SAINT AGATHA, VIRGIN AND MARTYR (MEMORIAL)

They . . . begged him that they might touch only the tassel on his cloak.

When a starstruck teen brushes up against a favorite celebrity, you might hear the giddy reaction, “He touched my hand! I’m never going to wash it again!” We can smile at scenes like this because we know that such breathless encounters, while memorable, are hardly life-changing.

That certainly wasn’t the case with Jesus. The Gospels are filled with stories of people who had life-changing encounters with him. Jesus wasn’t just celebrity-famous; people instinctively understood that he was different. He offered true hope and healing. He healed physical ailments, and he healed wounded souls. He made the blind to see, and he opened people’s spiritual eyes to the mercy and love of his Father. No wonder so many people crowded around him and sought to touch “only the tassel on his cloak” (Mark 6:56)!

That mention of Jesus’ tassel tells us something else: God uses ordinary things to communicate extraordinary love. And not just ordinary “things,” but ordinary people as well. The whole story of the early Church, in fact, is the story of ordinary fishermen, reformed tax collectors, and part-time tentmakers becoming channels of God’s healing power. It’s the story of sinful people just like us spreading the good news throughout the entire known world!

Your Baptism makes you a “tassel on Jesus’ cloak” to the people around you. Your words, your touch, your patience, your compassion—everything about you can introduce people to life-changing encounters with the Lord. Not because you are special in and of yourself, but because of your relationship with Jesus. The closer you are to him, the more readily his life and his love will flow out of you.

So ask the Holy Spirit to keep you connected to the Lord. Ask him to give you greater confidence that when anyone touches you, they are touching Christ. Whether you are offering quiet prayers of intercession or sharing words of encouragement or praying with someone who is hurting, you can be a channel of Jesus’ own life-changing grace.

“Holy Spirit, help me to be the tassel of Jesus’ cloak so that I can bring his love to those who need it.”

1 Kings 8:1-7, 9-13
Psalm 132:6-10
Mark 6:53-56