• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Catholic Review

Catholic Review

Inspiring the Archdiocese of Baltimore

Menu
  • Home
  • News
        • Local News
        • World News
        • Vatican News
        • Obituaries
        • Featured Video
        • En Español
        • Sports News
        • Official Clergy Assignments
        • Schools News
  • Commentary
        • Contributors
          • Question Corner
          • George Weigel
          • Elizabeth Scalia
          • Michael R. Heinlein
          • Effie Caldarola
          • Guest Commentary
        • CR Columnists
          • Archbishop William E. Lori
          • Rita Buettner
          • Christopher Gunty
          • George Matysek Jr.
          • Mark Viviano
          • Father Joseph Breighner
          • Father Collin Poston
          • Robyn Barberry
          • Hanael Bianchi
          • Amen Columns
  • Entertainment
        • Events
        • Movie & Television Reviews
        • Arts & Culture
        • Books
        • Recipes
  • About Us
        • Contact Us
        • Our History
        • Meet Our Staff
        • Photos to own
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • CR Media platforms
        • Electronic Edition
  • Advertising
  • Shop
        • Purchase Photos
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • Magazine Subscriptions
        • Archdiocesan Directory
  • CR Radio
        • CR Radio
        • Protagonistas de Fe
  • News Tips
  • Subscribe
Cardinal Raniero Cantalamessa, preacher of the papal household, gives a Lenten meditation to Pope Francis, members of the Roman Curia and Vatican employees in the Paul VI Audience Hall at the Vatican March 8, 2024. (CNS photo/Vatican Media)

Papal preacher: Christians are ‘wounded healers,’ meant to help others

March 9, 2024
By Carol Glatz
Catholic News Service
Filed Under: Feature, Lent, News, Vatican, World News

Share
Share on Facebook
Share
Share this
Pin
Pin this
Share
Share on LinkedIn

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Jesus frees Christians from all fear because not only is he the Good Shepherd who protects his flock, but also because he has “conquered the world” and death, the papal preacher said.

People today “acutely sense their vulnerability in a violent world gone mad. What will become of the future of our planet if, despite the cries of alarm from the pope and the more responsible people in society, we continue, unbridled, to consume and pollute?” Cardinal Raniero Cantalamessa told Pope Francis and members of the Roman Curia during a Lenten meditation in the Paul VI Audience Hall March 8.

Cardinal Raniero Cantalamessa, preacher of the papal household, gives a Lenten meditation to Pope Francis, members of the Roman Curia and Vatican employees in the Paul VI Audience Hall at the Vatican March 8, 2024. (CNS photo/Vatican Media)

Reflecting on Jesus’ words from St. John’s Gospel — “I am the good shepherd” — Cardinal Cantalamessa said that Jesus, like a good shepherd, knows his sheep who also know him, and he lays down his life for them.

A priest is like a shepherd for his parishioners, but with respect to Jesus, the supreme shepherd, a priest is also just another one of his beloved sheep, the cardinal said.

He said Carl Jung, the Swiss psychologist and psychoanalyst, defined the psychiatrist as “a wounded healer,” who must know “one’s own psychological wounds in order to heal those of others and that knowing the wounds of others helps to heal one’s own.”

This insight also applies to spiritual wounds, Cardinal Cantalamessa said. “The shepherd of the church is also a ‘wounded healer,’ someone ailing who must help others heal.”

The fundamental disease “we need to cure ourselves of in order to cure others,” he said, is fear.

Jesus says repeatedly, “Do not be afraid,” he said, and there are similar words from the Psalms with “The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I lack. … Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me.'”

“Do not be afraid,” he said, is not “an empty, powerless” phrase but “is effective, almost sacramental.”

Christianity encourages those who work to alleviate people’s fears and neuroses in the field of psychology and mental health, he said, but the Gospel adds something that no science can give.

The liberation of all fear, he said, is through Christ, who told his disciples, “In the world you will have trouble, but take courage, I have conquered the world.”

Jesus laid down his life for his sheep and “by his wounds we have been healed,” Cardinal Cantalamessa said.

“Jesus is the true ‘wounded healer,’ of whom the psychologist spoke, the wounded one who heals wounds. He made fears and anxieties opportunities for growth in humanity and in understanding others,” he said.

“We — shepherds or the ordinary faithful — must likewise be wounded healers, poor ailing people healing others,” he said.

Read More Vatican News

Hope is knowing God is always ready to forgive, pope says at audience

Pope prays world leaders recognize their responsibility for peace

Works of mercy are best way to invest what God gave you, pope says

‘Rerum Novarum’ 2.0? Catholic labor advocates heartened by Pope Leo’s direction

Ambassadors call attention to starving Israeli hostages, Gazan civilians

Prepare space in your hearts for God’s love to grow, pope urges

Copyright © 2024 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops

Print Print

Share
Share on Facebook
Share
Share this
Pin
Pin this
Share
Share on LinkedIn

Primary Sidebar

Carol Glatz

Click here to view all posts from this author

For the latest news delivered twice a week via email or text message, sign up to receive our free enewsletter.

| MOST POPULAR |

  • The ‘both/and’ pope

  • Patrick Brice sentenced to home detention for attacks on elderly pro-life supporters

  • Statue of Confederate general known as anti-Catholic to be reinstalled in nation’s capital

  • Movie Review: ‘The Naked Gun’

  • Gun buyback exceeds expectations, previous totals

| Latest Local News |

Gun buyback exceeds expectations, previous totals

Radio Interview: The situation in Gaza with Catholic Near East Welfare Association

Patrick Brice sentenced to home detention for attacks on elderly pro-life supporters

Notre Dame of Maryland University joins with Milwaukee college to address teacher shortage

Sister Agnese Neumann dies at 95

| Latest World News |

For Gazans, the deep silence of hunger has replaced noise of daily life

Hope is knowing God is always ready to forgive, pope says at audience

Report: Christian church attacks down, but recent totals still higher than 2018-2022

Petition filed at Supreme Court seeks overturn of landmark same-sex marriage ruling

Head of Spanish political party criticizes Catholic Church’s defense of Muslim community

| Catholic Review Radio |

CatholicReview · Catholic Review Radio

Footer

Our Vision

Real Life. Real Faith. 

Catholic Review Media communicates the Gospel and its impact on people’s lives in the Archdiocese of Baltimore and beyond.

Our Mission

Catholic Review Media provides intergenerational communications that inform, teach, inspire and engage Catholics and all of good will in the mission of Christ through diverse forms of media.

Contact

Catholic Review
320 Cathedral Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
443-524-3150
mail@CatholicReview.org

 

Social Media

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Recent

  • For Gazans, the deep silence of hunger has replaced noise of daily life
  • Hope is knowing God is always ready to forgive, pope says at audience
  • Images of Mary: Can we find the Blessed Mother in the Old Testament?
  • Report: Christian church attacks down, but recent totals still higher than 2018-2022
  • How public opinion can influence migration policies
  • Question Corner: Is it simony that my parish wants to charge a fee for having a funeral livestreamed?
  • Home viewing roundup: What’s available to stream and what’s on horizon
  • Petition filed at Supreme Court seeks overturn of landmark same-sex marriage ruling
  • Head of Spanish political party criticizes Catholic Church’s defense of Muslim community

Search

Membership

Catholic Media Assocation

Maryland-Delaware-DC Press Association

The Associated Church Press

© 2025 CATHOLIC REVIEW MEDIA, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

en Englishes Spanish
en en