241. Why Christ’s Resurrection body had scars
241. WHY CHRIST’S RESURRECTION BODY HAD SCARS
If Christ was perfect man and rose in a perfect body, why did His scars remain? (“Doubting Thomas” was invited to touch them: Jn 20: 24-29.)
It was fitting for Christ’s soul at His Resurrection to resume the body with its scars . . . for Christ’s own glory. For Bede says on Luke 24:40 that He kept His scars not from inability to heal them but to wear them as an everlasting trophy of His victory. Hence Augustine says: Perhaps in that kingdom we shall see on the bodies of the martyrs the traces of the wounds which they bore for Christ’s name: because it will not be a deformity, but a dignity in them; and a certain kind of beauty will shine in them (III,54,4).
The scars of the martyrs are like Purple Hearts, or Congressional Medals of Honor.
There are numerous examples of saints and mystics, in many different eras of church history, who have had visions of the blessed in Heaven. When these blessed saints were martyrs, their scars were still visible. (I do not know whether St. Thomas knew of such cases or not. I suspect he did.)
Why do they keep their scars? Because Jesus did. But why did He keep His scars? Because they are now beautiful, not ugly, like the Passion itself. Christ transformed the meaning of suffering.
Only love can do that.
Let us dare to ask what is the ultimate meaning of our scars, our sufferings, both physical and emotional, when we suffer in union with Christ and offer up all our sufferings to Him, including our death, which seems to be the ultimate, the total loss. The answer is that they are the ultimate glory and victory. They are like His death: great evil transformed into great good. The greatest evil in the history of the world, the brutal murder of God incarnate, is what Christians call “Good Friday”: our salvation.
This paradox will be true of all martyrs, even little martyrs. All Christians are little martyrs. Whatever was true of Christ’s Resurrection body will be true of ours as well, including the signs of suffering love. I suspect Mother Teresa will have her wrinkles as well as her twinkles. For some of the very things which seem in this world to be the most terrible and ugly will be seen in Heaven to be the most beautiful, because they contained the most love. Already we anticipate this Heavenly transformation when we cover crosses with gold and make them into beautiful icons. Think of what the sight of crosses meant to those who lived under the Romans, who used this instrument of exquisite torture to terrify and intimidate the population.
The body shows forth the soul. It is always the soul that experiences the suffering, even if the injuries are bodily injuries. (Corpses cannot suffer.) The transformation of Christ’s bodily scars into badges of glory shows us what happens, even in this life, to our souls when we lovingly and trustingly offer our sufferings to Christ and unite them to His. He turns “deformity” into “dignity”.
The true meaning of “death with dignity”—the slogan that advocates of “mercy killing” often use to mean “death without suffering”—is “death with Christ”. Suffering is not undignified! For the Lord of the Universe, God Himself, embraced it to its depths. In the movie The Passion of the Christ, on the road to crucifixion Christ literally embraced His cross like a child hugging a teddy bear—not because He was a masochist but because the Cross was the skeleton key that opened the doors to eternal bliss for all of His beloved children.
In his autobiography A Severe Mercy, Sheldon Vanauken relates how his recently deceased wife Davy appeared to him with a cheerful and peaceful face but with the same dark circles under her eyes that had been the results of the disease that had killed her. But she had offered up her sufferings and death to Christ for her husband; and Christ gave him a glimpse of the dark glory. When Sheldon asked her about them, she did not explain but just smiled, and sparkled. (Read the book! But have a handkerchief at hand. Tears are guaranteed.)