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Here you’ll find mystical and scientific insights into Christ’s actual Passion, which He suffered for you

As I struggled to understand God’s Word, I learned something about the miracle power of suffering. And as I related my pain to what Jesus went through on Good Friday, I discovered the power of His healing wounds. (Terry Modica, Founder of Good News Ministries, 1993)

Jesus revealed to Sts. Gertrude, Bridget, Mechtilde and Catharine of Sienna that those who meditate on His Passion are very dear to Him.

St. Augustine wrote that “there is no more profitable occupation for the soul than to meditate daily on the Passion of Our Lord.” Why is this?

Blessed Denis the Carthusian said: “If we love Him not because He is good, because He is God, let us at least love Him because He has suffered so many things for our salvation.”

The following is a series of descriptions of how Jesus suffered for you, as revealed by saints and mystics through the centuries and by scientists today. The wounds inflicted on him can be healing for you if you meditate on what he did for you.

The Church teaches that private revelations, such as those included here, may be used to deepen our faith, but they are not essential to believe, because only Holy Scripture and Church doctrine are incontrovertibly true. The quotes here have been compiled to help you find healing through Jesus, to give you a deeper experience of His love, and to inspire you to return that love more fully.

The crucifixes we see today are cleaned-up versions of the horrible torture Our Lord suffered out of love for us. Keep in mind, as you meditate on the graphic images in this article, that Jesus gladly and willingly subjected Himself to these intense pains because HE LOVES YOU!

It was our infirmities that He bore, our sufferings that He endured… He was pierced for our offenses, crushed for our sins, upon Him was the chastisement that makes us whole, by His stripes we were healed. (Isaiah 53:4,5)

St. Bridget of Sweden believed that Jesus said this to her:

“Be it known that the number of armed soldiers were 150; those who trailed Me while I was bound were 23. The executioners of justice were 83; the blows received on My head were 150; those on My stomach, 108; kicks on My shoulders, 80. I was led, bound with cords and by the hair, 24 times; spits in the face were 180; I was beaten on the body 6666 times; beaten on the head, 110 times. I was roughly pushed, and at 12 o’clock was lifted up by the hair; pricked with thorns and pulled by the beard 23 times; received 20 wounds on the head; thorns of marine junks [thorns on ropes], 72; pricks of thorns in the head, 110; mortal thorns in the forehead, 3. I was afterwards flogged and dressed as a mocked king; wounds in the Body, 1000. The soldiers who led Me to Calvary were 608; those who watched Me were 3, and those who mocked Me were 1008; the drops of Blood which I lost were 28,430.”

Many were amazed at Him, so marred was His look beyond that of man, and His appearance beyond that of mortals. (Isaiah 52: 14)

We should not be amazed simply because we are not used to seeing Jesus this way. After all, doesn’t it make sense that Jesus suffered to the Nth degree, since the sins of humankind are so innumerable? And doesn’t it make sense that Satan would have inspired Jesus’ tormentors to inflict all of his own rage and revenge against the Son of God, since he mistakenly thought that at last he was defeating the Man who held the biggest threat to his evil kingdom?

Let us be amazed, instead, at how much Jesus loves us, how much suffering Jesus chose to put Himself through in order to rescue us from sin and death. Let us more fully appreciate his healing wounds. Let us be amazed at how very much He wants to heal us, for:

By His wounds you have been healed.
(1 Peter 2:24)

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The saints, mystics and scientists quoted in these pages are:

• St. Bridget of Sweden (1303-1373), visionary.
• Venerable Maria d’Agreda (1602-1665), visionary.
• St. Alphonsus de Liguori (1696-1787), Bishop and Doctor of the Church.
• Sr. Anne Catherine Emmerich (1774-1824), visionary and stigmatist.
• Sr. Josefa Menendez (1890-1923), visionary.
• Sr. Teresa Neumann (1898-mid 1900s), visionary and stigmatist.
• Msgr. Julio Ricci (present, Rome), expert on the Holy Shroud of Turin who has spent 30 years investigating every tiny mark on the Shroud.
• Dr. Robert Buckley (present, Los Angeles), forensic pathologist.

Compiled and © 1993 by Terry A. Modica

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