one the Catholic Understanding of the Church What is Christianity all about? What is Catholicism about? Is it only a philosophy of life, a set of teachings to memorize or rules to live by? No, Christianity is not an idea but a reality that exists in human history. Christianity is about a person, Jesus Christ, the "founder" of Christianity; a people that God has formed on the earth; a way of life that God has given his people. This book will look at the nature and the history of the people that God has called forth and formed on the earth: the people of God. How do we know that Christianity and Catholicism are primarily about God's forming a people to be his own? Let us look at the Bible, the inspired written account of God's work and revelation. God's Plan: To Form a People The Old Testament is the story of the people that God was calling forth and teaching in order to bring the human race back into friendship with himself after the rebellion of Adam and Eve. Abraham was the human "father" of this people because of his faithful response to God's call. God entered into a covenant with Abraham, a solemn agreement, which was the basis of the relationship between God and his people. Christians call this covenant with Abraham and the Hebrew (Jewish) people the old covenant because it was later replaced by a new covenant, as was predicted by Jeremiah the prophet: Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant which they broke. .But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it upon their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each man teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, "Know the Lord," for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more. (Jeremiah 31:31-32, 33-34) The Old Testament tells us the story of God's mercy and patience in forming and teaching this old covenant people, called the nation of Israel, or the Jewish people. The prophet Jeremiah reminds us, however, that this old covenant was limited and imperfect. The way of life that God gave the people of the old covenant was expressed in the Law, especially the Ten Commandments, which God gave the people through Moses; but the people often broke the Law because it was only external; it was not "written upon their hearts." The old covenant was not the final plan of God. God was preparing the people of the old covenant for something else- something better. God was preparing them for the coming of the Messiah, the "anointed one" of God who would establish the new covenant, which would bring God's work to completion and fulfillment. The New Testament continues the story of God's forming a people, the people of God of the new covenant. God had a tremendous surprise for his people. The Messiah that the people of the old covenant awaited was not to be an ordinary human being or even a divine messenger like an angel. The Messiah of Israel would be God the Son, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, who would assume our human nature and live among us as a man-Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus was the Christ, the Messiah, the Savior sent by God the Father to bring the old covenant to completion and to form a new people, the people of the new covenant. At his Last Supper with his apostles, Jesus took the cup of wine and said, "This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood" (Luke 22:20). Jesus' blood, shed on the cross of Calvary, sealed and began a new covenant, a new relationship between God and man. The blood of Jesus shed on the cross brought forgiveness for all the sins of humankind. As the prophet Jeremiah said, "I [God] will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more" (Jeremiah 31:34). The death and resurrection of Jesus began the life of a new people of God, the people of the new covenant. This people believed that Jesus was truly the Savior sent by God; they believed that God had confirmed this by raising Jesus from death-by the Resurrection. This people then received new life through the Holy Spirit, whom Jesus had promised to send to them. Jesus said: "I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come" (John 16:12-13). The fulfillment of Jesus' promise to send the Holy Spirit came on the Day of Pentecost, a major Jewish feast, when 120 followers of Jesus were praying together in Jerusalem, and the Holy Spirit rested on each of them like "tongues as of fire" (Acts 2:3). This was the fulfillment of Jeremiah's prophecy that God's law would be put within them and "written upon their hearts." As the apostle Paul wrote to the church in Rome, "The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free from the law of sin and death" (Romans 8:2). The Holy Spirit also enables the new people of God to know God personally and to understand his will and guidance from within, rather than as an external set of rules. Truly, the people of God who have received Jesus' promise of the Holy Spirit have no need to ask others, "Who is God?" for they all know God, from the least of them to the greatest, as Jeremiah prophesied (see Jeremiah 31:34). God's New Covenant People: The Church The Church is the people of God of the new covenant! They are the ones who believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Christ, the Son of God who was raised from the dead. They are the people who have received the Holy Spirit, the Third Person of God, into their hearts and through the Spirit have the life and power of God within them. What is the name of this new people of God? The New Testament calls the followers of Jesus "the saints" (see Ephesians 1:1; Philippians 1:1; Colossians 1:2), "God's beloved" (Romans 1:7), "Christians" (Acts 11:26) and followers of "the Way" (Acts 19:23). However, the most common name for God's people of the new covenant, the name that has lasted over many centuries, is the Church. Although the word church is found most frequently in the Acts of the Apostles and the various letters of the New Testament, even Jesus is reported to have used this word for his people. We read in the Gospel of Matthew Jesus' words to Peter: "And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the powers of death [literally, 'the gates of hades'] shall not prevail against it" (Matthew 16:18). Jesus called the Church "my church." He is the founder of the Church. He said the Church would never be destroyed: "The powers of death shall not prevail against it." Why? Because Jesus promised to remain with his Church until the end of time. Jesus assured his apostles immediately before his ascension into heaven, "I am with you always, to the close of the age" (Matthew 28:20). Jesus will never leave or abandon his Church because he loves it to the point of dying for it on the cross. The Letter to the Ephesians beautifully tells us of the love of Christ for the Church when it speaks of the Church as the "bride of Christ": For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior.. Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her ., that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.. This mystery is a profound one, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. (Ephesians 5:23, 25-27, 32) The fulfillment of Jesus' work of preparing his bride, the Church, for himself is described in the book of Revelation. Christ, the Lamb of God, weds his bride, the Church, at the end of time: "'The marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; it was granted her to be clothed with fine linen, bright and pure'-for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints" (Revelation...
