Holy Week of 2018, Our Holy Father Pope Francis offered meditations on Jesus' pierced hands, feet and side as a way of getting back to the ancient tradition of meditating on the Sacred Wounds of Jesus.
Sometimes, the pope said, artists want to focus more on Jesus' post-resurrection glory, so they will make a crucifix of gold and adorn it with jewels. But when one is feeling lost or frightened or in pain, he said, look at a crucifix "before the glory" and recognize how Jesus "annihilated himself" to defeat evil and death.
The Pope said that we should pray to enter through Jesus' wounds and arrive deeper and deeper, to His Heart. "Enter into his wounds and contemplate the love in His heart for you, and you, and you, and me, for everyone."
A devotion to Christ's wounds "may sound a bit medieval," the pope said. In fact, meditating on "the five sacred wounds" became popular in the 12th and 13th centuries, but it also enjoyed a resurgence in the 20th century with the growing attention to the Divine Mercy devotions of St. Faustina Kowalska. The Polish nun wrote in her diary that Jesus told her, "When it seems to you that your suffering exceeds your strength, contemplate my wounds."
Great Benedictine saints Mechtilde, Gertrude and Bernard of Clairvaux have guided the faithful in prayers focusing on each wound from the crucifixion. And the beautiful prayer we all learned to pray after Communion:
Soul of Christ, sanctify me.
Body of Christ, save me.
Blood of Christ, inebriate me.
Water from the side of Christ, wash me.
Passion of Christ, strengthen me.
O Good Jesus, hear me.
Within your wounds hide me.
Let me not to be separated from you.
From the wicked foe, defend me.
At the hour of my death, call me
and bid me come to you
That with your saints I may praise you
For ever and ever. Amen.
Body of Christ, save me.
Blood of Christ, inebriate me.
Water from the side of Christ, wash me.
Passion of Christ, strengthen me.
O Good Jesus, hear me.
Within your wounds hide me.
Let me not to be separated from you.
From the wicked foe, defend me.
At the hour of my death, call me
and bid me come to you
That with your saints I may praise you
For ever and ever. Amen.
(Anima Christi- attributed to St. Ignatius Loyola)
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| Lucas Cranach the Elder- 1470 |
"We are not asked to ignore or hide our wounds," the Pope said. "A church with wounds can understand the wounds of today's world and make them her own, suffering with them, accompanying them and seeking to heal them. A wounded church does not make herself the center of things, does not believe that she is perfect, but puts at the center the one who can heal those wounds, whose name is Jesus Christ."