The Church Complete—Lesson 4: God Sent Jesus and Jesus Sent the Church

The Church is direct consequence of the Mystery of Incarnation and its continuation.

Many people want to say YES to the Christ and NO to the Church though this attitude affects the very identity of Christianity. The Church and Her directives were instituted by the will of the Christ as the continuation of the Word of God Made Flesh; as such, the Church became the privileged meeting point between mankind and the Christ, and consequently between mankind and the Father.

People who ask: “Why the Church?” make the same mistake of those who ask: “Why the Christ?” Christ came from the Father and left His Church on earth to mankind. The Father sent Jesus in order to save the world, and the Christ in His turn sent the Church to mankind. “As the Father has sent me, so I send you” (John, 20, 21).

Many people want the Church to be a “modern democracy” wherein all issues are decided by the will of the majority. The Church would therefore be a great Religious Club, with easily assimilated and “flexible” rules. The consequence – and the big mistake – is that men in that case would be guided exclusively by themselves and not by God. “The Church of the living God” (1 Timothy 3,15) would not exist anymore.

The fact that the Sacred Tradition originated in the Christ and the Apostles guides the Church is the guarantee that Jesus Himself, present in the Church, guides Her.

The first “Sacrament”, the foundation, is the Most Sacred Humanity of Jesus Christ, through which (His acts and words) God poured His grace over mankind. The Church is the continuation of that “Sacrament”; that is the reason why Saint Paul calls the Church “The Body of the Christ” (Colossians 1, 24).

The ultimate expressions of that Sacrament “Christ – Church” are the seven Sacraments that lead men toward salvation, from birth to death. There can be no Sacrament without the Church; hence there can be no salvation. One can thus clearly infer that the Church is as essential to Christianity as the mystery of the Incarnation of God’s Word.

Christianity without the Church instituted by the Christ (Matthew 16,16) onto Peter and the Apostles is equivalent to a mutilated Christ, a beheaded Christ…

This Church is the only and unique Church: it is the Catholic (which means Universal) Apostolic and Roman Church.

Professor Felipe Aquino é viuvo, pai de cinco filhos. Na TV Canção Nova, apresenta o programa “Escola da Fé” e “Pergunte e Responderemos”, na Rádio apresenta o programa “No Coração da Igreja”. Nos finais de semana prega encontros de aprofundamento em todo o Brasil e no exterior. Escreveu 73 livros de formação católica pelas editoras Cléofas, Loyola e Canção Nova. Página do professor: www.cleofas.com.br Twitter: @pfelipeaquino