Author: Greg Bellamy

THE WAY OF THE CROSS
Based on Meditations by Bishop David Konstant
Come and See Catholic Youth Ministry

Introduction
Sign of the Cross
"If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me." The way of the Cross is the way of patient suffering, of obedience to God and of resignation to his holy will. It is replete with spiritual benefits. It is the way of salvation for every true disciple of Christ.
0 merciful Jesus, with a contrite heart and penitent spirit we undertake this devotion of the way of the Cross in honour of your bitter sufferings and death. We wish to offer up thanksgiving in a spirit of humility for the boundless love which impelled you to carry the cross for each one of us. We are unworthy sinners, and you died to redeem us. Make each of us worthy to receive all the spiritual gifts that you grant to those who walk your path. We offer your gifts back to you for the satisfaction of our sins, for which we humbly repent, for the consolation of the souls in Purgatory, for the grace to persevere in the pathways of virtue and our own intentions which we now place before you.
Short period of silent prayer.
Let us walk in the footsteps of Christ.
Proceed to 1st Station
Jesus is condemned to death
V. We adore you 0 Christ and we bless you.
R. Because by your Holy Cross you have redeemed the World.
Pilate is weak and afraid. Frightened of the Jews, of Caesar, of Christ. The hand washing is the crowning sign of his weakness. He has no power but that which is given to him from above. I am told,' Judge not and you shall not be judged; yet I often judge others, needlessly and rashly. Is it ever for me to judge another man, can I ever do so rightly? Help me Lord Jesus to be truly just and merciful, and help me to always be motivated by love of you and my neighbour.
Our Father.
Hail Mary.
Glory be.
Proceed to next Station
Jesus takes up his cross
V. We adore you 0 Christ and we bless you.
R. Because by your Holy Cross you have redeemed the World.
When we think of the cross we think of a burden, heavy, unwieldy, unwanted. Yet "my yoke is sweet, my burden light" Christ has made the cross a symbol of victory, the sign in which we conquer. What is my cross? It is myself, my failings, imperfections, eccentricities, fears. Fear of responsibility... routine... loneliness... failure... the truth. Jesus, help me to take up my cross daily and follow you.
Our Father.
Hail Mary.
Glory be.
Proceed to next Station
Jesus falls the first time.
V. We adore you 0 Christ and we bless you.
R. Because by your Holy Cross you have redeemed the World.
It is incredible that Jesus Christ, God made man, should fall down. Yet he was a man like us in all things but sin. He was born, was nurtured, grew and advanced in wisdom and knowledge and grace before God and man. He was as weak as all men are, he knew his weakness. Do I know my weaknesses? Do I think I'm stronger than I really am? Am I impatient, over confident? Jesus, help me to know my weakness, my faults; thoughtlessness... carelessness.... obstinacy... impatience... irritability. Help me to learn by my mistakes and to rely on you.
Our Father.
Hail Mary.
Glory be.
Proceed to next Station
Jesus meets his blessed mother.
V. We adore you 0 Christ and we bless you.
R. Because by your Holy Cross you have redeemed the World.
Can I imagine the summit of a mother's selflessness: the giving of her only son. It was a loss, inexpressible anguish, suffering in sympathy, a weight of sadness, yet contentment that she could be with him and comfort him. So often mothers and fathers share this sorrow. The loss of their children. So too, children suffer; misunderstanding, loneliness, feeling unwanted. Young people have their own cross to carry… to the top of their own Calvary. They need sympathy, affection, security and love. Help me Mary to bear, like you did, the sight of my children leaving. 0 Jesus help me to find understanding with my parents and to help them.
Our Father.
Hail Mary.
Glory be.
Proceed to next Station
Simon of Cyrene helps Jesus to His cross.
V. We adore you 0 Christ and we bless you.
R. Because by your Holy Cross you have redeemed the World.
Who was Simon? What sort of a man was he... what did he do for a living.... why was he in Jerusalem... why was he watching this procession? He was an ordinary man, in from the country for a day or two, eager to see the city sights. He was forced to take part. How did he react? Surely he was angry and afraid. This is so often my reaction: anger and fear. Anger with others, afraid of myself. Help me Jesus, to master my fear and my anger, my pride and my self love. Teach me to be at peace with myself and to follow you.
Our Father.
Hail Mary.
Glory be.
Proceed to next Station
Veronica wipes the face of Jesus.
V. We adore you 0 Christ and we bless you.
R. Because by your Holy Cross you have redeemed the World.
This is a simple act of charity, but splendidly heroic and uniquely rewarded. I do not have the chance to perform acts like this. I wonder what I would have done: would I have behaved like Veronica, or Simon, or Peter, or Judas? But all I need to ask is whether I do, here and now, behave like Veronica. If I do, I receive the imprint of Christ on my life. Jesus, help me to put on charity, compassion, kindness and most of all love.
Our Father.
Hail Mary.
Glory be.
Proceed to next Station
Jesus falls the second time.
V. We adore you 0 Christ and we bless you.
R. Because by your Holy Cross you have redeemed the World.
Did Jesus have difficulty on the way of the cross? We take for granted his perseverance, his trust in his heavenly Father. He had genuine perseverance, genuine trust. Christ was truly human. I too need trust and perseverance to carry my cross and to confess my weaknesses, my sins. I must learn to persevere in my sorrow, to show My sorrow is real through my actions, to never let my conscience become blind and to never stop trying. Jesus, teach me to trust completely in God, to have an unwearied hope that I shall overcome in the end. After all, God has promised me just that.
Our Father.
Hail Mary.
Glory be.
Proceed to next Station
The women of Jerusalem mourn for Jesus.
V. We adore you 0 Christ and we bless you.
R. Because by your Holy Cross you have redeemed the World.
These were kind people who were genuinely sad to see such suffering. But they did not realise the truth: "Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into His glory? Do I mourn about the right things? 'Woe upon you who laugh now, you shall mourn and weep.' 'Blessed are those who weep now, you will laugh for joy.’ There is so much false joy in the world: escapism… ridicule… irony... facetiousness. the degrading ridicule of human virtue... mockery... pleasure seeking. This is only preparation for tears. The Gospel is the good news of great joy: Jesus: 'the god who become man that we might truly know God' Our sorrow must have faith, hope and charity. Jesus, help me to have true sorrow; sorrow which leads to joy.
Our Father.
Hail Mary.
Glory be.
Proceed to next Station
Jesus falls the third time.
V. We adore you 0 Christ and we bless you.
R. Because by your Holy Cross you have redeemed the World.
'I am a worm and not a man, the scorn of men and despised of the people. I am poured out like water, and all my bones are disjointed. My heart has become like wax, melting away within my breast. My throat is dried up like a potsherd, my tongue cleaves to my mouth, and in the dust of death you have laid me.' A description of me: weak of will, lax of conscience, dry of love. This can hardly be seen as a triumphal journey, yet this is what it is. I need both goading and encouraging. Jesus, you speak to me when I am praying, reading and listening to a sermon. Help me to listen to you patiently, humbly, intelligently. Remind me that unless I become as a little child, I shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.
Our Father.
Hail Mary.
Glory be.
Proceed to next Station
Jesus is stripped of His clothes
V. We adore you 0 Christ and we bless you.
R. Because by your Holy Cross you have redeemed the World.
'Who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross.' He did not prize his possessions, neither those due to Him as God, nor those due to Him as man. He had no home, was often hungry and thirsty, was born in poverty and died in poverty. Lord Jesus help me to be poor in spirit. Help me to direct my mind towards you and to deepen my understanding of providence.
Our Father.
Hail Mary.
Glory be.
Proceed to next Station
Jesus is 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.
It is the sheer, unmitigated cruelty which disgusts us. How could man, created in the image and likeness of God be able to sink to such depths. I call this barbaric, inhuman. Cruelty survives today on a grand scale: concentration camps, modem crime, abortion, savage cruelty towards children. But do I notice my own inhumanity? My barbed wit, my lack of charity, my ignorance, my condescension, my impatience. Pinpricks beg Christ's wounds. But these are my faults for which I am answerable. Help my, Jesus, to heal the wounds caused by hate and to show all men the love you have shown to me.
Our Father.
Hail Mary.
Glory be.
Proceed to next Station
Jesus dies on the cross
V. We adore you 0 Christ and we bless you.
R. Because by your Holy Cross you have redeemed the World.
'It was about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour, while the sun's light failed; and the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Then Jesus, crying out with a loud voice, said, "Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit" And having said this he breathed His last.' (All kneel)
Without beauty, without majesty we saw Him,
no looks to attract our eyes;
a thing despised and rejected by men,
a man of sorrows and familiar with suffering.
And yet ours were the sufferings he bore,
ours the sorrows he carried.
Lord Jesus, help us to recognise that unless a grain of wheat falls to the earth and dies it remains but a single grain, and that if it dies it bears a rich harvest. Help us to turn to you and be saved, for you are God.
Our Father.
Hail Mary.
Glory be.
Proceed to next Station
Jesus is taken down from the cross
V. We adore you 0 Christ and we bless you.
R. Because by your Holy Cross you have redeemed the World.
The dead body of Jesus. It is hard to take in: Jesus really died. His body became a lifeless thing, an empty shell. It is so obviously empty, incomplete, utterly different from what it was a few moments before. I fear death, but in spite of my natural human fear, I have hope: Christ has gone before me. Jesus, I pray that when God calls me I shall be able to say as you did: It is finished, the work you gave me is complete. Help me to approach death unafraid, confident that I have done my best to do your will.
Our Father.
Hail Mary.
Glory be.
Proceed to next Station
Jesus is placed in the tomb
V. We adore you 0 Christ and we bless you.
R. Because by your Holy Cross you have redeemed the World.
The grave is only a passing resting place, for me as for Christ. The life, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ is the promise of eternal life. I am no longer alone in my pursuit of God, I go with Christ. I share with others our blessings and burdens: forgetful of self, filled with hope, and faith and love. I pray Lord Jesus, that my life may mirror yours. May I truly die to sin, may my daily round become my daily prayer, may my love of you lead others to you and may I fulfil the vocation you have given to me.
Our Father.
Hail Mary.
Glory be.
Proceed to the steps of the sanctuary.
Conclusion
"Thus it is written that the Messiah must suffer and rise from the dead on the third day. In his name, penance for the remission of sins is to preached to all the nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of this. See I send down upon you the promise of My Father"
God our Father, Shepherd and Ruler of all the faithful, look with mercy on your servant the pope whom you have chosen as the shepherd to rule over your Church; in word and in example may he lead those over whom he has charge so that, together with them he may gain eternal happiness. We pray for the Pope's intentions.
Our Father.
Hail Mary.
Glory be.
V. Let us pray
R. Almighty and eternal God, merciful Father, you have given your only begotten Son to your people as an example of humility, obedience and patience. You permitted him to carry his cross and precede us on the way of life. Grant we beseech you, that inflamed by his infinite love we may take on ourselves the sweet yoke of his gospel and the mortification of the cross. Following him as true disciples, may we one day gloriously rise with him in the blessed eternity of the kingdom of heaven. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen. Sign of the Cross

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