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I came to understand the deep devotion underlying many Catholic customs which had long been strange to me. One of these was the practice on the part of the faithful of reverencing or kissing the hands of a priest, especially a newly ordained priest. Myself a convert to Roman Catholic faith, I had accepted many Catholic beliefs but not all of Catholic practice. Imagine my astonishment when, on a given Sunday morning, a woman communicant, having received communion from me, began to kiss my hands. She was of European origin, a Polish immigrant, I believe. I was taken aback but also moved by her gesture. I understood, perhaps for the first time, the depth of devotion experienced in a hidden way by many inarticulate members of the faithful. Since I was not a priest, I grasped at once that this devotional gesture was offered not to the priest or minister, but to Jesus Christ believed to be present in the sacrament.
*Emilie Griffin, Wonderful and Dark is this Road: Discovering the Mystical Path.
Christ, did I touch You, today? I felt You near, but as Love, not other than love. Love, You convicted me of Love having only Love, for I have seen You, My Love, even today.
This morning, in the faces and hands and smiles, did I touch You? I caught Your scent, and I breathed deeply: that must have been You, for I have breathed that in before and always been left with words I could not speak and thoughts I could not continue to think.
Why is it, this wonderful discovery, that the deeper I penetrate Your heart, the deeper You penetrate my whole being? How is it, that I, born common and raised simple, have been gifted to touch You and be touched by You, in this way, in a mystical touching, and through the world of things that most others simply pass by in their hurried pace?
My love, I do not hurry by. How foolish, once having seen You, to pass You by quickly! Having known this touch, this kiss of the world shining with Your brightness and grace--How I see Your Face, and I rejoice!--, how could I live otherwise, now? To do so would be a passing from the Light back into the shadows, the shadows I see so many live in, being captives to the dark of dark, without knowing this immaculate joy of the bliss of this dark of Light which I touch and which touches me. Oh Grace! How Beautiful! Nothing could be more beautiful for any human to feel and be felt by, or to see or been seen by! If only I could tell this, but I cannot. Possibly, some see me and see.
Today, going into the cave of my own feelings of aloneness, I find something waiting for me. I find the same familiar Friend. But, more than ever, here in this, You shine within my heart, and I know You again, as for the first time, as I did yesterday and last night. Oh my Love! Beautiful and Fair, my Love! Having Your nearness, I can accept all aloneness. And having You, I am had by You. For You have not just shown me intimations of You, You show me You. And I am blessed, thereby! So blessed a man, am I!
You have clothed me with Yourself. What more could a man wish for or ask for, but this? All else, that You will to give me, it can only be more treasure to this overflowing treasure, riches, that even in poverty, would give me all I could ever deserve and ever, rightly, need.
OneLife writings are offered by Brian K. Wilcox, a United Methodist pastor serving in the Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church. He writes in the spirit of John Wesley's focus on the priority of inner experience of the Triune God; scriptural holiness; ongoing sanctification; the goal of Christian perfection (or, wholeness). Brian seeks to integrate the best of the contemplative teachings of Christianity East and West, from the patristic Church to the present. Brian lives a vowed contemplative life with his two dogs, Bandit Ty and St. Francis, in North Florida. OneLife writings are for anyone seeking to live and share love, joy, and peace in the world and in devotion to God as she or he best understands God.
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