A WAY OF THE CROSS
This way of celebrating the Stations of the Cross gathers material from a variety of sources. The script draws from contemporary experiences of sadness and grief but also of victory and triumph. In addition, it uses traditional material and invites responses in word and music.
You can draw up your own script to suit your community by inviting a local creative writing group to become involved in the project. Young people might also welcome the opportunity to shape a liturgy that creatively reflects their faith and uses multi-media facilities, at which they are often very adept. An important element is the participation of the preparatory group, who will work together over a period of time to draw out the various shades of meaning of the celebration of Good Friday and the Lord’s Passion.
Setting the Scene
This liturgy can be celebrated at noon or in the evening if the Solemn Celebration of the Lord’s Passion takes place in the afternoon. It is hoped that the texts will be accompanied by visual images of each Station, either on screen or by way of mime. The unadorned cross might be the central visual focus if no other imaging is possible. The use of music to help participation and to create the appropriate atmosphere should be restrained and sensitively chosen. Aromatherapy oils can be used to add to the atmosphere.
Introduction
A short explanation might be offered to the assembly and an invitation to participate extended to them. They should also be encouraged to embrace the opportunities for silence and reflection after each Station.
Song Behold and See (G.F. Handel)
First Station – Jesus is condemned to death
We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.
People are condemned to death throughout the world every day for a range of offences from murder to robbery or for their political and religious affiliations. Human Rights organisations and various Church groups have worked to lobby for change.
Blessed John Paul II spoke out against capital punishment when he said: ‘A sign of hope is the increasing recognition that the dignity of human life must never be taken away, even in the case of someone who has done great evil. Modern society has the means of protecting itself, without definitively denying criminals the chance to reform’.
What can we do? We condemn others to death by our silence and inaction or by our lust for revenge. Lord, help us with our human inclination to strike back and to look for violent retribution.
All say: Where there is offence, let us offer mercy;
Where there is violence, let us show restraint;
Where there is injustice, let us act for right.
Sweet Jesus who for love of me did bear your cross to Calvary, in your sweet mercy grant to me to suffer and to die with Thee.
Second Station – Jesus is made to bear his Cross
We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.
Crosses are portrayed in different styles and designs. The Irish penal crosses often depicted suffering on one side and resurrection on the other. They offered courage to a persecuted people who could look on the suffering of Christ and at the same time contemplate his glorious resurrection. Just as crosses come in various forms, they appear in our lives in a variety of ways.
Litany of the Cross
For the cross of infertility
For the cross of stillbirth
For the cross of infant death Déan trócaire is trua
For the cross of disability
For the cross of neglect
For the cross of discrimination Déan trócaire is trua
For the cross of violence
For the cross of war
For the cross of terrorism Déan trócaire is trua
For the cross of sickness
For the cross of old age
For the cross of terminal illness Déan trócaire is trua
For the cross of injustice
For the cross of famine
For the cross of drought Déan trócaire is trua
For the cross of isolation
For the cross of alienation
For the cross of marginalisation Déan trócaire is trua
For the cross of addiction
For the cross of mental illness
For the cross of suicide Déan trócaire is trua
For the cross of unemployment
For the cross of homelessness
For the cross of poverty Déan trócaire is trua
Sweet Jesus who for love of me did bear your cross to Calvary, in your sweet mercy grant to me to suffer and to die with Thee.
Song Behold the Cross (Bob Hurd)
Third Station – Jesus Falls the First Time
We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.
Testimony 1 ‘The AA programme was going so well for me. At last I had found people who understood me and who had the same struggles with alcohol as I did. It’s amazing how so many people from different backgrounds and education could end up the same way – cursed with addiction to alcohol. They are not able to face life – even the simplest of tasks – without the crutch of alcohol. For years my wife, my family and my friends told me that I had a problem. It was only when I was near to losing my job that the penny dropped and I got help.
I was seven months dry when I went to a going-away party for one of the girls at work. I thought that I could just take one and that I could stop there. The addiction is like a silent enemy which is always lurking inside me. One glass of lager led to more, until I was legless again. I was so ashamed the next day – the disappointed faces of my kids, the hostility of my wife. I went to the lunchtime meeting and thankfully I was back on the dry again. The meeting gives me hope because I talk there to others in the same boat. I don’t have that feeling of being outside as I used to – this is a place where I fit in because I am a recovering alcoholic. It is a year since I began the programme and my first fall was six months ago – keep me and all people struggling with this addiction in your prayers.
Serenity Prayer
God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.
Sweet Jesus who for love of me did bear your cross to Calvary, in your sweet mercy grant to me to suffer and to die with Thee
Fourth Station – Jesus meets Mary, his Mother
We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.
People who have been close to death or who have been deeply shocked by some happening often describe how the events of their lives flashed before them in an instant. When Mary met her Son on his painful journey and as she stood by the cross her mind must have been drawn to the events of his short life. The Seven Sorrows and Joys of Mary offer a contrasting account of the life of Jesus and present the two aspects of the story of our salvation.
Song Seacht nDólás na Maighdine Muire
Sweet Jesus who for love of me did bear your cross to Calvary, in your sweet mercy grant to me to suffer and to die with Thee.
Fifth Station – Simon of Cyrene helps Jesus to carry his Cross
We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.
The members of the Simon Community through their mission and by their name show how the story of Calvary can inspire people to action. We thank God for the many organisations and groups who help us to carry our cross in life.
Litany of Thanksgiving
For the Society of St Vincent de Paul
For the Samaritans
For the Simon Community We praise you, 0 God
For Focus Ireland
For Crosscare
For Aoibhneas We praise you, 0 God
For Alcoholics Anonymous
For Gamblers Anonymous
For Narcotics Anonymous We praise you, 0 God
For Childline
For CARI
For Amen We praise you, 0 God
For Cura
For Victim Support
For the Rape Crisis Centre We praise you, 0 God
For the Society of Simon of Cyrene
For Bethany Bereavement Groups
For Beginning Experience We praise you, 0 God
For Trócaire
For Concern
For Goal We praise you, 0 God
For Aware
For Recovery
For Grow We praise you, 0 God
For the Irish Cancer Society
For the Alzheimer’s Society
For the Irish Kidney Association We praise you, 0 God
Sweet Jesus who for love of me did bear your cross to Calvary, in your sweet mercy grant to me to suffer and to die with Thee.
Sixth Station – Veronica wipes the face of Jesus
We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.
Artists have offered us their pictures of the face of Jesus over the past two thousand years. Early impressions of Jesus give us the image of Christ as a sun-god, a shepherd and a law-giver. He is portrayed as a youthful man without a beard. In contrast, later representations of Christ gave him a certain gravitas and assigned to him the clothes of a secular ruler raised above and removed from his people.
Where is the face of Jesus to be seen today? The encounter with Veronica leaves us with the image of the suffering Jesus on a cloth. His face is etched on those who are carrying their cross of pain and suffering today. The true icons of Jesus are presented to us on TV as we daily watch the torment of the victims of famine, war, pestilence and death.
Let us take some time to bring these uncomfortable images to mind now as we contemplate the face of Christ today.
Song Behold the Cross (Bob Hurd)
Sweet Jesus who for love of me did bear your cross to Calvary, in your sweet mercy grant to me to suffer and to die with Thee
Seventh Station – Jesus Falls the Second Time
We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.
Testimony 2 ‘I was in jail for stealing and using a credit card. I went on the detox programme. I was clean for the first time in three years. Through a contact at the shelter I got a job – money in my pocket and feeling good about myself. I thought that I had everything under control. I went with a few mates to a Disco in town. It was Hallowe’en and everyone was going wild. We dressed up as Westlife and were the centre of attention. I noticed that Jason, one of the lads, was chatting with a guy who deals in cocaine. They disappeared to the toilets, and even though I knew what they were at I had to go in too. I just didn’t think clearly. I was on a high with all the attention, the music, the buzz. So I snorted for the first time in a year. My girlfriend nearly freaked when she found out and saw the state of me. I was a sorry guy the next day. I was marched back to my sponsor on the drug programme by ‘she’ who must be obeyed. Half of me resented being bossed around. In the end I knew that if I slipped up on a regular basis I would find myself back where I was before.
The good resolution lasted about two months and then the next temptation came along. We were going to a gig in town. I was tired. I had been having a hard time from my boss. My mother was on my case about the state of my room and not giving her enough money. The girlfriend wanted to know where I was all the time. So I broke loose and went to the gig. They were passing E’s around. I said no to the first two approaches. Then I said – I’ve had enough. I took two and was flying. The music was the sweetest I had ever heard. The ‘downer’ and the thirst were killing me later. I ran into my ma when I got home. You see she had been through the programme and she knew all the signs to watch out for. There was hell to pay. Facing my sponsor the second time after all my promises was one of the lowest times in my life.
I’m clean again but I am wiser. I am not saying that it will never happen again but I am stronger because someone believes in me and is there when I fall. I am not on my own. I am not very religious but I light a candle every day on my way to work. I carry a small wooden disc in my pocket. I take it with me everywhere. I even take it with my football gear. When I am tempted I have only to touch it and it helps me and reminds me of what I should do. I like Good Friday – it is my day in the year. I watch the kids dressing up for the play in the church – the soldiers, the crowd and Jesus and the cross. I say to myself – he knows what it is like to suffer, he is the one who is there for me.’
The Cross in my Pocket
I carry the cross in my pocket to remind me of who I can be, if I take up my cross and I follow wherever my Saviour leads me.
Song My God, My God (Liam Lawton)
Sweet Jesus who for love of me did bear your cross to Calvary, in your sweet mercy grant to me to suffer and to die with Thee.
Eighth Station – Jesus Speaks to the Women of Jerusalem
We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.
These women remind us of the common humanity in which we all share.
‘Weep not for me,’ Jesus said, ‘but for yourselves and for your children.’
Weep for the sickness, for the falsehood, for the exploitation of yourselves by yourselves, weep for the injustice.
Weep for the failure of your own unbelief, for the weakness and shallowness that you find even in the Church.
Dear Lord, we are your people and we know that You love us. We know the sadness of our own tears only too well. We are told that on one occasion You wept for the city of Jerusalem, and that You spoke of a mother-hen wanting to gather her chicks under her wings. Give us a sense of those wings, and let us know Your warmth as You gather us now into the reign of God upon earth. (Maurice Reidy, Lourdes Pilgrim’s Handbook – Dublin Diocesan Pilgrimage)
Sweet Jesus who for love of me did bear your cross to Calvary, in your sweet mercy grant to me to suffer and to die with Thee.
Ninth Station – Jesus Falls a Third Time
We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.
Testimony 3 ‘This Station reminds me of a horse that I thought was a dead certainty. He was well backed for Cheltenham and fell at the last fence. He was in the last bunch at Aintree and a loose horse toppled him. The last straw was when he fell at Fairyhouse on Easter Monday. I got great odds for him with his recent history – I was already spending the money – well, paying back would be more truthful. Not for the first time did I go home with my tail between my legs wondering how I would explain to himself where the housekeeping money had gone.
I have been in Gamblers Anonymous for years. After a few shaky starts I never miss a meeting and thank God my family life is fairly normal again.
You probably think that women are only addicted to one-arm bandits. I would bet literally on two flies going up the wall. In the process I have put my family through hell. You see they didn’t realise for ages that I could not be trusted with money. I had excuses for everything and I could juggle my debts like the Minister for Finance balances the budget.
I had promised all and sundry that I would not gamble again. People don’t know the pressure that Christmas puts on a family with a small income. Or the expectations of kids today for the best in Communion and Confirmation clothes. It was the Scratch Cards that did it. I am like your woman on the radio advertisement who had to retire from wrist strain. One more and I would get the jackpot. Instead of the big scoop, like the horse I fell again. But this time I had the experience of the meetings and the ready support of a great group of people. It wasn’t easy facing the shame of falling again. I didn’t stay down though and now I am taking each day as it comes. I’m thankful for what I have and that in wasting so much money I didn’t lose the family that mean so much to me.’
Song Only This I Want (Dan Schutte)
Sweet Jesus who for love of me did bear your cross to Calvary, in your sweet mercy grant to me to suffer and to die with Thee.
Tenth Station – Jesus is Stripped of his Garments
We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.
Sickness is the great leveller. Standing before the doctor or lying in a hospital bed there may be some cosmetic differences between people but essentially we are stripped of all that gives us status and position in the world. We are vulnerable, sensitive and fragile. This is especially true for those who are dying. They try to read the expressions of family, friends and doctors, looking for confirmation of their worst fears. This experience puts us in touch with the isolation and humiliation of Jesus at this point in his suffering journey. Let us be sensitive then to those who are ill and give them the reassurance they need by our visits, our honesty and our embrace. Let us remember the sick and dying today and cover their fragility with the cloak of our prayers.
Intercessions
For those who are sick at home or in hospital, that the healing hand of the Lord may ease their pain, calm their fears and give them hope.
We ask you, 0 God.
For those who care for the sick, that they may show them the dignity and respect they deserve in their time of trial and be supported in their turn by respite and help.
We ask you, 0 God.
For those close to death, that Christ may hold their hands and lead them to the joy of his kingdom.
We ask you, 0 God.
Sweet Jesus who for love of me did bear your cross to Calvary, in your sweet mercy grant to me to suffer and to die with Thee.
Song Behold The Cross (Bob Hurd)
Eleventh Station – Jesus is Nailed to the Cross
We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.
Jesus was nailed to the cross as a final act of torture. Torture is prevalent in the world today. Amnesty International reports that torture is inflicted on men, women and children in more than half the countries of the world.
They report further:
- Torture is still used to extract confessions, to interrogate, to punish or to intimidate.
- Torture even damages and distorts the hopes of future generations.
- Torture is neither inevitable nor natural.
Groups such as Amnesty International lobby political leaders and work to draw the attention of the people to such human rights violations. Powered with this information on the cruel oppression of people throughout the world today, we are called to respond with energy and conviction. Because this may not be happening in our country, we cannot pass by and ignore the pain of so many. We are their voice in the world today. What would Christ do in the circumstances?
Instrumental Spiegel um Spiegel (Arvo Part)
Sweet Jesus who for love of me did bear your cross to Calvary, in your sweet mercy grant to me to suffer and to die with Thee.
Twelfth Station – Jesus Dies on the Cross
We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.
The death of Jesus on the cross of love was the supreme sacrifice. Every time we celebrate the Eucharist we participate in the sacrifice of Christ on the cross of love. From the history of the early Church we learn that the martyrs always found a way to celebrate the Eucharist.
‘Every place we suffered became for us a place to celebrate… whether it was a field, a desert, a ship, an inn, a prison…’ (Eusebius of Caesarea, Historia Ecclesiastica VIL 22, 4: 687-688)
Our ancestors in Ireland risked their lives in Penal Days to be present at the Eucharist. The Mass Rocks around this country tell a tale of faithfulness and love.
Cardinal Francis Xavier Van Thuan was imprisoned in 1975 by the communist authorities in South Vietnam. He managed to celebrate Mass each day with small drops of wine given to him as medicine and some hosts that were smuggled into his cell. This is his story:
‘Each time I celebrated Mass, I had the opportunity to extend my hands and nail myself to the cross with Jesus, to drink with him the bitter chalice. Each day in reciting the words of consecration, I confirmed with all my heart and soul a new pact, an eternal pact between Jesus and me through his blood mixed with mine. Those were the most beautiful Masses of my life.’
Prayer
Jesus, Bread of Life, give me a hunger for justice and peace.
Jesus, Bread of Life, nourish me that I may nourish others.
Jesus, Bread of Life, may I become more like you.
Jesus, Cup of Hope, give me a thirst for truth and honesty.
Jesus, Cup of Hope, fill me with your life-giving energy.
Jesus, Cup of Hope, pour your love into my heart.
Sweet Jesus who for love of me did bear your cross to Calvary, in your sweet mercy grant to me to suffer and to die with Thee.
Song Above All (Michael Smith)
Thirteenth Station – The Body of 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.
Artists have attempted to capture the moment of sadness as the body of Jesus rests in die arms of his Mother. That expression of poignant love is a sign of the bond between our Saviour and the one whose ‘yes’ made possible our salvation. As Mary stood by the cross she also stood by the disciples of her Son and was with the Twelve when the Church was born on Pentecost.
Song The Silence and the Sorrow (Liam Lawton)
Sweet Jesus who for love of me did bear your cross to Calvary, in your sweet mercy grant to me to suffer and to die with Thee.
Fourteenth Station – The Body of Jesus is laid in the Tomb
We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.
Song Holy Darkness (Dan Schutte)
The entry of the body of Jesus into the tomb of sadness that first Good Friday became the place from which the glory of the Resurrection was proclaimed after three days. This is the hope that sustains us on our Christian journey and is the reason for our belief that those who have died in Christ will rise with him also in glory.
In him, the hope of resurrection dawned,
That those saddened by the certainty of dying
might be consoled by the promise of immortality to come.
Indeed your faithful, life is changed, not ended
And when this earthly dwelling returns to dust,
an eternal dwelling is made ready for them in heaven.
Sweet Jesus who for love of me did bear your cross to Calvary, in your sweet mercy grant to me to suffer and to die with Thee.
Song Jesus The Lord (Roc O’Connor)