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BOOK
II, CHAPTER TWO Christ is the Savior of His Body.
(Ephesians 5:23) The Catholic Church alone is the
Body of Christ, of which He is Head and Savior. The "People of God"
and the "Mystical Body of Christ" are one
and the same thing, both of them designating the Church. Membership in the
Church requires conditions other than Baptism alone; it requires identical
faith and unity of communion, so that by means of the Catholic Church alone,
which is the unrestricted instrument of salvation, is it possible to obtain
the fullness of the means to salvation. Indeed, the Church is both a sure and
an exclusive means of attaining salvation. We must always remember the unity
of the Mystical Body outside which there is no salvation, for there is no
entering into salvation outside the Church. Outside this Body, the Holy
Spirit gives life to no one: those who are enemies to unity do not
participate in the charity of Divine Life; those outside the Church do not
possess the Holy Spirit. The entrance to salvation is open to no one outside
the Church! (Pope Paul VI) The Church alone is the entrance
to salvation. (Pope Pius XII) By means of religious
indifference, crafty men deceitfully pretend that people can attain eternal
salvation in the practice of any religion. They conclude that others, however
estranged from Catholic unity, are equally on the road to salvation and that
they are able to achieve everlasting life. Words fail us from utter horror in
detesting and abhorring this new and terrible insult! (Ven. Pope Pius IX) When it is a question of life and
salvation, we must say of the Church what St. Peter said of Jesus Christ
Himself: "Neither is there salvation in any other" (Acts 4:12).
(Pope Pius XI) All who desire eternal salvation
must cling to the Church and embrace her, like those who entered the Ark to
escape perishing in the Flood. (Catechism of Trent) Whoever is separated from this
Catholic Church, no matter how much he believes he is living praiseworthily,
will not have life, but the anger of God rests upon him. The reason is this
offense alone: that he is sundered from the unity of Christ. (St. Augustine) He who does not keep the true
Catholic faith whole and without error will undoubtedly be lost. He who is
separated from the Catholic Church will not have life. (Pope Gregory XVI) Cut off from the Body into which
alone the graces of Christ flow, you are deprived of the benefit of all
prayers, sacrifices, and Sacraments. You will gain nothing except perhaps to
be tortured somewhat less horribly in the everlasting fire than Judas, or
Luther, or Zwingli. (St. Edmund Campion) There is nothing a Christian
should dread more than to be separated from the Body of Christ; for, if
separated, he is not one of His members. And, since no one can ascend into
Heaven but him who has become His member in His Body, the saying is fulfilled
that "No one ascends into Heaven except Him Who descended" (Jn.
3:13). (St. Augustine) That the Mystical Body of Christ
and the Catholic Church in communion with Rome are
one and the same thing is a doctrine based on Revealed Truth. That we must
necessarily belong to the true Church if we are to attain everlasting
salvation is a statement which some people reduce to a meaningless formula.
(Pope Pius XII) The union of Christ with the
members of the Mystical Body is obtained only by membership in the Church,
for outside this chaste Spouse there is no union with the Bridegroom. There
is no life outside the Church because all the life that is to be had can come
only from her, and no one possesses this life unless
he belongs to her. Outside the Church there is no salvation. (Ven. William
Joseph Chaminade) Those who acknowledge Christ must
acknowledge Him completely and entirely. The Head is the only-begotten
Son of God; the Body is His Church. No one can in any way be counted among
the children of God unless they take Jesus Christ as their Brother and, at
the same time, the Church as their Mother. Christianity is, in fact,
incarnate in the Catholic Church; it is identified with that perfect
spiritual society which is the Mystical Body of Jesus Christ and has for its
visible head the Roman Pontiff. Consequently, all who wish to reach salvation
outside the Church are mistaken as to the way and are engaged in a futile
effort. This is our last lesson to you; receive it, engrave it upon your
minds, all of you: by God's commandment salvation is to be found nowhere but
in the Church. (Pope Leo XIII) REFERENCES
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