Many Parts, One Body

Now you are Christ’s Body, and individually parts of it. // 1 Corinthians 12:27

The sunset limned the trees in my path with a gentle glow while birds chanted symphonies from the boughs. Roses in neighboring gardens wrapped me in their sweet perfume as children played hopscotch and learned to ride bicycles, their laughter a welcome sound amid the solitude of coronavirus lockdowns. 

I kicked another pebble out of my way, pressed the phone a bit closer to my ear, and confessed to the friend I had just met the trepidation I felt about moving: about leaving these neighborhood trails I knew by heart for an expansive new city of unknowns, and the difficulties of forging community when people were still isolating inside their homes. 

Two weeks earlier, this new friend,  fellow graduate student at my new university, responded to my post on the “D.C. Area Catholics Looking for Roommates” Facebook page with a simple invitation to chat, even if we didn’t end up living together. I was startled by the warmth of her request but deeply appreciative of it—even if I was also, as an avowed introvert, baffled by such initiative.

“Well, I for one can’t wait to welcome you to town!” she said, instantly calming my current squall of anxiety. 

Fast-forward six months and not only had we met in person, but she had introduced me to all of the other women who would also, in time, become my best friends here. Hospitality, as it became clear to me on that first phone call, is a charism this friend possesses, and her welcoming heart knows no bounds—always eager to connect people, to welcome strangers, to build up the Body of Christ. She is, for me, a luminous witness of how we are called to use the gifts God has designated to each of us (see 1 Corinthians 12:28) for the good of others and the Church. 

Sister, can you recall a time when you felt buoyed and blessed by the expression of another person’s gifts? Thank God for that individual, and then ask Him how He might be desiring you to share your gifts today.