False Doctrine of Dispensationalism

Introduction

For as many of you as were baptized in Christ have put on Christ.  There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.  And if you are Christ's then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise Galatians 3:27-29

The Church is the New Israel for the true heirs of promise are those who belong to Christ.

Throughout history, beginning with Adam and Eve, God has gradually made his presence known to man.  Despite the mysteries that make up His Kingdom and His relationship to man, God  continues to reveal his glory.  Sadly, however, not all of us share these same revelations.  Our Jewish friends don’t see Christ as the promised Messiah, and some of our Protestant brothers and sisters in Christ do not see the Church as God’s present reign on earth.  Some are waiting for the Messiah, and some are waiting for the Kingdom, but some are blessed to be living members of the family of God, sharing the divine sonship of Christ through the Sacraments of the Holy Catholic Church.

In my discussion with some Protestants, I have learned that a number of Protestants, those who refer to themselves as Dispensationalists, do not believe that all Scripture applies to them, and that God has yet to fulfill his promises to the Jewish people.  Apparently, there are Christians who believe that Israel is separate from the Church, and that some are bound to the Mosaic law, while others  live under the law of Grace. It is also my understanding that some Christians believe that God had intended all to be forever obedient to the law until the disobedience of the Jewish people and their rejection of Christ compelled Him to send his disciple Paul to the Gentile Nations with a message of Grace.

I was most astonished to discover that there are also those who believe that God has yet to re-establish an earthly kingdom for the Jews with Christ as King and that in this Kingdom will exist a temple where animal sacrifices will once again be resumed.

While I appreciate the fact that there are differences between dispensationalists, and not all dispensationalists embrace all of these beliefs or the exact same set of beliefs as all of their dispensationalist brothers and sisters in Christ, certain things are apparent.  Their roots appear to be the same, and their ideas violate the teachings of the Catholic Church.

The Catholic Church teaches that God intended all, Jew and Gentile alike, to be one unified Body in Christ with one Gospel truth.  I will demonstrate that God has fulfilled his promises to Abraham, and the promised Kingdom is God’s present reign on earth, the Holy Catholic Church.

God’s Covenantal Promises

To the Catholic, it makes no sense that Christ will reign as king of a future earthly kingdom which includes an earthly temple when He, Himself, is the only true and everlasting temple.  To the Catholic, it makes no sense that Christ, having died on the Cross so that we may have new life, would have anything at all to do with animal sacrifices when He, Himself, is the one and only, once and for all, perfect sacrifice.

In Genesis we read about three promises that God makes to Abraham: land, a royal dynasty, and a worldwide blessing.  The promised Dynasty is eventually revealed to us as Christ our King and His body, the Church and living temple of the Holy Spirit.  The Worldwide Covenant is our share in Christ’s divine Sonship.  Through our Baptism which is a real participation in Christ’s death and resurrection, we become family members of Christ and begin a journey toward our Heavenly home, the true promised land.

The following is a passage from the book, Catholic for a Reason:  Scripture and the Mystery of the Family of God

The instrument God used to bind Himself to His people was known in antiquity as a berit, or a “covenant.”  A covenant is a sacred family bond, “an agreement enacted between two parties in which one or both make promises under oath to perform or refrain from certain actions stipulated in advance.”  The result of a covenant is the formation or reinforcement of a mutually beneficial family relationship.  The major covenants in the Bible progressively expand in scope to bring more sons and daughters into the Family of God.

The covenantal progression grows larger throughout Biblical history to include more and more people.  Jeff Cavins writes:

Dr. Scott Hahn often refers to this covenantal progression in his lectures on salvation history.  Hahn shows how the Catholic Church is the culmination of salvation history and the fulfillment of the Old Testament covenants with Israel.  As we read through the Bible chronologically, these expanding covenant families are significant benchmarks and give the reader a sense of progression.  The five covenant families are: one holy family (Noah), tribe (Abraham), nation (Moses), kingdom (David), and only holy Church (Jesus Christ). (Catholic for a Reason: Scripture and the Mystery of the Family of God)

This covenantal progression demonstrates God’s intended plan to include all into one unified Body from the beginning.  This unified Body of Christ is the fulfillment of the worldwide blessing promised to Abraham.  However, we have yet to experience the Kingdom in all of its glory and today we wait in joyful hope for the coming of our Lord when we will experience the complete fulfillment of our salvation.

One Body in Christ

The Church has consistently preached a message of unity in accordance with Scripture, and the idea that some would contradict the words of Saint Paul and seek division is alarming.  Here is but one Scriptural passage among many embracing a message of one unified body for all:

For he is our peace, he who made both one and broke down the dividing wall of anmity, through his flesh, abolishing the law with its commandments and legal claims, that he might create in himself one new person in place of the two, thus establishing peace, and might reconcile both with God, in one body, through the cross, putting that enmity to death by it.  He came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near for through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.    Ephesians 2:14-18

The idea that some are bound to the Mosaic law while others are saved through Jesus flies directly in the face of both Scripture and Catholic teaching.

Now before faith came, we were confined under the law, kept under restraint until faith should be revealed.  So that the law was our custodian until Christ came, that we might be justified by faith.  But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a custodian; for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.  For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.  There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus, And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise  Galatians 3:23-29

It is important to note the word, ‘custodian’ which Paul likens to the law.  A word study in the Ignatius Catholic Study Bible, RSV, second edition, is as follows:

Paidagogos (Gk) a “tutor” or “disciplinarian” or “guide”.  The word is used twice in the NT, here and at 1 Corinthians 4:15.  It refers to a household slave in Hellenistic society who was charged by a father to over-see the moral formation of his son.  This tutelage normally lasted from the time the child was a minor until he reached maturity.  The tutor would accompany the youth to and from school, supervise his daily activities, protect him from dangers, and administer discipline whenever necessary.  Paul used this familiar custom to explain how the Mosaic Law served a similar function in Israel.  It was an instructor and guide for the nation, yet one that was temporary and destined to pass away.  The coming of Christ meant that Israel could now be freed from the supervision and restraints of the Mosaic Law to embrace the full inheritance awaiting it in the New Covenant (Galatians 4:4-7; CCC 708) (Ignatius Catholic Study Bible, RSV, Second Catholic Edition).

Paul likens the law to a temporary tutor or guide used for a child until he reached maturity.  Paul is telling the Galatians, that the law was always meant as a temporary guide, not a permanent tool.  He is saying, in other words, that they are like the mature adult who no longer needs a guide.  They are Sons of God through faith.

The law was never meant to save.  It was always meant to be temporary.  It was given to Israel as a means to prepare Her for the Messiah.  According to Paul, no one can be saved but through the Grace of God.  Consider the following verses:

For no human being will be justified in his sight by works of the law, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.  Romans 3:20

Lest you be wise in your own conceits, I want you to understand this mystery, brethren: a hardening has come upon part of Israel, until the full number of the Gentiles come in, and so all Israel will be saved; as it is written.

“The Deliverer will come from Zion,

He will banish ungodliness from Jacob”,

“and this will be my covenant with them

When I take away their sins.”  Romans 11:25-27.

Paul quotes from Isaiah 59:20 here.  Who is this deliverer he speaks of?  Surely, it is Jesus.  Look at 1 Thessalonians 1:10  When he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints, and to be marveled at in all who have believed, because our testimony to you was believed.

Paul believes that all are saved through Christ.  For I am not ashamed of the gospel: it is the power of God for salvation to every one who has faith, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.  Romans 1:16. Where is the divided truth here?

Paul also desires that his Israelite kinsmen will be saved, and he hopes that it is through his mission to the gentiles that this might be accomplished.  Please consider these verses:

Now I am speaking to you Gentiles.  Inasmuch then as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry in order to make my fellow Jews jealous, and thus save some of them.  For if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead?  Romans 11:13-15.

Where does Paul give up on Israel accepting Christ here?  Where does he proclaim their obligation to follow the Mosaic law?

But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, a wild olive shoot, were grafted in their place to share the richness of the olive tree, do not boast over the branches.  If you do boast, remember it is not you that support the root, but the root that supports you.  You will say, Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.”  That is true.  They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand fast only through faith.  So do not become proud, but stand in awe.  For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you.  Note then the kindness and the severity of God; severity toward those who have fallen, but God’s kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness, otherwise you too will be cut off.  And even the others, if they do not persist in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again.  For you have been cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these natural branches be grafted back into their own olive tree.  Romans 11:17-24.

Paul clearly says that God will graft the natural branches back in provided they do not persist in their unbelief.  Paul does not say that the natural branches that were cut off are forever bound to the law, but seems to be saying the opposite.  These natural branches, that were cut off for unbelief are not forever bound to the law, and provided they develop faith, they can be grafted back into their own olive tree.  Paul is saying that Jews and Gentiles alike are saved by Christ through faith.  We are all part of the same olive tree.  True, some of us were grafted in and some were cut off from their own natural tree, but those that were grafted in can be cut off, and those that were cut off can be grafted back in.  Paul makes no distinction here in how we all gain salvation in the end.

We are Members of Christ’s Family and Therefore, Share in the Glory of His Kingdom

Being baptized into Christ was no mere symbol according to Paul.  He says that not only are the baptized sons of God, they have put on Christ. This is a very real and powerful change.  It doesn’t make any sense that anyone, Jew or Greek, would be bound to any law once this Sacrament, eliminating the need for the law, took place.  The sacrament of Baptism instituted by Christ allows us to truly participate in His death and resurrection.  We rise to new life right along with Christ and this frees anyone who is baptized from ever being bound as a slave to the Mosaic Law. Paul says nothing about the Jews being under a different covenant here.  As a matter of fact, he emphasizes that they are not to be distinguished from the Covenant of Christ when he says, There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

According to the Ignatius Study Bible, RSV, second edition, Baptism is the sacrament of faith (3:26) and the rite of Christian initiation that replaces circumcision (Colossians 2:11-12).  It cleanses us of sin, joins us with Christ, and makes us righteous children of God (Acts 22:16; Titus 3:5; 1 Peter 3:21; CCC 1226-27). Baptism replaces circumcision because it allows us to die and rise with Christ so that we are no longer bound to Old Testament law, but new life in Christ.  Christ’s death and resurrection eliminates the need for the law and it simply makes no sense that God had ever intended partakers of this Sacrament to join with Christ in his resurrection and be obedient to the law at the same time.  We, according to Paul, are like the mature person no longer in need of the temporary guide (the law) now that we share in Christ’s family as true sons and daughters of God.

Israel’s History is Our History

Some seem genuinely confused by the Catholic assertion that the Church is the New Israel, and yet, this has always been a truth embraced by the Catholic Church.  Consider the following passage from the Book Catholic for a Reason: Scripture and the Mystery of the Family of God.

To enter into God’s story, we need to understand how we have come to participate in it.  It is true that the divine history recorded in the Old Testament focused primarily on the nation of Israel, but the history and truth that the Israelites died for and taught to their children would one day become the history of a people they knew not.  Even so, throughout the Bible, those who belonged to the covenantal family recognized that the story they were living extended beyond themselves to future generations.  Their history, with all its triumphs and disgraces, would one day become our history as twenty-first century Roman Catholics.  With the dawn of the New Covenant, Jesus integrated the nations into His universal kingdom, opening wide the gate to Yahweh’s covenantal family.  Those who enter through that gate – Jesus Himself (cf. John 10:1-10) take on a new identity, including a new personal history.  Suddenly, all that went before us in that small land of Canaan becomes intimate and important for us today.

Saint Paul describes how Jesus opened the covenantal family to those outside of Israel:

Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called the uncircumcision by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands – remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.  But now in Christ Jesus you who one were far off have been brought near in the blood of Christ.  For he is our peace who has made us both one, and has broken down the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing in his flesh the law of commandments and ordinances (Ephesians 2:11-15).

For the sake of continuity between the Old and New Testaments, the point must be made that neither Jesus nor Paul had plans of starting a new religion; rather, all that they taught and did was an extension of what preceded them.  As Catholics, we should never read the Old Testament with an attitude that ties the Old Testament strictly to the Jews, and the New Testament to Christians:

The Church, as early as apostolic times, and then constantly in her Tradition, has illuminated the unity of the divine plan in the two Testaments through typology, which discerns in God’s works of the Old Covenant prefiguration of what he accomplished in the fullness of time in the person of his incarnate son (Catechism, no. 128)

Christians therefore read the Old Testament in light of Christ crucified and risen.  Such typological reading discloses the inexhaustible content of the Old Testament, but it must not make us forget that the Old Testament retains its own intrinsic value as revelation reaffirmed by our Lord Himself:

The New Testament has to be read in the light of the old.  Early Christian catechesis made constant use of the Old Testament.  As an old saying put it, the New Testament lies hidden in the Old and the Old Testament is unveiled in the New (Catechism, no. 129; cf. DV 14-16).  (Jeff Cavins, Catholic for a Reason: Scripture and the Mystery of the Family of God

The Catholic Church is The Davidic Kingdom Restored

And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus.  He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there will be no end.    Luke 1:31-33.

The Holy Catholic Church,  referred to above as the house of Jacob, is the Davidic Kingdom restored.  It is the earthly manifestation of God’s reign.  The Kingdom of heaven on Earth is similar to the Davidic Kingdom in that there is a queen mother and a prime minister.  In II Kings 18 and Isaiah 22, we read about a man named Eliakim, who is the “al bayyit”  who is given the key to the house of David.  Like our Pope today, who is our Spiritual Father and Vicor of Christ, the “al bayyit” held an important and authoritative role, and he was a spiritual father to the people.  In Matthew 16, Jesus gives Peter the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven, Peter, is considered our first Pope. (Notes from Second Year Catholic Biblical School, Archdiocese of Denver)

During the times of the Kings, The “giberah” or Queen Mother was honored and sat the right hand of the King.  She was an advocate for the people.  She brought the concerns of the people to the king and the king listened to her.  Consider this passage from First Kings 2: 19-20:  Then Bathsheba went to King Solomon to speak to him for Adonijah, and the king stood up to meet her and paid her homage.  Then he sat down upon his throne, and a throne was provided for the king’s mother,” who sat at his right.  “There is one small favor I would ask of you,” she said, “Do not refuse me.” “Ask it, my mother,” the king said to her, “for I will not refuse you.” (Notes from Catholic Biblical School, Archdiocese of Denver)

Does the Catholic Practice of Honoring Mary as Queen Take Glory Away From Christ?

Mary, the Mother of Jesus is honored and loved by the Catholic faithful as we recognize her important role in bringing us closer to Christ.  Catholics call her the queen of Heaven.  We also believe that because we are true family members of God, and therefore brothers and sisters of Christ, she is our Mother as well.  Today, she continues to intercede on our behalf from her place in Heaven.

Jesus did not refuse the request of His mother at the wedding at Cana when she tells him they have no wine.  Mary intercedes on behalf of the wedding guests.  His mother said to the servers, “Do whatever he tells you.” John 2:5. In response to the command of Jesus, the servers fill the water jars with the water that Jesus turns into wine.  Catholics believe that Jesus continues to listen to his Mother whenever she asks for anything and that is why we pray for her intercession on our behalf.  We are the wedding guests, the ones invited to the wedding banquet of the Lamb, and we are the Children of the Mother of Jesus who intercedes on our behalf.

Catholics are often accused of  placing Mary above Jesus, but we praise Mary because, far from taking any honor away from Jesus, Mary has given perfect honor and glory to Christ as she has dutifully fulfilled her role as intercessor since the day she agreed to bear in her womb and bring Christ to the world.  In Holy Scripture, she is referred to as Blessed, Full of Grace, and Mother of my Lord.

And he came to her and said, “Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you!”  Luke 1:28

And she exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And why is this granted me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?”   Luke 1:42-43

The Beliefs of the Early Christians

I have heard it said that just because something is ancient doesn’t make it right.   On the other hand, I have heard it said that the Church of Rome has strayed so far from the beliefs of the early Fathers of the Church, that it is no longer the same Church.  I think it is important that we examine this last claim.  If the Catholic Church is truly the Church that Christ established on earth, and it is the Holy Kingdom of God, shouldn’t it bear a striking resemblance to the Church of the early Fathers?

While it might be worthy to note that some of the early Church Fathers were premillennialists, it is equally important to note that their beliefs bear little resemblance to the premillennialists of today.  The early Church Fathers did not believe in a pre-tribulation rapture, nor did they believe that there were two distinct peoples guided by different covenants.  The following is a passage from Justin Martyr’s Dialogue with the Trypho Jew as quoted in Carl E. Olson’s book, Will Catholics Be “Left Behind”?

And He has called all of us by that voice, and we have left already the way of living in which we used to spend our days, passing our time in evil after the fashions of the other inhabitants of the earth; and along with Abraham we shall inherit the holy land, when we shall receive the inheritance for an endless eternity, being children of Abraham through the like faith.  For as he believed the voice of God, and it was imputed to him for righteousness, in like manner we, having believed God’s voice spoken by the apostles of Christ, and promulgated to us by the prophets, have renounced even to death all the things of the world.  Accordingly, He promises to him a nation of similar faith, God fearing, righteous, and delighting the Father, but it is not you, ‘in whom is no faith’ . . . As, therefore, Christ is the Israel and the Jacob, even so we, who have been quarried out from the bowels of Christ, are the true Israelitic race.

The Catholic Church has taught throughout the centuries that there is but one Body  united in Christ, and there is no division between the Jewish and the Gentile races.

Through the centuries, in so many languages, cultures, peoples, and nations, the Church has constantly confessed this one faith, received from the one Lord, transmitted by one Baptism, and grounded in the conviction that all people have only one God and Father.  St. Irenaeus of Lyons, a witness of this faith, declared:

“Indeed, the Church, though scattered throughout the whole world, even to the ends of the earth, having received the faith from the apostles and their disciples . . . guards [this preaching and faith] with care, as dwelling in but a single house, and similarly believes as if having but one soul and a single heart, and preaches, teaches, and hands on this faith with a unanimous voice, as if possessing only one mouth.”      Catechism of the Catholic Church 172-173

When comparing the beliefs of the early Fathers, to the beliefs of the Catholic Church today, it is  important that we look at all of those beliefs in which there was consensus, and which the Catholic Church of today continues to embrace.    There was consensus on all topics central to the identity of the Catholic faith such as the belief in the necessity of both faith and works for one’s salvation, honoring the saints in Heaven and asking for their prayers, purgatory, the importance of sacred Scripture as well as Sacred Tradition, the Primacy of St. Peter, the immaculate conception of Mary, etc.  It is not difficult to find quotes from the early Fathers supporting those beliefs most essential to the Catholic Church of today.   In the interest of saving time and space, I would like to focus only on the belief most central to the Catholic faith, and that is the belief in real presence of Christ in the Holy Eucharist.  Below are only a few written statements regarding the real presence from some of the early Christians as quoted in the book, Unabridged Christianity by Fr. Mario P. Romero.  We will begin with the words of Saint Paul right out of Holy Scripture:

“The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ?  The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ?”  Corinthians 10:16

“Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily will have to answer for the body and blood of the Lord.  A person should examine himself, and so eat the bread and drink the cup.  For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body, eats and drinks judgement on himself.  That is shy many among you are ill and infirm, and a considerable number are dying.”  Corinthians 11:27-30

“They abstain from the Eucharist and from prayer because they do not confess that the Eucharist is the Flesh of our Savior Jesus Christ, Flesh which suffered for our sins and which the Father, in His goodness, raised up again.  They who deny the gift of God are perishing in their disputes.”  St. Ignatious of Antioch (110 A.D.)

“For not as common bread nor common drink, do we receive these; but since Jesus Christ our Savior was made incarnate by the Word of God and had both flesh and blood for our salvation, so too, as we have been taught, the food which has been made into the Eucharist by the Eucharistic prayer set down by Him and by the change of which our blood and flesh is nourished, is both the Flesh and the Blood of the incarnated Jesus.”  St. Justin Martyr (150 A.D.)

“’Eat my Flesh,” (Jesus) says, ‘and drink my blood.”  The Lord supplies us with these intimate nutrients, he delivers over the flesh and pours out his blood, and nothing is lacking for the growth of his children.”  St. Clement of Alexandria (191 A.D.)

“After the disciples had eaten the new and holy Bread, and when they understood by faith that they had eaten of Christ’s Body, Christ went on to explain and to give them the whole Sacrament.”  St. Ephraim in his Homilies (350 A.D.)

The New Covenant is the Fulfillment of the Old Testament

The Jewish people of the Old Testament could not have imagined a king as humble as Jesus.  He ate with sinners, cared for the lowly, and died willingly on the Cross.  They couldn’t have imagined a king who, instead of saving them from their earthly enemies, proclaimed a need to save them from their own sins.  They could not have imagined a King who did not wield political power and would suffer and die on the Cross.  When this King arrived, however, these were mysteries revealed to those with faith. The same can be said of a Church today that doesn’t always appear to resemble a glorious Kingdom.

The Holy Mass, the greatest prayer on earth, is our participation in the one and only eternal sacrifice of Christ, and with the blessing of  Christ, Catholics receive Him completely, Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity.  We stand before the Heavenly feast at every Mass, as full fledged members of the Kingdom of God.  We are at the marriage supper of the Lamb, the Lord’s Supper, or the Heavenly banquet.  We are quite literally in Heaven on earth.  This is a mystery, which through faith, has the power like all God’s mysteries, to bring us into God’s Heavenly Kingdom for Christ’s presence is alive in the Sacraments of the Catholic Church.

When the Jewish people of the Old Testament celebrated the Passover, they were not just remembering a great story.  They were reliving the past, or making the past the present.  They were renewing their covenant relationship with God.  This is the same thing we do today when we receive Christ, the true Passover Lamb, in the Holy Eucharist at every Mass.  We stand at the foot of the Cross, and Christ becomes our present offering to God.  For the Old Testament Jews, the Passover from slavery into the promised land, represented actual history made present in the Passover celebration.  It was no mere symbol.  And such is true for us.  Christ’s real presence exists in the Sacrificial offering of the Holy Mass.

He Was Made Known to Them in the Breaking of the Bread

The Israelites of the Prophet Zechariah’s day waited for the return of God to the Temple.  They could not possibly have imagined, however, the glorious way in which the Lord would return.  Jesus, true God and true man, flesh and blood, was the true and everlasting Temple that walked among the people.  In His day, the people could not possibly have imagined the glorious way in which God would restore the Kingdom and send the Holy Spirit so that all who believed might be a living temple for the Lord.  And indeed, who could have imagined at that time, Christ’s real presence in the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist.  The manna that rained down from Heaven and nourished the bodies of the Israelites wandering the desert was only a foreshadowing of the true Bread of life that nourishes the Soul of the believer.  When the Israelites were freed from the bonds of slavery and brought into the promised land, they could not have imagined the day when Christ would institute a new and greater Passover; a Passover from death into new life with Christ.

What our eyes cannot see, our hearts can receive through faith, and today, we remain ever faithful as we wait in joyful hope for the coming of our Lord, when we will see the Kingdom in all of Its glory.

Since the days of the fall of Adam and Eve there has always been suffering, and today, we continue to suffer.  The flip side of our suffering, however, is our hope.  The Israelites sinned, they suffered, and they were the never ending recipients of the mercy of God.  Their relationship with God was restored, and such is the pattern with us.  We sin, we suffer, we receive forgiveness and mercy, then healing and restoration through the Sacraments.  We continue to wait in joyful hope for the coming of our Lord in all of His Glory.  And though we believe in the presence of Christ through His sacraments, we are also like the Israelites waiting for Christ to return, because what God has yet to reveal, we cannot possibly imagine.

Many Protestants today believe they have a guaranteed ticket into Heaven and they lament the Catholic who through faith, works toward his salvation.  They say woe to the Catholic who feels he must work to earn his salvation, but they fail to see what faith has brought to the Catholic; the joy of being a living family member of God the Father; a humble servant of His reign on earth.

Jesus said to Thomas, “Have you believed because you have seen me?  Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe”.  (John 20:29)   Blessed are those who through faith in His Church have come to recognize the glory of all God’s mysteries.   Indeed, these are mysteries that are revealed only through the pure gift of faith. In Scripture we see how the Glory of God is revealed to the blind through such faith.  For the faithful Catholic,  the Holy Mass and all of the Sacraments are our real participation in the mysteries of Christ and his Kingdom on Earth.

The story of the disciples who did not recognize Jesus on the road to Emmaus reminds us of the Holy Mass as it is celebrated today.  Though we attend the Marriage Supper of the Lamb, we, like the two disciples on the road to Emmaus who did not immediately recognize the risen Jesus, don’t always appreciate the mysteries before us, but what our human minds have trouble grasping, the gift of our faith allows us to accept.  Through faith such mysteries are revealed, and though blind we may sometimes be, we are privileged to be seated at the Lord’s Table where we are living members of His Kingdom on Earth.

Now that very day two of them were going to a village seven miles from Jerusalem called Emmaus, and they were conversing about all the things that had occurred. And it happened that while they were conversing and debating, Jesus himself drew near and walked with them, ⁷ but their eyes were prevented from recognizing him. He asked them, "What are you discussing as you walk along?" They stopped, looking downcast. One of them, named Cleopas, said to him in reply, "Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know of the things that have taken place there in these days?" And he replied to them, "What sort of things?" They said to him, "The things that happened to Jesus the Nazarene, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, how our chief priests and rulers both handed him over to a sentence of death and crucified him. But we were hoping that he would be the one to redeem Israel; and besides all this, it is now the third day since this took place. Some women from our group, however, have astounded us: they were at the tomb early in the morning and did not find his body; they came back and reported that they had indeed seen a vision of angels who announced that he was alive. Then some of those with us went to the tomb and found things just as the women had described, but him they did not see." And he said to them, "Oh, how foolish you are! How slow of heart to believe all that the prophets spoke! Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer ⁸ these things and enter into his glory?" Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them what referred to him in all the scriptures. As they approached the village to which they were going, he gave the impression that he was going on farther. But they urged him, "Stay with us, for it is nearly evening and the day is almost over." So he went in to stay with them. And it happened that, while he was with them at table, he took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them. With that their eyes were opened and they recognized him, but he vanished from their sight. Then they said to each other, "Were not our hearts burning (within us) while he spoke to us on the way and opened the scriptures to us?" So they set out at once and returned to Jerusalem where they found gathered together the eleven and those with them who were saying, "The Lord has truly been raised and has appeared to Simon!" Then the two recounted what had taken place on the way and how he was made known to them in the breaking of the bread.   Luke 24:13-36 NAB, Catholic Edition.

We see the Catholic liturgy in all of its glory revealed to us right here in Scripture.  After hearing the Good News of Christ Jesus, Christ is received; Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity.  This is His complete presence revealed to us in the breaking of the bread.  The bread that we receive today at every Mass celebrated throughout the world is the very same bread that the disciples in this story shared with Jesus.   Christ can be truly present in many  places at once and this is a mystery far too glorious for our earthly minds to fully comprehend.   We are like the disciples on the road to Emmaus. The complete presence of Christ exists in the Sacraments of  the Catholic Church and can only be recognized through faith.  Such is the case with Christ’s Kingdom which Christ’s hand lovingly reaches out to and cares for from His throne in Heaven.

References

Catholic For a Reason, by Scott Hahn

Unabridged Christianity,  Fr. Mario P. Romero

Will Catholics Be Left Behind?, Carl E. Olson

Catholic Biblical School notes from second and third year, 2007-2009, Catholic Biblical School, Archdiocese of Denver

The Holy Bible, Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition

New American Bible, Catholic Edition

Ignatius Study Bible, Revised Standard Version, Second Edition

Catechism of the Catholic Church (Librenia Editrice Vaticana)

- The False Doctrine of Dispensationalism