Lumen Gentium: The Mystery of the Church (7, continued)

Chapter I of Lumen Gentium, the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, is entitled “The Mystery of the Church.” It continues as follows:

“7.  . . . As all the members of the human body, though they are many, form one body, so also are the faithful in Christ.(56) Also, in the building up of Christ’s Body various members and functions have their part to play. There is only one Spirit who, according to His own richness and the needs of the ministries, gives His different gifts for the welfare of the Church.(57) What has a special place among these gifts is the grace of the apostles to whose authority the Spirit Himself subjected even those who were endowed with charisms.(58) Giving the body unity through Himself and through His power and inner joining of the members, this same Spirit produces and urges love among the believers. From all this it follows that if one member endures anything, all the members co-endure it, and if one member is honored, all the members together rejoice.(59)

(56) Cf. 1 Corinthians 12:12.

(57) Cf. 1 Corinthians 12.1-11.

(58) Cf. 1 Corinthians 14.

(59) Cf. 1 Corinthians 12:26.

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Dogmatic Constitution on the Church - Lumen Gentium