You Are His Body

Before World War II, in a small French country village, there was a beautiful marble statue of Jesus with his hands outstretched before him, standing in the courtyard of a quaint little church. During the War, a bomb struck nearby and broke the statue to pieces.

When the fighting ended the village members of the little church set about to find the pieces of the statue and to reconstruct it. As they patiently set about their task, even the scars seemed to add to its beauty in their eyes. But, to their dismay, the fragile hands had been pulverized. “A Christ without hands is no Christ at all,” someone said sadly. Someone else suggested that they try to get a new statue. Then another person in the group came up with an idea that fostered great excitement. He suggested that a brass plaque be attached to the statue’s base that would read: “I have no hands but yours.”

Way back in the 1500’s Christian mystic, Teresa of Avila put it this way:

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.

Let us pray: Loving God, there is a tremendous amount of need in the world around us – even close to home. While we recognize that we can’t solve all the problems, or meet all the needs, in small ways we can make a difference. Help us to be the hands, the feet, the eyes of Christ as we go about our lives today and every day. Amen.