When a Ministry Volunteer first arrives to Richmond, VA or Baltimore, MD for their year of service and spiritual formation, they participate in an orientation to BSVM that helps them get to know their fellow Volunteers, their new city and neighborhood, and they’re introduced to some of the program pillars that will shape their year of transformation through service with others. When we talk about the pillar, “Learn through Service with Others,” we look to St. Teresa of Ávila’s prayer, “Christ Has No Body” to help us see our role in building relationships and acting as the bodies “with which [Christ] blesses all the world.”
This year, Sam Wood is our Ministry Volunteer placed with Spiritual Health at Richmond Community Hospital, and through this past fall, he received training with other lay people to serve as Spiritual Care Partners in the Bon Secours Mercy Health system. The six new Spiritual Care Partners were honored in a graduation ceremony this February, and Sam offered the following as a reflection on his experience so far, drawing from the ancient wisdom of St. Teresa and the Magnificat.
St. Teresa of Ávila: Christ Has No 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.
Spiritual Care Partner Graduation Reflection
By Sam Wood (BSVM 2024-2025)
A Graduate of Virginia Tech
Our faith teaches that each person is a unique, invaluable creation of God, and that the same God loves them and thirsts for them with an infinite depth. This God doesn’t just desire to bring us home, as to simply conform us; He delights in us every moment of our lives because we are. And it is with this delight that He courts us day after day for all eternity.
Intellectually, I know all of this is true, but when I first heard of the Spiritual Care Partner, I wasn’t sure how I was going to be of any use in this role. At one point I thought I was going to have to spend many hours studying the Bible, the Catechism, and the Church Fathers. It’s intimidating because – who am I? I’m not some expert on life; I’m not even a Saint yet.
If only I’d known that I was going to be a vessel in this grand cosmic opera, that Christ, having no hands left on earth would use mine, cold and clammy, to hold his Beloved’s hand, reassuring them when there was nothing to be done; that He would use my eyes, scared and naïve, to shoot a glance across the room, that sacred and intimate glance that says what words could never say; that He would use my heart, frail and selfish, to pour Himself out all over again for His Father’s children. If only I’d known that I’d be in the same room while Christ is filling His bride with heavenly consolation, I would have had much more reason to be afraid. And yet, in the end, He’s done it, and so, “My soul magnifies the greatness of the Lord, my spirit rejoices in God my Savior” (Luke 1:46-47).
Sam with the other Spiritual Care Partners
Chaplain Team Supervisor blesses the hands of the Spiritual Care Partners
Sam shares his reflection