In a recent conversation, my spiritual director brought forth the image of Christ’s wounds after the Resurrection. The heavenly Father could have taken the wounds away completely, but He didn’t. Rather, he willed that Christ would retain the wounds but that they would be transfigured wounds. They were still present, but were no longer the open, raw, painful wounds they’d been at the time of the Crucifixion. They were reminders of past suffering without the agony they’d formerly caused. Transfigured wounds.
It’s interesting that in the mean time, the heavenly Father has completely encircled me with people who have caused me serious and in certain cases devastating wounds in the past. It all came about totally by surprise, just when I’d begun to think I could breathe freely again. I feel like I’ve been closed in a suffocating tomb awaiting my own resurrection and the transfiguration of my wounds.
It’s ironic that all this has transpired as I move through the recovery process after my foot surgery. It was a corrective surgery, meant to relieve me of a nuisance that was starting to crimp my style. I decided to undergo the surgery, knowing that it would cause a painful wound that would eventually heal and return me to my former lifestyle. The wound, pain, and restricted activity were necessary in order to regain my freedom.
It’s just like the Crucifixion, entombment, and Resurrection of our Lord, isn’t it? The wounds, the pain, and the three days in the tomb were all necessary so that Christ could rise again and regain our freedom – our salvation.
Reflecting on that gives me great consolation in my present entombment. I know that through God’s goodness and mercy, my wounds will eventually be transfigured.
