Perhaps before we look into the life of Thomas for inspiration, it might be worth pondering for a moment his encounter with Jesus, where he touches the wounds on Jesus’ body. Reflecting on these wounds, Fr. Richard Rohr says, “The place of the wound is the place of the healing. The place of the break is the place of the greatest strength. That is why Jesus himself, even in his resurrected body, reappears with the wounds still in his hands, in his side, in his feet. They do not disappear as you might expect.
Many times in our lives we shy away from our wounds, as if they embarrass us. We want to hide them, cover them up, pretend they are not there and avoid any discussion associated with our wounds. Yet, the wounds of our lives are our places of strength. The wounds of our lives are the doorways to God.”
As I get older, I have had more than enough opportunities – by sheer dint of years – to accumulate wounds. And indeed, for me it is clear that I have been shaped and molded by the wounds I have suffered, though at the time of the wounding, I would not have been able to see this. I suspect the same is true for many of us.
This time of Covid-19 has also wounded us. We have lived with the assumption that tomorrow will be much like today, and yesterday. And so, we were unprepared for the crisis. Our sense of safety and security has been wounded. As too has our sense of belonging and community. And try as we might as parents to provide a safe and healthy environment for our children, this too has been significantly affected by forces beyond our control. We worry about the impact this time will have on our children. It is hard to see, at least right now, how this will shape them. How this will impact them.
One thing we do have control over, however, is how we respond to the changes put upon us. And as much as the event of covid-19 will shape us and our children, I believe that how we respond to the event will have a more significant impact on ourselves and on our children. They will forget the details in a decade from now. But they will remember how we responded. Was it with fear? Or was it with an optimism that sees all of the good that is coming out of our forced isolation, and changed perspectives. I suspect that if it is the latter, then the wound indeed would have been a source of great healing.
In many ways, how the wound heals is very much in our hands.