Mystical Body of Christ

[ncjohn]

Some beautiful stuff here between the two of you. The section from Sacramentum Caritatis especially jumped out at me, especially this line:

And wherever we do not live communion among ourselves, communion with the Triune God is not alive and true either.

This is the same message that occurs in other places in the Bible. “You cannot love the invisible God if you don’t love your visible neighbor” comes to mind. And of course the whole sheep and goats parable makes it clear that we are saved in how we treat Christ through the least of our brothers. That is where we show our true praise for God.

As you note Tomster, God does not force this union with His son on anyone. We have to choose it and cooperate with it. It is sad to see though how many will wllingly, while often honestly and sincerly trying to seek God, seem to desire to separate their grain from the loaf.

Peace,

 

[Rykell]

And of course the whole sheep and goats parable makes it clear that we are saved in how we treat Christ through the least of our brothers.

I heard an inspirational tape last week that centered on this teaching. We are reminded that Jesus did not have any criteria when He healed, forgave, ministered, asking first whether the person was a Jew, Samaritan or gentile. He tells us, freely ye have received, freely give, and when it is so little as to be a glass of water to one of His unfortunate ones, it is considered as done virtually unto Him.

Isn’t this also true of our hospitals? Do they refuse admittance to anyone who is sick and in need of care, based on any sort of criteria like creed, color or morality? “It is not the healthy who are in need of the Divine Physician, but sick people.”

It is sad to see though how many will willingly, while often honestly and sincerly trying to seek God, seem to desire to separate their grain from the loaf.

Willingly … that’s pretty strong, but unfortunately true. If a brother fails to meet the mental criteria of worthiness, this gives license to debase them. How sad.

 

[ncjohn]

Coincidentally (umm, yeah, right) I ran into this meditation this morning in Word Among Us, that I felt tied right into this whole theme. wau.org/meditations/meditations.asp It deals with a man who is in the process of salvaging the valuable parts from a church that is to be demolished, and sees a life-sized statue of Jesus with the arms removed. It ends like this:

“When my crew finished removing the pews and the stained glass windows, they began to dismantle the communion railing. I stood there at the rail and looked up at the statue. Again I thought that it was a shame someone would do such a thing, and I was very sad. At that moment I heard a voice inside me say, ‘John, don’t you know that you are my arms?’

“Tears began to flow down my face. It was a moment I will never forget. I am retired now, but every time I see a statue with its arms extended, I am reminded that all of us are the arms of Christ.”

I could very much identify this, having been blessed to have fallen into the merciful arms of God on occasion. And more so, in having fallen into those arms as found on some of my brothers and sisters who lovingly bound my wounds and brought me back into the Church after my long absence.

Now I do my best to allow myself to be “an instrument of His peace” in reaching out his arms through my own weak limbs. Offering the embrace even to those who do not feel they want or need it; for I refused it myself for so long in refusing to see it being offered. But what glory I saw when He allowed me those brief glimpses.

The meditation closes with this prayer:

“Lord, let me bring your presence to all those around me. Help me to reach out to everyone I meet today. May I truly be your arms and hands to them.”

Amen.

 

[Joysong]

Everyone,

It is a blessing to come here and read these very beautiful posts. Isn’t that what this forum is all about? To be fed with the sweet inspirations of God’s Spirit and be in solidarity with each other? I can’t thank you enough for sharing your thoughts and findings. If we simply copy this entire thread and the referenced links, we will have food to ponder for a long while. I suspect we will be brought into deeper realms of light when the Holy Spirit infuses the hidden wisdom of Christ as we meditate. While the writing is rather lengthly, these special points were of interest to me:
Cardinal Ratzinger:

To communicate with Christ is essentially also to communicate with one another. We are no longer each alone, each separate from the other; we are now each part of the other; each of those who receive communion is “bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh.” (Gn 2,23). [Awesome!]

For this reason, in my prayer at communion, I must look totally toward Christ, allowing myself to be transformed by him, even to be burned by his enveloping fire. But, precisely for this reason, I must always keep clearly in mind that in this way he unites me organically with every other person receiving him - with the one next to me, whom I may not like very much; but also with those who are far away, in Asia, Africa, America or in any other place.

 

[gospel_life]

From Cardinal Ratzinger’s quote:
For this reason, in my prayer at communion, I must look totally toward Christ, allowing myself to be transformed by him, even to be burned by his enveloping fire. But, precisely for this reason, I must always keep clearly in mind that in this way he unites me organically with every other person receiving him - with the one next to me, whom I may not like very much; but also with those who are far away, in Asia, Africa, America or in any other place.

What a perfect focus and balance. Of course our eyes are always on Christ, and to be enveloped in his love is of incomparable bliss. But if we cannot then transform that love into a love of neighbor–even that one next to me whom I may not like very much–then we have squandered the grace that we were given.

If we come to the altar, remembering that we have unreconciled relationships, we are commanded to go reconcile them first, and only then to return. For as we are willing to forgive will we be forgiven. And to be caught up in that love of Christ is to know that we truly are loved and forgiven.

 

[Tomster]

What I failed to mention in a previous post was that in addition to finding that first text from Fr. Lord I found another. This one is entitled “Our Lady in the Modern World.” No meditation on the Mystical Body of Christ could ever be complete without considering Our Mother"s place in this great mystery.

"Mary is the Mother of Jesus Christ. But Christ is the Head of this Mystical Body, with the members of which He is united in a way that gives us His Life yet leaves us our individuality, that ties us closely to him and makes it possible for us to do what He Himself does yet does not make us pantheistically parts of God.

Now the Savior is not a disjointed head separated from us, who are members of that body. He is no cherub, no winged head fluttering gently through space. He is the headof that Mystical Body which includes all baptized Christians and in hope all mankind.

From the Cross Christ turned to Mary and said, pointing to all of us in the person of the faithful John, ‘Woman,behold thy son.’ What He was actually doing was indicating an accomplished fact. Mary was already our Mother. We were members of that divine head which she has brought into the world. His life flowed through our souls. Mary had bourne the head, Christ Jesus. But no mother can bear a head without bearing the entire body too. So in bearing Christ, the head of the Mystical Body, Mary bore as well us, who are members of that Mystical Body."

Tomster

 

[Tomster]

Taken from “Our Part in the Mystical Body,” - D. Lord S.J.

A United World

"If mankind were universally to accept and act in accordance with the doctrine of the Mystical Body of Christ, the dreams of the poets and the strivings of the great philanthropists, the utopias of idealists and the aims of the reformers would be attained. We should see the vision of a united world.

We have deliberately reserved this aspect of the Mystical Body for the end [of the book, not this discussion I hope]. Perhaps, had it been introduced at the beginning, readers would push through the book with more eagerness. They might strive with more zest and curiosity to master the doctrine which holds the promise of international peace; which insures the abolition of all the bitter hatreds and dislikes and prejudices that tear humanity into distrustful, hate-driven groups, and which fosters a universal brother-love, a charity broad as humanity itself, a true league of nations and a close jointure of hearts.

Yet this inevitable consequence of the truth of the Mystical Body cannot be understood until the whole truth has been digested. Once the truth is seen and understood, its social consequences flow as inevitably as a corollary follows from an axiom. Admit the truth of the Mystical Body, and men must move forward toward a reign of peace and love. The vision of this truth opens the eyes to a new insight into the souls of one’s fellows. One becomes Catholic in outlook (whether you wish to spell that word “Catholic” with a capital or small c) just the moment one has seen oneself and all the human race, actually or potentially, united in the one body which is that of the Son of God.

The reason for the modern thinker’s intense interest in world union and peace probably takes its rise in the quite obvious fact that the world never had less of either. The heart has a way of craving for the things it lacks, and surely we lack most pitifully any love that holds mankind together or any least guarantee of peace. Between man and war, the most devestating to our civilization, there stand today just two obstacles: the Church, with its essential doctrine of the Mystical Body, and a simply appalling fear. Thus far (and one writes with the feeling that the statement may be untrue even before these pages find their hesitant way through type and press to the public) fear has kept the swords in their sheaths and the poison gases in their sealed containers. How long that fear can prevail against bubbling hate and growing selfishness, no one dares try to predict."

Father Lord wrote this between WWI and WWII.

Tomster

 

[Joysong]

Tomster:

Yet this inevitable consequence of the truth of the Mystical Body cannot be understood until the whole truth has been digested. Once the truth is seen and understood, its social consequences flow as inevitably as a corollary follows from an axiom. Admit the truth of the Mystical Body, and men must move forward toward a reign of peace and love.

Dear Tomster,

I am enjoying Father’s teachings, as I am sure you are as your refresh your former studies of this doctrine. I wonder why it is that it is so difficult to understand? In this document, the Synod of Bishops all recognize that this truth goes way back in antiquity and has been proclaimed throughout the ages, but I occasionally notice disbelief; or even worse, disregard of the ineffible meaning.

1. To make understandable what takes place in the Sacrament in receiving Holy Communion, St. Paul states: “He who is united to the Lord becomes one spirit with him” (1 Cor 6:17), in a new life which comes from the Holy Spirit. St. Augustine had a deep perception of this mystery, earlier understood by St. Ignatius of Antioch and later developed by the many monks, mystics and theologians who came after him. The Divine Liturgy is Christ’s presence “which gathers (ekklesiázon) all of creation,” beckons all to assemble around the holy altar and “providentially unites them to himself and to one another.”

The bishops state further, and point to the resistance we noted above:

1. St. Augustine explains the Eucharist to neophytes on Easter night in the following manner: “You must be enlightened as to what you have received. Listen therefore briefly to what the Apostle says, or better, what Christ says through his Apostle, on the Sacrament of the Lord’s Body: ‘One bread, though many, we are one body.’ Behold, this is everything. Though I have spoken to you briefly, do not count the number of words but their weight instead.

From the Church’s very beginning, however, there are signs of resistence to this reality by those who preferred, instead, to close themselves off in a limited group of people (cf. 1 Cor 11:17-22). Because of its unifying power, the Eucharist has always meant bringing persons together, overcoming barriers and leading people to a new unity in the Lord. The Eucharist is the Sacrament with which Christ unites us to himself in one Body and makes the Church holy.

Thank you also for bringing into our discussion the role of Our Blessed Mother.

But no mother can bear a head without bearing the entire body too. So in bearing Christ, the head of the Mystical Body, Mary bore as well us, who are members of that Mystical Body."

 

[Tomster]

Carole,

“This Gracious Rain”

"But it was not only by unremitting labor, not only by constant prayer, that Christ our Lord showed His love for His immaculate Bride; He showed it also by the willing and loving acceptance of pain and suffering for her sake. ‘Having loved his own . . . he loved them unto the end.’ (John 13:1) Indeed, the purchase of His Church cost Him the shedding of His blood. (Acts 20:28)

Therefore in the path of suffering let us willingly follow our King, since this is the condition of ensuring our salvation: ‘For if we have been planted together in the likeness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection,’ (Romans 6:5) and, ‘if we be dead with Him, we shall live also with Him.’ (2 Timothy 2:11). But it is the condition also of genuine and practical charity towards the Church and towards the souls which she engenders to Christ. For though the treasure of graces which our Savior merited for His Church by His bitter Passion and painful death is quite unlimited, yet God’s providence has so disposed that these gifts of grace shall be bestowed upon us only little by little; and their greater or less abundance depends in no small measure upon our good works by which this rain of heavenly gifts, God’s free bounty, is drawn down upon the souls of men. This gracious rain will be brought from heaven in abundance if we pray earnestly to God, especially by taking part devoutly, and daily if possible, in the Eucharistic Sacrifice; and if we strive to relieve the sufferings of the needy by the duties of Christian charity. But it will descend in greater abundance still if, in addition to all this, we prefer imperishable goods to the transitory things of this life; if we tame this mortal flesh by voluntary mortification, denying what it what is unlawful and even imposing it what is unpleasant and difficult; and, finally, if we submissively accept the trials and sufferings of this present life as coming from the hand of God. For in this way the Apostle tells us, ‘we shall fill up in our flesh those things that are wanting of the sufferings of Christ, for His Body, which is the Church.’ (Collosians 1:24)"

Pope Pius XII - “The Mystical Body of Christ”, #'s 105 AND 106.

Alban Goodier, in his treatise “Jesus Christ, Man of Sorrows” states:

Jesus Christ has shown himself to men as the Model of Manhood. We cannot think of man in this world without thinking of him in contact with suffering; living in the midst of it, enduring it within himself, when need be going forth to face it, taking it not only as the lot of man, but as one of man’s distinguishing features; seeing in it something which in a peculiar way belongs to him apart from all other creatures of this earth, something which he knows to be in the end his glory and his crown.

continued

 

[Tomster]

To enter into the discussion concerning the presence of suffering and sorrow in the life of man would serve no useful purpose here. In the ancient world it was for ever in the minds of men, to pagans a doom, to the Israelites an atonement; though to both there was everlasting hope in the fact that sorrow was, as experience proved, always the close companion of greatness, and strength, and nobility, and virtue. This was the constant theme of ancient tragedy. In the Old Testament it grows as time advances, from the questionings of Job to the definite solutions of the Son of Sirach; suffering an evil, suffering an evil out of which comes good, suffering justified because of its fruits and because of those whose lot it is to bear it.

For us let it be enough to take the facts of life as we find them; and these, or some of these, are not only that and sorrow have always been ans always are with us; not only that human nature itself recognizes them as in some way a gift, an atonement for evil done, a means of rising from our dead selves to higher things; but, on the other side, that suffering and sorrow bring out from man that which is best in him, which could be brought out in no other way; developes himto his highest point of perfection, as by no other means he could be developed. In the end, as everyday experience proves to us, it is by the standard of suffering , by the power to endure, to stand up to misfortune, when duty or love calls to be ready to meet it, that man is most inclined to judge and reward his fellow man.

to be continued:coffeeread: :coffeeread: :coffeeread:

 

[pprimeau1976]

This topic is very interesting. As my pastor gave a wonderful homily on transubstantiation and the Church being the mystical Body of Christ, I began to think what a shame it was that modern churches are not shaped like crosses.

An empty church without Christians worshiping is like a cross without a body. A full church with Christians worshiping is a cross with a body.

 

[Tomster]

continuing

 

[Tomster]

continuing

That which man suffers, silently, willingly, generously, is that which, when discovered, wins the regard, the esteem, the love of others; indeed, what else do we mean by the phrase, “to be a man,” than to be ready to face suffering when it comes? Readiness to suffer beats down all opposition; its acceptance is taken to condone much that might otherwise be amiss. When we have nothing else to say of any man, let us but show that he has suffered much, willingly, and for a cause that has been worthy of his manhood, and at once other things are passed over. It may indeed be a hard saying; in daily life we may shun it, and seek every means to avoid it; that is only to acknowledge that suffering is suffering, it does not deny that bravery to face it is a gift than which man, as man, holds none greater. When we dream our dreams of youth we may put before it many other ideals; but we know very well, and youth itself knows well, that there is no ideal to compare with the power to suffer, no matter under what form suffering may appear. To be able to suffer is to be a man; to accept it when it comes is to be noble; voluntarily to choose itfor a worthy cause is to be a hero; heroism has no other definition.

Jesus Christ and Sorrow

All this, it is obvious, must come within the scope of an ideal of manhood; indeed, it must be its whole background, giving a meaning to whatever else is said. If, then, we see in Jesus Christ the Model of Manhood, this, too, will be conspicuous in him, and thatin its highest form; the Model of Man will in some way be the Model Man of Sorrows. And it is so. We speak not only of the Passion, though that alone, its cause, its course, and its issue, voluntarily undergone, for no other reason but that other men might be the gainers, their burden shouldered that they might be set free, would of itself suffice to win for him, par excellence, the title of the Ideal Man of Sorrows. But we speak also of his whole career; of that life which, from the day when he came among men to the end, was one of self annihilation and subjection (Phil. 2:6), of injustice and mental agony, of contempt and failure and lonely struggle against ingratitude and hatred, of interior trial whose mere shadow, flitting from time to time across the surface, gives us no more than an idea of that which was endured within.

continued

 

[Tomster]

We speak, moreover, of one who alone of all men had no occassion to suffer; who, from the very nature of his being, knew what suffering and sorrow were more than ant other man could know them, and yet at every step deliberately chose it for himself; who at any given moment might have said, with more than justice on his side, that what he had thus far endured was enough and the rest would have been spared him; who, nevertheless, in ways we can see for ourselves and in ways we cannot hope to discover, took into his soul every barb of sorrow that was hurled at him, every grief that it falls to the lot of man to bear.

We say we cannot hope to discover the full extent of the sufferings and sorrows of Jesus Christ. For we are dealing with one who was not only man but was also God; what was the consequence of that union on his capacity for suffering, who shall attempt to describe? True, as God he could not suffer; but as man, as God-man, set to bear the sorrows of men and to carry their griefs, he must have been, and on the evidence of Scripture was, a subject for suffering beyond all means of ours to measure. The knowledge and foreknowledge it implied; the knowledge of evil, natural and supernatural, in itself and in its consequences, in regard to God and in regard to the evildoer, man; the foreknowledge of all that was to come, making all suffering, his own and that of others, always vividly before his eyes; the ever present realization of the Father, what we dimly guess at when we speak of the Beatific Vision, and yet in some mysterious way the brighter light causing the blacker darkness, till his soul was “sorrowful unto death”; the fine-wrought nature, of body, and mind, and soul, belonging of necesity to him who was God-man - all these considerations, and there are many more, can be but touched upon, yet do they open out vistas of suffering which must make, whatever any man may say, a mere shadow of the truth and no more. From time to time a saint has been given the grace to see and realize, and the sight has drawn the blood from his own body, and opened wounds in his hands, and feet, and side; the rest of us can but look on, content with the little we may learn, knowing very well that the whole of the truth is as the ocean to the running brook.

continued

 

[Joysong]

Tomster,

Your posts have some very good inspiration them, but I’m concerned that they may be getting lengthly, since we have to limit how much we post from other articles, per forum guidelines. Can you pull out the most important parts for us to reflect on, and then we can have discussion over it? I realize how difficult it is to shorten something when we find a lot of beauty in it. I have the same problem, and get wordy at times due to my enthusiasm.

I admire your steadfastness in typing all of this all of this for us, and it demonstrates to me that you were not kidding when you said this doctrine was your favorite topic! :tiphat:

Thanks so much. :hug1:

 

[Tomster]

concluding

Still, leaving all this aside, we have more than enough for our purpose. Confining ourselves to just that which human eyes can see and no more, to just that which Jesus Christ endured on the plane of other men, we shall still find in him the Ideal Man of Sorrows; ideal in that which he endured, insomuch as none endured more; ideal in the way he endured it, so that not one drop of the chalice was permitted to escape him; ideal in the full deliberation with which he bore it all to the end; ideal, last of all, in the fruit his suffering has bourne, both in the merit of his sacrifice and in the example he has given to mankind. The merit of his sacrifice we may leave to another essay; we may rather dwell on the Man of Sorrows as such, and what his life of sorrow has meant here and now. That because of the sufferings of Jesus Christ this world has become another place no one who has eyes to see, certainly no Christian, will deny; Christianity itself, with its standard of the Cross, and its civilization ranged around the Cross, is the abiding confession of this truth. However much in real life human frailty may induce us to pass him by, still in matter of fact the Christ in whom we believe is Christ crucified; and crucified, not on Calvary alone, but from the first hour of his life in Bethlehem. This is the Jesus Christ who has won the hearts of men in all ages, who has stirred them to great things, who has poured himself out over all the world and wherever he has reached has transformed it."

Thank you Alban Goodier

 

[Tomster]

Tomster,

Your posts have some very good inspiration them, but I’m concerned that they may be getting lengthly, since we have to limit how much we post from other articles, per forum guidelines. Can you pull out the most important parts for us to reflect on, and then we can have discussion over it? I realize how difficult it is to shorten something when we find a lot of beauty in it. I have the same problem, and get wordy at times due to my enthusiasm.

I admire your steadfastness in typing all of this all of this for us, and it demonstrates to me that you were not kidding when you said this doctrine was your favorite topic! :tiphat:

Thanks so much. :hug1:

Sorry Carole. I’ll try to edit a little more carefully. But this ocean is so very deep.

God bless,

Tomster

 

[Joysong]

Tomster,

I invite you to share some of your feelings about this deep ocean, and how they have affected your life with Christ. It would be great to catch your fire, more or less. What is the name of this book, so those who are interested might get a copy?

Carole

 

[Joysong]

Dear friends,

We have been considering several documents and teachings regarding the Mystical Body of Christ. The challenge and question remains now, do we believe this?

How does this translate into a new way of “seeing” Christ in our brother or sister, or even in those we dislike?

Have we felt a change of heart moving us to minister to another when we reconsider the truth that whatsoever we do for them, we do unto Christ?

Have we ever felt that another who gave himself in service or gesture to us, was in reality imparting the love of Christ to us?

How can we quicken our perception of this heavenly doctrine?

 

[Genesis315]

Dear Genesis315,

Here’s an excerpt from Ecclesiam Suam…It’s not very clear how this better explains ecclesiology…maybe you can point out some other texts that do a better job.

Gorman

Oops, I think you misunderstood me. I was saying that Pope Paul in that encyclical said to look to the other one I linked from Leo XIII–sorry for the confusion