ERNEST MURA
RELIGIOUS OF ST. VINCENT DE PAUL

‘The Mature of the
Mystical Body
TRANSLATED BY

M. ANGELINE BOUCHARD

B. HERDER BOOK CO.

Ms

This is a translation of the first volume of
Le Corps Mystique du Christ, by Ernest Mura, R.S.V.,
published by André Blot, Paris

imprimatur
Joseph Cardinal Ritter
Archbishop of St. Louis, October 17, 1963

"BV
60Ô.5"

Copyright © 1963 by B. Herder Book Co.
15 & 17 South Broadway, St. Louis 2, Mo.
London: 2/3 Doughty Mews, W.C. r
Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 63-22744
Manufactured in the United States of America
Designed by Klaus Gemming

DICO OPERA MEA REGI

To Christ Jesus

King, Prophet, and Eternal Pontiff
Adorable Head of the Mystical Body,

through Mary
His Immaculate Mother
Queen of the Universe

I dedicate and consecrate

this vcork

as a testimony
of fidelity, obedience,
and love.

INTRODUCTION

In

his

Encyclical Mystici Corporis Christi, Pope Pius XII cast

a significant light on the dogma of the Mystical Body, corroborat­
ing with the weight of his apostolic authority a dogma that is
held in high regard and that is studied and preached today. The
Pope promulgated this solemn document “to throw an added ray
of glory on the supreme beauty of the Church; to bring out into
fuller light the exalted supernatural nobility of the faithful who
in the Body of Christ are united with their Head; and finally, to
exclude definitively the many errors current with regard to this
matter.”1
The papal pronouncement proved a stimulant and a valuable
encouragement to Catholic theologians to delve deeper into and
to make better known to the faithful this mystery of Christ, which
is the heart and wellspring of Christian doctrine, the food of faith,
and the substantial nourishment of a solid and fruitful piety. In­
deed, Pope Pius XII invited “all those who are drawn by the Holy
Spirit to study [this dogma],”2 and expressed the hope that a
deeper study of this mystery would “bring forth abundant fruit” 3
of perfection and of holiness in the souls of the faithful.
Further, everything at this tragic juncture in which our poor
world finds itself, surrounded as it is by the material and moral
ruins of the cultural and spiritual patrimony of so many nations
and anxiously searching for a firm foundation on which to build
the social and spiritual unity of peoples, invites us to turn with
burning faith toward the One who is our peace and who has de­
stroyed in his flesh the enmity among peoples (cf. Eph. 2:14),
toward him who is the Head of regenerated humanity, the corner­
stone on whom the whole structure rises and grows into a holy
temple in the Lord (cf. Eph. 2:20-21).
’Encyclical Mystici Corporis, Vatican Translation (National Catholic
Welfare Conference, Washington, D.C, 1943), Introduction, par. 11.
* Ibid., par. 1.
* Ibid., par. 4.

vii

Introduction

Not only on the spiritual level, but even on the level of tem­
poral realities, we can assert without mental reservation that there
is salvation only in Christ. Because human nature has been
wounded by original sin, it does not have within itself the light
or the strength to establish a human order that will guarantee the
protection of the rights of each man, the growth of a virtuous
life, and the maintenance of social peace. Man is saved only by
Christ; he cannot with impunity close himself off from redemp­
tive grace and reject the gentle and salutary yoke of the law of
the Gospel. He will learn at his own expense that he who does
not gather up with Christ, squanders his moral riches and becomes
a pauper.
For this reason His Holiness Pope John XXIII, at the conclusion
of his new charter of Catholic social action, the Encyclical Mater et
Magistra, invited all his sons to imbue their souls with the dogma
of the Mystical Body so that man’s labors may be filled with its
life-giving power:
We cannot conclude our encyclical without recalling another sub­
lime truth and reality, namely that we are living members of the
Mystical Body of Christ, which is his Church: ...
We invite with paternal urgency all our sons belonging to either
the clergy or the laity to be deeply conscious of this dignity and no­
bility owing to the fact that they are grafted onto Christ as shoots
on a vine: “I am the vine and you are the branches.” And they are
thus called to live by his very life. Hence, when one carries on one’s
proper activity, even if it be of temporal nature, in union with Jesus
the divine Redeemer, every work becomes a continuation of his work
and penetrated with redemptive power: “He that abideth in me, and
I in him, the same beareth much fruit.” 4

We are happy, therefore, to comply with the desires of Holy
Mother Church in bringing out an American edition of this work
concerning the total Christ.
The doctrine of the Mystical Body, embracing in its super­
natural reality the person of the Word made flesh, our Lord
‘Encyclical, Mater et Magistra, given at Rome, at St. Peter’s, May 15,
196t. English translation published in the Special Encyclical Supplement of
The Register, July 23, 1961, pars. 158-59.

viii

Introduction

Jesus Christ and all his brothers or members through grace, is a
sublime doctrine, and one that is most fruitful for the life of souls
and of human society. Indeed, this doctrine is not new, for it is
at least as ancient as Christianity. It can be found already fully
developed in the epistles of St. Paul. Yes, we must seek the
doctrine of the Mystical Body in the apostolic letters to the
Romans, to the Corinthians, and to the faithful of Galatia, of
Ephesus, and of Colossus. We find it set down there, not implicitly
or merely in outline form, as are so many other revealed doctrines
contained in Holy Scripttire, but presented in its fullest develop­
ment and in its diverse constitutive elements. The Apostle had a
clear conception of the doctrine, and delineated its essential fea­
tures for us. He even indicated its detailed elements and practical
conclusions.
The writings of St. Paul, however, do not present the doc­
trine to us in a didactic, orderly, and consecutive manner. Frag­
ments of it are scattered throughout all of his principal letters
to the churches. In his epistles, the Apostle did not intend to give
a complete and methodical teaching; rather he wished to remind
the faithful, according to their needs and to the circumstances of
time and of place, of what his oral magisterium had already taught
them. He laid stress on his past teaching, depending on the progress
the various Christian communities had made in the interior knowl­
edge and love of Christ Jesus.
St. Paul did not translate his sublime doctrine into theological
formulas or into scholastic terms. He spoke in a concrete, direct
style, intelligible to the faithful whom he had instructed. He did
this for the very good reason that he was writing at a time when
the technical form of theological language neither existed nor
would have been understood.
Because of these two facts—the dispersion of Paul’s doctrine
among several epistles and in the context of various teachings, and
the absence of a specific terminology expressing the truths in
question in rigorously precise formulas—theologians of today
still have a useful and necessary work to accomplish. They must
gather the various elements of the teaching of St. Paul on the

ix

Introduction
Mystical Body into a single body of doctrine and explain the doc­
trine according to the principles and methods of theology. Once
this task has been finished, practical applications to the spiritual life
will be easy, and a teaching that abounds with the fruits of holiness
will be available to interior souls.
The doctrine of the Mystical Body is, as it were, the central
point of all Revelation, the supreme mystery of Christianity;
St. Paul calls it “the mystery which has been hidden from eter­
nity in God” (Eph. 3:9), “but now is clearly shown to his saints”
(Col. 1:26). It is the mystery of our incorporation into Christ, of
our life in Christ, of our perfection and spiritual consummation
through Christ Jesus.6
Even though the faithful do not need to know the profundities
of scholastic teaching, or the degrees and distinctions that theology
discerns in the dogma of our life in God and of our union to
Jesus Christ, nevertheless it is useful and necessary for shepherds
of souls to be familiar with these notions in order to be able to
dispense wisely to their flock the spiritual food that is suited to
them. Directors of conscience must understand clearly the exact
meaning of St. Paul’s formulas, in order to forewarn those under
their direction against improper or even totally false interpreta­
tions of the doctrine of the great Apostle.
Because of such exaggerations certain persons, including many
devoted to the interior life, show some apprehension with regard
, n^r>en fhÇ doctrine of the Mystical Body is called “the central point
of all Revelation,” or “the central dogma of Christianity” there is no ques­
tion of indicating the formal object of theology. The specific formality of
theology is God himself supematurally known; it is the Godhead in all
that is strictly attributable to it. The various material objects which theology
attains, outside of God (among them the total Christ which includes the
Head and the members), are considered by this science only in their
relation to God—so says St. Thomas {Summa Theologiae, la, q. x, a. 7). But
precisely among these various objects which sacred science treats, the
Mystical Body holds a sort of primacy. This doctrine groups all the other
dogmas around itself; it throws light on them; it complements and completes
them. And even if the very dogma of the Trinity does not enter directly
into the theology of the Mystical Body, it is considered indirectly in this
dogma as the term and the object of the life of the whole Christ. For a
fuller treatment of this subject, see the author’s Le Corps Mystique du
Christ, Volume H, Chapter 15.

X

Introduction

to the doctrine of the Mystical Body. They suspect formulas
such as this one: “It is Jesus who acts in me, who suffers in me.”
These words, which should be used only with discretion, seem to
savor of pantheism, as if they expressed a substantial identification
of our person with that of our Lord.
Obviously we must be on our guard against any exaggeration
of this sort, but it is equally dangerous to fall into the opposite
extreme and voluntarily ignore a doctrine which is profitable to
souls. The golden mean is to present the truth in a light that re­
veals all its excellence and dispels possible ambiguities and con­
fusion.
This we shall attempt to do, with God’s help, by relating the
deposit of Revelation to the teachings of theology. Following the
method the Church has always used of breaking the bread of
divine Scripture for her children, we shall explain the words of
eternal Wisdom in the language of human wisdom. This rap­
prochement will have the twofold advantage of making us pene­
trate the profound meaning of the sacred books with the help
of theology, and conversely of enriching a theology, sometimes
dry and abstract, with the unction of the Holy Spirit that per­
meates the pages of Scripture.
Today more than ever before these two currents of sacred
science must flow together into the soul of the priest to combat
two contrary perils. For if the study of Sacred Scripture without
a theological foundation can be a peril for the faith (as the aber­
rations of modernism bear witness), speculative theology without
the science of Scripture can render charity anemic and remain
inoperative. On the other hand, together the two constitute a
wonderful resource, a powerhouse of light and strength (ad omne
opus bonum) for every salutary work of the apostolate and of
the spiritual life.
In exploiting the treasures of Holy Scripture, we have turned
principally to the doctrine of St. Paul as being the most explicit
and complete on the dogma of our incorporation into Christ, and
we have thought it best to set it forth in its entirety. This does
not mean that we have excluded other sources of the inspired

xi

Introduction

Book: St. John’s teachings on the subject, in his Gospel, in his
epistles, and in the Apocalypse, are filled with riches.
We shall likewise use, as occasion offers, the precious contribu­
tion made by the Fathers of the Church to the doctrine of the
Mystical Body. For a more complete presentation of patristic
teaching, however, reference should be had to the specialists in
positive theology, and especially to the work of Father Mersch.*

The doctrine of the Mystical Body has always occupied a place
of honor in the teaching of the Church. Following St. Paul,
ecclesiastical writers and Catholic doctors have striven to make
known to the faithful the ineffable mystery of our incorporation
into Christ. The Fathers of the Church, with St. Augustine, St.
Gregory Nazianzen, St. John Chrysostom, St. Cyril of Alex­
andria, and St. Hilary of Poitiers in the forefront, constantly
come back to this central dogma of the faith as the inexhaustible
theme of their theological dissertations and of their exhortations
to the people. The scholastics in their turn frequently exploit
this rich mine of doctrine.7 And the prince of scholasticism, St.
Thomas Aquinas, is so deeply imbued with this doctrine that he
continually borrows from it, both in the Summa and in his com­
mentaries on Scripture, arguments that solve difficulties, throw
light on problems, or settle questions.
The admirable “French School” of the 17th century, following
Cardinal de Bérulle, Monsieur Olier, Fathers Condren and Bourgoing, St. Louis de Montfort, St. John Eudes, and many others,
has done very well by the doctrine of the Mystical Body. It has
studied the doctrine not only with the mind but with the heart,
and has drawn from it beautiful practical conclusions, sublime
rules of Christian living, and valuable directives for the ascetical
and mystical life.
At last, today, after a period of partial oblivion and of a relega‘Cf. Emile Mersch, S.J., Le Corps Mystique de Jésus-Christ, Étude de
théologie historique (Louvain: Museum Lessianum, 2nd ed, 1936).
’Cf. among others: Piolanti, H Corpo Mistico e le sue relaziom con
PEucaristia in S. Alberto Magno (Rome, 1939). This work contains nu­
merous references to thirteenth-century scholastics.

xii

Introduction

tion to the background that coincided with the worldwide promul­
gation of the individualist error, Catholic thinkers are again giving
more attention to the dogma of the total Christ, of the organic,
supernatural, and divine unity that we form together with Jesus.
Treatises of theology once again assign a place to this doctrine
among their series of propositions. Periodicals of theological,
liturgical, and spiritual science study at length one or another of
its aspects. Several fine works have stressed, either from the theo­
retical or practical point of view, the teaching of St. Paul con­
cerning our union with Christ.
We shall not pause to discuss the excellent works of Dom
Columba Mannion, the monk of Maredsous who was such a pi­
oneer in this field. In Christ the Life of the Soul and in Christ in
His Mysteries, while he did not treat the dogma of the total
Christ in a didactic manner, he contributed significantly to re­
storing Christian devotion to the great Pauline doctrine. Under
his tutelage, souls have learned once again to live their incorpora­
tion into Christ, and theologians have found in his teaching a cli­
mate of thought favorable to a more thorough explanation of
the Mystical Body.
Among the studies that treat our subject ex professo, we must
first of all point to Abbé Anger’s La Doctrine du Corps Mystique
de Jésus Christ, published in 1929. A few years later, in 1934, ap­
peared the first edition of our own study, and in 1936, the val­
uable study of historical theology by Father Mersch mentioned
above. Father Mersch exploited with patient erudition the princi­
pal treasures of the Old and New Testament, of the Greek and
Latin Fathers, and of the princes of theology from the earliest
days to our own time, providing us with a magnificent panoramic
view of Catholic doctrine on this central dogma of our faith. It
makes known to us the riches that Christian spirituality was once
able to draw from the admirable mystery of our incorporation
into Christ. It convinces us that it is impossible to exaggerate the
importance of the doctrine of the Mystical Body, whether in the
exposition of dogma or in the practice of the interior life—in short,
in every phase of Christian life.

xiii

Introduction

Introduction

Father Mersch’s La Théologie du Corps Mystique, published
in 1946 after his tragic death in June, 1940, a victim of the war­
time bombing, is a less successful attempt at speculative synthesis.
The author was not able to put the finishing touches to it, and it
contains many controversial and inaccurate statements.8 How­
ever his earlier work, Morale et Corps Mystique, published in
1937, is excellent from every point of view. This is a collection
of articles applying the dogma of the total Christ to the most
diverse conditions of Christian life: marriage, the priesthood, so­
cial action, the religious life, and so forth.
Father Sebastian Tromp, S.J., professor at the Gregorian Uni­
versity, has contributed several studies, some before and some
after Pope Pius XII’s Encyclical Mystici Corporis of 1943. In
1937 he published Corpus Mysticum quod est Ecclesia, a textbook
for theology courses of great doctrinal content and rich in bib­
liographical references. After this general introduction which was
re-edited in 1946, he brought out a second and third part under
the same title but with the following subtitles: “De Christo Capite"
and “De Spiritu Christi Anima.” The doctrine set forth is solid,
drawn from the Fathers and from the great theologians. In 1948
Father Tromp published an annotated edition of Mystici Corporis
entitled Litterae Encyclicae de Mystico Jesu Cbristi Corpore.
The author has written many tracts on the same subject. De
Spiritu Sancto, Anima Corporis Mystici consists of two tracts,
the first presenting the teaching of the Greek Fathers, and the
second the doctrine of the Latin Fathers.
Special consideration should be given to two impressive works
that have appeared since the Encyclical: Monsignor Charles Journet’s L'Église du Verbe Incarné, a two-volume work; and the
work of Father Emilio Sauras, O.P., El Cuerpo Mistico de Christo.
In the first volume of his work, Monsignor Journet studies the
exterior and juridical aspect of the Church under the subtitle

Hiérarchie apostolique. (An English edition of the work: The
Church of the IVord Incarnate, The Apostolic Hierarchy, was
published by Sheed & Ward, New York, in 1954.) The second
volume, published in 1951, with the subtitle Sa Structure et son
unité catholique, delves into the internal aspect of the Church as
a mystical organism quickened by the Holy Spirit. It is impos­
sible to sum up in a few lines a work of such great importance.
We should note in passing the section devoted to Mary, who ex­
ercises the functions of the heart in the Mystical Body and who
is also the prototype of the Church.
Father Sauras’ work, published in Madrid in 1952, covers the
following subjects: (1) the doctrine of the Mystical Body in
Holy Scripture; (2) Christ the Head of the Mystical Body and
his vital influence on the members; (3) the divine life of the Head;
(4) the members of the Mystical Body; (5) the soul of the Mys­
tical Body;9 (6) the unity of the Mystical Body; (7) the Mystical
Person of the total Christ.
Many studies on the Mystical Body have appeared in Germany,
including the following: Thaddeus Soiron’s Die Kirche als Leib
Christi, which has the advantage of placing the theological presen­
tation in the total context of the concepts advanced. The author
reduces all explanations proposed to three classes. The first, which
Soiron calls realistico-somatic, is completely erroneous and it is
scarcely believable that lucid minds could have imagined it. This
theory takes the words of St. Paul on the unity of the Mystical
Body, composed of Christ and of his members, in the sense of a
natural, physical unity: Christ and Christians form a single organ­
ism, numerically one. Such is also the view of Kastner, Marianische
Christus-Gestaltung der Welt (1936), Haugg, Wir sind dein Leib
(1937), Massmann, Der Kônig und sein Opfer, and even more
crudely, Pelz, in Der Christ als Christus (1939), which means
“the Christian as Christ.” This last work affirms the identity of

*Cf. our article, “La Dottrina del Corpo Mistico,” in a work published
by a group of theologians, Problems e Orientamomi di teologia domnutica
(Milan: Marzorati), II, pp. 379-98. An English translation of Father Mersch’s
work, The Theology of the Mystical Body, -was published by the B. Herder
Book Company, St. Louis, in 1951.

*ln the view of Father Sauras, the Mystical Body has an uncreated soul,
namely, die Holy Spirit, and also a created soul, consisting of grace and
all the gifts that accompany it. This point is certainly controversial and
finds no support in the Encyclical Mystici Corporis. For a more detailed
discussion cf. below, Chapter 11, p. 211 ff.

xiv

XV

"T-

i>

«

HMMÉ

Introduction
the physical body and the Mystical Body of Christ, saying with­
out flinching that all efforts to separate them are useless!
These are the aberrations to which Pius XII alluded in the third
part of the Encyclical Mystici Corporis, and which show the im­
portance of the work we undertook in 1934 to set forth the true
nature of the mysterious unity of the Mystical Body of Christ.
The second series of authors whom Soiron studies in a work en­
titled Bildiche Losung, sin by default in the opposite direction.
For them the unity of the Mystical Body is purely figurative. The
Mystical Body, as they see it, is only a symbol, an image that has
no relation to reality: thus Deimel in Leib Christi (i960).
Between these two extremes there is a third approach that Soiron
calls bildlich-reale—“figurative-real”—which is the one he himself
defends. Under the veil of symbol are hidden profound mysterious
realities which the theologian must explain by analogy with
natural realities. Also in German, the work of Mitterer, Geheimnissvollev Leib Christi (1950), makes a comparison between the
doctrine of Pope Pius XIPs Encyclical Mystici Corporis and the
teaching of St. Thomas Aquinas, only to reach an inadmissible
conclusion: namely, that St. Thomas is in contradiction with
Pius XII. Even a superficial perusal of the work quickly shows
how flimsy is the demonstration that he claims to make of this
opposition. Thus, according to Mitterer, the Angelic Doctor
would consider the Mystical Body as expressing only the invisible
aspect of the Church. We need read only the Summa, Illa, q. 8,
a. 3, to see that St. Thomas includes both the body and soul of
the Church, both her visible and invisible aspect, in the Mystical
Body.
An author more deserving of attention is Jiirgensmeir. His
work Der Mystische Leib Christi als Grundprinzip der Aszetic
(The Mystical Body of Christ as the Fundamental Principle of
Ascesis), whose title tells the subject matter, is limited to one
aspect of the spiritual life. Two other good works are Das Mys­
terium der hl. Kirche (The Mystery of Holy Church), and a com­
mentary on the Encyclical Mystici Corporis entitled Die Kirche

xvi

Introduction

ais Herrenleib (The Church as the Body of the Lord (1949),10
both of which were written by Feckes.
Among these works on the mystery of our union in Christ, what
is the purpose and orientation of the present work? It has been
our purpose, even as early as 1932-1934 when no study—apart
from Abbé Anger’s first outline—had yet attempted a methodical
explanation of the “Mystery of Christ” (Eph. 3:4; cf. Col. 2:2),
to investigate with the help of theological principles, the inner
nature of this divine organism.
First of all, we had to set forth the constitutive principles of
this unity peculiar to the Mystical Christ. Once these were es­
tablished, there remained to be studied in its entirety the super­
natural activity of the Body in its Head and in its members. It
was an attempt to set up a sort of supernatural metaphyses of
the being of the total Christ, and a supernatural psychology of
its faculties of action; or rather an organic theology, both spec­
ulative and practical, dogmatic and moral, of the Mystical Body
of Christ.
The years have sped by since the first edition of our study.
The Encyclical of Pope Pius XII, Mystici Corporis, has thrown
new light on the dogma of man’s unity in Christ, confirming most
of the positions we had taken. Far from rendering useless and
out of date the work then undertaken, it seems to us that it has
” In this rapid glance at the works devoted to the study of the Mystical
Body, we could also cite others of secondary importance or that deal with
our subject only in an indirect manner, that is from the practical point of
view, which is also rich in significance for the spiritual life. Let us cite in
passing: Mgr. Duperray, Le Christ dans la Vie Chrétienne (1912); Mgr,
Ceriani, Dottrina e Vita del Corpo Mistico (1939); R. Plus, Dans le Christ
Jesus, and Le Christ dans nos Frères; Gasque, L'Eucharistie et le Corps
Mystique; Msgr. Piolanti, ll Corpo Mistico et le sue relatione con FEucaristia in S. Alberto Magno (1939); Cardinal Mendoza, De naturali cum
Christo unione (edited in 1947 by Msgr. Piolanti at the Lateran); Daniel
Culhane, De Corpore Mystico Doctrina Seraphici (Mundelein, 1935).
Culhane's treatise could have provided an interesting monograph. We
regret that it is marred by inaccuracies and even by senous theological er­
rors. According to the author, to be part of the Mystical Body one must
be in the state of grace! Whence the logical conclusion: “Sinners are not
members of the Mystical Body.” No one will accept such an assertion in our
own day.

XVÜ

Introduction

made the need for a theological synthesis of this great dogma
more strongly felt. The American edition which we are pre­
senting fills a great need. Although it is true that professional
theologians easily make use of foreign language works, the fact re­
mains that educated laymen and laywomen, whom Pope John
XXIII invites to study this dogma, and souls seeking food to nour­
ish their interior life are frustrated in their need to know the great
mystery. And yet St. Paul earnestly wished that his faithful
should have knowledge of the Gift of God and besought the
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ to give them the spirit of wisdom
and of revelation, the eyes of their minds being enlightened (cf.
Eph. 1:17-18), so that they might know the riches for them
contained in Christ and in their union with him (cf. Eph. 3:14-19;
Col. 1:25-28).
The unity of the total Christ and his supernatural activity are
the two aspects of the theology of the Mystical Body. The present
study limits itself to the first aspect,11 which is the most delicate
problem of all: “Vos estis Corpus Christi!”—“You are (the) Body
of Christ!” (I Cor. 12:27). How are we to understand this bold
assertion made by St. Paul? The question has been asked by a
number of persons who have not attempted to answer it, perhaps
through fear of marring with overly human explanations the
transcendent beauty of the dogma of our incorporation into Christ
Jesus. They do not tell us wherein consists the organic and vital
cohesion that makes of Jesus and ourselves a single “total Christ.”
Bishop Duperray asks himself:
How can we define this union according to St. Paul? Is it an
essential (informativa) union, as the scholastics say, such as the sub­
stantial union of soul and body in the human being? Evidently not.
Is it a personal union like the hypostatic union of Christ12 with the
Word? Again no. Is it a moral or a physical union? When St. Paul

” Namely, the problem of the unity of the Mystical Body of Christ. It
is the author’s hope that Volume II of his work, Le Corps Mystique du
Christ, on the activity of the Mystical Body will be published in English at
a later date.
“ The author means the union of the human nature of Christ with the
Word. It is through a slip of the pen that this Nestorian expression has
slipped into the author’s text.

xviii

Introduction
compares the union of the Christian to Christ with the moral union
of husband and wife in marriage, he says that the union of the faithful
to Christ is still closer than that of two spouses.13

Father Plus in his turn discreetly tries to determine the nature
of our incorporation into Christ. He says: “We are one with him
in every sense of the word. It is not a simple imputation, or a
pure abstraction. It is a reality [and here he cites Father Prat],
because it is the subject of attributions, of properties, and of
rights . . . .”
He goes on to say: “It is not a physical union rather than a
moral union, at least in the sense habitually given to this word.
It is an organic and living union, absolutely sus generis, for which
we possess no analogous term. Such is the nature of our mystical
union with our Lord.”14
Father Prat, in his invaluable work on the theology of St. Paul,
to which Father Plus was referring, expresses himself in this way:
“It is a reality of the moral order indeed, but a genuine reality.
. . . Mystical is not the opposite of real, and there are realities
outside of what can be touched and weighed. Let us remark,
however, that this reality is expressed by a metaphor, like all
immaterial and transcendental objects.” 15 Then the author clari­
fies his thought by showing how the analogy of the human body
is verified in the mystical Christ.
Father Mersch proposes as equally good two explanations of
the unity of the Mystical Body: the Mystical Body as a purely
moral union or as a union of the ontological order. His personal
preference leans toward the latter more difficult but more pro­
found explanation.13
As we can see, this supernatural reality of the Mystical Body
is situated in an order apart, and theological authors hesitate to
aLe Christ dans la vie chrétienne, Chapter i, par. a. This interesting
monograph by Bishop Duperray was writen in 1922 and deals with the
Christian life in the context of the Mystical Christ.
” Raoul Plus, S.J., Dans le Christ Jesus, Chapter 2, par. 1.
“ The Theology of Saint Paul (Westminster, Md.: The Newman Press,
1952), pp. 300-1.
“Emile Mersch, S.J., Le Corps mystique du Christ: étude de théologie
historique, Introduction, p. xxiii ff.

xix

Introduction
give a precise formula and an adequate expression of its nature.
Moreover, the various explanations put forward, which we have
barely outlined, do not seem at first sight to agree.
In reality, all the solutions sketched above contain a portion of
truth. Their differences stem from the complex nature of the
unity of the total Christ which we form in union with Jesus. It is
a unity both moral and physical, and even the physical unity, as
we shall see, is of several sorts. There is not just one principle of
unity between Jesus and man. As many as seven distinct princi­
ples of unity exist, which, like mysterious ligaments and mystical
arteries, bind the members of the total Christ to one another and
to their divine Head, and cause a single stream of supernatural
and divine life to flow throughout the organism.
The presentation of these seven principles of unity is the pur­
pose of this work. Fully aware of our weakness and limitations,
we shall faithfully follow the teaching of the Doctors of the faith,
and primarily the doctrine of the great Apostle of the Gentiles
and the very luminous principles of St. Thomas Aquinas. In
order to carry out our plan, conceived for the greater glory of
the Most Blessed Trinity, we implore the grace and light of the
Holy Spirit, the help of Jesus, our divine Head, and the assistance
of Mary our Mother.
We would like to give an over-all view from the start of the
whole doctrine that we are about to present, in order to reveal
more clearly its order and structure. To this end, the Table of
Contents, which is a condensation of the doctrine, should be
studied. It will facilitate the understanding of the subject matter
and help in assimilating the ideas to be presented, by showing the
place of each one in the total doctrinal picture.
When viewed from this vantage point of synthesis, the build­
ing up of the Mystical Body will appear to us as the great re­
capitulation in Christ (cf. Eph. 1:10), to which all the works of
God are ordered for the salvation of the human race. Once they
are seen in their relationship to this total doctrine, the revealed
truths that are most familiar to us take on a breadth, a supernatural

xx

beauty, and a practical significance that we did not suspect. A few
examples will illustrate what I mean.
The notion of grace, considered in itself as a supernatural en­
tity and a participation in the divine nature, is certainly not lack­
ing in grandeur. But when it is considered in its relationship to
the doctrine of the Mystical Body, does it not become more com­
prehensive, more intelligible? It is not only the life of God but
the life of the first-born Son that we receive in participation;
for the eternal plan of the Father has been to incorporate us into
the Word Incarnate, into his only-begotten Son, so that he might
make us his adopted sons through this union: “He predestined
us to be adopted through Jesus Christ as his sons” (Eph. i:5).
And he has made of us as it were “joint partakers of the promise
in Christ Jesus” (Eph. 3:6).17 Thus, our sanctifying grace becomes
the fullness of Christ in us his members, and our Christian life,
the blossoming of this grace, is nothing but the manifestation of
the life of Jesus in our fragile nature, “that the life ... of Jesus
may be made manifest in our mortal flesh” (II Cor. 4:11).
Baptism likewise, when considered in the context of the Mys­
tical Body, appears not only as the sacrament of our supernatural
regeneration, an individual and personal matter, but also as our
entrance into this divine Body of the mystical Christ, the act of
our incorporation into the total Christ, and the point of departure
of our life in Jesus and in his grace. How great is the Christian
when seen in this light, and how important is what we may call
“the science of his baptism,” for it is the science of Christian and
eternal life! Quicumque in Christo baptizati estis, Christum in­
duistis!
Finally, the dogma of the spiritual motherhood of Mary shines
brilliantly when considered in the context of the doctrine of the
Mystical Body. As proof of this we need only meditate upon the
theologically sound statement of Father Bainvel: "As long as we
hold fast to the theology of St. Paul on the Mystical Body of
Christ and on our incorporation into Jesus Christ, we shall find
"According to the Greek, the sense is: “Grativicavit nos in Dilecto suo.”

xxi

Introduction
in Mary’s consent to and cooperation in the Incarnation, the con­
sent to and cooperation in our rebirth in Jesus which constitute
her spiritual motherhood.”18 The reason for this is that Jesus was
not bom for himself alone but for us, so that he might become
“the firstborn among many brethren” (Rom. 8:29), the Head of
the redeemed human race. Father Bainvel goes on to say: “This
is the explanation of Mary’s motherhood in relation to men. As
the mother of Christ, of God-made-man, she is by that very fact
the mother of Christ the Head of the human race, the mother of
Christ in his members, the mother of all who possess supernatural
being only in virtue of their union with Christ.”19
May the divine heart of Jesus, the fountain of life and holiness,
bestow his blessing upon this humble work, so that every page,
every line, every word of it, may inspire souls, by showing them
the wonders of his divine charity, to a livelier faith, a more ardent
love, and thus contribute to the perfection of his Mystical Body,
for the greater glory of the Most Blessed Trinity.
™ Marie, Mere de grace, Part II, par. <5.
“Bainvel, loc. cit.

CONTENTS

Introduction: vii
PART ONE

The Doctrine of St. Paul

on the Mystical Body
Introduction: 3
i The Origins of the Doctrine of the Mystical Body in Our
Lord’s Teaching: 7
11 The Various Expressions of the Doctrine of the Mystical
Body in St. Paul: 14
in The First Epistle to the Corinthians: 22
iv The Epistle to the Ephesians: 32
v The Epistle to the Colossians: 47
PART TWO

Theological Notions on the Nature
of the Mystical Body

Introduction: 59
Article I
The Constitutive Principles of the Unity of the Mystical Body
v i On the Unity of the Mystical Body in General: 63
vii Union in Christ, the Universal Final Cause: 73
vin Union of the Juridical Order: 80
The Dependence of the Members upon Christ their
Head: 82
satisfaction: 84
REDEMPTION OR DELIVERANCE: 86
Christ’s merit for us: 87
Relationships of the Members among Themselves
through the Communion of Saints: 95
prayer: 96
merit: 97
satisfaction: ioo

xxiii

Contents
i x Sacramental Union: 105
Our Incorporation into Christ through Baptism: 107
Union through the Eucharist: 113
The Other Sacraments in their Relationship to the
Eucharist: 119
x Union through Efficient Causality: 126
x i Union in the Holy Spirit, the Soul of the Mystical
Body: 139
Testimony of Scripture and Tradition: 140
Theological Exposition: 149
x 11 Union in Christ, the Exemplaiy Cause: 164
Christ our Exemplar in His Divine Nature: i6j
Christ our Model in His Human Nature: 171
xiii Moral Union in Faith and Charity: 176
The Union of Minds through Faith: 177
The Union of Wills through Charity: 179
THE UNION OF THE FAITHFUL WITH CHRIST THEIR
HEAD:

182

THE UNION OF THE FAITHFUL AMONG

THEMSELVES: 18$

xi v The Mystical Person of Christ: 189
Article II
The Various Parts of the Mystical Body:
The Head and the Members

x v The Head of the Mystical Body: 201
Pre-eminence of Order: 203
Pre-eminence of Perfection: 206
THE GRACE OF CHRIST: 208

THE KNOWLEDGE OF JESUS: 211

PRIMACY OF INFLUENCE: 213

x v i The Members of the Mystical Body: The Church
Triumphant: 215
Mary, the Heart of the Mystical Body: 216
St. Joseph: 224
St. John the Baptist: 228

xxiv

Contents
The Angels: 234
The Saints in Heaven: 237
χνιι The Members of the Mystical Body: The Church
Suffering: 243
The Condition of the Suffering Souls: 244
Communion with the Souls in Purgatory: 251
XVIII The Members of the Mystical Body: The Church
Militant: 257
The Hierarchy of Order and Jurisdiction: 259
THE HIERARCHY OF JURISDICTION: 200

The Simple Faithful: 264
xix Outside the Church: 270
The Schismatics: 271
The Heretics: 278
The Unbelievers: 282
the jews: 283
THE MOHAMMEDANS: 284
THE PAGANS: 285
Conclusion: 289
The Life of the Head: 290
The Life of the Members: 292

The Nature of the Mystical Body

the glorious Queen of Heaven and of Earth, is also the clement
Sovereign of purgatory. Under whatever aspect we consider the
admirable reality of the Communion of Saints, we always find
Mary at the heart of this mystery, while Jesus, her divine Son, re­
mains its Head and crowning glory.

CHAPTER XVIII

The Members of the Mystical Body:
The Church Militant
The saints in heaven, the poor souls in purgatory, and the faith­
ful still battling here on earth make up one Church by reason of
their union to their common Head, Christ Jesus. But whereas the
saints in heaven cleave to Christ irrevocably and possess God
through the beatific vision, the suffering souls and the exiles of
this world know him only in the dim light of faith. It is true that
the holy souls in purgatory have a decided advantage over the
faithful here on earth. No faltering of their will can make them
lose the object of their hope. Wayfaring man, on the contrary,
regardless of the assurance he has from divine promises, can lose
heaven through his infidelity. His union with Christ is not yet
definitive, as is that of expiating souls. The latter are incorporated
forever in their divine Head, even if in an essentially imperfect
manner. Only the blessed in heaven belong to Christ totally and
forever.
Let us now pause to consider the Church Militant and the di­
verse conditions of men living on earth in terms of their incor­
poration into Christ. First of all, we must observe with St. Thomas
that the Mystical Body does not possess all its parts simultaneously
as does the natural body.1 The life of the Body of Christ extends
through the centuries, and the Church embraces in her unity men
of the past, of the present, and of the future. No one is saved
except through the grace of Christ; by cleaving to him through
faith the just souls of the Old Testament attained salvation and re­
ceived divine life.
St. Augustine has said in this regard: “The Body of Christ is
the Church; not only the Church in a given place, but the Church
spread over the whole earth; not only the Church of the present
’Cf. Summo, Illa, q. 8, a. 3.

257

The Nature of the Mystical Body

time, but the Church that extends from Abel to those who will be
born in the last days and who will believe in Christ.” 2 But the
holy Bishop asks himself how the saints of the Old Law can be­
long to Christ. He answers his own question, pushing the analogy
of the human body even further, with a certain realism. He says:
“Certain members of Christ preceded the Incarnation of Christ,
just as, at the birth of a child, the hand sometimes appears before
the head, even though the hand is joined to the head. Do not
think, Brothers, that the just who suffered persecution, even
among those who preceded and announced the coming of the
Lord, do not belong among the members of Christ.” 3
Even among those who make up the Mystical Body at a given
period of time, all do not belong to it by the same right. St.
Thomas tells us that some are members of Christ only in potency,
inasmuch as they are deprived of habitual grace.4 We may add
that these souls belong to Christ by right, juridically, although
they do not in fact acknowledge this necessary subjection to their
divine Redeemer. For some of these, this potency will never be
reduced to act, because they will not submit to the beneficent
rule of the divine King. Others on the contrary are destined to
be incorporated into the Body of Christ in a more effective man­
ner.
Among those actually united to the Head of the Mystical Body,
St. Thomas tells us there are three categories. Some are united to
him by faith alone, others by grace and charity, and finally, still
others through glory.
There are some who no longer cleave to Christ except by faith.
Their souls are dead because of sin. They have lost sanctifying
grace and divine charity, as well as the other infused virtues. Only
faith, like a valuable cargo saved from a shipwreck, still subsists
in them, as often supernatural hope does. However, their faith
and hope can no longer carry them to the shores of eternal salva­
tion. If death surprises them in this sad state, they lose the little
*Enarr. in psalmos, Ps. 90:1, PL 37:1159.
*lbid., Ps. 61:4, PL, 37:731.
4 Ci. Swntma, Illa, q. 8, a. 3.

258

Theological Notions

that remains of their supernatural riches and are cut off completely
and forever from the Body of Christ.
Others are united to the Savior by grace and charity. They are
members of Christ in the full sense of the word. They live by
his life; they bear his divine likeness within them; they are
quickened by his Spirit, who is the soul of the Mystical Body; they
receive all the sanctifying influences of their divine Head.
The last group mentioned by St. Thomas are the blessed who
have already been established in love of God through glory. We
have already spoken of them with reference to the Church Tri­
umphant.
In addition to these absolutely essential distinctions made by the
Angelic Doctor, however, many others must be clarified, in order
to have a more complete and enlightened idea of the harmonious
totality of the Mystical Body.
First we shall consider the various degrees among the ministers
that the twofold hierarchy of order and jurisdiction sets up in
the Body of the Church. Then we shall speak of the noble rank
that belongs to the ordinary faithful in the whole Christ. In the
next chapter we shall point out the relationships that can exist
between the Mystical Body of Jesus Christ and schismatics, here­
tics, and unbelievers.

The Hierarchy of Order and Jurisdiction
Holy Scripture recounts in III Kings that the Queen of Sheba,
having come to see Solomon, whose magnificence and wisdom had
been told her, was charmed to the point of losing her breath: “et
non habebat ultra spiritum”—“she had no longer any spirit in
her” (III Kings 10:5). She Was struck by the admirable order that
the great king, in his wisdom, had established in his palace and in
the service of the royal household: the ordering of his table; the
disposition of the apartments reserved for the servants; the various
gradations of ministers and servants. This magnificent array en­
raptured her and she said to the king: “The report is true, which

259

The Nature of the Mystical Body
I heard in my own country, concerning thy words and concerning
thy wisdom. And I did not believe them that told me, till I came
myself, and saw with my own eyes, and have found that the half
hath not been told me. . . . Blessed are thy men, and blessed are
thy servants, who stand before thee always, and hear thy wis­
dom” (III Kings 10:6-8).
We do not envy the happiness of the Queen of Sheba, nor
that of the servants of the great king of Jerusalem. For we remem­
ber the words of our Savior, referring to himself: “Behold, a
greater than Solomon is here” (Matt. 12:42). It is Jesus, the true
King of Peace, who has set laudable and heavenly order in the
organization of his Church; we are the daily witnesses and fortu­
nate beneficiaries of this work of his divine wisdom.
His wisdom shines forth especially in the variety and subordina­
tion of the ministers of his spiritual kingdom. A twofold hierarchy,
one of order and the other of jurisdiction, assures the government
of the Church and the wise administration of the supernatural
treasures that her divine Founder has bequeathed her.

THE HIERARCHY OF JURISDICTION
The hierarchy of jurisdiction consists in the attribution of the
power to govern, to rule the Body of the Church. It includes two
degrees: (1) the sovereign pontiff, and (2) the bishops, who are
the pope’s brothers and subordinates in the spiritual governance.
The sovereign pontiff, the visible Head of the whole Church,
who represents Christ the invisible Head, has received from Christ
the fullness of royal power. It must be noted, however, that Jesus
possesses a more extensive power than that he gave to Peter, for
Christ is the spiritual and temporal King of the whole human
race.® He has delegated only his spiritual kingship to his Church,
leaving the temporal scepter in other hands. But all the power
conferred upon the Church is in the hands of Peter and of his
successors to the See of Rome. All the branches of supernatural
*Cf. encyclical Quas primas, December, 1925; cf. also the author’s Le
Corps Mystique du Christ, Volume II, Chapter 7, on the Kingship of Christ.

260

Theological Notions
activity converge toward this apostolic See. From the Chair of
the Roman pontiff the voice of Peter is heard throughout the
world. On that Chair sits the oracle of truth, without which there
is no divine life. From it the word which commands in the name
of Christ rings out, reaching out all over the world. From this
Chair come the words that enlighten and the counsel that inspires.
Whoever hears the voice of Peter hears the voice of Jesus him­
self (cf. Luke io: 16). In the realization of God’s works, our
Savior’s promises apply only to those who are completely obedient
to Peter.
Even if the Roman pontiff has power over the whole Church
and over each of her members, he cannot govern her alone in
every detail. The Lord has given him aides to share his burden
and to exercise pastoral authority within specific areas: the bish­
ops. They were instituted in the beginning by our Savior himself.
Since then, however, they have been named individually by the
supreme pontiff or in his name by those to whom he delegated the
power. Thus the bishops receive their authority from Christ,
without any diminution of the power of the sovereign Shepherd.
What the bishop can do for each of the faithful in his jurisdiction,
the pontiff of Rome can also do for all the faithful of the world,
without need of any intermediary. Direct and often opportune
intervention, however, will never take the place of the role of the
individual bishops or render their mission useless. Thus Jesus
provided both for the wise guidance of the Church through a mul­
tiplicity of pastors, and for the unity of his Mystical Body by
the institution of a supreme and universal authority.
Beneath the bishops no ministers have the power of jurisdic­
tion by divine right, even though the supreme pontiff or the
bishops can and do habitually delegate a part of their authority to
subordinate aides. Thus the pastors of parishes were set up to
provide, in the name and place of the bishop, for the welfare of
the souls entrusted to their care. Thus too, those religious insti­
tutes whose purpose is apostolic usually receive from the Holy
See the official mission that authorizes and legitimizes their holy
labors in the vineyard of the Lord. These are the chosen workers,

261

The Nature of the Mystical Body

less burdened by the worries of the world, who devote their
efforts, at the command of the leaders, to the various parts of the
sacred field that call for their particular care.
The hierarchy of order consists of the ministers to whom the
administration of the sacraments and the celebration of the divine
mysteries have been entrusted. It is identified with the highest
degree of the hierarchy of jurisdiction, that is, with the episco­
pacy. It is distinguished from and subordinate to the episcopacy
in all the other degrees of priestly power. In this way also the
unity of the Mystical Body of the Church is guaranteed.
According to the actual economy of the Church of the Latin
Rite, priestly power is divided into seven degrees, including the
three major orders and the four minor orders. At the top of this
mystical ladder is the priesthood whose sublime functions relate
to the Body of Christ in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, and to
his members, the faithful, as they participate by Holy Com­
munion in this august sacrifice.
The episcopacy, considered as a power of order, is simply the
priesthood in its fullness. Although it involves a more extensive
power than that of simple priests, it does not constitute a distinct
order nor does it confer a new character.6 It perfects the priestly
character and extends its power to new ministerial acts, notably
the power to confer sacred ordination. Because of this the bishops
are the bom leaders of the priesthood and of the entire ecclesiasti­
cal hierarchy, and are the principle of its perpetuation.
The other orders are hierarchized according to their more or
less direct relationship to the Eucharist. This divine sacrament is
the center of all the functions of the priestly ministry and the
raison d’etre of all the powers of order.7 The diaconate confers
on the minister who receives it the safeguarding of the Eucharist
and gives him the right to administer it to the faithful, at least
when the priest is unable to do so. In the churches of the Eastern
* The reason is that there is no power of the ministry above that of offer­
ing the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, which specifies the priesthood.
’ Cf. Swrnna, Supply q.
a. 2.

202

Theological Notions
Rite he presents to the communicants the cup containing the
precious Blood.
The subdeacon does not have the right to dispense the sacred
mysteries, but he is entrusted with the care of all that immediitely relates to the Eucharist. He cares for the sacred vessels, he
purifies the linens used on the altar, he prepares the bread and the
nine for the Holy Sacrifice.
These, then, are the three major or sacred orders, whose bearers
are dedicated exclusively to the service of the God of the Host,
and form the immediate retinue of the divine Solomon. Hence
the Church wants them to consecrate their person to Christ ir­
revocably by the solemn vow of perpetual chastity, so that they
may be worthy ministers of the God of holiness and faithful dis­
pensers of sacred things: “Be holy because 1 am holy” (Lev. 11:44;
19:2).
The minor orders are related also, but in a more remote way,
to Eucharistic worship. The acolyte presents the wine and the
water for the sacrifice to the sacred ministers, and carries the
candle before them, as a symbol of the spiritual light with which
he must, by his example and teaching, illumine the minds of the
faithful. The exorcist, the lector, and the porter, each according
to his special grace, dispose the Christian faithful to participate
worthily in the divine mysteries. The porter convokes the faith­
ful to the holy place, and keeps out of the holy assemblage un­
believers, excommunicates, and public sinners. The lector teaches
the rudiments of the faith and the doctrine of Sacred Scripture
to the catechumens, to the neophytes, and to Christian children.
The exorcist drives out the spirits of evil who seek to trouble and
sully souls by their evil suggestions.
Minor orders, so-called in relation to the sacred orders, are
lofty and sublime when considered in absolute terms. They make
of their bearers princes of the house of God, eminent members
of the Mystical Body. The same is true of simple clerics who, al­
though they have not yet received any orders, have, by their ton­
sure, become the heritage of the Lord, according to the beautiful

I

263

B3S

The Nature of the Mystical Body

name they bear. Cleric actually derives from the Greek word
χληρος which means “heritage.” Those who are associated with
members of the clergy are the chosen portion of the Lord. Sep­
arated from the world, they profess by their very habit the state of
death to the world, to which those who live only for God pledge
themselves.

The Simple Faithful
Beneath the hierarchy of order and jurisdiction come the simple
faithful. Among them we must distinguish two different states:
the religious state and the lay state. The first is the state of per­
fection in which generous souls, free from obligations in the
world, publicly profess their resolve to follow the way of the
evangelical counsels. The second is the way of the faithful who
remain in the world and who, while equally obligated to tend
toward perfection,8 do not pledge themselves to pursue it
through the observance of the vows of religion.
In the first place let us point out the special place held by
consecrated souls in the Mystical Body of Christ. Consecrated
souls are those whom the Savior invites to a more complete re­
nunciation, so that they can follow him more closely (cf. Matt.
19:12; 16:24). They are the virgins who, as St. Paul says, think
only about the things of the Lord, how they may please God
(cf. I Cor. 7:32-35), and whose hearts are not divided between
God and the world. They are the chaste souls whom St. John
saw following the Lamb, singing a canticle that they alone can
sing (cf. Apoc. 14:1-4). They are the honor of the Church and
the adornment of the Mystical Body of Jesus. Our Savior has
such a predilection for the state of holy virginity that he chose
to come into the world only through it, suspending in its favor
the most immutable laws of nature and granting his Blessed
Mother the glory of a divine fruitfulness together with the honor
of virginal integrity.
The virginal fruitfulness of Mary, the symbol of the spirtual
*Cf. Summa, Ila Ilae, q. 184, a. 3.

264

Theological Notions

and most pure motherhood of the Church, is honored in various
ways by the faithful, some imitating her holy virginity by perfect
continence, others honoring her fruitfulness in the state of mar­
riage. St. Augustine writes:
Mary is the one woman who is mother and virgin at once, not only
spiritually but also corporeally. She is not spiritually the mother of
our Head, who is the Savior. For spiritually she is bom of him, since
all who believe in him—and she among them—are rightly called the
sons of the Bridegroom. But she is spiritually the mother of his members, whom we are, for she cooperated by her charity in bringing
forth the faithful who are his members. The fact remains that corporeally, she is the mother of our Head.
Indeed, it was necessary that our Head be bom corporeally of a
virgin by a wonderful miracle. Only Mary is Mother and Virgin in
mind and body, both the mother of Christ and the virgin of Christ.
Spiritually, the Church, in the person of the saints called to the kingdom of God, is totally the mother of Christ, totally the virgin of
Christ. But corporeally, the Church is not totally one and the other.
In some she is die virgin of Christ, and in others she is a mother, but
not the mother of Christ.8

This beautiful passage, which specifies the role and place of
Mary in the Mystical Body of Christ in such a precise and
beautiful way, clearly shows the eminent rank of consecrated
souls in this spiritual organism. They honor the sacred virginity
of Mary, they prolong it, they extend it, and perpetuate it in Holy
Mother Church. Mary was the first to raise the banner of vir­
ginity. She is the virgin par excellence, the one whom we call
by her right name, the Blessed Virgin. After her, drawn by the
odor of her virginal purity, virgins consecrate themselves to the
heavenly Bridegroom in great numbers. Adduncentur Regi vir­
gines post earn. We must repeat to the faithful whom grace in­
vites to this lofty state the words of our Savior: “Qui potest
capere, capiat”—“Let him accept it who can” (Matt. 19:12). Let
him who can, accept for himself this precious heritage.
We would only like to point out that, after virginal chastity,
which is the most excellent of all, there is a place for holy widow-

?
*
f
;

,i

[
i',
I

H
■h

•St. Augustine, De sancta Virginitate, n.6.

p.

rr

The Nature of the Mystical Body
hood, and for the chastity restored by tears of repentance. But the
Lord’s preference goes to the souls that have consecrated to him
the first-fruits of their life and the flower of their youth.

After religious, we must speak of those who are called the laity,
the faithful who form the greatest part of the Church taught,
those who on the one hand are not called to enter the sacred
hierarchy through the reception of holy orders, and who on the
other hand do not follow the evangelical counsels which Jesus
addresses to everyone in general without obligating anyone in par­
ticular.
The word layman, according to the Greek etymology, signifies
one who belongs to the people. The laymen in the Church are
those who form the Christian people, the holy people, those
whom St. Peter calls in his first epistle, “a chosen race ... a
holy nation” (I Pet. 2:9), a people purchased by Jesus Christ.
Therefore the name “layman” is an honorable and glorious one.
It has nothing in common with the unfavorable sense often at­
tached to the words “secularism” and “secular,” used to designate
neutral or even atheistic institutions which exclude any profession
of religious faith.10
In speaking of the faithful who make up the Christian people,
the laity, St. Paul uses a term that should make them proud of
their state of life. He calls them saints.11 Are they not members
of Christ? And even though their rank in the bosom of the
Church is outwardly more lowly, they can still be higher in
God’s eyes, through grace, then the ministers of the Lord. Their
greatness and nobility come from the divine life which quickens
them, from the adopted sonship that makes them sons of the
“According to the Code of Canon Law, the term “laity” sometimes
designates in a general way all who are not clerics, that is to say, religious
not in holy orders and Christians living in the world. For example, Canon
107: “Sunt in Ecclesia clerici a laids distincti” Elsewhere it applies to the
faithful who have remained in the world, excluding all religious, as in
Canon 471, par. 1: “Religiosi praecedunt laids.” We are here using the more
restricted sense of the word.
“Cf. Rom. 1:7,1 Cor. η:; II Cor. 9:1, etc.

266

Theological Notions

Father, from the indwelling of the Holy Spirit that pours grace
and charity into their souls (cf. Rom. 5:5).
Furthermore, it is for their sake, “in order to perfect the saints”
(Eph. 4:12), St. Paul says, that the various ministries of the ec­
clesiastical ministry were instituted to build up the whole Christ,
“the fullness of Christ” (Eph. 4:13). For this reason the elect of
the sanctuary should glory less in their precedence, which in­
volves so many serious responsibilities, than in the gift of divine
grace that they possess in common with all the faithful and that
alone will make them princes in the heavenly city. On the con­
trary, their dignity and the holy attributions of the sacred minis­
try belong to the order of graces called gratuitous or gratis datae.
They are conferred upon them less for their personal advantage
than for the spiritual benefit of the entire flock. They are ordered,
as to their proper end, to the grace gratum faciens, which alone
can make them pleasing to God.
In the participation in the divine nature, there are many de­
grees and measures, according to the gratuitous favors of divine
largess and to the way souls respond to the invitations of grace.
What admirable variety exists in the supernatural world; it ranges
from the newborn infant emerging from the baptismal fount to
souls eminent in virtue and perfected in transforming love. Hagi­
ography teaches us something about it, constantly revealing won­
drous new facets of holiness.
This diversity is essential to the harmony of the Mystical Body.
Even when we make allowance for the negligences and infidelities
that prevent many souls from attaining the summit of perfection
to which God invites them, all are not called to the same holiness.
God, who is the master of his gifts, dispenses them with a wise
inequality. No one can accuse the heavenly Father of injustice.
Each one has cause to thank him for what he receives gratuitously,
and should rejoice in the honorable place he occupies in the Mysti­
cal Body of Christ.
Our ultimate place among the saints of God, however, does not
depend altogether upon us. It is untrue to say, as some do, that

267

The Nature of the Mystical Body

we can decide for ourselves whether we shall attain the holiness
of a Thomas Aquinas or of a Francis Xavier. It is up to us to be
faithful to our own grace, which is certainly a grace of holiness.
Beyond that, God will always answer our desires of perfection
with new gifts and increasing largess. Nevertheless, every saint
has his own measure fixed in the eternal decrees, and it is not
within the scope of our free will to rise to the summit of per­
fection of the apostles. Jesus said to the sons of Zebedee: “That is
not mine to give you, but it belongs to those for whom it has
been prepared . .
(Matt. 20:23). To God alone belongs the
right to order the members of Christ in the organism of the Mysti­
cal Body, according to the exigencies of the supernatural beauty
he intends to give them and to the demands of multiplicity, in­
equality, and proportion among its various parts. For as Scripture
expresses it, God does all things “in measure, and number, and
weight” (Wisd. 11:21). It is up to us to lend our support to
God’s merciful plans by our own fidelity.
Since this is the supereminent grandeur that the gift of grace
confers even upon the simple faithful, we understand the terrible
evil that poor sinners bring upon themselves when they kill divine
life in their souls. They betray their vocation to become saints.
“For this is the will of God, your sanctification” (I Thess. 4:3).
They received men by ceasing to be inwardly what their outward
profession of Christianity makes them seem to be. As withered
members of Christ, they are no longer quickened by his Spirit,
and receive only rare life-giving influences from their Head.
However, they remain united to the Church, to the Mystical
Body of Christ, and this cleaving to their divine Head, imperfect
though it be, is still very precious. It will greatly facilitate their
return to the life of the Body and their réanimation by the Spirit
of grace. Although deprived of supernatural charity, poor sinners
still benefit in a reduced measure from the ineffable advantages of
the Communion of Saints. The prayers of the faithful, the fruits
of the Sacrifice of the Mass, the intercession of the saints, and the
infinite merits of Jesus draw divine mercy upon them and keep
them immersed in a supernatural current under the wind of grace.

268

Theological Notions

Unless they resist stubbornly, this will reawaken dead love in their
souls and restore them to the divine life of the Mystical Christ.
Far more deplorable is the condition of those wretched men
who bear the character of Christ engraved in their souls, but are
separated from the Mystical Body by schism or heresy. Even
more to be pitied are those whom unbelief or idolatry shut off
from the life-giving influences of the one who is rightfully their
Head, but to whom they have never been incorporated by the
sacrament of regeneration. All of these will remain outside the
vital unity of the whole Christ, deprived of the many benefits of
the Communion of Saints until the day when their aggregation
into Catholic unity makes of them members of the true Church,
outside of which there is no salvation.

269

CHAPTER XIX

Outside the Church

Is

it possible for us to look upon the total Christ and delight
in the harmonious unity of his Head and members, without also
turning our compassionate attention to the vast multitude of
those who are still far from Christ, separated from him by error,
discord, or unbelief? Did not Jesus shed all of his Blood for them?
They are sheep that follow other shepherds, flocks that have
strayed into poisoned pastures, but Christ never tires of calling
them. He invites them to come to his one fold, to fall into ranks
under his crook, and to recognize him, and him alone, as their
one Shepherd (cf. John io:iff.).
The Church, the Spouse of Christ and his mystical perpetua­
tion, shares her Head’s loving solicitude for the great erring mass
of redeemed men who are still separated from the One who is
her life. She holds out her arms to them with motherly charity,
she sends her apostles and missionaries to them, she enlightens
and instructs them, and every day brings forth a goodly number
of them to divine life by incorporating them into Christ the
Savior.
In union with the Church our mother, we who are members
of Christ the Redeemer must have the most lively supernatural
concern and affectionate compassion for all these separated souls,
many of whom, in darkness or in the dawn of approaching day,
seek Christ, “the true light that enlightens every man who comes
into the world” (John 1:9). The doctrine of the Mystical Body,
which is the doctrine of the fullness of Christ, wages us in a
special way to work for the completion of the whole Christ
The dogma is also a light capable of showing the path of truth
to those who, tired of their isolation or starving for the bread
of holy doctrine, have set out in search of the kingdom of God.
Among those who are outside the Church, separated from the

270

Theological Notions

great unity of the Mystical Body, we must distinguish three prin­
cipal categories: i) Schismatics—those who, while they retain
or think they retain the integral faith, break the bond of ec­
clesiastical communion.1 2) Heretics—those who directly con­
travene the revealed truth proclaimed by the magisterium of the
Church, and thereby break the unity of belief. 3) Unbelievers—
those who have never belonged to the visible unity of the Mysti­
cal Body, inasmuch as they have never received the sacrament
of incorporation into the Church, namely baptism. We must take
a Christian interest in the fate of all of these groups. Let us now
consider their diverse attitudes toward Christ and die Church.

The Schismatics
Jesus founded his Church on unity, and he willed that she
should form a single Body of which he was to be the Head. “That
they may be one, even as we are one” (John 17:22), was his
prayer to his Father the night before he died. The question here
is not one of an invisible unity such as certain heretics have im­
agined. Jesus asks a grace of unity for all those who belong to
him which is, by reason of its miraculous nature, a visible and
manifest sign to the world of the Church’s divine origin and mis­
sion: “. . . even as thou, Father, in me and I in thee; that they
also may be one in us, that the world may believe that thou hast
sent me” (John 17:21).
But how would the world believe if the sign Christ requested,
namely the unity of his Church, were not a patent fact visible
to all eyes? Jesus asks perfect union for his disciples: Uut sint
consummati in untmf'—“that they may be perfected in unity”
(John 17:23). But could it be called a perfect union if the mem­
bers of his supposedly invisible Church were mutually unaware
1 Actually, schism can no longer exist without also being a heresy, by
reason of the negation it implies of the primacy of Peter, now a defined
dogma of faith.

Î7I

I

ESK

I«ur

The Nature of the Mystical Body
of each other? There must be not only unity of Spirit, but also
unity of Body: UNUM CORPUS, UNUM SPIRITUS (Eph.
4:4). This is the adequate formula given us by St. Paul.
As we have already seen, many of the elements, including the
most valuable element of ecclesiastical unity, are interior and
hidden. The secret action of the Head in all his members, the
influence of the Holy Spirit who quickens the organism of the
Church, the supernatural gifts which are poured into the souls
of all the faithful from the moment of their baptism—all these
things remain secret and are visible only to the eye of faith. They
all reside, however, in a visible Body, which is made up of mem­
bers known as such and governed by an equally manifest head,
in dependence upon the Head who is Christ. This twofold char­
acter of ecclesiastical unity, at once interior and exterior, visible
in some respects and hidden in others, enables the Church to re­
produce and to represent in some manner the theandric unity of
Christ, God and man, who is visible in his Humanity, invisible
in his Godhead.
To quote the words of Pope Leo XIII: “Just as Christ, the
Head and Exemplar of the Church, is not complete if we con­
sider in him only his human and visible nature, following the
error of the Photinians and the Nestorians, or if we consider
only his divine and invisible nature, as do the Eutychians, and
as we must on the contrary consider him as one in two natures,
one visible and the other invisible; so his Mystical Body consti­
tutes the true Church only because her visible elements have also
a supernatural power and life. ...” 2
Jesus himself has marked out the generative principles of this
exterior and visible unity. Neither baptism alone, the exterior
sign of aggregation to the Church and the necessary condition
of salvation, nor the profession of a common faith could assure
the perfect unity of the Church of Christ. There is need of a
principle essential to every truly unified society: unity of gov­
ernment, the authority of a single Head whom all obey. Jesus
must have been thinking of this when he said to the Prince of
’Encyclical Satis cognitum, June 29, 1896.

272

Theological Notions

the apostolic college: “Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will
build my Church” (Matt. i6:i8).
From this follows a rigorous and ineluctable conclusion: any­
one who withdraws from the authority of Peter, who breaks
away from the communion of the universal pontiff, incurs the
stigma of being schismatic.3 He is separated; he has ceased to
belong to the Body of Christ. This inevitable conclusion is pain­
ful for anyone who realizes that it is the condition of the great
number of baptized souls who have been separated by discord
from Catholic unity.
Some may say that all recognize Christ as their Head, and are
thus united in a superior, invisible, and mystical unity. This is
the view of a number of our separated brethren, who found
consolation from the division even yesterday. Today, however,
there are many for whom this spiritual unity no longer suffices.
Indeed, this is a sign of progress. For union with Christ and in
Christ, without membership in the visible Body established by
Christ, can be only an illusion. Jesus tells us that it is useless for
us to appeal to our faith in him, and to cry out “Lord, Lord!”
if we do not conform to his will. Christ will say he does not
know us (cf. Matt. 7:21). The will of Jesus is clear; if we are
to obey him, we must submit to his Church: “He who hears you,
hears me; and he who rejects you, rejects me” (Luke 10:16).
Only one Church of Christ exists, the one he calls his Church:
Ecclesiam meam—the Church that he built on Peter for all eter­
nity.
By renouncing visible unity, the benefit of invisible unity is
•Theoretically there are two ways of becoming a schismatic: either by
refusing to acknowledge the authority of the successor of Peter; or by
breaking away from any part of the Catholic Church. Fundamentally,
however, the second mode implies the first, for the refusal to be in com­
munion with a particular Church involves schism only because a particular
Church is part of the universal Church, although only by its submission to
the apostolic Chair. That is why Pope Leo XIII wrote in his encyclical on
the unity of the Church (Satis cognitum, June 29, 1896): “Just as the unity
of the Church, inasmuch as it is the assembly of the faithful, requires unity
of faith, so, inasmuch as it is a divinely instituted society, it demands by
divine right the unity of government that includes and creates unity of
communion.”

273

The Nature of the Mystical Body
lost. In fleeing from the crook of Peter, whom Jesus named the
shepherd of his Iambs and of his sheep (cf. John 21:15-17), a
man also flees from the one who called himself the Good Shep­
herd and who wants all of us to be gathered together in his one
sheepfold (cf. ibid., 10:11-16). Our vital union to Christ is con­
ditioned upon our incorporation into the Church. This is ac­
cording to divine order, and we cannot modify it. To remain out­
side the divine order is to remain outside the Church, and outside
of Christ. To cleave to Christ by a sincere and efficacious love
is to cleave to all the members of Christ. True love excludes
schism, just as schism excludes authentic love. Thus St. Augustine
was able to say, in commenting on the First Epistle of St. John:
Spread your charity over the whole earth if you want to love
Christ. For the members of Christ are spread out over the earth. If
you love only one part, you are divided. If you are divided, you are
not in the Body. If you are not in the Body, you do not cleave to the
Head. What good does it do you to believe, if you blaspheme? You
adore Christ in his head and you blaspheme him in his Body. He
loves his Body. Even though you break away from his Body, he
cannot separate himself from his Body. “It is vain for you to honor
me, you speak foolish things, for you honor me without my Body.”
It is as if someone wanted to kiss your head while he crushed your
feet. Would you not, amid such protestations of honor, cry out:
“What are you doing? You are crushing my feet.” You would not
say: “Trample my head,” while he honored it, and yet the head would
cry out more for its trampled members than for itself overwhelmed
with honor.4

Hence those whom schism has separated from the Body of
the Church no longer cleave to the Head, Christ. They belong
to him by right, for they are his conquest by the right of Re­
demption. Even more, they bear, engraved in their souls, the
baptismal character that indicates their belonging to the divine
Shepherd. But they are sheep separated from the faithful flock,
who cannot listen docilely to the voice of the Good Shepherd.
“Those who do not have the Church as their mother, cannot have
God as their Father.” 6
*lnl Joan. V, tract. 10.
•St. Cyprian, De unit. Ecclesiae, Chapter 6.

274

Theological Notions

Does this mean that in the vast multitude of separated Christians
there are none who possess grace and charity, and who by rea­
son of this fact are vitally united to Christ, the Head of the Mysti­
cal Body? Certainly not. For when these recalcitrants left the
true Church, they took with them precious relics of their ancient
riches. They kept the divine oracles, the treasure of revealed
truths, which is the wellspring of light and of life for souls of
good will.
Simple schismatics, for the most part, have taken with them,
along with the sacrament of orders, the wellspring of sacramental
graces. The invaluable riches of the Church, especially the Holy
Eucharist and the Eucharistic Sacrifice, are not sterile for all
schismatics.
Admittedly our separated brothers hold these treasures illegiti­
mately. Admittedly the sacraments, valid though they may be,
confer grace only upon well-disposed souls. It is true also that
the sin of schism, which excludes charity, is opposed to the fruit­
ful reception of the divine mysteries. The fact remains that among
our separated brothers many are in good faith, having been sepa­
rated through the fault of their fathers and forefathers. Many
schismatic laymen have never fully understood the state of
schism in which they find themselves. Others, even when they
study the painful problem, do not grasp the truth all at once. All
of them benefit provisionally—and this, in the case of the first
case mentioned at least, can last a lifetime—from the privilege of
their good faith which, because it leaves them with the conviction
that they are in the path of truth, exempts them from formal sin
and enables them to receive the sacraments of the Church fruit­
fully.®
Even when good faith excuses them from the sin of schism
and allows charity and divine life to subsist in them, separated
Christians do not belong effectively to the Body of the Church.
‘As a rule we must make exception of the sacrament of penance, which
requires for its validity not only the power of order but also the power of
jurisdiction. Since jurisdiction resides only in legitimate pastors, it follows
that schismatics are habitaully deprived of it and cannot absolve validly
except in danger of death, when the Church grants jurisdiction to all
priests.

275

α

The Nature of the Mystical Body
They belong to it in desire, in voto,1 according to the teaching of
Pope Pius XII in his Encyclical Mystici Corporis: “. . . by an un­
conscious desire and longing they have a certain relationship to
the Mystical Body of the Redeemer” (par. 103). And this desire,
implicit in every act of supernatural charity, already places them
under the life-giving influences of Christ the Head, and of the
Holy Spirit the soul of the Church. But juridically, effectively,
they do not belong to the Church because they retain an attitude
of declared opposition to the principle of unity proclaimed by
Christ, which is union to the visible Head of the Church.8 This
is also what the above-mentioned encyclical also teaches: “Ac­
tually only those are to be included as members of the Church
who have been baptized and profess the true faith, and have
not been so unfortunate as to separate themselves from the
unity of the Body, or been excluded by legitimate authority for
grave faults committed” (par. 22).
The fact remains that there are—and this point has too often
been overlooked—even among the schismatics as well as among
the heretics who validly administer baptism many subjects who
are Catholics by right and in fact. They are the baptized chil­
dren who have not yet reached the age of reason. Baptism be­
longs by right to the Catholic Church alone. Whether the minis­
ter who confers it is a schismatic, a heretic, or even an unbeliever,
he affiliates the baptized person to the Catholic Church, and this
incorporation remains intact as long as the subject in question
has not, through a personal profession of schism or heresy, broken
the exterior bond that unites him to the true Church. It follows
’Every soul in the state of grace has at least the implicit desire to belong
to the true Church. For true charity implies the will to conform in all
things to the order willed by God.
’ Can we say that they belong to the soul of the Church? We have al­
ready remarked (cf. p. 145 above) that it is dangerous to differentiate the
soul and the Body of the Church to the point of separating them. According
to the doctrine of St. Augustine, we can be vivified by the Spirit of Christ
only by belonging in some manner to the Body of Christ. Concerning
belonging to the Body of Christ, which is the Church, it remains imperfect
and the implicit desire for it conceived by a soul of good will but in­
completely enlightened on the Mystery of Christ, may not attain its realiza­
tion and normal fruition.

276

Theological Notions

from this that, in calculating the number of Catholics now alive,
in order to make a strict count, we would have to add all the veryyoung children who have been baptized in schismatic or heretical
lands. They are all, even visibly, members of the Mystical Body
of Jesus Christ and benefit from the life-giving influences that
come to us from the Head.
Doubtless many, in fact most of them, when they reach the
age of discretion, will fall from this condition outwardly, even
while retaining inwardly, at least for a time, the privilege of good
faith of which we have just spoken. But many die before having
reached this age, and they die as visible members of the Mystical
Body, in the Catholic Communion, in the Church into which their
baptism incorporated them.
However this thought does not suffice to console the Church
for the vast multitude of faithful that schism has snatched from
her. She grieves and weeps over her separated sons. She addresses
to God her fervent supplications that his divine Goodness may
deign to enlighten their minds, touch their hearts, and finally
bring then back to Catholic unity. Speaking the language of the
heart, which is born of a burning charity, she urges them to re­
turn to the Church of their forefathers, to the Church of Rome
that the Fathers and the councils of the East as well as of the
West, have recognized as the mother and teacher of all the
Churches, whom they have honored as the oracle of truth, and
invoked as the born-arbiter of all dogmatic and religious contro­
versies.
Borrowing the words of St. Paul, she says to them: “Os nostrum
patet ad vos"—“Our words are addressed to all of you” who be­
long to the Greek rite or to any other Eastern rite separated from
the Catholic Church. May it please God to listen graciously to
your own supplications:
Grant, Lord, that there may be an end to the schisms of the Churches.
Gather together those who are dispersed, bring back those who are
lost, and unite them to your holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church!
May you thus be restored to this one and holy faith that has been
transmitted from the earliest times to us as well as to you; this faith

277

The Nature of the Mystical Body
that your fathers and forefathers have preserved inviolably; that has
been given luster by the splendor of their virtue, the greatness of
their genius, and the excellence of their doctrine—by Athanasius,
Basil, Gregory of Nazianzen, John Chrysostom, the two Cyrils, and
other great personages whose glory belongs both to the East and to
the West as a common heritage! 9

What Christian heart could fail to make its own the hopes ex­
pressed in this appeal by Pope Leo XIII, hopes that our Holy
Father John XXIII held and revived with the burning flame of
his own universal charity. This he made known on the feast of
Pentecost, i960, in St. Peter’s Basilica. Pointing to the tombs,
close by, of two great Doctors of the Greek Church—St. Gregory
Nazianzen and St. John Chrysostom—placed there, he said, as
if “to implore the return of the Eastern Churches to the bosom
of the one, holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.” And he
added:
Oh! what a prodigious event it would be, what a flower at once of
human and heavenly charity, would be this beginning toward the re­
union of the separated brothers of the East and of the West within
the one fold of Christ the eternal Shepherd! This should be one of the
most precious fruits of the forthcoming Second Ecumenical Council
of the Vatican, for the glory of the Lord on earth and in heaven,
amid universal rejoicing over the consummation of the mystery of
the Communion of Saints {Allocution of May 21, i960, on the forth­
coming Council, Acta Apos. Sed., i960, p. 526).

The Heretics
The obligation to believe the whole of revealed truth is the
fundamental command that our Lord gave his apostles when he
was about to ascend into heaven: “He who believes and is baptized
shall be saved, but he who does not believe shall be condemned”
(Mark 16:16).
Thus, from the beginnings of the Church the attention of the
•Apostolic letter Praeclara, of Pope Leo XIII, June 20, 1894.

278

Theological Notions

apostles and preachers of the Gospel has been centered on the
transmission of an unchanged deposit entrusted to their watchful
care.10 Whence every adulteration of the faith received the name
that it still retains as a sign of reprobation: heresy.11
Heresy Eke schism, and even more than schism, is contrary to
the unity of the Mystical Body. However, it does not destroy this
unity. It simply excludes itself from it, and by that very fact al­
lows the full unanimity of the faithful to subsist in the matter of
the profession of faith. Heresy could not possibly destroy the
undivided unity of the Mystical Body, which survives, often
stronger and, as it were, with renewed vigor, all the shocks and
painful amputations to which the heresiarchs subject it. The latter,
together with their followers, break away from the total Christ,
taking with them fragments of the truth, like the soldiers who di­
vided our Savior’s garments among themselves at the foot of the
Cross but who were powerless against the seamless tunic that has
remained undivided and has been preserved by divine decree
for the Catholic Church alone.
St. Augustine asks: “What is this tunic if not charity that no
one can divide? What is this tunic, if not unity? Lots are cast
upon it, but no one divides it. The heretics have been able to
divide the sacraments among themselves, but they did not divide
charity.12 And because they were unable to divide it, they with­
drew. But charity remains whole. ... He who possesses it is
secure. No one will snatch him away from the CathoEc
Church.”13
Heresy is the expression of a private judgment that contradicts
a truth revealed by God. And this revealed principle must be one
”Cf. I Tim. 1:18-20; 4:1-7; 6:20-21; Π Tim. 1:13-14; 3 to 4:6; I John
4:1-2; II John 7-11 ; Jude 3 fl.
11 That is to say, a choice, an arbitrary division of the integral truth,
which, by rejecting a part of Revelation, destroys the very principle of
the faith, namely, unconditional submission to the authority of the divine
testimony.
“Charity, as used in the passage of St. Augustine, who broadens its
meaning, becomes the synonym of the unity of the Mystical Body con­
sidered integrally, because, according to the holy Doctor, it is one of the
most essential principles of this unity.
Psalm. XXI, enarr. Ila, verse 19, PL -}6-.iy6.

279

The Nature of the Mystical Body

that is universally recognized as such by the teaching authority,14
whether it be the object of a conciliar or pontifical definition, or
whether it be commonly taught by the ordinary magisterium, that
is to say, by the entire body of bishops spread out over the
world.15*
To renounce this rule of faith is to renounce the unity of the
Mystical Body and to cut oneself off from the Communion of
Saints whose foundation and guarantee it is. Holy Scripture
remains of course, but it too must be interpreted in its true mean­
ing as guaranteed by the doctrinal authority of the Church. St.
Augustine said to the heretics of his century and of every cen­
tury: “Holy Scripture itself, if you do not understand it correctly,
profits you nothing. All the heretics who accept its authority are
convinced that they are cleaving to the truth, whereas they are
pursuing their own errors. It is not because they scorn Holy
Scripture but because they misinterpret it that they are here­
tics.” 18
These remarkable words could have been addressed to the
disciples of Luther and Calvin, and are calculated to give pause
to those who, although outside the Catholic Church, still claim
to be followers of Jesus Christ. As the Doctor of Africa so
cogently says: “In name only, Christ is found among certain
heretics who want to be called Christians. In reality, he is no
longer among them.” 17 In truth, union with Christ is accom­
14 There are other truths taught by the Church that do not belong di­
rectly to the deposit of Revelation, although they are quite closely related
to it. These include, for example, the theological conclusions that follow
from revealed premises. They also include historical data, dogmatic facts
concerning the virtue of a servant of God proposed to the worship of the
faithful, the meaning of an author or of a book, or the worth of a scriptural
translation. These are all matters that concern dogma itself in a more or
less direct way. In these questions the Church also has the authority to
make decisions and to impose an obligatory rule upon the faithful. However
she cannot transform these related truths into dogmas of faith. He who
deviates from them, although he sins seriously, does not become a heretic
because of it.
“On the nature of the Magisterium of the Church, cf. the author’s Le
Corps Mystique du Christ, Volume II, Chapter 23.
“ Epist. 120, n. 13, PL 33:439.
” Enchiridion, n. 1.

280

Theological Notions

plished by charity, and charity is founded on truth. In vain do
some who are Christians in name only assert their baptism. They
have renounced their Mother who gave them life. “A single word,
a single sacrament brought you forth. But you will not at­
tain the heritage of life if you do not return to the Catholic
Church.” 18
St. Augustine’s solemn words remain true for every generation.
There is but one Ark to save us from the waters of the flood. In
order not to be cast out of it, we must hold fast to the rule of faith,
without which “it is impossible to please God” (Heb. n:6). Many
of those whose forefathers left the Church some four-hundred
years ago feel the need to return to one Church. Some among
them, the more sincere and more generous, take the saving step and
return to the Church of their fathers; others would like to recon­
stitute the unity of the Church without going so far, by what they
call the union of the Churches. Alas! however laudable their in­
tentions, they are pursuing an unrealizable goal. For if the Church
is one, she can be so only through the oneness of her Creed. How
can souls who do not profess the same dogmas be united in Christ?
In the words of His Holiness Pope Pius XI: “How could charity
turn to the detriment of faith?”18 How can there be molded into
one Body those who adore Christ present in the Blessed Sacrament
of the altar and those who see in the Eucharist merely a sign of
the absent Christ?
Some have attempted to restore the unity of faith by the com­
mon profession of what they call “the fundamental articles.”
When God has spoken, however, his creatures may not distin­
guish between what they will believe and what they will reject.
Pope Pius XI also says: “The virtue of faith has as its motive the
authority of God the Revealer, who does not brook any distinc­
tion of this sort.” 20 Besides, among the articles set aside would be
one of the most important, the primacy of Peter and of his in­
fallible Magisterium, which necessarily condemns those attempts
“St. Augustine, Sermon 3, PL 38:33.
“Encyclical, Mortalium animos, January 6, 1928.
K Loc. cit.

281

The Nature of the Mystical Body

at a false unity in opposition to the will of the divine Founder of
the Church.
Under the circumstances all we can do is pray to God that his
goodness may bring back “to the port of truth and to the unity
of faith” those whom discord and error have snatched from the
bosom of the Church. “Oh! May our divine Savior, he who wills
that all men be saved and attain to the recognition of truth, deign
to hear our fervent prayers and bring back all who err to the
unity of the Church.” 21 May our separated brothers also, if they
sincerely desire the great treasure of unity, beg in humble prayer
for light and grace from above, and take to heart the words that
St. Francis de Sales addressed to the heretics of his own time: “I
adjure you, in the name of God, to take time and leisure to set
your judgment aright, and pray to God that he may help you
through his Holy Spirit in a judgment of such great moment, so
that it may lead you to salvation. But above all, I pray you, let
no passion enter your minds but that of our Savior and Master
Jesus Christ.” 22

The Unbelievers
As we consider the mystery of the whole Christ, to whom it is
our good fortune to be incorporated, at a moment when the en­
tire Church, under the impulsion of the Holy Spirit, is penetrated
with a new flame of zeal to bring the precious gift of faith to all
the nations, can be we remain indifferent to the fate of the count­
less multitudes of men who live outside the vital unity of the
Mystical Body, many of whom do not even know the name of our
divine Savior, or if they do know it, use it only to curse or to
persecute true worshippers?
albid^ conclusion.
aBook of Controversies, Dedication.

282

Theological Notions

THE JEWS

The sons of Israel have rejected the Messias promised to their
fathers; the followers of Mohammed rank Christ merely as one
of their prophets and deny his divinity and his redemptive mis­
sion; idolaters of every name and belief are spread over the earth.
All these unbelievers are still deprived of the light of the Gospel
and are habitually excluded from the current of grace that flows
so abundantly within the bosom of the Catholic Church.
And yet we must not imagine the condition of all of these un­
believers to be the same with respect to the means of salvation
and the possibility of entering the Church. St. Thomas long ago
distinguished the unbelief of the Jews from the unbelief of the
pagans. To his mind, the former have already received the faith
germinally in the figures of the Old Testament, whereas the latter
have not received it in any form.23 Even though the former are
closer to evangelical truth, whose basic elements they possess in a
certain respect in the prophetic Books of the Old Law, however,
their case is also more serious and their guilt greater than that of
the Gentile because of their stubbornness in denying and in
persecuting their Savior and their Christ
The Church, however, does not despair “of the children of
this people once the most favored” of God. In her prayers she
frequently implores divine mercy in their favor, “that upon them
also may descend, but this time in the baptism of life and re­
demption, the blood that they once called down upon their own
heads.”
Words of great hope have been bequeathed to the Church con­
cerning the sons of Jacob: “For the gifts and the call of God are
without repentance” (Rom. 11:29). If God has permitted a few
branches of the ungrafted tree to be cut off so that the branches of
the wild olive might be engrafted upon its trunk, the day will
come when the branches that have been cut away will again be
“ Cf. Summa, Ila Ilae, q. 10, a. 5.

283

The Nature of the Mystical Body

joined to the tree which originally gave them life (cf. Rom. 12:1114). The mystical Spouse of Christ lives in this hope. Each year,
in her solemn prayers on Good Friday, she begs God to finally
remove the veil from the eyes of this people so that, in renouncing
their blindness, they too may recognize Jesus Christ our Lord in
the light of truth. “For to this day,” says St. Paul, “when the Old
Testament is read to them, the selfsame veil remains, not being
lifted to disclose the Christ in whom it is made void” (II Cor.
3:14), and in whom the spiritual content of the Mosaic Law is
revealed. “Yes, down to this very day, when Moses is read, the
veil covers their hearts; but when they turn in repentance to
God, the veil shall be taken away” (II Cor. 3:15-16; cf. 3:7-18).
Until the general return of Israel, which will bring the Mystical
Christ to fullness at the end of time, individual Jews, many of
them chosen souls, will continue to enter the Church from the
bosom of this mysterious people. They are still a divine sign in the
face of the world because they remain unchanged in the midst of
other peoples; they mingle without ever losing their identity. The
Jews will be witnesses of Christ by their very demals of him, until
the day they become his glorious conquest.
THE MOHAMMEDANS

Outside the descendants of Abraham, who hold a place apart
among the unbelievers, the disciples of the Koran likewise make
up an almost impenetrable mass whose fanaticism shuts them out
from the light of divine Revelation. The incomparable Francis of
Assisi once dreamed of bringing them the torch of faith, or at
least of winning the palm of martyrdom on their soil which was
so impervious to the sowing of the seed of the Gospel. His virtue
was great enough to make these rebellious spirits venerate his own
person, but not enough to make them accept the law of Jesus.
And the great Lover of Christ was obliged to turn back without
the apostolic conquests of which he dreamed or the glorious
death to which he aspired.
The military power of the Crescent was for a long time a threat

284

Theological Notions
to the Christian kingdoms. Divine Providence, however, which
makes all things work to the good of his elect (cf. Rom. 8:28),
made use of these perils to bring to the East valiant phalanxes of
crusaders determined to regain possession of the Holy Places.
Thus the crusaders were made confessors of the faith and mar­
tyrs of Christ.24
But what is the fate, from the point of view of eternal salvation,
of the millions of unbelievers who follow Mohammed? Do not
souls of good will among them have some chance of attaining to
the truth and being saved by cleaving to Christ? We know that
God never turns away anyone of good will, and that “in every
nation he who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to
him” (Acts 10:35).
Assuredly in order to be saved under the present dispensation
of the supernatural order, it does not suffice to know the one God,
as is the case of Islam, solely in the light of natural reason. It is
necessary to cleave through faith to the God of Revelation.28
And yet fragments of revealed truths can be found here and
there even in the Koran. And these fragments, seen in a special
light of the Holy Spirit, will allow a few souls of good will and
eager for God to attain to salvation through Christ, until such
time as the compact mass of Islam lets itself be penetrated by the
leaven of the Gospel.

THE PAGANS

After the sect of Mohammed, a great variety of forms of un­
belief present themselves among the many peoples of the earth.
And the parcels of truth hidden under the grossest errors become
increasingly rare as we descend the ladder of civilization to the
most degenerate tribes of the human family. All of these men, ac­
cording to the powerful words of Scripture, “sit in darkness and
in the shadow of death” (Luke 1:79). The great majority of them
“Cf. Summa, Ila Use, q. 124, a. 5 ad 3.
®Cf. Letter of the Holy Office of August 8,1949, on the axiom: “Outside
the Church there is no salvation,” with reference to the controversy be­
tween Boston College and St. Benedict’s Center.

285

The Nature of the Mystical Body
are completely ignorant of supernatural truths, and many do not
have even a confused knowledge of the essential truths concerning
God and the life to come which unaided natural reason enables
us to discover. Moral degradation and servitude to the material
life have, as it were, clouded the capacity of these uncultivated
souls to grasp even the most fundamental philosophical concepts.
Even from their extreme spiritual poverty, that deserves the
greatest compassion, however, it is still possible for these men
to attain salvation. Even for them, the Apostle’s words remain
true: “God . . . wishes all men to be saved and to come to the
knowledge of the truth” (I Tim. 2:4). By mysterious ways that
escape our powers of investigation, the God of goodness and
mercy knows how to insinuate himself into these rough and ig­
norant souls to remind them at least of the necessity of being faith­
ful to the observance of the natural law. For every man, even if
he has only a most rudimentary concept of God, knows through
natural law his duty of submission to him, and has some concep­
tion of the just judgment the Supreme Arbiter will give on good
or evil acts.2®
"There is no doubt that the idea of moral good, with the obligation in­
cumbent upon us to accomplish it, presupposes the knowledge of God. God
is indeed the term of this relationship of dependence that we call obligation.
And moral good, according to St. Thomas, exists only as a function of our
submission to the will of God. “Every created will has rectitude of act
so far only as it is regulated according to the divine will, to which the last
end is referred: as every desire of a subordinate ought to be regulated by
the will of his superior” (Summa, la, q. 63, a. 1).
In consequence, in order to know this relationship of dependence we
must of absolute necessity know the Superior, namely God, whose will is
our rule, and toward whom we are obligated. All the more does the natural
law present itself to us as an order of right reason. Now reason is a per­
ceptive faculty which must see what it imposes. It cannot impose upon man
a Jaw whose constitutive element it does not know, namely the formal ele­
ment of moral obligation, the duty of dependence upon God. This funda­
mental concept of the moral order has sometimes been forgotten in efforts
to demonstrate inversely the existence of God by the existence of the law.
According to St. Thomas, there is no moral rectitude without the formal
conformity of our will to that of God, and hence without a knowledge of
God’s will as such. Cf. Summa, la llae, q. 19, a. 10; ibid., aa. 4 and 9; articles
by Cardinal Billot in les Etudes, (1923), on “La Providence de Dieu dans
le salut des infidèles.”

286

Theological Notions

Certainly, the observance of the natural law does not suffice for
salvation, which is of the supernatural order. To be saved it is
necessary to know God through faith and to love him with a
love of charity, which presupposes a certain knowledge of Revela­
tion. But fidelity in observing the natural law, with the help of
the grace that God places at the disposal of all, prepares the soul
for new graces and for the gift of faith. God has a thousand means
by which to lead well-disposed souls to faith, and we must hold it
certain that no one is deprived of faith except by his own fault,
for not having responded to the first advances of grace.
It is not for us to search into these secret ways of God’s saving
providence, whose Wisdom is never hampered in its merciful
designs by any human obstacle. But we know St. Thomas’ state­
ment that if a savage in the forest proved himself faithful in ob­
serving the natural law as he knew it, God would see to it that
he be informed, through an angel if need be, of the elements of
Revelation indispensable to salvation.
The account of the Martyrs of Uganda, who were beatified in
1922, contains an interesting note that illustrates in a remarkable
way the above assertion by the Angelic Doctor. The father of
one of these martyrs, who died before the preachers of the Gospel
came to that region, had announced to his son on his deathbed the
approaching arrival of the missionaries. In substance he said to
him: “White men will come who will announce the knowledge
of the true God and the manner of honoring him. You will follow
them and you will do what they teach you.” One after the other,
Mohammedan Arabs and Protestant ministers came into the
country. The young man, believing he recognized in them heralds
of the true God announced by his father, took instructions from
them and became successively Mohammedan and Protestant.
Nevertheless, an indefinable something was missing to give his
soul perfect tranquillity until the White Fathers finally arrived in
Uganda. Manifestly these were the missionaries whose coming his
father had announced. From them the young man obtained, to­
gether with the true faith, the Christian courage that made a

287

The Nature of the Mystical Body
martyr of him. But what of his father? Had he not been instructed
himself, through an angel, of the elements of Christianity and of
the means of saving his soul?
Such possibilities of salvation in pagan lands are of course ex­
tremely limited. While they suffice to allay the doubts that some
might conceive on the justice and goodness of God toward all
redeemed souls, they should not lessen the zeal that every member
of the Mystical Body should have to bring succor, according to
his means, to so many souls in distress. Our love for God, if it is
sincere, obligates us to this apostolic collaboration.
In his encyclical on the missions, His Holiness Pope Pius XI de­
clares:
The duty of our charity toward God demands that we strive to
increase the number of those who know him and adore him in spirit
and in truth, and that we try to bring the greatest possible number of
subjects under the dominion of our most loving Redeemer. . . . What
greater charity can we exercise toward our neighbor than by labor­
ing to snatch him from the darkness of superstition in order to obtain
for him the possession of the true faith of Christ? 27

"Encyclical Rerum Ecclesiae, February 28, tga6.

288

Conclusion
Qzzi manet in me .. . hic fert fructum multum"—“He who
abides in me ... he bears much fruit” (John 15:5).
To abide in Christ and to act in Christ are two complementary
aspects of the mystery we are studying. To abide in Christ is to
belong to the Mystical Body in its constitution, in its being. To
act, to bear fruit in Christ, is to share in the operations of the
Mystical Body. To be and to act are two mutually completive ac­
tivities. Of what use is it to be rich, to be learned, if we do not
turn these talents to advantage, if we do not make them bear fruit
for ourselves and for the good of society? Likewise in the Mysti­
cal Body, of what use is it to be engrafted upon Chirst, to possess
Christian grace, to be quickened by the Holy Spirit, if this divine
wealth remains unproductive? Does this not lay one open to the
Lord’s curse, like the sterile fig tree of the Gospel? Christ himself
has said: “In this is my Father glorified, that you may bear very
much fruit, and [thus prove that you have become] my disciples”
(John 15:8).
In the present study we have devoted ourselves to a presentation
of the Mystical Body in its static state—secundum esse, as the philosophers say. Our work, however, remains incomplete. It calls
for another to explain the Mystical Body in its dynamic aspect—
secundum operari—the divine and supernatural activity of Christ
and of his members.
The supernatural dynamism of the Mystical Body reveals all
that is most wonderful in the life of the Church and in the heroic
actions of her saints; this life and these actions both springing
from the redemptive and sanctifying activity of her divine Head,
Christ—King, Priest, and Prophet.
In conclusion, we shall merely give a brief sketch of the holy
activity of the Mystical Body in its Head and members. It is our
fervent hope that a full presentation of this subject will be made

289

,
1
I

1'

jί
H
;
j
i
j

IbhMéééM

The Nature of the Mystical Body
available in an American edition of Volume II of our work Le
Corps Mystique du Christ.

The Life of the Head
At the end of his earthly existence, our divine Savior raised his
eyes to heaven and declared to his Father that he had completed
the work for which he had come into this world: “Father ... I
have glorified thee on earth; I have accomplished the work that
thou hast given me to do” (John 17:1,4).
In this sublime prayer the Word made flesh gives us a glimpse
into the profound life of his soul before God. It is an adoring and
loving life, a life that makes reparation by perfect worship in
spirit and in truth (cf. John 4:23, 24) for the crime of revolt com­
mitted by man in the very beginning. But from the instant Christ
entered the world, as St. Paul testifies, he offered himself up to
the Father to accomplish the work of love, to do his holy will:
“Therefore, in coming into the world, [Christ] says, ‘Sacrifice
and oblation thou wouldst not, but a body thou hast fitted to me:
in holocausts and sin-offerings thou hast had no pleasure. Then
said I, Behold, I come ... to do thy will, O God’ ” (Heb.
10:5-7).
Adoration, total submission to the will of the Father, was the
dominant note of the interior life of Christ from the moment of
his Incarnation—a submission and an adoration beyond any hu­
man comprehension. In the words of Dom Mannion: “From the
instant the Humanity was joined to the Word, this Humanity, in
Jesus, was lost in profound adoration, in self-annihilation, before
the divine Majesty of the eternal Word whose infinite perfections
it contemplated through the beatific vision.”1
Christ’s interior life was to be, throughout his earthly existence
and even after his ascension into heaven, the profound source of
his mediatory and redemptive activity as our divine Head. For it
’ Christ in His Mysteries (St. Louis: B. Herder Book Co., 1931), p. 82.

290

Theological Notions
was for us and for our salvation that the Son of God descended
from heaven.2 He came to adore his Father for us. He came to
glorify him for us. Finally, he came to expiate in our place our sin
of revolt, our refusal to obey. Then, when he had completed this
expiation amid the pains of Calvary by his death on the cross, he
reconciled us with the Father, making us his adopted children
and heaping his graces upon us.
The mediative activity of Christ is one in its source, namely,
the grace of the hypostatic union. In its unfolding, however, it
takes on three different forms, which constitute the three preroga­
tives of our Head: he is King, Priest, and Prophet. He himself
told us during his life that he was the Way, the Truth, and the
Life. Since he is our Way, he guides our steps toward eternal life.
The mark of royal authority is to rule and to govern, to lead
toward the term. As the Truth of our intellects, he teaches us in
the name of God; this is his role as Prophet, the mouthpiece of
God. Finally, he is our Life by his priesthood, by obtaining for
our souls the sanctifying grace that is a participation in the life of
God himself.
Jesus willed that his divine mother should share in this three­
fold prerogative. Mary is the new Eve who stands by the side of
the new Adam, and as such is present everywhere in the activity
of the Mystical Body, inwardly associated with the work of her
Son. One of the best subjects of contemplation for Christian souls
is Mary’s role as universal Mediatrix by the side of the one Media­
tor.
The participated Queenship of Mary, recently proclaimed by
His Holiness Pope Pius XII, is of a very special nature and needs
to be studied with great care. Even more does her spiritual mother­
hood, which is associated with the priestly activity of Christ her
Son, concern in the highest degree the knowledge of what has
been called the Mystery of Maty and of our filial relationship
toward the one who is the Mother of Divine Grace.®
’The Nicene Creed.
• Cf. R. Bernard, OJP, The Mystery of Mary (St. Louis: B. Herder Book
Co., i960).

291

The Nature of the Mystical Body

The Life of the Members
The life of Christ becomes the life of his members. For, as the
great Apostle declares: “It is now no longer I that live, but Christ
lives in me” (Gal. 2:20). Thus we enter into the analysis of the
greatest, richest, and most consoling aspect of Christian life. Dom
Mannion, the eminent master of the spiritual life, was well justi­
fied in writing to a religious:
I rejoice to see that the Holy Spirit has made you understand that
we have everything in Jesus Christ. For this knowledge is the mustard
seed of which our Lord speaks, that is very tiny at first, and then,
when it is cultivated, becomes a great tree.
Jesus Christ is infinite holiness: Tu solus sanctus, Jesu Christe. But
He is not only holy in himself. He has been given to us in order to
be our holiness: Christus factus est nobis sapientia a Deo, et justitia,
et sanctificatio, et redemptio.*

This life of Christ Jesus in us begins with baptism, the act
which incorporates us into Christ and makes us one of his mem­
bers. From that moment grace erupts into our soul, and we be­
come the living temples of the Blessed Trinity. In its turn, sanc­
tifying grace deploys its power in us through the action of the
three theological virtues, which introduce us to the relationship
of close friendship with the Three Divine Persons.
On a lower level, the infused moral virtues sanctify and deify
our activity, in dependence upon Christ and in conformity with
him, in the most varied manifestations of human life. Thus is ful­
filled the Apostle’s wish that “every man [may become] perfect
in Christ Jesus” (Col. 1:28).
But this life of Christ in regenerated man is not merely the in­
dividual life of each Christian (cf. Eph. 3:16); it is also and more
excellently the life of the whole Church. The Church, in the
image of Mary who is her prototype, participates in the priestly
mission of her divine Head. The unfolding of liturgical worship,
whose center is the Eucharistic Sacrifice, is the continuation and
‘Dom Thibault, L’Union â Dieu dans le Christ, Volume Π, Chapter 4.

292

Theological Notions
application in time of the one priesthood of Christ the High
Priest. The Church is likewise clothed with the royal power of
Christ the King. In his name she rules and governs the Lord’s
sheep (cf. John 21:15-17); by his power she binds and looses (cf.
Matt. 16:19; 18:18); by his authority she judges and condemns
(cf. I Cor. 5:3-5; 6:2-6). Finally the Church, through her mag­
isterium, exercises the prophetic function of Jesus. For when he
was about to return to his Father, he commanded her: “Go,
therefore, and make disciples of all nations. ... I am with you
all days, even unto the consummation of the world” (Matt.
28:19-20; cf. also Mark 16:15).
Faithful to his command, the Church has been carrying on for
twenty centuries, continually opposed and yet always victorious,
through the grace of her Spouse, in the work of conquering and
of regenerating the world. From century to century the Mystical
Body has continued to grow, to attain perfection, and to extend
over new lands and among peoples not yet won over to Christian
grace. Meanwhile the enemy rages and organizes his forces against
her. Against the City of God, which looks toward heaven, the
devil opposes the Gty of the World, whose vistas are purely of
this earth. And while the latter claims to make history without
God and against God, the Church pursues the meaning of her
divine history—the only real meaning of history because it is
centered in God and in his Christ, the immortal King of the
centuries (cf. I Tim. 1:17). Divine histoiy, whose alpha and
omega, whose beginning and end is Christ the Redeemer (cf.
Apoc. 1:8; 21:6), began with the Creator’s fiat, and will reach
its term when Christ will have returned the kingdom to God his
Father (cf. I Cor. 15:24).
It is our task to work, each one according to his grace, for
the completion of the Mystical Christ, “in order to perfect the
saints . . . until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of
the deep knowledge of the Son of God, to perfect manhood, to
the mature measure of the fullness of Christ” (Eph. 4:12-13).
May our humble efforts help in this work by revealing to souls
the great plan of God for the Mystical Body of Christ.

293