Episode Transcript
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What’s going on in our second reading today
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in the Church of Corinth?
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‘I am for Paul’ shouted one group.
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‘I am for Apollos,’ claimed another,
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Apollos was a very gifted preacher from Alexandria in Egypt.
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A third faction had the slogan,
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‘I am for Cephas’ or the Apostle, Peter.
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And a fourth group, not wishing to join in any of this carry-on maintained,
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‘I am for Christ.’
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Different factions within the Church at Corinth
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had apparently developed,
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aligning themselves with one of at least three different teachers
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or those perhaps who had baptised them.
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And part of what's implied here is that followers of these factions
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had aligned themselves against the other leaders
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and those who followed them.
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At first glance, we may wonder how people could be so committed
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to just one Christian leader that they would fight with other believers over it.
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After all, didn't all of them teach the same message: Christ's gospel?
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Experience, however, shows how easy it is
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for us human beings to lose perspective
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and divide over issues of personality, authority, race, football allegiance, you name it.
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Sadly, there are some groups in the Church who never came to terms
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with the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI
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and formed factions who declared, “I am for Benedict”
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which in effect meant for them that “I am against Francis.”
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So let’s pray that our new Pope can bring these factions together.
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Are there any factions in your parish?
