HOW  TOUCHING 

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 5^th Monday in Ordinary Time is, “How Touching.”

The last sentence in today’s gospel - in English - has this long sentence, “Whatever villages or towns or countryside he entered, they laid the sick in the market place and begged him that they might touch the tassel on his cloak; and as many as touched it were healed.” [Mark 6:56]

I began reflecting on that idea of touching  - being touched - for a homily idea - for today.

WHO TOUCHED YOU?

A good life question could be, “Who touched us?”  “Who influenced our lives?”  “Who has healed us?”

It could have been a great high school teacher who saw us bullied - and they asked to see us after school one day - and asked about our feelings, our hurt, our pain - and we told them and we were healed.

It could have been an aunt or an uncle who was there for us when we didn’t feel our parents weren’t there for us.

It could have been a counselor, a friend, a neighbor, who helped us because we didn’t know how to do something.

It might have been at work - our first job - and someone took us under their wing - and they taught us how to fly.

Who touched you?  That’s a good life time question.

MOVIES, PLAYS, STORIES, SONGS, POEMS, PRAYERS

For some it might be a movie, a play, a story, a song, a poem or a prayer.

I’ll never forget a moment in an Arthur Miller play, The Price, when one brother says to the other brother something like this, “You want the God-Almighty hand shake and you’re not going to get it.” I was moved enough to say, “I’ll never do that.”

I saw a grandmother with a grandson once and she snook a folded $20 dollar bill into his hand as he was going out the door to an outing. I said to her, “That was nice.”

She said, “Oh yeah, I remember being with kids on a bus ride to an amusement park when we were kids and I had no money. We were poor - dirt poor - and I sat on benches and walked around all day and didn’t get on any rides and I wouldn’t want any kid to feel what I felt that day.”

How touching.

ARK OF THE COVENANT

Talk about touching - how about the Art of the Covenant - which is central to  today’s First Reading - 1 Kings 8: 1-7, 9-13.

The Ark of the Covenant - was the sacred box of the covenant - that held the 10 commandments. It was made of wood - 4 foot long, 2 ½ inches high and 2 ½   inches high. It was gold plated. It held the 10 Commandments.

It was a sign of God’s presence,

Just seeing it was a powerful experience for many in Israel when it was paraded around town and into battle or what have you. If someone touched it they could be paralyzed or killed. Yet it was stolen - and used in battle because it was supposed to have power.

Sacred objects send out signals of awe!

If you’re my age you’ve seen the change in touching religious objects - chalices, hosts, communion, crumbs…. You’ve seen people going up to the tabernacle and taking out the ciborium and bringing Christ to the sick and the home bound.

How many Eucharistic Ministers have had life changing thoughts and prayers and feelings in bringing Jesus to someone who is sick?

The tabernacle, the Ark of the Covenant, up here in our sanctuary is mighty important,  but Jesus is in there as food - food for us - food for the sick - food for the journey.

CONCLUSION

The title of my homily is, “How Touching.”

My message is to reflect upon  the touching moments, the healing moments, the significant moments of our lives. Amen.