By Jean Welch Hill–
“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 this world. Yours are 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 the eyes, you are his body. Christ has no body now on earth but yours.” (St. Theresa of Avila)
My parish pastor reminded the congregation of these wise words from St. Theresa a few weeks ago. As the pastor read these words to us before our communal celebration of Eucharist, I began to question how well we Catholics are reflecting Jesus’ teachings each day.
For instance, would we Catholics, serving as Jesus’ hands, support pulling immigrant children from their parents based on the parents’ decision to try and escape violence or abject poverty by crossing the border without waiting for decades for legal authority to do so? Or would we better serve Jesus by caring for those children and their parents and pleading with our congressional delegation to provide more aid to families in countries where violence and poverty reign and opening more doors for immigration?
Likewise, would Jesus use his feet to kick the downtrodden or addicted in Salt Lake City? Or would he use feet and hands to help raise people up, even if that means raising the same person over and over as they continue to relapse? Would we be better servants of Christ if we use our hands and feet and eyes to care for the homeless, or seek to move them out of our line of sight?
Who would Jesus “smack down,” call derogatory names or mock on social media? Who would Jesus want us to hate? Who would Jesus want us to kill? To see as a lesser human being? To see as undeserving of a life of dignity, or any life at all?
If my body is Jesus’ only means of acting on Earth, how can I best use it to serve his purposes? By prioritizing my own comfort and convenience and safety over all others? By treating it as more sacred and special than anyone else’s? Obviously not. But we have all experienced those moments when living the Gospel message is far more complicated than hearing it. Continuing to try, however, is part of who we are and how we will, ultimately, build a more just world.
