Damien Bagumira Bamenya, 11007T
This
document intends to encourage proposals from the synod of regarding
Reconciliation, Peace and Justice in Africa. The Pope recalls the mission of
the Church in Africa to be “salt of the earth” and “light of the world” (cf. Mt
5:13-14). Here the Pope fosters the content of Lineamenta and Instrumentum
Laboris. From these preliminary
documents, indeed, the Pope had benefited to urge synod Fathers that their task
is that of “transforming theology into pastoral care, namely into a very
concrete pastoral ministry in which the great perspectives found in Sacred
Scripture and Tradition find application in the activity of bishops and priests
in specific times and places.” (AM,
10) The key message of Africae Munus can be centered on the appeal of the Pope
to review the ‘‘Paths towards Reconciliation, Justice and Peace’’(AM, 31-39). Here, the Synod Fathers
identified some paths for the Church’s mission today in her concern to help
Africa be freed from the forces that are paralyzing her. These paths are to be
traced through four pastoral fields: care for the human person, living in
harmony, the African Vision of life, dialogue and communion among believers. In
this sense the Church is God’s family. Moreover, The principle concern of the
Synod members, as they looked to the situation of the Continent was to seek
ways of inspiring in Christ’s disciples the will to become effectively
committed to living out the Gospel in their daily life by calling them to
conversion as Christ calls constantly for metanoia.
It is calling the faithful to experience the truth of the sacrament of penance
and reconciliation that reconciliation becomes at once a way of life and of
mission.
About
the members of the Church, the Pope includes everybody. He reminds us that
justice and peace born from reconciliation of the human being with himself and
with God. It is only Christ who is the true and unique prince of peace. Thus,
peace does not come from men but from God because it is the messianic gift par
excellence and it should lead us to the Kingdom of God. Africae Munus presents
four main fields of apostolate: the Church as the presence of Christ; the world
of education; the world of health care; and the world of information technology
and communications. Everyone is called to exercise his mission within these
areas relying on the help of the Holy Spirit who helps us to build one body in
Christ; due to the same Spirit we become salt and light of the world. The
Church should be present in these areas especially coordinating the medias in
order to promote justice, peace and contribute to the evangelization.
Damien BAGUMIRA
BAMENYA: 11007T
THE CHURCH IS HOLY
In this paper we are going to see how the Church is holy though
formed by the members who are still struggling to acquire salvation and
holiness. In which sense the Church is holy?
Following the idea of the Catechism of the Catholic Church we
can say that ‘‘the Church… is held, as a matter of faith, to be unfailingly
holy. This is because Christ, the Son of God, who with the Father and the
Spirit is hailed as alone holy, loved the Church as his Bride, giving himself
up for her so as to sanctify her; he joined her to himself as his body and
endowed her with the gift of the Holy Spirit for the glory of God. The Church,
then, is the holy people of God, and her members are called saints.’’(CCC,823)
In this sense the Church is united with Christ and sanctified by
him. All the activities of the Church are directed to the sanctification of men
in Christ and the glorification of God. And all the fullness of the means of
salvation are found in the Church and through the Church by the grace of God we
acquire holiness.(CCC, 824).
However, while Vatican
II acknowledges the holiness of the Church it also stresses that the Church is
imperfect and in need of purification (LG,8)
The Church is still in need of purification especially in its members. The
members of the Church are not yet perfect; the perfect holiness of the Church’s
members is something yet to be acquired. (CCC 825). This is to say that, ‘‘all
those christians who form the Church are invited to a conversion of personal
and ecclesial life, so that the holiness of the Church might more clearly shine
forth.’’[1]
Let us conclude
saying that the Church on earth is endowed already with a sanctity that is real
though imperfect.(CCC825); the Church is holy, though having sinners in her
midst, because she herself has no other life but the life of grace. She had the
power to free her children through the Blood of Christ and the gift of the Holy
Spirit.(CCC 827) in order to attain the fullness of perfection the members must
put charity at the centre of their lives through Charity we are called to live
a life of holiness.
Damien BAGUMIRA BAMENYA: 11007T
Nowadays
the understanding of the Church as catholic has become an object of discussion.
Some people argue that the Bible does not provide the meaning of the word
catholicity. Basing ourselves to the doctrinal documents of the Church we can
try to give an answer to this fact.
First
of all we have to know that the word ‘‘catholic’’ means ‘‘universal’’, that is,
according to the totality or in the keeping with the whole. In the ordinary
sense, we can say that, the catholicity of the Church means its universal
diffusion which belongs rightfully to the Church because the Church is itself the
message of salvation addressed to every man; universal diffusion is also a
fact, for the Church is established everywhere or almost everywhere.[1]
However
taking into account the position of the Catechism of the Catholic Church we can
say that the ‘‘Church is catholic in a double sense: First, the Church is
catholic because Christ is present in her. ‘’Where there is Christ Jesus, there
is the Catholic Church’’. In her subsists the fullness of Christ’s Body united
with its head; this implies that she receives from him the fullness of the means
of salvation which he has willed: correct and complete confession of faith,
full sacramental life, and ordained ministry in apostolic succession(CCC,830). Secondly, the Church is
catholic because she has been sent out by Christ on a mission to the whole of
the human race (CCC, 831).
The
church is always considered as an instrument of salvation. She has the mission
to the whole human race everywhere,’’ make disciples of all nations’’(Mt 28:
19). The Church welcomes all people and cultures. In this sense the Church is
open to everyone, and everyone is welcome in her (A Catholic Catechism,144).
It is catholic because it continues to proclaim faith, she is the deposit of
all the meanings of salvation and she is opened to all peoples without
difference of religions or race. All peoples are called to enter into this
Church.
****
BAGUMIRA BAMENYA Damien: 11007T
When
we pray the Creed we always say that I believe in the apostolic Church. What do
we understand by apostolic Church? We have to keep in mind that during Jesus’
life on earth he chose a group of people who followed him; these people are
called apostles because they lived with Jesus and he gave them the mission to
preach the Gospel and Jesus’ purpose to choose them was that they may continue
his mission after his passion, death and resurrection. Following the idea that
Jesus called the apostles, is it allowable to say that the Church belongs to
the apostles? Even though the Church is qualified as apostolic it does not mean
that the Church belongs to the Apostles.
However,
we can say that the Church is apostolic because she is built upon the apostles
from whom she received the divine truth revealed by and in Christ and she
continues to preserve and guard the apostolic tradition as her sacred deposit.[1]
Trying to analyse this idea one can discover that the Church draws its origin
from the apostles. This Church is seen as immersed in the apostolic community
and what we do today in the Church is the heritage of the apostles.
Basing
ourselves on the teaching of the Catechism of the Catholic Church ,we can conclude
saying that the Church is apostolic because she is founded on the Apostles, in
three ways. First, she was and remains built on ‘the foundation of the Apostles
(Eph 2:20), the witnesses chosen and
sent on mission by Christ himself (Ecclesia
de Eucharistia,27). The second way in which the Church is apostolic, is
that ‘‘with the help of the Spirit dwelling in her, the Church keeps and hands
on the teaching, the ‘good deposit’, the salutary words she has heard from the Apostles. (Ecclesia de Eucharistia,27) The
third way, the Church is apostolic in the sense that she continues to be
taught, sanctified and guided by the apostles until Christ’s return, through
their successors in pastoral office: the college of bishops, ‘‘as assisted by
priests, in union with the successor of Peter, the Church’s supreme pastor(Ecclesia de Eucharistia,28).
Damien BAGUMIRA BAMENYA: 11007T/
THE CHURCH AS SACRAMENT
When
Rev. Dr. George Lecturer of Ecclesiology in Tangaza College was teaching about
the Church as a sacrament he told us that when we talk of Church as sacrament
we have to keep in mind how sacramental theology link the Father, Son and
Spirit economy with the Church, the Liturgical assembly, the individual
sacraments, and the mission of the Church. When he was teaching he told us that
the Father is both the initiator and goal of the economy of salvation; the Son
is the sacrament of the Father and the community of the risen Lord is the
sacrament of Christ. If Christ is the sacrament of God, the Church for us is
the sacrament of Christ.
However, the Church is made up of
two elements: divine and human. In this sense it is compared to the mystery of
the incarnate Word. As the assumed nature inseparably united to Him, serves the
divine Word as a living organ of salvation, so, in a similar way, does the
visible social structure of the Church serve the Spirit of Christ, who vivifies
it, in building up of the body. In other words we can say that the Church
receives life and power from the Spirit of Christ so that its proclamation and
liturgy become signs of Christ that bear witness and accomplish his efficacious
presence in the world. In this way, the Church should be understood as
sacrament or a sign and instrument both of a very close knit union with God and
of unity of the whole human race.[1] Moreover,
the Church is seen as a sacramental reality because it draws its sources and
origin Christ with the whole entire life of Christ especially the whole pascal and
the foundation an eschatological community as his own bride.
To sum up we can say
that ‘‘the Church is sacrament because of the special ‘‘signs’’ by which it
shows its sacramentality. All the actions of the Church are some how
sacramental because they manifest God’s salvation in a visible way. We cannot
forget the Word and Sacraments as signs by which the Church reveals and
associates its sacramentality in a special way. In fact, the Church proclaims
salvation, actualizes and makes it real and effective. The sacramentality of
the Church is also expressed in the seven sacraments, which are considered as
special ways for the Church to accomplish salvation for humans and also as
privileged ways and means for the encounter between God and humans in the
Church through ‘‘signs perceptible to the senses’’ .[2]
[1] Cf. E. Joseph,
Liturgy and Sacramental Theology,232.
[2] Cf. E. JOSEPH, Liturgy and Sacramental
Theology,232.
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