Stations of the Cross
Watch short introduction here ---->
You may use The Stations of the Cross for personal penance and meditation whenever you feel the need to. Use the Ten Commandments of God as litmus test to reflect on your personal goals for the prayers and really meditate on each station. Ask yourself: How can I better reflect Christ in my life?
Introduction: For all of us life is a journey. On this journey, sometimes we can choose our own companions, sometimes we cannot. But if we wish, there is always one companion we can have with us, and that is Jesus Christ. If we are wise, we will ask Him to come with us, for without Him life is not life. Without him we can never successfully reach our journey’s goal. But if we finish life in his company we are safe. And He is ready to come with us. There is just one condition; it involves the cross. “If any man will come with me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me.” Today, we are going to accept his invitation; we are going to join Jesus on the last part of his journey; his journey through suffering and death into glory of the resurrection.
There is just one other person we will ask to come with us, and that is Jesus’ own mother, Mary and our mother too. Let us pray to her to obtain for us something of her own great love, compassion, courage and generosity.
Preparatory Prayers
Jesus, our adorable Saviour, we now contemplate Your sacred passion. Help us to understand that the sufferings of our life are the continuation of Your passion. We ask for strength of our souls to go through our passion, in the spirit with which You went through Yours. Amen.
Station I – Jesus is condemned to death
Leader: We adore You, O Christ, and we bless You. All: Because by Your Holy Cross, You have redeemed the world. Jesus Stands before Pilate. Pilate has examined him, and declared openly, “I cannot find any reason to condemn Him,” Jn.18:38. But the mob gathered there is out for blood, so they shout, “If you release this man, you are not Caesar’s friend…Away with him, away with him, crucify him, crucify him.” Jn.19:12-15. So, to remain Caesar’s friend and to hold on to his position, Pilate condemns Jesus, an innocent man. He washes his hands off what he has done. Where were the good people that day? Where were the people who had been healed by him? Where were the people who believed in Him? Where were the people who sang Hosanna, Son of David? They kept out of sight, they were silent. The same thing can happen today. The good people can be silent when injustice is done. We attend mass every Sunday. We sing praises to him every Sunday. But when someone is unjustly charged with a crime, when the rights of the poor are trampled on, when the houses of the poor are demolished, when a few privileged people enjoy the national cake…we keep silence. And when we are silent and allow these things to happen, it is not only the poor but Jesus himself in the person of the poor who is outraged. As we look on our Lord, cruelly and unjustly condemned, let us say to him… Lord, have mercy on me for all my daily failings. Song At the cross her station keeping, Stood the mournful mother weeping Close to Jesus to the last. |
Station II – Jesus is laden with the Cross
Leader: We adore You, O Christ, and we bless You. All: Because by Your Holy Cross, You have redeemed the world. No sooner is Jesus condemned than they bring the cross and order him to carry it to the place of execution. The Cross, remember, was an instrument of torture; made of two rough heavy beams of wood. Jesus had to take that cross and lay it across his shoulders, those shoulders that had been torn, lacerated by the brutal scourging a few hours earlier. And so Jesus, who had lightened the burdens of many people – the burden of sickness, the burden of demonic possession, the burden of sin and guilt, is himself burdened with this cruel cross. Can we do anything to ease that burden from his shoulders? We can. Jesus Christ now in glory with his Father can no longer suffer, but until the end of time he will see himself crucified in his suffering brothers and sisters. In our world today many have a heavy burden to carry. Not only laborious, ill-paid work, but still heavier load of hunger, inability to educate children, indifference from the authorities…When we show them compassion, when we take an interest in them, when we relieve and support them as best as we can, we are reaching out to help the suffering Christ. For the many times we have refused to reach out to our brothers and sisters to lighten their burden...Christ have mercy on us. Song Through her heart, his sorrow sharing, All his bitter anguish bearing, Now at length the sword has passed. |
Station III – Jesus falls for the first time
Leader: We adore You, O Christ, and we bless You. All: Because by Your Holy Cross, You have redeemed the world. Jesus, carrying the cross, has set out on the way to Calvary. He was already weakened by the loss of blood. He was scourged and crowned with thorns. He was not in good shape. As he goes along the rough road he stumbles, he is thrown off balance, and then crashes to the ground under the heavy cross. There he lies crushed and humiliated to the dust. As we stand, in shame and sorrow at the sight of our fallen saviour, let us remember what the prophet says, “Through his wounds we are healed.” And we need to be healed. Perhaps, some emotional problem is bearing us down, some break or strain in personal relationships. It may even be the problem of drink, drug addiction, or even immoral life. Jesus has fallen, that we may be raised up. “Through his wounds we are healed.” Jesus, I have fallen into sin…Have mercy on me. Song Oh, how sad and sore distressed Was that mother highly blest? Of the sole-begotten One. |
Station IV – Jesus meets his Blessed Mother
Leader: We adore You, O Christ, and we bless You. All: Because by Your Holy Cross, You have redeemed the world. Word has come to our Lady that her Son has been condemned and is on his way to execution. At once she hurried along looking for him. Suddenly they are face to face. His mother looks at him in disbelief. Her Son’s face, pain and exhaustion written all over it. The heavy cross on his shoulders, the jeering and mocking crowd all around him. She rushes forward to embrace and console him. But the soldiers hold her back. All they can do is to look at one another, Jesus and his mother, love and understanding in their eyes, but pain and grief in their hearts. Is this agony of Jesus Christ and his mother perpetuated in our world today? It is. Abortion is a silent cry and anguish of our day. In some Arab and African countries children are snatched away, and are given guns to kill. Many children are deprived of their basic rights to food, clothing and education by the bad policies of governments. Mothers are in pain to see this. It was to free from such tyranny and cruelty that Jesus gave his life; and it is up to us the followers, by whatever means we can command, to see that this freedom is not snatched away from people. Yet how careless and indifferent we can be to the denial of freedom and justice throughout the world; and particularly in the place where we live…Christ have mercy on me. Song Christ above in torment hangs; She beneath beholds the pangs Of her dying glorious Son. |
Station V – Simon of Cyrene helps Jesus to carry his cross
Leader: We adore You, O Christ, and we bless You. All: Because by Your Holy Cross, You have redeemed the world. Jesus struggles forward. Now he has become exhausted. Very little strength left in his body. His enemies fear that he will collapse and die on the way. So, they lay hands on a man passing by and force him to carry the cross for some time in place of Jesus. The man’s name was Simon. Simon, perhaps, was angry at first, but as he went along sympathy and compassion for Jesus Christ overtook him, and he finished by carrying the cross willingly. Simon was changed, and grew as a person, through his contact with the cross of Jesus. And so will we, if we can see the inevitable sorrows of life as a sharing in the passion of Jesus. Let us bring them all into the presence of Jesus now, and unite these small trials of ours with the great redemptive sufferings of his in the passion. Lord, have mercy on us. Song Is there one, who would not weep, Who in miseries so deep, Christ’s dear mother to behold? |
Station VI – Veronica wipes the face of Jesus
Leader: We adore You, O Christ, and we bless You. All: Because by Your Holy Cross, You have redeemed the world. Here we have a scene that brings us a little joy. Jesus is now in a pitiable state. His face is so covered with sweat and dust, and the blood that has trickled down from the thorns that cover his head that he can hardly see where he is going. But suddenly there is a movement in the crowd, and before the soldiers realise what is happening, a woman pushes her way forward and presses a towel gently on Jesus’ face. Thank God for that kindly act; a kindly act but an act of heroic courage too. This woman, Veronica by name, was not afraid of ridicule. She risked even physical violence at the hands of the soldiers. She had the courage to declare herself for Jesus, and stand by him in his hour of need. Don’t we also feel the call sometimes to come forward and take a bold stand, or come to the rescue of some suffering brother or sister, and how often we hold back: We say we don’t want to get involved. We are afraid of trouble it will cause us, we are afraid of what people will say, and so many a suffering member of Christ remains lonely and unsupported. Remember Jesus’ words, “I tell you, whenever you did this to one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did it to me.” Lord, many a times I refused to give a helping hand to my neighbour…Lord, have mercy on me. Song Can the human heart refrain From partaking in her pain, In that mother’s pain untold? |
Station VII – Jesus falls beneath His cross, the second time
Leader: We adore You, O Christ, and we bless You. All: Because by Your Holy Cross, You have redeemed the world. The pain of his wounds; and the loss of blood increasing at every step of his way, weakens him; and Jesus falls to the ground for the second time. Jesus has come a long way on his journey. But now it is midday, and the sun is beating down on him. The road is more rough and steep. Suddenly he looses his balance, and once again he falls helplessly to the ground, the heavy cross crushing and bruising him. What crushes Jesus is not only the heavy cross, but even more the weight of our sins. Sin is a burden and each of us has contributed to the weight of that burden. Think particularly of our sins of (immorality) unfaithfulness, all those promises we have made to the Lord and so quickly forgotten. His love so steadfast and ours, so inconsistent. Let us ask the Lord to deliver us from our fickleness, and through the power of his sacred passion to make us steadfast in our love for him and for one another. Christ, have mercy on us. Song Bruised, derided, cursed, defiled, She beheld her tender child, All with bloody scourges rent. |
Station VIII – Jesus consoles the women of Jerusalem
Leader: We adore You, O Christ, and we bless You. All: Because by Your Holy Cross, You have redeemed the world. In the midst of suffering and rejection, Jesus has a moment of comfort and consolation. The kind hearted women begin to weep as they see Jesus’ sufferings. They probably remembered how kind He was to them, how he healed their sick, blessed their children, and preached the Good News of God’s kingdom. But Jesus’ reply to their sympathy is frightening, “Women of Jerusalem, don’t cry for me, but for yourselves and your children…” I think you see the meaning of that. If I who am innocent have to suffer so much, what will it be for those who are guilty? We have so often cut ourselves off from the tree of life, from the true vine that is Jesus. So often we try to live without him. We cut prayer out of our lives, or we come to mass on a Sunday and never think of receiving communion. Let us thank the Lord for his kindly warning, and ask him to lead us to him with Peter, “You, Lord, have the words of eternal life;” we want to listen to them and to live by them. Lord, have mercy on us. Song For the sins of his own nation, Saw him hang in desolation, Till his spirit forth he sent. |
Station IX – Jesus falls beneath His cross the third time
Leader: We adore You, O Christ, and we bless You. All: Because by Your Holy Cross, You have redeemed the world. Jesus almost reached his journey’s end. They are close to the top of Calvary. But now he is utterly exhausted. Suddenly without warning his strength gives way; he collapses and falls prostrate on the ground again. And there he lies, the Lord and master of us all, become the weakest and helpless. In every society, there are people who have come to the end of the road, people driven to the limit of their endurance, people who have become desperate, people for whom hope seems to have died. We can think of those who suffer from deep depression, or who are crushed by poverty, or who are victims of some crippling disease. But see how our Lord somehow gets to his feet again. He is determined to go through with it to the bitter end. He motivates us by his example of perseverance. And at the same time let us lift up to him all those brothers and sisters of ours who feel broken by life, and cry out for sympathy and new courage. Christ, have mercy on us. Song O thou mother! Fount of love! Touch my spirit from above, Make my heart with thine accord. |
Station X – Jesus is stripped of His garments Leader: We adore You, O Christ, and we bless You. All: Because by Your Holy Cross, You have redeemed the world. We have now come to the place of execution. The cross is taken from Jesus and flung down on the ground. The soldiers come to Jesus and start stripping his clothes off him. His whole body was filled with wounds from the scourging, crowning and the falls under the cross. His clothes were stuck to the wounds. As the soldiers pulled off his clothes every wound in his body would have been torn open again. It is shocking to think of the pain and the shame and humiliation of that stripping. How grateful we must be to our Saviour for going through such a bitter experience for our sake. But as we sympathise with him and thank him in our hearts, don’t you think he wants us to feel also for our brothers and sisters in the world today who are hurt and humiliated? Think of the thousands whose human dignity is outraged and trampled, the street children, people making dangerous journeys across the seas for a better life; people who are deprived of all chances of education. As long as the human dignity of people is outraged like this, the passion of Jesus still continues. Lord, have mercy on us. Song Make me feel as thou has felt, Make my soul to glow and melt With the love of Christ my Lord. |
Station XI– Jesus is nailed to the cross
Leader: We adore You, O Christ, and we bless You. All: Because by Your Holy Cross, You have redeemed the world. The Cross is laid on the ground. Jesus is ordered to stretch himself on it. Then one arm is seized, and a long rough nail is placed on the wrist. A soldier raises his hammer and with blow after blow sends the nail tearing its way through flesh and muscle until it is sunk deep in the wood. They do the same with the other arm and feet. Every nerve in his body must have been convulsed in pain. Then they raise the cross and allow it to fall with a jolt into the hole prepared for it. Who among us can look at that tortured figure unmoved? We can think of nothing now but Jesus’ love for us. Nothing but an incredibly strong love could have made any human being go through so much torture, for another. And Jesus has gone through all that for you and me. Let us pray that the memory of this scene may never depart from us. Every time we look at the crucifix may our hearts be filled with love and gratitude to our Redeemer for all he has gone through for us. Lord, have mercy on us. Song Holy Mother, pierce me through, In my heart each wound renew Of my Saviour crucified. |
Station XII – Jesus dies on the cross
Leader: We adore You, O Christ, and we bless You. All: Because by Your Holy Cross, You have redeemed the world. At last we have come to the climax of this drama. For three long hours Jesus, has hung on this cross, slowly dying under the torture of crucifixion. Where are his friends? Gone are the admiring crowds. Forgotten are the healings he did, the people he fed, the teachings he gave. In his hour of pain and need all have left him, even his own disciples. Just a few stand by him to the end – his mother, St. John, and a small group of women. And so, Jesus dies, lonely and abandoned. But before he dies there is one word that he cries out which we should never forget. He cries out, “I thirst.” He was indeed enduring the terrible thirst, but it was more than that. He was thirsting for your love. Earlier in his life he said, “I have come to cast fire on the earth and how I desire that it be kindled.” That fire was no other than the fire of love. He himself has given us the ultimate test of love: “Greater love than this no man has, that a man lay down his life for his friend.” And here he is giving his life for love of you and me. How can we hold out against such love? Let us surrender ourselves to his love today, and ask Him in the power of his precious blood to enlarge our small hearts and make them big enough to accept and embrace in love all God’s creatures, and most of all the creator and Redeemer himself. Christ, have mercy on us. Song Let me share with thee his pain Who for all my sins was slain, Who for me in torments died. |
Station XIII – Jesus is taken down from the cross
Leader: We adore You, O Christ, and we bless You. All: Because by Your Holy Cross, You have redeemed the world. Jesus is dead. His pain has ended. But the way of the Cross is not yet over. Our Lady has still to go her way to the end, lonely and sorrowful. The broken body of Jesus is placed in the arms of his mother. And so, Jesus leaves this world as he entered it, in his mother’s arms. Thirty-three years ago, she gave him to the world, a beautiful babe. Three years ago, he had gone off to preach the kingdom of God. He had left that day in the vigour of youthfulness. And now we have given him back to his mother, Mary, but oh, how changed! Every inch of his body covered with wounds; and as Mary looks at them, every wound opens a new wound in her heart. Today Simeon’s prophecy has come true: “Sorrow, like a sharp sword, will break your own heart.” Can we remain indifferent to this sorrow of our Lady? How can we be indifferent when all of us have had a hand in fashioning that sword of sorrow? Perhaps to this very day we continue to fashion it by the hurt we cause to others. Ask yourself, am I causing pain and sorrow to anyone – my husband, my wife, my children, my parents, my friends and anyone in my neighbourhood? Christ, have mercy on us. Song Let me mingle tears with thee, mourning him who mourned for me, All the days that I may live. |
Station XIV – Jesus is laid in the Holy Sepulchre
Leader: We adore You, O Christ, and we bless You. All: Because by Your Holy Cross, You have redeemed the world. We have come now to the end. His few faithful friends carry the body of Jesus to the tomb. It is not his tomb. It belongs to another man, Joseph of Aramathea. For who would have expected Jesus to die so young? But this good man offers his tomb for Jesus’ burial. His body is placed in the tomb, a great stone is rolled into place to close it, and then all go back to the city. Do you want to bury something? Do you want to bury your sin? Do you not want to bury your bad habit of drinking, smoking, telling lies, stealing? Jesus, have mercy on us. Song By the cross with thee to stay, there with thee to weep and pray, is all I ask of thee to give. |
Concluding reflection
Yes, Jesus lies there dead. This seems to be the end. If ever his enemies could have exulted over him, surely this was the time. If ever they could have said, “This troublesome man is out of the way. We shall hear no more of him,” this surely was the hour.
Yes, they place the body of Jesus in the tomb and roll a big stone covering the entrance. They all depart with deep sorrow and pain in their hearts.
But surprise is awaiting them all. Let us pray and wait patiently to celebrate that surprise.
(But oh, the fools – the fools! Little did they think that in three days’ time that the stone will be rolled back, and Christ will come forth, glorious and immortal, victorious over death and sin and hell, never more to suffer, never more to die.
This then is the station of hope. This is the station of the Resurrection. If ever you find the demands of Jesus too hard, if ever you are inclined to give up living as a true Christian and a Catholic, if ever you feel borne down by the sorrows of life, come and stand here at tomb of Jesus. Take courage, Lord has risen. The Lord loves you. He said, “Fear not, I am…the living one; I died, and behold I am alive for evermore.” Rev.1: 17,18.)
Yes, Jesus lies there dead. This seems to be the end. If ever his enemies could have exulted over him, surely this was the time. If ever they could have said, “This troublesome man is out of the way. We shall hear no more of him,” this surely was the hour.
Yes, they place the body of Jesus in the tomb and roll a big stone covering the entrance. They all depart with deep sorrow and pain in their hearts.
But surprise is awaiting them all. Let us pray and wait patiently to celebrate that surprise.
(But oh, the fools – the fools! Little did they think that in three days’ time that the stone will be rolled back, and Christ will come forth, glorious and immortal, victorious over death and sin and hell, never more to suffer, never more to die.
This then is the station of hope. This is the station of the Resurrection. If ever you find the demands of Jesus too hard, if ever you are inclined to give up living as a true Christian and a Catholic, if ever you feel borne down by the sorrows of life, come and stand here at tomb of Jesus. Take courage, Lord has risen. The Lord loves you. He said, “Fear not, I am…the living one; I died, and behold I am alive for evermore.” Rev.1: 17,18.)
Concluding Prayer
Heavenly Father, we have contemplated your Son, Jesus, on his Way of the Cross, in his Spirit which you have gifted to us. We accept our way of the cross. We know it will lead us to, where it led him to, our resurrection with him. We thank You for the joy of this vision of faith.
Father help us to persevere in all our trials through our journey in life. Help us to remember to call on the name which is above all names Jesus Christ for the help that never fails. Thank you Lord.
Heavenly Father, we have contemplated your Son, Jesus, on his Way of the Cross, in his Spirit which you have gifted to us. We accept our way of the cross. We know it will lead us to, where it led him to, our resurrection with him. We thank You for the joy of this vision of faith.
Father help us to persevere in all our trials through our journey in life. Help us to remember to call on the name which is above all names Jesus Christ for the help that never fails. Thank you Lord.
Credits
Adapted from:
The Stations of the Cross. Written by Fr. David Raju Maddineni, C.Ss.R
Fr. Joe Morgan, C.Ss.R.
Photos of Stations of the Cross at St John The Baptist Church Coventry England.
References
A simple prayer book (2015)