Homily

We tend to spend a fair amount of time taking care of our bodies. And not just time, but also money and attention. And not just every now and then, but we devote ourselves to the care, maintenance, repair, and decoration of our bodies on a very regular basis. Of course, that does not mean, nor am I trying to say, that it is a bad thing to take care of our bodies. The life God gave to us came with this physical form, and this flesh is very much a part of our lives. Our bodies are not just containers holding our souls in like a tea bag holds in tea leaves. Our bodies are very much a part of who we are.

So, we do indeed need to take care of our bodies as best we can. It's a good thing to strive to be healthy, to keep clean and as fit as we can be. It's good to eat a healthy diet. It's also good to enjoy our food and drink. We need clothes to keep warm and to protect ourselves from the elements, but it's also fine if we choose to wear garments that are attractive or help us to look attractive. Haircuts and hair styling can improve our appearance, and even the use of jewelry or makeup, are legitimate ways in which to add interest or beauty to the way our bodies look. Of course, in any of these areas, it is possible to go too far and cross the line between acceptable ways of nourishing ourselves or decorating ourselves and excessive or wrong actions and attitudes that come from the sins of vanity and pride.

In recent decades, we have seen a great increase and focus on the way people pay attention to the external appearance of their bodies. Think of cosmetic surgeries to enhance the size of breasts or buttocks or lips. In 2018 over 313,000 women had breast-implant surgery—a 50% increase over the number of women who had the surgery in 2000. The average cost is around $7,000. Then there are hair grafts for balding men. In 2006 to 2014 there was a 76% increase in the number of men who had hair grafting done. Today one in 13 men has a transplant procedure and the cost ranges from $4,000 to $15,000 per individual. In the past 22 years plastic surgery procedures have increased at a rate of 131%.

What about tattoos? 30% of all Americans have at least one tattoo. It is a 1.6 billion dollar a year business, with another billion dollars spent on body piercing. Now, not counting people in the military, do you know how many Americans had tattoos in the US in 1950? Answer—17 people. And they all lived in New Jersey. (Just kidding.) I am not criticizing tattoos, just pointing out how this form of body decoration has flourished over the past few decades.

Just to move into another area let's think about food for just a minute. How many print and TV and other kinds of ads are there for food? How many types of ice cream are in grocery freezers? There are foods that are low fat, low cal, no fat, low salt, no salt, high fiber, no gluten, low carb, and foods that contain no preservatives but promise to preserve you! I love the nutrition facts on the side of the box or can. A jar of peanut butter boasts on its label—"only 80 calories per serving," and then you see that their idea of a serving size would not even cover half of a Ritz cracker.

To contrast with all of this, we have the example of St. Mary of Egypt who we commemorate today. After her dramatic conversion, she spent 47 years in the desert east of the Jordan River, in prayer and penance. She wore only the clothes she had on her back and when they deteriorated, she wore nothing. In all that time, she ate only bread along with any herbs, nuts or berries that she could find. She spent little time concerning her body.

St. Mary had a hunger, and we all have a hunger, a yearning, a desire for something, or to be more precise, a desire for Someone. We are built for our God, we cannot be satisfied until we rest in Him. Our souls yearn for the Lord, even if we are not aware of Who He is or how to find Him. If we do not satisfy the thirst of our souls, it becomes very easy to try and gratify our bodies instead and then to give ourselves over to sin, as St. Mary did in her early life. The tropar for today says that she gives example not to be concerned with the fleeting life of this world but rather to care for our eternal souls.

As people in our nation have cared less and less about their souls, it is not surprising they have taken up and paid more and more attention to their bodies. This is why we've seen such an upsurge in tattoos, piercings, cosmetic surgery, hair transplants, and many other practices that focus on the body, along with the increased focus on food and drink. Now I am not saying that getting a tattoo or eating organic foods is necessarily a sign of spiritual trouble. I am not. But I do ask us to consider how much time and effort we spend on the care, maintenance, and beautification of our bodies versus how much time and care we are spending on the care, maintenance, and health of our souls.

Because it's true that our souls can become weak, hungry, and even sick for lack of attention and nourishment and care, our souls long for God and they cannot be silenced with Botox, or piercings, or a new shirt, or probiotic yogurt. Yet people still turn to satisfy the body but neglect the spirit, to decorate that which is passing away without building up that which is eternal, and feeding only the flesh while the soul is starving for grace. We have gradually but surely slipped into a greater and greater focus on our physical selves because we have not satisfied our souls. Look around. What has this lack of attention to our souls done to our society, to our marriages, to our children, and even to ourselves? And for the most part, it is not because people hate God, but so many know so little about Him, and even if they do know Him, they neglect to care for Him because material goods and pleasures seem to offer a quicker and easier solution to the yearnings of the heart, the desires of the soul. How sadly false is that solution, when people think we can satisfy our souls by manipulating people and things in this way or that.

We have two special weeks left to pay special attention to the needs of our own souls, to seek out the grace they need through prayer and fasting and turning ourselves over to Christ. Even if we have not done well this Lent, there is still time to do well, still time to ask for pardon, still time to beg for grace, still time to focus less on the earthly life which is passing away and build ourselves up more completely in love for Jesus Christ, and in love for our neighbor (even if they are family!)

St. Mary led a horrible life until she had her most dramatic conversion to Christ. Unlike her, we may not need a dramatic conversion, but perhaps many little conversions so that we, bit by bit, may turn our lives more completely to Christ as she so completely gave her life one day in Jerusalem. Let's take care of our bodies, but dear friends, let us truly be sure we are also taking care of our souls.