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JMJ
The second Mark of the Church is that She is "Holy". At this point I personally know that there are Traditionalists who will point (metaphorically) at the Clown Masses etc and say "That isn't Holy".
Yep they're right, but that isn't a reflection on the part of the Dogma of the Church.
P^3
"Holy"
Catechism of the Council of Trent (aka The Roman Catechism)
The second mark of the Church is holiness, as we learn from these words of the Prince of the Apostles: You are a chosen generation, a holy nation. The Church is called holy because she is consecrated and dedicated to God; for so other things when set apart and dedicated to the worship of God were wont to be called holy, even though they were material. Examples of this in the Old Law were vessels, vestments and altars. In the same sense the first-born who were dedicated to the Most High God were also called holy.
It should not be deemed a matter of surprise that the Church, although numbering among her children many sinners, is called holy. For as those who profess any art, even though they depart from its rules, are still called artists, so in like manner the faithful, although offending in many things and violating the engagements to which they had pledged themselves, are still called holy, because they have been made the people of God and have consecrated themselves to Christ by faith and Baptism. Hence, St. Paul calls the Corinthians sanctified and holy, although it is certain that among them there were some whom he severely rebuked as carnal, and also charged with grosser crimes.
The Church is also to be called holy because she is united to her holy Head, as His body; that is, to Christ the Lord,' the fountain of all holiness, from whom flow the graces of the Holy Spirit and the riches of the divine bounty. St. Augustine, interpreting these words of the Prophet: Preserve my soul, for I am holy," thus admirably expresses himself: Let the body of Christ boldly say, let also that one man, exclaiming from the ends of the earth, boldly say, with his Head, and under his Head, I am holy; for he received the grace of holiness, the grace of Baptism and of remission of sins. And a little further on: If all Christians and all the faithful, having been baptised in Christ, have put Him on, according to these words of the Apostle: "As many of you as have been baptised in Christ, have put on Christ"; if they are made members of his body, and yet say they are not holy, they do an injury to their Head, whose members are holy.
Moreover, the Church alone has the legitimate worship of sacrifice, and the salutary use of the Sacraments, which are the efficacious instruments of divine grace, used by God to produce true holiness. Hence, to possess true holiness, we must belong to this Church. The Church therefore it is clear, is holy, and holy because she is the body of Christ, by whom she is sanctified, and in whose blood she is washed.
16. The Sanctity of the Church
Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma - Ott
Tradical Note: I don't have time to completely clean up the 'interpretations' of the text by Adobe acrobat. If a reader really wants to dig into this topic, please refer to the above link.
Sanctity in a creature means attachtnent to God. A distinction is nlade between subjective or personal, and objective or lllaterial sanctity. Subjective sanctity consists, as to the ne~ative side, in freedom from sin; as to the positivt" side', in the supernatural attachment to God through grace and charity. Objective sanctity belongs to persons and things that are permanently devoted to the service of God or that operate the san.ctification ofmen.
1. Sanctity as an Essential Attribute of the Church
The Church founded by Christ is holy. (De fide.)
In the Apostles' Creed the Church confesses: Credo in ... sanctatll Ecclesiam (D 2). The Vatican Council inlputes to the Church: cc a pre-eillinent sanctity and an inexhaustible fruitfuhless in all good thin~" (1) 'I 794). Pius XII comments in the Encyclical " Mystici Corporis": 'Certainly oUt holy Mother shows herself without stain in the Sacraments with which sl1\: begets and nurtures her children; in the faith which she preserves ever inviolate; in the holy laws which she imposes on all and in the evangelical counsels by \vhich she admonishes; and, finally, in the heavenly gifts andmiraculous powers by which out of her inexhaustible fecundity she begets countless hosts of martyrs, virgins, and confessors."
The Church is holy in her origin, her purpose, her means and her fruits.
She is holy in her Founder and Invisible Head ofthe Church, Christ the Lord; in her inner life-principle, the Holy Ghost; in her purpose which is the glory of God and the sanctification ofmen, in the means by which she attains her purpose, in the teaching of Christ with its propositions of faith, conlmandments and counsels concerning morals, in her liturgy especially the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, in her laws, in her institutions, such as the Orders and Congregations, the institutes of education and of charity, in the sacraments, the sacramentals and the liturgical prayers, the gifts of grace and charisma given by the Holy Ghost. Many members of the Church are holy in the ordinary sense of holiness (=-;; possession of the state of grace). The Church has never lacked examples of heroic holiness and marvellous manifestations of holiness. Of the kinds of holiness named, however, only the last tw'o, holiness of the means and heroic holiness of the members, are perceptible to the senses, and only these may bt regarded as notes of the Church of Cbrist.
Proof: Jesus compared the Church to the leaven (Mt. 13, 33) in order to set forth her remoulding and sanctifying pO\\Tcr and task. In the same sense He designates His disciples: " the salt of the earth" (Mt. 5, 13), and: " the light of the world" (Mt. 5, 14). St. Paul addresses the Christians as "saints" : "Those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints" (I Cor. I, 2). He calls individual conunWlitics as well as the whole Church: Church of "God" (I Cor. I, 2; 1 Tim. 3, IS). As the purpose of the escablishment of the Church, he names the sanctification of her nlclnbers, both negative and positive: "Christ also loved the Church and delivered Hilllself up for it : that He might sanctify it, cleansing it by the laver of water in the word of life; that He nlight present it to I-Ihnself, a glorious Church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish" (Eph. 5, 25-27). C( Tit. 2, 14. The hierarchy and the extraordinary gifts of grace serve "the perfecting of the saints" according to the model of Christ (Eph. 4, 11-13). The nlost profound source of holiness of the Church and the power of holiness ind\vclling in her lies in her intimate relation \vith Christ and with the Holy Ghost; she is the Body of Christ which is permeated and animated by His Spirit (I Cor. 12, 12 et seq.).
In the defensive struggl~ against paganism, the early Christian Apologists proudly point to the sublimity of the Christian teaching on faith and mor.lIs. and emphasise the moral reformation which the Christian religion effected. Cf. Aristides, Apol. IS-I7; St. Justin, Apol. I 14-17, 23-29. Athenagoras, Suppl. 31-36; Ep. ad Diogn. S. et seq. According to Origen, " the comlnwuties of God to which Christ has become teacher and educator are, in conlparison \vith the comnlunities of the pagan peoples, among \vhich they live as strangers, like heavenly lights in the world" (C. eels. III 29; ct. I 26. Cf. St. Augustine, Sermo 214, II).
St. Thomas establishes the sanctity ofthe Church on the sanctity ofher ulembers, who have been washed with the Blood of Christ, anointed with the grace ot the Holy Ghost, consecrated by the indwelling of the most Holy Trinity to be the Temple of God, and sanctified by the invocation of God. Expos. symb. a. 9.
The Church and Sin
Not only those members who are holy but the sinners also belong to the Church. (Sent. certa.)
It does not follow from the holiness of the Church that mortal sirmers thereby cease to be members of the Church, as in early Christian times the Novatianists and the Donatists and in modern times Luther and Quesnel tnaintained. Clemen" XI and Pius VI reject tIus view. 0 1422-28. 1515. Pius XII rejected it anew in the Encyclical " M ystici Corporis" and commented: "Schism, heresy, or apostasy are such of their very nature that they sever a nlan froc the Body ofthe Church; but not every sin, even the most grievous, is ofsuch a kind."
In the Parables of the cockle anlong the wheat Mt. 13, 24-30), of the net, which enmeshes good and bad fish (Mt. 13, 47-50), and of the wise and the foolish virgins (Mt. 25, 1-13), Jesus teaches that good and bad live side by side in the Church, and that the separation will be nlade only at the end of the world, at the General Judgn1cnt. He gives exact indications for the correction of erring brethren. Only when all attenlpts at improving them remain lUlsuccessful, are they to be cast out of the Church (Mt. 18, 15-17). From the apostolic writings it is plain that even in the Primitive Church grave sins occurred, \vhich were not punished always by exclwion from the Cmistian COlllmunion (c£ I Cor. II, 18 ct seq. ; 2 Cor. 12,20 et seq.).
St. Augustine defcuJ<.=d the traditional Church teaching against the Donatists by appealing to the parables ofJesus. Cf. In loan. tr. 6, 12; Enarr. in Ps. 128, 8 ~ Ep. 93, 9, 34. The doctrine that every nlortal sil1l1er ceases to be a nlember of the Church leads to denial of the visibility of (he Church, as the presence or absence of the state of grace is not knowable fronl without. A n10rtal sinner remains within the Church as long as he remains bound at least by Christian faith and Christian hope, with Christ, the Head of the Ivlystical Body. Cf. S. tho III 8, 3 aJ 2.
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