Blessed be God.
Blessed be His Holy Name.
Blessed be Jesus Christ, true God and true Man.
Blessed be the Name of Jesus.
Blessed be His Most Sacred Heart.
Blessed be His Most Precious Blood.
Blessed be Jesus in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar.
Blessed be the Holy Ghost, the Paraclete.
Blessed be the great Mother of God, Mary most Holy.
Blessed be her Holy and Immaculate Conception.
Blessed be her Glorious Assumption.
Blessed be the name of Mary, Virgin and Mother.
Blessed be St. Joseph, her most chaste spouse.
Blessed be God in His Angels and in His Saints.
Amen.
Imagine a Christian saying this to the Apostles and presbyters when they made their dogmatic decision at the Council of Jerusalem; or the council Fathers of Nicaea, Constantinople, Ephesus, Chalcedon, etc.
It’s a recipe for exactly what we’ve seen: chaos and anarchy. Confusion. Disunity.
The Church is messy. But it is Christ’s one Bride, with an apostolic authority structure established for the benefit of all God’s people, so that the faith may be known by all, particularly amidst tumultuous disputes. Every heretic in history has made essentially the same claim as Luther: I read the Bible differently than the Church who gave it to me.
The siren song of “freedom” and “independence” in such matters is Satan’s calling card. Living 31 years as a protestant, I saw its fruits: I couldn’t get straight, consistent answers about the most basic matters of Christian life, because everyone claimed what Luther did, convinced the Bible was on their side, with no way to settle their disagreements.
That is not what Christ intended for us. Come Home. Suffer with the one family of God if you need to, as countless Church Fathers, martyrs, and Saints have done for 2,000 years, never once losing their faith in Christ and His Church.
♰ The Nicene Creed ♰
I believe in one God,
the Father almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all things visible and invisible.
I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ,
the Only Begotten Son of God,
born of the Father before all ages.
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father;
through him all things were made.
For us men and for our salvation
he came down from heaven,
and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary,
and became man.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate,
he suffered death and was buried,
and rose again on the third day
in accordance with the Scriptures.
He ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory
to judge the living and the dead
and his kingdom will have no end.
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son,
who with the Father and the Son is adored and glorified,
who has spoken through the prophets.
I believe in one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church.
I confess one Baptism for the forgiveness of sins
and I look forward to the resurrection of the dead
and the life of the world to come. Amen.
Do not look forward to what may happen tomorrow; the same everlasting Father who cares for you today will take care of you tomorrow and every day. Either He will shield you from suffering, or He will give you unfailing strength to bear it.
-St. Francis De Sales