Many people describe how they believe in God, but not in organized religion. They like Jesus, but not the Church. Discover in the book of Revelation, the Church is unveiled, revealed for what she actually is. Be surprised and stirred. Listen to this homily from the book of Revelation, given by Father Mayer on May 22, 2022.
Many people describe how they believe in God, but not in organized religion. They like Jesus, but not the Church. Discover in the book of Revelation, the Church is unveiled, revealed for what she actually is. Be surprised and stirred. Listen to this homily from the book of Revelation, given by Father Mayer on May 22, 2022.
Melissa and I recently celebrated our seventeenth wedding anniversary. I know that most of you know that I am married, although some of you listening to the podcast may not. For those of you who do not know, I used to be a Protestant Episcopal priest and then came into the Catholic Church and received a dispensation from Pope Francis to be ordained as a married man. Anyhow, I really like being married. I have a great wife (I believe that it is a special calling to be a priest’s wife). Melissa is warm and people easily connect with her. She is a great person to be with especially at events and gatherings because people are so drawn to her. // Today, I would like to talk to you about Christ’s wife, about his bride, about the Church. She too is attractive and draws people to herself. Yet, there are a large number of people who will tell you, “I like Jesus, he’s a great guy, a great teacher and the like, but I do not like organized religion. I believe in God, but I am not religious. I’m spiritual but I do not go to Church. Anyone know anyone like that? It is my hope that understanding Christ’s bride, the importance of the Church can be helpful to those of you know people that are opposed to the Church, either by having a conversation with them about what you are learning here in the book of Revelation, or by sharing this homily with others.
Today, in our second reading today from the book of Revelation chapter 21, we got to hear about the introduction of Christ’s wife in verse nine of chapter 21 an angel says to John, the guy who is writing all of this down, “Come, I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb.” And then he shows him this holy city of Jerusalem coming down out of heaven, which symbolizes the Church, the bride of Christ.
The bride of Christ, the city of Jerusalem coming down from heaven is described as being glorious, shining with radiance like a rare jewel – it sounds wonderful and attractive right? Because it is, yet the very next description in verse 12 is that it has a great wall, a high wall, meaning that this is not a city that you are going to get into any way that you want. You are definitely not going to be able to get over the wall. Now there are also some gates, twelve gates actually, but these are not going to be easily entered either, unless you know how to get past the twelve angels that are posted at each of these gates, similar to the angle posted to guard the entrance of the garden of Eden. The bride of Christ is symbolized with high walls and an angel guarding each door. Yes, the bride of Christ is glorious, but getting into heaven is not easy.
- I say all of this because many people have this mistaken, rather prideful notion that they can stumble into heaven without any problems. As long as you are a halfway decent person, you are going to go to heaven, that you have nothing to worry about. And yet, here in the Holy Scripture, in the book of Revelation, we are being presented with the bride of Christ, with the heavenly Jerusalem as a beautiful place with an unscalable wall and a powerful angel guarding each of the twelve entrances. This is not a place that you are going to accidently somehow stumble into. ||
- In fact, according to many saints and mystics, only a few people are going to go to heaven. St John Neumann said: “Notwithstanding assurances that God did not create anyone for hell, and that He wishes all people to be saved, it remains equally true that only a few will be saved; only a few will go to heaven; the greater part of mankind will be lost forever.” Doctor of the Church Saint Alphonsus Liguori wrote that “The common opinion is that the greater part of adults are lost.” And these two saints are not alone: St. Augustine, St. Jerome, St John Mary Vianney, St Benedict Joseph Labr, St Alphonsus Maria de Liguori, St Philip Neri, St Teresa of Avila, Fatima visionaries all said the same thing and I am sure that I could dig up others. Our Lord himself, for that matter said the same: “Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few." Matthew 7:13-14.
So, one of the most important things that you need to know about the heavenly Jerusalem, about being part of that perfected bride of Christ, is that although she is splendid and beautiful and glorious, the walls are high, the gates are guarded and the way of pride – “ah, getting to heaven is easy. I’m a good person. I have no problem” is not what is reflected in Scripture. There is a way in, but it takes effort, it takes humility, and those who find it are few.
However, take heart, there is a tried and true way into that heavenly Jerusalem. According to our reading today from the book of Revelation, that heavenly Jerusalem has come down to earth. That heavenly Jerusalem is the Church, the bride of Christ, the wife of the lamb. How do you know that it is the Church, and what Church is it exactly?
- The heavenly Jerusalem, according to what John wrote down has written on the foundation, the name of Christ, and the twelve apostles. It is these twelve apostles who I would offer, are in charge of who gets to go through those gates. Remember what Jesus said to the twelve apostles in John chapter 20: whoever’s sins you forgive will be forgiven and whoever’s sins you do not forgive will not be forgiven. Or Matthew 16, when he gave binding and loosing authority first to Peter and then in Matthew 18 to the rest of the twelve apostles or you could look to the three different places in the gospels when he said to the apostles, “He who listens to you listens to me and he who rejects you rejects me. Or what he said in Luke 22: “I assign to you, as my Father assigned to me, a kingdom, 30 that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” Meaning the fullness of God’s people.
- How do you get into heaven, how do you get to be part of that heavenly bride, to join in that heavenly wedding banquet? It not just by believing in Christ, although that is a great start. Christ works through those he has authoritatively set into place, through his apostles. He has given them authority to judge who gets into heaven, who goes through those twelve gates.
- Now you might respond, okay, I get that, but those twelve apostles are no longer here. They are no longer governing the church. Well, this is where we get doctrine of apostolic succession. When Jesus sent out the twelve apostles in he gave them teaching authority that would last beyond the lives of the men that he was sending. He said “Go and teach them everything I have commanded you for surely I am with even to the end of the age” meaning unto the end of the world. That authority did not stop with the apostles. It was passed on to the first bishops of the Church, their successors. We see Peter doing this with Matthias who replaced Judas in Acts. We see Paul doing this with Timothy and instructing Timothy to do this with others. In fact, the books of the Bible were not authoritatively collected together until the year 382 and especially so in the first few hundred years of the Church, the way that you knew someone was either a heretic or actually had authority to teach was based on apostolic succession. Irenaeus writes about this in 189, as does Tertullian in the year 200 and Cyprian of Carthage in 253 as well as others.
So, what is the sure and certain way of entering into that heavenly Jerusalem? It is through the Church, through the bride of Christ, governed with the authority of Christ by the apostles and their successors, the bishops. Deliberately rejecting Christ’s Church, is to reject Christ himself. We say every Sunday, that we believe in one, holy, catholic, and APOSTOLIC church. The Church is apostolic and this is the meaning of those twelve gates of foundation of the Holy Jerusalem, the bride of Christ as described in the book of revelation.
Easily sliding into heaven while rejecting the Church, is not a thing, at least according to how the heavenly Jerusalem is symbolized in Revelation with the high walls and guarded gates. Instead, I would encourage you to stay close to the Church. There are lots of folks out there who believe in a me and Jesus theology, that’s all I need. I don’t need the Church. All I need to do is to believe in Jesus. But consider, that’s rather like saying “Jesus, I really like you, but I am rather disgusted by your wife.” Like any husband, Jesus is not going to take that well. Instead stay close to the Church. The way that Christ has set it up, it is through the Church that you are joined to him. Stay close to the bishops of the church, in spite of the media or perhaps a bad bishop or a bad priest, doing all that they can to cause division in the bride of Christ. Embrace the bride of Christ, she is attractive and beautiful and glorious. Embrace the Church to be embraced by Christ. Amen.