Serving the Wounds of Jesus Will Help Your Spiritual Life

St. Faustina shows us how Christ wants to be loved.

“There is more merit to one hour of meditation on My sorrowful Passion than there is to a whole year of flagellation that draws blood; the contemplation of My painful wounds is of great profit to you and brings Me great joy.”

--Jesus’ words to Saint Maria Faustina, entry 369 of Divine Mercy In My Soul

Okay, so most of us aren't doing self-flagellation anymore. But this message rings true all the same. After her spiritual director denied her requests for self-mortification and ordered her to instead meditate on The Passion, Saint Faustina heard “a voice in her soul,” Jesus, who told her that meditation on His Wounds was more pleasing to Him than purposeful self-sacrifice.

“He Himself bore our sins in His body upon the cross…By his wounds you have been healed.”

--1 Peter 2:24

St. Faustina had a deep grasp of pain and redemptive suffering. She spent much of her life in Adoration, meditation, and reflection on His Passion, and in return became a saint here on earth. If you can find time to regularly do that, wonderful!

But those of us who aren’t cloistered contemplatives may not have hours every day to devote to silent meditation. And that’s okay!  We’re all called to serve in different ways, and different does not mean “less worthy than.” There are countless ways we can revere the Wounds of Jesus. Saint Faustina gives us another example of focusing on the Wounds of Christ by serving those in pain.

Serve those in pain to honor Christ's wounds.

In entry number 756 of Divine Mercy In My Soul, Saint Faustina went to bed early. But upon entering her cell, she suddenly felt the “interior inspiration” to go to the cell of another sister.

Once there, she found that sister very ill. Saint Faustina spent time and love caring for this sister, making her more comfortable and getting her a hot drink, before returning to her own cell for the night. Faustina writes that her soul was engulfed by the love of God, and that we should take great heed of our interior inspirations and follow them faithfully to serve those in need.

So whose wounds do we serve?

There’s a quick, pretty much foolproof method for getting direction, which is learning to follow your “interior inspirations,” like Saint Faustina.

Start by thinking for a few minutes about who is wounded in your life, who is forgotten or needs help. Then spend a couple minutes in a prayerful silence, asking God to give you direction. At the end, take inventory. What do you feel? Where do you feel called to go? To whom do you feel you should reach out? Do it.

It may feel a little awkward at first, or like you’re acting on a crazy notion. But seriously, doing this invites God to direct you through a feeling. What you end up doing will look different for each person. Maybe you feel called to:

• Dial up that one isolated friend for a phone call
• Visit your Grandma in the hospital
• Spend time with someone who’s injured or sick, who can’t join in your normal activities
• Reach out to the new parish member who doesn't know anybody else
• Bring over food or flowers to a grief-stricken family
• Babysit for an overwhelmed young mom
• Pray for someone in particular

Whatever it is, if you find yourself serving someone’s wounds, you can remember that through it, you are venerating the wounds of Christ. He yearns for us to see them, validate them, and comfort Him. We can take that same comfort to other people in their wounds, too.

We are promised, not only in Scripture but by many Saints, revering the Wounds of Jesus showers graces upon us and lets us do the work of Christ here on earth. You don’t have to spend all your free time volunteering at a hospital, or start an orphanage in a third-world country, or quit your job to join a non-paying charity instead. For most of us, those things aren’t possible.

What is possible for us is to take one little baby step.

That’s my challenge for you today. Take one little baby step, do one thing today to show Jesus you honor his Wounds. Just one thing, through prayer or through acting in love for someone else.

“There are few souls who contemplate My Passion with true feeling; I give great graces to souls who meditate devoutly on My Passion.”

--Jesus’ words to Saint Maria Faustina, entry 737 of Divine Mercy In My Soul