Jesus wants to touch us

DAY VIII ~ Thursday, July 25th "The Eucharist impels us to a strong and committed love of neighbor, for we cannot truly understand or live the meaning of the Eucharist if our hearts are closed to our brothers and sisters, especially those who are poor, suffering, weary or may have gone astray in life." Pope Francis Mark 5, 24-35 There was a woman afflicted with hemorrhages for twelve years. She had suffered greatly at the hands of many doctors and had spent all that she had. Yet she was not helped but only grew worse. She had heard about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak. She said, "If I but touch his clothes, I shall be cured." Immediately her flow of blood dried up. She felt in her body that she was healed of her affliction. Jesus, aware at once that power had gone out from him, turned around in the crowd and asked, "Who has touched my clothes?" But his disciples said to Jesus, "You see how the crowd is pressing upon you, and yet you ask, 'Who touched me?'" And he looked around to see who had done it. The woman, realizing what had happened to her, approached in fear and trembling. She fell down before Jesus and told him the whole truth. He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has saved you. Go in peace and be cured of your affliction."

I grew into in a loving Catholic Home in the 60’s. My family wasn’t perfect, far from it, but we knew we were loved. We weren’t rich, but we always had enough. I have 7 brothers and sisters and my father worked in construction. When it was a good day, we didn’t see my dad. He would leave before sunup and come home well after sunset to provide for the family. My mom was a stay-at-home mom. She took care of my brothers and sisters and me well my dad was off at work. I can’t imagine what it must have been like for my mom to have 8 children growing up under her feet, taking care of us and all our different needs. My mom would always say that she didn’t have favorites that we were all her favorites and she treated us all the same. That was basically true. Except on our birthdays. Birthdays were always special. We would have a cake, presents and we would get to choose the meal for supper that night. Whatever we wanted. Mom did a good job of making us feel special on our birthdays. The other time was when we were sick. My mom was also a nurse and I think the 8 of us taught my mom how to be a nurse. When we were sick my mom focused her attention upon us. Preparing special meals, giving us a bath, whatever it was that would help us to feel better. I had a sister, Peggy who had brain cancer. She was in the Hospital for 6 weeks at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. My mom left us with our grandma so that she could be with her sick daughter night and day. When the Catholic Church was beginning, soon after the Death and Resurrection of Jesus people would gather on Sunday to remember Jesus. They would read the scripture and they would then share the Eucharist. Mass was typically held in people’s homes. When Mass was ended, everything would be cleaned up and the room would revert back to whatever it was the other 6 days a week. I am not sure how it started, but in the early church there was a thought, let us reserve the Eucharist so that we have it if one of us gets sick. So that we can receive the body of Christ in moments of sickness, so we ask for Jesus’ healing in our infirmities. This was the start of the tabernacle; in fact, it was the start of the construction of Churches. The early Church needed a sacred place to reserve the Body of Christ when the community was not gathered to celebrate the mass. The blessed sacrament is reserved here so that we may have it for those who are sick and dying. In fact, I think that you can think of the whole Church as being a tabernacle. Just like my mom knew how to take care of us when we are sick, Jesus knows and wants to take care of us and be with us when we are sick. Today we celebrate the anointing of the sick, but we also receive the body of Christ. Jesus’ great care for each one of us. Again and again in the scriptures we meet Jesus who sought out the sick and needy, the blind and the lame. If you were sick, Jesus wanted to be close to you. And how would Jesus cure the people? He would lay his hands upon them; he would actually spit and touch people’s eyes Jesus would reach out and touch those who were sick. I am sure that we all remember that time of the Pandemic. It was a time for wearing masks and keeping our distance. Many places were closed. It was a time of fear of isolation. The toughest thing for me, is that we were supposed to keep our distances and we weren’t allowed to touch one another. I remember a burial during that time. Only 12 people were allowed in the cemetery, and we all had to keep 10 feet apart. It was so hard to not reach out and touch the aggrieved widow. I can still remember her standing there alone. We need to touch one another. We need to be touched and hug, we need the tender touch of those who love us. We need to be touched by Jesus. Touch is so very important! Jesus desires to reach out and to touch each one of us. Jesus doesn’t want to keep his distances. Jesus wants to touch each of us. Today’s gospel tells the story of a woman who wanted to touch Jesus. Jesus wants to touch us. In our sickness and ailments, we have the desire to touch Jesus. And Jesus has the desire to touch us. In Jesus’ time the sick were considered unclean, the untouchables. No one wanted to touch the sick. Like a person sick with covid, we wanted to keep our distances, we didn’t want to be contaminated. But Jesus has no fear, when the woman touched Jesus, he immediately turned around. He wanted to know who touched him. Jesus told the women, “Go, your faith has saved you!” Jesus didn’t come just to heal us; Jesus came to save us. Jesus didn’t heal the women so they could live another 50 years, he saved her so she could live forever. Jesus didn’t cure the blind so they could see around the marketplace. No Jesus saved the blind so they could see the Kingdom. Jesus didn’t heal the lame so they could walk to work, Jesus saved the lame so they could walk into the kingdom. We come today to receive the sacrament of the sick because we want to touch Jesus. We want to be healed but more importantly we want to be saved. We don’t just want the cancer to go away, we want to live forever. We don’t want our vision to be improved, we want to see Jesus. The miracle stories are not so much about Jesus’ healing or curing. Much more importantly they are about faith. We can’t touch Jesus’ garment in a crowd, we can’t ask Jesus to lay his hands upon us. We encounter Jesus by means of our faith. The words, “your faith has saved you” and “do not be afraid; just have faith.” Aren’t just about the people in the gospel, they are about us well. Jesus wants us to believe in him as well so that he can touch us as well. With faith we can touch Jesus as well, most especially in this Eucharist. But the touching doesn’t end there. Just as we are touched by Jesus, we can touch others in the name of Jesus as well. Let us be the healing presence of Jesus in the world today.