{"id":2359,"date":"2008-11-12T20:06:00","date_gmt":"2008-11-12T20:06:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2008\/11\/four-marks\/"},"modified":"2008-11-12T20:06:00","modified_gmt":"2008-11-12T20:06:00","slug":"four-marks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2008\/11\/four-marks.html","title":{"rendered":"Four Marks"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

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Tonight at RCIA we went through the four marks of the Church. What I am most inspired by in this is that, by becoming a Catholic, not only do I enter the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church, but there is also an individual dimension.<\/span><\/p>\n


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It then becomes my aim, my goal and my destiny to become One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic myself. In other words, through God\u2019s grace, I become One. I become unified. All the warring passions and ego and discord becomes resolved. As Jesus prays for me, I become one as he and the Father are one. This integral unity is what St Paul means when he says that \u201cIn Christ we live and move and have our being.\u201d My Being is One with the one who is I AM\u2013who is the ground of all being, who is Being itself.<\/span><\/div>\n

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I am also called to be Holy, called to be whole, called to be complete. I am called to the \u2018full maturity and stature of the man Christ Jesus. This is what holiness is\u2013not just piety or prayerfulness or being polite, but to be fulfilled and made whole. This destiny we share as we enter the one, holy Church. That is we are called to be saints. Pope Benedict has said, \u201cThe Scriptures can only be interpreted through the lives of the saints.\u201d The same is true of the Church\u2013the church can only be understood through the lives of the saints. When we see the saints, when we celebrate their lives we see what we are called to be and we see what we are already (if only we had eyes to see)<\/span><\/div>\n

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I also want, individually to be Catholic. That is, I want my own narrow, provincial, ego centric, limited life to become huge. I want it to have a universal dimension. By becoming Catholic I become one with my brothers and sisters on the mission in El Salvador, one with my blog reader friends from around the world. In communion I become one with all the saints down through the ages, in every nation, from every tongue and tribe. Furthermore, this universal dimension helps my poor life to transcend and belong to all that is beautiful, good and true wherever and however it exists in the world anywhere and at anytime. From the cathedrals of France to the temples of Angkor Wat, from the clapboard white Baptist Church to the symphony halls and stages and galleries the world over\u2013in every shrine of any kind\u2013wherever there is beauty, truth, goodness and light, the universality of the Church gathers me and my small life up and magnifies it to a universal.<\/span><\/div>\n

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Finally, I also want my life to be apostolic. See the apostles, the sent ones? See their focus, their mission, their zeal, their life in the Spirit? See their connection with Christ, their love for the Truth, the passion for souls, their missionary spirit? I want to share in this. I also want to share in the apostolic truth and live it\u2013the apostolic truth taught and lived by the Catholic faith that comes to us from the apostles.<\/span><\/div>\n

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When we say in the creed, \u201cI believe in One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church\u201d all this is included.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tonight at RCIA we went through the four marks of the Church. What I am most inspired by in this is that, by becoming a Catholic, not only do I enter the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church, but there is also an individual dimension. It then becomes my aim, my goal and my destiny […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":557,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2359","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nFour Marks<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Tonight at RCIA we went through the four marks of the Church. 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