Day 4: Jesus, that I may console you.
[The Risen Jesus] wanted the wounds still to be visible on his body, although they were “clean, very beautiful, filled with light” …
“We must touch the wounds of Jesus, caress them. We must heal the wounds of Jesus with tenderness. We must literally kiss the wounds of Jesus.”
The life of St. Francis changed when he embraced the leper because “he touched the living God and lived in adoration.”
“What Jesus asks us to do with our works of mercy is what Thomas asked: to enter his wounds.”
Conclude by praying five Our Fathers, as you contemplate each of Jesus’ five wounds. This is the invitation of Pope Francis:
Do not forget this: look at the crucifix, but to look within it. There is this beautiful devotion to pray an Our Father for each one of the five wounds: when we pray that Our Father, we seek to enter through Jesus’ wounds inside, inside, right to His heart. And there we will learn the great wisdom of Christ’s mystery, the great wisdom of the cross.
Background on Pope Francis’ devotion to the Five Wounds:
With repeated references in homilies and meditations, Pope Francis has revealed his special devotion to the Five Wounds of Jesus.
The Holy Father sees in this devotion a path to arrive to the Sacred Heart, and there to find that this heart is the beating heart of Divine Mercy.
He also sees it as a path to draw close to suffering humanity, and to recognize that Jesus has taken his wounds to the Father in order to pray for his wounded brothers and sisters.
Let us meditate on the Five Wounds with Pope Francis as a novena in preparation for the Feast of the Sacred Heart, which this year falls on June 11.
Previous days
Join us for the following petitions in the coming days.
That I may love my brothers
That I may serve you in my brothers
That I may find you praying for me
That I may behold your wounded beauty
That I may commit myself to you as my God
And today we celebrate...