The Mystical Body of Christ
from various sources
Definitions
 The Church, the Mystical Body, partly exists on this earth, and is called the Church Militant, because its members struggle against the world, the flesh and the devil.
The Church
Suffering means the souls in Purgatory.
The Church Triumphant is the Church in heaven.
The unity and cooperation
of the members
of the Church
on earth, in Purgatory, in Heaven is also called the Communion of Saints.
The Communion of
Saints is the spiritual
union which unites the faithful upon earth, the souls in Purgatory and the saints in Heaven in the one Mystical Body, the Church, of which Jesus Christ is the Head, and the participation
of all in the one supernatural life. The saints by their closeness to God obtain of Him many graces and favors for the faithful on earth and the souls in Purgatory; the faithful on earth by their prayers and good works honor and love the saints, and
succor the suffering
souls by their prayers, and the holy sacrifice of
the Mass. The Gospels on every page speak of the kingdom of
God as a divine, spiritual kingdom established by Christ, and united in the bond
of charity. It embraces all the elect on earth and in heaven, even the angels.
Pope Leo XIII, in his
Encyclical on the Holy Eucharist Mirae
caritatis May28,
1902, "For the Communion of Saints is nothing other than a mutual communication
of help, expiation, prayers, benefits
among the faithful; either (1) those who have already attained
the Heavenly fatherland, or (2) are assigned
to atoning fire or (3) are still in
pilgrimage on earth; coalesced into one city, whose Head
is Christ, whose form is charity."
Mystical Body of the Church
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Pentecost - by El Greco -
from Museo del Prado, Madrid
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The Church came into being when Christ died on the Cross, but it was formally inaugurated on Pentecost, when He sent the Holy Spirit as He had promised. Saint Paul speaks of all Christians as members of
Christ, so that
with Him, they form
one Mystical Body (Cf. 1Corinthians
12:12-31; Colossians 1:18; 2:18-20; Ephesians 1:22-23;
3:19; 4:13). Saint Paul did not use the word Mystical. The term "mystical" was developed more recently to bring out the fact that this union
is unique, there is no parallel to it. It is not the same as
the union of a physical body, nor that of a business corporation. "Mystical" was first officially
used in Boniface VIlI's bull, Unam Sanctam, in unfolding the ideas put forth by Saint Paul.
The analogy linking a society to an organism is easily
understood. In every society the constituent individuals are united, as are also the members
of a body, to effect a common end; while the parts they severally play
correspond to the functions of the bodily organs. They form a moral
unity. This, of course, is true of the Church, but the Church has also a unity of a
higher order; it is not merely a moral but a mystical body. This truth, that the Church is part of the Mystical
Body of Christ, all its members being guided and
directed by Christ the Head, is set forth by Saint Paul in various passages, more
especially in Ephesians 4:4-13 (cf. John 15:5-8). The
doctrine may be summarized as follows:
The members of the Church are bound together by a supernatural
life communicated to them by Christ through the sacraments. Christ is the center and source of life to Whom all are united, and Who endows each one with gifts fitting him for his
position in the body. These graces, through which each is equipped for his work, form it into an organized whole,
whose parts are
knit together as though by a system of ligaments and joints.
Through them, too, the Church has its growth and increase, growing in extension as it spreads through the world, and intensively as the individual Christian develops in
himself the likeness of Christ.
In virtue of this union the Church is the fullness or
complement (pleroma) of Christ (Ephesians
1:23). It forms
one whole with Him; and the Apostle even speaks of the Church as "Christ" (1Corinthians
12:12).
This union between Head and members is conserved and nourished by the Holy
Eucharist. Through this sacrament our incorporation into the Body of
Christ is alike outwardly symbolized and inwardly
actualized; "We being many are one bread, one body;
for we all partake of the one bread" (1Corinthians
10:17).
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In this
depiction of the Final Judgement, Jesus sits in judgement of the world and is being handed
a red-hot sword by the angel at the top-right of the painting. |
One of the most thought-provoking passages in the Gospels is that of Our Lord telling about the final
judgement. Men will be separated one
from another as a shepherd separates sheep from goats. The Lord condemns those who did not give Him food when He was hungry, clothing when He was naked, or a visit when He was sick. He tells the nations "In so far as you
did this to one of the least of these brothers, you did it to Me" (Matthew 25:40). Here Christ is identifying Himself with mankind a very real
way. He
says He is
present in His
brothers to such a degree that it is He Who is fed, clothed and visited.
This is a powerful statement, and it sheds light on our understanding of Christ's Mystical Body.
Somehow Christ
dwells in each individual person. This is seen again in the Acts of
the Apostles where Saint Paul hears the words of Christ, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?" (Acts 9:4-5). Paul had
never known Our Lord personally. He was persecuting the Christians. Christ however stated that He Himself was being persecuted. Again, Christ is identifying Himself with men. He is joined to them, a part of them, or rather they are a part of Him.
We, who belong to the Church, are the living parts or members of Christ's
Body. "Christ
is the head of the Church and saves the whole body"
(Ephesians 5:23). Just as Christ is the vine, He is the Head of His
body, giving life to the members and bringing about their salvation. Paul
uses the analogy of the human body in showing that all parts must cooperate for
the good of the
Church: "Not you together are Christ's body; but each of you is a different
part of it" (1Corinthians 12:27).
Some members are apostles, some teachers, but they all form one Body united in Christ.
One of the most important Pauline themes
connecting with the mystical body is that Adam was a type of Christ. In Adam, the whole
human race fell (1Corinthians 15:45). As Adam was
the first head of
mankind, so Christ became the new Head of the entire human race through His victory over Satan, death and sin. When the Second Divine Person became man, all of humanity was elevated.
Christ, being
both true God
and true man manifested His position as Head of the whole human race. And by founding His Church on the Apostles and the Sacraments, He set up a means to incorporate people
into His very life. The Church, then, is the extension of Christ
in time, which reaches out to bring the Redemptive grace to all men.
Speaking of full membership in the Church, Pius XII, in his Encyclical on the Mystical
Body, said it is the society of those who have been baptized, and who profess the faith of
Christ, and who are governed by their bishops under
the visible head, the Pope, the Bishop of Rome.
Scriptural Reference to the Mystical Body of
Christ
 Romans 12:4-5
For as in one body we have many members, and all the members do not have the same
function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of
another.
1 Corinthians 6:15,17
Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? ... But he who is united to the
Lord becomes one spirit with Him.
1 Corinthians 10:16-17
The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The
bread which we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is
one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.
1 Corinthians 12:12-14, 24-27
For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though
many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one
body--Jews or Greeks, slaves or free--and all were made to drink of one Spirit. For the
body does not consist of one member but of many.... But God has so composed the body ...
that there may be no discord in the body, but that the members may have the same care for
one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all
rejoice together. Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.
Ephesians 1:22-23
[God the Father] has put all things under [Christ's] feet and has made him the head over
all things for the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him Who fills all in all.
Ephesians 2:11-16
Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the
flesh, called the uncircumcision by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the
flesh by hands-- remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from
the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and
without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been
brought near in the blood of Christ. For He is our peace, Who has made us both one, and
has broken down the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing in His flesh the law of
commandments and ordinances, that He might create in Himself one new man in place of the
two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross,
thereby bringing the hostility to an end.
Ephesians 4:4,11-13,15-16
There is one body and one Spirit... And His gifts were
that some should be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers,
to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we
all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature
manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ... Rather, speaking the
truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into Him Who is the head, into Christ, from
Whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every joint with which it is supplied,
when each part is working properly, makes bodily growth and upbuilds itself in love.
Ephesians 5:23,29-32
For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the
head of the church, His body, and is Himself its Savior.... For no man ever hates his own
flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, as Christ does the church, because we are members
of His body. "For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined
to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh." This mystery is a profound one, and
I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church...
Colossians 1:18,24
He is the head of the body, the church... Now I rejoice
in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I complete what is lacking in Christ's
afflictions for the sake of His body, that is, the church...
Colossians 3:15
And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which
indeed you were called in the one body.
Acts 9:1-5
But Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the
disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues
at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, men or women, he might bring
them bound to Jerusalem. Now as he journeyed he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light
from heaven flashed about him. And he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him,
"Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me?" And he said, "Who are you,
Lord?" And He said, "I am Jesus, Whom you are persecuting..."
Teachings of the Doctors of the Church
 A study of the Incarnation
could not be complete without reflecting on the doctrine of the Mystical Body of Christ. The Second Divine Person took flesh at one point in history, as we read in the first chapter of Saint John: "And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us" (John 1:14). Without the incarnation, there could be
no Mystical Body.
The one is the source, or prerequisite, for the other. The Mystical Body exists because
the Word has
become man, and
God has willed that the Mystical Body be the extension,
or prolongation, of the Incarnation and the Redemption.
According to Saint Irenaeus, the Body of Christ is
what realizes the will of the Father in men and renews them from their old way into the new life
of Christ. A Pauline
theme which is developed by Irenaeus deals with Christ as the Second Adam. He
writes: "We have offended God in the first Adam...
but we are reconciled through the obedience even unto death of the Second Adam". Adam was the head of the human race and caused its fall from grace, but Christ, the new Head, redeemed all mankind and takes His place as the Head of the Mystical Body.
Saint Cyprian also asserts the
union of all faithful Christians in Christ, a union which is seen in the Church. He writes that. "The Church
is one, with one head and one origin... " (De
Catholicae ecclesiae unitate, 5). This reminds us of Christ's teaching that He is the vine for the branches, that is, the Head and origin of divine life. The
writings of Saint Athanasius bring out a further understanding of the doctrine of the Mystical Body. He says that through the Incarnation and the Redemptive act on Calvary, all men are intimately connected with Christ. The whole human race is elevated and brought into a greater
participation in the supernatural life. In his work against the Arians, Athanasius writes: "For
just as the Word, having assumed a body, became man, so also, we men have been assumed to
the Word through the Flesh, and are made inheritors of eternal life and bearers of God
through Him".
 With the coming of Saint Augustine,
a great advance was made in theology. Our understanding of the Mystical Body was deepened
by his insights and writings. For example, he said that "what the soul is to the body of a man, the Holy Spirit is to Christ's
Body which is the Church." This reaffirms the
teachings of Saint Paul about the Church, but he goes further to state that the Holy
Spirit is "the
soul" of that Body. Here Augustine is speaking analogically.
Both Paul and Augustine recognize that there are many
analogous concepts between the human body and the Church. Based on Paul's teaching, Augustine
is able to develop our understanding of the Mystical
Body and unfold
its deeper implications. He also writes "All men are one man in Christ, and the unity of Christians constitutes
but one man" (In Psalms 39, En. 2). Again, Paul's
teaching that many members make up one body is the foundation
for this point made by Augustine.
Augustine makes an interesting
statement regarding the whole Christ. He writes: "Our Lord Jesus
Christ, like a whole and perfect man, is head and body ... His body is the Church, not
simply the Church that is here in this particular place, but both the Church that is here
and the Church which extends over the whole earth; not simply the Church that is living
today, but the whole race of saints, from Abel down to all those who will ever be born and
believe in Christ until the end of the world, for all belong to one city. This city
is the body of Christ... This is the whole Christ: Christ united with the Church." Augustine uses the term "Church" in the broad
sense. He refers to Her as that which extends through the entire world and that which includes
all the just who ever lived and will ever
live. He describes the Church as one man who reaches unto the end of time. Augustine
stresses the reality that all the members of the Church make up one Body in Christ.
 A few centuries
later, the greatest theologian of the Church, Saint Thomas
Aquinas, builds on the teachings of Augustine. His
writings on the Mystical Body of Christ and the Church are so extensive that it will be possible to mention only a few
here. He writes, "The head and members are as
one mystical person, and therefore Christ's satisfaction belongs to all the faithful and
His members". This question brings up a
recurring theme found in the study of the Incarnate
Word, that is, "solidarity." Because of the
vital intimacy between Christ and His members, there is a principle of solidarity present in the Mystical Body. This solidarity is a communion between two or more people. Saint
Thomas develops the idea of solidarity (unity) between Christ and ourselves: "The members and the head are but one person. Therefore, since
Christ is our Head by reason of His divinity and His superabundant fullness of grace, and
since we are His members, His merit is not something outside us, but it is communicated to
us or flows into us on account of the unity of the Mystical Body".
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