A Miniature!

Last week’s article in this series began to introduce an important element in the discovery of who we are as the People of God or the Church. 

At the very beginning of Vatican II’s document which presents the purpose and meaning of the Church, we find the following words: “Since the Church, in Christ, is in the nature of sacrament – a sign and instrument, that is, of communion with God and of unity among all human beings.”  These words are like a heading for the whole document which of course goes on to have a lot more to say.

These words epitomise the vision of the Church and its purpose in the world.  What Christ has brought into the world is not just for us but for all.  What we have in the Church is like a miniature of what God seeks to bring about for all humankind.  What we have in the Church is an intensification of what God seeks to do in the midst of all humankind.  The Church may be compared to the tip of the iceberg: most of the iceberg cannot be seen, it is under the water.  But the tip of the iceberg is the sign that there is more of it under the water. 

What God seeks to do in his chosen People is to give a sign of his presence and plan for all.  In the Church, Christ’s presence is known and explicit; in his world that presence is there but not recognised as such.  And recognition is crucial because in that recognition, we learn something of what God’s plan is for all.

Even the struggles and sinfulness of believers and of the Church itself are so much the same as those of all people but in the Church, they are lived out in dialogue with Christ, in interplay with his word.  Decisions and the finding of the way ahead have to be worked out as we go but decisions are made and the way discovered in dialogue with Christ whose word and presence are explicit within that group who have been chosen to know him explicitly. 

And so, we seek to plant the Church in every part of the world in order that a dialogue can take place between that people and culture and word and gift that Christ brings into the world.  All these dialogues introduce Christ into new societies and cultures and are a means by which more of the unending riches of Christ are themselves opened out.

By Fr Frank O’Loughlin

Published: 18 October 2024