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The Catholic Telegraph
January 12, 2001On the Sundays in Ordinary Time we have an ongoing series of readings from one of the gospels. In year C the gospel is Luke’s (prefaced on the second Sunday by a reading from John that describes the beginning of Jesus’ public life). These gospel readings are illuminated by the readings from the Old Testament. The second readings during this season are selections, more or less in order, from the apostolic letters in the New Testament. They are independent of the first readings and the gospel readings.
The first book we have such selections from in year C is First Corinthians. We hear from First Corinthians at the beginning of Ordinary Time each year in the three year cycle. Apparently those who put the Lectionary together thought it was too long and too complicated a letter to be surveyed in one year.
The basic structure of First Corinthians consists of Paul’s comments on disorders in the local church at Corinth (Ch. 1 - 6) followed by responses to some questions from the Corinthians (Ch. 7 - 10). Next comes material on liturgical questions (Ch. 11 - 14) and on the resurrection (Ch. 15). It is not clear whether these last two sections are the result of what Paul had heard about the disorders at Corinth or of questions that the members themselves had addressed to him. In any case, it is from these final sections that we will hear over these next seven Sundays, on the first three from chapters 12 and 13, on the next four from chapter 15.
The section on liturgical questions starts with Paul’s teaching about how women were to dress in the liturgical assembly and continues with his instruction about behavior during the celebration of the Eucharist itself. Then (in this Sunday’s reading) we hear about spiritual gifts.
Probably most of us would have found it troubling to attend Sunday Mass in Corinth. The Corinthians seem to have set great store by ecstatic and charismatic practices, gifts given to individuals that enabled them to speak foreign languages or pray aloud in highly personalized ways. This isn’t the sort of thing that most of us are used to at Mass! In addition to that, they seem to have thought that having these gifts (especially the gift of speaking in tongues) was a sign of spiritual superiority. People with special gifts were thought to be better or more important than the others. This is what Paul addresses in our reading.
First of all, he emphasizes that all these spiritual gifts, whatever their purpose, are from one and the same God, one and the same Spirit. (The words "same" and "one" occur eight times in these eight verses.) They are all given for the well-being of the community. Then he lists some of the gifts: wisdom (understanding God’s plans) and knowledge (being able to teach so others can understand); faith, a special level of confidence in God that enables the recipient to do healings and other wonders; prophecy and discernment, speaking and interpreting tongues (all concerned with speaking out in God’s name). Whatever the gifts, they come from God and are given for God’s purposes.
Paul teaches, therefore, that God’s generosity is manifold, expressing itself in many ways. Yet it is not aimed at making some people better than others, but at strengthening the Church at large.
What does all this have to do with us? Most of us do not speak in tongues or bring about miraculous healings. But we are all gifted by God. Our gifts may be a little less spectacular than some of the Corinthians’, but they are real gifts nonetheless. The ability to comfort people in sorrow or help people to pray better, skill in teaching about the faith, the capacity to chair a meeting or lead a discussion group, helping children to grow up as believing Christians, a special zeal for social justice: all these are gifts that God gives to the members of His Church today. And there are many more! Each of us has his or her share of them. They are all gifts and they all come from the same loving God. And they are all directed not toward the building up of the ego of the one who has received them, but toward the building up of the life and energy of Christ in the Church.
The Church is not a warm, quiet context in which I can be with Jesus, quietly and alone. It is a living community of ordinary people, saints and sinners, brilliant and silly, attractive and repulsive, all of whom need the gifts that God offers us through our fellow members. The Church is not a spiritual convenience store where we go shopping for what we want, and drive away when we have what we came for. The Church is a living community in which each of us has the right to be supported by the others, in which each of us has something to offer for the well being of all. It’s not just priests and bishops who work for the well-being of the Church. We are all called to make our contribution out of the gifts that the one God has given to each of us.
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Conversation Questions
What spiritual gifts have I received?
How am I using them to build up the Church?
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