Daily Reading for April 22
For a long time I felt jealous of your disciples who saw your pierced side when you appeared to them, and of Thomas who was allowed to touch your wounds. Often I thought, “How much easier would it have been to believe in you and give myself to you without reservation if I could just have been there with them!” But even as I think this way, I know already that I am fooling myself and looking for an excuse to keep my distance from you.
O dear Jesus, your broken heart is so visible and so touchable if I but take the risk of trusting you completely. The hungry, the thirsty, the naked, the prisoners, the refugees, the lonely, the anguished, the dying, they are all around me and show me your broken heart. I see you every time I walk down the streets, every time I watch television or listen to the radio, every time I open a newspaper, every time I pay attention to a woman, a man or a child who comes to me. I see you every time I let my eyes see the pain of all those with whom I live day after day.
O Lord Jesus, this is not a sentimental thought. Oh no, it is a very tangible reality. You who drew all people to yourself as you were lifted up in your pain and in your glory, you stay with us as the wounded and risen Lord. Whenever I touch your broken heart, I touch the hearts of your broken people, and whenever I touch the hearts of your broken people, I touch your heart. Your broken heart and the broken heart of the world are one.
From Heart Speaks to Heart: Three Prayers to Jesus by Henri J.M. Nouwen (Notre Dame, Ind.: Ave Maria Press, 1989).