Haven’t I been hurt enough? Haven’t I been mistreated and abused enough? These are the words I think Jesus is whispering in our hearts when we are slapped on the cheek by our brother or sister in Christ and we feel the rage of revenge rising in our hearts tempting us to slap them back.
Remember, when we are baptized, we become members of the Body of Christ. We are one body. Whatever harm we do in retaliation to our brother and sister in Christ, we do to Christ and to ourselves. It is a self-inflicted wound to Jesus and ourselves. 5,466. In one of her mystical visions, Christ revealed to St. Gertrude that this is the number of wounds he received in total during his passion. When we think of the wounds Jesus experienced during his passion, we so often only think of the five wounds from the nails going through his hands and his feet and his side being pierced. But think of all the wounds from when he was violently scourged, when that crown of thorns was pushed down on his head and when he fell carrying the cross.
Whether or not the body of Christ gets another wound added to this total is up to each of us. So, the next time we’re criticized, humiliated, broken down and beaten verbally, physically, spiritually or emotionally or when we’re treated as less than we should be and we start to feel the anger rising in our hearts and are tempted to seek revenge, let us take a breath and pray, “God, let the fighting end and the peace begin with me. Amen”
June 18, 2018, Year B 11th Monday of Ordinary Time, Matthew 5:38-42