Cathal BarryThe Church teaches that it was Jesus’ task to accomplish God’s plan of salvation, writes Cathal Barry
The Church teaches that the gathering together of the People of God began at the moment when sin destroyed the communion of men with God, and that of men among themselves.
This gathering together, according to Church teaching, is “God’s reaction to the chaos provoked by sin”. This reunification is achieved secretly in the heart of all peoples: “In every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable” to God (Acts 10:35).
The remote preparation for this gathering together of the People of God begins, according to the Church, when he calls Abraham and promises that he will become the father of a great people. Its immediate preparation begins with Israel’s election as the People of God, the Catechism of the Catholic Church states. By this election, Israel is to be the sign of the future gathering of all nations. But the prophets accuse Israel of breaking the covenant. They announce a new and eternal covenant. “Christ instituted this new Covenant” (Lumen Gentium 9).
The Church holds that it was Jesus’ task to accomplish God’s plan of salvation in the fullness of time. Its accomplishment “was the reason for his being sent”, the Catechism says.
Lumen Gentium, the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, states: “The Lord Jesus inaugurated his Church by preaching the Good News, that is, the coming of the Reign of God, promised over the ages in the scriptures.” To fulfil the Father’s will, Christ ushered in the Kingdom of Heaven on earth. The Church “is the Reign of Christ already present in mystery”, the document states.
The key text continues: “This Kingdom shines out before men in the word, in the works and in the presence of Christ.” To welcome Jesus’ word is to welcome “the Kingdom itself”. The Scriptures note the seed and beginning of the Kingdom are the “little flock” of those whom Jesus came to gather around him, the flock whose shepherd he is. They form Jesus’ true family. To those whom he thus gathered around him, he taught a new “way of acting” and a prayer of their own.
The Church teaches that Jesus endowed his community with a structure that will remain until the Kingdom is fully achieved. Before all else there is the choice of the 12 apostles with Peter as their head. Representing the 12 tribes of Israel, they are the foundation stones of the new Jerusalem.
The twelve and the other disciples share in Christ’s mission and his power, but also in his lot. By all his actions, Christ prepares and builds his Church, the Catechism states.
The Church, according to the Catechism, “is born primarily of Christ’s total self-giving for our salvation, anticipated in the institution of the Eucharist and fulfilled on the cross”.
As Lumen Gentium states: “The origin and growth of the Church are symbolised by the blood and water which flowed from the open side of the crucified Jesus.”