Power of Touch

Second Sunday of Lent

March 16, 2014

Matthew 17:1-9

Jesus came and touched them, saying, "Rise, and do not be afraid." (Mat 17:7)

 

We, human, normally possess five senses and the most basic among the five is hardly in our consciousness: sense of touch. In fact, all the other senses are rooted in this particular sense. Eyes need to be in touch with the light spectrum in order to see. Our eardrums receive sound vibrations. Our taste buds are activated when they are in contact with chemical substances coming from the things we chew. And unlike other senses that occupy only small portions of our body, sense of touch virtually covers our entire being. Yet, unfortunately, being most fundamental and common, we tend to take this for granted.

Now, being dominated by sense of touch, every physical contact is very simple yet powerful. Being touchable creatures, each corporeal gesture may make or break an individual. Bodily interaction can either transform or deform a person. One time I visited an orphanage in the heart of Quezon City. I met small kids from the age of 4 to 6, many of them abandoned. One particular thing they would like to do was to hug me and ask me to carry them in my arms. There was a subtle emotional closeness that these kids wanted me to provide, all because they lack the most essential gesture: their physical closeness and loving warmness of their own parents.

When I was still a novice, I was assigned in a leprosarium in Tala, Metro Manila. There, I helped in dressing the wounds of some patients, but more importantly, we listened and became one with these deserted people. These persons belong to exceptional cases since though leprosy is curable nowadays, there was something in their bodily system that rejected the medication. What monstrous about Leprosy is that it slowly eats up our sense of touch! As the lepers’ nerves are plainly disappearing, gradually their limbs are disintegrating due to unfelt wounds and injuries! The sense of touch is critical that the lack or excess of it may kill us in emotional and even literal ways.

Jesus is greatly aware of this power of touch. In today’s Gospel, Jesus expresses his intimacy to the three disciples just in the right time and right way. In the Mount, He is not only transforming into a powerful and terrifying appearance, adored even by Moses and Elijah, but He is also touches His three trembling friends and assures them that very thing is going to be just fine. In fact, reading through the four Gospels, we may be amazed on how ‘touchy’ Jesus is. He embraces a lot of people, including sinners and men with contagious diseases, He enjoys the close company of His disciples, and finally, He gives up His own body and blood as a holy sacrifice for our salvation. “Take and eat: This is my Body!”

Jesus knows that every person longs for sincere intimacy and meaningful friendships, and Jesus understands that these basic desires may be fulfilled by a little yet loving gesture of touch. One thing I notice when I enter the Dominican Order is that the senior brothers would embrace the younger brothers every time, they pass through the crucial stages in their religious life, like wearing habit for the first time, professions and ordinations. We call this ‘abrazzo’. It is indeed a lovely sign of welcoming, but more than that, it is a powerful symbol that tells them, “Don’t worry, you are now safe because we are here!” 

As the followers of Christ, we must no fear to touch and be touched, and let this ordinary and simple gesture become a powerful sign of love and assurance. As Jesus touches our lives, so we shall touch other people’s lives.

Br. Valentinus Bayuhadi Ruseno, OP