Prayer honoring the Shoulder Wound of Christ?

[_jesus_is_god]

Hello! I heard that St. Bernard was given a prayer that the Lord if prayed said would forgive all mortal and venial sins ; the prayer honoring the Shoulder Wound of Christ.

“ 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.”

In this time of Covid 19 when we can’t go to confession, when I sin I want to pray this for the forgiveness of my sins but I feel like maybe that is taking advantage of His grace? I feel guilty because if the prayer really dismissed all sins then we could just go on sinning and pray this and be forgiven? Sounds terrible and also that would be blasphemy of the Spirit. Suggestions?

 

[Tis_Bearself]

If you want to pray to honor the Shoulder Wound of Christ, do so. It’s a perfectly good devotion that’s established with the Church for a long time. It did not originate with St. Pio, but with St. Bernard of Clairvaux in the 12th century.

However, if you are praying based on some extremely dubious “promise” that saying some “magic” prayer will cause God to forgive all your mortal and venial sins, rather than just making an act of perfect contrition and relying on God’s mercy during this time when (I assume) you can’t go to Confession, you’re saying the prayer for the wrong reasons.

Also, setting the “magic words” issue aside, your whole train of thought about “taking advantage of God’s grace” makes no sense. Someone who said a prayer (Any prayer) and kept sinning would not be truly repentant. God wouldn’t forgive him. We also don’t use “magic prayers” as a substitute for confession when it is available. Finally, when confession is not available, you do as I said above. Act of Perfect Contrition and trust in Merciful Jesus. That’s what Divine Mercy Sunday is all about.

I would strongly recommend you not pray this prayer unless you’re doing it out of true devotion to Christ’s wound.

 

[Dan_Defender]

Actually according to St Bernard it was said: ‘Honor this wound with devotion, and I will
grant thee whatsoever thou dost ask through its virtue and merit, and
in return to all who venerate this wound I will remit to them all
their venial sins and will no longer remember their mortal sins.’

 

[Tis_Bearself]

First of all, that’s private revelation and we are not required to believe it.

Second of all, even assuming this message was correctly conveyed by St. Bernard and we did believe it, I am certain St Bernard of Clairvaux did not mean to convey a message that one just said a prayer and got all their venial and mortal sins forgiven directly by God, without going to confession if it were available, and without being truly repentant. Nor is God going to grant a person “everything they ask” if it’s against His will that they have it.

There are dozens of such prayers with similar promises (the Divine Mercy chaplet being the main one), some of them I say, but for the purpose for which the prayer was intended - venerating the wound of Christ, or honoring Mother Mary or a saint, etc. - not for the purpose of making sure God forgives my mortal as well as my venial sins when I can’t get to confession.

The OP proposed a scenario where we could just continue to sin, as long as we said some prayer to which a promise (which is not part of Catholic required belief) is attached that our sins would be forgiven. And then proceeded to express concern over how someone could “take advantage of God’s mercy” in this way. It’s a wrong approach to the prayer. I don’t think St. Bernard would disagree.

People need to focus more on trust in God and his mercy, and not on whether they said a certain prayer, wore a brown scapular, used a certain sacramental, etc.

 

[adamhovey1988]

However, if you are praying based on some extremely dubious “promise” that saying some “magic” prayer will cause God to forgive all your mortal and venial sins, rather than just making an act of perfect contrition and relying on God’s mercy during this time when (I assume) you can’t go to Confession, you’re saying the prayer for the wrong reasons.

That is a good point, that is the sin of superstition

 

[Dan_Defender]

I agree with @Tis_Bearself The implication is that a person with great faith and trust in God and who follows the precepts of the Church to begin with, would derive the most benefit from the devotion.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

Right, I take these prayers to mean that the person who venerates Christ’s holy wound, or prays fervently to St. Joseph or Mother Mary or whatever, is already on the path of wanting to be close to God and God will be inclined to help them because of their attitude.