The Wounds of Christ

“By His wounds you have been healed” (1 Pt 2:24). This direct and succinct phrase taken from the First Epistle of St. Peter is an astounding proclamation of hope and love for us. It is not metaphorical or symbolic. Rather, it is a simple statement that tells us that by suffering the wounds inflicted onto His innocent flesh during His Passion and Death, Jesus Christ heals us from our sins and their effects. It announces the defeat of darkness, evil and death. It is the outpouring of the mercy of God upon us. It signals the greatest love story the world has ever known.   
    
“By His wounds you have been healed.” These words must echo in our minds and hearts during these last days of Lent. They remind us of the reality of the healing that Jesus accomplishes for us each day.  As we enter into the sacred days of Holy Week, when we experience the Mystery of Our Lord’s Passion, Death and Resurrection, we should hold the wounds of Our Lord in prayer and contemplation.

We should bring to Our Savior everything that needs to be healed within us. We should come before Him in the Blessed Sacrament, reserved in the tabernacle or exposed on our altars, and tell Him all that is in us that needs healing. We should lay all of it before Him and beg Him to heal us. We can also bring before Him everything in others and in the world that needs healing, and beg for His merciful touch.

“By His wounds you have been healed.” The Lord Jesus also beckons us to come and experience His healing love in the Sacrament of Penance, in Confession. A prayer often prayed by the priest after granting absolution during confession tells us of the power of His Passion. “May the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ, the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary and of all the saints, whatever good you do and suffering you endure, heal your sins, help you to grow in holiness, and reward you with eternal life.” We should come to Confession and let Jesus heal us by the wounds of His Passion.

“By His wounds you have been healed.”  We should attempt to participate in Mass as often as possible, even daily. When we come before the altar at Mass, the Sacrifice of Jesus Christ is truly made present. To be present at His Sacrifice and to be immersed in it at Mass, means to be healed by this great act of love. When we receive His Sacred Body and Blood in Holy Communion, His healing love is poured into us. Truly each of us can say, “By His wounds I have been healed.”

Come during these sacred days and be healed by His love and mercy!

Most Reverend William J. Waltersheid
Auxiliary Bishop of Pittsburgh