St Paul and the Body of Christ

St Paul and the Body of Christ
by Joseph Furnari
Tonight at this retreat I have the opportunity to express thoughts and feelings which over many years, I have attempted to put together.
My heart and mind are often preoccupied, plagued, if you wish, with thoughts of how many similarities exist between our physical bodies - created by God, and the body of the church - also created by God.
We are made in the image and likeness ofGod. That expression and my love for Paul led me to his first letter to the Corinthians where he
compares the church body of Christ to our physical body.
Paul says in his letter "As a body is one though has many parts and all
the parts of the body, though many, are one body, so also Christ. For in one spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks Slaves or Free Persons, and we were all given to drink of one spirit.
Now the body is not a single part, but many. If the foot should say,
because I am not a hand I do not belong to the body,it does not for this
reason belong any less to the body. Or if an ear should say, "because
I am not an eye I do not belong to the body," it does not for this reason
belong any less to the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing,where would the
sense of smell be? But as it is, God placed the parts,each one of them in
the body as he intended. If they were all one part, where would the body
be? But as it is, there are many parts, yet one body. The eye canot say to the hand, "I do not need you", nor again the head to the feet, "I do not
need you." Indeed, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are all the more necessary, and those parts of the body that we consider less
honorable, we surround with greater honor and our less presentable parts are treated with greater propriety whereas our more presentable parts do not need this. But god has so constructed the body as to give
greater honor to a part that is without it, so that there may be no division in the body, but that the parts may have the same concern for one another. If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it. If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it. If one part is honored, all parts share its joy.
Now you are Christ’s body, and individually parts of it.
Paul stops there. My thoughts do not end there. I must search
further.
I embark on (begin) a difficult task.
I am challenged (or driven) (a sense of urgency) to write what I believe.
First of all before I begin I must confess I have no formal training in the theological or medical profession. Aware of my limitations, I go on.
First let me deal with the image and likeness of God. I have been taught that God is three persons, Father, Son & Holy Spirit. Many have struggled with this for years. How can three be one?
How can the three be one in the body? Remember, Paul says "many parts, one body."
I believe the brain symbolizes the Father.
I believe the heart symbolizes the Son.
I believe the Spirit symbolizes the blood that flows from each.
Each one separate, yet one. Each one dependent on the other.
Together, they are the I Am.
I came across an article by David Gibson, Editor of Faith Alive in which he starts to explain a kind of grace that would require a person to tell exactly who God is and how God works in human lives.
But God is a mystery and God’s ways cannot be limited by any description of grace. That doesn’t mean we should stop trying to define grace. So here I go with my description of grace.
Grace is a gift of the father(brain). It travels throughout the body giving life and movement. This grace in the physical body I believe to be like the pathway (nervous system) that travels throughout the body. The energy source in my body is what is enabling me to write this down. The energy signal from my brain tells my hand what to do and gives life and movement to my hand. All movement and energy of body is done in this manner.
Therefore, I conclude grace must be like the energy source from God giving life and movement to my body.
Now we have the crucial parts of God in His church and the crucial parts of humans in their body. In humans the brain gives signals to the heart. The heart begins to pump the blood to the brain and itself. So it is with Church, Father, Son and Holy Spirit and the body. ME.
I see the similarities between the church, Father, Son, Holy Spirit and grace and the human body, Brain, Heart, Blood, Nervous System.
Do I dare continue my search to find the working church represented by body?
The difficulty of my task is that my knowledge of the physical body is limited. In fact doctors and scientists who have been well trained are forever trying to discover the workings of our bodies. Much remains a
mystery to them. Just as much of God remains a mystery to His church.
I press on.
Being of the catholic faith I feel there is a correlation between the life of God in His church and the life of my physical self. Therefore I will attempt to find this sameness between my body and the body of the church and its sacraments.
BAPTISM
The beginning of the church for all is baptism. Water the symbol of life.
There cannot be life for us without water.
Just as the water of the church gives us life in the church, water gives life to the physical world. In fact the largest majority of our bodies is water. This is fact. We may be 80, l50 over 300 lbs., but when the water is removed we become just a handful of dust. We can all come to the conclusion then, that water is essential for life, whether Baptism of church or physical life.
CONFIRMATION
Confirmation I have learned is the coming of the Holy Spirit. The Holy
Spirit travels through the church sent by God to inspire, teach and to nourish us. The Spirit flows throughout reaching every part of our Church.
How then and where is this spirit working in my body? I have already
stated that I see the spirit as the blood traveling in our body. The blood
travels through our veins to every part of our body from the tip of our toes to the end of our fingers to the top of our head.
I can see the similarities, my body with its brain (Father) sends signals (grace) to my heart (Son, Jesus). My heart pumps the blood (Holy Spirit) through the body, giving life.
I see that Baptism and Confirmation of Church, water and blood are essential to life whether church or body.
HOLY ORDERS - PRIESTHOOD
I ask myself what is the other item I need to sustain life in my body? Of course, Air, Oxygen. No life can exist without it. I see similarities between priests and oxygen. How does it work? How does it get to the whole body? Air comes into our bodies, carried in our blood and pumped from our heart to our lungs to be cleansed. The oxygen (Priesthood) that is needed for life then is carried by the blood (Holy Spirit) back to our heart (Jesus, Son) ad then pumped by our heart carried by our blood to all parts of our bodies to feed and nourish us. This once again is directed by the Big Three, Father (Brain), Son (Heart), Holy Spirit (Blood).
EUCHARIST
Everyone knows you must eat to stay alive. Food and water must be put into our bodies for nourishment and strength. If this then is true, then there must be food for our spiritual and church body to stay alive as well.
This is what Jesus has done for us. Leaving us the food of Eucharist. The bread and wine changed to His Body and Blood by His priests to be carried by His spirit as food for the life of His church. Just as ordinary food must be consumed to keep the body alive so too the Eucharist must be consumed to keep the church and spirit alive. This is an ongoing experience. For the body that is fed will become hungry again. So too our spiritual body has to be fed again to stay alive.
RECONCILIATION
The liver acts in our bodies just as Jesus does for our spiritual life. We foolishly, at times, overburden this vital organ with food and drink that has to be separated. We know many things are not good for us, still we give into our bodies craving excess food, alcohol, smoking, etc. It is a wonder this vital organ doesn’t scream out at us, enough already. Our liver, in spite of us, continues to do the tasks as Jesus does for our spirit, renews life.
In the church Jesus is the sacrament of reconciliation, cleansing, we continue to fill our Spirit with sinful acts that also poison our spirit. Jesus, like the liver in our bodies, takes these to himself, separates the good and discards the rest. As many times as we put our spirit in jeopardy, Jesus will always be there to cleanse us.
ANOINTING OF THE SICK
The church has the power over illness through its sacrament of anointing the sick. When the body is sick, our spirit is also affected. Jesus has shown us His power over sickness with his ability to heal spiritual and bodily illness. The physical body also has a system to ward off illness. There are outside forces always attacking our bodies. There are bacterial, pollution, all types of sickness, lurking, waiting to strike. God has put in place in our bodies an immune system to attack and destroy these outside forces.
SACRAMENT OF MARRIAGE
The coming together of two people or the marriage of many people in one church. Inside of His church, all the other sacraments take place and a life of the spirit with all its sacraments gives life and meaning to our existence.
I could not think of a thing that covers all the physical body that God has given us that is similar to marriage. The making of one. Holding together all parts.
The skin of course covers all parts and joins one to the other. This marriage of parts must all work together as Paul has said in the beginning. Wouldn’t it be a funny picture; one leg wants to go left, the other right. One eye wants to see the sky, the other grass growing below.
This may be extreme, but it shows how important it is to have all parts work in unison for the good of the body.
I have attempted to explain my feelings and thoughts on the great gifts God has given us.
I have tried to show the similarities between the working of the physical body to the working of the spiritual body of the church.
The two bodies. So much in common and yet very much at war with one another. From birth God sets us on a journey with the freedom to choose our own direction. Unfortunately, our choices many times lead us away from Him. The body seeking its own glory and pleasures. This becomes a constant tug. God seeking to show us the true way to happiness. The Body, its own glory and pleasure. This seems to be like living two lives both at the same time. Each pulling in different directions. I am reminded of a movie I once saw. The person was trying to make a decision on what to do. On each shoulder there was a
little person whispering in his ear advising which course of action to follow. Two bodies constantly in conflict. The reason God so loved us he gives of His son Jesus who with the spirit guides us in the right choices.
Jesus, with His apostles, began His church to love and support each other. Unfortunately, the uncaring of church has become so muddled and confusing.
To be honest, like so many do now, I used to think of church as someplace you went to and came from. Maybe this is because we call the building we go to church. This idea is so imbedded in our minds it becomes reality.
The reality for me now is that I believe I carry church with me where ever I go. It goes with me, the physical body and the church body, though sometimes in conflict, travel as one.
The problem is this. How do I get these two in harmony with one another until God calls me home? For myself I have found the answer to be "JESUS".