One Body, Many Parts (1 Cor. 12:12-26)

As a body is one though it has many parts, and all the parts of the body, though many, are one body, so also Christ.  13 For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, slaves or free persons, and we were all given to drink of one Spirit.  14 Now the body is not a single part, but many.  15 If a foot should say, “Because I am not a hand I do not belong to the body,” it does not for this reason belong any less to the body.  16 Or if an ear should say, “Because I am not an eye I do not belong to the body,” it does not for this reason belong any less to the body.  17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be?  18 But as it is, God placed the parts, each one of them, in the body as he intended.  19 If they were all one part, where would the body be?  20 But as it is, there are many parts, yet one body.  21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I do not need you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I do not need you.”  22 Indeed, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are all the more necessary, 23 and those parts of the body that we consider less honorable we surround with greater honor, and our less presentable parts are treated with greater propriety, 24 whereas our more presentable parts do not need this. But God has so constructed the body as to give greater honor to a part that is without it, 25 so that there may be no division in the body, but that the parts may have the same concern for one another.  26 If [one] part suffers, all the parts suffer with it; if one part is honored, all the parts share its joy. 

The many parts of the body form a single unity in Christ. Whether we were Jews or Gentiles, slaves or freemen, through baptism we became members of the same body in the same spirit. The Body of Christ is comprised of members with different spiritual gifts which are all necessary for the proper functioning of the Church. The members of the Church community need each other. When one member of the body is suffering all members in the one body suffer. When one member of the body is honored, all members are honored.

Almighty God, grant us the grace to be united in Christ so that all members of His body may work as one to the glory of your mane. This we ask through Christ our Lord. Amen!

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References

Chiu, José Enrique Aguilar, et al. The Paulist Biblical Commentary. Paulist Press, 2018.

Brown, Raymond Edward, et al. The New Jerome Biblical Commentary. Upper Saddle River, NJ, United States, Prentice Hall, 1990.