Corpus Christi can be reflected with Pope Leo's latest encyclical Magnifica Humanitas. Looking at the Body of Christ is very human and Divine. It is rooted in love, the only power there is. This is the love incarnated in flesh. This is the Word made flesh.
People who do not want to face the truth about vulnerabilities of life would avoid suffering and humiliation. This is the opposite of looking at the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ on the cross. People do not want to look weak, too old, too young, dumb or not smart enough, or anything below standard. People like to hide life's inevitable reality that human beings are vulnerable, and not perfect. We cannot not have everything but everything belongs to God. We cannot know it all, but we only know some. Everybody has a piece of God's truth. People want to be God by clinging to misguided power, resources (money), and fame. Human beings not united with God's Divine Will are constructing His Tower of Babel (MH 1).
People would like to avoid pain or suffering of losing someone even death so some people would choose the extraordinary life support at all cost because "death" or separation from loved one is too painful to accept. Some people cannot see what is eternal. It might be hard to face but the capitalist world that we live in has been used to the convenience, efficiency, productivity, and pleasures of life. There is a good and bad in all these. If we have lost the love of God and neighbor in all of these, the ability to develop virtue from experiences then we have seen life as an object to be abused rather than to be loved. The traditional economics is measured by performance, by numbers, or by some criteria. Anything that is below standard is rejected or thrown into trash. ]This includes life thrown or abandoned if certain person does not meet the criteria or standards.
People want to be in control. People want to avoid trouble, arguments, the inconvenient truth, or painful conversation. Anything not rooted in God's Will can go the wrong way (MH 7). This leads to technology slipping into the wounded world that we are in. The Alone Together shows how the robots would be preferred by some people to solve the unacceptable attitudes or the imperfection of an unexamined life. The slavery that is brought by greed can be seen through different periods of power and domination during Prehistoric Age, Iron Age, Industrial Age, Computer Age, Information Age, Artificial Intelligence, and Space Age. We are enslaved by sin when we lose track of who is ultimately in charge of life and Creation, that our mission is not ours but God's. People want to be at the center stage. At the cost of others, people do not want to suffer or have mercy. This is greed, power gone wrong. War, injustice, and abusing others are evidences of the Babel syndrome (MH 10).
Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Word, did not flee from suffering when it is God's Will. He showed his mercy and love for His Creatures. His body and blood on the cross. By His body and blood, we have been sanctified and redeemed. Only God can give life. Eucharist is the body and blood that Christ asked us to do in remembrance of Him (Luke 22:18-20).
With diversities forgotten, tragedies overlooked, human dignity violated, people fail to respect but the domination by all means becomes the rule. To claim to have the unlimited resources when there are limitations and to claim one's supremacy above any beliefs is to disregard the dialogue, the transformation from the conflicting differences, and the prophetic stance of truth, then humanity has forgotten that our communion with God is the humanity's greatest strength (MH 25-27).
Justice is at the service to the most vulnerable of our society. Reparation is good for the harm done in the past but we are to learn from the past so as not to repeat the abuses of the humanity's failure to work for the common good (MG 87-89). The common good is the responsibility of all. The reality of our world can only be transformed through transparency, accountability, and evaluation (MH 86). We are not robots living in utopian world. We are human beings growing with lived experience and the knowledge of truth.
We are created in the image of God. Jesus Christ is both human and Divine. He is love. We are creatures of Love. God gives each human being a dignity that nobody can take away. We are redeemed by His love. God is patiently waiting for our actions to be stripped off of the attributes that do not belong to God alone.
This is an invitation to learn more about the latest encyclical of Pope Leo XIV. The challenges of our era united with our call to be in communion can transform the way we build and develop relationships, embracing the universal Christ. There is the forgiving truth that the eternal love is offered to us by Most Precious Body and Blood of Jesus Christ.
Note: My own pastel version of an original painting display in one of the retreats I attended.Read More:
Magnifica Humanitas
Alone Together
Webinar on June 9 7:30PM ET on Magnifica Humanitas
