INCURABLE WOUND

 

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 18 Tuesday in Ordinary Time is, “Incurable Wound.”

The thought of an incurable wound jumped out at me from today’s first reading from Jeremiah 30: 1-2, 12-15, 18-22.

Listen to Jeremiah’s words again. They are heavy, heavy duty. They are found right there in the beginning of today’s first reading from Jeremiah:

For thus says the LORD:
Incurable is your wound,
grievous your bruise;
There is none to plead your cause,
no remedy for your running sore,
no healing for you.
All your lovers have forgotten you,
they do not seek you.
I struck you as an enemy would strike,
punished you cruelly;
Why cry out over your wound?
your pain is without relief.

Question: is that true? Can there be an incurable wound? Is that like there being an unforgivable sin? There is nothing we can do. Wouldn’t that be a horrible thing to hear?

Haven’t we all known someone who has a sore on their leg – from diabetes or what have you – and the wound just won’t heal? Bummer!

Don’t we all know someone who seems to have a bummer of a hurt – somewhere inside them – on some page or pages – of their story - and based on their face – and their presence – and how they walk into rooms – it seems they are carrying it on their back – some days – more than other days?

The image that hits me about all this is from the movie, The Mission – which takes place in South America in the 1750’s.

Rodrigo Mendoza – played by Robert de Niro – is a bad guy. He kidnaps Guarani Indians and sells them as slaves for plantations. 

The scene that grabbed me is when we see him pulling a big net full of stuff. It’s his armor and his sword. To drag the tools of his trade as a mercenary was the penance a Jesuit priest gives him - as well as for killing his half-brother in a duel. In the movie we find out that Rodrigo discovered his half-brother in bed with de Nero’s girlfriend. Looking at his life, Rodrigo goes into a deep depression of mind and heart.

It’s torturous to see him pulling that bundle through the jungles - up and down hills –– till he changes, repents. Some Guarani Indians see him. The enemy has appeared.  One runs at him to perhaps kill him - but then this Guarani with a knife cuts the ropes – and then like in the story of the Prodigal Son - the celebration begins. 

In time Rodrigo becomes a Jesuit. 

It’s a story of hope that help is possible. Wounds can be healed. Redemption can be discovered. Redemption is possible.

Is that true then: hurts can heal? There is no wound that cannot be healed. Is that true?

SORES OF THE SOUL

I don’t know. Sometimes I wonder. I listen to people who seem unable to feel forgiven of the sins of their youth or their marriage or their lifetime.

I hear people talking about  sores of the soul – cuts – deep inner hurts – that chaff and cause grief for a lifetime.

Someone was sexually abused by another. Someone betrayed someone. Someone made a mistake that was just too much – too, too painful. A marriage crashed and crushed a couple. A family has fallen apart.

The words that they hear inside their inner conversations with themselves are coated with barbed wire or sandpaper.

Then to make things worse: Jeremiah is saying God wounded you, Israel, because of your sins – because of your infidelities.

Does God do that?  Can we picture God zapping someone – wounding someone – and then not forgiving them?

That’s one way of understanding God. That theme strings its way all through the scriptures and all through some people’s thinking on how they see God and life.

Then there are other threads of thinking – that these wounds –  inflicted on us by others – or self-inflicted –  can be healed. It’s added that God does not wound. We do. There are many scripture texts that tell us God forgives – but we don’t many times.

So in this homily I’m wallowing a bit in the question of incurable wounds.

As priest in the 1980’s when we started to hear about some priests abusing children and teenagers – we were shocked.  I know I sat there at a workshop that we were all told to attend. It was 3 days of horror stories - and that sorry saga and anger continues.

The only good news was that there was the possibility of healing when the men who did this went for help in one of these centers around the country.

Years later we were told that that this was an incurable wound – that could not be healed. Bummer.

Many of these priests were abused themselves. That's one disaster. Then there is the horror that those they abused were wounded – many for life.

I stand under the cross and pray for those who have hurt young people and try to hear Jesus’ words from Luke: “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.” [Cf. Luke 23:34]

And sometimes when waiting to hear that, I hear something different.  I hear Jesus’ words, “If any of you put a stumbling block before one of these little ones who believe in me, it would be better for you if a great millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea.” [Cf. Mark 9:42; Matthew 18:6-7; Luke 17:2-5.]

I also pray that if this scandal that hit the Catholic priesthood warns parents to be more vigilant when it comes to whom their kids are alone with - teachers, step-fathers, instructors, coaches, guides, etc. - then that's one good thing that comes out of our embarrassment and shame. 

IN THE MEANWHILE – TODAY’S GOSPEL

Each of us has to address and admit of our own wounds and hurts – our sins and our mistakes. We need to at least try to understand our story – what happened – what we did wrong or how we were wronged by another or others.

As I thought about all this last night it hit me that it’s easier to state the problem – than to heal the problem – or have the would healed.

Today’s gospel – Matthew 14:22-36 - tells us that Jesus can walk across the waters and we can scream out, “Lord, save me.”  We can say to ourselves, “If only I touch the tassel of his garment I can be healed.”

Yes.

WOUNDED HEALERS

Back in the 1979 Henri Nouwen came out with his book, The Wounded Healer.

I heard Henri speak a few times and was moved and challenged every time.

He caused me to pause.

I think that was his greatest gift.

Take a moment and think about this comment in his book, The Wounded Healer, “The mystery of one man is too immense and too profound to be explained by another man.”

That one comment could cause all of us to pause in the middle of a gossip session or a coffee break when we stand there explaining someone else – and get us to shut up about each other. We don’t even know ourselves – and our deepest wounds and beauties.

That’s why we need to have that sign on our walls about the moccasins and the skin.

American Indian Proverb: "Never criticize another till you have walked a mile in their moccasins.”

And Atticus Finch’s statement to Scout, “You never really understand things from his point of view … Until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.” [From Harper Lee’s book, To Kill a Mockingbird.]

After hearing confessions of people for 48 years now as a priest – I know I keep those words of others in mind – and my translation is this: “Just listen and bring Christ and his forgiveness to this person right now – because I don’t know them and I have not walked a mile in their sins.”

“Bless me father for I have sinned….

Hopefully all priests are healers – and I think Henri Nouwen’s book about The Wounded Healer got a lot of us priests to look at our own souls – our own motives – the gut reason why we became priests – in the first place.

One answer: to be healed and to heal.

Last night was I was working on this homily I typed into Google, “Incurable Wound” and found some profound stuff.

I noticed that Carl Jung used that phrase, “Incurable Wound” before Henri Nouwen. I am sure both noticed that Jeremiah used it some 600 years before Christ. I am sure both of them knew it was a theme in literature and life down through the ages.

In preparing these words about incurable wounds I read about a study by Alison Barr who sent an on-line questionnaire to British counselors and psychotherapists asked them psychological wounds was key to why they became counselors and therapists.

Sure enough over 70 percent of them said yes – that they had been wounded – and  that was key to why they got into the field.

I noticed in further reading how therapists are counseled themselves to be aware that other’s wounds and hurts trigger thoughts and memories about their own wounds and hurts. It’s helpful to be aware of that background – but not let it get in the way in being with this particular person.

CONCLUSION: JESUS – THE WOUNDED HEALER

The title of my homily is, “Incurable Wound.”

How do I end this homily?

Upon reading about wounded healers a question hit me loud and clear: is this why so many people turn to Jesus?

I thought about Jesus rejected, beaten, crowned with thorns, nailed to a cross – cursed and spit upon. I thought about all those gory paintings of Jesus beaten and bloody. I’ve often thought about them being too much - including this painting by St. Alphonsus de Liguori:

I thought the same way when I saw the various scenes in the movie, The Passion of Jesus Christ. It all seemed too gory and too much.

But behind it all, is the reason behind all this the need for a wounded healer? Is that the reason behind which so many see Christ and Christianity a key to life?

Is that why so many stand under the cross and look up to Christ for healing?