Continuing a look at Lumen GentiumIn the fifth paragraph the Church explains more clearly Her identity and Her mission. The mystery of salvation, the Kingdom of God which has been foretold and promised through the ages is now breaking into history through the birth, life, death, resurrection, and commissioning by Jesus. The seed had been planted and now it is springing up to life.
Jesus, in His death and resurrection, is now more clearly
understood not only to be true man, but true God who gives His disciples and
subsequently the Church His Spirit, causing the Church to evermore reach for
that Kingdom of God for which we were designed and for which we yearn. (We keep our eyes on the prize.)
In paragraph six the Christ is the normative way to the
Father, that all are lead to heaven by Christ Who is the only true Sheep Gate
without Whom we can do nothing. While on
earth the Church is in exile and so she focuses on “things above” until such
time as hope is fulfilled and she appears in glory with her bridegroom. In other words we are like American citizens
trapped in Mexico with the boarders closed and we live our American customs and
ideals until such time as we are able to cross over the line and be in our
homeland.
7) By Jesus being
both God and man, He has redeemed human nature and by sending His Holy Spirit
on us, we are united to Him and become one body in Christ. This uniting comes through the Sacraments of
which Jesus is the One, True Priest.
Sometimes I explain it this way:
God the Father and God the Son are one.
During His time here Jesus made Himself one with us (the Church.) Therefor we become one with the Father and
thus have healed the rift between us and our Father. A = B, B = C, therefore, C = B. (Perhaps equal isn’t the best sign to use, it
is meant hear as representing unity.)
Within this body we all have our parts to perform in some
hierarchical fashion beginning with the apostles. However, all members are necessary for the
body to perform well and thus when part of the body suffers, the whole body
suffers. So I pulled a muscle this
morning working out (5:30 Insanity work out – ugh) and now it isn’t just my leg
that suffers, EVERYTHING (and everyone around me) suffers.
Christ is the head of the body and all members strive to be
formed in His likeness “until Christ be formed in them.” To do this we have been given the Holy Spirit
who acts in the Church like the soul acts in the individual’s body.
Finally in this paragraph (thick aint it? And we are just scratching the surface) it
describes Christ as the Bridegroom loving His bride the Church. He loves her as Himself and so seeks to
purify her with divine gifts. She is
submissive to Him (read: under His mission) “so that (she) may increase and
attain to all the fullness of God.”
2 comments:
Think you mean A = B, B = C, therefore, A = C... but yeah, rich and heavy stuff here!
It's beyond me how you find time to write these columns at all, so any typos or misspellings are more than forgivable.
Great explanation of "submission" as "under His mission". (This transfers well to wives being under the mission of our husbands. What woman in her right mind would have trouble being "under the mission" of someone whose mission it is to lay down his life for her? And yet our pride interferes with both our being able to receive that gift from our spouses from God in His Church. Sigh...)
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