August the Twenty-Fourth the Lord's Body
"I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do." -- JOHN xvii.1-11.

This quiet confession is in itself a token of our Lord's divinity. The serenity in which He makes His claims is as stupendous as the claims themselves. "Finished," perfected in the utmost refinement, to the last, remotest detail! Nothing scamped, nothing overlooked, nothing forgotten! Everything which concerns thy redemption and my redemption has been accomplished. "It is finished!"

"And now ... I come to Thee." The visible Presence is withdrawn. There is no longer in our midst a Jesus whose body we can bruise and crucify. "But these are in the world." Yes, and His disciples are now His body. He becomes reincarnated in them. If they refuse Him a body, He has none! He looks through their eyes, listens through their ears, speaks through their lips, ministers through their hands, goes on sacred pilgrimages with their feet! "Know ye not that ye are the body?"

Does my discipleship offer my Lord a limb? Can He communicate with the world through me? Does my discipleship multiply His powers of expression? Has He more eyes, more ears, more hands because I am a member of His Church? Or -- -- ?

august the twenty-third not lost
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