Stations of the Cross for Religious Life

Stations of the Cross

By

Sister Kieran Foley, FSE Sister Angela Marie Castellani, FSE Lent 2015 - Year of Consecrated Life

As we meditate on the Passion of Christ during this Year of Consecrated Life, let us keep in mind and pray for men and women religious throughout the world who are carrying the suffering of the Body of Christ, and in union with Pope Francis, let us reflect on his words in relation to each Station.

STATION 1. JESUS IS CONDEMNED TO DEATH For religious women and men who are persecuted for their faith and feel condemned to a life of oppression.

In these situations we are called to be living sources of water from which others can drink. At times, this becomes a heavy cross, but it was from the cross, from his pierced side, that our Lord gave himself to us as a source of living water. Let us not allow ourselves to be robbed of hope!

(Pope Francis, Joy of the Gospel, 6)

STATION 2. JESUS CARRIES HIS CROSS For religious women and men who are carrying the cross of illness.

Even when illness, loneliness and inability make it hard for us to reach out to others, the experience of suffering can become a privileged means of transmitting grace and a source for gaining and growing in sapientia cordis.

We come to understand how Job, at the end of his experience, could say to God: “I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you�

(42:5). People immersed in the mystery of suffering and pain, when they accept these in faith, can themselves become living witnesses of a faith capable of embracing suffering, even without being able to understand its full meaning.

(Message of Pope Francis for the 23rd World Day of the Sick)

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STATION 3. JESUS FALLS THE FIRST TIME For religious women and men in need of hope in the face of difficulties.

Our Christian life unfolds in that context, between memory and hope: memory of our past journey, memory of so many graces received from the Lord. And hope, looking at the Lord, who is the only one who can give me hope. And in order to gaze at the Lord, to know the Lord, we pick up the Gospel and carry out this contemplative prayer. Today, for example, try for 10 minutes - 15, no more – to read the Gospel, picture it and say something to Jesus. And nothing more. And so your knowledge of Jesus will be bigger and your hope will grow. Do not forget, keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus.

(Homily at Casa Santa Marta, February 3, 2015)

STATION 4. JESUS MEETS HIS MOTHER For the parents of religious women and men who hold their daughters and sons constantly in their hearts.

[The evangelist Luke] says four times that Our Lady and St. Joseph wanted to do what was required by the Law of the Lord (cf. Lk 2:22, 23, 24, 27). One almost feels and perceives that Jesus’ parents have the joy of observing the precepts of God, yes, the joy of walking according to the Law of the Lord!

They are two newlyweds, they have just had their baby, and they are motivated by the desire to do what is prescribed. This is not an external fact; it is not just to feel right, no! It’s a strong desire, a deep desire, full of joy.

(Pope Francis Homily on the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord February 2, 2015)

STATION 5. SIMON HELPS JESUS CARRY HIS CROSS For the many lay associates who, in the face of obstacles, faithfully carry out in the secular arena the mission and charism of a particular religious congregation.

Let us all remember this: one cannot proclaim the Gospel of Jesus without the tangible witness of one’s life. Those who listen to us and observe us must

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be able to see in our actions what they hear from our lips, and so give glory to God! I am thinking now of some advice that Saint Francis of Assisi gave his brothers: preach the Gospel and, if necessary, use words. Preaching with your life, with your witness.

(Pope Francis’ Homily at Eucharistic Celebration at the Basilica of St. Paul Outsidethe-Walls, April 14, 2013)

STATION 6. VERONICA WIPES JESUS’ FACE For religious women and men who give themselves to the intimate needs of others through health care services.

May every sick and frail person see in your faces the face of Jesus, and may you come to see Christ’s own flesh in every suffering person.

(Pope Francis’ Address to the Members of Unitalsi, November 9, 2013)

STATION 7. JESUS FALLS THE SECOND TIME For religious women and men who serve those who have fallen in their struggles with addictions and mental illness.

Every encounter with Christ, who in the Sacraments gives us salvation, invites us to “go” and communicate to others the salvation that we have been able to see, to touch, to encounter and to receive, and which is truly credible because it is love. In this way, the Sacraments spur us to be missionaries, and the Apostolic commitment to carry the Gospel into every setting . . .

(Pope Francis, General Audience, November 6, 2013)

STATION 8. JESUS MEETS THE WOMEN OF JERUSALEM For religious women and men who witness to the merciful Heart of Mother Church through their unwavering presence in the lives of others.

What would the Church do without you? She would lack your motherhood, warmth, tenderness and motherly intuition!

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(Pope Francis, to the Participants in the Plenary Assembly of the International Union of Superiors General (I.U.S.G.), May 8, 2013)

STATION 9. JESUS FALLS THE THIRD TIME For religious women and men who give hope to those whose spirits are crushed by the weight of adversity.

I understand the grief of people who have to endure great suffering, yet slowly but surely we all have to let the joy of faith slowly revive as a quiet yet firm trust, even amid the greatest distress.

(Pope Francis, Joy of the Gospel, 6)

STATION 10. JESUS IS STRIPPED OF HIS GARMENTS For religious women and men who identify with those who feel stripped of their dignity from prejudice and are exposed to public judgment by slanderous and false accusations.

No one can strip us of the dignity bestowed upon us by this boundless and unfailing love. With a tenderness that never disappoints, but is always capable of restoring our joy, he makes it possible for us to lift up our hearts and start anew.

(Pope Francis, Joy of the Gospel, 3)

STATION 11. JESUS IS NAILED TO THE CROSS For religious women and men who daily submit to cruelty from others’ misunderstanding of their way of life.

A God who draws near out of love, walks with His people, and this walk comes to an unimaginable point. We could never have imagined that the same Lord would become one of us and walk with us, be present with us, present in His Church, present in the Eucharist, present in His Word, present in the poor, He is present, walking with us. And this is closeness: the shepherd close to his flock, close to his sheep, whom he knows, one by one.

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(Pope Francis’ Homily at the Mass of the Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, June 7, 2013)

STATION 12. JESUS DIES ON THE CROSS For religious women and men who daily die to their self-will in serving others with generosity.

The life of Jesus is a life for others. It is a life of service.

(Pope Francis’ Press Conference during the Return Flight, World Youth Day, July 28, 2013)

STATION 13. JESUS IS TAKEN DOWN FROM THE CROSS For religious women and men who hold in prayer and service those suffering from trauma and abuse. . . . pray, as the Church prays, with the Church, for so many brothers and sisters who suffer being outcast from themselves, in darkness and in suffering, with no hope at hand.

(Morning Meditation in the Chapel of the Domus Sanctae Marthae, Prayers in the Darkness, September 30, 2014)

STATION 14. JESUS IS LAID IN THE TOMB For religious women and men who have gone before us, as they, with us, look forward to the resurrection of the body and life everlasting.

The vision of Heaven . . . is very beautiful: the Lord God, beauty, goodness, truth, tenderness, love in its fullness. All of this awaits us. Those who have gone before us and who have died in the Lord are there. They proclaim that they have been saved not through their own works, though good works they surely did, but that they have been saved by the Lord: “Salvation belongs to our God who sits upon the throne, and to the Lamb!” (Rev 7:10).

(Pope Francis Homily, Cemetery of Verano, November 1, 2013)

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