Fifth Sorrowful Mystery: The Crucifixion

And when they came to the place which is called The Skull, there they crucified him, and the criminals, one on the right and one on the left. And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.”

It was now about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour, while the sun's light failed; and the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Then Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said, “Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit!” And having said this he breathed his last.

-Luke 23: 33-34a, 44-46. 

According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, “‘Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures’ (1 Cor 15:3)” (CCC, 619).

While meditating on Christ’s crucifixion as we enter into this Holy Triduum, say one Our Father, 10 Hail Mary’s, and a Glory Be. Let us conclude by reciting the Hail Holy Queen and by making a Sign of the Cross:

Hail, Holy Queen, Mother of Mercy, our life, our sweetness, and our hope.  To you we cry, poor banished children of Eve. To you we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this valley of tears.  Turn then, O most gracious advocate, your eyes of mercy toward us, and after this our exile, show unto us the blessed fruit of your womb, Jesus. O clement! O loving! O sweet Virgin Mary! 

Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. 

Blessed John Paul II, Pray for Us!

The Twelfth Station: Jesus Dies On The Cross

V/. We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you.
R/. Because by your holy Cross you have redeemed the world.

“Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Lk 23:34). 

At the height of his Passion, Christ does not forget man, especially those who are directly responsible for his suffering. Jesus knows that more than anything else man needs love; he needs the mercy which at this moment is being poured out on the world. 

“Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise” (Lk 23:43). 

This is how Jesus replies to the plea of the criminal hanging on his right: “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom” (Lk 23:42). 

The promise of a new life. This is the first fruit of the Passion and imminent Death of Christ. A word of hope to man. 

At the foot of the Cross stood Mary, and beside her the disciple, John the Evangelist. Jesus says: “Woman, behold your son!” and to the disciple: “Behold your mother!” (Jn 19:26-27). 

“And from that moment the disciple took her to his own home” (Jn 19:27). 

This is his bequest to those dearest to his heart.

His legacy to the Church. 

The desire of Jesus as he dies is that the maternal love of Mary should embrace all those for whom he is giving his life, the whole of humanity. 

Scaling the Mountain

On this Ash Wednesday, the Church embarks on the liturgical season of Lent. During these 40 days of fasting in preparation for Easter, Pope Benedict XVI calls us to meditate on the relationship between faith and charity. In his Lenten Message, he writes:

Lent invites us, through the traditional practices of the Christian life, to nourish our faith by careful and extended listening to the word of God and by receiving the sacraments, and at the same time to grow in charity and in love for God and neighbor, not least through the specific practices of fasting, penance and almsgiving.

One way to nourish our faith is by reflecting on the final earthly journey of Our Lord, Jesus Christ. We face His Passion and Death every time we gaze upon the Crucifix, but during the penitential season of Lent, it is fitting that we become more familiar with the loving sacrifice Jesus made for us during His final test.

We will meditate on the Stations of the Cross here on Open Wide the Doors throughout these next 40 Days, following the steps of Blessed John Paul II in the Holy Year 2000.  Reflecting on Our Lord’s Passion will nourish our faith and give us the strength to “cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light…” (Rom 13: 12). In his Lenten message, Pope Benedict says:

The Christian life consists in continuously scaling the mountain to meet God and then coming back down, bearing the love and strength drawn from him, so as to serve our brothers and sisters with God’s own love.

Lets us scale the mountain together, then, so that we may bear the love and strength drawn from Our God. 

The Triumph of the Cross

This is the meaning of the Cross of Christ. This is its power. “God sent his Son into the world not to condemn the world, but so that through him the world might be saved” (Io. 3, 17). 

The feast that we celebrate today speaks of a marvelous and ceaseless action of God in human history, in the history of every man, woman and child. The Cross of Christ on Golgotha has become for all time the center of this saving work of God. Christ is the Savior of the world, because in him and through him the love with which God so loved the world is continuously revealed: “God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son” (Ibid. 3, 16). 

...The Father gave him so that this Son, who is one in substance with him, would become man by being conceived of the Virgin Mary.

...The Father gave him so that as the Son of Man he would proclaim the Gospel, the Good News of salvation.

...The Father gave him so that this Son, by responding with his own infinite love to the love of the Father, might offer himself on the Cross.

            

                -Blessed John Paul II, Homily on Feast of the Triumph of the Cross, 1988