The Universal Church

The other day, I ran across a useful tidbit of information that I hadn't known before.  Perhaps I learned it, and then just forgot it because it didn't seem interesting or pertinent. (I was wrong.) Either way, it was fascinating and thought-provoking.

"Catholic" means "universal."

Our church is the Universal Church; it is not particular to one group of people, one set of individuals.  It is not different for you or me, and it does not merely pertain to a small group of things.  When something is universal, it is wholly-encompassing.

It is universal that we are men,*
It is universal that men can reason,
It is universal that men have spiritual souls,
It is universal that men have been created by God,
It is universal that men have had the Natural Law imprinted in their hearts,
And it is universal that we come to understand the Moral Law by following Christ's Church.

Just as it is universal that all men must eat and drink to survive, it is universal that all men ultimately belong to Christ's Church - the Catholic church - the universal church.

"The Catholic Church isn't inclusive!" Never before was a more ignorant statement uttered; for the Catholic Church is wholly inclusive.  All men are men of God, men created by God, created to be in Heaven.  The Catholic Church is the means to that end and, whether they know it or not, it is through that Church that they are saved.
If one is saved, He is saved through Christ's Church, whether he knows it or not.

Perhaps some look at this and say, "It's elementary."
Maybe it is. But I had never thought of it before!

Pax Christi cum tu homies sint.
(The Peace of Christ be with you, homies.)



*"Men," once again, meaning "mankind." I'm not being sexist. Sorry, feminists. I'm not sorry at all.