These reflections are a result of more than 40 years of ministry as a Roman Catholic priest. Most of these years I spent in the Diocese of Charlotte which covers Western North Carolina. Now I am retired, and live in Medellín, Colombia where I continue to serve as a priest in the Archdiocese of Medellín.
It does not concern me in the least that I be judged by you or any human tribunal; I do not even pass judgment on myself; I am not conscious of anything against me, but I do not thereby stand acquitted; the one who judges me is the Lord. (1 Cor 4:1-5)
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/090624.cfm
A long time ago, in a parish far, far away, I founded an AIDS ministry. Some time later I was being attacked by a group of ‘concerned parishioners.’ So one Sunday I addressed the issue in a homily and this is how I concluded: “As a pastor and a priest, I will not turn my back on those who are living with HIV/AIDS. As a pastor and a priest, I will not turn my back on our gay brothers and sisters and their families. One day I will have to stand before our Lord and give an accounting of my priestly ministry. He is the one to judge me--not you. And what is the measure he will use? . . . ‘”as often as you did it for one of these least ones, you did it to me.”’
So let no one boast about human beings, for everything belongs to you, Paul or Apollos or Cephas, or the world or life or death, or the present or the future: all belong to you, and you to Christ, and Christ to God. (1 Cor 3:18-23)
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/090524.cfm
The politics of division, whether in civil society or the church, always seeks to divide, distract and diminish. Paul invites the Corinthian community not to focus on personalities, such Paul, Apollos, or Cephas (Peter), but rather to lift our hearts and minds to Christ and God.
What is Apollos, after all, and what is Paul? Ministers through whom you became believers, just as the Lord assigned each one.I planted, Apollos watered, but God caused the growth. Therefore, neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who causes the growth. He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive wages in proportion to his labor. For we are God’s co-workers; you are God’s field, God’s building. (1 Cor 3:1-9)
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/090424.cfm
Planting and watering are beautiful descriptions of ministry in the church. We all build on the labors of those who have gone before us. But as Paul reminds us, it is “only God, who causes the growth.”
Now the natural man does not accept what pertains to the Spirit of God, for to him it is foolishness, and he cannot understand it, because it is judged spiritually. The one who is spiritual, however, can judge everything but is not subject to judgment by anyone. For “who has known the mind of the Lord, so as to counsel him?” But we have the mind of Christ. (1 Cor 2:10b-16)
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/090324.cfm
To say “we have the mind of Christ” is not a boast. It is simply what it means to be in Christ. Our baptism calls us to put on the mind and heart of Christ. Saint Gregory (540-604) did not want to be called “great.” Gregory only wanted to be known as the “Servant of the Servants of God.”
When I came to you, brothers and sisters, proclaiming the mystery of God, I did not come with sublimity of words or of wisdom. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified. I came to you in weakness and fear and much trembling, and my message and my proclamation were not with persuasive words of wisdom, but with a demonstration of spirit and power, so that your faith might rest not on human wisdom but on the power of God. (1 Cor 2:1-5)
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/090224.cfm
We like to think that Saint Paul was a great preacher, and he was. But according to his own words, he was not a great orator. Nevertheless, when Paul spoke, people listened and paid attention, even old Saint Peter!
