The Rough Riders sometimes give us a Deja fu: The feeling I've been kicked in the head like this before feeling. But I just recently had a Deja two: The feeling that I've experienced this twice before sensation.
Let me explain. I just had an inspiration to write an article on "Touching the fringe of His garment", complete with how we need to be Christ to others. The presence that heals and comforts and inspires. But when I checked, I had already written that article.
Then I thought of the place "Where earth meets heaven", that ancient story about the monks who searched the earth looking for the door to heaven. When they found it, they were back at their monastery, where they lived their daily lives.
Yes, I had written that article earlier as well. I felt like a Vuja De: nothing like this has ever happened to me before. Knowing that the Lord wanted me to do more than just turn a fancy phrase, I thought I'd better get to pondering.
There is so much suffering in the world around us, so much discord in our families and communities, so much need for Christ to be present to remove the despair and give us hope. Maybe that was the assignment I was given to attempt again.
Then I listened to my pastor Sunday morning expounding on the Bread of Life. He shared how his mother insisted that the Mass, the Sunday morning and weekday morning celebrations, was her life. This puzzled her future priest son because her family should have been her life.
Well, the truth eventually became clear. God is love. Receiving the presence of JESUS into our lives through the liturgy was receiving LOVE for family, for neighbour, for the world.
If we receive enough of this LOVE into our lives, it will transform us so much that when others look at us, they will see Jesus himself. Then we will be approachable enough that they can touch us and be touched by us and have an encounter with Christ.
That is the role we commonly find our ministers playing. That is the role all of us are called to through our Baptism - to become prophets and kings. Oops, sounds like another article I've written and I don't want to get into deja trois.
We need the Christ of Mark 6:56. Jesus wants to touch and to be able to cure and heal today. To be the fringe of Christ to others, love has to be in us. Do not worry about our human weaknesses. Love covers a multitude of sins.
And so I repeat what could be called a deja do:
To be the fringe of His garment we need to go where Jesus went when he was alive. We need to visit the sick, comfort the afflicted, feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, and do what we can to provide for the spiritual and physical needs of others. In other words, being the best parent, spouse or child [or member of the community] you can be. Being there for someone when they need you is being that garment of Christ.
When your family or friend needs you, just be there in love and support.
