The Three Bodies

I remember as a little child going to Mass and, as I knelt in the pew, my eyes were fixed on a large and beautiful crucifix that was in the sanctuary of my home parish.  Just as the stained glass windows in the medieval cathedrals (and in our own churches today) were ways of forming the faithful by the truths they proclaimed artistically, so, too, that image of the Body of Jesus on the Cross formed my own heart and mind in the truth of God’s love manifested to us in the very Body of his Son.

A similar moment has come to me recently as I went to the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown to preach an eight-day retreat to the Sister Servants of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus.  In the sanctuary of their chapel there is a very large and beautiful crucifix.  As I knelt in prayer my eyes were drawn to the Body of Christ on the Cross and my heart was stirred to think about “the three bodies” so important in the Church today.

The first Body is the Body of Jesus present in the Holy Eucharist.

During this retreat every day I exposed the Blessed Sacrament on the altar from about 11:00 am until Benediction at 8 in the evening.  In my time of personal prayer as I looked at the monstrance that contained the Body and Blood of Jesus substantially present, I saw above the altar this amazing image of Jesus’ Body.  It was a powerful affirmation of the constant teaching of the Church, since the night of the Last Supper, that when we adore the Sacred Host or receive Holy Communion at Mass, we have before us Jesus who is present in the most supreme of ways. 

If this is true (and it most certainly is) from His Body, truly present in the Holy Eucharist, flows forth life for the world.  His Eucharistic Presence, His Body and Blood, as the Second Vatican Council teaches, is the “source and summit of the whole Christian life” (Lumen Gentium 11).  As I was praying, I saw again that His Body made present at Mass in the Sacred Host is the source of my life.  I cannot live without His Eucharistic Presence.  I cannot fully understand anything else in the Church and in my life if I do not clearly see and profess that!  His Body was offered on the Cross in love so that I could know that I am as a child of the Father, that my life is a pilgrimage to the Kingdom of Heaven, and that it is imperative to love the Lord and my brothers and sisters.  Why else would He have taken on our flesh so that He could truly give His Body to us.   His Body in the Holy Eucharist is the “first Body.”  It is of supreme importance.

The second Body is the Church, the Mystical Body of Christ on earth.

The second Body comes forth from the first.  St. Paul tells us the Church is the Body of Christ on earth.  In his Letter to the Ephesians St. Paul writes, “..he (God) has put all things under his (Christ’s) feet and has made him the head over all things for the Church which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all” (1:22-23).

We also know that the early Fathers taught us that the Church, Christ’s own Body, came forth from His side when it was pierced by the centurion’s lance as He hung upon the Cross.  Because the Church sprung forth from the loving Heart of the Redeemer, it becomes His Body throughout the world.  We might say that, in and through the Church, we belong to Christ Himself.  Why? Because the Church is His Mystical Body in the world and we are all members of this Body by our baptism.  The very Heart of the Church is His Eucharistic Presence.  That is why the Church confesses that the Holy Eucharist is the “source and summit of the Christian life.”  All life flows forth from the Eucharist and all activity of the Church points back to the Eucharistic Lord, giving Him glory. 

We cannot fully understand the Church and its mission if we do not believe and firmly profess that the bread and wine consecrated at Mass truly and substantially become the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ.  We have to see with the eyes of faith His dynamic and saving Presence in the Sacrament of the Altar in order to have the vision that the Church is also His Body and really communicates His life of grace to us.  Without this faith, the Church becomes simply an institution that does social work, or advocates for cultural change, or is only a human institution among other institutions.  The Church then ceases to point to the Kingdom of God and loses its prophetic voice that gives people hope beyond the material world in which they live.  The Church without the Eucharistic Presence of the Lord falls into simply accommodating itself to the ways of the world and has no influence on the present age.  People then stop believing and will stop coming.  If we do not believe that He comes upon our altars, then how will we believe that He will come again at the end of time?  The second Body is the Church.

The third body is our very human body.

In life it is so important to know that we are loved.  To know that I am loved by God unconditionally gives me great comfort and hope.  However, I always remind myself that even though God loves me unconditionally and always looks upon me with mercy, that doesn’t mean that I can do whatever I want and then expect that God doesn’t know or see or care about it.  I am called to love God in return.  To offer love in return to God or anyone else, I must be free to do so.  That is why He has given each of us a free will. He wishes us to use that free will directed by a rightly formed conscience that is grounded in the truth as He revealed it.  We believe that what we do in this life really does matter.

What we do in our relationship with God is of paramount importance.  Of course, our relationship with Him is the primary one.  From this relationship comes forth how we live as men and women. Our relationship of love with God determines how we interact with and love our brothers and sisters. 

Jesus Himself tells us that what we do to ourselves and to one another has an impact on our relationship with Him in the Holy Eucharist and with His Body the Church.  His words in St. Matthew’s Gospel makes it clear.  “If you are offering your gift at the altar, and you remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there at the altar and go; first be reconciled with your brother, and then come and offer your gift…”  (Mt 5:23-24).  Jesus teaches us that each of us has the responsibility of loving, respecting, cherishing, and protecting every brother and sister.  We cannot come to the altar to receive Him until we repent of failing to do so. The Lord wants us to be reconciled in His merciful love.

Jesus provides this reconciliation for us in Confession, also known as the Sacrament of Reconciliation.  It is an encounter with Jesus who gave up His Body for us on the Cross.   In Confession we meet Him who heals us by the wounds in His own Body.  In order to have the amazing privilege of receiving Jesus’ Body and Blood in Holy Communion, we must be made right with His Body the Church and with our brothers and sisters by going to Confession.  This is especially true if we have harmed someone or promoted the harm of someone in a serious way.  He wants us to come back to Him and hear the words that He said to the Samaritan woman, “…go and sin no more” (Jn 8:11).  We repent of our sins to have the fullness of His life.

The three Bodies, the Eucharistic Body of Christ, His Body the Church, and our own bodies, always go together.  We might say that they are a package deal.  They cannot be separated from one another.   One cannot reverence the Church and the human person without loving and reverencing His substantial Presence in the Holy Eucharist.  No one can approach His Eucharistic Body without first loving His Body the Church and loving all persons because they are our brothers and sisters regardless of how young or old they might be or what their life circumstances are.

We see that the three Bodies are of utmost importance in our life.  The truth is simple and full of light and love.  We should not let the darkness of the world cloud our perception.

Most Reverend William J. Waltersheid
Auxiliary Bishop of Pittsburgh