So, let me just get right down to it. What is the Church?<\/p>\n
Gauthier:<\/p>\n
Well, on a very simple level it\u2019s easy to start out with, it\u2019s those who have been called. The actual word in Greek for church, ecclesia, means the ones called out. The ones called. It\u2019s the word they used, by the way, that word that we use for the Church in the New Testament, is the word that we used translated in the Old Testament, in the Septuagint version, for the Great Assembly.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s much more that it\u2019s a spiritual reality. When Paul was asked, how do you describe the Church, he said this mystery is profound, I\u2019m saying it refers to Christ in the Church. He\u2019s referring to marriage. His idea was that Christ is … that the Church is Christ\u2019s bride and because it\u2019s His Bride, it\u2019s his body. And not as a metaphor, saying it\u2019s a reality.<\/p>\n
We have, for example, that he\u2019s telling a husband, why do you love your wife? When you love your wife, since you\u2019re one body you\u2019re loving yourself. Everyone loves his own body. This is how Christ feels about the Church.<\/p>\n
So, the understanding is the Church is Christ\u2019s Bride and body. And it\u2019s also the sacramental reality. How do we become part of His actual body? We\u2019re baptized into HIs body. Something that God does. We don\u2019t join the Church. God brings us into His body. It says \u201cfor in one spirit we\u2019re all baptized into one body.\u201d It\u2019s something the Spirit joins us to.<\/p>\n
And then Eucharist, we\u2019re told, that that bond is strengthened. It\u2019s because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread. So, the Church itself … Christ is the manifestation of God, the sacrament of God, the visible … something we can see of an invisible reality. The visible sign of an invisible reality.<\/p>\n
The Church is the sacrament of Christ. Christ is the sacrament of the Father, and where do we see Christ? The Church is the sacrament of Christ. And it\u2019s an effective sign because it not only is made holy, you know, it says \u201cby the washing of water and the word,\u201d but it makes holy through the sacraments.<\/p>\n
Finally, I think an important thing to say is some people look upon the Church as, I love Jesus, it\u2019s just the Church I have no use for. And actually what Paul says, he says of the Church, he describes the Church as the \u201cfullness of Him who fills all in all.\u201d It\u2019s the place we find Jesus at work with all of His power, all of His authority, where Christ is at work in His Spirit.<\/p>\n
After all, where do you look for … the Spirit means \u201cbreath.\u201d In Hebrew and Greek it means breath or wind. So, where do you find the breath? You find it in the body. Where do we find God\u2019s Spirit powerfully at work? We find it in His Church.<\/p>\n