The Church is “One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic” because Our Lord founded it as such and remains for ever the head of His body, the Church. Yet we know that in human terms, the daily life of the Church shows disunity, sin, and departure by some from the teaching which Our Lord gave to the apostles.

Since the earliest years of the Church, it has been necessary to call back to the unity of Christ’s teaching those who have denied it, or invented versions of the gospel to suit their own advantage or to be the promoters of new and fashionable ideas. Hence St Paul told St Timothy to “Preach the word: be instant in season, out of season: reprove, entreat, rebuke in all patience and doctrine. For there shall be a time, when they will not endure sound doctrine.” (2 Tim 4.2-3) and the Church has continued to guard her teaching.

We must remember that our faith is not like a hobby or a taste in music. We do not invent it for ourselves, it is something that we receive as revelation from the living God who came down to earth to visit us in the person of Jesus Christ. The closer that we draw to His teaching, the closer we are to each other.