Year of Faith: The Church - Contending With The Chaos Of Sin

We had an interesting Bible Study on the book of Acts last night which brought up, among many other topics, the unique purpose and character of the Church as it began to form in the earliest days of humanity's creation. Often we only think of the Church as having come about through the work of Jesus. In reality, as the Catechism of the Catholic Church  tells us, the Church began to come together as God's response to the reality of sin that had come into the world through the first act of disobedience by Adam and Eve in the Garden;

761 The gathering together of the People of God began at the moment when sin destroyed the communion of men with God, and that of men among themselves. The gathering together of the Church is, as it were, God's reaction to the chaos provoked by sin. This reunification is achieved secretly in the heart of all peoples: "In every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable" to God.

While this 'reunification' is remains incomplete we remain a 'pilgrim people' drawing ever closer to our God in eager anticipation of that day when all relationships, both among ourselves and between us and God, are healed and restored. Such a profound and inspiring theme to carry with us during this season of eager and excited anticipation. During Advent we not only recall the coming of Jesus into the world 2000 years ago, but we prepare our own hearts for his on-going 'birthing' in our daily lives, and look forward to his returning in glory to bring us all home where our collective story began.

As Advent continues, and in keeping with our Year of Faith, take some time to reflect on this unique and exciting nature of the Church and how, through our willingness to continue this journey together and how,  by the generous grace and mercy of our Heavenly Father we may work together to overcome 'the chaos provoked by sin'.

To help in your reflections, the Church's own examination on the subject in its Dogmatic Constitution on The Church in the Modern World may be of help;

From the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church of the Second Vatican Council

The eschatological character of the pilgrim Church

The Church, to which we are all called in Christ Jesus and in which we acquire holiness through the grace of God, will reach its perfection only in the glory of heaven, when the time comes for the renewal of all things, and the whole world, which is intimately bound up with man and reaches its perfection through him, will, along with the human race, be perfectly restored in Christ.

Lifted above the earth, Christ drew all things to himself. Rising from the dead, he sent his life-giving Spirit upon his disciples, and through the Spirit established his Body, which is the Church, as the universal sacrament of salvation. Seated at the right hand of the Father, he works unceasingly in the world, to draw men into the Church and through it to join them more closely to himself, nourishing them with his own body and blood, and so making them share in his life of glory.

The promised renewal that we look for has already begun in Christ. It is continued in the mission of the Holy Spirit. Through the Spirit it goes on developing in the Church: there we are taught by faith about the meaning also of our life on earth as we bring to fulfillment – with hope in the blessings that are to come – the work that has been entrusted to us in the world by the Father, and so work out our salvation.

The end of the ages is already with us. The renewal of the world has been established, and cannot be revoked. In our era it is in a true sense anticipated: the Church on earth is already sealed by genuine, if imperfect, holiness. Yet, until a new heaven and a new earth are built as the dwelling place of justice, the pilgrim Church, in its sacraments and institutions belonging to this world of time, bears the likeness of this passing world. It lives in the midst of a creation still groaning and in travail as it waits for the sons of God to be revealed in glory.

Peace and God Bless