February 24, 2011 – Catechism 737-747

I have always found the imagery of Christ as the Head of the Body that is the Church very helpful in understanding who connected the two must be.  Everything the Body does is controlled by the Head, or Brain, or is at least known to the Brain.  Food, air, water, hearing seeing, almost all the senses come through the head into the rest of the body.  Especially those things that are life giving, air, water, food, must come through the head.  That is where I think they were going when they are talking about the Sacraments.  They are the Life giving gifts from the Father.  They come through Christ and the Holy Spirit (the head) into the Body (Church) to nourish it.  The Sacraments must come directly through the Head to be useful (try drinking water by sticking your finger in the glass, just doesn’t work) and we must receive those nourishing things to stay alive (how long can you go without air, food, water). 

Here is another interesting thought.  The lungs produce the air that comes out through the head producing words to speak.  The Church provides the tools for Christ to speak to the World.  God could speak to the world without the Church (anything is possible for God) but try talking without breathing, without the air provided by your lungs.  God uses the Church to speak to the World, but those words, in order to be used correctly, come through the mouth of God, through the Head.