Readings (Year A):
Zephaniah 2:3; 3:12-13
Psalm 146:6-7, 8-9, 9-10
1 Corinthians 1:26-31
Matthew 5:1-12a
Reflection: Christ has no body but yours
The gospel reading for this week includes the beatitudes as told by the book of Matthew. These beautiful promises and blessings are the foundation of the ethos of Christian teaching on humility, justice, compassion, and love. This reading awakens a thought in me that I have spent the last few years considering: What is the result of decentering oneself from the narrative?
The beatitudes are a sense of comfort for many Christians. I, too, often identify with the mourner, the meek, the persecuted. I am human, I have lost, I have been bullied, I have been excluded. However, that is the result of a certain interpretation in which we center ourselves and our experiences when we read the beatitudes.
That is not to say we can’t or shouldn’t identify with the mourner and the persecuted; many of us have suffered a great deal, and finding hope in cosmic justice and the promises of the gospel can offer a powerful sense of solace. But I do pose the suggestion that this perspective alone is not enough. And the hope in the promise cannot relieve us of the work we have to do to see it be fulfilled.
I am guilty of quoting the poem “Christ has no body but yours,” by St. Teresa of Ávila, in nearly all my written work at this point—but it rings so true in this instance: Christ has no body on earth but ours; ours are the eyes with which he looks compassion on this world; the feet with which he walks to do good; the hands with which he blesses all the world.
When I read this, I can’t help but think of the beatitudes. As Catholics we believe faith is nothing without works (James 2:14) Thus, how are we to pray for God’s will to be done on Earth as it is in heaven, and not put in the effort to do so? We long to be comforted, for we mourn—but we must also look around and comfort those around us. Perhaps it’s necessary to frame the beatitudes as both about us, and yet not about us at all. This is a contradiction we must grapple with our entire lives: to understand that we inadvertently and unwillingly cause harm and benefit from the harm done to others. To understand that the comfort of our current lives is frequently being sustained by the exploitation of our siblings in Christ.
I am very certain that true rewards spoken of in the beatitudes—to be satisfied, to be comforted, to see God—can only truly be brought about if we become participants in God’s will.
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