The Body as a Witness

A very smart woman said something thought-provoking to me recently, and I haven't been able to get it off my mind. When speaking about the prophet Ezekiel in chapter 4, an insightful comment was made by her. The passage puts forth the idea, as she said it, of "the body as a witness". In context of the passage it means that the body was witnessing, or being made to realize, the just punishment being handed down to the Hebrew people because of their sins. I have no doubt that this woman knew that what she was saying applied to more than just this passage, but it took me some time to realize just how far-reaching this sentiment went. The body, your body, is a witness to your life. Oh, how rich an idea.

To be a witness can mean a few things. One is that you were the viewer of a moment or event, and you were by sight a witness to it. To be a witness could also be used in the sense of being an example for another - it can mean that you are attempting to act out in an exemplary manner the virtues that others should be living up to. You can be a witness by seeing something, you can be a witness by showing something, or in a third sense you could also be a witness by receiving something. "I am a witness of the mercy of God" could be used when speaking about unconditional forgiveness, the healing of an ailment, or receiving a gift of some sort which we do not reserve. In this phrase "the witness of the body" I believe that all three forms are realized.

Though I would like to spend the time speaking about all the ways which the body is a witness in these three forms, this is already a large topic and I feel there is only reasonable time available to speak on the second form. To reiterate once more, the second form is being a witness by showing something. The reason for choosing this as the main subject for the article is because, I think, we have forgotten just how important this is in our lives today. Really, we should focus on our bodies being examples unto others, because that is what Christ the Lord came into our reality to do - at least in part. His body was given up for us from the moment He entered into this world, and He continued to give it up for us throughout His life, up to when He ascended to the cross, and His body remains a gift for all eternity as He offers it on the altar before the Father on our behalf. Our savior had the opportunity to present Himself in any form, but He chose to take up the humble position of becoming a man Himself, adopting flesh for our sakes. His body aging, subject to the afflictions of this world, subject to hunger and tiredness and these other imperfections of a fallen world - culminating in the pinnacle example of His love for us as He is crucified before our very eyes.

I will not dwell on this too long, as there are many who write beautifully on the life, sufferings, and witness of Christ, and if you wish to explore these things more you can find them for yourself. What I want to do as a segue into the substance of this article is point out that in Christ's glorified, perfected, resurrected body, He still had the wounds from the crucifixion. He did not appear as a child, we see nothing saying He seemed ageless. His body was perfected, His body was different than before, but the "marks of life" remained on Him. You could find a genius theologian or philosopher that could explain this beautifully, but I will not make any attempt at supplanting the intelligence of their words and instead speak as a layman; the reason He retained these marks is because what He did in life mattered, and it was the beautiful evidence that He lived His life for others, as we have all been commanded to do. Christ did not appear smooth, unscarred, untouched by the world when He appeared to His disciples, He kept His "marks". In His other appearances before His ascension into Heaven, as well in His appearances in visions all the way until today, He appears with the marks of His crucifixion. He takes pride in showing them, for He did not live a gentle, unremarkable life which lacked impact. He lived a life caring for the wellbeing of others, and it showed on the body.

And now, the meat of the topic, which I will expound on more in light of the circumstances in our own lives. For the woman who bears a child within herself, her body is a witness. It is a witness to motherhood, a vessel of sacrifice, an altar for the Lord. In the Old Testament the altar was the place where an animal was sacrificed for many a reason, but often it was for the purpose of bringing about life on behalf of the one whom the sacrifice was offered for. By death, life came. Those dead in sin, their sin was covered by the Old Covenant, then the sin was washed away in the New Covenant, by the sacrifice. Thus does a woman make of herself an altar in pregnancy, her body "dies" in the sense that it is altered from what it was before, and in the sense that she surrenders control of it and makes it a dedication to the cultivation of new life. As the tabernacle holds the Eucharist in our churches, so does the woman hold a child within her. As Mary was the first tabernacle of our Lord Christ, so are women tabernacles for the sacrament of life. In this way a woman giving up her body to the growth of a child is in the second form of being a witness.

And, much like pregnancy, the woman continues to make her body a witness as she nurses the child, as she embraces and cuddles the newborn, as she carries the little one about, and into the many future years she allows herself to be "used" as a mother for the betterment of her children. The death of self continues not only through the shifting of the body in accommodation to the needs of the life she brings about, but also afterwards.

Her body stretches, grows and shrinks, aches and holds pains, the mother gives of herself for another, and perhaps for many another. Her changed body is nothing to be ashamed of, nor is it to be neglected, for not only is it the vessel of the Lord (1 Corinthians 6:19), but now within its bounds it carries a story; the story is one of sacrifice, dedication, and love for another. The woman with stretch marks, wrinkles, white hair, and pain in her joints is much more beautiful at the end of her life than the woman who family but is without wrinkles. An unmarked body is one which has chosen to avoid living the life of a witness.

Take a man, especially a blue collar working man, and watch what happens to his body as he grows old. See how it changes, and see how it becomes new. Over the years you will see external marks such as scars, wrinkles, and strange discolorations appear upon him. Underneath the skin you will not see, but you may intuit, his subdermal hurts of joint pain, weakening organs, damaged nerves, and the like.

The man without scars is not a selfish man by nature, but you must ask the question of how well he has lived his life, and how well he has given himself to others, if he has no marks to show for it. The scarred man has lived his life in service of another, he has allowed the world to place its signature upon him - the script of choosing to do something with himself. Perhaps this scarred and injured man has chosen to do too much, perhaps he has chosen to live his life in such a way that unduly wore on his body, but at the least he chose to live his life.

I do not mean to belittle any man lacking scars, because sometimes it simply denotes a man smart enough to protect his body from permanent harm, but I still must ask - what do you have to show for your life, proving that you have actually lived it? If you do not take chances then you will not find scars; if you do not test yourself then you will not have pain in your joints; if you do not explore the unknown then you will not create wrinkles. But, at the end of things, when it comes time to tell of your story to your grandchildren, to the children of your friends, to your family, what will your mobile, smooth, soft body have to share as a story?

My grandfather, before his passing, had hands like sandpaper. His body scarred from knives, chainsaws, sticks, and many other assaults upon his exterior were visible during my whole time knowing him. Cancer took part of his intestine, but it did not take his life, nor did it take his love for ice cream. Age took his energy, but not his motivation to continue to live and move. And even when he was bound to a walker, he could not be stopped from reading every day, most especially reading Scripture. My grandfather lived a good, long, invested life, and you could see it in his body. His hair thinning, his body aching, his exterior and interior worn, Grandpa was old. But, he lived well, and his body had a story to tell. Look at him for but a moment, listen to just a few words from him, and you would know that he has lived a life worth sharing.

I could write similar testimonies for others in my life, but it is not time for their obituaries yet. Instead, I wish to circle back around. I will return to the woman again - how well have you lived if you have no marks to show for it? Where are your scars? Where are your wrinkles? What stories do you have to tell of the hardships you have overcome? Or, perhaps, you were too concerned with maintaining a beauty which inevitably fades. A woman who wishes to be beautiful and to embrace beauty is a beautiful thing, but the beauty of the body always fades. While you sought to "preserve" your physical self, what did you miss out on? In the end of things, have you lived?

A gripe I have which I will only speak on for a moment - and a gripe which I heard from other women first, mind you - is the idea that "pregnancy destroys a woman's body". That's absolutely absurd. And, in my mind it toys with heresy, since the woman's body was made for such a thing. The body is not ruined, it is changed. A woman is not less after her pregnancy, she is not ruined, she is different, and she is doing a thing which she was created for from the start. What other natural process of the body do we speak of in this way? None. We demonize pregnancy for the sake of it, when we should glorify it for the sake of it.

I speak on pregnancy so much here because the marks it leaves on a woman's body are something oft thought about by women. If the woman reading this never bears children, you are no less a woman, do not mistake my words to mean this. I speak on it for the reason that it is a rather good example to speak on.

Or for the man, what marks do you have to show for your family? How has your body been made a witness to the history of the family you have? What have you done to create memories with your sons and daughters? Once again I will not say that this is a dogmatic statement, but I must comment that I do not know of a man who can be described as a good father who doesn't have either an injury or permanent mark which came from making memories with his children.

To suffer well is such a Christian idea. Think for a moment - look at the marks upon your own body and think of the story you have to share because of it. Perhaps it is a sad story, one of self-harm, or of being harmed by another. Is that not a wonderful vulnerability that you can choose to share with another one day? You are here now, you have overcome this mark, and the fact that there is a reminder on your body is not a thing of shame, it is a trophy of what you, body-soul, had to go through to arrive where you are now. Tell me which story is more inspiring - the man who travels a twelve mile distance across a temperate flatland and reaches his destination easily; or, the story of a man who travels a twelve mile distance up through a mountain pass while battling off a lion and escaping the beast, but not without injury. We are happy to hear that both arrived at their destination, but it is the story of the second which enthralls us. It is the story of the second journeyer to which we aspire. Perhaps we wish for an easy life, but we aspire for the strength of the one living a difficult life and not succumbing.

"But I have scars from my journey. These marks make me ugly, and are reminders of the troubles of my past." No, trophies rather, signs of victory, marks of defiance showing that you did not give in to what was easy or comfortable. Perhaps these marks were self-inflicted and you are ashamed of that, but have you not overcome this now? Are you not better and more whole since then? You have these marks, and now you may be a guide unto others to direct them away from the truly dangerous parts of the adventure. The adventure being this life, this journey we must all make. A scar is nothing more than a mark. The story of it is how you frame it. Perhaps some of these marks are your fault, perhaps some are the fault of another, but that is the past. Who are you now? Who do you strive to be in the future? “Every saint has a past, and every sinner has a future.”

But, if you have not yet overcome these internal hurts and so you still leave marks on the outside of your body, know that I have faith in you. I know a number of people - which I will not divulge - who have caused harm to themselves. When these have overcome the troubles which drive them towards this pain, I find only a stronger man and woman come out the other side of it.

For both scenarios, once you reach the destination and are before the Lord, He will say "well done my good and faithful servant". But you only have to look at the stories of Christ spending time with all the downtrodden in the Gospels to hear Him say to the second man, the one who overcomes immense and difficult hardships, "well done my good and faithful servant".

Are you living, or just surviving? Will you be like the good servants who took risks and multiplied the talents given by their master at risk, or will you be like the slothful servant who hid what was entrusted to him and "protect" it until it comes due? Notice in the parable from Matthew 25:14-30 that the servants who chose to do something with what they were given were profitable - if the parable is seen in the light of doing something with your time rather than hiding out of fear from the uncertainties of the world, then you will only profit from trying to live well and love others. Live well, and come back with a story, come back showing that you have a story with your body.

I've spoken enough on physical wounds for the moment, though I wish I could say more. The scars, wrinkles, marks, and everything on the body tells the story of our lives, and should not be something we shame ourselves for. But now I must speak of another form of your body as a witness, one that is as often forgotten as the physical marks which have already been spoken on. Just as you body is a mosaic for your life's story, the marks left on it being the paint strokes pulling together a beautiful image of how well you've lived, so is your body also a foundation for relationship. Presence. If you are not there, then you cannot be with someone. If you want to be theirs, then you must be there.

Your daughter has a piano recital, your son has a football game, a sibling is in a play, a parent is receiving an award, a friend is hosting a party. If you are not there, you are not there. "Oh, I wish I could come" only works as a friendly rejection when you have proven yourself as a true friend by being present in many other moments. To be frank, it really comes down to the number of times you are with another person to show how much you care about them. The more you are with a person the more you care about them, the less you're with them, the less you care.

"Oh but that's not always the case. I have friends and we're all busy, we only see each other once in a while nowadays." Look with me for a moment at the wisdom of a child. They see that time is fleeting, though they cannot articulate it in this way. Everything is very important to them, even if it is exaggerated in their mind compared to what is real. But think on this, there are only a few opportunities for you to be at their music recitals while they are in middle school. There are only a few games that they have during their time in high school. The small child that gives you a crayon drawing, there will be no others like that one ever again. This will be the only time they become six years old, or sixteen years old. There is only one high school graduation for them. There will only be one first for them, and if you care about them then you should try to be there for that moment.

Here is another example. As a parent, when it comes time for your child's first steps, how much do you want to be there for that moment? And what about their first words? Would you say "I can't be there for that, I've got a scheduling conflict, but I'll be sure to be there for their first bike ride!" "Sorry, it's been a long week. I can't be there for his first word, or his second, but I'll come by when he says his third word." Absurd, yes? Tell me, in regards to your friend, how many times will he get to celebrate his thirtieth birthday? Perhaps he has many friends, but how many of those friends are you? How many of those friendships are the friendship he has with you? Who among them is you? None, but you.

Obviously it is true that that there are times where it is reasonable for you to not show up for the birthday party, the recital, the play, but you need to justify the reasons why you're not going. I do this, I weigh the importance of me being present with the type of event, the significance of the event to that person, the last time I was there for them, and the convenience of making an appearance. I used to go to the soccer games of my youngest sisters every weekend that they had one when I was living near my family, and now that it is a five hour round trip to go to a game I usually only make it to one in a season but now I visit for the whole weekend. Am I the role model you should base your event attendance on? No, I am just merely giving an example. It is not always convenient, but you should make the effort if you care for someone.

The body as a witness. The body is a way in which you witness your love for another person. If you are a physical being, how can you love someone if you are not there with them? What memories will you have to show that you love them? What marks will you have to show that you love them? We are both physical and spiritual, and it is a good thing to pray for another person, but in practice we so often forget to use our bodies to show that we love another person.

I will begin to close now. There is so much more to be said, but I have already written longer than I had first intended. In a crude sense, the body is a tool. How do you know that a tool has fulfilled its purpose? You look at the wrench in the toolbox, or the knife in the kitchen, the wooden spoon in the drawer, the hammer in the shop, and you see the scratches, the nicks and dents, the signs of wear which are a witness to it taking action. We are called to love, that is our "use". How are we to do this if we remain in the drawer? If we are afraid to gain a mark, we will never fulfil our purpose, because it is the very use of us that these marks come about. Your body should be a sign of a lived life. Some of the marks you have will not be pretty, but that is not what the body was made for. Being "pretty" is not our purpose. The woman's body will change with pregnancy (Genesis 3:16), the man's body will change from hard work (Genesis 3:17-19). The two greatest commandments Christ gives to us both have to do with love (Matthew 22:37-39). That is our standard, that is our purpose, that is our mission. Be unafraid of marks, of wounds, of aging, of pain, of slowing down. Rather, reconcile with the fact that these are consequences of living well, of loving well. Look at the wounds borne by Christ in His greatest act of love for us. He was unafraid of these marks, and so should we be unafraid.

Written for VME Catholic, by Ethan Hall