IN WHAT is described as The 2025 Lent Book, the Cistercian monk Erik Varden, now serving as the Bishop of Trondheim in his native Norway, sets out to explore the biblical phrase “by his wounds you have been healed” and how we can be drawn into the mystery of Christ’s suffering to find healing for our own wounds. To do this, he looks at the Rhythmica oratio, a poem by a fellow Cistercian scholar, the 13th-century Abbot Arnulf of Louvain whose work focuses on the seven “wounds” of Christ — his feet, knees, hands, side, breast, heart and face. The poem has found its way into Anglican hymnology, most notably in “O sacred head, sore wounded”.
Varden begins by encouraging his readers to face their own woundedness and what Christ’s suffering means for them. If, as St Paul said, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me,” how, Varden asks, can we appropriate the Passion narrative with due proportion and without presumption? To do this, he devotes a chapter to each of Arnulf’s seven wounds of Christ and, as in all his writings, Varden draws on his vast knowledge of scripture, theology, liturgy, history, art, semantics, and literature, and his own pastoral and monastic experience.
AlamyIn Norwich Cathedral cloister, Christ shows his wounds, and the angels hold Instruments of the Passion (14th century)
The human mind cannot grasp the immensity and mystery of God, but we can embrace the God who reveals himself in Jesus Christ in a human body. The chapters on the seven wounds bring to our attention how often the Hebrew and Christian scriptures refer to God’s feet, knees, hands, side, breast, heart, and face. It is in the Passion narratives that we are invited to consider the reality of physical suffering while neither denying its horror nor over-sentimentalising it.
The final chapter, “Flourishing”, is one of hope. Varden writes: “Our wounds will finally heal when they have become so one with Christ’s, so fully surrendered, that we no longer know where his passion ends and ours begins. . . The process takes time.” We are reminded that, in the Easter garden, Christ’s wounds remain, but they are glorified.
This is a remarkable Lent book, filled with spiritual treasures and insights that inform, inspire, and challenge. Varden quotes the Desert Father Evagrius who wrote: “If you are a theologian, you will truly pray; and if you pray truly, you will be a theologian.” Varden is himself a theologian and man of prayer, who shares with his readers his learning and wisdom in a way that makes the reader feel truly loved by the wounded and victorious Christ. Indeed, by his wounds we are healed.
The Rt Revd Dominic Walker OGS is a former Bishop of Monmouth.
Healing Wounds: The 2025 Lent Book
Erik Varden
Bloomsbury £12.99
(978-1-3994-1040-3)
Church Times Bookshop £10.39