Prayers Before the Crucifix or Pieta
Prayers Before the Crucifix: From the Raccolta
My Divine Savior, what didst Thou become, when for love of souls Thou didst suffer Thyself to be bound to the pillar? Ah! how truly then was fulfilled the word of the Prophet, saying of Thee that from head to foot Thou shouldst be all one wound, so as to be no longer recognizable! What shame Thou didst endure when they stripped Thee of Thy garments! What torments Thou didst undergo in that tempest of countless blows! In what torrents did Thy Most Precious Blood gush forth from Thy bursting veins!
I know well it was not so much the injustice of the Roman governor and the cruelty of the soldiers that scourged Thee as my sins. O accursed sins, that have cost Thee so many pains! Alas, what hardness of heart, when notwithstanding Thy manifold sufferings for me I have continued to offend Thee! But from this day forth it shall be so no longer. United to Thee by bonds of loyalty for ever, as long as I shall live, I shall seek to satisfy Thine offended justice. By the pains Thou didst suffer when bound to the pillar, by the scourges which tore Thine innocent Flesh, by the Blood which Thou didst shed in such abundance, have mercy on this unhappy soul of mine; deliver me today and always from the snares of the tempter; and when I have come to the end of my exile, bring me safely home to Heaven with Thee.
Behold me at Thy feet, O Jesus of Nazareth, behold the most wretched of creatures, who comes into Thy presence humbled and penitent! Have mercy on me, O Lord, according to Thy great mercy! I have sinned and my sins are always before Thee. Yet my soul belongs to Thee, for Thou hast created it, and redeemed it with Thy Precious Blood. Ah, grant that Thy redeeming work be not in vain! Have pity on me; give me tears of true repentance; pardon me for I am Thy child; pardon me as Thou didst pardon the penitent thief; look upon me from Thy throne in Heaven and give me Thy blessing.
Say the Apostles Creed.
O Jesus, Who in Thy bitter Passion didst become "the most abject of
men, a man of sorrows,"
I venerate Thy sacred Face whereon there once did shine the beauty
and sweetness of the Godhead; but now It has become as it were the face
of a leper! Nevertheless under those disfigured features, I recognize
Thine
infinite Love, and I am consumed with desire to love Thee and make Thee
loved by all men. The tears which well up so abundantly in Thy sacred
eyes
appear to me as so many precious pearls that I love to gather up, in
order
to purchase the souls of poor sinners by means of their infinite value.
O Jesus, whose adorable Face ravishes my heart, I implore Thee to fix
deep
within me Thy Divine image and to set me on fire with Thy love, that so
I may be found worthy to come to the contemplation of Thy glorious Face
in Heaven. Amen.
Indulgenced Prayer Before a
Crucifix
BEHOLD, O good and sweetest Jesus, I cast myself
upon my knees in Thy sight, and with the most fervent de sire of my
soul
I pray and beseech Thee to impress upon my heart lively
sentiments
of faith, hope and charity, with true repentance for my sins and a most
firm desire of amendment: whilst with deep affection and grief of soul
I consider within myself and mentally contemplate Thy five most
precious
Wounds, having before mine eyes that which David, the prophet, long ago
spoke in Thine own person concerning Thee, my Jesus: They have pierced
my hands and my feet, they have numbered all my bones [Psalm
21, 17, 18].
Say Our
Father, Hail Mary, Glory
Be for the Catholic Church and the intentions of the Holy Father. A
plenary indulgence, under the usual conditions, may be gained by those
who shall say this prayer with devotion before an image of our
crucified
Redeemer. An partial indulgence may also be gained for
each devout recitation.
The Pieta
MICHELANGELO
c. 1498
Prayer to the Sorrowful
Mother
Most holy Mother of Sorrows, by that soul-piercing martyrdom thou didst undergo at the foot of the Cross during the three hours' agony of Jesus, deign to assist me also, who am the child of thy Sorrows, in my agony, so that by thine intercession I may be found worthy to pass from my deathbed to thy blessed society in Paradise.
V. From a sudden and unprovided death,
R. Deliver me, O Lord.
V. From the snares of the devil,
R. Deliver me, O Lord.
V. From everlasting death,
R. Deliver me, O Lord.
Let us pray.
O God, Who for the salvation of mankind hast made for us in the most
bitter death of Thy Son both an example and a refuge; grant, we beseech
Thee, that we may be found worthy to obtain the fruit of His great love
in our final peril at the hour of death, and to be made partakers of
our
Redeemer's glory. Through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.