December 11, 2021

“Hurt people hurt people” is a popular phrase in the world of psychology and in recovery circles.  It is nature’s law of spiritual inertia:  the momentum of our own pain in life naturally carries over into our relationships and behaviors – and we don’t even realize it!  It is thus no wonder that oftentimes perpetrators of sexual abuse are themselves the victims of sexual abuse.  In many ways such a phenomenon seems counterintuitive, as one would think that a person who has been damaged in a certain way would not want to impose such suffering on others, but the sad logic is that the pain which consumes us simply becomes normative for how we see the world and operate.  What breaks this cycle?  What frees us from being slaves to our past experiences?  What becomes the boundary-marker where our pain reaches an ending point that some new vision of life might arise?  It is of course Christ crucified and only Christ crucified.  Indeed, we must learn to beg for the intervention of the Word who comes to us in our poverty, enters into our mess, cleans us up, takes our place and invites us to experience the Father’s love first-hand.  A new glorious logic emerges, as by his wounds we are healed (Is 53:5), and we, like him, become hurt people who help people find their own way to the Father.  Ave Crux, Spes Unica.