Today I was reading a new publication from Pittsburgh Theological Seminary entitled, Toward Bearing One Another’s Burdens. The book is written in a way that invites clergy and laity to come together to care for people of their community in diverse ways. It asks the reader a number of questions in reflection and invites each person who reads the book to reflect on what they are learning as they read each essay.
At the close of the one I was reading today were the famous words of St. Teresa of Avila, a 16th Century Carmelite nun and writer. She writes:
Christ has no body now but yours.
No hands, no feet on earth but yours.
Yours are the eyes through which he looks compassion on the world.
Yours are the the feet with which he walks to do good.
Yours are the hands through which he blesses all the world.
Yours are the hands,
Yours are the feet,
Yours are are the eyes,
You are his body.
Christ has no body now on earth but yours.
You may have read part, or all, of these words before. Perhaps you have heard of them but did not know how to credit them with. In the time of covid-19, and looting and riots throughout many big cities, we as the church are given an important task. We do not just preach Christ with words (certainly we do this and are called to continue the practice). But in St. Teresa’s mind and words, we are also asked to be the physical body of Jesus in the world in which we inhabit.
I wonder what the implication of that idea is for each of us? If we are not to be passive observers in this world, then what do these words call us to be and become when violence and separation are on the rise?
Christ has your body to use. . . I wonder how he will use you?
Blessings
Rev. Derek
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