In the name of  the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

 Prayer before making the Way of the Cross:

Meditation: The Son of Man is destined to suffer grievously, to be rejected, and to be raised up on the third day. If anyone wants to be a follower of Mine, let him take up his cross every day and follow Me. For anyone who wants to save his live will loose it; but anyone who loses his life for My sake, that  will save it.

Prayer: Almighty, ever living God, You have given the human race Jesus Christ our Savior as a model of humility.  He fulfilled Your will by becoming man and giving His life on the cross. Help us to bear witness to You by following His example of suffering and make us worthy to share in His resurrection. We ask this through our Lord, Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever Amen.

 

First Station: Pilate Condemns Jesus To Die      We adore you O Christ, and we praise You.

   Because by your holy cross, You have  redeemed the world.

Meditation: Jesus has been scourged and crowned with thorns. Now, Pilate unjustly condemns Him to die upon a cross.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, often I judge others and fail to be understanding or loving. Help me to see the people in my life through Your eyes, not the eyes of a Pontius Pilate.

 

(Optional: Our Father, Hail Mary  & Glory Be may be added here at each station.)

 

   At the cross her station keeping,

      Stood the mournful mother weeping,

         Close to Jesus to the last.

 

Second Station: Jesus Accepts His Cross

We adore you O Christ, and we praise You.

   Because by Your holy cross, You have redeemed the world.

Meditation: Jesus is given a cross to carry on His bleeding and bruised shoulders. He takes this cross upon Himself as He takes upon Himself all of our sins.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, You embraced Your cross to redeem the world. Help me to embrace the crosses in my life - the hardships, struggles, disappointments, pain. Only by recognizing my own weakness, can I discover Your strength.

 

  Through her heart, His sorrow sharing,

      All His bitter anguish bearing,

         Now at length the sword has past.

 

 

Third Station: Jesus Falls The First Time

We adore you O Christ, and we praise You.

   Because by Your holy cross, You have redeemed the world.

Meditation: Jesus, weakened by all His suffering, stumbles and falls on the way to Calvary . He struggles and rises, despite His pain, to go onward toward His death.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, You know how often I fall trying to follow You. Yet You are always there to lift me up. Help me always to trust in Your loving care for me.

 

   Oh, how sad and sore distressed

      Was that mother highly blessed,

         Of the sole begotten One!

 

Fourth Station: Jesus Meets His Mother

We adore you O Christ, and we praise You.

   Because by Your holy cross, You have redeemed the world.

Meditation: Jesus on His way to Calvary , sees His Mother. Both are stricken with grief.  Her love for Him is surpassed only by His love and concern for her.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, Your mother Mary’s grief was surpassed by her love for You. So often You come to me in others and their love gives me new life. Help me to see how often You love me through the people in my life.

 

  Christ above in torment hangs;

      She beneath beholds the pangs

         Of her dying, glorious Son.

 

Fifth Station: Simon Helps Carry The Cross

We adore you O Christ, and we praise You.

   Because by Your holy cross, You have redeemed the world.

Meditation: Jesus is growing weaker. Fearing that He may not be able to go on, His executioners force Simon of Cyrene to help Him carry His cross.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, sometimes I am indifferent to the needs of others in my life. I even neglect those whom I love. Help me to see that loving others is the surest way to find You in my life.

 

     Is there one who would not weep,

      ‘Whelmed in miseries so deep,

         Christ’s dear Mother to Behold?

 

Sixth Station: Veronica Wipes the Face of Jesus

We adore you O Christ, and we praise You.

   Because by Your holy cross, You have redeemed the world.

Meditation: Jesus’ face is bathed in sweat and blood. Veronica, moved by pity, wipes His face with her veil and the image of His holy face is imprinted on the cloth.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, at times I am afraid to reach out to others. I do nothing when I should act. I say nothing when I should speak out. Give me a deeper and more courageous faith. Help me to trust that You are with me.

  Can the human heart refrain

      From partaking in her pain,

         In that Mother’s pain untold?

 

Seventh Station: Jesus Falls the Second Time

We adore you O Christ, and we praise You.

   Because by Your holy cross, You have redeemed the world.

Meditation: Jesus falls again under the weight of the cross.  His executioners drag Him to His feet and force Him to go onward to Calvary .

Prayer: Lord Jesus, failure and disappointment sometimes lead me to despair. I hide behind my pride and self-pity, withdrawing from You and others. Give me the hope I need to help me never to be afraid to begin again.

 

   Bruised, derided, cursed, defiled,

      She beheld her tender Child,

         All with bloody scourges rent.

 

Eighth Station: Jesus Speaks to the Women

We adore you O Christ, and we praise You.

   Because by Your holy cross, You have redeemed the world.

Meditation: Jesus is so bruised and bleeding that the women of Jerusalem weep when they see Him.  He tells them, “Weep not for me, but rather for your children.”

Prayer: Lord Jesus, your great compassion for others overwhelms me.  I feel petty and selfish when I think of You and the way You love.  Help me to pour out my love, that You might fill me with Your love.

   For the sins of His own nation,

      Saw Him hang in desolation

         Till His Spirit forth he sent.

 

Ninth Station: Jesus Falls the Third Time

We adore you O Christ, and we praise You.

   Because by Your holy cross, You have redeemed the world.

 

Meditation: Jesus, weak and exhausted, falls for the third time. Though He hardly has strength to move, they try to make Him walk faster.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, Your failing strength makes me see how helpless I am.  Without You, I can do nothing. Help me to rely on Your strength, to see how much I need You.

 

  O Sweet Mother! font of love,

      Touch my spirit from above,

         Make my heart with yours accord.

 

Tenth Station:Jesus is Stripped of His Garments

We adore you O Christ, and we praise You.

   Because by Your holy cross, You have redeemed the world.

Meditation: Jesus has reached the summit of Calvary , the place of His execution.  As they strip Him of His garments, they reopen His bleeding wounds.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, seeing You so cruelly humiliated makes me realize how I cling to my accomplishments, my possessions, my way.  Help me to let go of those things in my life that prevent me from growing closer to You and others.

 

   Make me feel as you have felt;

      Make my soul to glow and melt

         With the Love of Christ, my Lord.

 

Eleventh Station: Jesus is Nailed to the Cross

We adore you O Christ, and we praise You.

   Because by Your holy cross, You have redeemed the world.

Meditation: Jesus is now thrown down upon the cross. His executioners violently stretch His limbs and fasten them with crude nails to the wood.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, I can never doubt Your great love for me when I see you crucified. Help me to see Your cross as the great sign of Your love for me.

 

 Holy Mother, pierce me through,

      In my heart each wound renew

         Of my Savior crucified.

 

 

Twelfth Station: Jesus Dies upon the Cross

We adore you O Christ, and we praise You.

   Because by Your holy cross, You have redeemed the world.

Meditation: Jesus is crucified. After three hours of agony and pain, He commends His spirit to His Father, bows His head and dies.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, Your broken and lifeless body calls me to deeper faith. You chose death, even death on the cross. Help me to see my crosses as ways of loving You.

 

   Let me share with you His pain,

      Who for all our sins was slain,

         Who for me in torments died.

 

 

Thirteenth Station:Jesus is taken from the Cross

We adore you O Christ, and we praise You.

   Because by Your holy cross, You have redeemed the world.

Meditation: Jesus’ lifeless body is taken from the cross by His disciples Joseph and Nicodemus.  Tenderly, they place Him in the arms of His sorrowing Mother.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, seeing Your body taken from the cross reminds me how fearful I am letting go of my own life.  I am frightened when I think of being unimportant, useless, helpless.   Help me to place my life in Your hands.

 

   Let me mingle tears with thee,

      Mourning Him who mourned for me,

         All the days that I may live.

 

 

Fourteenth Station: Jesus is Laid in the Tomb

We adore you O Christ, and we praise You.

   Because by Your holy cross, You have redeemed the world.

Mediation: Jesus’ body is wrapped in a shroud and placed in a nearby sepulcher of a friend.  Then a large stone is rolled against the entrance and they depart.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, when I see the great stone sealing your tomb, I feel alone and abandoned.  Even though You sometimes seem distant or absent in my life, help me always to believe in Your closeness and loving presence.

 

   By the cross with You to stay,

      There with You to weep and pray,

         This I ask of You to give.

 

Closing Prayer:

Meditation:  On the first day of the week, at the first sign of dawn, they went to the tomb with spices they had prepared. They found that the stone had been rolled away from the tomb, but on entering they discovered that the body of the Lord was not there. As they stood there not knowing what to think, two men in brilliant clothes suddenly appeared at their side. Terrified the women lowered their eyes. But the two men said to them, “Why do you look among the dead for someone who is alive?  He is not here; he is risen. Remember what He told you when he was still in Galilee ; that the Son of Man had to be handed over into the power of sinful men and be crucified, and rise again on the third day?” And they remembered His words.

 

Prayer: Lord Jesus, help me to walk with You each day of my life, even to Calvary . The sorrow and joy, the pain and healings, the failures and triumphs of my life are truly small deaths and resurrections that lead me to closeness with You. Give me the faith and trust I need to walk with You always.

           

Lord Jesus crucified,

            have mercy on us!

Pray the Apostles Creed and the Lord’s Prayer for the intention of the Holy Father to gain the indulgence.

 

     I believe in God, the Father Almighty,

Creator of heaven and earth,

     And in Jesus Christ His only Son, our Lord.

Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,

born of the Virgin Mary,

suffered under Pontius Pilate,

was crucified, died and was buried.

He descended into hell,

the third day He rose again from the dead, 

He ascended into heaven,

and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty.

From thence He will come again to judge the living and the dead.

     I believe in the Holy Spirit,

the holy catholic Church ,

the Communion of Saints,

the forgiveness of sins,

the resurrection of the body,

and life everlasting. Amen.

 

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. Amen.

 

In the name of the Father, and of the Son,  and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.