Christ and the Church: Universal Sacrament of Salvation

Posted on Feb 18, 2025 in Religion

Following the downward arrow at each stage, we approach everyday life. God becomes visible in history. Following the upward arrow, man’s life ascends, step by step, to the revelation of the true face of God.

The sacramental life constantly makes this double movement: God comes to man, and man goes to God. Jesus Christ, through his Church, appears as the path that unites man with God.

If a sacrament, in the religious sense, means revelation and gift of God’s salvation in and through an outward and visible form, Christ, in his Incarnation, is the first great sacrament, the sacrament of God: “The sacrament of God is none other than Christ” (St. Augustine). “Christ is for us in his humanity, the sacrament of God” (H. de Lubac).

The humanity of Christ is the only mystery of the sacrament, a unique and extraordinary saving encounter with the Father in the Holy Spirit. A now-classic work by Dominican Father Edward Schillebeeckx on the Christian sacramental economy is titled precisely Christ, the Sacrament of Encounter with God.

In Jesus Christ, “brightness of his glory” (Hebrews 1:3), God shows us his full glory: “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, glory as of the Father’s only child, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). Christ is the Shekinah of God, the presence of God among us. The person of Christ and all his actions are nothing but a manifestation of God, glory to God.

Now, through the gift of the Holy Spirit, “the Spirit of glory” (1 Peter 4:14), Christ associates his disciples with the Father, glorifying his mission: “And the glory you have given me, I have given them” (John 17:22). Thus, the Church is to the world the sacrament of Christ. It is the chosen instrument by which God makes his words, his wisdom, and his spirit known to the ends of the earth. It is present “every day until the end of the world” (Matthew 28:20) in Christ in glory. Encouraged and supported by the Holy Spirit, it extends and connects to all generations and all peoples the salvation wrought by her Spouse and Lord Jesus Christ. She is here on earth the sacrament of Jesus Christ.

The Second Vatican Council says: “Rising from the dead, he sent his life-giving Spirit upon his disciples and through him established his body, which is the Church, as the universal sacrament of salvation” (LG 48).

Christ instituted it as a society to communicate with her, a visible and an invisible reality: the saving truth and grace.

The Church is a witness of Jesus in the world. The Church is not the objective, but the road. Its function is to show one other than herself, pointing to Jesus Christ as Savior of the world and as the one who saves from his own sin.

The Church is not salvation; it is only the sacrament of salvation. She does not have to get past reference point, but simply to proclaim and live in Jesus Christ as the only one to save the world, making it the sacrament.

The mystery of Christ is lived in the Church, and the history of salvation continues in the Church. The mission of the Church is to extend the mission of Christ, to ensure their continued visibility throughout history. She continues the mission.

Christ with his being and his work. Here in the self and work schedule of the Church:

Three Aspects of the Mystery of Christ Lived in and for the Church