Wednesday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time
Today we find the Apostle Paul admonishing the church in Corinth and calling them to grow and flourish in unity as the one Body of Christ. In our Gospel, I see two responses to Christ’s presence and ministry – one that mirrors his love and servanthood and another that is self-seeking and self-preserving. We have an invitation today to answer God’s call to grow in love, servanthood, and unity as Catholic Christians.
Paul recognized the relative immaturity of the people in the Corinthian church. He reminded them that as disciples of Jesus Christ their natural progression is growth. Just as an infant moves through stages of development, so does the faithful disciple. Paul sees the parishioners as fleshly not spiritual. They had their eyes fixed on themselves and their unique situations, not fixed on Jesus. Factions had developed within the church with alliances to specific leaders. These factions gave rise to jealousy and rivalry between them. To the people, which “Super Apostle” you followed and which group you belonged to became of utmost importance. They failed to recognize their oneness in Christ and the unity to which he called them.
We find Jesus at Simon (Peter)’s home. His mother-in-law is severely ill, and Jesus heals her. “She got up immediately and waited on them.” Consider the humility, love, and gratitude of this woman. Her immediate response to the mercy of God was to serve others. I think if I’m honest, if I’m in her shoes and have just been cured of a debilitating illness, my immediate response might likely be a selfish one . . .
That same day, Jesus received a crowd of people, healing them of diseases and casting out demons. The next morning, Jesus sought solitude, but the crowds went looking for him. When they found him, they tried to prevent him from leaving them. I see a stark contrast between the response of the crowd and Simon’s mother-in-law. The crowds experienced the power and presence of Christ and wanted to keep him all to themselves. They had no consideration for the others to whom Jesus was being sent to serve.
Today’s scriptures beg the questions: What is my response to God’s presence, love, and mercy? Am I striving daily to grow in holiness and love for God and neighbor? Do I view life through a parochial or a catholic spiritual lens?
I can’t help but ponder our new Family of Parishes model as I pray today’s scriptures. We are individual parishes that have grown up under unique leadership, with unique histories. This is different, but not unlike the various groups in Corinth that first heard the Gospel and were discipled by various leaders such as Paul and Apollos, and then joined together to form the church at Corinth. If the Apostle Paul were to show up and live among us for awhile, how would he characterize our newly formed Family? Roughly two months into our formal union, we are literally in the infancy stage of our development. We each have a part to play in the healthy development of this organism. Will we, like the Corinthians contribute to an unhealthy sense of parochialism which can lead to jealousy and rivalry, or will we celebrate our catholicity and strive toward unity?
We look to Simon’s mother-in-law as our example today. Maintaining our focus on Christ’s presence, love, and mercy, then we respond with a humility, love, and gratitude that leads to service. I pray that each one of us might have this heart, this mind, as we live into our new Family of Parishes model. Indeed, may we each maintain this focus in every moment and every situation of our lives.
During the Townhall meeting on July 28, 2022, Fr. Satish invited us to consider the same unity that St. Paul desired for the Corinthians. He said, “I think it is time to stop thinking parishes and think catholic.” When we “think parishes,” we’re focused on ourselves, our individual parishes, our needs and desires, not unlike the crowds in today’s Gospel. When we “think catholic,” we’re focused on our unity and oneness as the Body of Christ and our shared mission in the Kingdom of God.
I invite us to pray the Family of Parishes prayer that we’ve been praying during each Mass. You’ll find a link to it here. May the Holy Spirit come and flood our hearts, minds, souls, and spirits as we join together in prayer and seek to become more catholic. Thanks be to God!
Elizabeth Wells