I had the foot massage of a lifetime this week – life saving between flights, when for some reason I got off a 4 ½ hour flight with unbelievably swollen ankles and legs, with only 2 hours before another flight, this time of 8 hours. So I did what I have never done before and went to one of those airport massage zones, and asked for a 20 or 30 minute foot massage, of some sort…

This gentle Malaysian woman called May took one look at my legs and with her broken English advised that I should let her work for an hour, rather than the half hour I had booked. So with a “no pain, no gain” comment I made and she repeated with a smile when I flinched, she systematically worked out some of the knots and fluid I had accumulated, until with a sigh of relief I left that space more human than I had felt for a while, and ready for a flight I was dreading. My sense of gratitude lasted for hours.

It made me think about, and pray, for this woman’s life and expertise… her awareness of how the human body works; her quiet, attentive dedication to the well being of another woman, whom she will most likely never meet again. One life, normal or inconspicuous, for the most part, as are all our lives, which touched mine. And invited me to more humanity, I think.

Other women that blessed me this week were the amazing women at the  International Network of Societies for Catholic Theology [INSeCT] at Bangalore.

In truth, the whole group was really lovely… another day’s post!

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I am praying for heightened awareness, for the capacity to live in the present moment with those who are around me in the now happenings and mishaps I race through or try to jump over. So often my drive has me looking forward – for good reasons – but I lose the simple beauty of shared humanity, in this wonderful but wonky world we live in. I think I miss so much by not having time for and listening to what God gives us generously and freely through those around us…

“Indeed you love truth in the heart…in the secret of my heart teach me wisdom” Ps 51.