The word “Church” means “convocation.” It designates the assembly of those whom God’s Word “convokes”, i.e., gathers together to form the People of God, and who themselves, nourished with the Body of Christ, become the Body of Christ.
The Church is both the means and the goal of God’s plan: prefigured in creation, prepared for in the Old Covenant, founded by the words and actions of Jesus Christ, fulfilled by his redeeming cross and his Resurrection, the Church has been manifested as the mystery of salvation by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. She will be perfected in the glory of heaven as the assembly of all the redeemed of the earth.[Cf. Rev 14:4.]