I ACHED FOR HER TOUCH

-
Touch me and see for yourselves; a ghost has no flesh and bones as you can see I have.’ And as he said this he showed them his hands and feet. Their joy was so great that they still could not believe it, and they stood there dumbfounded; so, he said to them, ‘Have you anything here to eat?’ And they offered him a piece of grilled fish, which he took and ate before their eyes. (Luke 23) 


When Maura died I ached for two things - the sound of her voice and her physical touch. We were always physically present to each other - when I returned home from Tanzania, having been away for two years, her hug was fierce and long; we sat shoulder to shoulder on the couch; she linked my arm when we walked. The ache for her touch was my prayer. 

One night I dreamed there was a knock on the front door at home. I ran to open it and there stood Maura. She had come for a visit from her place in the great beyond. I hugged her tight and said with delight "I can actually feel you" and brought her to the kitchen where I asked her if she was able to eat. She said yes and I gave her a mug of tea and a piece of cake and we chatted.  

When I woke from the dream, my ache for her touch was satisfied but what struck me most strongly is that we ate and drank together - she ate and drank. And this reminded me of the passage from Luke 23 which is today's gospel - where Jesus is trying to convince disciples that he is not a ghost but is physically alive. To prove the point, he asks for food. 

At times I go on thinking that life after death is all about spirit but my dream and this gospel passage have reawakened my faith, my expectation, my anticipation of the resurrection of the body - my body, your body. We will touch each other again and we will touch Jesus. I don't know how but I know that God can do anything and it is what we profess in the Creed - "I believe in the resurrection of the body." 

It suggests to me that the mother who has lost her baby will hold her baby again, the father his son, the husband his wife, the friend the friend. We will touch each other perfectly, will relate to each other with perfect and delightful love. The limitations of physical boundaries will no longer hold us back; the limitations of our frustrations with each other will be gone. Our wounds will be healed - present but transformed. 

The prophecies of the heavenly banquet will be fulfilled. And we will enter into the eternal, infinite exploration of the mystery of who God is and who we are in Him. 
  

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Love Was His Meaning

-
Image
‘Love was his meaning’: a conversation about Julian of Norwich between Dr Claire Gilbert and Fr Eamonn Monson. Click on the link below to listen to the conversation https://drive.google.com/file/d/16euftBoLdrM3X1YvEAhK3RznhdAI1LFj/view?usp=drivesdk Claire Gilbert wrote her doctoral thesis on Julian in relation to the ecological crisis, but when she was diagnosed with myeloma, a cancer of the blood, Julian stopped being the subject of her academic study and became her spiritual companion and guide through two and a half years of gruelling treatment.  Claire wrote about this in letters to friends, published as  Miles to Go Before I Sleep .  At the end of the treatment she heard a call to tell Julian’s story and wrote  I, Julian , a fictional autobiography which seeks to do justice to this extraordinary woman’s life. Dr Claire Gilbert is an author.  She is the founding director of the Westminster Abbey Institute, and has worked for the Archbishops’ Council of the C...
Read more

My Name

-
Image
  My name Is not a word To be pronounced More a sound Emanating From God Most High Like the silence Of interstellar space The calm deep of ocean Washing the shore The quiet falling Of an Autumn leaf And then again The roaring of wind Waves crashing on rocks Groaning of the elements A pristine primordial cry And the laughter of delighted children My name is a mystery And I have heard God call it In the unfathomable  Sacrament of the Altar  And in those hidden places Where only He has ventured
Read more

WEAKNESSES (My Special Boast)

-
Image
  "I shall make my weaknesses my special boast” (2 Corinthians 12:9) There's a struggle going on in me, the tiredness that comes with the end of the year, the tiredness I see in teachers and pupils as they come to the conclusion of their academic year. A tiredness and an excited anticipation of endings and freedom. I'm a bit unsteady in myself when I enter the church for the first Sunday morning Mass. I have the pleasure of my sister's company this weekend, but in normal times the first word I speak in the day is spoken when I come for Mass which is preceded by three hours of silence. Silent breakfast, silent prayer, silent preparation. I love that silence and I love the first word that is spoken in the day. The connection with the people of the parish. This particular Sunday morning a young Mum places her new-born baby in my arms. The effect on me is instant. Holding this child close to my chest, all unsteadiness is steadied, all turbulence calmed by a peace that ta...
Read more