Notebook
Have we ever washed our hands so often? Someone sent me a WhatsApp message recently and it had a picture of a man who said he had washed his hands so frequently that the notes he wrote on them for his Leaving Cert exam 30 years ago had re-appeared!
Nearly every TV or radio programme ends with the words ‘stay safe and wash your hands’. It cannot be said often enough, or loudly enough and, thankfully, we seem to be listening. It is a small price to pay to save a life.
There was a hand-washing moment recalled this week that always strikes a chord with me. It was that moment when Pilate requested a bowl and jug to wash his hands, having condemned Jesus to death. He had been warned by his wife that he should have nothing to do with Jesus and, in fairness, he tried all in his power to let Jesus go. All in his power, except the use of his power.
He folded to the roar of the hostile crowd and, against his own heart, his own mind and the warning words from his wife, he said: “Let him be crucified”.
The washing of his hands, in that setting was a wasted exercise and, like the man’s Leaving Cert notes, the stain of that day’s work would engrain itself and become part of his handprint from that day forward. Washing his hands, might get them clean but could not and would not ease his conscience.
It is often the final and definitive moment in a relationship or argument when someone says ‘I wash my hands of you/him/her/them/it’ – akin to the ‘I’m out’ in Dragon’s Den. There seems to be no coming back from that.
Washing is meant to be cleansing, not damaging – a new and fresh start, not an end.
So, washing our hands, by way of excuse or to distance someone cannot be an option for us. On the contrary, I think the gesture of washing our hands is one of welcome – so that we can offer a clean and welcoming hand to another in friendship and support, so that we can tend to another, feed another and be truly supportive.
These are difficult times for us all when, even with washed hands, we are not allowed reach out to another or allow them reach out to us. It has been a long Lent and the road to Calvary this year was all too real for all too many. Everything we may all too easily have taken for granted has been turned upside down and inside out to a point where even the familiar is barely recognisable.
On this Easter Day, we need to hear that familiar voice…to have our Faith restored”
“They have taken my Lord out of the tomb,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him. Can you please tell me so that I can go and get him?”
Even the familiar was unrecognisable on that Easter Day. ‘Mary’ was all he had to say to restore he vision, her Faith and her hope. Just one word but it was spoken with a familiar voice and, in truth, enough was said.
Washing our hands is necessary, helpful and life-saving. We can and will take advice from experts, from our Government and from HSE but on this Easter Day, as we stand at the tombs of so many who have died in recent weeks, we need to hear that familiar voice. We need to have our Faith restored. All of us, perhaps, need to go to the tomb on Easter Sunday and realise again that it has been opened – that he is not there, that he is risen.
But we need to look for him in this uncertainty because he has carved us in the palm of those hands that were washed clean for our sake 2,000 and more years ago. He washed his hands for us, not of us.
Keep washing!
The truth must be said – Lent was a struggle
I’m not proud of it but Lent collapsed for me! I’m a bit old for going off sweets but that was among the bits I tried to do and I failed miserably. I also went off Twitter and, there were a few times I’d like to have used it, but I didn’t – apart from one retweet. I did a little bit on the parish and diocesan Twitter but not my own account.
It was a bit like the joke told about two brothers who used to go out for a pint every evening. One of the brothers moved away but promised his brother he would have a pint with him every evening. So, he’d go to the bar and order two pints. He explained why.
A few months later he came to the bar, ordered one pint and the barman noticed. “Is your brother okay?” he asked. “Yes,” the man replied, “why?”
“I see you only ordered one pint.”
“Oh yes, I know. I’m off it for the Lent!”