You Are Christ's Hands
Christ has no body now on earth but yours,
No hands but yours,
No feet but yours,
Yours are the eyes through which is to look out
Christ's compassion to the world
Yours are the feet with which he is to go about
doing good;
Yours are the hands with which he is to bless men now.
Roger Housden, For Lovers of God Everywhere: Poems of the Christian Mystics, Hay House, 2009
I first discovered Roger Housden through his book, Ten Poems To Change Your Life. He uses poetry as gateways to personal understanding and has written numerous books with poetry as a central feature. “You may never have read a poem in your life, and yet you can pick up a volume, open it to any page, and suddenly find yourself blown into a world full of awe, dread, wonder, marvel, deep sorrow, and joy,” writes Roger. “Poetry not only matters; it is profoundly necessary. Especially in times of darkness and difficulty, both personal and collective. To read or write poetry is a powerful, even subversive, act, and it is one small thing we can do that can make a very big difference.”
I appreciate the heart of St. Teresa's words--to have an active faith, to carry out your beliefs in service to others is to recognize that a message of good news, compassion and hope is within us to deliver and is the expectation of a worthy existence.
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