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Reverence for the Mass |
Spiritual Counsels |
Books |
About CSF
Introduction |
The 3 O’clock Hour |
The Stations of the Cross |
Introductory Prayer |
Preliminary Prayers |
The Circlet of Beads |
Concluding Prayer |
PDF Pamphlet
 HE STATIONS
OF THE
CROSS, also
called The Way of the Cross (Via Crucis) began with Christ Himself
as He carried His cross along the Via Dolorosa at Jerusalem to His crucifixion
on Mount Calvary. From the earliest years of the Church, pious pilgrims traveled
to Jerusalem to walk that same route and to revisit for themselves the scenes
of Christ’s sorrowful Passion.
In the early years of the Church,
indulgences were given for making the long and dangerous journey to Jerusalem
and devoutly visiting the actual scenes of Christ’s Passion. Today,
most every church has its own Stations of the Cross for the benefit of everyone
who cannot visit Jerusalem itself.
The Church still gives indulgences
for making the Stations of the Cross according to prescribed procedures:
the stations must have been legitimately erected; fourteen crosses of real
wood are required (pictures are optional); and movement must be made from
one station to the next. But we can just as well make the stations into a
personal devotion, regardless of whether we can get to a church.
The 3 O’clock
Hour
Jesus told Saint Faustina, “I
remind you, My daughter, that as often as you hear the
clock
strike the third hour, immerse yourself completely in My mercy, adoring and
glorifying it; invoke its omnipotence for the whole world, and particularly
for poor sinners; for at that moment mercy was opened wide for every
soul. . . . try your best to make the Stations of the Cross
in this hour” (Diary, 1572).
Why three
o’clock?
Well, remember that Scripture
tells us that at three o’clock in the afternoon, on the Friday He was
crucified, Jesus “gave up His spirit” (Matthew 27:50; see Mark
15:37, Luke 23:46), the “veil of the sanctuary was torn in two from
top to bottom” (Matthew 27:51; see Mark 15:38, Luke 23:45), and that
shortly thereafter a soldier thrust his lance into Jesus’ side and
“immediately blood and water flowed out” (John 19:34).
 Theologically, this
tells us that access to the “Holy of Holies” of the Temple, once
limited only to the High Priest behind the veil, was given to every soul
when Jesus’ heart was torn at the three o’clock hour. With His
Sacred Heart opened wide, Blood and Water—love and purification, the
red and white rays of The Divine Mercy—poured forth into a world darkened
by sin.
What an awesome gift!
And so, because Christ died for
us on a Friday, we should make every Friday into a day of penance and
thanksgiving. Spiritual exercises (such as the Stations of the Cross),
fasting (this is the origin of the tradition
of meatless Fridays), and other practices (see the Catechism of the Catholic
Church § 1438, below) join us spiritually
with Christ in His unfathomable love for
us.
And, whenever possible, we should
take the time out of our work, every day at three o’clock, to join
with that infinite love and mercy without which we would have no work—and
no life.
The Stations
of the Cross
1. |
Jesus is Condemned
to Death |
2. |
Jesus Carries His
Cross |
3. |
Jesus Falls the First
Time |
4. |
Jesus Meets His Afflicted
Mother |
5. |
Simon of Cyrene Helps
Jesus Carry His Cross |
6. |
Veronica Wipes the
Face of Jesus |
7. |
Jesus Falls the Second
Time |
8. |
Jesus Meets the Women
of Jerusalem |
9. |
Jesus Falls a Third
Time |
10. |
Jesus is Stripped
of His Clothes |
11. |
Jesus is Nailed to
the Cross |
12. |
Jesus Dies on the
Cross |
13. |
The Body of Jesus
is Taken Down from the Cross |
14. |
Jesus is Laid in
the Tomb |
Introductory
Prayer
 The Sign of the
Cross. The Chaplet
of The Divine Mercy is prayed on traditional Rosary
beads. But a Rosary has five decades of beads, and there are 14 Stations
of the Cross. So you can make three circuits through the Rosary beads, using
the 15th decade to contemplate the redemptive mercy of the Crucifixion itself,
or to contemplate The Divine Mercy. Or, instead of Rosary beads, you might
want to use one circuit of a Rosary ring for each station.
In any event, to begin, hold
the crucifix of the Rosary in your right hand and make the Sign of the Cross,
touching the crucifix to your forehead, chest, and left and right shoulders.
Make the sign deliberately, and with reverence, for, when you do make the
Sign of the Cross, you are mystically accepting the crucifixion of
your own identity. That thought should give you pause.
|
(Forehead) |
IN
the Name of the Father |
|
(Mid-chest) |
and of the
Son |
|
(Left
Shoulder) |
and of the
Holy |
|
(Right
Shoulder) |
Spirit. |
|
|
Amen. |
Preliminary
Prayers
The Our
Father.
By the way, be
careful not to slur together the seven petitions of the Our Father
(Matthew 6:9–13) like the “elemeno Ps” of the grammar
school alphabet. Say this prayer slowly, carefully, and
distinctly.
|
OUR
Father, Who art in Heaven, |
(1) |
hallowed be Thy
Name, |
(2) |
Thy Kingdom
come, |
(3) |
Thy will be
done, |
|
on Earth as it is in
Heaven. |
(4) |
Give us this day our
daily bread; |
(5) |
and forgive us our
trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us; |
(6) |
And lead us
not into temptation, |
(7) |
but deliver us from
evil. |
|
Amen. |
The Hail
Mary.
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. |
The
Apostles’
Creed. While
still holding the crucifix, pray the Apostles’ Creed.
I
BELIEVE in God
the Father Almighty
creator of Heaven and Earth;
and in Jesus Christ,
His only son,
our Lord,
who was conceived
by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died,
and was buried.
He descended to the dead;
on the third day
He rose again from the dead.
He ascended into Heaven,
and is seated at the right hand
of God, the Father Almighty.
From thence He will come
to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic Church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and life everlasting.
Amen. |
The Circlet of
Beads
Begin each Station of the Cross
(on a large, or single, bead):
ETERNAL
Father, I offer You the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Your dearly
beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, in atonement for our sins and those of
the whole world.
Said as a decade (on each one
of the ten small beads following the large bead) for each Station:
FOR
the sake of His sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us and on the whole
world. |
Concluding
Prayer
HOLY
God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us and on the whole
world. (Three times)
|
What the
Catechism of the Catholic Church says:
1438 The
seasons and days of penance in the course of the liturgical year (Lent,
and each Friday in memory of the death of the Lord) are intense moments of
the Church’s penitential practice. These times are particularly appropriate
for spiritual exercises, penitential liturgies, pilgrimages as signs of penance,
voluntary self-denial such as fasting and almsgiving, and fraternal sharing
(charitable and missionary works).
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