THE TRUE CHURCH FOUNDED BY JESUS CHRIST

I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth.                                                                                                                                                         I believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son, Our Lord, Who was conceived of the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, was Crucified,  and Resurrected.                                                                                                                                             I believe in the Holy Spirit.                                                                                                                      I believe in the Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.                                                                                                                                                      I believe in the resurrection of the body.                                                                                          
I believe in life everlasting,    Amen.

65/Catholic Church 1 ….THE TRUE CHURCH FOUNDED BY JESUS CHRIST

The Church is born of God

“CHRIST” is the head of the body, the CHURCH, (Col.1,18). Humanity is called and invited by God to gather around, His Son.  In this way,  Christ’s Body is formed from the multitude of believers, with Him as their Head” “for it has pleased the Father, to unite all things in Him.” (Eph.1, 4 – 5, 10)

The Church:  Sign and Instrument of the love of God.
The Church therefore comes from God, and as such she is the Sacrament            ( + sign and instrument) of Christ for the salvation of mankind.  The Church brings about:
a)     The intimate union of humanity with God, since it is the Body of Christ, the Head, (Col. 1, 18);  and
b)    The unity of the human race, since she gathers together “peoples from every nation, race, tribe and language.” (Rev. 7,9)

So the Church is the visible expression and sign  of the love of God for  humanity.  Its birth and growth are discerned symbolically in the Blood and Water which flowed from the side of Christ nailed to the Cross (Jn. 19, 34).  Indeed the Church, as the New Ark of Salvation, was born of the Heart of Jesus, the most eloquent symbol of the love of God for men.    /CC 2

 What does “church” mean, and denote ?
The word ‘church’ is derived from the Greek word ‘ekklesia’, it means “to convoke”, “to call together”.   “Church” indicates religious assembly, a congregation.

Among Christians, “ekklesia”  (church) came to denote the churches or local communities of believers.  The communities of Christians in Jerusalem and Antioch, were called “churches” (Acts 11, 22;  13,1).
“Church” has the same meaning for St.Paul who writes: “to the church of God which is in Corinth” (1Cor. 1,2;  2Cor. 1,1), and “to the church of Galatia”      (Gal. 1,2).

Furthermore, “ekklesia” (church) in the New Testament, denotes the whole body of the disciples of Christ.  In fact St.Pauls peaks of the whole church as being “the Body of Christ”  (Col. 1, 18).  In Ephesians the Apostle says that “Christ loved the ‘Church’ and gave up Himself for her (5,25).  In this same sense,  Christcalls ‘church’ the whole multitude of His disciples, who will have peter as their foundation-rock (Mt. 16, 16 – 18).


Extracts by kind permission of HG Mons. Sylvester Magro ofm, Bishop of Benghazi.