The Church in a cave?

I found this as well today. It is the story of a Cave Church in Turkey, which used to be known as Antioch waaaay back in the day. What day? The days of the Romans, and especially of the Apostles.

This Church is thought to have been made by St. Peter himself, our first Pope, and in some websites it is noted as the first Christian Church! At any rate, it is beginning to crumble, such does time have its effects on creation.



It makes one wonder whether there is any symbolic significance for the Holy Catholic Church of 2008? Now, some of our separated brethren might say, "Sure, it means that the Catholic Church is the "whore of babylon" which is misleading the people." For example, one thinks of the ridiculous Chick publications presentation of what the Catholic Church is supposedly doing to the world. In fact, the Catholic Church is not misleading the world, but still proclaiming the same message given in the very bible which she herself put together through her bishops, priests and faithful. By the way, you can find answers regarding those Chick Publications at the Catholic Answers website to which you can find a link here.

In spite of Mr. Chick, if he actually exists, there maybe some symbolic meaning to this ancient Church crumbling. It perhaps has more to do with the lack of faith of Catholics in today's world. If it is still true the 50% of American Catholics don't believe in the True presence of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist then it should give us cause to consider. How are we proclaiming the Good News of Jesus Christ within our own parish? How are we trying to help rebuild the Church in her faith, from which many people have left and continue to leave? What we must understand is that the Catholic Faith is not something we can come up with sitting on our couch watching Oprah or whatever. Each of us Christians must learn the Catholic Faith, in spite of what many of our separated brethren would have us believe about just accepting Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Savior. There are as well commandments we must learn and teachings of the Church that we must learn to obey, again not from fear but because of our real love and relationship for Jesus Christ who established the Catholic Church.

How could I be so arrogant though? How can I say that there are things we must learn if and when we claim to be Catholics? Well, it is very clearly laid out by Jesus himself in the Sacred Scriptures, namely in what is known as the Great Commission in Matthew 28:28-30: "Go, therefore,and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age."

For us Catholics, we must know that we continue practicing our faith in the only Christian Church not established by a man, but established directly by Jesus on St. Peter, our first Pope and who, apparently, built the first Church in Antioch, which even now is beginning to crumble.

There is a real analogy to understand here: in our modern world we must help to rebuild the Church, but this is not saying in stone or in a cave, but in the hearts and minds of the people of our modern world. Whether the poor Cave Church of St. Peter survives is, in some way, immaterial to whether the Catholic Church will survive. Our Lord, Jesus, promised St. Peter that the gates of hell will not prevail against it, but he never said there wouldn't be struggles against hell. In fact, quite the contrary! Jesus says in Luke's Gospel (Lk 22:31-32) , "Simon, Simon, behold Satan has demanded to sift all of you like wheat,but I have prayed that your own faith may not fail; and once you have turned back, you must strengthen your brothers."

This leads me to conclude with this thought: Ubi Petrus, ibi ecclesia. This ancient Latin phrase reminds us that "Where Peter is, there is the Church." So while that ancient Church building is crumbling, the living Church continues to flourish, if we will accept it and live Her teachings even in our own lives. To this end, our Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI will soon arrive on the soil of our beloved homeland to remind us of our true homeland - heaven - and to strengthen our belief in Jesus Christ who came into the world to lead us home. We can not go home any other way, but through our life in this world. May we never cease uniting ourselves to Jesus in all situations that we find ourselves in!