PART ONE: THE PROFESSION OF FAITH
SECTION TWO I. THE CREEDS
ARTICLE 9: "I BELIEVE IN GOD"
[Paragraph 1. I believe In The Holy Catholic Church]
[Paragraph 3. The Church Is One, Holy, Catholic, And Apostolic]
PARAGRAPH 2.
THE CHURCH - PEOPLE OF GOD, BODY OF CHRIST,
TEMPLE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
I. THE
CHURCH - PEOPLE OF GOD
781 "At
all times and in every race, anyone who fears God and does what is
right has been acceptable to him. He has, however, willed to make men
holy and save them, not as individuals without any bond or link between
them, but rather to make them into a people who might acknowledge
him and serve him in holiness. He therefore chose the Israelite
race to be his own people and established a covenant with it. He gradually
instructed this people.... All these things, however, happened as
a preparation for and figure of that new and perfect covenant
which was to be ratified in Christ . . . the New Covenant in his blood;
he called together a race made up of Jews and Gentiles which would
be one, not according to the flesh, but in the Spirit."201
782 The
People of God is marked by characteristics that clearly distinguish
it from all other religious, ethnic, political, or cultural groups found
in history:
- It is the
People of God: God is not the property of any one people. But he
acquired a people for himself from those who previously were not a
people: "a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation."202
- One
becomes a member of this people not by a physical birth, but by being
"born anew," a birth "of water and the Spirit,"203 that is,
by faith in
Christ, and Baptism.
- This
People has for its Head Jesus the Christ (the anointed, the Messiah).
Because the same anointing, the Holy Spirit, flows from the head into
the body, this is "the messianic people."
- "The
status of this people is that of the dignity and freedom of the sons of God,
in whose hearts the Holy Spirit dwells as in a temple."
- "Its
law is the new commandment to love as Christ loved us."204 This is the
"new" law of the Holy Spirit.205
- Its
mission is to be salt of the earth and light of the world.206 This people is
"a most sure seed of unity, hope, and salvation for the whole human
race."
-Its
destiny, finally, "is the Kingdom of God which has been begun by God himself
on earth and which must be further extended until it has been brought
to perfection by him at the end of time."207
A priestly,
prophetic, and royal people
783 Jesus
Christ is the one whom the Father anointed with the Holy Spirit and
established as priest, prophet, and king. the whole People of God
participates in these three offices of Christ and bears the responsibilities
for mission and service that flow from them.208
784 On
entering the People of God through faith and Baptism, one receives a
share in this people's unique, priestly vocation: "Christ the Lord, high
priest taken from among men, has made this new people 'a kingdom of
priests to God, his Father.' the baptized, by regeneration and the
anointing of the Holy Spirit, are consecrated to be a spiritual
house and a
holy priesthood."209
785
"The holy People of God shares also in Christ's prophetic office," above all in
the supernatural sense of faith that belongs to the whole People, lay
and clergy, when it "unfailingly adheres to this faith . . . once for all
delivered to the saints,"210 and when it deepens its understanding
and becomes Christ's witness in the midst of this world.
786 Finally,
the People of God shares in the royal office of Christ. He exercises
his kingship by drawing all men to himself through his death and
Resurrection.211 Christ, King and Lord of the universe, made himself the
servant of all, for he came "not to be served but to serve, and to give
his life as a ransom for many."212
For the Christian, "to reign is to
serve him," particularly when serving "the poor and the suffering,
in whom the Church recognizes the image of her poor and suffering
founder."213
The People of God fulfills its royal dignity by a life in keeping
with its vocation to serve with Christ. The sign of
the cross makes kings of all those reborn in Christ and the anointing of
the Holy Spirit consecrates them as priests, so that, apart from the
particular service of our ministry, all spiritual and rational Christians
are recognized as members of this royal race and sharers in Christ's
priestly office. What, indeed, is as royal for a soul as to govern the body in
obedience to God? and what is as priestly as to dedicate a pure
conscience to the Lord and to offer the spotless offerings of devotion on the altar of the
heart?214
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SOCIETY
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