We adore you O Christ and we bless you
Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world
First Station: Jesus is Condemned to Death
As soon as it was morning, the chief priests with the elders and the scribes, and the whole council, held a consultation; and they bound Jesus and led him away and delivered him to Pilate. And they all condemned him and said, ‘He deserves to die’. When Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judgement seat at a place called the Pavement, but in Hebrew, called Gabbatha. Then he handed Jesus over to them to be crucified.
silence
Prayer: Jesus was not the Messiah they expected, and so his people traded God’s beloved Son for a murderer.
We adore you O Christ and we bless you
Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world
Second station: Jesus Bears His Cross
Jesus went out, bearing his own cross, to the place called the place of a skull, which is called in Hebrew, Golgotha. Although he was a Son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. Like a lamb he was led to the slaughter; and like a sheep that before its shearers is mute, so he opened not his mouth. Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honour and glory and blessing.
silence
Prayer: Jesus was not alone. He was setting out together with his Father, from whose hands come all things, including the weight of this cross.
We adore you O Christ and we bless you
Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world
Third Station: Jesus Falls for the First Time
Christ Jesus, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped; but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, and was born in human likeness. And being found in human form he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross. Therefore, God has highly exalted him, and bestowed on him the name which is above every name.
silence
Prayer: Even Jesus’ falling is perfect because it was done in the Father’s presence. Our sufferings are not setbacks, but part of our path. If lived in the presence of the Father, nothing is wasted.
We adore you O Christ and we bless you
Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world
Fourth Station: Jesus Meets His Mother
To what can I liken you, to what can I compare you, O daughter of Jerusalem? What can I use to comfort you, O virgin daughter of Zion? Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. The Lord will be your everlasting light, and your days of mourning shall be ended.
silence
Prayer: We stand in sorrow as we contemplate the suffering that our sin caused Our Lord’s mother. Let us also stand in sorrow at the suffering our sins cause all those who love us.
We adore you O Christ and we bless you
Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world
Fifth Station: Jesus is Helped by Simon
As they led Jesus away, they came upon a man of Cyrene, Simon by name, who was coming in from the country, and they laid on him the cross to carry it behind Jesus. ‘If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.’ said Jesus. ‘Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for my yoke is easy and my burden is light.’
silence
Prayer: Simon was an average man, and when his average effort was made with and for Christ, it became eternal. In union with Christ there is no such thing as insignificance.
We adore you O Christ and we bless you
Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world
Sixth Station: Jesus and Veronica
We have seen him without beauty and majesty, with no looks to attract our eyes. He was despised and rejected and acquainted with grief; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. His appearance was so marred beyond human semblance, he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that made us whole; and with his stripes we are healed.
silence
Prayer: This battered and bleeding face did not fit anyone’s idea of the face of God. Yet Veronica reverenced this visage of sweat and suffering as the face of God.
We adore you O Christ and we bless you
Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world
Seventh Station: Jesus Falls for the Second Time
Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, everyone to their own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth. For the transgressions of us all was he stricken.
silence
Prayer: In the midst of hatred and sin, who would expect to see God himself?! There is no shame so great that God’s mercy cannot shine forth from its midst.
We adore you O Christ and we bless you
Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world
Eighth Station: Jesus Speaks to the Women
There followed after Jesus a great multitude and among them were the 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.’
silence
Prayer: Jesus had certainty that nothing could separate him from the love of his Father. These weeping women had no such certainty, but only feelings of pity.
We adore you O Christ and we bless you
Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world
Ninth Station: Jesus Falls for the Third Time
I am the man who has seen affliction under the rod of his path; he has driven and brought me into darkness without any light. He has besieged me and enveloped me with bitterness and tribulation; he has made me dwell in darkness like the dead of long ago. Though I call and cry for help, he shuts out my prayer. He has made my teeth grind on gravel, and made me cower in ashes. ‘Remember O Lord, my affliction and bitterness, the wormwood and the gall!’
silence
Prayer: A limited love is no love at all. Jesus withheld nothing from his Father; he withheld nothing from us. He literally gave until he dropped…and then he gave more. He gives his very self, without limit and without end.
We adore you O Christ and we bless you
Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world
Tenth Station: Jesus is Stripped of his garments
When they came to a place called Golgotha (which means the place of a skull), they offered him wine to drink, but he would not drink it. And they divided his garments among them. They cast lots for his clothing.
silence
Prayer: The first manifestation of Adam and Eve’s sin was their realisation that they were naked. Now the soldiers strip Jesus naked to shame him. Jesus is not afraid to go to the core of our shame to heal us. Sins and secrets do not scare him. The serpent causes shame and hiding; Jesus invites us to mercy and communion.
We adore you O Christ and we bless you
Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world
Eleventh Station: Jesus is Nailed to the Cross
When they came to the place, The Skull, there they crucified him; and with him they crucified two criminals, one on the right, the other on the left, and Jesus between them. And the scripture was fulfilled which says, ‘He was numbered with the transgressors.’
silence
Prayer: Jesus did not receive his piercing blows from strangers. For Jesus, there are no strangers, only beloved children of his Father. From Jesus’ wounds come the blood that makes us all strangers and aliens no longer.
We adore you O Christ and we bless you
Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world
Twelfth Station: Jesus Dies on the Cross
When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing near, he said to his mother, ‘Woman, behold your son!’ Then he said to the disciple, ‘Behold your mother!’ And when Jesus had received the vinegar he said, ‘It is finished!’ And then crying with a loud voice, he said, ‘Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.’ And he bowed his head and handed over his spirit.
silence
Prayer: Jesus dies on the cross. The culmination of evil and the eternal victory of goodness coincide! He dies for us, that we might live! Every true good, every true love, every true life springs forth from this most blasphemous and most sacred moment. He has reconciled everything! There is no contradiction in God. He is Peace.
We adore you O Christ and we bless you
Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world
Thirteenth Station: Jesus is Taken down from the cross
All you who pass by, behold and see if there is any sorrow like unto my sorrow. My eyes are spent with weeping; my soul is in tumult, my heart is poured out in grief because of the downfall of my people.
silence
Prayer: The dead body is our handiwork. And now we ask for forgiveness! Let us not be afraid. Let us follow Peter. He is absent from the Way of the Cross, but leads us in the way of repentance and witnesses to Christ’s mercy.
We adore you O Christ and we bless you
Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world
Fourteenth Station: Jesus is Lain in the Tomb
And when it was evening there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who was also a disciple of Jesus. He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate ordered it to be given to him. And Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen shroud, and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn in the rock, and he rolled a great stone in front of the tomb.
silence
Prayer: When all is finished, Christ is placed in a tomb. Three days later, this barren tomb is the sign that God has brought forth eternal life, the promise of promises.
We adore you O Christ and we bless you
Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world
And so we pray the Collect for Tuesday of Holy Week
O God, who, by the passion of your blessed Son, made an instrument of shameful death to be for us the means of life: grant us so to glory in the cross of Christ, that we may gladly suffer pain and loss; for the sake of your Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, world without end. Amen
So we share together in prayer
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come; thy will be done; on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen