The body of Christ

Today as I was praying the rosary, my mind began to wander to all the rich symbolism of the Catholic church. I remembered a healing service I went to at Holy Family last year. The Franciscan friar leading the service took a host, and put it in a special display called a Monstrance. It is for them a way to look at the real body of Christ and adore him. The priest then held the monstrance in front of his face, hiding behind it and a shawl that represented Christ. We were then invited to pretend we were touching the hem of Jesus' garments as we touched the shawl and asked for healing.

The Catholic view of the bread being the real body of Christ is so compelling. In it's presence you are literally able to be with Christ physically like the first disciples were. What if we viewed the church, the body of Christ, as being his real physical body in that way? O Lord so indwell and transform our bodies, so that if someone wanted to see what it was like to touch you, they only need to touch us, or to hold on to you they would only need to embrace us!