Salve, Regina, Mater Misericordiae.
Today, as we celebrate the Feast of the Apostle St. Bartholomew,
or St. Nathaniel, as he's mentioned most often in the Scriptures,
we come to give thanks for the gift of the apostolicity of the Church,
that is, the apostolic nature of the Church.
One of the four marks of the Church is the fact that it is apostolic.
That means that it goes back through the bishops
who all receive their succession ultimately from the apostles.
All of the bishops ultimately trace their ordination or consecration
to the fullness of the priesthood, to the apostles who were ordained
on Holy Thursday by our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
It was our Lord's intention that his work of teaching, governing, and sanctifying
should be carried on by the apostles and their helpers, who are the priests.
And the reason that we know that, for example, that the bread and wine
that is brought to our altar when consecrated by the priest
becomes truly the body, blood, soul, and divinity of Jesus
is because that priest has had hands laid on him by a bishop,
who has received his succession ultimately through the apostles
who were ordained by Christ.
And as well, the promise of Christ that the gates of hell
should not prevail against the Church
is received through the apostolic succession of the successors of St. Peter.
And this is how, you know,
we know that the Apostles of Christ are the ones in charge.
And this is how, you know, we know that the Apostles of Christ are the ones in charge.
And this is how we know that the Apostles of Christ are the ones in charge.
And this is how we know that the Apostles of Christ are the ones in charge.
And this is how we know that the Apostles of Christ are the ones in charge.
And this is how we know that the Apostles of Christ are the ones in charge.
And this is how we know that the Apostles of Christ are the ones in charge.
know that also the church is holy, another mark of the church, because we have the teaching
of Christ preserved by the popes and we have the sacraments remaining intact within the
church because of the succession. The succession, of course, has been lost many places. It's
been lost even in those churches sometimes who believe they still have the Eucharist.
The Orthodox churches that broke away from submission to the Roman pontiff still have
the priesthood. They have the episcopacy, though they're not connected to Rome. But
other churches, like the Anglican Church, have lost their succession, even though when
Henry VIII broke away from the church, they had validly
Eucharist.
They had consecrated bishops, but they lost that validity because of the heretical and
invalid nature of their rights of consecration and ordination. So some people go and believe
that they're venerating the Eucharist. The doctrine of the Anglicans has changed concerning
the Eucharist as well, but some people believe in the real presence and go to an Anglican
church and the Lord's not there.
We have the great blessing of knowing that our Lord is with us because of apostolic succession,
because of the Apostles, and because of the Holy Father.
Specifically in regard to St. Bartholomew or St. Nathaniel, we remember how when he
was brought to our Lord, our Lord saw through him, saw him, and saw through him. Nathaniel
said, can anything good come out of Nazareth? And our Lord said to him, there is no guile.
He's a true Israelite. No guile, no deceit is to be found in him. And then our Lord told
him that he had seen him by the fig tree. We don't know exactly what that means. There's
a lot of different interpretations, but some of the interpretations indicate that our Lord
saw into his heart. And Nathaniel knew from what our Lord said about the fig tree that
he had seen something that no one else had seen.
And when our Lord looked into the heart of Nathaniel, he found that there was no deceit
in him. We pray that through the grace of apostolic succession, through the holiness
of the Church in her teaching and her sacraments, through the grace that comes to us from our
Lord and Savior, who forgives and raises up, that we may be found clean and holy and pure
and pleasing to God. That he may look into our hearts and find us.
Amen.
No guile, no deceit. Our whole salvation depends upon our connection with Christ. And
so we give thanks for all the graces that we have through the succession of the apostles
and through the sacred priesthood.
We thank you.
Amen.
Thank you.
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Amen.