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Dear Father Angelo,
I wanted to ask: when was the Church born exactly? The day of Pentecost or before? Thank you in advance for the answer.
Priest’s answer
Dear friend
As regards to the foundation of the Church we need to say three things: Jesus Christ promised it, Jesus founded it, Jesus manifested it.
1. First of all, He promised it when He said to Peter: ” And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it” (Mt 16,18; thebiblegateway.com). The word Church among the evangelists is used twice only by Matthew. The first one in the passage I’ve just quoted, the second in Matthew 18,17 when Jesus says: “If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church; and if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector.” (thebiblegateway.com). In the Greek text, which is the original of the Gospel, instead of community we find the word “ecclesía”, Church. Church means community, assembly, convocation.
2. When did Christ found the Church? Well, this is what the Vatican council II in Lumen Gentium, which is the dogmatic constitution about the Church, says:”Jesus the Lord started His Church by preaching the good news, that is to say the advent of God’s reign as promised in the Scripture for ages” (LG 5, edited by the translator). And: “This reign is clearly manifested in the words, in the works and in the presence of Christ” (LG 5, edited by the translator). Even before making it visible through a group of people, He found it in the heart of the ones who listened to His preaching.
3.Among the works by which Christ built His Church as a community provided with its own structure there’s the choice of the 12 Disciples with Peter as their leader. Here is what it can be read in the Gospel of Marcus: “Jesus went up on a mountainside and called to him those he wanted, and they came to him. He appointed twelve that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach and to have authority to drive out demons. These are the twelve he appointed: Simon (to whom he gave the name Peter), James son of Zebedee and his brother John (to them he gave the name Boanerges, which means “sons of thunder”), Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.” (MC 3, 13-19; thebiblegateway.com). Here the Church is visible for the first time with its structure. He constituted them as a college. That’s why it’s said that the Church has been hierarchically constituted. Noticeably this has been the first nucleus.
4.However it can’t be forgotten that the Church was born mainly from the heart of Christ and His will of giving Himself totally to men. Then, in the blood and the water coming out from Christ’s rib hung up on the cross, the Saint Fathers have correctly seen the birth of the Church. And they commented this way: “as from Adam’s rib sleeping God extracted Eve, this way from the body of Christ, the new Adam “you’ll sleep on the cross”, from which He created the Church, His mystic bride.
5.In a third moment Jesus publicly manifested the Church to the multitude of men during the Pentecost. The Vatican Council II says: “After accomplishing the mission His Father had given to His Son on earth, during the Pentecost the Holy Spirit was sent to constantly sanctify the Church (LG 4, edited by the translator). And in the decree As gentes on the missionary’s vocation of the Church the same Council affirms: “But it was during the Pentecost that the Holy Spirit poured out upon the disciples so as to remain with them eternally; the Church officially appeared in front of the multitude and it started through the preaching and the spreading of the Gospel amongst the pagans (AG 4, edited by the translator).
6.Finally, I like to remember that right from the word Church, meaning convocation, appears the missionary nature of the Church sent from Christ to all of the people to make them His own disciples: “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Mt 28, 19-20; thebiblegateway.com).
Wishing you could always be a son of the Church, as Saint Therese of Avila expressed herself on her death’s bed, I bless you and remember you in the prayer.
Father Angelo