Dear Friend of Carmel Mission,
Our theme for this Lent and Easter season is “We are the wounded hands of Christ.” As followers of Jesus Christ we believe that we are called to be His hands to help, His eyes to see, His ears to hear, and His heart to love all people. This Lenten season, I invite us all to consider this call in light of our own woundedness. We are all in need of healing, but we are encouraged at the same time by the Holy Spirit to be healers in our world.
We believe that in His rising, Christ defeated death and, in His dying, He defeated fear, hatred and injustice. His Crucifixion was intended to be an act of violence and oppression, but Our Lord transformed it into an act of extreme love. This love was greater than the fear and pain He, and those who loved Him, experienced. It was greater than the hatred of those who opposed Him, and the indifference of those who cared more for their own advancement than for the cause of justice.
When Christ rose from the dead, He remained marked with the wounds of His Crucifixion. He extends his wounded hands to embrace the world, triumphant, but forever changed. We are similarly marked with the scars of our own crucifixions, wounds that perhaps, no one can see, wounds that we may try to ignore. Despite our own woundedness, we are called to heal the wounds of fear, intolerance and injustice. If we are crucified with Christ we will rise with Him again, bearing our scars as a witness to His overwhelming love.
As we journey through Lent and celebrate the Risen Lord at Easter, I encourage you to open your bruised heart to the healing love of our Savior, and to extend your own scarred hands to be the wounded hands of Christ in our community and in the world. I wish you and your loved ones peace, comfort, healing and love,
Fr. Paul P. Murphy Pastor, Carmel Mission
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