My friend Hanh Pham, a Jesuit priest from Viet Nam, showed me this poem he wrote back in 2004 after visiting Cambodia. He said the most striking thing he remembers is the number of wheelchairs at the churches. So many people with missing limbs. Hanh reminded me that Jesus still carries the wounds from the cross in his resurrected body and invited Thomas to touch them:

Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.” (John 20.27, ESV)

Hanh said that Jesus is still inviting us to “touch the wounds” of the people around us. It’s part of Jesus’ ministry and should be part of ours. For example,

As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth…[Jesus] spit on the ground and made mud with the saliva. Then he anointed the man’s eyes with the mud and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). So he went and washed and came back seeing. (John 9.1 – 7, ESV)

Here is Hanh’s poem, presented without further comment. It is titled “A Herald for Survivors’ Rights” and starts with “Survivors of war, There were times…”

(If you can’t see the picture, you can access the full text of the poem here.)

For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me. (Matthew 25.35, 36, ESV)