STATIONS

STATIONS OF THE CROSS - Fr Jamie (Parish Priest of Holy Trinity Winchester) asked me to lead "Stations" before the Good Friday Liturgy of the Day.

Artwork: Images created at the Priory of Our Lady of Peace, Turvey Abbey.

I purchased the complete set of A3 posters twelve years ago.

They are still available from McCrimmons.

 STATIONS OF THE CROSS

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name;

thy kingdom come, thy will be done

on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread,

and forgive us our trespasses,

as we forgive those who trespass against us;

and lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from evil.

For thine is the Kingdom, the power and the glory,

for ever and ever. Amen.

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.

Blessed art thou among women,

and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.

Holy Mary, Mother of God,

pray for us sinners,now

and at the hour of our death.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son,

and to the Holy Spirit;

as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,

world without end. Amen.

We glory in thy cross, O Lord,

All: for by virtue of the cross,

joy has come to the whole world.

1: JESUS IS SENTENCED TO DEATH.

We adore Thee O Christ, and we bless Thee,

All: because by thy Holy Cross thou hast redeemed the world.

Mark (15:1-5) The chief priests held a consultation with the elders and scribes and the whole Council. And they bound Jesus and led him away and delivered him to Pilate. Pilate asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” “You have said so” he answered, and the chief priests accused him of many things.

REFLECTION Lord, it’s too late for you to be quiet, you have spoken too much;

You ate with notorious sinners,

You got on well with the poor;

You belittled the religious regulations.Your interpretation of the Law reduced it

to one little commandment ….. to love.

Now they are avenging themselves.

Have mercy, O Lord,

on all who bear high office and abuse its authority;

on all who plot courses of political action for the sole purpose

of protecting their own positions;

on all who persecute prophets because of the evil they expose;

on all who manufacture a lie for public consumption;

on all who treat prophets and public alike as pawns and puppets:

on all such, everywhere, O Lord, have mercy.

PRAYER: If I try to live a little like you, Lord Jesus,

I shall be condemned.Help me to fight, help me to speak,

help me to live your Gospel to the end,

to the folly of the Cross.  -  Michel Quoist.

2: JESUS RECEIVES HIS CROSS

We adore Thee O Christ, and we bless Thee,

All: because by thy Holy Cross thou hast redeemed the world.

Matthew (27: 27-28).  The soldiers took Jesus into the governor's headquarters, and gathered the whole battalion before him. They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him,  and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on his head and put a reed in his right hand. Kneeling before him, they mocked him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” 

REFLECTION Jesus of Nazareth, carpenter’s son,

in Joseph’s workshop you fashioned wood and crafted it.

You accepted your Cross, Lord Jesus,

not because the punishment was deserved,

but because the Cross was the key to unlock for us

the way through to love and life.

May we, faithfully trusting our Heavenly Father,

accept the crosses that stand in our way.

Strengthened by the Christ who has walked the way before us,

may we be led into abundant life and Godly purpose.

PRAYER  Jesus, affronted, outraged, buffeted,

overwhelmed with injuries, griefs and humiliations,

have mercy upon me, and conform my whole soul

to your holy, humble, suffering Spirit.   John Wesley 

3: JESUS FALLS FOR THE FIRST TIME

We adore Thee O Christ, and we bless Thee,

All: because by thy Holy Cross thou hast redeemed the world.

REFLECTION  It is not surprising that Jesus falls.

The cross is heavy, he is weakened by the flogging

and the resultant loss of blood,

and the midday heat in Jerusalem is fierce.

The ground is uneven, the crowds press in on Him.

It will not be surprising if we also fall over in these pressured days,

a moment where we are reduced to tears by the sheer helplessness we feel

As we lie on the ground – literally and metaphorically –

we can look to our side and see that Jesus is there with us,

on the floor, weighed down with us.

Together with Jesus, we find extra strength to get up and carry on.

Lord Jesus,You identify Yourself with all who fall.

You understand those who experience failure, weakness, a fall,

and Your Heart goes out to them.

Give us this same compassionate heart for others,

and when things seem unmanageable,

give us the strength to persevere.

Sacred Heart of Jesus, gentle and humble,touch our hearts and make them like your own. Amen.

4: JESUS MEETS HIS MOTHER

 We adore Thee O Christ, and we bless Thee,

All: because by thy Holy Cross thou hast redeemed the world.

Luke (2:34, 35).  Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, “Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also). 

REFLECTION  “Blessed are you among women!”

This is how we want to see her:

Blessed, exalted, favoured, chosen. 

We dress her images in the finest gold, silver, fabrics and lace.

She is the epitome of strength, beauty, and serenity.

We forget the elder Simeon’s blessing

and prediction that a sword would pierce her soul.

We forget the terror she must have felt when Herod’s soldiers came looking for her child, slaughtering so many children as they did so.

We forget her agony as she helplessly witnessed her Son’s arrest,

his trial in a sham court, and his scourging in public

amidst crowds that jeered and mocked.

We forget her despair as Jesus staggered under the weight of his cross.

We forget, finally, that she watched life ebb from his suffering body.

the same body she brought forth from her own.

She walks in the crowd, unknown, never taking her eyes off you.

Every gesture of yours, every sigh, every blow dealt you, every wound,

pierces her heart. She knows your sufferings, She suffers your sufferings.

PRAYER: Jesus, we remember the gaze that rested between you and your mother. In that moment of pain there was also a moment of deep and enduring love. Blessed Mother, who stood by Jesus in His darkest hour, stand by me in mine. Help me to trust that God’s plan, sometimes a way that is painful, leads to resurrection.

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.Blessed art thou among women,

and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners,now and at the hour of our death.

  5: SIMON OF CYRENE CARRIES THE CROSS

 We adore Thee O Christ, and we bless Thee,

All: because by thy Holy Cross thou hast redeemed the world.

Mark (15:21)  The soldiers compelled a passer-by, Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to carry his cross.

REFLECTION "African Jew! Yes you! Black! get under that cross – NOW!”

Where was strong Peter when Jesus needed him most?

Simon the Cyrene, a stranger to the city, did not know Jesus.

But that did not matter. What matters here is that in this moment of need

Simon was capable of lending his shoulders to One whose own had given out;

offering his strength to the One who had nothing left,

taking upon himself the cross, which Jesus could no longer carry.

PRAYER Lord, help us to grasp God-given opportunities to be a Simon where we are. In times when we can help, grant us the generosity to do so. May we continue the spirit of Simon through our support of those working to alleviate suffering in our world. May we have the humility to accept the Simons along our road who reach out to help us in our moments of need.

 6: VERONICA WIPES THE FACE OF JESUS

We adore Thee O Christ, and we bless Thee,

All: because by thy Holy Cross thou hast redeemed the world.

Isaiah (53: 2-3)  He had no form or comeliness that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief.

REFLECTION At first, Veronica saw only a buffeted and pain-filled face.

Yet her act of love impressed the true image of Jesus on her heart.

In his human face, bloodied and bruised, she saw the face of God,

Emmanuel, God-with-us even in our deepest sorrows.

Only with the heart can we see Jesus.

Veronica's was an act of love, kindness and courage.

An act of kindness, if selflessly-offered, gives others a glimpse of Christ’s image.

Jesus, His image in the Hungry.

Jesus, His image in the Homeless.

Jesus, His image in the Sick.

Jesus, His image in the Lonely.

Jesus, His image in the Beggar.

Jesus, His image in the addict.

PRAYER: Lord, keep us from the blindness of heart which sees only the surface of things. Give us the simplicity and purity which allow us to recognize your presence in the world. Impress your face on our hearts. May we encounter you along the way and show your image to the world.

7: JESUS FALLS FOR THE SECOND TIME

We adore Thee O Christ, and we bless Thee,

All: because by thy Holy Cross thou hast redeemed the world.

Isaiah (53: 4-6):   Ours were the sufferings he bore, ours the sorrows he carried. But we, we thought of him as someone punished, struck by God, and brought low. He was pierced through for our faults, crushed for our sins.

REFLECTION Stretched to breaking point by the treacherous scourging,

bowed under the weight of the cross,

worn out by the abandonment of His friends,

Jesus stumbles again.

All around us people are overburdened by the crosses they have to carry;

they struggle and sometimes fall.

There are those who have lost their jobs

and feel that they have little hope of finding another,

those who live with the prospect of unemployment,

and those who struggle to keep others in work.

There are those who suffer because of failures

in our financial, health and political systems.

Jesus is with each one of us,  however we fall,

and there He chooses to lie with us on the ground of our failures

to love and to save us.

PRAYER: Jesus, from deep within yourself,

you found the courage and strength to get up once again

and continue the journey.

Give us your strength to keep going even when hope is dim

and our resolve is weak.

8: WOMEN OF JERUSALEM WEEP FOR JESUS

We adore Thee O Christ, and we bless Thee,

All: because by thy Holy Cross thou hast redeemed the world.

Luke (23: 29-31) Jesus turning to them said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. 

REFLECTION In Christ’s climb to Golgotha, Jesus speaks only once, stopping to address the wailing women of Jerusalem who have walked beside him.

Was this public lamentation genuine, or just the ritualized show of grief,

the professional mourners for such an occasion,

traditional in Middle Eastern countries?

Jesus had little patience for such false displays of emotion.

He had sent the “professionals” packing before,

when he came to restore life to the daughter of Jairus in Mark 4:35-42,

and He has a chilling message for these weeping women now.

“Save your tears” for the time is coming,

when mothers will regret they ever brought children into the world.

His apocalyptic words came true some three decades later in 70 A.D.,

when the troops of Imperial Rome brutally crushed a Jewish revolt,

sacking Jerusalem, destroying the Temple, and slaughtering the city’s inhabitants.

Jesus knew real tears, sincere tears.

He had himself wept over Jerusalem in anticipation of what was to become of the city. He wept then, He weeps now.

PRAYER: O Christ, as we follow you down the road to Calvary, guide us to become active participants, not curious bystanders. As we stand with the mourners along the Way to Golgotha and at the foot of the Cross,

grant us the same love as yours that can forgive those who took you there.         A prayer of Palestinian women

9: JESUS FALLS FOR THE THIRD TIME

We adore Thee O Christ, and we bless Thee,

All: because by thy Holy Cross thou hast redeemed the world.

2 Corinthians 12: 9  The Lord said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses.

REFLECTION Jesus falls for a third time, broken, exhausted, physically and emotionally. Lying on the ground, Jesus must decide, does He get up once more

or does He just stop and give up?

Crushed by the weight of his cross,

He nevertheless took charge of it.

Friends, family, neighbours, crushed under the weight of their crosses

again and again can feel unable to get up, unable to go on.

The third fall of Jesus reminds us that even in our moment of complete helplessness, or depression, in our own Calvary,

with Jesus on the ground with us, we can go on.

 Jesus has been there before us;

Jesus is there, floored with us;

and Jesus is there to help us up again. He is our strength.

 PRAYER  Lord, when our strength fails, our hope fades,

and our spirit grows weary, may we put our unbounded trust in you.

In turn may we bring your love, in a word or action of comfort to another,

in their moment of depression or despair.

10: JESUS IS STRIPPED OF HIS ROBE

We adore Thee O Christ, and we bless Thee,

All: because by thy Holy Cross thou hast redeemed the world.

John 19: They crucified him and divided his garments among them, casting lots for them, to decide what each should take.

REFLECTION You had nothing left but your cloak; your final dignity stripped away.

perhaps your Mother had woven it for you?

But this, too, had to go.

You’re on your own now, Jesus of Nazareth. Nothing now comes  between you and the Cross;

You are finally going to be united forever,And together you will save the world.

PRAYER Forgive us Lord for the sake of gossip prying into people’s lives. Forgive us for being consumers of it under the name of ‘news’.

May we respect the dignity of others and leave the judgement to God.

Let us see the good in those around us

and so enable them to reach their full potential.

11: JESUS IS NAILED TO THE CROSS

We adore Thee O Christ, and we bless Thee,

All: because by thy Holy Cross thou hast redeemed the world.

Mark 15.22-24.   And they brought him to the place called Golgotha (which means Place of a Skull).  And they offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it.  And they crucified him …

REFLECTION With their nails and with their hammers they forced open His hands….

hands that had wiped blindness from blind eyes;

hands that had opened the seal of deafness,

hands that had touched the untouchable and cured the leper,

hands that had blessed children and those with disability;

hands that had brought to life the dying;

the carpenter’s hands are joined to the wood again.

As the cross is put in place,

he hangs there between us and God,

a blood stained victim for love.

PRAYER O Loving Father, make me like Jesus: The Jesus who could pray for those who nailed him to the Cross; the Jesus who was strong enough not to answer back when accused unjustly; Sustain and support the anxious,

be with those who care for the sick, and lift up all who are brought low;

that they may find comfort,

knowing that nothing can separate us from your love.

12: JESUS DIES ON THE CROSS

We adore Thee O Christ, and we bless Thee,

All: because by thy Holy Cross thou hast redeemed the world.

REFLECTION He has known pain, exhaustion, apparent failure, shame.

He has known, too, the blessed dependence of a man upon others –

helped by them and accepted their help;

He has known compassion from the women he met on the way,

and the heroism that it inspires;

Veronica who dared the mockery of the crowd

and the authority of the armed guard to come close to him

and wipe the tears and the filth from his face.

On that road, too, he has seen

the absolute triumph of his mother’s love and trust in him

and for his Heavenly Father.

On that road where so much was dereliction and shame,

her fiat: “Be it done to me according to thy word,”

has flowered with unimaginable splendour.

His passion is her passion.

To his enemies this seems to be the hour of their triumph

and Christ’s defeat, but in fact it is the supreme hour of his triumph.

 PRAYER  Lord Jesus Christ, in the moment of your agony you were not indifferent to humanity’s fate, and with your last breath you entrusted to the Father’s mercy the men and women of every age, with all their weaknesses and sins. Fill us and the generations yet to come with your Spirit of love, so that our indifference will not render vain in us the fruits of your death.To you, crucified Jesus, the wisdom and the power of God, be honour and glory for ever and ever.

 13: JESUS IS TAKEN FROM THE CROSS

We adore Thee O Christ, and we bless Thee,

All: because by thy Holy Cross thou hast redeemed the world.

Mark (15: 42-43, 46)  And when evening had come, Joseph of Arimathea, a respected member of the council, who was also himself looking for the kingdom of God, bought a linen shroud, and took the body of Jesus down from the Cross.

REFLECTION So night fell.

Nicodemus, Joseph, and the holy women could do no more.

Everyone who had loved him was exhausted.

There was no longer any meaning or purpose in anything.

Christ was in the tomb;

and the whole world was sown with the seed of Christ’s life;

that which happened thirty-three years ago

in the womb of the virgin mother was happening now,

but now more secretly, more mysteriously,

in the womb of the whole world.

Christ had already told those who flocked to hear him preach

that the seed must fall into the earth, or else remain by itself alone.

Now the seed of his life was hidden in darkness

His burial, which seemed to be the end, was the beginning.

Like Joseph of Arimathea I want to offer space for you.

He offered his tomb, I offer my heart.

Enter the darkness of my heart

as your body entered the darkness of Joseph’s tomb,

and make me worthy to receive you,

driving out all sin and darkness, that I might be filled with your light.

PRAYER  Like Joseph of Arimathea I want to offer space for you.

He offered his own tomb;

I offer you my heart.

14: JESUS IS LAID IN THE TOMB

We adore Thee O Christ, and we bless Thee,

All: because by thy Holy Cross thou hast redeemed the world.

John (19: 38-40).  Joseph of Arimathea  was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds. Taking Jesus’ body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs. 

REFLECTION Of all the days in history, Holy Saturday –

the Saturday during which the body of Jesus

lay in the tomb in silence and darkness behind the large stone

that was rolled against its entrance, (Mark 15:46)

-   this is the day of God’s solitude.

It is the day on which the whole creation waits,

Holy Saturday - the quietest of all days.

From this silence, the Word will be spoken again

and make all things new.

In the cross of Jesus we see the cost of our sin

and the depth of your love:

in humble hope and fear may we place at his feet

all that we have

and all that we are…..

PRAYER  Almighty God, whose blessed Son ministered to the spiritual needs of Nicodemus under cover of darkness, and was himself, in turn, cared for quietly on the dark night of his death; we thank you for that the reverberation of such actions continues until this present time, and offers impetus and encouragement to all who seek to meet the needs of others in their dark periods….

 God be gracious to us and bless us         

and make his face to shine upon us,

All:    that thy way may be known upon earth,

          thy saving power among all nations.

 Our Father, who art in heaven,

hallowed be thy name;

thy kingdom come, thy will be done

on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread,

and forgive us our trespasses,

as we forgive those who trespass against us;

and lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from evil.

For thine is the Kingdom, the power and the glory,

for ever and ever. Amen.

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.Blessed art thou among women,

and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.Holy Mary, Mother of God,

pray for us sinners,now and at the hour of our death.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son,

and to the Holy Spirit;

as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,

world without end. Amen.

Almighty Father, look with mercy on this thy family for which our Lord Jesus Christ was content to be betrayed, and given up into the hands of sinners, and to suffer death upon the cross; who is alive and glorified with

thee and the Holy Spirit, one God,

now and for ever.