Christ Enfleshed

The Feast of the Ascension makes me think of the following story:

A little boy who was frightened one night during a thunderstorm called out from his room, “Daddy, I’m scared!” His father, not wanting to get out of bed, answered, “Don't worry, son. God loves you and will take care of you.” After a moment of silence, the little boy replied, "I know God loves me, but right now, I need somebody who has skin on!"

After Christ, in the form of the risen Jesus, returned to his Father, his disciples had to make the transition from having Emmanuel with them to having Emmanuel in them. Many people are eager to see the face of Jesus in everything from a toasted cheese sandwich to the flames that recently engulfed the Notre Dame Cathedral, because we want a God with “skin on.” However, Christ is enfleshed when we follow the prompting of the Holy Spirit to be present to each other as Jesus was present to his disciples—through conversation, eating together, serving one another, and responding compassionately to the physical and spiritual needs of those in distress.

It is difficult for us to accept that Christ dwells in us—that we are now Christ’s voice, hands, and feet. We feel too common, too ordinary. We lose sight of the fact that it is in Christ that we live and move and have our being (Acts 17:28) and that we have been invited to share in the life of the Trinity, for Jesus said, “Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our dwelling with them” (Jn 14:23). We who have both skin on and Christ within have abundant life to share.