Prayer to the Shoulder Wound of Christ
Most loving Jesus, meek Lamb of God, I, a miserable
sinner, salute and worship the most Sacred Wound of Thy Shoulder on which Thou
didst bear Thy heavy Cross which so tore Thy flesh and laid bare Thy Bones as
to inflict on Thee an anguish greater than any other wound of Thy Most Blessed
Body. I adore Thee, O Jesus most sorrowful; I praise and glorify Thee,
and give The thanks for this most sacred and painful Wound, beseeching Thee by
that exceeding pain, and by the crushing burden of Thy heavy Cross to be
merciful to me, a sinner, to forgive me all my mortal and venial sins, and to
lead me on towards Heaven along the Way of Thy Cross. Amen.
(Imprimatur: +Thomas D. Beven, Bishop of
Springfield.)
SAINT BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUX, the French abbot and mystic
who helped to renew the Cistercian Order in the twelfth century, related in the
Annals of Clairvaux a conversation he’d had with Our Lord. He prayed, asking Jesus which was His
greatest unrecorded suffering; and the Lord answered him:
“I had on My
Shoulder while I bore My Cross on the Way of Sorrows, a grievous Wound which
was more painful than the others, and which is not recorded by men. Honor this Wound with thy devotion, and I
will grant thee whatsoever thou dost ask through its virtue and merit. And in regard to all those who shall venerate
this Wound, I will remit to them all their venial sins, and will no longer
remember their mortal sins.”
Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, after receiving the message
from Christ regarding the pain He experienced in His shoulder, sought to foster
devotion to the Shoulder Wound of Christ, and penned this prayer.
Padre Pio, Bernard of Clairvaux, and the Shoulder Wound of Christ