Prayer to Our Lord scourged at the Pillar

Prayer to Our Lord scourged at the Pillar

MY divine SAVIOUR, what didst Thou become, when for love of souls Thou didst allow thyself to be bound to the column? Oh, how literally was then fulfilled the word of the prophet, that from head to foot Thou shouldst be all one wound, and such as not to be recognized for what Thou wast. What shame when they stripped Thee of thy clothes! What torment under the tempest of blows, multiplied without measure! What a profusion of blood from thy streaming- wounds! But it was neither the injustice of the Roman governor nor the cruelty of the soldiers that scourged Thee, but my sins. O miserable pleasures which have cost Thee such pains! O hardness of heart, when, knowing Thee to be tormented for my sake, I have gone on offending Thee!

From today, then, it shall be so no more. Bound to Thee with eternal bonds and fastened with Thee to the column, as long as my life endures, I will make satisfaction to thy offended justice. By the column to which Thou wast bound, by the scourges which furrowed thy innocent flesh, by the blood Thou didst shed in such abundance, have pity, O LORD, have pity, on me in my desolation. Release me this day from the snares of the tempter and preserve me from them for ever; and at the end of this exile, receive me in heaven. Amen.

From the Raccolta
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