How the church is human and divine

The Church is not God. The Church is the People of God. The Church is not Jesus. The Church is the Mystical Body of Jesus. In other words, the Church is human and divine. It is divine in its founder, Jesus Christ, true God and true man. It is divine in its purpose which is the salvation of souls. It is divine also in the means it uses, particularly the Mass and the Sacraments, all instituted by Jesus. But it is human in its members and in its leaders. It is the Church of great saints and notorious sinners. Jesus illustrated this fact in the parable of the wheat and the weeds. Both will be present until the end and then they will be separated. This is confirmed in Jesus’ description of the last judgment.

The 12 apostles were personally chosen by Jesus, after he had spent the night in prayer. They were a motley crew to say the least. Some were simple fishermen who left all to follow a perfect stranger who passed by and simply said, “Come, follow me.” Another was a tax-collector who was despised by the Jews. Another was a zealot, a fanatical revolutionary who wanted to overthrow the Romans by force. Two of them were called “the sons of thunder,” hot heads who wanted to call down thunder on those who would not welcome them. Another was a traitor who betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. Of the others we know nothing but their names, which says a lot about them.

All of them were slow to understand. They were baffled by Jesus’ parables. They were selfish and ambitious, always arguing who was the greatest. Two wanted the best seats in the Kingdom. One wanted to walk on water. The leader of the group, after telling Jesus that he would willingly die for him, denied 3 times that he even knew him. When Jesus was arrested they all fled. They were very human. And so are their successors. All of which points up the fact that our faith is not in any human being but in Jesus, true God and true man, “the way, the truth, and the life,” “yesterday, today and the same forever.”

In an ideal world those who celebrate Mass and the Sacraments should be holy, and sinless. But we do not live in an ideal world; we live in a world that is tainted by sin from the very beginning. The Church is a work in progress. “The Bride of Christ without stain or wrinkle” comes only at end, and we still have a long way to go. We are all sinners, actually in the past, potentially in the future and always carrying this treasure in a very fragile vessel. The Blessed Virgin Mary is the “Immaculate Exception,” or in the words of the poet “our tainted nature’s solitary boast.” John tells us, “If we say we are without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.” (1 John1:8) Pope John XXIII said that he called the Second Vatican Council because he said “ecclesia semper reformanda,” the Church is in constant need of reformation. Pope John Paul II in his book, “When a Pope asks Forgiveness,” asks forgiveness for all of the sins committed by the humanity of the Church through the centuries.

The Mass and the Sacraments are actions of Jesus, “I baptize you...” “I absolve you...” “This is my body...” The priest is only an instrument. The validity of the Mass and the sacraments do not depend on the sanctity of the minister. The Sacraments are valid, “ex opere operato,” from the work done, that is from the Sacrament itself. The Church supplies for the deficiency of the minister of the Sacraments.

The efficacy of the Sacraments does not depend on the disposition of the minister but on the disposition of the recipient. “Whatever is received is received according to the disposition of the recipient.” This is well illustrated in the parable of the sower and the seed. The quality and quantity of the produce depend on the quality of the soil.

God could have chosen angels. But he chose men, fickle, fallible, sinful human beings. And it is this very sinful humanity which is the greatest proof of its divinity. If it were only human it would have been out of existence a long time ago. After the Resurrection when the apostles were brought before the Sanhedrin for teaching about the Resurrection, Gamaliel, a teacher of the law, said, “So now I tell you, have nothing to do with these men, and let them go. For if this endeavor or this activity is of human origin, it will destroy itself. But if it comes from God, you will not be able to destroy them; you may even find yourselves fighting against God.” (Acts 5:38-39) That was some 2,000 years ago. Since then the Church has seen empires rise, flourish and fall. It has withstood diabolical attacks from without and corrupting influences from within. This small grain of mustard seed has stretched its branches through the entire world.

God could have chosen angels. If God had chosen angels would the Church be perfect? I don’t think so. How many myriads of them said, “I will not serve” and were cast into the hell prepared for them? If the Church is perfect, how did you get in? How did I get in? How did any human being get in? If you are looking for a perfect Church and you find it, join it. And when you do it will no longer be perfect.

The next time the humanity of the Church rears its ugly head, instead of being shocked and scandalized, instead of trying to twist the facts to deny the truth, let us realize that there is something here greater than all of us and that the humanity of the Church is just another proof of the divinity of the Church that makes us cling more firmly and confidently to Jesus, and to his Mystical Body, the Church.