The Church    Quiz    Song
The purpose of this chapter is to explore the origin, growth, and nature of the Church according to its stages, marks, models, and dimensions. Whew! That's some big words there, but don't you worry, we'll "kill" them one by one. ;)
So it all started with the plan of God (which is the beginning of everything basically). And the goal of this plan, which God will complete when the time is right, is to bring all creation together, with Christ as its head (St. Paul). It is through Christ that all of us, Jews and Gentiles, are able to come in one Spirit into the presence of the Father (Ephesians 1). Note the presence of the Holy Trinity within the plan.
God's plan from all eternity was to create and invite us to share in his own divine life and love. And in order to do that, God created the Church to help him carry out the mission. In fact, the heart of God's plan is the Church. Foreshadowed in creation, it was prepared in the Old Testament, instituted by Jesus, revealed by the Spirit, and will reach its perfection in heaven. Again, some fancy words but we'll get there. :)
To remind us what the Church is and what we should do as a member of the Church, St. Paul wrote this: We are one body in union with Christ (Romans 12:5). We have been baptized into the one body by the same Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:13). Christ is the head of his body, the church; he is the source of the body's life (Colossians 1:18). Keep your roots deep in him, build your lives on him, and be filled with thanksgiving (Colossians 2:7).
The Church or we, are built upon the foundation laid by the apostles and prophets, and the cornerstone being Christ Jesus himself. He is the one who holds the whole building (the Church) together and makes it grow into a sacred temple dedicated to the Lord, a place where God lives through his Spirit (Ephesians 1-2).
The high point of Old Testament history was the "sacred assembly" of Israelites at the foot of Mt. Sinai. The sacred moment came when God covenanted (made an agreement with) them and made them his chosen people. The Hebrew word given to this "sacred assembly" was Kahal. Centuries later, the Old Testament was translated into Greek. The translators chose the Greek word Kyriake to refer to the "sacred assembly" of Israelites. Later, the Old Testament was translated into German. The translators chose the word Kirche to refer to the "sacred assembly." Finally, when the Old Testament was translated into English, the word Church was chosen to designate the "sacred assembly."
And so the Church, which was instituted by Jesus, traces its ancestry, in a sense, back to the "sacred assembly" at the foot of Mt. Sinai. Let us now take a closer look at each of the five stages of the Church's develop­ment over the course of history. First of all, how is the Church foreshadowed (indicated of) in creation?
Early Christians saw the creation of the world as the first stage of the Holy Trinity's plan. In fact, first­ century Christians did not hesitate to say "The world was created for the sake of the Church" (CCC 760). The Trinity's plan was to create human beings who would be invited to share in the Trinity's own divine life and love. Thus, creation foreshadowed or "pointed to" the Church. A comparison to illustrate the meaning of "foreshadowed" is the married love of a man and a woman "foreshadows" a child.
Then the Church was "prepared" for, in the Old Testament. This second stage of the Trinity's plan took place after the human race, through Adam's sin, freely chose to go its own way, rather than accept the Trinity's invitation. The Trinity showed its mercy by giving the human race a second chance. Thus, God chose a leader called Moses, who led a group of "chosen people" out of Egypt to the foot of Mt. Sinai. There God forged a covenant with them, making them the "instrument" by which the Trinity would "prepare" to extend its invitation of divine life to all people on earth.
An interesting fact, apart from Christianity and Islam which both owe their origin, in part, to Israel, no other religion came about (took place, happened) as did Israel's. Other religions sprang (came) from nature. Israel's sprang from history; that is, at a specific moment in time, at a specific place on this planet, they encountered the awesome Creator of the universe and were totally transformed by the encounter.
Next, instituted by Jesus. The third stage took place when, in a mystery of love, the second person of the Trinity became a human being. He was named Jesus (which means "he will save his people from their sins" or, a savior). He was also given the title Immanuel (which means "God is with us") (Matthew 1:21). To carry out the Trinity's plan, Jesus established the Kingdom of God. We may describe this Kingdom of God as the power of God at work, in the world. It is the power of God gradually destroying the "Kingdom of Satan," which held the human race in slavery since the first sin.
Popup question, in what sense did the "Kingdom of Satan" hold the human race "in slavery" again? It unleashed into the world the 3 ancient evils of the human family: sin, sickness, and death. And once they entered the world, there was no human defense against them. All the human race could do was pray for a rescuer. Think the 3 evils as COVID and Jesus as the vaccines. :)
So coming as a rescuer, Jesus inaugurated (introduced) to us the Kingdom of God. Now we may not see it but it (the Kingdom of God) is now in the process of destroying the Kingdom of Satan. We say it is "in the process" because the coming of the Kingdom of God is a process and not an instant event. This explains why we still pray "Thy Kingdom come" in the Lord's Prayer.
Here, it is important to note that the Kingdom of God is not something visible. Jesus said to a group of Pharisees: "The Kingdom of God does not come in such a way as to be seen. No one can say, 'Look, here it is!' or 'There it is!' because the Kingdom of God is within you" (Luke 17:20-21). In other words, the Kingdom of God is a "thing" of the heart. It is present wherever God's will (or the will of God) reigns (rules/stays).
Now let's talk about the 4th stage of the Church. As you may recall from the last chapter, the Church was revealed to the world on Pentecost. In a nutshell, Pentecost is the "birthday" of the Church. Jesus completed his mission on earth and before ascending (rising/flying up) to heaven, he'd promised to send the Holy Spirit. And so with the coming of the Spirit on Pentecost, the plan of the Holy Trinity entered its final phase which aims to reveal the Church to the nations, and to empower it to disciple all nations.
Lastly, the Church will be perfected and the Kingdom of God will reach completion when Jesus returns, to lead us into the presence of the Father in heaven. For now, the Church is still an unfinished work because Jesus died before its completion. However, he has laid the foundation, so our work now are to live according to his teaching, discern (realize, recognize) our gifts, and ask for the Holy Spirit's guiding as to how to use them to build up our Church.
Now there's a well-known poem by John Godfrey Saxe and it's in your text at the end of page 105 but I would list it here anyway for quick references. It describes six blind men from Indostan. They are standing around an elephant, trying to figure out what it's like. One blind man feels its side and says the elephant looks like a wall. Another feels its tail and says it looks like a rope. A third feels its trunk and says it looks like a snake. A fourth feels its ear and says it looks like a fan. A fifth feels its tusk (long tooth) and says it looks like a sword. A sixth feels its leg and says it looks like a tree trunk. The poem ends like this (ignore the bullet points):
As you can see, each man was in the right about the part of the elephant they observed, but they were all wrong about the whole of the elephant. Our Church is exactly like this. It is a many-sided reality so it's can't be described in simple terms. When people in the world trying to describe the Church (and that includes us), we often get it from our experiences with the leaders and members of our local Church or community. If our experiences are good, our view will be good; and vice versa. Thus, it's very important for us to realize that our limited view of the Church is just like each blind man's limited view of the elephant.
So what else can we learn from this? First of all, we should never prejudge the Church (or anything or anyone for that matter), because our view will always be limited as part of being human. Secondly, just like how Jesus used many models or images to describe the Kingdom of God below, we could also follow early Christians who also used models to help us get a better understanding of the Church.
On a slight related note, Vatican City is a tiny, independent state located inside the city of Rome. It has the status of a nation and a full diplomatic corps. Headed up by the pope, the "Vatican" is the seat of the world Catholic community. Like other leaders, the pope has a "cabinet" to assist him. Called the Curia, its departments are usually headed by a bishop or cardinal. "Cardinal" is an honorary title given to a bishop who has distinguished himself (specially recognized by others). A duty of the "College of Cardinals" is to elect the pope. Another honorary title is that of "Monsignor," usually given to a priest who has distinguished himself.
A simplified organizational chart of the Church might look like this: A parish is served by a pastor and a staff of ordained and lay (normal) associates. A diocese is a cluster of parishes, served by a bishop and a staff of ordained and lay associates. Archdiocese is then a cluster of dioceses, and overseen by an archbishop.
Now let us take a closer look at each one of these three models that describe the Church, in which we may have heard more than once and they are:
There is a saying, if you wish to know the heart and soul of another, you must either become his close friend or trust someone who is. So it is in knowing Jesus. If we haven't yet found our way to become Jesus' friend, we can always get help from his friend who are Jesus' early followers or, People of God, which is the most basic model of the Church.
The New Testament was written by a community who knew Jesus intimately and Jesus revealed himself to them in a deeply personal way. The inner secrets of Jesus' heart and soul were entrusted to the early Christian community so we must either trust them or have Jesus lost forever. In other words, faith in Jesus involves faith in the early Christian community, who walked with him, listened to him, and knew him as no one ever did.
We sometimes forget that the Christian community that knew Jesus authored the New Testament. It is our continuity with them that we can connect with God so we must never forget or try to detach. From this point of view, it would be unwise for people or any of us to say, "I follow Jesus in my own way. I don't need a Church (the People of God) to tell me what to do or to interpret the Scriptures for me."
This brings us to a second biblical image of the Church which is the Body of Christ. The Church as the body of Christ focuses on this great mystery: Christ and his followers form one body. His followers are the members of the body and Christ himself is their head and source of life. The Church, under the image of the body of Christ, underscores this incredible reality: As Jesus shared his Father's life, the Church shares Jesus' life.
Jesus said: "I am the vine, and you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them will bear much fruit; for you can do nothing without me." ~ John 15:5 This brings us to a final biblical image of the Church which completes its trinitarian dimension, the Temple of the Spirit.
In one of his homilies, St. Augustine, the bishop of Hippo in Africa, said: "What the soul is to the human body, the Holy Spirit is to the Body of Christ, which is the Church." The soul permeates (soaks through), unites, and enlivens (brightens up) every part of the human body. In the same way, the Holy Spirit permeates, unites, and enlivens every part of the Body of Christ, forming it into the Spirit's own Temple (CCC 797-801).
Now let's move on to the 4 "marks" or the identity of the Church. If we were asked to summarize what Catholics believe, simply recite (repeat) the Apostles' Creed. It is made up of 12 articles (statements), that outline and summarize faith of the twelve Apostles. A longer and more detailed creed is the Nicene Creed and this is the version we read each Sunday at mass right after the homily.
That said, the 4 marks of the Church and how should we translate them are:
Last but not least, the last aspect of the Church that we're going to dive in is the mystery of the Church or, the mystery of the Trinity's love. Unlike any other community on earth, the Church, mirroring Christ (whose body is the Church), has two dimensions: a divine dimension and a human dimension.
The divine dimension is invisible. It is none other than Christ himself, who is the head and the life of his body, the Church. The human dimension on the other hand, is visible. It is the members of the Church or us ourselves. By our witness (how we live or love) and worship, we make Christ visibly present and active in the world around us.
One interesting thing to note is the human dimension of the Church is like everything human: flawed. This includes not only its membership which is us but also its leadership, which is also us. Because of this, it does not always show the "face of Christ" to the world as it should. In other words, the Church itself is not unlike each one of us. It, too, is vulnerable to sin and still struggling to be what God called it to be.
Consider this statement referring to the human dimension of the Church: The Church is not a collection of saints, but a collection of sinners, desperately seeking to become saints. Jesus himself said, "I have not come to call respectable people, but outcasts" (Mark 2:17). To those who insist upon complaining about the ''flaws" in the Church, Billy Graham said: "If you find a perfect church, by all means join it! Then it will no longer be perfect."
So as a result, the Church in its pilgrimage (journey) on earth will always be a mixture of light and darkness. There will always be enough light for those who wish to see and enough darkness for those whose disposition is otherwise. This is how it should be. The light should never overpower us. It should only invite us. That is, it should never take away our freedom.
Or to put it another way: When it comes to Jesus' presence in the Church, it will never be revealed so clearly as to leave us without questions. Nor will it be concealed (hidden) so completely as to mislead the sincere searchers. It leaves open both possibilities. Jesus respects our freedom to accept or reject him.
To conclude this chapter, I'd like to invite you all to take half a minute and meditate on this short story (on top of page 106). A girl said, I find it hard to believe that the Church is Christ's body when I see how some Christians act. A friend said, I felt the same way until I recalled that I shouldn't blame Beethoven because of how some musicians play his music.
Beethoven's 9th Symphony is one of the greatest pieces of music. Yet if we heard it played by a bunch of amateurs (take thầy Trung for example) with squeaky violins and out-of-tune horns, we would probably say it was awful. Applying this to the Church, it is folly (foolish) to condemn the Church because of "amateur" Christians who wreck it.
And there you heard it, let's always try our best in this field of study called "LOVE" and keep on praying and I'm sure we'll be "professionals" in no time. :)