Day 109: Mystery of Union With God

"The Church, in Christ, is like a sacrament - a sign and instrument, that is, of communion with God and of unity among all men." The Church's first purpose is to be the sacrament of the inner union of men with God. Because men's communion with one another is rooted in that union with God, the Church is also the sacrament of the unity of the human race. In her, this unity is already begun, since she gathers men "from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and tongues"; at the same time, the Church is the "sign and instrument" of the full realization of the unity yet to come. CCC 775

In today's reading, the Catechism speaks of the Church as a sacrament and through Christ's Body, our mysterious union with God. Jesus is the Bridegroom and the Church is His Bride. We are commanded to love one another just as "Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her" (Eph 5:25-26). It is through the sacraments that the Church gives the ordinary means of the mystery of Christ's promise of salvation for those who believe and follow Him. As the Catechism Companion, Vol I notes: 

When we receive the sacraments, we come into contact with Christ's mission. The sacraments communicate salvation to us. The sacraments are not simply nice symbols, but rather they are the primary instruments through which the Holy Spirit spreads Christ's grace throughout his Church. (p. 222)

The Church is a mystery in that "her visible reality there is present and active a divine spiritual reality which can only be seen with the eyes of faith" (#151). The Catechism Compendium explains further what is meant by the Church as the "universal sacrament of salvation":

This means that she is the sign and instrument both of the reconciliation and communion of all of humanity with God and of the unity of the entire human race. (#152)

Finally, the Catechism Companion has some further thoughts on this that I found particularly apropos here:

We can easily see the brokenness of the visible Church, and therefore we sometimes miss out on recognizing that it is a vessel of God's love for the whole world as well as a visible sign of the building up of the whole people of God. At the Tower of Babel, there was division and a great scattering of humanity, but at Pentecost, the Holy Spirit reunited these people who had been divided. (p. 222)