Someone wrote to me and they said, hey, I heard a Catholic say that if there's someone who is not

Catholic who dies outside the Catholic Church, then no salvation. Don't bother praying for them

because they are not Catholic, therefore they wouldn't be saved. Oh, wow, that is wrong on a lot of

levels. That's wrong on a lot of levels. Here's where it starts. I'm my name's Father Mike Schmitz,

and this is the century presents. It starts with the truth that gets distorted. Here's the truth. The truth is, in the catechise, even quotes this, there's no salvation outside the Catholic Church. Now, that's the truth. What does that truth mean? So let's go deep on this one. There's no salvation outside the Catholic Church is an actual teaching of the Catholic Church, it's important for us to understand. That doesn't mean that every person has to be a card carrying Catholic in order to go to heaven. That's not what it means. What it means is that the church is God's plan for salvation

for the world, right? That the church is what Jesus Christ established as the kingdom of God on earth. Obviously, there's one mediator between God and man, the man Jesus Christ, meaning that there's only one person who could bridge divinity and humanity. That's Jesus. He's both fully God and fully man. And so he's the one mediator. He's the one mediator, right? But let's keep this in mind. He's the one who does that mediation. But there's other

mediations. There's the mediation of someone teaching about Jesus. There's someone bringing the

gospel. There's someone preaching the gospel. Those people are mediating. Someone who prays for you.

That person is mediating. So realize there's one mediator, Jesus, is the only one who can bridge

the gap between God and humanity. And there's other mediator, Jesus, is the only one who can bridge the gap between God and humanity.

And there's other mediators.

Because of what Jesus has done, you can be a mediator for someone else.

Like, you can read the gospel to them.

You can preach it.

You can help them.

You can pray in the name of Jesus for them.

And you can, in that sense sense mediate on their behalf.

The church is what is termed the universal sacrament of salvation, meaning the church is God's plan of salvation for the whole world. So all grace comes from God's life, death, and resurrection

in Jesus Christ on earth and ascension to heaven.

So all grace we experience comes from the saving work of Jesus.

So what Jesus made possible, the Holy Spirit comes to us, makes actual.

How's that communicated to us?

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