I HAVE BEEN thinking about why out of 10 excellent shows in Father Robert Barron’s DVD package, Catholicism, the show on the Mystical Body spoke to me in a special way. It must have to do with my past experience of the doctrine.

In my last year as a seminarian at Immaculate Conception Seminary in Huntington, I persuaded the professor of dogmatic theology, Father Martin Healy, to meet informally with seminarians who wanted to study the doctrine of the Mystical Body.

Father Healy chose a book for all of us to read and, as I recall, we met every week for several weeks. At each meeting a seminarian delivered a talk and Father Healy was present to catch any “heresies” and to lead us more deeply into the mystery of our union with the Risen Christ. I think about 60 seminarians came to the first session.

When I was a young priest in a parish, many of the laity were involved in what we called Catholic Action, and I often preached from the pulpit about the Mystical Body. Being chaplain to Catholic Action groups, such as the Young Christian Workers, Young Christian Students, the Christian Family Movement and almost countless discussion groups, also kept me focusing on the Mystical Body. Coming to appreciate the meaning of the Mystical Body had a profound influence on me and, I think, on those with whom I met and prayed.

In the companion volume Catholicism (New York: Image Books, 2011, 27.99, pp. 291) to the DVDs, there is a chapter on the Mystical Body titled “A Body Both Suffering and Glorious: The Mystical Union of Christ and the Church.” In that chapter, Father Barron poses some questions about the nature of the Church and then writes the following:

“To answer these questions is to come to the heart of the Catholic understanding of the church, for Catholics hold that the church is not merely a human organization, simply a coming together of like-minded people, a community of purely worldly provenance and purpose. Rather, the church is a sacrament of Jesus and, as such, shares in the very being, life and energy of Christ. According to the inexhaustibly rich metaphor proposed by Saint Paul, the church is the body of Jesus, an organism composed of interdependent cells, molecules, and organs. Christ is the head of a mystical body made up of everyone across space and time who has ever been grafted onto him through baptism. And lest we think that this organic understanding was a peculiar invention of Paul, call to mind the vivid language that Jesus himself used in order to express the relationship that obtains between himself and his followers: ‘I am the vine, you are branches’ (Jn 15:5); ‘remain in me’ (Jn 15:4); ‘unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you’ (Jn 6:53)” (pp.143-144).

There are numerous ways that members of the Mystical Body influence one another. I think immediately of what is being called the new evangelization. The Holy Spirit can use anyone as a channel of grace to others. I don’t think any of us realizes how influential we are, indeed what power we have, because we are members of Christ and are animated by His Spirit.

Perhaps the most basic and most powerful way that we reach out to help others is through the Eucharist. At Mass, everyone is praying in union with the Head of the Body, the Risen Christ, and everyone is remembered in prayer. The Head and His members reach out to the entire world.

What I think is an apt example of members of the Mystical Body of Christ helping other members is the DVD series, Catholicism. Father Barron is sent away by his bishop to get a doctorate in theology. He is assigned to teach at the seminary. He or someone gets the idea of creating the television series Catholicism and of having a companion volume to the series. Someone or some group donates money so that the project can happen. Partly because of the generosity of donors, the series is magnificently done.

I cannot recall anything under Catholic auspices as professional or as well done as this series. Father Barron uses his gifts to write the companion volume and the series and also act as the narrator for the series. People like me try to promote the series and the book. Many members of the Mystical Body are involved in presenting both the series and the companion volume and literally thousands and thousands of members of the Mystical Body can benefit.

Nothing human is perfect, but I think viewing and discussing the series Catholicism can provide benefits for just about anyone.

Father Robert Lauder, a priest of the Diocese of Brooklyn and philosophy professor at St. John’s University, Jamaica, writes a weekly column for the Catholic Press.