Stations of the Cross

In order to remain a friend of Caesar, Pilate delivers Jesus into the hands of His enemies. Jesus, the most innocent of beings, is condemned to death. His commitment to entering our lives completely begins its final steps. He has said "yes" to God and placed his life in God's hands. We follow him in this final surrender, and contemplate with reverence each place along the way, as he is broken and given for us. 

 Jesus is made to carry the cross on which he will die. It represents the weight of all our crosses. 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. The only safe way to the promised land is the way of the cross. As pilgrims here, we retrace the same path Christ trod for our salvation. Through trial and affliction, we go forward with eyes fixed on our heavenly goal. 

 The weight is unbearable. Jesus falls under it. He lays on the ground and knows the experience of weakness beneath unfair burdens. He feels the powerlessness of wondering if he will ever be able to continue. He is pulled up and made to continue. As we behold him there on the ground, being roughly pulled up, we know forever how profoundly he understands our fatigue and our defeats. 

 Jesus' path takes him to a powerful source of his strength to continue. He meets Mary. they look into each other's eyes. She blesses his mission. Love and trust in God bind them together.
The Mother of Jesus cares for all the redeemed who still journey on this earth. Her spiritual maternity will last until all the elect are safe in the heavenly fatherland. She helps us on the sorrowful way to keep our gaze focused on our true home. 

  Simon of Cyrene was forced to help our exhausted Savior carry His Cross. How pleased would Jesus have been, had Simon offered his services of his own accord. However, Simon was not invited by Christ as you are. He says: “Take up your cross and follow Me.” Nevertheless you recoil, and carry it grudgingly. 

  Moved by compassion, Veronica presents her veil to Jesus, to wipe His disfigured face. He imprints on it His holy countenance, and returns it to her as a recompense. Shall Christ reward you in like manner? Then you too must do Him a service. But you do a service to Christ every time you perform a work of mercy towards your neighbour: for He says: “What you have done to the least of My brethren, you have done to Me.” 

 Overwhelmed by the weight of the Cross, Jesus falls again to the ground. In deep exhaustion he stares at the earth beneath him. Let's remember that our sins caused Jesus this painful fall. Let our hearts go out to him. Let's store up this image in our hearts, knowing that he loved us, and we will never feel alone in our suffering or in any diminishment, with this image of Jesus on the ground before us. 

 Moved by compassion, these devoted women weep over our suffering Savior. But He turns to them and says: “Weep not for Me, but weep for yourselves and your children. Weep for your sins and those of your children; for they are the cause of My suffering.” You also must weep over your sins, for there is nothing more pleasing to our Lord and more useful to yourself than the tears you shed out of contrition for your sins. 

  Exhausted at the foot of Calvary, Jesus falls for the third time to the ground. This last fall is devastating. Jesus can barely proceed to the end. His executioners help him up so he can make it up the hill of crucifixion. Help us, dear Lord, to pick ourselves up each time we fall. Conscious of our weaknesses, may we stretch a helping hand to all who share our human frailty. 

 Arriving on Calvary, Jesus is cruelly deprived of His garments. Part of the indignity is to be crucified naked. He experiences the ultimate vulnerability of the defenseless. As I look at him in his humility, I know that this is for me. How painful the stripping must have been, because the garments adhered to His mangled body. 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. 

 Stripped of His garments, Jesus is violently thrown down on the Cross. His hands and His feet are nailed to it in the most cruel way. Jesus remains silent, because it so pleases His heavenly Father. He suffers patiently, because He suffers for you. How do you act in sufferings and trials? How fretful and impatient, how full of complaints are you! 

  Jesus, hangs on the Cross for three endless hours. Between two criminals, a mocking title above his head, with only Mary and John and Mary Magdalene to support him, Jesus surrenders his last breath: "Into your hands I commend my spirit." Behold Jesus crucified! Behold His wounds received for love of you! His whole appearance betokens love. His head is bent to kiss you. His arms are extended to embrace you. His heart is open to receive you. Jesus dies on the Cross, to show us that His love is complete and without measure. 

 Jesus did not descend from the Cross, but remained on it till His death. He has truly died. A profound sacrifice, complete. He has fallen into God's hands. When taken down, He rested on the bosom of His beloved Mother as He had so often done in life. Jesus' lifeless body lays in his mother's arms.
Persevere in your good resolutions, and do not flee from the cross. For he who perseveres till the end shall be saved. 

 They take the body of Jesus to its resting place. In solidarity with all humanity, his body is taken to its grave. In God's plan, each of us becomes acquainted with suffering until finally death closes our eyes. But the grave will not hold us captives forever. In God's hour, we shall rise, nevermore to die. In the fullness of faith in the Risen One, given by his own Holy Spirit, let's express our gratitude for this way of the cross. Let's ask Jesus, whose hands, feet and side still bear the signs of this journey, to grant us the graces we need to take up our crosses to be servants of his own mission. 

 Lord Jesus Christ,
your passion and death is the sacrifice that unites earth and heaven
and reconciles all people to you.
May we who have faithfully reflected on these mysteries
follow in your steps and so come to share your glory in heaven
where you live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit
one God, for ever and ever.