The Catholic Church has a purpose: to spread the light of Christ to all peoples and continue Jesus’ mission in the world. In the first words of their document on the Church, the bishops of the Second Vatican Council proclaim, “Christ is the light of all humanity.” The first words give each document of Vatican II its name. In Latin the first words are Lumen Gentium; in English, light of all people. The Council likens the Church to a people and to a body.
First, what makes a people? A people share laws, language, rituals, leaders, history, purpose. We talk about the American people, the French people. The Church is the people of God. The Hebrew slaves become the people of God when God makes the covenant of the ten commandments with them. Jesus’ followers become a new people of God when he makes a new covenant in his death and resurrection.
The Second Vatican Council says, “God has willed to make women and men holy and to save them, not as individuals without any bonds between them, but rather to make them into a people who acknowledge God and serve God in holiness (Lumen Gentium #9).
From the beginning of his ministry Jesus gathers a community of disciples. After his death and resurrection, Jesus sends the Holy Spirit upon them, and they spread the good news of his death and resurrection to the ends of the earth.
It is the Holy Spirit, the forgotten member of the Trinity, who renews the Church and inspires each Christian. “The Spirit dwells in the Church and in the hearts of the faithful as in a temple, prays and bears witness in them…constantly rejuvenating the Church” (Lumen Gentium #4).
Christ is the head of the People of God. The law is his new commandment to love as Jesus loves. Christians possess the freedom and dignity of daughters and sons of God in whose hearts the Holy Spirit dwells. Its destiny is the kingdom of God, begun on earth and brought to completion in the end of time when Christ will appear.
The Church is a “seed of unity, hope, and salvation for the whole human race” (Lumen Gentium #9). The Church makes communion with God visible and acts as an instrument or tool for the unity of the human race.
The People of God have the special vocation of living Jesus’ good news in the world, to be like leaven in society. The Council writes, “Each individual lay person must be a witness before the world to the resurrection and life of the Lord Jesus, and a sign of the living God. What the soul is in the body, let Christians be in the world (Lumen Gentium #38).
Second, how is the church like a body? The apostle Paul compares the Christian community to a body in his letters. Every part of a body works together, just as all Christians contribute their gifts and talents to the whole.
The Church is the Body of Christ. In Baptism we are formed into the likeness of Christ. Baptism calls every Christian to holiness.
In the Eucharist we become members of Christ’s Body. The head of the body is Christ, who is the image of the invisible God and in whom all things came into being. He is the head of the body, the Church.
The Church has a hierarchical organization. Bishops, priests, and deacons serve, unify, and sanctify the People of God. The bishops continue the teaching of the apostles. The pope leads and unifies the whole Church.
“All Christians in whatever state or walk in life are called to the fullness of Christian life and to the perfection of charity, and this holiness is conducive to a more human way of life here on earth” (Lumen Gentium #40).
Seeing the Church as the People of God and the Body of Christ gives Catholics a strong sense we are the Church. The Second Vatican Council calls us to shine in the world with the light of Christ.