Tag: Church Documents

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Church Documents

What Does Gaudium Et Spes Teach?

Omar Gutierrez

March 13, 2023 9:00 pm March 13, 2023

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In many ways, Gaudium et Spes, or the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, is the culmination of what the Second Vatican Council hoped to accomplish, the…

In many ways, Gaudium et Spes, or the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, is the culmination of what the Second Vatican Council hoped to accomplish, the capstone of the council.

The English title helps us see why. When Pope St. John XXIII called the council, he wanted a pastoral council, not a dogmatic one. He desired a council that would not so much produce condemnations or “anathemas” in response to pressing heresies, but rather a council that could lay out a vision for the future of a Church with updated expressions for our ancient faith. The promulgation of Gaudium et Spes in 1965, at the very end of the council, was the council’s first and only pastoral constitution.

The title also tells us that it is addressed toward the modern world. Almost exactly 100 years before Gaudium et Spes, Pope Pius IX had all but rejected the modern world, saying in the “Syllabus of Errors” that he need not “reconcile himself” to “modern civilization.”

The violence directed at him and the Church was intense. However, the Church in 1965 found itself in a far different relationship with a postwar world, one exhausted by violence and solicitous of the Church’s leadership for peace. The modern world needed the Church, and Gaudium et Spes responded to that need.

The Church and the Human Person

The first step in this pastoral approach was an extension of the Church’s open hand. The first words of the document are “the joys and the hopes, the griefs and the anxieties of the men of this age, especially those who are poor or in any way afflicted, these are the joys and hopes, the griefs and anxieties of the followers of Christ. Indeed, nothing genuinely human fails to raise an echo in their hearts.” One would be hard-pressed to find words more tender and more inviting than these.

Gaudium et Spes continues addressing the “genuinely human” when it declares that the Church is dedicated not just to Catholics but to the whole world. More than that, the Church is dedicated to more than mere socioeconomic freedom, but to the freedom that comes from knowing and accepting God’s love. As we come to know God, say the conciliar fathers who wrote the document, we come to know ourselves.

The modern desire for self-discovery and self-actualization are answered ultimately in Jesus Christ: “The truth is that only in the mystery of the incarnate Word does the mystery of man take on light. For Adam, the first man, was a figure of Him Who was to come . . . Christ the Lord. Christ, the final Adam, by the revelation of the mystery of the Father and His love, fully reveals man to man himself and makes his supreme calling clear. It is not surprising, then, that in Him all the aforementioned truths find their root and attain their crown” (No. 22).

The Church’s role in all of this is first and foremost to be the gateway through which every person and all of human society receives life in Christ. It is through the Church that we encounter Christ, so it is through the Church that we realize our vocation, our meaning and our innermost truth. She offers God to us and so meets our desires and teaches us that without Him we are lost.

By teaching us about the poor, leading us into service of the defenseless and by speaking for the voiceless, the Church points us to the dignity of the human person. In her prophetic mission, the Church stands before the world to denounce injustice and support love of neighbor.

But we ought not think this is the work of our bishops and priests alone.

The laity have a particular duty. From our pastors the laity may seek “spiritual light and nourishment,” but it is their primary duty to make sure “that the divine law is inscribed in the life of the earthly city” (No. 43).

Enlightened by the teachings of the Church, the layperson must both act in a Christian spirit and “be witnesses to Christ in all things in the midst of human society” (No. 43). The laity must carry Christ whom we encounter in the Church out into the world so that all men might be saved.

The Modern World and Human Action

Up to this point in Gaudium et Spes the council fathers have addressed human nature, our need for Christ, the role of the Church, and the role of the laity in bringing about the kingdom of God. The second part of the document focuses on specific areas which “go to the roots of the human race” (No. 46) and into which Catholics are called to action.

In the first area we are called to foster “the nobility of marriage and the family” (see Nos. 47-52). As the fundamental cell of society the family is “a kind of school of deeper humanity.” The family must be grounded in prayer, for through family prayer children and everyone in the family “will find a readier path to human maturity, salvation and holiness.” The purpose of family is holiness, and that holiness fosters a deeper humanity that informs and shapes society.

The next section of Gaudium et Spes deals with the “the proper development of culture” (see Nos. 53-62). Culture, a word rich in meaning, is that by which human persons develop and perfect physical and spiritual qualities. It presumes the family; but it also includes art, labor, literature, customs, institutions, civic memory and much more that may exist outside of one’s particular family.

The council fathers state that our action within culture must begin with fostering an understanding of the universals: “truth, goodness and beauty.” In this way the culture provides man with authentic liberty; for freedom is not doing what we want, but rather the freedom to pursue the good. This approach is accessible to both Catholics and non-Catholics.

As Catholics, however, we understand that truth is not merely a concept.

Truth is a person who took on flesh and dwelt among us. “The Gospel of Christ constantly renews the life and culture of fallen man,” say the council fathers. This is because liberty cannot be authentic unless it is founded on the truth of the human person; and since Christ reveals man to himself, only Jesus Christ and the truth of His Gospel can truly provide us with the fullest liberty to create a culture of life.

This liberty can nevertheless be frustrated by a material poverty which isolates. This is why the next area of human action is “economic and social life” (see Nos. 63-72). Here the council fathers insist that society views human labor as more than a commodity. “Human labor,” they write, “which is expended in the production and exchange of goods or in the performance of economic services is superior to the other elements of economic life, for the latter have only the nature of tools” (No. 67). Work is connected to real persons with full dignity. Everything else is merely a tool in the hands of humankind.

The council fathers also articulate what is referred to as the universal destination of goods, one of the principles of Catholic social teaching. Private property is a natural right of the human person, and God desires that all people have access to what is necessary for life and for human flourishing. Therefore, property exists to secure our own life and to be sure that everyone has enough to live. All are called to share his or her wealth with radical generosity.

Now the council fathers introduce the penultimate area for human action: “the life of the political community” (see Nos. 73-76). Government is necessary in order to secure the common good for a society. That is its whole purpose. However, the fathers write that “citizens … must be careful not to attribute excessive power to public authority.” Though necessary, governments must be kept in check, especially when they ignore our “eternal vocation.”

Rich in Tradition, Yet Boldly New

Finally, the last area of human action involves the “fostering of peace and the promotion of a community of nations” (see Nos. 73-93). Here the foundational principle is solidarity, that we are all responsible for all, an idea rooted in the natural law. We read that “contemplating this melancholy state of humanity, the council wishes, above all things else, to recall the permanent binding force of universal natural law and its all-embracing principles. Man’s conscience itself gives ever more emphatic voice to these principles” (No. 79). This natural law helps to connect one nation to another, and connect denominations. As Gaudium et Spes closes, it strikes an ecumenical note, encouraging cooperation between Catholics and our “separated brothers” as we try to advance the kingdom of God.

The Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World is rich in tradition and yet boldly new in the way it presents that tradition to the world. It is a manifesto of love directed toward an ever more secularized world, a world that looks with skepticism at the Church. In this way it is truly a pastoral constitution, for it aims to win the heart and mind of that skeptical, modern soul and bring the whole world closer to Christ Jesus, in whom all “truths find their root and attain their crown” (No. 22).

Omar F.A. Gutierrez writes from Nebraska.

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Church Teaching

Why is the Creed Important?

Father Richard Gribble

February 27, 2023 5:37 am February 27, 2023

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9 min read

The Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed, which Latin-rite Catholics profess each Sunday and solemnity at Mass, is an ancient document from the late fourth century. With the lightning speed with which contemporary society…

The Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed, which Latin-rite Catholics profess each Sunday and solemnity at Mass, is an ancient document from the late fourth century.

With the lightning speed with which contemporary society moves, it might be logical to ask what relevance a document produced so long ago could have on contemporary life in general and Catholicism more specifically, especially when many “sleepwalk” through its recitation. The age of a document and ignorance of its content and significance are, however, not good indicators of relevance. Rather, it is incumbent upon those who profess such a creed to understand what is being professed and to discover its significance and relevance in our world today.

Trinitarian Belief

The Catechism of the Catholic Church (Part I, Section 2) provides a detailed analysis of every part of the Creed, which is broken down into major sections on teachings on the Father; beliefs concerning the Son, Jesus Christ; a theology of the Holy Spirit; and ecclesiology, the description of the distinctive four marks of the Catholic Church. The Creed opens by expressing belief in God the Creator of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible. The early Church Fathers thus affirm the basic teaching from Genesis that God, the “unmoved mover” of ancient philosophy, is responsible for the world which we encounter about us each day.

After this brief introductory comment about the Father, the Creed enters into its longest and most significant section, which details many important teachings with respect to Jesus Christ. Since, as we recall, it was the heresy of Arianism that challenged the divinity of Christ and was the proximate reason to write the Creed, it is appropriate that the Councils at Nicaea (325) and Constantinople (381) concentrated their teaching on Jesus, the central figure of Christian faith.

First, the Creed clarifies Jesus’ divinity and his relationship to the Father. Rejecting Arius’ interpretation of the biblical passage “today I have begotten you,” the Creed speaks of Jesus as “only begotten,” “born before all time,” “true God from true God.” To clarify further and to make more concrete, this great statement of faith affirms that Jesus was “begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father.” The councils wanted to make absolutely clear that not only was Jesus divine and, therefore, existed before all time, but also that he and the Father were homoousios, of the same substance.

Next, the Creed speaks clearly of the humanity of Jesus. First, we are taught that Jesus was sent from heaven for our salvation. The incarnation of Jesus in the womb of Mary through the power of the Holy Spirit (see Lk 1:26-38) is affirmed. The document then speaks of the Paschal Mystery — the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus. It affirms that he was crucified, was buried and rose on the third day, all as predicted by Scripture. Last, the document affirms that Jesus ascended to the Father and will one day return “to judge the living and the dead.”

Teachings concerning the third person of the Blessed Trinity, the Holy Spirit, conclude this portion of the Creed. The document teaches that the Spirit is Lord and, thus, on the same level as the Father and the Son. The Spirit is described as one “who proceeds from the Father and the Son,” the latter three words filioque, being added at the Third Synod of Council of Toledo in 589. The Profession of Faith clearly states that the Holy Spirit was the inspiration of the prophets.

The Four Marks

After its description of the Trinity and the relationship of its Three Persons, the Creed concludes with a section on ecclesiology, professing what have become known as the four marks of the Church. First, the document affirms that the Church is one. The Catechism teaches that the Church is one because of her source; she is one because of her soul. While the Church has always enjoyed the great diversity which comes from the variety of God’s gifts, the unity of people, the oneness of the Church, is essential (see Nos. 813-814).

The Church is also described as holy. United with Christ, the Church is sanctified through Him. All the activities of the Church are directed toward the sanctification of men and women, an act which makes the Church, by definition, holy (see Nos. 823-827).

Next, the Church is described as Catholic. This is seen in a double sense: First, the concept of Catholic means universal. Where there is Jesus Christ there is the Catholic Church. Second, however, the Church is also Catholic because she has been sent out by Christ on a mission to the whole of humanity (see Nos. 830-831).

Last, the Church is described as apostolic, because she is founded on the apostles. This is manifested in three ways: the Church was and remains built on the foundation of the apostles; with the help of the Spirit the Church keeps and hands on the teaching, the deposit of faith; and “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” (No. 857).

Why Is the Creed Relevant?

Contemporary society’s attraction to all that is new, innovative and progressive might lead some to believe that a document such as the Creed, which has been basically fixed in its present form for nearly 1,500 years, has no relevance. However, as the expression goes, to judge a book by its cover is not a proper indication of the value of anything or any person. How can the Creed be utilized today? How can its teachings be beneficial to contemporary Catholics?

The answers to these important questions must begin by understanding the countercultural nature of the Creed. Modernity seems to scoff at belief based on faith alone. Thus to profess the teachings of the Creed one must be willing to stand against the contemporary tide of popular opinion. Anyone today who confesses a religious creed runs the risk of being labeled as intellectually inept or simply ignorant of reality. Professing the Creed and its teachings, which contradict the world, requires one to bear witness to a certain understanding of faith. Those who witness to the reality of God and the teachings of the Church may appear foolish in the eyes of the sophisticated. Thus the Creed stands as a relevant document that stands against the secular wave which seeks to envelop the world.

The Creed is also relevant today because it serves as a rule of faith for members of the Church. The Creed guides our understanding of Scripture, for it was developed through an interpretive process of the Bible. Additionally, through its use of philosophical terms, such as homoousios (of one substance), the Creed goes beyond Scripture. It provides the words that explicate the fundamental convictions concerning God, the world and humanity. Thus, as a rule of faith, the Creed provides a norm for Christian understanding.

Besides serving as a rule of faith, the Creed also provides a definition of faith. The document, while not exhausting the meaning of Christian life and practice, provides boundaries for Christian belief and, therefore, the Christian community. It finds a relevance that clearly articulates Christian belief with respect to God and the Church. Yet, many aspects and teachings of the Church are not addressed. Additionally, the Creed describes how God is manifest in the world; it presents the efficacious nature of God’s action. In short, the Creed constructs a Christian worldview that is opposed to contemporary life.

Last, the Creed has important relevance as a guide for Christian practice. While the document does not guide every move, it does establish right belief that is orthodoxy and helps us to recognize right practice — namely, orthopraxy. Following the ancient dictum of the Church, Lex orandi, lex credendi (the law of prayer is the law of belief), the Creed, a prayer placed at the central point of the Mass, clearly demonstrates our belief, guiding us in our daily actions.

The Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed is not nor was it intended to be a systematic presentation of the Faith; rather it serves as a functional guide, succinctly displaying the basic teachings of Catholicism. Organized in sections that present teachings on the Trinity — Father, Son and Holy Spirit — and the essential four marks of the Church — one, holy, Catholic and apostolic — the Creed as a countercultural document is relevant today as a rule and definition of faith. Having a deeper appreciation for the teaching and significance of this essential document can help Catholics to live their faith more fully and completely today and in the future.

Father Richard Gribble is a member of the Congregation of Holy Cross and a professor of religious studies at Stonehill College in Easton, Mass. He holds a Ph.D. from The Catholic University of America.

The Nicene Creed

I believe in one God, the Father almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all things visible and invisible.

I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ,
the Only Begotten Son of God,
born of the Father before all ages.

God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father;
through him all things were made.
For us men and for our salvation
he came down from heaven,
and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary,
and became man.

For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate,
he suffered death and was buried,
and rose again on the third day
in accordance with the Scriptures.
He ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead
and his kingdom will have no end.

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son,
who with the Father and the Son is adored and glorified,
who has spoken through the prophets.

I believe in one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church.
I confess one Baptism for the forgiveness of sins
and I look forward to the resurrection of the dead
and the life of the world to come. Amen.

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Scripture

What We Believe, Part 17: The Church: In Christ, Sign and Instrument

Father Joshua J. Whitfield

March 21, 2022 3:51 pm March 21, 2022

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7 min read

In exploring today the Catholic Church in its essence, the teaching of the Second Vatican Council occupies a central place. What did it say about the Church? To answer this…

In exploring today the Catholic Church in its essence, the teaching of the Second Vatican Council occupies a central place. What did it say about the Church? To answer this question, we turn to the council’s longest-debated document (having undergone three major revisions over three years), but arguably also its most beautiful and rich — the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, more commonly called Lumen Gentium.

The first thing the Lumen Gentium says, quite profoundly in its opening lines, is that the “Church is in Christ like a sacrament or as a sign and instrument” (LG 1). The Church, of course, is a visible reality, made so by its hierarchy and liturgy and so on. But is that all one can say about it? Is what’s physically visible about the Church all there is? Right off the bat, the Church says, “No.” Rather, the Church is, biblically speaking, a mystery. The title of the constitution’s first chapter is called De Ecclesiae Mysterio, which is to say, as we see, that the Church is “like a sacrament or as a sign and instrument.” But what does that mean?

Without getting deep into the etymology of either the Greek word mysterion or the Latin word sacramentum, we can simply say that a sacrament is a sign that has some hidden reality about it. That is, a sacrament isn’t just a sign, but always more. For me, thinking of it this way helps: a sacrament is a sign that participates in what signifies. For example, a stop sign is just a normal sign that tells you to stop, but it doesn’t participate in some sort of metaphysical thing called stopness. Because it’s just a sign. Or, consider a picture of some sort — of the Mona Lisa or of your best friend. Such pictures are signs that remind us of people or events, but they do not metaphysically participate in the objects they represent. A sacrament, however, is different. It’s a sign that participates in what it signifies. Consider the Eucharist. The consecrated bread and wine is a sign of the body and blood of Jesus, but it’s a sign also participating in what it signifies. It is the body and blood of Jesus, we believe.

So, the Church is a sacrament; that is, it’s a sign that participates in what it signifies. But a sign of what? It’s a sign both of a “very closely knit union with God and of the unity of the whole human race,” as the opening sentences of Lumen Gentium make clear. As the Dominican theologian, Edward Schillebeckx (whose theology in the 20th century did much to broaden our understanding of the sacramental), succinctly put it, “The earthly Church is the visible realization of this saving reality in history” (Christ the Sacrament of the Encounter with God, 2.1.1). The Church is a sign of our union with the triune God in and through Christ; the Church, in a sense, images that communion. But it’s also a sign of human unity. Now, behind this claim is an awful lot of narrative and theology, the wisdom within our biblical stories of creation and redemption. But, basically, the claim is that we all share one human nature and that the Church signifies the redemption of our one shared human nature, that it’s a sign of the perfection of all human communion. The Church is simply the sign of this twofold union.

But the Church is also an instrument of this twofold union; that is, the Church not only images divine and human unity, it is also its beginning; the Church inaugurates this union, participates in its creation. Which reveals the Church’s purpose and mission: to “unfold more fully” to both the Church and the world “its own inner nature and universal mission,” which is this very twofold union of God and humanity (LG 1). The Church is the “universal sacrament of salvation,” Lumen Gentium teaches; that is, it’s the enduring and definitive sign and instrument of salvation for all time and all peoples (LG 48). No mere human institution, the Church enjoys some of the transcending characteristics of the divine. It is and always will be present and relevant; and hell will never overcome it (Mt 16:18).

This, undoubtedly, is a high claim to make for the Church — that it not only signifies but also shares in and brings about the redeeming communion of God and humanity. But the council makes it because of what we believe about the Church at its core. “Since it is in Christ,” the text says — in Christ. This, of course, is an idea fundamental to the New Testament, to Paul particularly. Believers in Christ, with faith and baptized, are en Christo or en Kyrio — that is, not only are they allied to Christ, they are grafted onto him, into his life, death and risen life. We’re speaking here at the level of being, of mystical union. Paul spoke in this manner in many places, as in Colossians where he said, “it is Christ in you” and that “Christ is your life” (Col 1:27; 3:4); and most famously to the Galatians, saying, “I have been crucified with Christ; yet I live, no longer I, but Christ lives in me” (Gal 2:19-20). This is how the Church can say that it’s no mere human institution or social construct, because as a communion of believers in Christ, they are truly in Christ. And so, what belongs to Christ himself belongs mystically to the Church. Again, we should recall all that time spent at the beginning, exploring John 17. Referencing Jesus’s glory, which he received from his Father and which he shared with the disciples (see Jn 17:22), is just another way to describe life in Christ. And it’s the theological reality underneath our strong claims about the Church — that it’s not just another organization but the vanguard of heaven.

Which is why, in the very next breath, Lumen Gentium locates its claim about the Church within the broader biblical story of God’s creation and redemption. The Church is part of the eternal Father’s “hidden plan” to raise his people up “to a participation of the divine life” (LG 1). Again, remember Jesus’s prayer — “I wish that where I am they also may be, that they may be with me, that they may see my glory that you gave me, because you loved me before the foundation of the world” (Jn 17:24). By rehearsing the history of God’s saving work, Lumen Gentium puts forward a very simple thesis: that the Father never left us to ourselves, but “ceaselessly offered helps to salvation” (LG 2). And, of course, it is Christ who, as “image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature” is the perfection of God’s saving help, given in the “fullness of time” (Col 1:15; Gal 4:4). This is what the Church is in Christ — the sign of this salvation, but more. Not just a sign, the Church is a sacrament — a mystical thing able truly to draw the faithful into the very reality it proclaims. That is, the Church not only preaches Christ, in that the Church believers also die and rise in Christ; they feed on Christ in the Church; they are saved in Christ in the Church.

Why does this matter? Because it suggests that if the Church is to be understood at all, it must be seen for what it fully is. Not just a political thing, a sociological thing, or an institutional thing, the Church is the continuation of God’s work of redemption and is mystically part of the realities it proclaims. That is, it’s a sign and instrument — a sacramental living thing bigger than all of us.

Father Joshua J. Whitfield is pastor of St. Rita Catholic Community in Dallas and author of “The Crisis of Bad Preaching” (Ave Maria Press, $17.95) and other books. Read more from the series here.

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9 min read

Church Documents

What Does Lumen Gentium Teach?

Father Bevil Bramwell

September 20, 2021 8:30 am September 20, 2021

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9 min read

In 1964, the Second Vatican Council taught that the council fathers wanted to “bring the light of Christ to all men, a light brightly visible on the countenance of the…

In 1964, the Second Vatican Council taught that the council fathers wanted to “bring the light of Christ to all men, a light brightly visible on the countenance of the Church” (Lumen Gentium, No. 1).

This is how they started to speak about the Church, so this is where we, as members of the Church, need to start to speak about it as well. If we start with the scandals or the politics, then we are starting with the flaws, human flaws, and we are not allowing ourselves to stand in awe of what Christ (not sinful human beings) is doing in the Church. If we look prayerfully at the right places in the Church, we shall see Christ!

First, the title of the document known as the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church: in Latin, it is titled Lumen Gentium, which means, “the light of the nations.” This light is Jesus Christ. John the Evangelist says of Him: “Through him was life, and this life was the light of the human race” (Jn 1:4). And just so we do not get any romantic ideas about this light, John also said in one of his letters: “The life was made visible; we have seen it and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life that was with the Father and was made visible to us” (1 Jn 1:2). The play on light and seeing points us to concrete everyday life. In the life of Jesus Christ, we have a living example of the fullness of life. So we should expect the document to say a lot about the concrete parts of the Church as it manifests Christ.

Now, what about the nations? The life of Christ has universal meaning; it is for everyone. Remember Jesus’ words after His resurrection: “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age” (Mt 28:19-20).

The various calls that we have heard for new evangelization, from Popes Paul VI, John Paul II and Benedict XVI, and now Pope Francis, all point to something fundamental about the Church — namely, its life of grace and truth flows outward to every part of the world. The life, death and resurrection of Jesus does not stay locked up in a Church building. The faithful carry it to the four corners of the globe.

Where Is Christ?

Now, where is Christ exactly? At the heart of the Church there is a profound and awe-inspiring mystery: the “inauguration and … growth [of the Church] are both symbolized by the blood and water which flowed from the open side of a crucified Jesus (see Jn 19:34), and are foretold in the words of the Lord referring to His death on the Cross: ‘And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all things to myself’ (Jn 12:32)” (Lumen Gentium, No. 3). The life, death and resurrection of Jesus stays with us each day through His Spirit.

In fact, “By communicating His Spirit, Christ made His brothers, called together from all nations, mystically the components of His own Body” (No. 7). His Body is concretely present in our situation. But much more than simply being present, “with His all-surpassing perfection and way of acting He fills the whole body with the riches of His glory” (No. 7). It is within this wonderful exchange of gifts that we live out each day.

The Body of Christ is so rich in grace and truth that words can barely describe it. The way the council did this was to use an ancient scriptural phrase, the People of God. The council reached back thousands of years into Old Testament times and explained: “It pleased [God] to bring men together as one people, a people which acknowledges Him in truth and serves Him in holiness. He therefore chose the race of Israel as a people unto himself” (No. 9).

As we know, Jesus was born into this people, and at the appointed time He called a community together within the old People of God to be the new People of God. There we have the Church, “established by Christ as a communion of life, charity and truth” (No. 9).

It is important for us to get this clear in our heads. We are in the Church to meet Christ in this communion of life and to join His mission. Perhaps we ought to read the early articles of the document several times — slowly and prayerfully — so that we are absolutely convinced that this is where we meet Jesus Christ, our Savior and Redeemer. Then we can confidently pray in the Apostles’ Creed: “I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic Church.”

Our Vocation to Holiness

What goes on in this communion of life? To discuss this, we jump from the Introduction to Chapter V, which has the title, “The Universal Call to Holiness in the Church.” Put on your track shoes! The Church is not just the presence of Christ in the world. It is not just here for mankind to give glory to the Father. It is here for our holiness. So we still are not worrying about bishops and parishes. We are in the Church to be holy. This part of the documnet quotes St. Paul: “‘This is the will of God, your sanctification’ (1 Thes 4:3)” (No. 39). I am proceeding this way because we have to get our priorities straight — do we focus on holiness, or are we worried about how Mrs. Smith’s hat looks?

We “are warned by the Apostle to live ‘as becomes saints’ (Eph 5:3), and to put on ‘as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved a heart of mercy, kindness, humility, meekness, patience’ (Col 3:12), and to possess the fruit of the Spirit in holiness” (No. 40).

At the end of the document is a beautiful chapter on Mary (Chapter VIII). Why go there next? Well, members of the Church have to be deeply concerned about becoming holy. Mary is the perfect example of someone who did just that. In part, we can learn about what she did — the document gives a beautiful summary of what we know about Mary — and we can also learn about Mary as a member of the Church. These two parts help us to appreciate her role in the mysteries of the life of Jesus and then to appreciate how someone in the Church can ally themselves with her in intercession for his or her sins and for other graces. This is how the communion of life works.

The Common Priesthood

To mediate the presence of Christ to us, we need human beings and things like the Scriptures, signs like bread and wine and so on, because we are human beings. We receive so much through our senses. This is the only way that we communicate and share and realize that wondrous things are happening. Jesus Christ is not an idea, He is a person, and so a lot of communicating goes on in the Church. There is the inner working of God’s Spirit, of course, but we always check what we think is due to the Spirit with the concrete visible Church’s teaching.

This is where the bishops and the pope come in. The council said, “This Church constituted and organized in the world as a society, subsists in the Catholic Church, which is governed by the successor of Peter and by the Bishops in communion with him” (No. 8). Lumen Gentium has a whole chapter on the pope, bishops, priests and deacons (Chapter III). We can learn a lot there, but don’t confuse knowing the details with becoming holy! The council was blunt: “He is not saved, however, who, though part of the body of the Church, does not persevere in charity” (No. 14). Love is the key to holiness, to the communion of life. (This is loving God and our neighbor.)

We have just mentioned the ordained hierarchy. They participate in the priesthood of Jesus Christ, in the ordained way, as he became priest and victim on the cross. The whole of human history turns on this moment. Everything in the Church gets its meaning from this event. But there is another mode of participation in Christ’s priesthood called the common priesthood of the baptized. In a very rich sentence, the council said, “The baptized, by regeneration and the anointing of the Holy Spirit, are consecrated as a spiritual house and a holy priesthood, in order that through all those works which are those of the Christian man they may offer spiritual sacrifices and proclaim the power of Him who has called them out of darkness into His marvelous light” (No. 10).

It would be silly to learn about the Church without seeing where the whole great process of being the Church, showing Christ to the world, is headed. The council described the Church as a pilgrim in this world. This is not our lasting home, here on earth; in fact, the world will end: “At that time the human race as well as the entire world, which is intimately related to man and attains to its end through him, will be perfectly re-established in Christ” (No. 48). Just as something that is going to happen tomorrow affects what we do today, so the coming end of all of history should make us sit up and pay attention. Perhaps we have to do something different today.

Father Bevil Bramwell is an Oblate of Mary Immaculate.

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Church Documents

Different Words in Creeds

Msgr. Charles E. Pope

September 12, 2019 9:04 am September 12, 2019

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A creed is not a catechism and hence we should not expect that every possible truth is set forth in them. Creeds were a feature, primarily, of the early Church…

A creed is not a catechism and hence we should not expect that every possible truth is set forth in them. Creeds were a feature, primarily, of the early Church and generally were written to clarify Catholic teaching and refute errors of the time.

Most of the disputes at the time the Nicene Creed was written centered on the doctrine of the Holy Trinity, the truth of the Incarnation and, to some degree, matters related to the Church and eschatology (the theology of the last things).

The Apostles’ Creed is older than the Nicene Creed. The doctrine of the death and bodily resurrection of Jesus was disputed by some of the earliest heretics and this is mentioned by St. Paul (see, for example, 1 Cor 15:12). St. John, too, was confronting early forms of Gnosticism and Docetism which denied or doubted the true, physical humanity of Christ, and implicitly that he actually suffered, died and rose (1 Jn 4:1-4). The heresies contended that Christ only “seemed” to do this.

Thus an early creed like the Apostles’ Creed placed emphasis on the actual death of Christ by reminding us that Christ not only died but actually went down among the dead to sheol (also called hades, hell or the limbo of the fathers; see 1 Pt 3:19). As such, Jesus did not merely appear to die; He did in fact die in terms of His human body and went among the dead and preached to them.

In later times, when the Nicene Creed was written, the bodily death of Jesus was less disputed and it was likely deemed necessary to focus on more currently disputed topics as stated above.

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