IT IS RELATED IN THE ANNALS OF CLAIRVAUX THAT ST. BERNARD ASKED OUR LORD WHICH WAS 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."

PRAYER TO THE WOUND ON THE SHOULDER

O most 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, and to forgive me all my mortal and venial sins, and
to lead me on toward Heaven along the Way of the Cross. Amen.  

IMPRIMATUR: Thomas D. Beaven, Bishop of Springfield