In our gospel for last week (Jn 20), The Risen Christ appears to the disciples saying “The peace be with you” and shows them his wounds- peace and wounds at the same time. It is astounding, that The Risen One, who is the example for us of the perfected human being, has wounds! One would perhaps think that true human perfection is free from pain. But The Risen Jesus Christ shows us that the pinnacle of our development is to bring peace into pain, peace with wounds.

Just like Christ, every human being that comes into this world is meant to be wounded. And the wounds that we are called to carry fester and scar so long as we are unable to say ‘yes’ to them. Our wounds fester and scar so long as we fight against them. We fight against our pain by pretending to the world and to ourselves that we are not actually broken. Or we fight against our pain by pretending to the world and to ourselves that our tragedy’s are what holds us back. Our wounds become infected so long as we dwell on them, unwilling to finally fall to our knees, to walk with the wound as a sacred journey. For carrying our illnesses, our pain, our tragedies, carrying our wounds with dignity and trust, this is peace.

And yet, coming closer and closer to Christ is not only about our own wound (its not all about me!). For Christ’s wounds are not His own. Christ Jesus did not receive wounds for His own development like we do. Christ’s wounds are humanities wounds. He suffers what we suffer. He freely takes on pain that is not His own. And in this, Christ shows us our mission- to carry with peace the pain of others.

Dear friends, Human Beings are destined to shine in the likeness of the Risen One, carrying one another’s pain as if it were our own, blessing each other with the prayer, “The peace be with you.”