The image I have in my head of the funeral Mass for Pope John Paul II epitomizes the degree to which the Catholic Church has touched the World for Christ. Representatives from many faiths and cultures were there to honor the beautiful witness of this man. They recognized in him the lovely expression of what the Church is meant to be.
John Paul II had answered the call that was first given to Peter. If you love me, feed my sheep. Care for the hungry, naked, sick, imprisoned, oppressed, and broken-hearted. And that is what the Church has done throughout history. In every country and in every culture, the Church has become a witness to the faith by becoming the hands and feet of Our Lord.
Wherever there is suffering, the Church is there. Wherever there is injustice, the Church is there. Wherever there is poverty, the Church is there.
While it is true that other Christian communities have faithfully answered this call, none have done it so thoroughly as the Catholic Church. None so diligently. None so comprehensively. And certainly, none other can boast of a tradition of service that spans more than two millennia.
In 2003, U.S. Catholic Charities provided food to nearly four and a half million people across the nation. They provided other basic living needs for 1.1 million people and disaster relief to over thirty thousand people. Catholic Relief Services takes the Lord’s hands and feet to 99 countries worldwide, to feed the poor, to provide emergency response in areas devastated by natural and man-made disasters, and to care for the sick.
It doesn’t end there. In fact, the scope of Catholic outreach is so comprehensive, we would have to study every religious order and lay apostolate in order to understand the depth and breadth of Catholic love. I wouldn’t know where to begin to cover it all. There are thousands of Catholics involved in hundreds of religious orders and lay apostolates. I suppose, only Our Lord knows the degree to which the Catholic Church ministers to the people of the world.
If you love me, feed my sheep. And the Catholic Church answers, yes Lord, send us. When Jesus says, go ye therefore into all nations, she goes. When Jesus says, feed my sheep, she feeds them. When Jesus says, you must be the servant of all, she becomes a servant to all. When Jesus says, no greater love has any man than to lay his life down, she lays down her life, again and again.
She is a witness to the world – and has been for more than two thousand years.
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