Are You Praying the Stations of the Cross this Lent?

Every Friday my husband and I join several other members of the chapel for a holy hour for priests. It has become an essential and well-loved part of our week. We pray the rosary and then the stations of the cross. The prayers all focus on supporting our own priests and all the priests of the world in their challenging vocation. How desperately we need our priests. Without them Jesus cannot come to us here and now, really and truly present on our altars and in all the tabernacles of the world. 

Thirteenth and Fourteenth Stations: Jesus is Taken Down from the Cross, Jesus is Laid in the Tomb

 

Jesus is Taken Down from the Cross, Rembrandt

The Twelfth Station: Jesus Dies on the Cross

The Eleventh Station: Jesus is Nailed to the Cross

Albrecht Durer (circa 1500)

After all the agony of the preceding night and the long journey on the Via Dolorosa to Mount Clavary, the Skull Place, Jesus begins the final chapter. Jesus suffers every inhumanity man can inflict on a person. He has experienced in His soul, every sin every committed and suffered for them in the Garden. May we repent in tears our active participation in the cruelty inflicted in our gracious Lord. Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us.

The Tenth Station: Jesus is Stripped of His Garments

James Tissot (1836-1902)

Jesus had nowhere to lay his head in life; he goes to his death with nothing except the scorn and hatred of his enemies and the betrayal of most of his friends. Only Mary and a few of the women and St. John were there to be with Him at the foot of the cross. O Jesus, through the intercession of Your Immaculate Mother, give me the grace never to betray You again.

 

Ninth Station: Jesus Falls the Third Time

Ilya Ovcharenko

How exhausted our Savior must have been leading Him to fall once again under the weight of the cross. When I am exhausted and discouraged, Lord, help me to unite my trials to Yours and help You to carry the cross.

The Eighth Station: Jesus Meets the Weeping Women of Jerusalem

Josef Piens Cooreman from St. Peter's Church in Gent, Belgium

The women brought their children to Jesus in happier days. Now they weep for Him as He warns them of the coming suffering in the dry wood. We are living those days in our time. Let us teach our children and grandchildren to imitate St. Francisco of Fatima and console the hidden Jesus. 

The Seventh Station: Jesus Falls the Second Time

Giandomenico Tiepolo - 1772

When we fall into sin, let us immediately recall the suffering of Christ for us and for our salvation, repent, and hurry to Confession and make reparation.

The Sixth Station: Veronica Wipes the Face of Jesus

 We are called to become the image of Christ to the world. Let us worship before His Holy Face.

The Fifth Station: Simon Helps Jesus to Carry the Cross

Tiziano Vecellio, c. 1488/90 - 1576 (Titian)

Is Jesus asking you to help Him carry His cross by carrying your own?

The Fourth Station: Jesus Meets His Sorrowful Mother

Bartholomew Esteban Murillo (1617-1682)

The Third Station: Jesus Falls the First Time

 

The Second Station: Jesus Accepts His Cross

 

Passiontide Silence: No Articles Until Easter....The First Station: Jesus is Condemned to Death

 ....I've decided to go silent for the next two weeks and focus on the passion in silent prayer and meditation. I will be posting no articles and seriously limiting my presence on the internet. I will only be posting a Station for each day beginning today with the the first station, Jesus is Condemned to Death. I urge all our faithful readers to limit internet and social media use and instead focus on Scripture Reading, Meditation, Silent reflection, and prayer -- especially for those who persecute you. Let us unite ourselves to Christ whose Kingship is so hidden during the Passion. That's what I will be doing. May God draw us all closer to His Sacred Heart during these final two weeks leading up to the Easter Triduum and the celebration of the Resurrection, Christ's victory over sin and death. May Jesus Christ be praised!

The First Station: Jesus is Condemned to Death

Shrines worth a Pilgrimage: Shrine of Christ’s Passion

 

St. Francis' Feast Day is also our wedding anniversary

Today is the feast of St. Francis and my husband's and my 41st wedding anniversary. St. Francis fascinates me. I'm glad we married on his feast day, although I didn't know him as well in those days. He's credited with creating the nativity scenes we set up at Christmas. In 1223 in Greccio, Italy he put together a living nativity scene with the blessing of the Holy Father. He wanted to place the proper emphasis on the meaning of the feast rather than the secular emphasis on gifts and parties. (Some things don't change much.)  His inspiration immediately caught on and was imitated in countless other places. Francis also developed the chapel devotion of the Stations of the Cross at a time when the Holy Land was held by the Muslims and people couldn't make pilgrimages there to walk in the in the physical footsteps of the Lord. Because of the wisdom of St. Francis they could walk the path in their home churches.

I think these devotions show what a profound understanding of human nature St. Francis had. He realized how important "touching" mystical events could mean. We are not just spiritual beings; we learn though our senses. We need to experience God's love "with skin on." We need to "taste and see" how good the Lord is. We need to confess our sins out loud and hear the words of absolution from the priest. The smell of the oils and incense of the sacraments stresses their richness. We come to a much deeper understanding of the reality of both the birth of Christ and his suffering and death through entering into it with our bodies. Our sufferings become what St. Paul called a making up for what's lacking in the sufferings of Christ. What's lacking? Our active and willing sacrifice.

October is respect life month. If you are fortunate enough to have an infant in your life, hold and cuddle that little one imagining the joy of Mary holding baby Jesus and rejoicing at the goodness of God. Today, on our anniversary I want to reflect on the gift of my husband, Larry, our five children and their spouses, and our nineteen grandchildren. Love bears fruit and the Lord has given us a bountiful harvest of life.

"God has done great for us and holy is his name."