FIFTH 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.
They compelled Simon (cf. Mk 15:21).
The Roman soldiers did this because they feared that in his
exhaustion the Condemned Man would not be able to carry
the Cross as far as
Golgotha. Then they would not be able to
carry out the sentence of crucifixion.
They were looking for someone to help carry the Cross.
Their eyes fell on Simon.
They compelled him to take the
weight upon his shoulders.
We can imagine that Simon did not want to do this
and objected. Carrying the cross together with a convict
could be considered an
act offensive to the dignity
of a free man.
Although unwilling, Simon took up the Cross to help
Jesus.
In a Lenten hymn we hear the words:
“Under the weight of the
Cross
Jesus welcomes the Cyrenean”.
These words allow us to discern
a total change of perspective:
the divine Condemned One
is
someone who,
in a certain sense,
“makes a
gift” of his Cross.
and follow me is not worthy of me”
(Mt 10:38)?
Simon receives a gift.
He has become “worthy” of it.
What the crowd might see
as an offence to his dignity has,
from the perspective of redemption,
given him a new dignity.
In a unique way,
the Son of God
has made him a sharer
in his
work of salvation.
Is Simon aware of this?
The evangelist Mark identifies Simon of Cyrene as the “father of Alexander and Rufus” (15:21).
If the sons of Simon of Cyrene
were known to the first
Christian community,
it can be presumed that Simon too,
while carrying the
Cross, came to believe in Christ.
From being forced, he freely accepted,
as though deeply touched by the words:
as though deeply touched by the words:
“Whoever does not carry his cross with me
is not worthy of me.”
By his carrying of the Cross,
Simon was brought to the
knowledge
of the gospel of the Cross.
Since then, this gospel has spoken to many, countless
Cyreneans, called in the course of history
to carry the cross with Jesus.
PRAYER
O Christ, you gave to Simon of Cyrene
the dignity of
carrying
your Cross.
Welcome us too under its weight,
welcome all men and women
welcome all men and women
and grant to everyone the gift of readiness to serve.
Do not permit that we should turn away from those
who are
crushed by the
cross of illness, loneliness, hunger or injustice.
As we carry each other’s burdens, help us to become
witnesses to the gospel of the Cross and witnesses to you,
who live and reign for
ever and ever.
R. Amen.
All:
Our Father . . .
Stabat Mater:
Is there one who would not weep,
whelmed in miseries so deep,
Christ’s dear Mother to behold?
SIXTH STATION
V/. We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you.
R/. Because by your holy Cross you have redeemed the world.
Veronica does not appear in the Gospels.
Her name is not
mentioned,
even though the names of other women
who accompanied Jesus do
appear.
It is possible, therefore,
that the name refers more
to what the woman did.
that the name refers more
to what the woman did.
In fact, according to tradition,
on the road to Calvary a woman
pushed her way through the soldiers
escorting Jesus and with a veil
wiped the sweat and blood
wiped the sweat and blood
from the Lord’s face.
That face remained imprinted on the veil,
a faithful reflection, a “true icon”.
This would be the reason for the name
Veronica.
If this is so,
the name which evokes
the memory of what this
woman
did carries with it the deepest truth about her.
One day, Jesus drew the criticism of onlookers
when he
defended a sinful woman who had poured
perfumed oil on his feet and dried them
with her hair.
To those who objected,
he replied:
“Why do you trouble this
woman?
For she has done a beautiful thing to me . . .
In pouring this ointment
on my body she has done it
to prepare me for burial”
(Mt 26:10, 12).
These
words could likewise be applied to Veronica.
Thus we see the profound eloquence of this event.
The Redeemer of the world presents Veronica
with an
authentic image of his face.
The veil upon which
the face of Christ remains
imprinted
becomes a message for us.
This is how every act of
goodness,
every gesture of true love towards
one’s neighbor, strengthens the
likeness of the Redeemer of the world
in the one who acts that way.
Acts of love do not pass away.
Every act of goodness,
of understanding, of service
leaves on people’s hearts
an indelible imprint and
makes us
ever more like the One who
“emptied himself,
taking the form of a servant”
(Phil 2:7).
This is what
shapes
our identity and
gives us our true name.
PRAYER
to future centuries
These are the words of Jesus to the women of Jerusalem
who were weeping with compassion for the Condemned One.
Now he seems to be referring again to that fate:
who for me
Saint Paul writes:
Lord Jesus Christ, you accepted a woman’s
selfless gesture
of love,
and in exchange ordained
that future generations
should
remember her by
the name of your face.
Grant that our works and the works of all
who will come
after us
will make us like unto you
and will leave in the world the
reflection
of your infinite love.
To you, O Jesus,
splendour of the Father’s glory,
be praise and glory for ever.
R. Amen.
All:
Our Father . . .
Stabat Mater:
Can the human
heart refrain
from partaking
in her pain,
in that
Mother’s
Mother’s
untold pain?
SEVENTH STATION
Jesus falls the second time
V/. We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you.
R/. Because by your holy Cross you have redeemed the
world.
“I am a worm, and no man;
scorned by men,
scorned by men,
and despised by the people”
Psalm 22:6
Psalm 22:6
These words of the Psalm come to mind
as we see Jesus fall
to the ground a second time under the Cross.
Here in the dust of the earth
lies the Condemned One.
Crushed by the weight of his Cross.
His strength drains away from him more and
more.
But with great effort he gets up again to continue his march.
To us sinners,
what does this second fall say?
what does this second fall say?
More than the
first one,
it seems to urge us to get up,
it seems to urge us to get up,
to get up again on our way of the
cross.
Cyprian Norwid wrote:
“Not behind us with the Saviour’s
Cross,
but behind the Saviour with our own Cross.”
A brief saying, but one that
conveys much truth.
It explains how Christianity
is the religion of the Cross.
It tells us that every person here below meets Christ
who
carries the Cross and falls under its weight.
In his turn, Christ, on the way to Calvary,
meets every man
and woman and,
falling under the weight of the Cross,
does not cease to
proclaim the good news.
For two
thousand years
the gospel of the Cross
has
spoken to
man.
For twenty centuries
Christ,
getting up again from his fall,
meets those who fall.
Throughout these two millennia
many people have learned that
falling
does not mean the end of the road.
In meeting the Saviour
they have heard his reassuring words:
“My grace is sufficient for you;
for my power is made
perfect in weakness”
(2 Cor 12:9).
Comforted, they have gotten up again
and brought to the
world the word of hope
which comes from the Cross.
Today, having crossed the threshold
of the new millennium,
we are called
to penetrate more deeply the meaning of this encounter.
Our generation must pass on
to future centuries
the good news that we are
lifted up
again in Christ.
PRAYER
Lord Jesus Christ,
you fall under the weight of human sin
and you get up again in order
to take it upon yourself and cancel it
.
Give to us, weak men and women,
the strength to carry the cross
of daily
life and to get up again
from our falls,
so that we may bring to future
generations the
Gospel of your saving power.
To you, O Jesus,
our support when we are weak,
be praise and glory for ever.
R. Amen.
All:
Our Father . . .
Stabat Mater:
Bruised, derided,
cursed, defiled,
she beheld her
tender Child,
all with bloody
scourges rent.
EIGHTH STATION
Jesus speaks to 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.
“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?” (Lk 23:28-31).
These are the words of Jesus to the women of Jerusalem
who were weeping with compassion for the Condemned One.
“Do not weep for me,
but weep for yourselves
and for your children.”
At the time it was certainly difficult to understand the
meaning of
these words.
They contained a prophecy that would soon come to pass.
Shortly before, Jesus had wept over Jerusalem, foretelling
the terrible fate that awaited the city.
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| Destruction of the Temple as Jesus Prophesied |
Now he seems to be referring again to that fate:
“Weep for
your children . . .”
Weep, because these, your very children,
will be witnesses
and will share in the destruction
of Jerusalem, the Jerusalem which
“did not
know the time of her visitation”
(cf. Lk 19:44).
If, as we follow Christ on the way of the Cross, our hearts
are
moved with pity for his suffering, we cannot forget that
admonition.
moved with pity for his suffering, we cannot forget that
admonition.
“For if they do this when the wood is green,
what will
happen when it is dry?”
For our generation,
which has just left
a
millennium behind,
rather than weep for Christ
crucified,
it is now the time for us to
recognize
“the time of our visitation”.
Already the dawn of the
resurrection is shining forth.
“Behold,
now is the acceptable
time;
behold, now is the day of
salvation”
(2 Cor 6:2).
To each of us Christ addresses these words
of the book of Revelation:
“Behold, I stand at the door
and knock;
if any one hears my voice
and opens the
door,
I will come in to him
and eat with him, and he with me.
He who conquers,
I will grant him to sit with me
on my throne,
as I myself conquered
and sat
down
with my Father on his throne.”
(Revelation 3:20- 21).
PRAYER
O Christ, you came into this world
to visit all those who
await salvation.
Grant that our generation
will recognize the time of its
visitation
and share in the fruits of your redemption.
Do not permit that there
should be weeping for us and
for
the men and women of the new century
because we have rejected our
merciful
Father’s outstretched hand.
To you, O Jesus,
born of the Virgin Daughter of Zion,
be honour and praise for ever and ever.
R. Amen.
All:
Our Father ...
Stabat Mater:
Let me share with you
his pain who for all
my sin was slain,
who for me
in torments died.
NINTH STATION
Jesus falls the third time
V/. We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you.
R/. Because by your holy Cross you have redeemed the world.
Once more Christ has fallen to the ground
under the weight
of the Cross.
The crowd watches, wondering
whether he will have the strength to
rise again.
Saint Paul writes:
“Though he was in the form of God,
he did
not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,
but emptied himself taking
the form of a servant,
being born in human likeness.
And being found in human
form,
he humbled himself and became obedient
unto death, even death on a Cross”
(Phil 2:6-8).
seems to express
just this:
the self-emptying,
the kenosis
of
the Son of God,
his humiliation beneath the
Cross.
Jesus had said to the disciples that he had come not to be
served but to serve (cf. Mt 20:28).
In the Upper Room, bending low to the ground and washing
their feet, he sought, as it were, to prepare them for this
humiliation of his.
Falling to the ground for the third time
on the way of the
Cross,
he cries out loudly to us once more
the mystery of himself.
Let us listen to his voice!
This Condemned Man, crushed to the ground beneath the
weight
of the Cross, now very near the place of punishment,
tells us:
“I am the way,
and
the truth and the life”
(Jn 14:6).
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“He who follows me
will not walk in darkness,
but will have the light of life”
(Jn 8:12).
Let us not be dismayed by the sight of a condemned man,
who
falls to the ground exhausted under the cross.
Within this outward sign of the
death
which is approaching
the light
of life lies hidden.
PRAYER
through your humiliation beneath the
Cross
you revealed to the world
the price of its redemption.
Grant to the men and women
of the third millennium
the
light of faith,
so that, as they recognize in you
the Suffering Servant of
God and man,
they may have the courage to follow
the same path which,
by
way of the
Cross and self-emptying,
leads to life without end.
be honour and glory for ever.
All:
Our Father ...
Stabat Mater:
O you Mother,
fount of love!
Touch my spirit
from above,
make my heart
with yours
accord.
TENTH STATION
Jesus is stripped and offered gall and vinegar to drink
V/. We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you.
R/. Because by your holy Cross you have redeemed the world.
“When he tasted it,
he would
not drink it”
(Mt 27:34).
He
did not want a sedative, which would have dulled his consciousness during the
agony.
He
wanted to be fully aware as he suffered
on the Cross,
accomplishing the mission
he had received from the Father.
That was not what the soldiers in charge of the execution
were used to. Since they had to nail the condemned man to the Cross, they tried
to dull his senses and his consciousness.
But with Christ this could not
be.
Jesus knows that his death on
the Cross
must be a sacrifice of
expiation.
This is why he wants to remain alert to the very end.
Without consciousness, he could not, in complete freedom,
accept the full measure of suffering.
Behold, he must mount the Cross, in order to offer the
sacrifice of the New Covenant.
He is the Priest. By means of his own blood, he must enter
the eternal dwelling-places, having accomplished the world’s redemption (cf.
Heb 9:12).
Conscience and freedom:
these are the essential
elements
of fully human action.
The world has so many ways of weakening the will and of
darkening conscience.
They must be carefully defended from all violence.
Even the legitimate attempt
to
control pain
must always be done with respect
for human dignity.
If
life and death are to retain
their true value,
the
depths of Christ’s sacrifice
must be understood,
and
we must unite ourselves
to
that sacrifice if we are to hold firm.
PRAYER
Lord Jesus, who, with supreme dedication,
accepted death on
the Cross
for our salvation, grant to us
and to all the world’s people a
share
in your sacrifice on the Cross,
so that what we are and what we do
may always be a free and conscious
sharing in your work of
salvation.
To you, O Jesus, Priest and Victim,
be honour and glory for ever.
All:
Our Father ...
Stabat Mater:
Make me feel as you have
felt;
make my soul to glow and melt
with the love of Christ our Lord.
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