Sunday, September 2, 2007

My dearest God,

I saw her reach out her little hand. Three years old. Fully extending her arm outward, her grandfather standing in the aisle leaned over, took hold and helped her down from the pew.

I had just made the invitation for Holy Communion. The child was the first to receive. Grandpa was second.

As I stood in my robe and stole, holding the bread and juice in my hands, I watched the little girl as her grandfather stood and moved out from the pew. I wished I had had a camera. There was something beautiful about the tiny hand reaching out and the big hand reaching back.

I remember how long I anticipated going to visit the Sistine Chapel in Rome. I had read some of Michelangelo's works. The Agony and the Ecstacy. In the pages I discovered the way the pope had asked the great sculptor to paint the complete ceiling. Michelangelo was 70 years old. In the very center, "man" reaches out his hand and God was reaching back. It is an incredible scene, one that stole my heart as I stood beneath it and wept.

The act of reaching out to someone is really a beautiful gesture. The fact that someone reaches back is even more lovely. Connecting with someone, especially God, is a touching act of love, for whatever reason the two come together. It is such an act of trust.

While I may not be the best one to reach out asking for help, I have known the countless many times you have reached out to me. And for the times I have reached back, I shall always be eternally grateful. When a hand comes to me from nowhere, I know you are present.

Likewise I have experienced the beauty of a human hand reaching out to me. Another beautiful gesture. Kind. Thoughtful.

And my own hand reaching out to someone in need. Taking hold, helping up or out, and leading them out of their sorrowing place, if only a couple steps.

I am taken by the image, one hand taking hold of the other. So perfect as my hand held the body and blood of Christ. One person helping another to a holy meal. Grand!

Your hand
reaches out
again and again.
To all.
I remember
the magnificence
of the holy scene
in the Vatican.
Tears welling up.
Utter joy
of God and man
God and humans
reaching for
one another.
Love.
We cannot survive
without one another.
Humans alone,
unthinkable.
Without God,
inconceivable.

Humbly, Andrea