A
Anna_Scott
Guest
His posts had the same effect on me.Exactly. :banghead:
I wish he would have engaged more in a charitable discussion and responded to direct questions. Sadly, Tunesmith seems to have fled the thread.
Anna
His posts had the same effect on me.Exactly. :banghead:
Agreed.The Body of Christ IS the Catholic Church, which is, as the Prayer Book says, “the blessed company of all faithful people”. We are incorporate into Christ’s Body through Baptism.
I think it is more than political division. It is also a matter of doctrinal division, first and formeost. The difference between Catholic and Eastern Orthodox is primarily political, with a few minor exceptions in doctrine. With the the remainder of the non-Catholic Christian faiths, however, doctrine plays a major part to varying degrees, from Anglican and Lutheran to the Westboro Baptists on the other end of the spectrum.When Christ prayed that we all be One, he was not making a vain wish, he was stating a truth: we already are One, but it is political divisions within the One Body which divide us. May God have mercy upon us miserable sinners.
Do you consider the Westboro Baptists to be Christians?Agreed.
I think it is more than political division. It is also a matter of doctrinal division, first and formeost. The difference between Catholic and Eastern Orthodox is primarily political, with a few minor exceptions in doctrine. With the the remainder of the non-Catholic Christian faiths, however, doctrine plays a major part to varying degrees, from Anglican and Lutheran to the Westboro Baptists on the other end of the spectrum.
Westboro Baptist are Christians. Really extreme, but Christian nonetheless.Do you consider the Westboro Baptists to be Christians?
Doctrine does play a part, yes, of course, but that is also political. And the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholics do have major differences in doctrine which cannot be easily dismissed.
Anymore, it seems anyone who chooses to call themselves a Christian is a Christian regardless of their beliefs. I won’t be the judge except to say that their fruit is poison. But then I could say that about other communitites who claim the title “Christian” as well.Do you consider the Westboro Baptists to be Christians?
I am dismissing nothing, but when we speak in relative terms the EO are much closer in doctrine to the Catholic Church than any other “Christian” community.Doctrine does play a part, yes, of course, but that is also political. And the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholics do have major differences in doctrine which cannot be easily dismissed.
Hi, Anna. My feeling is that “the Body of Christ” has more than one meaning – the Church, yes, and also the Eucharist, but in a way, too, the Word at the opening of John’s Gospel: "All things were made through Him.There have been many discussions regarding the way Catholics view non-Catholic Christians or “separated brethren.”
So, I thought it would be good to ask this question: Do you believe there is a difference between the Body of Christ and the Church?
I would love to hear your definitions of both and an explanation regarding whether or not they are one and the same or two different things altogether.
Thanks,
Anna
Well, the Mystical Body of Christ is one, living reality, born of the Redemption wrought for us by the Incarnate Word. It is that Society formed of Christ and the Church, of which one is the Head, the other, the body; One the bridegroom, the other the bride. (St. Augustine, “De Unitate Ecclesiae”).Hi, Anna. My feeling is that “the Body of Christ” has more than one meaning – the Church, yes, and also the Eucharist, but in a way, too, the Word at the opening of John’s Gospel: "All things were made through Him.
Anyone have thoughts on this?
~ Frank

Pop (I keep typing Pope instead of Pop. and have to correct it,)
You do not want me as a Pope. lolPop (I keep typing Pope instead of Pop. and have to correct it,)
How dare you post a picture of me! I’m “invisible” Sue. Remember?Though I do look really good for 58. So, guess the photo isn’t all bad. LOL.
So simple and yet so sublime.You do not want me as a Pope. lol
Those glasses make ya look younger
Back to topic. Here is something for ya
*For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. For the body is not one member, but many. — 1 Corinthians 12:12-14 *
The first meaning that Catholics attach to the expression “Body of Christ” is the Catholic Church. The Catechism of the Catholic Church quotes with approval, as “summing up the faith of the holy doctors and the good sense of the believer”, the reply of Saint Joan of Arc to her judges: “About Jesus Christ and the Church, I simply know they’re just one thing, and we shouldn’t complicate the matter.” In the same passage, it also quotes Saint Augustine: “Let us rejoice then and give thanks that we have become not only Christians, but Christ himself. Do you understand and grasp, brethren, God’s grace toward us? Marvel and rejoice: we have become Christ. For if he is the head, we are the members; he and we together are the whole man… the fullness of Christ then is the head and the members. But what does ‘head and members’ mean? Christ and the Church.” In light of all this, the Catholic Church is the “universal sacrament of salvation” for the whole world, as it dispenses the sacraments, which give the grace of Christ himself to the recipient.
Saint Paul the Apostle spoke of this unity of Christians with Christ, referred to in the New Testament also in images such as that of the vine and the branches, in terms of a single body that has Christ as its head in Romans 12:5,1 Corinthians 12:12-27, Ephesians 3:6 and 5:23, Colossians 1:18 and 1:24.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church states, “the comparison of the Church with the body casts light on the intimate bond between Christ and his Church. Not only is she gathered around him; she is united in him, in his body. Three aspects of the Church as the Body of Christ are to be more specifically noted: the unity of all her members with each other as a result of their union with Christ; Christ as head of the Body; and the Church as bride of Christ.” The Catechism spells out the significance of each of these three aspects.
To distinguish the Body of Christ in this sense from his physical body, the term “Mystical Body of Christ” is often used. This term was used as the first words, and so as the title, of the encyclical Mystici Corporis Christi of Pope Pius XII. In that document, Pope Pius XII clearly states, “the mystical Body of Christ… is the Catholic Church.”
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I am a Southern Fried Catholic so I always enjoy a good read. Ecclesia de Eucharistia is on of the best!So simple and yet so sublime.
I have been reading that encyclical off and on for the past fifty years of my life and I never tire in doing so.
Top notch!I am a Southern Fried Catholic so I always enjoy a good read. Ecclesia de Eucharistia is on of the best!![]()