In our second reading today, St. Paul uses the analogy of a body with many parts to both proclaim a unity that already exists and encourage a greater unity within the church, the Body of Christ.
The unitive aspect of the church is both enormously important and multifaceted. Let’s explore a few critical elements of Paul’s exhortation.
Before we look at Paul, I think it is worth noting that Our Lord made unity a major focus of his last night on this earth. John the Evangelist preserved a powerful prayer for us in the 17th chapter of his Gospel. At the conclusion of the Last Supper, Jesus raises his eyes to heaven and prays to the father. This priestly prayer includes a plea for unity: “And I have given them the glory you gave me, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may be brought to perfection as one, that the world may know that you sent me, and that you loved them even as you loved me.” (Jn 17:22-23) Jesus knew that our pride, selfishness, and stupidity would tempt us to all kinds of behaviors and attitudes that would cause division among his followers and in his church. This prayer reveals a great concern of our Savior’s Sacred Heart.
St. Paul, as one of the twin towers of the early church, shared Jesus’ concern for unity among Christ’s disciples. He saw the growing need for unity in the life of the young church. The analogy of the body with many parts enables Paul to encourage his audience to strive for unity as a result of seeing its grave importance.
“But as it is, God placed the parts, each one of them, in the body as he intended. If they were all one part, where would the body be? But as it is, there are many parts, yet one body.”
Jealousy is one cause of division in the church. Some Christians become jealous of the part or role that others play in the church. Others have a more important part in the body (the eye versus the hand or the head versus the foot); others get coveted leadership roles; others get more recognition and praise; others have their opinions respected, etc. Paul invites us in humility to accept the part of the body granted us by God “as he intended.” The body, the church, is a very good thing instituted by Christ himself. Each part of the body is important and is critical to the proper functioning of the whole. We need to be grateful for the part chosen for us and seriously invest in the role given to us to build up that body.
Paul makes it clear that the gift of the Holy Spirit is a driving force for unity in the body of 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 the one Spirit.” How can we not harken back to Pentecost when the Holy Spirit was poured out as tongues of fire upon those gathered in the Upper Room. Immediately after, as the Apostles began to speak about the Risen Christ, visitors from all over the world understood these Galileans in their native tongues. Everyone present at Pentecost was shocked at this miraculous gift. It was a sign that Christ, through the power of the Holy Spirit, had come to restore unity to our broken world, to cancel out the punishment resulting from the pride and selfishness that drove the construction of the Tower of Babel and resulted in the multiplication of languages spoken across the globe. The Father and the Son have given us their Spirit to make us one in them.
Another force for unity in the church is the gift of charity. Paul, in the midst of this exhortation, challenges the church in Corinth to “have the same concern for one another.” Love is sacrificial by nature. Love makes us willing to die to self in order to build up and serve our neighbor. Love sets aside personal preferences for the good of our neighbor, the good of our family and the good of the church. As Paul says in the next chapter of the same letter: “Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, is not pompous, it is not inflated, it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick tempered, it does not brood over injury, it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.” (1 Cor 13: 4-8a) Love by its very nature builds up the body of Christ.
Lord, grant me a strong portion of the zeal of Jesus and St. Paul for unity within the church. Stir up the Holy Spirit within my heart and inspire me to be an agent of unity. Tear away from my heart whatever tempts me to not believe in the unity of the church and to disrupt that unity.
Fr. Peterson is director of mission and development for the Youth Apostles.
Christ’s love
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In our second reading today, St. Paul uses the analogy of a body with many parts to both proclaim a unity that already exists and encourage a greater unity within the church, the Body of Christ.
The unitive aspect of the church is both enormously important and multifaceted. Let’s explore a few critical elements of Paul’s exhortation.
Before we look at Paul, I think it is worth noting that Our Lord made unity a major focus of his last night on this earth. John the Evangelist preserved a powerful prayer for us in the 17th chapter of his Gospel. At the conclusion of the Last Supper, Jesus raises his eyes to heaven and prays to the father. This priestly prayer includes a plea for unity: “And I have given them the glory you gave me, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may be brought to perfection as one, that the world may know that you sent me, and that you loved them even as you loved me.” (Jn 17:22-23) Jesus knew that our pride, selfishness, and stupidity would tempt us to all kinds of behaviors and attitudes that would cause division among his followers and in his church. This prayer reveals a great concern of our Savior’s Sacred Heart.
St. Paul, as one of the twin towers of the early church, shared Jesus’ concern for unity among Christ’s disciples. He saw the growing need for unity in the life of the young church. The analogy of the body with many parts enables Paul to encourage his audience to strive for unity as a result of seeing its grave importance.
“But as it is, God placed the parts, each one of them, in the body as he intended. If they were all one part, where would the body be? But as it is, there are many parts, yet one body.”
Jealousy is one cause of division in the church. Some Christians become jealous of the part or role that others play in the church. Others have a more important part in the body (the eye versus the hand or the head versus the foot); others get coveted leadership roles; others get more recognition and praise; others have their opinions respected, etc. Paul invites us in humility to accept the part of the body granted us by God “as he intended.” The body, the church, is a very good thing instituted by Christ himself. Each part of the body is important and is critical to the proper functioning of the whole. We need to be grateful for the part chosen for us and seriously invest in the role given to us to build up that body.
Paul makes it clear that the gift of the Holy Spirit is a driving force for unity in the body of 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 the one Spirit.” How can we not harken back to Pentecost when the Holy Spirit was poured out as tongues of fire upon those gathered in the Upper Room. Immediately after, as the Apostles began to speak about the Risen Christ, visitors from all over the world understood these Galileans in their native tongues. Everyone present at Pentecost was shocked at this miraculous gift. It was a sign that Christ, through the power of the Holy Spirit, had come to restore unity to our broken world, to cancel out the punishment resulting from the pride and selfishness that drove the construction of the Tower of Babel and resulted in the multiplication of languages spoken across the globe. The Father and the Son have given us their Spirit to make us one in them.
Another force for unity in the church is the gift of charity. Paul, in the midst of this exhortation, challenges the church in Corinth to “have the same concern for one another.” Love is sacrificial by nature. Love makes us willing to die to self in order to build up and serve our neighbor. Love sets aside personal preferences for the good of our neighbor, the good of our family and the good of the church. As Paul says in the next chapter of the same letter: “Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, is not pompous, it is not inflated, it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick tempered, it does not brood over injury, it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.” (1 Cor 13: 4-8a) Love by its very nature builds up the body of Christ.
Lord, grant me a strong portion of the zeal of Jesus and St. Paul for unity within the church. Stir up the Holy Spirit within my heart and inspire me to be an agent of unity. Tear away from my heart whatever tempts me to not believe in the unity of the church and to disrupt that unity.
Fr. Peterson is director of mission and development for the Youth Apostles.
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