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. 

Following The Example Of St. Joseph

Today the Church celebrates the Solemnity of St. Joseph, husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary and foster Father to Jesus. Thirty days ago, we began a novena to the Patron of the Universal Church, entrusting fathers and husbands to his humble and loving care.

America is suffering from a crises in fatherhood, and so now, more than ever, we are in need of St. Joseph’s witness. Blessed John Paul II often wrote of his fatherly love:

Through the exercise of his fatherhood, Joseph cooperates, in the fullness of time, in the great mystery of salvation (cf. Redemptoris Custos, n. 8). "His fatherhood is expressed concretely in his having made his life a service ... to the mystery of the Incarnation and to the redemptive mission connected with it; ... in having turned his human vocation to domestic love into a superhuman oblation of self, an oblation of his heart and all his abilities into love placed at the service of the Messiah growing up in his house" (ibid.). To this end, God shared his own fatherly love with Joseph, that love "from [which] every family in heaven and on earth is named" (Eph 3:15).  

Like every child, Jesus learned about life and how to act from his parents. How could we not think, with deep wonder, that he must have developed the human aspect of his perfect obedience to the Father's will particularly by following the example of his father Joseph, "a just man" (cf. Mt 1:19)?

Fathers are images of God’s love for their children, and so let us celebrate St. Joseph today and encourage a renewed culture of fatherhood in America! 

The Eleventh Station: Jesus Is Nailed To The Cross

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

“They tear holes in my hands and my feet; I can count every one of my bones” (Ps 21:17- 18). 

The words of the Prophet are fulfilled.
The execution begins.
The torturers’ blows crush the hands and feet of the Condemned One against the wood of the Cross.
The nails are driven violently into his wrists. Those nails will hold the condemned man as he hangs in the midst of the inexpressible torments of his agony.
In his body and his supremely sensitive spirit, Christ suffers in a way beyond words.
With him there are crucified two real criminals, one on his right, the other on his left. The prophecy is fulfilled: “He was numbered among the transgressors” (Is 53:12).
Once the torturers raise the Cross, there will begin an agony that will last three hours. This word too must be fulfilled: “When I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all people to myself” (Jn 12:32).

What is it that “draws” us to the Condemned One in agony on the Cross?
Certainly the sight of such intense suffering stirs compassion. But compassion is not enough to lead us to bind our very life to the One who hangs on the Cross.
How is it that, generation after generation, this appalling sight has drawn countless hosts of people who have made the Cross the hallmark of their faith?
Hosts of men and women who for centuries have lived and given their lives looking to this sign? 

The Tenth Station: Jesus Is Stripped And Offered Gall And Vinegar To Drink

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

“When he tasted it, he would not drink it” (Mt 27:34). 

He did not want a sedative, which would have dulled his consciousness during the agony.
He wanted to be fully aware as he suffered on the Cross, accomplishing the mission he had received from the Father. 

That was not what the soldiers in charge of the execution were used to. Since they had to nail the condemned man to the Cross, they tried to dull his senses and his consciousness.
But with Christ this could not be. Jesus knows that his death on the Cross must be a sacrifice of expiation. 

This is why he wants to remain alert to the very end. 

Without consciousness, he could not, in complete freedom, accept the full measure of suffering.
Behold, he must mount the Cross, in order to offer the sacrifice of the New Covenant.

He is the Priest. By means of his own blood, he must enter the eternal dwelling-places, having accomplished the world’s redemption (cf. Heb 9:12). 

The Lord Is Close To The Brokenhearted

 R. (19a) The Lord is close to the brokenhearted.

The LORD confronts the evildoers,
to destroy remembrance of them from the earth.
When the just cry out, the LORD hears them,
and from all their distress he rescues them.

R. The Lord is close to the brokenhearted.

The LORD is close to the brokenhearted;
and those who are crushed in spirit he saves.
Many are the troubles of the just man,
but out of them all the LORD delivers him.

R. The Lord is close to the brokenhearted.

He watches over all his bones;
not one of them shall be broken.
The LORD redeems the lives of his servants;
no one incurs guilt who takes refuge in him.

R. The Lord is close to the brokenhearted.

Psalms 34:17-18, 19-20, 21 &  23

To The Ends Of The Earth

After a month of prayerful anticipation, we at the Blessed John Paul II Shrine are grateful to once again have a Shepherd in the Chair of St. Peter. We welcome and embrace Pope Francis, who has already shown the Church that he is a prayerful man with a humble devotion to the Blessed Mother.

After the Habemus Papam announcement yesterday, Pope Francis addressed the Church:

And now let us begin this journey, the Bishop and the people, this journey of the Church of Rome which presides in charity over all the Churches, a journey of brotherhood in love, of mutual trust. Let us always pray for one another. Let us pray for the whole world that there might be a great sense of brotherhood. My hope is that this journey of the Church that we begin today, together with the help of my Cardinal Vicar, may be fruitful for the evangelization of this beautiful city.

Let us pray for Pope Francis, and let us especially ask for the intercession of Blessed John Paul II. May the Holy Spirit be with the new Holy Father, guiding him on this “journey of brotherhood” to the fruitful evangelization of the world.  

Blessed John Paul II's "Accepto"

In his biography of Blessed John Paul II, Witness to Hope, George Weigel recounts the moment when Cardinal Karol Wojtyła was elected Pope:

…the cardinals, who had been keeping their own tallies, were formally told what they already knew—Cardinal Karol Wojtyła had received the votes necessary to be elected pope. At a certain point in the tally, Wojtyła had put his head in his hands…to be elected Pope meant ‘a clear cut off from one’s previous life, with no possible return.’

…When Cardinal Jean Villot, who had told the cardinals in his sermon pro elegendo Pontifice that they ‘must elect a bridegroom of the Church,” stood in front of Wojtyła’s desk and asked, “Acceptanse electionem?” there was no hesitation. Karol Wojtyła knew the seriousness of the times and the weight of responsibility that was being laid upon him, but he saw in his brothers’ votes the will of God. And so, ‘In the obedience of faith before Christ my Lord, abandoning myself to the Mother of Christ and the Church, and conscious of the great difficulties, accepto’ (254).

This was a challenging moment for Cardinal Karol Wojtyła, because he knew that the Chair of St. Peter would take him away from his beloved Poland. Still, he accepted the decision of his fellow cardinals with great courage and became the next bridegroom of the Church.

As the Conclave proceeds, let us remember to pray for our next Pope. May the Holy Spirit be with him now, to comfort and guide him.