Women’s dress and Mediterranean customs
1 ① Follow my example as I follow the example of Christ. 2I praise you because you remember me in everything, and you keep the traditions that I have given you. 3However 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. 4If a man prays or prophesies with his head covered, he dishonors his head. 5On the contrary, the woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered, does not respect her head. She might as well cut her hair. 6If 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.
7Men 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. 8Man was not formed from woman, but woman from man. 9Nor did God create man for woman, but woman for man. 10Therefore, a woman must respect the angels and have on her head the sign of her dependence.
11Anyway, the Christian attitude does not separate man from woman, and woman from man, 12and if God has created woman from man, man is born from woman and both come from God.
13Judge for yourselves: is it proper for a woman to pray without a veil? 14Common sense teaches us that it is shameful for a man to wear long hair, 15while long hair is the pride of a woman, and it has been given to her precisely as a veil.
16If some of you want to argue, let it be known that it is not our custom nor the custom in the churches of God.
The Lord’s supper
17 ② To continue with my advice, I cannot praise you, for your gatherings are not for the better but for the worse.
18First, as I have heard, when you gather together, there are divisions among you and I partly believe it. 19There may have to be different groups among you, so that it becomes clear who among you are genuine.
20Your gatherings are no longer the Supper of the Lord, 21for each one eats at once his own food and while one is hungry, the other is getting drunk. 22Do you not have houses in which to eat and drink? Or perhaps you despise the Church of God and desire to humiliate those who have nothing? What shall I say? Shall I praise you? For this I cannot praise you.
23This 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, 24after giving thanks, broke it, saying, “This is my body which is broken for you; do this in memory of me.” 25In the same manner, taking the cup after the supper, he said, “This cup is the new Covenant in my blood. Whenever you drink it, do it in memory of me.” 26So, then, whenever you eat of this bread and drink from this cup, you are proclaiming the death of the Lord until he comes.
27Therefore, 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.
28Let each one, then, examine himself before eating of the bread and drinking from the cup. 29Otherwise, he eats and drinks his own condemnation in not recognizing the Body.
30This is the reason why so many among you are sick and weak and several have died. 31If we examined and corrected ourselves, the Lord would not have to exercise judgment against us. 32The Lord’s strokes are to correct us, so that we may not be condemned with this world. 33So then, brothers, when you gather for a meal, wait for one another 34and, if someone is hungry, let him eat in his own house. In this way you will not gather for your common condemnation. The other instructions I shall give when I go there.
- 1 Cor 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 paragraph (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 (v. 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 18:10 and 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. 1 Cor 11,17 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 10:16 Paul recalled two aspects of the Lord's Supper: - it is the communion of the body and blood of the Lord; - 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: - the one who does not distinguish consecrated bread from ordinary bread and does not receive it with due respect, as the body of Christ; - 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 till 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 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 energies 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.
- 1 Cor 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 paragraph (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 (v. 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 18:10 and 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. 1 Cor 11,17 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 10:16 Paul recalled two aspects of the Lord's Supper: - it is the communion of the body and blood of the Lord; - 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: - the one who does not distinguish consecrated bread from ordinary bread and does not receive it with due respect, as the body of Christ; - 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 till 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 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 energies 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.
