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Notes on Church & Sacraments

The world’s purest gold is only dung without Christ….Without him, riches are poverty, power is impotence, happiness is misery,
glory is despised….But with him, poverty is riches, weakness is power, suffering is joy, to be despised is Glory!!! Peter Kreeft

PART I

I. The Church1 and the Kingdom2

THEO 3A presents a vision of the Church that understands herself wholly from the standpoint of
the Kingdom. We cannot fully comprehend the Church without first understanding of what the
Kingdom of God is all about. The main reason is that the Church finds its identity in the
presence of the kingdom now, and sees its mission entirely in the service of the kingdom.

The Church is not the Kingdom and vice versa but both are interrelated: Why?

 The Church is the community in which the Kingdom is now experienced and celebrated and
where the future fulfillment of God’s design for creation already dawns.

 The Church is the community where the future life with the Triune God is already happening
in hidden but real signs, for the Church is an icon of the Holy Trinity.

 The Church is for the Kingdom because its mission is totally geared to witness and proclaim
it. To support this statement, in the Gospel of Luke 4:42, Jesus saw Himself charged to
proclaim the Kingdom and to bring it to all cities and towns. Also in John 20:21, Jesus
instructed his disciples as he said, as the Father has sent me, so I send You. So, the
Church, following Jesus’ footsteps has to understand the Church’s very essence and mission
in the service of the Kingdom as well. (The Church exists in order to understand the
Kingdom).

 The Church is called, firstly, to proclaim in word and sacrament the definitive arrival of the
kingdom in Jesus of Nazareth; secondly, to offer itself ad a test-case or sign of its own
proclamation- I,e., to be a people transformed by the Spirit into a community of faith, hope,
love, freedom, and truthfulness; and thirdly, to enable and facilitate the coming of the reign of
God through service within the community of faith and in the world at large.

Hence, in understanding the nature and mission of the Church, there is a need to return to the
vision of Jesus which is the Kingdom of God.

1
The Church is the whole body, or congregation, of persons who are called by God the Father to acknowledge the
Lordship of Jesus, the Son, in word, in sacrament, in witness, and in service, and through the power of the Holy Spirit, to collaborate
with Jesus” historic mission for the sake of the Kingdom of God.

The church is the community of Christ’s disciples, the new People of God. It is a communion in the spirit of the Risen
Lord, the sacrament or sign and instrument of union between God and man and unity among men. It is the Body of Christ which
makes visible Christ’s presence and action in the world through his spirit. As such the church is the historical and social prolongation
of Christ, in space and time. Its mission is to gather, reconcile, and unify all people and things in Christ and to make them belong to
God so that God may be all in all.

2
The Kingdom of God is spiritual in its domain and compassionate in its character. In John 18:36, further states that the
Kingdom is heavenly in its origin and eternal in its scope.
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Notes on Church & Sacraments

The world’s purest gold is only dung without Christ….Without him, riches are poverty, power is impotence, happiness is misery,
glory is despised….But with him, poverty is riches, weakness is power, suffering is joy, to be despised is Glory!!! Peter Kreeft

The mission of the church is focused, as is Jesus’ mission, on the Kingdom of God. By Kingdom
of God is meant the redemptive presence of God actualized through the power of God’s
reconciling Spirit. Literally, the Kingdom of God is the reign, or rule of God. The kingdom
happens whenever and wherever the will of God is fulfilled, for God rules where God’s will is at
work.

Jesus commanded his followers the following directives:

 To love unconditionally.
 From ten commandments, Jesus reduced them to two: consuming love of God &
compassionate love of neighbor. The condition of fulfilling this commandment,
we are to give freely, expecting nothing in return, for that is the character of
unconditional love.

 To love even your enemies.

 In Matthew 5:44, Jesus said, God’s children must love their enemies and pray for
those who persecute them, for God makes the sun rise and the rain fall on good
and evil alike (Matthew 5:45).

 To renounce the right to revenge and to demonstrate a spirit of exceeding

generosity.
 Prohibits the Lex Taliones: “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.” (Matthew
5:38-42). “Give to everyone who begs from you, and do not refuse anyone who
wants to borrow from you.” (Matthew 5:42)

 To seek first the Kingdom of God and its righteousness.

 The Kingdom is God’s government. (Love and Justice must be combined. We
cannot separate them.)
 The Kingdom is not something other than God. The kingdom of God is God
insofar as God is redemptively present and active in our midst through the power
of the Holy Spirit. The Kingdom is the divine redemptive presence, reconciling,
renewing, healing, and liberating.

 To turn the values of the world upside down.

 “The first will be last and the last will be first.” (Mark 10:31). Jesus instructs his
followers to see the path of service rather than seeking to be served. “Whoever
wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.” (Mark 9:35).

 To embrace the cross

 “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their
cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those
who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.” (Mark
8:34-35).
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Notes on Church & Sacraments

The world’s purest gold is only dung without Christ….Without him, riches are poverty, power is impotence, happiness is misery,
glory is despised….But with him, poverty is riches, weakness is power, suffering is joy, to be despised is Glory!!! Peter Kreeft

 To be peacemakers
 To be a peacemaker involves at least two things:
a.] a commitment to peaceable responses to otherwise volatile situations; and
b.] a commitment to working for peace proactively. This is taking the initiative by
acting rather that reacting to the situation/event.

On the pacifistic side, Jesus commands his followers to put away their swords
(John 18:11). On the proactive side, Jesus calls us to be peacemakers, not
just nonhostile. It means loving our neighbors as ourselves, and loving with
the same quality of love as the one who gave his life for others.

II. New Challenges of the Church Today

The Roman Catholic Church at the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) presented a vision of
the church as Church-in-Mission. Thus, the Church as a pilgrim people has to move on.

Today, new challenges arise and new models of how to conceive the Church have to be sought
and developed if she wants to remain faithful to her Master’s message. (e.g., PCP II)

Two (2) challenges the Church has to face if she wants to remain faithful to the vision of Jesus:

 How to make the Kingdom of God understood in the different cultures of the world;
 How to live Jesus’ own life principles of love, justice and compassion in a world
where the “poor” are getting poorer, and the “rich few” are getting richer.

Therefore, the principal elements of the Evangelizing Mission of the Church are considered:

 Christian Presence and Witness of Life

 Interreligious Dialogue
 Service of Humanity Through Development and Liberation
 Explicit Gospel Proclamation and Catechesis
 Prayer, Contemplation and Liturgical Life

III. Our Response to the Challenges

In order to achieve a level of “objective discourse” about the Church, we should celebrate her
life and take part in its mission.

The Church is an object of faith, in fact in the Apostle’s Creed we pray: “We believe in the one,
holy, catholic and apostolic Church…”
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Notes on Church & Sacraments

The world’s purest gold is only dung without Christ….Without him, riches are poverty, power is impotence, happiness is misery,
glory is despised….But with him, poverty is riches, weakness is power, suffering is joy, to be despised is Glory!!! Peter Kreeft

In other words, it requires more than just purely scientific methods, but an engagement of faith.
So, we articulate and understand our Christian faith holistically, that is:

 Objective – rational and theological. So that our understanding of her being/nature will
renew our reason for being part of her.

 Pastoral – witnessing, creating and strengthening our faith. So, we will reanimate our
joy and love for this church that Jesus loved and laid down His life more than we
become hopeless for this over-aged and scandal-ridden Church.

 Spiritual - nurturing, enhancing and vivifying our own faith and that of others. So, we
can live in the church with joy and enthusiasm needed to carry on our vocation to
proclaim the joyful news of God’s Kingdom in this age.

To sum up, let the words of Hans Urs von Balthasar as a beacon light that our understanding of
the Church will not only be a sitting theology (rational/theological study), nor remain a
kneeling theology (spiritual) but also a walking theology (pastoral).

Above all, a renewed understanding of the Church will lead us to come to love the Church in
new way---based on our experience of the Church herself. But this will only be possible for
people whose hearts will be touched by the Holy Spirit. In 2 Corinthians 13:13, St. Paul
explicitly wrote about the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, but fraternal communion that comes as a
gift from the Spirit. The SPIRIT is the underlying principle, the bond of unity and the cause of
growth of KOINONIA.