Jesus Rivera
We have a choice today. To decide if I am/we are just a body or if I am/we are the Body of Christ. To say that I am just a body is limiting and tends to separate us from each other. To say that I am the Body of Christ connects us to one another. So, what does it mean to be the Body of Christ?
Both Moses and Jesus speak of an Everlasting Covenant. We are in intimate relationship with God/Love. We are not just what we see on the surface. We are as God/Love created us and God can only create Love. We are Created in God’s image. Christ tells us that this Love is our eternal inheritance. The awareness of Love’s presence. Look around and dare to see love everywhere and in everyone.
- Blocks to the awareness of Love’s presence – I hold grievances, I believe I am separate from God and from my brother/sister. I only see divisions. Not believing My brother/sister is created by God’s love just like I am and belongs to the Body of Christ.
- Jesus Christ invites us to see things differently. If the world tells me I am an individual body and the rugged individual is the hero, the image of the Body of Christ offers another choice. Jesus Christ proclaims he has come to take, bless, to break, and to give. This is the Body of Christ – participating experience. It is a phrase that expresses Oneness, Unity, Social Order. God is saving the whole.
The growth of the early church was due to the signs and wonders the people saw. 8 out 10 people in the Roman Empire were slaves. Women were chattel. Ignatius of Antioch. 106 A.D. Catholic/Universal – The authentic preaching of the Gospel so returned social dignity and social equality to the human race that they could not help but feel the LOVE: oneness with God and a world where we recognize our value and are not afraid to love and forgive one another. It is a positive anthropology. We are the Temple of God. We are the Body of Christ.
- How do we be the Body of Christ?
From the perspective of being the Body of Christ, how do we return from the pandemic and go back into groups of people knowing how divided we are as a country? On a more personal note, how do I face my health challenges? [Jesus is scheduled for a bone marrow transplant in July/August after his aggressive cancer returned three times.]
Took, blessed, broke, and gave.
Take and bless – choose and love myself and my brother/sister.
Break and give – by giving – forgiving, letting go of grievances and judgement. Trust in Love.
Body of Christ – for the first 12-13 centuries You, the people of God were the Body of Christ, and the elements of bread and wine were considered the mystical body. In the 13th century we reversed it. The bread and wine became the Body and Blood of Christ. Perhaps it is time to reclaim our identity of living as the Body of Christ.