IS HE LORD OF YOUR BODY?
“Just as you formerly enslaved your bodies to impurity and licentiousness for their degradation, make them now the servants of justice for their sanctification.” —Romans 6:19
The bodies of those baptized into Jesus are temples of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 6:19). The Lord wants us to offer our bodies as living sacrifices to Him (Rm 12:1). The Lord commands us to make ourselves, including our bodies, His slaves (Rm 6:22). Then our bodies will be slaves to righteousness (Rm 6:19, RNAB). This will result in our sanctification. Otherwise, our bodies will be slaves to impurity and to lawlessness (Rm 6:19, RNAB).
Obviously, the Lord is very concerned with our bodies. He created them. Jesus Himself has a body. God’s plan of salvation will culminate in the resurrection of the bodies of all people for Judgment Day. Jesus promised to raise the bodies of His disciples from the dead into eternal life.
When you receive the body of Christ, Holy Communion, into your body, consecrate your body to the Lord. When you say “Amen” to the words “Body of Christ” at Holy Communion, present your body to be in total communion with the Lord forever. The body is “for the Lord, and the Lord is for the body” (1 Cor 6:13). Accept Jesus as Lord of your life and your body.
PRAYER: Father, teach me to respect my body as made in Your image and likeness (Gn 1:27).
PROMISE: “I have come to light a fire on the earth. How I wish the blaze were ignited!” –Lk 12:49
PRAISE: At the First Vatican Council, where St. Anthony was a staunch defender of the doctrine of papal infallibility, he won the admiration of his fellow bishops.
