Are you where you are supposed to be? We have heard the phrase “I was in the right place at the right time”. So, where is this place, because I want to be there! And I am certain you do too! We all heard the answer to this very question today, in the reading of the Gospel of Luke Chapter 13. A Good Jew was in the synagogue because it was the Sabbath and on this day Christ was there and He was teaching.
What we heard in this reading today was that this woman who was bent over in crippling pain was there as well. You see, she was in the right place, but we believe this was her custom; she managed to bring her broken body to the temple. So for 18 years, she made her way to the temple, despite her infirmity, she was there! But on this day, Christ saw her and had compassion on her laying His hands on her. He physically touched her! Think about it, how powerful is that? Not just to be in His presence but to have the Son of God touch you! Saint Gregory the Great: writes “He called her and straightened her up, because He enlightened and helped her. He calls us, but does not straighten us up….Our repeated sins bind our hearts, so that we cannot rise to an upright condition. They try, but then slip back. Of necessity they fall even when they do not want to, since they have so long acted according to their own wills. “[Ib., 253, 254.]
So I ask, are you in the right place? Where should a Good Christian be? Over the few years I have been here on Earth, I have known some folks that simply have severe physical infirmities and are just unable to make a weekly pilgrimage to the church. I have also known some folks that make choices that block their weekly trip and then others that think they have plenty of time left to work on their salvation. Are you where you are supposed to be?
Well, we know that our Lord is All-Present (Psalm 33:13-14) but there is something really special here at the church waiting for you. The church is a place where we escape the world and its’ grip and find true worship. And here at the church, the Body of our Risen Lord can physically and mystically touches your tongue when you receive Holy Communion. By eating and drinking the bread and wine which are mystically consecrated by the Holy Spirit, we have indisputable communion with God through Christ who himself is “the bread of life” (Jn 6.34, 41). “I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world.”(Jn 6:51)
Saint John of Shanghai & San Francisco writes: “Communion of the holy Body and Blood of Christ, which strengthens our contact with Him and refreshes us with the living streams of the grace of the Holy Spirit flowing through the Body of the Church, is necessary for everyone.” St. John the Wonderworker of Shanghai and San Francisco, “The Church as the Body of Christ” (Man of God: Saint John of Shanghai & San Francisco‘) You need to be here, you are deeply thirsting for Him. (Psalm 33:13-14) You need that physical touch from the One who suffered and died and defeated death and yearns to touch your crippled body and soul for that which is beneficial for your salvation. Won’t you come?
