A Beautiful Email From a Former Student and Present Friend

Last updated on: February 4, 2015 at 7:13 pm by Sam Rocha

A Beautiful Email From a Former Student and Present Friend 2015-02-04T19:13:15-06:00 Sam Rocha

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Rocha,

If you are about to eat dinner, then put off reading this email. It is about dissections.

I have been in anatomy class for three weeks now. A huge portion of the class and my favorite part of it is the lab. For about ten hours every week we cut and pull, prod and poke, rip and tear and break a human corpse. It is simply wonderful. Often I am disgusted by what I am doing. It confuses me, challenges me, and disturbs me. Yet in and through these emotions I find beauty, so much beauty. I also find peace and humility. As I look at the disfigured and macerated face of the corpse I am dissecting, I cannot but laugh at my own efforts that morning to ensure my hair looked decent. Truly I find that we are dust, or in this case bits of bone and fat and skin and muscle cut away and dropped into a large black trash bag.

Today, specifically we dissected the cranial cavity and the spinal cord. It was beautiful. As my professor cut through the final covering of the back the spinal cord appeared. It is so small! How can it be that it controls everything that happens in us! It is beautiful to see the roots of the nerves extend off the main body like roots from a tree. I am the vine you are the branches, Truly the spinal cord is the preserver of everything we do.

And then the brain. What a hideous organ. A handful of worms! And yet one fissure of the brain between two different lobes is called the Sylvan fissure. The forest-like fissure. I looked at the brain as if looking at the trees during a forest hike. So wonderful.

The work to reveal these organs, the work of cutting through scalp (literally scalping a human body) and breaking open the cranium are by far the most difficult to stomach. One must wrench with a lot of force to pull these things apart. My hands ripped up someone’s scalp. How often had he run his hands through his hair?

And then after sawing through the cranium we used a wedge to split the top of the skull cap off with a loud “Crack.” This is dirty work.

But then at mass this afternoon I realized something very powerful. After the priest eleved the Eucharist for the second time saying, “Blessed are those who have been called to the supper of the Lamb.” He lowered Christ and broke him, with a crack. Christ’s crucifixion and sacrifice was dirty work too.

The work we do through this man’s sacrifice of his corpse is serious. It is a deep engagement with this beautiful body we have been given.

Love,

Bob

regular

Previous Post

September 8, 2012

Sep 8, 2012 4:30pm

Next Post

September 10, 2012 Sep 10, 2012 5:11pm

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category aesthetics audio class notes conversation Education En Español Interviews jazz jazzhop link Liturgy Music Nonsense pastoral philosophy phenomenology Philosophy philosophy of education photo Poetry Political Theology quote Race regular Schooling Uncategorized video Weekly Apocalypse

Select a Month June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Which New Testament book has the "Hall of Faith" listing heroes like Abraham and Moses?

Select your answer to see how you score.

1 Peter Hebrews James Galatians