LIBERTY UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF DIVINITY
Assignment Title: GOD'S PLAN AND THE MISSION OF THE CHURCH
Course: CHMN 699 - Internship
Student: Kristine Sage
Date: January 29, 2022
Professor: Dr. Joel Breidenbaugh
GOD'S PLAN AND THE MISSION OF THE CHURCH
a. The Church, sign and defender of the transcendence of the human person
49. The Church, the community of those who have been brought together by the Risen Christ and
who have set out to follow him, is “the sign and the safeguard of the transcendent dimension of the
human person”[54]. She is “in Christ a kind of sacrament — a sign and instrument, that is, of communion
with God and of unity among all men”[55]. Her mission is that of proclaiming and communicating the
salvation wrought in Jesus Christ, which he calls “the Kingdom of God” (Mk 1:15), that is, communion
with God and among men. The goal of salvation, the Kingdom of God embraces all people and is fully
realized beyond history, in God. The Church has received “the mission of proclaiming and establishing
among all peoples the Kingdom of Christ and of God, and she is, on earth, the seed and the beginning of
that Kingdom”[56].
50. The Church places herself concretely at the service of the Kingdom of God above all by
announcing and communicating the Gospel of salvation and by establishing new Christian communities.
Moreover, she “serves the Kingdom by spreading throughout the world the ‘Gospel values' which are an
expression of the Kingdom and which help people to accept God's plan. It is true that the inchoate
reality of the Kingdom can also be found beyond the confines of the Church among peoples everywhere,
to the extent that they live ‘Gospel values' and are open to the working of the Spirit who breathes when
and where he wills (cf. Jn 3:8). But it must immediately be added that this temporal dimension of the
Kingdom remains incomplete unless it is related to the Kingdom of Christ present in the Church and
straining towards eschatological fullness”[57]. It follows from this, in particular, that the Church is not to
be confused with the political community and is not bound to any political system[58]. In fact, the
political community and the Church are autonomous and independent of each other in their own fields,
and both are, even if under different titles, “devoted to the service of the personal and social vocation of
the same human beings”[59]. Indeed, it can be affirmed that the distinction between religion and
politics and the principle of religious freedom constitute a specific achievement of Christianity and one
of its fundamental historical and cultural contributions.
51. According to the plan of God brought about in Christ, there corresponds to the identity and
mission of the Church in the world “a saving and eschatological purpose which can be fully attained only
in the next life”[60]. Precisely for this reason, the Church offers an original and irreplaceable
contribution with the concern that impels her to make the family of mankind and its history more
human, prompting her to place herself as a bulwark against every totalitarian temptation, as she shows
man his integral and definitive vocation[61].
By her preaching of the Gospel, the grace of the sacraments and the experience of fraternal
communion, the Church “heals and elevates the dignity of the human person, ... consolidates society
and endows the daily activity of men with a deeper sense and meaning”[62]. At the level of concrete
historical dynamics, therefore, the coming of the Kingdom of God cannot be discerned in the
perspective of a determined and definitive social, economic or political organization. Rather, it is seen in
the development of a human social sense which for mankind is a leaven for attaining wholeness, justice
and solidarity in openness to the Transcendent as a point of reference for one's own personal definitive
fulfilment.
b. The Church, the Kingdom of God and the renewal of social relations
52. God, in Christ, redeems not only the individual person but also the social relations existing
between men. As the Apostle Paul teaches, life in Christ makes the human person's identity and social
sense — with their concrete consequences on the historical and social planes — emerge fully and in a
new manner: “For in Christ Jesus you are all children of God, through faith. For as many of you as were
baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, neither slave nor free, there is
neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ” (Gal 3:26-28). In this perspective, Church
communities, brought together by the message of Jesus Christ and gathered in the Holy Spirit round the
Risen Lord (cf. Mt 18:20, 28:19-20; Lk 24:46-49), offer themselves as places of communion, witness and
mission, and as catalysts for the redemption and transformation of social relationships.
53. The transformation of social relationships that responds to the demands of the Kingdom of
God is not fixed within concrete boundaries once and for all. Rather, it is a task entrusted to the
Christian community, which is to develop it and carry it out through reflection and practices inspired by
the Gospel. It is the same Spirit of the Lord, leading the people of God while simultaneously permeating
the universe[63], who from time to time inspires new and appropriate ways for humanity to exercise its
creative responsibility[64]. This inspiration is given to the community of Christians who are a part of the
world and of history, and who are therefore open to dialogue with all people of good will in the common
quest for the seeds of truth and freedom sown in the vast field of humanity[65]. The dynamics of this
renewal must be firmly anchored in the unchangeable principles of the natural law, inscribed by God the
Creator in each of his creatures (cf. Rom 2:14-15), and bathed in eschatological light through Jesus
Christ.
54. Jesus Christ reveals to us that “God is love” (1 Jn 4:8) and he teaches us that “the fundamental
law of human perfection, and consequently of the transformation of the world, is the new
commandment of love. He assures those who trust in the love of God that the way of love is open to all
people and that the effort to establish a universal brotherhood will not be in vain”[66]. This law is called
to become the ultimate measure and rule of every dynamic related to human relations. In short, it is the
very mystery of God, Trinitarian Love, that is the basis of the meaning and value of the person, of social
relations, of human activity in the world, insofar as humanity has received the revelation of this and a
share in it through Christ in his Spirit.
55. The transformation of the world is a fundamental requirement of our time also. To this need
the Church's social Magisterium intends to offer the responses called for by the signs of the times,
pointing above all to the mutual love between human beings, in the sight of God, as the most powerful
instrument of change, on the personal and social levels. Mutual love, in fact, sharing in the infinite love
of God, is humanity's authentic purpose, both historical and transcendent. Therefore, “earthly progress
must be carefully distinguished from the growth of Christ's kingdom. Nevertheless, to the extent that
the former can contribute to the better ordering of human society, it is of vital concern to the kingdom
of God”[67].
c. New heavens and a new earth
56. God's promise and Jesus Christ's resurrection raise in Christians the well-founded hope that a
new and eternal dwelling place is prepared for every human person, a new earth where justice abides (cf.
2 Cor 5:1-2; 2 Pet 3:13). “Then, with death conquered, the children of God will be raised in Christ and
what was sown in weakness and corruption will be clothed in incorruptibility: charity and its works will
remain and all of creation, which God made for man, will be set free from its bondage to vanity”[68].
This hope, rather than weaken, must instead strengthen concern for the work that is needed in the
present reality.
57. The good things — such as human dignity, brotherhood and freedom, all the good fruits of
nature and of human enterprise — that in the Lord's Spirit and according to his command have spread
throughout the earth, having been purified of every stain, illuminated and transfigured, belong to the
Kingdom of truth and life, of holiness and grace, of justice, of love and of peace that Christ will present to
the Father, and it is there that we shall once again find them. The words of Christ in their solemn truth
will then resound for all people: “Come, O blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you
from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me
drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you
visited me, I was in prison and you came to me ... as you did it to one of the least of my brethren, you
did it to me” (Mt 25:34-36,40).
58. The complete fulfilment of the human person, achieved in Christ through the gift of the Spirit,
develops in history and is mediated by personal relationships with other people, relationships that in turn
reach perfection thanks to the commitment made to improve the world, in justice and peace. Human
activity in history is of itself significant and effective for the definitive establishment of the Kingdom,
although this remains a free gift of God, completely transcendent. Such activity, when it respects the
objective order of temporal reality and is enlightened by truth and love, becomes an instrument for
making justice and peace ever more fully and integrally present, and anticipates in our own day the
promised Kingdom.
Conforming himself to Christ the Redeemer, man perceives himself as a creature willed by God and
eternally chosen by him, called to grace and glory in all the fullness of the mystery in which he has
become a sharer in Jesus Christ[69]. Being conformed to Christ and contemplating his face [70] instil in
Christians an irrepressible longing for a foretaste in this world, in the context of human relationships, of
what will be a reality in the definitive world to come; thus Christians strive to give food, drink, clothing,
shelter, care, a welcome and company to the Lord who knocks at the door (cf. Mt 25:35-37).
d. Mary and her “fiat” in God's plan of love
59. Heir to the hope of the righteous in Israel and first among the disciples of Jesus Christ is Mary,
his Mother. By her “fiat” to the plan of God's love (cf. Lk 1:38), in the name of all humanity, she accepts
in history the One sent by the Father, the Saviour of mankind. In her Magnificat she proclaims the
advent of the Mystery of Salvation, the coming of the “Messiah of the poor” (cf. Is 11:4; 61:1). The God
of the Covenant, whom the Virgin of Nazareth praises in song as her spirit rejoices, is the One who casts
down the mighty from their thrones and raises up the lowly, fills the hungry with good things and sends
the rich away empty, scatters the proud and shows mercy to those who fear him (cf. Lk 1:50-53).
Looking to the heart of Mary, to the depth of her faith expressed in the words of the Magnificat,
Christ's disciples are called to renew ever more fully in themselves “the awareness that the truth about
God who saves, the truth about God who is the source of every gift, cannot be separated from the
manifestation of his love of preference for the poor and humble, that love which, celebrated in the
Magnificat, is later expressed in the words and works of Jesus”[71]. Mary is totally dependent upon God
and completely directed towards him by the impetus of her faith. She is “the most perfect image of
freedom and of the liberation of humanity and of the universe”[72].
