So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. In him the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord; in whom you also are built together spiritually into a dwelling place for God.
New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989, by the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. USCCB approved. http://www.usccb.org/bible/approved-translation
We all like to belong, and so this reading is comforting. It is important to remind ourselves that we are “fellow citizens with the holy ones.” Christ unites us all. We are his living body.
I imagine the Church as large oak tree. The roots, the trunk, the branches and the leaves are the people that make up this beautiful creation of God. The leaves are important for creating energy and giving life to the tree. The roots are there for stability, grounding the tree to the earth. The trunk and branches provide structure and connection. I imagine Christ as the water that flows through and gives life to every part of the tree. We are all unique in our gifts and talents, but Christ unites us and flows through us all as one body and one church.
—Elise Huber is a senior Ecology and Evolutionary Biology major at the University of Michigan. She is an active student leader at St. Mary’s Student Parish in Ann Arbor.
Christ has no body but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
Compassion on this world,
Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good,
Yours are the hands, with which he blesses all the world.
Yours are the hands, yours are the feet,
Yours are the eyes, you are his body.
Christ has no body now but yours,
—St. Teresa of Avila
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Ignatian spirituality reminds us that God pursues us in the routines of our home and work life, and in the hopes and fears of life's challenges. The founder of the Jesuits, Saint Ignatius of Loyola, created the Spiritual Exercises to deepen our relationship with Christ and to move our contemplation into service. May this prayer site anchor your day and strengthen your resolve to remember what truly matters.
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