THE WAY OF THE CROSS.

Introduction O Lord Jesus we wish to follow the way which you went through to bring about our salvation, through it strengthen our souls so that we may remain faithful to you. †††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††† FIRST STATION JESUS IS CONDEMNATION TO DEATH We adore... Because by your... Pilate condemned our Lord to death for crime he did not commit Prayer: Father through the merits of this station grant us the grace of self-denial and unconditional love for you and our neighbors. Our father... †††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††† SECOND STATION JESUS CARRIED THE CROSS We adore you... Because by your... Our Lord accepted the cross for the salvation of our souls. Prayer: O God we offer you this station for perseverance in carrying our daily cross after the example of Christ your son. Hail Mary.... †††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††† THIRD STATION JESUS' FIRST FALL. We adore you... Because by your... The pushing and dragging of our Lord by the soldiers caused Him to fall down under the heavyweight of the cross. Prayer: O father by the merits of this station grant us the grace to rise again when ever we fall into sin. Glory be... †††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††† FOURTH STATION JESUS MET HIS MOTHER We adore you... Because by your... On His way to Calvary our Lord met his mother, and she encouraged Him. Prayer:O father through the merits of this station grant us the grace of fortitude in our journey of faith. Our father... †††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††† FIFTH STATION SIMON OF CYRENE HELPED JESUS We adore you... Because by your... Thinking that He may not make it to Calvary, the soldiers forced Simon to help Jesus carry the cross Prayer: Grant us Father the grace of generosity in our journey of faith. Hail Mary... †††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††† SIXTH STATION VERONICA WIPED JESUS' FACE We adore you... Because by your... Seeing how He was suffering and the blood that covered His face Veronica moved with compassion wiped our Lord's face. Prayer:O God may we be Veronica to you today in your brothers. And may the needy everywhere find a helper close at hand. Glory be... †††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††† SEVENTH STATION JESUS' SECOND FALL We adore you... Because by your... While still on His way to Calvary, Jesus fell the second time under the heavy cross. Prayer: O God grant that we may not abandon our faith in the face of tribulations but hold fast to you. Our father... †††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††† EIGHTH STATION JESUS CONSOLED THE WOMEN We adore you... Because by your... Even under the heavyweight of the cross in pains and agony He consoled the women who wept seeing His pitiable condition. Prayer: Father grant us the grace to imitate Christ's example, whose compassionate heart beats for His needy children. Hail Mary... †††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††† NINETH STATION JESUS' THIRD FALL We adore you... Because by your... He fell again, He was worn out by hunger and loss of blood but leaving us example to follow. Prayer: Lord grant that we may never give up in our hope of the father's mercy. Glory be... †††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††† TENTH STATION JESUS WAS STRIPED NAKED We adore you... Because by your... When they got to Golgotha our Lord was striped off His clothes. Prayer:O God grant us by the merit of this station never to engage in the things that irritate your Angels and Saints. Our father... †††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††† ELEVENTH STATION JESUS WAS NAILED TO THE CROSS. We adore you... Because by your... Jesus was nailed to the cross He carried to Calvary, all for our sake. Prayer: O God as Jesus accepted being nailed to the cross for us, grant that we may never separate ourselves from His love and service. Hail Mary... †††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††† TWELFTH STATION JESUS DIED ON THE CROSS We adore you... Because by your... (silence/song) Jesus gave up His ghost on the cross after His crucifixion. He died our death. Prayer: Father by the death of your son on the cross, forgive us our sins and grant us the grace to resist the world, the flesh and the devil. Glory be... †††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††† THIRTEENTH STATION JESUS WAS TAKEN DOWN FROM THE CROSS We adore you... Because by your... The body of Jesus was brought down from the cross and laid in His mother's arms. What sorrow she felt on beholding closely her dead son. Prayer: O dear Mother Mary we are sorry for what our sins caused you and for times we have not honored you and the passion and death of our Lord as it should be. Our father... †††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††† FOURTEENTH STATION JESUS' BURIAL We adore you... Because by your... Jesus was laid in the tomb close by where He was crucified. Prayer: O God through the merits of this station grant us simplicity of heart. Hail Mary... †††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††† CONCLUDING PRAYER O our crucified Lord you took the cross that is meant for us sinners, patiently in order to free us from sin and death, grant that we may follow all that you taught us in this way of the cross and end our journey in your beatific vision. Amen. †††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††† For the pope's intentions 1Our father, 1Hail Mary and 1Glory be... †††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††† Lenten season time of prayer, Fasting, Penance and Arms giving. ††† May God's mercy be upon us.