AMDG
One of my favorite things about the 2011 Mass translation is the phrase "holy and venerable hands" in Eucharistic prayer I.
 |
| this is by Juan de Juanes, in case you were wondering. |
I love it because God chose to have hands, to touch the messy realness of our world. I love it because I stare at my hands and think, I have a God who chose to look like me.
I love it because it brings out the truth of the Incarnation, that God became flesh and dwelt among us.
In ancient times, there was a tradition of tattooing the master's name on the slave's hand. Isaiah 44:5 reflects this: One shall say, "I am the Lord's," another shall be named after Jacob, and this one shall write on his hand, "the Lord's", and Israel shall be his surname. One of my friends has the phrase "Yahweh yireh" or "God will provide" tattooed in Hebrew on her wrist. The idea of religious tattoos, of our bodies bearing the mark of God, is nothing new. Paul speaks of this after a fashion in Galatians 6:17--henceforth, let no man trouble me, for I bear the brand marks of Jesus in my body, although he is referencing the marks left on his body by persecution. Whatever the cause of these brands, they are there for a remembrance, a physical exhortation to never forget the God Who has saved us.
But it goes even deeper than that. In Isaiah 49:15-16, the Lord says, Can a mother forget her infant, be without tenderness for the child of her womb? Even should she forget, I will never forget you. See, upon the palms of my hands I have written your name, and He is making Himself our servant. He is like us in all things but sin, and He came to love us, to redeem us, to give us everything we could ever have imagined and more. He let nails be driven through his hands for you, and his pierced hands are Him telling you that He loves you. He washes our feet, forgives our sins, heals our wounds, dies so that we don't have to.
He is telling you that you are loved, that you are His, and that He will never forget you.
He took on a body for us, a body with hands, and when He lifted up the bread and wine that was His body and blood, that night two thousand years ago, He was thinking of you.
Holy and venerable hands--because He loves you. <3
I love it because it brings out the truth of the Incarnation, that God became flesh and dwelt among us.
In ancient times, there was a tradition of tattooing the master's name on the slave's hand. Isaiah 44:5 reflects this: One shall say, "I am the Lord's," another shall be named after Jacob, and this one shall write on his hand, "the Lord's", and Israel shall be his surname. One of my friends has the phrase "Yahweh yireh" or "God will provide" tattooed in Hebrew on her wrist. The idea of religious tattoos, of our bodies bearing the mark of God, is nothing new. Paul speaks of this after a fashion in Galatians 6:17--henceforth, let no man trouble me, for I bear the brand marks of Jesus in my body, although he is referencing the marks left on his body by persecution. Whatever the cause of these brands, they are there for a remembrance, a physical exhortation to never forget the God Who has saved us.
But it goes even deeper than that. In Isaiah 49:15-16, the Lord says, Can a mother forget her infant, be without tenderness for the child of her womb? Even should she forget, I will never forget you. See, upon the palms of my hands I have written your name, and He is making Himself our servant. He is like us in all things but sin, and He came to love us, to redeem us, to give us everything we could ever have imagined and more. He let nails be driven through his hands for you, and his pierced hands are Him telling you that He loves you. He washes our feet, forgives our sins, heals our wounds, dies so that we don't have to.
He is telling you that you are loved, that you are His, and that He will never forget you.
He took on a body for us, a body with hands, and when He lifted up the bread and wine that was His body and blood, that night two thousand years ago, He was thinking of you.
Holy and venerable hands--because He loves you. <3
No comments :
Post a Comment