THE STATIONS OF

THE CROSS

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+In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit

ACT OF CONTRITION
0, my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended you. I det..-st all m y sins
becauseofynurjustpunishment,butmostofallhecausetheyoffendyou,my
God, who art> all-good an<l <l t>s,,rvi ng of;ill my low. Tfirmly rn~nlvP., with thr,
help of Your grace, to sin no more and lo avoid the near occasion of sin. Amen

OPENING PRAYER

Lord Jesus Christ, fill our hearts \>ith the light of your Spirit, so that by
following you on your final journey we may come to know the price of our
Redemption and become worthy of a share in the fruits of your Passion, Death
and Resurrection. You who live and reign for ever and ever. Amen. (Source:
Vatican Website)
THE FIRST STATION: The Last Supper

V /. We adore you, 0 Christ, and we bless you.

R/. Because by your holy Cross you have redeemed the world.
READING: Luke 22:14-20

When the hour came, he took his place at table

with the apostles. He said to them, "I have
eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you
before I suffer, for, I tell you, I shall not eat it
[again] until there is fulfillment in the kingdom
of God."

Then he took a cup, gave thanks, and said,

"Take this and share it among yourselves; for I
tell you [that] from this time on I shall not drink
of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God
comes."

Then he took the bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them, saying,
"This is my body, which will be given for you; do this in memory of me." And
likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in
my blood, which will be shed for you.

REFLECTION: "What, then, is the heart of this Supper? The actions of the
breaking of bread, of distributing it to those who are His own, and of sharing the
chalice of wine -- with the words that accompany them and within the context of
prayer in which they occur: It is the institution of the Eucharist; it is the great
prayer of Jesus and the Church." (Pope Benedict XVI)

*Moment of Silence

Our Father... Hail Mary... Glory be...

THE SECOND STATION: The Agony in the Garden

V /. We adore you, 0 Christ, and we bless you.

Rf. Because by your holy Cross you have redeemed the world.

READING: Luke 22:39-46

Then going out he went, as was his custom, to

the Mount of Olives, and the disciples followed
him. When he arrived at the place he said to
them, "Pray that you may not undergo the test."

After withdrawing about a stone's throw from

them and kneeling, he prayed, saying, "Father,
if you are willing, take this cup away from me;
still, not my will but yours be done."

And to strengthen him an angel from heaven

appeared to him. He was in such agony and he
prayed so fervently that his sweat became like
drops of blood falling on the ground.

When he rose from prayer and returned to his disciples, he found them sleeping
from grief. He said to them, "Why are you sleeping? Get up and pray that you
may not undergo the test."

REFLECTION: "In Jesus' prayer to the Father on that terrible and marvellous
night in Gethsemane, the "earth" became "heaven"; the "earth" of his human
will, shaken by fear and anguish, was taken up by his divine will in such a way
that God's will was done on earth. And this is also important in our own prayers:
we must learn to entrust ourselves more to divine Providence, to ask God for the
strength to come out of ourselves to renew our "yes" to him, to say to him "thy
will be done", so as to conform our will to his. It is a prayer we must pray every
day because it is not always easy to entrust ourselves to God's will, repeating the
"yes" of Jesus, the "yes" of Mary." (Pope Benedict XVI)

*Moment of Silence

Our Father... Hail Mary... Glory be...

THE THIRD STATION: Jesus before the Sanhedrin

V/. We adore you, 0 Christ, and we bless you.

R/. Because by your holy Cross you have redeemed the world.
READING: Matthew 26,:57-68

Those who had arrested Jesus led him away

to Caiaphas the high priest, where the scribes
and the elders were assembled. Peter was
following him at a distance as far as the high
priest's courtyard, and going inside he sat
down with the servants to see the outcome.
The chief priests and the entire Sanhedrin
kept trying to obtain false testimony against
Jesus in order to put him to death, but they
found none, though many false witnesses
came forward. Finally two came forward who
stated, "This man said, 'I can destroy the
temple of God and within three days rebuild it.' The high priest rose and
addressed him, "Have you no answer? What are these men testifying against
you?" But Jesus was silent. Then the high priest said to him, "I order you to tell
us under oath before the living God whether you are the Messiah, the Son of
God." Jesus said to him in reply, "You have said so. But I tell you:

"From now on you will see 'the Son of Man

seated at the right hand of the Power'

and 'coming on the clouds of heaven."'

Then the high priest tore his robes and said, "He has blasphemed! What further
need have we of witnesses? You have now heard the blasphemy; what is your
opinion?" They said in reply, "He deserves to die!" Then they spat in his face
and struck him, while some slapped him, saying, "Prophesy for us, Messiah:
who is it that struck you?"

REFLECTION: "It's so rotten, gossip. At the beginning, it seems to be

something enjoyable and fun, like a piece of candy. But at the end, it fills the
heart with bitterness and also poisons us. I tell you the truth: I am convinced
that if each one of us would purposely avoid gossip, at the end, we would
become a saint! It's a beautiful path!" (Pope Francis)

~·Moment of Silence

Our Father... Hail Mary... Glory be...

THE FOURTH STATION: The Scourging and Crowning with thorns

V / . We adore you, 0 Christ, and we bless you.

R/. Because by your holy Cross you have redeemed the world.
READINGS: John 19:1-3

Then Pilate took Jesus and had him scourged.

And the soldiers wove a crown out of thorns and

placed it on his head, and clothed him in a
purple cloak, and they came to him and said,
"Hail, King of the Jews!"

And they struck him repeatedly.

REFLECTIONS: "The Lord calls you. The

Lord seeks you out, the Lord awaits you. The
Lord does not proselytize. He gives love, and
that love seek you out. It waits for you, who doesn't believe, or who feels distant
at the moment. And that is the God's love." (Pope Francis)

*Moment of Silence

Our Father... Hail Mary... Glory be ...

THE FIFTH STATION: Jesus receives the Cross

V/. We adore you, 0 Christ, and we bless you.

R/. Because by your holy Cross you have redeemed the world.

READINGS: Mark 15:20

After 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.

REFLECTION: "The execution, the

implementation of the sentence, is beginning.
Christ, condemned to death, must be
burdened with the Cross just like the two
other men who have received the same
punishment: "he was numbered with the
transgressors" (Is 53:12). Christ draws near to
the Cross, his body atrociously bruised and
lacerated, blood running down his face from his head crowned with thorns. Ecce
Homo! (Jn 19:5). In him we see all the truth foretold by the Prophets about the
Son of man, the truth proclaimed by Isaiah about the servant of Yahweh: "He
was wounded for our transgressions ... and by his stripes we are healed" (Is
53:5).

In him we see also the amazing consequence of what man has done to his God.
Pilate says: "Ecce Homo" (Jn 19:5): "Look what you have done to this man!" But
there seems to be another voice speaking as well, a voice that seems to be
saying: "Look what you have done, in this man, to your God!"
It is very moving to hear this voice from centuries ago, as it blends with the
voice coming to us from what we know in faith. Ecce Homo!

Jesus "who is called the Messiah" (Mt 27:17) takes the Cross upon his shoulders
(Jn 19:17). The execution has begun." (Pope John Paul II)

*Moment of Silence

Our Father... Hail Mary... Glory be ...

THE SIXTH STATION: Jesus falls under the weight of the Cross

V/. We adore you, 0 Christ, and we bless you.

R/. Because by your holy Cross you have redeemed the world.

READING: Isaiah. 53:4-6

Surely he has borne our griefs

and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken
smitten by God, and afflicted.
But he was wounded for our transgressions,
he was bruised for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that
made us whole,
and with his bruises we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have turned every one to his own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.

REFLECTION: "Jesus falls under the weight of the Cross. He falls to the
ground. He does not resort to his superhuman powers, he does not resort to the
power of the angels. "Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he
will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels?" (Mt 26:53). He does
not ask for that. Having accepted the cup from the Father's hands (Mk 14:36) he
is resolved to drink it to the end. This is as he wills it. And so he has no thoughts
of any superhuman force, although such force is at his disposal. Those who saw
him when he showed his power over human infirmities, crippling diseases and
even death itself, may well, in their grief, have wondered: "What now?" "Is he
repudiating all that?" In a few days the disciples on the road to Emmaus would
say: "We had hoped" (cf. Lk 24:21). "If you are the Son of God.... " (Mt 27=40),
the members of the Sanhedrin were to fling at him. And the crowd would yell:
"He saved others but he cannot save himself' (Mk 15:31: Mt 27=42).

He accepts these provocations, which seem to undermine the whole meaning of

his mission, his teaching, his miracles. He accepts them all, for he is determined
not to combat them. To be insulted is what he wills. To stagger and fall under
the weight of Cross is what he wills. He wills it all. To the end, down to the bitter
end, he is faithful to what he had said: "Not my will, but yours be done" (cf. Mk
14:36, etc.).

God will bring forth the salvation of humanity from Christ's falling beneath the
weight of the Cross." (Pope John Paul II)

*Moment of Silence

Our Father... Hail Mary... Glory be...

THE SEVENTH STATION: Simon of Cyrene carries the Cross of Jesus

V /. We adore you, 0 Christ, and we bless you.

R/. Because by your holy Cross you have redeemed the world.

READING: Mark. 15:21-22

They compelled a passer-by, Simon of Cyrene, who

was coming in from the country, the father of
Alexander and Rufus, to carry his Cross. And they
brought him to the place called Golgotha, which
means the place of the skull.

REFLECTION: "Simon of Cyrene, called upon to

carry the Cross (cf. Mk 15:21; Lk 23:26), doubtless had
no wish to do so. He was forced to. He walked beside
Christ, bearing the same burden. When the
condemned man's shoulders became too weak, he lent him his. He was very
close to Jesus, closer than Mary, closer than John who - though he too was a
man - was not called upon to help. They called on him, Simon of Cyrene, the
father of Alexander and Rufus, as we learn from the Gospel of Mark (Mk 15:21).
They summoned him, they compelled him.

How long did he continue to resent being forced into this? How long did he
continue to walk beside this condemned man, all the while making it clear that
he had nothing in common with him, nothing to do with his crime, nothing to
do with his punishment? How long did he go on like that, torn within hiinself, a
barrier of indifference standing between him and the Man who was suffering? "I
was naked, I was thirsty, I was in prison" (cf. Mt 25:35-36), I carried the Cross.
"Did you carry it with me?" ''Did you really carry it with me to the very end?"

We do not know. Saint Mark simply records the names of the Cyrenian's sons,
and tradition has it that they were members of the Christian community close to
Saint Peter (cf. Rom 16:13)." (Pope John Paul II)

*Moment of Silence

Our Father. .. Hail Mary... Glory be...

THE EIGHT STATION: Jesus meets the pious women of Jerusalem

V/. We adore you, 0 Christ, and we bless you.

R/. Because by your holy Cross you have redeemed the world.

READING: Luke. 23:28-31

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?"

REFLECTION: "Here is a call to repentance, true repentance, and sorrow at

the reality of the evil that has been committed. Jesus says to the daughters of
Jerusalem who are weeping at the sight of him: "Do not weep for me, but weep
for yourselves and for your children" (Lk 23:28). One cannot merely scrape
away at the surface of evil; one has to get down to its roots, its causes, the inner
truth of conscience.

This is precisely what Jesus means to say as he carries his Cross: he always
"knew what was in man" (cf. Jn 2:25) and he continues to know it. That is why
he must always be for us the closest onlooker, the one who sees all our actions
and is aware of all the verdicts which our consciences pass on them.

Perhaps he even makes us understand that these verdicts have to be carefully

thought out, reasonable and objective (for he says: "Do not weep"), while at the
same time bound up with all that this reality contains: he warns us of this
because he is the one who carries the Cross.

Lord, let me know how to live and walk in the truth." (Pope John Paul II)

*Moment of Silence

Our Father... Hail Mary ... Glory be...

THE NINTH STATION: Jesus nailed to the cross

V /. We adore you, 0 Christ, and we bless you.

R/. Because by your holy Cross you have redeemed the world.

READING: Mark. 15:25-27

And it was the third hour, when they crucified

him. And the inscription of the charge against
him read: "The King of the Jews."

And with him they crucified two robbers one

on his right and one on his left.

REFLECTION: "...Jesus there, nailed to the

cross, and from there, He does not let us
down. He was consecrated as Lord, on that
throne. And there he experienced all
calamities that we experience. Jesus is Lord.
And the Lord from the cross is there for you." (Pope Francis)

*Moment of Silence

Our Father... Hail Mary... Glory be...

THE TENTH STATION : The Repentant Thief

V / . We adore you, 0 Christ, and we bless you.

R/. Because by your holy Cross you have redeemed the world.

READING: Luke 23:39-43

Now one of the criminals hanging there reviled

Jesus, saying, "Are you not the Messiah? Save
yourself and us." The other, however, rebuking
him, said in reply, "Have you no fear of God, for
you are subject to the same condemnation? And
indeed, we have been condemned justly, for the
sentence we received corresponds to our crimes,
but this man has done nothing criminal." Then
he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come
into your kingdom." He replied to him, "Amen,
I say to you, today you will be with me in
Paradise."

REFLECTION: "The second word spoken by Jesus on the Cross recorded by St

Luke is a word of hope, it is his answer to the prayer of one of the two men
crucified with him. The good thief comes to his senses before Jesus and repents,
he realizes he is facing the Son of God who makes the very Face of God visible,
and begs him; "Jesus, remember me when you come in your kingly power" (v.
42). The Lord's answer to this prayer goes far beyond the request: in fact he
says: "Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise" (v. 43). Jesus
knows that he is entering into direct communion with the Father and reopening
to man the way to God's paradise. Thus, with this response, he gives the firm
hope that God's goodness can also touch us, even at the very last moment of life,
and that sincere prayer, even after a wrong life, encounters the open arms of the
good Father who awaits the return of his son." (Pope Benedict XVI)

*Moment of Silence

Our Father... Hail Mary... Glory be ...

THE ELEVENTH STATION: Mary and John at the foot of the cross

V /. We adore you, 0 Christ, and we bless you.

R/. Because by your holy Cross you have redeemed the world.

READING: John 19: 25-27

Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother

and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Cleopas,
and Mary of Magdaia.

When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple there

whom he loved, 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 into his home.

REFLECTION: "And now, standing at the foot

of the Cross, Mary is the witness, humanly
speaking, of the complete negation of these
words. On that wood of the Cross her Son hangs in agony as one condemned.
"He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows ...he was despised, and
we esteemed him not": as one destroyed (cf. Is. 53:3- 5). How great, how heroic
then is the obedience of faith shown by Mary in the face of God's "unsearchable
judgments"! How completely she "abandons herself to God" without reserve,
offering the full assent of the intellect and the will" to him whose "ways are
inscrutable" (cf. Rom. 11:33)! And how powerful too is the action of grace in her
soul, how all-pervading is the influence of the Holy Spirit and of his light and
power!" (Pope John Paul II)

*Moment of Silence

Our Father... Hail Mary... Glory be ...

THE TWELFTH STATION: Jesus dies on the cross

V/. We adore you, 0 Christ, and we bless you.

Rf. Because by your holy Cross you have redeemed the world.

READING: Mark. 15:33-34, 37, 39

And when the sixth hour had come there

was darkness over the whole land until the
ninth hour.

And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud

voice: "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?", which
means: "My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me?"

And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed

his last. When the centurion, who stood
facing him, saw that he thus breathed his
last, he said: "Truly this man was the Son of God".

REFLECTION: "Here we have the greatest, the most sublime work of the Son
in union with the Father. Yes: in union, in the most perfect union possible,
precisely at the moment when he cries: "Eloi, Eloi lama sabachthani" - "My God,
my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Mk 15:34; Mt 27:46). This work finds
expression in the verticality of his body stretched against the perpendicular
beam of the Cross and in the horizontality of his arms stretched along the
transverse beam. To gaze upon those arms one would think that in the effort
they expend they embrace all humanity and all the world.

They do indeed embrace it.

Here is the man. Here is God himself. "In him we live and move and have our
being" (Acts 17:28). In him: in those arms outstretched along the transverse
beam of the Cross.
The mystery of the Redemption.

Nailed to the Cross, pinned in that terrible position, Jesus calls on the Father
(cf. Mk 15:34; Mt 27:46; Lk 23:46). All his words bear witness that he is one
with the Father. "I and the Father are one" (Jn 10:30); "Anyone who has seen
me has seen the Father" (Jn 14:9); "My Father is working still, and I am
working" (Jn 5:17)." (Pope John Paul II)

*Moment of Silence

Our Father... Hail Mary... Glory be...

THE THIRTEENTH STATION: Jesus in laid in the tomb

V / . We adore you, 0 Christ, and we bless you.

R/. Because by your holy Cross you have redeemed the world.
READING: Mark 15:46-47

Joseph of Arimathea, wrapped the body of

Jesus in the linen shroud and laid him in a
tomb which had been hewn out of the rock. And
he rolled a stone against the door of the tomb.

Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of

Joseph saw where he was laid.

REFLECTION: "From the moment when man,

as a result of sin, was driven away from the Tree
of Life (cf. Gen 3:23-24), the earth became a
burial ground. With as many burial places as
there are men. A great planet of tombs.

Close to Calvary there was a tomb belonging to Joseph of Arimathea (cf. Mt

27:60). In it, with Joseph's consent, the body of Jesus was placed after being
taken down from the Cross (cf. Mk 15:42-46 ff.). They laid it there in haste, so
that the burial might be completed before the feast of Passover (cf. Jn 19:31),
which began at sunset.

In one of the countless tombs scattered all over the continents of this planet of
ours the Son of God, the man Jesus Christ, conquered death with death. 0 mors!
Ero mors tua! (First Antiphon of Morning Prayer for Holy Saturday). The Tree
of Life from which man was banished as a result of sin is set before mankind
anew in the body of Christ. "If anyone eats of this bread, he will live for ever, and
the bread which I shall give for the life of the word is my flesh" (Jn 6:51).

Though our planet is constantly being filled with fresh tombs, though the
cemetery in which man, who comes from dust and returns to dust (cf. Gen 3:19),
is always growing, nonetheless all who gaze upon the tomb of Jesus Christ live
in the hope of the Resurrection." (Pope John Paul II)

*Moment of Silence

Our Father... Hail Mary... Glory be...

THE FOURTEENTH STATION: Jesus rises from death

V /. We adore you, 0 Christ, and we bless you.

R/. Because by your holy Cross you have redeemed the world.

READING: Mark 16:1-6

When the Sabbath was over, Mary of

Magdala, Mary the mother of James,
and Salome, bought spices with which to
go and anoint him. And very early in the
morning on the first day of the week
they went to the tomb when the sun had
nsen.

They had been saying to one another,

'Who will roll away the stone for us from
the entrance to the tomb?' But when
they looked they saw that the stone -- which was very big -- had already been
rolled back.

On entering the tomb they saw a young man in a white robe seated on the right-
hand side, and they were struck with amazement. But he said to them, 'There is
no need to be so amazed. You are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was
crucified: he has risen, he is not here. See, here is the place where they laid him.

REFLECTION: "Dear brothers and sisters, Christ died and rose once for all,
and for everyone, but the power of the Resurrection, this passover from slavery
to evil to the freedom of goodness, must be accomplished in every age, in our
concrete existence, in our everyday lives." (Pope Francis)

*Moment of Silence

Our Father... Hail Mary... Glory be ...

+IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER, AND OF THE SON, AND OF THE HOLY
SPIRIT. AMEN