“The human body is not an enemy or prison of the soul, but an agent. Treating spirituality and the material world as two separate things flies in the face of everything Christ has done for us.”
“Christ was transfigured not only to show us what He is, but also to show us what we will become.”(1)
Tomorrow August 6th we commemorate the Transfiguration of our Lord(2). The Transfiguration of Christ(3) points us to the glory of the Resurrection - a resurrection not only of soul, but also of the body(4). After His Resurrection, Christ’s Body was different, but still had the wounds of the crucifixion in His hands and side. Christ our God, out of His love for us, will have those wounds for eternity.(5)
Do we base our daily decisions knowing that what we do with our body as well as our inner life (our soul) will stay with us for eternity?
God values the entire being, body and soul, first forming the body of man from the dust of the earth, and then breathing in him the breath of life (the Holy Spirit) giving humanity a soul and becoming a living being.(6)
Christ showed us how our body is not an enemy or prison of the soul, but its agent when He would work miracles healing people. A given miracle by Christ is not accomplished simply by order of Christ’s divine will or by the all-powerful energy that is His as God, but also by His voice and by contact with His human flesh.(7)
God works through His creation. By His incarnation, Christ showed us how He as God works through the material (both in Sacraments and our daily lives): through people, icons, bread, wine, water, oil, incense, veneration of relics of saints, and the symbol of the Cross.
Our worship engages all of the senses, and we physically react to certain parts of the services by making the sign of the cross and bowing down - our bodies our the agent of the soul, directly connected, its outward expression.
The Transfiguration shows us Christ’s two natures, how He is 100% God and 100% human without confusion or mixing - in one person. Communion with Christ's Body is Communion with His Divine Nature, with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Where natural food is changed into the person who eats it, the Bread of Life (Christ) changes the person who partakes of Communion and transforms and assimilates this person into Himself. As the Source of Life and God Himself, no harm can come from being united to His Body through the bread and wine which are mystically changed in the sacrament.
Resources:
1) Papavassiliou, Vassilios. Meditations for the 12 Great Feasts, pgs 74-75.
2) Matthew 17
3) Read More about the Transfiguration Here
4) Papavassiliou, Vassilios. Meditations for the 12 Great Feasts, pgs 74-75.
6) Genesis 2:7
7) Larchet, Jean-Claude. Theology of the Body. pg 45.
8) Larchet, Jean-Claude. Theology of the Body. pg 54.
