Ordinary Time 
Pause
“We belong in a bundle of life. We say, ‘A person is a person through other persons.’ It is not, ‘I think therefore I am.’ It says rather, ‘I am human because I belong. I participate, I share.’”
from No Future Without Forgiveness by Desmond Tutu (1999)
Listen
My brothers and sisters, if any of you wander from the truth and someone turns back the wanderer, recognize that whoever brings a sinner back from the wrong path will save them from death and will bring about the forgiveness of many sins.
James 5:19-20
Think
Being connected to each other means we see each other at our worst and our best. When someone sees us at our worst, it is embarrassing. We don’t want people to see us that way.
But our friends, our true friends, our brothers and sisters (whether we share DNA or not) will love us anyway. They will sit with us in the midst of our pain in the ashes or hug us when our eyes are red and swollen from all the tears. This is what love looks like. This is what the love of Christ looks like at its best.
So we are called to be there for each other, whether we are wandering off the path or on the sure road. In community, we are there to watch out for our siblings, and they are there to watch out for us.
Kim Crowley
Pray
God of all wandering ones, help me to be gentle with my brothers and sisters. Help me to show love and use words when necessary. Help me to be gracious enough to receive love in return. Amen.
Go
Go and remember: you belong to the body of Christ. The body needs you in order to work as it should.
Go out and share your gifts, so that the body of Christ may be the healing love of God to the world.
