The Scripture and Our Purpose

In this week’s reading, St. Paul compares us- the Church to the Body of Christ ( 1Cor 12: 12-30). He says explicitly that we are all connected as parts of one body. Each of us has a purpose and is important. If one part hurts, it will hurt the rest of the body too.

As explained by Paul, we all have a part to play. We all have limited abilities and strengths and thus need one another to accomplish tasks given to us.

“Not everyone can be everything. Often we expect one member of the body to fulfil a task that belongs to others. But the hand cannot be asked to see nor the eye to hear.  Together we are Christ’s body, each of us with a part to play in the whole.” Henri Nouwen.

Since we are part of Christ’s Body, as said by Pope John XXIII “ we must be a spark of light, a centre of love, a vivifying leaven” to the world. We can be all that only if we live closely in communion with God enriching ourselves through the word of God. There is the danger of losing our purpose if we keep listening to the world and stop hearing the word of God.

“Search the Scriptures, and Seek and you shall find ……For if, as Paul says, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God, and if the man who does not know Scripture does not know the power and wisdom of God, then ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ.” St. Jerome