The Way of the Cross - Two
A personal collection by Tom Vella-Zarb
Recommended for Prayerful Meditation
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Second Page - Stations of the Cross collected by Tom Vella-Zarb


The Stations of the Cross
Author: Joseph of Jesus and Mary

Lord Jesus Christ my God, I humble myself before your Presence. As I come to accompany you and your Blessed Mother to Calvary, grant me to feel for you with the tender feelings of Our Blessed Mother. Let us pray the Way of the Cross with a humble and contrite heart, after all it is because of our sins that Jesus had to die for us. After each station you say an Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory be.

1. Jesus is condemned to death

"We adore you, O Christ and we bless you.
Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world."

When Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and a purple robe, Pilate said to them: "Look at the Man!" John 19:5
Lord Jesus, you are the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, you have been humiliated because of my pride, I am sorry to have enthroned the kingdom of the world in my heart, please grant me to attach myself only to you.

2. Jesus bears his cross

"We adore you, O Christ and we bless you.
Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world."

He emptied Himself and took the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. Philippians 2:7
Jesus, you carried that heavy cross upon your wounded shoulder, and yet the weight of the cross was my sinfulness, so I repent of my sins and I beg you to grant me your Salvation. Forgive me Lord that I have failed to do your Holy Will.

3. Jesus falls the first time

"We adore you, O Christ and we bless you.
Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world."

Here is My servant, whom I uphold, My chosen one in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on Him and He will bring justice to the nations. He will not shout or cry out, or raise His voice in the streets. Isaiah 42:1-2
Lord in this first fall you atoned for the original sin of all humanity, I thank you and praise for your unlimited love for me, please Lord, help me not to sin any more.

4. Jesus meets his mother

"We adore you, O Christ and we bless you.
Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world."

Come, all you who pass by the way, look around and see. Is any suffering like My suffering that was inflicted on Me? Lamentations 1:12
Sorrowful Mother Mary, allow me to share your sorrow so that the Holy Passion of my Lord remains always vivid within me as a reminder of God's Love for me . Come to meet me also in my sorrowful journey to the Lord.

5. Jesus is helped by Simon

"We adore you, O Christ and we bless you.
Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world."

A certain man from Cyrene, Simon, the father of Alexander and Rufus, was passing by on his way in from the country, and they forced him to carry the cross. Mark 15:21
Lord you want us to share the cross with you by sharing and alleviating the sufferings of those in need, grant me to have a heart full of Charity and Love for my neighbour.

6. Veronica wipes the face of Jesus

"We adore you, O Christ and we bless you.
Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world."

He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces, He was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely He took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows. Isaiah 53:3-4
Lord, you have created us for your Glory, please help us by wiping the stains of our souls with your Precious Blood to restore your image in us.

7. Jesus falls a second time

"We adore you, O Christ and we bless you.
Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world."

Surely He took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered Him stricken by God, smitten by Him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His wounds we are healed. Isaiah 53:4-5
By this second fall you confirm how weak we are, help us Lord to overcome our weaknesses with the strength of your sufferings. Teach us how to love good and to hate evil.

8. Jesus speaks to the women

"We adore you, O Christ and we bless you.
Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world."

A large number of people followed Him, including women who mourned and wailed for Him. Jesus turned and said to them, "Daughter of Jerusalem, do not weep for Me; weep for yourselves and for your children." Luke 23:27-28
Lord, in our human weakness we are so concerned to live our lives without discomfort and pain, and yet you tell us that it is more important to seek the Kingdom of Heaven and to weep for our sins in order to gain eternal life.

9. Jesus falls a third time

"We adore you, O Christ and we bless you.
Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world."

We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was not oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth. Isaiah 53:6-7
Lord you have stretched your generosity to the limits, please forgive us for the many times that we sin and don't remember what pain you had to go through to redeem us.

10. Jesus is stripped of his garments

"We adore you, O Christ and we bless you.
Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world."

When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took His clothes, dividing them into four shares, one for each them, with the undergarment remaining. John 19:23
They divided My garments among them and casts lots for my clothing. Psalm 22:18
Lord what they did to you is what we do to our souls, we strip your image which is given to us in baptism and we corrupt the temples of your glory. Clothe our souls once more with the robes of your Divine Mercy.

11. Jesus is nailed to the Cross

"We adore you, O Christ and we bless you.
Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world."

Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. John 3:14-15
Lord, you have called me to be your disciple, to deny myself and to follow you. As I come before you, I crucify my will to yours, I crucify all the temptations of the world, the devil and the flesh and I pray for total submission to your Holy Will.

12. Jesus dies on the Cross

"We adore you, O Christ and we bless you.
Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world."

And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up His spirit. Matthew 26:50
Lord, it is here on the cross that you ask the Father to forgive me, here you give me your Mother to be my Heavenly Mother, here you promise me to be with you in your Kingdom.
I come to meet you and to partake of your holy sacrifice as I receive you in Holy Communion, grant me to relive your passion daily, unite me to your Precious Blood, Have Mercy on me Lord and on the whole world. (Prayer)

13. Jesus is taken down from the Cross

"We adore you, O Christ and we bless you.
Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world."

They will look on Me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for Him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for Him as one grieves for a firstborn son. Zechariah 12:10
Lord, as you rested in the arms of your Mother, so I want to rest in your Sacred Heart, receive my brokenness and heal me for everlasting life.

14. Jesus is placed in the tomb

"We adore you, O Christ and we bless you.
Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world."

Joseph (of Arimathea) bought some linen cloth, took down the Body, wrapped It in the linen, and placed It in a tomb cut out of rock. Then he rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb. MARK 15:46
Lord let me die in you and remain buried within me, I look forward to the moment of the resurrection from the dead when you will reveal your Glory to me. For now let me adore you in the Blessed Sacrament and grant the grace to live a holy life.



Meditations on the Stations of the Cross
written by a parishioner of St Alphonsus Church
1. You are Condemned to Death

Beaten and weary, You are brought before a judge whose power is given to him only by You. The crowd is asked to choose and, even as You desire otherwise -- yearning for the love of Your people -- You know they will choose the creature over their Creator. "Barabbas" rings out and, with sad heart, You prepare for the grueling way of Calvary that started before Your birth. Innocent, you are condemned to death, betrayed by those who claim to love You and those who claim to be upholding Your truth even as they pass judgment. The crowd clamors for Your blood, not realizing that it is only through Your blood that they will live. It is a great irony. We think that by ridding ourselves of You, we will be free. And You give us what we wish -- freedom -- using even our evil to raise us up to You, if we will only see and accept. How different is the choice for man or God. In choosing man we choose death. In choosing You, you use our death to lift us to life in You. Pilate washes his hands of guilt, and, in doing so, washes his hands of you. Evading the truth of his guilt means rejecting you. We cannot be Yours if we do not admit what we are, sinners in need of mercy.

2. You Take Up the Cross

You accept the cross, knowing fully the agony to come. You take upon battered and bleeding shoulders the weight of all our sins. From dead wood You will bring the fruit of everlasting life. In Eden it was the living tree that brought death. Now, You turn our world upside down, as You show us the true way to life, through the dead wood, the suffering of the cross. In rejecting the temporary life, which seems so alluring and gratifying, we will know the bountiful joy of the life of heaven, in union with You. In dying through the cross we will live forever. You will shoulder all our pains with us as You walk the way of Calvary. All the way of Calvary, the way of the cross, will be blessed by Your blood. United in You, through the heritage You share with us by Your incarnation, and through the blood You shed for us on this way, we hope despite pain, despite all hardship. In taking up the cross You show us to trust in the Father, to fall into His arms in faith, no matter the obstacles before us.

3. You Fall the First Time

Soon after taking up the cross You fall. So early in the way You are on the ground; God, face down in the dust. The knowledge of the burden of carrying our weight becomes clearer. The nearly overwhelming impact of the hideous crush of sin, the evil pressing down, makes You stumble. All the while the crowd mocks and derides You, clinging to sins, even as You are lifting them away. We treat You as a beast to be our scapegoat, heaping pain and ridicule and indifference upon You as You seek to save us. We put our God face down in the dust so we do not have to bear Your gaze upon our evil.

4. You Meet Your Mother

You meet Your Mother on the way. Seeing her brings relief and regret. For a mother to see her Son so wretched wrenches Your heart. What a pain to You to know her grief. She is helpless to save You, but is granted the power to relieve Your suffering merely by her presence. She supports You in Your way of the cross and shares in Your anguish. She is there in the intimacy of a meeting in which you are kept physically apart but are united in the Father’s mission. You yearn for her consolation, even as You seek to comfort her in her sorrow. She stands by in love and constant prayer, never yielding to hatred for those who are turning away from You. She understands the need for love and its redemptive power especially when faced with the cruelest and most vindictive evil.

5. You Allow Simon to Assist You

You allow Simon to assist You in carrying the cross and he is reluctant, initially refusing. How foolish of him and us to reject Your invitation to share in Your redemptive plan! Do we not know what a gift You are giving in the cross? In the cross lies our salvation and our unity. In the cross we are never alone. In the cross we are our brother’s keeper, helping each other and making reparation for the wrongs we have inflicted. In the cross we give You to each other and lift the barriers of sin. In the cross we are Your Body, sharing in Your passion and in the ultimate triumph of eternal life, freed from all the ungodly restraints and allure of the world. In the carrying of the cross lie our atonement and our joy.

6. You Bless Veronica

Veronica sees Your need and offers her consolation. In such a little and tender way she reflects Your kindness and Your courage. Stepping out from the crowd, she risks jeers and public contempt and thereby obtains the only approval that counts. In wiping Your face she serves a simple need, clearing Your sight from the dripping blood and dirt as the flies gather. From this small act comes the greatest blessing. She is given Your image because she reflects You in her kindness. In helping You to see, she is given the perfect vision, the beatific image of the face of God. Touched by Your grace, and in union with You, her humanity is made holy. She becomes a tiny mirror of You.

7. You Fall the Second Time

Now all assistance is exhausted. There will be no more help for You, no further kindnesses to encounter on the way. You are bereft of consolations. From now on, until the triumph over the tomb, there is only the misery of loneliness. You fall in this loneliness, again overcome by the weight of evil, the physical and emotional wounds so insistently inflicted, even as you trudge with Your heavy burden. The crowd still roars in contempt. There is no pity for a God face down in the dust a second time. The crowd is at the peak of its lust for blood, its determination for revenge for crimes never committed. The crime of innocence in the face of our guilt is enough for us to want to impose dehumanizing injury, to rid ourselves of the evidence of goodness and purity before us. We cry all the louder for You to be punished. The mockery continues. We say You are not God enough for us, and then treat You as we should not treat a man.

8. You Admonish the Weeping Women

The women weep for You, whether in sincerity or in show. They do not realize that their own guilt and that of their children is more deserving of tears. It is they who are more grievously hurt than the innocent victim. While Your Body is wracked and deformed by pain, their piteous cries hide the deadly ugliness of sin-stained souls. It is this sin that kills You. We kill because we want to be God. But that is what You are offering us through Your Incarnation – a share in Your divinity! You show us the royal irony of our rebellion. In rebellion we reject the very thing we want, Your divinity. But we cannot have it unto ourselves. We and our children have it only through You. In You we have the light of eternity. We weep because we think a man is dying to this life. We are so attached to this world. But You tell us to weep for those who lose eternal life by separating themselves from You. The women weep copiously but they do not assist you. Is this why You rebuke them? Do they fail to offer true charity, in union with You, while standing on the sidelines wailing about the misery before them?

9. You Fall the Third Time

Stamina utterly depleted, You fall a third time. Taunted mercilessly by temptations to turn away from Your mission, and weakened by the fatigue of constant pain, You once again stumble into the rocky dirt. Pathetic and broken, You bear the sneers and raucous insults and profanities of a blaspheming crowd that wants a worldly leader to confirm them in their own power. God in the dust? Ha! They yell. We do not see the nobility of redemptive suffering, the majesty of meekness. We seek comfort and worldly prosperity and acclaim while You, our God and Creator, lie prostrate before us, humbling Yourself like a snake on the ground, crawling in dirt for us. How much more can we expect from a God we accuse of not caring, of lacking in love for us? And still You persevere amidst hatred, pride, and ridicule and the great satanic temptation to dismiss us as unworthy of Your love.

10. You Are Stripped of Your Garments

Men mock You in Your nakedness, thinking they are revealing how pitiful this God is. In fact, they are showing how God has exalted man by becoming man – bare in his manhood. By seeking to reveal You as mere man, we fail to realize that in Your very manhood lies our divinization. In Your incarnation You have raised us to Yourself. The soldiers seek to leave You nothing, but You are God and cannot be made nothing. They want You to be shamed in Your nakedness, as Adam and Eve were shamed. But You are God and are not shamed. They think to reveal guilt but show only innocence. You consent to be naked in Your innocence, transcending the stain that Adam and Eve brought in guilt. We try to hide our sin, our flaws, by clothing themselves. You, in innocence, are naked and You see all. Your robe is sought like a carnival prize, a souvenir of execution. Is that what we want, just a token of You?

11. You Are Nailed to the Cross

Wounded, mangled, made to bleed, You consent to the violent attack of the hammer. Patient in Your agony, You allow the cruel penetration of Your Body to make us one with You. You give Bread of life to fill us as You receive our nails. From Your love You bleed. For love of us, for love of the Father, the Child bleeds for the children. Brother bleeds for the brother who is killing Him. You become one with the cross, absorbing completely the burden of sin, allowing it to permeate You – all the rage and loneliness and anxiety and despair and hatred and lust and greed and incessant lies of all mankind through all the ages, sinking into You, filling You up. You are bombarded with poison and still You love.

12. You Die

You hang on a cross with but a few faithful at Your feet. Your Mother is there as her Son drips to death for His human creatures. You ask for a small compassion and are given gall. Even captured on a cross and expiring from the torture, there is no mercy for You, yet You plead for mercy for us. You even give us the Mother You chose for Yourself, impressing upon us our relatedness. Still Your family torments You. And in Your passion, without solace, alone in the midst of the crowd, cut off even from Your Mother and the beloved disciple, You are man utterly alone. Defiled even as You die, cursed and ignored with no possibility of human comfort, You cry from the cross Your agony. At this moment, filled with all the despair of every human heart, You tear any vestigial veil between man and God and plunge into the total hell of sin to purge it for us. It is the final acceptance of death. And then You die in trust that the Father will receive You.

13. Your Body Is Taken From the Cross

Your Body is given to Your Mother. In her womb You were welcomed into human life. Now You go to her in death. Your Mother is entrusted with the Body of Christ. She cleans it in love and wipes away the signs of the evil inflicted upon it. So it is with us. Your Mother welcomes us into her arms and heals and soothes through Your grace. She is the Mother of the Church, the Mother who accepts the mangled, the bereft, the brokenhearted, even as condemnation is heaped upon her. She takes into her embrace a Body that is accused of irreverence, of presumption, even criminality, and protects it with maternal care.

14. Your Body Is Laid in the Tomb

Your Body is laid in a tomb, presumed vanquished, but You cannot be contained. You allow Yourself to be placed in a tomb by us. We voluntarily seek the tomb by turning away from You. To be separated from You is to consign ourselves to death. But we see it differently. We think we can place You far away, outside ourselves, in a tomb, while we live. But the only life is in You. In casting You away we give ourselves to death. We seal our hearts against You and make of ourselves the tomb. How often we do this in receiving the Eucharist, taking You into a tomb we do not open to You and treating You as dead? How often do we put the Body of Christ into a tomb, saying it serves no purpose for us, that we can live without it? We turn away from Your Church, but she will prevail in Your Resurrection. She emerges from every apparent tomb. And in our death to self the Body of Your Church is continually renewed. As we make the stations of the cross with You, filled with remorse for the anguish our sins have wrought, inspire us to true contrition for our sins. Open our hearts to You and share with us what You will of Your passion, dear Jesus. Help us to carry the cross with You. And, at the end of our time in Calvary, let us hear those joyous and incomprehensible words of unfathomable love that are Your Promise: "Come, ye blessed of My Father, and possess the kingdom that was prepared for you from the beginning."

WE ADORE YOU, O CHRIST, AND WE BLESS YOU; BECAUSE BY YOUR HOLY CROSS, YOU HAVE REDEEMED THE WORLD!


A Salesian Way of the Cross
Based on the Writing of St. Francis de Sales.
Translated and somewhat amplified by The Most Rev. Lewis S. Fiorelli, O.S.F.S,
Superior General of the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales
[The Way of the Cross of suffering and affliction is a sure way, one which leads to God and to the perfection of his love if we are faithful]
First Station -- Jesus Is Condemned To Death
The Cross is from God, but it is only "cross" if we do not join ourselves to it; for when we are strongly resolved to desire the cross which God gives to us then it is no longer a "cross" at all. If it is from God, why do we not desire it?
Second Station -- Jesus Is Given His Cross
The Cross has been sanctified because it was the instrument which Jesus used for our Redemption. All Christians who aspire to heaven must take up the cross of the Lord and follow him. This will mean walking in his steps, imitating his virtues and having but one purpose and goal: his.
Third Station -- Jesus Falls The First Time
Notice the infinite goodness of the Savior who wished to die the death of men and women so as to enable us to live according to the original expectation for Adam, that is, to live God's life. But to better grasp the humility of Our Lord, listen to what St. Paul writes: "Though he was God's Son, he emptied himself." (Phil. 2:6-7 freely) O, God, but it is wondrous that the Eternal Word should empty himself and set aside his proper glory for his creatures who measure up so poorly to his love!
Fourth Station -- Jesus Meets His Mother
The Mother of Christ seeks out her Son who is the life of her life. And why does she seek him out? To be ever near him, her Son and her God.
Fifth Station -- Simon Of Cyrene Helps Jesus
The evangelists do not name the majority of people who figure in the Passion. But they do recall the name of Simon who helps our Lord carry his cross. The cross is the royal gate by which we enter the temple of holiness. Love this altogether precious cross; look upon it with eyes of love.
Sixth Station -- Veronica Cleanses The Face of Jesus
I reflect upon the manner in which the Lord suffers. In his heart, he suffers willingly, with patience and love. The cross is a remedy capable of healing all our evils.
Seventh Station -- Jesus Falls The Second Time
He suffers in order to witness to his love for us. O, how great is his love! Lord, I do not know if I have any love at all, but if I do, it is so little that it is content to shed a single tear; and it believes itself perfected when it utters a few sighs. And yet, O Good God, how much I insist and protest that I want to love you and give you my entire heart!
Eighth Station -- Jesus Meets The Women Of Jerusalem
Christ has made it clear that he loves our tears when they are caused by love. If we have tears, let us cry them altogether simply, because we certainly could not have a more worthy subject over which to cry.
Ninth Station -- Jesus Falls The Third Time
My iniquity is indeed great. O, Lord, who will deliver me from this labyrinth if not you? We would have reason to fear if we relied on our own strength. For he is for us.
Tenth Station -- Jesus Is Stripped Of His Clothing
Christ stripped teaches us what we must do to please him: strip our hearts of all sorts of unworthy affections and pretenses, no longer loving them but desiring nothing other than him.
Eleventh Station -- Jesus Is Nailed To The Cross
The Son of God is nailed to the Cross. What puts him there? Certainly it is love. Well, since it is certain that he died for us the least we ought to do for him is to live from love. He who wants to kiss Christ must mount his cross and be wounded by the thorns of his crown.
Twelfth Station -- Jesus Dies On The Cross
Our Lord chose the death of the Cross to witness to his Love. There he offered himself in love, unto love, by love and of love.
Thirteenth Station -- Jesus Is Taken Down From The Cross
Love draws all the pains, torments, sufferings, sorrows, wounds, passion, Cross of our Lord into the heart of his holy Mother. The sword of death which cut through the body of this well-beloved Son also cut through the heart of this all loving Mother.
Fourteenth Station -- Jesus Is Placed In The Tomb
Love and death co-penetrate one another in the Savior's passion. We must die to every other love in order to live from Jesus' love, so that we may not die eternally.
Fifteenth Station -- The Resurrection Of Jesus
That we may live in your eternal love, O Savior of our souls, we sing eternally, "Live, Jesus! Jesus is the one I love! Live, Jesus, you whom I love. I love Jesus who lives and reigns forever and ever. Amen!"


Here are the meditations of the Stations of the Cross at which John Paul II presided on Good Friday in the Colosseum. They were written by Father André Louf, a Belgian Trappist.
FIRST STATION
Jesus on the Mount of Olives

V/. We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you.
R/. Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world

From the Gospel according to Luke 22:39-46

[Jesus] came out, and went, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives; and the disciples followed him. And when he came to the place he said to them, "Pray that you may not enter into temptation." And he withdrew from them about a stone's throw, and knelt down and prayed, "Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me; nevertheless not my will, but yours, be done." And there appeared to an angel from heaven, strengthening him. And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down upon the ground. And when he rose from prayer, he came to the disciples and found them sleeping for sorrow, and he said to them, "Why do you sleep? Rise and pray that you may not enter into temptation."

MEDITATION

Having arrived at the beginning of his Passover, Jesus is in the presence of his Father. How could it have been any different, since his secret dialogue of love with the Father had never ended? "The hour has come" (John 16:32), the hour foreseen from the beginning, announced to the disciples, which is unlike any other, which contains all the others and is the sum of them at the very moment that they are about to be fulfilled in the arms of the Father.
And suddenly that hour is the cause of fear. Nothing is hidden from this fear. but there, in the quiet of anguish, Jesus takes refuge with his Father in prayer. In Gethsemane that evening the struggle becomes fierce hand-to-hand combat, so bitter that on Jesus' face sweat changes to blood.
And Jesus dares one last time, in the presence of his Father, to give expression to the torment that seizes him: "Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me; nevertheless not my will, but yours, be done" (Luke 22:42).
Two wills clash for a moment, and then come together in the abandonment to love already announced by Jesus: "I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father" (John 14:31).

PRAYER

Jesus, our brother, in order to open to all people the path of Passover you chose to experience temptation and fear: teach us to take refuge with you, and to repeat your words of abandonment to and acceptance of the Father's will, which in Gethsemane obtained the salvation of the universe. Grant that the world may know through your disciples the power of your limitless love (John 13:1), the love that consists in giving one's life for one's friends (John 15:13).
Jesus, on the Mount of Olives, alone, before the Father, you renewed your acceptance of his will.

R/. To you be praise and glory forever.

All:
Pater noster, qui es in caelis: sanctificetur nomen tuum; adveniat regnum tuum; fiat voluntas tua, sicut in caelo, et in terra. Panem nostrum cotidianum da nobis hodie; et dimitte nobis debita nostra, sicut et nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris; et ne nos inducas in tentationem; sed libera nos a malo.

Stabat mater dolorosa,
iuxta crucem lacrimosa,
dum pendebat Filius.

SECOND STATION
Jesus, betrayed by Judas, is arrested


V/. We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you.
R/. Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world

From the Gospel according to Luke 22:47-48

While he was still speaking, there came a crowd, and the man called Judas, one of the twelve, was leading them. He drew near to Jesus to kiss him; but Jesus said to him, "Judas, would you betray the Son of man with a kiss?"

MEDITATION

From the very first time he is named, Judas is indicated as the one "who betrayed him" (Matthew 10:4; Mark 3:19; Luke 6:13); the tragic name of "traitor" remains forever linked to his memory. How could he arrive at this point, one whom Jesus had chosen to follow him so closely? Did Judas let himself get carried away by an exasperated love for Jesus, which became suspicion and resentment? The kiss would lead us to believe so, a gesture that shows love, but that became the gesture handing Jesus over to the crowd. Or perhaps he was overcome by his disappointment with a Messiah who rejected the political role of liberating Israel from foreign domination? It would not take long for Judas to realize that his subtle blackmail ended up in disaster. For it was not the death of the Messiah that he desired, but only that the Messiah be shaken up into taking on more resolute action. And then: the futile regret for his gesture, the refusal of the money of betrayal (Matthew 27:4), the giving in to despair, when Jesus speaks to Judas as "the son of perdition," he limits himself to recalling that thus the Scriptures will be fulfilled (John 17:12). A mystery of iniquity that escapes us, but that cannot overcome the mystery of mercy.

PRAYER

Jesus, friend of men and women, you came to earth and took on our flesh, in order to offer your solidarity to your brothers and sisters in humanity. Jesus, meek and gentle of heart, you bring comfort to those who suffer under the weight of their burdens (Matthew 11:29); and yet your offer of life has often been refused! Even among those who have received you there are those who deny you, who have betrayed the commitment they made. But you have never stopped loving them, to the point that you would leave all the others to go in search of them, in the hope of bringing them back to you, carrying them on your shoulders (Luke 15:5) or letting them lean on your chest (John 13:25). We entrust to your infinite mercy your children preyed upon by discouragement and despair. Grant that they might seek refuge with you and "not despair ever of your mercy" (Rule of St. Benedict 3, 74).
Jesus, you continue to love those who refuse your love and tirelessly search out those who betray you and abandon you.

R/. To you be praise and glory forever.

All: Pater noster ...

Cuius animam gementem, contristatam et dolentem pertransivit gladius.

THIRD STATION
Jesus is condemned by the Sanhedrin


V/. We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you.
R/. Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world

From the Gospel according to Luke 22:66-71

When day came, the assembly of the elders of the people gathered together, both chief priests and scribes; and they led him away to their council, and they said, "If you are the Christ, tell us." But he said to them, "If I tell you, you will not believe; and if I ask you, you will not answer. But from now on the Son of man shall be seated at the right hand of the power of God." And they all said, "Are you the Son of God, then?" And he said to them, "You say that I am." And they said, "What further testimony do we need? We have heard it ourselves from his own lips."

MEDITATION

Jesus is alone before the Sanhedrin. His disciples have fled, Confused by his arrest to which someone tried to react with violence. Gone too is the one who just before had exclaimed: "Let us also go, that we may die with him" (John 11:16). Fear has defeated them.
The brutality of the event has prevailed over their fragile intentions. They have surrendered, carried away by the current of cowardice. They leave Jesus to face his fate alone. And yet they were the circle of his intimate companions, Jesus had called them "friends" (John 15:15). Round him now there is only a hostile crowd, of one mind in desiring his death.
There were other times that the shadow of death threatened Jesus, when he alluded to his divine origin. There were other times when his listeners tried to stone him. "It is not for a good work," they say, "but for blasphemy; because you, being a man, make yourself God" (John 10:33).
Now the high priest invites him to declare before everyone whether he is the Son of God or not. Jesus does not dissimilate: he affirms as much with the same solemnity. He thus seals his death sentence.

PRAYER

Jesus, faithful witness (Revelation 1:5), facing death you serenely proclaimed your true divine identity and announced your glorious return at the end of time in order to bring to completion the work that the Father had entrusted to you. We entrust to your mercy our doubts, our continual wavering between bursts of generosity and moments of lethargy, during which we allow "the cares of the world and the delight in riches" (Matthew 13:22) to smother the spark that your glance or your word has ignited in our hardened hearts. Encourage those who have begun to follow you, lest they become frightened before the difficulties and sacrifices of which they catch sight. Remind them that you are meek and humble of heart and that your yoke is easy and your burden light. Grant that they may experience the rest that only you can offer (Matthew 11:28-30).
Jesus, serene before your impending death, the only just one before the injustice of the Sanhedrin.

R/. To you be praise and glory forever.

All: Pater noster ...

O quam tristis et afflicta
fuit illa benedica
mater Unigeniti!

FOURTH STATION
Peter denies Jesus


V/. We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you.
R/. Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world

From the Gospel according to Luke 22:54-62

Peter followed at a distance; and when they had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and sat down together, Peter sat among them. Then a maid, seeing him as he sat in the light and gazing at him, said, "This man also was with him." But he denied it, saying, "Woman, I do not know him." And a little later some one else saw him and said, "You also are one of them." But Peter said, "Man, I am not." And after an interval of about an hour still another insisted, saying, "Certainly this man also was with him; for he is a Galilean." But Peter said, "Man, I do not know what you are saying." And immediately, while he was still speaking, the cock crowed. And the Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said to him, "Before the cock crows today, you will deny me three times." And he went out and wept bitterly.

MEDITATION

Of the fleeing disciples, two come back, following at a distance the mob and its prisoner. Affection mixed with curiosity, perhaps; an unawareness of the risks.
It is not long before Peter is recognized: his Galilean accent traps him as does the testimony of those who saw him draw his sword on the Mount of Olives. Peter hides in a lie: He denies everything. He does not realize that in this way he is denying his Lord, he is contradicting his own forceful declarations of absolute fidelity. He does not understand that in this way he is rejecting his own identity.
But a cock crows, the Lord turns, he looks squarely at Peter and the crowing takes on meaning. Peter understands and bursts out weeping. Bitter tears, but sweetened by the recollection of Jesus' words: "I did not come to judge but to save" (John 12:47).
Now they are repeated by that glance of "mercy and grace," the same glance of the Father, "slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love," who "does not deal with according to our sins, nor requite us according to our iniquities" (Psalm 103:8,10).
Peter sinks deeply into that glance. On Easter morning Peter's tears will be tears of joy.

PRAYER

Jesus, the only hope of those who, weak and injured, fall; you know what is in every person (John 2:25). Our frailty increases your love and prompts your forgiveness. Help us, in the light of your mercy, to recognize our missteps and, saved by your love, to proclaim the marvels of your grace. Grant that those who exercise authority over their brothers and sisters may take pride not in having been chosen, but rather in their weakness by reason of which your strength resides in them (2 Corinthians 12:9).
Jesus, your turning to look at Peter causes bitter tears of repentance, a river of peace of a new baptism.

R/. To you be praise and glory forever.

All: Pater noster ...

Quae maerebat et dolebat
Pia mater, cum videbat
Nati poenas incliti.

FIFTH STATION
Jesus is judged by Pilate


V/. We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you.
R/. Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world

From the Gospel according to Luke 23:13-25

Pilate then called together the chief priests and the rulers and the people, and said to them, "You brought me this man as one who was perverting the people; and after examining him before you, behold, I did not find this man guilty of any of your charges against him; neither did Herod, for he sent him back to us. Behold, nothing deserving death has been done by him; I will therefore chastise him and release him." But they all cried out together, "Away with this man, and release to us Barabbas" -- a man who had been thrown into prison for an insurrection started in the city, and for murder. Pilate addressed them once more, desiring to release Jesus; but they shouted out, "Crucify, crucify him!" A third time he said to them, "Why, what evil has he done? I have found in him no crime deserving death; I will therefore chastise him and release him." But they were urgent, demanding with loud cries that he should be crucified. And their voices prevailed. So Pilate gave sentence that their demand should be granted. He released the man who had been thrown into prison for insurrection and murder, whom they asked for; but Jesus he delivered up to their will.

MEDITATION

A man without any guilt whatsoever stands before Pilate. Rights and the law give way to the decisions of a totalitarian power that seeks the consensus of the crowd. In an unjust world, the just can only be rejected and condemned. Hurray for murder, death to him who gives life.
Let Bar-Abba be freed, the criminal called "son of the Father," let him who has revealed the Father and is true Son of the Father be crucified. Other people, not Jesus, have done what is evil in the sight of God.
But power fears for its own authority, it forsakes the authoritativeness that comes from doing what is right, and it abdicates. Pilate, the authority with the power of life and death, Pilate, who did not hesitate to smother in blood the hotspots of rebellion (Luke 13:1), Pilate, who governed with an iron fist that obscure province of the Empire, dreaming of greater power, abdicates, he hands over an innocent man, and in so doing hands over his own authority, to a raucous crowd.
The one who in silence had abandoned himself to the will of the Father is thus abandoned to the will of those who cry out loudest.

PRAYER

Jesus, innocent lamb brought to slaughter (Isaiah 53:7) in order to take away the sin of the world (John 1:29), turn your tender gaze upon all the innocent who are persecuted, to prisoners who groan in horrifying jails, to victims of love for the oppressed and for justice, to those who see no end to a long punishment that is unwarranted. Your intimately perceived presence softens their bitterness and dissipates the darkness of imprisonment. Do not let us resign ourselves ever to see enchained the freedom that you have given to every person, created in your image and likeness.

Jesus, humble king of a kingdom of justice and peace, you are radiant dressed in your purple mantle, your blood shed for love.

R/. To you be praise and glory forever.

All: Pater noster ...

Quis est homo qui non fleret,
matrem Christi si videret
in tanto supplicio?

SIXTH STATION
Jesus is scourged and crowned with thorns


V/. We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you.
R/. Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world

From the Gospels according to Luke and to John Luke 22:63-65; John 19:2-3

Now the men who were holding Jesus mocked him and beat him; they also blindfolded him and asked him, "Prophesy! Who is it that struck you?" And they spoke many other words against him, reviling him. And the soldiers plaited a crown of thorns, and put it on his head, and arrayed him in a purple robe: they came up to him, saying "Hail, King of the Jews!"

MEDITATION

To the unjust condemnation is added the outrage of the scourging. Handed over to men, Jesus' body is disfigured. That body received from the Virgin Mary, which made Jesus the "fairest of the sons of men," which dispensed the anointing of the Word -- "grace is poured upon your lips" (Psalm 45:2) -- is now cruelly torn by the whip.
The face transfigured on Mount Tabor is disfigured in the praetorium: the face of the one who, insulted, responds not, of the one who, made a nameless slave, frees those who languish in slavery.
Jesus advances resolutely on the path of pain, fulfilling in his own living flesh, having now become the living voice, the prophecy of Isaiah: "I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard; I hid not my face from shame and spitting" (Isaiah 50:6). The prophecy that opens to a new future of transfiguration.

PRAYER

Jesus, reflection of the glory of God and bearer of the very stamp of his nature (Hebrews 1:3), you have accepted being reduced to a broken figure of a man, one condemned to torture, who moves to pity. You carried our sufferings, you took on our pain, you were crushed for our iniquities (Isaiah 53:5). By your wounds, you healed the wounds of our sins. Grant that those who are unjustly despised or emarginated, those who have been disfigured by torture or illness, may understand that, with you and like you crucified to the world (Galatians 2:19), they make up what is lacking in your Passion, for the salvation of mankind (Colossians 1:24).
Jesus, the brokenness of a profaned humanity, in you is revealed the sacredness of man: trove of love that returns good for evil.

R/. To you be praise and glory forever.

All: Pater noster ...

Quis no posset contristari,
Christi matrem contemplari,
dolentem cum Filio?

SEVENTH STATION
Jesus takes up the cross


V/. We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you.
R/. Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world

From the Gospel according to Mark 15:20

And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the purple cloak, and put his own clothes on him, and they led him out to crucify him.

MEDITATION

Outside. The just man unjustly condemned to die outside: outside the camp, outside the holy city, outside human society.
The soldiers strip him and put his clothes back on him. They place the beam on his shoulders, the heavy price of the gallows, sign of contradiction and instrument of capital execution.
Wood of ignominy, that weighs, like an extreme burden, on the wounded shoulders of Jesus. The hatred permeating it makes its weight unbearable. And yet that wood of the cross is redeemed by Jesus, it becomes the sign of a life lived and offered out of love for men and women.
According to tradition, Jesus staggers, three times he falls under that weight. Jesus has placed no limit on his love, "having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end" (John 13:1).
Obedient to the Father's word -- you shall love the Lord you God with all your might (Deuteronomy 6:5) -- he loved God and fulfilled his will to the end.

PRAYER

Jesus, king of glory, crowned with thorns, bowed under the weight of the cross that the hands of men prepared for you, impress upon our hearts the image of your face covered with blood, so that it may remind us that you loved us to the point of giving yourself up for us (Galatians 2:20). May our gaze never move from the sign of our salvation, raised up on the heart of the world, for, contemplating it and believing in you, we do not become lost, but have eternal life (John 3:14-16).
Jesus, on your lacerated shoulders lies the weight of the shameful gibbet: by your gift the cross becomes a constellation of jewels and the tree of Paradise becomes once more the tree of life.

R/. To you be praise and glory forever.

All: Pater noster ...

Pro peccatis suae gentis
vidit Iesum in tormentis
et flagellis subditum.

EIGHTH STATION
Simon of Cyrene helps Jesus to carry his cross


V/. We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you.
R/. Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.

From the Gospel according to Luke 23:26

And as they led him away, they seized one Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, and laid on him the cross, to carry it behind Jesus.

MEDITATION

The first stars that hail the Sabbath have not begun to shine in the sky, and yet Simon makes his way home from his work in the fields. Pagan soldiers, who know nothing of the Sabbath rest, stop him. They place upon his sturdy shoulders the cross that others promised to carry every day behind Jesus.
Simon does not choose; he receives an order, and as yet does not realize that he is accepting a gift. The lot of the poor is not being able to choose anything, not even the weight of their own sufferings.
But it is also the lot of the poor to help others who are poor, and there is one poorer than Simon: even his very life is to be taken from him. To help without asking why: The weight is too heavy for the other but my shoulders can still take it. And that is sufficient.
The day will come when the poorer one will say to his companion: "Come, blessed of my Father, enter into my joy: I was crushed under the weight of the cross and you raised me up."

PRAYER

Jesus, you walked, resolutely, on the way that leads to Jerusalem (Luke 9:51) your sufferings have made you mankind's guide on the way of salvation (Hebrews 2:10). You are our precursor on the road of your Passover (Hebrews 6:20). Come and help all who, knowingly or obliged by dark events, walk in your footsteps, you who said: "Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted" (Matthew 5:4).
Jesus, Raised up from under the weight of the cross by Simon of Cyrene, so that he, unknowing companion on the way of sorrow, might become your friend and guest in the abode of eternal glory.

R/. To you be praise and glory forever.

All: Pater noster ...

Tui Nati vulnerati,
tam dignati pro me pati,
poenas mecum divide.

NINTH STATION
Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem


V/. We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you.
R/. Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.

From the Gospel according to Luke 23:27-31

And there followed him a great multitude of the people, and of women who bewailed and lamented him. But Jesus turning to them said, "Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. For behold the days are coming when they will say, 'Blessed are the barren and the wombs that never bore, and the breasts that never gave suck!' Then they will begin to say to the mountains, 'Fall on us', and to the hills, 'Cover us.' For if they do this when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?" MEDITATION

The condemned man's retinue moves ahead. His escort, soldiers and some weeping women, women who have come up to the holy city with him and his disciples. They know this man. They have heard his word of life, they love him as teacher and prophet. Did they hope that he would free Israel? (Luke 24:21) We do not know, but now they weep for this man as for a loved one, as he had wept for Lazarus. He unites them to his suffering, a new light illuminates their sorrow. The voice of Jesus speaks of judgment, but calls to conversion; announces sufferings, but as a woman's birth-pains. Green wood will have life again and dry wood will partake of it. PRAYER

Jesus, King of glory, crowned with thorns, your face covered in blood and spittle, teach us to seek unceasingly your face (Psalm 27:8-9) so that its splendor will enlighten our way (Psalm 89:15); teach us to discover it under the appearance of men marked by sickness, prostrated by discouragement, debased by injustice. Leave imprinted in our eyes the features of your beloved face; of which the "least of your brothers" (Matthew 25:40) are a bright reflection, a sacrament of your presence among us.
Jesus, accompanied to the hill of the Skull by a retinue of weeping women: they have discovered your face of light, your word of grace.

R/ To you be praise and glory forever.

All: Pater noster ...

Eia mater, fons amoris,
me sentire vim doloris
fac, ut tecum lugeam.

TENTH STATION
Jesus is crucified


V/. We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you.
R/. Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.

From the Gospel according to Luke 23:33, 47

And when they came to the place which is called The Skull, there they crucified him, and the criminals, one on the right and one on the left. The Centurion glorified God: "Certainly this man was innocent!"

MEDITATION

A hill outside the city, an abyss of sorrow and humiliation. Suspended between heaven and earth is a man: nailed to the cross, a torment reserved for those cursed by God and by men. Near him other condemned men who are no longer worthy of the name of man.
And yet Jesus, who feels his spirit abandoning him, does not abandon his fellow men, he stretches out his arms to receive them, he whom no one wishes to receive.
Disfigured by pain, marked by abuse, the face of this man speaks to man of another justice. Defeated, ridiculed, defamed this condemned man gives back dignity to all men: Love can lead to so much, from so much love the ransom of every pain. "Certainly this man was innocent!" (Luke 23:47).

PRAYER

Jesus from among your people, only a little flock, to whom it was the Father's good pleasure to give his Kingdom (Luke 12:32), recognized you as Lord and Savior but your Spirit will soon raise witnesses to this "in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth" (Acts 1:8). Grant to those who proclaim your Word throughout the world glorious boldness (Philippians 1:14) and freedom (Philemon 8), through which your Spirit breaks in with the power of Easter and the language of the cross, a scandal to the eyes of the world, becomes divine wisdom for those who believe (1 Corinthians 1:17ff).
Jesus, your death, a pure offering so that all might have life, revealed your identity as Son of God and Son of man. R/. To you be praise and glory forever. All: Pater noster ... Fac ut ardeat cor meum in amando Christum Deum ut sibi complaceam.

ELEVENTH STATION
Jesus promises his Kingdom to the good thief


V/. We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you.
R/. Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.

From the Gospel according to Luke 23:33-34,39-43

And when they came to the place which is called the Skull, there they crucified him, and the criminals, one on the right and one on the left. And Jesus said: "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do." One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him saying, "Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!" But the other rebukes him, saying, "Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed justly; for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong." And he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." And he said to him, "Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise."

MEDITATION

The place of the Skull, the sepulcher of Adam, the first man, the scaffold of Jesus, the new man. The wood of the cross, an instrument of exposed death, a coffer of generous forgiveness.
Beside Jesus, who lived among people doing good, two men condemned for doing evil. Two others, one who asked to be at the right side of Jesus and the other at his left, declared that they were ready to undergo the same baptism, and to drink the same cup (Mark 10:38-39). But in this hour they are not here, others have gone before them to the place of the Skull.
One of them invokes a Messiah, calling upon him to save himself and both of them, right then and there. The other appeals to Jesus, to remember him when he enters into his Kingdom. He who shares the insults of the crowd gets no reply, he who recognizes the innocence of a man condemned to death receives an immediate promise of life.

PRAYER

Jesus, friend of sinners and tax collectors (Matthew 9:11; 11:19: Luke 15:1-2), you have come to save not the just, but sinners (Matthew 9:13) and wished to give us a proof of your great love (Ephesians 2:4) and of the abundance of your mercy, by accepting to die for us while we were yet sinners (Romans 5:8). Look upon us with your kindness and after we have tasted the purifying bitterness of humiliation, take us into your arms, strong with fatherly mercy, and transform with your forgiveness the mud of sin into a garment of glory.
Jesus, proclaimed innocent by a criminal, your companion in punishment for you and for your companion, the time has come to enter into the Kingdom.

R/. To you praise and glory forever.

All: Pater noster ...

Sancta mater, istud agas,
Crucifixi fige plagas
cordi meo valide.

TWELFTH STATION
Jesus on the cross, his mother and his disciple


V/. We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you.
R/. Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.

From the Gospel according to John 19:25-27

But standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother, and the disciple whom he loved standing near. He said to his mother, "Woman, behold, your son!" Then he said to the disciple, "Behold, your mother!" And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home.

MEDITATION

Around the cross, cries of hatred, at the foot of the cross, the presence of love. There she is, steadfast, the mother of Jesus. With her, other women, united in love around the dying man. Beside them, the beloved disciple, no one else.
Only love has been able to overcome all obstacles, only love has persevered until the end, only love generates love in others. And there, at the foot of the cross, a new community is born, there, in the place of death, emerges a new space of life.
Mary receives the disciple as a son, the beloved disciple receives Mary as a mother. He took into his own home (John 19:27), an inalienable treasure of which he has become the guardian. Only love can guard love, only love is stronger than death (Songs 8:6).

PRAYER

Jesus, beloved Son of the Father, to the sufferings endured on the cross is added the pain of seeing beside you your mother afflicted with sorrow. We entrust to you the desolation and rebellion of parents bewildered in the face of pain or the death of a child; we entrust to you the dejection of so many orphans, of solitary or abandoned children. You are present in their sufferings as you were on the cross, near to the Virgin Mary. May the day of meeting come when all tears will be wiped away, and joy will be without end.
Jesus, dying on the cross you entrust your mother to the beloved one, the virgin Apostle to the pure Virgin who carried you in her womb.

R/. To you be praise and glory forever.

All: Pater noster ...

Fac me vere tecum flere,
Crucifixo condolore,
donec ego vixero.

THIRTEENTH STATION
Jesus dies on the cross


V/. We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you.
R/. Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.

From the Gospel according to Luke 23:44-46

It was now about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour, while the sun's light failed; and the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Then Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said, "Father, into your hands I commend my spirit." And having said this he breathed his last.

MEDITATION

After the agony in Gethsemane, Jesus, on the cross, is once again face to face with his Father. At the height of indescribable sufferings, Jesus turns to him and prays to him.
His prayer is above all an invocation of mercy for his torturers. Then an application to himself of the prophetic words of the psalm: the sign of a feeling of lacerating abandonment, which reaches at its crucial moment an experience in his whole being of what kind of despair sin leads to in its separation from God.
Jesus has drunk to the dregs the cup of bitterness. But from that abyss of suffering, comes a cry that breaks the desolation: "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit" (Luke 23:46).
And the feeling of abandonment becomes entrustment into the arms of the Father; the last breath of the dying man has become a cry of victory, Mankind, which had strayed far away in the vertigo of self-sufficiency, is once again received by the Father.

PRAYER

Jesus, our brother, by your death you have reopened for us the way blocked by the sin of Adam. You have gone before us on the road that leads from death to life (Hebrews 6:20). You have taken upon yourself the fear and the torments of death, changing radically their meaning: you have turned around the despair that they provoke, changing death into an encounter of love. Comfort those who today are setting out on your same road. Reassure those who strive to divert their minds from the thought of death. And when for us that dramatic and blessed hour should come, receive us into your eternal joy, non because of our merits, but in virtue of the marvelous things your grace works in us.
Jesus, exhaling your last breath you entrust your life into the hands of the Father and you pour out on the Spouse the vivifying gift of the Spirit.

R/. To you praise and glory forever.

All: Pater noster ...

Vidi suum dulcem Natum
morientem, desolatum,
cum emisit spiritum.

FOURTEENTH STATION
Jesus is placed in the tomb


V/. We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you.
R/. Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.

From the Gospel according to Luke 23:50-54

Now there was a man named Joseph, a member of the council, a good and righteous man who had not consented to their purpose and deed. He was from the Jewish town of Arimathea, and was looking for the kingdom of God. This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then he took it down and wrapped it in a linen shroud and laid him in a rock-hewn tomb, where no one had ever yet been laid. It was the day of Preparation and the Sabbath was beginning.

MEDITATION

The first light of the sabbath. He who was the light of the world descends into the realm of darkness. The body of Jesus is swallowed up by the earth, and with it all hope is swallowed up. But his descent into the abode of death is not for death but for life.
It is to reduce to powerlessness him who held the power of death, that is the devil (Hebrews 2:14) to destroy the last enemy of man, death itself (1 Corinthians 15:26), to bring life and immortality to light ( 2 Timothy 1:10), to preach the good news to the spirits in prison (1 Peter 3:19).
Jesus lowers himself and reaches the first human couple, Adam and Eve, bowed under the burden of their guilt. Jesus stretches out his hand to them, and their faces light up with the glory of the resurrection. The first Adam and the last are similar and recognize one another; the first finds his likeness in him who was to come one day to free him together with all his other children (Genesis 1:26). That day has finally come.
Now in Jesus, every death, from that moment on, can flow into life.

PRAYER
Jesus, Lord rich in mercy, you were made man so as to become our brother, and by your death conquer death. You descended into Hades so as to free mankind, to make us live again with you, we are risen and called to sit with you in the heavenly places (cf. Ephesians 2:4-6) Good Shepherd who leads us to restful waters, take us in your hand when we cross the valley of darkness (Psalm 23:2-4), so that we may stay with you and contemplate forever your glory (John 17:24).
Jesus, Wrapped in a shroud and placed in the tomb, you await, after the stone has been rolled over, for the silence of the night to be broken by the jubilee of an everlasting alleluia.

R/. To you be praise and glory forever.

All: Pater noster ...

Quando corpus morietur,
fac ut animae donetur
paradisi gloria. Amen.

[The Holy Father then addressed those present. At the end of his address the Holy Father imparted the Apostolic Blessing.]

V /. Dominus vobiscum.
R /. Et cum spiritu tuo.
V /. Sit nomen Domini benedictum.
R /. Ex hoc nunc et usque in saeculum.
V /. Adiutorium nostrum nomine Domini.
R /. Qui fecit caelum et terram.
V /. Benedicat vos omnipotens Deus,
Pater, et Filius, et, Spiritus Sanctus.
R /. Amen.

[Translation issued by the Holy See]



Sometimes Fifteen Stations are depicted. The extra one being the Resurrection



These marvellous Stations of the Cross have images sculpted in bronze by Lynn Kiercher.
To download a printable copy for your personal devotion click here
From Holy Spirit Interactive page - used with permission.

The Preparation - Jesus prays in the Garden of Gethsemane

We adore thee, O Christ, and we bless thee. Because by thy holy cross thou hast redeemed the world.

He knelt down and prayed saying: "Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me; nevertheless not my will but thine be done." And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him. And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was, as it were, great drops of blood falling down to the earth.

O God, whose only begotten Son for our sake did suffer agony in the garden and was betrayed and forsaken by sinful men; give us grace and courage to yield our wayward hearts to the accomplishment of thy righteous will and the greater glory of thy holy Name in joyful gratitude for the saving love of Christ our Lord. Amen.

Holy God, Holy and Mighty, Holy Immortal One, Have mercy upon us.

At the cross her station keeping,
Stood the mournful mother weeping,
Where he hung the dying Lord.


The First Station: Jesus is condemned to death

We adore thee, O Christ, and we bless thee. Because by thy holy cross thou hast redeemed the world.

As soon as it was morning, the chief priests, with the elders and scribes, and the whole council, held a consultation; and they bound Jesus and led him away and delivered him to Pilate. And they all condemned him and said, "He deserves to die." When Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judgment seat at a place called the Pavement, but in the Hebrew, Gabbatha. Then he handed Jesus over to them to be crucified.

Almighty God, whose most dear Son went not up to joy but first he suffered pain, and entered not into glory before he was crucified: Mercifully grant that we, walking in the way of the cross, may find it none other than the way of life and peace; through Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord. Amen.

Holy God, Holy and Mighty, Holy Immortal One, Have mercy upon us.

For her soul of joy bereaved,
Bowed with anguish, deeply grieved,
Felt the sharp and piercing sword.


The Second Station: Jesus takes up his Cross

We adore thee, O Christ, and we bless thee. Because by thy holy cross thou hast redeemed the world.

Jesus went out, bearing his own cross, to the place called 'the place of a skull," which is callein Hebrew, Golgotha. Although he was a Son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. Like a lamb he was led to the slaughter; and like a sheep that before its shearers is mute, so he opened not his mouth. Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and riches and wisdon and strenght and honor and glory and blessing.

Almighty God, whose beloved Son willingly endured the agony and shame of the cross for our redemption: Give us courage to take up our cross and follow him; who liveth and reigneth for ever and ever. Amen.

Holy God, Holy and Mighty, Holy Immortal One, Have mercy upon us.

O how sad and sore distressed,
Now was she,
that Mother blessed,
Of the Sole begotten One.


The Third Station: Jesus falls the first time

We adore thee, O Christ, and we bless thee. Because by thy holy cross thou hast redeemed the world.

Christ Jesus, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped; but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, and was born in the human likeness. And being found in human form he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him, and bestowed on him the name which is above every name. Come, let us bow down, and bend the knee, and kneel before the Lord our Maker, for he is the Lord our God.

O God, who knowest us to be set in the midst of so many and great dangers, that by reason of the frailty of our nature we cannot always stand upright: Grant us such strength and protection as may support us in all dangers, and carry us through all temptations; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Holy God, Holy and Mighty, Holy Immortal One, Have mercy upon us.

Deep the woe of her affliction,
When she saw the crucifixion
Of her ever glorious Son


The Fourth Station: Jesus meets his Sorrowful Mother

We adore thee, O Christ, and we bless thee. Because by thy holy cross thou hast redeemed the world.

To what can I liken you, to what can I compare you, O daughter of Jerusalem? What likeness can I use to comfort you, o virgin daughter of Zion? For vast as the sea is your ruin. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. The Lord will be your everlasting light, and your days of mourning shall be ended.

O God, who hast willed that in the passion of thy Son a sword of grief sould pierce the soul of the Blessed Virgin Mary his mother: Mercifully grant that by Church, having shared with her in his passion, may be made worthy to share with her in the joys of his resurrection; who liveth and reigheth for ever and ever. Amen.

Holy God, Holy and Mighty, Holy Immortal One, Have mercy upon us.

For his people's sins chastised,
She beheld her Son despised,
Scourged, and crowned with thorns entwined.


The Fifth Station: The Cross is laid on Simon of Cyrene

We adore thee, O Christ, and we bless thee. Because by thy holy cross thou hast redeemed the world.

As they led Jesus away, they came upon a man of Cyrene, Simon by name, who was coming in from the country, and laid on him the cross to carry it behind Jesus. "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; fy my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."

Heavenly Father, whose blessed Son came not to be served but to serve: Bless all who, following in his steps, give themselves to the service of others; that with wisdom, patience, and courage, they may minister in his Name to the suffering, the friendless, and the needy; for the love of him who laid down his life for us, thy Son our Savior Jesus Christ, Amen.

Holy God, Holy and Mighty, Holy Immortal One, Have mercy upon us.

Saw him then from judgment taken,
And in death by all forsaken,
Till his Spirit he resigned.


The Sixth Station: A woman wipes the face of Jesus

We adore thee, O Christ, and we bless thee. Because by thy holy cross thou hast redeemed the world.

Lo, he was without beauty or majesty, with no comeliness that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces, he was despised, and we esteemed him not. His appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance, and his form beyond thatof the sons of men. He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement of our peace, and with his stripes we are healed.

O God, who before the passion of thine only-begotten Son revealed his glory upon the holy mountain: Grant us that we, beholding by faith the light of his countenance, may be strengthened to bear our cross, and be changed into his lilkeness from glory to glory; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Holy God, Holy and Mighty, Holy Immortal One, Have mercy upon us.

With what pain and desolation,
With what grief and resignation
She beheld her dying Son


The Seventh Station: Jesus falls a second time

We adore thee, O Christ, and we bless thee. Because by thy holy cross thou hast redeemed the world.

Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to our own way; and teh Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth. For the transgression of my people was he stricken.

Almighty and everlaiving God who in thy tender love for mankind didst send thy Son our Savior Jesus Christ to take upon him our nature, and to suffer death upon the cross, giving us the example of this great humility: Mercifully grant that we who walk in the way of his suffering, may also share in his resurrection; who liveth and reigneth for ever and ever. Amen.

Holy God, Holy and Mighty, Holy Immortal One, Have mercy upon us.

O how deep her lamentation,
Far beyond our contemplation,
As the darkness hid the Sun!


The Eighth Station: Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem

We adore thee, O Christ, and we bless thee. Because by thy holy cross thou hast redeemed the world.

There followed after Jesus a great multitude of people, and among them were women who bewailed and lamented him. But Jesus turning to them said, "Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children."

Teach thy Church, O Lord, to mourn the sins of which we are guilty, and to repent and forsake them; that by thy pardoning grace, their consequences may not be visited upon our children nor our children's children; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Holy God, Holy and Mighty, Holy Immortal One, Have mercy upon us.

There she watched in bitter anguish,
seeing Christ in torment languish,
mocked and by his foes decried


The Ninth Station: Jesus falls a third time

We adore thee, O Christ, and we bless thee. Because by thy holy cross thou hast redeemed the world.

I am the man who has seen affliction under the rod of his wrath; he has driven and brought me and enveloped me with bitterness and tribulation; he has made me dwell in the darkness like the dead of long ago. Though I call and cry for help, he shuts out my prayer. He has made my teeth gind on gravel, and made me cower in ashes. "Remember, O Lord, my affliction and bitterness, the wormwood and the gall!"

O God, by the passion of thy blessed Son thou didst make the instrument of shameful death to be for us the means of life: Grant us so to glory in the cross of Christ, that we may gladly suffer shame and loss for the sake of thy Son and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

Holy God, Holy and Mighty, Holy Immortal One, Have mercy upon us.

Suffer'ring for the whole creation,
Bleeding there for our salvation,
For us sinners crucified


The Tenth Station: Jesus is stripped of his garments

We adore thee, O Christ, and we bless thee. Because by thy holy cross thou hast redeemed the world.

When they came to a place called Golgotha ( which means the place of a skull), they offered him wine to drink, mingled with gall; but when he tasted it, he would not drink it. And they divided his garments among them by casting lots. This was to fulfill the scripture which says, "They divided my garments among them; cast lots for my clothing."

Lord God, whose blessed Son our Savior gave his body to be scourged and his face to be spit upon: Give us grace to accept joyfully the sufferings of the present time, confident of the glory that shall be revealed; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Holy God, Holy and Mighty, Holy Immortal One, Have mercy upon us.

Who, on Christ's dear Mother gazing,
Pierced by anguish so amazing
Born of woman, would not weep?


The Eleventh Station: Jesus in nailed to the Cross

We adore thee, O Christ, and we bless thee. Because by thy holy cross thou hast redeemed the world.

When they came to a place which is call the Skull, there they crucified him; and with him the crucified two criminals, one on the right, the other on the left, and Jesus between them. And the scripture was fulfilled which says, "He was numbered with the transgressors."

Lord Jesus Christ, who didst stretch out thy arms of love on the hard wood of the cross that everyone might come within the reach of thy saving embrace: So clothe us in thy Spirit that we, reaching forth our hands in love, may bring those who do not know thee to the knowledge and love of thy Holy Name. Amen.

Holy God, Holy and Mighty, Holy Immortal One, Have mercy upon us.

Who on Christ's dear Mother thinking,
Such a cup of sorrow drinking
Would not share her sorrows deep?


The Twelfth Station: Jesus dies on the Cross

We adore thee, O Christ, and we bless thee. Because by thy holy cross thou hast redeemed the world.

When Jesus saw his mother, and the disciple whom he loved standing near, he said to his mother, "Woman, behold thy son!" Then he said to the disciple, "Behold thy mother!" And when Jesus had received the vinegar, he said, "It is finished!" And then, crying with a loud voice, he said, "Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit." And he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.

O God, who for our redemption didst give thy only-begotten Son to the death of the cross, and by his glorious resurrection delivered us from the power of our enemy: Grand us so to die daily to sin, that we may evermore live with him in the joy of his resurrection; who liveth and reighneth now and for ever. Amen.

Holy God, Holy and Mighty, Holy Immortal One, Have mercy upon us.

Clilmbing Calv' ry's rugged mountain
Stand we 'neath that precious fountain,
Flowing from Christ's wounded side


The Thirteenth Station: Jesus is placed in the arms of his Mother

We adore thee, O Christ, and we bless thee. Because by thy holy cross thou hast redeemed the world.

All you who pass by, behold and see if there be any sorrow like my sorrow. My eyes are spent with weepin; my soul is in tumult; my heart is poured out in grief because of the downfall of my people. "Do not call me Naomi (which means Pleasant), call me Mara (which means Bitter); for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me."

Lord Jesus Christ, who by thy death took away the sting of death: Grand to us thy servants so to follow in the faith where thou hast led the way, that may at length fall asleep peacefully in thee and wake up in thy likeness; for thy tender mercies' sake. Amen.

Holy God, Holy and Mighty, Holy Immortal One, Have mercy upon us.

Like St. Mary, may we treasure,
Such great love that none can measure,
and within its peace abide.


The Fourteenth Station: Jesus is laid in the tomb

We adore thee, O Christ, and we bless thee. Because by thy holy cross thou hast redeemed the world.

When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea named Joseph, who also was a disciple of Jesus. He went to Pilate and begged for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate ordered it be given to him. And Joseph took the body, and wrapped it in a clean linen shroud, and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn in the rock; and he rolled a great sone to the door of the tomb.

O God, whose blessed Son was laid in a garden tomb, and rested on the Sabbath day: Grant that we who have been buried with him in the waters of baptism may find our perfect rest in his eternal and glorious kingdom; where he liveth and reigneth for ever and ever. Amen.

Holy God, Holy and Mighty, Holy Immortal One, Have mercy upon us.

Jesus, may her deep devotion
Stir in us the same emotion
Fount of love, Redeemer Kind;
That our hearts fresh ardor gaining
And a purer love attaining,
May with thee acceptance find. Amen



Short Way of the Cross
Used by the Franciscan Fathers on their Missions - illustrated by Ken Cooke
[Click here for a downloadable version of the Stations of the Cross]

The First Station:
Jesus is condemned to death
      
The Second Station:
Jesus takes up his Cross

O Jesus! so meek and uncomplaining, teach me resignation in trials.

      

My Jesus, this Cross should be mine, not Thine; my sins crucified Thee.


The Third Station:
Jesus falls the first time
      
The Fourth Station:
Jesus meets his Sorrowful Mother

O Jesus! by this first fall, never let me fall into mortal sin.

      

O Jesus! may no human tie, however dear, keep me from following the road of the Cross.


The Fifth Station:
The Cross is laid on Simon of Cyrene
      
The Sixth Station:
A woman wipes the face of Jesus

Simon unwillingly assisted Thee; may I with patience suffer all for Thee.

      

O Jesus! Thou didst imprint Thy sacred features upon Veronica's veil; stamp them also indelibly upon my heart


The Seventh Station:
Jesus falls a second time
      

The Eighth Station:
Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem

By Thy second fall, preserve me, dear Lord, from relapse into sin.

      

My greatest consolation would be to hear Thee say: "Many sins are forgiven thee, because thou hast loved much."


The Ninth Station:
Jesus falls a third time
      

The Tenth Station:
Jesus is stripped of his garments

O Jesus! when weary upon life's ong journey, be Thou my strength and my perseverance

      

My soul has been robbed of its robe of innocence; clothe me, dear Jesus, with the garb of penance and contrition.


The Eleventh Station:
Jesus in nailed to the Cross
      

The Twelfth Station:
Jesus dies on the Cross

Thou didst forgive Thy enemies; my God, teach me to forgive injuries and FORGET them.

      

Thou art dying, my Jesus, but Thy Sacred Heart still throbs with love for Thy sinful children.


The Thirteenth Station:
Jesus is placed in the arms of his Mother
      

The Fourteenth Station:
Jesus is laid in the tomb

Receive me into thy arms, O Sorrowful Mother; and obtain for me perfect contrition for my sins.

      

When I receive Thee into my heart in Holy Communion, O Jesus, make it a fit abiding place for thy adorable Body. Amen.