MY BODY.
Shortly after my wife of 67 years died in late October, I started to write a daily commentary based on the Anglican Lectionary, 500 words on weekdays and 1,000 words on Sundays. This Lectionary always features three bible readings, the Old Testament, the Psalms, and the New Testament. I usually pick a text from the New Testament, copy it into my Word document and start writing without any forethought or previous reflection.
Last week Sunday my chosen subject centered on my body: 1 Corinthians 6: 19, “Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own”.
That caused an avalanche of words. My body houses the Holy Spirit of the Trinity! By loving my body, by cherishing my mind, by favoring my heart and lungs, my legs and stomach, I honor the divinity in me. Christ, who is all and in all (Colossians 1: 15) has given me that body to look after, has given it to me ‘in trust’. It is more important than anything else I own: it is holy. It really does not belong to me at all: it belongs to Christ, reason why I must treat it with the greatest care and utmost devotion. Don’t get me wrong: my body is not an object of idolatry. It also is not something to be sold, or to become reason for veneration, or to be admired and displayed as a source of pride.
Looking after my body carries a great responsibility: as an item of trust, as a borrowed entity I am answerable to Christ alone. In eternity I will be called to give account of my body and how I have dealt with this possession. The commandments Jesus gave me, has 2 components: (1) Love God in his creation, and (2) Love my neighbor as myself. If we don’t love our own being, body, mind and spirit, then all other love is useless and it is futile to even try. Loving means treasuring, means taking care, means cherishing and valuing, means keeping the body and mind and spirit properly fed and properly rested and properly exercised. Dr. Jordan Peterson, a psychology professor, will only counsel people when they get up every morning at the same time, and start the day with a healthy breakfast: regularity is needed for the body; good living habits are the key to health because discipline and wisdom go together.
Mens sana in corpore sano.
A sound mind can only function in a healthy body. One of the most important observations gained from studying the universe is that “Everything is connected to everything else”. That especially applies to the body. By and large the American diet is atrocious, influenced as it is by corporate profits and inculcated into the American Mind through Television. If food is manufactured, it means that it is no longer genuine food, but a food-like substitute, made not for its nutritional merit, but for long shelf life and fake healthy appearance, and especially corporate profit. It’s no longer ‘real food’ such as fresh vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and, yes, a bit of fish and meat as well. The real rule is “Don’t eat anything your great grandmother wouldn’t recognize as food.”
No wonder the American Mind and its religion are all wrong. Sugar – soft drinks, any corn-based substance – is basically poison, but it is a great conserver, excellent for shelf-life and is also very addictive: once you are hooked, it’s hard to kick it. The wrong diet has made the USA and to some extent Canada as well, the unhealthiest and most unwise populace on the Western world. No wonder the COVID is so stubborn to eradicate, because the simple rules, “Keep distance, wash hands, wear a mask”, are ignored. Not following these directions is god-less, against the grain of loving our neighbors, against the gospel: Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own”.
America’s addiction to sugared food has caused its religion to become ungodly, witness its Trump addiction, equating this godless human specimen with the Gospel. Compare his behavior with the fruits of the spirit: “love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness (Galatians 5: 22). President Biden tries to embody these biblical aims, and is ridiculed for this by Religious America.
Yes, we are innately and naturally religious, for the simple reason that our bodies ultimately are divine. The Psalms testify to that. When Jesus was accused by the Pharisees for calling himself “the Son of God”, he simply quoted what is now known as Psalm 82: 6, “You are gods, you are all sons and daughters of the Most High.” Psalm 8 reiterates that. So, don’t underestimate your being: we are God’s offspring.
All that is glorious and also frightening. The word ‘Responsibility’ has at its root the word ‘response’ which indicate that it is an answer to the WORD, the word in a threefold way: the Word Created, the Word become Mensch, the Word in Scripture.
As Revelation 22: 11 attests, humanity has reached a stalemate: “let those who do evil, continue; let those who do good, persist. No more conversions. We have reached the end of the road. Already in the globe’s animal and plant life, a severe reduction is getting worse. We see the human race on the decline, not in numbers but in intellectual and religious understanding.
America, as always, leads the way. Tens of Millions refuse to acknowledge Biden as the duly elected President, another sign that humanity no longer abides by reason. It seems to me that in the Covid-19 situation we too are at a standstill, too are at the crossroads. Environmentally matters can only deteriorate. True, there is a new regime in Washington, and optimism abounds. In how far this is based on reality remains an open question.
“Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own”.
Why have I not seen it before or, rather, why haven’t I paid attention to it before? I love the Psalms, “The earth is the Lord’s and the fulness thereof; the world and they who dwell therein.” (Psalm 24: 1) Not only we belong to the Lord: the entire world does! Not only we are holy; the entire world is. We, as the “top of the line” creatures are called to be the example of grace and godliness. Every thought and every one of our actions for good and bad vibrates through the universe because everything is connected to everything else.
We are not our own. No matter what we believe, we belong to God, the creator of all that exists. Bach’s music will always be his. Shakespeare’s plays will always be his. God’s creation will always be his. My body will always be his. That’s why I try to keep it healthy.
My Body? Absolutely amazing! In God’s image, using himself as the prototype! He who is Hildegard of Bingen, Erasmus, Shakespeare, Joan d’Arc, Bach, Rembrandt, Nietzsche, Bonhoeffer, Teilhard, the William sisters, Einstein, Messi, Kamala, John XXIII, all rolled into one and then some: only in the new creation will we achieve our potential. And that will take eternity!