Jesus, show me your hands, hands of forgiveness and compassion, hands of healing and mercy, hands of anointing and blessing, which impelled you to give yourself into the hands of your brothers. Open to the events and accepting the difficulties you encountered on your way, Lord, you allowed yourself to be chiseled by the Will of God, carrying on your shoulders all the consequences of the Gospel, until you saw your own hands full of love, full of forgiveness: “Look at my hands,” you said to Thomas (Jn 20:27), and you are saying it to each one of us.

Jesus’ wounded hands are stretched out and never cease to offer themselves, so that you may know the love that God has for you and believe in him (cf. 1 Jn 4:16). “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit;” this is the invitation and the program of life that Jesus whispers and wants to offer to you; he wants to mold you like a potter molds a clay vessel (cf. Is 29:16); to put in you the heart of a shepherd, until you share the same sentiments of Christ Jesus (cf. Phil 2:5), until your heart and his Heart beat in unison.

Jesus, help me to give an apostolic meaning to my life, becoming like a pool of clear water, from which a river flows to irrigate the fields, but not like a stagnant pool, a swamp of egoism. Help me to be your hands.