O Jesus Crucified!
Help us to carry our cross
as You carried Yours!
O Jesus, our loving Saviour! Here we are, humbly prostrate at Your feet, to implore Your divine mercy for us, for poor sinners and for the souls of the faithful who have died; deign to apply to us all the infinite merits of Your holy Passion, which we are about to meditate upon.
And You, O divine Mary, who first taught us to make the Way of the Cross, obtain from the adorable Trinity that It deign to accept in reparation for so many insults done against It, the sentiments of sorrow and love with which we shall be penetrated during this holy exercise.
I. Jesus is condemned to death.
We genuflect before the representation of the station, saying:
Then we announce the Station: First Station... etc.
Pilate is seated on a tribunal, and the Son of God is at his feet like a criminal. The Holy of Holies is condemned to death. What an unjust sentence!!! And yet I have renewed it through my sins.
O my God! Give me tears of blood to weep for my misfortune; erase the sentence of eternal death that I have deserved.
Holy Mother, pierce me through, in my heart each wound renew of my Savior crucified.
II. Jesus takes up His cross.
We genuflect before the representation of the station, saying:
Then we announce the Station: Second Station... etc.
Oh! How heavy is the Saviour’s Cross! It is the monstrous burden of all the sins of the world. Jesus receives it for my salvation, yet I am often unwilling to suffer anything myself.
O my God! Make Your yoke sweet to me, Your burden light. Let sin be unbearable to me, and may I never tire of serving You. May I always turn to the Cross, recognizing it as the pledge of Your love and the source of my salvation.
Holy Mother, pierce me through, in my heart each wound renew of my Savior crucified.
III. Jesus falls for the first time.
We genuflect before the representation of the station, saying:
Then we announce the Station: Third Station... etc.
It is not the burden of the Cross that makes Jesus fall, it is the weight of my sins; it is my scandals and my bad examples.
Ah! Lord, I want to always hold them in horror: yes, I detest my sins and ask Your forgiveness; make me weep for them for the rest of my life.
Holy Mother, pierce me through, in my heart each wound renew of my Savior crucified.
IV. Jesus encounters His holy Mother.
We genuflect before the representation of the station, saying:
Then we announce the Station: Fourth Station... etc.
What martyrdom, when the eyes of Jesus and Mary met! Mary sees Her Son bathed in blood, covered with wounds. Jesus feels an increase in suffering equal to His love.
Forgive me, most gentle Saviour; forgive me, afflicted Mother; alas! I have poured so much bitterness into Your hearts! I want to console You with my repentance. Assist me in all my sorrows; I will love You sincerely and always.
Holy Mother, pierce me through, in my heart each wound renew of my Savior crucified.
V. Simon of Cyrene helps Jesus carry His cross.
We genuflect before the representation of the station, saying:
Then we announce the Station: Fifth Station... etc.
Blessed indeed is the Cyrenian who helps Jesus carry His Cross! Blessed also am I, when I experience sufferings and pains! It is Jesus who presents me with a small share of His Cross.
O my God! Do not allow me the misfortune of refusing it; there is no other way to reach true happiness than the way of the Cross.
Holy Mother, pierce me through, in my heart each wound renew of my Savior crucified.
VI. Veronica wipes the face of Jesus.
We genuflect before the representation of the station, saying:
Then we announce the Station: Sixth Station... etc.
What courage on the part of this woman! How she tramples human respect underfoot! She crosses through the crowd of soldiers to wipe the face of her Saviour, which she sees covered with blood and spittle. Jesus, grateful, imprints His features on her veil.
And I, Lord, I want, through my prayers and tears, to wash away the stains of so many blasphemies and profanations that constantly cover Your adorable face. Engrave in my heart the memory of Your Passion.
Holy Mother, pierce me through, in my heart each wound renew of my Savior crucified.
VII. Jesus falls for the second time.
We genuflect before the representation of the station, saying:
Then we announce the Station: Seventh Station... etc.
At this new fall, Jesus receives new outrages, new mockeries; He is insatiable for opprobrium. It is to heal my vanity and my pride; it is to atone for my falls which have often delighted the impious and the libertines.
Ah! Lord, I can indeed fall alone, but I cannot rise without You. Extend to me a helping hand and preserve me from any relapse.
Holy Mother, pierce me through, in my heart each wound renew of my Savior crucified.
VIII. Jesus consoles the women of Jerusalem.
We genuflect before the representation of the station, saying:
Then we announce the Station: Eighth Station... etc.
“Do not weep for My sufferings,” You say, loving Jesus. Is there then a more deplorable evil than Your woes? Ah! I understand You: sin is the greatest of all evils and yet I commit it so easily, I confess it so coldly and I fall back into it so quickly.
Enlighten me, O my God! Touch my heart; make me weep now so that I do not weep in eternity.
Holy Mother, pierce me through, in my heart each wound renew of my Savior crucified.
IX. Jesus falls for the third time.
We genuflect before the representation of the station, saying:
Then we announce the Station: Ninth Station... etc.
Jesus is here in the grip of the most bitter sorrow. He sees our endless falls; He sees the great number of sinners who will abuse so much suffering, increase their woes, and be lost forever. Alas! Did He see me among them?
O my God! Preserve me from such a great misfortune. Do not allow a soul that has cost You so much to be lost forever. Make me suffer now whatever pleases You, provided that I never offend You again and that You do not erase me from the book of life.
Holy Mother, pierce me through, in my heart each wound renew of my Savior crucified.
X. Jesus is stripped of His garments.
We genuflect before the representation of the station, saying:
Then we announce the Station: Tenth Station... etc.
O cruelty! The executioners violently tear off the robe of Jesus, which was stuck to His wounds. A dreadful tearing occurs. Pieces of His sacred flesh fall everywhere, exposing and making His bones visible.
Thus, O my God! this is how You atone for my immodesties and sensualities! O worldly souls! What will be your fate when one day God confronts you with the Man of Sorrows?
Holy Mother, pierce me through, in my heart each wound renew of my Savior crucified.
XI. Jesus is nailed to the cross.
We genuflect before the representation of the station, saying:
Then we announce the Station: Eleventh Station... etc.
Let us consider Jesus Christ offering Himself to His executioners to be crucified, and stretching Himself out on the tree of the Cross. What torment must He have endured as the hammer blows drove the nails into His adorable feet and hands! Then His flesh tears, His bones are crushed, His nerves break, His veins burst, blood flowing in great streams exhausts His strength, and adds to such horrible tortures that of the most ardent thirst.
O sin, cursed sin! It is you who were the cause of this sea of sorrows in which we contemplate the Victim of our salvation. Ah! Christians, what excess of love, what immense charity! At this sight, may our hearts be torn and set ablaze, may they renounce all the pleasures of earth! May they be constantly crucified with the Heart of Jesus, and may our eyes pour out torrents of tears day and night!
Holy Mother, pierce me through, in my heart each wound renew of my Savior crucified.
XII. Jesus dies on the cross.
We genuflect before the representation of the station, saying:
Then we announce the Station: Twelfth Station... etc.
Do you hear, O my soul! the hammer blows that drive the nails into the hands and feet of your Saviour? Let us put ourselves in Jesus’ place. This idea makes one shudder, and yet it is I who am guilty; it is my sins that have stretched the holy Victim on this bed of pain: and if I do not do penance, more dreadful torments await me in hell.
O my God! How great then is the enormity of sin? What is its malice? And I still dare to commit it! Change my heart, crucify it with You, and may my eyes pour out torrents of tears day and night.
Holy Mother, pierce me through, in my heart each wound renew of my Savior crucified.
XIII. Jesus is taken down from the cross.
We genuflect before the representation of the station, saying:
Then we announce the Station: Thirteenth Station... etc.
Consider, O my soul! the extreme sorrow of Mary. She receives Jesus, Her divine Son, in Her arms, She bathes Him with Her tears, She contemplates His face covered with blood and disfigured; She sees His lifeless eyes, His open side, His feet and hands pierced: this sight is for Her an ineffable martyrdom of which God alone knows the full value.
O Mary! I am the cause of Your affliction, it is my sins that have pierced Your soul by attaching Jesus Christ to the Cross. Most holy Mother of God! Remember that You are my Mother; deign to protect me during my life and help me especially at the hour of my death.
Holy Mother, pierce me through, in my heart each wound renew of my Savior crucified.
XIV. Jesus is laid in the tomb.
We genuflect before the representation of the station, saying:
Then we announce the Station: Fourteenth Station... etc.
O my soul! At the sight of this spectacle, think of the state to which death will soon reduce the body that contains you, while you yourself will appear before the tribunal of God to hear your eternal sentence.
O my Saviour! Since You died to merit for me the grace of a good death, ah! do not allow me to abuse such goodness. Bury in Your tomb all my iniquities, detach me from all creatures, draw me after You, nourish me with Your adorable flesh and blood, so that dying to the world and to myself, all my works may be true fruits of life worthy of being presented to You one day in Your eternal kingdom. Amen.
Holy Mother, pierce me through, in my heart each wound renew of my Savior crucified.
For the intentions of the Father of Christianity: