Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Sick Pilgrim

Home
Catholic
The Dark Devotional: Retain Your Wounds

The Dark Devotional: Retain Your Wounds

Last updated on: March 18, 2016 at 8:29 am by Guest Contributor

The Dark Devotional: Retain Your Wounds 2016-03-18T08:29:05-05:00 Guest Contributor

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Life, death, time. That about covers it.

For the complete Mass readings for March 20, Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion, click here.

I gave my back to those who beat me,
my cheeks to those who plucked my beard;

my face I did not shield from buffets and spitting. (Isaiah 50)

When we make our Lenten lists, we know the usual suspects. Food that makes us unusually happy goes. Care for the needy, if we’re a little more ambitious, is added. Possibly, we get extremely hip and renounce, um, you know, self-satisfaction.

In this Year of Mercy, though, it seems like it might be worth it to go a little old school. What were those Works of Mercy that we all should have memorized more carefully?

The Five Wounds of Christ (source: Bodleian Library)

There are two lists, relating to people’s bodies and their souls, and it’s the second list that we know the least about. The spiritual works of mercy, for example, contain the exhortation to “counsel the doubtful,” something very few of us take on. Possibly because we are afraid that we might be the doubtful. And how would we counsel the doubtful, even if we wanted to?

The most famous of the doubters is Thomas Didymus–and the account that his namesake, St. Thomas Aquinas, gives of Christ’s encounter with the doubter may be of some help. Aquinas quotes Augustine to make a startling claim. Although Christ could have erased his wounds, the primary reason he retained them was for that encounter with the doubting disciple; the pathway to belief for Thomas was in touching Jesus’ wounds.

The martyrs follow suit, Aquinas says (again quoting Augustine). Their wounds are non ad turpitudinem, sed ad immensum decorem…non hoc in eis deformitas, sed dignitas erit (not as a disfigurement but as a great ornamental beauty… not a deformity, but a dignity).

Maybe one preparation for merciful counseling of the doubtful is that we, like Christ, retain our wounds. This Lent, in other words, cultivate contrition. Seek reconciliation. But don’t seek to erase what you have suffered.

Don’t imagine that you should be shiny and seamless. For the sake of the doubtful around you, and perhaps even the doubtful within you, retain your wounds.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4j-GxqugJTE

And I love you with all I am
And you love me with what you are,
As pretty as a twisting vine
A mark so fine
But still a scar. –Joe Henry, 2001

Holly Taylor Coolman is a mother to three, a wife to one, and an assistant professor of theology at Providence College in Providence, RI.

Catholicism

Dark Devotional

women in the Catholic Church

Previous Post

March 16, 2016

St. Patrick, Five Songs and Three Books for a Pilgrimage (It Begins)

Next Post

March 21, 2016 Entering the Story: The Imaginative Power of Traditional Worship

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Advent Approaching Mystery art Book Reviews Catholic Ghost Story Catholicism community Confession Current Events Dark Devotional Deconstruction Deconstruction Fellow Travelers I Want To Believe Interview Laudato Si Lent Mary Matthew's Letters Movie Reviews Music Reviews Our Charism Personal Essay Pilgrims Pope Francis Popular Piety Prayer Publishing Richard Beck Saints Satan Sheed and Ward Sick Pilgrim Charism Sick Pilgrim Chats Sick Pilgrim Events Sick Pilgrim Travelin' Medicine Show Sick Pilgrimage to The West Sick Pilgrims Small Joys Spiritual Autobiography Spooky Files of Ave Maria Magazine Spooky October Spooky Pilgrim Spooky Pilgrimage Strange Journey The Inklings Things Keeping Us Going Trying to Say God TV Reviews Uncategorized women in the Catholic Church Wonder Podcast Write the Vision

Select a Month February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 October 2019 September 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What does "Jubilee" mean?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Restoration Offering Ram's horn Blessed year