After explaining the importance of the dogmatic Constitution Dei VerbumPope Leo continues his catechesis on the conciliar documents, focusing his meditation on Lumen Gentium and, in particular, on the theme “The mystery of the Church, sacrament of union with God and of the unity of the whole human race”.
Vatican II, the Pontiff immediately underlines, in describing the Churchtook care to explain where it originates from. The dogmatic Constitution Lumen gentium, approved on 21 November 1964, does so by drawing on the Letters of Saint Paul where he speaks of “mystery”. This, however, it does not mean that the Church is something “obscure or incomprehensible, as is sometimes commonly thought when one hears the word “mystery”». Indeed, it is “exactly the opposite: in fact, when Saint Paul uses this word, especially in the Letter to the Ephesians, he wants to indicate a reality that was previously hidden and has now been revealed”. And the reality is the plan of God who wants to “unify all creatures thanks to the reconciling action of Jesus Christ, an action which was implemented in his death on the cross». This unification is experienced, says Leone, “first of all in the assembly gathered for the liturgical celebration: there the differences are relativized, what matters is being together because attracted by the Love of Christ, which has broken down the wall of separation between people and social groups”. The mystery, therefore, for Saint Paul, «is the manifestation of what God wanted to achieve for all humanity and makes itself known in local experiences, which gradually expand to include all human beings and even the cosmos.”
Humanity is divided, the Pontiff notes, and alone is not able to repair its “shatteredness” despite this tension existing in the hearts of men and women. And this is where the action of Jesus comes in who, “through the Holy Spirit, overcomes the forces of division and the Divider himself”. At that time, “being together to celebrate, having believed the announcement of the Gospel, is experienced as an attraction exerted by the cross of Christ, which is the supreme manifestation of God’s love; it is feeling called together by God: this is why the term is used ekklesía, that is, assembly of people who recognize that they are summoned”. And this convocation cannot be limited to a small group of people, «but is destined to become the experience of all human beings. Therefore the Second Vatican Council, at the beginning of the Constitution Lumen Gentium, states thus: “The Church is, in Christ, in some way the sacrament, that is, the sign and instrument of intimate union with God and of the unity of the entire human race.”». With the term “sacrament”, therefore, adds Leone, ««we want to indicate that the Church is in the history of humanity an expression of what God wants to achieve; so, looking at it, we grasp to some extent God’s plan, the mystery: in this sense the Church is a sign. Furthermore, the term “sacrament” is also added to the term “instrument”, precisely to indicate that the Church is an active sign. In fact, when God works in history he involves in his activity the people who are the recipients of his action. It is through the Church that God achieves the goal of uniting people to himself and bringing them together.”
Union with God then “finds its reflection in the union of human persons. This is the experience of salvation.” In the Constitution Lumen gentium the description of the Church as a sacrament is used again, with the specification “of salvation””, underlines the Pontiff. In number 48 of chapter VII, dedicated to the eschatological nature of the pilgrim Church, we read, in fact: «And truly Christ – says the Council -, when he was lifted up from the earth, attracted all to himself (see John 12.32 gr.); rising from the dead (see Rom 6:9) he placed his life-giving Spirit in the apostles, and through Him he constituted his body, which is the Church, as the universal sacrament of salvation; seated at the right hand of the Father, continually works in the world to lead men to the Church and, through it, connect them more closely to himself and make them participants in his glorious life with the nourishment of his own body and blood”. It is here that we understand «the relationship between the unifying action of Jesus’ Easter, which is the mystery of passion, death and resurrection, and the identity of the Church. At the same time it makes us grateful to belong to the Church, the body of the risen Christthe only pilgrim people of God in history, living as a sanctifying presence in the midst of a humanity that is still shattered, as an effective sign of unity and reconciliation between peoples”.
Finally, the exhortation to live Lent «with an intense spirit of prayer” so from «reach within renewed, at the celebration of the great mystery of Christ’s Easter, supreme revelation of the merciful love of God”.
