WE ARE CHRIST'S BODY

Dr. Paul Brand and Philip Yancey, co-authors of, "Fearfully and Wonderfully Made," concluded their excellent book with a story about an English cathedral that was repaired by volunteer German students after World War Two. During the process they attempted to repair a statue of Jesus with arms outstretched bearing the familiar inscription, "Come Unto Me." The statue's hands were missing, so the students decided to leave them off and attached a sign that read, "Christ Has No Hands But Ours." This story has been repeated often, including by Pres. Ronald Reagan at the 1987 National Prayer Breakfast.

Unfortunately, part of the story is incorrect. The statue is located, not in Europe but at Christ the King Church, San Diego, CA, and the hands were broken off, not by war but by vandals in 1980. Instead of repairing the hands, the church decided to put up a plaque that says, "I Have No Hands But Yours," a reference to a poem by St. Teresa of Avila that begins: "Christ has no body now on earth but yours, no hands but yours, no feet but yours." The statue is still there without the hands.

This Holy Week we recall the selfless sacrifice of Jesus of Nazareth in giving His life to redeem the sins of the world. Weeks after His resurrection, Jesus the Christ returned to heaven, leaving no body on earth to show God's presence except the faltering, bumbling community of followers who had mostly forsaken Him on Calvary. Jesus did not leave behind a book of doctrines or philosophical statement. He left the Church, a community of people to embody Him and represent Him to the world. WE are what He left behind on earth.

St. Paul tells us, "Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it." (1 Corinthians 12:27) He did not say we are LIKE the Body of Christ, but we ARE the Body of Christ. "The Church is nothing but a section of humanity in which Christ has taken form," wrote Dietrich Bonhoeffer. But we don't often act like it, do we? It's too easy to condemn the parts we don't agree with, or live as if we are like the rest of the world that denies Christ.

That's because we are still sinful humans in need of God's mercy and forgiveness. Easter should not be a joyous festival only, but also an inward examination of how we are faring as His Body. Easter is a time to renew our belief that we truly ARE the Body of Christ.

Christ is risen!