The Church is simply to be the sign to the world that God is with us.
To avoid diving into deep theological exhortations of biblical proportions, I will do my best to keep this simple.
The Church is made up of baptized Christians who are guided by God to be that sign to the world that God is with us.
The world needs to know, in fact, each person needs to know that God is with him or her. You are not alone because God is with you. Moreover, we know we are not alone because there are others like us in the world. The beauty is that when we look at others, we are to see God being with us. And that's where the Church comes in.
Each baptized member of the Church is christened as "priest, prophet, king" in the name of Christ. That means, each member of the Church has been given the presence of God to show the world that God dwells in this place of ours, that God speaks to the world, and that God is guiding our way.
And there is mystery here. That is, there is something we don't easily grasp, nor fully understand. We are capable of being that sign to world that God is with us because each person has dignity. That is, every person has been created in the image and likeness of God. We are reflections of God. Not God Himself, but reflections of God.
Often we can be reflecting God without knowing another sees that reflection of God in us. This is part of the beautiful mystery, we are temples of the Holy Spirit. Think of standing on the shoreline watching the glory of a sunrise off the horizon in which the heavenly light reflects off the waves of the water and the colorful bursts in the clouds. A majestic sight indeed. This is the kind of reflection we the Church are to make in the world.
And because we are only reflections and not God Himself, we struggle to know and find that balance. We have the awesome potential to show the greatness of God in the world, yet we must recognize our limits. This is what free will is all about. Knowing our potential and limits. Humility helps us to keep that in balance.
At times the limits can seem like burdens that weigh us down. And we sometimes rebel in protest of not being God. Then at other times the potential can seem like too much is expected of us. And we sometimes coward in doubt or fear. The virtue of humilty helps us to keep our potential and limits in balance so we can authentically be that sign to the world that God is with us.
We also have many role models to show us the way to being that sign to the world that God is with us. Each woman can look to Mary the Blessed Virgin and Mother of God. There is the feminine genius that God has given each woman in being able to be that sign in a way only a woman can be. That genius is inward action, that is, a receptivity to love for life. Each man can look to Joseph, husband of Mary. There is the masculine genius that God has given each man in being able to be that sign in a way only a man can be. That genius is outward action, that is, a construction to love for life.
Yet both men and women are to complement one another in God's plan of life and love. We need both genders, unique and equal in dignity. Each genius comes from God the Creator who from the beginning established the means by which he would be known in and through the world--a communion. In the unity of the geniuses of the genders we have a profoud sign of God's presence in the world that is life giving, both in spirit and in flesh. The feminine inward action and the masculine outward action in their complementarity and reciprocity become one primordial sign of God's creativity. A sign of God's prescence that is second to the Real Presence.
Together as a faith-filled community, men and women of the Church are to be that sign to the world that God is with us. That is the basic, simple purpose of Church.
