“And if one member
suffers, all the members suffer with [it]; or if one member is honoured, all
the members rejoice with [it]. Now you
are the body of Christ, and members individually.” (1 Corinthians
12:26-27)
As the ‘body of Christ’ the Church is strength to each of
its members, and as sons and daughters of the Lord, we all belong to this One ‘Body.’ People often ask why God does not bless them,
or why they do not feel His grace in their lives . The answer is always the same, because there
is no communication. God is perfect and remains constant, and thus the
difference must be in us.
When we distance ourselves from God we become severed
members of this one body which is the Church… which is the Lord Jesus Christ
Himself. The nerves are no longer, connected
and so cannot communicate; these same nerves become withered and weak and even
though God continues to try to communicate with us, we are no longer receptive.
As members, we are also representatives of this one body.
If a hand, as happens in cartoons, has an autonomous reaction of just slapping others without the
brain necessarily directing it to do so, there may not be any fault with the
brain, but a communication problem which does not allow that hand to understand
the messages coming from the brain, thus causing it to act independently. The problem is that the consequences of the
actions of this hand which is severed from the rest of the body are far
reaching. By acting inappropriately and
slapping those around it, the hand not only harms itself but also harms the
whole body and the reputation of the whole body, of which it is part . Therefore, as
members of the one body of Christ, if we act inappropriately, we not only harm
ourselves, but cause harm to the body of Christ and the reputation of all Christians.
Through the sacraments of Chrismation and the Holy
Eucharist, we are unified as the body of Christ and accept that we are members
of this one body, and in so doing, we must accept the responsibility of being
representatives of the Lord and must act appropriately. As Christians, we should not merely wear crosses
as fashion accessories but must be truly committed to our Faith and subsequent
way of life, because there comes the
responsibility of acting as a true Christian and representing our Lord
accordingly. We must be loyal to our
heavenly Father.
What unifies us is the presence of God as an invisible structure in our lives, both individually and collectively . When we look at a chandelier, what we see is bright lights, gleaming crystal, but what holds all of that together is not externally visible. What we see is the shiny exterior and not the strong, solid bond uniting the elements. Let us therefore pray that our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the source of all strength, continues to bind us together as His One Church, so that our light may go forth into all the world for the glory of His name.