Recently I had a chance to attend Mass at a parish run by the Franciscan Friars. Which meant as it was I was in the back of the church sitting next to a few of the brothers. There was nothing particularly special about this Mass from any other Mass, the exception being that I was fighting a pretty rough cold. Which meant I was coughing, sneezing, and blowing my nose quite often. I wasn’t disruptive with these things, but I’m sure I was noticed.

As  Mass proceeded, it came time for the sign of peace. Being the considerate person I am, I offered the sign of peace to each of the brothers but when they wanted to shake hands with me I politely said I was sick and didn’t want to share that with them. The first brother accepted my excuse with a smile and a nod. The second one however looked at me and said “You, normally we shake hands for the sign of peace, but when you’re sick we give you a hug.” So then there I was giving this Franciscan monk a big hug much to my surprise.

It doesn’t sound like much, but this event oddly struck me in my core. At first I wasn’t sure why but after thinking a little bit, I realized it was because of a story I heard about St. Francis of Assisi once. He was walking down the road and saw a leper, everyone of course was running away from the leper for fear of catching his disease. Francis however in a moment of insane courage ran up to the leper, gave him a hug and kiss, then ran away again.

Loving the sick is part of the mission of the Franciscan, and it was so touching to be on the receiving end of that mission. In many ways I think it’s also a great example of what we are called to do as Christians, that when we find someone who is sick at the sign of peace, we don’t need to shake their hand, we need to give them a hug, because they are still a child of God, and they still need love.