On every sports team, the players are assigned roles based upon their individual talents as well as upon the needs of the team. For example, in football each team has eleven players on the field for each play. Each of those players has a specific job to perform during each play. If every player executes his job well, the team is likely to succeed. If not, it will likely fail. Some positions tend to garner a lot of attention; others are rarely noticed. Nonetheless, no team would prefer to play with only the five or six “stars” and leave the other players on the sidelines. Each of the eleven players is essential to the smooth operation of each play.
When Jesus formed His team, He surrounded Himself with twelve very average men. From our human perspective, we might even think that they had no obvious skills or talents that would enable them to even contribute to the formation of a church, much less to lead that effort. Yet, Jesus saw things differently. He chose each apostle carefully to fit a particular need. He used both talents and flaws to form a strong and successful team.
In his letter this week, St. Paul tries to explain this concept to the Corinthians. First, he wants the Corinthians (and us) to know that every Christian is essential to the success of Christianity as a whole. That’s why the Holy Spirit has bestowed upon each of us one or more very specific, but often very different, gifts which we need to use in the service of our Lord and His Church (our fellow teammates). Whether we are great speakers, compassionate consolers, passionate givers, or those devoted to prayer, we are essential to the success of our Church.
As we contemplate the gifts that the Spirit has bestowed upon us, we must be careful not to worry about who might have other “better” talents or whether we are recognized or rewarded for sharing our talents. We shouldn’t quit and go somewhere else or stop worshipping entirely because we are disenchanted with our talents. When we are down, the members of our team are called to use their talents to help us. Similarly, we are called to use our Spirit-given talents to the fullest extent of our abilities for the benefit of the team.
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