Tuesday, September 6, 2022

 

Tuesday of the Twenty-third Week in Ordinary Time

(I Corinthians 6:1-11; Luke 6:12-19)

An American Catholic would have no problem taking to court another Catholic if there is a serious grievance.  St. Paul in today’s first reading finds such action outrageous.  It is not that he is living at a different time.  He has a very different sense of Church.

For Paul the Church is Christ.  As the people consume Christ’s body and blood, they are assumed into him.  For this reason Paul regularly calls the Church the “Body of Christ.” Bringing a member of the church community to court, then, would be akin to settling family problems with justice of the peace.  Family members at odds should find better judgment in a discerning matriarch or a wise uncle who knows intimately all involved.

No church community is perfect.  There will always be some people who think differently and others whose personality we find difficult.  Yet we should make a determined effort to deepen our relations in community.  We want to act as Christ who, as always, comes to the world to establish the Kingdom of God.