The Church is the temple of the Spirit

The Church is the body of Christ, writes Cathal Barry

The Holy Spirit is the principle of the Church’s saving action, according to the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

The Spirit works by God’s Word “which is able to build you up”; by Baptism, “through which he forms Christ’s Body”; by the sacraments, “which give growth and healing to Christ’s members”; by the grace of the apostles, “which holds first place among his gifts”; by the virtues, “which make us act according to what is good”; and by the many special graces (charisms), by which he makes the faithful “fit and ready to undertake various tasks and offices for the renewal and building up of the Church”. 

“What the soul is to the human body, the Holy Spirit is to the Body of Christ, the Church.” (St Augustine)

“To this Spirit of Christ, as 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 the whole Spirit of Christ is in the head, the whole Spirit is in the body, and the whole Spirit is in each of the members.” (Pope Pius XII)

The Catechism states that all charisms, extraordinary or simple, are graces of the Holy Spirit which directly or indirectly benefit the Church, “ordered as they are to her building up, to the good of men, and to the needs of the world”. 

Charisms are to be accepted with gratitude by the person who receives them and by all members of the Church as well. They are “a wonderfully rich grace for the apostolic vitality and for the holiness of the entire Body of Christ”, according to the Catechism, “provided they really are genuine gifts of the Holy Spirit and are used in full conformity with authentic promptings of this same Spirit, that is, in keeping with charity, the true measure of all charisms”.

It is in this sense, the Church teaches, that discernment of charisms is always necessary.

All charisms, according to the Catechism, must be discerned by the Church’s shepherds who have the duty to test all things “so that all charisms work for the common good” (1 Cor 12:7).

In brief:

• The Church is the Body of Christ. Through the Spirit and his action in the sacraments, above all the Eucharist, Christ, who once was dead and is now risen, establishes the community of believers as his own Body.
• In the unity of this Body, there is a diversity of members and functions. All members are linked to one another, especially to those who are suffering, to the poor and persecuted.
• The Church is this Body of which Christ is the head
• The Church is the Bride of Christ: he loved her and handed himself over for her. 
• The Church is the Temple of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is the soul, as it were, of the Mystical Body, the source of its life, of its unity in diversity, and of the riches of its gifts and charisms.