PRAYER TO THE CRUCIFIED

A prayer by a seamstress in India, working at the Embroidery Centre of Shelabunia, Bangladesh.

Jesus,

I am a young woman from India who has often embroidered your face on slip covers, the face from your crucifixion.

And, as I sew, I often think about your seamless garment, that beautiful tunic, which the soldiers dared not tear.

It was a nokshi, stitched up by your mother: she would be thinking and I embroidering as I recall the many scenes of your life, from the annunciation to your death and resurrection.

I am captivated by your face which, as I trace it on the coverlet, also leaves its impression on my soul.

But what is most deeply engraven in my heart is your crucified face which I confess that I love so much that I, as a woman, would like to embroider you, in your resurrection, with the face of a woman, so that I could feel you more as mine.

I am the Canaanite woman and I ask, not for the crumbs of bread, but the drops of your blood fallen from the cross, so that I, even though a Canaanite, can penetrate into the mystery of your sorrow and mine.

Stitch by stitch on the coverlet, I have felt that I am at your feet, like Mary Magdalene, like your Mother at the foot of the cross.

Jesus, I am not a strong person, and I cannot help you to carry the cross as the Cyrenian did.

But I, a weak woman, with the coverlet I embroider, am like Veronica.

I want to wipe that face streaming with your blood,

And, with your mother, I want to hold you in my arms as they lower you from the cross.

Like the Magdalene, I anoint your lifeless body to have you arise in my heart.

Amen.

The Embroidery School at Shelabunia, Bangladesh, was founded by Fr Marino Rigon after Bangladeshi independence in 1971. Through its work the school became famous around the world. The nokshi kansha is a finely detailed embroidered garment with brightly coloured folk motifs. This piece first appeared on the website vidimusdominum.org.