The Hidden Wound of Jesus

As today is Good Friday, we remember the Passion and Crucifixion of Jesus Christ.  We remember His five wounds: one in each hand, one in each foot, and one on His side.  We can imagine that there are many more wounds of Jesus since He was scourged at the pillar and crowned with thorns.  But the most painful physical wound of Jesus was actually a hidden wound.  This hidden most painful wound of our Lord is the shoulder wound of Jesus that we know of from St. Bernard of Clairvaux’s conversation with the Lord. 

St. Bernard was a monk who lived in France in the 11^th century.  He once asked Jesus His greatest unrecorded suffering and Our Lord answered: “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” (https://www.ourcatholicprayers.com/prayer-to-the-shoulder-wound-of-Christ.html)

Thus, it was St. Bernard who started the devotion to the Shoulder Wound of Jesus and composed this 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 the Cross. Amen (https://www.ourcatholicprayers.com/prayer-to-the-shoulder-wound-of-Christ.html).

The Shoulder Wound of Jesus was particularly painful because the cross was sitting on the shoulder bone; the bare shoulder bone!  The wound was so well disguised because our Lord was clothed while carrying His cross to Calvary.  We can imagine that when the soldiers tore his garments off, it severely aggravated this shoulder wound and caused our Lord a most horrible anguish. 

The purpose of this prayer is to unite ourselves to Jesus’ sufferings.  This is why He died on the cross for you.  Even if you were the only person on earth, Jesus would still be crucified to save you from your sins. What our Lord desires most is intimacy with you.  You can increase this intimacy by honoring His shoulder wound and thereby entering into His most hidden and painful physical wound.  I encourage you to enter into the Lord’s passion with all your heart today, and if you are led by the Spirit, to venerate His most painful and hidden shoulder wound.  As you pray this prayer, you should do three things.  First tell the Lord that you are there with Him as He is carrying His cross for you.  Second, console Jesus as He bears this awful wound. Tell him you are sorry for the pain your sins have caused Him and ask Him for the grace to sin no more. Jesus is merciful.  He always forgives you when you are truly sorry.  Thirdly, thank Jesus for dying for you.  The Lord’s love is too great for us to neglect even the least of His wounds.