By DON FIER
The Church, as we saw last week, can rightly be called “the universal sacrament of salvation” because “she is the sign and instrument both of the reconciliation and communion of all of humanity with God and of the unity of the entire human race” (Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, n. 152).
She is the visible channel of grace to the human race. Her vital importance in God’s salvific plan is made manifestly clear in the words of St. Pope John Paul II: “There is no salvation outside the Church. From her alone there flows surely and fully the life-giving force destined, in Christ and His Spirit, to renew the whole of humanity, and therefore directing every human person to become a part of the Mystical Body of Christ” (L’Osservatore Romano, October 12, 1981; as cited in The Catholic Faith [vol. 3, n. 4], p. 13).
The Church, then, is the universal sacrament of salvation in the sense that she plays a mediatory role in the salvation of every person who is saved. Christ is “the one Mediator between God and man” (Lumen Gentium, n. 49; cf. 1 Tim. 2:5), and it is through His Mystical Body, the Church, that He desires all men be saved. The Vatican II fathers, as we also saw last week, affirm that “in the case of invincible ignorance or of incapability, actual membership of the church can be replaced by the desire for the same. This need not be expressly present, but can also be included in the moral readiness faithfully to fulfill the will of God” (Dr. Ludwig Ott, Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma, p. 112).
Hence, in a mysterious way known only to God, the saving graces won by His Son by means of His redemptive sacrifice on Calvary flow through the Church and are applied to all who are saved, even those outside her visible structure.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) now allocates several paragraphs to an examination of the Church as “the People of God,” a theme which, by no mere coincidence, corresponds to chapter II (nn. 9-17) of Lumen Gentium. This thematic image, as indicated earlier in this series of expository articles on Article 9 of the Creed, is one that the Vatican II fathers chose as a central symbol for the Church in our times (see vol. 147, n. 26; June 26, 2014).
St. John Paul, in his weekly catechesis on the Church, explains that the Church’s image as the “People of God” originates from the nature of God Himself. After affirming that she “is above all a mystery rooted in the triune God…whose primary and fundamental dimension is trinitarian,” he goes on to clarify that “it is in relationship to the Trinity, the eternal source from which she arises, that the Church ‘is seen to be a people’ (LG, n. 4)” (general audience, October 20, 1991).
Just as God Himself is a loving communion of Persons, it is not as individuals that He chose to sanctify and redeem those beings who were created in His image and likeness. “Rather has it pleased Him to bring men together as one people, a people which acknowledges Him in truth and serves Him in holiness” (LG, n. 9 § 1).
Ultimately, after meager beginnings with the small nation of Israel, followed by a progressive period of preparation as recorded in the Old Testament, the Son of God, in the fullness of time, “called together a race made up of Jews and Gentiles which would be one, not according to the flesh, but in the Spirit” (CCC, n. 781; cf. LG, n. 9 § 1). No longer were the Jewish people alone referred to as the People of God, but all who accepted Him in faith and followed His Commandments.
The Catechism now proceeds to accentuate the truth that “the People of God is marked by characteristics that clearly distinguish it from all other religious, ethnic, political, or cultural groups found in history” (CCC, n. 782). First of all, one must come to understand that God is not the property of any one people. For as St. Paul exhorts the Galatians: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; . . . all [are] one in Christ Jesus” (Gal. 3:28).
In other words, all are equal in the sight of God: all are descendants of Adam, all are made in His image and likeness. It is believers, no matter what race or color or nationality, who form the People of God, who belong to the assembly of the Church and become “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people” (1 Peter 2:9).
How does one gain membership in the new People of God? As Jesus explains to Nicodemus, it is not through natural physical birth, but by being “born anew…of water and the Spirit,” that one “can see the kingdom of God” (cf. John 3:3–5).
In other words, it is only through the saving waters of Baptism and the expression of faith — personally or through a sponsor — that one becomes a member of this people who has for its Head Jesus the Christ from whom flows the Holy Spirit into the members of His Mystical Body, the Church (cf. CCC, n. 782).
What is the status of the People of God? “The state of this people,” teach the Vatican II fathers, “is that of the dignity and freedom of the sons of God, in whose hearts the Holy Spirit dwells as in His temple” (LG, n. 9 § 2). What a marvelous proclamation! As a member of the Church, provided one is in the state of grace, the Holy Spirit (along with the Father and the Son) dwells within the innermost recesses of one’s soul.
Furthermore, a new commandment of love applies to members of the Church. Already in the Old Testament, love of neighbor was commanded: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Lev. 19:18). And to some extent, the command of love extended to one’s enemies: “If you meet your enemy’s ox or his ass going astray, you shall bring it back to him. If you see the ass of one who hates you lying under its burden, you shall refrain from leaving him with it, you shall help him to lift it up” (Exodus 23:3-4).
But the love demanded in the New Testament goes much further, for Christ commands: “Even as I have loved you, that you also love one another” (Matt. 13:34). Why is this form of love more demanding? As The Navarre Bible — St. John explains, it is a love that “is measured not by man’s heart but by the heart of Christ, who gives up his life on the cross to redeem all men (cf. 1 John 4:9-11)” (p. 182).
What is the mission of the new People of God? It is no less than, in metaphorical language, to be “the salt of the earth” (Matt. 5:13) and “the light of the world” (Matt. 5:14). As a messianic people, the members of the Church are called to be “a lasting and sure seed of unity, hope, and salvation for the whole human race” (LG, n. 9 § 2).
How are we to accomplish this? “The very testimony of [our] Christian life and good works done in a supernatural spirit [has] the power to draw men to belief and to God,” teach the Vatican II fathers.
“For the Lord says, ‘Even so let your light shine before men in order that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven’ (Matt. 5:16)” (Apostolicam Actuositatem, n. 6 § 2). Through lives of charity and apostolic outreach, we are able to actively participate in the attainment of the Church’s final destiny, to be “brought to perfection by [God] at the end of time” (LG, n. 9 § 2).
Priest, Prophet, And King
The Catechism closes this section by teaching that the Church, the People of God, shares in Christ’s threefold office of priest, prophet, and king. In other words, she participates in Jesus’ ministry to sanctify, to teach, and to govern (see LG, nn. 10-13).
As expressed by the Constitution on the Church, the faithful “are by baptism made one body with Christ and are constituted among the People of God; they are in their own way made sharers in the priestly, prophetical, and kingly functions of Christ; and they carry out for their own part the mission of the whole Christian people in the Church and in the world” (LG, n. 31).
One way the Church’s members can participate in Christ’s priestly office is by offering their sufferings, indeed their whole lives to God, just as Jesus offered His life for us to the Father. The People of God share in Christ’s prophetic office when “it deepens its understanding [of the faith] and becomes Christ’s witness in the midst of this world” (CCC, n. 785). Finally, with regard to Christ’s kingly office, “the People of God fulfills its royal dignity by a life in keeping with its vocation to serve with Christ” (CCC, n. 786), for He came “not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Matt. 20:28).
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(Don Fier serves on the board of directors for The Catholic Servant, a Minneapolis-based monthly publication. He and his wife are the parents of seven children. Fier is a 2009 graduate of Ave Maria University’s Institute for Pastoral Theology. He is doing research for writing a definitive biography of Fr. John A. Hardon, SJ.)
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