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BISHOP'S OFFICE

Scars Can Be Transformed for Healing

Every one of you is probably all too well acquainted with scars. So am I. I’ve been with families who have lost a parent, with those who have experienced a tragic accident, with those whose lives have been torn apart by fire or storm.

I’ve been with too many parents who lost a child. I’ve been with victims of the violence of war. I’ve seen a boyhood playmate blown to bits as we stood by the seashore in the wake of the Korean conflict. He reached out to pick up an object floating near the shore, which turned out to be a bomb.

I lived under a brutal military dictatorship. I’ve heard the outcry of families separated by the Cold War, through violence and because of an unjust social system and its treatment.
 
In the sorrow, through the pain, behind the locked doors of our loneliness, we are fearful, unaware of the sacred presence and then God breaks in with a greeting of peace. When we look up and recognize God’s presence, we see Jesus, a living reality even in death, and the scars speak. They say, “God knows.”

In the loss or grievous harm of a loved one – a parent, a child, a friend – Jesus comes to us with scars that say, “God knows.” God is not afraid, God does not pull back, and God does not grow distant from the scars. Praise God that Christ is raised with scars and wounds!

Most of us protest, “I don’t want this pain” or “I don’t need this scar.” We want a God who takes away pain and sorrow and scars. We sit in nursing homes or hospitals or living rooms, locked in fear and in our sorrow. We wonder what is next. We wonder if we can bear the pain and, if so, live with the scars that remain.

God uses the scars! I thank God. In my quiet moments I can let God in, and let God see my scars.

When I was a boy, my family was impoverished. My father was sick and disabled. Neither was socially acceptable. I was angry and the scars were deep.

When I was locked in fear, Jesus met me and said, “I can use these wounds for your promising future – to heal and restore and proclaim hope to others – so your suffering, and theirs, is not wasted.” The wounded Christ came into my wounded life, and I found a new wholeness in my life not in spite of but because of my scars.

That’s what the Lord is doing with scars!

The gospel proclaims God is at work precisely in transforming and giving meaning to our wounds. God does God’s best stuff in the scars! God knows what it means to suffer. God suffers with us and for us, the power of the resurrection, the transformation of the cosmos, all in the scars!