When one educates himself further of the mysteries of the Church, one is bound to either love his faith more dearly or turn to the other direction and bolt as fast as his running shoes can take him. To me, the decision to believe in stigmata and understand its suffering is enough to make me firmly love my faith more.
What are Stigmata? Stigmata is a plural noun that means bodily marks or pains resembling the wounds of the crucified Jesus and sometimes accompanying religious ecstasy1, and this could be visible and invisible. Famous stigmatics includes St. Francis of Assisi, St. Padre Pio, St. Catherine of Siena and Ven. Anne Catherine Emmerich (of whom the latter was an inspiration and source of Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ). Why do Stigmata happen? New Advent offers an explanation: “The person being keenly impressed by the sufferings of the Saviour and penetrated by a great love, this preoccupation acts on her or him physically, reproducing the wounds of Christ”.
Its existence is actually very well established that it is hardly disputed nowadays. However, this may come as a shock: stigmata are not part of essential Catholic teaching. You could deny that any person other than Christ ever received the marks of his passion—and be a good Catholic.2 Although references were made on this, such as Paul’s exclamation: "I bear in my body the brand marks of Jesus" (Gal. 6:17), this could not be a direct allusion to the mystical stigmata. However, the same person who says stigmata are not part of essential Catholic teaching also states: “I do not deny that some people have had the stigmata. In the best situation, the stigmata remind us that Christ’s passion and resurrection are very real and that we need to be open to God’s grace. The stigmata cannot be the object of faith but could, if properly understood, be a support to faith.” And to understand why God allows this mystical stigmata and its suffering to happen, I would like to refer to Pope John Paul’s message in the World Day of the Sick, 2002: “The answer to the question of the meaning of suffering has been "given by God to man in the Cross of Jesus Christ" (ibid., 13). Suffering, a consequence of original sin, takes on a new meaning; it becomes a sharing in the saving work of Jesus Christ (cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1521). Through His suffering on the Cross, Christ has prevailed over evil and enables us too to overcome it. Our sufferings become meaningful and precious when united with His.”
And that is what made me fall in love with my faith once more. “Our sufferings become meaningful and precious when united with His” – and perhaps the greatest manifestation of these sufferings are in the form of the mystical stigmata.
1 Merriam Webster online, www.m-w.com
2 Ask Franciscan by Father Pat McCloskey, O.F.M., www.americancatholic.org