I
believe in the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church: a reflection from A Catholic Catechism (cc 146 – 149)
People
have a common misconception about the church, many look at the church as an
institution, organization or a group of people, many think that the Church is
the clergy, especially the Pope and the Bishops. However that is not true, for the church is
One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic.
During
his life time on earth, Jesus laid the foundation for the Church with his
preaching of the kingdom of God. The Church thus became an instrument of the
kingdom by continuing the words, actions and the presence of Jesus. All members
of the Church thus became the people of God through faith and Baptism, sharing
in the ministry of Jesus: priestly, prophetic and kingly.
The
Church is both the means and the goal of God’s plan that began in creation,
prepared in the Old Testament, founded by the words and actions of Jesus Christ
and fulfilled by his redeeming cross and resurrection: It is thus the mystery of salvation by the
outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Through the Spirit and his action in the
sacraments, above all in the Eucharist, Christ establishes the community of
believers as his own Body. The Church becomes a Temple of the Holy Spirit since
the Spirit is the soul, as it were of his Mystical Body, the source of its
life, of its unity in diversity, and of the riches of its gifts and charisms.
This
Church which is the sacrament of salvation and the sign and instrument of
communion between God and all the peoples, is One, Holy, Catholic and
Apostolic.
The Church is One
It
is one because, though it has diverse forms and appearances all over the world,
it is founded by one, Jesus Christ, and she is guided by the Holy Spirit and
shares one faith, common worship and sacraments. She also traces her history
back to the apostles. The Church has experienced so many divisions throughout
her history; however, through acts of dialogue and collaboration she tries to
recover her unity: this is an important call from the Second Vatican Council.
The church is Holy
It
is Holy because she is united with Christ. It is Jesus who makes the church
Holy: although members are sinful and imperfect they are made Holy by the
presence of the risen Christ. The Church thus, as an organization needs to ask
for God’s forgiveness for herself.
The Church is Catholic
It
is universal; this universality of the Church is understood in two ways: one,
Jesus is fully present in all local churches that make up the Catholic Church.
Members (especially of the Catholic Church) believe in the same fundamental
things e.g the same celebration of the sacraments, the words of the creed (same
faith) and in the teachings of the Church. Secondly, when we say that the Church
is universal we also mean that, the Church has a mission to the whole human
race in the whole world, a command it received from her founder Jesus Christ.
The Church is Apostolic
The
Church is founded on the Apostles who faithfully handed on the teachings and
authority they received from Jesus Christ to the church. Early Christians
placed their emphasis on the teachings and authority of the apostles. St. Peter
is the first Pope, an administrative office handed over to other successors of
Peter, who preserve the message they received from the apostles and in turn
hand it over to the successive generations.
Therefore,
it is fitting to say here that, the Church is always one and will remain to be
one in her teaching and mission to the world.
****
The
Mystery of the Church as Captured in the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church –
Lumen Gentium (1-8)
We believe that church
is an assembly of the people of God gathered in the Holy Spirit for the sake of
worshipping and praising God. This church was founded by Jesus Christ himself
as a sign and instrument of communion with God and unity among all people; it
is thus sacramental in nature. Therefore the church acts as a universal vehicle
of uniting people drawing them ever closer to God.
It was and is the will
of God the creator to rise up people to share in his divine life; he thus keeps
on strengthening his people at all times through his son Jesus Christ (LG#2). A
task god started with the Israelites in the Old Testament as he prepared them
for the great revelation of his son Jesus Christ. It is in Jesus Christ that the church finds
its meaning and vitality. The church is thus the kingdom of Christ which makes
the kingdom of God be grasped on earth. Through the church we came to terms
with the redeeming love of God for humanity and consequently the sacrificial
reality of Jesus. He who is God offered himself to take the human form so as to
draw humanity back to God.
The church participate
in the nature of her master: Jesus who was both divine and human communicated
this mystery in the church making it also divine and human. The church is made
up of both human elements and human elements that work harmoniously for the
praise of God the Father. Through their humanity members of the church
participates in the life of their master Jesus in whom they find their
likeness, Similarly, Christ loved the church as his bride thus endowed her with
the Holy Spirit that guides and leads the faithful into the divine wisdom.
LG#8 states that the
church is made of both visible and invisible element. The invisible elements,
which are the transcendental realities, are mediated effectively in the visible
church, through tis visible word, sacraments and organic structures. However
LG#8 warns against conceiving these two dimensions of the church as two
separate realities but rather “they form one complex reality” that is the
church is one but endowed with earthly elements and heavenly graces, an object
of our experience and an object of our confession of faith.
Therefore it is good
to conceive the church as not purely holy, but rather on the pilgrimage to
attain fully that which it has already – Holiness. The church is on a journey
to unite with her master and lord, on the way it might err, commit mistakes and
have a lot of faults. However the lord Jesus Christ sustains it in the journey,
giving it strength to overcome the earthly challenges
****
The Catechism of the
Catholic Church begins by tracing first the history of the Church within the
Old Testament. According to Old Testament there is a prefiguration of the Church
as the people of God. God has willed to make men 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. Therefore he
chose for himself Israel to be his own people and established a covenant with
them.
In his time and space
God moved and worked in the history of the Israelites, preparing them for the
reception of the perfect covenant which was to be accomplished in the blood of
Jesus Christ: a new covenant. When the time came He called together a race made
up of Jews and gentiles which would be one not according to flesh but in the
spirit, which is now the Church.
The Catechism of the
Catholic Church further reveals seven characteristics that describe the people
of God from other religious, ethnic, political or cultural groups found in
history.
·
A people of God is not a property of any
one people but rather it is God who acquired a people for himself, people who
previously were not a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation.
·
To be part of this people of God is not
by any physical birth but rather by being “born anew” through Baptism; a birth
of water and spirit enshrined in faith in Jesus Christ.
·
Jesus Christ is the head of this people,
he is the anointed messiah. And through the same anointing; anointing of the
Holy Spirit, that flows from him, members also become anointed for they are his
body and he is the head thus they become messianic people.
·
This people of God enjoy the freedom and
dignity of the sons and daughters of God in whose hearts the Spirit of God
dwells: a new status.
·
A people of God are led by a new
commandment of love. As Jesus Christ loved so are the members to live and dwell
in his love and show love to each other: the law of the Holy Spirit.
·
A people of God are called to be salt of
the earth and light of the world, this is the mission entrusted to them to
which they are to become the seeds of unity, hope and salvation for the whole
human race.
·
The destiny of the people of God is the
Kingdom of God, which God began himself on earth and which himself will bring
to perfect at the end of time.
Through the faith that
they acquired and a rebirth through Baptism in the Church, the people of God
participate in the ministerial office of his anointed son: as priest, prophet
and king. Through these offices they are to become agents of the mission of God
in the world, to witnesses to the love of God to all nations, because He
himself has consecrated them into spiritual houses in service of himself.
****
Africa
is a continent faced with many challenges, challenges that range from poverty,
corruption, superstitions, aridity and above all political instabilities. It is
in the face of these realities that the Pope calls on African to rise above
maintaining status quo and become the light and salt of the world.
In
deed Africa is painted as an evil continent by many people especially the media
and political powers of non-African origin, but Africa is more than what we
read and hear from the media and political superpowers. Africa can set an
example for the whole world follow, however this can only happen when Africans
themselves learn the need of God and following his statutes: fostering communal
worship that is very well present in the African life.
The
Pope emphasizes that each and every individual irrespective of where they come
from; African, European, Asian, Australian and indeed from all walks of life,
to promote the essentials that will foster human development. He recognizes
that peace, justice and reconciliation can only thrive when every person in the
world; every institutions especially political government work hand in hand for
the sake of betterment of human development. Becoming salt and light of the
world requires a corporation between political and religious institutions
working with that spirit of sacrifice for the establishment of a harmonious
kingdom of God in the world.
Further
Pope Benedict XVI recognizes the plurality of religions in the African
continent which could be a base for inter-religious dialogue and ecumenical
dialogue. When all religious structures cooperate then the African continent
has the potential of moving forward towards God and in return setting an
example to other continents in the world. The Pope recognizes the importance of
families as the “vital cell of society and of the Church.” He advises that it
is through the families that the virtues and values of Christian and good
person and instilled, thus calling the father; mother and children to be united
in the quest of being the light and salt of the world by strengthening those
virtues and values.
Similarly
the Pope recognizes the different roles of the members of the church in the
promotion of God’s kingdom in the world; the faithful in Africa are part of the
larger church, therefore a good environment for fostering peace, justice and
reconciliation. “Peace leads us to the justice of the kingdom which is to be
sought in season and out of season in that we do…, So that in everything glory
may be given to God”. The members of the church beginning from the Bishops,
priests, missionaries, deacons, the consecrated, seminarians, catechists, and
the lay people, all have a role in promoting holiness and environment conducive
for the thriving of good virtues and values, Each of these members in their
capacities as leaders of the church need to foster unity that will enable the
promotion of the kingdom of God.
In
conclusion the Pope Benedict XVI is aware of the challenges facing Africa and
the world in general and thus in his Post-synodal Apostolic Exhortation: Africae Munus he calls all Christians to
be united in one aim, goal and purpose. He calls especially Africans to revisit
those good cultural elements that will help in the creation of good environment
in which justice, peace and reconciliation will thrive. In other words Africans
should adopt the spirit of Inculturation, however with great care such that
religious worship will be promoted among people rather than the culture
itself.
A
reflection on the Evangelii Nuntiandi
an apostolic exhortation by Pope Paul VI
The
Church is one it is Holy and apostolic, this is what the apostolic exhortation:
Evangelii Nuntiandi of Pope Paul VI seeks to highlight, and this one holy Church
is tasked with the duty of spreading the message of love, hope and joy to all
people across the world.
Jesus
moved from place to pace in the land of Israel proclaiming and teaching the
good news of the kingdom of God, He preached to people to convert and believe
in the gospels, a task he carried through words and signs (miracles). After his
death, resurrection and ascent into heaven he gave the same task to those who
worked, walked,and ate with him. He commissioned them to “Go out and preach the
good news to all corners of the world.” He called these people apostles.
It
is on these apostles that the Church was foundedand commissioned to go out to
preach the good news and spread it to all humanity. The Church carried this
message of salvation and liberation to the people all over the world, a task
that the Church in the modern world keeps on doing.
Evangelization
is “proclaiming Christ to those who do not know him, of preaching, of
catechesis, of conferring baptism and other sacraments.”[1]In
other words, it is bearing witness to God as He was revealed by Jesus Christ.
To this task the Church has been faithful: calling, and preparing people from
different cultures all over the world to conversion and reception of the Good
news.
The
work of evangelization is, of the Church, for the Church and from the Church;
therefore it should be done for the benefit of the Church and should flow from
the context of the Church’s understanding. In this apostolic exhortation:
Evangelii Nuntiandi, his Holiness Pope Paul VI, calls for all those
tasked with the work of evangelization to be inclusive of all humanity: the
Good News should not be limited to one sector of humanity nor class certain
class of people or certain of type of civilization, but rather it should cut
across those barriers to reach to reach to all people.
Finally
evangelization is the work of the Holy Spirit, therefore allevangelizers should
open themselves to the workings of the spirit, and evangelizers should promote
the values of Unity, Love and Truth throughout their mission of proclamation.
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