LENT iv
EVERYTHING that is true of Christ's body is true of us
in some manner. He gives us his body that we may become his body.
Christ's body died on the cross, he also rose. The resurrection is
ours, but the death also is ours. Many men, at the last challenge,
have consented to be martyrs, and set their bodies aside. But Christ's
passion was no more than the last expression of what he had done all his
life. He had set his body aside whenever its demands conflicted with
man's need or God's will, and so he had rehearsed his death continually;
not morbidly, but with joy and self-forgetfulness. We have many opportunities
so to rehearse our death, and how steadily we reject them! Our bed,
our chair retains us when we should get up and pray; fleshly delights of
act and imagination, some by no means innocent, hold us from following
better inspirations. Our own pleasure comes before our neighbour's,
vanity before sympathy. How will it be when rehearsals are over,
and we have to act our part, to put our bodies finally off, that we may
possess God? If Christ offers us up with his own death in this sacrament,
it is that we may die a voluntary and daily death, and merit a daily resurrection.
