The Church

The church is something that we see and experience, yet there is a dimension or aspect of the church that is also mysterious, spiritual and cosmic. This is because the church is both something of this world and something of the world to come. It has both divine and human aspects. “The Church is people, men and women who are energized by the Holy Spirit.” 1

When we try to describe something mysterious (for example, love), we often use analogies because, for us it is very difficult to describe in words. Jesus did this often in the scriptures to describe the Kingdom of Heaven: it is like a mustard seed, 2 a treasure hidden in a field, 3 or like a fishing net. 4 It is also like a vineyard, 5 a wedding banquet. 6 By using analogies, we are better able to understand different aspects of what the Kingdom of Heaven is like.

In scripture, there are also many analogies used to describe what the church is. These are found mostly in the letters of St. Paul. St. Paul describes the church as: the Bride of Christ, the Body of Christ, and the temple of the Holy Spirit. We are going to look at these more closely.

The Church: The Kingdom of Heaven Here and Now

The Church is the place where the Kingdom of Heaven is found on earth here and now. This is because the Church is the gathering of people who have been re-created and renewed by the Holy Spirit.

“The establishment of the Church is a re-creation of the world. In the Church there is a new heaven, as the Prophet said (Is. 65:17).” 7 The Church is the place where we experience the presence and power of Christ’s resurrection, the re-creation of the world. The presence of Christ, of God, is heaven, so the Church is where heaven is found on earth.

The Bride of Christ

St. Paul tells us that the Church is also the Bride of Christ. In his letter to the Ephesians 8 we find the image of Christ and his Church used to describe a model marriage: “For we are members of His [Christ’s] body, of His flesh and of His bones. ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’ This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the Church.” 9 This image of Christ and the Church as husband and wife implies a deep existential union of the Church with Christ. As a husband and wife become one flesh in marriage, so too is Christ united with the Church. It is significant that the image used here echoes the Genesis story of the creation of Eve, where Adam exclaims, upon seeing her, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh …” 10 As Eve was taken out of the side of Adam, 11 the Church originates in Christ. We see here how the descriptions of the Church as the bride of Christ and the body of Christ are connected.

The Church is Christ’s beloved. Because Christ is Holy, the Church is holy. “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.’ 12 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.” 13 The Church, because it is united with Christ, becomes the “place” where God is united to people. “The Church’s first purpose is to be the sacrament of the inner union of men with God.” 14 It is through the Church that we, as individuals, experience our own personal union with God. We, as members of the Church, are the Bride of Christ. We personally experience union with our bridegroom, Christ.

The Body of Christ

St. Paul calls the church the Body of Christ, using this image to explain the relationship between Christ and the Church: “He is the head of the body, the church.” 15 The church is not something that is separate from God, that acts of its own free will, but rather, it is something that by its very existence is in relation to God. It is Christ’s body. The church originates in Christ, and has Christ as her leader. The church’s purpose is to manifest God’s presence and love in the world here and now. God uses the Church to act for Him in the world, to be his hands and feet. Some people describe it as “putting skin on God” for the world, or as God’s hands acting in the world.

St. Paul also uses the image of the Church as Christ’s body to describe the relationship between the members of the Church: “For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.” 16 When a person becomes a member of the Church through baptism, he or she becomes a member of Christ’s body. Because others are also united with Christ in their baptism, the baptized are all one body with the source of unity, Christ, as the head. It is God who makes the many one. Because of this, we say that the Church is one.

The church is united people of God. It includes both the living members of the Church and those who have died, who are now resting in the Lord. It includes all those who have passed from this life in faith: “our forefathers, fathers, patriarchs, prophets, apostles, preachers, evangelists, martyrs, confessors, ascetics and every just soul made perfect in faith,” 17 including the Mother of God. The faith we have has been given to us by our ancestors, and those that went before them, right up to the apostles, who themselves were witnesses of Christ and his actions. The faith we have is the same as that proclaimed by the apostles, and their successors, who are our bishops. This is why we say our church is apostolic. It is based on the same faith that the apostles had and has been passed down to us over the centuries through our bishops, the successors of the apostles.

Since the Church is Christ’s body, and Christ’s body has been resurrected, the Church, the people of God, will also participate in that resurrection. “For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.” 18 The Church is therefore the place where the kingdom of God, the new creation, is manifested in the world. “The Church is ‘the new man’” 19 the new creation, made to be righteous and holy. We are no longer alienated from God 20 but we are being renewed together, 21 ‘members of one another’. 22 As members of the Church we experience God’s Kingdom, in the Liturgy, in the Sacraments, in each other. We are to take our experience of the Kingdom of God and share it with the world. This requires discipline and work. We have to let go of our old, worldly ways of acting and living and live for and in Christ: “So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above…” 23

The Temple of the Holy Spirit

St. Paul uses another image to describe what the Church is: the Temple of God (or the Holy Spirit). “Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?” 24 (The Greek word for “you” is plural in this verse.) It is the Holy Spirit who acts in the church to bring salvation to the world. St. Augustine said that “What the soul is to the human body, the Holy Spirit is to the Body of Christ, which is the Church.” 25 The Holy Spirit gives life to the Church. It is because of the Holy Spirit that the Church is able to do her work of bringing God’s presence and love to the world.

The Holy Spirit also bestows gifts or charisms upon individual members of the Church, in order that these gifts might be used for the benefit of all. “Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit … To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.” 26 Some of us are gifted with wisdom, others with the ability to heal other people, some people have the ability to teach, others have the ability to lead. Each member of the body has a role to play. Yet, with the variety of the gifts, there is a unity in the Body.

God created each and every one of us for a special relationship with Himself. This relationship often manifests itself in the career a person chooses.

God desires that in whatever we do, we grow in relationship with Him. Whether we work as a carpenter or a demolition expert, as a stay at home parent or a CEO of a billion-dollar company, as a student or even in unemployment we are called to be Christ like in our words, thoughts and deeds.

Several people recognize that God is calling them to a career of service in the Church. Often people are called to serve God in ordained ministry such as deacons and priests, others are called to serve Him in active or contemplative monasticism (a monk or nun). However not all religious vocations are ordained or consecrated.

Some people are called to work with the poor, others are called to administrate. The Church is full of different possibilities, for people of any ability and age. There are church lawyers and scholars, architects and janitors. There are teachers, singers, youth workers, counsellors, advisors, receptionists, iconographers and accountants.

Think about how you could best live and serve God. In whatever you choose, continue to build your relationship with Him.

The Human Reality

We have been looking at the Church in its divine aspects, which are found in very real and concrete human situations. The Church is the Body of Christ, the bride of Christ, and the Temple of the Holy Spirit. However, the beauty and the mystery of the Church is that it is at once both a divine and a human reality.