Stations of the Cross

(Quotes from St. John of the Cross – taken from “The Way of the Cross with the Carmelite Saints,” compiled by Sr. Joseph Marie, CHT)

First Station: Jesus is condemned to death.

They all concurred in the verdict guilty, with its sentence of death. (Mark 14:64)

“When something distasteful or unpleasant comes your way, remember Christ crucified, and be silent.”

Second Station: Jesus carries his cross.

Jesus was led away… carrying the cross by Himself. (Jn 19:16-17)

“He who seeks not the cross of Christ seeks not the glory of Christ”

“It behooves us not to go without the cross, just as our Beloved did not go without it, even to the death of love…”

Third Station: Jesus falls the first time.

I was hard pressed and was falling (Ps 118:13)

“On this [narrow] road there is room only for self-denial (as our Savior
asserts) and the cross. The cross is a supporting staff and greatly
lightens and eases the journey.”

Fourth Station: Jesus meets His afflicted mother.

Simeon said to Mary His mother…you yourself shall be pierced with a sword. (Lk 2:34-5)

"Sometimes, however, and at certain periods, God allows [the soul] to feel things and suffer from them that she might gain more merit and grow in the fervor of love, or for other reasons, as He did with the Virgin Mother, St. Paul, and others.”

Fifth Station: Simon of Cyrene helps Jesus carry His cross.

They pressed [Simon] into service to carry the Cross. (Mk 15:21)

“Our Lord proclaimed through St. Matthew: My yoke is sweet and my burden light (Mt 11”30) the burden being the cross. If individuals resolutely submit to the carrying of the cross, if they decidedly want to find and endure trial in all things for God, they will discover in all of them great relief and sweetness.”

“Some souls obtain sensible or spiritual sweetness from God because they are incapable of eating the stronger and more solid food of the trials of the cross of His Son. He would desire them to take the cross more than any other thing.”

Sixth Station: Veronica wipes the face of Jesus.

There was in Him no stately bearing to make us look at Him. (Is 53:2)

“To the soul that is more advanced in love, more conformed to the divine Will, God communicates Himself more. A person who has reached complete conformity and likeness of will has attained total supernatural union and transformation in God.”

Seventh Station: Jesus falls the second time

My strength has failed through affliction. (Ps 31:11)

“Since you walk in these darknesses and voids of spiritual poverty, you think that everyone and everything is failing you. It is no wonder that in this it also seems God is failing you. But nothing is failing you…Those who desire nothing else than God walk not in darkness, however poor and dark they are in their own sight. And those who walk not presumptuously, nor according to their own satisfactions, whether from God or from creatures, nor do their own will in anything, have nothing to stumble over….”

Eighth Station: Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem.

Do not weep for Me. Weep for yourselves and for your children. (Lk 23:28)

“Christ is little known by those who consider themselves His friends. For we see them going about seeking in Him their own consolations and satisfactions, loving themselves very much, but not loving Him very much by seeking His bitter trials and deaths.”

Ninth Station: Jesus falls a third time.

I looked about, but there was no one to help…no one to lend support.” (Is 63:5)

“If you do not fear falling alone, do you presume that you will rise up alone? Consider how much more can be accomplished by two together than by one alone.”

Tenth Station: Jesus is stripped of His garments.

They divided His clothes among them. (Mt 27:35)

“The soul that is naked of desires and whims, God will clothe with His
purity, pleasure and will.”

Eleventh Station: Jesus is nailed to the cross.

They have pierced my hands and feet. (Ps 22:17)

“Crucified inwardly and outwardly with Christ, you will live in this life with fruitfulness and satisfaction of soul, and possess you soul in patience [Lk 21:19].”

“Let Christ crucified be enough for you, and with Him suffer and take your rest, and hence annihilate yourself in all inward and outward things.”

Twelfth Station: Jesus dies on the cross.

Through his suffering, my servant shall justify many…he surrendered himself to death. (Is 53:11-12)

“True love receives all things that come from the Beloved – prosperity, adversity, even chastisement – with the same evenness of soul, since they are His Will…Death cannot be bitter to the soul that loves, for in it she finds all the sweetness and delight of love…She thinks of death as her friend and bridegroom, and at the thought of it she rejoices as she would over the thought of her betrothal and marriage, and she longs for that day and that hour of her death…”

Thirteenth Station: Jesus is taken down from the cross.

They came and took the body away. (Jn 19:38)

“However intimate may be a person’s union with God, there will never be satisfaction and rest until God’s glory appears [Ps 17:15]

“It is vital for individuals to make acts of love in this life so that in being perfected in a short time they may not be detained long, either here on earth or in the next life, before seeing God.”

Fourteenth Station: Jesus is laid in the tomb.

But when they entered the tomb, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus (Lk 24:3)

“If you desire to be perfect, sell your will, give it to the poor in spirit, come to Christ in meekness and humility and follow Him to Calvary and the sepulcher.”

“It is fitting that the soul be in this sepulcher of dark death in order that it attain the spiritual esurrection for which it hopes.”

Jesus is Risen: Eternal Life: Union with the Holy Trinity.

“Oh, what blessings we will enjoy in the vision of the Most Blessed Trinity!”