Tuesday of the Thirty-first Week in Ordinary Time

Lectionary: 486

We, though many, are one Body in Christ

and individually parts of one another.

Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us,

let us exercise them....

Theologians from Saint Paul to the present day struggle to express in words the mysteries revealed in Christ. In his Letter to the Romans, the Apostle spoke of the righteousness of God which is bestowed by faith on the believer. In the third chapter he uses the word righteous or righteousness like a hammer three times in one long sentence to make his point:

They are justified freely by his grace

through the redemption in Christ Jesus,

whom God set forth as an expiation,

through faith, by his Blood, to prove his righteousness

because of the forgiveness of sins previously committed,

through the forbearance of God–

to prove his righteousness in the present time,

that he might be righteous

and justify the one who has faith in Jesus.

Because we believe in Jesus, righteousness flows like a river from God's infinite righteousness to us. This wonderful fluid bears a remarkable resemblance to God's Holy Spirit, which sounds a lot like Grace, Eternal Life, and the Wisdom of God. And also, Love. That which is internal to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit has become internal in us.

We encounter this mystery -- or these mysteries -- in the sacramental signs of water, oil, bread, wine, and human sexuality. And also, forgiveness, as in the absolution of our sins. These different words flow together, losing some of their distinctiveness like vegetables in a stew, in the encounter with God. Jesus uses bolder language when he insists upon the faithful eating his flesh and drinking his blood.

To add to the fun I like to recall the titles Saint Francis placed together in his Marian antiphon, "... you are daughter and handmaid of the Most High, sovereign King, the Heavenly Father, mother of our Most Holy Lord Jesus Christ, and spouse of the Holy Spirit."

In Francis's prayer, I see more clearly the embrace of the Holy Trinity for each of us and all of us. In this enfolding the faithful soul is described variously as handmaid, child, parent, and spouse of God; all very intimate, personal, direct relationships with the One who draws us into immediate contact. 

In today's passage from Romans, the Apostle reminds us that everyone has a different role in the Church but the Spirit is the same for all of us. A later writer would compare this mystery to water, which has remarkably different effects upon mustard seeds, acorns, and frog eggs -- but is always water.

Because we are animated by the same Spirit, no one can think they are superior to someone else. "What occasion is there then for boasting?  It is ruled out." The first communicant and the pope; the bishop and the parish trustee; the catechist, cantor, and lector: each flourishes when the Spirit singles them out. 

If there is anything extraordinary in me, it is God. There can be neither Jew nor Greek, slave or free, male or female in our communion, unless these traits are glorified by grace. This is why a first century Jewish man can be Savior of the World; he has shed and transcended all those distinctions; they mean nothing and, in any case, cannot be a barrier between him and his beloved.

The foolish who would cling to personal righteousness, maintaining their innocence against every accusation, blind themselves to sunlight by holding a match to their eyes.