128. The Church is the “Temple of the Holy Spirit”

The Church is the “Temple of the Holy Spirit”

YOUCAT Catechism + Catechism of the Catholic Church Lesson 128

Ave Maria series

128  What does it mean to say that the Church is the “Temple of the Holy Spirit”?

The Church is the place in the world where the Holy Spirit is completely present.  [797-801, 809]

The Church has seven sacraments shown above: Baptism, Confirmation, Eucharist, Penance, Anointing of the Sick, Holy Orders and Matrimony…..”What makes [the Church] alive is the Spirit of Christ:  He lives in the Word of Sacred Scripture and is present in the sacred signs of the sacraments” Montage by Don L. Bragg. …..128

The people of Israel worshipped God in the Temple of Jerusalem.  

This temple no longer exists.  It has been replaced by the Church, which is not limited to a particular place.  “Where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them” (Matthew 18:20).  What makes her alive is the Spirit of Christ:  He lives in the Word of Sacred Scripture and is present in the sacred signs of the sacraments.  He lives in the hearts of believers and speaks in their prayers.  He leads them and bestows charisms on them—simple gifts as well as extraordinary ones.  Anyone who enters into a relationship with the Holy Spirit can experience true miracles even today.  113-120, 203-205, 310-311

The Spirit and the Bride say, “come.”  And let him who hears say, “Come.”  …Come, Lord Jesus!  
Revelations 22:17, 20

For we are the temple of the living God; as God has said, “I will live in them and move among  them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.”  
2 Corinthians 6:16

“Most people have no idea what God would make of them if they would only place themselves at his disposal.”  St. Ignatius Loyola (1491-1556, founder of the Jesuits)

[797-801, 809]

THE CHURCH IS THE TEMPLE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

797 "What the soul is to the human body, the Holy Spirit is to the Body of Christ, which is the Church."(St. Augustine, Sermo 267,4:Patrologia Latina 38,1231D)²⁴³    "To this Spirit of Christ, as an invisible principle, is to be ascribed the fact that all the parts of the body are joined one with the other and with their exalted head; for the whole Spirit of Christ is in the head, the whole Spirit is in the body, and the whole Spirit is in each of the members."(Pius XII, encyclical, Mystici Corporis:Denzinger-Schonmetzer 3808)²⁴⁴  The Holy Spirit makes the Church "the temple of the living God"(2 Corinthians 6:16; compare 1 Corinthians 3:16-17; Ephesians 2:21)²⁴⁵ –Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition

Indeed, it is to the Church herself that the "Gift of God" has been entrusted. . . . In it is in her that communion with Christ has been deposited, that is to say: the Holy Spirit, the pledge of incorruptibility, the strengthening of our faith and the ladder of our ascent to God. . . . For where the Church is, there also is God's Spirit; where God's Spirit is, there is the Church and every grace.(St. Irenaeus, Adv. haeres. 3,24,1:Patrologia Graeca 7/1,966)²⁴⁶  --CCC

798 The Holy Spirit is "the principle of every vital and truly saving action in each part of the Body."(Pius XII, encyclical, Mystici Corporis:Denzinger Schönmetzer 3808)²⁴⁷  He works in many ways to build up the whole Body in charity(compare Ephesians 4:16)²⁴⁸ by God's Word "which is able to build you up";(Acts of the Apostles 20:32)²⁴⁹ by Baptism, through which he forms Christ's Body;(compare 1 Corinthians 12:13)²⁵⁰ by the sacraments, which give growth and healing to Christ's members; by "the grace of the apostles, which holds first place among his gifts";(Lumen gentium 7 § 2)²⁵¹ by the virtues, which make us act according to what is good; finally, by the many special graces (called "charisms"), by which he makes the faithful "fit and ready to undertake various tasks and offices for the renewal and building up of the Church."(Lumen gentium 12 § 2; compare Apostolicam actuositatem 3)²⁵² –CCC

Charisms

799 Whether extraordinary or simple and humble, charisms are graces of the Holy Spirit which directly or indirectly benefit the Church, ordered as they are to her building up, to the good of men, and to the needs of the world.—CCC

800 Charisms are to be accepted with gratitude by the person who receives them and by all members of the Church as well. They are a wonderfully rich grace for the apostolic vitality and for the holiness of the entire Body of Christ, provided they really are genuine gifts of the Holy Spirit and are used in full conformity with authentic promptings of this same Spirit, that is, in keeping with charity, the true measure of all charisms.(compare 1 Corinthians 13)²⁵³ –CCC

801 It is in this sense that discernment of charisms is always necessary. No charism is exempt from being referred and submitted to the Church's shepherds. "Their office [is] not indeed to extinguish the Spirit, but to test all things and hold fast to what is good,"(Lumen gentium 12; compare 30; 1 Thessalonians 5:12,19-21; John Paul II, Christifideles Laici,24)²⁵⁴  so that all the diverse and complementary charisms work together "for the common good."(1 Corinthians 12:7)²⁵⁵ --CCC

IN BRIEF

809 The Church is the Temple of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is the soul, as it were, of the Mystical Body, the source of its life, of its unity in diversity, and of the riches of its gifts and charisms. –CCC

Sacraments  Seven