Overcoming Evil with Good, James Houlihan, cfc

Let us remember that we are in the presence of God.
     In the name of our God who shares divinity with us,
          In the name of our God who shares humanity with us,
              In the name of our God who unsettles and inspires us,
     Let us pray . . .

Holy Spirit, living within us and with in all of God’s Creation, grant that we may understand more completely the ways in which you are calling us to minister to our neighbors. Amen!

Reading 1 Cor 12:12-27

You can easily enough see how this kind of thing works by looking no further than your own body. Your body has many parts - limbs, organs, cells -but no matter how many parts you can name, you're still one body. It's exactly the same with Christ. By means of his one Spirit, we all said good-bye to our partial and piecemeal lives. We each used to independently call our own shots, but then we entered into a large and integrated life in which he has the final say in everything. (This is what we proclaimed in word and action when we were baptized.) Each of us is now a part of his resurrection body, refreshed and sustained at one fountain - his Spirit - where we all come to drink. The old labels we once used to identify ourselves - labels like Jew or Greek, slave or free - are no longer useful. We need something larger, more comprehensive.

I want you to think about how all this makes you more significant, not less. A body isn't just a single part blown up into something huge. It's all the different - but - similar parts arranged and functioning together. If Foot said, "I'm not elegant like Hand, embellished with rings; I guess I don't belong to this body," would that make it so? If Ear said, "I'm not beautiful like Eye, limpid and expressive; I don't deserve a place on the head," would you want to remove it from the body? If the body was all eye, how could it hear? If all ear, how could it smell? As it is, we see that God has carefully placed each part of the body right where he wanted it.

But I also want you to think about how this keeps your significance from getting blown up into self-importance. For no matter how significant you are, it is only because of what you are a part of. An enormous eye or a gigantic hand wouldn't be a body, but a monster. What we have is one body with many parts, each its proper size and in its proper place. No part is important on its own. Can you imagine Eye telling Hand, "Get lost; I don't need you"? Or, Head telling Foot, "You're fired; your job has been phased out"? As a matter of fact, in practice it works the other way - the "lower" the part, the more basic, and therefore necessary. You can live without an eye, for instance, but not without a stomach. When it's a part of your own body you are concerned with, it makes no difference whether the part is visible or clothed, higher or lower. You give it dignity and honor just as it is, without comparisons. If anything, you have more concern for the lower parts than the higher. If you had to choose, wouldn't you prefer good digestion to full-bodied hair?

The way God designed our bodies is a model for understanding our lives together as a church: every part dependent on every other part, the parts we mention and the parts we don't, the parts we see and the parts we don't. If one part hurts, every other part is involved in the hurt, and in the healing. If one part flourishes, every other part enters into the exuberance.

You are Christ's body - that's who you are! You must never forget this. Only as you accept your part of that body does your "part" mean anything.

Response

God is so good
that God not only brings us into existence
by an act of creation,
but also desires that all of us
come to the knowledge of truth.

This truth is God
and all that has been revealed to us
through Jesus Christ.
God desires that all of us
be taught this knowledge.

We cannot be taught
unless we have the good fortune to hear,
and we cannot hear
unless someone preaches the Word of God.

Just as God commanded light
to shine out in darkness,
so God also kindles a light
in the hearts of those called
to announce the Word to children.

God has given you this ministry.
Do not falsify God’s Word
but gain glory by proclaiming the truth
to those whom you are called to teach.

In a world where so many go hungry,

In a world where a billion of our brothers and

sisters do not have safe drinking water,

In a world where so many die so young,

And so many mothers die in childbirth,

And so many families are ravaged by disease,

In a world where children are denied the chance

to be educated and use their gifts and talents,

Let us foster personal growth and opportunities in education.

In a world where women carry heavy burdens,

Let us recognize and restore the rights of all.

Together

Let us join together, with a sense of global community,

A new awareness of our need for one another

And for this fragile planet.

To meet the clear challenge,

To bring along hope as substantial as bread,

To make human dignity as visible as wheat in the fields. Amen.

TIME FOR REFLECTION

HOW AM I . . .

The hands of Jesus to others . . . ?

The voice of Jesus . . . ?

The ears of Jesus . . . ?

The eyes of Jesus . . . ?

The body of Jesus . . . ?

PAUSE - SHARING

We Pray

Lord Jesus, I give you my hands to do your work.

I give you my feet to go your way.

I give you my eyes to see as you do.

I give you my tongue to speak your words.

I give you my mind that you may think in me.

I give you my spirit that you may pray in me.

I give you my heart that you may love in me.

I give you my whole self that you may grow in me,

so that it is you, Lord Jesus,

who live and work and pray in me. [Prayer of the GRAIL]