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The Church is universal by nature
Although in the Old Testament there was one people chosen by God, the new covenant extends to ‘every nation, race, people and tongue’ During the General Audience on 13 November the Holy Father spoke about the Church as the universal People of God, continuing his series of catecheses on the Church. This is a translation of the Pope's talk, which he gave in Italian. 1. The Church is the People of God of the new covenant, as we saw in our previous catechesis. The People of God has a universal dimension; this is the topic of today's catechesis. According to the teaching of the Second Vatican Council, "although it does not include everybody, and more than once may appear as a tiny flock, this messianic people nevertheless constitutes for the whole human race a most firm seed (firmissimum germen) of unity, hope and salvation" (Lumen gentium, n. 9). Such a universality of the Church as the People of God is in close relation to the revealed truth about God as Creator of all that exists, Redeemer of the whole of mankind, Author of holiness and life in every person through the power of the Holy Spirit. 2. We know that the old covenant was established with only one people chosen by God, Israel. However, the Old Testament is not lacking in texts which foretell this future universality. This is indicated in the promise God made to Abraham: "All the communities of the earth shall find blessing in you" (Gn 12:3), a promise renewed several times and extended to "all the nations of the earth" (Gn 18:18). Other texts specify that this universal blessing would be communicated by the offspring of Abraham (Gn 22:18), Isaac (Gn 26:4) and Jacob (Gn 28:14). The same concept is repeated in other expressions by the prophets, especially in the book of Isaiah: "In days to come", he writes, "the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established as the highest mountain and raised above the hills. All nations shall stream towards it; many peoples shall come and say 'Come, let us climb the Lord's mountain, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may instruct us in his ways and we may walk in his paths'.... He shall judge between the nations and impose terms on many peoples" (Is 2:2‑4). "On this mountain the Lord of hosts will provide for all peoples a feast of rich food and choice wines.... On this mountain he will destroy the veil that veils all peoples, the web that is woven over all nations" (Is 25:6‑7). From Second Isaiah come the predictions concerning the "Servant of the Lord": "I, the Lord, ...formed you and set you as a covenant of the people, a light for the nations" (Is 42:6). The Book of Jonah is also significant when it describes the prophet's mission to Nineveh, which was outside Israel's sphere (cf. Jon 4:10‑11). These passages, and others too, help us to understand that the chosen people of the old covenant was a foreshadowing of and preparation for the future People of God, which would be universal in breadth. Therefore, after Christ's resurrection, the "Good News" was first proclaimed to Israel (Acts 2:36; 4:10). 3. Jesus Christ was the Founder of this new people. When Jesus was a mere infant the aged Simeon saw in him the "light" coming "for revelation to the Gentiles", as Isaiah's prophecy had foretold (Is 42:6). It was Christ who opened the way for people to the universality of the new People of God, as St Paul writes: "For he is our peace, he who made both one and broke down the dividing wall of enmity" (Eph 2:14). "There is neither Jew nor Greek, ...for you are all one in Christ Jesus" (Gal 3:28). The Apostle Paul was the principal spokesman of the universal extension of the People of God. Especially from his teaching and action, derived from that of Jesus himself, the Church reached the firm conviction that in Jesus Christ all are called, without distinction of nation, language or culture. As the Second Vatican Council says, "the messianic people" which is born of the Gospel and redemption through the Cross, is a firmissimum germen ("most firm seed") of unity, hope and salvation for the whole human race (cf. Lumen gentium, n. 9). Enlightened from on high, this affirmation of the universality of the People of God of the new covenant coincides with the aspirations and efforts with which, especially in our day, people seek unity and peace, working most of all in the domain of international life and its vital institutions. Because of her very vocation and original mission the Church cannot fail to be involved in this historic moment. 4. In fact, the Council continues by stating that the messianic people, the Church, is "established by Christ as a communion of life, love and truth, and is taken up by him also as the instrument for the salvation of all; as the light of the world and the salt of the earth she is sent forth into the whole world" (Lumen gentium, n. 9). This openness to the whole world, to all peoples and to everything human, belongs to the Church's very nature. It flows from the universality of the redemption earned through Christ's cross and resurrection (cf. Mt 28:19; Mk 16:15). It finds its consecration on Pentecost in the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles and the Jerusalem community, the Church's first nucleus. Since that time the Church has always been aware of the universal call to all people to be part of the People of the new covenant. 5. God has called the entire community of those who look with faith upon Jesus, Author of salvation and Source of peace and unity, to be part of his people. This "community which has been called" is the Church, established that she "may be for each and everyone the visible sacrament of this saving unity. Destined to extend to all regions of the earth, she enters into human history, though she transcends at once all times and all racial boundaries" (Lumen gentium, n. 9). The Council's teaching continues: "As Israel according to the flesh which wandered in the desert was already called the Church of God (Neh 13:1; cf. Num 20:4; Dt 23: 1, ff.), so too, the new Israel, which advances in this present era in search of a future and permanent city (cf. Heb 13:14), is called also the Church of Christ (cf. Mt 16:18). It is Christ indeed who had purchased it with his own blood (cf. Acts 20:28); he has filled it with his Spirit; he has provided means adapted to its visible and social union" (Lumen gentium n 9) The Church's universality therefore corresponds to the transcendent plan of God, who works in human history through his mercy, willing "everyone to be saved" (1 Tim 2:4). 6. From the beginning God the Father's saving will has been the reason and purpose for the Church's activity in response to her vocation to be the messianic people of the new covenant, with a dynamism that is open to universality, as Jesus himself indicated in the mandate and assurance he gave to Paul of Tarsus, the Apostle to the Gentiles: "I shall deliver you from this people and from the Gentiles to whom I send you, to open their eyes that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may obtain forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been consecrated by faith in me" (Acts 26:17‑18). 7. The new covenant to which humanity is called is also an eternal covenant (cf. Heb 13:20) and therefore the messianic people is marked by an eschatological vocation. This is attested to particularly in the last book of the New Testament, the Book of Revelation, which highlights the universal nature of a Church extended in time and, beyond time, into eternity. In the great heavenly vision which follows the letters addressed to the seven Churches in the Book of Revelation, the Lamb is solemnly praised because he was sacrificed and with his blood he purchased for God "those from every tribe and tongue, people and nation" and made them a kingdom of priests for our God (cf. Rv 5:9‑10). In a later vision John sees "a great multitude, which no one could count, from every nation, race, people, and tongue. They stood before the throne [of God] and before the Lamb" (Rv 7:9). The earthly Church and the heavenly one; the Church of the Apostles and their successors and the Church of the Blessed; the Church of the children of God in time and eternity: it is the single reality of the messianic people which extends beyond all limits of space and historical time, in accord with the divine plan of salvation which is mirrored in her catholicity. L'Osservatore Romano November 18, 1991 |
