John 20:11-18
“Noli Me Tangere” by Fra Angelico, c. 1440
“Touch Me not, for I am not yet ascended to My Father.” The question arises here, Why might not our Lord be touched before His ascension, and how could He be touched after it?… Touch Me not, for I am fast passing for your great benefit from earth to heaven, from flesh and blood into glory, from a natural body to a spiritual body (1Cor 15,44)… To pass hence to the Father in My bodily presence, is to descend from the Father to you in spirit. When I am thus changed, when I am thus present to you, more really present than now though invisibly, then you may touch Me ,�may touch Me, more really though invisibly, by faith and in reverence…
“Thou hast seen Me, Mary, but couldst not hold Me; thou hast approached Me, but only to embrace My feet, or to be touched by My hand; and thou sayest, ‘O that I knew where I might find Him, that I might come even to His seat! O that I might hold Him and not let Him go!’ (Jb 23,3; cf. Sg 5,6). Henceforth this shall be; when I am ascended, thou shalt see nothing, thou shalt have everything. Thou shalt ‘sit down under My shadow with great delight, and My fruit shall be sweet to thy taste’ (Sg 2,3). Thou shalt have Me whole and entire. I will be near thee, I will be in thee; I will come into thy heart a whole Saviour, a whole Christ,�in all My fulness as God and man,�in the awful virtue of my Body and Blood.”
~Blessed John Henry Newman (1801-1890) Lectures on Justification
Awwww, so sweet! I’m sure it made you feel happy too. I know when I had a baby I would always worry that the next youngest child in line wasn’t getting enough of me . . .since they suddenly weren’t “the baby” anymore. Plus with his ear infection I am betting he enjoyed the extra mommy snuggle time!