The "Catholic" Christ [Wednesday of the Third Week of Easter]

JESUS SAID, "I WILL NOT REJECT ANYONE .."
Image from flickr.com

"... and I will not reject anyone who comes to me, ..."

- John 6:37b

One of the big issues being hurled against the Church is its use of the word Catholic. Many fundamentalist sects especially attack the Church because of this since they claim that there is nothing in the Holy Bible which states that the Church established by Christ is Catholic altogether forgetting that there really is no mention in the Holy Bible about what name the Lord Jesus Christ called His Church hence if such a principle would be followed, we'll find ourselves promoting a Church with no name. One more thing: while they claim that the Church is wrong in its use of the Roman Catholic as the name for the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ, they have used various names that does not seem consistent with their principle. 

Being the Bread of Life, the Lord Jesus Christ gives Himself as food to everyone who believes, whether Jews or Gentiles alike, men or women,  freemen or slaves, for in fact in Him there is no more distinction among all the faithful for everyone is Christ's [see Galatians 3:28; Romans 3: 22,29; 1 Corinthians 12:13; Colossians 3:11; Ephesians 2: 14-15]. Everyone who believes belong to Christ already and everyone bears the name Christian. 

During His agony in Gethsemane, Christ prayed for all those who will believe in Him through His Apostles and prayed that all may be one [see John 17: 20-21]. Before His ascension, He commissioned these Apostles to go to the ends of the earth and make disciples of all nations commanding them to baptize these in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and to teach these all that He has taught them [see Matthew 28: 19-20]. This He did because He had told them that He has other sheep that must also be led into the one flock so that everyone will be guided by the One Shepherd [see John 10:16].

The Lord said that He will welcome everyone who comes to Him as long as anyone who wishes to belong to His flock must believe in Him and be baptized. For by believing one accepts Him and His message of salvation and by being baptized one leaves behind a life of sin and embraces a new life in the Spirit, the Spirit of holiness. One will not be asked if he or she is Asian, African, American, Oceanian or European, or whether he or she is professional, a mere laborer, of royal lineage or just a commoner, or if he or she has talents, skills or gifts, etc.

That's why the Church is Catholic, from the Greek katholikos, which means universal, throughout the whole, or all-embracing for the Lord Jesus Christ welcomes everyone and since the Church is His body, the Church is also a Church for all, hence Catholic, and the distinctions within the Church are only about having different works though all by the same God the Father, on having various ministries yet always in the same Lord Jesus Christ and on having distinct charisms but all through the same Holy Spirit [see 1 Corinthians 12: 4-6] and not in accordance with color, culture or capability.

Eternal life is for everyone and we only have to accept the Lord Jesus Christ into our lives and belong to His body, the Church which He has established on earth through His chosen Apostles, particularly Peter [see Ephesians 2:20; Matthew 16:18; Luke 22:32; John 21: 15-17]. 

Christ is Catholic for He embraces everyone. Would you rather be selective?