Wednesday of Holy Week

 A Lenten Renewal:
Reflections on the Mass readings in light of our daily lives
By Mother Marie Julie, SCMC
 

Today it seems appropriate to dwell on six words from two distinct Books in Scripture, one in the Old Testament, the other in the New Testament:  Isaiah 53:5 and 1 Peter 2:24.

 

By His wounds we are healed.

 

We have heard them often during these six weeks of Lent: in various parts of the Mass, in the Liturgy of the Hours and in certain forms of the Stations of the Cross.  I wonder if, during or directly after the passion of Jesus when the apostles and his closest followers looked upon Jesus, they thought of these as they slowly began to realize the meaning of His passion and death.  Peter, our friend who nearly lost it all in his weakness at the end of the earthly life of Jesus, quoted Isaiah in his letter long after Jesus had gone Home to His Father.

 

By His wounds we are healed.

 

What a depth of mystery this phrase contains. How could the wounds of Jesus, endured as the price of our sins, become the means of our own healing? What kind of economy of love could be responsible for this?

 

By His wounds we are healed.

 

As we let these words take up residence in our hearts, may they bring us comfort in our own sufferings.  May they color the way we look at our world, struggling as it is in the maelstrom of contradiction and doubt. May they bring peace to the places where we journey each day, carrying the knowledge of the mercy that keeps these wounds alive in our hearts.

 

By His wounds we are healed.

 

Take heart, for I have overcome the world, Jesus said at the Last Supper (John 16:33). We are an Easter People. Hang on. Only four more days…. Soon, all will be Grace and Glory.

 

By His wounds we are healed.

 

 

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