124. The Church is a mystery that is simultaneously human and divine.

The Church is a mystery that is simultaneously human and divine.

YOUCAT Catechism + Catechism of the Catholic Church Lesson 124

Ave Maria series

124  Why is the Church more than an institution?

The Church is more than an institution because she is a mystery that is simultaneously human and divine.  [770-773, 779]

The Good Thief  Statue of St.  Dismas who had compassion for Jesus as both were dying at Calvary.  The statue is located in Březnice, Czech Republic. …..124

True love does not blind a person but rather makes him see.  With regards to the Church, this is precisely the case:  Viewed from outside, the Church is only a historical institution with historical achievements, but also mistakes and even crimes—a Church of sinners.  But that is not looking deep enough.  After all, Christ became so involved with us sinners that he never abandons his Church, even if we were to betray him daily.  This inseparable union of the human and the divine, this intertwining of sin and grace, is part of the mystery of the Church.  Seen with the eyes of faith, the Church is therefore indestructibly holy.  132

But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, to show that the transcendent power belongs to God and not to us. 

Do all things without grumbling or questioning, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among who you shine as lights in the world.  Philippians 2:14-15

[770-773, 779]

THE MYSTERY OF THE CHURCH

770 The Church is in history, but at the same time she transcends it. It is only "with the eyes of faith"(Roman Catechism I,10,20)¹⁸³  that one can see her in her visible reality and at the same time in her spiritual reality as bearer of divine life.—Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition

The Church - both visible and spiritual

771 "The one mediator, Christ, established and ever sustains here on earth his holy Church, the community of faith, hope, and charity, as a visible organization through which he communicates truth and grace to all men."(Lumen Gentium 8 § 1)¹⁸⁴   The Church is at the same time:

- a "society structured with hierarchical organs and the mystical body of Christ;

- the visible society and the spiritual community;

- the earthly Church and the Church endowed with heavenly riches."(Lumen Gentium 8)¹⁸⁵

These dimensions together constitute "one complex reality which comes together from a human and a divine element"(Lumen Gentium 8)¹⁸⁶ --CCC

The Church is essentially both human and divine, visible but endowed with invisible realities, zealous in action and dedicated to contemplation, present in the world, but as a pilgrim, so constituted that in her the human is directed toward and subordinated to the divine, the visible to the invisible, action to contemplation, and this present world to that city yet to come, the object of our quest.(Sacrosanctum Concilium 2; compare Hebrews 13:14)¹⁸⁷ --CCC

O humility! O sublimity! Both tabernacle of cedar and sanctuary of God; earthly dwelling and celestial palace; house of clay and royal hall; body of death and temple of light; and at last both object of scorn to the proud and bride of Christ! She is black but beautiful, O daughters of Jerusalem, for even if the labor and pain of her long exile may have discolored her, yet heaven's beauty has adorned her.(St. Bernard of Clairvaux, In Cant. Sermo 27:14:Patrologia Latina 183:920D)¹⁸⁸  --CCC

The Church - mystery of men's union with God

772 It is in the Church that Christ fulfills and reveals his own mystery as the purpose of God's plan: "to unite all things in him."( Ephesians 1:10.)¹⁸⁹ St. Paul calls the nuptial union of Christ and the Church "a great mystery." Because she is united to Christ as to her bridegroom, she becomes a mystery in her turn.( Ephesians 5:32; Eph 3:9-11; Eph 5:25-27.)¹⁹⁰ Contemplating this mystery in her, Paul exclaims: "Christ in you, the hope of glory."( Colossians 1:27.)¹⁹¹ --CCC

773 In the Church this communion of men with God, in the "love [that] never ends," is the purpose which governs everything in her that is a sacramental means, tied to this passing world.( 1 Corinthians 13:8; compare Lumen Gentium 48.)¹⁹² "[The Church's] structure is totally ordered to the holiness of Christ's members. And holiness is measured according to the 'great mystery' in which the Bride responds with the gift of love to the gift of the Bridegroom."( John Paul II, Mulieris Dignitatem 27.)¹⁹³ Mary goes before us all in the holiness that is the Church's mystery as "the bride without spot or wrinkle."( Ephesians 5:27.)¹⁹⁴ This is why the "Marian" dimension of the Church precedes the "Petrine."( Compare John Paul II, Mulieris Dignitatem 27 )¹⁹⁵ --CCC

IN BRIEF

779 The Church is both visible and spiritual, a hierarchical society and the Mystical Body of Christ. She is one, yet formed of two components, human and divine. That is her mystery, which only faith can accept. --CCC