Presenting ourselves as living sacrifices in using our gifts to serve the Body
Offering myself and my gifts again as a servant of God’s people
Reflection & Discussion: Romans 12:3-20
3For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. 4For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, 5so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another 6 Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; 7if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; 8the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.
9 Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. 10 Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. 11Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. 12 Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. 13Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.
14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. 16 Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. 17 Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. 18If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. 19Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, ”Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” 20To the contrary, ”if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.”
Prayer: “O Holy Spirit…which with thy holy breath cleanest men’s minds, comforting them when they be in sorrow, cheering them with pure gladness when they be in heaviness, leading them into all truth when they be out of the way, kindling them with the fire of charity when they be cold, knitting them together with the glue of peace when they be at variance, and garnishing and enriching them with sundry gifts, which by thy means profess the name of the Lord Jesus: by whose working all things live, which live indeed: whose delight is to dwell in the hearts of the simple, which thou has vouchsafed to consecrate for temples, to thyself. I beseech thee, maintain thy gifts in me, and increase the things daily which thou has vouchsafed to bestow upon me, that by thy governance the lusts of the flesh may die more and more in me and the desire of the heavenly life more quicken and increase. Let me so pass through the misty desert of this world by thy light going before me as I may neither be defiled with Satan’s wiles, nor be entangled with any errors disagreeing from thy truth which the true catholic Church hath delivered us by the instinct of thee, which livest and reignest everlastingly with the Father and the Son.” (Erasmus)