The following email was sent to me by a thoughtful and faithful Catholic man named simply Mark. He has some interesting ideas about the Church today which invite reflection and discussion. I post his email here in hopes that readers will wrestle with the ideas presented here, namely, what the Church is and where it is. Oftentimes we modern people see the world in terms of visible realities—what Mark says in his own idiosyncratic way as “sentient.” Instead, we should ask what the Church is in terms of the invisible reality that is far more powerful and essential to the structuring of reality itself than matter, e.g., fine silken cloth for vestments, carved oaken furniture for altars or chairs, or marble, brick, and stone of church buildings versus supernatural life of grace by which the will and intellect of man is moved toward God and the good. Doing so we will be more on our way to see by faith instead of human sight, and so see the signs of the times and prepare ourselves for the Bridegroom.

Mark writes:

Almighty God so willing, we will now continue in finer clarity. Amen. “What and where is the Church today?” Your website gets no traction not because it is not utterly compelling to read, or listen to, rather because there are no authentic Christians/Catholics (as the terms are comingled from their metaphysical essence) left to find interest in the reading of truth, as all but all are simply not who they believe themselves to be, with their itchy ears, most basically understood then as,- we are now living the greatest preternatural deception,- while at the summa and summit of the power of Satan, allowed for by Almighty God, this world has ever known or will know. Amen.

Now then, to develop intellectively this reality of the magnum opus of satanic deception, which we have lived and are living since 1958 October, while under, “…the operation of error to believe lying:…” (2 Thess 2:10), we have to be utterly cognizant of separating the accidents from the substance, with pristine clarity in our minds, of the 2 realities (that is the Church conceived by the Son of God and the other church instituted by not the, “miracles”, as their genesis is divine, rather, “…according to the working of Satan, in all power, and signs, and lying wonders.” (2 Thess 2:9), while worked through his Antichrist as the efficient cause, in the sentient understandings perceived) as they actually are, while properly understood metaphysically from their potency and act, matter and form. With that foundation then, we know as a matter of divine revelation the quid of the thing which Christ Jesus deemed, His Church. Amen.

   To answer now directly this query, as to the quid of the thing we call the Church, conceived by the Son of God and instituted under the power of His Holy Ghost, we contemplate the Holy Magisterium, perpetual in its esse’.  The One Holy Roman Catholic and Apostolic Church is now, as She was then (prior 28 Oct. 1958), and will be unto the Second Coming, perfectly preserved as immutable and impregnable in Her Substantial form.  Period and end.  We know this with apodictic certitude as infallibly taught in, “Satis Cognitum”.  We turn now then to His Holiness Pope Leo XIII, 29 June 1886, section 3., “Satis Cognitum”:

       “And, since it was necessary that His divine mission should be perpetuated to the end of time, He took to Himself Disciples, trained by Himself, and made them partakers of His own authority.  And, when He had invoked upon them from Heaven the Spirit of Truth, He bade them go through the whole world and faithfully preach to all nations, what He had taught and what He had commanded, so that by the profession of His doctrine, and the observance of His laws, the human race might attain to holiness on earth and never-ending happiness in Heaven.  In this wise, and on this principle, the Church was begotten(all color emphasis mine).  If we consider the chief end of His Church and the proximate efficient causes of salvation, it is undoubtedly spiritual; but in regard to those who constitute it, and to the things which lead to these spiritual gifts, it is external and visible.  The Apostles received a mission to teach by visible and audible signs, and they discharged their mission only by words and acts which certainly appealed to the senses.  So that their voices falling upon the ears of those who heard them begot faith in souls-‘ “Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the words of Christ” ‘ (Rom. x., 17).  And faith itself – that assent given to the first and supreme truth – though residing essentially in the intellect, must be manifested by outward profession – ‘ “For with the heart we believe unto justice, but with the mouth confession is made unto salvation” ‘ (Rom. x., 10). In the same way in man, nothing is more internal than heavenly grace which begets sanctity, but the ordinary and chief means of obtaining grace are external: that is to say, the sacraments which are administered by men specially chosen for that purpose, by means of certain ordinances.”

And now as to the ubi of the thing we call, “The Church” (as yet section 3. “Satis Cognitum”, continued)

  “For this reason the Church is so often called in Holy Writ a body, and even the body of Christ – ‘ “Now you are the body of Christ” ‘ (I Cor. xii., 27) – and precisely because it is a body is the Church visible: and because it is the body of Christ is it living and energizing, because by the infusion of His power Christ guards and sustains it, just as the vine gives nourishment and renders fruitful the branches united to it.  And as in animals the vital principle is unseen and invisible, and

is evidenced and manifested by the movements and action of the members, so the principle of supernatural life in the Church is clearly shown in that which is done by it.”

And so there we have it, dear Robert, as to both the quid and the ubi, of the thing we know as the Catholic Church, and with apodictic certitude, to be precisely as pristinely just exactly what and where She is, and to the iota of the iota, without a singular movement of change in Her Substantial reality as Her foundation, since conceived by Christ Jesus and instituted then by His Holy Ghost. Amen. Alleluia. One more small part then from, “Satis Cognitum”, now section 15., so as to give you apodictic certitude, while in pristine clarity, as to this common query of, “but I thought we had to have a Pope until Christ comes again on the Last Day?”. And now Pope Leo XIII, from section 15., Satis Cognitum: “….But it is opposed to the truth, and in evident contradiction with the divine constitution of the Church, to hold that while each Bishop is individually bound to obey the authority of the Roman Pontiffs, taken collectively the Bishops are not so bound. For it is the nature and object of a foundation to support the unity of the whole edifice and to give stability to it, rather thanto each component part; and in the present case this is much more applicable, since Christ the Lord wished that by the strength and solidity of the foundation the gates of hell should be prevented from prevailing against the Church. All are agreedthat the divine promise must be understood of the Church as a whole, and not of any certain portions of it. These can indeed be overcome by the assaults of the powers of hell, as in point of fact has befallen some of them.”
And so, before I close for now, dear Robert, let us sum up what has been achieved in this response to your two questions of, “what and where?”. There are now, and since 28 October 1958, two churches in the sentient cosmos which call themselves, “Catholic”, while at once one of them actually is the Church conceived by the Son of God, and this One yet finds its wellspring in His Substantial Being, as Being Himself, as His Mystical Body and Bride, as it always has and will, as the, “Church”, was never found in a building, rather it has always, everywhere, and only, been found freely in the operation of the will of those who have received, and are yet receiving, the perfectly gratuitous Gift of the supernatural virtue of the divine and Catholic Faith. Amen. Alleluia. This One True Church no longer controls the metaphysical accidental forms of what once were the sentient aspects of Christ’s Church, while they indeed were aspects of Her sentient reality for 1958 years, from Her institution at Pentecost unto the loss of Her Juridical as Hierarchal aspect on 28 October 1958. Amen. We know with apodictic certitude that this Church is known, while in the sentient material reality, as infallibly taught by Pope Leo XIII, and as follows, while first quoted above, and now again: “the principle of supernatural life in the Church is clearly shown in that which is done by it.” Thusly, we know that the Catholic Church today, as prior October 1958, and unto the Second Coming, is known by the acts of those who belong to Her: “…and for Thy sake I also love my neighbour as myself. I renounce every thought which is contrary to that love of one another, by which men are known to be the disciples of Thy Son; I forgive all who have in any way injured me, and I beg Thy grace and mercy for all the world.” (Manual of Prayers for congregational use. Imprimatur: V. Cantineau, Vic. Gen., 27 April 1923). Amen. Alleluia. As our Blessed Lord and Redeemer, the Christ commands: “By their fruits you shall know them” (Mt. 7, 16). And further then, “A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit. (Mt. 7, 18). Every tree that bringeth forth not good fruit, shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire. (Mt. 7, 19). Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them.” (Mt. 7, 20)
Lucifer’s trick, dear Robert, is to get us to think of Christ’s Church as though it is a physical place, as though the Mystical Body of Christ, His Bride, is actually composed of those metaphysical accidental forms of the buildings, garments, sacramentals, etc. over the entire world; those same objects that were occupied and used by Catholics the world over, when the Vicar of Christ was present in this world, as he was the visible sign of the Unity of Faith and the Unity of Communion in the public sphere, in this now barren and desolate world. Amen. The supernatural society of Heaven on earth, NEVER HAS BEEN a place, rather there were only places where those who held the supernatural virtue of the divine and Catholic Faith could gather, for the proper public worship of Almighty God, while under the absolute Authority of the Vicar of Jesus Christ. Amen.Analogically, and as you well know, we eat the flesh of the cow, yet we do not become the cow. The substantial form of the beast remains, while the material reality is consumed, taking upon itself then, the substantial form of the one who consumes. In like kind, the buildings never were, nor could they ever be, the Catholic Church in se, as they were only the sentient realities of the Church. They no longer belong to Christ’s Church, as they have been passed on, as the flesh of the cow, yet and of course, the Substantial Being of His Church is Him, as it could only ever be. Amen. Alleluia.