Third Sunday of Ordinary Time (1 Cor. 12:12-30) “The Body Needs all of its Parts”
Third Sunday of Ordinary Time (1 Cor. 12:12-30) “The Body Needs all of its Parts”
As Christians we believe two events influence everything. One of those is the creation of the universe. The other is the coming of Jesus Christ. From the start, all creation was anticipating the coming of Jesus. Everything moved toward the Jesus event. Everything has developed from the birth of Jesus. For that reason, Jesus says, “Today the scriptures are fulfilled in your hearing.” Jesus came to live here. But that isn’t the end of the story. We are the Body of Christ. What is our mission? What is needed to fulfill it? Every Christian community has dealt with that. The Corinthians wrestled with that.
The bottom part of Greece is like an island. An isthmus of land joins that Island to the rest of the country. The isthmus is four miles across. On one side is the Corinthian gulf. On the other side is the Saronic gulf. We could say that this section of Greece is like modern day Panama.
The island at the tip of Greece was known as Cape Malea. To sail around this section of land was very dangerous. We might compare it to sailing around Cape Horn today. The seamen had a saying, “Let one who sails around Malea make out his will.” The voyage was about 200 miles. Because of all of this, an alternative route was used. If the ships were small enough, they were dragged across the isthmus from one body of water to another on rollers. Ships sailed close to the coasts in those days in case of foul weather and shipwreck. The trip through the bottom of Greece was very important. Going across the isthmus saved time.
The city of Corinth sat right on the neck of land that joined Cape Malea to Greece. Corinth was very strategically placed. Thousands of people passed through the city making it a cosmopolitan place. People of every race, tongue and religion lived there. If a person wanted to start a religious movement, what better place to establish a presence? For that reason, St. Paul went to Corinth. He knew that the Christian message would spread from there.
But the city also presented unique challenges. Diversity reigned in Corinth. How would one build community in such a place? Corinth also had a reputation of being corrupt. Thieves and prostitutes lived there as did other unscrupulous people. Many of the residents were slaves. Wealthy people were all around, but many didn’t share what they had. How hard it was for Paul to start a church.
Paul did put a fledgling community together. But shortly after he left there was trouble. The Christians were not united. Paul knew he needed something to inspire the people to value each other. So, he used a metaphor to teach the people about the importance of community. He spoke about the Body of Christ.
Using the body as an image for community has been used many times throughout the centuries. A story is told about the body parts having a meeting one day. All of them were mad at the stomach. The stomach was fed all the time, but it did not seem to do much. The legs said we run to the store every day to shop so that the stomach could have what it needed. The feet said they had to be on the hard kitchen floor all day while the body cooked. The eyes said they had to be constantly looking for food. The hands and arms said we must lift the food in the mouth so the stomach will be fed. The mouth said it tasted the food and chewed it, but then it went quickly into the stomach. All the parts agreed they were going on strike.
The stomach didn’t seem to mind taking a rest. After a few days without food the body parts weren’t so sure about being on strike. The feet started to cramp. The legs got wobbly. The hands and arms were so weak that they couldn’t lift themselves. The mouth was dry. The eyes were fogged from hunger. Finally, another meeting was held. The body parts asked the stomach to go to work again. And it was resolved that the body parts would work together from then on. All realized that all parts were needed.
Paul told a similar story in his letter to the Corinthians. He reminded the Corinthian community that every church member is important. All are needed to fulfill the mission of the church. If all sense of common good is lost everything suffers.
During this pandemic we are finding out that church community is important. We might think it is easier to tackle our day-to-day problems alone, but technology does not fulfill our human need for love and friendship. We can easily find ourselves in a spiritual desert. We have heard for years that health can only come if we take care of ourselves spiritually, mentally and physically. The condition of people physically and mentally is deteriorating, especially, with those who are isolating themselves. Someone said recently we are in a health crisis in our society caused by lack of church. St. Paul knew that was a danger 2,000 years ago. Perhaps as people who value church, we can tell others why? To share this might be the most loving thing we can do today.
Reflection Questions:
- Why am I a part of a church family? What are the benefits?
- Am I tempted to give up on church? Why is that so? What keeps me a member?
Dear Parishioners,
We had a training session with Churches United for our deep listeners recently. It was a good day and we had about fifteen people take part which was more than we originally planned for. You could tell the “listeners” value church and want to build up our parish.
What is the purpose of the deep listening campaign? We want to have a conversation about our parish with parishioners and about the struggles that people are having in their lives right now. We have been unable to gather freely during these last two years. Certainly, a lot has gone on during this time. There are no set questions. This will be a free-flowing conversation, one parishioner talking to another.
We will not be talking to everyone, but it will be a cross section of people. We are aiming for about 70 households. If you are contacted, I would ask that you participate if possible. Listeners will be talking with people all through February.
We will commission the listeners this weekend at the 4 p.m. Mass and the 9:15 Mass. Please pray that this community building effort will be a success.
May Our Lady and all the Saints watch over you this week.
Fr. Mark
P.S. We are going to be rebuilding our Web Page. It is over five years old. We want to freshen it up and make it easier to use. We also post our Masses on the site and since we are now doing a lot of online ministry, it is important that the site have good capacity. If you benefit from posts, Masses, etc. and want to donate to keep the site up. Please feel free to donate by placing a donation in and envelope and sending it to the office or dropping it in the collection. Just mark it WEB Site.