Scripture:
Nehemiah 8:2-4a, 5-6, 8-10
1 Corinthians 12:12-30
Luke 1:1-4; 4:14-21
Reflection:
From St. Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians:
Brothers and sisters:
As a body is one though it has many parts,
and all the parts of the body, though many, are one body,
so also Christ.
For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body,
whether Jews or Greeks, slaves or free persons,
and we were all given to drink of one Spirit.
Now the body is not a single part, but many.
You are Christ’s body, and individually parts of it.
As I age, I realize ever more clearly that there are many parts of my body that in my youth I did not notice or worry about. Now, though, some don’t work as well as they used to. Some are just weaker. Some make cracking noises that are startling. I wear cheaters to read. I certainly cannot run or jog. Yet, they are all a part of me.
I don’t read in St. Paul’s letter that every part of the Body of Christ is perfect in itself. Sometimes one part needs to help another part. Sometimes, one part is ailing while another is healthy, or one is weak while the other is strong.
We believe the human community is also one body, though our skin are different shades or our language unintelligible to others. As St. Paul says, Jew or Greek, slave or free, we are all a part of Christ’s body. Yet we waste so much time drawing lines between “us” and “them.” We distinguish recent migrants from those among us who are fourth-generation migrants. We use words like “extremist” to marginalize and exclude. We are suspicious of someone simply because of race or color or who they love. Yet still we are a part of the same human body that is glorious in all its diversity.
Let us care for those among us who are afraid, alone, rejected, or hiding from themselves just as we would care for our own body. Let us embrace with love those among us who perhaps are forgotten or despised or displaced parts of the Body of Christ.
Robert Hotz is a consultant with American City Bureau, Inc. and was the Director of The Passion of Christ: The Love That Compels Campaign for Holy Cross Province.