Transformation in the Wounds of Christ – Lent 2025

Summary

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Meditating on the Wounds of Christ is a powerful practice particularly during Lent. Even after His Resurrection, Jesus bears these marks on His body as a symbol of His victory over sin and death won for each of us. Father Patrick Gonyeau invites you to see the Wounds of Christ as a place of comfort and healing, a place where He can transform your own suffering.

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Reflective Study Guide Questions

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“Where have your love, your mercy, your compassion shone out more luminously than in your wounds, sweet, gentle Lord of mercy?”

Saint Bernard

1. What do you think of when you look at the Wounds of Christ? Do you feel indifferent to them or do you see them as a place of comfort? How can you see them as the source of your freedom and healing?

2. How often do you meditate on the wounds of Christ? How can you incorporate this practice into your life so you can more readily receive Jesus’ mercy and extend it to others?

3. Do you unite your own wounds and suffering to Jesus and allow Him to transform them? What holds you back from doing so? What wounds or hardships can you offer up to Jesus?

4. In what ways is Jesus calling you to imitate His self-sacrificial love right now, especially in this season of Lent?

Text: Transformation in the Wounds of Christ

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Hello friends. Father Patrick here with John Stockwell in the renewal of the Mind Daily Devotional and Radio Studio. Check it out at clickoncatholic.com. And I just love having John jump in. So, John, I want to ask you, yeah, what do you think, what comes to mind for you when you think of the wounds of Christ?

What Do You Think Of When You Think of The Wounds of Christ?

Boy, when I, when I think of the wounds of Christ, what, what comes to my mind is that I find great comfort in meditating on the crucifix, because, that is, that is the worst thing that ever happened in the history of the world. And through that, God brought about our redemption. Wow. So to me, to see the wounds of Christ and to see that makes me realize that no matter what I’m going through, God will bring good out of it.

And so if you’re ever feeling down or something’s going on, look at the crucifix and realize that brought about our salvation. So, God’s got this covered. Full transparency. John doesn’t know the content of this session. No, like we, we do radio together. John has worked in secular radio for years, won some awards and then gave, and he’s working with the Catholic church now.

Hallelujah. And so He’s very good at with a theology background sitting down and just talking faith and, uh, He just really just gave the talk in a minute. So have a good week I will see you know, really the wounds of Christ this incredible place of comfort because of what he’s done Well that comes from being a newsman, I summarize it in 20 seconds. So we’re done.

The Mansion of Mercy

Hey, everybody. Well, it’s over Yeah, I got to do a few more minutes. You know, I got to go man the controls. I got the gift again I got already praise the Lord But John, God has kicked off so beautifully and the title of this session is The Mansion of Mercy, The Mansion of Mercy.And the title comes from a portion of a letter that Saint Gaspar del Bufalo wrote to Monsignor Bellisario Cristaldi, January 12th, 1826. Saint Gaspar del Bufalo wrote these words to Monsignor Cristaldi, “Let us remain together in the wounds of Jesus Christ. Our only mansion.” I love that. “Let us remain together in the wounds of Jesus Christ, our only mansion.”

St. Gaspard founded the congregation of the missionaries of the precious blood in 1815 and he had a tremendous devotion. to the blood of Jesus Christ and his preaching empowered by the Holy Spirit. People who heard it said it was like a spiritual earthquake to this day. One of the charisms of the missionaries of the precious blood is the proclamation of the word.

Gaspar would wear a mission cross, a very big cross close to his heart. And he would always preach the saving act of Jesus Christ on the cross, what he did on the cross. And it is Gaspar who called the wounds of Christ. Our only mansion, and I would like to say they’re a mansion of mercy. In one of his letters, he wrote thousands of letters.

St. Gaspar Del Buffo wrote, let us not cease studying the great book of the crucifix. I’m telling you, John the newsman just 40 seconds gave my notes. So, but he said, let us not cease studying the great book of the crucifix. And while John gave us a little bit more of the why, because we’re looking at the wounds of Christ, I wanted to dig into something one of the most precious.

Why Do Catholics Love The Crucifix? 

Encounters I’ve had with God happened on a 30 day silent retreat. You don’t need to go on a 30 day silent retreat to do this. I was gazing practicing Ignatian contemplation. I was gazing on the crucifix at the scene of the crucifixion and Jesus, I was standing at the foot of the cross to the right of Jesus.

And I felt so small and I like even childlike overwhelmed by what was happening, his love. And I had this sense, Deep in my being that I needed his saving love that without the saving love of Jesus. I am doomed like I know my past God knows my past and I don’t live there. He’s redeemed it meditating on what did to heal us and that he chose to do this out of love.

And this is the moment that really sticks with me and I go back to again and again looking at the Eucharist and gazing at the crucifix. Jesus lifted his head in the meditation. He lifted it and he spoke softly, but clearly, and he looked at me and he said, it was worth it. It was worth it. And it just went right through my being that I knew what he was saying because God communicated it in a way I could understand.

It was worth it. Letting me know I was worth it, that he died for me. And that’s the same for you, too. He died for us, just right through our very being. So this is going back to Gaspar saying, Let us not cease meditating on the book of the crucifix. We meditate upon what he’s done for us. We meditate on those wounds of love for us.

And the more that I remember what Jesus has done for me, the more I’m inspired to try to give it to others. Because I know he wants them to know that he did it for them, too. Like right now, I don’t know who’s going to get it yet, but I carry crucifixes on me. And, Normally I’ll have one on as well and I was wearing one in a grocery store a few years ago in Detroit and a lady kindly asked me, she said, Why do Catholics keep Christ on the cross?

And I said to her, you know, I’ve heard different answers over the years and, um, I can’t remember who said what, but, um, I remember a great talk by Dr. Timothy Gray, I think is his name, beautiful guy, so some of this may be from his talk on it, but, um, I just remember telling her I was wearing it and I said to her, she was kind and she was sincere, and so I said to her, You know, he’s not on the cross anymore, he’s risen from the dead.

But, this represents the moment he died for us. This is why Catholics love the crucifix. And I took it off, and I said, would you like this? And the woman was so sweet, she smiled and said, yes, thank you. I’ve never heard that, and I’ll put that on right now. And she put it on right in the aisle of Kroger in Detroit.

Praise the Lord. And so, something I find so fascinating in John’s Gospel, it’s so clear. When Jesus appears to the apostles after the resurrection, we, John tells us that Jesus showed them his hands and his side. He even told Thomas, put your finger here and see my hands and bring your hand and put it into my side. And do not be unbelieving, but believe. He invited communion with Jesus through his wounds.

The Wounds of Jesus

Whoa, okay. A scripture scholar I love who’s gone, passed from this life to the Lord, Father Francis Martin. He said, after the resurrection, Jesus held up his hands and showed the wounds in his hands like they were trophies.

Father Francis said that, thanks Father Francis Martin, like they were trophies. So, a trophy is something that indicates a victory, right? And, indeed, the wounds of Jesus speak of a great victory, so great, He still chooses to have them for you and for me. A great victory over sin and death that was won in perfect love for you and for me, and He can hold those up and say, look, look what you’re worth. Look at the victory I won for you and gazing on Jesus on the cross Gazing upon the wounds in his hands, his feet, his side Kissing the feet, kissing the hands, kissing his side with the crucifix that it tenderizes our hearts, It humbles us. It renews us in the loving gratitude that we receive by looking on the one who says you’re worth it and shows us the trophies the wounds of his love. They become for us A mansion of mercy where we’re continually transformed in love. And of course, in our Lenten journey, it culminates with the wounds of Christ and Holy week, and then the glorious resurrection on Easter Sunday.

Now, very personally, and John made it personal from the get go to, again, he gave the whole talk. So, but very personally, we can soak and he wants us to soak in the reality. You did this for me, Jesus. You did this for me. And when we realize this and we rest in the Lord’s presence, contemplating his crucified love and the wounds of mercy. When we do that, we find ourselves in the mansion of mercy. Now, this is so important. The wounds of Christ are a place of transformation for our wounds and suffering.

Here’s paragraph 1596, uh, 1505 from the Catechism. “By his passion and death on the cross, Christ has given a new meaning to suffering.” “By his passion and death on the cross, Christ has given a new meaning to suffering. It can henceforth configure us to him and unite us with his redemptive passion.” So, when we are in the midst of dealing with brokenness and suffering, coming to Jesus and offering our suffering, offering our life circumstances, and every bit of what we’re going through, offering it to Him, works a mystical change in our lives.

Because by His passion in death on the cross, Jesus has given a new meaning to suffering. It can henceforth configure us to Him and unite us with His redemptive passion. So, suffering offered. When we are going through it, suffering offered to Jesus is suffering united and suffering transformed. Another way to say it is suffering united is suffering placed in the wounds of Christ.

The wounds of mercy and that suffering and whatever’s at the root of it is bound to be touched by the healing resurrection power of Jesus Christ. What is placed in his wounds, the suffering that we go through united to his suffering is bound for transformation by his power, his resurrection power. 

Encountering Jesus’ Love

And outside of the Gospels, I think my favorite scripture in the New Testament is It comes from St.Paul’s letter to the Galatians. And we remember how Paul was transformed. He said, I was the worst of sinners. And Paul wrote this in Galatians 2. I have been crucified with Christ. Yet I live no longer I, but Christ lives in me. Insofar as I now live in the flesh, I live a life of faith in the Son of God who has loved me and given himself up for me.

The wounds become so personal. That you’re able to say, I have been crucified with Christ. I, by His grace, have been allowed to bring His wounds and His crucifixion into my very being and let my very being be brought so into Him that I’m united to Him in that. And like Paul, it’s a grace we could say, and we can say, I have been crucified with Christ.

Yet I live no longer I. Christ lives in me. And so far as I now live in the flesh. We do live in the flesh. I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself up for me. So making it very personal, we can say it like this. I’ve encountered the wounds of Jesus for me. I’ve brought my sufferings and I continue to bring my sufferings and my wounds to his wounds of mercy.

I’ve encountered the wounds of Jesus for me and his last breath poured out for me. And this love, in a very real way, has already allowed me to say, I’m crucified with Christ and any life I could live apart from Jesus is crucified. I don’t want any life I could have apart from Jesus and his love is crucified.

The whole of my life, I’ve entered the mansion of mercy. I’ve experienced the love, his wounds on the cross for me, that love poured out for me. Again and again in the Eucharist, you’re receiving that. Mother Teresa said, when you look at the crucifix, you see how much He loved you then. When you look at the Eucharist, you see how much He loves you now.

The mercy, the wounds of Christ, the love being poured out on you. Encountering that, we find our home in the mansion of mercy, in the wounds of Christ, in the heart of Christ, in the presence of Christ, who was crucified for us, and we in turn say, I have been crucified with Christ, too. Any life I could have apart from Jesus is crucified, it’s dead, I don’t want it.

That is a grace from God. And it’s a grace available to us when we gaze upon the wounds of Christ, we gaze upon the crucifix, we gaze upon the Eucharist, and remember what He’s done for us. Isn’t that ultimately what’s going to bring the greatest transformation in our lives? On our Lenten journey, we come to Good Friday and we see what He did for us, and we know that only one kind of love It’s going to give Jesus what he really deserves and it’s for us to give to get on that cross with him to give him our lives and most of us aren’t, I, you know, wouldn’t be called to be on a cross and crucified like that, but we will be called to self sacrificial heroic love, as he’s making us saints. 

An Invitation For Transformative Grace

So the wounds of Christ, the mansion of mercy. I want to invite you there’s, there’s endless transformative grace. They’re gazing on the crucifix, the Eucharist, the wounds of Christ. I want to invite you at the end of this session to pray and I’ll give a blessing here in a moment, but to really pray, God, intensify my love for the crucifix.

Intensify my love for the wounds of Christ. They’re for me, intensify my love for the Eucharist. His side was open and poured out his precious blood, and he continues to pour into us. His precious blood through the Eucharist intensify my love for bringing. None of us want to have suffering. I get that. Well, at least I’m at the front of the line again, the guy who doesn’t want to fast.

I don’t want suffering. I don’t want fasting. Pray for me. Hey, so we’re all a work in progress now. That’s how I make myself feel better. I tell you, you’re a work in progress too. You know? So that’s gosh, it’s good to have humor, isn’t it? So, okay, but that we could continue to bring our sufferings to the wounds of Christ as well.

We pray for those graces, intensify my love for the crucifix, intensify my love for the wounds of Christ and the Eucharist and for being able to bring my wounds, my sufferings to the wounds of Christ, the mansion of mercy in the name of the father and of the son of the Holy spirit. Amen.

Closing Prayer

Father, bless your precious beloved sons and daughters. Help us never to look upon a crucifix indifferently again. Help us to cherish and let our lips find and kiss often the crucifix and the wounds of Christ knowing these wounds have been taken for us to give us freedom and healing and help us like St. Paul to really find the truth of divine love in our hearts.

I have been crucified with Christ. And may God bless us and keep us and make His face to shine upon us so we know, Yet I live no longer I, Christ is living in me. And so far as I live in the flesh, I live a life of faith in the Son of God, Responding to His love, He who gave everything for me. May Almighty God bless you all beyond all you can ask or imagine.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Happy Lenten journey.

About Fr. Patrick Gonyeau

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