Corpus Mysticum
Corpus Mysticum
Corpus Mysticum
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Body.
a sacred whole,
even
as one
One Body,
St. Paul, when depicting the mystery of the Christian exist ence, is the best witness to the intimate experience of the
Apostolic Church. The special emphasis put on the organic
unity in Christ can be easily recognised. . . . The Church
is the Body of Christ and His " fullness."
TO
Twyu
and T
TX),pw,tcu,
mends
complement. St. John Chrysostom comthe Pauline idea in this sense, " The Church is the
because it is His
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this age only, but from Abel himself down to those who shall
to the end be born and believe in Christ, the whole assembly
of the Saints, belonging to one city ; which city is Christ's
body, of which Christ is the Head " (1). St. Augustine is
alluding here to this glorious description : " But ye are come
unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the
heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels,
to the general assembly and church of the first-born, which
are written in heaven." . . . (Hebrews, xii. 22-23)
The Church is one Body, one organism, more than a congregation or corporation. And many are integrated or
perfected into this organic unity as partakers of the Holy
Mysteries. " For we being many are one bread and one
body : for we are all partakers of that one bread " (1. Cor. x.
17) . . . . . The image of the Body grew up in the
Christian mind just from the Eucharistic experience. The
Church of Christ is one in the Eucharist, for the Eucharist
is Christ Himself, and He does abide sacramentally with
His faithful, with His flock still. The Eucharist was
instituted by Christ at the Last Supper as a Sacrament of
unity and love. It was of love that Our Lord spoke that
night, it was of love that He taught His disciples. And
He gave them a " new commandment " of perfect love, such as
His own love was : " even as I have loved you, that ye also
love one another " (St. John, xiii. 34). Our Lord, as the
High Priest of the New and perfect Covenant, offers then
.,
a prayer for the unity : " that they may all be one .
that they may be perfected into one " (St. John, xvi. 21, 23).
And the measure of this perfection is the mystery of the
Holy Trinity. One and Undivided : " even as we are one "
(v. 22). It is in the Church that this unfathomable
Trinitarian Unity is reflected on the earth and many are one,
are perfected into one, in Christ, in His Love, in the oneness
of His Body. " And the multitude of them that believed
. . The
were of one heart and of one soul " (Acts, iv. 32).
Church realises and recognises its mystical unity just in the
Eucharistic experience. And so the Eucharist is a catholic
(1) In Psalm xc, enan. 2, 1, M.L. xxxvii, 1159: Dominus noster Jesus Christus
tamquam totus perfectos vir, et caput, et corpus . . . talem ergo scientes Christum
totum atque universum simul cum Ecclesia. Cfr. in Psalm xxxvii, 7, M.L. xxxvi, 399 :
non dividuntur
tamquam plenum et totum Christum, id est, caput et corpus, .
personae, sed distinguitur dignitas ; or else in Psalm xxx. enarr. ii, 1, 3-7, c. 231 ;
una quaedam persona,loquatur ergo Christus, quia in Christo loquitur Ecclesia, et in
Ecclesia loquitur Christus, et corpus in capite, et caput in corpore ; sermo 2, c. 239 :
., ut non sit disscissio.
sit accipiendus Christus lotus cum capite et corpore .
Some more references cfr. E. Mersch, S. J., Le orps mystique du Christ, Etudes de
thologie historique, Louvain, Museum Lessianum, 1933, tome ii. p. 37-131.
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it betokens the unity of the assembled Church, the undivided Christian fellowship of all those who pray. " Thou,
who hast given us grace at this time with one accord to
make our common supplications unto Thee." . . . And
prayers of the faithful are to be said really " with one voice
and one heart,"" let all the people pronounce in concord,"
is the rubric in the liturgy of the " Apostolic Constitutions,"
Kai 7r(X Tes rugeeivos Xey-rcooav (1).
And this
.
.
.
.
" symphony " is not a mere composite of many private
and separate prayers. The real symphony and concord
can be achieved only when every individual prayer should
be set free from all its limitations, should cease to be only
personal, should become one of Christian communion and
fellowship. In other words, one has to pray not as a
separate individual, but as a member of the Body, of the
mystical brotherhood in Christ. Only as a member of the
Body can one be Christianonus Christianus nullus
Christianus. For Christianity is the Church, the fellowship.
And only as a member of the Body is any Christian entitled
to participate in the mystery. In the rite the prayer of
consecration (the " Anaphora ") is preceded by a solemn
invitation : " let us love one another," yaorilTokLev CeXX4Xoln
here comes the kiss of peace. . . . Only this love and
peace enables us to bring our offerings worthily and truly.
Not only because the lack of peace or love would be a personal failure ; but just because we, the whole people,
should be one,totus populus unum sumus. . . . And
secondly, the liturgical " we " has another and deeper meaning.
This liturgical plural points to the universal fullness and
unity of the Catholic Church. For every liturgy is celebrated in communion with the whole Church and in the
name of the whole Church. And spiritually in every
celebration the whole Church takes an invisible, yet very
effective part. " Now the Powers of Heaven with us
.
invisibly do minister " (opc'mos. aa-rpeovcrcv).
And the Church upon earth repeats and proclaims the
glorious song of the Seraphim, repeats these heavenly
Hallelujahs, for in Christ the Church of the Angels and the
Church of men have become one. . . . Likewise there
is no division between the living and departed within the
Church. There is here no final separation between " earth "
and " heaven," and the power of death is overcome. And
in the righteous departed the Church witnesses to its own
(1) Brightman, p. 17 ; cf. Nicolas Cabasylos, Exploration of the Divine
Liturgy, Mg. 150, c. 701: of x(QTO1 zrdVTes Td 'Aipv e,rtXlyovvl, &c.
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