Lesson 2: Jesus as the Head of the Church

A. Christ: The Head of His Body, the Church

Sacred Scripture: “Remain in me, as I remain in you. Just as a branch
cannot bear fruit on its own unless it remains on the vine, so neither can
you unless you remain in me. I am the Vine; you are the branches.”1

It is understood that as a child of God, we must remain and be connected to Jesus. By using the image
of the vine and the branches, “Jesus speaks of a close union between Him and us”. Jesus is the head
of the Church, (we are the members of the Church), his body. Thus, the followers of Jesus constitute His
body since they are made one with Him through the Holy Spirit.

Christ “is the head of the body, the Church…” Christ unites us with his Passover…Christ provides
for our growth: to make us grow toward him, our head… Christ and his Church thus together make
up the “whole Christ”. The Church is one with Christ…

Jesus as the Head is joined to His body. Without Jesus, the Church will not have life. Jesus gives the
Church life and just as the different parts of the body perform different functions, the members of the
Church have different gifts. And all these gifts contribute to one goal, the goal of the growth of the
Church

For example:

B. We Are Called to Follow Christ as our Head

As children of God, we are called to follow Christ in our

own little ways. There are a lot of ways that can we do to follow
Jesus. I hope some of you dream of serving in the church as one
of the Knights of the Altar or maybe some of you wish to be a
member of the choir here in school or in the Parish and most
especially to follow Jesus by being a good example to other
people.

We are also reminded that as a true disciple of Him, it is not easy to really follow Him. There are a lot
of sacrifices and difficulties that we will face but through the help of God. With Him we can do
anything. “Jesus provides everything for our growth… gives us graces to follow him”.

C. Unity in the Church

There are lots of professions that we want to be in the future. Some of you want to become a doctor,
nurse, and teacher etc. We have different professions and we can do different things differently but
we are called to share our gifts and talents with others. When we share with each other our giftedness,
then we are promoting unity and harmony among us. And this is what we call “The Unity of the Church”.
We are united among ourselves.

“Within Christ’s Body, the Church, there is a great variety of members and functions. This means that
the unity of the Body of Christ is not uniformity. Rather, “there are different kinds of spiritual gifts but the
same Spirit; there are different ministries, but the same Lord; there are different works but the same God
who accomplishes all of them in everyone”.

In the building up of Christ's Body there engaged different kinds of members with different roles. But
there is only one Spirit who gives his different gifts for the welfare of the Church."

Remember as we experience this pandemic, we are encouraged to help our brothers and sisters who
are suffering and affected especially the poor (donate, send clothes and food). This is an example of
being united in our differences. We try to help each other. Some can give food or a small amount of
money, others help in repacking goods and relief operations, others like doctors give a free check-up
and medicines, etc.)

Jesus is the head of the body, the church. And as a child of God, we are called to follow Him by
studying His teaching and seeking to please Him in all that we do. And we must honor and serve Him
as the head of the Church through active participation in the Holy Mass and by helping those
people in need.

We understand that as a child of God, we must remain and be connected to Jesus. Because if we
are always connected to Jesus, we will be happy and will always be inspired to do good. And as a
child of God, we are also called to follow Jesus, it may never be easy but God’s grace assures us that
we can.