Some years back I was involved in a high-velocity ski accident that dislocated my wrist and stretched a nerve in my neck and back. I was lucky. If the nerve had been severed it would have left my arm paralyzed.
I have a priest friend who was not so lucky. He was involved in a high-velocity motorcycle accident that severed a nerve and left his right arm paralyzed. To this day his arm hangs limply at his side. He wears a sling to keep it from getting in the way.
As it turns out after his accident my priest friend and I would serve together in the mission in Venezuela. We lived and worked together in the mission for three years. It was there that I had a chance to observe how he dealt with his disability.
He was a “fix it” guy and I am not. It was amazing. He could do things with one hand that I couldn’t do with two. A broken door handle, a leaky faucet, whatever, he could fix it.
Even more amazing was his attitude. There wasn’t a trace of bitterness about what had happened. He seemed to accept it as just another part of life we learn to deal with. If anything, living with the inconvenience of a paralyzed helped him become an ever more authentically real and compassionate human being.
At one time or another, all of us are wounded by life. Something unfair happens to us that can leave us physically or emotionally scared. The vulnerability of that wound is something we live with. So, the question, “How do we learn to deal with our wounds so they don’t leave us bitter or cynical about life?
As we hear today from John 20 passing through locked doors the Risen Christ appears to the disciples. He shows them his wounds, his hands that had been nailed to a cross, his side that had been lanced with a spear. His wounds hadn’t disappeared. They’re still there. But they are now healed.
A week later when he appeared again, Jesus invites Thomas, who was not there the first time, to touch his wounds. And when Thomas does his own wounds are healed. His wounds of grief, doubt, and discouragement, all of it is healed.
How do we not let the unfair things that happen to us in life leave us cynical or bitter about life? How do we not let those unfair things turn our wounds into embittering wounds? We bring those wounds to the one who was wounded for us. Jesus invited Thomas to touch his wounds. Jesus invites us to do the same.
Jesus says to us, “Come touch my wounds. Put your fingers into the nail marks in my hands and your hands into my side. In these sacred wounds I suffered for you feel the love I have for you.” That’s what brings healing. What could be an embittering wound is now transformed into a sacred wound.
I didn’t realize it at the time but those years watching my friend deal with his vulnerability, the inconvenience of a paralyzed arm, would all those years later help me deal with my vulnerability, learning to deal with the inconvenience of the visual impairment I now live with.
Whatever your wounding is, physical or emotional, bring it to the one who was wounded for us. Touch his wounds. Feel his love. It’s a love that will change what was once an embittering wound into a sacred wound.
