Many saints have had the stigmata. St. Francis of Assisi and St. Padre Pio had holes in their
hands and feet and side, matching the wounds of Christ. St. Rita of Cascia had one of the thorns
in her head from Jesus’ crown of thorns. St. Catherine of Siena had an invisible stigmata until her
death. The stigmata is a sign of sainthood. This is because the stigmatist is so close to Christ that
he/she gets to share intimately with Christ’s very wounds.
I will admit that I have asked God for the stigmata; to have my hands and feet wounded with
holes in them that match Jesus’ wounds; the wound in Christ’s side; some thorns from His crown
of thorns. Yes, I could take it, could I not? It would be painful and hard, but I could handle it. Not
to mention, it would be pretty cool too. I would be “saintly.”
Now, there is something illogical in my thinking. It is all of the “I” and “me.” I could handle it. I
could take it. The great error here is thinking that I can take intense pain because I am “strong”
enough. But Jesus does not give to the strong. He gives to the weak. I can handle nothing. He can
handle all things. It is He who gives and takes away. “The Lord gave and the Lord has taken
away; blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job 1:21). No one knows the mind of God that is so
great and omnipotent. “For who has known the mind of the Lord or who has been his counselor”
(Romans 11:34). How, then, can I presume that I could take the stigmata with my own strength?
I mulled over this reality. I started to think that I just must not be close enough to God, and thus,
should not have the stigmata. It was only for great saints.
But some part of me did carry Christ’s wounds. It was my heart, but it was not my own heart. It
was the Sacred Heart of Jesus. It was suffering. Internally.
My heart was hurting with the pains of sin and suffering. My heart was hurting because I was
longing for Heaven. I knew that this life was a pilgrimage and that our destination was the
Kingdom. My heart yearned incredibly to be Home. My heart was hurting because Jesus’ heart
was hurting. His heart was on fire. Burning. Burning with love.
St. Margaret Mary Alacoque wrote regarding her visions of the Sacred Heart:
After this, He asked me for my heart, which I begged Him to take. He did so and placed it in His own Adorable Heart, where He showed it to me as a little atom which was beingnconsumed in this great furnace, and withdrawing it thence as a burning flame in the form of a heart, He restored it to the place whence He had taken…
Is it possible the Lord could do the same thing with my heart? June 16th is the feast of the Sacred
Heart of Jesus. This is a time for all of us to be a type of stigmatist. To offer to the Lord our own
heart so that it may catch a flame from His own adorable Heart.
I have discovered that the Sacred Heart of Jesus is a whole devotion. First Fridays are devoted to
the Sacred Heart. June is designated to the Sacred Heart. And the feast of the Sacred Heart on the
16th proceeds the feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary on the 17th. There are even twelve
promises of the Sacred Heart of Jesus for those who have a devotion to It.
During this “season” or celebration of the Sacred Heart, it is a time for all of us to be a type of
stigmatist. To offer to the Lord our own heart so that it may catch a flame from His own adorable
Heart.
Now, all of these saints who had the stigmata did not just stop there as if they reached the
epitome of all spiritual things. In fact, most of the saints did their best to hide the stigmata so as
not to be praised or awed by other people, but to love Christ and His Sacred Wounds in private.
Instead, these saints carried out their lives as if they were not wounded. They continued teaching,
preaching, loving, and proclaiming the Kingdom in both words and actions. Their hearts were so
on fire with Christ’s heart, that through them, the world changed. It changed so drastically, that
people flocked to where saints lived, asked for intercession, watched miracles take place, and
souls converted to Christ.
St Catherine of Siena said, “If you are what you should be, you will set the world on fire.” If you
are what you should be. That is, not aiming to be some high mystical saint who receives the
stigmata, but taking Jesus’ burning heart and loving with all that you are. Love that risks my life
to protect others. Love that is willing to die for Christ. Love that is willing to, perhaps even
harder, live for Christ.
This is my stigmata. My stigmata of the heart. No one can see it and if you took an x-ray, you
still would not be able to see it. But the Lord Jesus, who turns hearts of stone into hearts of flesh,
has pierced my heart. “I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. I will
remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh” (Ezekiel 36:26). We just
celebrated Pentecost in which people were “cut to the heart” when hearing the witness of the
Apostles. “Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart” (Acts 2:37).
Yes, this is my stigmata. This is your stigmata. May we all bear it, secret and invisible. May our
hearts burn with love for Christ and the whole world. May we learn true love from the wounds of
Jesus’ Sacred Heart.
11 thoughts on “The Stigmata of the Heart”
Forgive me please, I cluttered this thread with various thoughts but the subject strikes closely to me.
What seems to address this is Romans 12:1-2 (RSVCE)
12 I appeal to you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world[a] but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may prove what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.[b]
As Divine Mercy in My Soul numerous times such as #21.
That sacrifice can be of course, many things, dedicating one’s life through Holy Orders, Fasting, sacrificial giving in Alms, Redemptive Suffering and on and on. Our faith has such profundity to it. Interesting too, is whether this idea in excess can go to far.
Thank you for your indulgence on this matter.
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Jesus tells us to deny oneself, take up our cross, and follow Him. Matthew 16:24-26.
That spells things out to me fairly clearly in regards to this discussion.
It always struck me how He said this before He Himself hung on a cross.
“Fasting” is choosing suffering, especially some of those bread and water fasts, heavy duty fasting, not a 2 small meals and a regular meal variety or however it is. I’m not good at fasting, my system needs some protein usually or I tend to get very weak and dizzy.
St. Rita of Cascia is a Saint who asked Christ to let her share in His sufferings with at least a thorn. This is a Saint. Is one to call a Saint wrong?
I’m sorry, but I don’t think it is others who are being condescending and insulting.
This is Catholic stuff.
A lot of us know about the “Militia of Immaculata”, St. Maximilian and the organization in Peoria and Marytown Illinois. 20 years ago, I distributed their brochures, by the grace of God we were able to get some even into the prisons (for obvious reasons, prisons will not accept Miraculous Medals). They have one organization within the organization called the “Knights at the Foot of the Cross.” This means offering up one’s suffering to God. It could be in a prison say, though most of us will think of an illness, that is not the only thing. We can offer up many things. (Please look them up to those interested). In a way, we see how St. Maximilian chose a way of suffering.
I pray to Jesus fairly often, “Jesus, don’t let me suffer too much” over something. We have an aversion to suffering, to sorrows. Suffering has always had some part in the Catholic faith from the little I know. It is a difficult and often times, an overwhelming proposition and issue.
“Just offer it up” I’m sure many of us grew up hearing.
And indeed, praying the Rosaries of the 7 Sorrows of Mary seems to key in on this.
Re: This seems to touch a bit on “redemptive suffering” 2 Corinthians 1:5, 6 . St. John Paul wrote an Apostolic Letter on this and a Scholar I am not. Actually, a complex topic and I will leave it at that but very meritorious to bring up. People do make sacrifices, we are called to do so.
Thank you so much for responding to my comment above and for any other responses.
I don’t understand this intense desire to suffer. Any day now I expect to see a post here about “The Beauty of Hemorrhoids”.
It seems like a condescending insult to those who actually are suffering, who would rather not suffer. They don’t seek it. They don’t want to see you play at suffering. They want your help.
Thank you for your comment! I see what you mean that it is as if we want to suffer intensely. I actually wrote this article during a time of deep suffering and writing about Jesus’ heart helped me find value in my suffering. I think that is why I wanted the stigmata to begin with. I wanted to be close to Jesus, and the stigmata would have been a cool “glamorous” suffering. Yet, I believe Jesus is asking for a suffering of the heart that is hidden yet very close to His Most Sacred Heart.
Everyone suffers in one way or another. Because of sin, this life is full of suffering. I understand, though, how it can seem condescending to want suffering when I don’t have it. That’s a very good point, and that is why I tried to add a bit of humor to my article about me wanting to have the stigmata. Nevertheless, I still want to suffer because suffering imitates Jesus (but deep down, I admit that suffering is revolting! And I think that is okay to feel that way).
Thanks for responding.
To be like Jesus is what every Christian aspires to. It is an impossible goal.
Jesus did not need to suffer. He chose to. There were a few times where he knew they were hunting for him, but he hid, because it wasn’t his “time” yet. (E.g., John 8:59) In a way you could say that he committed suicide, by finally entering Jerusalem, greeted with palms, in a way which seemed calculated to provoke the Romans. Suicide, ironically, is considered by Christians to be a grave sin.
I don’t know the answer to this. Only to say that when suffering happens, as it does to most people (not all!), you meet it in a constructive way, that makes you better and other people better.
Thought-provoking article. Thank you for sharing.
Though, I don’t consider this a material matter, it is interesting that “St. Francis had holes in his wrists” for His Stigamta, I put this in quotations because then one can enter that into a search engine and find back up for this if one is unsure of what I say. I don’t know if this is even important to mention but it is discussed on how Jesus was crucified. It gets to even be a complicated discussion.
Hi, Thomas! Thank you for your comment. I myself have wondered the same thing. If Jesus, historically speaking, was nailed to the cross by the wrists, then why would a stigmatist have the wounds in Jesus’ hands? Furthermore, could one have the stigmata in the hand and another in the wrist? It truly is a complicated discussion.