The Body is Like Mary

A Meditation on Healing, Paradox and the Quiet Holiness of Being Human

“This week, I was sick. And I found myself wondering—how does the Spirit inside us relate to the body when it’s struggling? I came back to something Rumi once said, and it opened up more peace and understanding…”

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“The body is like Mary, and each of us has a Jesus inside.
Who is not in labor, holy labor? Every creature is.”
— Rumi

The last two weeks have battered my body.
A nasty fall in a parking lot.
A vicious little virus that painted fire in my throat.
And a sense—strange and unnamed—that my body was on high alert, struggling in ways I couldn’t explain.

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I sat in the dark, unable to sleep, feeling awful. It hurt to move. It hurt to breathe. And yet… I had the thought:
The essence that I am is not sick. Never has been.
That essence—Jesus, God, Spirit, Mind, whatever name you give it—is infinite rested well-being.
But the Mary part of me… the body… was in labor.