Youcat commented through CCC – Question n. 123 - Part I.

YOUCAT Question n. 123 - Part I. What is the task of the Church?

(Youcat answer) The church’s task is to make the kingdom of God, which has already begun with Jesus, germinate and grow in all nations.         

A deepening through CCC

(CCC 763) It was the Son's task to accomplish the Father's plan of salvation in the fullness of time. Its accomplishment was the reason for his being sent (Cf. LG 3; AG 3). "The Lord Jesus inaugurated his Church by preaching the Good News, that is, the coming of the Reign of God, promised over the ages in the scriptures" (LG 5). To fulfill the Father's will, Christ ushered in the Kingdom of heaven on earth. The Church "is the Reign of Christ already present in mystery" (LG 3).    

Reflecting and meditating  

(Youcat comment) Wherever Jesus went, heaven touched earth: the kingdom of God was inaugurated, a kingdom of peace and justice. The Church serves this kingdom of God. She is not an end in herself. She must carry on what Jesus started. She should act as Jesus would act. She continues the sacred signs of Jesus (the sacraments). She hands on Jesus’ words. That is why the Church, for all her weakness, is a formidable bit of heaven on earth.

(CCC Comment)

(CCC 764) "This Kingdom shines out before men in the word, in the works and in the presence of Christ" (LG 5). To welcome Jesus' word is to welcome "the Kingdom itself" (LG 5). The seed and beginning of the Kingdom are the "little flock" of those whom Jesus came to gather around him, the flock whose shepherd he is (Lk 12:32; cf. Mt 10:16; 26:31; Jn 10:1-21). They form Jesus' true family (Cf. Mt 12:49). To those whom he thus gathered around him, he taught a new "way of acting" and a prayer of their own  (Cf. Mt 5- 6).    

(This question: What is the task of the Church? is continued)