En ego, o bone et dulcíssime Iesu, ante conspéctum tuum génibus me provólvo, ac máximo ánimi ardóre te oro atque obtéstor, ut meum in cor vívidos fídei, spei et caritátis sensus, atque veram peccatórum meórum pæniténtiam, éaque emendándi firmíssimam voluntátem velis imprímere;
dum magno ánimi afféctu et dolóre tua quinque vúlnera mecum ipse consídero ac mente contémplor, illud præ óculis habens, quod iam in ore ponébat tuo David prophéta de te, o bone Iesu: Fodérunt manus meas et pedes meos: dinumeravérunt ómnia ossa mea. Amen.
Behold, O good and most sweet Jesus, I cast myself upon my knees in thy sight, and with the most fervent desire of my soul I pray and beseech thee to impress upon my heart lively sentiments of faith, hope, and charity, with true repentance for my sins and a most firm purpose of amendment;
while with deep affection and grief of soul I ponder within myself and mentally contemplate thy five most precious Wounds, having before my eyes the words which David the prophet long ago put upon thy own lips concerning thee, O good Jesus: "They have dug my hands and my feet; they have numbered all my bones." Amen.
This prayer, known from its Latin opening as the En ego ("Behold, I…"), is one of the treasures of Catholic devotion before the crucifix. The soul kneels before the image of the Crucified and asks for exactly the graces the sight of the Cross is meant to give: "lively sentiments of faith, hope, and charity, with true repentance for my sins and a most firm purpose of amendment." It is a prayer of the eyes and the heart together — looking on the wounds of Christ and letting them work sorrow, love, and conversion within.
At its center is the contemplation of the five sacred Wounds — the hands, the feet, and the side pierced for us. And it sets before the soul an astonishing prophecy: "They have dug my hands and my feet; they have numbered all my bones" (Psalm 21:17–18, in the Hebrew reckoning Psalm 22). King David wrote those words a thousand years before the crucifixion, before crucifixion was even practiced in Israel; the Church reads them as Christ speaking through the prophet of His own Passion. To pray them before the Cross is to see prophecy and fulfillment meet.
The En ego has long carried a rich indulgence. Traditionally a plenary indulgence is granted to the faithful who, after receiving Holy Communion, devoutly recite it kneeling before a crucifix and pray for the intentions of the Sovereign Pontiff — a grace especially associated with the Fridays of Lent and with Passiontide. In many old missals it stands among the prayers of thanksgiving after Mass, so that the soul freshly united to Christ in Communion may gaze at once upon the price of its redemption.
Behold, O good and most sweet Jesus, I cast myself upon my knees in thy sight, and with the most fervent desire of my soul I pray and beseech thee to impress upon my heart lively sentiments of faith, hope, and charity, with true repentance for my sins and a most firm purpose of amendment;
while with deep affection and grief of soul I ponder within myself and mentally contemplate thy five most precious Wounds, having before my eyes the words which David the prophet long ago put upon thy own lips concerning thee, O good Jesus: "They have dug my hands and my feet; they have numbered all my bones." Amen.
En ego, o bone et dulcíssime Iesu, ante conspéctum tuum génibus me provólvo, ac máximo ánimi ardóre te oro atque obtéstor, ut meum in cor vívidos fídei, spei et caritátis sensus, atque veram peccatórum meórum pæniténtiam, éaque emendándi firmíssimam voluntátem velis imprímere;
dum magno ánimi afféctu et dolóre tua quinque vúlnera mecum ipse consídero ac mente contémplor, illud præ óculis habens, quod iam in ore ponébat tuo David prophéta de te, o bone Iesu: Fodérunt manus meas et pedes meos: dinumeravérunt ómnia ossa mea. Amen.
Behold, O good and most sweet Jesus, I cast myself upon my knees in thy sight, and with the most fervent desire of my soul I pray and beseech thee to impress upon my heart lively sentiments of faith, hope, and charity, with true repentance for my sins and a most firm purpose of amendment;
while with deep affection and grief of soul I ponder within myself and mentally contemplate thy five most precious Wounds, having before my eyes the words which David the prophet long ago put upon thy own lips concerning thee, O good Jesus: "They have dug my hands and my feet; they have numbered all my bones." Amen.