The Power of Hands

From today’s reading…

In the military, when a new commander takes over, the unit’s guidon is passed from the out-going commander to the incoming command in the presence of their commander.

The co-founder of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Carlos Gracie, promoted his son, Carlos Gracie, Jr to black belt, who in turn promoted Nelson Montero, who promoted Marcelo Pereira, who promoted my Professor, Ricardo Guimaraes.

With some luck—and 10 to 13 more years of consistency—I plan to be promoted to black belt by Ricardo.

When that happens, because of Ricardo’s valid promotion, my promotion will be valid.

At that ceremony, he will literally take my brown belt off of me, tie on my black belt, we will bow to one another, shake hands, and embrace…and then he’ll flip me over his back! (It’s a bit rougher than the laying on of hands in the Acts of the Apostles, but it means the same thing!)

The “word of God continued to spread” because the message was valid. The message was valid because those who delivered the message were validly chosen and prepared.

In the Catholic Church there exists reliable, accurate records that trace the laying on of hands from Pope Francis all the way back to Jesus, which means every Pope, Cardinal, Bishop, Priest, Brother, Sister, Deacon, and Baptized Catholic has been touched by Jesus himself.

Knowing that you’ve been touched by Jesus should be enough to help you…

Stay the course. Keep the faith. Endure.