GIVING CHRIST A HAND

I've been told that these hands would be useful for many things. The most interesting was how useful these long fingers would be for picking pockets. The most popular was "those are piano playing hands." And then there were all the sports that they would be good for, though the rest of me was not.

Over the years they have held mop handles and hammers, telephones, textbooks and the hands of a sweetheart. They've been abused quite badly too. You can't make it out in this picture, but on the knuckle of each index finger there is a scar. One came from trying to quickly build a railing on the escape stairs on a theater set of a play called "Ghost". Working too quickly and not paying attention I drove a sixteen penny nail through my knuckle. On the other hand where marks from some long gone stitches are still visible is a scar caused by cutting luminaries out of milk jugs. The carpet knife slipped and ran up my finger.

You see? They are extremely ordinary hands. But some find them beautiful. Sometimes I find myself surprised by it and then I remember the poem, "The beautiful hands of the priest" and then I see their beauty, not because they are mine, but because Christ uses them in the unique vocation of the priesthood.

The importance of these hands was driven home to me one day by Christopher West of Theology of the Body fame. He came to the Diocese of Cleveland to give a talk and by mere chance I found myself alone with him for a minute and was able to tell him how much I appreciated his ministry. He was very gracious and then asked for my blessing which I gave. But after I was finished he took my hands which were hovering above him and pulled them down so that they touched his head. "Father," he said, "people need to feel the touch of their Father." Even thinking about that today I get a little choked up. What these ordinary, long, scared, hairy hands can do! And we've not even begun to mention touching Christ in the celebration of the mass!

You do not need extraordinary hands to be a priest. Your hands will do. Pray about a vocation to the priesthood. But whatever your vocation is to be, allow Christ to work through your hands too.

MEN BEHAVING CHASTELY

"Is it even possible to write a book for men on how to live chastely?" This discussion was held after Dawn Eden spoke at the diocesan seminaries here in Cleveland. Dawn admitted that a large portion of her audience tends to be men who are genuinely interested in living chaste lives. And so the question is inevitably, "Why isn't there something like this out there for men?" Well, of course there is not the least of which is Christopher West's "Winning the Battle for Sexual Purity." I highly recommend this resource. But while believing that it is helpful, even greatly so, and that it is coming from a man who struggled, gained control, and written to men to help follow him (in much the same way that Dawn Eden's book "The Thrill of the Chaste" was written for women) perhaps it is not the most effective of means.

Maybe the reason that Dawn's talk draws so much male attention is that besides a strong, older, male role model that can take you down a peg if necessary (read: DAD, older brother, father figure who is present and morally fit) the other strong influence for men is women who demand to be treated with respect, integrity, and who desire to love chastely until marriage. No, men are not beasts who are always on the prowl and will take it whenever and wherever it is offered, and it is not woman's fault if a man should end up being unchaste with her, BUT I do think - IN VERY GENERAL TERMS - that men will rise to the level that is expected of them. And, if in general women think that they must be unchaste with a man in order to be loved, then men will in general oblige the experiment.

A challenge to some women out there: Write! Perhaps what we need is for you to write a book or an article to men about protecting the integrity, chastity, and virtue of the woman he says he loves: treating with honor, respect, and deference the one who may not only be his life partner, but whom he chooses to be the mother of his children.