“The method the Mystery has used to give Himself, to reveal Himself to His creature is the sacramental method: a sign that in this sense contains the Mystery of which it is the sign. The community of the Church is the aspect of this sign, it is the aspect of that face, it is the visible aspect of that face. It is the clothing of that Presence, like Jesus’ garments were for the little children who came near to Him. The tiny children, 4-5 years old, who milled around Jesus, grabbing hold of his legs, sticking their noses into His clothes, didn’t see his face, they didn’t remember his face, perhaps they didn’t even look at it. But they were there with Him. So that the clothes, the seamless tunic in which Jesus was clad, were more fixed in their eyes than His face. In the same way Jesus makes himself perceivable to us in the ecclesial community, as if it were the clothing with which our smallness enters into relationship with His real presence.”
