PRAYER

Almighty God, whose Son revealed in signs and miracles the wonder of your saving presence: renew Your people with Your heavenly grace, and in all our weakness sustain us by Your mighty power; through Jesus Christ Your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with You, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

READING

1 Corinthians 12: 12-31

¹² Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. ¹³ For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. ¹⁴ Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.

¹⁵ Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. ¹⁶ And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. ¹⁷ If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? ¹⁸ But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. ¹⁹ If they were all one part, where would the body be? ²⁰ As it is, there are many parts, but one body.

²¹ The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” ²² On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, ²³ and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, ²⁴ while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, ²⁵ so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other.²⁶ If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.

²⁷ Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. ²⁸ And God has placed in the church first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, of helping, of guidance, and of different kinds of tongues. ²⁹ Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles?³⁰ Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? ³¹ Now eagerly desire the greater gifts.

REFLECTION

Group work. Are you a fan? I know of many students who do not like group work because they feel they end up doing the bulk of the work while others do nothing. It leads to resentment toward their fellow classmates. Sometimes group work fails because no one has taken the lead to assign tasks, deadlines and work within the strengths of their group members. God created us as a unit, a working organism with multiple parts that need one another to function and to be productive. Not one part is more important than the next, however each role is different and some roles have more responsibilities than others. For some of us, our role is to support others whose tasks are many. For some us, we rely on the support of others to accomplish our duties. Resentment and bitterness is the first crack that can break unity. Binary divisions such as "us/them" can quickly destroy the harmony that God intends for faith communities. May we be diligent to weed out any divisive thought and remain humble in the duties we have been designed for.

Next time you work in a group, try to figure out what everyone's strengths are an assign duties within their skills. Bring value to everyone's contributions, even if small.

LENT CHECK IN

As a family, consider cooking a meal together, assigning roles for each person

Try creating a Combination Human art work (each member draws a section of a character without seeing other drawings, thus creating a unique drawing) Exquisite Corpse Drawing Book How To