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In the Old Testament we see God's continual involvement in the lives of the Israelites through appointed prophets. God delivered, instructed and admonished the Israelites. He made His motions in a visible, specific and formal way. He always did so through human hands, mouths, feet, minds and wills. God established a law and a means for executing it.

In concert with His redemptive act, Jesus did three things that established the framework of His Church. First, He chose humans to carry out His work. He appointed Peter to be the visible head of the Church. Jesus said to Peter, "You are Rock and on this rock I will build my Church." (Matthew 16: 18) Jesus said "build," as in to create a structure. Jesus built His structure on specifically chosen human beings Peter and the apostles. Second, Jesus gave Peter and the apostles the power and authority to carry out His work. "Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven."(Matthew 16:19; 18:18) "Receive the Holy Spirit, whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven, whose sins you retain, they are retained."(John 20:23) Third, Jesus gave Peter and the apostles commands as to what that work should be. At the last supper, He commanded, "Do this in memory of Me." (Luke 22:19) He commanded them to "Make disciples of all nations" (Matthew 28:19), and to "Go into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature." (Mark 16:15)

God rules, instructs and sanctifies His people through His Church. Under her teaching office, the Catholic Church preserves the Word of God. She is the custodian, keeper, dispenser and interpreter of teachings of Christ. And she accomplishes this under the protection of the Holy Spirit.

As Jesus is the original sacrament, so we who are baptized into the risen Christ become sacrament. Today it is Christ's body the Church which is the sacrament, the revelation of the loving plan of God. The Second Vatican Council teaches that Jesus "rising from the dead, sent his life-giving Spirit upon his disciples and through this Spirit has established his body, the Church, as the universal sacrament of salvation" (The Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, #48). The Church itself is sacrament. Another point in enriching our understanding of sacrament is to think of sacraments not so much as something we receive but something that we are. We are sacrament, instruments of grace; we are the ordinary way God graces today's world.

We are members of the oldest Christian religion in the world. The Catholic Church was founded in the year 33 by our Lord Jesus Christ. We have the real body and blood of Christ in our communion and bishops are in constant succession from the apostles through the laying on of hands through 2,000 years.The Papacy is the oldest existing institution in the world.

In the year 33 there were no hospitals. Today, one out of five people in this country receive their medical care at a Catholic hospital. In the year 33 there were no schools. Today, the Catholic Church teaches 3 million students a day, in its more than 250 Catholic Colleges and Universities, in its more than 1200 Catholic High Schools and its more than 5000 Catholic grade schools. Every day, the Catholic Church feeds, cloths, shelters and educates more people than any other organization in the world. We should all be proud to be Catholic