Part of having a renewed mind-set is realizing that God isn't "just" in Church. God's Presence is at our place of work - didn't Moses find God in the Burning Bush when he was out doing his work of shepherding? God's Presence is in our homes - wasn't Mary in her home when the angel Gabriel appeared to her? God's Presence is on the road - wasn't Paul traveling when the vision of Jesus spoke to him? God makes the ordinary alive and full of His merciful Presence - if we bring our presence, our seeing, our vigilance, our anticipation, to every place and every experience.
But our greatest renewal - being made new - happens when we recognize God's Presence within us. When we accept and embrace the truth that as Christians, our presence is meant by God to convey the Presence of Jesus.
"The incarnation did not end after thirty-three years, when Jesus ascended. God is still here, in the flesh, just as real and just as physical, as God was in Jesus....In the Body of Believers and in the Eucharist, God still has physical skin and can still be physically seen, touched, smelled, heard, and tasted....If it is true that we are the Body of Christ, and it is, then God's presence in the world today depends very much upon us...." (Fr. Ronald Rolheiser, in "The Holy Longing.")
Jesus longs to continue to heal, comfort, love, and forgive people through, with, and in our presence! Yet, this is so often a "place" that we're afraid to go! We don't want to talk to poor people at a food pantry, or visit that relative or friend in the hospital or hospice; we don't want to go to that wake, and we don't want to talk to that neighbor or relative whose wife or husband just walked out. Why? BECAUSE WE DON'T KNOW WHAT TO SAY! WE DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO! We're terrified that we're going to open our mouths and put our foot in it.
But - some humility is needed here. We're asked to trust the God Who lives within us and within the situation first - and then trust ourselves. All God asks us to do is to take the first step, then let go and let God. Most of all, what God asks is that we allow our hearts to be softened, widened, and animated by love. If we forget ourselves and think of the other, then we live out of the heart of Jesus. Our presence needs to be totally enveloped by the Divine Presence within us.
Fr. Rolheiser asks us to remember that "when Jesus walked this earth, people were healed and reconciled to God simply by touching him or being touched by him....In Mark's Gospel we have the following story. There was a woman who had been suffering from internal bleeding for twelve years. She had tried every treatment and seen every kind of doctor, but to no avail. Finally, she said to herself: ' If I but touch the hem of Jesus' garment, I shall be saved.' And she did this. She came up behind him in a crowd and touched his cloak. Instantly the flow of blood stopped, and she was healed. Jesus, however, sensing that power had gone out from him, turned and asked 'Who touched me?' His disciples answered: 'You are being jostled in a crowd. Many people are touching you!' But Jesus continued to look around. Finally the woman, frightened, realizing that she had been healed, came forward, and as Scripture puts it, 'told him the whole truth.' Jesus then said to her: 'Your faith has healed you - be at peace.'"
Fr. Rolheiser continues " ...there are two moments of healing: the initial mute touch, and the explicit exchange between her and Jesus that later takes place...Why?....When she touched the hem of Jesus' garment, she was essentially healed, and when she spoke with Jesus explicitly and told him the whole truth, she was fully healed."
If Jesus continues to heal and reconcile the world today through his Body of believers, this story lays out a pattern for healing and reconciliation: "Just like this woman, we will find healing and wholeness by touching the Body of Christ and, as members of the Body of Christ, we are called upon to dispense God's healing and wholeness by touching others." (Rolheiser)
If we say that God's Presence exists everywhere - work, at home, on the road - we can also say that those are also the places where sin, misunderstandings, and divisions also exist, waiting for healing and reconciliation, often through us. If we simply PAY ATTENTION TO PEOPLE, God will act through our words, our actions, our attitudes, our gestures, that can and will touch people so deeply.
Take the case of the familiar argument at the family supper table, for instance. Suppose you feel underappreciated, exhausted, you've had a bad day at work. You explode! You yell at everyone in the room for no reason, insult them, then stamp off to your room. You're too angry and upset to come out again, so you eventually fall asleep on your bed, fully clothed. Later, you wake up, feeling incredibly stupid. You undress, put your night clothes on, and crawl back into bed - to discover your spouse is there, sleeping on his or her side of the bed. Maybe, he's not asleep - he opens one eye, sees you looking at him, then closes it again. Sanity and remorse are starting to return to you. You feel too raw to say anything, but seeing him/her in the bed is the first sense of comfort you've experienced. Maybe you reach out a tentative foot to touch her, and she doesn't pull away.
In the morning, you screw up courage to go out of the room to the breakfast table, feeling very contrite and foolish. Everyone is having breakfast. They tentatively smile without a word. Someone pours you a cup of coffee. You sit down and begin to eat without speaking a word, but your contrition and wounded pride are evident in every move and every look you give them.
Fr. Rolheiser comments on this kind of all-too-familiar scenario: "Your family is not stupid, and neither are you. Everyone knows what this means. What is essential is being said, without words. You are touching the hem of the garment, you are making the basic move toward reconciliation, your body and your actions are saying something more important than any words: 'I want to be part of you again.' At that moment, the hemorrhaging stops (even if only for that moment). If you dropped dead on the spot, you would die reconciled to your family.....
"What has just been described is, in its rawest, most stripped-down form, the sacrament of reconciliation. We have our sins forgiven by being in community with each other, at table with each other. Bluntly put, we will never go to hell as long as we are touching the community - touching it with sincerity and a modicum of contrition." (Rolheiser)
So often, we worry about not finding the words to say in tense or stressful situations. But if we are in touch with Jesus within - aware of His presence - then we will know how to touch others around us with healing and reconciliation: by words, by gestures, - or even by silence, a listening, accepting silence.
If we are aware of Jesus within us, we will find the grace and the strength to touch the hem of Jesus' garment in the people around us, touch the holy hem with or without words, be forgiven, and be welcomed back to the community.
"Such is the power of the incarnation. Such is the power, and the responsibility, that God has given us in Christ. We can forgive each other's sins; not we, but the power of Christ within us. As Jesus himself tells us: 'In truth, I tell you, whoever believes in me will perform the same works that I do myself, and will perform even greater works." (Rolheiser)
Here is another way to renew your life and relationships in the New Year. One of the greatest stressors and wounds for us is when those we love no longer share our faith or our values or our morals. Perhaps we've argued with them, fought with them, and now we share an uneasy peace. But a deep bond between us has been broken, and we worry about them. Yes, we can and must pray. We can give them the example of our lives, challenge their convictions with our actions if they won't heed our words. But, Fr. Rolheiser says, we can do more.
"You can continue to love and forgive them and, insofar as they receive that love and forgiveness from you, they are receiving love and forgiveness from God. You are part of the Body of Christ and they are touching you. Within the incredible mystery of the incarnation, you are doing what Jesus asks of us when he says 'Whatever you bind on earth shall be considered bound in heaven; whatever you lose on earth shall be considered loosed in heaven.' And 'whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven; whose sins you retain, they are retained' ....If a child or a brother or a sister or a loved one of yours strays from the church in terms of faith practice and morality, as long as you continue to love that person, and hold him or her in union and forgiveness, he or she is touching the hem of the garment, is held to the Body of Christ, and is forgiven by God.... Your touch is Christ's touch."
You might ask - where does this leave the Catholic Sacrament of Reconciliation/Confession? Let's return to the story of Jesus and the woman who touched the hem of his garment. Remember, there were two moments of healing, the touch, and the conversation between Jesus and the woman. Forgiveness through touching the hem of his garment occurs in the touch of the community. Forgiveness and healing through the conversation with Jesus occurs in the ritual words and actions between the priest and the penitent in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.
"The person to person exchange completes something very important and it is part of one organic movement toward full reconciliation, peace, and maturity.....Mature people apologize explicitly and we become mature by apologizing....Anyone familiar with the healing of addictions, who understands how any twelve-step program works, will tell you that until one faces, with searing honesty, one's sins, and tells them, face to face, to another human person, there will be no final healing and peace." (Rolheiser).
This New Year, can we be renewed enough in Christ to acknowledge God's Presence in every place, every situation? Can we be renewed enough to finally face and acknowledge Christ's presence within us? Can we begin to take up the awesome responsibility of allowing God's power to work through us so that our touch is Christ's touch? Can we be converted yet again to the possibility of God's grace transforming our lives?
If we become obsessed with our limits and our imperfections, if we over-think or over-worry, we'll never let go of ourselves enough to let God act through us. Fr. Richard Rohr reminds us that this constant awareness of God in our lives is the work of a lifetime, of each new year - and that we need to be patient with ourselves:
"Space, time, and patience reveal the patterns of grace. This is why it takes most of us a long time to be converted. As Teilhard de Chardin (1881-1953) prayed, 'Above all, trust in the slow work of God.' Our focus eventually moves from preoccupation with perfect action of any type to naked presence itself. The historical word for 'presence' is simply 'prayer.' Jesus often called it 'vigilance,' 'seeing,' or 'being awake.' When you are fully present, you will know what you need to know in that moment. Really!....You don't have to be a perfect person or in a certain place to experience the fullness of God. God is always given, incarnate, in every moment, and present to those who know how to be present themselves."
'YOUR WORD IS A LIGHT FOR MY PATH." (Psalms 119: 105).