The Church
TUESDAY FAITH FORMATION - HANDOUT SESSION 6
Formation for Mission
PORTSMOUTH DIOCESE
ALL QUOTES FROM THE CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
Copyright © Libreria Editrice Vaticana / www.vatican.va
SCRIPTURE The CTS New Catholic Bible
The Church: the work of the Trinity
CCC 737: The mission of Christ and the Holy Spirit is brought to completion in the Church:
the Body of Christ and the Temple of the Holy Spirit.
Christ’s faithful share in His communion with the Father in the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit
• prepares the faithful, going out to them with grace and drawing them to Christ;
• manifests the Risen Lord to them, recalls His words, and gives them understanding;
• makes present the mystery of Christ, supremely in the Eucharist;
• brings them into communion with God, reconciling and bringing forth fruit.
CCC 738: The Church is the sacrament of the mission of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit:
to announce, bear witness, make present and spread the mystery of communion.
CCC 739: The Holy Spirit is the anointing of Christ. Christ, as Head of the Body, pours out the Spirit
• to nourish
• to heal
• to organize the members of the Body in their mutual functions.
CCC 743 From the beginning to the end of time, whenever the Father sends his Son,
He always sends his Spirit: their mission is conjoined and inseparable.
The Church has her origin in the Holy Trinity and is progressively realized in history.
CCC 759: A plan born in the Father’s heart
CCC 760: The Church was foreshadowed from the world’s beginning: God created the world for the
sake of communion.
CCC 761: The Church was prepared for in the Old Covenant.
CCC 762, 766: The Church was instituted by Jesus Christ in His total self-giving.
CCC 765: He endowed her with a structure, based upon the Twelve Apostles.
CCC 767: On the day of Pentecost, the Church was revealed and openly displayed by the Holy Spirit,
who was poured out to continually sanctify her.
CCC 768: The Holy Spirit endows the Church’s members with hierarchical and charismatic gifts.
CCC 769: The Church will be perfected in glory at the time of Christ’s glorious return
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The Church: Sacrament of Salvation
The Mystery of the Church
The Church exists in and transcends time
It is only with “the eyes of faith” that one can see her
in her visible and spiritual reality as the bearer of divine life
CCC 770
The Church is both visible and spiritual
Christ established and sustains His holy Church here on earth
His holy Church is a community of faith, hope and charity
His holy Church is a visible organisation through which He communicates truth and grace to all men.
CCC 771
The Church is
a society structured with hierarchical organs and the mystical body of Christ;
- the visible society and spiritual community;
- the earthly Church and the Church endowed with heavenly riches.”
LG 8; CCC 771
The Church is - the mystery of man’s union with God
In the Church Christ fulfills and reveals the purpose of God’s plan: “to unite all things in Him.” Eph 1:10
CCC 772-4
-the universal Sacrament of Salvation
The saving work of Christ’s holy and sanctifying humanity is the sacrament of salvation
CCC 774
The Church ... a sacrament of salvation
Human Outward sign = unity among all men
Divine Inward grace = communion with God
CCC 775
Christ is ..“at once manifesting and actualizing the mystery of God’s love for men.”
CCC776
The Church
- The People of God
- made holy by the blood of Christ
- made out of all nations
- “born anew of water and the Spirit”
- sons of God and temples of the Holy Spirit
- loving each other as Christ has loved us
- being salt to the earth and light of the world
- whose destiny is the Kingdom of God
CCC 782
(Full Content: CCC770-801)
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The Four marks of the Church
866 The Church is one: she acknowledges one Lord, confesses one faith, is born of one Baptism, forms
only one Body, is given life by the one Spirit, for the sake of one hope (cf. Eph 4:3-5), at whose fulfillment
all divisions will be overcome.
867 The Church is holy: the Most Holy God is her author; Christ, her bridegroom, gave himself up to make
her holy; the Spirit of holiness gives her life. Since she still includes sinners, she is "the sinless one made
up of sinners." Her holiness shines in the saints; in Mary she is already all-holy.
868 The Church is catholic: she proclaims the fullness of the faith. She bears in herself and administers
the totality of the means of salvation. She is sent out to all peoples. She speaks to all men. She
encompasses all times. She is "missionary of her very nature" (AG 2).
869 The Church is apostolic. She is built on a lasting foundation: "the twelve apostles of the Lamb" (Rev
21:14). She is indestructible (cf. Mt 16:18). She is upheld infallibly in the truth: Christ governs her through
Peter and the other apostles, who are present in their successors, the Pope and the college of bishops.
870 "The sole Church of Christ which in the Creed we profess to be one, holy, catholic, and apostolic, . . .
subsists in the Catholic Church, which is governed by the successor of Peter and by the bishops in
communion with him. Nevertheless, many elements of sanctification and of truth are found outside its
visible confines"(LG 8)
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