The Wind That Lays Waste by Selva Almada

Author:Selva Almada [Almada, Selva]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-55597-890-7
Publisher: Graywolf Press
Published: 2019-08-01T16:00:00+00:00

The body is Christ’s temple. Each one of your bodies houses a soul, and within each soul dwells Christ the Lord. So the body cannot be bad.

Look at yourselves.

Each one of you is a unique and perfect creation. Each one has been imagined by the greatest artist of all time.

Praise be to God.

You might say to me: Reverend, I have only one leg, or one arm; I lost a hand in an accident; my spine is broken and I can’t walk. You might say: Reverend, I am blind in one eye, I limp, I stutter, I have lost a breast, I have an extra finger. You might say: Reverend, I am old, I have lost my teeth and my hair, I am a human wreck. Reverend, I’m no use for anything, I’m ugly, I’m sick, I’m ashamed of my body. You can come to me dragging your torso without any legs to carry it. You can come to me completely paralyzed, with your mouth all twisted and drooling. You can come to me covered with sores and wounds, with scars all over your skin. You can come to me in the minute before death takes you and still I will say: You are beautiful because you are the work of God.

Praise be to the Lord.

I ask you then: If your body is the temple of Christ, why do you mistreat it? Why do you let yourselves be oppressed, violated, beaten? I ask the women: Why do you let your husbands or fiancés or fathers or brothers abuse your bodies? And the bodies of your children? How often have you justified a push, a slap, or an insult in the name of love? And I ask each man: How often have you used your body, the body that God has given you, the body that should be the temple of Christ and not the Devil’s lair, how often have you used it to hurt other people?

If a group of men burst in here right now and started kicking things, breaking chairs, burning the curtains, would you all just sit there and do nothing to protect this place? I am sure that you would all rise up and use your strength to throw out the intruders; you would all defend this church that Christ inspired you to build with your own hands.

I ask you then: Why do you not defend your bodies in the same way?

If the healthiest person among you were to go out naked into the street on a rainy winter night, that person would have a ninety-nine percent chance of catching pneumonia. In just the same way, if you expose your body to sin, there is a ninety-nine percent chance that the Devil will take it.

Christ is love. But don’t confuse love with passivity. Don’t confuse love with cowardice. Don’t confuse love with slavery. Christ’s flame illuminates, but it can also light a raging fire.

Consider this and testify.

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