"Catholic From the Outset"

FROM the EDITORS:

IMPORTANT INFORMATION:
Opinions expressed on the Insight Scoop weblog are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the positions of Ignatius Press. Links on this weblog to articles do not necessarily imply agreement by the author or by Ignatius Press with the contents of the articles. Links are provided to foster discussion of important issues. Readers should make their own evaluations of the contents of such articles.

NEW & UPCOMING, available from IGNATIUS PRESS

Tuesday, July 05, 2011

"Catholic From the Outset"

"Catholic From the Outset" | Fr. James V. Schall, S.J. | Ignatius Insight | July 5, 2011

"For us Christians, the world is the fruit of an act of love by God who has made all things and in which he rejoices because it is 'good'; it is 'very good,' as the creation narrative tells us" (Genesis 1:1-21). — Pope Benedict XVI, Pentecost Sunday 2011 (L'Osservatore Romano, English, June 15, 2011).

"The Church was catholic from the outset; her universality is not the result of a successive inclusion of various communities." — Benedict XVI, Pentecost Sunday 2011.

I.

Before inventing the vapid "Fourteenth or Fifteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time" business, the Church used to identify those days as "The Fifth Sunday after Pentecost," "the Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost", and so forth. The liturgical season and its teaching were kept in mind. Symbolically and actually, the time after Pentecost is the time of the Holy Spirit, the time between the sending of the Apostles into the world and the Second Coming. What is going on is the essential purpose of Christ's being sent into the world: the salvation of sinners and the proper worship of God as that was established by the suffering, death, and resurrection of Christ.

The major event in world history has taken place, namely, the Incarnation of the Son of God. It is a divine event that is at the same time historical. It really happened. What follows the time of Christ's actual life on earth is the time during which the nations and individuals within them make up their minds about reality, about whether they will accept or reject the offer of salvation that was made present in the world with Christ's Incarnation, Crucifixion, and Resurrection.

Ultimately, this decision is what the time after Pentecost is about.

As usual, Benedict XVI has given us an insightful reflection on the meaning of Pentecost and the nature of our time in this world. In recalling the period from Holy Week to Pentecost, Benedict says that "the Church has thus re-lived what happened at her origins, when the Apostles gathered in the upper room of Jerusalem, as we read in the Acts of the Apostles."