Wednesday of the Twenty-eighth Week in Ordinary Time
We are made in the image and likeness of God; our whole being is made in God’s image - the clay/earthiness of our flesh and spirit in unity (Gen 1:27). God’s ruah, breath or spirit, breathes us into life (Gen 2:7). And we know, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). When we celebrate the mystery of the Incarnation, we remember that we are made in the image and likeness of God, breathed into life by the very breath of God, and that God became human that we become more like the One in whose image we are made. The life of discipleship is a life following Christ, learning and practicing once again to breathe with the Spirit of God, letting the Spirit of God animate our whole self, spirit and flesh, that we might become more Christlike.
In Paul’s letter to the Galatians today, he is inviting us into a life guided by the Spirit of God. While he warns against the works of the flesh, Paul isn’t saying our flesh is bad. No, Paul is inviting us to unite our flesh and spirit with God’s Holy Spirit. The life of faith is not about escaping our flesh. In fact, it is often when we try not to think about our body, or we try to deny how our body is feeling, that we get in the most trouble. When we ignore what our body and emotions are truly telling us, we often feed or use our body in unhealthy ways by over- or under-eating, drinking too much alcohol, using porn or other people's bodies to escape the ache that is loneliness or frustration, impulsively buying things we don’t need in an attempt to fix what things cannot fix. All of these examples or works of the flesh that separate us from our flesh. They separate our flesh and spirit from the spirit of God. They separate us not only from our own bodies but from the Body of Christ.
We can be guided by the Spirit of God precisely when we settle into our bodies and become more aware of them. The more aware I become of my body and how my emotions are present in my body, the more I am able to name what is truly happening within me, the more I can invite God into my decisions.
What if instead of trying to deny our flesh today, we loved our flesh enough to ask our bodies what they are telling us about bodily and emotional needs? What if, when we notice the ache in body or spirit, often in both, we became curious and asked ourselves, " What is this about? What is my flesh telling me? And, how can I invite God’s Spirit, God’s Breath, to breathe with me through it?”
The more practiced we become at inviting God’s Breath to help us breathe in and through every moment, the more we notice in our bodies that we have deep joy, abiding peace, patience beyond what we think we are capable of. The more we breathe with the Spirit of God, our bodies move in the world with kindness, with generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. The Spirit of God lives ever more fully in us. This is the mystery of the Incarnation.
-Kelly Adamson