'The old monks'
The old monks had a superstitious notion
The old monks had a superstitious notion that, if they would gaze continuously and intensely on the figure of the Christ on His cross which hung upon their cell wall — the marks of His wounds would appear in them — the print of the nails in the hands and feet, the scar of the spear-gash in the side.
This is but a gross representation of the spiritual truth which lies under it — that beholding Christ produces the real "marks of the Lord Jesus" in our souls. Looking upon Him with steady, loving gaze — the glorious vision that our eyes behold prints itself deep in our hearts, and the "beauty of the Lord" shines out in our dull faces.
"But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit." 2 Corinthians 3:18