“The way of the cross was followed by the Saviour from the cradle to the tomb and the same way should be followed by every good Christian”. “God who sacrifices himself for man deserves that man should sacrifice himself for God”.
Lord Jesus, we wish to walk the Way of the Cross, gazing closely at Your holy, suffering and loving Face. We want to remember well Your attitude, Your example of doing the Father’s will. Support us with grace in imitating You and in taking up our daily cross.
Station I
Jesus is condemned to death
Lord Jesus, you accept the sentence passed on you by the people. You do not protest to the shouting crowd. You affirm before Pilate that you are a king and that the purpose of your life is to bear witness to the truth. You are willing to pay any price for this truth.
“Let us not fall down when we see that falsehood and crime triumph… The Truth of Christ ultimately prevails”. Blessed Father Ignacy, grant all the baptised the grace of fortitude in witnessing to the Truth.
Station II
Jesus carries His cross
Mocked Son of God, you reach out your hands for the cross that man made for you out of his sins… Cross and suffering do not prevent you from loving. How different it is in my life? How often do I squander the graces associated with the cross and suffering? I do not willingly stretch out my hands for the cross of sacrifice and forgiveness. How often I do not undertake the cross of sacrificing myself for a person who is not easy for me. So often I pass by the cross, and so I pass by you.
“Everything can be recovered, only moments freely lost no one can return”.
Station III
Jesus falls the first time
Prophet Isaiah spoke of you: “Like a sheep being led to the slaughter or a lamb that is silent before her shearers, he did not open his mouth”. You allow Yourself, Jesus, to be pushed around, placing Yourself entirely at the disposal of people who bring God to His knees. The humility of God is meant to be an example for me. It is a remedy for my exorbitant thinking about myself and an antidote to the desires arising in me to be noticed. A lack of humility and simplicity leads me to fall.
Blessed Fr. Kłopotowski “never made publicity around his person. He was very simple, natural and unpretentious man. He lived for others, so he did not think about himself or about his own elevation”.
Station IV
Jesus meets His Mother
“My Son!” – perhaps this one sigh broke from the heart of your Mother when she saw you on the way of the cross. In fact, you were always close to her. Her spirit and her will, like yours, desired the fulfilment of the Father’s will… above all things… at any cost. That is why neither you abandoned the cross to hug your Mother, nor did she interrupt your way of the cross. You surrendered your human desires to the Father. Apparently it took such a sacrifice to save a human being.
“Every good child imitates his mother. According to the general belief: whoever loves either already resembles the person he loves or strives to do so. Therefore, if we love Mary, we should strive to imitate her”.
Station V
Simon of Cyrene helps Jesus to carry his cross
“They stopped Simon of Cyrene and put the cross on him to carry it after Jesus”. Simon didn’t stop himself to help you. Was he afraid? Besides, he did not recognise God in you. But perhaps it was enough for him to recognise the Man – God’s Image – and therefore, he come to your aid?
“Whoever does not love his neighbour does not love God, who is the Father of all men” and “Love of one’s neighbour does not consist in beautiful and heartfelt words, but in good deeds”. “Love is not sweetened water”.
Station VI
Veronica wipes the face of Jesus
St. Veronica made a beautiful gesture. She broke through the crowd to wipe the face of the tormented Man. She must have obeyed the inner inspiration that prompted her to do such an act. Nobody told her to do it. It was Love that asked her to do it… My obedience must also be based on love and then it will be creative and able to overcome any obstacles. Therefore, like Veronica, I will be rewarded no longer with the reflection of Christ’s face on the veil but with the renewal of God’s image in myself.
“My Master, I desire to fulfil everything you ask of me”.
Station VII
Jesus falls the second time
My Jesus, you fall once again. You do not lose sight of your goal, and so, in spite of the enormity of your fatigue, you rise to take up the path anew. Nothing can shatter Your inner peace which flows from Your union with the Father. The cruelty of the soldiers does not stop Your decision to fulfil the will of the Father to the end.
“He who does the will of God gains peace in his conscience, no matter what befalls him in life”.
Station VIII
Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem
“And a multitude of the people followed Him, also women, who wailed and wept over Him. But Jesus turned to them and said: ‘Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep over me; weep rather over yourselves and your children”. Lord Jesus, you point out what is really important in life. Suffering connected with the cross – will pass away.
You do not desire expressions of love in the form of cheap pity for you. Blessed Ignacy said that “to truly love Jesus is to not sin and to desire to save others from sins”. Therefore, “do not weep over me, weep rather over yourselves”.
Station IX
Jesus falls a third time
Lord Jesus, your subsequent fall may have been the reason for abandoning the path, discouragement and despair… How often do I give up when I encounter difficulties? How often does the sigh that “it’s no use”, “I’ve had enough” – come out of my mouth? How often do I blame others for my anger?
“If the Lord God visits you with suffering – do not murmur aloud and do not complain silently but kiss His right hand lovingly and bear your cross manfully”.
Station X
Jesus clothes are taken away
During the trial, Pilate, brought You out before the enraged crowd and said: “Behold the Man”. Now, the “most beautiful of the sons of men” stands unclothed before enemies and still bear witness to the Truth. Your dignity as Son of Man is not undermined by the words of the prophet Isaiah: “just as there were many who were appalled at him, his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any human being”.
My Lord, together with Blessed Ignacy, I can only pray with the words: “O Jesus, what evil have you done to me? How could I have done such a thing to you who loved me beyond measure?”.
Station XI
Jesus is nailed to the cross
“There they crucified Him and the evildoers – one on His right and the other on His left… But Jesus said: ‘Father, forgive them, for they not know what they do’”.
Lord, I want to be silent and meditate on the words of the Blessed Fr. Ignacy: “May I gaze upon the Crucified Saviour saying to myself what I have done. I am the author of the sufferings of Jesus Christ. I and other sinners took part in the infliction of wounds of the Most Holy Body. I crucified my Saviour”. I am sorry, Jesus…
Station XII
Jesus dies on the cross
“Jesus aware that everything had already been accomplished so that the Scriptures might be fulfilled, said: ‘I thirst’. There stood a vessel full of vinegar. So a sponge full of vinegar was put on the hyssop and it was given to His mouth. And when He had tasted the vinegar, He said: ‘It is done’. And having bowed His head, He died”.
“Oh Love of sacrifice! What shall I compare to this love?”.
Station XIII
The body of Jesus is taken down from the cross
Lord Jesus, this is actually the end of Your passion and suffering. Your poverty is made very clear in this station. You did not care about what would happen to You after death. You gave yourself to us without limits. For a few moments, Your Most Holy Body became the property of Your Mother. For her, the only wealth was You, Jesus. The Son and Mother enriched by presence of themselves and rich in the will of the Father fulfilled to the end.
Blessed Fr. Kłopotowski reminds us that “only in God does everything have value in the world and for God it should be destined and dedicated”. Help me, Jesus, to be truly poor.
Station XIV
Jesus is laid in the tomb
“On the place where He was crucified there was a garden and in the garden there was a new tomb […] so it was there that Jesus was laid because the tomb was nearby”. The Blessed Father Kłopotowski used to say that “life is a journey to heaven”. No stone could stop you in the tomb because the tomb was only a stage in the journey. The rocky cavern only hid Your Body for a time but the Cross remained for ever – the sign of Your faithful of the Incarnate Word; love to the empty tomb of the Resurrection.
I join in prayer with Blessed Fr. Ignacy: “Jesus, I love You. I love You with all my heart”.
Conclusion
Giving thanks for the grace of walking in the footsteps of our path of salvation, we offer ourselves anew to you, Jesus. Receive us with our good resolutions. With humility we repeat the words of Blessed Father Kłopotowski: “I desire only to serve Thee, O God, and to love Thee only. To this end, I consecrate to You, my God, my soul with all its faculties, my heart with its inclinations, my body with its senses”.
s. M. Rafaela Dobrut CSL
