The church as one, diversity on the church, body of Christ, members of the body of Christ, Mystical body of Christ

2.  Come one, come all!
 The Catholic Church spread her
arm out to welcome one and all.
• And you are not alone
• You are call to be one of the many on
the Church that Jesus Christ Himself
found it.
 Today we are going to learn:
“UNITY”
a) How al the baptized are one as
“Mystical Body of Christ”
b) And everyone is welcome!

3.  Let’s start with a little review of The
Nicaea Creed
• that we say every Sunday in Mass.
 Do you remember what the CREED
says about the Church?
 There are 4 words that describe the
Catholic Church:
• We believe in ONE, HOLY, CATHOLIC &
APOSTOLIC CHURCH
(In the last episode we learned about the Church as
APOSTOLIC)

4.  ONE: How a number can possible describe
the Catholic Church?
 Well, by professing that the Catholic
Church is ONE,
• we are professing that all people in the Church
are in UNITY
 “UNITY” one of the Central teaching of the
Faith
• Does this sound familiar?
• What about the Trinity?
• What do we believe about the Trinity?
 UNITY also describes the Most Holy Trinity:
Father, Son and Holy Spirit

5.  God has revealed to us that He
is the Trinity of persons:
• Father, Son, & Holy Spirit united in
ONE Divine Nature.
 So the Unity of the Church is
like the unity of the Trinity.
 And if you don’t have enough
of the Unity yet,
 God wants us in unity with Him
and with each other.

6.  let’s look an example of your own life:
a) Have you ever tried to decide on a gift for
your parents with your brothers or sisters?
b) Or maybe you tried to decide what would you
like to do with your friends
• Isn't hard sometimes to get everyone to want to
do the same thing?
• You may want to do different things like:
 you may want to play video games,
 when your friend want to go outside and play.
c) Or may be another one may want to go to the
park.
 In some way, you have to Unify the group
and come to one decision,
 And then act as One!

7.  At less you get all to go to the park together,
you have unity have unity in your decision.
 Another example of Unity:
• When you and your brothers decide or sisters decide
to clean the house as gift of love for your parents,
that’s an example of unity
• These 2 examples are united by a Goal or an activity,
 In the Church however we are united to God and
to others
• By more than a common goal or share activity
 We are united by something far more exciting!!!
 We are united by Christ Himself; It is his life and
His love that unites us
• And that’s more than an activity or goal

8.  Think about the different body parts
• Not the only ones that you can see like your hands, feet,
• But even the ones you can see; those crucial parts keeping you a
live like: your heart, lungs, even your veins
 Each of these parts of your body have a very important
job:
• To make Your Whole Body run well!
1) First you need your lungs to breath, and your heart to beat,
just to keep you alive
2) Then you need your eyes to see, and your ears to listen
3) Then your brain has to be working to you to understand the
words we say, and to remember what you have learned
 Your whole body get a great work out from watching a
program
 Even though each part is doing something different, it is
very important that they are united.

9.  The Church is also sometimes called the body
of Christ.
• Remember that all Baptized are united by far more
than a common goal or some activity
• We are united by the very life of Christ!
 In fact we are united to Jesus
• We make up his body and He is our head
• His Divine life is constantly being communicated to us
through church (through the Power of the Holy Spirit)
when we receive the Grace of the Sacraments
 Baptism unites us to Christ’s death &
Resurrection
• At Baptism we are united to the Mystical Body of
Christ
• It is through the sacraments that we begin to share
Christ Divine Life

10.  But there is another way in which
we are united to Christ and it is
through the Eucharist!
 When we received to the
Eucharist,
1) It becomes part of your body
2) And you becomes a part of Christ
body
 In the Sacrament of the Eucharist,
Jesus body & blood, soul &
Divinity come into our body, when
we receive Holy Communion.
• We’re united with Jesus in the Whole
Mystical Body of Christ, in a very
unique way, when we receive Holy
Communion.
◦ So not only we are united
to Christ Mystical body, by
our baptism
◦ but we are united to Christ
Sacramentally as well,
through the Eucharist.

11.  Saint Paul had a sense of the Mystical Body of
Christ. Saint Paul love to write letters;
• In his letters he often remains to the early Christians that
they are part of Christ Body.
• Through the letters on the Bible, St. Paul has a lot to
teach us of the Mystical Body of Christ.
 Let’s read the Book of Romans:
“For as in One body we have many parts, and all the
parts do not have the same function,
so we though many, are One Body in Christ and
individually parts of one another”(Romans 12:4-5)
 He teaches the early Church in Romans about the
Unity of the Christians in Christ Body
 Yet they are individual in distinctive roles which is
True today as well.

12.  This time is a letter to the Corinthians; St. Paul teaches
us this time about:
a) The Eucharist ,
b) And the Unity of the Church as the Body of Christ
“The cup of Blessing that we bless is it not a participation
in the blood of Christ?
The bread that we brake is it not a participation in the
body of Christ?
Because the loaf of the bread is One,
we through many, are One Body for we all participated of
the One Loaf”
(1 Corinthians 10:16-17)
 Again he tells us in a different way how although we
are individuals, we are part of the ONE BODY of CHRIST
 What does all of these means?
a) It means that we are all connected
b) We are all Family!

13.  We are all Family!
 And this just doesn’t include those here on
earth,
o But also in includes the souls on heaven and
the souls in Purgatory
 We all share the Divine Life of Christ, who
is our head.
o This give us an amazing Power and Strength
 When you pray, or you suffer, it has
impact in the whole body of Christ,
because our union with Him.
o This can offer great challenges to us to pray
for each other
o And to united our suffering with Christ, that
HE may make it transformed in something
good.

14.  ST. Paul says this in the letter of Col.
“Now I rejoice in my sufferings for our sake,
and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in the
afflictions of Christ on behalf of his body Which is
the Church” (Colossians 1:24)
 So the Catholic Church is the Mystical Body of
Christ
 Can you see the mystical Body of Christ?
• No
• and Yes!
 The Mystical Body of Christ is in some way, is part
of invisible part of the Church
 Although we believe in the bond of Charity and
Love united us in Christ, we can not see it.
 But there is a visible evidence of the charity which
bonds all Baptize together in Christ

15.  In fact there are 3 ways that we can see the
Unity that exist among the members of Christ
Body:
Unity among Christ Body
(1) The Faith we profess
(2) Our Unity under the Pope
(3) The way we worship

16. The Faith We Profess

17.  The Church mission, it is Christ Mission!
• So the Faith she teaches, will be profess every Sunday
on the CREED
• It is what the Church has been teaching for 2000 years.
 These teachings are source of Unity for all those
in the Church.
 First let’s look the 1st visible evidence of Unity in
the Catholic Church
• The Catholic Church is the teacher & guide, but she
does not make things up
 What does she teach?
• Remember, that the Church is on a Mission
• She was will by God to make all man Holy
• and if this is True,
• what she teaches you, is what makes you happy and
Holy!

18.  If you say: “I am Catholic”, I already know that
you believe in what the Church teaches
a) You follow the Church
b) You listen to what she teaches
c) we all believe, what she teaches will lead us to
happiness & holiness
 The Church has kept safe for 2000 yrs, the
teachings that Jesus Himself has given us
• These teachings are true
• In all ages, in all time, the Church has passed on what
Jesus thought
 The Church has existed for almost 2000 yrs. Just
think of all those who have gone before in Faith
• All the Saints that have thought the faith,
• The martyrs who have died for the faith—
• the same Faith with the same teachings that you believe
in, and that I believe in.

19.  It is exciting to think that you believe and profess
the same True of the Faith that martyrs died for,
• in the 1st century for the Church: St. Felicity & St. Perpetua,
etc.
• and in the last century like modern Martyrs: St Maximilian, St
Miguel Pro, etc.
 You profess the exact same faith of missionaries
have thought through the whole world
• Saint Patrick brought the Faith to Ireland
• St. Isaac Jogues Canada & USA
 All of these converters of faith learned the True of
the Faith
 that has not change and continues to be thought
today.

20.  The Doctrine that the Catholic Church
professes has not change,
 and it is visible sing of Unity the Catholics
share
 We all believe the same thing,
• no matter when, or where we live,
• no matter what race, or what language we talk
 In this Unity is a sing that the Catholic
Church is the Church that Jesus found it.
• It is an Universal Church professing the same Faith

22.  An Unity under an authority,
 The authority that Jesus places as His
representatives here on earth is the
POPE
• And although who fills the office of
Papacy may change over the years,
• The office of the Papacy and the authority
of the offices never changes
 The Pope continues to guide the
Church down through the ages.

23.  Let see an example how authority can bring Unity into a group
 In your family God put your parent in charge
• They have authority over you, as your parents, which is good!
• They help you to learn & grow
• and sometimes they have to discipline you, so you will learn what is
right & what is wrong.
 The authority of your parents over you is given for them by God
• Because God love you,
• and God wants you to be guided into becoming a great saint.
 In a very similar way, The Papacy of the Church is like the parents
in a family
 The Pope guides the faithful to continues to grow in great
holiness
 And the faithful are united under the Pope.

24. The Way we Worship
1) The Sacraments
2) And The Liturgy

25.  UNITY is express in the way in which we worship
• Primary in the Liturgy
• and the Sacraments
 So lets begin with the Sacraments:
• Baptism,
• Confirmation,
• Penance or Reconciliation,
• Eucharist,
• Holy Orders, Marriage,
• and Anointing of the Sick.
 The 7 Sacraments United us as One, because
• they are the way in which we worship God,
• and we receive His Divine Life, or what is called GRACE.
 Christ acts through the Sacraments by the Power
of The Holy Spirit

26.  Baptism is a very important sacrament,
a) Not only does it wash away the Original sin
b) and makes us Children of The One Father in
Heaven
c) But through Baptism you are welcome into the
Church and become a member of the Body of
Christ.
 From the early Church, Baptism was recognize
as uniting all Christians as brother and sisters.
 Saint Paul in another letter remains Ephesians
of their unity:
“… as you were also called to the One Hope of
your call:
One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism
One God and Father of all, who is over all and
through all and in all.”

27.  The others sacraments are source of unity
as well
 The Celebration of the Eucharist sharing in
the One Body of Christ unites all members
of the Mystical Body of Christ.
 Part of the conversion of Saint Elizabeth Ann
into the Catholic Church
• It was her believe in the real present of Jesus in
the Eucharist.
• She long receive Jesus in the Eucharist, knowing
He was present Body, Blood, Soul & Divinity
• She had such a deep devotion to the Eucharist

28.  Other than the Sacraments,
there are other ways, the Church is unify:
 The Church is Unify through WORSHIP
 The Celebration of Day, can be a sing of Unity as
well
 Just think, when celebrate Christmas here in USA,
people are celebrating Christmas
• in Australia, China, Philippines, Russia, and everywhere you
can think of
• Not just Christmas, but Lent Day, The Feast of the Saints
• And next day, and next day;
 This is the “Liturgical Calendar”
 The Liturgical Calendar is and example of Unity
through the Liturgy,
 Particularly the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

29.  The Mass is a Public Prayer of the Church,
participating a the Sacrifice of Christ on the Cross
 If you enter Church in your own Parish, cross
town, or cross country, or cross the world,
you will experience the same Sacrifice of the Mass
 There are different Rites in the Universal Church
 But Everyone participates in the same sacrament
 May be, it may express differently, in things like:
prayers, the hymns, gestures or vestments

30.  Can you name some rites?
 We will name couple, but there are more:
a) The Latin Rite
b) The Byzantine Rite
c) Coptic Rite
 This shows the beautiful diversity in the One Body of Christ.

31.  Even though the characteristic of the
Church is Unity,
 It doesn’t mean that everyone is the
same
 Sometimes it is easy to get the wrong
ideas that,
• that UNITY means UNIFORMITY
• That you have to be same as everyone else.
 In fact, being the same, is not what
Unity means at all.
 A part of Unity: is that the individual
characteristics that God gave you (as a
unique human being)
 can contribute to the beauty of the
whole Church.

32.  Just think about the saints, none one of
them was just like the other.
 We are all individuals who God has
called to holiness.
• Our unique talents and gifts give the
Church something no one else can give.
 Saints are obedient, and they love the
Church,
 but they give their unique gifts as
individuals, that God crated them to
be.
 This builds up the whole Body of
Christ.

34. 1.Who is the head of the Mystical Body of
Christ— The Church?
• Jesus is the head of the Church, and we are the
members of his Body—the Church
2.What are the 3 visible sings of unity in the
Church?
1) Unity of Faith (what we believe)
2)Unity of under the Pope (authority)
3)Unity in worship

35. 3.What Sacrament strengthens the Unity of
the members of the Body of Christ?
• The Eucharist
• By the Power of the Holy Spirit, the
Eucharist give us Grace
• The Holy Spirit make Jesus present Body,
Blood, Soul and Divinity in the Eucharist.
4.What Biblical writer has lots to say about
the Body of Christ, in his letters?
• Saint Paul

36.  Just like in a Human Body there are
many parts that make up the One
body
• Each of this part is important,
• and it is important that they do their job.
 In the Mystical Body of Christ each
person is called, through their
Baptism,
• to be a member of the Body of Christ
• Under Christ—the head
 This is our foundation of our Unity in
Christ.