{"id":3375,"date":"2013-02-08T10:36:53","date_gmt":"2013-02-08T16:36:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/customwordpresssites.com\/mjb\/?p=3375"},"modified":"2026-02-26T13:51:45","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T19:51:45","slug":"we-are-the-body","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/customwordpresssites.com\/mjb\/2013\/02\/08\/we-are-the-body\/","title":{"rendered":"We are the Body"},"content":{"rendered":"

Guest blogger: Sarah Hennessey, FSPA<\/a><\/p>\n

\"img_1391[1]\"Photo by Chandra Sherin: \u00a0http:\/\/chandrasherin.wordpress.com\/<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cShe felt in her body that she was healed of her affliction.” – <\/i>Mark 5:29b<\/a><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve never noticed this phrase before.\u00a0But a few days ago during Mass these words shouted at me.\u00a0The woman with the hemorrhage reached out bravely to touch just the hem of Jesus\u2019 cloak and she was healed.\u00a0She didn\u2019t have to think about it.\u00a0She didn\u2019t have to be examined.\u00a0She knew it directly and immediately in her body.<\/p>\n

I am emerging from a long period of struggle where dullness and flatness ruled my days.\u00a0Joy suddenly has flesh.\u00a0I feel in my body a buoyancy right in the center of my chest which I tentatively name physiological joy.\u00a0Anger seems brighter.\u00a0Sadness has a texture.\u00a0Joy is a bubble of light that lifts my rib cage higher.<\/p>\n

I had to learn that the body gives us clues about emotions.\u00a0When I feel hot, I realize that I am embarrassed.\u00a0An urge for movement, to punch with my tight fists, awakens me to the emotion of anger.\u00a0I am connected and whole.\u00a0Body, mind and spirit are not random signals broadcasting on separate channels, but instead a unity that sings to me.\u00a0Like the woman who touched Jesus, I feel healing directly in my body.<\/p>\n

Body is central to the Gospel.\u00a0We are the body of Christ. The revelation of God in Jesus Christ is incarnation–\u00a0enfleshed in history.\u00a0The body of Jesus suffered on the cross, not just his soul.\u00a0And it was through the bodily resurrection of our Lord that the good news was revealed.\u00a0We come to the table even today to receive his body.<\/p>\n

Yet often we have sanitized and spiritualized the Body of Christ until it just a collection of floating souls and like-minded intellects without the flesh of a body.\u00a0 We recite the creed but, when it gets right down to it, how many of us really believe in the resurrection of the body?\u00a0A risen body is the Christian truth, but in our world of scientific death as a finality we tend to fudge on this one a little bit.\u00a0In my weekly Bible study, several women proclaim strongly that the resurrection of the body makes no sense.<\/p>\n

What would my faith look like if I took seriously the resurrection of the body?\u00a0What if I lived more like the woman healed of her affliction, knowing it\u00a0so directly and personally in her body?\u00a0When Jesus multiplies the loaves in John, Chapter Six, the abundance\u00a0leaves leftovers.\u00a0As Jesus explains that he is the bread from heaven he goes on to clarify, \u201cAnd this is the will of the one who sent me, that I should not lose anything of what he gave me, but that I should raise it [on] the last day.\u201d<\/em> – John 6:39<\/a>.\u00a0 Jesus claims all of us, even our bodies.\u00a0He gives us back to the Father, whole and complete, flesh included.<\/p>\n

Yes, we are the body.\u00a0 Not in some spiritualized sense, but truly with our bones and muscles and tendons.\u00a0We cannot exclude the dignity of any of our brothers and sisters.\u00a0We must put flesh on our words and action to the Gospel if we are to truly be the Body of Christ.<\/p>\n

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If We are the Body – Casting Crowns<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Guest blogger: Sarah Hennessey, FSPA Photo by Chandra Sherin: \u00a0http:\/\/chandrasherin.wordpress.com\/ \u201cShe felt in her body that she was healed of her affliction.” – Mark 5:29b I\u2019ve never noticed this phrase before.\u00a0But a few days ago during Mass these words shouted at me.\u00a0The woman with the hemorrhage reached out bravely to touch just the hem of...","protected":false},"author":7668253,"featured_media":3376,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[115341],"tags":[33397,354011,12188,8329,5840],"series":[698756626],"class_list":["post-3375","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-equity-and-justice-equity-and-justice","tag-bodies","tag-body-of-christ","tag-healing","tag-jesus","tag-joy","series-messy-jesus-business"],"acf":[],"episode_featured_image":"https:\/\/customwordpresssites.com\/mjb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/img_13911.jpg","episode_player_image":"https:\/\/customwordpresssites.com\/mjb\/wp-content\/plugins\/seriously-simple-podcasting\/assets\/images\/no-album-art.png","download_link":"","player_link":"","audio_player":false,"episode_data":{"playerMode":"dark","subscribeUrls":{"apple_podcasts":{"key":"apple_podcasts","url":"","label":"Apple Podcasts","class":"apple_podcasts","icon":"apple-podcasts.png"},"stitcher":{"key":"stitcher","url":"","label":"Stitcher","class":"stitcher","icon":"stitcher.png"},"google_podcasts":{"key":"google_podcasts","url":"","label":"Google Podcasts","class":"google_podcasts","icon":"google-podcasts.png"},"spotify":{"key":"spotify","url":"","label":"Spotify","class":"spotify","icon":"spotify.png"}},"rssFeedUrl":"https:\/\/customwordpresssites.com\/mjb\/feed\/podcast\/messy-jesus-business","embedCode":"
We are the Body<\/a><\/blockquote>