St. Paul ‘Names’ The Church
Posted by Rebecca Teti in News on Friday, October 17, 2008 12:00 PM
In the midst of the busy doings of the Synod on the Word of God and screening a new film biography of his predecessor, Benedict made time during Wednesday’s Audience to continue teaching us about St. Paul.
His theme this week is Paul’s relationship with the Church, and he opens by noting that Paul is the person who gave us the word:
this word—“iglesia” in Spanish, like “église” in French or “chiesa” in Italian—is taken from the Greek “ekklēsía.” It comes from the Old Testament and means the assembly of the people of Israel, gathered by God, and particularly the model assembly at the foot of Sinai.
Now this word alludes to the new community of believers in Christ who know themselves to be the assembly of God, the new gathering of all peoples by God and before him. The term “ekklēsía” only appears in the writings of Paul, who is the first author of a Christian writing.
In fact, Paul describes the Church in many ways, each of which bears further reflection, as each reveals to us a different facet of who we are and what we’re called to as people of God. In addition to being the fulfillment of the Old Testament assembly, the Church is:
Of God. Meaning it isn’t a coalition of people with common interests, but first and foremost a gathering called into being by the Lord. This, by the way, is a recurring theme in Benedict’s teaching on ecumenism. Christian unity isn’t something we achieve by debating each other to a fare-thee-well, but the fruit of authentic discipleship and quest for the Truth. As Christ lifts us each higher and higher in holiness, we are gradually drawn together. Christian unity is something we have to strive for, but without forgetting that the Holy Spirit is its author, not we ourselves.
The living word. The Church isn’t a club, it’s the Cross & Resurrection brought to fulfillment in the sacraments of Baptism and Eucharist, and to fruition in Christian charity. Paul’s mission, therefore, is to preach the word in such a way that all people are drawn into living relationship with Christ. I thought this parenthetical note was interesting:
This idea is within the same etymology of the term “ekklēsía,” which Paul, and with him all of Christianity, prefers to the other term “synagogue” ... because originally the first is more “lay”—deriving from the Greek praxis of the political assembly and not properly religious.
In other words, from the very onset of the Church—from the moment it first conceived of itself as “Church”—the laity was fully called to it.
Body of Christ. The Holy Father distinguishes two dimensions of this concept. Probably the most familiar to us is the idea of the unity of all the vocations based on the famous, “many parts, all one body” passage from I Corinthians. But there’s the additional dimension in which, through receiving the Eucharist, we each become bodily united to Christ and truly become one body. This is the “great mystery”—Christ’s spousal love for his Church.
Temple of God. Like the Hebrew temple which is its precursor, the Church is something sacred and set apart. The interesting turn Paul’s teaching gives us, however, is that the Lord is no longer seen as dwelling in a building—a physical space—but in each of us through the in-dwelling Spirit. We literally bring Christ to the world in our bodies:
the place of the presence of God is in the world of the living community of the believers.
There’s even more to explore, but I’ll close with the Pope’s “take-home message” for this week:
This is the greatness of the Church and the greatness of our call: We are the temple of God in the world, the place where God truly dwells, and we are, at the same time, community, family of God, who is love. As family and house of God we should carry out in the world the charity of God and thus be, with the strength that comes from faith, the place and sign of his presence. Let us pray to the Lord so that he grants us to be ever more his Church, his Body, the place of the presence of his charity in this our world and in our history.
Here are links to the previous sessions.
Session 1
Session 2
Session 3
Session 4
Session 5
Session 6
Session 7
Session 8
Print Blog
Email a FriendPost a Comment
By submitting this form, you give Faith And Family Magazine permission to publish this comment. Comments will be published at our discretion, and may be edited for clarity and length. For best formatting, please limit your response to one paragraph and don't hit "enter" to force line breaks.
