YOUCAT Question n. 128 - Part I. What does it mean to say that the Church is the “Temple of the Holy Spirit”?
(Youcat
answer) The Church is the place in the world where the Holy Spirit is
completely present.
A deepening through CCC
(CCC 797 a)
"What the soul is to the human body, the Holy Spirit is to the Body of
Christ, which is the Church" (St. Augustine, Sermo 267, 4: PL 38, 1231D). "To this Spirit of Christ, as an
invisible principle, is to be ascribed the fact that all the parts of the body
are joined one with the other and with their exalted head; for the whole Spirit
of Christ is in the head, the whole Spirit is in the body, and the whole Spirit
is in each of the members" (Pius XII, encyclical, Mystici Corporis: DS 3808).
Reflecting and meditating
(Youcat comment)
The people of Israel
worshipped God in the Temple of Jerusalem. This temple no longer exists. It has
been replaced by the Church, which is not limited to a particular place.”Where
two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them” (Mt
18:20). What makes her alive is the Spirit of Christ: He lives in the Word of
Sacred Scripture and is present in the sacred signs of the sacraments. He loves
in the hearts of believers and speaks in their prayers. He leads them and
bestows charisms on them—simple gifts as well as
extraordinary ones. Anyone who enters into a relationship with the Holy Spirit
can experience true miracles even today.
(CCC Comment)
(CCC 797 b)
The Holy Spirit makes the Church "the temple of the living God" (2 Cor 6:16; cf. 1 Cor 3:16-17; Eph 2:21):
Indeed, it is to the Church herself that the "Gift of God" has been
entrusted.... In it is in her that communion with Christ has been deposited,
that is to say: the Holy Spirit, the pledge of incorruptibility, the
strengthening of our faith and the ladder of our ascent to God.... For where
the Church is, there also is God's Spirit; where God's Spirit is, there is the
Church and every grace (St. Irenaeus, Adv.
haeres. 3, 24, 1: PG 7/1, 966).
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