Fellow Citizens

'"So then you are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the holy ones and members of the household of God," Eph 2:19

For those who have always been strangers or outsiders, people without a voice in family or society, the promise of Paul that in Christ they have become "fellow citizens with the holy ones," must have been overwhelming. Poor, forgotten, and neglected, they not only have an identity, Christ treats them like royalty.

St Paul makes the same promise to us. Through baptism we have been been made one with Christ, and while some roles in his kingdom seem more important than others, Paul warns his listeners that this is not so. In Christ, everyone counts equally. "The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I have no need of you,’ nor again the head to the feet, ‘I do not need you.'" (1 Cor 12:21) Paul insists that we view ourselves, not as isolated persons seeking perfection, but as members of a body dependent upon one another for life and faith. This new way of understanding our identity assures us that no one is lost and all are saved, a vision that is almost too much to absorb.

Today, look at each person you meet as a brother or sister.

What is it like to see yourselves as intimately united with others in faith?