One of the common topics in Christology is how much did Jesus know and when did he know it? Christ was truly divine and truly human. How much divine wisdom and knowledge could fit in his little human brain or be articulated by our feeble human vocabulary?
We won’t know on this side of the veil, of course, but the question does come up when we read gospels like our passage from Mark 5:21ff about the woman with the hemorrhage. Did Jesus really not know who touched him or was he just saying that to get the woman to reveal herself so the miracle could be acknowledged? It could be a little of both.
But the question that is asked is a good one. “Who touched me?”
Anybody who has ever been involved in any kind of ministry in the Church, whether ordained ministry or as a catechist or as a lector, usher, eucharistic minister to the homebound, etc., can tell you. Sometimes reflecting on a visit to a home or washing someone’s feet at Brother Francis Shelter, one sometimes asks the question, “Just who was ministering to whom?” I can’t tell you how various people have touched my heart in a special way or inspired me or gave me hope or an amazing example of faith in my 30 years of priesthood.
“Who touched me?” is a question worth asking often. It makes a great spiritual exercise at the end of the day. As you are kneeling or sitting or lying down at the end of the day reflecting on the day’s events, thanking God for the blessings of the day and learning from its mistakes, ask yourself, “Whom did I encounter that touched me in a particular way?” As you do so, thank God for that person and say an Our Father, a Hail Mary and a Glory Be in thanksgiving. God sends certain people into our lives at certain times because we need them. Giving thanks for such a gift is a great way to end the day.
– Fr. Leo