Reader: In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Let us pray, Lord God, when our world lay in ruins you raised it up again on the foundation of your Son’s Passion and Death; give us grace to rejoice in the freedom from sin which he gained for us. And bring us to everlasting joy. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

FIRST STATION : JESUS IS CONDEMNED TO DEATH

Leader: We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you; because by your holy Cross you have redeemed the world. Amen.

Reader: As Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the scarlet cloak, Pilate said to them, “See, here is the man.” When the chief priests and their officers saw him, they cried out: “Crucify him!” At that, he gave Jesus up into their hands to be crucified. Amen.

Leader: It was indeed part of God’s plan that Christ, through his redemptive sacrifice which reached its summit with the death on the Cross, should become the source of a new unity of humanity who are called in him – Christ – to rediscover their dignity as the adopted sons of God. In this sacrifice on the Cross can be found the origin of the Church as the community of salvation. [General Audience, 6th October 1991]

Leader: Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world : Have mercy on us.

Leader: Let us pray, Lord Jesus Christ, first-born of many brethren, you are alone and mistreated all over the world today. May we be more attentive to the sufferings of others, and so grow more like you, who live and reign forever and ever. Amen.

SECOND STATION : JESUS TAKES UP HIS CROSS

Reader: They, once he was in their hands, led him away. So Jesus went out, carrying his own cross, to the place named after a skull; its Hebrew name is Golgotha. [John 19:16-17]

Leader: In the midst of this vigil stands the cross. You have borne this cross to this place and you have erected it in the midst of our gathering. On that cross, the divine ‘I Am’ of the new and eternal Covenant is made manifest ‘to the very end’. [John 13:1]. ‘God so loved the world that he gave up his only-begotten Son, so that those who believe in him may not perish, but have eternal life’ [John 3:16]. The Cross, sign of that unfathomable love; the sign that reveals that ‘God is love’. [John 4:8] [Meeting with youth, Czestochowa, 14th August 1991]

Leader: Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world: Have mercy on us.

Leader: Let us pray, Lord Jesus, you said: “Come to me, you who are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Take pity on your Church, threatened from within and without, delivered up before the world; support her with the strength of your arm, you who live and reign for ever and ever. Amen.

THIRD STATION : JESUS FALLS FOR THE FIRST TIME

Reader: Jesus falls under the weight of the cross. He does not resort to his supernatural power, nor does he resort to the power of angels. ‘Do you think that I cannot pray to my Father, who would at once send me more than twelve legions of angels?’ [Mark 14:36]. Having accepted the cup from his Father’s hands he is resolved to drink it to the end.

Leader: No being in the world is exempt from weakness, whether physical, emotional or spiritual. Each of us must face up to our handicaps humbly. In the providence of God, this does not mean a lesser aptitude for holiness or for serving the world: on the contrary, we can do all things in him who strengthens us, Christ Jesus.

Leader: Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world: Have mercy on us.

Leader: Let us pray, Lord we ask you to give to our persecuted brethren the grace to accept the Cross which they have not chosen, and to follow in your path to the Father, who lived and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit for ever and ever. Amen.

FOURTH STATION : JESUS MEETS HIS MOTHER

Reader: Simon said to Mary: ‘Behold, this child destined to bring about the fall of many and the rise of may in Israel, to be a sign which men will refuse to acknowledge: an so the thoughts of many hearts shall be made manifest. As for your own soul, it shall have a sword to pierce it.’ [Luke 2:34-35] Mary meets her Son along the way of the Cross. His Cross becomes her Cross; his humiliation is her humiliation.

Leader: Side by side with her Son, and faithfully persevering in union with her Son, she ‘advance in her pilgrimage of faith’, as the Council emphasises. This happened not without her maternal spirit to his sacrifice, lovingly consenting to the immolation of the victim to whom she had given birth, in this way Mary ‘Faithfully preserved her union with her Son, even to the Cross.’

Leader: Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world: Have mercy on us.

Leader: Let us pray, Blessed Virgin, bend in sympathy over the children who are dying of hunger and cold. Take into your arms those who die in misery, O Virgin of Tenderness, and bring them into that Kingdom where every tear will be wiped away, the Kingdom where your Son reigns forever and ever. Amen.

FIFTH STATION : SIMON OF CYRENE HELPS JESUS TO CARRY THE CROSS

Reader: As for his cross, they forced a passerby who was coming in from the country to carry it, one Simon of Cyrene, the father of Alexander and Rufus. [Mark 15:21]

Leader: ‘Even as I write, I am glad of my sufferings on your behalf, as in this mortal frame of mine, I help to pay off the debt which the afflictions of Christ still leave to be paid, for the sake of his body, the Church.’ [Colossians 1:24] The truth of our faith does not exclude, but rather demands, the participation of all people, in the sacrifice of Christ, in collaboration with the Redeemer.

Leader: Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world: Have mercy on us.

Leader: Let us pray, Lord, just as Simon came to your aid, we wish to relive the sufferings of your Church in need. Awaken in our hearts the wish to serve you in the poor, the hungry, the thirsty and all who are lonely and afraid, the least of all your brothers and sisters. You are Lord forever and ever. Amen.

SIXTH STATION : VERONICA WIPES THE FACE OF JESUS

Reader: Tradition has bequeathed us Veronica – a counterpart to the man from Cyrene. Although, being a woman, she could not physically carry the Cross to be called upon to do so, there is no doubt that she really did carry it in the only way open to her at the time, in obedience to the dictates of her heart: she wiped his face.

Leader: As Veronica ministered to Christ on his way to Calvary, so Christians have accepted to care for those in pain and sorrow as privileged opportunities to minister to Christ himself. Remember it is Christ to whom you minister in the sufferings of your brothers and sisters; the wisdom of Christ and the power of Christ are to be seen in the weakness of those who share his suffering.

Leader: Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world: Have mercy on us.

Leader: Let us pray, Lord Jesus, give us the strength to repeat Veronica’s gesture and wipe away the tears of our brethren, by sharing in their suffering. Let them know the power of your Resurrection: you who live and reign forever and ever. Amen.

SEVENTH STATION : JESUS FALLS A SECOND TIME

Reader: ‘I am a worm, not a man, scorned by all, the laughing-stock of the mob.’ [Psalm 22:6] The words of the psalmist come true in these steep, narrow little streets of Jerusalem in the last hours before the Passover, with the streets teeming with people.

Leader: Faith in sharing in the suffering of Christ brings with it the interior certainty that the suffering person; completes what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions’. It is precisely suffering, permeated by the spirit of Christ’s sacrifice, that is the irreplaceable mediator of the good things that are indispensable for the world’s salvation. [Apostolic letter Salvifici Doloris11th February 1984]

Leader: Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world: Have mercy on us.

Leader: Let us pray, Lord you call us to follow you freely on the way of the Cross. Grant that your disciples may respond to that call, deny themselves, take up the Cross, and confess that you are the Saviour of mankind through your humbling of yourself and being raised to the right hand of the Father, where you live and reign for ever and ever. Amen.

EIGHTTH STATION : JESUS CONSOLES THE WOMEN OF JERUSALEM

Reader: Jesus was followed by a great crowd of the people, and also of women, who beat their breasts and mourned over him; but he turned to them and said: ‘It is not for me that you should weep, daughters of Jerusalem; you should weep for yourselves and for your children.’ [Luke 23]

Leader: The Shroud is an image of God’s love as well as of human sin. It invites us to rediscover the ultimate reason for Jesus’ redeeming death. As it speaks to us of l ova and sin, the Shroud invites us all to impress upon our spirit the face of God’s love, to remove from it the tremendous reality of sin. Echoing the word of God and centuries of Christian consciousness, the Shroud whispers: believe in God’s love, the greatest treasure given to humanity, and flee from sin, the greatest misfortune in history. [Reflection before the Holy Shroud, Turin 24th May 1998]

Leader: Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world: Have mercy on us.

Leader:
Let us pray, almighty and eternal God, you gather together what id scattered and unite what you have gathered. Look with love upon the flock of your Son: may the bond of charity and the fullness of the faith unite all who have been consecrated by the one baptism. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

NINTH STATION : JESUS FALLS FOR THE THIRD TIME

Reader: ‘He became humbler still, making himself obedient even to death, death on the Cross.’ [Philippians 2:8]. We see Jesus falling for the third time under the Cross, falling, lying in the dusty road under the Cross, at the feet of a hostile crowd that spares him no insult or humiliation.

Leader: To have a ‘Pascal sense’ to life also means to understand the depths of the reality and the value of the Redemption carried out by the Passion and the death of Jesus, an atoning sacrifice which makes us realise the gravity of sin – a rebellion against God and refusal of sin love – as well as the marvellous work of the Redemption. [General Audience 7th May 1989]

Leader: Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world: Have mercy on us.

Leader: Let us pray, Father give the light of hope to those who will know today both suffering and tears. We ask this through your Son Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

TENTH STATION : JESUS IS STRIPPED OF HIS GARMENTS

Reader: The soldiers took up his garments, which they divided into four shares, one share for each soldier. This was in fulfillment of the passage in Scripture which says, ‘They divide my spoils among them, cast lots for my clothing.’ So it was that that the soldiers occupied themselves. [John 19:23-24]

But this solidarity was in no way an effect of sin on him: on the contrary, it was a gratuitous act of the purest love. [New Year Message, 1st January 1989]

Leader: Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world: Have mercy on us.

Leader: Let us pray, Lord we are united in indissolubly in love with those who , through love and faithfulness to Christ, must carry the Cross, stripped of everything. Strengthen our faith, so that our prayer may accompany our brothers and sisters at all times: you who live and reign forever and ever. Amen.

ELEVENTH STATION : JESUS IS NAILED TO THE CROSS

Reader: They offered him a draught of win, mixed with gall, which he tasted, but would not drink; and then they crucified him. Jesus meanwhile was saying, ‘Father ,forgive them: they do not know what they are doing.’ [Matthew 27:34-35: Luke 23:34]

Leader: To a great extent, our Catholic unity depends on mutual charity. Let us remember that the unity of the Church originated on the Cross of Christ, which broke down the barriers of sin and division and reconciled us with God and one another. Jesus foretold this unifying act when he said: ‘…and I, if I be lifted up from the earth , will draw all men to myself.’ [John 12:32] [Meeting with Catholic Bishops, Philadelphia, 4th October 1979]

Leader: Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world: Have mercy on us.

Leader: Let us pray, Father of all goodness, you had pity on your Son, bowed down by suffering. Look with mercy on the poor of this world: visit them with your love and give them your peace. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

TWELFTH STATION : JESUS DIES ON THE CROSS

Reader: From the sixth hour onwards there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour; and about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice ‘Eli, Eli, lamma sabachtani?’ - ‘My God, my God, why have your forsaken me? Jesus said, ‘It is achieved.’ Then he bowed his head, and yielded up his spirit. [Matthew 27:45,49]

Leader: The words uttered on Golgotha bear witness to the depth – unique in the history of the world – of the evil of the suffering experienced. When Christ says: ‘My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?’, his words are an expression of that abandonment which may times found expression in the Old Testament. Christ perceives in a humanly inexpressible way this suffering which is the rejection by the Father, the estrangement from God. But precisely through this suffering he accomplishes the Redemption, and can say as he breathes his last: ‘It is accomplished.’ [Apostolic letter Salvifici Doloris11th February 1984]

Leader: Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world: Have mercy on us.

Leader: Let us pray, Lord we pray that , as you wished to live our life and die our death even to the experience of abandonment by the Father, give the Church the light and strength of your presence: you who live and reign forever and ever. Amen.

THIRTEENTH STATION ; JESUS IS TAKEN DOWN FROM THE CROSS

Reader: When the body is taken down from the Cross and laid in the Mother’s arms, in our mind’s eye we glimpse again the moment when Mary accepted the message brought by the angel Gabriel. One again Jesus is in her arms, as he was in the stable in Bethlehem, during the flight into Egypt, at Nazareth.

Leader: Through faith the Mother shares in the death of her Son, in his redeeming death; and as a sharing in the sacrifice of Christ – the new Adam – this faith becomes in a certain sense the atonement for the disobedience and disbelief of our first parents. Thus teach the Fathers of the Church and especially Saint Irenaeus: ‘The knot of Eve’s disobedience was untied by Mary’s obedience; what the virgin Eve bound through her unbelief, Mary loosened by her faith.’ [Encyclical Letter Redemptoris Mater 25th March 1987]

Leader: Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world: Have mercy on us.

Leader: Let us pray, God of mercy, in the Cross of your Son you revealed to us your love and your power. Teach us to discover in the sufferings of all people the image of him who lives and reigns with you and Holy Spirit forever and ever. Amen.

FOURTEENTH STATION : JESUS IS LAID IN THE TOMB

Reader: In the same quarter where he was crucified there was a garden, with a new tomb in it, one in which no man had ever yet been laid. Here, since the tomb was close at hand, they laid Jesus, rolling a stone against the door of the tomb. [Mark 15:46]

Leader: The Shroud is also an image of powerlessness: the powerlessness of death in which the ultimate consequence of the mystery of the Incarnation is revealed. The burial cloth spurs us to measure ourselves against the most troubling aspect of the mystery of the Incarnation, which is also the one that shows with how much truth God truly became man, taking on our condition in all things, except sin. Everyone is shaken by the thought that not even the Son of God withstood the power of death, but we are all moved at the thought that he so shared our human condition as willingly to subject himself to the total powerlessness of the moment when life is spent. It is the experience of Holy Saturday, an important stage on Jesus’ path to Glory, from which a ray of light shines on the sorrow and death of every person.

By reminding us of Christ’s victory, faith gives us the certainty that the grave is not the ultimate goal of existence. God calls us to resurrection and immortal life. [Reflection before the Holy Shroud, Turin, 24th May 1998]

Leader: Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world: Have mercy on us.

Leader: Let us pray, Lord we unite ourselves with our fellow-Christians in those places in the world where they are prevented from practising and witnessing to their faith: may our prayer befriend them in their solitude and sustain their hope in your unfailing goodness. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

CONCLUDING PRAYER

Leader: Let us pray, we adore your Holy Cross, O Jesus, and we glory in your resurrection. By your death you restored to us our dignity as children of God: give us the grace to share in your redemptive work, spreading the Good News of your Resurrection to every corner of the world, you who live and reign forever and ever. Amen.

PRAYER OVER THE PEOPLE

Leader: Bow your heads and pray for God’s blessing.

Send down your abundant blessing, Lord, upon your people who have devoutly recalled the death of your Son in the sure hope of the resurrection. Grant them pardon; bring them comfort. May their faith grow stronger and their eternal salvation be assured. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.