Passion of the Cross

As Saint John of Cross meditated on Our Lord’s Cross, he mediated on the Our Lord’s Passion and thought about how much love He has for us. He carried His Cross in the streets after being beaten. Saint Bernard of Clairvaux writes that the shoulder wound of Jesus was the most painful of all of His wounds.

Let us remember that Jesus had to carry the cross through the streets of Calvary. The cross rubbed the shoulder wound he already had from the beating. Much of his blood had oozed out of His body, and he struggled to continue down the street. Every movement he made, the cross rub against His shoulder.

There is a prayer in remembrance of His shoulder.

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.