A Homily for the Third Sunday after Easter

+ The intimate unity of the body and the soul is the reality of the human condition. It is only in death, a consequence of sin and not a part of the human state as originally created, that they are separated. Even then, it is only temporary. God made us to be entire and whole. We shall be reunited as body and soul after the final judgement. But the body, as it shall be in heaven, will be glorified. It will not be subject to the weaknesses of the flesh that we suffer now – neither disease nor hunger and thirst. We do not know in what the glorified body shall consist in heaven, but we do know that after His Resurrection the wounds of the crucifixion were still present on Our Lord’s glorified body regardless.

Ordinary bodily care in which we must now engage is far removed from carnal desire. We must eat and drink, but without satisfying disproportionate carnal desire to satiation and drunkenness. Carnal desire of any kind when it is out of control or disordered is not only destructive of the soul but also abusive to the body. When we resist such temptations and put aside the carnal desires which war against the spirit, we also serve the well-being of the flesh.

But it goes further than this: it is through the body, we pray in the post-communion prayer of this Mass, that we maintain and defend the renewal of the spirit that is given us in the sacraments. Or more precisely, it is the bodily help and discipline that God gives us which protects the interior renewal given us in the spiritual nourishment. In order to fulfil the demands made on our soul, we must also do that which is apposite appropriately to maintain the body.

If we can truly say with the Apostle “it is no longer I that live but Christ who lives in me” (Gal 2:20), should we not do all that we can to allow Christ the maximal possible activity through self-care. This is far from advocating an acceptance of vanity, which seeks to make oneself look good, but rather to maximise our own capacity to give to the other for the glory of God. Whilst the Christian tradition has ever, and rightly, been wary of self-love, from this perspective St Bernard developed a theology of self-love being a mark of sanctity (of the love of God). This is not looking to oneself, but rather to recognise the place which Christ has in me and the work that Christ can do through me. The primary and first responsibility of each of us is to work for our own salvation. How can you love your neighbour as yourself if you do not love yourself?

Similarly, St Paul proclaims the body to be the temple of the Holy Ghost (I Cor. 6:19). This indwelling of the Holy Ghost, he teaches us, is a great gift which we must cherish with everything we have. His relentless preaching against all carnal sin is driven precisely by this realisation that we cannot desecrate that temple, just as we would not desecrate the Church in which we stand. Whilst such sins may seem to be “private” or merely against oneself, they also act against God who lives in each of us by virtue of our baptism and confirmation.

Let us therefore, being renewed in charity through the sacrament of the Blessed Eucharist, ever be conscious of Whom it is that we receive into our person through the sacraments. Let us let Him take over in our lives that they may all the more truly become the fruit of His life within us. Let us ever make Him visible through our words, thoughts, and actions by truly centring Him in our lives. +