Jesus Christ - Joy Eternal
By scientist and priest Emmanuel M. Carreira, S.J.

Emmanuel M. Carreira, S.J.

Even if only the individual person has an eternal destiny -as the image of God in the personal traits of rationality and free will- and no political or social institution shares that dignity, it is still true that in communion with other human beings we learn to be human and we have the way to know God and to seek Him.

It would be illogical to demand a direct and independent revelation and sanctifying process for each individual as if all others didn't exist, when Christ himself, from the moment of his birth, required care, learning, and to be made part of God's people as a "child of the Law" following ritual processes that constituted him as a true Israelite, heir to patriarchs and prophets as a son of David.

It is only the holy Humanity of Christ that saves us: that is the means of forgiveness, the source of life, the foremost "sacrament" that God provides to surpass our smallness and raise it to the level of divine life. Through his life among us, his preaching, his disciples and friends, we have the means to know the revelation of the Father and his plan to save us in the Son. The Apostles were chosen to carry the Good News to the very ends of the world and thus make of all peoples disciples of Christ. Without this constant effort through the centuries none of us would now enjoy the light of Faith and the life deriving from the Savior's grace.

The apostolic task is not limited to an academic teaching, even possibly a very accurate one from the viewpoint of external history, regarding the Person, activities and doctrines of Christ. From the very first moment it includes the power to incorporate believers -through Baptism- into a new Israel, with a new mysterious birth from water and the Spirit. It also implies a new way to render God the adequate cult in spirit and truth, with new rites that commemorate the redeeming Death, and under a new authority that was received from the Master and that includes the power to forgive sins.

All of this indicates a new, visible, organic institution, with proper traits that set it apart from any other way to seek God, different even from the divine path that in the Synagogue continued the Law of Moses as well as its justice and cult.

The Church was thus born in that Pentecost shaken by the powerful wind of the Spirit of Christ, amid the joyful birth pains of the persecution endured for the sake of the holy Name. The first believers, following Peter's exhortation to "save themselves from the fate of an evil generation", were incorporated into the body of the disciples of the risen Messiah. This was the small and humble seed -always apparently weak and fragile- that would cover the world with its branches, lasting until the end of time with the unfailing and protective presence of Christ and his Spirit.

By reason of its origin, the Church is something divine and it can only be understood taking that as the starting viewpoint. But it is also clearly human, meant to make present among peoples and through the ages the universal work of Christ, as the visible embodiment of his voice and his love, in spite of all the sins and weaknesses of its members. The unlimited and absolute sanctifying power of Christ surpasses every human shortcoming and acts through apostles and disciples to attain the end of God's Kingdom in a way that cannot be thwarted by the lack of fidelity of any creature.

This "economy" -the dispensation of the riches of supernatural life- is described in terms of our union to the Person of Christ as his members, in the full Mystical Body of Christ that receives life and sanctifying power from its divine Head who is Christ born of Mary and crucified for our salvation.

The Church is not an administrative structure -a bureaucracy, even without the unpleasant connotation of the term- but a living organism where the vital force is the Spirit of Christ and the Blood that flows from the Head to each cell in the Body. We could say that it implies something analogous to the Incarnation, thus constituting a single Agent of divine and human activities: the actions of human members attain divine value by their union with the only source of supernatural energy, Christ, Head of the Church.

Church Symbols

The faithful incorporated into Christ by Baptism are described as a flock whose only Shepherd is the Lord, not only in the Old Testament sense of Yahweh -the guide and protector of Israel- but most specifically Christ, the Master who leads, nourishes, and protects his sheep even giving his life for the flock. The need for unity is stressed with the same image: there should be only one flock under one shepherd.

Peter is charged with the task of pasturing the sheep and the lambs; the enemies of Truth are ravishing wolves intent only upon destroying and killing. The faithful sheep know the voice of their shepherd and follow him, finding abundant food under his unfailing protection.

The Church is also the Lord's vineyard, carefully tended and protected by Yahweh, but now described in the most intimate terms: Christ is the vine, and his disciples are branches that live by the infusion of nourishment from the trunk to which they are joined. Without this vital flow, from God's Son, the branches are dead, dry, and destined to be consumed in a fire.

As God's People, the Church is the seed of the Kingdom, that is already started here on earth, but still developing towards a fullness that will be attained at the second coming of the Messiah, endowed with eternal glory and power.

It is the New Israel destined to embrace all nations, with a citizenship not depending upon human ancestry or based on works of the Law but rather upon Faith and God's infinite mercy. The Kingdom has no boundaries or privileged places, being instead open to all those who approach God in humble acceptance of his Son as King and Savior.

In Christ's parables and in the Book of Revelation the Church is presented as the Holy City, a new Jerusalem, shining like a lighthouse upon a mountain to attract and guide all peoples. It is also the Temple of the Most High, built from living stones, the abode of light, peace and divine presence. Its foundations are the apostles and its beauty suggests the most surprising image: it resembles a bride prepared for the Spouse, the Lamb, who gives it life with his Blood and his love.

Therefore the Church is the new Eve, born from the side of Christ dead upon the Cross, Mother of all the living in order to give to Christ new members in a mysterious union that is symbolized in the sacrament of marriage, making it a source of human and divine life.

Only in the union with Christ resides the vital power of the Church, by which we call her Our Mother; the most significant title is precisely this, The Holy Mother Church, where we find God and where He wants to give us his life. This is why "there is no salvation outside the Church" even for those who do not know Christ or his message, but who sincerely seek the unknown God: they will be saved by Christ in a hidden union with his only Mystical Body.

Taking into account all these statements, we can dare say -with the Fathers of the early centuries- that the Church is the master work of creation, the reason why God created, since He did it for the sake of his Son made Man and grafted into humanity to bring about our transformation into God's family, sharing Christ's Sonship. The Church is not something that unfortunately is needed as a practical way to distribute graces and teach doctrines, thus avoiding the anarchy that would entail a total disintegration.

It is rather the organic, living, pulsating total Body of Christ that is present and active in each ministry and in the whole structure. We can do nothing without Christ: the brightness of the Church is totally a reflection of the eternal Light of Christ, just as the Moon reflects only the light of the Sun.

The Apostolic Constitution Lumen Gentium (Light to all Peoples) is a beautiful and extensive development of this view of the Church, a subject worthy of our meditation and study.

Christ, the Head

Every saint -especially those known by their mystical experiences- have proclaimed their love for the Church, their fidelity to her teachings and to her authority received from Christ, even when those who exercised such authority were not models of a holy life. Because the Church in itself is pure and holy, cleansed by the Blood of the Lamb, in spite of the stains which appear in some members.

Christ is present among us until the end of time, disguised and hidden behind our human frailties, but acting through human means with his omnipotent, merciful and all-knowing Love.

The source of specifically human life is commonly considered to be the head, the seat of free will, knowledge and consciousness. Every other member seems secondary and, in principle, capable of replacement or substitution even by a non-biological prosthesis. Only the head seems to be the root of the "I" that cannot be considered as accidental or changeable.

All this is what we mean when we state that Christ is the Head: through Him we know the Father, we realize that we are his children, we attain eternal life in union with Him. Only in union with the Head can the Body of the believers have supernatural life, constituting a real mysterious Body -Mystical- vivified by the Spirit of Christ in a similar way as how the human body is alive by union with the soul.