The Catholic Church: The Certainty Of Her Teachings

Catholic teachings are not only difficult to explain, they are also hard to understand. For a Catholic, faith remains the keyword, for when the senses leave a gap of doubt concerning a teaching, faith comes in readily to steal it. And so a Catholic is able to maintain his tract even in the face of criticisms and ridicules from the adversary. Catholic teaching is original, ever constant and unchanging.
     The Church is the perfect instrument started by Christ himself in Jerusalem in the 1st century AD, established on the Apostle peter (Matt. 16:17-19) to continue to teach salvation to the world till Christ returns(Matt. 28; 19-20). It is neither a human creation nor a recent invention. To accomplish this task without error.
a)  Jn.16:12-14: Jesus promised and later sent the Holy Spirit to dwell in His Church forever so that His Church will never depart from the path of truth "I still have many things to  say to you but they would be too much for you to bear now. However when the Spirit of truth comes he will lead you to the complete truth, since he will not be speaking of his own accord, but will say only what he has been told; and he will reveal to you the things to come."
b) Jn.17:17-19: Jesus sanctified His Church in truth saying, "consecrate them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, and for their sake  1 consecrate myself  so that they too may be consecrated in truth."
C) Matt. 28:19-20: Jesus promised to be with His Church till the end of time saying, "Go therefore, make disciples of all nations;.... And look, 1 am with you always; yes, to the end of time."
d) Jesus assured His Church that whoever listens to her listens to Him (Jesus) and, as if to confirm this, St. Paul would describe the Church of God as 'the pillar and ground of truth'(1 Tim. 3:15).
      Having fortified and placed this seal of  certainty on His church Jesus called the members of his Church his sheep. Why sheep and not dogs? First, a sheep like a child, does not know and so it neither questions nor argues but follows what has already been put in place by the shepherd (confirm Mk.10:5). Second, because a sheep merely follows, the sheep cannot find a new path for himself other than the one already opened for him by the shepherd. This is to say that the sheep cannot teach itself (himself) but relies entirely on the shepherd. Third, without the shepherd, the sheep is lost as he cannot fend for himself. For this reason, the sheep listens only to the voice of the shepherd and no other - the shepherd who continue to say "you are Peter and on you will i build my church (Matt. 16:18-19), " Peter feed my sheep, take care of my sheep, feed my sheep"(Jn 21:15-17).
            According to Jesus, his sheep listens to his voice because they know his voice. They will never follow a stranger because they do not recognize a strangers voice (Jn10:1-5). Nowhere did the lord Jesus teach that His church, in the course of centuries, will fall into error which will then require him(Jesus) to send a new church to redeem the old. Rather Jesus warned his sheep against following strange prophets who would appear after him to perform great signs and miracles to deceive them (Matt 24:23-25;Mk 13:21-23 and Lk 21:8). Elsewhere he continued his warning saying, " Watch out for false Prophet. They com e to you in sheep clothing, buts inwardly they are Ferocious wolves..... Many will say to me on that day, Lord Lord did we not prophecy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?"Then I will tell them plainly,' I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers",(Matt. 7:15-23).
       The in fallibility of the one-ecclesial community of Christ was belived from the very early days of the church:
(I)  St. Irenaeus (130 200 AD), Bishop of Lyons in France was to explain, " The church, having received the apostolic teaching and faith, though spread over the whole world, guards it sedulously, as though dwelling in one house, and these truth she uniformly teaches, having but one soul and heart; these truth she proclaim, teaches, and hand down as though she has but one mouth,-Against the Heresies. 1, 10.
(II)  St,Cyprian (200-25 8 AD), Bishop of Carthage in Tunisia advised heretics thus,".... The other bishoprics should conform to Rome's method of procedure and look to it as a point of reference. For the principal church of Peter, is not just a record and a symbol but a present and working reality in the person of the Apostolic Peter"- On the Unity of the catholic church.
(III)  St. Eusebius pampili (260-340 AD), Bishop of Caesarea in Philippi marveled, "But the brightness of the Catholic church proceeded to increase in greatness, for it ever held held to the same points in the same way, and radiated forth to all the races of Greeks and Barbarians the reverent, sincere and free nature and the sobriety and purity of the divine teaching as to conduct and thought"- Ecclesiastical History, Vol. 4 .
(iv)  St. Augustine (354-430), Bishop of Hippo in North Africa explained, "The Catholic Church is the work of Divine province, achieved through the prophecies of the prophets.......through the journeys of the apostles.... the blood and death of martyrs... for starting  from the apostolic chair down through the succession of bishops, even up to the open confession of all mankind, it has possessed the crown of teaching authority.