Mk 6:53–56
- After the multiplication of the loaves and the calming of the storm, a new summary describes the activity of Jesus in a series of miracles. In many of them there is a personal encounter of Jesus with men, and on the part of them, we see an acceptance of the person of Jesus, the Savior, whom they seek.
- Saint John Chrysostom observes: “They no longer approach him as at the beginning: they do not force him to go to their own homes, or to impose his hands on their sick, or to send to say his word. They now gain the healing in a higher way, more wisely through a greater faith. The woman with hemorrhage had taught everyone this wisdom. Moreover, the Evangelist himself implies that, the Lord had been in those areas before… However, the time Jesus wasn’t there not only had not destroyed the faith of those people in the Lord, it had not only kept it alive, but it had increased it. ” Let us also touch the hem of his garment; moreover, for the truth is that now his Body itself is placed before us, let’s not just touch his garment, but His Body above all. It is not only present to touch Our Lord, but to eat him and be nourished with his flesh. Let us therefore approach Him with a living faith, each one carrying his own illness “(Homilies on St. Matthew 50, 2).
- The Gospel passage which narrates the healing of those who touched the hem of Our Lord’s garment (Mk 6:55-56), somehow justifies a kind of prayer which we could call, “THE PRAYER OF TOUCH”.
- Sincere affection, faith and love towards someone are demonstrated not only with one’s interior faculties (imagination, memory, will) but also through exterior works.
- Prayer also is manifested in the same way: not only interiorly but also through outward manifestations such as touching, kissing, bowing, genuflecting…for all these proceed from an interior disposition of love, faith, adoration, petition, sorrow, and thanksgiving.
- Hence, we should not be scandalized if we see someone who manifests his piety by touching or kissing a sacred image, such as a Crucifix, an image of Our Lord, or of Our Lady or the saints, for when one does so, he is doing it to what is represented by the image itself, as when one kisses a picture of a person he loves.
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