March 4, 2011 – Catechism 753-757

Symbols of the Church are all over the Bible.  I think the easiest to really visualize is the Body analogy with the Head being Christ.  But it seems like that theme has been in these reflections recently, so I will look at one of the other ones. 

The Church as soil that Christ is using to make produce.  I am not sure if this is exactly how they meant it, but this is what I thought of.  The soil is us (kind of like the parable of the sower) but a little more to it.  It talks about the Old Testament believers and prophets.  They are kind of like the fertilizer that make the soil for fertile.  Without that history and understanding, we would not be as fertile or ready for things to grow.  Then we have the Mystery of Christ, actually making the plants grow.  We cannot make anything grow on our own.  Farmers plant their crops and then must totally rely on God to have things grow.  That is the same with the soil of the Church.  God makes things grow. 

What this makes me think of is the fact that we have so many different Christian denominations.  It is like trying to grow a lot of different types of plants all in the same flower pot.  The problem is that they are going to choke each other out.  There is only so many resources and nutrients in the soil and things will grow better when planted correctly.  So, ask yourself if you would be more impressed by many puny flowers or one flower that is flourishing and beautiful.  Follow that through to a non-Christian that is looking at Christian churches.  Wouldn’t the be more impressed, more likely to believe, by one beautiful and flourishing flower rather than a bunch of flowers that are puny and choking each other out.  Which type of growing did God have in mind for His Church.