Forty years ago, I began graduate studies in deaf education at UW. My first course that summer was anatomy of speech and hearing, which I presumed would be just that. I was surprised to discover that the course also covered the muscles of the abdomen and the interaction that takes place among the different parts of the body which make both functions of hearing and speech possible. Made in the image of God, our bodies are well designed with many parts that work together, allowing us to savor God’s creation and presence to the fullest.
Consider the ear, which is divided into three parts. First, there is the outer ear with the lobe and ear canal. Sound is funneled into the canal to vibrate on the ear drum, which in turn, vibrates the three smallest bones of the body in that tiny space known as the middle ear. Upon vibrating to the end of the last bone, sound waves then hit the tympanum, the doorway to the inner ear. There the waves vibrate through fluid until they touch the tiny hairs that detect a certain frequency. This happens in the snail shaped cochlea, which is the size of a pea. Upon reaching the appropriate hairs, the waves then become electronic impulses that travel through the auditory nerve to the brain.
If all the parts work together, you are blessed with perfect hearing. If something is amiss, then the hearing is diminished. Ear wax can build up that prevents sound from fully reaching the ear drum. The bones of the middle ear can calcify, thus losing their ability to vibrate and transmit sound. The hairs of the cochlea, known as cilia, could be missing, which prevent certain frequencies from being relayed to the auditory nerve. In my case, over time, those hairs have lost their ability to do their job so my ability to discriminate speech has diminished to the point that next month I will have a cochlear implant in my right ear.
Once I am fitted with the processor, which resembles an oversize hearing aid, I will begin hearing sound through my skull, not my ear, so what I hear will sound different, thus requiring patience on your part and mine as I learn to recognize sounds again. With my hearing aids, I hear sounds but I cannot always make out what is being said and without them, I hardly hear anything. Yes, every part of the ear matters if one is to hear well.
Paul is using a good analogy in his letter to the Corinthians when he speaks of the many parts of the body. While the body can exist without all its parts, no part of the body can exist by itself. The many parts of the body depend on one another to survive and thrive. What we have here, however, is not an anatomy lesson, but an explanation of how valuable each member of the faith community is to the well being of the community and how important the faith community is to its individual members.
The second largest religious denomination in our country is said to be the “fallen away” Catholic. They see themselves as being Catholic, yet for whatever reason, they choose not to worship regularly with their Catholic brethren. They argue, “If God is everywhere, why is worship with fellow Catholics so important?”
Here in the celebration of the Mass, we get renewed, nourished and fed in order to be the Body of Christ when we leave here. Here we are reminded that we are more than the sum of our individual selves. Through Scripture and the Eucharist, we are reminded that as people of God, we are empowered to proclaim the gospel message in our daily lives.
We come to church to remind ourselves that we are not the center of the universe. We are challenged by others, different from us, who share the same vision that together we can make a difference in the world. Coming to Mass involves going to a place to break bread with people, some who may not be of our choosing. This keeps us humble in the sight of our God, mindful that we belong to a worldwide community of believers past, present, and future. As the Creed points out, we belong to a catholic church, that is, a universal church that spans our planet.
Such belief undermines the notion that is commonly held by many who have left the faith; that one can be spiritual without being religious. That is a deceptive notion tailored made for the “Me generation” where self is the sole measure of one’s existence; a spiritual world where no one is there to challenge the choices you make. In such a world you are beholden to no one but yourself. Such adherents never consider that whatever notion they have of God is limited to their own perceptions.
Instead of seeing themselves as part of the Body of Christ, a community of believers, they see themselves as an army of one. The Church cautions us, however, that an army of one is dangerous to one’s spiritual health for an army of one cannot survive just as a part of the body cannot endure on its own.
The Church offers us memories, traditions and links to ancient wisdom, while challenging us through communal living, understanding, and worship to deepen our relationship with God. As the body of Christ, we gather to celebrate the Eucharist and ponder God’s message to us through scripture, to take courage from one another’s presence and to be sent forth from here to proclaim the gospel.
Our time together enriches us with new eyes to see the majesty of God in our midst and to bring God to our homes, work places and neighborhoods so that others might see what we see in Christ Jesus; that he came to bring glad tidings to the poor, proclaim liberty to captives, recovery of sight to the blind, and let the oppressed go free through us, his risen body. This passage is being fulfilled but are they, who are absent, hearing the good news?