Pope John Paul II who is now considered Blessed and on to recognize him as a saint...He gave us these wonderful meditations on the Stations of the Cross... Soak in his words that have so much wisdom and know that the Holy Spirit was speaking through him.
STATIONS OF THE CROSS
POPE
JOHN PAUL II
GOOD
FRIDAY 2000 HOLY YEAR
MEDITATION AND PRAYERS
OF
HIS HOLINESS
BLESSED POPE JOHN PAUL II
The Holy Father's profound words to meditate upon...
let him deny himself and take up his cross
and
follow me
Matthew 16:24
"For twenty centuries the Church has gathered on this
evening to remember and to re-live the events of the final stage of the earthly
journey of the Son of God. Once again
this year, the Church in Rome meets at the Colosseum, to follow the footsteps
of Jesus, who “went out, carrying his
cross, to the place called the place of the skull, which is called in Hebrew
Golgotha” (Jn 19:17)."
"We are
here because we are convinced
that the Way of the Cross
of the Son of God
was
not simply a journey
to the place of
execution...
We believe
that every step
that every step
of the Condemned Christ,
every
action
and every word,
as well as everything felt and done
by those who took
part
in this tragic drama,
continues to speak to us."
"In his suffering and death too,
Christ
reveals to us the truth about God and man."
"What does it mean
to have a
part in the Cross of Christ?
It means to experience,
in the Holy Spirit,
the
love hidden within
the Cross of Christ.
the Cross of Christ.
It means to
recognize,
in the light
of this love,
of this love,
OUR OWN CROSS
It
means to take up that cross
once more and,
strengthened
by this love,
to continue OUR journey...
To journey through life,
in imitation of the one who...
“endured
the cross,
despising the shame,
and is
seated at the right hand
of the throne of God”
Hebrews 12:2
FIRST STATION
Jesus is condemned to death
V/. We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you.
R/. Because by your holy Cross you have redeemed the world.
“Are you the King of the Jews?” (Jn 18:33).
“My Kingdom is not of this world;
if my Kingdom were of this
world,
my servants would fight,
that I might not be handed over
to the Jews;
but my Kingdom
is not from the world”
Jn 18:36).
Pilate said to him:
“So you are a king?”
Jesus answered:
a king.
For this I was born,
and for
this
I have come into
the world,
the world,
to bear witness to
the truth.
the truth.
Everyone
who is
of the truth
hears my voice.”
Pilate said in answer:
“What is truth?”
At this point, the Roman Procurator saw no need for further
questions. He went to the Jews and told them: “I find no
crime in him” (cf. Jn 18:37-38).
questions. He went to the Jews and told them: “I find no
crime in him” (cf. Jn 18:37-38).
"The
tragedy of Pilate is hidden in the question:
What is truth?
This was no philosophical question about the nature of
truth, but an existential question about his own relationship
with truth. It was an attempt to escape from the voice of
conscience, which was pressing him to acknowledge the
truth and follow it.
truth, but an existential question about his own relationship
with truth. It was an attempt to escape from the voice of
conscience, which was pressing him to acknowledge the
truth and follow it.
When
someone refuses
to be guided by truth
he is ultimately ready even to condemn
an
innocent person to death.
The accusers sense this weakness in Pilate and so do not
yield. They relentlessly call for death by crucifixion.
Pilate’s attempts at half measures are of no avail. The cruel punishment of scourging inflicted upon the Accused is not enough.
When the Procurator brings Jesus, scourged and crowned with thorns, before the crowd, he seems to be looking for words which he thinks might soften the intransigence of the mob.
Pilate’s attempts at half measures are of no avail. The cruel punishment of scourging inflicted upon the Accused is not enough.
When the Procurator brings Jesus, scourged and crowned with thorns, before the crowd, he seems to be looking for words which he thinks might soften the intransigence of the mob.
Pointing
to Jesus he says:
Ecce homo! Behold the man!
But the
answer comes back:
“Crucify
him, crucify him!”
Pilate
then tries to buy time:
“Take
him yourselves and crucify him,
for
I find no crime in him”
John
19:5-7
He is increasingly convinced that the Accused is innocent,
but this is not enough for him to decide in his favour.
The accusers use their final argument: “If you release this
man, you are no friend of Caesar; everyone who makes himself a king sets
himself against Caesar” (Jn 19:12).
This is clearly a threat. Recognizing the danger, Pilate
finally gives in and pronounces the sentence. But not without the contemptuous
gesture of washing his hands: “I am innocent of this ... blood; see to it
yourselves!” (Mt 27:24).
Thus was Jesus, the Son of the living God, the Redeemer of
the world, condemned to death by crucifixion.
the world, condemned to death by crucifixion.
Over the centuries the denial of truth
has spawned suffering
and death.
and death.
It
is the innocent
who pay the price of
human hypocrisy.
human hypocrisy.
Half measures
are never enough.
Nor is it enough to
wash
one’s hands...
Responsibility for the blood
of the just remains.
This is why Christ prayed so fervently
for his disciples in
every age:
Father,
“sanctify them in the truth;
your word is truth” (Jn
17:17).
PRAYER
Lord
Jesus Christ, you accepted an unjust judgment.
Grant
to us and to all the men and women of our time
the
grace to remain faithful to the truth.
Do not
allow the weight of responsibility
for the
sufferings of the innocent
fall
upon us and upon those who come after us.
To you,
O Jesus, just Judge,
be
honour and glory for ever and ever.
R.
Amen.
Our Father...
Stabat Mater:
At the Cross her station keeping
stood the
mournful Mother weeping,
close to Jesus to
the last.
SECOND STATION
Jesus takes up his Cross
R/. Because by your holy Cross you have redeemed the world.
The
cross.
The instrument of a
shameful death.
It was not lawful to condemn a Roman citizen to death
by crucifixion: it was too humiliating.
The moment that Jesus of
Nazareth took up
the Cross
in order to carry it to Calvary
marked a turning-point in the history
of the cross.
The symbol of a shameful death,
reserved for the lowest
classes,
the cross becomes a key.
From now on, with the help of this key,
man
will open the door
of the deepest mystery of God.
Through Christ’s acceptance of
the Cross,
the instrument of his own
self-emptying,
men will come to know
that
God is love.
that
God is love.
Love without limits:
“God so loved the world that he gave
his only Son,
his only Son,
that whoever believes in him
should not perish but have eternal
life”
John 3:16
This truth about God
was revealed in the Cross.
Could it not have been revealed
in some other way?
Perhaps... But God chose the Cross.
The Father chose the Cross for his Son,
and his Son
shouldered it,
carried it to Mount Calvary and on it
offered his life.
offered his life.
“In the Cross there is suffering,
in the Cross there is salvation,
in the Cross there is a lesson of love.
O God, he who once has understood you,
desires nothing else, seeks nothing else”
(Polish Lenten
hymn).
The Cross is the sign of a love
without limits!
PRAYER
Lord Jesus Christ,
who accept the Cross at the hands of men
who accept the Cross at the hands of men
to make of it the sign
of God’s saving love for humanity,
grant us and all the men and women of our time
the grace of faith in this infinite love.
By passing on to the new millennium
the sign of the Cross,
may we be authentic witnesses to the Redemption.
To you, O Jesus, Priest and Victim,
be praise and glory for ever.
All:
Our Father...
Stabat Mater:
Through her
heart, his
sorrow sharing,
sorrow sharing,
all his bitter
anguish bearing,
anguish bearing,
now at length
the sword had passed.
THIRD STATION
Jesus falls the first time
V/. We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you.
R/. Because by your holy Cross you have redeemed the world.
“God laid on him the
the
sins of us all”
(cf. Is 53:6).
(cf. Is 53:6).
“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” (Is
53:6).
Jesus falls under the Cross. This will happen
three times
along the comparatively short stretch
of the "via dolorosa."
Exhaustion makes him fall.
His body is stained
with blood
from the scourging,
his head is crowned
with thorns.
All this causes
his
strength to fail.
So he falls,
and the weight of the Cross
crushes him to the
ground.
We must go back to the words of the Prophet,
It was OUR SINS
that crushed
that crushed
the
divine Condemned One
to the ground.
to the ground.
It was OUR SINS
that
determined
the
weight of the
Cross
that
he carries on
his shoulders.
It
was OUR SINS
that
that
made him fall.
gets up again to continue his
journey.
The soldiers escorting him
urge him on with shouts and
blows.
After a moment the procession sets out again.
Jesus falls and gets up again.
In this way, the
Redeemer
of the world
addresses
in a
wordless way
all those who fall.
He
exhorts them to get up again.
“He himself bore our sins in his body on the wood of the
cross, that we might no longer live for sin but for righteousness – by his
wounds we have been healed” (cf. 1 Pt 2:24).
Our Father...
was that Mother highly blessed
of the sole begotten One!
FOURTH STATION
Jesus meets his Mother
V/. We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you.
R/. Because by your holy Cross you have redeemed the world.
“Do not be afraid, Mary,
for you have found favour with God.
And behold, you will conceive in your womb and
bear a son, and you shall call
his name Jesus.
He will be great, and will be called
the Son of the Most High;
and the Lord God will give to him
the throne of his father David,
and he will
reign
over the house of Jacob for ever;
and his kingdom will have no end”
Lk 1:30-33
Lk 1:30-33
Mary remembered these words.
She often returned to them in
the secret of her heart.
When she met her Son on the way of the Cross,
perhaps these
very words came to her mind.
With particular force.
“He will reign... His kingdom will have no end”,
the
heavenly messenger had said.
Now, as she watches her Son, condemned to death,
carrying
the Cross on which he must die,
she might ask herself, all too humanly:
So how
can these words be fulfilled?
In what way will he reign over the House of
David?
And how can it be that his kingdom will have no end?
Humanly speaking, these are reasonable questions.
But Mary remembered that,
when she first heard the Angel’s
message,
she had replied:
“Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord.
May it be
done to me according to your word”
(Lk 1:38).
Now she sees that her word
is being fulfilled
as the word of
the Cross.
Because she is a mother,
Mary suffers deeply.
But she answers now as
she had answered then,
at the Annunciation:
“May it be done to me
according to
your word”.
In this way, as a mother would,
she embraces the cross
together with the divine Condemned One.
On the way of the Cross Mary
shows herself to be the
Mother
of the Redeemer of the world.
“All
you who pass by the way,
look
and see whether there is any suffering
like my
suffering, which has been dealt me”
(Lamentations 1:12).
It is the Sorrowful Mother who
speaks,
the Handmaid who is obedient to
the last,
the Mother of the Redeemer of
the world.
PRAYER
O Mary,
who walked the way of the Cross with your Son,
your mother’s heart torn by grief,
but mindful always of
your fiat
and fully confident that He
to whom nothing is impossible
would be able to fulfil his promises,
implore for us and for
the generations
yet to come the grace of surrender to God’s love.
Help us,
in the face of suffering,
rejection, and trial,
however
prolonged and severe,
never to doubt his love. Jesus, your Son,
honour and glory for ever and
ever.
R. Amen.
All:
Our Father ...
Stabat Mater:
Christ above in torment hangs,
she beneath beholds the pangs
