To Become the Home of God

One of my devotional readings this year was Jean Vanier’s Jesus, The Gift of Love. 

Highly recommend it. Here’s an excerpt from the last few pages, which touch on some of the themes of my year...

The Word became flesh,

became weak,

so that his very weakness,

his broken flesh

would give love and life,

eternal life,

nourishment for all.

Jesus came to transform weakness

from something to be shunned

into a gift,

a call for communion,

awakening and drawing out compassion,

opening hearts,

revealing light.

He came to transform weakness and flesh

into sacrament,

the place where God resides.

...

Our flesh is not the painful prison

of our spirit and our mind,

searching to touch a God

separated from our world and from matter

and from all that is limited and finite.

Our flesh is not for the contemplation

of our own beauty,

a beauty that attracts and seduces.

Our flesh is not for our own excitement and pleasure,

which pass and leave renewed emptiness.

Our flesh is not to prove our superiority and power

in the competition of life,

resulting in wars and oppression.

Yes, our bodies are to be developed to the full

in all their beauty and potential,

but not for personal glory and power,

or for that of a particular group.

Our bodies are for communion,

and for the gift of self,

for the unity of all humanity,

which finds its source in the Word made flesh,

drawing all human hearts

to the unity of communion,

in trust,

in truth,

and in tenderness.

Flesh is for the abiding God,

to become the home of God.