HUGGING JESUS?

It's 7:10 this past Thursday morning. 

I've finished Morning Prayer and breakfast and am on my way to my third floor room in the monastery. To get to the elevator I have to pass through the lobby of the school (the school building is connected to the monastery on each of the four floors).

Students are already coming through the front door into the lobby. I notice a little seventh grader sitting alone on a bench, so I stop and ask him what’s up. He explains that he's stuck in the lobby because he doesn't have his identification tag. It's up in room 30, his homeroom, but he has no way of getting to it. Without his ID he can't get past the lobby, will be counted as late and may miss his first period class. Being in something of a hurry, I just say to him “Well, you’ll figure something out. Don’t worry!“ 

Then I hustle off and get on the elevator. As I'm riding up to the third floor, my conscience starts to bother me: the elevator is going to let me off on the third floor right by room 30 anyway, and I have a key.

So as I get off the elevator, I decide to go to room 30 and see if I can find this kid‘s ID somehow. I let myself into the room with no real hope of finding the missing tag, but within a few seconds I see it lying on the teacher’s desk!

I scoop it up and head for the lobby, happy that I'll be saving this kid a ton of trouble. 

I walk into the lobby where he is still sitting, and I hold up the ID card so he can see it from across the room. The look of surprise and joy on his face makes my day, and it's only 7:10 in the morning.

When I hand him his card, he seems at a loss for words. He shakes my hand and mumbles “Thank you.” I turn to hurry toward the elevator and my monastery room. 

“Father Al!” I turn around to see him trotting after me. I look down at him (his eyes are at the level of my chest). But before I can ask him what he wants, he says to me, “Can I give you a hug?” 

Mind you, I don’t know this kid at all, and this is the first time that I have ever spoken to him. 

So we trade a quick hug, and go our separate ways.

That little seventh grader's request, “Can I give you a hug?“ has stayed with me. He had been stuck for words, so he solved his problem by asking if he could hug me. How cool is that!

This little encounter has made me think about gratitude. Particularly about being grateful to God for all the things he does for me every day. I often write down in my prayer journal things that I am thankful for, so it’s not as if I'm totally unaware of God's constant gifts.

But then, yesterday I suddenly wondered if I have ever asked God, “Can I give you a hug?”

I’m sure that the Lord would love a hug, but the problem is, how can I hug Jesus?

Actually there are tons of good answers to this question, all of them based on this saying: “Whatsoever you do to one of the least of my brothers, you do to me.” Jesus is very clear about identifying with the poor, the weak, the sick and so on. 

So, when I ask Jesus if I can hug him, he says “Absolutely! Please! You can find me anywhere, and hug me by your kindness, your generosity, your understanding or just by listening to me when I need someone to talk to."

So, this seventh grader's question was itself a gift from God, a reminder that, if God is hugging me all the time, I better be sure to be hugging back!