Memorial of Saint John de Brébeuf and Saint Isaac Jogues, priests and martyrs, and their companions, martyrs

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/101911.cfm

And do not present the parts of your bodies to sin

The Columbia River Gorge
from Crown Point, Oregon

as weapons for wickedness,
but present yourselves to God as raised from the dead to life
and the parts of your bodies to God
as weapons for righteousness.
For sin is not to have any power over you,
since you are not under the law but under grace.

Feminist critics have rightly decried the dismemberment of women’s bodies in our culture. Ads – especially for clothing -- detach female feet, hands and legs from heads and torsos. Using these parts to arouse anxiety and desire, and to sell merchandise, they ignore the mystery and wholeness of the human person. 

In such a culture we cannot be surprised that some people suffer paraphilia, “sexual arousal to objects, situations, or individuals that are not part of normative stimulation and that may cause distress or serious problems for the paraphiliac or persons associated with him or her.” (Wikipedia) When an entire culture is afflicted with paraphilia, the woman disappears and only parts of her are left.

In today’s first reading Saint Paul urges his disciples, “Do not present the parts of your bodies to sin as weapons for wickedness.” Using the philosophical language of his time, the Jewish apostle warned his people not to think of the body and soul as separate entities. Rather, you are “raised from the dead to life.”

It was said of Saint Francis after he received the gift of the stigmata that he was like a man raised from the dead. His suffering was so severe that he appeared like a corpse. He was dark, wizened and stiff.  But, arriving in a city or town, roused and invited to preach, he miraculously revived. People watched in astonishment as the “corpse” began to speak of God’s mercy. He laughed and sang and danced for joy as the Holy Spirit seemed to take charge of his body.

Francis’ biographers describe the long, hard road he took on the way toward this radical conversion. By his ferocious fasting, mortifications and vigils, he disciplined his body until it submitted completely to divine obedience. In that way Francis demonstrated Saint Paul’s words; he was not under the law but under grace.

Few of us are expected to live as Saint Francis lived and modern spirituality urges us to take better care of our bodies. But we must still abide within that same Spirit, suspicious of our tendencies to laziness and luxury, eager to rise up again in animated obedience to the will of God. On this feast of the North American martyrs, remembering how they were tortured, dismembered and killed, we ask God to discipline our bodies in the gentle Spirit of Jesus.