WOUND OF CHRIST

 

A little-known devotion in the Passion of Jesus is to the SHOULDER WOUND.  

In the 12th century, St. Bernard of Clairvaux was praying and asked Jesus what was the greatest unrecorded suffering of His passion.

 Jesus told St. Bernard:

“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.”

 Then, with this knowledge, St. Bernard composed the following prayer:

“O 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 Thee 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.”

 Saint Padre Pio also had a devotion to the Sacred Wound and himself suffered this same wound as a stigmata. When Pope Saint John Paul II was still a priest he visited Padre Pio and asked him which wound was his most painful. Father Wojtyła expected that it was his chest wound, but the saint replied:

“It is my shoulder wound, which no one knows about and has never been cured or treated.”

Prior to his death, Padre Pio confided to Brother Modestino Fucci at his friary in San Giovanni Rotondo that his greatest pains happened when took off his shirt. At the time, Brother Modestino believed it to be his chest wounds much like John Paul II. When he was later assigned the task of inventorying all the items inside the cell of the late Padre Pio, he noticed his undershirts had blood stains on the right shoulder.

That night, Brother Fucci prayed asking Padre Pio for a sign if he truly bore the shoulder wound of Christ. At 1 A.M., he awoke with an excruciating pain in his right shoulder and the room was filled the aroma of flowers, the sign Padre Pio’s spiritual presence, and he heard a voice call out: “This is what I had to suffer!”

O 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 Thee 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

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