The Church is the instrument of the Creator in the created world, redeeming conflict with reconciliation, redeeming poverty and hunger with sharing and generosity, redeeming pain, loneliness, and ostracism with compassion and active love. Joy, in fact, is the distinguishing characteristic of the individual Christian and of the Church as a body. Each new member is an occasion for great rejoicing, as the Body is strengthened for the work of the Kingdom of God. Violence is met with passive resistance, and perpetrators of violence are forgiven, with lessons learned. Muggers are fed at the same table with small children.
Gang leaders eat with with gentle grandmothers.
Murders are nursed to health in the midst of Christian families. Joy is found in service to others. The function of the Church as an institution is to provide the opportunity for those who serve to experience the presence of God, the reality of God's love. The total and unconditional nature of God's love is the agent of change in the heart of the believer. It is the love that casts out fear.