Thursday, July 19, 2018

123. The Church in this world is the sacrament of salvation, the sign and the instrument of the communion of God and men.


The Church in this world is the sacrament of salvation, the sign and the instrument of the communion of God and men.

YOUCAT Catechism + Catechism of the Catholic Church Lesson 123
Ave Maria series

123  What is the task of the Church?

The Church’s task is to make the kingdom of God, which has already begun with Jesus, germinate and grow in all nations.  [763-769, 774-776, 780]
The baptism of infant Don C. Bragg at Our Lady Queen of the Universe Catholic Church, Woodruff, WI (1970).  (L to R) Lisa, Irma Linskey, Charles Bayer, infant Don, dad Don and mother Rose.  ”The Church is the Reign of Christ already present in mystery” (see CCC #763 below). ….123.


Wherever Jesus went, heaven touched earth: the kingdom of God was inaugurated, a kingdom of peace and justice.  The Church serves this kingdom of God.  She is not an end in herself.  She must carry on what Jesus started.  She should act as Jesus would act.  She continues the sacred signs of Jesus (the sacraments).  She hands on Jesus’ words.  That is why the Church, for all her weakness, is a formidable bit of heaven on earth.

“As the Father has sent me, even so I send you.”  John 20:21b

[763-769, 774-776, 780]

The Church - instituted by Christ Jesus
763 It was the Son's task to accomplish the Father's plan of salvation in the fullness of time. Its accomplishment was the reason for his being sent.(compare Lumen gentium 3; Ad Gentes 3)160   "The Lord Jesus inaugurated his Church by preaching the Good News, that is, the coming of the Reign of God, promised over the ages in the scriptures."(Lumen Gentium 5)161   To fulfill the Father's will, Christ ushered in the Kingdom of heaven on earth. The Church "is the Reign of Christ already present in mystery."(Lumen Gentium 3)162 –Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition

764 "This Kingdom shines out before men in the word, in the works and in the presence of Christ."(Lumen Gentium 5)163   To welcome Jesus' word is to welcome "the Kingdom itself." (Lumen Gentium 5)164  The seed and beginning of the Kingdom are the "little flock" of those whom Jesus came to gather around him, the flock whose shepherd he is. (Luke 12:32; compare Matthew 10:16; Mt 26:31; John 10:1-21)165  They form Jesus' true family. (compare Matthew 12:49)166   To those whom he thus gathered around him, he taught a new "way of acting" and a prayer of their own. (compare Matthew 5-6)167 –CCC

765 The Lord Jesus endowed his community with a structure that will remain until the Kingdom is fully achieved. Before all else there is the choice of the Twelve with Peter as their head. (compare Mark 3:14-15)168  Representing the twelve tribes of Israel, they are the foundation stones of the new Jerusalem.(compare Matthew 19:28; Luke 22:30; Revelation 21:12-14)169   The Twelve and the other disciples share in Christ's mission and his power, but also in his lot.(compare Mark 6:7; Luke 10:1-2; Matthew 10:25; John 15:20)170  By all his actions, Christ prepares and builds his Church.—CCC

766 The Church is born primarily of Christ's total self-giving for our salvation, anticipated in the institution of the Eucharist and fulfilled on the cross. "The origin and growth of the Church are symbolized by the blood and water which flowed from the open side of the crucified Jesus."(Lumen Gentium 3; compare John 19:34)171  "For it was from the side of Christ as he slept the sleep of death upon the cross that there came forth the 'wondrous sacrament of the whole Church.'"(Sacrosanctum Concilium 5)172  As Eve was formed from the sleeping Adam's side, so the Church was born from the pierced heart of Christ hanging dead on the cross.(compare St. Ambrose, In Luc. 2,85-89:Patrologia Latina 15,1666-1668)173 –CCC

The Church - revealed by the Holy Spirit
767 "When the work which the Father gave the Son to do on earth was accomplished, the Holy Spirit was sent on the day of Pentecost in order that he might continually sanctify the Church."( Lumen Gentium 4; compare John 17:4.)174 Then "the Church was openly displayed to the crowds and the spread of the Gospel among the nations, through preaching, was begun."( Ad Gentes 4.)175 As the "convocation" of all men for salvation, the Church in her very nature is missionary, sent by Christ to all the nations to make disciples of them.( Compare Matthew 28:19-20; Ad Gentes 2; AG 5-6.)176 –CCC

768 So that she can fulfill her mission, the Holy Spirit "bestows upon [the Church] varied hierarchic and charismatic gifts, and in this way directs her."( Lumen Gentium 4.)177 "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."( Lumen Gentium 5.)178 –CCC

The Church - perfected in glory
769 "The Church . . . will receive its perfection only in the glory of heaven,"( Lumen Gentium 48.)179 at the time of Christ's glorious return. Until that day, "the Church progresses on her pilgrimage amidst this world's persecutions and God's consolations."( St. Augustine, De civ. Dei, 18,51:Patrologia Latina 41,614; compare Lumen Gentium 8.)180 Here below she knows that she is in exile far from the Lord, and longs for the full coming of the Kingdom, when she will "be united in glory with her king."( Lumen Gentium 5; Compare LG 6; 2 Corinthians 5:6.)181 The Church, and through her the world, will not be perfected in glory without great trials. Only then will "all the just from the time of Adam, 'from Abel, the just one, to the last of the elect,' . . . be gathered together in the universal Church in the Father's presence."( Lumen Gentium 2.)182 –CCC

The universal Sacrament of Salvation
774 The Greek word mysterion was translated into Latin by two terms: mysterium and sacramentum. In later usage the term sacramentum emphasizes the visible sign of the hidden reality of salvation which was indicated by the term mysterium. In this sense, Christ himself is the mystery of salvation: "For there is no other mystery of God, except Christ."( 196 St. Augustine, Ep. 187,11,34:Patrologia Latina 33,846.)196  The saving work of his holy and sanctifying humanity is the sacrament of salvation, which is revealed and active in the Church's sacraments (which the Eastern Churches also call "the holy mysteries"). The seven sacraments are the signs and instruments by which the Holy Spirit spreads the grace of Christ the head throughout the Church which is his Body. The Church, then, both contains and communicates the invisible grace she signifies. It is in this analogical sense, that the Church is called a "sacrament." –CCC

775 "The Church, in Christ, is like a sacrament - a sign and instrument, that is, of communion with God and of unity among all men."( Lumen Gentium 1.)197 The Church's first purpose is to be the sacrament of the inner union of men with God. Because men's communion with one another is rooted in that union with God, the Church is also the sacrament of the unity of the human race. In her, this unity is already begun, since she gathers men "from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and tongues";(Revelation 7:9.)198 at the same time, the Church is the "sign and instrument" of the full realization of the unity yet to come. –CCC

776 As sacrament, the Church is Christ's instrument. "She is taken up by him also as the instrument for the salvation of all," "the universal sacrament of salvation," by which Christ is "at once manifesting and actualizing the mystery of God's love for men."( Lumen Gentium 9 § 2,48 § 2; Gaudium et Spes 45 § 1.)199 The Church "is the visible plan of God's love for humanity," because God desires "that the whole human race may become one People of God, form one Body of Christ, and be built up into one temple of the Holy Spirit."( Paul VI, June 22, 1973; Ad Gentes 7 § 2; compare Lumen Gentium 17.)200 –CCC


IN BRIEF

780 The Church in this world is the sacrament of salvation, the sign and the instrument of the communion of God and men. –CCC

People  Baptism



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