We're All One Body (with lots of aches and pains)

Let brotherly love continue.

 

We’re all part of the body of Christ and therefore we’re one body in Him. Does it make sense for the hand to hate the foot, or the stomach to hate the brain? As part of one body, hatred and anger simply are not options to us. We are one body--as such we must operate as one body despite the fact that a recalcitrant knee gives pain to the whole. We don’t simply remove the knee; we seek to make it better.

When we deal with others, we should always keep in mind that they’re part of us. When we visit the prisons (either in person or in our thoughts), whether or not the person is justly or unjustly imprisoned, we should recall that we too are there. Wherever there is any part of the body of Christ, we are there. And so we should care for one another as we care for ourselves. When something goes wrong with one part of us physically, we visit the doctor. So too, when something goes wrong with part of the Body of Christ, we need to take ourselves to the Divine Doctor, who heals all ill and ask Him to touch and heal the body.

As we hear about illness in the Body of Christ, we should seek not to repudiate, but to take the body to the Lord in prayer. We ought to be thankful that we have been given the charge to care for one another. God has incorporated (literally--put into a body) all of us into a body that has Christ as its head. When we are tempted to anger or tempted to lash out, let’s recall that we "also are part of the body."

 

Thinking of this, I am reminded of a blog I read the other day talking about the Fourteen Holy Helpers.  This was a group of saints who, although they had their own feast days, they also shared a feast day of August 8^th.  Their intercession was sought because they were the patron saints of the various maladies associated with the Black Plague in the 14^th century.  They have since been—for want of a better word—“disbanded” and rarely, if ever, are invoked for help.

An interesting question was raised by the writer of the blog, “Ask Sister Mary Martha”.  She wanted to know who we would choose in today’s world to be the NEW 14 Holy Helpers.  For the next 2 weeks or so, I thought it would be fun and interesting to answer her question in my own blog. Then I'll respond to her request.  I hope I’m up to the task.  I already have several ideas.  If you have any ideas, put them in the comments and I’ll consider it.  I’ll start with what I think are the most critical issues of the day and the Saint who, in my opinion would be the best to ask for help and I’ll end—I hope—with a prayer to my “League of Extraordinary Saints”.  Keep reading!