Ordinary Time 
Pause
The Spirit of God comforts, calls, and challenges.
You are comforted in moments when God seems hidden. You are called to share the gifts the Spirit reveals to you. You are challenged to be the presence of Christ in all you do, all you say, and in who you are.
Be open to the Spirit’s comfort and challenges now in these next quiet moments.
Listen
For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.
1 Corinthians 12:12–13
Think
You are not alone. Even when we feel like no one could possibly understand us, Paul writes that we are all baptized into one body. Your ethnicity, class, or anything else does not matter in the body of Christ, just that we are one in the body.
No one is better than another in the eyes of God. We are each made to drink of one Spirit, the Spirit of God. Most of us would never intentionally do harm to our own bodies, yet when we hurt others, we harm the body of Christ.
The gift of the Spirit is our oneness, despite our differences. Christians should be identifiable by the love of Christ we share. Today, when you see things that normally separate people, ask God how these differences can be celebrated in one family. Seek kindness and compassion towards another, remembering that God loves that person very much, and in showing them compassion, you will better understand the love of God for you as well.
Brian Foreman
Pray
Loving God, for those who experience separation, open my eyes of compassion. Allow me to see them as you see them, and to love them as you love them. Create in me a new heart, one that understands the love of Christ.
Amen.
Go
As the Spirit comforts you, give comfort to others. As the Spirit calls you, respond with your gifts. As the Spirit challenges, be the loving presence of God to the world around you.
