In today's first reading, Ephesians 4: 1-7, 11-13, St. Paul calls you [and me] to "live in a manner worthy of the call you have received, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another through love, striving to preserve the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace: one Body and one Spirit, as you were also called to the one hope of your call; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all."
We live in one Body, the Body of Christ. The bond of Christ's peace unites us. May we strive "to preserve" that peace, living a life of "humility and gentleness, ...patience, bearing with one another through love," and thus preserving "the unity of the Spirit." How patient am I/are you? How humble and gentle am I/are you? In what ways today did I/did you create unity by "bearing with ...another through love"?
We have been baptized into the Body of Christ, and, in baptism, Paul tells us, "[g]race was given to each of us according to the measure of Christ's gift." The gifts we have been given are for "building up the Body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of faith and knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood/[womanhood], to the extent of the full stature of Christ." Am I/are you growing in maturity or are we, as adults, still having temper tantrums when things do not go our way or when we encounter obstacles to our ego's desire to be in control or to assert its "authority over others"? A person who reflects the "full stature of Christ," in no way acts in these ways but lives a humble, patient, gentle life, bearing other people's burdens so as to lighten the load another may be carrying!
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