The People of God, the Church is a society that is different from the civil society because of its origin, nature and mission. It is a society sui generis, that is, a society in its own class. The Church we are referring to here is the Catholic Church that is governed by the Successor of Peter, the Roman Pontiff in Communion with the Bishops (cf. canon 204, 2).

The Church is an assembly of believers founded by Jesus Christ as willed by God the Father through the action of the Holy Spirit. The Church is not like ordinary association or organization that can be formed by the initiative of the members, rather it is from God’s initiative to fulfill his eternal plan of man’s redemption. The Church is a complex reality and just like the Incarnate Word, it has both human and divine elements. On this fact, the Fathers of the Second Vatican Council affirm:

“…the society structured with hierarchical organs and the mystical body of Christ, the visible society and the spiritual community, the earthly Church and the Church endowed with heavenly riches, are not to be thought of as two realities. On the contrary, they form one complex reality which comes together from human and divine elements.”  In this way, “the social structure of the Church serves the Spirit of Christ who vivifies it, in the building up of the body (Eph 4:15; Vatican Council II, Lumen Gentium no. 8).”

 

The Church even though it is established by Christ for a supernatural mission of working for the salvation of souls: “Go make disciples of all nation, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit” (Matt 28: 19), is also concerned with the temporal affairs of humanity. There are no genuinely human concerns that do not find an echo in the heart of the Church (Vatican Council  II,  Pastoral Constitution of the Church in the Modern World, Gaudium et Spes no. 1). Any problem tormenting the life of man in any age concerns the Church who, as a good mother is never indifferent to the troubles of her children as she cherishes “a feeling of deep solidarity with the human race and its history.”  (Gaudium et Spes  no. 1). 

The Second Vatican Council (1962 -1965) committed the Church to an active role in the promotion of justice, human rights, freedom, urging all Catholics to share the “joys and hopes, the griefs and anxieties of the men of this age, especially those who are in any way afflicted” (Brian H. Smith, The Church and Politics: Challenges to Modern Catholicism, Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey 1982, p. 3).  

An international synod of Bishops meeting in Rome in 1971 made even more explicit the connection between religious faith and social justice, arguing that the “action on behalf of justice and participation in the transformation of the world” are “constitutive dimensions of the preaching of the Gospel.”

Right from its inception, the Church, the People of God has been engaged with the mission of holistic care of man’s good, she preached for repentance, feed the poor and served as spoke-man for the oppressed and marginalized. Through her social doctrine, the Church addresses problems of mankind in different generations proffering solutions based on faith and light of the Gospel. The Church plays her prophetic role by speaking out clearly against violations of human rights and taking concrete action to mount pressure on the ruling class to carry out their responsibilities towards the governed. As the voice of the voiceless the Church has the responsibility to denounce violation of fundamental human rights in any society.

The Church has the characteristic features of unity, sanctity, apostolicity, universality, and equality. The Church the people of God even though it is made up of people from different ethnic groups and culture forms one single entity. Through baptism the members are freed from the original sin, reborn as sons and daughters of God, become members of Christ, incorporated into the Church and made sharers in the Church’s mission and members of a new family of God (cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, Burns & Oates, 2002, 1213, page 277; can. 204, 1).

On the oneness of the people of God St. Paul affirms: “Let there be one body and one Spirit, just as one hope is the goal of your calling by God. One Lord, one faith, one baptism. One God, the Father of all, who is above all and works through all and is in all” (Eph 4: 4-6).

 The Church is presented by the Fathers of the Second Vatican Council in its document Lumen Gentium as the “People of God.” This image of the Church has Biblical foundation and it emphasizes the social dimension of the Christian community. It is the will of God to make men holy and save them not as individuals without bond or link between them but rather to make them into a people that will acknowledge him and serve him in holiness (cf. Lumen Gentium no. 9). All those regenerated in Christ through baptism have relationship with each other through connatural social dimension.

The People of God is a community of love, communion, and of unity. The Church, the people of God is a fruit of the action of the Blessed Trinity, Father, Son and the Holy Spirit; she is the fruit of their communion and are called to share in the communion of the Holy Trinity and each individual member of the Church with one another.

God created man for communion with him and always extend hands of friendship to man. One who accepts God’s invitation of friendship must necessarily seeks incorporation into the Body of Christ, the Church through baptism. He should be part of the community of faith. The Christian faith is not lived in isolation because the Church is by nature a communion, and communion is a concept that best expresses the core of the mystery of the Church (cf. Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith, “Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church on Some Aspects of the Church Understood as Communion,” #1, 1992.

 

The Church, in Christ, is in the nature of sacrament – a sign and instrument, that is, of communion with God and of unity among all men” (Lumen Gentium no 1). The Christian people are not just one single entity but they are integrated and related to one another by social bonds; and among them exists fundamental equality in dignity and action irrespective of functional diversity based on different vocations and charisms of its members (cf. canon 208). The fundamental equality of the people of God in dignity and action precedes any differentiation of functional nature.

 The different gifts of the Holy Spirit bestowed on individual members of the Church are for service to the People of God; it should be at the service of unity of communion and not motive of division (cf. Louis Bouyer, The Church of God: Body of Christ and Temple of the Holy Spirit, Ignatius Press, New York, 2011, pp. 9 - 10).

The Church the people of God is holy because of the presence of the Spirit of Christ and divine gifts in it, it is apostolic, that is, based on the foundation laid by the apostles, it is universal, embracing the whole of human race.

 The Church is a community of faith, hope and charity established and sustained by Jesus Christ as “a visible organization through which he communicates truth and grace,” the social structure of the Church serves the Spirit of Christ, who vivifies it, in building up of the body” (Lumen Gentium no 8). 

The People of God is a community of faith, hence, ordinarily one cannot become member of the people of God unless one expresses faith in God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit through the reception of baptism, which is the sacrament of rebirth that makes one new creature in Christ and qualifies one for entrance into the kingdom of heaven if one perseveres to the end in the life of faith and Christian charity.

The People of God are believers in Christ that are reborn not from flesh, but from water and Holy Spirit established as “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation. They are the messianic people who has Christ as their head, and their state is “that of the dignity and freedom of the sons of God, in whose hearts the Holy Spirit dwells as in a temple. Its law is the new commandment to love as Christ loved us (cf. Jn. 13: 34). Its destiny is the kingdom of God which has been begun by God himself on earth and which must be further extended until it is brought to perfection by him at the end of time when Christ our life (cf. Col. 3: 4), will appear and “creation itself also will be delivered from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the sons of God” (Rom. 8: 21) (Lumen Gentium no 9).

The Church, the people of God is a Great gift to humanity for the important roles she plays of fostering the building of a just human society and for the salvation of souls. Mankind is highly indebted to God for establishing the Church on earth and for all she has done for the good of the human race from the time of her institution.