Meditations on the fourteen stations : with a sketch of their origin / by Joseph McSorley.


Meditations
on the

ourteen Stations
'with

qA Sketch of Their Origin

“By

JOSEPH McSORLEY
of the Paulist Fathers

THE PAULIST PRESS
401 West 59th Street
New York, N. Y.



Digitized by the Internet Archive

in 2016

https://archive.org/details/meditationsonfoumcso



A Off-' -A

MEDITATIONS

on the

FOURTEEN STATIONS
with

A SKETCH OF THEIR ORIGIN

By

JOSEPH McSORLEY
of the Paulist Fathers

New York
THE PAULIST PRESS
401 Weft 59th Street



Copyright, 1924, by The Missionary Society of St.
Paul the Apostle in the State of New York.

PRINTED AND PUBLISHED IN THE U. S. A. BY

THE PAULIST PRESS, NEW YORK, N. Y.



MEDITATIONS
ON

THE FOURTEEN STATIONS

ORIGIN OF THE STATIONS

The Catholic and Suffering
EADINESS to face the ugly facts of
human suffering has ever been encour-
aged by the Catholic Church. Per-
haps we may almost say that an honest
unflinching attitude towards the least
pleasant, the most depressing of human
experiences is the dominant character-

istic of Catholic sanctity. The saints not only
recognize, but even labor to acquire the habit of
remembering what the average man would gladly
deny and at least is very willing to forget. The
saint remembers that sin is an ever present evil.
That suffering is the antidote it would be folly to
deny. He wishes never to lose sight of the fact
that we have all been saved from death by the
Passion of Our Lord and Savior.
The institution of the season of Lent is among

the chief means by which the Church attempts
to help us to take the correct attitude toward
suffering.

Lent

Once the word “Lent”—of Saxon origin and
akin to the word “long”—signified the springtime
with its lengthening days. In modern minds it is
associated with the spring period of fasting, that
same season which, in the Latin tongues, takes



its name from some form of the word “forty”

—

as Quadragesima, Cuaresima, Cuaresma, Careme.
For the origin of the Lenten fast, we go back

to the Gospel. The first three Evangelists tell
of Our Lord’s withdrawal into the wilderness to
fast and pray for forty days. Imitating Him, His
followers, year by year, and generation after gen-
eration, have devoted the same period of time to
communion with God, to bodily penance, and to
at least a measure of solitude.

The Lenten Fast
The most prominent characteristic of the sea-

son of Lent is, without doubt, the fast. Accord-
ing to old traditions, it was the Apostles who in-
stituted the custom of fasting during the weeks
preceding Easter. At any rate, for the past six-
teen hundred years, the Catholic Church has ob-
served substantially the Lent which we now ob-
serve. Varying to some extent in the matter of
date, and also in the rigor with which it was kept,
the Lenten fast has thus been a matter of uni-
versal observance in every age of Christian his-
tory. To the precept of fasting, sometimes was
added the prohibition of attendance at amuse-
ments and entertainments, and for centuries,
hunting also was under the ban during Lent.

Lenten Prayer

Lent, however, is not concerned only with ex-
ternals. Internal practices as well are indispensa-

ble to a proper observance of Lent. One must do
penance in the Gospel sense of the word—that is
to say, one must have contrition for sin. Enter-
ing into our own souls we must realize how
grievously we have offended God and we must
consider carefully the motives impelling us to-
ward deep contrition. This, of coiu*se, implies
reflection, meditation—in a word, prayer. Lent,
therefore, is eminently a season of prayer.



Lent greatly promotes the development of a
spirit of prayer, if we make use of its opportu-
nities. For Lent provides us with a good excuse
to withdraw ourselves from the world sufficiently
to obtain freedom for serious reflection and pious
meditation. And solitude is very necessary for
the cultivation of prayer. The ordinary compan-
ionship of our fellows is largely a distraction.
With difficulty we pursue a serious train of
thought unless alone. At certain times the pres-
ence of others does, indeed, exert a blessed in-
fluence. A thrilling song, an eloquent speech, di-
vine music, the sight of heroic deeds—these lift
us up to heights where, for an inspiring moment,
we perceive heavenly beauty and a sublime ideal;
these light a beacon that shows us the path to
holiness. But when the vision passes, and the
flame dies down, our pulse will slacken; and then
the insistent need is calm persistance, tireless
courage, the enduring heroism that comes from
deep and serious thought. Thought like this is
possible, for the most part, only when souls are
aloof for a little space from the ordinary ways of
men, tranquil and undistracted. Then they wax
clear-sighted to perceive principles; they become
alert in the working out of solutions and an-
swers. Hence the helpfulness of Lent.

Our Lord’s Passion
Among the subjects of thought that come be-

fore us for consideration during Lent, a certain
preeminence, of course, belongs to the Passion
of Our Blessed Lord. Each and every scene of
that tragic night, and still more tragic day, de-
serves to be vividly recalled and minutely pon-
dered by all who profess to be disciples of Jesus
Christ. To every saint the Passion has been the
subject of life-long devoted study; and so it
should be to us all. Lent both reminds us of this
obligation and provides us with opportunities for
its fulfillment.



The Way of the Cross
Chief among the exercises devised by the ar-

dent students of the Passion of Christ is the de-
vout practice known as The Way of the Cross,
or the Stations. In forms that differ as widely as
racial characteristics and personal temperaments
and yet always include the common essential ele-
ment suggested by the name, “The Way of the
Cross,” the practice of making a spiritual pil-
grimage in company with the suffering Christ,
seems to be almost as old as Lent itself. It was
the one substitute available to those many devout
soulr, less favored chan their fortunate fellows,
who were unable to come from the end of the
earth, traversing land and sea, to visit the Holy
Places made sacred by the shedding of Our Sav-
ior’s Blood.

The Stations 600 Years Ago
Henry Suso provides us with a fourteenth

century instance of a devotional exercise inspired

by the motive of a spiritual pilgrimage to the
Holy Places:

“He [Blessed Henry] now began every night
after matins at his usual place, which was the
chapter room, to force himself into a Christlike
feeling of sympathy with all that Christ, his Lord
and God, had suffered for him. He stood up and
moved from corner to corner, in order that all
sluggishness might leave him, and that he might
have throughout a lively and keen sensitiveness
to Our Lord’s sufferings. He commenced this
exercise with the Last Supper, and he accom-
panied Christ from place to place, until he
brought Him before Pilate. Then he received
Him after He had been sentenced at the tribunal
and he followed Him along the sorrowful way to
Calvary from the courthouse to beneath the gal-
lows. The following was the manner in which
he made the ‘Way of the Cross’: On coming to



the threshold of the chapter house, he kneeled
down and kissed the print of the first step which
the Lord took, when, on being sentenced, he
turned Him around to go forth to death. Then
he began the psalm which describes Our Lord’s
passion, ‘Deus, Deus meus, respice in me’ (Ps.
xxi.), and he went out by the door into the clois-
ter repeating it. Now there were four streets
through which he accompanied Him. He went
with Him to death along the first street, with the
earnest desire and will to go forth from his
friends and all perishable goods, and to suffer
for Christ’s glory misery without consolation and
voluntary poverty. In the second street he pro-
posed to himself to cast aside all perishable honor
and dignity and voluntarily to despise this pres-
ent world, considering how the Lord had become
a ‘worm and the outcast of the people.’ At the
beginning of the third street he kneeled down
again, and, kissing the ground, willingly re-
nounced all needless comfort and all tender
treatment of his body in honor of the pains of
Christ’s tender body; and he set before his eyes
what is written in the psalm, how that all Christ’s
strength was dried up, and His natural vigor
brought nigh to death as they drove Him onward
thus pitiably; and he thought how fitting it is
that every eye should weep and every heart sigh
on account of it. When he came to the fourth
street, he kneeled down in the middle of the road,
as if he were kneeling in front of the road
through which the Lord must pass out; and then
falling on his face before Him he kissed the
ground, and crying out to Him prayed Him not
to go to death without his servant but to suffer
him to go along with Him. Then he pictured to
himself as vividly as he could that the Lord was
obliged to pass quite close to him, and when he
had said the prayer, ‘Ave, rex n6ster, Fili David’!
(Hail, our King, Son of David), he let Him move
onwards. After this he knelt down again, still



turned towards the gate, and greeted the cross
with the verse, ‘O crux ave, spes unicaM (Hail, O
Cross, our only hope!), and then let it go past.
This done he kneeled down once more before the
tender Mother Mary, Heaven’s Queen, as she
was led past him in unfathomable anguish of
heart, and he observed how mournfully she bore
herself, and noted her burning tears and sighings
and sorrowful demeanor; and he addressed her in
the words of the ‘Salve Regina’ and kissed her
footsteps. Then he stood up and hastened after
his Lord until he came up with Him.

“And the picture was sometimes so vividly
present to his mind that it seemed to him as if
he were in body walking at Christ’s side, and the
thought would come to him how that, when King
David was driven from his kingdom, his bravest
captains walked around with him and gave him
loving succor (2 Kings xv.). At this point he
gave up his will to God’s will, desiring that God
would do with him according to His good pleas-
ure. Last of all he called to mind the epistle
which is read in Holy Week from the prophecy
of Isaias, beginning ‘Quis credidit auditui nostro’
(Is. liii.), and which so exactly describes how the
Lord was led forth to death, and, meditating
upon it, he went in by the door of the choir, and
so up the steps into the pulpit until he came be-
neath the cross in the place where one day the
hundred considerations upon the Passion had
been made known to him. He kneeled down and
looked upon Jesus stripped of His garments at
the moment when He was cruelly nailed to the
cross. Then, taking a discipline and in a passion
of fervor, nailing himself to the cross with his
Lord, he prayed that neither life nor death, weal
nor woe, might ever separate him from the
Crucified.”^

iRe-quoted from The Stations of the Cross by Her-
bert Thurston, S.J., p. 13 et seqq.



The Stations To-day
Derived in all probability from a medieval de-

votion known as The Seven Falls immortalized
in the famous carvings of Adam Krafft, the ar-
rangement of the Stations now in general use
comprises fourteen stages of the progress of Our
Blessed Lord from the Judgment Hall along the
Via Dolorosa to Calvary and finally to the Sepul-
chre. As an aid to piety, it represents the exer-
cise on which a long established and widespread
popular preference has conferred a sort of su-
premacy among the various devotions commonly
practised during Lent. Of course, neither the
popularity nor the efficacy of the devotion is de-
pendent upon, nor is it an argument for, the his-
torical accuracy of the fourteen scenes of the Sta-
tions. What cannot be denied, however, is that
the devotion has been for centuries, and is still,
of immense value to stimulate the imagination, to
arouse the emotions, and to heighten religious
fervor and resolution. For meditation the Sta-
tions are more commonly used than any other
scenes connected with Our Lord’s Passion.

When practised in the prescribed form, the
devotion of The Way of the Cross includes medi-
tation on the Passion of Christ as an essential
element; and although the meditation need not
necessarily be made upon each successive sta-
tion, yet such is the common custom. Brief
meditations on the Stations are easy enough to
find in prayer books and manuals of piety, yet it
may be that the considerations presented in the
following pages will be of service to devout per-
sons who during Lent, or at other times, wish to
meditate on the familiar pictures of the Way of
the Cross. The writer even ventures to hope that
daily use of them will do much to deepen in the
soul of the user the true spirit of the Cross.



FIRST STATION

“Let Him Be Crucified’’
TN the court of the Roman governor Jesus

stands, as the words of the death sentence are
spoken. They are words without pretense of
courtesy or sympathy. Harsh, brutal, unfeeling
men, with little or no evidence of common hu-
man feeling, demand the sentence, and proceed to
execute it. Inspired by envy of the meanest type,
and made possible only by utter disregard of the
claims of justice, hurled at an innocent man as a
sequel to his imjustified arrest, the words thrust
Him suddenly to the brink of death. The pris-
oner who listens to them becomes aware that He
is about to be pushed hurriedly into eternity
through the portal of an agonizing crucifixion.
Yet He remains silent, patient, unafraid.

Colloquy

To Thee, blessed Jesus, majestic in Thy quiet
dignity, undisturbed by all the storm of malice
and brutality surging aroimd Thee, by curses and
insults and blasphemies and blows, to Thee I
make appeal that Thou impart to me some little
share of the perfect divine tranquillity which is
Thine by right, which was never lost. I, so easily
stirred, so quick to anger, so anxious to repay in-
sult with insult and blow with blow, need the as-
sistance of this example. To Thee, blessed Jesus,
so amiable when encompassed by hatred and ill
treatment, I make appeal that Thou impart to me
some little share of that gracious benevolence,
that tender affection which Thou didst display
even towards those who outraged and abused
Thee. To Thee, blessed Jesus, threatened with
instant death and ready at once to take the awful
step into the dark Valley of the Shadow, I make
appeal that Thou impart to me the gift which
will make me ever prepared to follow when death
summons me.



SECOND STATION

“Take Up Thy Cross”

S
POKEN or implied, the command to bear the
cross was given to Jesus by the Roman sol-

diers who had been appointed as His execution-
ers. There it lay, rough and unlovely, ominous
with its outstretched arms, forbidding in its sin-

ister suggestion of agony and death. Large
enough, after being rooted in the ground, to bear

the weight of an uplifted man, the cross was far
too heavy for the strength of the one now forced
to bear it. Jesus comes to the cross, and stoops
to lift it up. He will not be able to carry it to
Calvary; He will not be able even to stand up-
right under its oppressive weight. Yet without
complaint or murmuring, without even calculat-
ing how much the cross exceeds His present
strength. He takes it up bravely, as if to say:
“This cross is Mine, and carry it I will, until I
fall down, helpless to go farther.”

CollOQUU

To Thee, blessed Jesus, so obedient in taking
up Thy Cross, so indifferent to its weight, so
reckless of Thy strength, so little disposed to
calculate the probability of being able to finish
Thy journey, to Thee I make appeal to impart
to me some of that heroic, self-forgetful spirit of
Thine. I, so jealous of every burden imposed
upon me, so quick to question whether or not it
comes by command of lawful authority, so re-
sentful of being given a burden that will strain
me, so prone to calculate my physical resources,
so hasty to conclude that a cross is beyond the
measure of my strength, so solicitous about my
health and comfort, I, bowed in shame as I look
upon Thee bearing Thy enormous cross, ask
Thee to help me to carry all my burdens hence-
forth in the spirit of perfect resignation.



THIRD STATION
The First Fall

AS Jesus goes along the rough way, bearingthe heavy cross, some unevenness of the
ground, a projecting stone, or perhaps merely
His swaying under the insupportable burden
overbalances Him, and He falls. It means a most
cruel shock to His crushed nerves, a renewing of
the pain of His numerous wounds, and He lies on
the ground for an instant as if unconscious or
dead, the cross holding Him down. Yet despite
the shock and the pain, the sense of helplessness
and the inevitable depression experienced as He
lies there, pressed down to the earth by a weight
under which He cannot rise, not for a single in-
stant does the will of Jesus change or falter.
Even while lying helpless, unable to stir hand or
foot. He is as determined as ever to carry the
cross to the end of the journey.

Colloquy

To Thee, Blessed Jesus, lying helpless on the
ground, yet never for an instant wavering in Thy
resolution, I make appeal for the grace to learn
the many lessons Thou dost provide for my in-
struction. I who, instead of waiting to be
crushed under the weight of my cross, so
quickly pray to be rid of it, I who, when borne
down by the weight of a burden seemingly be-
yond my strength to bear, abandon my resolu-
tion, complain that God has forgotten me, and
decide that I will no longer attempt to obey the
Will which can be carried out only at so terrible
a cost, I now appeal to Thee to make me hence-
forward so loyal, brave and persevering that the
strength of my soul shall outlast the strength of
my body, and even the things that are beyond me
physically I still will attempt to do, in imitation

of what Thou hast done for me and every other
sinner.



FOURTH STATION

Jesus Meets Mary

^HE body of Jesus may well have been almost
numb with pain when into His heart there

strikes a new sharp pang, as He sees His Moth-
er’s eyes resting upon Him and reads in them a
sorrow like to no other sorrow. To bear His
own pain, grievous as it was, must have been in-
finitely more easy than to endure the sight of His
Mother’s utter desolation. That He did not cry
out in protest against the bitter suffering He had
been called upon to endure, might seem to be a
very miracle of bravery; that He could bear to
see His Mother’s agony is nothing less than a
triumph of divine grace. And of His Mother,
what can we say but this? That to be able to
look upon the bruised body and the haggard,
blood-stained face of her First-born, her Well-
Beloved, and yet not to cry out in protest or com-
plaint against God’s dispensation, means that she
believed and trusted and loved God more than
normal human nature can even attempt to under-
stand.

Colloquy

To Thee, Blessed Jesus, wounded not only in
Thy body, but in the tenderest affections of Thy
soul, not merely impelled to doubt the goodness
of the Father by the instinctive protest of human
nature against such suffering as is Thine, but still
more urged to rebel against so cruel a blow to
Thy Blessed Mother, to Thee I make appeal to
help me worship the Holy Will of God, though
all the evidence in the world be brought forward
to make me doubt His love. Even when holy mo-
tives and the useless suffering of the good tempt
me to doubt and question, let me, I beseech Thee,
have the grace to imitate Thee by following un-
flinchingly along the path God’s Providence has
marked out.



FIFTH STATION

The Cyrenian Helps Jesus
A STRANGER in the crowd, poor and friend-

less, suddenly with alarm finds himself
dragged forth by the strong arms of the soldiers
to take his place alongside Jesus and help to carry
the cross. One may easily imagine the surprise,
the dumb anger, the hostility with which, for fear
of incurring a worse evil, the helpless Simon con-
sents to do this humiliating service; and one may
very easily assume that his strongest desire is to
be freed of the unwelcome burden thrust upon
him. Also one may readily believe that Simon
has not long been assisting Jesus in the carrying
of the cross, before a complete change comes
over his spirit, and reluctance gives place to joy.
The one event in all his life of which he is most
proud is the fact that for a brief space of time he
is privileged to carry the cross together with his
Lord.

Colloquy

To Thee, Blessed Jesus, possessed of such
wonderful influence over the human heart that a
moment’s association with Thee will make bitter
things sweet and hard things easy and shameful
things most glorious. Who in an instant didst
convert the Cyrenian from a reluctant compan-
ion in suffering to a devoted worshiper and Thy
willing slave, to Thee I make appeal that Thou
wouldst work a similar miracle in this selfish,
sinful heart of mine. I, who am always reluctant
to accept the cross; I who, when called to be Thy
companion in hardship or humiliation or pain,
shrink away in fear and fright and unwillingness,
I beg of Thee the grace that will make me realize
that to suffer with Thee, to tread in Thy foot-
steps, to help to carry Thy cross is the most pre-
cious privilege, the greatest glory, the most en-
during joy that the soul can ever know.



SIXTH STATION

Veronica and Jesus

A HELPLESS, blood-stained prisoner, mocked
by the crowd and forced brutally along by

the executioners, Jesus is calculated to arouse
pity and sympathy in a tender heart. Stirred
deeply, Veronica makes her way to the side of
Jesus and with a towel wipes away the bloody
sweat which stains His Face. It is a brave, un-
selfish act, motived by pure pity, and reflects the
high ideals that Christ Himself had taught.
Carried out with a lofty disregard of possible un-
pleasant consequences, this deed might well serve
as a model to all who are conscious of their abil-
ity to relieve suffering, even in a slight degree.
Veronica’s instant and miraculous reward is a
pledge that God will never leave a truly noble
deed without generous compensation.

Colloquy

To Thee, Blessed Jesus, bleeding from Thy
wounds, bent under the weight of the cross, pub-
licly shamed, on Thy way to a felon’s death,
Leader-in-Chief of all who are despised and suf-
fer scorn, of all the helpless and wretched and
friendless and poor of the human race, to Thcc
do I appeal for some little share of this brave
woman’s spirit. For pity and sympathy and love
are born of hearts that resemble Thine. Pity and
sympathy and love are dear to Thee, and always
will be dear. I, so harsh and unfeeling when the
pain of others is in question; I, so deaf to the
mute appeal of voiceless suffering; I, who so
many times have passed Thee by, in the person
of some poor sufferer, without ministering to
Thee, I beg that I may resemble Veronica in pity
for the unfortunate, in swift readiness to wait
upon and comfort all who suffer.



SEVENTH STATION

The Second Fall

Again the uneven ground, the projectingstone, or the swaying of the body, and Jesus
drops to the ground to be bruised by the heavy
cross as it also falls, to lie prostrate, dazed,

stunned, as one without power or life. A harder
test of resolution than a fall in these circum-
stances cannot well be imagined; shock, pain, de-
pression, all are so many arguments and motives
to weaken and change the strong will with which
one has started forth. Yet, as the body of Jesus
lies there, motionless, crushed and broken, with-
out ability to lift itself or move. His will and
resolution are in no wise altered. Firm in His
determination as when first He placed the cross
upon His shoulders and began to bear it. He but
waits until these moments of physical helpless-
ness shall have passed away in order to start
again on the journey He has undertaken.

Colloquy

To Thee, Blessed Jesus, so changeless in Thy
purpose, so strong of will, so true and faithful
in every test, to Thee I make appeal out of the
depths of my weakness and fickleness that Thou
impart to me some share of that divine persever-
ance, that loyal will, that unchangeable purpose
which is characteristic of Thee and characteristic
of Thy saints. I, so faint-hearted and feeble, so
weak-spirited, so fearful, so ready to change my
decision, to go back on my word, to be untrue to
my resolution, to falsify my promise, I make ap-
peal to Thee to give me some little share of Thy
brave spirit, that henceforward, despite all dis-
appointment, discouragment, pain, depression,
failure, despite any and every misfortune, any
and every test, I may be loyal to the duty which
the Heavenly Father has laid upon me.



EIGHTH STATION

Jesus Speaks to the Women

I
N His progress along the streets of Jerusalem,
Jesus finds Himself near a group of good-

hearted Jewish women, who cannot restrain their
tears. These tears are their tribute to the true
friend of the people who for His goodness is now
being treated as their greatest enemy. But noth-
ing is further from the heart of Jesus than to in-
vite pity for His own distress. Instantly He
thinks of others more needy than Himself; and
to those others He directs the tears and sym-
pathy offered Him. “Weep not for Me,” He says,
“but for your children,” as if to say, “Think not
of Me. Of your children, still more unhappy, still
more friendless, still more in need of sympathy
and tears, I would have you think.”

Colloquy

To Thee, Blessed Jesus, so self-forgetting, so
considerate, so generous in the belittling of Thine
own needs, so solicitous to relieve the wretched-
ness of others, to Thee do I make appeal that
Thou impart to me some little share of this per-
fect charity of Thine. I, who make myself the
center of the universe, who exaggerate my deeds,
my talents, and my sufferings; I, who constantly
press upon others my claim to attention, to sym-
pathy, to assistance, who act as if no one ever
experienced hardships as great as mine, I beg of
Thee to open my eyes and to reveal to me what
hitherto I have not seen. To all who weep and
suffer and are in want, to all who lack shelter and
food and clothing and friends, to all who are
bowed down under the weight of misfortune or
stained by sin, to all who bear the punishment of
ill deeds done by themselves or others—^to all
these, O Blessed Jesus, teach me to realize I am
a debtor.



NINTH STATION

The Third Fall
A GAIN Jesus lies prostrate on the ground; again

the pain renewed, the deep sense of helpless,
hopeless desolation rule the body and the heart of
this stricken Man; and still no change in courage,
or spirit, or resolution. It is the last time that
the perseverance of Jesus will thus be tested, for
He has shown that nothing can prevail against
His soul of steel, His adamantine will. As well
attempt to roll back the ocean tide, or to swing
the stars of heaven from their course, as to divert
Jesus Christ from the fulfillment of the mission
appointed by His Heavenly Father. Moving
slowly along, or lying prostrate, acutely sensitive
to pain, or half stunned by the shock of a heavy
fall. He is ever the same. No alteration in His
surroundings or His condition can ever effect a
change in His resolution.

Colloquy

To Thee, Blessed Jesus, so unlike all others
who have ever lived, and in particular so unlike
me, the weakest and most changeable of all, I
make appeal that Thou impart to me some little
share of that constancy which I so sorely need.
Time and again, 1 have started forth upon the
path indicated by the pointing finger of God, time
and again I have been tried and tested, time and
again I have fallen. Never once have I been per-
fectly loyal, perfectly true. What shall I say to
explain my fickleness? How shall I defend this
recurring disloyalty, which means that my will is
feeble and my love weak, and that in my life sel-
fishness is triumphant. Help me to remember
Thee, helpless but unyielding, indomitable though
beaten to the groimd. Over pain, depression, and
the cruel sense of failure, make me, like Thee, in-
v/ardly victorious.



TENTH STATION

Jesus Is Stripped of His Garments

A rrived at the hill of Calvary, the
execution-

ers proceed to strip Our Savior of His blood-
stained garments. Rough-handed as they are,
eager to be through with their task, totally indif-
ferent to the wounds covering the body of their
Prisoner, the soldiers tear the garments quickly
off, causing fresh blood to flow and inflicting
sharp pain on the sensitive flesh, raw from the
scourging and swollen with bruises. A further
affliction is the shame endured by Our Savior thus
rudely exposed to the curious eyes of the un-
friendly staring multitude. Needless, as well as

undeserved, this coarse exposure, this wanton
humiliation, is borne by Jesus in the same spirit
of meek silence and gentle patience manifested
during every moment of His Passion.

Colloquy

To Thee, Blessed Jesus, cruelly hurt by the
stripping off of blood-encrusted garments, shame-
fully humiliated before the public gaze, bearing
both insult and injury with total resignation,
speaking no word of protest or self-vindication,
to Thee, I appeal that Thou impart to me some
little share of Thy divinely perfect patience. I,
so quick to justify myself, even when at fault, so
ready to invent excuses and to vindicate my con-
duct, so often eager, even at the expense of truth,
to shelter myself from the slightest humiliation,
I beg of Thee to help me imitate Thy example
during the stripping off of Thy garments. Since
Thou hast really taken my place, stood my pun-
ishment and endured humiliation which should
justly have been mine, I can only beg Thee to
make me henceforward ready to bear patiently
and in silence even those humiliations which seem
not to be deserved.



ELEVENTH STATION

Jesus Nailed to the Cross

TTERE is the cross, and Jesus is ready for the
sacrifice. Never was a life more freely of-

fered, never was a victim less reluctant. He
might have had a legion of angels to scatter His
persecutors and bear Him swiftly to a place of
safety. But freely He had taken up His cross,
and now freely He extends Himself upon it,
while sharp nails are driven through hands and
feet, both to increase His suffering and to render
escape impossible. None was ever so well en-
titled as Jesus to meet death magnificently, in
heroic attitude, publishing the greatness of His
soul, and the freedom of His sacrifice. Instead,
He condescends to die as felons die, held fast by
iron nails, as if, coward-like. He might run away.

Colloquy

To Thee, Blessed Jesus, relinquishing even
that liberty which is above life itself in value,
making no claim to die with fitting dignity, or to
let the world perceive how splendid is Thy sacri-
fice, to Thee I make appeal that I may share Thy
readiness to be deprived of freedom. The nails that
fasten Thee to the cross, eloquently reproach me
for my unmeasured love of liberty, as they re-
proach all Christians who still hesitate, or still
refuse, to let themselves be bound. To every
willing slave of duty and law; to those who for
Thy sake submit to be fastened to the cross of
ill-fortune or of persecution, of sickness, of cal-
umny, or of shame; to those who for love of Thee
shackle themselves by promises or vows ; to every
consecrated virgin and wife and husband and
priest, fastened to the cross in imitation of Thy
example, do Thou, O Jesus, give the grace to be
true till death.



TWELFTH STATION

Jesus Dying

Having hung upon the cross in agony
for nigh

three hours, Our Savior is about to die. At

this supreme moment, His one thought is the

mission which He came upon earth to fulfill in
obedience to His Father. Now, at the last in-
stant, reviewing His life from beginning to end,

He finds it without spot or blemish, without
shortcoming or defect. It has been wholly as the

Father wished it. On the first Christmas night
in Bethlehem, during the flight into Egypt, in

Jerusalem and about the Temple, during the boy-

hood years at Nazareth, and while on the mis-

sionary journeys in Judea, and Samaria, and Gal-

ilee, among friends as among enemies, in exalta-
tion and depression, always without shadow of

imperfection. He has lived the life prescribed.
He can say truly, ‘Tt is consummated”— have
fulfilled My mission.” So saying. He bows His
head and dies.

Colloquy

To Thee, Blessed Jesus, the one perfect Man
of all the millions who have lived, wholly obe-
dient to conscience in childhood and youth as in

maturer years, true to Thy mission in days of
peace and comfort as in days of storm and woe,

never putting pleasure before duty, or self-will

before the will of Heaven, to Thee I make appeal
that I may share the ever-present sense of conse-
cration which was Thine. I, who cannot say of
my past years that they have been lived in per-
fect accordance with the Father’s will, may yet
hope to spend all of life still left me in whole-
hearted obedience. Or, if that be too much to
expect, at least, with regard to the duty of to-

day, let me hope to be perfect, that this night,
for once, I may say of my daily task, “It is con-
summated.”



THIRTEENTH STATION

The Taking of Jesus From the Cross

F>Y the reverent hands of His disciples, the dead" body of Jesus is taken down from the cross
and for a moment laid in the arms of the Mother
of Sorrows. To appreciate the depth of Our
Lady’s grief, at this instant, one should both pos-
sess a mother’s heart and be a saint. Surely, as
she embraces the bruised and lifeless body of her
First-born, no one will venture to approach her,
least of all those who betrayed, abandoned, and
helped to crucify Him. As she looks upon the
cruel work which sin has wrought in the broken
body of Jesus Christ, will not her mother’s heart
cry out for justice, demanding the punishment of
sinners? To her, thus desolate, mournful, broken-
hearted, what sinner dare even speak?

Colloquy

Blessed Jesus, I dare. To her, whose heart is
an image of Thine own, to her, the Refuge of
Sinners, whose soul is consumed not with the
sense of her own suffering, but with a 'measure-
less longing for the glory of God and the salva-
tion of sinners, I and all other wretched souls
who have betrayed, abandoned and crucified
Christ may go with perfect confidence. Mother
of Sorrows, broken-hearted in thy desolation, for
thy dead Son’s sake obtain the pardon of my num-
berless offences. Seeing thy grief, marking His
wounds and bruises, I begin to know what it was
I did when I turned my back upon my God and
joined the company of sinners. Sorry, ashamed,
and truly contrite, I beg forgiveness, and I ask
the grace to remember my sin always, so that
henceforward I shall never be without a sense of
shame and sorrow.



FOURTEENTH STATION

The Buried Jesus

WITH but little delay, the body of Jesus is pre-pared for Jburial, carried to the sepulchre,
and securely enclosed therein. Then the dis-

ciples, with the Blessed Mother, all withdraw. In

a sense, it is the final parting, for never again will

Jesus Christ, the Incarnate God, live among men
the earthly life He led before. Yet, as the dis-
ciples turn away from the sepulchre, leaving the

buried Jesus there, the living Jesus goes with

them in their hearts; and from that divine and

blessed Presence they are to be separated never-

more. Heretofore, He has lived on earth before
the eyes of men, to be gazed upon alike by good

and bad, but now. He lives only in the hearts of
those that love Him and is beheld only by eyes
which faith has purified.

Colloquy

To Thee, Blessed Jesus, dead in the sepulchre,
but living in the hearts of those who worship
Thee, ever present, ever loving, always ready to

guide and protect, to comfort and console, my
best, my perfect Friend, my Savior and my God,
to Thee I make appeal that Thou impart to me
the gift of being always mindful of Thy presence.
All Thou hast done for me, all Thou art prepared
to do, cannot be comprehended by my mind nor
pictured by my imagination; but this I know,
that Thou art here within me now, never to de-
part unless by my own choice. So I take Thee
for my Friend, now and always. Lord Jesus,
come.







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