Daily Retreat 10/25/08
2008 Oct 25 Sat: Ordinary Weekday/ BVM
Eph 4: 7-16/ Ps 121(122): 1-2. 3-4ab. 4cd-5/ Lk 13: 1-9
From today’s readings: “Grace was given to each of us according to the measure of Christ's gift.... Let us go rejoicing to the house of the Lord.... if you do not repent, you will all perish....”
Building up the Body of Christ
One of Paul’s most vivid meditation images is the Church as the Body of Christ. We are all familiar with this metaphor - perhaps too familiar, if we no longer find ourselves compelled by its implications of unity, solidarity, cooperation, and the headship of Christ.
The radical individualism of the modern age militates against all these ideas. Without even intending to, you and I can gradually buy into those worldly assumptions to the point that the doctrine of incorporation in Christ can seem foreign and unrealistic.
And yet, if we accept the reality of our status as members in Christ’s body, we can begin to realize what really is foreign and unrealistic: the pitiful image of the left arm locked in bitter struggle against the right arm, the left foot kicking the right shin - all the tragedies of our disunity caused by rejection of Christ and His Church, when
“Rather, living the truth in love, 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.”
Eph 4: 7-16/ Ps 121(122): 1-2. 3-4ab. 4cd-5/ Lk 13: 1-9
From today’s readings: “Grace was given to each of us according to the measure of Christ's gift.... Let us go rejoicing to the house of the Lord.... if you do not repent, you will all perish....”
Building up the Body of Christ
One of Paul’s most vivid meditation images is the Church as the Body of Christ. We are all familiar with this metaphor - perhaps too familiar, if we no longer find ourselves compelled by its implications of unity, solidarity, cooperation, and the headship of Christ.
The radical individualism of the modern age militates against all these ideas. Without even intending to, you and I can gradually buy into those worldly assumptions to the point that the doctrine of incorporation in Christ can seem foreign and unrealistic.
And yet, if we accept the reality of our status as members in Christ’s body, we can begin to realize what really is foreign and unrealistic: the pitiful image of the left arm locked in bitter struggle against the right arm, the left foot kicking the right shin - all the tragedies of our disunity caused by rejection of Christ and His Church, when
“Rather, living the truth in love, 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.”
posted by FrPitstick | 10/20/2008
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