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The five wounds of Jesus
Christ
28.1
First Point
Adore the five wounds of
Jesus Christ Our Lord and consider that he has kept them in his sacred body
as glorious trophies of the victory he gained over hell and sin, from which
he rescued us by his sufferings and his death. Know, says Saint
Peter, that you have been redeemed from a life of vanity, which you
learned from your forefathers, not by silver or gold but by the precious
blood of Jesus Christ, the Lamb without blemish.[i]
These sacred wounds from which this precious blood poured remind us of such
an extraordinary favor.
Often let
your eyes rest on this sacred object; look upon the wounds in your Savior's
body as so many mouths that reproach you for your sins; keep in mind all
that he suffered to efface them.
28.2 Second Point
These sacred wounds do
not only honor the body of Jesus Christ. As Saint Peter declares, they also
help us recognize that Jesus Christ suffered to give us an example, so
that we might follow him and walk in his footsteps. He bore our sins in his
own body on the tree of the cross, so that we might die to sin and live for
justice, having been healed by his bruises[ii]
and by these lovable wounds.
According to
the same apostle, because Jesus Christ suffered death in his flesh,[iii]
realize, when you contemplate the wounds of your Savior, that they should
induce you to die to yourself, that whoever is dead to the flesh sins no
more, that for as long as we remain in this mortal body we should live no
longer according to passions, but according to God's will.[iv]
Such is the conclusion we should draw from these words of the Prince of the
Apostles. The benefit we can derive from the contemplation of Our Lord's
wounds is to renounce sin entirely, to mortify our passions, and to oppose
our too human and too natural inclinations.
28.3 Third Point
These sacred wounds can
procure for us this other benefit: to animate us to a love for suffering.
For his wounds show us how powerfully Jesus Christ was impelled to suffer.
In his glorious body he has preserved the scars of his wounds as so many
ornaments and marks of honor.
As members
of Jesus Christ you should likewise consider yourself honored to suffer like
him and for him. You should, after the example of Saint Paul, glory only
in the cross of your Savior.[v]
Often prostrate yourself
before these divine wounds. Look upon them as the source of your salvation.
With Saint Thomas put your hand into the wound of the side,[vi]
not so much to strengthen your faith but to penetrate, if possible, even to
the heart of Jesus and to draw from there into your own heart sentiments of
truly Christian patience, of entire resignation, of perfect conformity to
God's will, and the courage which will lead you to seek opportunities to
suffer.
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