Afterwards he explained to me that Fr. Franck and the Holy Spirit wanted me to preach today. Which is interesting in the context of what we have going on today.

Today is the National Day of Prayer. It is also the memorial for St. Athanasius. And I have to... as a warning sign... out of fairness… I have told each of the pastors with whom I have served that you should never send me to an ecumenical event.

I'm about as non-ecumenical as you can get.

So we'll talk about the National Day of Prayer. Go out and find someone who is not Catholic, and sing Kumbaya together and pray together. That works out just nicely.

How does that relate to Athanasius? St. Athanasius was in Alexandria, the intellectual center of the Eastern part of the world. He is one of the four doctors... the main, the...what do they call them, the doctors of the Eastern Church, the first real four...? Greek Holy Fathers Yeah, there we go.

Brilliant man. He was alive during the period of time where Constantine made the Catholic Church legal. And he got into a dispute with a man named Arius. Arianism. And Arius was a man who through his perceived, self-perceived, great abilities denied the divinity of Christ.

So you have a situation, and it goes back to what I’ve talked about so many times....don't pull that thread! Because, where do you end up?

Where do you end up if you deny the divinity of Christ? Why should you listen to Christ if He was merely human?

Oh, He was chosen by God. Well, so were a lot of other people. You know,the prophets were chosen by God. You should listen to them at the same level.

Which, quite honestly, is why I have a problem being ecumenical. Let us look at people who have different beliefs.

Yes, they should pray. But they should pray for the right things. I don't want someone who, and I'll talk about Arianism, it's still around, on specific things.

If a young woman is praying, "O God, I am in so much trouble. I'm pregnant. Help me get the money necessary to get an abortion." I don't want to join with her in prayer that her wishes are received.

I don't want to be praying with someone who is praying, "O Lord, make me as rich as I possible can be so that I can have all the toys and everything and I can ignore you then because I am so rich and powerful and so wonderful and everything."

I'm not ecumenical.

Do I believe in the efficacy of prayer? Yes. But do I believe that underneath the Catholic Church… St. Athanasius dealt with this. He went into exile five times. He was a bishop for forty-some years, seventeen of the years he spent in exile. He was constantly being abused because he stayed with the faith. He stood with the teachings of the Catholic Church. He articulated the teachings of the Catholic Church with regard to the Incarnation as well as anybody has really ever done.

When we pray, we pray to the God of Our Lord Jesus Christ. The God of our Holy Catholic Church. That is what Athanasius suffered for, and that is why, to this day, that when you go into certain groups, you tell certain people that you're Catholic, you could very well hear that, "Oh yes, I pray all the time that the Catholic Church should stop being so narrow-minded and recognize same sex marriages."

No.

Do pray that the Catholic Church can bring all into one so that there can be one church as Christ wanted in the truth and that people see the truth of the Holy Catholic Church? Absolutely.

Do we pray, even when they don't believe, for the souls of the faithful departed? If you're Protestant, once saved, always saved, and you die, and you're going to heaven. That's it.

But go to a Protestant funeral some time and say, "I'm going to pray for your father, your deceased father." What do you hear? "Thank you. I appreciate that so much. That's so wonderful."

Pray the Church. Pray Jesus Christ. Jesus, wholly human, wholly divine. And take those prayers and unite them with the prayers of the National Day of Prayer. Unite them with the prayers. Not the prayers of, "Give everybody what they want." But pray that our country, the people in our country, can come to the truth of Our Lord Jesus Christ and our nation can be an example to the world of what it means to follow the teachings of Christ.

And when we face the world and we see that it is not occurring the way we want, or as quickly as we want... a great frustration to me, it should be done by now... be like St. Athanasius. Perceive and pray always for the coming of Christ. The coming of Christ as represented by the truth of the Holy Catholic Church.

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