Body of Christ

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Several weeks ago I was on a panel for vocations assembled by the teachers for the eighth grade confirmation class. There were six of us: a deacon couple, our parish youth minister, a religious brother and a few sisters. This was so that the students would meet different people, older and younger with different stories. Their questions mainly focused on our likes and dislikes and when if ever, did we have any fun. Vocation to them seems to be something we do. My bend was that vocation is more about a call to BE something or someone: not so much what you do but who you do it with. So the deacon couple spoke about their marriage as the fuel of the ministry and the youth ministers spoke about her finding support in the friend groups in the ministry. She said she and her husband, a teacher, support each other too. We religious talked about our community relationships and how we live together for our good and the good of our ministries.

So in the end I realized that we are all in this world to be Body of Christ which means belonging to others in the Body. We live out that belonging in our relationships, both informal and vowed.

Mary McNulty, OP
Westchester, Illinois

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