We should be Christ in the flesh

By Fr. Roy Cimagala

THIS is again an incredible thing we have to learn to handle. Christ wants us to have him in our flesh! He should be the flesh of our flesh.

We are reminded of this truth of our faith in that gospel episode where Christ told the crowd, “Whoever eats my Flesh and drinks my Blood remains in me and I in him.” (Jn 6,56)

Obviously, the Jewish crowd was astounded by these words. “How can this man give us his Flesh to eat?” they asked. Still, Christ stuck to these words, and told them that “unless you eat the Flesh of the Son of Man and drink his Blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats my Flesh and drinks my Blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day.”

Again, we just have to receive these words with faith. What Christ is telling us here is definitely something supernatural, and therefore mysterious. It’s a truth that can only be received in faith, something that God actually gives us in abundance through his grace. Let’s not waste time trying to analyze how these words can be true. As the Book of Proverbs puts it, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not unto your own understanding.” (3,5)

All that we have to do is to say, Amen, and then start to develop the proper dispositions to convert this truth into a reality in our life. Christ wants to be flesh of our flesh precisely because we in the first place are patterned after him. All of us are meant to be ‘another Christ,’ irrespective of whether we are male or female, rich or poor, etc.

Of course, Christ can be flesh of our flesh only if in the first place we adapt and make as our own the very spirit of Christ. That’s because as Christ reminded us, “the Spirit gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life.” (Jn 6,63)

We need to spend time to process this truth of our faith, so that it would sink deep into our mind and heart and would start to show its effects on our whole life. What we can also gather from these words of Christ is that not only should we be ‘another Christ’ in spirit. We should also be ‘another Christ’ in the flesh!

Thus, if we are keenly and constantly aware of this truth, what we can conclude is that we truly have to take care of our body, making it pure and tough the way Christ’s body was pure and tough, able to absorb all the sufferings that he underwent for our salvation.

Yes, our body also plays an important, even crucial, role in our ultimate concern for human redemption. Given the way we have been created, we are always a unity of body and soul. We are neither just body alone, nor spiritual soul alone. Even if in our death, there is a separation of body and soul, that separation is only temporary. At the end of time, our body will be reunited with our soul, such that whether we would be in heaven or hell, we would be body and soul still.

We have to try our best that in our earthly and moral life, we can achieve this unity and consistency between the body and soul. Thus, Christ has to be both in our body and soul.

Email: roycimagala@gmail.com