Touched... and Healed!

THE WORD AND THE SAINTS 

February 6, 2023: Paul Miki and companions, Gonsalo Garcia
Genesis 1: 1-19; Mark 6: 53-56

It did not matter whether they touched the Lord or the Lord touched them, they were healed. Both ways it is an act of faith: to touch the Lord and to allow the Lord to touch us! 'Speak Lord, but a word and my soul shall be healed,' we pray! A word, a touch, a glimpse or a gaze, a whisper... that is all that it takes for us to receive the fullness, from the hands of the Lord who has made us and continues to guard and protect us.

All that we need to know is to understand that we are handiworks of the Master Creator and live our lives according to the mind of the One who has loved us into existence with a well defined purpose and an eternal plan. The question is, how prepared are we to allow the Lord to touch us, and how eager are we to touch the Lord with all sincerity of heart! 

This question is pertinent because, when the Lord touches, nothing remains the same; they change, they transform, they are recreated! And we need to be ready for that change. We would have to let go of a lot of things, finally at times even our very lives! This is what we see in the group of Japanese martyrs we celebrate today - Paul Miki and companions, part of which was also an Indian lay catechist belonging to the third order Franciscans, Gonsalo Garcia. 

Send forth you Spirit, O Lord and the World shall be recreated!