English
Documentation
The Universality of the Church
Msgr. Fernando Ocariz
A summary of the article by Msgr. Ocariz, vicar general of Opus Dei, in which he unpacks St Josemaria’s many references to the universality of the Church. When St Josemaria spoke and wrote about the Church he explained how she is one, holy, catholic and apostolic, and why his love for the Church was part and parcel of his love for Jesus Christ.
The writings and preaching of Saint Josemaría contain many references to the Church, some brief, some longer, and with different tones according to the context. They normally aimed to nourish his hearers’ or readers’ spiritual lives, rather than to provide an academic study.
In addition, two of his homilies are devoted entirely to meditating on the Church. They contain an explanation and vibrant defence of the main aspects of Catholic teaching on the Church, as against the errors which were spreading about during the first decade after Vatican II despite the clarity and depth of the Council’s teaching, particularly in the Constitution Lumen Gentium1 .
When Saint Josemaría preached or wrote about the Church he never dealt with it in the abstract; he faced the living reality of the mystery of salvation, with veneration and love which were not only inseparable from his passionate love for Jesus Christ; they were a necessary manifestation of it.
The reason is that “This is what the Church is: Christ present in our midst, God coming toward men in order to save them, calling us with his revelation, sanctifying us with his grace, maintaining us with his constant help, in the great and small battles of our daily life.” 2. His love for the Church was filled with wonder at the untarnished holiness which she had from her very origin, but this wonder was not born of ignorance about the sin present in her members. “Gens sancta, a holy nation, but composed of creatures with infirmities.
This apparent contradiction marks an aspect of the mystery of the Church. The Church, which is divine, is also human, for it is made up of men, and men have their defects: Omnes homines terra et cinis, we men are dust and ashes (Sirach 17:31).” 3His love was also filled with joy: “Holy, holy, holy, we dare sing to the Church, evoking a hymn in honour of the Blessed Trinity. You are holy, O Church, my mother, because the Son of God, who is holy, founded you. You are holy, because the Father, source of all holiness, so ordained it. You are holy, because the Holy Spirit, who dwells in the souls of the faithful, assists you, in order to gather together the children of the Father, who will dwell in the Church of heaven, the eternal Jerusalem.” 4
For Saint Josemaría, the Church is in the first place the universal Church: one, holy, Catholic and apostolic, ruled by the Bishops under the supreme authority of the Pope, and hence Roman: “I savour that word, Roman! I feel completely Roman, because Roman means universal, catholic. And because it leads me to have a tender love for the Pope, il dolce Cristo in terra – the sweet Christ on earth, as Saint Catherine of Siena (…) liked to repeat.” 5These passages and many similar ones clearly show the right kind of ecclesiology, which recognises the primacy, in time and in essence, of the universal Church over each particular Church,6 while avoiding any form of unilateral universalism.
Saint Josemaría was always very conscious that the universal Church is present and active – inest et operatur 7- in the particular churches. Hence, together with full and unconditional loyalty to the Successor of Peter, there was his union with the diocesan Bishops, always affirmed and lived out as something essential to the unity of the Church; “a unity that is only bestowed by the Pope upon the whole Church and by the Bishop, in communion with the Holy See, upon each diocese.” 8
Contemplation of the mystery of the Church awakens joyous hope in Christian souls, because “The strength and the power of God light up the face of the earth. The Holy Spirit is present in the Church of Christ for all time, so that it may be, always and in everything, a sign raised up before all nations, announcing to all men the goodness and the love of God. In spite of our great limitations, we can look up to heaven with confidence and joy: God loves us and frees us from our sins. The presence and the action of the Holy Spirit in the Church are a foretaste of eternal happiness, of the joy and peace for which we are destined by God.”9
In conclusion, still in the context of the universality of the Church, let us turn our eyes, together with Saint Josemaría, to our Lady, who as Mother of the Lord is also Mater Ecclesiae, Mother of the Church. As on the day of Pentecost, Mary continually builds the Church and keeps it together.
“It is difficult to have devotion to our Lady and not feel closer to the other members of the mystical body and more united to its visible head, the Pope. That’s why I like to repeat: ‘Omnes cum Petro ad Iesum per Mariam! All with Peter to Jesus through Mary!’ By seeing ourselves as part of the Church and united to our brothers and sisters in the faith, we understand more deeply that we are brothers and sisters of all mankind, for the Church has been sent to all the peoples of the earth.”10
A paper given by Msgr. Fernando Ocariz, vicar-general of Opus Dei, at the congress “The Grandeur of Ordinary Life” in Rome, 2002.
Notes
1. The homilies are: The Supernatural Aim of the Church (28 May 1972), and Loyalty to the Church (4 June 1972), published in 1973 and later included in the book In Love with the Church, Scepter, 1989, pp. 1-36.
2. Josemaría Escrivá, Christ Is Passing By, 131.
3. Josemaría Escrivá, “Loyalty to the Church” in In Love with the Church, op. cit., p. 7. On love for the Church in the life and teachings of Saint Josemaría, cf. Javier Echevarría, Memoria del Beato Josemaría, Madrid 2000, pp. 340-347. See also Cormac Burke, “Una dimensión de su vida: el amor a la Iglesia y al Papa, in Pedro Rodriguez et al., Mons. Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer y el Opus Dei, Pamplona: Eunsa, 1982, pp. 339-350.
4. Josemaría Escrivá, “Loyalty to the Church”., pp. 9-10.
5. Ibid., pp. 12-13
6. Cf. Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Letter Communionis Notio, 28 May 1992, 9.
7. Vatican Council II, Decree Christus Dominus, 28 October 1965, 11.
8. Josemaría Escrivá, Letter, 9 January 1932, 21.
9. Josemaría Escrivá, Christ is Passing By, 128.
10. Ibid., 139.
In addition, two of his homilies are devoted entirely to meditating on the Church. They contain an explanation and vibrant defence of the main aspects of Catholic teaching on the Church, as against the errors which were spreading about during the first decade after Vatican II despite the clarity and depth of the Council’s teaching, particularly in the Constitution Lumen Gentium1 .
When Saint Josemaría preached or wrote about the Church he never dealt with it in the abstract; he faced the living reality of the mystery of salvation, with veneration and love which were not only inseparable from his passionate love for Jesus Christ; they were a necessary manifestation of it.
The reason is that “This is what the Church is: Christ present in our midst, God coming toward men in order to save them, calling us with his revelation, sanctifying us with his grace, maintaining us with his constant help, in the great and small battles of our daily life.” 2. His love for the Church was filled with wonder at the untarnished holiness which she had from her very origin, but this wonder was not born of ignorance about the sin present in her members. “Gens sancta, a holy nation, but composed of creatures with infirmities.
This apparent contradiction marks an aspect of the mystery of the Church. The Church, which is divine, is also human, for it is made up of men, and men have their defects: Omnes homines terra et cinis, we men are dust and ashes (Sirach 17:31).” 3His love was also filled with joy: “Holy, holy, holy, we dare sing to the Church, evoking a hymn in honour of the Blessed Trinity. You are holy, O Church, my mother, because the Son of God, who is holy, founded you. You are holy, because the Father, source of all holiness, so ordained it. You are holy, because the Holy Spirit, who dwells in the souls of the faithful, assists you, in order to gather together the children of the Father, who will dwell in the Church of heaven, the eternal Jerusalem.” 4
For Saint Josemaría, the Church is in the first place the universal Church: one, holy, Catholic and apostolic, ruled by the Bishops under the supreme authority of the Pope, and hence Roman: “I savour that word, Roman! I feel completely Roman, because Roman means universal, catholic. And because it leads me to have a tender love for the Pope, il dolce Cristo in terra – the sweet Christ on earth, as Saint Catherine of Siena (…) liked to repeat.” 5These passages and many similar ones clearly show the right kind of ecclesiology, which recognises the primacy, in time and in essence, of the universal Church over each particular Church,6 while avoiding any form of unilateral universalism.
Contemplation of the mystery of the Church awakens joyous hope in Christian souls, because “The strength and the power of God light up the face of the earth. The Holy Spirit is present in the Church of Christ for all time, so that it may be, always and in everything, a sign raised up before all nations, announcing to all men the goodness and the love of God. In spite of our great limitations, we can look up to heaven with confidence and joy: God loves us and frees us from our sins. The presence and the action of the Holy Spirit in the Church are a foretaste of eternal happiness, of the joy and peace for which we are destined by God.”9
In conclusion, still in the context of the universality of the Church, let us turn our eyes, together with Saint Josemaría, to our Lady, who as Mother of the Lord is also Mater Ecclesiae, Mother of the Church. As on the day of Pentecost, Mary continually builds the Church and keeps it together.
“It is difficult to have devotion to our Lady and not feel closer to the other members of the mystical body and more united to its visible head, the Pope. That’s why I like to repeat: ‘Omnes cum Petro ad Iesum per Mariam! All with Peter to Jesus through Mary!’ By seeing ourselves as part of the Church and united to our brothers and sisters in the faith, we understand more deeply that we are brothers and sisters of all mankind, for the Church has been sent to all the peoples of the earth.”10
A paper given by Msgr. Fernando Ocariz, vicar-general of Opus Dei, at the congress “The Grandeur of Ordinary Life” in Rome, 2002.
Notes
1. The homilies are: The Supernatural Aim of the Church (28 May 1972), and Loyalty to the Church (4 June 1972), published in 1973 and later included in the book In Love with the Church, Scepter, 1989, pp. 1-36.
2. Josemaría Escrivá, Christ Is Passing By, 131.
3. Josemaría Escrivá, “Loyalty to the Church” in In Love with the Church, op. cit., p. 7. On love for the Church in the life and teachings of Saint Josemaría, cf. Javier Echevarría, Memoria del Beato Josemaría, Madrid 2000, pp. 340-347. See also Cormac Burke, “Una dimensión de su vida: el amor a la Iglesia y al Papa, in Pedro Rodriguez et al., Mons. Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer y el Opus Dei, Pamplona: Eunsa, 1982, pp. 339-350.
4. Josemaría Escrivá, “Loyalty to the Church”., pp. 9-10.
5. Ibid., pp. 12-13
6. Cf. Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Letter Communionis Notio, 28 May 1992, 9.
7. Vatican Council II, Decree Christus Dominus, 28 October 1965, 11.
8. Josemaría Escrivá, Letter, 9 January 1932, 21.
9. Josemaría Escrivá, Christ is Passing By, 128.
10. Ibid., 139.
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