At the end of the closing Mass of our diocesan Encuentro Hispano this past Saturday, there was a Eucharistic procession through the large meeting tent and around its perimeter. Led by Juan Guido, incense bearer, I carried the monstrance containing the Blessed Sacrament as choir and congregation sang Spanish Eucharistic hymns. Since 2,000 people were present for the Mass, the procession lasted several minutes. Passing through the crowd, I was struck by the reverence and attention of young and old alike.
At one point along the way, I noticed that people began touching my vestments as I passed by. Their gesture momentarily caught me off guard, but then I began to think of the instances in the ministry of Jesus when people sought to touch him.
“She said to herself, ’If only I can touch his cloak, I shall be cured.’” (Matthew 9:21; Mark 5:28)
“He had cured many and, as a result, those who had diseases were pressing upon him to touch him.” (Mark 3:10)
“Whatever villages or towns or countryside he entered, they laid the sick in the marketplaces and begged him that they might touch only the tassel on his cloak; and as many as touched it were healed.” (Mark 6:56; Matthew 14:35-36)
“Everyone in the crowd sought to touch him because power came forth from him and healed them all.” (Luke 6:19)
“People were bringing even infants to him that he might touch them, and when the disciples saw this, they rebuked them. Jesus, however, called the children to himself and said, ’Let the children come to me and do not prevent them; for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Amen, I say to you, whoever does not accept the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it.’” (Luke 18:15)
Processing through the crowd last Saturday, holding the monstrance high, I felt tangibly the reverence of those present for the Blessed Sacrament. Recalling these Scripture passages, I realized how desperately all of us long to touch the Lord Jesus, to be in his presence, to be nourished by his grace. Those who beat their breasts, or made the sign of the cross, or touched my vestments expressed their belief in the Real Presence and their acknowledgement that the Lord was with us. Their actions spoke louder than words.
In many ways, modern culture has lost its sense of reverence, and we would do well to consciously recover it in daily life. There are many reasons we have neglected to cultivate gestures of reverence in recent years, among them an unconscious disparagement of “old-time” practices and a tendency to focus more on ourselves than on the Lord when we go to church.
However, we do ourselves — and God — a great disservice when we neglect to show reverence. Signs of reverence (for example, respectful silence, bows, genuflections, signs of the Cross, appropriate dress, attention, arriving early and remaining for the entire Mass, receiving holy Communion worthily) increase our awareness of God’s presence and help us to be more attentive to what he wishes to do for us. They transfer focus from us to him. Reverence is the very least we owe God, and we do owe it to him.
If we act the same in church as we do in a business meeting, in the classroom, in the family den or on the sports field, we have failed to recognize that God is there. Calling to mind those in the Gospel who traveled miles merely to see the Lord, who stretched their hands through the boisterous crowd hoping to touch just the tassel of his cloak, we should be embarrassed to think that, though present in church, we have paid him no mind. We should act differently in church, but we also need to act differently in church. We need to physically, tangibly, re-direct our focus from ourselves to God.
When Jesus told his disciples they should not prevent the children from coming to touch him, he taught a great lesson. Luke places this passage strategically to contrast the behavior of children with that of some of the Pharisees and the wealthy. The childlike demonstrate naturally their total dependence on God.
Gestures of reverence bring us closer to the Lord. They are a means of paying attention to him, disposing ourselves to listen for his word, and showing our love for him. Our churches should be oases of quiet prayer, where the clamorous crowds – needy and sick and self-righteous and childlike and distracted and spiritually poor and too busy with too many things – come to show God reverence … and be renewed even by touching the tassel of his cloak.
Do you have an intention for Bishop Sartain’s prayer? If so, send it to him c/o Bishop Sartain’s Prayer List, Diocese of Little Rock, 2500 North Tyler St., P.O. Box 7239, Little Rock AR 72217.