God of the Bodies (Liturgies from Below: Praying with People at the Ends of the World) O God that became body and presence, that wanted to share the path, the bread and the cup, that loved and embraced, that dreamed and suffered, that assumed the pain and stored up hopes. Bring yourself today to those who feel pain in their bodies the pain of an unwanted absence, pain that like a dagger cuts the soul and rips open the bowels. O God, you touched injured bodies, you stretched out your hand to the despised bodies, you embraced the ignored bodies, you put on a body that struggled alongside the most humble, you felt in your own flesh the brutality of oppression, so lend your shoulder today to those who cry, to those who need to know themselves as loved and content because torturers and murderers continue to steal the lives of loved ones’ bodies. Naked God, exposed, trophy of genocides, your body crucified on a whim by the power of the day and ignored by the lukewarm complicity of so many. God, whose dead body was seen by the morbid and cried helplessly in silence for the persecuted. God, whose body was buried and guarded, out of fear. . . Become a body in the midst of our fears, liberate us, just as you freed yourself on the third day, from the sadistic omnipotence of those who carry the sword. God of the transcendent body, of the body that makes us one body, community, people. God of the body that remains present in every search for justice and fulfillment, in each act of resisting the perverse, in each table where shared bread reaches and remains, and where wine is a transforming sacrament. Rescue us from the waters of resignation, give us your hand of solidarity and walk with us to places where bodies can live and dance and be free, without appropriators, without repressors, without mercenaries of death.

Posted by Jamie Bonilla at 2021-02-26 14:53:10 UTC