By His Grace Most Rev Prakash Mallavarapu, Archbishop of Visakhapatnam –
The Church is a communion of communities in the sense, that starting with individual families, each being domestic church, clusters of communities in different localities or zones or communities in the villages attached to a parish, founded on Jesus Christ, the “corner stone,” and built on the foundation of the Apostles from the Church.
This is not just a theological statement about the Church but an affirmation of the truth of the living Church. The dynamics of the day-to-day life in the Church is made visible in and through the life and activity of the members. Every member should relate to the Church and other members with the understanding that one belongs to this “community of communities!”
In the Visible Church is the invisible reality of the Church: That the Church is People of God in hierarchical communion is being manifested in the visible Church in a parish, in a diocese, and in the given ecclesiastical region in a state or country. Given the cultural and sociological, economic and political reality in which the Christian community is located, parish or diocese, the inter-relatedness and communion that should exist among the members is not always fully visible.
But, we in the Christian Community do know that the Church presents Jesus Christ, His Good News of the Kingdom, His commandments, His compassionate love and mercy, and above all, His vision of life here and hereafter. Physical appearance of the Churches, big or small in size, is not just about the buildings in a certain form and shape. They are centers of God’s presence; they are places of worship and prayer! Churches keep inviting the humans to come to see and listen to God.
It is equally true that the Christian Community by its faith and practice is the manifestation of the saving work of God. Salvation offered in Jesus Christ is being offered in and through the living community of believers. That is why, the Church, both as the visible living community of believers as well as the visible structures like churches and church-related institutions, is called the “Sacrament of Salvation!” In conclusion we should say, that every Christian community in a village or parish, and in a diocese along with churches built for worship and prayer is “the Sacrament of Salvation,” presenting and proclaiming salvation in Christ, the Saviour!
The strength of the Church is its members: The II Vatican Council has given us a clear understanding of the Church: Church is the “People of God” in a hierarchical communion! As members of the People of God we have to relate to one another while remaining in communion with Jesus Christ, the Head and the ‘Cornerstone’ of the Church and be in fellowship with the Holy Spirit who sanctifies and sustains us in our faith and mission (Eph 2: 20-22). ! The members are blessed in the Spirit with different gifts and talents, have different positions, different duties and responsibilities but no one can or should live and function in isolation but have to be in communion with other members in the given community: “There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work (1Cor 12:4- 6)”.
This communion will alone ensure that there is no discord and disunity in the day to day life of the Community. Strengthening and sustaining the bonds of unity and communion in a given Christian Community is the ongoing mission that is in the hands of all the members of the Community. It is by remaining in communion with the Triune God and by remaining faithful to the proper understanding of the Church. In our archdiocese of Visakhapatnam, the local Church, or for that matter in any diocese or parish, all of us should understand the Church in this way: we should be in communion with our Lord Jesus Christ and be in communion with one another! This alone will ensure that we are faithful to the mission entrusted to us, the mission of proclaiming and presenting Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the world!