by Msgr. M. Francis Mannion
The Protestant scholar Paul Minear, in his book Images of the Church in the New Testament,identifies 96 ways of looking at the Church. Avery (later Cardinal) Dulles, S.J., (my one-time teacher) in his book Models of the Church shows how very important images are in understanding the Church.
Of all the images of the Church my favorite is the “Household of God.” The understanding of the Church as God’s household is rich in meaning, and it allows us to view the broad panorama of Christian life in a relatively simple, manageable, and eminently human manner.
Given the modern disposition to view society in great abstract, collectivist categories, the conception of the Church as a household has more than passing value. By its example, it can humanize cultures and reduce social alienation.
St. Paul may be regarded as the great exponent of the theology of God’s household. He writes to the Ephesians: “You are strangers and aliens no longer. No, you are fellow citizens of the saints and members of the household of God” (2:19).
Paul’s letters are full of concern for the good order of the Christian household. His preaching is about sisterhood and brotherhood, about sharing burdens and respecting the common life, about hospitality and treating strangers as relatives.
For Paul, the basic qualification of a bishop is that he be a good household manager, and of the deacon that he be a dedicated table servant. And, in Corinth, at least, Paul saw the need to teach good table manners and sociability.
Not only in Paul, but throughout the New Testament the Church and salvation are spoken about in terms drawn from family life. God is Father and we are his children. One of the most notable images of sin and reconciliation is familial: the Prodigal Son leaving home, and then returning to a father’s warm welcome.
The early Christian writers made much of the mothering task of the Church. Baptism is the womb that gives us new brothers and sisters. At the Table of the Lord, the Church, like a good mother, feeds us. She teaches us, heals us, consoles us–and occasionally throws us out of the house until we get our acts together! Wedded to the heavenly bridegroom, she prepares us for the eternal feast and the endless play of the children of God.
The image of the Church as a household allows a familial view of the divine/human and the human/human relationships. It enables us to see Church history as family history and former generations as our spiritual ancestors.
Viewing the Church as God’s household presents a view of modern tensions, squabbles, and disagreements in the Church as, in all families, generally unavoidable, but capable of resolution. Above all, it invites recognition of the enormous resiliency and buoyancy of the Christian family.
Finally, the image of the Church as a household acts as a helpful antidote to the modern heresy that we are all self-made people, all rugged individuals who can pull ourselves–even in matters of faith–up by our boot-straps. We need the Christian community to direct and shape our lives.
There are, as Minear points out, many similar images of the Church: the Church as the Body of Christ and the People of God (favorite images of Vatican II), a nation, a race. These images are never mutually exclusive (unless one feeds them into a computer!). Each highlights important features of the Church and of Christian discipleship. Yet no one image ever exhausts the richness of Christian life.
Msgr. Mannion is pastor emeritus of St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church in Salt Lake City. Reprinted by permission of Catholic News Agency.
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