On Ecclesiology: The Mystery of the Church
We continue our doing Ecclesiology by doing Mystagogy. After our review of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church, we enter into the Mystery of the Church. Many might consider this as irrelevant, and would focus more on worldly concerns such as health particularly in this time of a pandemic, and jobs to provide for the basic needs in order to live. However, not to enter into this mystery is a snare that will lead to the shallowness of life that has often led to corruption, stealing and cheating. This also explains why a lot of people end up exhausted and unhappy despite having all the comforts the world has to offer. Remember the Saints, especially the Martyrs? Amidst the evils in the world, of pain, suffering and death, they had peace and joy because they had faith in the salvation brought about by Jesus Christ that He entrusted to His Church. It is, in fact, in living the Mystery of the Church amidst the basic necessities of life, that we find meaning and authenticity in our Christian life. This is why the last stage of the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults is Mystagogy. Many of us who received Infant Baptism do not know this and so end up as “Sacramentalized but not Evangelized”.
First among the mysteries of the Church is her Origin, Foundation and Mission. Lumen Gentium (4) speaks of the Church as a people made one with the One and Triune God. Yes, the origin of the Church is the Blessed Trinity Himself.
The Father, in His wisdom and goodness, created the whole universe to share in His own Divine Life. This is the Divine Plan: All creation to be in communion with Him. This communion with Him is called the Church. But because of the mystery of Free Will, there were Angels and People who crafted their own plans contrary to the Divine Plan thereby bringing about their Fall that separated and scattered them away from God. Still, God’s plan remained unchanged. That is, in His infinite goodness, He wanted His people to be in communion with Him and so the Divine Plan of Salvation. And this Plan of Salvation is called the Church where His people should be gathered to be in communion with Him. He called Abraham to be the father of His people and later chose Israel as the People of God. He established a covenant with Abraham and Israel as preparation for the Fulfillment of His Plan. However, sadly, Israel broke the covenant. Yet God raised Prophets to announce a New and Eternal Covenant.
In the fullness of time, the Father sent His Son to accomplish His Plan of Salvation. Jesus, the only begotten Son of God, became the Father’s New and Eternal Covenant with His People, not anymore exclusive to Israel, but to All Nations of Earth. With His perfectly humble and holy obedience, the Lord Jesus, through His Passion, Death and Resurrection, that is the Paschal Mystery, won the Redemption of humankind and restored them into communion with the Father. By choosing the Twelve Apostles with Peter as their leader, He established His Church and endowed the People of God with a structure that will remain until full Communion with the Father is achieved. And when the Son’s work on earth was brought to completion, the Father sent the Holy Spirit to continually sanctify the Church and continue to “make disciples of all nations” until God’s Divine Plan, that is, for us to eternally share in His Divine Life, is finally fulfilled.
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