Published in the bulletin of Holy Ghost Catholic Church in Knoxville, TN, on the 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time.
My dear Parishioners,
Peace! The ninth article of the Apostle’s Creed is “I believe in the Holy Catholic Church.” There are thirty-five (35) In Brief passages in the Catechism of the Catholic Church regarding this article of the Creed. The following is a reflection on article 806.
Jesus Christ is true God and true man, the eternal Son of the eternal Father. By the power of the Holy Spirit the Lord was conceived and born of the Virgin Mary who is the Mother of God. Jesus Christ, son of Mary, has a human body, like ours in all things but sin (cf. Hebrews 4:15). Mother Church has been called the Body of Christ even from apostolic times (cf. Romans 12:4–5; 1 Corinthians 12:12–27). As Christ’s mystical body on Earth (His resurrected human body is now in Heaven since His Ascension) the Church is one body, not amorphous but visible and identifiable.
Mother Church while one in being has a diversity of members. The diversity in membership in Christ’s Catholic Church should be obvious: some are infants, others are aged, still others are in between. Further diversity of membership in Christ’s Church is discernable according to gender, not all are male, not all are female. Socio-economic and educational diversity likewise are signs of the diversity of the membership of Christ’s mystical body, the Church. Geography adds still another dimension to the diverse membership of the Church. Christ’s followers are not just from different parts of town, or of the state, or nation, but even different parts of the world. Dioceses, Provinces and national conferences are yet still further signs of geographical diversity making up Mother Church.
There exists in the one Body of Christ a diversity of offices. This too should be obvious. There is only one Pope for the whole world. Each diocese has only one Bishop. Even when there are multiple priests in a Parish, one has the pastoral responsibility for the Parish, the Pastor. While the clergy have their various roles to play in the makeup of Mother Church, so too the faithful. Husbands and wives, sacramentally married, have a public state of life as faithful witnesses of Christ to each other, their children, their neighbors…
As Christ’s mystical body on Earth, Mother Church has a special bond with all those who suffer, who are poor and who are persecuted. This is thanks to the explicit teaching of Jesus Christ our Lord: as long as you did it to one of these My least brethren, you did it to Me (cf. Matthew 25:35–40). How can we fail to recognize the Lord Jesus Christ in those who suffer, since He suffered for us? How can we fail to recognize Him who became poor, without a room in in inn at His birth in Bethlehem or a tomb of His own, in the needy poor (cf. Matthew 27:57–60; Luke 2:7)? Recognizing Him, we then serve Him, as sons and daughters of Mother Church.
God bless you!
Father John Arthur Orr