My brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus,

You are a member of the Church for a reason. The reason is your belief in Jesus Christ.

Have you ever given serious thought to what you believe?

By belonging to the Polish National Catholic Church you believe some very important things.

The first reading today may leave you confused about what you believe. Is Jesus just a powerful prophet? Frankly no, He is more than that. He is God Himself.

So let’s take a moment to focus, to clarify, and to review what your being here says you believe. By belonging to the Church you believe:

• There is one God
• There are three persons in one God.
• All three are equal and eternal.
• Jesus is the second person in the Holy Trinity, the Son of the Father.
• Jesus was born into the world at a moment in time, of the Virgin Mary, by the power of the Holy Spirit.
• Jesus is truly God and truly man.
• Jesus died a horrible death on the cross and was buried.
• Jesus died for your sins —“ to redeem you.
• Jesus rose from the dead.
• Jesus ascended into heaven.
• Jesus will be your judge upon your death and on the last day.

You believe that the Church is the ordered body of Christ and the commissioned teacher of all that is true.

You believe in the seven sacraments, the communion of saints, and that the Church is one, holy, catholic, and apostolic.

You believe that the Holy Eucharist is the real presence of Jesus Christ, body, blood, soul, and divinity and that when you receive the Eucharist you are eating Jesus’ body and blood, not bread and wine.

You believe that Christ commissioned His church to forgive sins.

You believe that God created us, that we were born innocent and good, that evil is real, and that evil tempts us.

While believing in the reality of evil, you do not believe in the personification or anthropomorphization of evil into the devil, Satan, or any other being.

You believe that God offers a continuous opportunity to repent from evil, both in this life and the next, and that the door to heaven is only shut when we shut it.

You believe that you must make an active choice for God in order to best prepare yourself for eternity.

You adhere to the Confession of Faith of the Polish National Catholic Church and all it contains.

You believe that the pope is a bishop like all other bishops and is, by faithful tradition, the first among equals. He is not infallible and cannot proclaim doctrine except as a result of a truly ecumenical synod.

You do not subscribe to the notion of the Immaculate Conception nor to the bodily assumption of Mary into heaven.

This list does not cover it all, but is does raise a serious question. Can you validly say you believe all these things? Can you believe them even if your senses and logic tell you differently? Can you believe them just because the Church says so?

When we stand for the Creed we do not say —We believe— as some other Catholic or Protestant churches do. We each say —I believe.— This is a very strong statement. This is a proclamation of something extraordinary.

My friends,

Belief in the truth is difficult in the face of the world. Setting aside your personal ideas and agendas, and agreeing with the Church is difficult as well. While these difficulties are real, and while we do not sit down and actively review and enumerate our beliefs each day, we need to take time to assess them.

God has given us the grace to be included in His Church, an inclusion that carries not only a myriad of blessings, but also a great responsibility.

I can only speak for myself. I believe each and every one of these things. I believe them even when my senses tell me different. I believe them because the Church says so. To put it even more simply I fall back on the words of the children’s song: I believe because the Bible tells me so.

Do not be fooled. Many cults and ‘world religions’ claim to believe in Jesus Christ, or they acknowledge Him in some way. The problem is that they do not believe in the Jesus Christ presented in the Bible and proclaimed by the Holy Catholic Church —“ Jesus who is God.

In the Bible Jesus promised the Holy Spirit to His Church and left the Church as His instrument. Together, the Bible and the Church are here for our salvation, to lead us home to God. Jesus set it up this way on purpose, and being God, He knows what He is doing.

My faithful people,

When we reflect on today’s Gospel we need to remind ourselves that we cannot stand here and be astonished like the people in Capernaum.

The people were astonished at his teaching,
for he taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes.

…and again,

All were amazed and asked one another,
—What is this?
A new teaching with authority.
He commands even the unclean spirits and they obey him.—
His fame spread everywhere throughout the whole region of Galilee.

We need to stand strong in our faith, reassured by our belief, and the promise of Jesus Christ. We cannot simply be here because we think Jesus is a cool, famous guy; a kind of millennial Hollywood star. We cannot be like others who turn Jesus from God into a mannequin of their own making. They create a false Jesus who is just a thing that supports, justifies and fulfills their own desires.

If you are coming here to be social, to have a good time, to eat some cool blessed wafers and drink wine, to kneel, bow, and be blessed by the power of a cool guy, to listen to some interesting philosophical fables, you are deluding yourself.

If you are going to other churches thinking they are just as good and just as equal, you are mistaken.

We, need to heed Paul’s words:

I am telling you this for your own benefit,
not to impose a restraint upon you,
but for the sake of propriety
and adherence to the Lord without distraction.

Therefore I tell you —“ adhere to the Lord without distraction, stand and profess, with the Church, your belief in Him.