12/22/02

Recently I was asked what to say to young people, especially those in Confirmation preparation programs, who ask what they are doing when they profess the Catholic faith as their baptism is sealed in the sacrament of Confirmation. To what is their life committed as Catholics? How should they explain their Church in an often hostile social environment? It seems to me the answer must always be on two levels. On the level of faith, one comes to the Church to receive the gifts that Christ wants his people to enjoy: the Gospel, the sacraments, apostolic governance and the Holy Spirit and all the other sources of grace that are preserved in the household of the faith. Where else does one go? These gifts are holy, no matter that the Church is full of sinners, including priests and bishops. On another, more individual level, the answer has to be tailored to the particular concerns of the young person asking the question. One has to listen to where a person is coming from before trying to answer the question.

The Church, with all her troubles today, remains the presence of Christ in a troubled and sinful world. It is the Church that tells us where to find Christ and who he is. The baby we adore and worship at Christmas is God’s only begotten Son. We know that, because the Church tells us who he is. The body which came from the Virgin Mary’s womb is the same body that rose from the grave after Jesus was crucified for our salvation. We know that, because the Church tells us Jesus is risen. The risen Christ, freed from death and every earthly constraint, shapes each generation of disciples into his body, the Church. No follower of Christ follows him alone. One cannot separate Christ from his body, the Church. One is in Christ only by receiving and being shaped by the gifts which are shared in the Church. In sharing his gifts, we become Christ’s body. “By communicating his spirit to his disciples, called together from all peoples, Christ made them mystically into his own body.” (Lumen gentium, 7).

When her theologian-judges suggested to St. Joan of Arc, still a teenager when on trial for her life, that perhaps she was faithful to Christ but not to the Church, she gave the reply of faith: “About Jesus Christ and the Church, I simply know they are just one thing and we shouldn’t complicate the matter.” In this sense, the Church is as necessary for salvation as is Christ himself. Christmas places us before this mystery of salvation, personal salvation and the salvation of the human race. We can approach the mystery of the Church only through the door of Christmas. Whatever the Church is or has, she receives entirely from Christ. All her light comes from him; we find our way to the newborn Savior only as part of the community of faith. As Christ’s body, the Church, we do not make or shape ourselves. We grow up “walking on a pilgrim way amid the world’s persecutions and God’s consolations.” (St. Augustine).

One of the great consolations of Christmas is to place oneself simply before the manger and adore the Lord. When we look up, we find ourselves surrounded by those Christ loves, especially the poor. At Christmas time, the parishes of the Archdiocese and the institutions of Catholic Charities make special efforts to reach out to those who are poor and to gather them into the generosity and sharing that mark the body of Christ. That is the heart of the Church’s mission, and it becomes more visible at Christmas as young people and others take time to distribute gifts of all sorts.

With you, I pray that the year of grace 2003 will be less troubled for the Church and the world than was 2002. But troubled or not, 2003 will be a year of grace. How could it be otherwise? Our savior is born, and we are members of his body, the Church. Have a truly blessed Christmas.