If the Body of Christ were a mathematical precept, it would be the transitive property of equality: When a = b and b = c, a = c. In other words, if I am somehow connected to Christ through the grace of discipleship, and another person is connected to me through the grace of friendship, then that person is also connected to Christ, and that’s how the body grows. Such texture, which resists neat categories and clean ecclesiastical pronouncements, signifies a living organism marked by interdependence and mutuality. The next time, therefore, we start to make quiet judgments about non-religious friends or family members, we can remember that each member of the body enjoys a unique calling. We can be energized by the thought that their only Eucharist might be our weekly taco night outing, or that their only Baptism might be the tears of grief that we share at the funeral home, or that their only Confession might be the honest talk during our late night phone calls. The more we come to see how thoroughly transitive our human lives really are, the more the Body of Christ will appear.
Ave Crux, Spes Unia.
Thank you yet again!
-for the onion!
and
for the sad tale from Dostoesvski
Thank you!