The Catholic
Church is the Mystical Body of Christ
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.
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. St. Paul
speaks of all Christians as members of Christ, so that with Him,
they form one Mystical Body (Cf. 1 Cor 12:12-31; Col 1:18; 2:18-20;
Eph. 1:22-23; 3:19; 4:13). St. Paul did not use the word Mystical.
It 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.
The Church, the Mystical Body, 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. When St. Paul uses the word "Saints" in opening
an Epistle, he does not mean they are morally perfect. He has in
mind Hebrew qadosh, which
means set aside for God, or coming under the covenant. Being such
means of course they are called to moral perfection. But of course,
not all have reached it in this world.
The word "Saint" in the modern sense
means someone who has been canonized by the Church in recent times,
or was accepted as such by the Church in earlier times. If a person
is shown to have practiced heroic virtue--beyond what people in
general do - in all virtues, the title "Venerable" is given; with
two miracles by that one's intercession, the title is "Blessed"; two
more miracles can lead to canonization and the title of Saint.
-by Fr. William G. Most, taken from The Basic Catholic
Catechism (PART FIVE: The Apostles' Creed IX-XII, Ninth Article:
"The Holy Catholic Church; the Communion of Saints")
