This Is My Body

By Christopher Carstens, Editor

The American philosopher, educator, and encyclopedist, Mortimer Adler is one of the founding editors of the Great Books Series of the Western World published by Encyclopedia Britannica. It is no surprise, therefore, that he thought it necessary to pen (with another prolific American educator, Charles Van Doren) How to Read a Book to help students benefit more fully from the time they spend with a text. So popular was Adler’s book, that it spawned an anonymous parody: How to Read Two Books! But all bibliophilic kidding aside, we wish to focus not on the Great Books, but the Good Book. For, there’s also a right way and a wrong way—or, at least, a less than ideal way—to read the Good Book. As Pope Benedict would remind us, we read not only with an eye on the historical and literal meaning of each text, but also with an eye of faith, looking for the Word within the words of Holy Writ.

So, it’s a bit myopic, I admit, when I wonder about certain factoids of Christ’s speech in the New Testament. What, for example, was Jesus’ first recorded word? Upon Mary and Joseph finding him in the Temple at age 12, Jesus asks them: “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” (Luke 2:49). What is the Bible’s shortest translated verse, not only of Jesus’ own sayings, but from cover to cover? “Jesus wept,” records the Gospel of John (11:35), at the death of his friend, Lazarus. What does the Church mean by Jesus’ “last words”? These are not his final words on earth before his ascension, but his final words before expiring on the cross. And so on. Give Christians (and others) 2,000 years to pour though the Bible, and almost no sacred stone goes unturned.

But let me ask another question about Christ’s words, the answer to which should give us substantial food for thought. What are the most quoted, the most repeated words of Jesus today—and have been throughout history?

Before I offer you my answer, let me confess that I don’t know the answer with any certainty. Surely, there are many sayings that contend for the title: “Love one another, as I have loved you” (John 13:34); “I am the way and the truth and the life” (John 14:6); “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Mathew 5:3). Truly, we hear these words often—but not as often as these: “This is my body, which will be given up for you.”

Consider: you might see a John 3:16 sign in the endzone of an NFL game on a Sunday afternoon— “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son”—but think of how many times a single priest, let alone every priest around the world, has already repeated Christ’s words on a given Sunday morning at Mass: “This is my Body, which will be given up for you.” Now multiply that unknown but significant number by 365 days over the course of 2,000 years.