One Body in Christ
In Catholic teaching, "One Body in Christ" means that all baptized believers are united with Jesus and each other. This concept, called the Mystical Body of Christ, shows that the Church works together like a human body, where every person has a unique and important role. Believers join this spiritual body through baptism; just like a body has eyes and hands, the Church has many different people working as one.
Baptism obliges us to seek perfection not only for ourselves but also for others. We do this through our evangelizing witness, which infuses the world around us with the spirit of the Gospel. We must not only strive to grow in holiness, but we must also exemplify holiness and encourage others to do the same by modeling our loves and actions on Christ and aligning our wills to the will of God.
The word Catholic means universal. As Catholics, we are united as one Body of Christ regardless of our race, nationality, skin color or anything else. In the book of Genesis, we learn that God created Adam and Eve in his image and likeness. This means that God loves us so much, he wants us to be like him. Because we are all made in God’s image and likeness, we all deserve to be treated equally and with dignity and respect.
The Second Vatican Council speaks of this Church as a pilgrim Church, establishing an analogy with the Israel of the Old Covenant journeying through the desert. The journey also has an external character, visible in the time and space in which it historically takes place. For the Church “is destined to extend to all regions of the earth and so to enter into the history of mankind,” but at the same time “she transcends all limits of time and of space.”
And yet the essential character of her pilgrimage is interior: it is a question of a pilgrimage through faith, by “the power of the Risen Lord,” a pilgrimage in the Holy Spirit, given to the Church as the invisible Comforter. Moving forward through trial and tribulation, the Church is strengthened by the power of God’s grace promised to her by the Lord, so that…moved by the Holy Spirit, she may never cease to renew herself, until through the Cross she arrives at the light which knows no setting. (See Jn 14:26, 15:26, 16:7)
“The Church was founded for the purpose of spreading the kingdom of Christ throughout the earth for the glory of God the Father, to enable all men to share in His saving redemption, and that through them the whole world might enter into a relationship with Christ. All activity of the Mystical Body directed to the attainment of this goal is called the apostolate, which the Church carries on in various ways through all her members. For the Christian vocation by its very nature is also a vocation to the apostolate. No part of the structure of a living body is merely passive but has a share in the functions as well as life of the body: so, too, in the body of Christ, which is the Church, "the whole body . . . in keeping with the proper activity of each part, derives its increase from its own internal development" (Eph. 4:16). [DECREE ON THE APOSTOLATE OF THE LAITY; APOSTOLICAM ACTUOSITATEM, 2]
Built by Christ upon the Apostles, the Church became fully aware of these mighty works of God on the day of Pentecost, when those gathered together in the Upper Room. From that moment there also begins that journey of faith, the Church’s pilgrimage through the history of individuals and peoples. We know that at the beginning of this journey Mary is present. We see her in the midst of the Apostles in the Upper Room, “prayerfully imploring the gift of the Spirit.”
“When the time for Pentecost was fulfilled, they were all in one place together. And suddenly there came from the sky a noise like a strong driving wind, and it filled the entire house in which they were. Then there appeared to them tongues as of fire, which parted and came to rest on each one of them. And they were all filled with the holy Spirit and began to speak in different tongues, as the Spirit enabled them to proclaim.” (Acts 2: 1-4)
This is a tall order! Yet, with God’s help, it is entirely possible for every person.
—Deacon Gerry Flamm
“Dear children! I am calling you to that love which is loyal and pleasing to God. Little children, love bears everything bitter and difficult for the sake of Jesus who is love. Therefore, dear children, pray that God come to your aid, not however according to your desire, but according to His love. Surrender yourself to God so that He may hear you, console you and forgive everything inside you which is a hindrance on the way of love. In this way God can move your life, and you will grow in love. Dear children, glorify God with a hymn of love so that God’s love may be able to grow in you day by day to its fullness. Thank you for having responded to my call.”
