My latest on Today's Catholic Woman... Part 5 in the series "The Church".

Here's a snip:

The Catechism of the Catholic Church, (CCC), paragraph 789, teaches that there is an intimate bond between Christ and his Church: “Not only is she [the Church] gathered around him; she is united in him, in his body.”

The Church’s deep connection with Jesus has three aspects.

First, this makes one body of all its members. This unity between all exists thanks to Baptism, primarily, and is strengthened by the other sacraments.

Second, Christ is recognized as the Head of this Body, and therefore, he is a permanent part of it and cannot be separated from the Church. Or, as in the words of St. Joan of Arc: “About Jesus Christ and the Church, I simply know that they’re just one thing, and we shouldn’t complicate the matter.”

Third, the Church is the Bride of Christ, implying an exclusive life-giving two-person covenantal relationship.

Read the rest here.