1. One evening I chanced upon an elderly couple holding hands as they crossed Victoria Street. It was a heart-warming sight: her soft, white right hand, enveloped in his gnarled left hand, one probably sculptured by years of manual work. His face was etched with concern for his wife: she seemed slightly lost and anxious. Their almost insignificant clasping of hands spoke so much about security and tenderness, care and affection.

    Reflecting on their clasped hands, I realized how touch is not often our usual manner of communicating with one another. In everyday life, we are far more comfortable with words than touch. Indeed, it is safer to express our innermost feelings and thoughts with words. A touch, on the other hand, can be dangerous: it says so much more. Indeed, it does not lie; often, it speaks the truth of our deepest selves.

    Looking back on my childhood, I see how true this is in my mother’s embrace and my father’s kisses: these expressed their immeasurable love for my siblings and me. My nephew Glenn reminds me of this truth. These days when I visit him, he says “hello” and “I love you” with a hug that articulates what he cannot yet utter at eighteen months. Indeed, touch is our first language of knowing and showing love.

    Touch is what we yearn for from another whom we love, be it family or friend, because it makes their love and concern, their friendship truly felt in our lives. Their touch assures, as it enlivens. Yet, this that we seek is sadly what we are often unable to give to another freely and comfortably in everyday life. How often do we give a family member a hug at the end of the day? Are we honestly comfortable with patting a friend heartily on the back to encourage and affirm? Isn’t it much easier to say “sorry” than to stretch out our hand to our enemy in reconciliation ?

    To our struggles of expressing ourselves truthfully through touch, Jesus’ response is to show us otherwise. For Jesus, touch is fundamentally a human, if not spiritual way, of being with and for another. Touch was so much part of Jesus’ way of being friend and companion, teacher and master. And through his touch—those acts of healing, comforting, accompanying others he did—Jesus made real God’s great love for many.

    We can make ourselves more human, and the truth of God’s love more real in our lives and those we love and work with, by learning from Jesus. In welcoming, embracing and blessing children, Jesus shows us a meaningful way of being human by ministering to another’s deepest longing to be loved. To touch another is to make God’s love real through deeds rather than words. Francis of Assisi, Mother Teresa, our fathers and mothers did this well when they reached out and touched another. Like them, we do this every now and then too. In these moments, God’s love is far more manifest than any homily, pronoucement or song can convey.

    Perhaps, what humankind truly desires most then in a touch is not satisfaction of a physical want or gratification of an emotional longing. No, what each person seeks deep within himself is an experience of God’s love through another’s touch. And we yearn for this for no other reason than that we were made to be in touch with God.

    This week, we might want to reflect on this question, “Can I begin to be more the person I am called to be by reaching out and touching someone who thirsts for God's love?


    photo: three girls holding hands by ray moller

    0

    Add a comment

"Bukas Palad"
"Bukas Palad"
is Filipino for open palms
Greetings!
Greetings!
Peace and welcome, dear friend.
I hope you will find in these posts something that speaks to you of the God who loves us all and who always holds us in the palm of his hand. Blessings!
The Liturgical Calendar / Year C
Faith & Spirituality
Tagged as...
Blog Archive
Blog Archive
Fall in Love, Stay in Love
Fall in Love, Stay in Love

"Nothing is more practical than finding God, that is, than falling in love in a quite absolute way final way. What you are in love with, what seizes your imagination, will affect everything. It will decide what will get you out of bed in the morning, what you do with your evenings, how you spend your weekends, what you read, who you know, what breaks your heart, and what amazes you with joy and gratitude. Fall in love, stay in love, and it will decide everything."

Pedro Arrupe, sj, Superior General, 1965 - 1983

About Me
About Me
My Photo
is a 50something Catholic who resides in Singapore and works for the Church. He is a priest of the Roman Catholic Church.
Disclaimer
Disclaimer
©adrian.danker.sj, 2006-2018

The views I express in these pages are personal. They do not speak for the Society of Jesus or the Catholic Church.
Loading