Day 112: The Church Is the Bride (792-796)

• It’s Day 112!!

• CHRIST IS THE HEAD OF THIS BODY

• SO SO IMPORTANT!!

• Paragraph 793 says, “Christ unites us with his Passover…”

• Paragraph 794 says, “Christ provides for our growth…”

• Paragraph 795 says, “Christ and his Church make up the ‘whole Christ’...”

• THAT IS REALLY REALLY IMPORTANT!!

• The Head is truly Jesus

• The Body is truly Christ

• BUT…

• At the most profound depths of what the Body of Christ is…

• Is the Head and Body united

• THE WHOLE CHRIST

• There are a number of quotes from different Saints in Paragraph 795

• THEY ARE INCREDIBLE!!

• THE CHURCH IS THE BRIDE OF CHRIST

• Paragraph 796 says, “The Lord referred to himself as the ‘bridegroom.’”

• His people would be considered HIS BRIDE

• Think about how in the Old Testament that IDOLATRY was akin to ADULTERY

• Jesus is the BRIDEGROOM

• The Church is the BRIDE

• When we are faithful, we are living this faithful covenantal relationship

• When we are unfaithful, it’s not just slipping up

• It is PERSONAL BETRAYAL against our Bridegroom since we are His Bride

• CHRIST IS THE HEAD OF THE BODY

• THE CHURCH IS THE BRIDE OF CHRIST

• So let’s say a prayer!!

Prayer by Fr. Mike: “Father in Heaven, we praise you and give you glory. In the name of your Son Jesus Christ, we ask you to please receive our praise. Receive our thanksgiving. And also, Lord God, hear our prayers. Hear our prayers as a broken body. Hear our prayers as a hurting body. Hear our prayers as your Bride who so often we have fickle hearts, so often we don’t live as your faithful Bride. And yet you keep calling us back to yourself. You keep being a faithful Bridegroom. You keep being a faithful God, and Father, Brother, and Lover. We thank you so much, God. Thank you so much for loving us and for being faithful even when we are not. Help us to choose you this day and every day of our lives. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen”

• So there we are!!

• CHRIST IS THE HEAD OF THIS BODY

• Paragraph 792 says, “[Jesus] is the principle of creation and redemption. Raised to the Father’s glory, ‘in everything he [is] preeminent,’ especially in the Church, through whom he extends his reign over all things.”

• Why is that the case?

• Remember Matthew’s Gospel

• The refrain Jesus is constantly proclaiming is “THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN IS AT HAND.”

• That means the REIGN OF GOD IS AT HAND

• How does the grace of Jesus Christ that He won for us through His life, Death, and Resurrection come to us?

• THROUGH HIS CHURCH!!

• THROUGH HIS BODY ON EARTH!!

• THROUGH THE HOLY SPIRIT THAT HE HAS GIVEN TO US!!

• As often as the Church continues to grow and bring God’s Grace to the world, Christ’s preeminence is made present and real on this Earth

• THAT IS SO IMPORTANT!!

• Paragraph 793 says, “Christ unites us with his Passover: all his members must strive to resemble him, ‘until Christ be formed’ in them. ‘For this reason we…are taken up into the mysteries of his life,...associated with his sufferings as the body with its head, suffering with him, that with him we may be glorified.’”

• WOW!!

• WHAT A MASSIVE CALL!!

• Our lives need to be patterned after the life of Jesus

• Not to say we have to all live in the Middle East

• BUT…

• We have to live those VIRTUES that Jesus lived

• We have to have the same kind of HEART that Jesus had

• We have to unite OUR sufferings with HIM

• We are the BODY OF CHRIST

• When we suffer, it gives God GLORY

• This is the mystery

• We will talk about the mystery of suffering later

• Remember that Jesus Christ accomplished the salvation of the world THROUGH HIS SUFFERING

• AND THROUGH DYING

• AND THROUGH CONQUERING DEATH THROUGH HIS RESURRECTION

• If we are the Body of Christ then we suffer WITH HIM

• We also experience glory with Him as well

• It has often been said, “No cross, no crown”

• There is no glorification or Resurrection unless there is the suffering and death

• We are not called to say we belong to the Church

• We are called to ENTER INTO HIS LIFE DEATH AND RESURRECTION IN OUR LIVES

• We don’t do this on our own…

• Paragraph 794 says, “Christ provides for our growth: to make us grow toward him, our head, he provides in his Body, the Church, the gifts and assistance by which we help one another along the way of salvation.”

• SO SO IMPORTANT!!

• We have this MASSIVE CALL

• We aren’t just members of this club

• We have been brought into this relationship where we have been configured to Jesus SO FULLY we are not just made Christians

• In this MYSTERIOUS WAY we have been made CHRIST HIMSELF

• THIS IS SO INCREDIBLE!!

• The first Christians in the early centuries of Christianity saw an unbreakable and indispensable union between belonging to Christ and belonging to the Church

• St. Joan of Arc was on trial by church and government officials

• It was a mess

• The Church is not guiltless

• Yes the Church is the Bride of Christ and the Body of Christ

• Those who hear the Church hear Jesus Christ

• At the same time…

• There has been some great messiness in the Church

• St. Joan of Arc is on this quasi Church and quasi civil trial

• She is being examined and cross examined

• They asked her about the Church and Jesus

• This woman has been unjustly tried by this unjust church court

• St. Joan of Arc says in Paragraph 795, “About Jesus Christ and the Church, I simply know they’re just one thing, and we shouldn’t complicate the matter.”

• SO SIMPLE!!

• SO POWERFUL!!

• For anyone who has been hurt by members of the Church or the institution of the Church, to have that same kind of faith as St. Joan of Arc

• As she is facing execution and death she is able to declare that

• WHAT A GREAT WITNESS TO FAITH!!

• At the cost of her own life even though she recognized that the church was broken, the Church is still the Body of Christ and the Bride of Christ

• Paragraph 796 says, “The theme of Christ as Bridegroom of the Church was prepared for by the prophets and announced by John the Baptist.”

• How did the ancient prophets talk about the relationship between the covenant People of God and God Himself?

• It was through the relationship of MARRIAGE

• The Book of the Prophet Hosea talked about how Hosea married Gomer, the prostitute who was unfaithful to him

• BUT…

• She was still his BRIDE and he was still her GROOM

• So that was laying the FOUNDATION

• Then the Lord Himself referred to Himself as The Bridegroom

• Paragraph 796 continues, “The Apostle (St. Paul) speaks of the whole Church and of each of the faithful, members of his Body, as a bride ‘betrothed’ to Christ the Lord so as to become but one spirit with him…‘Christ loved the Church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her.’”

• The Church is the spotless bride of the spotless Lamb

• SO SO IMPORTANT!!

• SO INCREDIBLE!!

• Why?

• Because we can maintain an argument for the veracity for the institutional Church

• BUT…

• Let’s get past that for a second

• Recognize the depth to which God Himself LOVES YOU

• By calling you more deeply into His Church

• Which is the call of LOVE

• The call to be even more conformed to Him as His Body

• And the call to allow ourselves to be loved by Him as HIS BRIDE

• He has loved us and poured Himself out for us as a Bridegroom laying down His life for His Bride

• That is YOU

• That is ME

• That is ALL OF US

• That is RIGHT NOW

• “Oh my goodness, Lord! As you have made me a Christian, you made me another Christ. You have made me part of your Body. But also you have betrothed yourself to me.”

• The Lord God has chosen YOU out of ALL ETERNITY

• The Lord God has chosen YOU to be HIS BRIDE and loves you with a UNIQUE, ETERNAL, INFINITE, INCREDIBLE LOVE

• So ask God to help you receive that love today and to live in that love today

• We are the Body of Christ

• We are the Bride of Christ

• So we pray for each other as brothers and sisters

• We pray for each other as fellow travelers

• We pray for each other as fellow strugglers and sinners

• Fr. Mike is praying FOR YOU!!

• Please pray for Fr. Mike and for each other!!

• I cannot WAIT to see you tomorrow!!