The Outstretched Hand of God

Friday, Jan. 19, 2024

In his Christmas message this year, Pope Francis gave a beautiful image of God extending his hand: “He does not point a finger at you, but offers you his little baby hand in order to set you free from your fears, to relieve you of your burdens and to show you that, in his eyes, you are more valuable than anything else.”

This message resonated with me for many reasons, not least because of the reassurance that I am of value to God. One habit I have whenever I feel a lack of self-worth is to repeat silently a paraphrase of Isaiah 43:4 – “I am precious in his eyes, and honored, and he loves me.” Pope Francis echoes this, but adds that Christ is reaching out with “a little baby hand.”

When a baby offers a hand to me, I usually put my index finger into his palm for him to grasp. After reading the Holy Father’s message, I meditated on what it would be like to have the Christ Child grab my finger. His grip would be strong, I think, and he would look in my eyes and smile, as babies usually do. This would be an invitation to pick him up and carry him, welcoming him into my life.

Opening myself to the baby Jesus means caring for him. Like all children, he would need to be fed and cradled. Welcoming Christ means nurturing my faith, feeding it with prayer and the Eucharist. It also means allowing it to grow, as Jesus did, advancing in “wisdom and age and favor before God and man” (Luke 2:52).

Finding favor with God and man in my faith life is difficult for me, because it means putting my faith into action: feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, sheltering the homeless, visiting the sick and imprisoned, sheltering the homeless, bearing wrongs patiently, forgiving all injuries, comforting the afflicted, praying for the living and the dead. From that list on a good day I can check two, which is a failing grade under any system.

And yet God does not shake his finger at me, as Pope Francis points out. Rather, “The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in love,” as Psalm 145 phrases it. Jesus exemplified this: He consistently showed compassion to sinners and forgave even Peter – probably his best friend – for abandoning him in his hour of need. In fact, the only people at whom Jesus shook his finger were hypocritical religious leaders  who “lock the kingdom of heaven before human beings. You do not enter yourselves, nor do you allow entrance to those trying to enter.”  

Despite all my failings I don’t think I qualify as a hypocrite; yes, I often fail to live my faith fully, but I admit it before God and man and strive to improve.

Advent is the season in which we are called to prepare ourselves to welcome the Christ child into our lives. On a personal level, this means turning our attention from the things of this world and preparing instead to be worthy of our savior. To do this we must look “beyond ourselves, expanding our mind and heart in order to open ourselves to the needs of people, of brothers and sisters, and to the desire for a new world,” as Pope Francis said during Advent in 2018.

Accepting the little baby hand extended by the Christ child is a warm and wonderful experience replete with all the joy and wonder that instinctively wraps us when we cuddle a newborn. However, maintaining that love and delight beyond Advent is a struggle for me, especially as I endeavor to set down the baby and pick up the cross offered by the adult Jesus, who urges me to put my faith into action in this world that so desperately needs the peace and salvation promised on Christmas morn. At these times I must set aside my fears and remember that I am indeed precious in his eyes, and loved, and, with his grace, worthy of salvation.