THE HEM OF HIS GARMENT – MK 5:21-43

What a mysterious thing…
that a simple memento left by the beloved
is enough, to the loving heart,
to make them present in a particular way.
Perhaps it is a necklace which they wore,
or a shirt that still carries their smell,
or a picture, or a note, or a song.
We experience so often this kind of encounter:
brushing the hem of the garment
of those whom we love.

But on the other hand,
we experience so often the opposite:
we brush shoulders with others
without truly and deeply recognizing them.
Do we realize that we carry,
each one of us, an interior power,
and interior wealth?
The deep personal mystery
which is unique to me, to you, alone.
And this is transmitted, as it were, by osmosis,
in the ever-flowing currents of the Body of Christ.
Souls are in unceasing communication
within the Blood of the Lamb,
bound together to each other
in suffering, in joy, in love, and in hope.

But it is in him, in him alone
that we are truly united, truly one,
for no human affection, no desire
can truly weave hearts together
such that they become an inseparable fabric.
No, he, the Lord Jesus,
first entered into our world of fragmentation,
bearing such a mystery within his breast.
That tiny little human Heart
bears the immensity of God!
And this presence of the Godhead—
of the Father ever-communicating,
the Son ever-receiving and reciprocating the gift,
and the Spirit of ecstatic joy binding both together—
this lives in unceasing movement, in utter truth,
in the Heart of that Man walking Galilee’s streets.

And many brush shoulders with him
without feeling his power,
for they neither seek nor believe.
Is it not as with that picture
of the one whom our heart loves?
A simple glance is enough to vibrate the heart,
both healing and wounding
with the peaceful restlessness of love.

Jesus, you draw near to us
(you could not be nearer),
and you remain here always
where we can brush up against you—
no, where, again and again,
we can touch the hem of your garment,
with faith and the desire to be healed.
And the power within you
flows forth into all that we are.

The hem of your garment!
What am I saying?
You have given us your very Heart!
And yet, then again,
even in that awesome gift of your Eucharist,
and in your indwelling in the depths of the soul,
there is a fabric that conceals you,
and keeps us from seeing you as we desire,
in the fullness of light.
So again and again we touch your garment,
and it is faith that grants encounter
with the awesome Mystery alive in you,
with the awesome Mystery alive in us.