Prayer
Christ has no body but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
Compassion on this world,
Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good,
Yours are the hands, with which he blesses all the world.
Yours are the hands, yours are the feet,
Yours are the eyes, you are his body.
Christ has no body now but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks compassion on this world.
Christ has no body now on earth but yours.
Reflection
When we stand on the shore, with the sea lapping at our feet, we are at a place of change. We stand where land becomes sea, and the sea becomes land. These are places of great change and of every danger but also of great life and every opportunity.
On a stretch of sand, on the west coast of Iona, I found myself alone and amongst a labyrinth made of pebbles. I walked this labyrinth; the waves crashed, leaving salt to hang in the air, and I tried to clear my mind. I was in a place of change. Within the 6 months that followed, I was ordained, became a father, and moved house. I knew all this was coming and that I had gone to reconnect with God, I had gone to Iona to find out how to do even a small part of what was to come.
As the salt hung in the air and I tried to clear my head, I felt stuck at the opening of the labyrinth. Stuck on the land of who I once was, not wanting to venture into the waters of my new life.
I closed my eyes and inhaled the salt. The silence in my head was filled by the wonderful words of Saint Teresa of Avila, words I had heard a few days before.
Walking the labyrinth, the words “My hands, my head, my heart are yours God – my hands, my head, my heart are yours God” washed in and out of my mind. As I embarked on this short, sandy pilgrimage, I felt the ancient words take hold. I felt grounded in the constant amongst the change.
With all the new that was to come and firsts to be experienced, I was held in what has always been. The constant companionship of the Holy Spirit and the guidance to build the Kingdom of God on earth found their chairs waiting for them at the hearth of my heart.
We cannot predict what will happen tomorrow, but we can be constant in how we react.
Ours are the feet with which Christ walks to do good.
Ours are the hands which bless the world.
Ours are the eyes with which Christ looks compassion on this world.
The words of this ancient prayer have nourished me in life since. They feed my bones and call me to action, reminding me that my hands, with all their limitations, are called to bless. I am called to use my feet to walk Christ’s goodness into the world, even from a wheelchair. Through my tired eyes, God’s compassion gazes into the world.
When everything changes and when everything stays the same, we are called to be servants of God, working with only what we can do at that moment to build the Kingdom of God wherever we are.
Rev Dan Harper, Bridge of Allan Parish Church