Verbum Domini §51

Christ’s constant presence in the life of the Church

51. The relationship between Christ, the Word of the Father, and the Church cannot be fully understood in terms of a mere past event; rather, it is a living relationship which each member of the faithful is personally called to enter into. We are speaking of the presence of God’s word to us today: “Lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age” (Mt 28:20). As Pope John Paul II has said: “Christ’s relevance for people of all times is shown forth in his body, which is the Church. For this reason the Lord promised his disciples the Holy Spirit, who would ‘bring to their remembrance’ and teach them to understand his commandments (cf. Jn 14:26), and who would be the principle and constant source of a new life in the world (cf. Jn 3:5-8; Rom 8:1-13)”.[175] The Dogmatic Constitution Dei Verbum expresses this mystery by using the biblical metaphor of a nuptial dialogue: “God, who spoke in the past, continues to converse with the spouse of his beloved Son. And the Holy Spirit, through whom the living voice of the Gospel rings out in the Church – and through it in the world – leads believers to the full truth and makes the word of Christ dwell in them in all its richness (cf. Col 3:16).”[176]

The Bride of Christ – the great teacher of the art of listening – today too repeats in faith: “Speak, Lord, your Church is listening”.[177] For this reason the Dogmatic Constitution Dei Verbum intentionally begins with the words: “Hearing the word of God reverently and proclaiming it confidently, this sacred Council…”.[178] Here we encounter a dynamic definition of the Church’s life: “With these words the Council indicates a defining aspect of the Church: she is a community that hears and proclaims the word of God. The Church draws life not from herself but from the Gospel, and from the Gospel she discovers ever anew the direction for her journey. This is an approach that every Christian must understand and apply to himself or herself: only those who first place themselves in an attitude of listening to the word can go on to become its heralds”.[179] In the word of God proclaimed and heard, and in the sacraments, Jesus says today, here and now, to each person: “I am yours, I give myself to you”; so that we can receive and respond, saying in return: “I am yours”.[180] The Church thus emerges as the milieu in which, by grace, we can experience what John tells us in the Prologue of his Gospel: “to all who received him he gave power to become children of God” (Jn 1:12).

[175] Encyclical Letter Veritatis Splendor (6 August 1993), 25: AAS 85 (1993), 1153.

[176] Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation Dei Verbum, 8.

[177] Relatio post disceptationem, 11.

[178] No. 1.

[179] BenedictXVI, Address to the International Congress “Sacred Scripture in the Life of the Church” (16 September 2005): AAS 97 (2005), 956.

[180] Cf. Relatio post disceptationem, 10.