Monday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time (February 5, 2018): Memorial of Saint Agatha, Virgin and Martyr

Our goal as Christians should be to unite ourselves so closely to Christ that people who touch our lives are healed by him, because we are cloaked with his holiness. We wear his garment of love.

I’m not talking about giving others a touch of Jesus. No, this is about being touched by others. Today’s Gospel reading says that all who touched Jesus were healed.

Are there people where you live or work or worship who are trying to touch the Jesus in you? Are you letting them? Or is there something in you that blocks their approach? Do you seem closed off in your own world of concerns? Are they afraid that you’ll get annoyed? Do you intimidate them or make them feel inferior? Are you distracted by your own agenda? Do you tend to push people away because you’re afraid of getting hurt?

(Sometimes we have to set boundaries against being touched in the wrong way. If another’s touch on your life is destructive, that person is not going to get well through you no matter how much Jesus shines in you. God is going to make himself available through someone else, not you.)

When people encounter us they should also encounter Jesus and his love, his smile, his joy, his peace, his healing, and all the good news of the Gospel truth. If we are truly Christian, when people touch our lives, they touch the tassel of the cloak that Jesus wears.

You never know how it’s going to happen. Be ready! One day in the church parking lot, as my husband and I got out of the car, a stranger ran over to us and said, “Give me a hug!” So we did. We both gave her a big, warm embrace and I said, “Jesus loves you.” She replied, “I know! I was in an accident on the way home from church last Sunday. A truck plowed into me. It could have been terrible, but I’m fine!”

Then she added, “I was in your class when you gave that Bible Conference a few years ago.” Apparently, we had touched her back then with the love of Jesus, and now in appreciation for the protection God had given her, she wanted to touch the presence of Jesus in us again. Praise God we hadn’t rushed into church when she came at us!

You are a tassel on the cloak of Jesus, too. Don’t be afraid of the hands that come at you. Be in awe; praise God. People who see that you love Jesus instinctively realize that when they touch you, they touch him — even those who seemingly want nothing to do with Christ and his Church.

For another reflection on this, a testimony by a Good News Ministries team member, see the WordByte “To Touch His Cloak“.

May my works, Lord, help others to recognize Your presence in my life. Amen.