The one remaining shadow

Our age has sought to bring equality to the fore as no age before it. We have sought out shadows and fought to bring light. We have set up models, glorified leaders, and proclaimed our heroes.

One shadow still remains; the shadow that covers every human soul and is in need of healing: the shadow of woundedness.

Woundedness does not speak to glory, but rather to struggle. Yet, in all the ways that we are alike, none is so universal as that of being wounded. Perhaps that is why we can so readily identify with Jesus. He did not come as the sage of the ages, but as the wounded healer.

Sirach 24:21 says You who eat of me will hunger still, you who drink of me will thirst for me. It is as if we are being told no matter what our accomplishments, we will still have needs, we will still have emptiness, we will still want. And in our attempts to satisfy those wants, we often compromise. It is our compromising that wounds us.

I think remembering this fact brings about true equality. It makes us an honest community, one built on what is common among us. I believe that only when we remember our woundedness can we truly stand together. Because when I remember I am wounded, only then can I have the understanding and compassion that allows for another's wounds.