The Church as Christ’s Body
one
The Church as Christ’s Body
People, both inside and outside the Catholic Church, sometimes seem to get it into their heads that the Church is getting in the way of their relationship with Christ. They think they can be close to Christ but alienated from the Church. Some people even go so far as to say, “I believe in Jesus, but not in organized religion. I believe in a purely spiritual religion” But that’s not how it works, because Jesus and the Church are inseparably connected.
Jesus calls the Church His Kingdom and a relationship with Him means entrance into that Kingdom. St. Paul goes even farther and calls the Church the Body of Christ. But you can’t accept a person while you reject their body.
two
We Identify Ourselves with Our Bodies and Jesus identifies Himself with the Church
Each of us knows that our body is part of who we are. That’s why we use the first person pronouns “I” and “me” when we’re talking about our bodies. We say, “How do I look?” and not just “How does my body look?” Or if we’re playing hide-and-seek with a kid, and they find us, we say, “You found me!” not just “You found my body.”
That’s why Jesus said to the first group of disciples, “Whoever hears you, hears me; and whoever rejects you rejects me” (Luke 10:16).
This is also why, when Saul was persecuting the early Church, Jesus didn’t say, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting my followers, or my disciples, or my community.” He said, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?”
You can’t accept Jesus without accepting the Church. You can’t be committed to Christ without being committed to His Church.
St. Joan of Arc, when she was being questioned by her theological judges, said, “About Jesus and the Church, I only know that they are the same. Why do you want to make things unnecessarily complicated?” That’s the instinct every Catholic should have.
three
Our Bodies are how we relate to Other People
The only way we really enter into relationships with other people is if we have some kind of physical connection to the body.
Imagine a young man said he was in a relationship with a young woman. Imagine you asked the guy, “So, do you go out to dinner? Or talk on the phone? Or do you write letters? Or go on walks?”
And imagine the young man said, “Oh no, we never have any physical contact. We never see or hear each other, or see something the other person has physically typed up or written. It’s more of a spiritual thing. Sometimes I go to my room and close my eyes and think of her. That’s what I mean by saying we have a relationship.”
You would say, “Dude, you don’t have a relationship, you have a delusion.”
If you aren’t, at least in some way, physically engaging another person, then the whole thing is just in your head. It doesn’t count as a real relationship. If you just think about Jesus privately, but you don’t actually engage Him through His body, which is the Church, then the whole thing is just in your head and you don’t have a real relationship.
Your way to reach Christ is the same as your way of reaching any other person. You have to go through the body.
The Church isn’t an obstacle to a relationship with Jesus. The Church is the only way of being sure that you have a real relationship at all.
four
A Body is Physical, Visible – and so is the Church
A body is an actual, physical, tangible thing. It’s something you can see and touch. Now, St. Paul said the Church is Christ’s Body and body just means something physical in the physical world. So it doesn’t make sense to say that the Church is just the spiritual, invisible connection between all believers. The Church is there. You can see it, hear it, and touch it.
God comes to us through the smell of incense, through the sound of the priest’s absolution, through the taste of the Eucharist. He comes to us through the feel of the blessed oil on our hands and head as we’re preparing to die. He comes to us through the sight of the basilicas and the stained-glass windows and the paintings and the sculptures, masterworks of beauty made by Michelangelo,Titian, Bernini, and hundreds of thousands of artists you’ve never even heard of – all dedicated to the glory of God.
All this is the Church, all this is the Church of Christ. This is His Body, His physical presence in the world. This is the place where we make contact, bodily contact, with the Lord.
five
Gratitude for the Church
People sometimes have a conflicted relationship with their own bodies, so it’s no wonder if we sometimes have a conflicted relationship with the Body of Christ, that is the Church. But, as with every other holy thing, the Church is a gift.
God knows we’re physical beings, and He comes to us in a way we can grasp. He comes in physical, sensory ways.
In the Old Testament God came through a burning bush, a pillar of cloud, or a small and quiet voice that could barely be heard. During the thirty-three years when Christ walked the earth, God came through Christ’s visible humanity. Now, in this third phase of salvation history, God comes to us through the Church.
So if there’s something about the Church that bugs you, or something about the Church’s leadership that tends to depress you, don’t lose sight of the big picture. Don’t lose sight of how the Lord, in His goodness, has given us a place where we can come to find Christ’s forgiveness, His truth, His body and blood, and His Spirit.
Thank God for the Church, and may we serve the Church as we would serve Christ – humbly, gratefully, and with deep devotion.