3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C) - 23 January

3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C) - 23 January

A reflection on today's second reading by the Venerable Archbishop Fulton J Sheen:

"The Church is a body; it is the body of Christ. He took a new body. For his physical body he now uses a social body, an ecclesial body. Just as my own body is made up of millions and millions of cells and vivified by one soul, governed by a visible head, and presided over by an invisible mind, so too all of us who have in any way become incorporated to Christ are the cells in his body. We are one, because we are vivified by one soul, which is the Holy Spirit; we are presided over by the invisible head, Christ in heaven, who is the head of the body, and we are governed by the visible head, our Holy Father. That is the Church. At the Vatican Council, we defined the Church as the mystery, and that’s what it is. It is the great sacrament of sacraments because it has something physical about it and something invisible about it.

"Now there are gifts. They are called charisms, sometimes. There are many of them. St Paul mentions about fifteen. What is the difference between the gift and the charisms? In theology we make a distinction between gratia gratum faciens and gratia gratis data. Gratia gratum faciens is that which makes us pleasing to God. That is the gift, that is grace. Gratia gratis data is the charism. What is the difference between the gift and the charism? The gift makes us pleasing to God, and the charism makes us helpful in relationship to others. To others: that is the point. For example, I have the charism of preaching...I am just exercising a gift that God gave. And He could take it away.

"Gifts can be transient things. That’s why St Paul says of several of them, 'They will pass.' Samson had the charism of strength. And Samson one day said, 'I will go out and do as I’ve done before', and scripture says that 'he knew not that the Lord had left him.' He no longer had the charism. So these particular gifts can be lost. We therefore have to keep a due balance in the Church, and not be overemphatic about certain gifts, not forming elites, and not allowing anyone to say, 'We have a monopoly on the Spirit. You join our group. I am of Paul; I am of Cephas; I am of Apollos.' The test is always: does it build up the Church? If it does not build up the Church, then it is not properly used." (Through the Year With Fulton Sheen)

Prayer After Communion by St Thomas Aquinas

Sweetest Jesus, Body and Blood most holy, be the delight and pleasure of my soul, my strength and salvation in all temptations, my joy and peace in every trial, my light and guide in every word and deed, and my final protection in death. Amen. 🙏💖