THE STATIONS OF THE CROSS

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CHRIST THE KING CHURCH SALFORDS

If you go to Jerusalem, you will be invited to follow the Via Dolorosa.  There, in the streets of Jerusalem, the tradition of walking the Stations of the Cross continues.  When the Holy places became inaccessible at the time of the Crusades, the tradition of following the footsteps of Christ was translated, with much of the Holy Week ritual, to the local church.  Round the walls of the church, especially during Lent and Passiontide, are set fourteen representations of the Way of the Cross.  In some churches in the Middle Ages a Labyrinth or maze was placed in the floor of the nave of the church for penitents and would-be pilgrims to follow on their knees.

At each of the Stations, you may use the following prayers:

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

Holy God,
Holy and strong,
Holy and immortal,
have mercy upon us.

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God,
have mercy on me, a sinner.

At the end, you may use these prayers:

Lord, have mercy upon us,
Christ, have mercy upon us,
Lord, have mercy upon us.

Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name.
Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread
and forgive us our trespasses
as we forgive those who trespass against us;
and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. 
For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours, now and forever.  Amen.

VI        Veronica wipes Jesus’ face
Lord Jesus you left the imprint of your sorrows on Veronica’s cloth;
imprint your love upon my heart, that one day I may see you face to face.

VII        Jesus falls a second time
Jesus, falling under the weight of the world’s sin,
help me to lift you up, so that you may draw all your children to yourself.

VIII        The women of Jerusalem weep for our Lord
As the women of Jerusalem were moved by your sufferings,
though they did not know you,
Help us, loving Jesus, to be moved to action by the suffering
of those we do not know.

IX        Jesus falls a third time
Lord, as you fall into the dust from which we are made,
may I never feel so unloved as to fall utterly from you.

X        Jesus is stripped of his garments
Strip me, Lord, I pray, of all the trappings of power and success
beneath which I try to hide the naked ambition and love of self which cripples me

XI        Jesus is nailed to the cross
Lord Jesus Christ, nailed to the cross for me;
Draw me into your wounds that I may be made one with you, in life and in death.

XII        Jesus dies on the cross                (Were you there?)
Jesus, in dying for me you completed the work of my salvation;
may I rejoice in the power of your victory, and praise you for my new life.

XIII        Jesus is laid in his mother’s arms        (Hail Mary)
Mary, mother of Christ, you held in your arms once again the Saviour of the world;
pray that he may receive me into his loving arms, now and at the hour of my death.

XIV        Jesus is buried in the sepulchre
Lord Jesus Christ, as your body rested in the grave, hallowing it for my new birth,
make me ready to die daily to sin and prepare me for life in all its fullness.

(Some observe the rite of Benediction as ‘Station – XV’)