The Bride of Christ

I have spoken in the past about the uniqueness of Catholicism, and how that uniqueness has been lost, and that being one reason why many have left the Church.   Many Christian denominations speak of Jesus Christ.   Baptists, Episcopalians, Evangelicals, Presbyterians, Lutherans, and Methodists, just to name a few, all proclaim Jesus as Lord and Savior, like Catholics do.   Others, like Jehovah’s Witnesses, may not believe in Jesus as Lord, but they believe him to be endowed with special knowledge.

My experience listening to homilies is that the majority of them focus on the person of Jesus; his words, his acts, and how his teachings can apply to our lives today.   Now, that might sound OK, and there is nothing sinful per se, or wrong, about that.  However, again I refer to my point.  If Catholics talk about Jesus, and other churches talk about Jesus, what makes us unique?  If all we do is talk about Jesus, like the other churches do, then why not go to another church where the services are less structured, and where there are less rules and regulations?  Why would people, if we just talk about Jesus like everybody else, really desire to stay Catholic?

Here is one thing we definitely do not hear enough about, something I think if we did, it would help raise awareness of the uniqueness of Catholicism.   We do not hear enough about the theological reality of the Church as the Bride of Christ.     How many married men among you would want to be spoken of, but your bride never spoken of?   Maybe this is one reason why the Church is not being blessed with growth.   We are dishonoring Our Lord by never speaking of His Bride!

The Catechism of the Catholic Church speaks of the Church as the Bride of Christ, and Christ as the Bridegroom in paragraph 796.  In this paragraph several Scripture passages are referenced which speak to this reality:

John 3:29 “He who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice.”

Mark 2:19 Jesus said to them, “The wedding guests cannot fast while the bridegroom is with them, can they? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast.”

Matthew 25:1-13 “Then the kingdom of heaven will be like this. Ten bridesmaids took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom.  Five of them were foolish, and five were wise.  When the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them;  but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps.  As the bridegroom was delayed, all of them became drowsy and slept.  But at midnight there was a shout, ‘Look! Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’  Then all those bridesmaids got up and trimmed their lamps.  The foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ But the wise replied, ‘No! there will not be enough for you and for us; you had better go to the dealers and buy some for yourselves.’   And while they went to buy it, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went with him into the wedding banquet; and the door was shut.  Later the other bridesmaids came also, saying, ‘Lord, lord, open to us.’   But he replied, ‘Truly I tell you, I do not know you.’  Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.”

Revelation 22: 16-17 “It is I, Jesus, who sent my angel to you with this testimony for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.  The Spirit and the bride say, “Come.” And let everyone who hears say, “Come.” And let everyone who is thirsty come. Let anyone who wishes take the water of life as a gift.”


Ephesians 5: 22-33 Wives, be subject to your husbands as you are to the Lord.  For the husband is the head of the wife just as Christ is the head of the church, the body of which he is the Savior.  Just as the church is subject to Christ, so also wives ought to be, in everything, to their husbands.  Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, ⁱⁿ order to make her holy by cleansing her with the washing of water by the word, so as to present the church to himself in splendor, without a spot or wrinkle or anything of the kind—yes, so that she may be holy and without blemish.  In the same way, husbands should love their wives as they do their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.  For no one ever hates his own body, but he nourishes and tenderly cares for it, just as Christ does for the church,  because we are members of his body. “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.”² This is a great mystery, and I am applying it to Christ and the church.   Each of you, however, should love his wife as himself, and a wife should respect her husband.

Again, I say: What married man wants to be spoken of without reference to his wife?  Christ wishes us to speak of His Bride more than we are, I believe.   If we spoke of the Church more, not just in our homilies, but in our everyday conversation, I think the Church would be blessed with more growth than she is currently experiencing, and the rate of decline would lessen.  We just cannot expect to sound like other churches, and expect people to be attracted to us.   We have to speak about Jesus, yes, but we must also speak of His Bride, the Church.   We have to speak of the Church as a mother who nourishes us, a teacher who instructs us, a nurse who heals our wounds, an advocate on our behalf, the visible Body of Christ in the world today, the spotless beautiful one, and the attractive mystery that any good wife is to her husband.  We have to speak on the indissoluble link between Christ and His Church.   We have to speak on why the Church is necessary for salvation.   We have to speak on the Sacraments of the Church.   We have to speak on the teaching authority of the Church, the Magisterium.   We have to speak on the role of the Pope and the Bishops.   We have to speak on Church teaching.   Preaching on the person of Jesus, as good and necessary as it is, is not enough.   We need to speak about his Bride.

Jesus is a married man!  He is taken.  He has given himself up for his beautiful Bride, the Church.   If we try to ignore her, we risk being ignored by the Bridegroom, and that is not a good thing.  If we fail to acknowledge the Bride, we risk hearing the most damning words we could ever hear at our judgment “Truly I tell you, I do not know you.”

Let us avoid that fate by listening to more, and speaking about more, the Bride of Christ, the  one, holy, Catholic, and apostolic Church.   In our homily preparations, in our everyday discourse, let us speak of Jesus, yes, but also, let’s speak of His Bride, and if we speak of them together more often, the Church will be blessed with more growth.

Joseph, patron of the Universal Church, pray for us.