In Healing Wounds: The 2025 Lent Book, Bishop Erik Varden, OCist, of Norway, guides readers more deeply into Christ’s wounds while also helping us to see our own more clearly and not fear bringing them to […]
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Triumph of the Cross. 12th-century apsis mosaic from Basilica San Clemente in Rome. (Image: commons.wikimedia.org)In Healing Wounds: The 2025 Lent Book, Bishop Erik Varden, OCist, of Norway, guides readers more deeply into Christ’s wounds while also helping us to see our own more clearly and not fear bringing them to our Lord.
The book is structured around three themes: the affliction of wounds, the transformation of wounds in Christ, and the flourishing that may be enabled by understanding the relationship of our wounds to Christ’s. The centerpiece of the book is a fabulous medieval poem about the wounds endured on the Cross, accompanied by Varden’s thoughtful, engaging reflections on one section of the poem at a time, wound by wound. The author of the poem was Arnulf of Leuven (1200–1248), who, like Varden, was a Cistercian monk.
