St Bernard of Clairvaux, whose feast day we celebrate today, was given an amazing revelation by Our Lord: “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. Honour this wound with thy devotion, and I will grant thee whatsoever thou dost ask through its virtue and merit.”
It is remarkably enlightening to learn that Our Lord’s shoulder wound caused him the most excruciating pain. When we meditate on Our Lord’s Passion, it is very telling that the shoulder wound was the worst, if it was worse by comparison to the other severe wounds, it must have been horrendously agonising. During the scourging of the pillar, Our Lord was repeatedly thrashed till his skin ran with blood. Our Lord made this sacrifice willingly, something that had been prophesied by the Prophet Isaiah, ‘for My part, I made no resistance, neither did I turn away. I offered my back to those who struck Me, and My cheeks to those who tore at My beard.’
It must also have been an intense suffering when the crown of thorns pierced Our Lord’s skull. Returning to the Prophet Isaiah who reveals why Our Lord’s skin was punctured with thorns: “He was pierced for our faults, and crushed for our sins”. Yet the scourging and the crowning of thorns were lesser pains than the shoulder injury where Our Lord’s flesh was excoriated from carrying the Cross. The heavy wooden plank dug deep into his flesh. When He was so weak that He could barely walk, He fell three times, and each time He placed the Cross back on His wound that ached the most.
For honouring His shoulder wound through prayer and meditation, Our Lord related the most profound promises to St Bernard of Clairvaux, “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.”
The profound promises attached to honouring this wound show that Our Lord’s goodness and mercy to us sinners knows no limits.
I do have a little trouble believing that my sins big and small will be forgotten by Our Lord, but perhaps if I take the significance of Our Lord’s shoulder wound more to heart, I will believe the promise more readily.
I think the answer is that paying homage to Our Lord’s shoulder wound cannot be a substitute for confession, penance, atonement and making up to others the wrongs we have done them.
It must be a matter of sincerely committing ourselves to all these practices in the hope that we will be free from our sins.
Areas of Catholic Herald business are still recovering post-pandemic.
However, we are reaching out to the Catholic community and readership, that has been so loyal to the Catholic Herald. Please join us on our 135 year mission by supporting us.
We are raising £250,000 to safeguard the Herald as a world-leading voice in Catholic journalism and teaching.
We have been a bold and influential voice in the church since 1888, standing up for traditional Catholic culture and values. Please consider donating.