Jesus Dies on the Cross
With His suffering at an end, Jesus announces, “It is finished,” and gives up His Spirit. His bloody sacrifice fulfills the animal sacrifices once offered by the Jews in the Temple, and so the Temple curtain rips from top to bottom as the earth trembles and the sky darkens. The true “Lamb of God” has been slain.
At Mass:
We sing or recite:
“Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world: have mercy on us.
Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world: have mercy on us.
Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world: grant us peace.”
Jesus is the Lamb of God that is foreshadowed by the Passover lambs sacrificed and consumed by the Jews since the time of Moses. His death cleanses the world of sin and His Blood washes us and makes us new creatures in God’s eyes. Through His death, God will “Have mercy on us” and “Grant us peace.”
The Jews sacrificed new lambs every year at Passover, unable to fill the void between them and God. But with Jesus’ death “It is finished” – mercy and peace has triumphed.
[For an explanation of the series of meditations on the Way of the Cross, see this Introduction.]
Jesus Is Nailed to the Cross
Jesus’ arms are stretched out on the wood of the cross and nails are driven into His flesh. His hands and feet are pierced as the hammer blows drive the shafts of metal through His skin until they penetrate through to the other side, pinning Him to the cross, where He awaits the peace that death will bring.
At Mass:
We all exchange a sign of Christ’s Peace.
Jesus extended His arms on the cross in submission to a violent death. The excruciating agony that He must have suffered at that moment earned for us our eternal peace in Heaven which we now eagerly await. As we gather for Mass and experience a foretaste of the Heavenly banquet, we offer a sign of that Peace as we extend our arms to one another in a handshake or a warm embrace.
We might think of our own hands as we turn to our neighbors to offer this sign of peace, and imagine how we might use our hands to do Christ’s work as His own hands are pierced and bleeding on the cross. His agony on the Cross, which was anything but peaceful, has purchased for us our lasting peace. We respond with the work of our hands.
[For an explanation of this series of meditations on the Way of the Cross, see this Introduction.]
Jesus Is Stripped of His GarmentsAs a sign of further humiliation, Jesus’ clothes are removed before his execution and the soldiers divide His garments among them. They cast lots to see who would receive His cloak.
At Mass:
We stand and recite the “Our Father” the prayer given to us by Jesus when His disciples asked Him how they ought to pray.
The soldiers who stripped Jesus did not realize what priceless relics they held in their hands. The clothing worn by Christ, drenched in His own blood, would be safeguarded by any Christian today and could not be sold or traded or gambled away. To receive such a reminder of Jesus’ Passion would be a humbling gift.
The “Lord’s Prayer” is such a gift. Christ was not ashamed as He stood naked and in agony before the Cross – He was clothed in His own glory as God’s Son. He offers us this priceless cloak when He instructs us to call God “Our Father” and to become children of God.
As we stand naked before God, we can cry out to Him in confidence with Jesus, “Abba” – “Father.”
[For an explanation of this series of meditations on the Way of the Cross, see this Introduction.]
Jesus Falls the Third Time
Jesus has nearly reached His destination, but is overcome once again with exhaustion and collapses once more. Bloodied and bruised, He must lift Himself up off the ground and face His executioners.
At Mass:
The priest elevates the consecrated bread and wine, which has been transformed into the Body and Blood of our Lord. As we reflect on the Stations of the Cross and Jesus’ third fall, we might imagine the priest lifting up Jesus’ Body, holding Him up so that He can fulfill His mission. As He hold’s Christ’s broken Body, the celebrant proclaims:
“Through him, with him, and in him, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, all glory and honor is yours, almighty Father, for ever and ever.”
And we reply: “Amen.”
This is the “Great Amen” – when we give our assent to the great mystery of Christ’s Real Presence in the Eucharist. Amen; I believe; I stake my life on it.
The irony of Jesus’ redemptive death is that He became weak and powerless (in our own human estimation) and succumbed to a humiliating death. And it was in this weakness that He triumphed over sin. As He fell a third and final time His weakness and frailty must have seemed impossible to overcome. Yet we hold up His Body and proclaim: “…all glory and honor is yours, almighty Father, for ever and ever.”
[For an explanation of this series of meditations on the Way of the Cross see this Introduction.]
Jesus Meets the daughters of Jerusalem
As Jesus draws near to the place of His death, He encounters some women of the city who wept bitterly at His suffering. He turns to them and says, “Do not weep for me, but for yourselves and for your children…” Jesus was not absorbed in his own self pity; rather He knew that His own sacrificial death had implications that reached far beyond His own human suffering. Future generations would share in His sufferings, as He tells the women gathered there, “For the time will come when you will say, 'Blessed are the barren women, the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!'” – But also every generation will share in His victory over death and sin.
At Mass: The priest recalls that our Eucharistic celebration commemorates Jesus’ suffering and death as a memorial for all generations. We remember the pope, the clergy and all the faithful and especially we remember those who have gone before us in faith.
Jesus’ death certainly had a far-reaching effect, uniting all generations and the “wombs that bore them and the breasts that nursed.” Our suffering is united to His and His triumph will be ours to share.
The Mass is a foretaste of this final victory which will be celebrated at the eternal banquet in Heaven.
[For an explanation of this series of meditations on the Way of the Cross see this Introduction.]
Jesus Falls the Second Time
Again Jesus succumbs to the weariness of his sufferings and falls to the ground. A momentary pause while He gathers His strength to continue on. A break in the procession toward the Place of the Skull, where He will be nailed to the Cross.
At Mass:
We pause with Jesus to proclaim the mystery of our faith. This proclamation can take several forms:
“Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again.”
“Dying you destroyed our death, rising you restored our life. Lord Jesus, come in glory.”
“When we eat this bread and drink this cup, we proclaim your death, Lord Jesus, until you come in glory.”
“Lord, by your cross and resurrection, you have set us free. You are the Savior of the World.”
As Jesus picks Himself up from the dusty streets of Jerusalem, we help Him on His way by lifting up our voices to proclaim the mystery of His death and resurrection. We pause with Him to ponder this mystery and then proceed with our Eucharistic celebration.
[For an explanation of this series of meditations on the Way of the Cross see this Introduction.]
Veronica Wipes the Face of Jesus
Jesus has now traveled some distance in pain and suffering. Sweat mingled with blood drips from his face. From the crowd a woman steps forward to offer a small gesture of consolation. She wipes His face with a cloth. Tradition tells us that an image of Jesus is transferred onto this holy relic and too His sacred blood is preserved there.
At Mass:
The priest continues with Jesus own words: “Take this, all of you, and drink from it: this is the cup of my blood, the blood of the new and everlasting covenant. It will be shed for you and for all so that sins may be forgiven. Do this in memory of me.”
Veronica used her veil to capture the blood of Jesus mingled with the sweat of His brow – the priest now holds a chalice of wine mingled with water. This becomes for us Jesus’ Blood.
Symbolically, Veronica’s veil is a relic that memorializes Jesus’ shedding of blood. The Blood of the Cross is preserved on her veil and it is the same Blood that we find in the chalice from which we drink at Mass.
The Mass is the memorial feast which Jesus instituted to make His sacrifice present to us down through the ages. We do this in memory of Him. We celebrate the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass as He commanded us. It is like a sacred “relic” handed down to us which pours out grace on all who gather to worship - pouring out Christ’s Blood as true drink.
[For an explanation of this series of meditations on the Way of the Cross see this Introduction.]
