The Church as Mystery and Communion

By Scott Ferrier, MJ • Phoenix, AZ

The following was adapted from the book “Light of Nations” by Rev. Fr. Brian Mullady, OP.

By “mystery”, the Second Vatican Council describes the Church as “a society in which the communion of Persons among the Holy Trinity is made present to us here so that we may participate in it. The purpose of the Church is participation in God’s light, who is Christ and, therefore, the “Light of the Nations” (Lumen Gentium). 

“The one mediator, Christ, established and ever sustains here on earth His holy Church, the community of faith, hope, and charity, as a visible organization through which He communicates truth and grace to all men” (CCC, 771).

The Church is essentially both human and divine, visible but endowed with invisible realities—“one complex reality which comes together from a human and a divine element.” ‘Mystery’ in this sense is used by the Council to indicate that it is a supernatural society, thus distinguishing it from earthly societies.

The Church has a human structure because on earth it is made up of people who experience communion (koinonia) with God by grace. This society has a purpose that transcends earth, though it is on earth. As such, all the baptized are formed and participate in the life and mission of the Persons of the Trinity. The communion of the society of the Church is based on communion with the Trinity as its source and end. It always involves a double dimension: the vertical (communion with God) and the horizontal (communion among men).

“‘…The Church, in Christ, is, by analogy, in the nature of sacrament—a sign and instrument, that is of communion with God and of unity among men.” The purpose of all the missions of the Three Divine Persons, in which we participate, is the final invisible mission of the Holy Spirit, which is the sanctification of man.

The Son is continually present in His visible mission in the Church, which is an extension of His body. The Church was founded ontologically when the blood and water flowed from the side of Christ on the cross. Christ founds the Church through the visible organization of the sacraments, for the water symbolizes baptism, and the blood, the Eucharist.

The first image of several images of the Church is the one used in the Gospels: the Kingdom of God. It is fundamental to the whole concept of the Church expressed by Vatican II.