Preparatory Prayer
O Jesus, my adorable Savior, behold me here prostrate imploring Your mercy for myself, and for the souls of all the faithful departed. Vouchsafe to apply to me the infinite merits of Your passion on which I am now about to meditate. Grant that, while I trace this path of sighs and tears, my heart may be so touched with contrition and repentance that I may be ready to embrace with joy all the sufferings and humiliations of this life and pilgrimage.
Way of the Cross: I. Jesus is condemned to death
Prayer:
We adore You, O Christ, and we bless You.
Because by Your Holy Cross, You have redeemed the world.
Lord Jesus Christ, You accepted an unjust judgment. Grant to us and to all the men and women of our time the grace to remain faithful to the truth. Do not allow the weight of responsibility for the sufferings of the innocent to fall upon us and upon those who come after us. To You, of Jesus, just Judge, be honor and glory for ever and ever.
Amen.
Our Father & Hail Mary
Way of the Cross: II. Jesus takes up the Cross
Prayer:
We adore You, O Christ, and we bless You.
Because by Your Holy Cross, You have redeemed the world.
Lord Jesus Christ, who accepted the Cross at the hands of men to make of it the sign of God’s saving love for humanity, grant us and all the men and women of our time the grace of faith in this infinite love. By passing on the new millennium the sign of the Cross, may we be authentic witnesses to the Redemption. To You, O Jesus, Priest and Victim, be praise and glory for ever. Amen.
Our Father & Hail Mary
Way of the Cross: III. Jesus falls the first time
Prayer:
We adore You, O Christ, and we bless You.
Because by Your Holy Cross, You have redeemed the world.
O Christ, as you fall under the weight of our faults and rise again for our justification, we pray, help us and all who are weighed down by sin to stand up again and continue the journey. Give us the strength of the Spirit to carry with You the cross of our weakness. To You, O Jesus crushed under the weight of our faults, be our praise and love for ever. Amen.
Our Father & Hail Mary
Way of the Cross: IV. Jesus meets his Mother
Prayer:
We adore You, O Christ, and we bless You.
Because by Your Holy Cross, You have redeemed the world.
O Mary, who walked the way of the Cross with your Son, your mother’s heart torn by grief, but mindful always of your fiat and fully confident that he to whom nothing is impossible would be able to fulfill His promises, implore for us the for the generations yet to come the grace of surrender to God’s love. Help us, in the face of suffering, rejection, and trial, however prolonged and severe, never to doubt His love. To Jesus, your Son, honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen.
Our Father & Hail Mary
Way of the Cross: V. Simon of Cyrene helps Jesus to carry his Cross
Prayer:
We adore You, O Christ, and we bless You.
Because by Your Holy Cross, You have redeemed the world.
O Christ, you gave to Simon of Cyrene the dignity of carrying Your Cross. Welcome us too under its weight, welcome all men and women, and grant to everyone the gift of readiness to serve. Do not permit that we should turn away from those who are crushed by the cross of illness, loneliness, hunger or injustice. As we carry each other’s burdens, help us to become witnesses to the gospel of the Cross and witnesses to You, who lives and reigns for ever and ever. Amen.
Our Father & Hail Mary
Way of the Cross: VI. Veronica wipes the face of Jesus
Prayer:
We adore You, O Christ, and we bless You.
Because by Your Holy Cross, You have redeemed the world.
Lord Jesus Christ, You accepted a woman’s selfless gesture of love, and in exchange ordained that future generations should remember her by the image of Your face. Grant that our works and the works of all who will come after us will make us like unto You and will leave in the world the reflection of your infinite love. To you, O Jesus, splendor of the Father’s glory, be praise and glory for ever. Amen.
Our Father & Hail Mary
Way of the Cross: VII. Jesus falls the second time
Prayer:
We adore You, O Christ, and we bless You.
Because by Your Holy Cross, You have redeemed the world.
Lord Jesus Christ, You fall under the weight of human sin and You get up again in order to take it upon Yourself and cancel it. Give to us, weak men and women, the strength to carry the cross of daily life and to get up again from our falls, so that we may bring to future generations the Gospel of Your saving power. To You, O Jesus, our support when we are weak, be praise and glory for ever. Amen.
Our Father & Hail Mary
Way of the Cross: VIII. Jesus consoles to the women of Jerusalem
Prayer:
We adore You, O Christ, and we bless You.
Because by Your Holy Cross, You have redeemed the world.
O Christ, You came into this world to visit all those who await salvation. Grant that our generation will recognize the time of its visitation and share in the fruits of Your redemption. Do not permit that there should be weeping for us and for the men and women of the new century because we have rejected our merciful Father’s outstretched hand. To You, O Jesus, born of the Virgin Daughter of Zion, be honor and praise for ever and ever. Amen
Our Father & Hail Mary
Way of the Cross: IX. Jesus falls the third time
Prayer:
We adore You, O Christ, and we bless You.
Because by Your Holy Cross, You have redeemed the world.
Lord Jesus Christ, through Your humiliation beneath the Cross You revealed to the world the price of its redemption. Grant to the men and women of the third millennium the light of faith, so that as they recognize in You the Suffering Servant of God and man, they may have the courage to follow the same path which, by the way of the Cross and self-emptying, leads to life without end. To you, O Jesus, our support when we are weak, be honor and glory for ever. Amen
Our Father & Hail Mary
Way of the Cross: X. Jesus is stripped and offered gall and vinegar to drink
Prayer:
We adore You, O Christ, and we bless You.
Because by Your Holy Cross, You have redeemed the world.
Lord Jesus, who, with supreme dedication, accepted death on the Cross for our salvation, grant to us and to all the world’s people a share in Your sacrifice on the Cross, so that what we are and what we do may always be a free and conscious sharing in Your work of salvation. To you, O Jesus, Priest and Victim, be honor and glory forever. Amen.
Our Father & Hail Mary
Way of the Cross: XI. Jesus is nailed to the Cross
Prayer:
We adore You, O Christ, and we bless You.
Because by Your Holy Cross, You have redeemed the world.
O Christ lifted high, O Love crucified, fill our hearts with Your love, that we may see in Your Cross the sign of our redemption and, drawn by your wounds, we may live and die with you, who lives and reigns with the Father and the Sprit, now and forever. Amen.
Our Father & Hail Mary
Way of the Cross: XII. Jesus dies on the Cross
Prayer:
We adore You, O Christ, and we bless You.
Because by Your Holy Cross, You have redeemed the world.
Lord Jesus Christ, in the moment of Your agony You were not indifferent to humanity’s fate, and with Your last breath You entrusted to the Father’s mercy the men and women of every age, with all their weaknesses and sins. Fill us and the generations yet to come with Your Spirit of love, so that our indifference will not render vain in us the fruits of your death. To you, crucified Jesus, the wisdom and the power of God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen
Our Father & Hail Mary
Way of the Cross: XIII. Jesus is taken down from the Cross, and given to his Mother
Prayer:
We adore You, O Christ, and we bless You.
Because by Your Holy Cross, You have redeemed the world.
“Hail holy queen, mother of mercy, Hail our life, our sweetness and our hope. To you do we cry poor banished children of Eve, To you do we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this valley of tears.
Turn then, most gracious advocate your eyes of mercy toward us. And after this, our exile, show us the fruit of your womb, Jesus. O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary.”
Implore for us the grace of faith, hope and charity, so that we, like you, may stand without flinching beneath the Cross until our last breath. To your Son, Jesus, our Savior, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, all honor and glory forever and ever. Amen
Our Father & Hail Mary
Way of the Cross: XIV. Jesus is laid in the tomb
Prayer:
We adore You, O Christ, and we bless You.
Because by Your Holy Cross, You have redeemed the world.
Lord Jesus Christ, by the power of the Holy Sprit, You were drawn by the Father from the darkness of death to the light of a new life in glory. Grant that the sign of the empty tomb may speak to us and to future generations and become a wellspring of living faith, generous love, and unshakeable hope. To You, O Jesus, whose presence, hidden and victorious, fills the history of the world, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.
Our Father & Hail Mary
The finely sculpted and painted figures in each of the Stations of the Cross are attractively set in large niches. These begin in the front of the church with the first through seventh stations on the right and the eighth through the fourteenth on the left side. The Stations of the Cross are of Franciscan origin and are attributed to St. Leonard of Port Maurice, a saintly Franciscan Friar who preached on the sufferings of Christ.
The texts of the Way of the Cross are from His Holiness John Paul II (Meditation and prayers for the Stations of the Cross at the Colosseum in Rome, Good Friday 2000)
Background and History
For Roman Catholics throughout the world, the Stations of the Cross are synonymous with Lent, Holy Week and, especially, Good Friday. This devotion is also known as the “Way of the Cross”, the “Via Crucis”, and the “Via Dolorosa.” It commemorates 14 key events on day of Christ’s crucifixion.
The Stations originated in medieval Europe when wars prevented Christian pilgrims from visiting the Holy Land. In the 12th century, St Francis of Assisi devised the list of stations and started the tradition of reciting it as a type of devotional service. European artists created works depicting scenes of Christ’s journey to Calvary.
“The pious exercise of the Way of the Cross represents the sorrowful journey that Jesus Christ made with the cross on His shoulders, to die on Calvary for the love of us. We should, therefore, practice this devotion with the greatest possible fervor, placing ourselves in spirit beside our Savior as He walked this sorrowful way, uniting our tears with His, and offering to Him both our compassion and our gratitude.”
St. Alphonsus Liguori, 1761
Praying the “Stations of the Cross” is one of the most popular devotions for Roman Catholics and is often performed in a spirit of reparation for the sufferings and insults that Jesus endured during His Passion. The object of the Stations is to help us make a spiritual pilgrimage of prayer, through meditating upon the chief scenes of Christ’s sufferings and death.
This devotion may be conducted personally, by making your way from one station to another and saying the prayers, or by having the celebrant move from station to station while the congregation make the responses.
A plenary indulgence may be gained by praying the Stations of the Cross. If, for some reasonable cause, the Stations are interrupted, a partial indulgence may be gained for each station.