Today's Second Reading is 1 Corinthians 12: 12-30 (in the long form, anyway). While reading it this morning, I was struck how it can be read as a direct reply to those who argue since women can't be priests, or others who are grievances over their role in the Church, they're aren't Fully Catholic." In verses 14-19, Paul writes:
Now the body is not a single part, but many.
If 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.
Or 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.
If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be?
But as it is, God placed the parts, each one of them, in the body as he intended.
If they were all one part, where would the body be?
Essentially, we each have a role in the Body of Christ and we fail that Body when we try to be something we're not. If we're not called to be a priest, for whatever reason, it doesn't mean that we're not good Catholics or that we're not fully Catholic, it merely means that we have some other role to play. And we harm the Body of Christ (that is, the Church) when we attempt to be something we're not meant to be.
It comes down to the concept of vocation: God has a vocation in mind for each of us. Some are called to the priesthood, some to religious life, some to married life, some to a chaste single life. Based of thousands of years of Church teaching (and more before that in our Jewish roots), we know some lifestyle choices are not valid vocational options. We know that an unchaste single life is not an option, a true and valid marriage is not to be abandoned, consistent Church practice (with a few limited exceptions) is that priests should be celibate. One of the things that struck me while reading the Old Testament is that God is quite explicit about only men are to be priests. I don't pretend to understand His reasons on this, merely that it's the uninterrupted teaching for many of thousands of years across the Old Covenant and in the New.
It in no way diminishes the dignity of women since as Paul states above, we each have our own role to play in the Body of Christ. As Paul states just before the verses we read today in Mass:
There are different kinds of spiritual gifts but the same Spirit;
there are different forms of service but the same Lord;
there are different workings but the same God who produces all of them in everyone.
To each individual the manifestation of the Spirit is given for some benefit.
To one is given through the Spirit the expression of wisdom; to another the expression of knowledge according to the same Spirit;
to another faith by the same Spirit; to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit;
to another mighty deeds; to another prophecy; to another discernment of spirits; to another varieties of tongues; to another interpretation of tongues.
But one and the same Spirit produces all of these, distributing them individually to each person as he wishes.
Different doesn't mean inferior, it merely means "not the same." The different gifts give us each a different role to play, but each gift comes from the same source: God, through the workings of the Holy Spirit. We will benefit the Body of Christ the most, and ourselves too since God works His plan for us to our own happiness, if we use the gifts God has given us to fulfil the role He has chosen for us. Rather than complaining about what we can't be, we need to focus on being what we can and being the very best we can at it. There lies the path to fulfilling God's will, building up the Body of Christ and our happiness in Christ.
Crossposted at Gazizza.net.
