STATIONS OF THE CROSS

Dear Lord Jesus Christ, we kneel before you for a few moments as we prepare to follow in mind and heart the journey you took from Pilate's house to your death on Calvary. We are going to recall, as best we can, all that you suffered for us on that day so terrible in agony for you, so good for us: Good Friday. As we follow your path of suffering, we will be reminded of the need to sanctify our own sufferings by offering them in union with Yours, in atonement for our own sins and the sins of others.

We intend particularly to offer this time of prayer in atonement for the sin of abortion, the destruction of innocent babes in their mother's womb. We recognise that they too are conceived into a world of suffering, and they share that suffering all too soon. As we try to make our feeble amends for our sins against them, we ask you to judge them as new little martyrs, put to death by today's unthinking Herods, just as the first holy innocents were martyred by being put to death in your place by a Herod of many centuries ago.

Dear Lord, if we have not been successful in saving the natural, bodily life of today's innocents, at least we trust that their eternal life is safe with you in the glory of the Beatific Vision.

Dear Lord, in this station we witness how you, the most loving of all, were condemned through the opposition and hatred of your own people. We see you before an unjust judge, who was easily pressured into a condemnation which he had to admit beforehand was quite contrary to all the evidence: quite contrary to justice. We appreciate, dear Lord, that you have shared our lot to the full. You share here the same lot as the innocent unborn child condemned by the unjust judges of today - the very doctors, and others in authority, who ought, rather, to be caring for them. We thank you, dear Lord, for being so close to us, and we beg you, who suffered to win us pardon, to give the grace of repentance to all those who offend the unborn baby today.

O my God, who art infinitely good and always hatest sin, I beg pardon from my heart for all my offences against thee. I detest them all and am heartily sorry for them, because they offend thine infinite goodness, and I firmly resolve with the help of thy grace never more to offend thee, and carefully to avoid the occasions of sin. Amen.

Dear Jesus, in this station we see you receiving the cross on which you were to suffer such an agonising death for us all. You accepted that cross as your wonderful act of love for the entire human family. You accepted it in obedience to your Father's will, who asked this supreme sacrifice from you. Dear Lord, we thank you with all our hearts that you chose to win us pardon in this way, and we pray for forgiveness for all our own faults, and forgiveness for those who take the life of the innocents so unjustly each day. May all who have practised the crime of abortion, repent, and turn to you in love and sorrow.

My God, I believe, I adore, I hope, and I love thee, and I ask pardon for those who do not believe, do not adore, do not hope, and do not love thee.

Dear Lord, as we see you falling under the weight of the Cross we acknowledge with St. Paul that though your state was Divine you did not cling to your equality with God but emptied yourself to assume the condition of a slave, and became as men are. You were humbler yet, even to accepting death, death on a cross. (cf. Phil 2:6-8). You had already suffered terribly before you came to this moment of your passion. You had been kept up all night after the act of love which was the Last Supper. You had been cruelly tortured, scourged, crowned with thorns, mocked, derided, dragged from one part of Jerusalem to another, from Sanhedrin to Pilate, from Pilate to Herod, from Herod to Pilate, and now you are carrying a heavy cross to the place of execution. No wonder you fell. You chose to accept all this in atonement for the sins of the world. Give us the grace to see our sufferings as our contribution to the growth of your Mystical Body, which is the Church.

I love thee, Jesus, my love above all things. I repent with my whole heart for having offended thee. Never permit me to separate myself from thee again. Grant that I may love thee always, and then do with me what thou wilt.

In this station, dear Lord, we witness how Mary entered into the sufferings of your Passion and death. We can only guess at the depths of sorrow as you exchange glances with your own innocent mother, who loved you in that unique and extraordinary way which must have characterised a virgin mother who brought forth a divine Son without other human co-operation. We thank you, dear Lord, for the love of your mother for us all: your closest collaborator in your work of our redemption. We entrust to her love the cares of all mothers afflicted by the temptation to kill the new life that is within them. We pray that the love of Mary will prove stronger than the temptation to evil, and that through her intercession such mothers will receive the proper help they need.

Hail Holy Queen, Mother of Mercy. Hail our life, our sweetness and our hope. To thee do we cry poor banished children of Eve: to thee do we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this vale of tears. Turn then, most gracious Advocate, thine eyes of mercy towards us, and after this our exile show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus. O clement, O loving, O sweet virgin Mary.

In this station, dear Jesus, we are taught that we must play our own part in the work of redemption. As St. Augustine of Hippo taught, the One who made us without us, will not save us without us. We must co-operate with you for our own salvation and for the salvation of others. Simon was compelled to co-operate. We ask you for the grace to co-operate with love and joy in whatever ways you ask us to carry out our apostolate. In particular, dear Lord, we ask also your light to help us to understand how best to carry out the pro-life apostolate: how to co-operate with you in saving the babies newly conceived in their mother's womb.

Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, let me sow pardon; where there is doubt, let me sow faith; where there is despair, let me give hope; where there is darkness, let me give light; where there is sadness, let me give joy.

Again, dear Lord, we witness someone co-operating with you in your salvific work. It is Veronica, this time, who has the courage to press against the mob and offer you the comfort of a towel to wipe your face. We need that kind of courage, dear Lord, to carry out our pro-life work. We need the courage to push aside the mob, and go to the help of the one in need, be it the mother of a newly conceived child in material need, or perhaps a nurse or doctor in spiritual need, or others in public life in educational need. Whoever it may be, we need the courage to bring to them your message of universal love, with no-one excluded - least of all the innocent child in the womb.

O Divine Master, grant that I may not try to be comforted, but to comfort; not try to be understood, but to understand; not try to be loved, but to love; because it is in giving that we receive; it is in forgiving that we are forgiven, and it is in dying that we are born into eternal life. Amen.

As you collapse again under the cross, dear Lord, we realise that, as St. Paul taught, you were like us in all things except sin. You chose to share our physical limitations. It is our extraordinary dignity as children of baptism to be like you, except for our sins. To make the resemblance grow stronger we must work to remedy our sinfulness. We can tolerate the physical weakness we share with you, but not the weakness of sin which is our own. We must not be content to oppose the sin of abortion in others whilst acquiescing in any sin in ourselves, any failure in love. We must not alternately serve you and serve the devil. To oppose abortion is to serve you: to sin deliberately is to serve the devil. Help us, dear Lord, to strive continuously to meet the standard you set for us, the standard of perfection. Forgive all our spiritual falls of the past.

Most sacred heart of Jesus I implore, the grace to love you daily more and more.
Most sacred heart of Jesus I implore, the grace to love you daily more and more.
Most sacred heart of Jesus I implore, the grace to love you daily more and more.

On the way to Calvary, dear Lord, you met large numbers of people, and, in particular, the women who mourned and lamented for you. Your message to them has a strange appropriateness for our day - "Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me. Weep rather for yourselves and for your children. For the days will surely come when people will say, `happy are those who are barren, the wombs that have never borne, the breasts that have never suckled'." Dear Lord, in an unexpected way, we see, today, the sad time you prophesied: the time when women so often regard it as a happiness not to have borne, not to have suckled, a child, because they are more comfortable, better off, with more liberty, if they reject the natural fruit of married life. Dear Lord, please restore sound values among all our people, especially among our young people, that they may appreciate the wonderful privilege of being your instruments in bringing new, immortal lives into the world, destined to enjoy happiness with you for eternity. For all our young people, and especially for all women who have failed to grasp your standards, we pray simply through your mother:

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

Dear Jesus, in this station we thank you once more for having borne our afflictions and made amends for our sins. With faltering lips we also thank you for the share you have permitted us in your sufferings in atonement for sin. We do accept the message of the Beatitudes. We do appreciate that it is blessed to be poor in spirit; blessed to be gentle; blessed to mourn; blessed to hunger and thirst for what is right; blessed to be merciful; to be pure in heart; to be peacemakers; blessed to be persecuted in the cause of right; to suffer abuse and all kinds of calumny against us. We thank you for the ways in which you have allowed your message to become a reality in our lives, and we offer you all the sufferings of the future to eradicate the scourge of abortion from our world.

Thanks be to thee, O Lord Jesus Christ, for all the benefits which thou hast given me; for all the pains and insults which thou hast borne for me. O most merciful Redeemer, friend and brother, may I know thee more clearly, love thee more dearly, and follow thee more nearly. Amen.

Dear Saviour, in this station we witness you being dreadfully humiliated as well as suffering terrible pain as your garments were torn from your bleeding body. Perhaps at this station, dear Lord, you intended to make amends for the sins of impurity of your children; sins against the sacredness of our bodies. We beg pardon for all such faults of the past on our own part and on the part of others, and beg you to bring in a new time of self-sacrificing love, when people appreciate your gifts and use them only as you intend.

O Jesus, receive my poor offering. thou hast given thyself to me, and now let me give myself to thee. I give thee my body; keep it chaste and pure. I give thee my soul, that it may be free from sin. I give thee my heart, that it may always love thee. I give thee every breath that I shall breathe, and especially my last. I give thee myself in life and in death, that I may be thine, forever and ever. Amen.

In this station, dear Lord, we recall with horror the intense agony you suffered as you were brutally nailed to the wood of the cross. You lay down on that cross, stretched out your arms, and offered yourself as a sacrifice at once human and divine to your Heavenly Father. Dear Lord, as we contemplate this excruciating suffering, we realise once more, and all the more vividly, the outrage of sin against the One who loves us so much, and we do once more sincerely beg pardon for our terrible thoughtlessness and ingratitude in the past. Teach us from now on the way of perfection. You offered yourself for each of us, and now let us offer ourselves to you:

Take my life, and let it be
Consecrated, Lord, to thee.
Take my moments, and my days:
Let them flow with ceaseless praise.
Take my hands and let them move
At the impulse of thy love.
Take my feet and let them be
Swift and purposeful for thee.
Take my voice and let me sing
Always, only, for my King.
Take my will and make it thine.
It shall be no longer mine.
Take my intellect and use
Every power as thou shalt choose.
Take my heart; it is thine own.
It shall be thy royal throne.
Take my love: my Lord, I pour
At thy feet its treasure store.
Take myself and I will be
Ever, only, all for thee.

At this station, dear Lord, we prefer to kneel in silent contemplation of the three hours of silent agony you endured, with your mother standing by, and we recall the words you spoke, perhaps particularly the words you spoke for us sinners -- "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." (Period of silence.)

Soul of Christ, be my sanctification.
Body of Christ, be my salvation.
Blood of Christ, fill all my veins.
Water of Christ's side, wash out my stains.
Passion of Christ, my comfort be.
O good Jesus, listen to me.
In thy wounds I fain would hide,
Ne'er to be parted from thy side.
Guard me, should the foe assail me.
Call me when my life shall fail me.
Bid me come to thee above,
With thy saints to sing thy love,
World without end. Amen.

Dear Jesus, your agony for us is over, but Mary's suffering continues as she holds your lifeless body in her arms. Mary, mother of our Redeemer, we rejoice that we were made your children on Calvary. We rejoice that you are the mother of the Church, and care for each one of us. Many of your children do not appear to be very worthy of you today, as they tolerate, or perpetrate, the crime of abortion against babies who are also members of the human family, and your children too. Mary, at this station we beg you to use all your influence with your Son to come to the world and renovate it. Please hasten the day of the triumph of your Son over the devil, over death, over the sinfulness of our times. Please let your dignity shine out in the world, by making it clear that it is through your intercession that the errors of our times are being suppressed. Mary, we cannot wait for the day when men will recognise your Son as our Divine Redeemer, and you as the mother of us all. We cannot wait for the day when men will honour you throughout the world, and return to the obedience to your Son which is the duty of each of us.

Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection, implored thy help or sought thy intercession, was left unaided. Inspired by this confidence I fly unto thee, O virgin of virgins, my mother. To thee do I come, before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful. O mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions but in thy clemency hear and answer me. Amen.

Dear Jesus, at this station we recall how Joseph and Nicodemus took your body from the cross and laid it in the tomb which Joseph had originally prepared for himself. They then rolled the great stone against the tomb and all withdrew in obedience to the requirements of the oncoming Jewish sabbath. Holy Saturday was a day of extraordinary darkness and perplexity for your disciples. They had hoped you were the Saviour of the world, but all their hopes seemed to be dashed. They did not yet understand the wonder of your redemptive love. They did not understand that you would conquer death by accepting death, and then rising triumphant from the grave. Dear Lord, many in this world still do not understand the mysteries of our creation and redemption. Many still do not understand the that they are born of a sinful race contaminated by original sin inherited from our first parents, and in need of redemption. Many do not appreciate the wonders of your life, death, and resurrection. Teach all men, dear Lord, the mysteries of your relationship with us, the mysteries of your Father's dealing with man. Teach us to see everything through the eyes of faith to enable us to prepare ourselves for our happiness in eternity with you.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

(Add some prayers, e.g. Our Father and Hail Mary, for the intentions of the Holy Father to gain the plenary indulgence attached to the Stations of the Cross.)