BCD Lesson 7 PDF

The Church as a Communion of Saints Charity is the voluntary giving of help to those in need.  We are the Body of Christ CHURCH CHRIST - An assembly of God’s people - The head of this body, which is called to come tog...

The Church as a Communion of Saints Charity is the voluntary giving of help to those in need.  We are the Body of Christ CHURCH CHRIST - An assembly of God’s people - The head of this body, which is called to come together in the Church communion to partake of that - The image of the invisible God one bread who is Christ. All of the members must be formed to His likeness until Christ be formed in them. For this reason, we who have been made like to Him, who have died with Him and risen with Him, are taken up into the mysteries of His life, until we reign together with Him. 2  Acts 2: 42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 3  We are the Body of Christ When God sent His Son into the world as Messiah, His aim of intervention in our lives is to establish the new people of God- the community of saints. The Church grew among those who were the official witnesses of Jesus. In faith and baptism, an individual is fused into the community, that is, it numbers them among the saints , the people who made up of those redeemed by the Lord. 4  Christians- those who respond to the call of Jesus to come and follow Him. Christ’s people are considered holy or saints, because they have been sanctified.  SANCTIFICATION TO THE THROUGH FROM KINGDOM FAITH SIN AND OF LIFE AND DEATH AND BAPTISM JUSTICE 6  HOLY SPIRIT The agent of to our holiness as Christ’s followers. Makes us temples of God 7  “ It is only through our being in communion as Church , that we will have the strength to sustain our redemptive state. 8  TWO MEANINGS OF THE PHRASE “THE COMUNION OF SAINTS” 1. COMMUNION ON HOLY THINGS (SANCTA) 2. COMMUNION IN HOLY PEOPLE (SANCTI) Both senses are true of the Church. 9  THE COMMUNION OF SAINTS SANCTA SANCTI- Three States - Communion in faith- by taking to heart the teachings of the apostles 1. The Church Militant - The - Communion of charisms pilgrims on earth - Communion in the Sacraments and Prayers 2. The Church Penitent - Those - especially Baptism and the Eucharist who are being purified - Communion of common goods- in 3. The Church Triumphant- Those possession as we share things in common who are already in glory - Communion of charity 10  COMMUNION ON HOLY THINGS ⬗ 949 In the primitive community of Jerusalem, the disciples "devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of the bread and the prayers."482 ⬗ Communion in the faith. The faith of the faithful is the faith of the Church, received from the apostles. Faith is a treasure of life which is enriched by being shared. 11  COMMUNION ON HOLY THINGS ⬗ 950 Communion of the sacraments. "The fruit of all the sacraments belongs to all the faithful. All the sacraments are sacred links uniting the faithful with one another and binding them to Jesus Christ, and above all Baptism, the gate by which we enter into the Church. The communion of saints must be understood as the communion of the sacraments.... The name 'communion' can be applied to all of them, for they unite us to God.... But this name is better suited to the Eucharist than to any other, because it is primarily the Eucharist that brings this communion about."483 12  COMMUNION ON HOLY THINGS ⬗ 951 Communion of charisms. Within the communion of the Church, the Holy Spirit "distributes special graces among the faithful of every rank" for the building up of the Church.484 Now, "to each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good."485 ⬗ 952 "They had everything in common."486 "Everything the true Christian has is to be regarded as a good possessed in common with everyone else. All Christians should be ready and eager to come to the help of the needy... and of their neighbors in want."487 A Christian is a steward of the Lord's goods. 488 13  COMMUNION ON HOLY THINGS ⬗ 953 Communion in charity. In the sanctorum communio, "None of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself."489 "If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together. Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it."490 "Charity does not insist on its own way."491 In this solidarity with all men, living or dead, which is founded on the communion of saints, the least of our acts done in charity redounds to the profit of all. Every sin harms this communion. 14  THE COMMUNION OF THE CHURCH OF HEAVEN AND EARTH 954 The three states of the Church. "When the Lord comes in glory, and all his angels with him, death will be no more and all things will be subject to him. But at the present time some of his disciples are pilgrims on earth. Others have died and are being purified, while still others are in glory, contemplating 'in full light, God himself triune and one, exactly as he is"':492 All of us, however, in varying degrees and in different ways share in the same charity towards God and our neighbors, and we all sing the one hymn of glory to our God. All, indeed, who are of Christ and who have his Spirit form one Church and in Christ cleave together. 493 955 "So it is that the union of the wayfarers with the brethren who sleep in the peace of Christ is in no way interrupted, but on the contrary, according to the constant faith of the Church, this union is reinforced by an exchange of spiritual goods." 494 15