"AND WAS MADE MAN"
First of all, what fabulous imagery of the grandmother who will leave us her fortune if we respect her hat! Isn't that true that this is how we so often 
treat the Church in regards to these Great Truths that she has fought to defend and hands so willingly to us. The existence of God, the Trinity, the Incarnation, the Real Presence of Christ...so often we take these for granted and don't bother to investigate because we assume we will never understand. True that we will not fully understand in this life, but study and reflection can shed great light upon the issues, and this Light will bring us closer to the Lord and better able to do His will. Houselander again shows great insight into why the Incarnation can be troublesome as we operate in a world of two extremes- "the flesh is wholly bad; the other, that it is absolutely good." (Reed of God, pg. 91) As I read her clarifications on the two groups, I struggled to place our current culture into one of the two categories.
"The flesh is wholly bad" camp:
- Tend to avoid the flesh completely and focus on a "spiritual life"
- their "fear of the flesh" leads them into "hating everything that is beautiful" (pg. 92)
- may acquire a police mentality of looking for sin and punishment
- considers man "an animal only and [thinks] very lightly indeed of violating the body." (pg. 93)
- "FEEL(s)...that the flesh is is completely good and requires no heavenly visitation, no indwelling Spirit; for it is, they feel, in itself a kind of God."
- idolizing the body tends to want to forget the soul
- Sex
- Diets
- Porn
- Lust
- Fashion
- Working out
- Luxury skin and hair care
- Spa treatments
- Manicures and pedicures
- Highlights
- Body-building
- Health
- Vitamins
I find it fascinating, as Houselander draws attention to the desire of so many to separate the body and soul, that our late Pope John Paul the Great drew attention to the unity of the body and soul in his Theology of the Body! "And the Word became flesh." Our bodies have a unique language that points to the Lord! Our ability to experience pain, pleasure, beauty and suffering each point us to the Lord. John Paul the Great focused on the language of the body through the differences and unity of a man and a woman, but there are many more ways he could have continued his teaching.
"Yet, in giving Himself to the world, He deliberately chose to emphasise the body." (Pg. 99)
Christ, Himself, emphasized the body in becoming flesh. In limiting Himself to becoming flesh and blood, He also experienced life as we do, but to the fullest capacity. I love how Houselander points out, "No man ever enjoyed life as He did." (Pg. 101) It reminded me of the movie "The Passion of the Christ" when Jesus splashes water on Mary while laughing. I so often think of Jesus as walking around and giving Himself a head-smack, as if to say, "REALLY, Father? These numskulls are the best We could do?" :)
"Christ on earth was a Man in love." (pg. 102)
WOW. Everything Houselander describes in being "in love" is so true- the quickening of the pulse, the doubled capacity for joy, the sweetness of life and kindness of strangers... Yes, I think she is correct that Christ would have been a Man in love. After all, Christ IS love, and He came and gave up His body to unite Himself to the world- as lovers do.
And as I reflect upon the great capacity of Christ to experience sorrow, it only makes sense that He likewise had a great capacity to experience joy. Does one lead to the other? Does experiencing great sorrow offer the opportunity to know great joy? After all, we wouldn't know the glory and joy of the Resurrection without the pain and agony of the Crucifixion...
One more thought before I lose you entirely due to the sheer length of this post!
"I came that they might have life, and have it more abundantly." John 10:10
Do we have life abundantly? Are we walking around truly experiencing the fullness of our hearts, hands, and heads? Or are we caught in a daze of business, frustration, and daily grind? John Eldredge wrote one of my favorite books that deals with this exact topic called Waking the Dead. He focuses on Satan's attempt to steal our joy- to steal our life- one moment at a time. It is a fabulous book on spiritual warfare that I highly recommend. I think Houselander would approve... :)
9 comments:
Ha-- I'm going to argue that there might be something bad about a thing or two on that list... :-) I know I've been bad about writing my thoughts, but I'll catch up with this week!
Oops! You're right! I fixed it. :)
First, I completely agree with Lauren about the exceptional analogy (grandmother's hat) Houselander uses to describe our inheritance of faith. It was so incredible to come into the church and discover the amazing treasures and teachings. I think as time has elapsed, I am definitely guilty of taking some of these things for granted. It was a good reminder of how blessed we are to have the fullness of the truth and two thousand years worth of thought, discussion, and contemplation available to us.
As someone who has a tendency to operate in extremes, jumping back and forth at times from one end of the spectrum to the other, I really appreciated Houselander's discussion of the spirit and body. I think our culture is steeped in preference to the flesh and completely preoccupied with the body. However, I also came away from several church experiences in high school that very much viewed the body as bad, and I still have to combat the automatic association that flesh = sin. I think it is easy to see how this dichotomy exists. In attempt to combat such blatant sins (e.g. lust, etc.) it can be tempting to run in the opposite direction. A kind of modern day Manichaeism (a religion stemming from the Gnostic tradition back in the third century that taught that the spirit was good and material was bad). Since it can appear at first glance to be the more "spiritual response" to the flesh is absolutely good club, I eagerly anticipated Houselander's reply to the "either or mentality" that can be so pervasive. I loved her response on page 96 "...what limit can ther be to the consequences of the Spirit of Life when it has taken possession of him and its light has become the light of his mind and sight of his eyes?" I loved the wording "be holy in me" and the example of worshipping the Holy Spirit in another; that our love demonstrated in action can be a form of worship as we see Christ in others. It is incredible to think that Christ, the Word of God, became man to communicate that "which could be expressed only by union between God and man in Christ" (pg.100).
Finally, I was really touched by Houselander's discussion of the joy, delight, and happiness that Christ gave to our humanness. I loved the quote that "being in love increases a man's life" (pg. 101). I think this may be the difference between accepting the hat just because it is required in order to receive the inheritance and cherishing the hat.
And one question...I would love to hear thoughts on the line at the top of 105 that we can all be priests offering Christ’s body on the altar of our own lives. Is it talking about offering Christ to others, or does it mean in some other sense?
I, too, really liked the old hat analogy. It made such perfect sense! It's much easier to attend Mass on Sundays and pray in the privacy of your own home-but taking that next step is tough and people will make fun of you for your ugly hat. (But what an honor!)
I agree that we're in the second camp as far as perception of our bodies. I didn't really relate to her writings on the first camp of people, because we've definitely moved away from that. But she's completely right that only harm can come when we seperate the body from the spirit.
Hi Kaitlin! I think I related to the first camp simply b/c of the comment about considering man like an animal and thinking very little about violating the body. Isn't that the argument we hear over and over in regards to sex? Whether it's homosexuality or sex before marriage, society could not possibly expect a person to control themselves! SHEESH! (written with great sarcasm!) And our bodies are constantly being violated in regards to extra-marital sex, lust, porn, immodesty, in-vitro, contraception and more... That's why I wondered about the first camp.
Em- I underlined that, too! I think it's offering Christ to others as well as offering up our sufferings to complete Christ's sufferings on the cross. We- the Church- are the body of Christ- and are all called to BE Christ- so as we offer things up to Him and live in a self-giving manner, we are offering His body on the altar.
That's my thought...anyone else?
Hi everyone! Sorry I'm a day late - we have taken to organize our office, which naturally meant that I couldn't find my book!
Great posts, ladies! I took the top of 105 to mean that we offer ourselves to the Cross, dying to self to rise with Him.
I thought the Church-grandmother analogy was classic! So true - she's "out-of date, ancient" yet o full of wisdom and truth! You go, Grandmom!
A paragraph on page 95 made me stop and think. I actually had to put the book down to think it through. The Word became Flesh... who is the (divine) author and inspiriation of Scriptures? The Holy Spirit. Became flesh... became human... body and soul. Our bodies are the tabernacles of what? The Holy Spirit! Wow!
I also liked on page 100 when Houselander talked about Christ's hands - the same hands that lifted the host during the Last Supper are the same that healed the sick, rose a little girl from the dead... and were pierced for our sins. Wild!
We will serve the Lord (to be hereforth known as WWSTL)- I completely agree about the quote on Page 100 about His hands. LOVE that you pointed out the quote on 95!! AMAZING!!!
This was another chapter where I had to push through and keep reading knowing all along that you would set me straight and lead me to my "Ah Ha!" moment. Well, I think I found it on page 99 "The body is, for us, the means by which we can give ourselves wholly." It is the vessel God gave us so that we can "bear Christ to others" here on Earth.
I also agree with the genius of the grandmother's hat. And it seems really funny to me because just this weekend my mother gave my sisters and I costume jewelry(aka junk) that was owned by my grandma and I was explained to mom that even though is was basically plastic and falling apart in my hands I now had to cherish it because she told me that it belonged to grandma! My first thought after reading the analogy was - How did she know?? I am guilty of just believing becuase I am suppose to and leaving it at that. Which terrifies me when I think that one day I am going to have to explain it to my children...hmmm...
Sorry for rambling! Until Thursday, take care!
I'm very late - but still here! I also underlined the analogy and just loved it!
I also highlighted on p97 the reference at the bottom where she discusses how a man can only worship God, therefore, he can worship the Holy Spirit IN his wife, for example. I have never really thought of it that way before - I've always thanked God for my husband, as a whole, but I like the idea of thinking of something like his radiant smile as the Holy Spirit within him.
And of course, her thoughts about what supreme worship is on p 98 which leads to the analogy of marriage to Christ coming to us here on earth.
I thought the same thing Laure - what would she think of our age if she was already so disturbed with the focus of the body in her years. Ha!
I liked the image on p100 last paragraph where she describes how Christ gave himself in human ways.
Finally, on p 105 - she described how everything is put into the fire Christ came to kindle - whether sorrow or joy, they all burn upwards with the same splendor of lights. This makes me think of the hope and the joy in our sufferings... that all is offered up to God.
Post a Comment