Christ’s Body on Earth

Ken Liu

On Christmas Day, we celebrate the glorious miracle of the Incarnation – the Lord of the universe who deigned to be born in the body of a baby boy, to be “tabernacled” with us. The Creator of all things who became a part of the created. The eternal Word embodied in human flesh. The great “I Am” who came to say “Lo, I am with you.”

And just as miraculously, when Christ left our world, He took His body with Him. He died not as a mortal man leaving His body to decay, but rose in bodily form and ascended into heaven.

So, without a body to continue His work, how does Christ continue His ministry here on Earth? The sixteenth-century Catholic nun Teresa of Avila answered this question poignantly:

Christ has no body on earth but yours
No hands but yours
No feet but yours
Yours are the eyes through which Christ’s compassion is to look out for the world
Yours are the feet with which he is to go about doing good
Yours are the hands with which he is to bless us now.

When we serve the needy with the skills and talents bestowed upon us, we are Christ’s body doing His bidding. This Nativity, let’s remember that He came down to serve us that we might go forth to serve Him. May you have a blessed Christmas.