I believe in the Church of Christ – the Church as the community of faith and love

Abstract

The Church is not a purely human community, but also a divine reality. The Church of Christ is the nucleus of the Kingdom of God on earth and a reality which, by God’s will, is “like a sacrament or a sign and instrument both of a very closely knit union with God and of the unity of the whole human race” (LG 1). Today, this vision of the Church is threatened, among other things, by a civilization that prefers a life without God. Some baptized people live as if God did not exist. Others declare faith in God and their belonging to the Church, but according to their own vision. They treat it as an institution needed only in certain existential situations. Whereas the Church is a community of faith and love and a place of sanctification, which Christ realizes through the power of the holy sacraments.