St. Mary of Mount Carmel Catholic Church

THE CHURCH by YDisciple

Keys to the Kingdom

Adapted by Aurora Hinson

Last session we learned that the Church is more than a building—it is the family of God and the hope for the world.

When you look into a newspaper, you see various sections with different headlines. What would be the headline that describes you right now in these categories? (Copy, paste, and add your comments below to share)!

Front Page News:

Family News:

Sports News:

Entertainment News:

Business News:

Religious News:

Advice Column:

Here's what the First Century Church headline would have been:

“And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers."

Acts 2:42

Do you think today the Church would have the same headline? Unfortunately, we are unable to meet together in person and partake in the Eucharist right now, but this IS an essential part of our Church. We are all missing this right now, and I hope it brings us to further appreciate what we do have and celebrate on a usual day.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church is divided into 4 parts:

1) The Profession of Faith (apostles’ teaching)

2) The Celebration of the Christian Mystery (breaking of the bread)

3) Life in Christ (fellowship)

4) Christian Prayer (prayers)

In this session we are going to focus on what the Church calls the source and summit of our faith: the Eucharist (the breaking of bread).

“So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls. And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And fear came upon every soul; and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common; and they sold their possessions and goods and distributed them to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they partook of food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.”

—Acts 2:41-47

Pray with me:

Jesus, You tell us that unless we eat Your flesh and drink Your blood, we will have no life in us. But if we eat Your flesh and drink Your blood we will have eternal life and You will raise us up on the last day. We pray for the faith to truly believe in Your real presence and to grow in our practice of receiving You at Mass and adoring You in the Blessed Sacrament.

Watch the video Keys to the Kingdom by Chris Padgett on formed.org at https://watch.formed.org/ydisciple/season:8/videos/keys-to-the-kingdom-with-chris-padgett. Feel free to comment below about the video.

Pilate said to him, "So you are a king?" Jesus answered: "You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice.  --John 18:37

And then, Pilate asks: What is truth? There are so many beliefs out there today, many people think we cannot know the truth. Jesus wanted to give the world the truth.

Chris, our presenter in the video, tells us how Jesus started the Church and gave it structure. He told Peter:

And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loose in heaven.

--Matthew 16:18-19

The church, Chris said, is like an acorn of a maple tree and that Jesus’ proclamation about Peter reveals several things:

» Jesus had a plan for the Church.

» Jesus had a plan for authority and structure in the Kingdom of Heaven.

» Jesus was building on the foundation of Peter.

Jesus commissioned the Apostles:

"Go therefore, and make disciples of all nations. Baptize them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to carry out everything that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, til the close of the age."--Matthew 28:19-20

The Catholic church can trace the succession of the popes back to Peter-- who got his authority from Jesus Christ! We are an apostolic church--coming from the Apostles-- because of this succession. Today, our priests are getting their authority from this succession handed down from Jesus to Peter to bishops to priests who bring the Eucharist to us at Mass.

This week, even though you can’t receive the Eucharist,  I want you to pray that Jesus unleashes all of the graces of His sacrament in your heart. Pray that He reveals the Church to you in all of her Glory and helps you to understand and follow the Church in Her guidance and wisdom. Chris talks about how we as a church often starve ourselves from being the church. In this time of hunger for Jesus, we can still go to Him in prayer and in the Scriptures to feed ourselves.

I challenge you to pray for each of your brothers and sisters in Christ. Prayer is a powerful tool! Also, take time to participate in the Mass Online.

It's not easy to be together today in person, but I invite you to share this post with each other as a sign that we have each other and are not alone. I'm leaving you with this song that has been on my mind this week: 10,000 Reasons!