On behalf of your shoulder wound
Devotion to the Shoulder Wound of Jesus
O Loving Jesus, meek Lamb of God,
I, a miserable sinner, salute and worship
the most Sacred Wound of Your Shoulder
on which You bore Your heavy Cross,
which so tore Your Flesh and laid bare
Your Bones as to inflict on You an anguish
greater than any other Wound of Your Most
Blessed Body.
I adore You, O Jesus most sorrowful; I
praise and glorify You and give You thanks
for this most sacred and painful Wound,
beseeching You by the crushing burden
of Your heavy Cross to be merciful to the souls
in purgatory and to me, a sinner,
to forgive me all my mortal and venial sins,
and to lead me on towards Heaven along
the Way of Your Cross. Amen.
True Friend
Jesus, You are my true friend, my only friend.
You take a part in all my misfortunes;
You take them on Yourself;
You know how to change them into blessings.
You listen to me with the greatest kindness
when I relate my troubles to You,
and You always have balm to pour on my wounds.
I find You at all times, I find You everywhere,
You never go away;
If I have to change my dwelling, I find You wherever I go.
You are never weary of listening to me,
You are never tired of doing me good.
I am certain of being beloved by You if I love You;
my goods are nothing to You,
and by bestowing Yours on me You never grow poor.
However miserable I may be,
no one nobler or wiser or even holier
can come between You and me,
and deprive me of Your friendship;
and death, which tears us away from all other friends,
will unite me forever to You.
All the humiliation attached to old age
or to the loss of honor will never detach You from me.
On the contrary, I shall never enjoy You more fully,
and You will never be closer to me’
than when everything seems to conspire against me,
to overwhelm me, and to cast me down.
You bear with all my faults with extreme patience,
and even my want of fidelity and ingratitude
do not wound You to such a degree
as to make You unwilling to receive me back
when I return to You.
Jesus, grant that I may die praising You,
that I may die loving You,
that I may die for the love of You. Amen.
— St. Claude La Colombiere, S.J.