The tender mercy of our God has come to visit us Luke 1: 78
For Christmas morning, on seeing the mystery of a God come as a child
Tenderness is the language of the body as a mother holds her child, as a nurse touches a patient's wound, or as an assistant bathes someone with a disability. Recently in a buddhist monastery, I watched a sister as she served us food and tea with great delicacy; it was as if the meal itself was sacred, revealing a presence of God. And so it did, because it was treated so.
Tenderness is the language of the body speaking of respect: the body honours what it touches. It honours reality. It does not act as if reality has to be changed or possessed; reality belongs to humanity and to God. Is not this the way we should relate to all living beings, plants, animals and the earth?
Isaiah wrote about the Messiah
"He will not cry or lift up his voice,
or make it heard on the street;
a bruised reed he will not break
and a flickering wick he will not quench"
Jean Vanier Becoming Human
