Week 19: Passages 863- 900

I’m back! I am going to tell you why I haven’t been blogging, but I have to whisper as there are certain relatives who haven’t been filled in yet. So gather in…
{My husband and I are blessed to be expecting a new little baby due in March! We are so excited, but I have been very sick and tired with morning sickness that lasts all day. It is getting better now though, so I hope to be able to keep up with blogging again.}
I also want to encourage anyone who has fallen away from doing the readings, to just jump back in where we are! Think about it, even if you don’t get through the whole Catechism, any reading is going to beneficial, and it makes it more fun if I have company!

This week we read passages 863-900.

The Church is Apostolic
The Church remains true to the faith of her origins, handed down from Peter and the Apostles and it is her mission to go out into the world. All Christians share in this mission. The fruitfulness of this apostolate depends on a deep union with Christ.
The Church is one, holy, catholic, and apostolic because it is in her that the kingdom of heaven already exists and will be fulfilled at the end of time.

“The kingdom has come in the person of Christ and grows mysteriously in the
hearts of those incorporated into him, until its full eschatological
manifestation. Then all those he has redeemed and made ‘holy and blameless
before him in love,’ will be gathered together as one People of God, the ‘Bride
of the Lamb,’ ‘the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God,
having the glory of God.’ For ‘the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and
o them the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.’” (CCC 865)

Paragraph 4. Christ’s Faithful – Hierarchy, Laity, Consecrated Life
The Christian faithful all participate in the building up of the body of Christ. There are differences between members, but they all share one unified mission. The apostles and their successors are entrusted with teaching, sanctifying and governing in Christ’s name. The laity have their own assignment, they are made to share in the priestly, prophetical, and kingly office of Christ. In addition some from both groups are consecrated to God in their own special manner.
I. The Hierarchical Constitution of the Church
Why the ecclesial ministry?
No one can believe in the Gospel without first hearing it. No one can bestow grace unto himself. Thus Christ authorized his ministers to act in persona Christi Capitis. The ministry by which God’s grace is given is called a “sacrament”. The ecclesial ministry has several characteristics: a character of service, a collegial character, and a personal character.
The Episcopal college and its head, the Pope
When Christ instituted the Twelve, he set Peter apart and gave him the keys of his Church. The Pope and the Bishops are the successors of the apostles.

“The Pope, Bishop of Rome and Peter’s successor, ‘is the perpetual and visible
source and foundation of the unity both of the bishops and of the whole company
of the faithful.’” (CCC 882)

The teaching office
The Bishops, with priests as co-workers, have as their first task to preach the Gospel to all men. In order to preserve the purity of the faith Christ granted the Magisterium the charism of infallibility in matters of faith and morals.
The sanctifying office
The Bishop is the steward of grace, particularly in the Eucharist which he offers personally or through his co-worker priests. The Eucharist is the center of life of the particular church. The bishop and priests sanctify the church through their prayer, work and example.
The governing office
The Bishops govern the particular Churches assigned to them by counsels, exhortations, and example, but above all the authority of sacred power. Bishops should follow the model of the Good Shepherd, and their authority must be in communion with the Pope.
II. The Lay Faithful
The vocation of lay people

“’By reason of their special vocation it belongs to the laity to seek the
kingdom of God by engaging in temporal affairs and directing them according to
God’s will…It pertains to them in a special way to illuminate and order all
temporal things with which they are closely associated that these may always be
effected and grow according to Christ and may be to the glory of the Creator and
Redeemer.’” (CCC 898)

Lay Christians are particularly responsible for permeating social, political, and economic spheres with the demands of Christian doctrine and life.
Lay Christians have the right and duty to spread the divine message of salvation. They are essential to the ecclesial community, without them the apostolate of the pastors would not be effective.

Question for reflection:
How can we live out this charge from CCC 898 to “illuminate and order all temporal things with which [we] are closely associated that these may always be effected and grow according to Christ and may be to the glory of the Creator and Redeemer”?