Last night I drove Fr Sean to St Dunstan's Parish, Woking for the reconciliation service and confessions. During the service the priest sharing a homily mentioned about the creation narrative and therein spoke of how God used his hands to create human being while the others came about by his mere word.
It struck me for that difference never occurred to me before. All the 5 days of creation mentioned in the Bible (Genesis), God is merely commanding and things appearing. On the sixth day he 'fashions' man (and woman) from the earth with his own hands and then breathes his own breath into them.
Reminded me of how important the feeling of touch is for us human beings. It is that feeling of being touched, cradled, kissed and carried close to the bosom that actually nurtures human infants. Those bereft of these basic forms of human contact tend to miss out a great bit of nourishing. The baby knows by mere touch its own mother. The crying infant calms down when its own mother holds it close to her heart - the child recognizing the heartbeat.
Though the priest did not dwell much on this notion of touch (with him merely mentioning it only once), I find it odd that the whole English culture is averse to touch! Generally people don't touch and don't like being touched. I understand the whole area of personal space, respect for the body and the danger of sexual predators. Nonetheless there is a sort of paranoia which isn't really helpful.
It struck me for that difference never occurred to me before. All the 5 days of creation mentioned in the Bible (Genesis), God is merely commanding and things appearing. On the sixth day he 'fashions' man (and woman) from the earth with his own hands and then breathes his own breath into them.
Reminded me of how important the feeling of touch is for us human beings. It is that feeling of being touched, cradled, kissed and carried close to the bosom that actually nurtures human infants. Those bereft of these basic forms of human contact tend to miss out a great bit of nourishing. The baby knows by mere touch its own mother. The crying infant calms down when its own mother holds it close to her heart - the child recognizing the heartbeat.
Though the priest did not dwell much on this notion of touch (with him merely mentioning it only once), I find it odd that the whole English culture is averse to touch! Generally people don't touch and don't like being touched. I understand the whole area of personal space, respect for the body and the danger of sexual predators. Nonetheless there is a sort of paranoia which isn't really helpful.
