Right-Hand Man

I stopped in a fast-food restaurant recently to grab a burger and drink.  I was greeted by a friendly man who attended to my order well.  As he handed me the change, I noticed a tattoo on his inner right forearm, it was a bust of Jesus Christ, looking at me.  Tattooed just under the image was the title: “Right Hand Man.”  I had a lot on my mind, and this humble man had God Himself on his right arm, staring back at me.  It was as if God was saying, “I’ve got this, don’t worry.”  I gladly acknowledged how awesome his tattoo was and we both smiled;  I imagine I’m not the first, nor the last to say so!  It got me thinking, how well do we proclaim that Jesus is our right-hand man?

I walked back to my vehicle to sit down to kill some time with my lunch, waiting for an appointment. A sense of shame came over me, as a “professed and confirmed” Catholic, eating my burger oblivious to the taste; pondering the fact that any one of us could die at any time, regardless of our health being good or poor, or us being young or aged.  The thought came to mind of those who would give a hard time to someone for having a Jesus tattoo on their arm.  God says: “If anyone is ashamed of the Son of Man and His doctrine in this selfish and sensual generation, so too shall He be ashamed of that man.”  To think that some (many?) Christians out there would lambaste and go on and on, making sermon material over someone having a few tattoos, yet gloss over the “gentleman’s” club down the street that aids in destroying the love in marriages.  Not to mention the department stores open on The Lord’s Day, pointing us to buy gifts for our loved ones to celebrate Jesus’ birthday each Christmas (talk about irony!).  The Lord knows we need to pay the bills and take care of family needs, for many requiring work on Sundays, but it also cautions us to not let the exception be the norm if not necessary (CCC 2185-2187).

Jesus is Our God.  Do we unabashedly proclaim him before others?  Do we “wear Him on our sleeve,” as it were?  Or do we hide Him under a bushel basket, to live a more “peaceful” life here on Earth?  Is Jesus our right-hand man?  Obviously, we should aspire to be his right-hand man, like John the Baptizer. Spare me the legalism for the moment… that Pharisaical legalism….  Is Jesus our right-hand man?  Or is he hidden in our pocket, wallet, or purse – possibly on a holy card we carry, buried deep and away from the sight of others?  The only proclamation we make is a Sign of the Cross at a meal in public, we stop there, “that is enough,” we may tell ourselves.  We cower behind that as “the end all, be all.”  Maybe we dare go a tad further and hang a Rosary off our rear view.  But that’s it.  We stop there.  Anything beyond “acceptable” tradition in the eyes of society is “too much.”

Finishing my lunch, I began to think about the four last things: death, judgment, heaven, and hell.  Carla on Cheers used to spell out “hell” hesitatingly, “H-e-double hockey sticks,” and for good reason. We ought to be shaking in our boots even mentioning the word!  Many of us have the habit of loosely saying things like, “what the hell.”  We are called to live an upright and holy life firstly, then we are called to evangelize; these two acts work off one another, and lead us closer to Christ The Lord, who is in Heaven waiting for us.  Jesus desires to forgive us immeasurably more than He wants to condemn us.    

Being we are at the end of Advent, John The Baptist sincerely comes to mind.  He was the holiest man that ever lived, according to Christ Himself.  John was a hermit and an evangelizer par excellence. Fulton Sheen referred to John the Baptist as a sort of Best Man for Christ, who would embrace his Bride, the newly forming Church.  John pointed the way.  John was also His “right-hand man.”  Let’s all get together on this one, namely evangelizing, and pray for one another. Read some of the writings of St John Paul II this Advent.  Perhaps some Venerable Archbishop Fulton Sheen.

I’ll leave us with a story that Sheen related in regard to the missionary thrust instilled in us via the Sacrament of Confirmation.  It was about a man that visited a coworker of many years, a communist, in the hospital on his deathbed.  The visitor stated, “Now that you are about to die, don’t you want to make your peace with God?”  The ill man replied, “If your faith meant so little to you, that you never once spoke to me about it, how do you expect it to mean anything to me at the hour of my death?”  Fulton Sheen responds to this dilemma:

A serious realization, therefore, of the Sacrament of Confirmation should make one seek to save souls; and if anyone saves a soul, he stands a very good chance at saving his own.

Back to the man with the tattoo…  the book of Isaiah states that God has carved us on the palm of His hand, an allegory to his fatherly love for us… St Jane Frances de Chantal literally branded the name of Christ on herself, out of fervent personal devotion.  She stated: “Hold your eyes on God and leave the doing to him.  That is all the doing you have to worry about.”  Now I’m not saying we should go and tattoo or brand ourselves, but the point is, who is our right-hand man?  Not only this Advent but in “ordinary” time too?