Today’s second reading comes from Paul’s first Letter to the Corinthians. The Lectionary and the Roman Missal that we read from offers a longer version of Paul’s letter which covers 1 Corinthians chapter twelve, versus twelve through thirty (1Cor 12:12-30), and a shorter version which covers 1 Corinthians chapter twelve, verses twelve through fourteen, then it skips to verse twenty-seven (1Cor 12:12-14, 27).
I hope that we get to read the longer version of Paul’s Letter because there is so much more meaning to it.
In the longer letter, Paul makes the comparison of parts of the body. He says that the body cannot function as a whole body if it is missing any parts. I’m paraphrasing here but Paul says that a body is not a single part, but many parts that all have separate duties, responsibilities, and purposes. A hand is not a foot, and a foot is not a hand. But without one of those parts, the body cannot function as a whole. If a whole body were just an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing (as an ear) where would the sense of smell be?
It became clear to me that Paul is comparing the parts of a physical body to the parts of the Church’s body.
As we participate at Mass, either as a communicant, lay teacher, altar server, deacon, priest or usher, we are all parts of the Church. And when a part goes missing, the entire celebration of the mass is affected. Paul says to the Corinthians “You are Christ’s body, and individually parts of it.” Some people might say that some of the parts that we play in this Church community and within celebrating Mass might be more important or more visible than other parts. But we can never overlook the many parts that are being played by each one of us. We never know how the parts we play might affect another person, and whether that word or action we do toward that other person might keep them coming back every week.
The hospitality crew that serves in Kelligan Hall might never know that they might be the reason why a single lonely person keeps coming to Mass each week. The ushers that greet people might never know the positive effect they have on the people they greet. We are all participants in the Body of Christ, the Church. When I look around and see everyone participating at Mass, I know that we are doing exactly what Paul describes “We are Christ’s body, and individually parts of it.”
In the Gospel reading, partly from the first and fourth Chapter of Luke, Jesus is prepared to make an astonishing announcement to the congregation. At the end of every Mass, during the Concluding Rites, one of the declarations that can be said by the priest or deacon is “Go and announce the Gospel of the Lord”. We, the Body of Christ that Paul describes, have the duty to go forth and tell people what we heard today. That is what Jesus wanted in Nazareth and that is what he still expects of us today.