Image from the romancatholichomilies.blogspot.com
According to St Paul, the Church is the Body of Christ [I Corinthian 12:27]. Members of the Church are like parts of the human body and our head is no other than the Lord Jesus Christ [Colossians 1:18]. This image of the Church is just one of the many images which the Holy Bible tells us about the reality that is the Church.
Since we are all members of the One Body of Christ, we must work together. St Paul himself discusses this in I Corinthians and says that if one part of the body stops working in coordination with the other parts, the whole body will surely suffer. It is the same with the Church. If any member fails to fulfill his or her role as member of the Church, then the whole Church suffers. The suffering will be in accordance with the gravity of the role just like how the body would suffer in accordance with the importance of its "sick" part.
As one Body we should work together toward the fulfillment of the purpose of the whole. No one lives and dies for him or herself, says the recessional song. We are all connected one way or another and we cannot disregard any member as insignificant or unnecessary. There is some kind of an interdependence among us. We are all members of the Church however numerous and diverse [Romans 12:5]: first of all we all share the great gift of being created by the Father, then the grace of salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ, and the divine life through the Holy Spirit by our baptism and confirmation and the other sacraments.
This One Body of Christ is definitely given emphasis through the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. This sacrament is also called Holy "Communion" leading us to reflect on the mystery of being one community in the Lord. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states
Since we are all members of the One Body of Christ, we must work together. St Paul himself discusses this in I Corinthians and says that if one part of the body stops working in coordination with the other parts, the whole body will surely suffer. It is the same with the Church. If any member fails to fulfill his or her role as member of the Church, then the whole Church suffers. The suffering will be in accordance with the gravity of the role just like how the body would suffer in accordance with the importance of its "sick" part.
As one Body we should work together toward the fulfillment of the purpose of the whole. No one lives and dies for him or herself, says the recessional song. We are all connected one way or another and we cannot disregard any member as insignificant or unnecessary. There is some kind of an interdependence among us. We are all members of the Church however numerous and diverse [Romans 12:5]: first of all we all share the great gift of being created by the Father, then the grace of salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ, and the divine life through the Holy Spirit by our baptism and confirmation and the other sacraments.
This One Body of Christ is definitely given emphasis through the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. This sacrament is also called Holy "Communion" leading us to reflect on the mystery of being one community in the Lord. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states
"... by this sacrament we unite ourselves to Christ, who makes us sharers in his Body and Blood to form a single body" [CCC 1331].
The bread which becomes the sacramental Body of Christ represents also our Communion: first, as the bread which is whole is broken to be distributed to us we are also one whole body "broken" to go and be "distributed" to all so that others may know, believe and follow the Lord; second, as we receive the broken pieces of the sacramental Body of Christ we declare our faith in Him by saying "Amen" which also includes our assent to the fact that we are indeed ONE with the entire Church.
As one Body we are called to care for one another. The Lord tells us to wash each other's feet [John 13:14]. The command to love one another is therefore should not be a mere lip service. One do not merely say to a sick body part, "be well" but looks for a way to heal it. The same manner as any "sick" member of the Church. We cannot just tell him or her to "be well" when he or she is sick but must do something concrete and appropriate to address the condition of such a member [see James 2: 15-16].
To be continued
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