“By His Wounds We Are Healed” – Isaiah 53:5

The last couple of years on the Sunday before Lent, my article contained a list of possible Lenten Penances. I contemplated doing the same thing again this year. However, it just felt like the easy way out and the Lord was pointing me in a different direction.

Over the last few months, I’ve been praying a lot about healing. I think the Lord has been doing a lot of healing in my heart, although there is much more that needs to happen. Also it seems that the Lord is healing a lot of parishioners’ hearts. The healing process is always painful. It involves acknowledging our wounds and pain.

You’ve probably heard of the seven deadly sins: lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy, and pride. All of our sins can be related to these seven deadly sins. Recently I learned about seven deadly wounds, which often lead to our sins. Bob Schucts in Be Healed names seven deadly wounds as abandonment, rejection, fear, shame, powerlessness, hopelessness, and confusion. These wounds affect the core of our identity. When we struggle with something like shame or abandonment, sometimes we react with a deadly sin, like anger or lust.

Throughout his public ministry, Jesus heals people. He heals the sick and the possessed. For us, I believe He wants to heal our wounds. When we experience rejection, Christ wants to show that we are valued and accepted. Unfortunately it is rarely a quick process. Often the Lord works with us slowly but surely to heal our wounds. Sometimes the wounds have to be torn open and cleaned before they can be healed.

Jesus heals our wounds by being wounded Himself. In His passion and death, Jesus accepts the deepest and most painful wounds. The chief priests and scribes reject Him. His own friends abandon Him. He hangs upon the cross, utterly powerless. Jesus freely accepts our deepest wounds to heal them.

He invites us into His passion and death so that our wounds can be healed. A powerful experience of the Passion and Death of Jesus Christ is the Stations of the Cross. While praying the fourteen Stations of the Cross, we journey with Christ in His pain and agony, finding meaning for our own suffering and woundedness.

Recently parishioners participated in creating outdoor Stations of the Cross. They will be put up before Ash Wednesday. I strongly encourage everyone to pray the Stations of the Cross during Lent, either indoors or outdoors. Use this beautiful devotion to grow in love and healing.

Our new Pew Missals have a wonderful rendition of the Stations of the Cross. St. Alphonsus Ligouri composed these meditations and they begin on page 538. During Lent, I highly encourage everyone to grab a Pew Missal to pray the Stations of the Cross. Please return the missal after each use. Please don’t take the pew missals home with you.

This Lent, may we allow the Lord to heal our wounds. Allow the Holy Spirit to work in your heart and life to heal the seven deadly wounds. As your pastor, I’ll be embarking on this journey also. I need Christ to heal my own wounds and I trust that Jesus can do this. “By His wounds we are healed.”

Sincerely in Christ,
Fr. Sean Wilson