St. Paul had his hands full with the Corinthian community. The coastal city had merchants from all over the world and the early Christian community, in addition to being a mix of Jews and
Gentiles, had many different ethnicities and lots of differences and disagreements. In his letters, Paul was attempting to bring unity to the community. In our second reading this weekend, Paul is emphasizing that the Holy Spirit gives special gifts to each person and all these gifts are equally important. From a human perspective, we tend to rank gifts and talents: some are much more important than others. But Paul is saying that ALL the gifts are needed and important. The same applies today. Our human way of thinking would say that my role in our community is more important than the roles that others play. But the reality is that all of our roles are crucial. Take the Sunday Mass, for example. I might stand in the front and lead the congregation, but what kind of service would we have without a lector, a musician, a cantor, choir members, participants to sing and pray as a community, hospitality ministers to welcome people and answer their questions, a family to bring up the gifts, etc. It is when we all work together, using the talents God has given us, that the community and its liturgy come alive. It is not just the priest: it is all of us, every single one. The same is true for the parish in general. Where would we be without the excellent office manager and communications expert? Our finance team? Our faith formation team? Our liturgy and music planner? Our scrip and receptionist volunteers? I don’t have the talents necessary to do all these ministries. No one has the talents to do them all. We each have to use the gifts that God has given us and work together, so that our community can be alive and vibrant, with spiritually fulfilling liturgies. God has given each of us talents that can be used for the community. Are you using and sharing your talents with the community? It is important that we don’t just take, but that we give back through our God given talents. That is what will make our community alive and vibrant. That is what it means to be the Body of Christ. Church sign of the week: Waiting for something to turn up? Start with your own shirtsleeves.
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