A devotion to the wounds of Jesus might be a bit odd to some people, but it actually stemmed from a medieval practice and became popular during the 12th and 13th centuries. Looking into Jesus’ suffering on the cross reveals His unconditional love for us, and can give us a deeper understanding and perspective on Christ’s love, mercy, and compassion.
One of our favorite guided prayer meditations on this particular topic is Beth Davis’ talk from the Pray More Lent Retreat. She used In Sinu Jesu: When Heart Speaks to Heart – The Journal of a Priest at Prayer written by a Benedictine Monk as a guide for the meditation.
There are some points in her talk and the meditation that particularly struck us because of how these meditations are still very much relatable at this time. In the fast-paced digital world that we are currently in, we tend to forget about the important things and we thought we can discuss three points from the meditation that can help align our focus to the Lord and have the chance to step back and take a break.
Saint Paul of the Cross
Before Beth starts the meditation, she talks about the catholic tradition of placing a crucifix in your bedroom or space. She mentioned this quote from Saint Paul of the Cross that we find very striking.
“When you are alone in your room, take your crucifix, kiss its five wounds reverently, tell it to preach you a little sermon, and then listen to the words of eternal life that it speaks to your heart. Listen to the pleading of the thorns, the nails, the precious blood. Oh, what an eloquent sermon.”
This quote deeply reminds us of how we must take time to reflect on the crucifix. Oftentimes we may forget the crucifix in our rooms or spaces because we’re already so used to it being there that can be overlooked, or we are too busy with our early obligations that we forget the most important thing – fostering and prioritizing our relationship with Christ. We must make a little more effort to spend more time with the cross, as having a cross in a room serves as a visual reminder of your faith and can definitely be used as a great anchor during your personal prayer time.
Medition on the Right hand
Going back to the meditations based in Sinu Jesu, let’s start discussing the meditation on Jesus’ wound on the right hand.
The wound in my right hand is your refuge from sins of disobedience and self-will. Take refuge there when you are tempted to take the path that is easy and broad.”
There are times when we are caught up in so many earthly things, that we can no longer consider what God’s will is for us. It’s always what we want for ourselves, and we tend to fall into disobedience. This is a great reflection to remember during those times, so we may fall back to the path of God.
Meditation on the Left Foot
“The wound in my left foot is your refuge against sins of sloth and of spiritual lethargy. Take refuge there when you are tempted to give up the struggle and to consent to despair and discouragement.”
With everything happening in the world now, it is very possible for us to fall into spiritual lethargy. There are a lot of overwhelming things happening around the world, and we can fall into easily giving up or neglecting our relationship with Christ that can lead to weak prayer life. With keeping this meditation in mind, let us ask forgiveness for our tendencies to neglect and permit ourselves to take refuge in this wound.
Meditation on the Side
“Finally, the wound in my side is your refuge from every false love and every fleshly deceit promising sweetness but giving bitterness and death instead. Take refuge in my pierced side when you are tempted to look for love in any creature. I have created you for my love, and my love alone can satisfy the desires of your heart. Enter then the wound in my side, and penetrating even into my heart, drink deeply of the springs of love that will refresh and delight your soul and wash you in preparation for the wedding of your soul with me, for I am the bridegroom of your soul, your savior from all that would defile you and your God who is love and mercy now and unto the ages of ages.”
The overwhelming amount of material possessions that we have within reach today, can also be a double edge sword. Not knowing how to use these things for the good and improvement of our lives can definitely be detrimental to one’s spiritual health.
This meditation speaks of seeking love from any other creature. As humans, we tend to seek out love in material and shallow things that we believe will make us happy. I’m sure we are all guilty of this, at least once in our life we have experienced this desire for the wrong things. It is okay to fall into this once in a while, we are humans after all but it is of great importance to get back up, and remember that there’s only one true love that will make us happy. And that’s God’s love. The only real and true way that we can experience happiness is through His love as we are made for love and with love. You can reflect on this particular meditation whenever you find yourself falling into that rut. To keep you back on track, ask for forgiveness for this tendency, and ask for the grace of God to always bring you back to Him.
Guided Prayers
These meditations are great tools to really foster our love and relationship with Christ. As we mentioned, we are just humans and it’s given that we can fall into these dark areas in our lives, but what matters is that we get up and go back to the Lord to seek forgiveness and continue on with our journey for a life long relationship with Him.
If you want to know more about the meditations that we discussed today we highly encourage you to check out “Guided Prayer – A Meditation on the Wounds of Christ” by Beth Daivs. This talk was part of the Pray More Lenten Retreat this 2021. Another great way to ignite your relationship with Jesus is through attending a retreat. We highly recommend that you check out Pray More Retreat since it’s an all-online retreat that you can do at your own pace!
We hope you enjoyed this meditation, and If you’re interested to know more talks about the cross, suffering, and want to take time to focus on your prayer life you can head over to Pray More Retreat.org and sign up for their retreats!