Touch

The first time it happened, I felt like a pet dog. "It" was a gentle stroking down the right side of my head, like someone petting hair much as one would pet the hair of an animal. Since that first time over three years ago, I have frequently felt that stroking, far more frequently, in fact, than I have seen images or heard a Voice. I wondered about it at first. Could this be real? Then, I read Authenticity (Fr. Thomas Dubay), a wonderfully written, highly insightful, impressively knowledgeable book that has been extremely helpful to me in understanding the kind of relationship that God seems to be after. (I would recommend it to one and all.)

I suppose I may have inadvertently prompted this touch by a somewhat related request. Since I can become quite intently involved in any task at hand and fully ignore God even when His presence is nigh onto palpable, I asked Him to squeeze my shoulder if I were to wander away from Him in that manner. Indeed, at times, I have felt that squeeze. I wish I would feel it more strongly and more often because there have been a number of times I have marched off confidently on my own only to have to backtrack because I had not been listening.

The petting, though, was nothing I ever asked for or would possibly have contemplated asking for. It just happened one day, startling me in the same way the Voice does. Over time, though, I have come to find it comforting. Maybe I would make a good pet, after all.

Have any of you felt something similar? What was your reaction?