Station 1: SO MANGLED, VICTIM OF
MY SINS! O suffering Jesus! I have deserved those bloody scourges, that cruel
sentence of death; and yet Thou didst die for me, that I should live for Thee.
I am convinced that if I desire to please men, I cannot by Thy servant. Let me
then displease the world and its vain admirers. I resign myself into Thy hands.
Let love take possession of my heart; let my eyes behold with contempt
everything that can alienate my affections from Thee; let my ears be ever
attentive to Thy word; let me through this painful journey accompany Thee,
sighing and demanding mercy. Mercy! Jesus! Amen. …Our Father….
Station 2. Meek and humble
Jesus! my iniquity and perverseness loaded Thy shoulders with the heavy burden
of the Cross. Yet I, a vile worm of the earth, O shameful ingratitude! fly even
the appearance of mortification, and everything which would check the violence
of my passions; and if I suffered, it was with a murmuring reluctance. I now, O
Savior of the world! detest my past life, and by Thy grace am determined no
more to offend Thee mortally. Let me only glory in the Cross of my Lord, by
whom the world is crucified to me, and I to the world. Lay then on my stubborn
neck the cross of true penance; let me, for the love of Thee, bear the
adversities of this life, and cleave inseparably to Thee in the bonds of
perpetual charity. Amen, Jesus. . …Our Father….
Station 3. Alas, my Jesus!
the merciless violence of Thy inhuman executioners, the excessive weight of the
Cross, or rather the more oppressive load of my sins, crush Thee to the earth.
Panting for breath, exhausted as Thou art, Thou dost not refuse new tortures
for me. Will I then refuse the light burden of Thy commandments; will I refuse
to do violence to my perverse passions and sinful attachments; will I relapse
into those very crimes for which I have shed false and delusive tears! O Jesus!
stretch Thy holy hand to my assistance, that I may never more fall into mortal
sin; that I may at the hour of my death secure the important affair of my
salvation. Amen, Jesus. . …Our Father….
Station 4. Oh, Mary! I am
the cause of thy sufferings. O refuge of sinners! let me participate in these
heart-felt pangs, which rent thy tender soul, when thou didst behold thy Son
trembling with cold, covered with wounds, fainting under the Cross, more dead
than alive! Mournful Mother! fountain of love! let me feel the force of thy
grief that I may weep with thee, and mingle my tears with thine, and thy Son’s
blood. O suffering Jesus! by Thy bitter passion, and the heart-breaking
compassion of Thy afflicted Mother, grant me the efficacious grace of
perseverance! Mother of Jesus, intercede for me! Jesus, behold me with an eye
of pity, and in the hour of my death receive me to the arms of Thy mercy! Amen,
Jesus . …Our Father….
Station 5. O suffering
Jesus! to what excess did Thy impious executioners’ cruelty proceed! Beholding
Thee faint under the Cross that Thou mightiest expire on it in the most
exquisite torture. But why should I complain of the cruelty of the Jews or the
repugnance of Simon? Have I not again crucified Thee by my crimes? Have I not
suffered with fretful impatience the light afflictions with which Thy mercy visited
me? Inspire me not, my Jesus, to detest and deplore my sinful impatience, my
ungrateful murmurs, and let me with all my heart cheerfully accompany Thee to
Mount Calvary; let me live in Thee, and die in Thee. Amen, Jesus. . …Our Father….
Station 6. O Jesus, grant
me tears to weep my ingratitude. How often have I, infatuated wretch, turned my
eyes from Thee and Thy sufferings, to fix them on the world and its vanities!
Let me henceforth be Thine without division. Stamp Thy image on my soul, that
it may never admit another love. Take possession of my heart on earth, that my
soul may take eternal possession of thee in glory. Amen, Jesus. . …Our Father….
Station 7. O Most Holy
Redeemer! treated with the utmost contempt, deprived of fame and honor – led
out to punishment – through excess of torments, and the weakness of Thy
delicate and mangled body, Thou didst fall a second time to the earth. What
impious hand has prostrated Thee? Alas, my Jesus! I am that impious, that
sacrilegious offender: my ambitious pride, my haughty indignation, my contempt
of others humbled by Thee to the earth. Banish forever from my mind the unhappy
spirit of pride. Teach my heart the doctrine of humility, so that detesting
pride, vain glory and human respect, I may forever be united with Thee, my meek
and humble Jesus. Amen. . …Our Father….
Station 8. O Jesus, only
begotten Son of the Father! who will give water to my head, and a fountain of
tears to my eyes, that I may day and night weep and lament my sins? I humbly
beseech Thee by these tears of blood Thou didst shed for me, to soften my
flinty bosom, that tears may plentifully flow from my eyes, and contrition rend
my heart, this hardened heart, to cancel my crimes and render me secure in the
day of wrath and examination, when Thou wilt come to judge the living and the
dead, and demand a rigorous account of Thy blood. Amen, Jesus. . …Our Father….
Station 9. Oh, *clement Jesus! I return Thee
infinite thanks for not permitting me, ungrateful sinner, as Thou has permitted
thousands less criminal, to die in their sins. I, who have added torments to
Thy torments, by heaping sin on sin, kindle in my soul the fire of charity, fan
it with Thy continual grace into perseverance, until, delivered from the body
of this death, I can enjoy the liberty of the children of God and Thy co-heirs.
Amen, Jesus! . …Our Father….
Station 10. Suffering
Jesus! I behold Thee stripped of Thy garments, Thy old wounds renewed, and new
ones added to the old. I behold Thee baked in the presence of thousands,
exposed to the inclemency of the weather; cold, trembling from head to foot, insulted
by the blasphemous derisions of the spectators. Strip, O mangled Lamb of God!
my heart of the world and its deceitful affections. Divest my soul of its
habits of sensual indulgence. Embitter the poisoned cup of pleasure, that I may
dash it with contempt from my lips, and through Christian mortification arrive
at Thy never fading glory. Amen, Jesus! . …Our Father….
Station 11. O patient Jesus!
meek Lamb of God! who promised, “When I shall be exalted from earth I will draw
all things to myself,” attract my heart to Thee, and nail it the Cross. I
now renounce and detest my past impatience. Let me crucify my flesh with its
concupiscence and vices. Here burn, here cut, but spare me for eternity. I
throw myself into the arms of Thy mercy. Thy will be done in all things. Grant
me resignation, grant me Thy love, I desire no more. Amen, Jesus! . …Our Father….
Station 12. O suffering Son
of God! I now behold Thee in last convulsive pangs of death – Thy veins opened,
Thy sinews torn, Thy hands and feet, O Fountain of Paradise! distilling blood.
I acknowledge, charitable Jesus, that my reiterated offences have been Thy
merciless executioners, the cause of Thy bitter sufferings and death. Yet, God
of mercy, look on my sinful soul, bathe it in Thy precious blood! Let me die to
vanity of the world, and renounce its false pleasures. Thou didst pray, my
Jesus, for Thy enemies. I forgive mine. I embrace then in the bowels of Thy
charity. I bury my resentment in Thy wounds. Shelter me in the day of wrath in
the sanctuary of Thy side. Let me live, let me die, in my crucified Jesus.
Amen. . …Our Father….
Station 13. At length, O
Blessed Virgin! Mother of sorrow! thou art permitted to embrace thy beloved
Son. But alas! the fruit of thy immaculate womb is all over mangled, in one
continued wound. Yes, O Lord! the infernal fury of the Jews has at length
triumphed; yet we renew their barbarity, crucifying Thee by our sins,
inflicting new wounds. Most afflicted mother of my Redeemer, I conjure thee by
the pains and torments thou suffered in the common cause of Salvation, to
obtain for me, by thy powerful intercession, pardon of my sins, and grace to
weep with a sympathizing feeling, thine and thy Son’s afflictions. As often as
I appear at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, let me embrace Thee, my Jesus, in
the bosom of my heart. May I worthily receive Thee as the sacred pledge of my
salvation. Amen, Jesus. . …Our Father….
Station 14. Charitable
Jesus, for my salvation Thou performed the painful journey of the Cross. Let me
press the footsteps marked by Thee, gracious Redeemer – the paths which,
through the thorns of life, conduct to the heavenly Jerusalem. Would that Thou
wert entombed in my heart, that being united to Thee, I might rise to a new
life of grace, and persevere to the end. Grant me, in my last moments, to
receive Thy precious Body, as the pledge of immortal life. Let my last words be
Jesus and Mary, my least breath be united to Thy last breath on the Cross; that
with a lively faith, a firm hope and ardent love, I may die with Thee and for
Thee; that I may reign with Thee for ever and ever.Amen, Jesus . …Our Father….
