Is There Any Other Way Than The Way of The Cross? The Thirteenth Station: Jesus Is Taken Down From The Cross

The Thirteenth Station: Jesus Is Taken Down From The Cross (The Descension)

We Adore You O Christ and we Praise You.

Because by Your Holy Cross, 

You have Redeemed the World!

By Ariel Agemian

Reflection: When the soldiers came to Jesus, they saw that He was already dead so that they did not break His legs, but one of  them opened His side with a lance, and immediately there came out blood and water. Joseph of Aramathea, because he was a disciple of Jesus (although a secret one for fear of the Jews), besought Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus. And Pilate gave permission. (Jn 19:33-34 and 38a.)

Meditation:  O My people. I will open your graves and have you rise from them, And I will bring you back to your land. Then you shall know that I am the Lord!  O My people! I will put My spirit in you that you may live.  You shall know then that I am the Lord. I have promised it, And I will do it, says the Lord. (Ez 37:12-14)

 From The Imitation of Christ, Book 2, Chapter 12.

“If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross, and follow Me.”

If indeed there had been anything better and more profitable to your health than to suffer, Christ would surely have shown it by word and example. For both the disciples who follows Him, and all who desire to follow Him, He plainly encourages such a one to bear their cross, and says, “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross, and follow Me(Luke 24:46).”

So now that we have thoroughly read and studied all things, let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter. “We must through many tribulations enter into the kingdom of God (Acts 14:21).”

Pray:  Beloved Savior, You returned to the Father all that He had given You, so that He might restore all to You a

hundredfold in the glorious resurrection. Help us, we beg You, to give generously of ourselves in all that we do for You so that like You we might be made perfect in a new Resurrection.  Amen.

My People, What Have I Done to You ? The Twelfth Station: Jesus Dies On The Cross

The Twelfth Station:
Jesus Dies On The Cross

We Adore You O Christ and we Praise You.

Because by Your Holy Cross, 

You have Redeemed the World!

Reflection: It was now about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. And the sun was darkened, and the curtain of the temple was torn in the middle. Jesus cried out with a loud voice and said, “It is finished. Father, into Your hands I commend My spirit.’ Then, bowing  His head, He died. (Lk. 23:44-46, Jn 19:30b)

Meditation: My people, what have I done to you ? Or in what way have I offended you? Answer me.  What more should I have done, and did not do? I led you out of the land of Egypt, and you prepared a cross for Me. I opened the Red Sea before you and you opened My side with a lance. I gave You a royal sceptre, and You have given me a crown of thorns. With great power I lifted you up, and you have hung Me upon a cross. My people, what have I done to you, or in what have I offended you? Answer me.  (From the Reproaches of Good Friday).

“Know for certain that you must lead a dying life, and the more you die to yourself, the more you begin to life for God.”

By Ariel Agemian

Know for certain that you must lead a dying life, and the more you die to yourself, the more you begin to life for God.

No one is fit to comprehend heavenly things who has not yet been resigned to suffer adversities for Christ.  Nothing is more acceptable to God, nothing more wholesome for you in this world, than to suffer willingly for Christ.

And if you were to choose, you ought to wish to suffer adversities for Christ rather than to be delighted with earthly comforts, because you would then be more Christ-like and more conformed to all the saints.”   Imitation of Christ, Book 2, Ch 12, para 14 ff.

Pray:  Our Father, Who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Amen.

TENTH STATION

Jesus is Stripped of His Clothes

Reflection:

They gave Jesus wine to drink mixed with gall; but when he had tasted it, He would not drink it. Then

after they had crucified Him, they divided His clothes, casting lots, to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet, "They divided my clothes among them, and upon my garments they cast lots." (Mt. 27, 34-35)

Meditation:

Happy is the man whom God chastises!   Do not reject the punishment of the Almighty.

For He wounds, but He binds up; He smites, but His hands give healing.

Insult has broken my heart, and I am weak; I looked for comforters, and I found none.

Rather they put gall in my food, and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.

(Job 5, 17 & 18; Ps. 68, 21 & 22)

Meditation from The Imitation of Christ, Book III, Chapter 19

Bearing Injuries and Who is Proved to Be Truly Patient

The better you condition yourself for suffering, the more wisely you will act, and the more you merit:  and you will bear it more easily, your mind being well prepared for, and accustomed to suffering.

               Do not say:  ‘I cannot take these things, and things of this kind are not to be suffered by me for a great injury has done to me, and I am upbraided with things I never thought of; but I will suffer willingly from another, and I shall judge what is fitting for me to suffer.’

               Foolish are the thoughts which do not measure the virtue of patience.  As are thoughts by whom it shall be brought upon you, but rather patience weighs the persons and the offences committed.

                3.  To be truly patient you must suffer more than you think is allowed and from whomever it pleases to endure that suffering.

               The truly patient person does not chronicle who it is that imposes the suffering, whether by a superior, or by an equal, or even by one of an inferior position: whether by a good and holy person, or by one that is perverse and unworthy.

               But no matter how much and how often you encounter adversity from anything created, you should take it all with equality of mind, as from the Hand of God, with thanksgiving and count it a great gain (Jas 1:2).      For nothing that is suffered for God’s sake, no matter how small can pass without merit in the sight of God.

Pray:

Let us pray. Lord Jesus Christ, stripped of everything, You stood exposed to the jeers and contempt

of the people whom You loved. Clothe us with genuine love of others, so that nothing we suffer

may ever fill our hearts with hatred or bitterness.

The Ninth Station Jesus Falls the Third Time

The Ninth Station

Jesus Falls the Third Time

Reflection:

Consider the Third fall of Our Lord Jesus.  His was at the end of his strength. His executioners, relentless in their cruel punishments, even tired of beating Him.  Their blows fell on open flesh in an attempt to hasten Our Lord to his crucifixion.  With barely enough strength to move forward, Our Lord falls again under the weight of the Cross. Yet He continued to follow the will of the Father, in His journey to rescue us from our sins.

Meditation:

From The Imitation of Christ, Book 3, Chapter 13

The Obedience of a Humble Subject after the Example of Jesus Christ

 "But what great matter is it if you, who are but dust and ashes, yield yourself for God's sake to man, when I, the Almighty and the Most High, who created all things out of nothing, subjected Myself to man for your sake?  I became the most humble and despised of men, that by My humility you might

overcome your pride.  Learn to obey, O dust!  Learn to humble yourself, O earth and clay, and to bow yourself beneath the feet of all.  Learn to crush your passions, and to yield yourself in all weakness.

 "Be zealous against yourself, but do not allow pride to live within you, but make yourself so submissive and little, that all may be able to walk over you, and tread you down as the clay in the streets. 

Pray: 

Lord Jesus Christ, Grant me Your grace, most merciful Jesus, that it may be with me, and work in me, and persevere with me, even unto the end (Wis 9:10). Grant that I may always desire and wish whatever is most pleasing and dear to You.  Let Your will be mine, and let my will always follow Yours, and entirely follow with it.  May I choose and reject whatsoever You do; yes, let it be impossible for me to choose or reject except according to Your will. Amen (From From The Imitation of Christ, Book 3, Chapter 15).

Do You Hear My Cry? The Eleventh Station: Jesus is Nailed to the Cross.

Do You Hear My Cry? The Eleventh Station: Jesus is Nailed to the Cross.

The 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.

Reflection:

Imagine the suffering of Our Lord as the nails were driven into his flesh.  His endurance weakening, His plight that of resignation.  The hammer strike only served to confirm the cruelty of it all.  Roman crucifixion was designed for maximum pain and suffering.  Still, He looked to prayer in His suffering.  We pray that we can unite our pain with Yours, O Lord.

Meditation from Psalm 22: 15-22:

Like water my life drains away; all my bones are disjointed.

My heart has become like wax, it melts away within me.

As dry as a potsherd is my throat; my tongue cleaves to my palate;

You lay me in the dust of death.

Dogs surround me; a pack of evildoers closes in on me.

They have pierced my hands and my feet, I can count all my bones.

They stare at me and gloat; they divide my garments among them;

for my clothing they cast lots.

But you, LORD, do not stay far off; my strength, come quickly to help me.

Deliver my soul from the sword, my life from the grip of the dog.

Save me from the lion’s mouth, my poor life from the horns of wild bulls.”

From the Imitation of Christ:  Book II, Ch 12, para 13.

With good reason ought you to willingly suffer a little for Christ, since many suffer greater things in the world.

Prayer: My Jesus, through Your agony of the piercing nails being driven into your hands and feet, help me to crucify my flesh by Christian penance.  Let me unite my tribulations to Yours in order to imitate You.

Do You Suffer Like Me? The Eighth Station: Jesus Meets the Women of Jerusalem

Is There Any Suffering Like My Suffering? The Eighth Station: Jesus Meets the Women of Jerusalem

Reflection:  There was following Jesus a great crowd of people, and among them were some women who were  bewailing and lamenting Him. Jesus turning to them said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for Me, but weep for yourselves and for your  children.”(Luke 23. 27-28)

Meditation: Come, all you who pass by the way: Look and see whether there is any suffering like My suffering, suffering with which the Lord has afflicted Me on the day of his blazing wrath.  At this I weep, My eyes run with tears. Far from Me are all who could console Me, Far away are any who might revive Me (Lam. 1: 12-16).

The Royal Way of The Holy Cross

Behold the Cross is all, and everything lies in dying to yourself; and there is no other way to life and to true inward peace, except through the way of the Holy Cross and of daily mortification.

Go where you will, seek whatever you will, and you shall find no higher way above or safer way below, than the way of the Holy Cross.

Dispose and order all things according to your own will and judgment, and you shall always find something to suffer either willingly or unwillingly, and thus you shall always find your cross.  For you shall either feel bodily pain, or within your soul, tribulation of spirit (From the Imitation of Christ, Bk 2, Ch. 12).

Pray: Beloved Lord Jesus, with tears of pity these women of Jerusalem responded to You, broken, bruised, and beaten, on the road to Calvary. Deepen our faith, we beg You, so that we may see You in our brothers and sisters, bruised by our envy, beaten down by injustice, and broken by our greed and our indifference. Amen.

Can You Escape What No One Has Avoided? Jesus Falls a Second Time: The Seventh Station

The Seventh Station: Jesus Falls the Second Time

Reflection: 

It was our weaknesses that He carried, our sufferings that He endured, while we thought of Him as stricken, as One struck by God and afflicted. But He was 

 pierced for our offenses, crushed for our sins, Upon Him was the punishment that makes us whole, by His stripes we were healed. We had all gone astray like sheep, each following his own way; but the Lord laid upon Him the guilt of us all. 

(Is.53:4-6)

Meditation:

Though he was harshly treated, He submitted and opened not His mouth; Like a lamb led to the slaughter or a sheep before the shearers, He was silent and uttered no cry. When He was cut off from the land of the living, and smitten for the sin of His people, A grave was assigned Him among the wicked and a burial place with evildoers, Though He had done no wrong nor spoken any falsehood. (Is. 53:7,9)

From a sculpture based on the Shroud of Turin

From Book 2, Chapter 12, of The Imitation of Christ
Do you think you can escape what no mortal has been able to avoid? Which of the saints in the world has been without the cross and tribulation? For not even Jesus Christ our Lord was one hour without the anguish of His Passion, so long as He lived: ”It was fitting for The Messiah to suffer,” He said, “and to rise from the dead, and so enter into his glory (Luke 24:46).” And how do you seek another way than this royal Way, which is the Way of the Holy Cross?

Pray: You shared in our weaknesses and accepted our guilt. Grant us the favor of rejoicing over our human weaknesses, so that in all we do, Your strength, dwelling in us, may be shown to all others. Amen.

The Sixth Station: Veronica Wipes the Face of Jesus

Reflection: "Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You; or thirsty, and give You drink? And when did we see You a stranger, and take You in; or naked, and clothe You? Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?" And answering the King will say to them, "Amen, I say to you, as long as you did it for one of these, the least of My brethren, you did it for Me." (Mt. 25:37- 40)

Meditation:   A faithful friend is a sturdy shelter;                                                       He who finds one finds a treasure.
A faithful friend is beyond price, no sum can balance his worth.
A faithful friend is a life-saving remedy, such as he who fears God finds;
For he who fears God behaves accordingly, And his friend will be like himself. (Sir 6:14-17)

From The Imitation of Christ, Book 4, Ch 4: Many Good Gifts are Bestowed on Those Who Communicate Devoutly

I indeed labor in the sweat of my face, I am tormented with sorrow of heart, I am burdened with sins, I am disquieted with temptations, I am entangled and oppressed with many passions, and there is none to help me, there is none to deliver and ease me, but You, O Lord God, my Savior, to whom I commit myself and all things that are Mine, that You may preserve Me and lead Me to eternal life.

Pray: Receive me to the praise and glory of Your name, O Lord, who has prepared Your Body and Blood to be my meat and drink. Grant, O Lord God my Savior, that with coming often to Your mysteries the zeal of my devotion may increase.

If you will reign with Me, will you bear the cross with Me? The Fifth Station

Will You Help Me? The Fifth Station: Simon Helps Jesus Carry His Cross

The Fifth Station: Simon of Cyrene Helps Jesus to Carry His Cross
If you will reign with Me, will you bear the cross with Me?

Reflection: And when they had mocked Jesus, they took the purple cloak off and put His own clothes on Him and they led Him out to be crucified. Then they forced a certain passer-by, Simon of Cyrene,coming in from the country, to take up His cross. They brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha, a name meaning the place of the skull’. (Mk 15:20-22)

Meditation: (from Ps. 142:2-5)
With a loud voice I cry out to the Lord.   With a loud voice I beseech the Lord.

My complaint I pour out before Him; before Him I lay bare my distress.

When my spirit is faint within me, you know my path.
In the way along which I walk they have hid a trap for me.
I look to the right to see, but there is no one who pays me heed.
I have lost all means of escape; there is no one who cares for my life.

Book 3, CHAPTER 56: We Ought to Deny Ourselves, and to Imitate Christ by Means of the Cross

Christ:“If you will enter into life, keep the commandments (Matt 19:17, 21). If you will know the truth, believe in Me. If you will be perfect, sell all that you have. If you will be My disciple, deny yourself. If you would possess the blessed life, despise this present life. If you will be exalted in heaven, humble yourself in the world. If you will reign with Me, bear the cross with Me; for only the servants of the cross find the way of blessedness and of true light.”

Disciple: O Lord Jesus, as You have said and promised, even so let it be to me, and grant me to prove worthy. I have received the cross at Your hand; I have carried it, and will carry it even to my death, as You have laid it upon me. Truly the life of a fully devoted servant is a cross, but it leads to paradise. I have begun; I may not return back nor leave it.

Pray: Come, let us together go forward. Jesus shall be with us. For Jesus’ sake we have taken up this cross, for Jesus’ sake let us persevere in the cross. He will be our Helper, Who is our Captain and Forerunner. Behold our King enters in before us, and He will fight for us. Let us follow bravely, let no one be afraid; let us be prepared to die bravely in battle, and let us not stain our honor, as to fly from the cross(1 Mac 9:10). Amen.

Commentary:  Be  passers-by.

Mother, Why Are You Crying? - The Fourth Station

Mother, Why Are You Crying?  - The Fourth Station

Mary was at every significant event in Jesus' life. Although Scripture does not record Mary being on the road to Calvary, it does record Her there: AT the foot of the Cross. She got there somehow!  This station reflects that conversation which was probably too intimate to record in Scripture.

In meditation on this station, recall these passages from the Gospels:  Luke 2:34-35:  "And Simeon Blessed them and said to Mary, His Mother: "Behold, this Child is destined for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and for a sign that shall be contradicted."  And turning to Mary he said: "and You, a sword will pierce Your heart -that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed."

And then this passage from John:   “Standing by the cross of Jesus were His Mother and His Mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary of Magdala. When Jesus saw His Mother* and the disciple there whom He loved, He said to His Mother, ‘Woman, behold, Your Son.’ Then He said to the disciple, ‘Behold, your Mother.’ And from that hour the disciple took Her into his home (Jn 19:25-27).”

And now again from Luke 1:38:   "Behold the Handmaid of the Lord; be it done unto Me according to Your Word."

A Meditation From Book 4, Ch 17 of The Imitation of Christ: 

Of fervent love and vehement desire of receiving Christ

O Lord my God, my Creator and Redeemer! with such affection, reverence, praise, and honor, with such gratitude, worthiness, and love, with such faith, hope, and purity do I desire to receive You this day, as Your most Blessed Mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary, received and desired You, when the Angel brought Her the glad tidings of the mystery of the Incarnation, She humbly and devoutly answered:  "Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to Your word (Lk 1:38)."