The Church Complete Lesson 21 The Church Is the People of God

Saint Peter's Square from the dome

By valyag (Own work) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)], via Wikimedia Commons

Vatican Council II (1963-1965) teaches us that God does not want to save particular individuals: He wants to save His Family.

“God, however, does not make men holy and save them merely as individuals, without bond or link between one another. Rather has it pleased Him to bring men together as one people, a people which acknowledges Him in truth and serves Him in holiness” (Lumen Gentium # 9).

That People is the Church. Therefore, God’s plans cannot be accomplished without the Church. Saint Peter refers to the Church as “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of his own” (The First Letter of Peter 2, 9). The Apostle completes this idea by saying: “Once you were ‘no people’ but now you are God’s people” (1 Pe 2, 10).

Each of us has become a member of this Holy People through “water and Spirit”(John 3, 5), through Baptism and faith: “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved” (Mark 16,16). “This People has for its Head Jesus the Christ (the anointed, the Messiah). Because the same anointing, the Holy Spirit, flows from the head into the body, this is ‘the messianic people’”(CCC # 782).

The Holy Spirit dwells in each member of this people: each member is like a temple of the Holy Spirit.

“Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” (The First Letter to the Corinthians 3, 16). “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?” (The First Letter to the Corinthians 6, 19).

The Law this People follow is the “new” commandment the Lord gave us: love and charity.

“I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another. This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13, 34-35).

That is the “new law” of the Holy Spirit, the oxygen that gives life to the Body of Christ, to God’s People.

“For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has freed you from the law of sin and death” (The Letter to the Romans 8, 2).

The Mission of this People is to be “the salt of the earth and the light of the world” (Matthew 5, 13-16). This People are the great hope of unity and salvation to the whole of mankind.

“Just so, your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father” (Matthew 5, 16).

The Goal of this People, as the Catechism teaches us, is: “ the Kingdom of God which has been begun by God himself on earth and which must be further extended until it has been brought to perfection by him at the end of time” (CCC # 782) and “that creation itself would be set free from slavery to corruption and share in the glorious freedom of the children of God”(The Letter to the Romans 8, 21).

Professor Felipe Aquino is a widower, father of five children. On TV Canção Nova he presents the program “Escola da Fé” [School of faith] and “Pergunte e Responderemos” [Ask and respond], on Radio he presents the program “in the heart of the Church”. On weekends he preaches deepening meetings throughout Brazil and abroad. He wrote 73 books of Catholic background by publishers, Loyola and Cleopas and Canção Nova. His teacher’s page:www.cleofas.com.br Twitter: @pfelipeaquino