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.  . . . The Head of this Body is Christ. He is the image of the invisible God and in Him all things came into being. He is before all creatures and in Him all things hold together. He is the head of the Body which is the Church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He might have the first place.(60) By the greatness of His power He rules the things in heaven and the things on earth, and with His all-surpassing perfection and way of acting He fills the whole body with the riches of His glory.(61)

“All the members ought to be molded in the likeness of Him, until Christ be formed in them.(62) For this reason we, who have been made to conform with Him, who have died with Him and risen with Him, are taken up into the mysteries of His life, until we will reign together with Him.(63) On earth, still as pilgrims in a strange land, tracing in trial and in oppression the paths He trod, we are made one with His sufferings like the body is one with the Head, suffering with Him, that with Him we may be glorified.(64)”

(60) Cf. Colossians 1:15-18.

(61) Cf. Ephesians 1:18-23.

(62) Cf. Galatians 4:19.

(63) Cf. Philippians 3:21; 2 Timothy 2:11; Ephesians 2:6; Colossians 2:12 etc.

(64) Cf. Romans 8:17.

 

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Dogmatic Constitution on the Church - Lumen Gentium