The Church is the sinless one that contains what she is not, sinners, like an impenetrable fortress with cracked stones.

How? The answer is a declaration of faith.

The Church is the assembly of men and women summoned by the Word of God. She is the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. She is human and divine, like Jesus, and she is the communion of God and men.

The Church is journeying in the world toward heaven. In the world, she is called the ‘pilgrim Church.’ In heaven, she will be the perfected assembly of all the redeemed in the glory of heaven.

The Church is the People of God, the Body of Christ, the Bride of Christ, and the Temple of the Holy Spirit:

• The People who eat the Body of Christ become the Body of Christ, the head of this Body.
• The Church is the pure and virginal Bride of Christ that gives birth to all God’s children.
• The Church is the Temple where the Spirit dwells.

The Church confesses one Lord, faith, baptism, Spirit, and body of Christ. She is the people of God, one with Christ, and the Spirit’s dwelling place. She possesses all the means of salvation and is sent to all men from all times. She is indestructible, lasting, and infallible. The Church is magnificently one, holy, Catholic, and Apostolic.

Imagine that our fortress is built with mountainous walls. Each is 72 miles high, 72 miles long, 72 miles thick, and 72 miles below ground. It is larger than Connecticut, reaches space, and descends for miles beneath the deepest ocean. It is what it’s made to be: impenetrable, inescapable, unbreakable, not collapsible. Notwithstanding that under such a tremendous mass, every stone is cracked.

Like our fortress, the Church has four characteristics and contains cracked stones. Unlike our fortress, her stones are living stones, and not all are cracked. Her living stones in heaven were once cracked but are now perfect. Their example encourages the living stones on earth. More importantly, Christ is at work, gradually sealing the cracks in the living stones that cooperate with his grace.

God is the author of the Church, and nothing will ever change what his Church is, even though he builds with cracked stones, just like nothing will ever penetrate our imaginary fortress of cracked stones. God’s salvation through the Church is infinitely greater than all sin.