Prayer Before a Crucifix
This traditional prayer comes from the Roman Catholic treasury of indulgenced devotions and was printed in the Raccolta under its Latin opening, En ego, O bone et dulcissime Iesu. Its individual author is not known. Catholics commonly pray it while kneeling before an image of Christ crucified, especially after Holy Communion and during Lent. The prayer asks Jesus for living faith, hope, charity, contrition, and a firm purpose of amendment. Its meditation on the five wounds leads into words of Psalm 22, understood by Christians as prophetically describing the Passion. It is a concise act of repentance, love, and contemplation before the crucified Lord.
In Latin
En ego, o bone et dulcissime Iesu, ante conspectum tuum genibus me provolvo, ac maximo animi ardore te oro atque obtestor, ut meum in cor vividos fidei, spei et caritatis sensus, atque veram peccatorum meorum paenitentiam, eaque emendandi firmissimam voluntatem velis imprimere; dum magno animi affectu et dolore tua quinque vulnera mecum ipse considero, ac mente contemplor, illud prae oculis habens, quod iam in ore ponebat tuo David propheta de te, o bone Iesu: Foderunt manus meas et pedes meos; dinumeraverunt omnia ossa mea.
When to pray it: Pray this while kneeling before a crucifix, especially after Holy Communion or during Lent.