52. The Nature of the Church
7. Concepts that Describe the Church
The Church is revealed in Sacred Scripture as the mystery of the communion between God and humanity, and among humans, through Christ in the Holy Spirit.
The mystery of the Church is very rich in content. Different names are used in Holy Scripture to shed light on this mystery, thus making it easy for us to understand its nature and aim. These names and figures have something in common. They all refer to a visible (or human) element and an invisible (or divine) element. The following concepts are used to explain the Church’s nature:
· People of God
· Body of Christ
· Temple of the Holy Spirit
· Communion
· Sacrament of salvation
These concepts refer to the one and only Church, and they complement each other.
8. The People of God
The Church, the congregation of all those who believe in Christ, is the People of God, which he bought with his blood. She was prefigured in the ancient nation of Israel. Hence, the Magisterium states, “As Israel according to the flesh, which wandered in the desert, was already called the Church of God (2 Ezr 13:1; cf. Nm 20:4; Dt 23:1ff.), so too, the new Israel, which advances in this present era in search of a future and permanent city, is called also the Church of Christ (cf. Mt 16:18).”1
· The People of God is born of the New Covenant that God established with mankind. God gathered a people, “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation” (1 Pt 2:9) from those who were not a people.
· One becomes a member of this people by being “born anew … of water and the Spirit” (Jn 3:3–5).
· The new People of God has Christ as its head. He is the Messiah (“the Anointed One”); the chrism of his anointing flows from the head to the members. The People of God is a “Messianic people.”
· The identity of the People of God is the dignity and freedom of the children of God, in whose hearts the Holy Spirit dwells as in a temple. All its members have the same dignity, since all have been redeemed by the blood of Christ and called to holiness. This dignity is compatible with a diversity of roles among different members.
· The law of this new people is the New Commandment.
· Its mission is spreading God’s Kingdom by being the “salt of the earth” and the “light to the world” (cf. Mt 5:13–16).2
· Its destiny is the Kingdom of God.
In this regard, the Second Vatican Council has taught:
Christ instituted this new covenant, namely the new covenant in his blood; he called a race made up of Jews and Gentiles, which would be one, not according to the flesh, but in the Spirit, and this race would be the new People of God.… That messianic people has as its head Christ, “who was delivered up for our sins and rose again for our justification” (Rom 4:25), and now, having acquired the name which is above all names, reigns gloriously in heaven. The state of this people is that of the dignity and freedom of the sons of God, in whose hearts the Holy Spirit dwells as in a temple. Its law is the new commandment to love as Christ loved us. Its destiny is the kingdom of God, which has been begun by God himself on earth and which must be further extended until it is brought to perfection by him at the end of time when Christ our life, will appear and “creation itself will also be delivered from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the sons of God” (Rom 8:21).3
8a) The Kingdom of God
We have seen that Jesus began his preaching by announcing the arrival of the Kingdom of God, present in his words and deeds. His Kingdom has a mysterious presence in the Church.4
Henceforward, the Church, endowed with the gifts of her founder and faithfully observing his precepts of charity, humility, and self-denial, receives the mission of proclaiming and establishing among all peoples the kingdom of Christ and of God, and she is, on earth, the seed and the beginning of that kingdom.5
This Kingdom of God will attain its culmination in heaven, when everything will be subject to God’s rule.
In order to understand the meaning of the expression Kingdom of God, we must first look at the Old Testament and Jewish tradition. Although a number of the Psalms describe Yahweh as king of the people of Israel, the root of this tradition is likely found in the visions of the prophet Daniel describing the Son of Man invested with a kingdom, power, and glory (cf. Dn 7:14). From that time on, Messianic references seem to imply a theocratic society in which Yahweh will impose his will over all nations, liberating Israel from the political oppression of its enemies.
When Jesus announced God’s Kingdom, he changed the temporal meaning of this expression. His words had no political implications. Jesus’ explanation of the Kingdom is that of a leaven slowly and silently transforming hearts and the whole of society just like leaven in dough (cf. Mt 13:33).
Moreover, Jesus’ preaching alludes to a Kingdom to come. This future Kingdom will be established after the Son of Man’s second coming and will be accompanied by the judgment of the good and the wicked. Hence, it is called the eschatological kingdom. The completion of God’s Kingdom will occur at some more or less remote stage in the future, at the end of time, which is not precisely known (cf. Mt 24:31). Meanwhile, we must be watchful, since we do not know when the Son of Man will come to judge the living and the dead.
Jesus announced the Kingdom of God to all mankind, beginning with the children of Israel. This Kingdom belongs to all those who receive it with a humble heart, to the poor and the little ones. Even sinners are invited to come in by means of a genuine conversion, without which one cannot enter heaven. Jesus reveals God’s compassion to them. All are invited to come into the Kingdom through Jesus’ parables. But words are not enough; deeds are needed (cf. Mt 21:28–32). To reach the Kingdom, a radical decision to give up everything is necessary (cf. Mt 13:44–46).
As signs of the approaching Kingdom, Jesus liberated some people from material evils, such as hunger (cf. Jn 6:5–15), injustice (cf. Lk 19:8), sickness, and death (cf. Mt 11:5). Nevertheless, he did not come to abolish material evils (cf. Lk 12:13–14; Jn 18:36) but to liberate mankind from the most grievous slavery: the bondage of sin (cf. Jn 8:34–36). Sin is the real obstacle to one’s vocation as a child of God, and is the root of unhappiness.6
The Kingdom of God is the New Covenant between God and mankind, granting the forgiveness of sins and leading us into the mystery of common life with the One and Triune God. This Kingdom is universal and has two stages: a heavenly and definitive one, and an earthly one, which is the Church militant.
9. The Mystical Body of Christ
The Church is the Mystical Body of Christ. Identified with his glorious body, she is the extension in time of his work of salvation.7
If we should define and describe this true Church of Jesus Christ—which is the holy, Catholic, apostolic Roman Church—we shall find no expression more noble, more sublime or more divine than … “the mystical body of Jesus Christ.” Sacred Scripture frequently asserts that the Church is a body. “Christ,” says the Apostle [Paul], “is the head of his body, the Church” (Col 1:18). If the Church is a body, it must be an unbroken unity according to those words of Paul: “We, though many, are one body in Christ” (Rom 12:5).8
The union between the glorified Christ and the Church is not metaphorical but real, although mystical in nature. Christ sent the disciples to preach in his name saying, “He who hears you hears me, and he who rejects you rejects me” (Lk 10:16). Of St. Paul, who had been vigorously persecuting the Church before his own conversion, Christ asked, “Why do you persecute me? … I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting” (Acts 9:4–5).
The Church is called the Mystical Body of Christ because God “has put all things under his feet and has made him the head over all things for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all” (Eph 1:22–23).
The faithful play diverse roles in the Church, just as the eyes, ears, and feet have diverse functions in a natural body. “As all the members of the human body, though they are many, form one body, so also are the faithful in Christ. Also, in the building up of Christ’s Body there is engaged a diversity of members and functions. There is only one Spirit who, according to his own richness and the needs of the ministries, gives his different gifts for the welfare of the Church.”9 The diversity of roles does not harm but rather serves the unity of the body (cf. 1 Cor 12:18–20).
The Church receives her life and growth from Christ, who is the head of the body (cf. Col 1:18). “Speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every joint with which it is supplied, when each part is working properly, makes bodily growth and upbuilds itself in love” (Eph 4:15–16).
The Holy Spirit acts in the Church, the Mystical Body of Christ. By giving us grace, he gives life to, unifies, and moves the whole body. His work could be compared to the function that the soul—the principle of life—performs in the human body. The Holy Spirit is also the source of unity in the body of Christ both between the faithful and Christ and among the faithful themselves.10
The life of Christ is communicated to the faithful by means of the sacraments.11 Through the sacraments, the faithful are united to the dead and risen Christ. Baptism, Confirmation, and the Eucharist are the three sacraments that initiate and complete the incorporation of the faithful into the body of Christ. Christ and the Church are, therefore, “the total Christ” (Christus totus).
The Virgin Mary, who, at the message of the angel, received the Word of God in her heart and in her body and gave Life to the world, is acknowledged and honored as being truly the Mother of God and of the Redeemer.… Being of the race of Adam, she at the same time is also united to all those in need of salvation; indeed, ‘she is truly the mother of the members of Christ … since she has—by her charity—cooperated in the birth of believers into the Church, the faithful who are members of its Head.’ … The Catholic Church, taught by the Holy Spirit, honors her with filial affection and devotion as a most beloved mother.12
9a) The Church, Bride of Christ
The unity of Christ and the Church—the head and members of the body—entails a mutual distinction within a personal relationship. This aspect is frequently expressed by the image of the bride and spouse. One of the most beautiful images used by St. Paul to portray the nature of the Church and her relation to Christ is that of a bride whom Christ, the spouse, deeply loves. So much does he love the Church that he “gave himself up for her” (Eph 5:25). Christ purified his bride with his blood. The Savior gives life—through the sacraments—to his bride, the Church. She is the new Eve, the faithful spouse of the new Adam (cf. 1 Cor 15:45); she was formed from the side of Christ as he slept in death on the cross. By virtue of Christ’s never-failing love, she is a faithful bride, ever teaching the truth, ever calling people to holiness.13 The Church is now the fruitful mother of all the children of God.
10. The Temple of the Holy Spirit
The Church is the temple of the Holy Spirit. What the soul is to the body, the Holy Spirit is to the body of Christ, the Church.14 The Holy Spirit is like the soul of the Mystical Body of Christ. He is the origin and source of the body’s life, the unity in the diversity of the faithful and of the wealth of gifts and charisms that contribute to the renewal and building of the Church.15
11. The Church as Communion
The Church is fundamentally a community of life resulting from the participation of humanity in Christ’s fullness of grace as head of his Mystical Body.
The notion of communion (koinonia in Greek) is quite adequate to express the essential core of the Church’s mystery. The notion entails both the vertical dimension (communion with God) and the horizontal dimension (communion among people). This communion is, above all, a gift from God, a new relationship between mankind and God that has been established in Christ and is communicated through the sacraments. It also develops a new relationship of people among themselves.
The concept of communion should be understood to express both the sacramental nature of the Church while “we are away from the Lord” (2 Cor 5:6),16 and the particular unity that makes the faithful into members of one and the same body. This body, the Mystical Body of Christ,17 is an organically structured community,18 a people brought into one by the unity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit19 and endowed with suitable means for its visible and social union.
The ecclesial communion includes, at the same time, both the invisible dimension (intimate communion with the Holy Trinity and other human beings) and the visible dimension (communion in the teaching of the apostles, the sacraments, and in the hierarchical order). This communion, then, is not simply moral or psychological in nature, but ontological and supernatural, and it implies a spiritual solidarity among the members of the Church inasmuch as they are members of one body, i.e., the body of Christ.
“The link between the invisible and visible elements of ecclesial communion constitutes the Church as the sacrament of salvation.”20
In the Church, there is a real participation in Christ’s grace: “If you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise” (Gal 3:29). But it is a free and gratuitous participation. The Church is a community of life in Christ and the fullness of Christ (pleroma).
11a) The Communion of Spiritual Goods
In the primitive Church in Jerusalem, the disciples “devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers” (Acts 2:42). The spiritual goods shared by the faithful are the following:
· Faith: The faith of the faithful is the faith of the Church.
· Sacraments: The Church shares all of them, but especially the Eucharist.
· Charisms: Each one receives charisms for the benefit of all (cf. 1 Cor 12:7).
· Wealth: “They had everything in common” (Acts 4:32).
· Charity: “None of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself” (Rom 14:7). “If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together. Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it” (1 Cor 12:26–27). This solidarity among all Christians is founded on the communion of the saints. Every sin damages this communion.21
11b) The Communion of the Church in Heaven and the Church on Earth
(1) The three states of the Church
The mystery of the Church is accomplished in different stages. The Church, to which we are all called in Christ, will not actually be complete until heavenly glory is reached. Then, all things will be renewed.
Until that day when our Lord will come in majesty, some disciples continue their pilgrimage on earth—the Church militant. Others, having ended their life in this world, are still being purified—the Church suffering. Still other members are already in glory—the Church triumphant or in Patria.
The Second Vatican Council highlighted the idea of a pilgrim Church: God’s Kingdom has begun in us because we share in the divine life through the sacraments. However, it is not complete as yet:
The Church, to which we are all called in Christ Jesus, and in which by the grace of God we acquire holiness, will receive its perfection only in the glory of heaven, when will come the time of renewal of all things. At that time, together with the human race, the universe itself, which is so closely related to man and which attains its destiny through him, will be perfectly reestablished in Christ.22
While awaiting the fullness of glory, the Church is a pilgrim on earth, suffers in purgatory, and triumphs in God’s glory through those who have reached heaven:
When the Lord will come in glory, and all his angels with him, death will be no more and all things will be subject to him. But at the present time some of his disciples are pilgrims on earth. Others have died and are being purified, while still others are in glory, contemplating “in full light, God himself triune and one, exactly as he is.” All of us, however, in varying degrees and in different ways share in the same charity towards God and our neighbors, and we all sing the one hymn of glory to our God.23
The Roman Catechism states, “These different parts of the Church form one and the same Church and one single body, because they have the same head, Jesus Christ; the same spirit, which gives them life and unity; and the same aim—eternal happiness—which some already enjoy and others await.”24 The Church Triumphant, Militant, and Suffering are not three churches, but only one Church.
(2) The communion of saints
There exists a communion—a communication, or sharing, of spiritual benefits—between the different parts of the Church that is called the communion of saints.25 This communion exists not only among the members of the Church on earth, but also between these and all who, having passed from this world in the grace of the Lord, belong to the heavenly Church or will be incorporated into her after having been fully purified.26 This means, among other things, that there is a mutual relationship between the pilgrim Church on earth and the heavenly Church in the common mission.
Only members of the Church in the state of grace share fully in this communion. The damned in hell are excluded from the communion of saints. Those not in the state of grace are only in imperfect communication, insofar as the good deeds of others aid in their conversion.
(3) Intercession of the saints
Members of the Church triumphant can intercede before God for the members of the Church suffering. Further, they present the sufferings and prayers of the pilgrim members to God so that he may have mercy on them. Hence, not only is Christ’s intercession on behalf of his members (cf. Heb 7:25) important, but so is that of the saints and, in an eminent fashion, of the Blessed Virgin Mary.27 Devotion to the saints corresponds in its very essence to the profound reality of the Church as a mystery of communion.
The Church has always believed that the apostles and Christ’s martyrs, who gave the supreme witness of faith and charity by the shedding of their blood, are closely united with us in Christ; she has always venerated them, together with the Blessed Virgin Mary and the holy angels, with a special love, and has asked piously for the help of their intercession.28
In addition to the apostles and martyrs, there are all those who have heroically practiced the Christian virtues and those whose divine charisma commend them to the devotion of Christians.
It is most fitting, therefore, that we love those friends and co-heirs of Jesus Christ who are also our brothers and outstanding benefactors, and that we give due thanks to God for them, “humbly invoking them, and having recourse to their prayers, their aid and help in obtaining from God through his Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, our only Redeemer and Savior, the benefits we need.”29
(4) Praying for the dead
The militant or pilgrim Church is in communion with the suffering Church. The Second Vatican Council recalled that most ancient tradition whereby the deceased are piously remembered and sufferings offered for them goes back to the dawn of Christianity.30
(5) God’s family
All the children of God, united in praise of the Blessed Trinity and by mutual love, form the Church—God’s family.
Following in Christ’s steps, those who believe in him have always tried to help one another along the path that leads to the heavenly Father, through prayer, the exchange of spiritual goods, and penitential expiation.… This is the very ancient dogma called the Communion of Saints. It means that the life of each individual son of God is joined in Christ and through Christ by a wonderful link to the life of all his other Christian brethren. Together they form the supernatural unity of Christ’s Mystical Body so that, as it were, a single mystical person is formed.31
12. Sheepfold, Flock, Field, Building
The Church is compared to a sheepfold with Christ as the door, and to a flock whose shepherds are God the Father and Jesus Christ, who gave his life for his sheep. She is also a field cultivated by God, a divine building whose cornerstone is Christ, with the apostles as its foundation and the faithful as living stones. “This edifice has many names to describe it: the house of God in which his family dwells; the household of God in the Holy Spirit; the dwelling place of God among men; and especially the holy temple. This temple, symbolized in places of worship built out of stone, is praised by the Fathers and, not without reason, it is compared in the liturgy to the Holy City, the New Jerusalem” (cf. Eph 2:19, 22; Rv 21:3).32
The Church is also called “the celestial Jerusalem,” and our mother (Gal 4:26; cf. Heb 12:22).33
Footnotes:
1. LG, 9.
2. Cf. CCC, 782.
3. LG, 9.
4. Cf. CCC, 541–560, 763–766.
5. LG, 5.
6. Cf. CCC, 541–560.
7. Cf. CCC, 787–795.
8. Pius XII, Enc. Mystici Corporis, 199.
9. LG, 7.
10. Cf. LG, 7.
11. Cf. Ibid.
12. LG, 53; cf. St. Augustine, De S. Virginitate, 6.
13. Cf. CCC, 796.
14. Cf. St. Augustine, Serum., 267.4.
15. Cf. CCC, 797–801.
16. Cf. LG, 1.
17. Cf. Ibid., 7; Pius XII, Enc. Mystici Corporis.
18. Cf. LG, 11.
19. Cf. St. Cyprian, De Orat. Dom., 23; cf. LG, 4.
20. J. Card. Ratzinger, L’Osservatore Romano, June 15, 1992.
21. Cf. CCC, 949–953.
22. LG, 48.
23. Ibid., 49; cf. DS 1305.
24. Roman Catechism, 149; cf. CCC, 954–955.
25. Cf. CCC, 957.
26. Cf. LG, 49.
27. Cf. Ibid., 50, 66; CCC, 956.
28. LG, 50.
29. DS 1821; cf. LG, 50.
30. Cf. LG, 50; CCC, 958.
31. Paul VI, Indulgentiarum Doctrina, 4–5; cf. CCC, 959.
32. LG, 6.
33. Cf. CCC, 753–757.
The Church is revealed in Sacred Scripture as the mystery of the communion between God and humanity, and among humans, through Christ in the Holy Spirit.
The mystery of the Church is very rich in content. Different names are used in Holy Scripture to shed light on this mystery, thus making it easy for us to understand its nature and aim. These names and figures have something in common. They all refer to a visible (or human) element and an invisible (or divine) element. The following concepts are used to explain the Church’s nature:
· People of God
· Body of Christ
· Temple of the Holy Spirit
· Communion
· Sacrament of salvation
These concepts refer to the one and only Church, and they complement each other.
8. The People of God
The Church, the congregation of all those who believe in Christ, is the People of God, which he bought with his blood. She was prefigured in the ancient nation of Israel. Hence, the Magisterium states, “As Israel according to the flesh, which wandered in the desert, was already called the Church of God (2 Ezr 13:1; cf. Nm 20:4; Dt 23:1ff.), so too, the new Israel, which advances in this present era in search of a future and permanent city, is called also the Church of Christ (cf. Mt 16:18).”1
· The People of God is born of the New Covenant that God established with mankind. God gathered a people, “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation” (1 Pt 2:9) from those who were not a people.
· One becomes a member of this people by being “born anew … of water and the Spirit” (Jn 3:3–5).
· The new People of God has Christ as its head. He is the Messiah (“the Anointed One”); the chrism of his anointing flows from the head to the members. The People of God is a “Messianic people.”
· The identity of the People of God is the dignity and freedom of the children of God, in whose hearts the Holy Spirit dwells as in a temple. All its members have the same dignity, since all have been redeemed by the blood of Christ and called to holiness. This dignity is compatible with a diversity of roles among different members.
· The law of this new people is the New Commandment.
· Its mission is spreading God’s Kingdom by being the “salt of the earth” and the “light to the world” (cf. Mt 5:13–16).2
· Its destiny is the Kingdom of God.
In this regard, the Second Vatican Council has taught:
Christ instituted this new covenant, namely the new covenant in his blood; he called a race made up of Jews and Gentiles, which would be one, not according to the flesh, but in the Spirit, and this race would be the new People of God.… That messianic people has as its head Christ, “who was delivered up for our sins and rose again for our justification” (Rom 4:25), and now, having acquired the name which is above all names, reigns gloriously in heaven. The state of this people is that of the dignity and freedom of the sons of God, in whose hearts the Holy Spirit dwells as in a temple. Its law is the new commandment to love as Christ loved us. Its destiny is the kingdom of God, which has been begun by God himself on earth and which must be further extended until it is brought to perfection by him at the end of time when Christ our life, will appear and “creation itself will also be delivered from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the sons of God” (Rom 8:21).3
8a) The Kingdom of God
We have seen that Jesus began his preaching by announcing the arrival of the Kingdom of God, present in his words and deeds. His Kingdom has a mysterious presence in the Church.4
Henceforward, the Church, endowed with the gifts of her founder and faithfully observing his precepts of charity, humility, and self-denial, receives the mission of proclaiming and establishing among all peoples the kingdom of Christ and of God, and she is, on earth, the seed and the beginning of that kingdom.5
This Kingdom of God will attain its culmination in heaven, when everything will be subject to God’s rule.
In order to understand the meaning of the expression Kingdom of God, we must first look at the Old Testament and Jewish tradition. Although a number of the Psalms describe Yahweh as king of the people of Israel, the root of this tradition is likely found in the visions of the prophet Daniel describing the Son of Man invested with a kingdom, power, and glory (cf. Dn 7:14). From that time on, Messianic references seem to imply a theocratic society in which Yahweh will impose his will over all nations, liberating Israel from the political oppression of its enemies.
When Jesus announced God’s Kingdom, he changed the temporal meaning of this expression. His words had no political implications. Jesus’ explanation of the Kingdom is that of a leaven slowly and silently transforming hearts and the whole of society just like leaven in dough (cf. Mt 13:33).
Moreover, Jesus’ preaching alludes to a Kingdom to come. This future Kingdom will be established after the Son of Man’s second coming and will be accompanied by the judgment of the good and the wicked. Hence, it is called the eschatological kingdom. The completion of God’s Kingdom will occur at some more or less remote stage in the future, at the end of time, which is not precisely known (cf. Mt 24:31). Meanwhile, we must be watchful, since we do not know when the Son of Man will come to judge the living and the dead.
Jesus announced the Kingdom of God to all mankind, beginning with the children of Israel. This Kingdom belongs to all those who receive it with a humble heart, to the poor and the little ones. Even sinners are invited to come in by means of a genuine conversion, without which one cannot enter heaven. Jesus reveals God’s compassion to them. All are invited to come into the Kingdom through Jesus’ parables. But words are not enough; deeds are needed (cf. Mt 21:28–32). To reach the Kingdom, a radical decision to give up everything is necessary (cf. Mt 13:44–46).
As signs of the approaching Kingdom, Jesus liberated some people from material evils, such as hunger (cf. Jn 6:5–15), injustice (cf. Lk 19:8), sickness, and death (cf. Mt 11:5). Nevertheless, he did not come to abolish material evils (cf. Lk 12:13–14; Jn 18:36) but to liberate mankind from the most grievous slavery: the bondage of sin (cf. Jn 8:34–36). Sin is the real obstacle to one’s vocation as a child of God, and is the root of unhappiness.6
The Kingdom of God is the New Covenant between God and mankind, granting the forgiveness of sins and leading us into the mystery of common life with the One and Triune God. This Kingdom is universal and has two stages: a heavenly and definitive one, and an earthly one, which is the Church militant.
9. The Mystical Body of Christ
The Church is the Mystical Body of Christ. Identified with his glorious body, she is the extension in time of his work of salvation.7
If we should define and describe this true Church of Jesus Christ—which is the holy, Catholic, apostolic Roman Church—we shall find no expression more noble, more sublime or more divine than … “the mystical body of Jesus Christ.” Sacred Scripture frequently asserts that the Church is a body. “Christ,” says the Apostle [Paul], “is the head of his body, the Church” (Col 1:18). If the Church is a body, it must be an unbroken unity according to those words of Paul: “We, though many, are one body in Christ” (Rom 12:5).8
The union between the glorified Christ and the Church is not metaphorical but real, although mystical in nature. Christ sent the disciples to preach in his name saying, “He who hears you hears me, and he who rejects you rejects me” (Lk 10:16). Of St. Paul, who had been vigorously persecuting the Church before his own conversion, Christ asked, “Why do you persecute me? … I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting” (Acts 9:4–5).
The Church is called the Mystical Body of Christ because God “has put all things under his feet and has made him the head over all things for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all” (Eph 1:22–23).
The faithful play diverse roles in the Church, just as the eyes, ears, and feet have diverse functions in a natural body. “As all the members of the human body, though they are many, form one body, so also are the faithful in Christ. Also, in the building up of Christ’s Body there is engaged a diversity of members and functions. There is only one Spirit who, according to his own richness and the needs of the ministries, gives his different gifts for the welfare of the Church.”9 The diversity of roles does not harm but rather serves the unity of the body (cf. 1 Cor 12:18–20).
The Church receives her life and growth from Christ, who is the head of the body (cf. Col 1:18). “Speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every joint with which it is supplied, when each part is working properly, makes bodily growth and upbuilds itself in love” (Eph 4:15–16).
The Holy Spirit acts in the Church, the Mystical Body of Christ. By giving us grace, he gives life to, unifies, and moves the whole body. His work could be compared to the function that the soul—the principle of life—performs in the human body. The Holy Spirit is also the source of unity in the body of Christ both between the faithful and Christ and among the faithful themselves.10
The life of Christ is communicated to the faithful by means of the sacraments.11 Through the sacraments, the faithful are united to the dead and risen Christ. Baptism, Confirmation, and the Eucharist are the three sacraments that initiate and complete the incorporation of the faithful into the body of Christ. Christ and the Church are, therefore, “the total Christ” (Christus totus).
The Virgin Mary, who, at the message of the angel, received the Word of God in her heart and in her body and gave Life to the world, is acknowledged and honored as being truly the Mother of God and of the Redeemer.… Being of the race of Adam, she at the same time is also united to all those in need of salvation; indeed, ‘she is truly the mother of the members of Christ … since she has—by her charity—cooperated in the birth of believers into the Church, the faithful who are members of its Head.’ … The Catholic Church, taught by the Holy Spirit, honors her with filial affection and devotion as a most beloved mother.12
9a) The Church, Bride of Christ
The unity of Christ and the Church—the head and members of the body—entails a mutual distinction within a personal relationship. This aspect is frequently expressed by the image of the bride and spouse. One of the most beautiful images used by St. Paul to portray the nature of the Church and her relation to Christ is that of a bride whom Christ, the spouse, deeply loves. So much does he love the Church that he “gave himself up for her” (Eph 5:25). Christ purified his bride with his blood. The Savior gives life—through the sacraments—to his bride, the Church. She is the new Eve, the faithful spouse of the new Adam (cf. 1 Cor 15:45); she was formed from the side of Christ as he slept in death on the cross. By virtue of Christ’s never-failing love, she is a faithful bride, ever teaching the truth, ever calling people to holiness.13 The Church is now the fruitful mother of all the children of God.
10. The Temple of the Holy Spirit
The Church is the temple of the Holy Spirit. What the soul is to the body, the Holy Spirit is to the body of Christ, the Church.14 The Holy Spirit is like the soul of the Mystical Body of Christ. He is the origin and source of the body’s life, the unity in the diversity of the faithful and of the wealth of gifts and charisms that contribute to the renewal and building of the Church.15
11. The Church as Communion
The Church is fundamentally a community of life resulting from the participation of humanity in Christ’s fullness of grace as head of his Mystical Body.
The notion of communion (koinonia in Greek) is quite adequate to express the essential core of the Church’s mystery. The notion entails both the vertical dimension (communion with God) and the horizontal dimension (communion among people). This communion is, above all, a gift from God, a new relationship between mankind and God that has been established in Christ and is communicated through the sacraments. It also develops a new relationship of people among themselves.
The concept of communion should be understood to express both the sacramental nature of the Church while “we are away from the Lord” (2 Cor 5:6),16 and the particular unity that makes the faithful into members of one and the same body. This body, the Mystical Body of Christ,17 is an organically structured community,18 a people brought into one by the unity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit19 and endowed with suitable means for its visible and social union.
The ecclesial communion includes, at the same time, both the invisible dimension (intimate communion with the Holy Trinity and other human beings) and the visible dimension (communion in the teaching of the apostles, the sacraments, and in the hierarchical order). This communion, then, is not simply moral or psychological in nature, but ontological and supernatural, and it implies a spiritual solidarity among the members of the Church inasmuch as they are members of one body, i.e., the body of Christ.
“The link between the invisible and visible elements of ecclesial communion constitutes the Church as the sacrament of salvation.”20
In the Church, there is a real participation in Christ’s grace: “If you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise” (Gal 3:29). But it is a free and gratuitous participation. The Church is a community of life in Christ and the fullness of Christ (pleroma).
11a) The Communion of Spiritual Goods
In the primitive Church in Jerusalem, the disciples “devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers” (Acts 2:42). The spiritual goods shared by the faithful are the following:
· Faith: The faith of the faithful is the faith of the Church.
· Sacraments: The Church shares all of them, but especially the Eucharist.
· Charisms: Each one receives charisms for the benefit of all (cf. 1 Cor 12:7).
· Wealth: “They had everything in common” (Acts 4:32).
· Charity: “None of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself” (Rom 14:7). “If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together. Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it” (1 Cor 12:26–27). This solidarity among all Christians is founded on the communion of the saints. Every sin damages this communion.21
11b) The Communion of the Church in Heaven and the Church on Earth
(1) The three states of the Church
The mystery of the Church is accomplished in different stages. The Church, to which we are all called in Christ, will not actually be complete until heavenly glory is reached. Then, all things will be renewed.
Until that day when our Lord will come in majesty, some disciples continue their pilgrimage on earth—the Church militant. Others, having ended their life in this world, are still being purified—the Church suffering. Still other members are already in glory—the Church triumphant or in Patria.
The Second Vatican Council highlighted the idea of a pilgrim Church: God’s Kingdom has begun in us because we share in the divine life through the sacraments. However, it is not complete as yet:
The Church, to which we are all called in Christ Jesus, and in which by the grace of God we acquire holiness, will receive its perfection only in the glory of heaven, when will come the time of renewal of all things. At that time, together with the human race, the universe itself, which is so closely related to man and which attains its destiny through him, will be perfectly reestablished in Christ.22
While awaiting the fullness of glory, the Church is a pilgrim on earth, suffers in purgatory, and triumphs in God’s glory through those who have reached heaven:
When the Lord will come in glory, and all his angels with him, death will be no more and all things will be subject to him. But at the present time some of his disciples are pilgrims on earth. Others have died and are being purified, while still others are in glory, contemplating “in full light, God himself triune and one, exactly as he is.” All of us, however, in varying degrees and in different ways share in the same charity towards God and our neighbors, and we all sing the one hymn of glory to our God.23
The Roman Catechism states, “These different parts of the Church form one and the same Church and one single body, because they have the same head, Jesus Christ; the same spirit, which gives them life and unity; and the same aim—eternal happiness—which some already enjoy and others await.”24 The Church Triumphant, Militant, and Suffering are not three churches, but only one Church.
(2) The communion of saints
There exists a communion—a communication, or sharing, of spiritual benefits—between the different parts of the Church that is called the communion of saints.25 This communion exists not only among the members of the Church on earth, but also between these and all who, having passed from this world in the grace of the Lord, belong to the heavenly Church or will be incorporated into her after having been fully purified.26 This means, among other things, that there is a mutual relationship between the pilgrim Church on earth and the heavenly Church in the common mission.
Only members of the Church in the state of grace share fully in this communion. The damned in hell are excluded from the communion of saints. Those not in the state of grace are only in imperfect communication, insofar as the good deeds of others aid in their conversion.
(3) Intercession of the saints
Members of the Church triumphant can intercede before God for the members of the Church suffering. Further, they present the sufferings and prayers of the pilgrim members to God so that he may have mercy on them. Hence, not only is Christ’s intercession on behalf of his members (cf. Heb 7:25) important, but so is that of the saints and, in an eminent fashion, of the Blessed Virgin Mary.27 Devotion to the saints corresponds in its very essence to the profound reality of the Church as a mystery of communion.
The Church has always believed that the apostles and Christ’s martyrs, who gave the supreme witness of faith and charity by the shedding of their blood, are closely united with us in Christ; she has always venerated them, together with the Blessed Virgin Mary and the holy angels, with a special love, and has asked piously for the help of their intercession.28
In addition to the apostles and martyrs, there are all those who have heroically practiced the Christian virtues and those whose divine charisma commend them to the devotion of Christians.
It is most fitting, therefore, that we love those friends and co-heirs of Jesus Christ who are also our brothers and outstanding benefactors, and that we give due thanks to God for them, “humbly invoking them, and having recourse to their prayers, their aid and help in obtaining from God through his Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, our only Redeemer and Savior, the benefits we need.”29
(4) Praying for the dead
The militant or pilgrim Church is in communion with the suffering Church. The Second Vatican Council recalled that most ancient tradition whereby the deceased are piously remembered and sufferings offered for them goes back to the dawn of Christianity.30
(5) God’s family
All the children of God, united in praise of the Blessed Trinity and by mutual love, form the Church—God’s family.
Following in Christ’s steps, those who believe in him have always tried to help one another along the path that leads to the heavenly Father, through prayer, the exchange of spiritual goods, and penitential expiation.… This is the very ancient dogma called the Communion of Saints. It means that the life of each individual son of God is joined in Christ and through Christ by a wonderful link to the life of all his other Christian brethren. Together they form the supernatural unity of Christ’s Mystical Body so that, as it were, a single mystical person is formed.31
12. Sheepfold, Flock, Field, Building
The Church is compared to a sheepfold with Christ as the door, and to a flock whose shepherds are God the Father and Jesus Christ, who gave his life for his sheep. She is also a field cultivated by God, a divine building whose cornerstone is Christ, with the apostles as its foundation and the faithful as living stones. “This edifice has many names to describe it: the house of God in which his family dwells; the household of God in the Holy Spirit; the dwelling place of God among men; and especially the holy temple. This temple, symbolized in places of worship built out of stone, is praised by the Fathers and, not without reason, it is compared in the liturgy to the Holy City, the New Jerusalem” (cf. Eph 2:19, 22; Rv 21:3).32
The Church is also called “the celestial Jerusalem,” and our mother (Gal 4:26; cf. Heb 12:22).33
Footnotes:
1. LG, 9.
2. Cf. CCC, 782.
3. LG, 9.
4. Cf. CCC, 541–560, 763–766.
5. LG, 5.
6. Cf. CCC, 541–560.
7. Cf. CCC, 787–795.
8. Pius XII, Enc. Mystici Corporis, 199.
9. LG, 7.
10. Cf. LG, 7.
11. Cf. Ibid.
12. LG, 53; cf. St. Augustine, De S. Virginitate, 6.
13. Cf. CCC, 796.
14. Cf. St. Augustine, Serum., 267.4.
15. Cf. CCC, 797–801.
16. Cf. LG, 1.
17. Cf. Ibid., 7; Pius XII, Enc. Mystici Corporis.
18. Cf. LG, 11.
19. Cf. St. Cyprian, De Orat. Dom., 23; cf. LG, 4.
20. J. Card. Ratzinger, L’Osservatore Romano, June 15, 1992.
21. Cf. CCC, 949–953.
22. LG, 48.
23. Ibid., 49; cf. DS 1305.
24. Roman Catechism, 149; cf. CCC, 954–955.
25. Cf. CCC, 957.
26. Cf. LG, 49.
27. Cf. Ibid., 50, 66; CCC, 956.
28. LG, 50.
29. DS 1821; cf. LG, 50.
30. Cf. LG, 50; CCC, 958.
31. Paul VI, Indulgentiarum Doctrina, 4–5; cf. CCC, 959.
32. LG, 6.
33. Cf. CCC, 753–757.