XIV Station: The Burial of Jesus

We adore You O Jesus and we praise You,

because by Your Holy Cross You have redeemed the world.

XIV Station - the Burial of Jesus

"After this, Joseph of Arimathea, secretly a disciple of Jesus for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate if he could remove the body of Jesus. And Pilot permitted it. So he came and took the body. Nicodemus, the one who had first come to him at night, also came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes weighing about one hundred pounds." (John 19:38-42)

 

 

St. John does not mention people anecdotally. Each individual, by name or not, conveys something of the mystery of Jesus. Nicodemus first came at night. John takes us back to that night three years earlier. Nicodemus was a Pharisee, a ruler of the Jews. He is seeking. "How can a person once grown old be born again? ... How can this happen?" Jesus gives a slight rebuke "You are the teacher of Israel and you do not understand this?" Jesus says some of the most beloved words of Sacred Scripture to Nicodemus that night, among them: "For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son" (3:16). And Jesus, knowing Nicodemus, rewards him that night in advance: "whoever lives the truth comes to the light, so that his works may be clearly seen as done in God."

 

 

They took the body of Jesus and bound it with burial cloths along with the spices, according to the Jewish burial custom. St John will tells us in his first Letter "What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked upon and touched with our hands..." (1 John 1:1). Nicodemus is graced to touch with a 100-pound mixture of myrrh and aloes the crucified body of Jesus before the Pascal night begins.

 

 

Now in the place where he had been crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had yet been buried. St John takes us back this time to the Garden of Eden. A garden brings to life what is hidden under the surface. This "new tomb" in fact brings us to Eternal Life in the Triune God.

Lillian

XIII Station: Jesus is taken down from the Cross

We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you.

Because by your holy cross, you have redeemed the world.

Jesus is taken down from the Cross.

The Sabbath was near and Jesus’ had to be buried quickly. Both His mother Mary and His friends were poor and could not give him a proper burial. But Joseph of Arimathaea and Nicodemus, both members of the Sanhedrin, came forward to give a tomb, linen and spices.

This is a scene of tragedy and glory.

A scene of tragedy: because Joseph and Nicodemus were both members of the Sanhedrin that had examined and formulated the charge against Jesus, but they were also secret disciples of Jesus. What a difference it would have been to Jesus to hear a voice of support or to see loyalty on a face among the hostility that surrounded him. But both Joseph and Nicodemus were afraid. We so often leave our tributes until people are dead. One flower in life is worth more than all the wreaths at the funeral. One word of love, praise and thanks in life is worth all the tributes in the world when life is gone.

A scene of glory: because no sooner was it when Jesus had died on the cross that Joseph and Nicodemus forgot their fear of being exposed as a follower of Jesus, asked the Roman governor for the body and paid tribute for everyone to see. The cowardice and the hesitation was gone.

Jesus had not been dead an hour when his own prophecy came true:

‘And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself ‘   (Jn. 12: 32).

KC

XII Station: Jesus Dies on the Cross

We adore you O Christ and we praise you

For by your holy Cross you have redeemed the world

Source

“Father forgive them for they know not what they do”

Lk 23:28

After having been scourged, lacerated with wounds, crowned with thorns, insulted and nailed to the cross, Jesus could say “ Father forgive them for they know not what they do” The Roman soldiers were degrading themselves more than Jesus.

Surely their very humanity should have prevented them from inflicting upon another what they could not have faced themselves.

That man should be so cruel to man and we see it daily in man’s inhumanity to man, the Roman soldiers were no better, their training had made them ruthless and very cruel. Yet Jesus prays ‘ Father forgive them……………………..’

In all our lives there are actions, sins and wrong doings that needs forgiveness. If only we could hear clearly and within us that we have been forgiven by this loving Jesus. He knew those soldiers but they did not know Him or ask His forgiveness, He loved them and He forgave them. 

Our faith our trust and love for Him must lead us during this Lent to an even greater response of love towards ourselves and towards others.

Sisters of Nazareth, Johannesburg.

XI Station: Jesus is nailed to the Cross

We adore you O Christ and we bless you,

For by your holy Cross you have redeemed the world

Jesus is nailed to the Cross

'I cannot believe in a God who metes out hurt for hurt, pain for pain, torture for torture. Nor do I believe that God invests human representatives with such power to torture and kill. The paths of history are stained with the blood of those who have fallen victim to "God's Avengers." Kings, popes, military generals, and heads of state have killed, claiming God's authority and God's blessing. I do not believe in such a God.'  (Sister Helen Prejeans' article 'Would Jesus pull the switch?'.) 

The topic of the death penalty or capital punishment always evokes very strong feelings.  The Bible has been used to support and oppose the death penalty.  Those who support the death penalty will argue an 'eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot' (Exodus 21:23) and those against the death penalty will say 'thou shall not kill' (Exodus 20:13).  Jesus himself spoke out against the death penalty when a woman who had been caught committing adultery was brought before him. (John 7:53-58)  Jesus asked those present if they had not sinned to throw the first stone, but no one did.  Jesus did not condemn her and told her to not to sin again.

Jesus was sentenced to death and was nailed to the cross for his crime, even though he was innocent.  What must it have been like for Jesus to carry his cross and then to be nailed to it.  The pain and suffering which he felt as each nail was driven in, must have been excruciating.  He must have felt was abandoned by the people who he loved as his apostles, his closest friends, had run away.

March 1st was International Death Penalty Abolition Day.  The death penalty or capital  punishment is against the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights, article 3 states that  'Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.'[1]   Amnesty International states that as of December 2010 more than two thirds in the world have abolished the death penalty in law or practice. [2]  In 2010, 23 countries carried out executions and 67 imposed death sentences in 2010. Methods of execution in 2010 included beheading, electrocution, hanging, lethal injection and shooting.[3]

Sr. Helen Prejean passionately advocates the abolition of the death penalty.  Sr. Helen has watched as a prisoner was killed by the state and this has left a profound effect on her.  Below are her thoughts on the execution and not far from her thoughts was Jesus' crucifixion. 

'That night I walked with him, prayed with him through Isaiah 43, "I have called you by your name, you are mine." I played for him the tape "Be Not Afraid," which we had also played at the communion service we had before he died.

In his last words he expressed his sorrow to the victims' family. But then he said to the warden and to the unseen executioner behind the plywood panel, "but killing me is wrong, too."

At the end I was amazed at how ordinary the last moments were. He walked to the dark oak chair and sat in it. As guards were strapping his legs and arms and trunk he found my face and told me that he loved me. His last words of life were words of love and thankfulness. I took them in like a lightning rod.

I kept thinking of the execution of Jesus. I said to myself, "My God, how many times have I looked at that crucifix? How many times have we heard that story? How many times have we heard that Mary was there?"

I was watching a person being killed with an electrical current, in a few seconds. I couldn't imagine what it must have been for Jesus to be executed, hanging there on the cross, dying slowly. It gave me an entirely new awareness of what it means to have an executed criminal as a saviour. What a scandal that must have been!'[4]

ES

---

[1] http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/

[2] http://www.amnesty.org/en/death-penalty/numbers

[3] http://www.amnesty.org/en/death-penalty/death-sentences-and-executions-in-2010

[4] http://salt.claretianpubs.org/issues/deathp/prejean.html

X Station: Jesus is stripped of his garments

We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you.
For by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.

 

From the Gospel according to Matthew. (27:33-36)

 

 

And when they came to a place called Golgotha (which means the place of a skull), they offered him wine to drink, mingled with gall, but when he tasted it, he would not drink it. And when they had crucified him, they divided his garments among them by casting lots; then they sat down and kept watch over him there.

Meditation

Jesus is stripped, abused, and his clothes given away as he is now considered a ‘dead man walking’. There is no need here for politeness, for respect – in the eyes of those who are charged with his care, he is no longer their equal, no longer human. He is judged, decided upon, dismissed and ignored.

Why do we stop before such a bare and painful image? Why is this stage in Jesus’ passion marked and noted and prayed before? Surely we are not honuring shame, noting disrespect, praying before dismissal?

All scripture teaches us, informs us and blesses us. Therefore, this is not simply a moment of remembrance, but a learning moment. Stop and notice what is happening and how God is teaching us in this moment.

This painting by the German priest Sieger Koder is hepful to our reflection. See here Jesus’ garment, woven as one piece, held by people who all consider it sacred and carry it with honour and pride. Jesus is nearby but they miss him in their rush to the relic. Notice how the eagernes to possess might lead to the ripping of the robe woven as one piece – and that is not how it was created to be.

How often have we Christians been more interested in the outer garments of Christianity, than in the Lord himself present in our midst? We are sorry for our pettiness Lord, teach us to look more for you.

 

 

How often has our in-fighting about who gets what, distracted us from Jesus Christ presence and love? We recommitt to being one, as you have called us to be one.

 

 

Have we judged, dismissed, or stripped Jesus bare in our thoughts, words & deeds? What we do to the least of these my brothers and sister, this we do to Jesus. Open our eyes Lord to where we have disrespected or ignored you, so that we might start again, in your love.

 

 

PRAYER

 

 

Jesus – Renew my eyes & my heart: that I may see you here and now, for you are what really matters

IX Station: Jesus falls the third time

We adore you O Christ and we praise,

Because by your holy Cross you have redeemed the world.

Jesus Falls the Third Time

‘And they brought him to the place called Golgotha’. Mark 15:22

The journey of Jesus to Golgotha, the ‘place of the Skull’ is a slow, painful haul. His journey to public execution is meant to deter others from a similar path. He is verbally accused and abused by onlookers as he struggles to maintain his last reserves of strength. Despite his fall for the third time, Jesus finds an inner strength to continue. It is his deep relationship with God that enables him to rise once more.

Moments in My Life

What happens in me when I am falsely accused ?

What helps me and what hinders me to seek forgiveness for the times I have falsely accused others?

Take a moment to reflect in silence on these aspects of your life. Being falsely accused or falsely accusing another  leaves us with a sense of soreness of spirit. We can soon lose sense of our inner goodness and feel a sense of discomfort and unease.

Turn your heart to God and allow God to transform you.

Prayer

Jesus, you know the harsh reality of false accusations as you journey to the Cross. Move my mind, heart and will to make choices that are life- giving for myself and others. Transform my  desires  so that I only long for that which is true and good. Lead me to that place within where I can find strength and healing and the courage for a new beginning.

Forgive my need to diminish others in order to promote my own sense of worth. Help me to believe in my own giftedness so that I can delight in the giftedness of others. Help me to learn as I walk with you on your way of the Cross

MO'S

VIII Station: Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem

We adore you O Christ and we bless you,
For by your Holy Cross you have redeemed the world.

Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem

"There followed him a great multitude of the people, and of women who bewailed and lamented him. But Jesus turning to them said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. For behold, the days are coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bore, and the breasts that never gave suck!’ Then they will begin to say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us’; and to the hills, ‘Cover us.’ For if they do this when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?”" (Luke 23: 27-31)

This Station is based on the short scene depicted in St. Luke’s Gospel. Here we are told that the women were’ beating their breasts and wailing for Him’ in other words they were behaving as though they were following a funeral procession. Then we are told that Jesus told them not to weep for Him but rather for themselves and their children as dreadful times are coming.

If I try to put myself into the position of one of these women , what do I feel? I see the Teacher, the Rabbi whom I believe is the Messiah promised by G-D, being lead to his death just a few days after being welcomed to Jerusalem as a king. Then I am told that even worse is to come. I feel scared, upset , bereft, who can I turn to for comfort? I can turn to God, Father, Son and Spirit, who holds us all in his hands and whose Spirit leads us to care for each other when we are lost.

The other question we can ask of this scene is ‘ why is it that Jesus, in the midst of his agony, addresses himself to the women at all?  Is it because He  knows that in every age, including our own, that those who suffer most in times of violence and war are the women and children. To day we are being told of the violence being done to women in the Congo, where rape is used as a weapon as was done in the Balkan war of the 1990s.

Or can we find in this scene a reminder that Jesus’ message of love and care for God and for one another is necessary for us to have the strength to deal with the difficulties and losses that life brings and to live with the hope of the resurrection which enables us to recognise and rejoice in the good gifts that God gives us.

In our prayer at this station let us pray especially for those women who are suffering violence in our world today.

CL

VII Station: Jesus falls the second time

We adore you O Christ and we praise,

For by your holy Cross you have redeemed the world

Jesus falls for the second time

Lord Jesus, you were not ashamed to admit the cross was heavy. Your broken body could not support the weight any longer and so you fell to the ground. I can only imagine what thoughts scurried through your mind as you lay in the dust, surrounded by the taunts and belittlement of the crowd. Did you call out to your Father? Long for your mother to be close to you? Feel compassion for the crowd which had no idea that you were the fulfilment of God’s promise, the fullness of life, the greatest gift they would ever receive? Life often can be heavy and our strength sapped by the weight of the cross that we carry. To cope with failure is not easy.It is only natural that we want to succeed in life. Yet isn’t it wonderful when we achieve certain goals? But what happens when I fail? Pride will not tolerate that I be weak or that I be seen to fall, it is better to be strong. However, if the Father permits failure in my life just as He permitted His Son to fall, then I must know there is good in that failure which my mind will never comprehend or my bruised pride will be slow to welcome..


Nevertheless, we also experience failure in the Christian life. We make mistakes, this said, plain failure is important in the spiritual life. Without failure we would never learn. Without failure God would never be able to really begin His work within us. Sometimes we have to fall to the ground, let the dust dirty our face, realize that we are dependent on Him for everything, reach out our hand to find his hand there to lift us up. How easy is it to want to remain on the ground so life can’t knock us down again but we have to get up? In the darkness and distress of suffering we can find a pearl of great price- a strength we never dreamed we could possess, a strength which seems to uphold us and by whose power our minds are made capable of the acceptance of suffering, not as a good in itself, but as a force for the good which it can inspire.

MLO'R

VI Station: Veronica wipes the face of Jesus

We adore you O Christ and we praise,

Because by your holy Cross you have redeemed the world

Veronica wipes the face of Jesus:

“It is your face O Lord I seek, hide not your face” (Psalm 27: 8)

Often, it is much safer and more comfortable to be a part of a mob than to stand on your own. Doing nothing seems the easy way out. Along the Via Crucis, suffering in emptied out into a symphony of people. The poet Kosovel once said: “Sorrow flowers into beauty”. Eternal beauty will continue to give sense to the journey of life of every person.

The life of one woman is changed when she dares to step out from the crowd. Veronica is her name, from the Latin words, ‘vera’ meaning true, and ‘icon’, meaning image. Veronica, transparent in her ways, dares to break with the crowd to be with Jesus. She has to be faithful to herself. Peter denies Jesus but Veronica acknowledges Him. It is only a moment, for the soldiers are there to push her aside and keep the death procession moving. But it is a moment that will forever change her life. She stood alone, and for her reward, she will carry a cloth that is forever imprinted with the blood of Jesus. The bloody and disfigured face of Jesus is the “Beauty which saves the world” (F. Dostoevsky).Veronica goes beyond this deformed beauty and sees the heart of a brother in need of a gesture of care. And for just a moment, her courage brought her into a closeness with Jesus that the crowd could never know.

She has nothing to offer Jesus but a simple cloth–and her love. She bathes his face with her cloth, wiping away the blood and sweat. Jesus is able to open his eyes, and there she looks into his eyes. What does she see? Does she see the Lord of Love looking on her with mercy? With grace? With thanks? Sometimes life asks us to walk the delicate last moments of a person’s life when all we can do is wipe the brow of someone in their last agony and suffering, look them in the eye so they know that they are not on their own. Our nearness to them assures them that the pilgrimage which nears its end is not a solitary journey.

In that moment, the tenderness of a woman called Veronica touches Christ. This week we celebrated International Women’s Day. How many women silently change the world with their gestures of conviction and compassion? All through his ministry Jesus sought to elevate women, to show their deep compassion as their strength which allows them to walk the Calvary Way with compassion and conviction. Compassion which is not wishy-washy, seeking to ‘make things better’ but compassion which empowers and brings forth life, born and purified in the crucible of love.

Veronica’s gesture was selfless and unconditional. During this Lenten season, may we be less self-absorbed and caught up with our own problems. The ripple effects of a small gesture of compassion can change the world!

 

MLO'R



V Station: Simon of Cyrene helps Jesus to carry his cross

We adore you O Christ and we praise you,

For by your holy Cross you have redeemed the world

Simon of Cyrene helps Jesus to carry his cross

"As they led him away, they seized a man, Simon of Cyrene, who was coming from the country, and they laid the cross on him, and made him carry it behind Jesus." (Luke 23:26)

Simon was just a passer by, minding his own business, going about doing what he had to do and suddenly he is thrust into the middle of this dramatic event in Jerusalem. How must he have felt? Sacred he might end up on the cross? Angry at being inconvenienced? We can only pause for a minute and put ourselves into his shoes.................what would we see? A man, trembling with exhaustion, bleeding profusely with some sort of crown of thorns on his head, buckling under the weight of a cross, stumbling along........Simon is forced under the cross with him......their eyes meet........can You imagine?........can You see? 

How often do we avoid people who are just looking for a chat? How often do we seek distractions rather than truly listen as some one seeks to share their cross with us, looking for a momentary Simon of Cyrene to ease the burden, even just for a minute? How many of us are "too busy" to be able to be Simon to that person? That listening to them is someone elses' job. In a country today which is in the depths of economic recession, we have a human disaster of suicide, especially among young men who feel that they have no one to listen to them. We need to be Simon to each other. You never know how a simple cup of tea and a listening ear could make all the difference to remind a person of their humanity, their connection to wider society and family as they are given time and space to express their needs and worries. It is not for nothing that we have an expression "a trouble shared is a problem halved".

Can you be Simon of Cyrene to someone today? Go on, reach out................

 

IV Station: Jesus meets his mother

We adore you O Christ and we praise you

For by your holy Cross you have redeemed the world.

Source

Jesus meets his mother

When Jesus meets his mother, they just look at each other. For Mary, this is the next step in the journey that began with the utterance ‘Let it be done unto me according to thy word’. In the intervening years Mary has experience love, joy, frustration,fear,  admiration, relief and pride at various moments in her son’s life. At this moment, her expression on her face and the look in her eyes is a mirror of the pain in her heart. Despite being filled with sorrow and helplessness, Mary’s raw emotions are witnessed by the public in this most precious moment. For Jesus, the look on his mother’s face may have hurt him more than all the wounds inflicted upon him in the previous 24 hours. Jesus carries the burden of the loss of his family.

Were you there when Mary met her son? Reunions between parents and their children are often filled with joy. Consider the efforts that mothers often go to prepare a special tea or lunch to celebrate a visit from their children. Recall the euphoric displays that take place at airports preceding Christmas as families are reunited. These scenes are a huge contrast to Mary’s suffering when she met Jesus on this journey to Calvary.

We can see Mary’s pain all around us today. It is the pain of parents who witness their children giving up their lives to drugs, addictions, and violence. It is the pain and the struggle of all those reaching out and rebuilding relationships. Similarly, Jesus’ suffering is the pain of all those who cannot control their addictions, their employment situations, their financial woes and illnesses.

In the same way as Jesus reached out to his mother for comfort, we are called to action. When we are overwhelmed, we can follow the example of Jesus and receive support from those in our midst. We are called to show empathy and to take courageous steps for all those who need our help. It is our responsibility to stand shoulder to shoulder with all our brothers and sisters and to enable the enduring love of Jesus and his mother to enter into the fractured situations of our lives.

Contributor: BM

III Station: Jesus falls the first time

We adore you O Christ and we bless you

For by thy holy Cross, you have redeemed the World



Source

Jesus falls the First Time

Jesus Christ, burdened by the weight of the cross and our sinfulness, collapsed on His way to Calvary. Jesus was the One whom His disciples had hoped would set Israel free (cf. Lk 24:21). He was the promised Messiah, the “Christ, the Son of the living God” (Mt 16:16) and yet there He lay, exhausted, in pain, enduring the insults and mockery of the onlookers.

The account of Jesus’ first fall comes to us through the Tradition of the Church, rather than Scripture, but we can easily enter into the spirit of the account with a little imagination.

Over the Christmas period I slipped on some ice. It happened so quickly that I was on the ground before I could prevent myself from falling. I was on my own and could not pick myself up, so I had to turn over and crawl on my hands and knees towards the nearest support. I had a bruised tail bone, but my pride was bruised even more! It was a lesson in humility.

On a much deeper level, we experience falling into sin, which wounds us much more than any physical fall. Sin diminishes us, blocking our path to fulfilment (cf. GS 13). We read in Scripture that the righteous one “falls seven times a day” (Proverbs 24:16), but the first time we experience a major fall can sometimes surprise us. Perhaps we had ignored the slippery ground we were on? Perhaps we realised too late? And now not only have we fallen, but our ego is bruised and we are hurting.

The little phrase from Proverbs is essential to helping us put our fall into perspective: the righteous one “falls seven times a day, and rises again” (Proverbs 24:16). When we experience a fall in our life, especially a first fall, a fall in something we would never have thought we would fail in, the temptation to give in may be very great. It may seem easier to stay down than to struggle to our feet again. Where do we get the strength to rise again.

Jesus, true God and true man, is like us in every way except sin (cf. Heb 4:15), but He took on the burden of our sinfulness so that He could save us. When we fall, by contrast, it is usually the result of our own faults, not someone else’s. In falling Jesus is overcome by the weight of our sins that He is carrying for a few moments. Yet He gets up and continues to carry on unselfishly. What happened when Jesus fell for the first time? He rose again.

The Resurrection of Christ gives us strength to rise again. God knows what it means to be human. He knows how weak we are. He knows our crosses and He knows before we do when we are going to fall. He may not be able to stop us falling because of our free will, but when we do, He reaches out to us with compassion and love offering us the Sacrament of Reconciliation to heal our wounds.

All it takes on our part is to accept His love. It might mean ‘crawling on our hands and knees’ metaphorically by acknowledging that we have fallen, but that’s not such a bad thing. Humility comes from the Latin ‘humus’, meaning the earth. To be humble is to be grounded – to acknowledge both the reality that we are beloved children of God and the truth of our sinfulness. We acknowledge this most of all when we confess both our sins and our trust in God’s mercy and holiness (cf. CCC 1424) in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

II Station: Jesus receives his Cross

We adore you O Christ and we praise you

For by your holy Cross you have redeemed the world.

Then the governor's soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole company of soldiers around him. They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand. Then they knelt in front of him and mocked him. "Hail, king of the Jews!" they said. They spit on him, and took the staff and struck him on the head again and again. After they had mocked him, they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him. - Matthew 27:27-31

Jesus is made to carry the cross on which he will die. It represents the weight of all our crosses. What he must have felt as he first took it upon his shoulders! 

According to tradition, St. Bernard asked Jesus which was His greatest unrecorded suffering and the wound that inflicted the most pain on Him in Calvary and Jesus answered:

"I had on My Shoulder, while I bore My Cross on the Way of Sorrows, a grievous Wound which was more painful than the others and which is not recorded by men. Honor this Wound with thy devotion and I will grant thee whatsoever thou dost ask through its virtue and merit and in regard to all those who shall venerate this Wound, I will remit to them all their venial sins and will no longer remember their mortal sins."

With each step Jesus enters more deeply into our human experience. He walks in the path of human misery and suffering, and experiences its crushing weight. But he also accepts the cross, embraces it and what it will mean. By entering into his passion he will perform an act that reconciles humanity to God. In this he provides a clear example to us of his preaching of turning the other check, a challange to those in the world who believe that violence can only be met with violence.

"Take up your cross and follow me"

Mark D Roberts (in his meditations on the Stations of the Cross) remind us that

"Jesus had said this would happen. For quite some time he had predicted his suffering and death. The first time came right after Peter confessed him to be the Messiah. Jesus responded: “The Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised” (Luke 9:22). So even though the Roman soldiers led Jesus out to crucify him, they were only doing what he had said they would do.

Indeed, they were doing what he chose to happen and in many ways caused to happen. After all, Jesus had been preaching that God along was the true King, and that his kingdom was at hand . . . not exactly the kind of message Rome liked to hear. And Jesus had been in regular conflict with Jewish leaders, who saw him as a nuisance and a threat. Then, he stirred up the crowds by riding into Jerusalem as a messianic king. He disturbed the Jewish officials by ransacking the temple and halting its sacrifices, accusing the temple leaders of being no better than a bunch of thieves. Jesus seemed even to know that Judas was planning to betray him, and to consent to the betrayal. Jesus did not defend himself before the Sanhedrin, perhaps because he knew this was a lost cause. But he didn’t try to set Pilate straight either. And, of course, Jesus did not call down legions of angels to deliver him.

So, though “they led him out to crucify him,” Jesus was no passive victim. He picked up his cross and walked to Golgotha because he had chosen the way of suffering. He believed this to be the will of God, the way by which he would realize his messianic destiny. Jesus chose to suffer and die so that he might fulfill Isaiah’s vision of the Suffering Servant of God, the one who was “despised and rejected by others; a man of suffering and acquainted with infirmity.” As this Servant, Jesus “has borne our infirmities and carried our diseases.” Moreover, “he was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the punishment that made us whole, and by his bruises we are healed” (Isaiah 53:3-5)."

Crucem tuam adoramus Domine, resurrectionem tuam laudamus Domine. Laudamus et glorificamus. resurrectionem tuam laudamus Domine.

(Nous adorons ta croix, Seigneur. Nous louons ta resurrection. / We adore your cross, Lord. We praise your resurrection. / Dein Kreuz, Herr, verehren wir. Deine Auferstehung preisen wir.)

Music: Jacques Berthier

I Station: Jesus is condemend to death

We adore you O Christ and we bless you

For by thy holy Cross, you have redeemed the World

Jesus is Condemned to Death

"Pilate....brought Jesus out and sat down in the judgment seat in a place that is called The Pavement, but in Hebrew, Gabbatha.  Now it was the Preparation Day of the Passover, and about the sixth hour. And he said to the Jews, “Behold your King!” But they cried out, “Away with Him, away with Him! Crucify Him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar!” Then he delivered Him to them to be crucified. So they took Jesus and led Him away" - John 19: 13 - 16


Condemnation to death! How stark and frightening the scene must have been in the Roman Pratorium in contrast to the crowds that greeted Jesus on his entry to Jerusalem only a few days before. Bleeding, wounded from the scourging at the pillar, abandoned and alone before a hostile crowd, in pain and tiredness can anyone know how he must have felt?
But we often look to stand in the shoes of Jesus, casting ourselves as the wrongly accussed and offended party, but look around that courtyard, where are you really standing? Which one of the crowd are You?

How quick I am to judge others? Do I pass comments and snide remarks based on faulty stereotypes and hearsay? Have I ever joined "the mob" in condemning a person? Maybe not to death; but have I joined in killing them socially by casting aspiration at them? Killed their soul by ignoring and ostracising them even if is by acts of omission rather than directly doing something to others?

We often jump to the defence of those seen as being innocent even after condemnation by "lawful authorities" - Mandela, Ken Sara-wiwa, Aung San Su Kyi. But look to those wrongly accused - Fr Kevin Reynolds, Sr Nora Wall. Do we tend to take the view "there is no smoke without fire?"

Or have we been Pilate's to the world? It is not my affair, it is nothing to do with me. Have I washed my hands of my brothers and sisters in need - let someone else look after that, that is their job after all? It is very easy to condemn Pilate with the hindsight of the Resurrection, but if we stood in his shoes would we have done any different? When we condemn those that have gone before us for actions or lack of actions taken, have we ever stopped to consider what will the generations to come think of our 'Pilate moments' - Rwanda, Cambodia, Bosnia, Magdalene Laundries, Industrial schools......."Let those without sin cast the first stone"

Governor

(from Passio - Meditations on the Way by Christy Kenneally)

The stranger sees me,

but is not aware of me.

My image goes no deeper than his eye.

And in his calm detachment,

his clinical efficiency,

he ebbs me to a depth

his eye can plumb.

The stranger grinds me down to thing,

the plaything of the system's whim.

Something to dress in purple,

something to dent with blows,

something to mould, manipulate and match

to his own expectations.

What am I?

Who am I?

A world of pain between the 'what' and 'who'.

Preserve me from the tomb of surface sight,

the spirit-death of power over lives.

From the stranger, and becoming like him,

deliver me, Lord God.

Crucem tuam adoramus Domine, resurrectionem tuam laudamus Domine. Laudamus et glorificamus. resurrectionem tuam laudamus Domine.
(Nous adorons ta croix, Seigneur. Nous louons ta resurrection. / We adore your cross, Lord. We praise your resurrection. / Dein Kreuz, Herr, verehren wir. Deine Auferstehung preisen wir.)
Music: Jacques Berthier