August 31, 2022

1 Cor 3:1-9

And so, brothers and sisters, I could not speak to you as spiritual people, but rather as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for solid food. Even now you are still not ready, for you are still of the flesh. 

For as long as there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not of the flesh, and behaving according to human inclinations? For when one says, “I belong to Paul,” and another, “I belong to Apollos,” are you not merely human?

What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you came to believe, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. 

The one who plants and the one who waters have a common purpose, and each will receive wages according to the labor of each. For we are God’s servants, working together; you are God’s field, God’s building.

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.

We Are Not God

Not again! Paul and his team constantly had to remind people that they are not gods (Acts 14:11, e.g.) – apparently our celebrity/influencer culture even had a hold on the early Church! But Paul is insistent: only God is God. Paul is Paul, a servant of God, but not God. And God works in Paul and with Paul, which makes Paul important, but still not God. 

Though Paul’s goal in these verses is simply to shift the attention off of himself and onto God – the real giver of growth (3:7) – later in this same letter, he has another goal… not only does he co-work with God, but he wants every reader of every one of his letters to believe that they are called to the same. We are coworkers of God today and every day – be attentive to the little labors of love possible in the hours ahead!

—Fr. Garrett Gundlach, SJ, is a Jesuit priest of the Midwest Province studying Arabic and interfaith dialogue at the University of Saint Joseph in Beirut, Lebanon. 

Prayer 

Dear God,
I’ve got a lot to do today -
but I’m not sure how much of it’s for you,
how much of it’s your work or just mine,
how much of my to-do list
had you and your people and your love in mind.
But I guess that’s not what you asked -
what you asked is that I do this all with love,
that your love guide it and deepen it and enlighten it,
so that every little and big thing I’ve got to do today
becomes some kind of a gift,
becomes some kind of boost,
becomes some kind of grace for those they serve;
so that every little and big thing I’ve got to do today
plays a part in this mission I’ve been on
- maybe unknowingly -
this whole life of mine.
Call me deeper into this mission starting today,
guide my task lists towards love,
fill my tasks with love,
so that each task becomes just another excuse
to love with your love in another new way-
make my work more and more yours,
more and more ours, O God,
Amen. 

—Fr. Garrett Gundlach, SJ