An Anguish Greater Than Any Other

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