Pope at Audience: 'The Church is the mystery made perceptible'

By Deborah Castellano Lubov 

"The Church is the mystery made perceptible," Pope Leo XIV expressed during his weekly Wednesday General Audience this morning, Ash Wednesday, in the Vatican, as he continued his catechesis series on the Second Vatican Council.

This week, he concentrated on the Dogmatic Constitution Lumen gentium on the Church, after having spent recent weeks reflecting on the Council's Dogmatic Constitution Dei Verbum on Divine Revelation.

The Pope recalled how thus far the recent catecheses have reflected upon various aspects of Divine Revelation, noting that, in particular, we have seen how God chose to reveal Himself, making known the loving mystery of His divine plan to unite all people to Him through His Son, Jesus Christ. 

Indeed, the Pope said, it is only within this mystery that we can understand both the origin and the mission of the Church. 

Lumen gentium and mystery of the Church

When Vatican II wanted to describe the Church, Pope Leo recalled the Council was concerned first and foremost with explaining where its origins lie. "In order to do so, in the Dogmatic Constitution Lumen gentium, approved on 21 November 1964," he remembered, "it drew the term 'mystery' from the Letters of Saint Paul."

"By choosing this word, he did not mean to say that the Church is something obscure or incomprehensible, as is commonly thought when the word “mystery” is heard. It is exactly the opposite: indeed, when Saint Paul uses the word, especially in the Letter to the Ephesians," Pope Leo explained, "he wishes to indicate a reality that was previously hidden and is now revealed."

The Holy Father insisted that it refers to God’s plan, which has a purpose, namely "to unify all creatures thanks to the reconciliatory action of Jesus Christ, an action that was accomplished in his death on the cross."

The Pope said this is experienced first of all in the assembly gathered for the liturgical celebration. "There," he said, "differences are relativized, and what counts is being together because we are drawn by the Love of Christ, who broke down the wall of separation between people and social groups."

Christ overcomes division

For Saint Paul, Pope Leo recalled, mystery is the manifestation of what God wanted to achieve for the whole of humanity, and is made known in local experiences, which gradually widen to include all human beings and even the cosmos.

"The condition of humanity," the Holy Father lamented, "is one of fragmentation that human beings are unable to repair, even though the tendency towards unity dwells in their heart."

Yet, he marveled, the "action of Jesus Christ enters into this condition through the power of the Holy Spirit, and overcomes the powers of division..."

Gathering together to celebrate, having believed in the proclamation of the Gospel, he noted, is experienced as an attraction exerted by the cross of Christ.

This, the Pope stated, is "the supreme manifestation of God’s love," and "is feeling called together by God," which "is why the term ekklesía is used, that is, an assembly of people who recognise that they have been summoned together."

Thus, he stressed, "there is a certain coincidence between this mystery and the Church: the Church is the mystery made perceptible."

A sign and an instrument

In this light, the Holy Father reflected on the Church as both a sign and an instrument of this plan of salvation.

He said it is "a sign" because the Church community makes the unity established by Christ through his Cross and Resurrection visible to the world today, and also an "instrument" because it is through the Church, that God achieves His goal of uniting people to Himself and bringing them together. 

Pope Leo concluded by suggesting that as we journey through a world still marked by division, let us ask the Lord to continue to guide His Church in the mission of sanctification and reconciliation.