3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C)
Nehemiah 8:2-6,8-10 | Psalm 18(19):8-10,15 | 1 Corinthians 12:12-30 | Luke 1:1-4,4:14-21
If the foot were to say, ‘I am not a hand and so I do not belong to the body’, would that mean that it stopped being part of the body?
1 Corinthians 12:15
Excuse the pun, but…my foot! (In polite company: “I say, my dear chap, I find your assertion to be rather hard to believe.”)
It’s so easy to think that we’re not as good as some other person at a specific task, and therefore decide not to even try. Whether it be cooking, publishing an original work, or climbing Mount Everest, it’s always tempting to say “why bother, I can’t be perfect?” (Though, to be sure, that last activity is definitely not for the faint of heart or body.)
Since this is a Catholic blog, you can probably guess what I’m about to say next, and you’re probably right: That’s no excuse for not bothering to spread God’s Word.
We listen to our local priests delivering homilies on a daily basis, and think to ourselves, “That’s so hard! I’ll never be able to reach that level of spiritual enlightenment.” That may well be true, but if we then just stop dead and limit our Catholic activities to appearing reluctantly at mass, and consuming a small wafer while mentally planning our next meal or destination, we’re selling ourselves way short.
For we are indeed different parts of the body of Christ, and while not all of us can be eloquent mouths, there’s more to sowing God’s love than talk talk talk (or write write write for folks like me).
Some of us make excellent hands, laboring in charitable and life-giving activities.
Other are sturdy feet, shuttling needed supplies and laborers to each Christian harvest.
Still others are eagle-eyed or bat-eared, uncanny in their ability to find opportunities for showing and telling others about the Way, Truth and Life.
Whatever our talents, there’s surely a way to employ them in God’s mission here on earth. We just need to commit our time and attention, pulling together with the whole body of the faithful.
And since everyone’s spirit will flag at one point or another, we should heed St. Paul’s instruction to the Thessalonians:
So give encouragement to each other, and keep strengthening one another, as you do already.
1 Thessalonians 5:11
For as the hymn goes:
We are one body, one body in Christ
and we do not stand alone.
Amen.