THEOLOGY 3 notes and

reviewer (1st sem finals)

M8: MARKS OF THE CHURCH

Traditionally, the Church has

been known by four signs or
marks which help identify its true
nature. These signs are:

THE MARKS OF THE CHURCH Unity of Creed (faith)

HELP TO STRENGTHEN THE a creed is a body of beliefs. The
FAITH OF CHRISTIANS AND body of beliefs is officially put
CAN ATTRACT THE ATTENTION forth by the magisterium of the
OF THE NONBELIEVER. Church and all Catholics are
But the signs are paradoxical united in their beliefs.
in nature Unity of Moral Teaching (code)
We say the Church is holy and The code of the Church refers to
yet it is made up of sinners. the moral teachings of the Church
We believe the Church is one, and their application to concrete
and yet there is a wounded unity contemporary problems.
among various Christian Catholics are united in the
denomination. Church’s continual quest to
discover God’s will in the solution
We claim the Church is for all to moral problems and are called
mankind and yet individual upon to be guided by the moral
Christians show prejudice to directives of the Church.
nonbelievers.
Unity of Worship (cult)
Thus, these marks need some
explanation. The cult is the manner of
Christian worship. The sacred
THE CHURCH IS ONE liturgy, the mass and the
sacraments have unified Catholic
Unity is found in the Roman worship through the centuries, as
Catholic Church on three different have particular forms of private
levels. prayers such as the rosary,
devotion to the bible, and the like.

TAKE NOTE
Unity does not necessarily mean same essential faith
uniformity. For example, the and worship are held by
vernacular language in the Mass all members.
does not destroy unity – it is the c) Third, Catholic refers to
same mass. fullness. We believe that
a Catholic has access to
Even though there may be the fullness of faith
differences from diocese around relationship to Jesus.
the world, all Catholics are united
to the pope who is the symbol THE CHURCH IS APOSTOLIC
and servant of unity.
Amazingly, the present leadership
THE CHURCH IS HOLY of the Church can trace itself
back to the first leaders of the
The source of all holiness in Church, the apostles.
the Church is its foundation,
Jesus Christ. The 266th pope and the 265th
successor to the apostle Peter
✓ The Church is holy because
Jesus is holy and the Church is a The Church is founded on Christ
special presence of Jesus. who had apostles who in turn
appointed successors. Our
✓ In the Church, too, are found present hierarchy is in direct
the means of holiness, which can succession to those apostles.
be defined as the “wholeness of
personal development.” THE CHURCH IS ALSO
APOSTOLIC IN THE SENSE
✓God’s will is that we develop as THAT IT PROFESSES THE
fully as possible as individuals. SAME DOCTRINE AND
CHRISTIAN WAY OF LIFE
THE CHURCH IS CATHOLIC TAUGHT BY THE APOSTLES. IT
HAS PRESERVED THE GOOD
Literally, the word “Catholic”
NEWS OF JESUS AND HAS
means general or universal.
NOT CHANGED ANYTHING
The Church is universal on
ESSENTIAL IN HIS PREACHING
these accounts
OR THAT OF HIS IMMEDIATE
a) First, following the Lord’s DISCIPLES.
mandate to teach all
MISSION OF THE CHURCH
nations, the Church is
available to all men and 3 OFFICES OF CHRIST
women at all times in all
places.
b) Second, the Church is
catholic in the sense that
it continues to teach all
that Christ taught. The
The Priesthood of the Faithful louder than our words.

As lay partners of the priests in THE CHURCH AS AN

the ministry, all baptized INSTITUTION HAS ALSO THE
Christians share in the unique GIFT OF PROPHECY. JESUS
priesthood of Christ. ENTRUSTED TO HIS CHURCH
THE TASK OF AUTHENTICALLY
PRIESTHOOD AND TRUTHFULLY
THE COMMON PRIESTHOOD PROCLAIMING THE WORD AS
IT APPEARS IN SCRIPTURE
THE MINISTERIAL AND IN TRADITION.
PRIESTHOOD
Authenticity and truth are
It is through the sacrament of preserved because Jesus formed
Baptism and Confirmation that we a hierarchical Church. A hierarchy
the faithful exercise our is a “sacred leadership.” Christ
priesthood through sharing, chose to teach, to sanctify, and to
according to each one’s proper rule his Church through the
vocation, in the mission of Christ bishops and pastors he appointed
as prophet, priest, and king. to care for it.

The Second Plenary Council of Church as Priest

the Philippines sketches three
dimensions of how we live this The priestly role of the Church is
communal sharing in Christ’s identified with worship of God and
priesthood: teaching of doctrinal messages.
The purpose of this teaching
As a consecration, committing mission is to lead others to
everything we do to God. holiness and sanctification in the
way that Jesus comes to make
As a sacrifice of life together with humankind holy.
Christ, celebrated in the
Eucharist. Jesus wants to form a priestly
community whose members do
As mediating God’s plan for deeds which redeem and make
transforming the world. the entire universe holy.
Church as Prophetic Many activities of the Church lead
to holiness like for example,
A prophet speaks the word of
Jesus instructed his disciples to
God. Every member of the
baptize, to break bread in his
Church shares the prophetic
name (celebrate the Eucharist), to
mission of the Church. Parents,
forgive sins.
for example, have the duty and
the privilege of sharing their faith Church as King
with their children. In teaching the
faith, our deeds probably speak The office of ruling has but one
purpose, the growth of faith and
holiness in the Church. them a privileged locus of
encounter with the divinity.
The kingdom of God is unlike
other kingdoms. Here, the king is Worship is both an act and an
servant to the people he rules. attitude.
Here the role of ruling is done
with humility, love, and • inner attitude
compassion. • outward expression
“Anyone among you who aspires We say that worship is
to greatness must serve the rest authentic (genuine) when these
and whoever who wants to rank two dimensions are present.
first among you must serve the
needs of all” (Mt 20:27). Worship in the Old Testament

The model of Christ as king must “I, the Lord, am your God who
be that of servant. The motto brought you out of the land of
would read like this: “If you wish Egypt, that place of slavery. You
to lead, be a footwasher!” shall not have other gods besides
Me ... you shall not bow down
As a constant reminder of this before them or worship them”
truth, the pope has taken the (Deuteronomy 5:6-7, 9).
motto “the servant of the servants
of God.” Israel is to worship and obey
only the one God.
Jesus Christ is the one whom the
Father anointed with the Holy Concept of Sacred
Spirit and established as priest,
prophet, and king. The whole the notion of the “SACRED”
People of God participates in carries the idea of being “set
these three of fices of Christ and apart” but not from what is
bears the responsibilities for considered profane or what
mission and service that flow from belongs to the “world”;
them their notion of the “sacred” flows
from their faith in YHWH as the
GOD OF HISTORY;

an interruption of the “ordinary” by

M10: WORSHIP God’s inserting himself in history.

Worship • A person, place, object, or time

acquires a “sacred” character by
man as homo religious sets apart its association with an event of
gestures, persons, spaces and God’s intervention in history.
times from the so-called profane
world and charges them with a For Israel,
symbolic value and considers
• Their continued encounter with seeks to transcend the
the God of history was by means chronological and spatial
of commemorating the events of distance, though without
God’s intervention in their history forgetting it, between the past
for their salvation. being commemorated and its
present actualization.
• MEMORIAL: not a simple act of
reminiscing the past by looking at • Worship kept them in touch with
souvenirs or yellowed the history that saved them and
photographs of the past that have with the God who saved them by
been kept in a chest. inserting Himself into their history.
MEMORIAL was the way they
• CULTIC MEMORIAL is rather a kept that contact with that saving
living act of commemoration. history and with the God of
CULTIC MEMORIAL history.

• It is in this act of common and • God acted not only in times past
shared memory that a people or a and in different places and ways
group is constantly renewed and but works efficaciously and in
regenerated. similar ways here and now.

• The past is in some way •In the spirituality of Israel there is

recovered or recouped to become an intimate relation between and
the living genesis of the “present”. among history, worship, and living
out of the covenant—that is to
• This past is therefore received in say, between WORSHIP and
the present as a gift of grace. LIFE.

• Furthermore, every hope for the •The Old Testament repeatedly

future seems to be rooted in a emphasizes this intimate union
recognition of this tradition: man between worship and life.
has future only because he has
memory. •The encounter with Yahweh-
Liberator in HISTORY, its joyous
The insistence on the fact that it celebration at WORSHIP, and the
is not only “with our fathers” that response of FIDELITY TO THE
God established the covenant COVENANT constitute three
(Dt. 5, 3) but with the present fundamental moments and
generation, shows that the constitute a perfect continuity in
central function of worship is not the life of the people of Israel.
simply a commemoration of the
past, but its ACTUALIZATION! •an ideal of life—one where there
is intimate relation among
Worship – Past, Present and history, worship, and law.
Future
• This ideal vision of worship has
• Worship, thus understood, not always been realized in the
religious life of the people of characterized by four (4) constant
Israel who have rather frequently traits:
given in to the temptations of
formalism to the point of  Symbolic – using natural
establishing a practical divorce signs to make present
among the various elements that the divine
constitute the faith response to  Consecratory – involves
Yahweh, dichotomizing the rite enabling the participants
from the word of God and from to share in the divine
the life that flows from it. love
 Repetitive – designed to
• The temptation of Israel was be repeated, using
that of being attached to the rite, traditional prayers and
forgetting the demands of the actions
covenant in one’s life.  Involving remembrance
– repetition links the
•What the prophets condemned
celebrants with their past
was not worship per se but a
and the original religious
ritual practice that no longer
event that the ritual is
served the purpose for which it
celebrating
was intended— that of being the
locus or context in which the
living God of history is
encountered by his people.

Worship in the New Testament

•In the New Testament, Christ

revolutionized worship by His
obedience to His Father in
inaugurating the New Covenant.

• Jesus purified worship by

linking it directly with daily
moral living.

History – Worship – Life

Creed – Cult – Code

Obedience

Rituals

• Authentic religious rituals

develop personal relationship with
God through actions