1. To Touch something sacred.

Touching is significant in biblical times. It may mean positive and negative implications. In the Old Testament touch became a source of transfer of power, intimacy, healing and power. Significantly, the people begged Jesus to let them “touch only the tassel on his cloak” (Mark 6:56). Their desire to touch was an expression of hope and charity for those who were ill. In the Torah, God commanded Moses to instruct the people to “make tassels for the corners of their garments, fastening a violet cord to each corner.” In Number 15: 37-41, the tassels were meant to be a constant reminder of the Ten Commandments and their commitment to obey that covenant. Therefore, by touching the tassels Jesus wore in obedience to the Torah, the people were touching something sacred to them, worn by Him Who, as God, gave the people the Torah.

2. To submit that Re-Creates

Healing is considered as a second creation. In the Gospel of Mark (6:53-56), the Pope indicated, “we see ‘the other creation’ of God,” namely “that of Jesus who comes to ‘re-create’ what has been ruined by sin.” And “we see Jesus among the people.” Indeed, Mark writes: “‘when they got out of the boat, immediately the people recognized him, and ran about the whole neighborhood and began to bring sick people on their pallets to any place where they heard He was’. And those who touched Him were saved.” This is the “re-creation.” The healing ministry of Christ is a revisit of the story of creation where the person is made whole and well in Christ. In Israel, diseases were associated with sin and healing is the remedy to illnesses and sins themselves.

3. To bridge what separates

The person who is deaf, mute, lame, blind and leprous suffers isolation and rejection. The usually feel that they no longer belong to the community. Many times, the dying are unattended and they lack spiritual preparation for eternal communion with God. The Eucharist is the celebration of Christ’s communion with sinners and those who are sick. St. Ignatius of Antioch thus calls the Eucharist, “the medicine of immortality, and the antidote to prevent us from dying, [which causes] that we should live forever in Jesus Christ.” Taking advantage of this “medicine of immortality” consists in being healed of whatever separates us from God and others. Being cured by Christ in the Eucharist thus entails overcoming our self-absorption. As Benedict XVI teaches, “Nourishing ourselves with Christ is the way to avoid becoming extraneous or indifferent to the fate of the brothers (…). A Eucharistic spirituality is the true antidote to the individualism and selfishness that often characterize daily life, and leads to the rediscovery of gratuity, of the centrality of relationships —starting with the family— with particular attention to healing the wounds of disrupted ones.”