Our Savior told us to let our light shine before men so that they might see our good works and glorify our Father in heaven. But did it ever strike us that this light which is thus to shine is not our own light but rather that of Christ Himself? If there is any virtue in us it is there because Christ put it there; and it is this virtue which men see —it is His virtue, not ours. "From Him streams into the body of the Church all the light with which those who believe are divinely illumined, and all the grace by which they are made holy as He is Holy." (Pius XII, Mystici Corporis Christi, June 29th, 1943) By looking at our religious faith in this light we see why the whole Catholic people form, as we say, the Mystical Body of Christ. "You are all one in Christ." (Gal 3:28)

In the same encyclical, Pius XII clarifies who has membership in the Mystical Body, the Church: "Actually only those are to be included as members of the Church who have been baptized and profess the true faith, and who have not been excluded by legitimate authority for grave faults committed." And he makes it clear, vs. ecumenism, that this unity does not include other faiths even if they call themselves Christian: "Hence they err in a matter of divine truth, who imagine the Church to be invisible, intangible, something merely ‘pneumatological’ as they say, by which many Christian communities, though they differ from each other in their profession of faith, are united by an invisible bond."

The central point of this idea is of course the Blessed Sacrament, by which the faithful are nourished and strengthened and united to each other and with the Divine Head by a divine ineffable bond. For in this Sacrament we have Christ not only as our leader and head, but also in His very presence; for it is not merely a figure of Him but His own flesh and Blood. It is therefore important that all phases of this Sacrament be stressed when we speak of the Mystical Body. In the first place, Holy Mass; for it is in Mass where Christ comes to us sacramentally. The Mass is the reenactment of the Bloody Sacrifice of Calvary. The Church, we know, thinks so much of the Mass that she demands that her children attend it, not once in a year, as she demands of Holy Communion, but every Sunday, and this under pain of mortal sin. To the Mass we must join Holy Communion, and make good use of it; for that is its purpose. It is our spiritual food.

"By means of the Eucharistic Sacrifice Christ our Lord willed to give to the faithful a striking manifestation of our union among ourselves and with our divine Head, wonderful as it is and beyond all praise. For in this Sacrifice the sacred minister acts as the vicegerent not only of our Savior but also of the whole Mystical Body and of each one of the faithful. In this act of Sacrifice through the hands of the priest, by whose word alone the Immaculate Lamb is present on the altar, the faithful themselves, united with him in prayer and desire, offer to the Eternal Father a most acceptable victim of praise and propitiation for the needs of the whole Church. And as the Divine Redeemer, when dying on the cross, offered Himself to the eternal Father as Head of the whole human race, so "in this clean oblation" He offers to the heavenly Father not only Himself as Head of the Church, but in Himself His mystical members also." (Pius XII, Mystici Corporis Christi)

The effect of the Blessed Sacrament on us should be an elevating one; of itself it has this unerringly, but on our part there is often found a hindrance by reason of our indisposition, wrong motives, and so forth. Our contact with the Blessed Eucharist should make us, more and more, Catholics of good example, not members of the Mystical Body just hanging on, but thriving, even as a green branch on a vine. Our progress should be evident to all who see us, especially in times of crises.

"For it is He who reigns within the minds and hearts of men, and bends and subjects their wills to His good pleasure, even when rebellious. "The heart of the King is in the hand of the Lord; whithersoever he will, he shall turn it." (Prov. XXI, 1) By this interior guidance He, the "Shepherd and Bishop of our souls," (I Peter, II, 25) not only watches over individuals but exercises His providence over the universal Church, whether by enlightening and giving courage to the Church’s rulers for the loyal and effective performance of their respective duties or by singling out from the body of the Church —especially when times are grave —men and women of conspicuous holiness, who may point the way for the rest of Christendom to the perfecting of His Mystical Body.

"And if at times there appears in the Church something that indicates the weakness of our human nature, it should not be attributed to her juridical constitution, but rather to that regrettable inclination to evil found in each individual, which its Divine Founder permits even at times in the most exalted members of His Mystical Body, for the purpose of testing the virtue of the shepherds no less than of the flocks, and that all may increase the merit of their Christian faith. For, as We said above, Christ did not wish to exclude sinners from His Church; hence if some of her members are suffering from spiritual maladies, that is no reason why we should lessen our love for the Church, but rather a reason why we should increase our devotion to her members.

"Now since its Founder willed this social body of Christ to be visible, the cooperation of all its members must also be externally manifest through their profession of the same faith and their sharing the same sacred rites, through participation in the same Sacrifice, and the practical observance of the same laws." (Pius XII, Idem.)

An exemplary Catholic is an admirable part of life. He portrays the Mystical Body in himself, and, as was said in the beginning, his virtues shine because they are not his own so much as Christ’s. He has simply offered himself to Christ as a lump of clay, and Christ has fashioned something beautiful out of it. We admire many things —but nothing is so admirable as those virtues Christ taught us, carried out in very deed.

Nor does this high ideal make us mere automatons, or cold, stereotyped copies of the original. Communism, socialism, and other human inventions destroy man’s personality, because they deprive him of his true freedom; but Catholicism makes man free, so that his personality can thrive. Each of the Saints possessed his or her own personality, and a wonderful one at that, yet they remained united to the Head of the Body.

"But lest we be deceived by the angel of darkness who transforms himself into an angel of light, let this be the supreme law of our love; to love the Spouse of Christ as Christ willed her to be, and as He purchased her with His blood. Hence not only should we cherish exceedingly the Sacraments with which holy Mother Church sustains our life, the solemn ceremonies which she celebrates for our solace and our joy, the sacred chant and the liturgical rites by which she lifts our minds to heaven, but also the sacramentals and all those exercises of piety by which she consoles the hearts of the faithful and sweetly imbues them with the Spirit of Christ." (Pius XII, Idem.)

In leading exemplary lives, we should not seek praise, that would be wrong, and very unchristian; but we can with all right seek the cause of praise and give to Him due praise and honor.

"For nothing more glorious, nothing nobler, nothing surely more honorable can be imagined than to belong to the Holy, Catholic, Apostolic and Roman Church, in which we become members of one Body as venerable as it is unique; are guided by one supreme Head; are filled with one divine Spirit; are nourished during our earthly exile by one doctrine and one heavenly Bread, until at last we enter into the one, unending blessedness of heaven." (Pius XII, Idem.)

Sincerely yours in Mystical Body of Christ,