Do you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God? You are not your own; you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
I love whenever people start talking about the Christian faith as it relates to the body. Unlike so many religions that tend to ignore—or even disdain—our bodies, Christianity talks about resurrecting them. Our God was incarnated. We are the body of Christ. We eat the flesh and drink the blood. Specifically Catholic liturgy seeks to engage the body: sights and sounds and smells.
Too often we’re reminded of our bodies negatively: Don’t do this with your body and don’t do that. Gluttony. Lust. Vanity. As though our body is just these troublesome things that we have to lug around everywhere. While it is true that we should guard our bodies from sinful behavior, it’s also important to remember the other side of that coin: your body is a member of Christ. Glorify God with it.
In C. S. Lewis’s book The Screwtape Letters—which if you haven’t read, you certainly certainly should—the demon-narrator Screwtape counsels his nephew Wormwood on how to be an effective demon, and he says this:
At the very least, they can be persuaded that the bodily position makes no difference to their prayers; for they constantly forget, what you must always remember, that they are animals and that whatever their bodies do affects their souls.
Today you will hopefully go to church. And as you bring yourself, physically, into this holy place, remember that you are here to glorify God.
Enter the church. Delight in what you hear and smell and taste and see, and let that delight be a prayer of thanksgiving. And for goodness sake, kneel down.
Glorify God today with all the senses of your beautiful body.
photo by Emily Trutter
Kate Rhodes is the wife of a lanky carpenter and mother to two littles. She used to teach English, but then she joined the ranks of SAHMs. You can find out more about her here.
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