The language in this reading is beautiful but easy for me to get lost in. Yet what strikes me in this reading is the idea of community. We are all of one ‘body,’ yes, but more so we have a responsibility to be for and with one another. I think St. Paul invites us to see how radically our idea of God has changed through our relationship to Jesus. Jesus Christ came to show us how to be with each other. Our former disciplinarian image of God has faded away and we now must hold each other accountable to Gospel values.
Our community is one of the places we can see God most clearly when we are open to it, even as it can become a fractious place as well. We belong to God and to one another. Where does your community need you to lovingly speak truth to or serve it today?
—Maggie Melchior is a convert to the Catholic faith. She currently serves as Coordinator of New Evangelization and Faith Formation at St. Paul Parish, Combined Locks, WI, in the Diocese of Green Bay.