This 4th week of Advent, I want to work on being thankful for the gift of taste and touch.

The Bible states several thoughts on our senses of taste and touch:

• Isaiah 7 v 14

Therefore, the Lord himself shall give you a sign. Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son and his name shall be Emmanuel. He shall eat butter and honey.

• Psalm 34:8

“Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him.”

• Psalm 119:103

“How sweet are Your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth.”

• 1 Cor 12:17

If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be?

• Isaiah 12 v 11

In that day he will reach out his hand a second time to reclaim the remnant that is left of his people.

• Isaiah 61: 1-3

The spirit of Lord Yahweh is one me Yahweh has anointed me. He has sent me to bring the news to the afflicted, to soothe the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to captives, release to those in prison, to proclaim a year of favor from Yahweh.

Saving the best for last is what I may have been thinking when I left the senses of taste and touch for the last week of Advent. I go to bed thinking of breakfast and waking up in the morning having dreamt about a possible recipe to try and thinking about what we could have for supper. Warren gets tired of my talking about food and I have to stop to realize not everyone thing about food like I do. I enjoy the different textures of food, the colors of food and best of all the taste of food. The rainbow of food God have provided for his people, shiny red apples, evergreen of pole beans, royal color of purple eggplants, and earthy tones of farm fresh brown eggs. Hot, cold, freezing, creamy, spongy, tough, slimy, silky, prickly, mashed, fried, crunchy, just name it and I can name a food that fits that description.

If we look in the textbooks, we will learn a human has about 10,000 taste buds. They’re replace every 2 weeks. As we age our taste buds weaken. We have five basic tastes, sweet, salty, bitter and umami. Umami is the one that might seem odd, it’s the taste that includes cheese, fish, meats and vegetables. It can be considered, more of a complex or savory taste.

Our sense of touch is very important to our very survival. It helps maintain our well-being on a physician and psychological level. We feel tell us feeling of pressure, hot, cold, tickle. The sense of touch is carried out by the largest organ of the body: skin. A baby in the womb can begin to feel at 3 weeks of age. Our skin weigh about 8-10 pounds and there is about 22 square feet of it.

            During this time of Advent, thinking of Mary & Joseph giving birth to the baby Jesus, makes me think of cold, a bumpy ride, and prickly straw. I think they were probably pretty hunger. Not a lot of places to stop along the way. Maybe a bit of cheese, bread, and a few chucks of dried fruit.

            Then we turn to Jesus coming to us at Mass in Holy Communion, as Psalm 33:9 proclaims: “Taste and see that the Lord is sweet. Blessed is the one who hopes in him.”

            In the last week of Advent I pray you will experience, enjoy and be in total wonder and awe at each of the gift of our five senses.

“We talk a lot about the five senses: vision, hearing, smell, taste, and touch. I would add one more…imagination.”
― Wes Adamson