As I expressed in the last issue of this article, the call to holiness is also a call to be church. I further suggested that to be church also means to be community. I would now like to suggest that to be church means to be in communion with God and others. I would like to share some more thoughts about
CHURCH AS COMMUNION.
The image of the Church as communion has the value of connecting truths about the church in a fruitful and harmonious manner. I would offer this definition of the Church as Communion. It is the one that the Catholic Church has set forth in its Adult Catechism.
The Church as Communion is our loving fellowship and union with Jesus and other baptized Christians in the Church, the Body of Christ, which has its source and summit in the celebration of the Eucharist by which we are joined in divine love to the communion of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
What is implicit in this definition is the fact that we must be in communion with others so that we can be in communion with the Holy Trinity. The Church brings God’s creation together: God + Others + Us = Church. We cannot truly be in communion with God if we are not in communion with others, especially those who are baptized and believe as we do. The Church, the Body of Christ, is the assembly of people gathered into her by Baptism, and their participation in the Eucharist which opens our minds and hearts to the Trinity, which is a loving communion of divine persons. In this communion of the Church, the members are called to love God, others, and self and so to be a communal witness of the love by which Christ saved the world. By divine love, we are joined to the communion of the Trinity.
At the center of the Gospel message is God’s desire to share the communion of Trinitarian life with us. Jesus came to invite everyone to participate in the loving communion that Father, Son and Spirit have with each other. All creation is meant to show us the Trinity’s plan of love for us. Everything Jesus did points to this goal.
Does this mean that we only have to love those who are Christian? Absolutely not. We join in community with those who are Christian to gain the strength and courage to unconditionally love all others. The problem is that if people do not believe as we do they may not be aware of the real necessity to be in communion with others. This does not exempt us, however, from being in communion with all.