stretching our hands - 23rd week Monday 2017

Jesus asked the man with withered hand to stretch out his hand, and so doing he was healed of his disability.  Stretching out one’s hand is a form of medicine, said St. Ambrose.  Stretch out your hand for the benefit of the neighbor, stretch out your hand to defend a person suffering because of calumny, stretch out your hand to the poor person who asks for help, stretch out your hand to ask the Lord for forgiveness – stretching out one’s hand, said St. Ambrose, is a medicine which can cure a lot of maladies not just in our selves but also in the world around us, in society.  Hands and arms after all have a lot to say when we decipher our body language.  They speak of selfishness or generosity, they speak of apathy or welcome, they speak of anger or of gentleness and care.
In the Mass we use a lot of hand gestures too to help us convey the values we hold dear as believers of Jesus.  When the priest stretches out his hands he does so to greet and welcome.  St. Benedict would always insist that a Christian community should always be a welcoming community, telling the monks that because of the virtue of hospitality many have encountered and entertained angels in their midst.

In the Mass the priest raises his hands in prayer to signify that he is praying not for himself but on behalf of all. It is a reminder that we come to mass not just for ourselves and our personal needs but to follow the injunction of St. Paul to pray in behalf of all men and women, to pray for the good of the entire world especially those who are suffering because of a dire need.

In the mass we stretch out our hands in a gesture of peace and friendship.  This signifies that we are a community, we value peace and harmony, we place importance on reconciliation and forgiveness for we are the one body of Christ, not isolated individuals but a community who take seriously the command to love one another.

Stretch out your hands, Jesus said to the man with withered hands.  And because he stretched out his hands he was cured.  Hands when stretched can cure a lot of ills not just in ourselves but also in our world.