The mystery of the Church

In this article I would now like to tackle the second of the two sentences that were mentioned in the last article:

The liturgy is the outstanding means whereby the faithful may express in their lives and manifest to others the real nature of the true Church.

In order to fully understand this point, we need to break it down into three questions:

1. What is the “true Church”?
2. What is the “real nature” of this true Church?
3. How does the liturgy help the faithful “express in their lives and manifest to others” this real nature of the true Church?

The “true Church”

There are a great many different Christian denominations in the world today, and each has its own way of understanding the Gospel. The word “church” originally meant “assembly”, so in the strict sense each of these denominations may, to a greater or lesser extent, be called a “church”. The various contradictions between them, however, means that they cannot all be correct — some must be closer to being the “true” Church, and some must be further away. In addition, Jesus promised to be with his Church until the end of time, which implies that they can’t *all* be wrong: this reality called “the Church” must subsist within one of these denominations in particular (and it can’t be more than one or we are back to the original problem).

What criteria, then, can we use to distinguish between the various denominations, and to discover in which one the “true Church” subsists? In order to avoid setting arbitrary conditions, we can turn to the creed of Nicea-Constantinople once again, which contains the line:

I believe in one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church.

Given that these four “marks” of the Church are indicators of something which is an object of faith, they are extremely important. We will examine them one at a time, in reverse order. I should point out that this will only be an overview of each other elements, as whole books have been written discussing the meaning of these four “marks”. For Catholics, a more detailed review of them can be found in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, nos. 811–870.

For the Church to be “apostolic” means two things. First of all, it means that the Church continues to benefit from the apostolic ministry. Before they died the Apostles appointed successors, to preside the continuation of their work in the various local churches which they founded. The presence of this apostolic succession was considered from very ancient times to be essential to identifying the “true Church”. In addition, the term apostolic means that the Church continues to carry forward in history the teaching of the apostles, who themselves were ambassadors of the message of Christ. Because this apostolic teaching is composed of mysteries about which our understanding can always grow, doctrine can be subject to legitimate development (and therefore there can be a legitimate diversity of doctrinal expressions). Such developments, however, must be consistent with the original deposit of faith, and must flow out of it. A “true Church”, then, would be one in which the doctrines it presents are consistent with the original teaching of the apostles, even if the external expression of that doctrine has a different appearance.

The word “catholic” refers to the universality of the Church. A truly “catholic” church would strive to be present everywhere, and would include peoples of all nationalities and cultures. It also means that the Church contains the fullness of the means of salvation that Christ wills for it: a correct and complete profession of faith, the sacramental life, and the ordained ministry in the apostolic succession. The first and the last of these three latter points have already been treated, but the middle element, the sacramental life, is certainly of interest to our topic.

The word “holy” indicates not only a special gift of holiness that Christ wills for his Church, but also that the Church is meant to be a source of holiness for others. A quick look at the history of the Church, however, shows that many Christians, including many members of the clergy, have not lived up to the call of holiness. How, then, can such persons (and by extension, the Church they together compose) be instruments of something they do not themselves seem to possess? The liturgy, as we will see, has an important role to play in bridging that gap.

The word “one” refers to the unity of the true Church. Such a church would possess the means to overcome the various human pressures which tend to lead to division. Division arises from either errors of the intelligence or the misuse of the will. The true Church, therefore, would possess a teaching mechanism empowered to speak on behalf of the church, and drawing upon the guidance of God to do so. As well, it would possess an authority structure allowing for the coordination of the activity of the Church, for the common good of its members.

As it examines itself in the light of these four “marks” of the Church, the Catholic Church believes itself to possess these marks in their fullness. It possess a teaching and disciplinary authority (one), it is able to communicate holiness to others (holy), it is present everywhere throughout the world and in all cultures, and possesses the fullness of the means of sanctification (catholic), and it possesses the apostolic succession, including the line of the successors of the apostle Peter himself (apostolic).

The “real nature” of the true Church

Once again, it would be possible to fill entire volumes with a theological discussion of the “real nature” of the Church. The Second Vatican Council undertook to develop this area of doctrine through Lumen Gentium, a.k.a. the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church. We will limit ourselves here to what Sacrosanctum Concilium had to say on the nature of the Church, also contained in paragraph #2:

It is of the essence of the Church that she be both human and divine, visible and yet invisibly equipped, eager to act and yet intent on contemplation, present in this world and yet not at home in it; and she is all these things in such wise that in her the human is directed and subordinated to the divine, the visible likewise to the invisible, action to contemplation, and this present world to that city yet to come, which we seek (2).

Footnote 2 refers to Hebrews 13:14. For the sake of context, here are verses 13 & 14: “These all died in faith, not having received what was promised, but having seen it and greeted it from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland.”

Without pretending to exhaust the content of the mystery of the Church, therefore, we need to understand that the Church, if it really is what it claims to be, is not like any other human organization. While there is a visible dimension to the Church — that which we see and encounter in daily life — there is also an invisible dimension, a spiritual dimension that operates in the order of grace. For example:

• The Church is most certainly human, composed as it is of human beings, but it is also divine, as its true Head is Jesus Christ, who is himself both human and divine. The members of the Church, taken together, therefore do not simply form another human organization: they constitute the Body of Christ on Earth.
• The Church is most certainly visible, and is even visibly equipped (think of the lands, buildings, etc. which it possesses). Its most important “equipment”, however, is the Holy Spirit himself. If the Church *is* what it claims to be, then it possesses something that no other human organization possesses: the special guidance and action of the Holy Spirit.
• To say that in the Church action is “subordinated to contemplation” does not simply mean that the Church undertakes its various actions but makes sure to take a periodic break to go meditate. Yes, it can operate that way, but what this really means is that the very goals of the activities of the Church are fundamentally contemplative. Fundamentally, the Church exists to offer God fitting worship, and sees the contemplation of Jesus Christ, the Word of God made flesh, as the path par excellence to this true worship and service. This is sometimes done through silent meditation, yes, but it can also be done through service to others, such as the poorest of the poor. In the scene of the last judgment, found in Matthew 25, Jesus identifies himself with those who are “least”. If done with the right frame of mind — one which subordinates action to contemplation — then to offer these “least” our service in action is to simultaneously worship and contemplate Christ.
• For the Church to be “present in this world yet not at home in it” reveals the fundamental identity and goal of a Christian. A Christian man or woman is definitely part of this world, and his or her identity as a person springs from a particular cultural background and heritage, but as a Christian he or she is called to go even further and root that identity in the fundamental identity of being a child of God. This transcends ethnicity, social status, and even gender: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3:28) This brotherhood of all human beings even transcends the veil of death to include the saints, as well as those undergoing their final purification, and thereby reveals the fundamental vocation of the Christian: the fundamental call is the call to holiness. The Church, therefore, is a “communion of saints”, not just composed of those millions of Christians who walk the Earth today, but including also all those billions whom God has seen fit to admit to everlasting life. And if we want to be counted in that number, we must enter into that same communion of holiness with those holy ones.

All these elements form part of the “real nature” of the true Church, and these elements are excellent and beautiful, and worthy to be acknowledged and celebrated. This now brings us to our final point:

The liturgy as a means to express and manifest the real nature of the true Church

The liturgy does not pretend to be the only means by which the mystery of the Church is expressed and explored in the Christian life. Nevertheless, it is one of the chief means, so much so that the liturgy can be seen as a kind of template for understanding this thing we call “Church”. We see each of these dimensions of the “real nature of the true Church” both expressed and manifested in liturgical worship, such as in the following examples:

• The apostolic dimension is particularly evident when the liturgy is presided by a bishop or a priest in communion with him, as the bishop is ordained in the apostolic succession and the priest is ordained to share in that ministry. The apostolic dimension is also visible when the Bible is proclaimed and explained in a homily: this is a renewal of the teaching of the apostles in the Church, as well as the “translation” of that teaching into terms comprehensible to modern ears.
• The “catholic” dimension is visible in the fact that a Christian should be able to go anywhere in the world and be welcomed as a fellow Christian, a point that is most explicitly visible in the Catholic Church (hence the name). The “catholic” dimension is also visible when the seven sacraments, as means of sanctification, are at the heart of Christian life. The Catholic Church as a whole, of course, accepts the seven sacraments, and so this might seem like a moot point apart from certain ecumenical discussions. However, the Catholic Church is also a communion of thousands of “particular churches” (i.e. dioceses), and if each is to fully live out its “catholicity” then each must honestly examine its fidelity and fervour with regards to the sacraments. For example:
  • Are people delaying the baptism of their children?
  • Is Confirmation ignored?
  • Has Reconciliation fallen into disuse, perhaps replaced by an annual “general absolution” lacking the specific confession of serious sins?
  • Do people prefer communion services to Mass? Does the Mass seem to periodically get hijacked to promote the special cause of the moment?
  • Is the Anointing of the Sick still only understood as “last rites”? On the other hand, is the Anointing given too freely?
  • Are vocations to ordained ministry promoted?
  • Is the specifically Christian dimension of sacramental marriage being lived? Or do Christians cheat on their spouses, get divorced, and contracept just like everyone else?

  A fully “catholic” local church is one in which each of the sacraments is lived in full fidelity, not only to the rubrics, but to the very meaning and essence of the sacrament itself.

• As was mentioned earlier, the dimension of the holiness of the Church must include a mechanism to communicate holiness even when the minister in question is personally unworthy. Part of the Catholic faith is that the liturgy provides a mechanism for a minister to give what he may not personally possess. The sacraments, in particular, function ex opere operato, i.e. by means of the act itself, such that when a priest baptizes it is actually Christ himself who baptizes. No matter how morally unworthy a particular priest might become, for example, we do not need to redo the baptisms he performed, as long as they were done in fidelity to the form of baptism itself. Still, not all liturgy operates ex opere operato; some operates ex opere operantis, which means that the subjective state of the minister does enter into the equation. And all graces produced by liturgical actions need to be received with the right disposition for them to be fruitful. The liturgy, therefore, is not just a source of holiness, but a challenge to live in holiness.
• The liturgy is a powerful sign of the unity of the Church. No matter where one goes in the world, the Eucharist is still the Eucharist, even if it is celebrated according to different liturgical rites. No local church or minister “owns” the liturgical celebrations: they must be performed in fidelity to the forms approved by higher authority, in communion with the Pope and the bishops. This is not to create some sort of merely external unity, but is an aspect of the very magisterium of the Church: what the Church believes is intimately connected to how the Church prays (a principle called lex orandi, lex credendi), so any teaching authority the Church might possess must also be a liturgical authority. Beware of deviations in liturgical practice! Some may be legitimate diversity, as there is a genuine flexibility built into some parts of particular rituals, but others mask a weakening or an outright rejection of some part of the faith.
• The subordination of the human to the divine is quite obviously seen in liturgy, in that it is worship directed to the Father through the Son in the Spirit. Still, this point is not to be taken for granted. While liturgy is meant to allow us to forget self and focus on the ultimate Other, it is easy for this transcendent dimension to be neglected. Liturgy then becomes “what I get out of it”, rather than what I give. At its worst, this kind of liturgical narcissism can become a worship, not of God, but of ourselves.
• The special role of the Holy Spirit in the Church is also seen in the sacred liturgy. All liturgies, in fact, if they are true liturgies, are fundamentally actions of the Holy Spirit. The Mass, for example, contains an important prayer called the epiclesis, by which the Spirit comes upon the gifts of bread and wine (recognizable by words like “Let you Spirit come upon these gifts to make them holy”). Many rituals contain a gesture of the imposition of hands, a symbol of the imparting of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is, in fact, the final gift of the Father before the glorious coming of the Son. Think of this parable of Jesus:

  What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him! (Luke 11:11-13)

  As much as we seek God’s blessings in this world, the greatest blessing we should seek — a blessing given through the liturgy — is the gift of the Holy Spirit in the world.

• The place of contemplation within the liturgy can be seen through things like liturgical silence. Very often we try and “fill the silences” of liturgy with something: music, extra prayers, etc. But there are times when the rituals themselves call for silent prayer. At such times we should simply be quiet and pray.

  In addition, as mentioned before, the subordination of action to contemplation means that our charitable actions are done with the intention of honouring Christ. The liturgy affords many opportunities for this, particularly through actions which surround it. Many people would like to come to church on Sunday, for example, but cannot — can we offer them a lift? Perhaps they are sick or shut in — do we realise that bringing them Holy Communion is a way of extending the liturgy to them? A neighbour is gravely ill — do we suggest they call a priest for the Anointing? And even within church, do we accept those who come without leaping to snap judgments? Do we glare at crying babies? Does our parish save the last pews for newcomers who might wish to remain anonymous as they “check things out”? I cannot think of a limit to the number of liturgically-inspired ways we can serve Christ in our neighbour.

• As a final point in this series, we recall that the liturgy takes us from focusing on “this present world” and turns our gaze towards the Kingdom. I suspect that this is the point that the powers of this world hate the most about liturgy. If you look at history, you find strenuous efforts by persecutors of Christianity to stamp out what must be, to them, the mere pouring of water, or the mere anointing with oil, or the mere eating of bread and wine. And yet such gestures seem like such a threat to them. The liturgy, by placing us in communion with those in Heaven and in Purgatory, is meant to remind us of our ultimate destiny, and thus motivate us to acts of courage that go beyond the preservation of our very lives. By creating a communion of all believers, regardless of gender, colour, caste, etc., the liturgy also shakes the false foundations of discrimination that the powerful of this world rely on to maintain their position and status. No wonder eating wafers and sipping from a cup is such a threat to so many. We must strive to ensure, then, that we live our liturgies in a way that really does remind us of Heaven, and that really does break down those barriers to brotherhood.

Obviously what I have presented here constitutes a truly massive agenda for the liturgy within the life of the Church, but then again that is why it took the whole Liturgical Movement just to get us where we are now. Acting on the small scale on which we usually encounter liturgy — as members of a parish liturgy committee, for example — how can we even begin to participate in the renewal and promotion of liturgical worship? In a word, FIDELITY. The liturgy empowers the faithful to express in their lives and manifest to others the real nature of the true Church, but for it to do that it must be the liturgy of the *Church* that is being celebrated. Fidelity is a virtue, a stable state of mind, which starts with the external observance of rules and regulations but which means much more. Fidelity to liturgical rubrics is an expression of respect for the Tradition of the Church, and shows the desire to be united with the Church and with God. Liturgical fidelity means that we forget ourselves and our casual self-centredness, and turn our lives to the ultimate Other. Even on a local scale, then, we can always examine how faithfully we, both as individuals and as a community, are living the sacred liturgy. Such a reflection helps us then live the liturgy in one of its most important dimensions: as a school for our entire spiritual life, placing ourselves under the Lordship of the One to whom we offer our worship.