Isn’t it good to be back?
Corpus Christi, our first level one Mass, was a true celebration of the body of Christ.
Our church was full of glowing faces, smiles, spontaneous hugs, happiness that made me think of David dancing before the Ark of the Covenant.
We realised how much we had missed each other during the lock-down.
In a new way, we experienced the Oneness of the Body of Christ.
The experience has not gone away, and there is a desire to hold on to it.
I recognise that sense of Oneness as the Way, the Truth and the Life of our faith.
It is indeed, the Body of Christ.
Please, let us get rid of language that causes division in the Church.
We could start with the word “lay” which is not used in other Christian churches. Lay is an acceptable verb for a hen producing eggs.
It’s not a good as an adjective describing people as unskilled. It suggests inferiority.
Another misplaced word is “Father.” Most of the priests I know, don’t like it, and some refuse to use it.
If the priest is “Father,” who are the parishioners? Children?
I’d go as far to say, if a man enters a seminary because he wants to be known as “Father” he probably has the wrong calling.
Surely ”Priest” and “Parishioner” are more appropriate ways to describe us.
“Shepherds” and “Sheep” also suggest division.
If we go to the Gospels, we see only one Shepherd, our Lord Jesus Christ. He refers to his apostles as sheep.
When Jesus commissions Peter in John 21:14 – 17, he doesn’t call Peter a shepherd.
We have given Peter that title.
The good shepherd wants the sheep Peter to feed Jesus’ sheep and lambs.
It’s comforting to think we are all his sheep and are called to feed each other, physically and spiritually.
I don’t think divisive definition in the Church is going to disappear overnight, but I believe COVID 19 has brought us all on our knees together, and no one is taller than anyone else.
After weeks of lock-down, we come back to a richer experience of the Mass and each other.
Something has changed, and while we can’t adequately describe it, we know we have been blessed with a love that is holy communion.
St Paul describes this in 1 Corinthians 13, a chapter often used in marriage ceremonies.
However, Paul was not writing about weddings but about love in the Christian community.
He finishes: “In short, there are three things that last, faith, hope and love, and the greatest of these is love.”
This was our celebration of Corpus Christi, the love of Christ Jesus without division.
Let us keep celebrating the Oneness of that love. It is what our church is all about.
- Joy Cowley is a wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother and retreat facilitator.