PARAGRAPH 2.     THE  CHURCH  -  PEOPLE  OF  GOD,  BODY 

                                    OF  CHRIST,  TEMPLE  OF  THE  HOLY SPIRIT

I.  - THE CHURCH - 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 men/women 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. He therefore chose the Israelite race to be His own people and established a covenant with it. He gradually instructed this people... All these things, however, happened as a preparation for and figure of that new and perfect covenant which was to be ratified in Christ Jesus... the New Covenant in his blood; He called together a race made up of Jews and Gentiles which would be one, not according to the flesh, but in the Spirit." - LG 9; cf. Acts 10:35; 1 Corinthians 11:25 - CCC 781 -

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: 

- 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." - 1 Peter 2:9 - 

- One becomes a member of this people not by a physical birth, but by being "born anew," a birth "of water and the Spirit," - John 3:3-5 - that is, by faith in Christ, and Baptism.

- This People has for its head Jesus the Christ (the anointed, the Messiah). Because the same anointing, the Holy Spirit, flows from the head into the body, this is "the messianic people."

- "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 the temple."

- "Its law is the new commandment to love as Christ loved us." - Cf. John 13:34 - This is the "new" law of the Holy Spirit. - Romans 8:2; Galatians 5:25 -

- Its mission is to be salt of the earth and light of the world. - Cf. Matthew 5:13-16 - This people is "a most sure seed of unity, hope and salvation for the whole human race."

- Its destiny, finally, "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." - LG 9;2 - CCC 782 -

- 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 offices of Christ and bears the responsibilities for mission and service that flow from them. - Cf. John Paul II, RH 18-21 - CCC 783 -

On entering the People of God through faith and Baptism, one receives a share in this people's unique, priestly vocation: "Christ the Lord, high priest taken from among men, has made this new people 'a kingdom of priests to God, his Father'. The baptized, by regeneration and the anointing of the Holy Spirit, are consecrated to be a spiritual house and a holy priesthood." - LG 10; cf. Hebrews 5:1-5; Revelation 1:6 - CCC 784 -

"The holy People of God shares also in Christ's prophetic office," above all in the supernatural sense of faith that belongs to the whole People, lay and clergy, when it "unfailingly adheres to this faith... once for all delivered to the saints," - LG 12; cf. Jude 3... - and when it deepens its understanding and becomes Christ's witness in the midst of this world. - CCC 785 -

Finally, the People of God shares in the royal office of Christ. He exercise his kingship by drawing all men/women to Himself through his death and and Resurrection. - Cf. John 12:32 - 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." - Matthew 20:28 - For the Christian, "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." - LG 8; cf.36 - The People of God fulfills its royal dignity by a life in keeping with its vocation to serve with Christ.

The sign of the cross makes kings of all those reborn in Christ and the anointing of the Holy Spirit consecrates them as priests, so that, apart from the particular service of our ministry, all spiritual and rational Christians are recognized as members of this royal race and sharers in Christ's priestly office. What, indeed, is as royal for a soul as to govern the body in obedience to God? And what is a priestly as to dedicate a pure conscience to the Lord and to offer the spotless offerings of devotion on the altar of the heart? - St. Leo the Great, Sermo 4,1:PL 54, 149 - CCC 786 -

II.  - THE CHURCH - BODY OF CHRIST - 

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. - Cf. Mark 1:16-20; 3:13-19; Matthew 13:10-17; Luke 10:17-20; 22:28-30 - 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." - John 15:4-5 - 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." - John 6:56 - CCC 787 -

When his visible presence was taken from them, Jesus did not leave his disciple orphans. Jesus promised to remain with them until the end of time; he sent them his Spirit. - Cf. John 14:18; 20:22; Matthew 28:20; Acts 2:33... - 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." - LG 7 - CCC 788 -

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. - CCC 789 -

"One Body" - Believers who respond to God's word and become members of Christ's Body, become intimately united in 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." - LG 7 - 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.' - LG 7; cf. Romans 6:4-5; 1 Corinthians 12:13 - CCC 790 -

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." - LG 7;3 - 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 honoured, all the members together rejoice." - LG 7;3; cf. 1 Corinthians 12:26 - 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 all one in Christ Jesus." - Galatians 3:27-28 - CCC 791 -

"Christ is the Head of this Body" - Christ "is the head of the body, the Church. - Colossians 1:18 - He is the principal of creation and redemption. Raised to the Father's glory, "in everything he [is] preeminent, - Colossians 1:18 - especially in the Church, through whom he extends his reign over all things. - CCC 792 -

Christ unites us with his Passover: all his members must strive to resemble him, "until Christ be formed" in them. - Galatians 4:19 - "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." - LG 7;4; cf. Philippians 3:21; Romans 8:17 - CCC 793 -

Christ provides for our growth: to make us grow toward him, our head, - Cf. Colossians 2:19; Ephesians 4:11-16 - he provides his Body, the Church, the gifts and assistance by which we help one another along the way of salvation. - CCC 794 -

Christ and his Church thus together make up the "whole Christ" (Christus totus). The Church is one with Christ. The saints are acutely aware of this unity: - CCC 795 -

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" means? Christ and the Church. - St. Augustine, In Jo. ev. 21, 8:PL 35, 1568. - 

Our redeemer has shown himself to be one person with the holy Church whom he has taken to himself. - Pope St. Gregory the Great, Moralia in Job. praef., 14:PL 75, 525A. - 

Head and members form as if were one and the same mystical person. - St. Thomas Aquinas, STh III,48,2. -

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 are just one thing, and we shouldn't complicate the matter." - Acts of the Trail of Joan of Arc. -

The Church is the Bride of Christ - The unity of Christ and the Church, head and members of one Body, 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. - John 3:29 - The Lord referred to himself as the "bridegroom." - Mark 2:19 - 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. - Cf. Matthew 22:1-14; 25:1-13; 1 Corinthians 6:15-17; 2 Corinthians 11:2 - The Church is the spotless Lamb. - Cf. Revelation 22:17; Ephesians 1:4; 5:27 - Christ loved the Church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her." - Ephesians 5:25-26 - he has joined her with himself in an everlasting covenant, and never stops caring for her as for his own body: - Cf. Ephesians 5:29 - This is the whole Christ, head and body, one formed from many... whether the head or member 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." - Ephesians 5:31-32 - And the Lord himself says in the Gospel: "So they are no longer two, but one flesh." - Matthew 19:6 - 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." - St. Augustine, En. in Ps. 74:4: PL 36, 48-949 - CCC 796 -

III.  - THE CHURCH IS THE TEMPLE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT - 

- WELCOME TO SACRED SCRIPTURE / WORD OF GOD / HOLY BIBLE READER'S COMMUNITY - 

Wishing you, 'Happy Reading', and may God, the Father, the Son of the living God, Jesus Christ, fills your heart, mind, thoughts, and grants you: The Holy Spirit, that is, Wisdom, Knowledge, Understanding, Counsel, Piety, Fortitude, Fear of the Lord, and also His fruits of the Holy Spirit, that is, Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Trustfulness, Gentleness and Self-Control. Amen! God blessing be upon you!

Why do you call Me, "Lord, Lord" and not do what I say?' "Everyone who comes to Me and listens to My words and acts on them - I will show you what he/she is like. He/She is like a man/woman who when he/she built his/her house dug, deep, and laid the foundations on rock; when the river was in flood it bore down on that house but could not shake it, it was so well built. But the one who listens and does nothing is like the man/woman who built his/her house on soil, with no foundations: as soon as the river bore down on it, it collapsed; and what a ruin that house became!" - Luke 6:46-49 - 

If we live by the truth and in love, we shall grow in all ways into Christ Jesus, who is the head by whom the whole body is fitted and joined together, every joint adding its own strength, for each separate part to work according to it function. So the body grows until it has built itself up, in love." - Ephesians 4:15-16 - 

I still have many things to say to you but they would be too much for you now. But when the spirit of truth comes, he will lead you to the complete truth, since he will not be speaking as from himself, but will say only what he has learnt; and he will tell you of the things to come. He/She will glorify me, since all he/she tells you will be taken from what is mine. Everything the Father has is mine; that is why I said: all he/she tells you will be taken from what is mine." - John 16:12-15 -