Christ Has No Body
Christ has no body but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
Compassion on this world,
Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good,
Yours are the hands, with 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 but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks compassion on this world.
Christ has no body now on earth but yours.
Teresa of Avila (1515–1582)
Christ has no body but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
Compassion on this world,
Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good,
Yours are the hands, with 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 but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks compassion on this world.
Christ has no body now on earth but yours.
Teresa of Avila (1515–1582)
posted by Michael | 8:42 p.m.
7 Comments:
I find it easy to brush off sentiments such as this... kinda like saying "yes yes, we are here to do the work of Jesus" when you hear stuff like this a few times it starts failing to affect you deeply.. I find. So let's look deeper. Where did Jesus feet take him? How did his hands bless the world? What did his body do? How did his eyes see? The answer to those questions is what we are supposed to do and be.
I agree people do brush statements like this off. I also agree that we need to examine this deeper (What does it really mean to be Jesus's hands and feet and eyes?)But why do you think people are dismissive of such a powerful idea? Is it because it is so powerful that it's easier to "brush it off" than comtemplate the implications?
I forget where I heard this, it wasn't on the DVDs, but it seems really pertinent.
Alan Lee, famed painter of Tolkien-related works, was discussing a painting of his. The painting is of the side of Mount Doom, and Gollum is seen in the bottom corner tinily crawling upwards.
Asked about why he decided to paint this, Alan said that he had been planning to paint the image of Gollum and Frodo fighting over the Ring directly above the fiery furnace - but the imagery was too intense. For whatever precise reason, whether he felt it beyond his craft (unlikely) or beyond his right (!!) to realize it, he decided instead merely to paint the silent moments leading up to that climactic scene.
That's a little bit how this poem made me feel. Makes me feel, if I read it again. So intense, I can't even look at it; can't bear to consider the implications.
...
Thinking on this further, it comes to me what it is here that's making my boots shake. This poem reads slightly false, one particular letter should be selectively removed. Try this version of the last few lines:
Christ has no body now but ours,
No hands, no feet on earth but ours,
Ours are the eyes with which he looks compassion on this world.
Christ has no body now on earth but ours.
Ooooh, Tommy! I like it. I find it interesting that that version (Tom's missing "y" version) has been turned into a song and is regularly featued at Brian Mclaren's church, Cedar Ridge Community Church. They used it during their Service for Justice.
This reminds me of the song "If we are the body" by Casting Crowns...I'm sure you've all heard it, or maybe that was why this blog was started. Anywho, trying to catch up with things proves difficult, so I'll just respond to this meesage. Really I'm not sure where I would go with this. I'm fairly confident Cheryl summed it up already. What are we supposed to do and be?
PS Interesting little tidbit of information for ya'll. I took a walk downtown between classes today and this guy was sitting outside the bus depot and asked for money b/c he was trying to get to the west coast. I smiled and said I couldn't help him today, and his reply came. What was it? "I hope you get run over by a truck." I smiled and continued walking, until I realized what he had said to me. I was a little taken aback. Did he REALLY hope I would be run over by a truck? Who says that to another person? (15 minutes later I walked by the bus depot again and he was gone, and needless to say, I was not run over by a truck. At least, not today).
Never heard the song, but it sounds like it fits. I started this as a means of allowing people to talk about stuff because we don't always get to.
Man, telling someone else that you wish they were run over by a truck. Part of me thinks that's extreme, but I've heard Christians (I'm assuming that your friend isn't a X-tian)do and say things comparable things. Do our actions ever say similar things?
k, I posted something which I thought would go onto this site, and it went onto my own blog that I somehow created. It's called identity for some reason, how do I post it here?
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