• Reading I: Ephesians 4:7-16
• Resp. Psalm: Psalm 122:1-2,3-4,4-5
• Gospel Reading:Luke 13:1-9

Communion is not just being together, it is building-up the Church that it may grow to maturity.  And building-up the Church means investing the grace one has received from the Lord as service in the form of ministry.  Paul describes the glorification Christ as an ascent with a downward movement.  The downward movement is the giving of gifts, exemplified by the coming of the Spirit through whose charisms apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers¹, and other "builders" of the Church arise.

To note in the graphic illustration below is the contrast between "infancy" and "maturity".  The Church must grow into its full stature, that is, it must become mature in Christ.  The various ministries have for their aim  the building up of the Church in love.

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1. Paul mentions these because they were already working in the different Christian communities.  The subsequent growth of the Church will also produce deacons and other ministers, just as today there are different groups performing various ministries in the Church. [↩]