I've been thinking about stigmata. The Christians call it the 'wounds of Christ'.
Lately, a week before my period, my right palm itches. I have forever attributed this to there being a check in the mail. But the money has failed to show up these last couple times, and this itch is different.
This itch, when I scratch it, feels as tho I were scraping raw nerves. It hurts to scratch it so I don't. But it mystifies me.
I was raised catholic. Padre Pio even came to the cathedral in my hometown once.
Some of the ideals of that religion impressed upon me, from a young age; like the one I find missing in the godless youth being raised today, that there is something bigger, more important, more omnipotent than myself. As an adult, I have had to incorporate that ideal into my own belief system.
I was always a skeptic. Even at a young age decided, unlike my mother, or my holy, devout grandmother, that I could not be one of the sheeple. (Thank you, Lori Grannis) I had too much common sense to just give my life up for faith in the Lard, as my pappy used to say.
Just this morning I thought; what if stigmata is just a medical condition? What if it is a hormonal thing? Im in my 50th year...What if it is a nerve thing, I'm a farmer, work hard with my physical body...What if it is some chemical reaction of my make-up and the soil, or the plants. Maybe it is an accumulated thing, or a deficient one...What if it is NOT an empathetic devotion thing? What if St. Francis, the first person to be documented with the symptoms, truly was just an earth worshipping, pagan, animal loving farmer, who one day came up with these symptoms and the holy see nabbed him, threw him in a monastery and made him their poster child for the proof of the crucifixion. To solidify a cleverly crafted tale that was in dire need of substantial evidence. "You stay put, in this holy prison, and say what we tell ya, or we'll kill all of your sweet little pets, and torch your fields and poison your bees!"
What if it is just like every single other hoax the catholic church (and all religion) has pulled? Like building their great cathedrals on top of the pagan and animist sites, like placing all their religious holidays right next to all the pagan celebrations, like renaming all the idols into saints?
What if stigmata is just a rare medical condition. What if the story somehow got spun backwards and christ didn't really get 'nailed' to a cross, but this condition just added to the fantastic tale? It's happened before. Countless times...
