“Christ Has No Body But Yours,” a Poem

As I was studying the works of St. Teresa of Avila, I came across a poem that is attributed to her, but apparently is not found in her writings. It seems to be a modern pseudepigraph. Even so, I thought it was beautiful. It is called Christ Has No Body.

Bryce Haymond

As I was studying the works of St. Teresa of Avila, I came across a poem that is attributed to her, but apparently is not found in her writings. It seems to be a modern pseudepigraph. (Update: the words may have been written by Methodist minister Mark Guy Pearse and Quaker medical missionary Sarah Elizabeth Rowntree. See this blog here.)

Even so, I thought it was exceptionally beautiful. It is called Christ Has No Body. It reminds me of Symeon the New Theologian’s We Awaken in Christ’s Body.

Christ has no body but yours,

No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
Compassion on this world,

Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good,
Yours are the hands, with which he blesses all the world.
Yours are the hands, yours are the feet,
Yours are the eyes, you are his body.

Christ has no body now but yours,

No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
Compassion on this world.

Christ has no body now on earth but yours.

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