Friday Thought with Fr Chris Ferguson

In the middle of the message was a play bottom covering the donkey’s nose, while below the inscription read, ‘watch how the donkey taps on the screen.’ I tapped once, tapped twice, tapped a third time and still nothing happened, the image was motionless. Slowly but surely the penny dropped, the actual donkey tapping on the scene was me. Needless to say, I was caught lovely, and in response, I sent it around fifteen other friends and WhatsApp groups. If we ever find a chance to reminisce about these Lockdown times, I wonder what those not born or too young to remember, will make of these strange times. Certainly, not being able to gather as family, friends and as a faith community, has been difficult to endure. When the sacrament of reconciliation can be celebrated again, I have discovered a new penance, otherwise known as a Zoom meeting or video conference call.

There is something about normality, which we have craved, certain aspects of life we may even have taken for granted. These can include the physical presence of our close family, friends and neighbours. The people, whose voices, gestures and actions provided the backdrop of our lives. Certainly, we have become acutely aware we inhabit a body, we relate to others through our bodies and when this is not possible, our lives have become diminished and restricted. For we communicate as much through gesture, posture and body language as we do by words. Experts will tell us how almost two-thirds of all communication are non-verbal. Being human, are bodies matter, in and through our bodies we relate to the world around us. More than ever we can appreciate a warm hug, a firm handshake, the tenderness of an embrace, the joy communicated by a smile, the light and life in someone’s eyes. Being physically present with others is vital to our physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health and well-being.

Being embodied, enjoying a physical existence, is one of the most important aspects of being human. We can exist no other way and, indeed, it is in a body that God will bring about his fullest revelation to his people. Through the history of God’s people, the Israelites would celebrate in their religious feasts, the God who has come near. In Jesus Christ, we believe, God has fulfilled the hopes of all his people. God, drew so near he become one of us, embraced our humanity and in a body shared in our hopes and joys, our sorrows and struggles. Saint Athanasius, bishop of Alexandria (c. 296–373), stated ‘For the Son of God became human so that we might become God.’

This simple and profound statement summarises the heart of our faith. In the early Eastern Church, the great theologians and doctors of the Church, described the goal of the Christian life was divinisation or theosis. What these predecessors in the faith were trying to describe was the transformation brought about in our lives by an encounter with the Risen Christ.

Jesus in showing us how to be fully human, opens up the possibility of an eternal destiny, within the life of God. Last weekend during Trinity Sunday, we celebrated the reality of a God, who exists as a community of persons. The Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit, live in complete openness towards the other, there is nothing held back. In the Eucharist, we encounter the Son of God, who likewise holds nothing back but offers those who are open, the fullness of who He is. In the Eucharist, we enjoy a physical encounter with the Risen Christ. To receive Christ’s body, is not to receive lifeless flesh, rather it is a personal encounter with the living and Risen Lord. Jesus was sent to remake the world, to usher in a new creation, when God would be all in all. In the host, we appreciate the inbreaking of the kingdom of God, the new creation. As bread and wine is transformed and divinised, so must we be transformed into what we receive. We receive the body of Christ, so we may become bodily presences of the Risen Christ.