PM 1 Lesson 3 Discussion:

Scriptural Models of being a

Church
The Church is a complex reality. No words can fully describe as to what the Church
exactly is. 

The Holy scripture, however, is very clear in providing us different pictures of what the
Church is like: Church as People of God, Church as Body of Christ, and Church as
Temple of the Holy spirit.

Church as People of God

At all times and in every race, anyone who fears God and does what is right
has been acceptable to him. He has, however, willed to make people holy and
save them, not as individuals without any bond or link between them, but
rather to make them into a people who might acknowledge him and serve him
in holiness. 
Characteristics of the People of God
The People of God is marked by characteristics that clearly distinguish it from
all other religious, ethnic, political, or cultural groups found in history:
1.  It is the People of God: God is not the property of any one people. But he
acquired a people for himself from those who previously were not a people: "a
chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation."
2.  One becomes a member of this people not by a physical birth, but by being
"born anew," a birth "of water and the Spirit," that is, by faith in Christ, and
Baptism.
3.  This People has its Head, Jesus the Christ. Because the same anointing,
the Holy Spirit, flows from the head into the body, this is "the messianic
people."
4.  "The status of this people is that of the dignity and freedom of the sons
of God, in whose hearts the Holy Spirit dwells as in a temple."
5.  "Its law is the new commandment to love as Christ loved us." This is
the "new" law of the Holy Spirit.
6. Its mission is to be salt of the earth and light of the world. This people
is "a most sure seed of unity, hope, and salvation for the whole human race."
7. Its destiny "is the Kingdom of God which has been begun by God himself
on earth and which must be further extended until it has been brought to
perfection by him at the end of time."
 
A priestly, prophetic, and royal people
Jesus Christ is the one whom the Father anointed with the Holy Spirit and
established as priest, prophet, and king. The whole People of God participates
in these three Missions of Christ and bears the responsibilities for mission and
service that flow from them.
On entering the People of God through faith and Baptism, one receives a
share in this people's unique, priestly mission. The baptized, by regeneration
and the anointing of the Holy Spirit, are consecrated to be a spiritual house
and a holy priesthood."
"The holy People of God shares also in Christ's prophetic mission" by being
Christ's witness in the midst of this world. As prophets, we should always tell
and stand for the truth, renounce those crooked practices, and be ready to
leave something behind just to embrace Christ, making Him as the center of
our life.
Finally, the People of God shares in the kingly mission of Christ. We exercise
our kingship mission by drawing all people to God. Christ, King and Lord of
the universe, made himself the servant of all, for he came "not to be served
but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." "To reign is to serve
him," particularly when serving "the poor and the suffering, in whom the
Church recognizes the image of her poor and suffering founder." As People of
God, we fulfill our kingly mission by being able to serve Christ through our
neighbors, specially those who are in need.
 

Church as Body of Christ

A. The Church is communion with Jesus
From the beginning, Jesus associated his disciples with his own life, revealed
the mystery of the Kingdom to them, and gave them a share in his mission,
joy, and sufferings. Jesus spoke of a still more intimate communion between
him and those who would follow him: "Abide in me, and I in you. . . . I am the
vine, you are the branches." And he proclaimed a mysterious and real
communion between his own body and ours: "He who eats my flesh and
drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him."
When his visible presence was taken from them, Jesus did not leave his
disciples orphans. He promised to remain with them until the end of time; he
sent them his Spirit. As a result communion with Jesus has become, in a way,
more intense: "By communicating his Spirit, Christ mystically constitutes as
his body those brothers of his who are called together from every nation."
The comparison of the Church with the body casts light on the intimate bond
between Christ and his Church. Not only is she gathered around him; she is
united in him, in his body. Three aspects of the Church as the Body of Christ
are to be more specifically noted: the unity of all her members with each
other as a result of their union with Christ; Christ as head of the Body;
and the Church as bride of Christ.
 
B. "One Body"
Believers who respond to God's word and become members of Christ's Body,
become intimately united with him: "In that body the life of Christ is
communicated to those who believe, and who, through the sacraments, are
united in a hidden and real way to Christ in his Passion and glorification." This
is especially true of Baptism, which unites us to Christ's death and
Resurrection, and the Eucharist, by which "really sharing in the body of the
Lord,... we are taken up into communion with him and with one another."
The body's unity does not do away with the diversity of its members: "In the
building up of Christ's Body there is engaged a diversity of members and
functions. There is only one Spirit who, according to his own richness and the
needs of the ministries, gives his different gifts for the welfare of the
Church." The unity of the Mystical Body produces and stimulates charity
among the faithful: "From this it follows that if one member suffers anything, all
the members suffer with him, and if one member is honored, all the members
together rejoice." Finally, the unity of the Mystical Body triumphs over all
human divisions: "For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put
on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there
is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus."
 
C. "Christ is the Head of this Body"
Christ "is the head of the body, the Church." He is the principle of creation and
redemption. 
Christ unites us with his Passover: all his members must strive to resemble
him, "until Christ be formed" in them. "For this reason we . . . are taken up into
the mysteries of his life, . . . associated with his sufferings as the body with its
head, suffering with him, that with him we may be glorified."
Christ provides for our growth: to make us grow toward him, our head, he
provides in his Body, the Church, the gifts and assistance by which we help
one another along the way of salvation.
Christ and his Church thus together make up the "whole Christ". The Church
is one with Christ.
Let us rejoice then and give thanks that we have become not only
Christians, but Christ himself. Do you understand and grasp, brethren,
God's grace toward us? Marvel and rejoice: we have become Christ.
For if he is the head, we are the members; he and we together are the
whole man. . . . The fullness of Christ then is the head and the
members. But what does "head and members" mean? Christ and the
Church.
Our redeemer has shown himself to be one person with the holy Church
whom he has taken to himself.
A reply of St. Joan of Arc to her judges sums up the faith of the holy
doctors and the good sense of the believer: "About Jesus Christ and the
Church, I simply know they're just one thing, and we shouldn't
complicate the matter."
 
D. The Church is the Bride of Christ
The unity of Christ and the Church also implies the distinction of the two
within a personal relationship. This aspect is often expressed by the image
of bridegroom and bride. The theme of Christ as Bridegroom of the Church
was prepared for by the prophets and announced by John the Baptist. The
Lord referred to himself as the "bridegroom." The Apostle speaks of the
whole Church and of each of the faithful, members of his Body, as a bride
"betrothed" to Christ the Lord so as to become but one spirit with him. "Christ
loved the Church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her." He
has joined her with himself in an everlasting covenant and never stops
caring for her as for his own body:239
This is the whole Christ, head and body, one formed from many . . .
whether the head or members speak, it is Christ who speaks. He
speaks in his role as the head (ex persona capitis) and in his role as
body (ex persona corporis). What does this mean? "The two will
become one flesh. This is a great mystery, and I am applying it to Christ
and the Church." And the Lord himself says in the Gospel: "So they are
no longer two, but one flesh." They are, in fact, two different persons,
yet they are one in the conjugal union, . . . as head, he calls himself the
bridegroom, as body, he calls himself "bride."
 

Church as Temple of the Holy Spirit

"What the soul is to the human body, the Holy Spirit is to the Body of
Christ, which is the Church." "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." The Holy Spirit makes the Church "the temple of the
living God":
The Holy Spirit is "the principle of every vital and truly saving action in each
part of the Body." He works in many ways to build up the whole Body in
charity: by God's Word "which is able to build you up"; by Baptism, through
which he forms Christ's Body; 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"; 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."
Charisms
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.
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.
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," so that all the diverse and
complementary charisms work together "for the common good."