Hands and Feet of our Lord

Christ has no body but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
Compassion on this world,
Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good,
Yours are the hands, with which he blesses all the world.
Yours are the hands, yours are the feet,
Yours are the eyes, you are his body.
Christ has no body now but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
compassion on this world.
Christ has no body now on earth but yours.

St. Theresa of Avila wrote these words that have such a great impact – they really express our mission here on earth, to be the hands and feet of Christ – His physical extension here on earth. Throughout the trials of the past two years, my mother has truly been the extension of His hands and feet to me. I risk making her cry by writing this post, but it is one that I feel needs to be written.

She has patiently cared for me, making nutritious meals for me while by body has been swacked from the array of medications I’ve been on, even when the ‘healthy’ choice wasn’t always the easy one. She has helped me physically in and out of bed, the car, pushed my wheelchair at times when I’m not so mobile, and attended more doctors appointments with me than I can or want to count.

On the nights when I wake up at 2am in the morning and simply need a ‘mommy hug’ and glass of ‘stale water’(inside joke) i’m so touched as she carefully and lovingly cares for me and puts aside her needs. She truly has shown me the meaning of love, being patient with me when I’m feeling my worst or having an emotional breakdown, putting aside her needs for mine, and loving me no matter what I do – creating an environment where I feel safe and truly loved. I can honestly say she is the hands and feet of Jesus for me in my life. For whom can you be the hands and feet of Jesus? 

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

1 Corinthians 13:8-11