Who are these ligaments? In Ephesians 4:1–16, St. Paul explains how the ligaments are God’s means to preserving unity in the Church. Before reading the passage, included in its entirety at the end of this “home” series of pages, notice how Paul (a) urges that Christians keep the unity of the Spirit. Why? Because (b) “there is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all” (Eph. 4:4–6). Wow! So, what then are the ligaments that bind the body together? St. Paul continues: “So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ” (Eph. 4:11–13) A few verses later, Paul writes, “From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work” (Eph. 4:16). From this passage, we see that the Church is one because it has one head, Jesus Christ, who

builds up the body around a hierarchical structure of apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. It is inconceivable that these “ligaments” would teach different doctrine from each other, given that the teaching is being communicated from Jesus (who is God himself, who is “over all, through all, and in all”) and through the apostles and other teachers. Sometimes, Christians like to say that the Holy Spirit gives some Christians one interpretation and another group of Christians a different, contradictory interpretation of Scripture. But Ephesians reveals this notion to be nonsense. On the contrary, Ephesians commands Christians to keep the “unity of the Spirit,” not blame their disunity on the Spirit. There is only one sower of discord, and it is not God. Just like the ligaments in the body provide the support so that the other body parts can grow and function together as a single organism, so do the apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers who are united to the head support Christians like you and me, making it possible for us to be united in the body of Christ…so long as we bind ourselves to the ligaments who are themselves bound to the head. I invite you to sincerely search for those ligaments and to bind yourself to them so that you can be fully united to the one body of Christ, the Church.

The Church also has a sacramental nature, for “by one bread we are made one body” (1 Cor. 10:17). To be a member of Christ is to be a member of the mystical body that he established. To be Christian is to enter into a marriage relationship with Jesus, but not one that is just “me and Jesus.” You are invited to enter into marriage with Jesus through his Bride, the Church! You are invited to receive holy communion with Jesus Christ through the Holy Eucharist, that profound, total, faithful, life-giving act of covenant renewal between Christ and his Bride. Will you say “I do?” Like every marriage proposal, the “yes” or “no” that you provide goes far beyond intellectual consent and is not conditional or reserved. It involves a total, faithful, fruitful gift of your entire person, heart, mind, and strength, to Jesus through His Bride. That Jesus has rescued his Bride is extraordinarily Good News, but it raises the question: how do I find the Bride, what is her nature, how do I join her, and how do I remain a part of her? (We will address these questions and more in due time!)

This website also proposes marriage in a secondary sense: marriage between Christians by uniting with Jesus Christ and with each other through his Bride. Click here to learn more, and to move to page 3 of the five-part marriage invitation.