THE ONE TRUE CHURCH

X  I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth. X I believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son, Our Lord, Who was conceived of the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, was Crucified, and Resurrected. X I believe in the Holy Spirit.              X I believe in the Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.   X  I believe in the resurrection of the body.  X  I believe in life everlasting, Amen.

CC 13 …. IN BRIEF

·      Assuring the Twelve of His unfailing assistance “till the end of time’’ (Mt. 28:20), Christ showed clearly what He had in mind; that His Church was to survive all ages.

·      For this end He appointed the Apostles as the official and authentic Teachers, and assigned to them the task of spreading the Gospel.           (Mt. 28: 18 – 20; Mk. 16: 15; Lk. 24: 46 – 49; Jn. 20: 20 – 23)

·      In turn, the Apostles appointed other collaborators to help them carry out the Divine Mandate. (2Tim. 2: 1 – 2)

·      Through the “laying of the hands” (1Tim. 4: 14), the Twelve transmitted to their successors the Mission which they had personally received from the Lord.

·      In this way there began what is known as “The Apostolic Succession”,  that is ‘the unbroken line’ of those, who, beginning from “the Apostolic Succession”, of those, who, beginning from the Apostles, are officially designated to preach the Gospel.

·      As Christ chose His legitimate representatives (the Apostles), so these, in turn, chose others to succeed them. Again, the successors of the Apostles appointed others to take over after them, and so it will go on, “till the end of time”.

·      The Apostolic Succession is of vital importance to verify the authenticity of the preacher and of his message.

·      If he is outside the Apostolic Line, it is clear that he has received no mandate from Christ. He is self-appointed, acting on his own initiative. As such he does not enjoy the assistance the Lord promised to those he had personally chosen and appointed. (Mt. 28: 20)

·      The ONE and only CHURCH was founded by JESUS CHRIST on the Apostles as the foundation stones. Hence the Apostolic succession is also important to identify the ONE, TRUE, HOLY, CATHOLIC,  APOSTOLIC CHURCH.                     / 14

Extracts by kind permission of  HG Mons. Sylvester Magro ofm, Apostolic Nuncio of Benghazi.