Many people desire to get their bodies "in shape." They want to feel good and look good. Having a healthy, fit body is a good thing, but it's not the only thing. The reality is that our bodies will die. Health and fitness are fleeting. The psalmist observes: "Seventy is the sum of our years, or eighty, if we are strong" (Ps 90:10). Modern medicine and nutrition might even push life expectancy a few years longer. Yet our ultimate goal is not a few extra years of life, or a healthy, fit life, but the resurrection of our holy body to eternal life, so that our bodies will be members of the risen Body of Jesus.
How should we live in our bodies while on this earth so that our bodies and souls will be with Jesus forever? We make our bodies enemies of the world (Phil 3:19). We deny our very flesh and crucify ourselves to the world (Lk 9:23; Gal 6:14). We don't wait until heaven to have "remade" bodies (see Phil 3:21); we let Jesus "remake" us right now (see 2 Cor 5:17). Our bodies are "begotten from above" in the waters of Baptism (Jn 3:3) and rise from those waters reborn, remade. Keep your body holy and pure (see 1 Jn 3:3) through frequent Confession and Mass.
| PRAYER: | Father, my body is a temple of the Holy Spirit and is not my own. Help me to glorify You in my body (1 Cor 6:19-20). |
| PROMISE: | "We have our citizenship in heaven." –Phil 3:20 |
| PRAISE: | Jesus healed Kim of a broken leg overnight. |
Reprinted with permission from Presentation Ministries, a lay association of the Catholic Church that focuses on evangelization and discipleship through Bible teaching, daily Mass, the charisms of the Holy Spirit, and Small Christian Community. Their ministries include:
· One Bread, One Body
· Daily Bread Radio Program
· Annual Bible Institute
· Discipleship Retreats
· Guadalupe Bible College