Women¡¯s dress and Mediterranean customs
1 Follow my example as I follow the example of Christ.
2 I praise you because you remember me in everything, and you keep
the traditions that I have given you.
3 However I wish to remind you that every man has Christ as his
head, while the wife has her husband as her head; and God is the
head of Christ.
4 If a man prays or prophesies with his head covered, he dishonors
his head.
5 On the contrary, the woman who prays or prophesies with her head
uncovered, does not respect her head. She might as well cut her
hair.
6 If a woman does not use a veil, let her cut her hair; and if it is
a shame for a woman to have her hair cut or shaved, then let her use
a veil.
7 Men do not need to cover their head, for they are the image of God
and reflect his glory, while a woman reflects the glory of man.
8 Man was not formed from woman, but woman from man.
9 Nor did God create man for woman, but woman for man.
10 Therefore, a woman must respect the angels and have on her head
the sign of her dependence.
11 Anyway, the Christian attitude does not separate man from woman,
and woman from man,
12 and if God has created woman from man, man is born from woman and
both come from God.
13 Judge for yourselves: is it proper for a woman to pray without a
veil?
14 Common sense teaches us that it is shameful for a man to wear
long hair,
15 while long hair is the pride of a woman, and it has been given to
her precisely as a veil.
16 If some of you want to argue, let it be known that it is not our
cus tom nor the custom in the churches of God.
The Lord¡¯s supper
17 To continue with my advice, I cannot praise you, for your
gatherings are not for the better but for the worse.
18 First, as I have heard, when you gather together, there are
divisions among you and I partly believe it.
19 There may have to be dif ferent groups among you, so that it be
comes clear who among you are genuine.
20 Your gatherings are no longer the Supper of the Lord,
21 for each one eats at once his own food and while one is hungry,
the other is getting drunk.
22 Do you not have houses in which to eat and drink? Or perhaps you
despise the Church of God and desire to humili ate those who have
nothing? What shall I say? Shall I praise you? For this I cannot
praise you.
23 This is the tradition of the Lord that I received and that in my
turn I have handed on to you; the Lord Jesus, on the night that he
was delivered up, took bread and,
24 after giving thanks, broke it, saying, ¡°This is my body which is
broken for you; do this in memory of me.¡±
25 In the same manner, taking the cup after the supper, he said,
¡°This cup is the new Covenant in my blood. When ever you drink it,
do it in memory of me.¡±
26 So, then, whenever you eat of this bread and drink from this cup,
you are proclaiming the death of the Lord until he comes.
27 Therefore, if anyone eats of the bread or drinks from the cup of
the Lord unworthily, he sins against the body and blood of the Lord.
28 Let each one, then, examine himself before eating of the bread
and drinking from the cup.
29 Other wise, he eats and drinks his own condemnation in not
recognizing the Body.
30 This is the reason why so many among you are sick and weak and
several have died.
31 If we examined and corrected ourselves, the Lord would not have
to exercise judgment against us.
32 The Lord¡¯s strokes are to correct us, so that we may not be
condemned with this world.
33 So then, brothers, when you gather for a meal, wait for one
another
34 and, if someone is hungry, let him eat in his own house. In this
way you will not gather for your com mon condem nation. The other
instructions I shall give when I go there.
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Comments 1 Letter to the Corinthians, Chapter 11
• 11.1 Is it important for a woman to wear a veil while praying in
Church? Mediterranean traditions required it and perhaps the new
custom originated in ¡°mystery religions.¡± In an earlier pa ragraph
(9:20) Paul said he was ¡°all for all.¡± Here we notice that he didn¡¯t
always have a fair regard for customs contrary to Jewish tradition.
Paul speaks here according to his Jewish culture, chiefly
male-centered, and repeats the same arguments of Jewish teachers
(vv. 5-10). Then suddenly he realizes that he is denying the
equality proclaimed by Jesus and tries to turn back (vv. 11-12). By
the way Paul ends the discussion, we see that he himself was aware
of the weakness of his arguments.
Let us not lessen these flashes of light thrown at us by Paul: the
angels participate in Christian worship (Mt 18:10and Rev 5:8; 8:3),
even our exterior bearing is in a way an active sharing in the
liturgy of the Eucharist.
This paragraph helps us to understand that many things in the Church
and in Christian life are no more than customs or human traditions,
although they maintain among us respectable values. Those in
authority, like Paul, cannot impose them on the community.
• 17. Without making any transition Paul passes to the most
important act of the Christian assembly, the Eucharist. These lines
are the oldest testimony relating to the Supper of the Lord and were
written in the year 55 A.D., some years ahead of the Gospels.
The community gathered in a friendly house. After the supper,
solemnized by the singing of the psalms, the leader of the community
said a prayer of thanksgiving, remembering the last supper of Jesus,
and repeated his words to consecrate the body and blood of Christ.
Then everyone received communion from the same bread and the same
cup.
In 10:16Paul recalled two aspects of the Lord¡¯s Supper:
¨C it is the communion of the body and blood of the Lord;
¨C it affirms a union of love among all: we form one body.
Here Paul denounces the Corinthians for their sin with regard to
these two points.
Each one eats at once his own food to avoid sharing with those who
are poorer, or to evade the company of certain persons. We can
imagine that the groups spontaneously formed and occupied various
rooms in the same house: actually each one joined the group from his
own milieu. Perhaps the buffet is more promising where the rich are,
while the poor are in the yard.
Another is getting drunk and therefore not disposed to receive the
body of Christ.
In not recognizing the Body (v. 29). This term points out at the
same time:
¨C the one who does not distinguish consecrated bread from ordinary
bread and does not receive it with due respect, as the body of
Christ;
¨C the one who ignores his brothers and sisters in the celebration of
the Eucharist. He does not recognize the body of Christ as formed by
all the assembled Christians.
The Eucharist is the center and heart of the life of the Church,
which is, before all else, a communion with God and with others. The
Church is not only an instrument for spreading the Good News, but
the place here on earth where people can already experience the
union between themselves and Christ.
You are proclaiming the death of the Lord until he comes (v. 26).
All the Eucharists celebrated around the world each day and every
minute of the day, remind us that the death of Christ fills up the
time until his coming.
History cannot cease, nor civilization be stagnant as happened in
past centuries. Not only does technical progress force us to
advance, but also the requirements of justice springing from the
death of the innocent (and here God is the innocent) destroy the
established order. Jesus¡¯ death does not allow the world to rest or
have peace. The Church reminds us of the death of Christ, not to
preserve the past, but to draw from this unique event new energy for
both reconciling and condemning.
This is the reason why so many among you are sick (v. 30). The Lord
uses many signs to admonish us. Sometimes through personal illness;
more often, through the weakness and spiritual anemia of the Church.
Fulfilling the requirements for a worthy celebration of the
Eucharist would be sufficient to renew the Church.