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12:26 Our unity should be such that when one member of the community su ers, all su er, and when one rejoices, all rejoice. “The joys and the hopes, the griefs and the anxieties of the people of this age, especially those who are poor or in any way a icted, these are the joys and hopes, the griefs and anxieties of the followers of Christ” (The Church in the Modern World, 1).
12:31 We are all part of Christ’s body, and though we do not all have the same gifts or carry out the same function, we all can live in love, the greatest of all gifts, and the one which animates every other gift.
“I had not recognized myself in any of the members described by St. Paul, or rather I desired to see myself in them all. Charity gave me the key to my vocation. I understood that if the Church had a body composed of di erent members, the most necessary and most noble of all could not be lacking to it, and so I understood that the Church had a Heart and that this Heart was BURNING WITH LOVE. I understood it was Love alone that made the Church’s members act.... Then in the excess of my delirious joy, I cried out: O Jesus, my Love... my vocation, at last I have found it.... MY VOCATION IS LOVE! Yes, I have found my place in the Church and it is You, O my God, who have given me this place; in the heart of the Church, my Mother, I shall be Love. Thus I shall be everything.” (St. Therese of Lisieux, The Story of a Soul, translated by John Clarke, OCD, p. 194).
i. [12:27] Rom 12:5–8; Eph 1:23; 4:12; 5:30; Col 1:18, 24.
j. [12:28] Eph 2:20; 3:5; 4:11.
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Praying Hands, by Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528)
* [12:27–30] Paul now applies the image again to the church as a whole and its members (1 Cor 12:27). The lists in 1 Cor 12:28–30 spell out the parallelism by specifying the diversity of functions found in the church (cf. Rom 12:6–8; Eph 4:11).
* [12:28] First, apostles: apostleship was not mentioned in 1 Cor 12:8–10, nor is it at issue in these chapters, but Paul gives it pride of place in his listing. It is not just one gift among others but a prior and fuller gift that includes the others. They are all demonstrated in Paul’s apostolate, but he may have developed his theology of charisms by re ecting rst of all on his own grace of apostleship (cf. 1 Cor 3:5–4:14; 9:1–27; 2 Cor 2:14–6:13; 10:1–13:30, esp. 1 Cor 11:23 and 12:12).
 CORINTHIANS 
Pentecost, Gustave Doré (1866)
14Now the body is not a single part, but many. 15If a foot should say, “Because I am not a hand I do not belong to the body,” it does not for this reason belong any less to the body. 16Or if an ear should say, “Because I am not an eye I do not belong to the body,” it does not for this reason belong any less to the body. 17If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing,
where would the sense of smell be? 18But as it is, God placed the parts, each one of them, in the body as he intended. 19If they were all one part, where would the body be? 20But as it is, there are many parts, yet one body. 21The eye cannot say to the hand, “I do not need you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I do not need you.” 22Indeed, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are all the more necessary, 23and those parts of the body that we consider less honorable we surround with greater honor, and our less presentable parts are treated with greater propriety, 24whereas our more presentable parts do not need this. But God has so constructed the body as to give greater honor to a part that is without it, 25so that there may be no division in the body, but that the parts may have the same concern for one another. 26If [one] part su ers, all the parts su er with it; if one part is honored, all the parts share its joy.
Application to Christ.* 27Now you are Christ’s body, and individually parts of it.i 28Some people God has designated in the church to be, rst, apostles;* second, prophets; third, teachers; then, mighty deeds; then, gifts of healing, assistance, administration, and varieties of tongues.j 29Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work mighty deeds? 30Do
all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? 31Strive eagerly for the greatest spiritual gifts.
The Way of Love. But I shall show you a still more excellent way.