Friday, January 31, 2025
Feast of Saint John Bosco
Dear friend,
Welcome to week five of BMW, Be My Witnesses. Our year-long journey towards becoming ever better witnesses to Jesus Christ and His Holy Church is based upon four pillars:
Prayer.
Learning.
Belonging.
Mission.
As we go through these cycles of weeks to prepare for and to be witnesses, it is always important to reflect on our belonging to something bigger than ourselves. This not only fends off loneliness. It also empowers us to seek other’s prayers and companionship as we go forth. Hence, today, we begin to focus on belonging to the Body of Christ. I am always amazed when I read First Corinthians, chapter twelve (12:12):
“As a body is one though it has many parts, and all the parts of the body, though many, are one body, so also” dot, dot, dot. I always expect to hear the word, “Church.” “So also the Church.” But that is not what the text says. Rather, it concludes, “so also Christ.”
The Church is the Body of Christ. That is astounding! We do not just belong to some organization with rules and membership lists. No, we belong to the very Body of Christ.
Paul goes on to say, “we were all baptized into one body…and we were all given to drink of one Spirit” (12:13). It is as though we are leaves on a tree. All that sap is flowing up to each one of us. We are being continually fed and this nourishment is not some external juice. Rather, it is Jesus himself, flowing into each one of us.
We do not become his witnesses by our willful forays on our own. Rather, it is Jesus who impels us. Paul, earlier in this same letter, writes of this inner force: “If I preach the gospel, this is no reason for me to boast, for an obligation has been imposed on me, and woe to me if I do not preach it” (9:16). In his second letter to Corinth he notes that this compulsion is nothing other than love, “For the love of Christ impels us, once we have come to the conviction that one died for all” (II Corinthians 5:14).
We dearly need this same conviction. I am a witness, not because I think that might be a nice thing to be. Rather, I am impelled by the very love which Christ pours into me since I am part of the Body of Christ. I can do no other.
But there is another aspect of this kind of belonging. It is not only that we have a great source of strength, Christ’s love, but so do all our baptized sisters and brothers. We are a band of witnesses. The person sitting next to me in Church, though perhaps a different part of the body, is still of the same body of which I am a part.
We not only need each other. We can rely on each other. This is because we belong. We have a home. We have a family, the family of faith. All of us probably have to do more to recognize this reality and to help others recognize it as well.
So, our challenge for this week is to be very conscious that the other baptized members of our physical family are closer to us than blood due to our baptism into Christ.
Think of this as you are watching television or sitting at table with family members. Or, ponder this as you are sitting next to a stranger in Church. He or she is not a stranger at all, but a sister or brother.
Until next week, may God Bless you.
I am sincerely yours in Christ,
+ Earl Boyea
Bishop of Lansing
P.S. Below is a video version of this week's Be My Witnesses. Please do share with family and friends. Thank you. God bless you.