Mater Dolorosa Passionist Retreat Center

We adore O Christ, and we bless you.
R: Because by your cross you have redeemed the world.

Jesus stands before Pilate after a sleepless night, having suffered the beatings and mistreatment of the soldiers who arrested him. He has already been tried and condemned by the highest court of Israel. Now, he finds himself in the presence of Pontius Pilate, Roman governor of Judea and supreme judge of the people of Israel. Jesus is unjustly accused of being a traitor to Caesar by the very people who are supposed to protect him. 

Jesus knew that this day was coming, because from the very beginning of his ministry, the high priests, the Pharisees, and the Jewish leaders of Israel began to accuse him unjustly. Early on, they formed an alliance to sentence him to death. With this trial, they accomplished their desire. 

We adore O Christ, and we bless you.
R: Because by your cross you have redeemed the world.

At the second station, we begin to walk with Jesus for the last time through the streets of Jerusalem. How many times has he walked through these streets in his lifetime, with his parents, José and María, with his disciples, greeting people and talking with friends? 

This time, the soldiers put a heavy cross on his shoulders, which is going to be the instrument of his death. His body, tortured and bleeding, could hardly bear the weight of that cross. Furthermore, he knows well that it is the sins of his people that make his cross heavier. He breathes a prayer: Help me, Father, to take up my cross. 

We adore O Christ, and we bless you.
R: Because by your cross you have redeemed the world.

After Jesus takes a few steps, the weight of the cross is too much for him. As much as he resists falling, his whole body betrays him. His knees buckle, his arms weaken, his grasp slip away from the heavy cross, and suddenly, he finds himself face down in the street, his knees and elbows scraped and bleeding. 

Until this point, everyone who knew Jesus thought of him as a strong and healthy person. No one had ever seen him lying on the ground or in the street. There, covered with the dirt and grime of the road, Jesus feels the shame of someone who has been respected but now fallen from grace. He wanted to hide his face from everyone. He wishes that he didn't have to get up. However, he searches for some inner strength and slowly gets up and continues walking. 

We adore O Christ, and we bless you.
R: Because by your cross you have redeemed the world.

Jesus keeps walking, dragged by the soldiers and listening to the insults and curses of the people who are following him on the Way of the Cross. Suddenly, he glances up and sees his mother with her arms outstretched toward him. He remembers that as a child he would run around the house into her outstretched arms. Now, her eyes are filled with tears and very, very sad. 

Both are filled with inconsolable pain. Mary just wanted to embrace him once more as her beloved son! And Jesus just wanted to tell her that he understood her pain and her questions. No mother should have to experience her innocent child being treated like a common criminal. In her heart, Mary prayed: Help me to accept your will.

We adore O Christ, and we bless you.
R: Because by your cross you have redeemed the world.

The soldiers can see that Jesus can no longer carry his cross by himself. There, on a street corner, they see a strong young man, waiting to cross to the other side. His name is Simon. A soldier grabs him by force and makes him help by carrying the cross. Simon does not know what's going on. 

He is not from Jerusalem, and he is not interested in the local politics of the place. He doesn't know the prisoner who is carrying this cross, or the reason why they want to crucify him. However, he knows that if he resists, they might crucify him too. Without a word, Simon picks up the heavy cross easily. The way of the cross continues to its destination. 

We adore O Christ, and we bless you.
R: Because by your cross you have redeemed the world.

Jesus is thankful that he no longer has to carry the full weight of the cross. The pain from last night's whipping, along with a sleepless night and a crown of thorns on his head were making him weaker with each step he took. Drops of blood were dripping all over his face. He almost couldn't see anything before him. 

Before anyone knew what was happening, a woman, named Veronica, runs up to Jesus and wipes his face with her veil, cleaning away the blood and dirt that was caked to his face. The soldiers are too late to stop her. Veronica runs away through the crowd, clutching her veil, imprinted with the face of Jesus intact. An act of charity helps Jesus to continue the path to Calvary.

We adore O Christ, and we bless you.
R: Because by your cross you have redeemed the world.

Jesus' steps are getting to be slower and slower and his pain becoming more intense. In his heart, Jesus knows that his death is near. However, Jesus is determined to fulfill his Father's Will and is not going to let his suffering stop him from fulfilling his mission.

Jesus steps on a loose rock and slips a bit but cannot recover and then falls for a second time. There, lying on the street, he begins to feel a little better. He is tempted to stay down, to give up. But he knows the Will of his Father, and with great effort, he rises once again to continue his commitment to redeem the world.

We adore O Christ, and we bless you.
R: Because by your cross you have redeemed the world.

The people who are following Jesus to Golgotha, the mount where they are going to crucify him, are doing so for various reasons. Some carry a strong hatred in their hearts. Others feel sadness. Some of the disciples are in great despair because the death of Jesus will end their hope for a new dawn.

When Jesus hears the lamentations of the suffering women of Jerusalem, he stops to talk with them. "Weep not for me," Jesus tells them, "But for yourselves." Jesus was telling them that his death was not going to be the end, but the beginning of a new era. Despite all of the suffering around us, we are not to lose our trust in God's Plan of Salvation for us.

We adore O Christ, and we bless you.
R: Because by your cross you have redeemed the world.

Jesus raises his eyes and sees his destination. It's a hill where a group of soldiers are preparing for a crucifixion. It's getting harder and harder for him to walk, he's so weak and racked in pain. He feels dizzy and begins to lose his balance. He falls for the third time.

At that moment, Jesus feels completely powerless. He can no longer do anything for himself. Once more, he finds himself lying face down on the street. He doesn't have the strength to get up. Cursing at him, the soldiers pick him up with no concern for his suffering. He now feels completely humiliated. 

We adore O Christ, and we bless you.
R: Because by your cross you have redeemed the world.

At last, they reach the place of crucifixion. The soldiers begin ripping off his clothes, leaving him completely naked. All his life, he has carried himself with dignity, dressing modestly, not scandalously. But at the moment of his death, he stands naked before all the world. 

In his travels throughout Israel, Jesus always had compassion on the most vulnerable in this life, those who had committed adultery, those who did not respect their own person, those who had lost all sense of shame. Now, at the moment of his death, Jesus suffers the greatest indignity of all, being completely exposed and naked. There is no place for him to hide.

We adore O Christ, and we bless you.
R: Because by your cross you have redeemed the world.

The Soldiers are experts in executing people by crucifixion. They have crucified many, many people in their career, not only in Israel, but throughout the Roman empire. They lay Jesus on the main beam of the cross, extending his arms on the crossbar, preparing his hands and feet so that they can easily nail them to the cross.

The nails break through the skin of his hands and feet with each hammer blow, and its sound can be heard far and wide. The people, hearing the rhythm of the hammer blows, fall silent. Some gasp in a loud, auditable way, heard by everyone present. Others begin to weep. Very soon, only silence. The soldiers have finished doing their job.

We adore O Christ, and we bless you.
R: Because by your cross you have redeemed the world.

The soldiers raise the crosses of those crucified and plant them in the earth for all the world to see. From the cross, Jesus looks over the crowd who accompanied him on this Way of the Cross. He sees those who tortured and abused him, and he forgives them. He looks at the criminals crucified with him and prays for them. He sees his mother and his beloved disciple and makes the necessary arrangements for their future. 

He raises his voice to pray Psalm 22. Finally, he breathes his last with a prayer to his Beloved Father as he says: Into your hands, my God, I commend my Spirit. The author of all life is now hanging dead on his cross.

We adore O Christ, and we bless you.
R: Because by your cross you have redeemed the world.

In an instant, everything changes. The soldiers determine that Jesus is dead, piercing his side with a lance. From out of nowhere, a man named Joseph arrives with a ladder, mounts the cross and tenderly begins to lower the body of Jesus to the ground. He then places the body of Jesus into the waiting arms of his Mother, Our Lady of Sorrows.

They are all traumatized. They cannot speak any words. The hearts of all those present who gather under the cross are so full of sadness and confusion. They take time to comfort the mother of Jesus. A time of mourning begins for all who believed in Jesus as the Messiah, sent by God, for the redemption of the world. Mary ponders all these things in her broken heart.

We adore O Christ, and we bless you.
R: Because by your cross you have redeemed the world.

The small group of followers who gathered under the cross now begin to make plans to bury the body of Jesus in a nearby tomb recently hewn. They only have a couple of hours of daylight left to do everything, because the Sabbath would begin at nightfall, a very special feast day for them. Joseph and a companion named Nicodemus wrap Jesus' body in a burial shroud scented with special spices. Then, they placed the body of Jesus in the empty tomb.

The women who accompanied Jesus on the Way of the Cross also followed them and noted where they buried his body. They made plans to return early Sunday morning to continue with the funeral rites of the Jewish people. They were not going to forget Jesus the Nazarene who was crucified today.