|
Title: |
Mystici Corporis Christi
|
|
Descr.: |
On The Mystical Body Of Christ
|
|
Pope: |
Pope Pius XII
|
|
Date: |
June 29, 1943
|
|
To
Our Venerable Brethren, Patriarchs, Primates, Archbishops,
Bishops, and Other Local Ordinaries Enjoying Peace and Communion
with the Apostolic See
Venerable
Brethren, Health and Apostolic Benediction.
1.
The doctrine of the Mystical Body of Christ, which is the
Church,(1) was first taught us by the Redeemer Himself.
Illustrating as it does the great and inestimable privilege of our
intimate union with so exalted a Head, this doctrine by its
sublime dignity invites all those who are drawn by the Holy Spirit
to study it, and gives them, in the truths of which it proposes to
the mind, a strong incentive to the performance of such good works
as are conformable to its teaching. For this reason, We deem it
fitting to speak to you on this subject through this Encyclical
Letter, developing and explaining above all, those points which
concern the Church Militant. To this We are urged not only by the
surpassing grandeur of the subject but also by the circumstances
of the present time.
2.
For We intend to speak of the riches stored up in this Church
which Christ purchased with His own Blood, (2) and whose members
glory in a thorn-crowned Head. The fact that they thus glory is a
striking proof that the greatest joy and exaltation are born only
of suffering, and hence that we should rejoice if we partake of
the sufferings of Christ, that when His glory shall be revealed we
may also be glad with exceeding joy. (3)
3.
From the outset it should be noted that the society established by
the Redeemer of the human race resembles its divine Founder, who
was persecuted, calumniated and tortured by those very men whom He
had undertaken to save. We do not deny, rather from a heart filled
with gratitude to God We admit, that even in our turbulent times
there are many who, though outside the fold of Jesus Christ, look
to the Church as the only haven of salvation; but We are also
aware that the Church of God not only is despised and hated
maliciously by those who shut their eyes to the light of Christian
wisdom and miserably return to the teachings, customs and
practices of ancient paganism, but is ignored and neglected, and
even at times looked upon as irksome by many Christians who are
allured by specious error or caught in the meshes of the world's
corruption. In obedience, therefore, Venerable Brethren, to the
voice of Our conscience and in compliance with the wishes of many,
We will set forth before the eyes of all and extol the beauty, the
praises, and the glory of Mother Church to whom, after God, we owe
everything.
4.
And it is to be hoped that Our instructions and exhortations will
bring forth abundant fruit in the souls of the faithful in the
present circumstances. For We know that if all the sorrows and
calamities of these stormy times, by which countless multitudes
are being sorely tried, are accepted from God's hands with calm
submission, they naturally lift souls above the passing things of
earth to those of heaven that abide forever, and arouse a certain
secret thirst and intense desire for spiritual things. Thus, urged
by the Holy Spirit, men are moved, and as it were, impelled to
seek the Kingdom of God with greater diligence; for the more they
are detached from the vanities of this world and from inordinate
love of temporal things, the more apt they will be to perceive the
light of heavenly mysteries. But the vanity and emptiness of
earthly things are more manifest today than perhaps at any other
period, when Kingdoms and States are crumbling, when enormous
quantities of goods and all kinds of wealth are being sunk in the
depths of the sea, and cities, towns and fertile fields are strewn
with massive ruins and defiled with the blood of brothers.
5.
Moreover, We trust that Our exposition of the doctrine of the
Mystical Body of Christ will be acceptable and useful to those
also who are without the fold of the Church, not only because
their goodwill towards the Church seems to grow from day to day,
but also because, while before their eyes nation rises up against
nation, kingdom against kingdom, and discord is sown everywhere
together with the seeds of envy and hatred, if they turn their
gaze to the Church, if they contemplate her divinely-given unity -
by which all men of every race are united to Christ in the bond of
brotherhood - they will be forced to admire this fellowship in
charity, and with the guidance and assistance of divine grace will
long to share in the same union and charity.
6.
There is a special reason too, and one most dear to Us, which
recalls this doctrine to Our mind and with it a deep sense of joy.
During the year that has passed since the twenty-fifth anniversary
of Our Episcopal consecration, We have had the great consolation
of witnessing something that has made the image of the Mystical
Body of Jesus Christ stand out most clearly before the whole
world. Though a long and deadly war has pitilessly broken the bond
of brotherly union between nations, We have seen Our children in
Christ, in whatever part of the world they happened to be, one in
will and affection, lift up their hearts to the common Father,
who, carrying in his own heart the cares and anxieties of all, is
guiding the barque of the Catholic Church in the teeth of a raging
tempest. This is a testimony to the wonderful union existing among
Christians; but it also proves that, as Our paternal love embraces
all peoples, whatever their nationality and race, so Catholics the
world over, though their countries may have drawn the sword
against each other, look to the Vicar of Jesus Christ as to the
loving Father of them all, who, with absolute impartiality and
incorruptible judgment, rising above the conflicting gales of
human passions, takes upon himself with all his strength the
defense of truth, justice and charity.
7.
We have been no less consoled to know that with spontaneous
generosity a fund has been created for the erection of a church in
Rome to be dedicated to Our saintly predecessor and patron, Eugene
I. As this temple, to be built by the wish and through the
liberality of all the faithful, will be a lasting memorial of this
happy event, so We desire to offer this Encyclical Letter in
testimony of Our gratitude. It tells of those living stones which
rest upon the living cornerstone, which is Christ, and are built
together into a holy temple, far surpassing any temple built by
hands, into a habitation of God in the Spirit. (4)
8.
But the chief reason for Our present exposition of this sublime
doctrine is Our solicitude for the souls entrusted to Us. Much
indeed has been written on this subject; and We know that many
today are turning with greater zest to a study which delights and
nourishes Christian piety. This, it would seem, is chiefly because
a revived interest in the sacred liturgy, the more widely spread
custom of frequent Communion, and the more fervent devotion to the
Sacred Heart of Jesus practiced today, have brought many souls to
a deeper consideration of the unsearchable riches of Christ which
are preserved in the Church. Moreover, recent pronouncements on
Catholic Action, by drawing closer the bonds of union between
Christians and between them and the ecclesiastical hierarchy and
especially the Roman Pontiff, have undoubtedly helped not a little
to place this truth in its proper light. Nevertheless, while We
can derive legitimate joy from these considerations, We must
confess that grave errors with regard to this doctrine are being
spread among those outside the true Church, and that among the
faithful, also, inaccurate or thoroughly false ideas are being
disseminated which turn minds aside from the straight path of
truth.
9.
For while there still survives a false rationalism, which
ridicules anything that transcends and defies the power of human
genius, and which is accompanied by a cognate error, the so-called
popular naturalism, which sees and wills to see in the Church
nothing but a juridical and social union, there is on the other
hand a false mysticism creeping in, which, in its attempt to
eliminate the immovable frontier that separates creatures from
their Creator, falsifies the Sacred Scriptures.
10.
As a result of these conflicting and mutually antagonistic schools
of thought, some through vain fear, look upon so profound a
doctrine as something dangerous, and so they shrink from it as
from the beautiful but forbidden fruit of paradise. But this is
not so. Mysteries revealed by God cannot be harmful to men, nor
should they remain as treasures hidden in a field, useless. They
have been given from on high precisely to help the spiritual
progress of those who study them in a spirit of piety. For, as the
[First] Vatican Council teaches, "reason illumined by faith, if it
seeks earnestly, piously and wisely, does attain under God, to a
certain and most helpful knowledge of mysteries, by considering
their analogy with what it knows naturally, and their mutual
relations, and their common relations with man's last end,"
although, as the same holy Synod observes, reason, even thus
illumined, "is never capable of understanding those mysteries
as it does those truths which form its proper object." (5)
11.
After pondering all this long and seriously before God We consider
it part of Our pastoral duty to explain to the entire flock of
Christ through this Encyclical Letter the doctrine of the Mystical
Body of Christ and of the union in this Body of the faithful with
the divine Redeemer; and then, from this consoling doctrine, to
draw certain lessons that will make a deeper study of this mystery
bear yet richer fruits of perfection and holiness. Our purpose is
to throw an added ray of glory on the supreme beauty of the
Church; to bring out into fuller light the exalted supernatural
nobility of the faithful who in the Body of Christ are united with
their Head; and finally, to exclude definitively the many current
errors with regard to this matter.
12.
When one reflects on the origin of this doctrine, there come to
mind at once the words of the Apostle: "Where sin abounded,
grace did more abound."(6) All know that the father of the
whole human race was constituted by God in so exalted a state that
he was to hand on to his posterity, together with earthly
existence, the heavenly life of divine grace. But after the
unhappy fall of Adam, the whole human race, infected by the
hereditary stain, lost their participation in the divine
nature,(7) and we were all "children of wrath."(8) But
the all-merciful God "so loved the world as to give His
only-begotten Son,"(9) and the Word of the Eternal Father
with the same divine love assumed human nature from the race of
Adam - but as an innocent and spotless nature - so that He, as the
new Adam, might be the source whence the grace of the Holy Spirit
should flow unto all the children of the first parent. Through the
sin of the first man they had been excluded from adoption as
children of God; through the Word incarnate, made brothers
according to the flesh of the only-begotten Son of God, they
receive also the power to become the sons of God.(10) As He hung
upon the Cross, Christ Jesus not only appeased the justice of the
Eternal Father which had been violated, but He also won for us,
His brethren, an ineffable flow of graces. It was possible for Him
of Himself to impart these graces to mankind directly; but He
willed to do so only through a visible Church made up of men, so
that through her all might cooperate with Him in dispensing the
graces of Redemption. As the Word of God willed to make use of our
nature, when in excruciating agony He would redeem mankind, so in
the same way throughout the centuries He makes use of the Church
that the work begun might endure. (11)
13.
If we would define and describe this true Church of Jesus Christ -
which is the One, Holy, Catholic, Apostolic and Roman Church (12)
- we shall find nothing more noble, more sublime, or more divine
than the expression "the Mystical Body of Christ" - an
expression which springs from and is, as it were, the fair
flowering of the repeated teaching of the Sacred Scriptures and
the Holy Fathers.
14.
That the Church is a body is frequently asserted in the Sacred
Scriptures. "Christ," says the Apostle, "is the
Head of the Body of the Church."(13) If the Church is a body,
it must be an unbroken unity, according to those words of Paul:
"Though many we are one body in Christ."(14) But it is
not enough that the Body of the Church should be an unbroken
unity; it must also be something definite and perceptible to the
senses as Our predecessor of happy memory, Leo XIII, in his
Encyclical Satis Cognitum asserts: "the Church is visible
because she is a body.(15) Hence they err in a matter of divine
truth, who imagine the Church to be invisible, intangible, a
something merely "pneumatological" as they say, by which
many Christian communities, though they differ from each other in
their profession of faith, are united by an invisible bond.
15.
But a body calls also for a multiplicity of members, which are
linked together in such a way as to help one another. And as in
the body when one member suffers, all the other members share its
pain, and the healthy members come to the assistance of the
ailing, so in the Church the individual members do not live for
themselves alone, but also help their fellows, and all work in
mutual collaboration for the common comfort and for the more
perfect building up of the whole Body.
16.
Again, as in nature a body is not formed by any haphazard grouping
of members but must be constituted of organs, that is of members,
that have not the same function and are arranged in due order; so
for this reason above all the Church is called a body, that it is
constituted by the coalescence of structurally united parts, and
that it has a variety of members reciprocally dependent. It is
thus the Apostle describes the Church when he writes: "As in
one body we have many members, but all the members have not the
same office: so we being many are one body in Christ, and everyone
members one of another." (16)
17.
One must not think, however, that this ordered or
"organic" structure of the body of the Church contains
only hierarchical elements and with them is complete; or, as an
opposite opinion holds, that it is composed only of those who
enjoy charismatic gifts - though members gifted with miraculous
powers will never be lacking in the Church. That those who
exercise sacred power in this Body are its chief members must be
maintained uncompromisingly. It is through them, by commission of
the Divine Redeemer Himself, that Christ's apostolate as Teacher,
King and Priest is to endure. At the same time, when the Fathers
of the Church sing the praises of this Mystical Body of Christ,
with its ministries, its variety of ranks, its officers, its
conditions, its orders, its duties, they are thinking not only of
those who have received Holy Orders, but of all those too, who,
following the evangelical counsels, pass their lives either
actively among men, or hidden in the silence of the cloister, or
who aim at combining the active and contemplative life according
to their Institute; as also of those who, though living in the
world, consecrate themselves wholeheartedly to spiritual or
corporal works of mercy, and of those in the state of holy
matrimony. Indeed, let this be clearly understood, especially in
our days, fathers and mothers of families, those who are
godparents through Baptism, and in particular those members of the
laity who collaborate with the ecclesiastical hierarchy in
spreading the Kingdom of the Divine Redeemer occupy an honorable,
if often a lowly, place in the Christian community, and even they
under the impulse of God and with His help, can reach the heights
of supreme holiness, which, Jesus Christ has promised, will never
be wanting to the Church.
18.
Now we see that the human body is given the proper means to
provide for its own life, health and growth, and for that of all
its members. Similarly, the Savior of mankind out of His infinite
goodness has provided in a wonderful way for His Mystical Body,
endowing it with the Sacraments, so that, as though by an
uninterrupted series of graces, its members should be sustained
from birth to death, and that generous provision might be made for
the social needs of the Church. Through the waters of Baptism
those who are born into this world dead in sin are not only born
again and made members of the Church, but being stamped with a
spiritual seal they become able and fit to receive the other
Sacraments. By the chrism of Confirmation, the faithful are given
added strength to protect and defend the Church, their Mother, and
the faith she has given them. In the Sacrament of Penance a saving
medicine is offered for the members of the Church who have fallen
into sin, not only to provide for their own health, but to remove
from other members of the Mystical Body all danger of contagion,
or rather to afford them an incentive to virtue, and the example
of a virtuous act.
19.
Nor is that all; for in the Holy Eucharist the faithful are
nourished and strengthened at the same banquet and by a divine,
ineffable bond are united with each other and with the Divine Head
of the whole Body. Finally, like a devoted mother, the Church is
at the bedside of those who are sick unto death; and if it be not
always God's will that by the holy anointing she restore health to
the mortal body, nevertheless she administers spiritual medicine
to the wounded soul and sends new citizens to heaven - to be her
new advocates - who will enjoy forever the happiness of God.
20.
For the social needs of the Church Christ has provided in a
particular way by the institution of two other Sacraments. Through
Matrimony, in which the contracting parties are ministers of grace
to each other, provision is made for the external and duly
regulated increase of Christian society, and, what is of greater
importance, for the correct religious education of the children,
without which this Mystical Body would be in grave danger. Through
Holy Orders men are set aside and consecrated to God, to offer the
Sacrifice of the Eucharistic Victim, to nourish the flock of the
faithful with the Bread of Angels and the food of doctrine, to
guide them in the way of God's commandments and counsels and to
strengthen them with all other supernatural helps.
21.
In this connection it must be borne in mind that, as God at the
beginning of time endowed man's body with most ample power to
subject all creatures to himself, and to increase and multiply and
fill the earth, so at the beginning of the Christian era, He
supplied the Church with the means necessary to overcome the
countless dangers and to fill not only the whole world but the
realms of heaven as well.
22.
Actually only those are to be included as members of the Church
who have been baptized and profess the true faith, and who have
not been so unfortunate as to separate themselves from the unity
of the Body, or been excluded by legitimate authority for grave
faults committed. "For in one spirit" says the Apostle,
"were we all baptized into one Body, whether Jews or
Gentiles, whether bond or free."(17) As therefore in the true
Christian community there is only one Body, one Spirit, one Lord,
and one Baptism, so there can be only one faith.(18) And
therefore, if a man refuse to hear the Church, let him be
considered - so the Lord commands - as a heathen and a publican.
(19) It follows that those who are divided in faith or government
cannot be living in the unity of such a Body, nor can they be
living the life of its one Divine Spirit.
23.
Nor must one imagine that the Body of the Church, just because it
bears the name of Christ, is made up during the days of its
earthly pilgrimage only of members conspicuous for their holiness,
or that it consists only of those whom God has predestined to
eternal happiness. It is owing to the Savior's infinite mercy that
place is allowed in His Mystical Body here below for those whom,
of old, He did not exclude from the banquet.(20) For not every
sin, however grave it may be, is such as of its own nature to
sever a man from the Body of the Church, as does schism or heresy
or apostasy. Men may lose charity and divine grace through sin,
thus becoming incapable of supernatural merit, and yet not be
deprived of all life if they hold fast to faith and Christian
hope, and if, illumined from above, they are spurred on by the
interior promptings of the Holy Spirit to salutary fear and are
moved to prayer and penance for their sins.
24.
Let every one then abhor sin, which defiles the mystical members
of our Redeemer; but if anyone unhappily falls and his obstinacy
has not made him unworthy of communion with the faithful, let him
be received with great love, and let eager charity see in him a
weak member of Jesus Christ. For, as the Bishop of Hippo remarks,
it is better "to be cured within the Church's community than
to be cut off from its body as incurable members."(21)
"As long as a member still forms part of the body there is no
reason to despair of its cure; once it has been cut off, it can be
neither cured nor healed." (22)
25.
In the course of the present study, Venerable Brethren, we have
thus far seen that the Church is so constituted that it may be
likened to a body. We must now explain clearly and precisely why
it is to be called not merely a body, but the Body of Jesus
Christ. This follows from the fact that our Lord is the Founder,
the Head, the Support and the Savior of this Mystical Body.
26.
As We set out briefly to expound in what sense Christ founded His
social Body, the following thought of Our predecessor of happy
memory, Leo XIII, occurs to Us at once: "The Church which,
already conceived, came forth from the side of the second Adam in
His sleep on the Cross, first showed Herself before the eyes of
men on the great day of Pentecost."(23) For the Divine
Redeemer began the building of the mystical temple of the Church
when by His preaching He made known His precepts; He completed it
when He hung glorified on the Cross; and He manifested and
proclaimed it when He sent the Holy Ghost as Paraclete in visible
form on His disciples.
27.
For while fulfilling His office as preacher He chose Apostles,
sending them as He had been sent by the Father (24) - namely, as
teachers, rulers, instruments of holiness in the assembly of the
believers; He appointed their Chief and His Vicar on earth;(25) He
made known to them all things and whatsoever He had heard from His
Father; (26) He also determined that through Baptism (27) those
who should believe would be incorporated in the Body of the
Church; and finally, when He came to the close of His life, He
instituted at the Last Supper the wonderful Sacrifice and
Sacrament of the Eucharist.
28.
That He completed His work on the gibbet of the Cross is the
unanimous teaching of the holy Fathers who assert that the Church
was born from the side of our Savior on the Cross like a new Eve,
mother of all the living. (28) "And it is now," says the
great St. Ambrose, speaking of the pierced side of Christ,
"that it is built, it is now that it is formed, it is now
that it is...molded, it is now that it is created... Now it is
that arises a spiritual house, a holy priesthood." (29) One
who reverently examines this venerable teaching will easily
discover the reasons on which it is based.
29.
And first of all, by the death of our Redeemer, the New Testament
took the place of the Old Law which had been abolished; then the
Law of Christ together with its mysteries, enactments,
institutions, and sacred rites was ratified for the whole world in
the blood of Jesus Christ. For, while our Divine Savior was
preaching in a restricted area - He was not sent but to the sheep
that were lost of the House of Israel (30) - the Law and the
Gospel were together in force; (31) but on the gibbet of His death
Jesus made void the Law with its decrees (32) fastened the
handwriting of the Old Testament to the Cross, (33) establishing
the New Testament in His blood shed for the whole human race.(34)
"To such an extent, then," says St. Leo the Great,
speaking of the Cross of our Lord, "was there effected a
transfer from the Law to the Gospel, from the Synagogue to the
Church, from the many sacrifices to one Victim, that, as Our Lord
expired, that mystical veil which shut off the innermost part of
the temple and its sacred secret was rent violently from top to
bottom." (35)
30.
On the Cross then the Old Law died, soon to be buried and to be a
bearer of death, (36) in order to give way to the New Testament of
which Christ had chosen the Apostles as qualified ministers; (37)
and although He had been constituted the Head of the whole human
family in the womb of the Blessed Virgin, it is by the power of
the Cross that our Savior exercises fully the office itself of
Head of His Church. "For it was through His triumph on the
Cross," according to the teaching of the Angelic and Common
Doctor, "that He won power and dominion over the
gentiles";(38) by that same victory He increased the immense
treasure of graces, which, as He reigns in glory in heaven, He
lavishes continually on His mortal members; it was by His blood
shed on the Cross that God's anger was averted and that all the
heavenly gifts, especially the spiritual graces of the New and
Eternal Testament, could then flow from the fountains of our
Savior for the salvation of men, of the faithful above all; it was
on the tree of the Cross, finally, that He entered into possession
of His Church, that is, of all the members of His Mystical Body;
for they would not have been united to this Mystical Body through
the waters of Baptism except by the salutary virtue of the Cross,
by which they had been already brought under the complete sway of
Christ.
31.
But if our Savior, by His death, became, in the full and complete
sense of the word, the Head of the Church, it was likewise through
His blood that the Church was enriched with the fullest
communication of the Holy Spirit, through which, from the time
when the Son of Man was lifted up and glorified on the Cross by
His sufferings, she is divinely illumined. For then, as Augustine
notes, (39) with the rending of the veil of the temple it happened
that the dew of the Paraclete's gifts, which heretofore had
descended only on the fleece, that is on the people of Israel,
fell copiously and abundantly (while the fleece remained dry and
deserted) on the whole earth, that is on the Catholic Church,
which is confined by no boundaries of race or territory. Just as
at the first moment of the Incarnation the Son of the Eternal
Father adorned with the fullness of the Holy Spirit the human
nature which was substantially united to Him, that it might be a
fitting instrument of the Divinity in the sanguinary work of the
Redemption, so at the hour of His precious death He willed that
His Church should be enriched with the abundant gifts of the
Paraclete in order that in dispensing the divine fruits of the
Redemption she might be, for the Incarnate Word, a powerful
instrument that would never fail. For both the juridical mission
of the Church, and the power to teach, govern and administer the
Sacraments, derive their supernatural efficacy and force for the
building up of the Body of Christ from the fact that Jesus Christ,
hanging on the Cross, opened up to His Church the fountain of
those divine gifts, which prevent her from ever teaching false
doctrine and enable her to rule them for the salvation of their
souls through divinely enlightened pastors and to bestow on them
an abundance of heavenly graces.
32.
If we consider closely all these mysteries of the Cross, those
words of the Apostle are no longer obscure, in which he teaches
the Ephesians that Christ, by His blood, made the Jews and
Gentiles one "breaking down the middle wall of partition...in
his flesh" by which the two peoples were divided; and that He
made the Old Law void "that He might make the two in Himself
into one new man," that is, the Church, and might reconcile
both to God in one Body by the Cross." (40)
33.
The Church which He founded by His Blood, He strengthened on the
day of Pentecost by a special power, given from heaven. For,
having solemnly installed in his exalted office him whom He had
already nominated as His Vicar, He had ascended into Heaven; and
sitting now at the right hand of the Father He wished to make
known and proclaim His Spouse through the visible coming of the
Holy Spirit with the sound of a mighty wind and tongues of
fire.(41) For just as He Himself when He began to preach was made
known by His Eternal Father through the Holy Spirit descending and
remaining on Him in the form of a dove, (42) so likewise, as the
Apostles were about to enter upon their ministry of preaching,
Christ our Lord sent the Holy Spirit down from Heaven, to touch
them with tongues of fire and to point out, as by the finger of
God, the supernatural mission and office of the Church.
34.
That this Mystical Body which is the Church should be called
Christ's is proved in the second place from the fact that He must
be universally acknowledged as its actual Head. "He," as
St. Paul says, "is the Head of the Body, the Church."
(43) He is the Head from whom the whole body perfectly organized,
"groweth and maketh increase unto the edifying of
itself." (44)
35.
You are familiar, Venerable Brethren, with the admirable and
luminous language used by the masters of Scholastic Theology and
chiefly by the Angelic and Common Doctor, when treating this
question; and you know that the reasons advanced by Aquinas are a
faithful reflection of the mind and writings of the Holy Fathers,
who moreover merely repeated and commented on the inspired word of
Sacred Scripture.
36.
However for the good of all We wish to touch on this point
briefly. And first of all it is clear that the Son of God and of
the Blessed Virgin is to be called the head of the Church by
reason of His singular pre-eminence. For the Head is in the
highest place. But who is in a higher place than Christ - God, who
as the Word of the Eternal Father must be acknowledged to be the
"firstborn of every creature?"(45) Who has reached more
lofty heights than Christ - Man who, though born of the Immaculate
Virgin, is the true and natural Son of God, and in virtue of His
miraculous and glorious resurrection, a resurrection triumphant
over death, has become the "firstborn of the dead?" (46)
Who finally has been so exalted as He, who as "the one
mediator of God and men"(47) has in a most wonderful manner
linked earth to heaven, who, raised on the Cross as on a throne of
mercy, has drawn all things to Himself,(48) who, as the Son of Man
chosen from among thousands, is beloved of God beyond all men, all
angels and all created things? (49)
37.
Because Christ is so exalted, He alone by every right rules and
governs the Church; and herein is yet another reason why He must
be likened to a head. As the head is the "royal citadel"
of the body (50) - to use the words of Ambrose - and all the
members over whom it is placed for their good (51) are naturally
guided by it as being endowed with superior powers, so the Divine
Redeemer holds the helm of the universal Christian community and
directs its course. And as to govern human society signifies to
lead men to the end proposed by means that are expedient, just and
helpful, (52) it is easy to see how our Savior, model and ideal of
good Shepherds, (53) performs all these functions in a most
striking way.
38.
While still on earth, He instructed us by precept, counsel and
warning in words that shall never pass away, and will be spirit
and life (54) to all men of all times. Moreover He conferred a
triple power on His Apostles and their successors, to teach, to
govern, to lead men to holiness, making this power, defined by
special ordinances, rights and obligations, the fundamental law of
the whole Church.
39.
But our Divine Savior governs and guides the Society which He
founded directly and personally also. For it is He who reigns
within the minds and hearts of men, and bends and subjects their
wills to His good pleasure, even when rebellious. "The heart
of the King is in the hand of the Lord; whithersoever he will, he
shall turn it."(55) By this interior guidance He the
"Shepherd and Bishop of our souls,"(56) not only watches
over individuals but exercises His providence over the universal
Church, whether by enlightening and giving courage to the Church's
rulers for the loyal and effective performance of their respective
duties, or by singling out from the body of the Church -
especially when times are grave - men and women of conspicuous
holiness, who may point the way for the rest of Christendom to the
perfecting of His Mystical Body. Moreover, from heaven Christ
never ceases to look down with especial love on His spotless
Spouse so sorely tried in her earthly exile; and when He sees her
in danger, saves her from the tempestuous sea either Himself or
through the ministry of His angels,(57) or through her whom we
invoke as Help of Christians, or through other heavenly advocates,
and in calm and tranquil waters comforts her with the peace
"which surpasseth all understanding." (58)
40.
But we must not think that He rules only in a hidden (59) or
extraordinary manner. On the contrary, our Redeemer also governs
His Mystical Body in a visible and normal way through His Vicar on
earth. You know, Venerable Brethren, that after He had ruled the
"little flock" (60) Himself during His mortal
pilgrimage, Christ our Lord, when about to leave this world and
return to the Father, entrusted to the Chief of the Apostles the
visible government of the entire community He had founded. Since
He was all wise He could not leave the body of the Church He had
founded as a human society without a visible head. Nor against
this may one argue that the primacy of jurisdiction established in
the Church gives such a Mystical Body two heads. For Peter in
virtue of his primacy is only Christ's Vicar; so that there is
only one chief Head of this Body, namely Christ, who never ceases
Himself to guide the Church invisibly, though at the same time He
rules it visibly, through him who is His representative on earth.
After His glorious Ascension into heaven this Church rested not on
Him alone, but on Peter, too, its visible foundation stone. That
Christ and His Vicar constitute one only Head is the solemn
teaching of Our predecessor of immortal memory Boniface VIII in
the Apostolic Letter Unam Sanctam; (61) and his successors have
never ceased to repeat the same.
41.
They, therefore, walk in the path of dangerous error who believe
that they can accept Christ as the Head of the Church, while not
adhering loyally to His Vicar on earth. They have taken away the
visible head, broken the visible bonds of unity and left the
Mystical Body of the Redeemer so obscured and so maimed, that
those who are seeking the haven of eternal salvation can neither
see it nor find it.
42.
What We have thus far said of the Universal Church must be
understood also of the individual Christian communities, whether
Oriental or Latin, which go to make up the one Catholic Church. For
they, too, are ruled by Jesus Christ through the voice of their
respective Bishops. Consequently, Bishops must be considered as
the more illustrious members of the Universal Church, for they are
united by a very special bond to the divine Head of the whole Body
and so are rightly called "principal parts of the members of
the Lord;" (62) moreover, as far as his own diocese is
concerned, each one as a true Shepherd feeds the flock entrusted
to him and rules it in the name of Christ. (63) Yet in exercising
this office they are not altogether independent, but are
subordinate to the lawful authority of the Roman Pontiff, although
enjoying the ordinary power of jurisdiction which they receive
directly from the same Supreme Pontiff. Therefore, Bishops should
be revered by the faithful as divinely appointed successors of the
Apostles, (64) and to them, even more than to the highest civil
authorities should be applied the words: "Touch not my
anointed one!" (65) For the Bishops have been anointed with
the chrism of the Holy Spirit.
43.
That is why We are deeply pained when We hear that not a few of
Our Brother Bishops are being attacked and persecuted not only in
their own persons, but - what is more cruel and heartrending for
them - in the faithful committed to their care, in those who share
their apostolic labors, even in the virgins consecrated to God;
and all this, merely because they are a pattern of the flock from
the heart (66) and guard with energy and loyalty, as they should
the sacred "deposit of faith"(67) confided to them;
merely because they insist on the sacred laws that have been
engraved by God on the souls of men, and after the example of the
Supreme Shepherd defend their flock against ravenous wolves. Such
an offence We consider as committed against Our own person and We
repeat the noble words of Our Predecessor of immortal memory
Gregory the Great: "Our honor is the honor of the Universal
Church; Our honor is the united strength of Our Brethren; and We
are truly honored when honor is given to each and every one."
(68)
44.
Because Christ the Head holds such an eminent position, one must
not think that he does not require the help of the Body. What Paul
said of the human organism is to be applied likewise to the
Mystical Body: "The head cannot say to the feet: I have no
need of you."(69) It is manifestly clear that the faithful
need the help of the Divine Redeemer, for He has said:
"Without me you can do nothing,"(70) and according to
the teaching of the Apostle every advance of this Mystical Body
towards its perfection derives from Christ the Head.(71) Yet this,
also, must be held, marvelous though it may seem: Christ has need
of His members. First, because the person of Jesus Christ is
represented by the Supreme Pontiff, who in turn must call on
others to share much of his solicitude lest he be overwhelmed by
the burden of his pastoral office, and must be helped daily by the
prayers of the Church. Moreover as our Savior does not rule the
Church directly in a visible manner, He wills to be helped by the
members of His Body in carrying out the work of redemption. That
is not because He is indigent and weak, but rather because He has
so willed it for the greater glory of His spotless Spouse. Dying
on the Cross He left to His Church the immense treasury of the
Redemption, towards which she contributed nothing. But when those
graces come to be distributed, not only does He share this work of
sanctification with His Church, but He wills that in some way it
be due to her action. This is a deep mystery, and an inexhaustible
subject of meditation, that the salvation of many depends on the
prayers and voluntary penances which the members of the Mystical
Body of Jesus Christ offer for this intention and on the
cooperation of pastors of souls and of the faithful, especially of
fathers and mothers of families, a cooperation which they must
offer to our Divine Savior as though they were His associates.
45.
To the reasons thus far adduced to show that Christ our Lord
should be called the Head of the Society which is His Body there
may be added three others which are closely related to one
another.
46.
We begin with the similarity which we see existing between Head
and body, in that they have the same nature; and in this
connection it must be observed that our nature, although inferior
to that of the angels, nevertheless through God's goodness has
risen above it: "For Christ," as Aquinas says, "is
Head of the angels; for even in His humanity He is superior to
angels... Even as man He illumines the angelic intellect and
influences the angelic will. But in respect to similarity of
nature Christ is not Head of the angels, because He did not take
hold of the angels - to quote the Apostle - but of the seed of
Abraham."(72) And Christ not only took our nature; He became
one of our flesh and blood with a frail body that could suffer and
die. But "If the Word emptied himself taking the form of a
slave," (73) it was that He might make His brothers according
to the flesh partakers of the divine nature, (74) through
sanctifying grace in this earthly exile, in heaven through the
joys of eternal bliss. For the reason why the only-begotten Son of
the Eternal Father willed to be a son of man was that we might be
made conformed to the image of the Son of God (75) and be renewed
according to the image of Him who created us. (76) Let all those,
then, who glory in the name of Christian, look to our Divine
Savior as the most exalted and the most perfect exemplar of all
virtues; but let them also, by careful avoidance of sin and
assiduous practice of virtue, bear witness by their conduct to His
teaching and life, so that when the Lord shall appear they may be
like unto Him and see Him as He is. (77)
47.
It is the will of Jesus Christ that the whole body of the Church,
no less than the individual members, should resemble Him. And we
see this realized when, following in the footsteps of her Founder,
the Church teaches, governs, and offers the divine Sacrifice. When
she embraces the evangelical counsels she reflects the Redeemer's
poverty, obedience and virginal purity. Adorned with institutes of
many different kinds as with so many precious jewels, she
represents Christ deep in prayer on the mountain, or preaching to
the people, or healing the sick and wounded and bringing sinners
back to the path of virtue - in a word, doing good to all. What
wonder then, if, while on this earth she, like Christ, suffer
persecutions, insults and sorrows.
48.
Christ must be acknowledged Head of the Church for this reason
too, that, as supernatural gifts have their fullness and
perfection in Him, it is of this fullness that His Mystical Body
receives. It is pointed out by many of the Fathers, that as the
head of our mortal body is the seat of all the senses, while the
other parts of our organism have only the sense of touch, so all
the powers that are found in Christian society, all the gifts, all
the extraordinary graces, attain their utmost perfection in the
Head, Christ. "In Him it hath well pleased the Father that
all fullness should dwell."(78) He is gifted with those
supernatural powers that accompany the hypostatic union, since the
Holy Spirit dwells in Him with a fullness of grace than which no
greater can be imagined. To Him has been given "power over
all flesh"; (79) "all the treasures of wisdom and
knowledge are in Him"(80) abundantly. The knowledge which is
called "vision" He possesses with such clarity and
comprehensiveness that it surpasses similar celestial knowledge
found in all the saints of heaven. So full of grace and truth is
He that of His inexhaustible fullness we have all received. (81)
49.
These words of the disciple whom Jesus loved lead us to the last
reason why Christ our Lord should be declared in a very particular
way Head of His Mystical Body. As the nerves extend from the head
to all parts of the human body and give them power to feel and to
move, in like manner our Savior communicates strength and power to
His Church so that the things of God are understood more clearly
and are more eagerly desired by the faithful. From Him streams
into the body of the Church all the light with which those who
believe are divinely illumined, and all the grace by which they
are made holy as He is holy.
50.
Christ enlightens His whole Church, as numberless passages from
the Sacred Scriptures and the holy Fathers prove. "No man
hath seen God at any time: the only-begotten Son who is in the
bosom of the Father he hath declared him"(82) Coming as a
teacher from God (83) to give testimony to the truth (84) He shed
such light upon the nascent apostolic Church that the Prince of
the Apostles exclaimed: "Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast
the words of eternal life"; (85) from heaven He assisted the
evangelists in such a way that as members of Christ they wrote
what they had learned, as it were, at the dictation of the Head.
(86) And as for us today, who linger on in this earthly exile, He
is still the author of faith as in our heavenly home He will be
its finisher.(87) It is He who imparts the light of faith to
believers; it is He who enriches pastors and teachers and above
all His Vicar on earth with the supernatural gifts of knowledge,
understanding and wisdom, so that they may loyally preserve the
treasury of faith, defend it vigorously, and explain it and
confirm it with reverence and devotion. Finally, it is He who,
though unseen, presides at the Councils of the Church and guides
them. (88)
51.
Holiness begins from Christ; and Christ is its cause. For no act
conducive to salvation can be performed unless it proceeds from
Him as from its supernatural source. "Without me," He
says, "you can do nothing."(89) If we grieve and do
penance for our sins if, with filial fear and hope, we turn again
to God, it is because He is leading us. Grace and glory flow from
His inexhaustible fullness. Our Savior is continually pouring out
His gifts of counsel, fortitude, fear and piety, especially on the
leading members of His Body, so that the whole Body may grow ever
more and more in holiness and integrity of life. When the
Sacraments of the Church are administered by external rite, it is
He who produces their effect in souls.(90) He nourishes the
redeemed with His own flesh and blood and thus calms the turbulent
passions of the soul; He gives increase of grace and prepares
future glory for souls and bodies. All these treasures of His
divine goodness He is said to bestow on the members of His
Mystical Body, not merely because He, as the Eucharistic Victim on
earth and the glorified Victim in heaven, through His wounds and
His prayers pleads our cause before the Eternal Father, but
because He selects, He determines, He distributes every single
grace to every single person "according to the measure of the
giving of Christ."(91) Hence it follows that from our Divine
Redeemer as from a fountainhead "the whole body, being
compacted and fitly joined together, by what every joint supplieth
according to the operation in the measure of every part, maketh
increase of the body, unto the edifying of itself in
charity." (92)
52.
These truths which We have expounded, Venerable Brethren, briefly
and succinctly tracing the manner in which Christ our Lord wills
that His abundant graces should flow from His fullness into the
Church, in order that she should resemble Him as closely as
possible, help not a little to explain the third reason why the
social Body of the Church should be honored by the name of Christ
- namely, that our Savior Himself sustains in a divine manner the
society which He founded.
53.
As Bellarmine notes with acumen and accuracy,(93) this appellation
of the Body of Christ is not to be explained solely by the fact
that Christ must be called the Head of His Mystical Body, but also
by the fact that He so sustains the Church, and so in a certain
sense lives in the Church, that she is, as it were, another
Christ. The Doctor of the Gentiles, in his letter to the
Corinthians, affirms this when, without further qualification, he
calls the Church "Christ," (94) following no doubt the
example of his Master who called out to him from on high when he
was attacking the Church: "Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou
me?" (95) Indeed, if we are to believe Gregory of Nyssa, the
Church is often called simply "Christ" by the
Apostle;(96) and you are familiar Venerable Brethren, with that
phrase of Augustine: "Christ preaches Christ." (97)
54.
Nevertheless this most noble title of the Church must not be so
understood as if that ineffable bond by which the Son of God
assumed a definite human nature belongs to the universal Church;
but it consists in this, that our Savior shares prerogatives
peculiarly His own with the Church in such a way that she may
portray, in her whole life, both exterior and interior, a most
faithful image of Christ. For in virtue of the juridical mission
by which our Divine Redeemer sent His Apostles into the world, as
He had been sent by the Father, (98) it is He who through the
Church baptizes, teaches, rules, looses, binds, [offers the
Eucharistic Sacrifice].
55.
But in virtue of that higher, interior, and wholly sublime
communication, with which We dealt when We described the manner in
which the Head influences the members, Christ our Lord wills the
Church to live His own supernatural life, and by His divine power
permeates His whole Body and nourishes and sustains each of the
members according to the place which they occupy in the Body, in
the same way as the vine nourishes and makes fruitful the branches
which are joined to it. (99)
56.
If we examine closely this divine principle of life and power
given by Christ, insofar as it constitutes the very source of
every gift and created grace, we easily perceive that it is
nothing else than the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete, who proceeds
from the Father and the Son, and who is called in a special way,
the "Spirit of Christ" or the "Spirit of the
Son."(100) For it was by this Breath of grace and truth that
the Son of God anointed His soul in the immaculate womb of the
Blessed Virgin; this Spirit delights to dwell in the beloved soul
of our Redeemer as in His most cherished shrine; this Spirit
Christ merited for us on the Cross by shedding His Own Blood; this
Spirit He bestowed on the Church for the remission of sins, when
He breathed on the Apostles;(101) and while Christ alone received
this Spirit without measure,(102) to the members of the Mystical
Body He is imparted only according to the measure of the giving of
Christ from Christ's own fullness.(103) But after Christ's
glorification on the Cross, His Spirit is communicated to the
Church in an abundant outpouring, so that she, and her individual
members, may become daily more and more like to our Savior. It is
the Spirit of Christ that has made us adopted sons of God (104) in
order that one day "we all beholding the glory of the Lord
with open face may be transformed into the same image from glory
to glory."(105)
57.
To this Spirit of Christ, also, as to an invisible principle is to
be ascribed the fact that all the parts of the Body are joined one
with the other and with their exalted Head; for He is entire in
the Head, entire in the Body, and entire in each of the members.
To the members He is present and assists them in proportion to
their various duties and offices, and the greater or less degree
of spiritual health which they enjoy. It is He who, through His
heavenly grace, is the principle of every supernatural act in all
parts of the Body. It is He who, while He is personally present
and divinely active in all the members, nevertheless in the
inferior members acts also through the ministry of the higher
members. Finally, while by His grace He provides for the continual
growth of the Church, He yet refuses to dwell through sanctifying
grace in those members that are wholly severed from the Body. This
presence and activity of the Spirit of Jesus Christ is tersely and
vigorously described by Our predecessor of immortal memory Leo
XIII in his Encyclical Letter Divinum Illud in these words:
"Let it suffice to say that, as Christ is the Head of the
Church, so is the Holy Spirit her soul."(106)
58.
If that vital principle, by which the whole community of
Christians is sustained by its Founder, be considered not now in
itself, but in the created effects which proceed from it, it
consists in those heavenly gifts which our Redeemer, together with
His Spirit, bestows on the Church, and which He and His Spirit,
from whom come supernatural light and holiness, make operative in
the Church. The Church, then, no less than each of her holy
members can make this great saying of the Apostle her own:
"And I live, now not I; but Christ liveth in me."(107)
59.
What We have said concerning the "mystical Head"(108)
would indeed be incomplete if We were not at least briefly to
touch on this saying of the same Apostle: "Christ is the Head
of the Church: He is the Savior of his Body."(109) For in
these words we have the final reason why the Body of the Church is
given the name of Christ, namely, that Christ is the Divine Savior
of this Body. The Samaritans were right in proclaiming Him
"Savior of the world;"(110) for indeed He most certainly
is to be called the "Savior of all men," even though we
must add with Paul: "especially of the faithful,"(111)
since, before all others, He has purchased with His Blood His
members who constitute the Church.(112) But as We have already
treated this subject fully and clearly when speaking of the birth
of the Church on the Cross, of Christ as the source of life and
the principle of sanctity, and of Christ as the support of His
Mystical Body, there is no reason why We should explain it
further; but rather let us all, while giving perpetual thanks to
God, meditate on it with a humble and attentive mind. For that
which our Lord began when hanging on the Cross, He continues
unceasingly amid the joys of heaven: "Our Head," says
St. Augustine, "intercedes for us: some members He is
receiving, others He is chastising, others cleansing, others
consoling, others creating, others calling, others recalling,
others correcting, others renewing."(113)But it is for us to
cooperate with Christ in this work of salvation...
60.
And now, Venerable Brethren, We come to that part of Our
explanation in which We desire to make clear why the Body of
Christ, which is the Church, should be called mystical. This name,
which is used by many early writers, has the sanction of numerous
Pontifical documents. There are several reasons why it should be
used; for by it we may distinguish the Body of the Church, which
is a Society whose Head and Ruler is Christ, from His physical
Body, which, born of the Virgin Mother of God, now sits at the
right hand of the Father and is hidden under the Eucharistic
veils; and, that which is of greater importance in view of modern
errors, this name enables us to distinguish it from any other
body, whether in the physical or the moral order.
61.
In a natural body the principle of unity unites the parts in such
a manner that each lacks its own individual subsistence; on the
contrary, in the Mystical Body the mutual union, though intrinsic,
links the members by a bond which leaves to each the complete
enjoyment of his own personality. Moreover, if we examine the
relations existing between the several members and the whole body,
in every physical, living body, all the different members are
ultimately destined to the good of the whole alone; while if we
look to its ultimate usefulness, every moral association of men is
in the end directed to the advancement of all in general and of
each single member in particular; for they are persons. And thus -
to return to Our theme - as the Son of the Eternal Father came
down from heaven for the salvation of us all, He likewise
established the body of the Church and enriched it with the divine
Spirit to ensure that immortal souls should attain eternal
happiness according to the words of the Apostle: "All things
are yours; and you are Christ's; and Christ is God's."(115)
For the Church exists both for the good of the faithful and for
the glory of God and of Jesus Christ whom He sent.
The above is provided for informational purposes only and may not be comprehensive. By using this site you agree to all terms. For terms
information, see "Important Notice" above and click
here.
|
