1 Corinthians 12.12-14, 27-31a
Psalm 100.1b-2, 3, 4, 5 Resp. 3
Luke 7.11-17
Some Christians will say that they support peace and justice. Other Christians will say that they are pro-life. The pro-life Christians say to the others that the most important issue of peace and justice in our world is the child in the womb. The peace and justice Christians say to the others that if they really cared about life, they would care about it after it was born. These divisions come from Satan. There is only one division in this world: those who are working toward the Kingdom of God and those who are not.
We Christians are all one body. The nose should not reprimand the tongue for being too obsessed with taste instead of smell. We are all working together toward the same goal. If one person is working to preserve the true definition of marriage, and someone else is working to see that the hungry are fed, and someone else is working to retrain the unemployed, and someone else is working to end abortion, they ought to support each other in every way. They are all working for the good. We are not Republicans or Democrats. We are Christians, and we must refuse to allow any partisan spirit to infiltrate the Church. The only spirit in the Church is the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit is against abortion and in favor of taking care of the poor. The Holy Spirit could not get elected by any party these days.
Nobody has to do it all. That would be a silly goal, as if the entire weight of the Church rested on one person’s shoulders. When a person who dedicates their life to ending abortion meets a fellow Christian who has dedicated their life to ending poverty, they ought to embrace and celebrate each other’s work. When St. Dominic and St. Francis met, they embraced. Dominic had founded an order of studying priests who preached in convincing words. Francis had founded an order of non-studying non-priests who were told to preach without words. But they were both getting the work done, and that is all that mattered. We are one body in Christ, and each person ought to take up the particular responsibilities that God calls them to. We all have some work to do. God has designated some work for each of us. If I get my work done, and you get your work done, that is how the work gets done.
Daily Homilies
