casting into the depths

Micah 7:14-15, 18-20; Psalm 85 Lord, show us your mercy and love; Matthew 12:46-50

The prophet's words are quite striking for us today as we gaze at the cross.

Recently, after having gone to confession, the priest that was hearing my confessions (yes, priest do go to confession to other priest. we cannot absolve ourselves. We are priest for others that is how it works) gave me a penance that i had never received before but thought it quite moving.

He asked me to meditate on the five wounds of Christ and for each wound say one "Our Father." As I sat meditating on the wounds in the hands of Christ, the wounds in his feet, the wounds in his side, the wound on the shoulder by which he bore the weight of the cross, and the wounds from the crown of thorns and did not think of the pain Christ endured but rather i began to think about the joy Christ endured.

I could not help but be filled with awe of how each wound on the body of Christ was a measure of the joy the Father had for us.

The wounds bring forth the grace of renewal and restoration and forgiveness. By his wounds, our sins are as Micah tells us, "cast into the depths of the sea" and his "faithfulness is shown."

The wounds are the fountain of joy that comes form the Father in the opportunity of reconciliation won for us in Christ.

The Father rejoices in the gift of the Son for our sake.

Just something to think about. See the wounds as a fountain of joy, as the Father rejoices at the gift of his Son for in his generosity our sins are cast away and communion is restored.


There in his wounds we hear echoed forth the responsorial psalm of today, "Lord, show us your mercy and love" and as we mediate on the wounds of Christ, a sacred head so wounded, we see the mercy and love of the Father for us in Christ.