3C22. Nehemiah 8:2-4a, 5-6, 8-10. God reassures his People who had just returned after the exile that he is with them. They are not alone in reestablishing their homeland. Their Almighty God is present and active in the rebuilding of his People. Ezra tells them to rejoice that their God loves them so dearly as to guide them in his ways with the written Law, the Torah.

Luke 1:1-4; 4:14-21. Luke begins his “narrative of the events” that the eyewitnesses to Jesus have handed down to his followers long after Jesus had physically departed from them so that they “may realize the certainty of the teachings (you) they have received.” Jesus had returned to his hometown of Nazareth to proclaim that he was that unique person that would be an even greater sharing of the presence and person of God than He was when he gave them the Torah.

1 Corinthians 12:12-30. “As a body is one though it has many parts, and all the parts of the body, though many, are one body, so also Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body” “and we were all given to drink of one Spirit.” “You are Christ’s body and individually parts of it.” God created us all to be loved by him and to bring his love to one another. In John 15:12 Jesus said, “This is my commandment: love one another as I have loved you.” Not only are we responsible for our own salvation but we are also responsible to help others gain their salvation. Loving means the sharing of ourselves or giving

something of ourselves to the one we love. When one of our loved ones dies we grieve that loss greatly because, when we love, we give something of ourselves over to that other person and something of that other person comes to be part of our lives. We suffer the loss of something of ourselves, when someone we love dearly, departs. The love that God has for us calls upon us to be connected to one another in God’s love. In John 12:5, Jesus said, “So we, though many, are one body in Christ and individually parts of one another.” Let us come to realize how much God shares himself with us daily and, in turn, let us come to share more of ourselves and the presence of God in us with others daily.