Word to the Wise
Saturday, October 27, 2018 - Saturday in the 29th Week in Ordinary Time
[Eph 4:7-16 and Luke 13:1-9]SATURDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2018 SATURDAY IN THE TWENTY-NINTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME [Ephesians 4:7-16 and Luke 13:1-9] Rather, living the truth in I’ve, we should grow in every way into him who is the head, Christ, from whom the whole Body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, with the proper functioning of each part, brings about the Body’s growth and builds itself up in love. [Ephesians] The human body is a favorite image in the Pauline literature. It is worthwhile in this connection to re-read 1 Corinthians 12:12-26 and Romans 12:3-8. The emphasis is always on the unity of the Body because the community of the baptized is the Body of Christ. Anytime one part of the Body suffers, the whole Body suffers. And, for the Body to live in a healthy way, the parts must work in unity and harmony. Current events in the Body of Christ should suggest to us that all is not right and considerable healing lies ahead. It is not just “internal” matters that are causing this, although the crisis regarding cover up of sexual abuse is bad enough. The Body of Christ is divided over political and moral issues. The division is rarely gospel-based, but more often economic and political, as if Jesus were either a Republican or a Democrat or member of any political party or espoused any economic system. He wasn’t and he didn’t. However, divisions of this kind made it very difficult to “live the truth in love” because the gospel is drowned out by slogans and fears. There are times, nowadays, when I feel a bit like Jeremiah, having to say things straight from the gospel and having them rejected out of hand by baptized Christians because of political or economic fears. The image of the Body remains an apt one because we know how parts of us seem to hurt other parts of us. It means we have to be alert to disunity and live the truth in love. Keeping the focus on Jesus and not on any ideology is an important step toward that. AMEN