THE FIVE HOLY WOUNDS OF JESUS
THE FIVE HOLY WOUNDS
The Five Holy Wounds or The Five Sacred Wounds refer to the five piercing wounds that Jesus suffered during His crucifixion. Two of the wounds were through either His hands or His wrists, where nails were inserted to fix Jesus to the cross beam of the cross on which He was crucified. Two were through the feet where the nail (s) passed through both to the vertical beam. The final wound was in the side of Jesus’ chest when His body was pierced by the Holy Lance in order to be sure that He was dead.
These wounds are not explicitly mentioned in any of the canonical Gospels until the Resurrection, although John the Evangelist states that no bones were broken. In the course of His Passion, Jesus suffered other wounds as well, such those from the Crown of Thorns and from the Flagellation. When consecrating an altar a number of Christian churches anoint it in five places, indicative of the Five Holy Wounds.
The Crusades brought a renewed enthusiasm for religious devotion, especially for the Passion of Christ. St. Bernard of Clairvaux and St. Francis of Assisi in the 12th and 13 centuries encouraged devotions and practices in honor of The Five Wounds of the Passion of Jesus. In the 14th century, the holy mystic St. Gertrude of Helfta had a vision that Christ sustained 5,466 wounds during His Passion. St. Bridget of Sweden popularized a custom to recite 15 Pater Nosters each day for one year in memory of the Sacred Wounds. There was a special Mass of the Five Wounds, known as the Golden Mass, which medieval tradition claimed was composed by St. John the Evangelist and revealed to Boniface II (532) in a vision. The Holy Wounds have often been used as a symbol of Christianity. Participants in the Crusades would often wear the Jerusalem Cross , an emblem representing the Holy Wounds. The “Five Wounds” was the emblem of the “Pilgrimage of Grace”, a Northern English rebellion in response to Henry VIII’s Dissolution of the Monasteries. Persons who have exhibited the Holy Wounds on their own bodies are called stigmatics, and are believed to enter into the Passion of Christ.
Because of His Holy Wounds and His Sacred, Precious Blood that was spilled, we now have the opportunity to see The Face of God. Each Mass is a Representation of His Sacrifice and in addition we have a devotion available to us, that helps us to meditate more concretely on His Sufferings: devotion to His Five Sacred Wounds. Private revelation to St. Bridget of Sweden indicated that all of the Wounds of our Lord suffered added up to 5,480. She began to pray 15 prayers each day in honor of each of these wounds. This prayer can be found on the website: brizek.com/prayer/pieta.htm or in the Blue Pieta Prayer book (which also includes the promises Jesus made for those who say these prayers for one year). The book may be found at your local religious store.
Prayer in honor of The Five Wounds
ACT OF CONTRITION
As I kneel before Thee on the cross, most loving Saviour of my soul, my conscience reproaches me with having nailed Thee to that cross with these hands of mine, as often as I have fallen into mortal sin, wearing Thee with my base ingratitude. My God, my chief and perfect good, worthy of all my love, because Thou hast loaded me with blessings; I cannot now undo my misdeeds, as I would most willingly; but I loathe them, grieving sincerely for having offended Thee, Who art infinite goodness. And now, kneeling at Thy feet, I try, at lest, to compassionate Thee, to give Thee thanks, to ask Thee pardon and contrition; wherefore with my heart and lips, I say:
To the Wound of the Left Foot
Holy wound of the left foot of my Jesus, I adore Thee; I compassionate Thee, O Jesus, for the most bitter pain which Thou didst suffer. I thank Thee for the love whereby Thou labored to overtake me on the way to ruin, and didst bleed amid the thorns and brambles of my sins. I offer to the Eternal Father the pain and love of Thy most holy humanity, in atonement for my sins, all of which I detest with sincere and bitter contrition.
Recite one Our Father, one Hail Mary, and one Glory Be, then: Holy Mother, pierce me through, In my heart each wound renew of my Saviour crucified.
To the Wound of the Right Foot
Holy wound of the right foot of my Jesus, I adore Thee; I compassionate Thee, O Jesus, for the most bitter pain which Thou didst suffer. I thank Thee for that love which pierced Thee with such torture and shedding of blood, in order to punish my wanderings and the guilty pleasures I have granted to my unbridled passions. I offer the Eternal Father all the pain and love of Thy most holy humanity, and I pray Thee for grace to weep over my sins with hot tears, and to enable me to persevere in the good which I have begun, without ever swerving again from my obedience to the divine commands.
Recite one Our Father, one Hail Mary, and one Glory Be, then: Holy Mother, pierce me through, in my heart each wound renew of my Saviour crucified. To the Wound of the Left Hand
Holy wound of the left hand of my Jesus, I adore Thee; I compassionate Thee, O Jesus, for the most bitter pain which Thou didst suffer. I thank Thee for having in Thy love spared me the scourges and eternal damnation which my sins have merited. I offer to the Eternal Father the pain and love of Thy most holy humanity: and I pray Thee to teach me how
to turn to good account my span of life, and bring forth in it worthy fruits of penance, and to disarm the justice of God, which I have provoked.
Recite one Our Father, one Hail Mary, and one Glory Be, then: Holy Mother, pierce me through, in my heart each wound renew of my Saviour crucified…
To the Wound of the Right Hand
Holy wound of the right hand of my Jesus, I adore Thee; I compassionate Thee, O Jesus, for the most bitter pain which Thou didst suffer. I thank Thee for Thy graces lavished on me with such love, in spite of all my most perverse obstinacy. I offer to the Eternal Father all the pain and love of Thy most holy humanity; and I pray Thee to change my heart and its affections, and make me do all my actions in accordance with the will of God.
Recite one Our Father, one Hail Mary, and one Glory Be: then, Holy Mother, pierce me through, in my heart each wound renew of my Saviour crucified…
To the Wound of the Sacred Side
Holy wound in the side of my Jesus, I adore Thee; I compassionate Thee, O Jesus, for the cruel insult Thou didst suffer. I thank Thee, my Jesus, for the love which suffered Thy side and Heart to be pierced, so that the last drops of blood and water might issue forth, making my redemption to overflow. I offer to the Eternal Father this outrage, and the love of Thy most holy humanity, that my soul may enter once for all into the most loving Heart, eager and ready to receive the greatest sinners, and never more depart.
Recite one Our Father, one Hair Mary, and one Glory Be: then, Holy Mother, pierce me through, in my heart each wound renew of my Saviour crucified…
Chaplet of the Five Wounds
This chaplet, approved by the Holy See on 11 August 1823 (coincidentally, the anniversary of St. Clare of Assisi’s death), consists of five groups of five beads – each group representing one of the Five Wounds. The first group of beads honors the Wound on His left foot; the second, the Wound on His right foot; the third, the Wound on His left Hand; the fourth, the wound on His right Hand; and the fifth, the Wound in His Side. Sometimes a medal will be attached depicting Our Lord’s Wounds on one side, and His Sorrowful Mother on the other.
While meditating on the appropriate Wound at each group, one Gloria is said on each bead, and between the groups, and Ave is said in honor of Mary’s sorrows.
Footnote:
Note that the number of wounds was so great because the flagellum (picture at right) used by the Romans had from three to twelve “tails,” each tail embedded repeatedly with bone, iron, or glass intended to rip flesh. With a 12-tail flagellum, 40 strokes would give one 480 wounds if each tail only caused one wound with each stroke. In reality, though, each “tail” would cause many, many times more wounds per stroke, depending on how much bone or iron, etc., was embedded in each strap. In addition to the wounds caused by the scourge, there were the wounds caused by each thorn in the crown of thorns.
For copy of pamphlet click below:
https://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/a84285_13b9018f68fe679a15d0899cb7603525.pdf
Submitted April 04, 2019 at 03:33PM by HugeCommission https://ift.tt/2G0b7VS
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