Crown of Thorns

Come let us adore Christ our King who was crowned with thorns.

Loving Savior, you allowed your enemies to crown you with thorns and to treat you like a fool,

— make us patient when we suffer and forgiving when we are slighted.

Help all the faithful to see their own trials as a participation in yours,

— that they may bear witness in themselves to the salvation that comes from you.

Crowned with thorns, you bore all the sins of the human race,

— grant your merciful forgiveness to those who have departed from this life.

Amen

Crown of Thorns

Hail, O bleeding Head and wounded, With a crown of thorns surrounded, Buffeted, and bruised and battered, Smote with reed by striking shattered, Face with spittle vilely smeared! Hail, whose visage sweet and comely, Marred by fouling stains and homely, Changed as to its blooming color, All now turned to deathly pallor, Making heavenly hosts affeared!

Saint Bernard of Clairvaux