Holy Wounds of Jesus: Message, Promises, Prayers

PLEASE OFFER THE HOLY WOUNDS OF JESUS FOR PRIESTS!

"My Holy Wounds sanctify souls and insure their spiritual advancement... Offer Me your actions united to My Sacred Wounds, and even the smallest will have an incomprehensible value."

"Offer them often to Me for sinners because I thirst for souls. At each word of the invocation that you utter, I will let a drop of My Blood fall upon the soul of a sinner."

"When you offer My Holy Wounds for sinners, you must not forget to do so for the souls in Purgatory, as there are but few who think of their relief. The Holy Wounds are the treasure of treasures for the souls in Purgatory."

~ Jesus to Sr. Mary Martha Chambon ~

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If you want to have a better understanding of what Jesus suffered for us and why the Church is wise in requiring penance on Fridays, please watch the following video.

Promises of Our Lord for those who are Devoted to His Wounds - given to Sr. Mary Martha Chambon:

† At each word that you pronounce of the Chaplet of the Holy Wounds, I allow a drop of My Blood to fall upon the soul of a sinner.
† Each time that you offer to My Father the merits of My divine Wounds, you win an immense fortune.
† Souls that will have contemplated and honored My crown of thorns on earth, will be My crown of glory in Heaven!
† I will grant all that is asked of Me through the invocation of My Holy Wounds. You will obtain everything, because it is through the merit of My Blood, which is of infinite price. With My Wounds and My Divine Heart, everything can be obtained.
† From My Wounds proceed fruits of sanctity. As gold purified in the crucible becomes more beautiful, so you must put your soul and those of your companions into My sacred Wounds; there they will become perfected as gold in the furnace. You can always purify yourself in My Wounds.
† My Wounds will repair yours. My Wounds will cover all your faults. Those who honor them will have a true knowledge of Jesus Christ. In meditation on them, you will always find a new love. My wounds will cover all your sins.
† Plunge your actions into My Wounds and they will be of value. All your actions, even the least, soaked in My Blood, will acquire by this alone an infinite merit and will please My Heart.
† In offering My Wounds for the conversion of sinners, even though the sinners are not converted, you will have the same merit before God as if they were.
† When you have some trouble, something to suffer, quickly place it in My Wounds, and the pain will be alleviated.
† This aspiration must often be repeated near the sick: "My Jesus, pardon and mercy through the merits of Your Holy Wounds!" This prayer will solace soul and body.
† A sinner who will say the following prayer will obtain conversion: "Eternal Father, I offer You the Wounds of our Lord Jesus Christ to heal those of our souls."
† There will be no death for the soul that expires in My Holy Wounds; they give true life.
† This chaplet is a counterpoise to My justice; it restrains My vengeance.
† Those who pray with humility and who meditate on My Passion, will one day participate in the glory of My divine Wounds.
† The more you will have contemplated My painful Wounds on this earth, the higher will be your contemplation of them glorious in Heaven.
† The soul who during life has honored the Wounds of our Lord Jesus Christ and has offered them to the Eternal Father for the Souls in Purgatory, will be accompanied at the moment of death by the Holy Virgin and the angels; and Our Lord on the Cross, all brilliant in glory, will receive her and crown her.
† The invocations of the Holy Wounds will obtain an incessant victory for the Church.
(Nihil obstat: Rev. Terry Tekippe, Censor Librorum. Imprimatur: + Most Rev. Francis B. Shulte, Archbishop of New Orleans, 29 December 1989.)

Chaplet of the Holy Wounds:
Use a Rosary beads. Start with these aspirations: †
- O Jesus, Divine Redeemer, be merciful to us and to the whole world. Amen.
- Strong God, Holy God, Immortal God, have mercy on us and on the whole world. Amen.
- Grace and mercy, O my Jesus, during present dangers; cover us with Thy Precious Blood. Amen.
- Eternal Father, grant us mercy through the Blood of Jesus Christ, Thy only Son; grant us mercy, we beseech Thee. Amen, Amen, Amen.

The following prayers, composed by Our Lord, are to be said on the Our Father (large) beads:

- Eternal Father, I offer Thee the Wounds of our Lord Jesus Christ, to heal those of our souls.

On the Hail Mary (small) beads:

- My Jesus, pardon and mercy, through the merits of Thy Holy Wounds.

After 5 decades, you can finish it saying 3 times:

- Eternal Father, I offer Thee the Wounds of our Lord Jesus Christ, to heal those of our souls.

Mary, Mother of Jesus Christ, Eternal High Priest, Mother of all priests, and our Mother, help us respond generously to the Holy Spirit's request, through the voice of His Church, to offer up to God Eucharistic adoration for priests. Amen.

Whatever Happened to Penance on Fridays?

In 1966 American bishops took advantage of Pope Paul VI's permission to modify the discipline of abstinence from meat on Fridays. The theory was that since abstinence from meat was not a sacrifice for some Catholics, it would be better if each Catholic chose for themselves a sacrifice that was truly penitential for them personally. The bishops encouraged temperance, self-denial and good works for those who chose to do a penance other than Friday abstinence from meat. Bishop William Higi of Lafayette, Indiana offers some thoughts on the topic:

"With the intention of reinvigorating the observance of Friday as a penitential day, the bishops urged Catholics to be mindful of their sins on Fridays as well as the sins of mankind which we are called to help expiate; asked Catholics to make each Friday a day of self-denial and mortification in prayerful remembrance of the passion of Jesus Christ in preparation for Sunday; and abolished the mandatory nature of Friday abstinence outside of Lent allowing Catholics instead to choose their own acts of voluntary self-denial and personal penance. Abstinence, they said, should still take priority among Friday acts of penance."

"In a time of post-Vatican II euphoria, it apparently was thought that adult Catholics would seek out the high ground. It didn't work. A basic rule of thumb was overlooked: people gravitate to the least demanding level of the ladder. The rationale behind the change in practice and the other truly beautiful thoughts in the call to maintain a spirit of penance were overlooked or soon ignored. Today, the fact the Fridays of the year should be days of penance is judged an antiquated idea without relevance by many. This failure to embrace penance conflicts with the view of the Church gleaned from the Scriptures and summarized in the Catechism of the Catholic Church: 'The human heart is heavy and hardened. God must give man a new heart...the human heart is converted by looking upon Him whom our sins have pierced' (1432)."

"In 1983, the American bishops repeated the call to observe Friday as a day of penance. They wrote: 'As a tangible sign of our need and desire to do penance we, for the cause of peace, commit ourselves to fast and abstinence on each Friday of the year. We call upon our people voluntarily to do penance on Friday by eating less food and by by abstaining from meat. This return to a traditional practice of penance, once well observed in the U.S. Church, should be accompanied by works of charity and service toward our neighbors. Every Friday should be a day significantly devoted to prayer, penance and almsgiving for peace.''

POINTS TO PONDER: Have most U.S. Catholics complied with the American bishops' call for penitential Fridays; or are they so content personally, and at the state of the nation and the world, that they feel no need to make amends to an offended God by acts of penance? Are there no sins to make reparation for? Are American Catholics confident that their souls are so pure that they will skip right into heaven after death and bypass purgatory? Are they so charitable that their sins are covered by that charity?

The saints were penitential souls, and not just on Fridays. If some or most of American Catholics are not penitential, is it because they are wiser and holier than the saints? Or, could it be that they have forgotten, or never heard, the bishops' call for Friday penance? It couldn't hurt for the bishops and priests to repeat clear instructions to all the Catholic faithful in order to clear up any confusion or misunderstandings about the Church requirement for Friday penance.

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Mary, Mother of Jesus Christ, Eternal High Priest, Mother of all priests, and our Mother, help us respond generously to the Holy Spirit's request, through the voice of His Church, to offer up to God Eucharistic adoration for priests. Amen.

Penitential Fridays

Fridays have never stopped being a required day of penance in the Catholic Church. When some bishops' conferences allowed a substitution for the meatless Fridays penance, it was never meant to be an elimination of the obligation to perform some form of penance every Friday of the year. Catholics are obligated to perform some form of penance every Friday. Unfortunately, this obligation has been forgotten, ignored, or never learned by some Catholics.

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It should not be difficult to understand why this obligation remains in force in the Catholic Church today since Jesus suffered and died for us on a Friday. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops document, Penitential Practices for Today's Catholics, is well worth reading for those who need a refresher or those who have never learned why we are called to do penance. The document states, "Recalling our Lord's Passion and death on Good Friday, we hold all Fridays to have special significance. Jesus' self-denial and self-offering invite us to enter freely into his experience by forgoing food, bearing humiliations, and forgiving those who injure us."

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For our own good and the good of the Church, most of us need to be more penitential. Children need to be taught the spiritual value of penance. All Catholics need to hear more from the pulpit about why penitential practices are important for personal spiritual growth and for the building up of God's Kingdom on earth. In addition to making reparation for our own sins, we all need to make contributions to the spiritual treasury of the Church through the offering of penance.

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The Saints knew the importance of penance and look where they ended up--in heaven! We are all called by God to be saints, so it would serve us well to read their lives and the many ways they made love offerings to God because, in the final analysis, it's all about love, love of God and neighbor--just as Jesus taught us! Sacrifices done out of love for God and neighbor--including our priests--can reap a rich spiritual harvest.

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Fridays could be a day of penance offered up especially for priests (above and beyond the Friday penance of obligation). The USCCB document mentioned above--regarding penitential practices--states, "Through the grace of the Holy Spirit, the principal agent of all spiritual transformation, this can be done with a spirit of quiet joy. For Christians, suffering and joy are not incompatible."

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It can be a joy to know that our sacrifices can aid a priest in need. All priests are in need in some way--the strong in faith to remain strong, the weak to become strong. The rest of us Catholics are in need also--in need of holy, dedicated priests to guide and spiritually enrich us, our children, and our grandchildren. It is a privilege, and should be a joy, to know that God has provided us with the means to aid his beloved priests in their ongoing spiritual transformation into other Christs, desired so much by Jesus. To Venerable Concepcion Cabrera de Armida, Jesus said,

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"Only a priest transformed into Me can transform souls; and the proportion of his transformation into Me will be what souls receive. Ah! This is a point that ought to make my priests tremble because in proportion that they are sanctified, they will sanctify; and in the proportion that they are transformed into Me they will have the virtue for transforming."

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Mary, Mother of Jesus Christ, Eternal High priest, Mother of all priests, and our Mother, help us respond generously to the Holy Spirit's request, through the voice of His Church, to offer up to God Eucharistic adoration for priests. Amen.