Touch The Hem of His Garment

Coming up this Sunday the Gospel tells of the healing of two women: the woman who was haemorrhaging and the healing of the daughter of a synagogue official called Jairus.

Scripture readings for Sunday's Mass are here.

To get you in the mood this is Basia Bulat's rendition of Sam Cooke's 1956 Gospel song, "Touch The Hem Of His Garment" followed by another video and song that reflects on Christ's hands in his ministry.

Some images in this one a bit cheesy !

Related articles  : I like this article "Outstretched hands".

Extract below...

" It is inspiring to think about the many ways Christ used his ‘outstretched hands’.  We are sometimes so focused on His words as recorded in the gospels, that we forget every aspect of His body was in union with His Father and the Holy Spirit, and vital to sharing the good news. 

 He immediately stretched forth His hand to Peter in the storm, He took the daughter of Jairus by the hand and raised her up, He took a blind man by the hand and touched his eyes, He healed a deaf man by placing his hands into his ears and touching his tongue, He blessed his disciples with his hands, he held young children in his arms.

I don’t get the impression that Christ planned these events or spent a great deal of time thinking or making agonizing decisions about what to do, but His hands were always ready to respond in a way that brought healing, strength, deliverance, peace.

He was so in union with the Father and the Holy Spirit that His hands couldn’t help but be miraculous, couldn’t help sharing eternal life with all He encountered in ways that couldn’t possibly be misunderstood.  

Even though His gestures were often enhanced with words, they didn’t need words to communicate truth.  In fact, I think that often the words were more for the observers and mockers than for the ones being healed or saved.  

What could words add to the true gift of life, sight, sound?  How could those who were healed or delivered not know that Christ was the Way, the Truth and the Life?

When I think about how important it is to qualify my teaching gestures with the Holy Spirit, I become aware of how often my hands act in unqualified or indifferent or irreverent ways.  

My hands are often out of control and graceless even when outstretched, because I forget to stretch my hands out to Christ first.  

When my outstretched hands are not conditioned or made whole by the Holy Spirit, I am actually preventing Christ from reaching out to the person I am gesturing towards, my hands become useless to God, withered.

 And the opposite is also true.  Stretching out my hands to God is also lifting up my heart for healing.  This is the stance of true prayer – hands lifted up to God bringing our whole bodies in submission to Him.  

 As God heals my heart, my withered hands become healed.  The gestures of my ‘outstretched hands’ can then share the life of Christ."

Kimberly Franklin