The Way of the Cross

Dear Friends and companions in imagination,

This is not my usual sort of post. To read my post about the last few days of our Europe adventures (and for an introduction to this post) please read my previous (May 19) post. 

Trauma trigger warning. This post is not for everyone. If you have been hurt by the Catholic Church or any other form of Christianity or organized religion, this post might stir up disturbing memories. Even if you have no trauma associated directly with religion this post invites vivid imagining of torture and death which could stir up painful concerns about our own future and that of our world.  On the other hand, this post might possibly make you feel - as it does me, thanks to your imagined presence beside me - less alone, and so offer consolation, connection, and hope.  

Note: Although the first two trails I walked had 13 stations of the cross, Padraig O Tuama says that 14 is the more usual number. His prayer-poem includes 14 stations. The last trail with stations of the cross that I walked had 15 stations (O Tuama says this is a common variation), so I composed a prayer for station 15. 

The Stations of the Cross

With photos of stations of the cross along trails in South Tyrol near Klobebstein, and with prayer-poems by Padraig O’ Tuama (and one by River)

Station 1. Jesus is condemned to death. 

God of the accused and accusing,

Who made the mouths, the ears, 

and the hearts of all in conflict. 

May we turn ourselves towards 

that which must be heard,

Because there we will hear 

your voice. 

Amen. 

Station 2. Jesus takes up the cross 

Burdened God, 

who bore the weight of wood on torn shoulders, 

We pray for the torn and the burdened, 

that they may be held together 

by guts and goodness. 

Because you were held together 

by guts and goodness. 

Amen. 

Station 3.  Jesus falls for the first time 

God of the ground, 

whose body was − like ours − 

from dust, 

and who fell − like we fall − 

to the ground. 

May we find you on the ground 

when we fall. 

Oh, our falling fallen brother, 

may we find you, 

so that we may inhabit 

our stories, our selves. 

Amen. 

Station 4. Jesus meets his mother 

Mary, Mother of Failure, 

You met your son at the end, 

in a place beyond words, 

and must have felt faithless 

and empty and alone. 

We pray that we may have the grace 

to live with our own stories of failure, 

knowing that love can continue 

even when things end. 

Amen. 

Station 5. Simon of Cyrene helps Jesus to carry the cross 

Simon of Cyrene, stranger from afar, 

You were a help to an unknown man. 

We pray for all who help: 

that their help may be helpful; 

that their kindness may be kind. 

Because yours was, 

even though you knew 

you couldn’t do enough. 

Amen. 

Station 6. Veronica wipes the face of Jesus 

Veronica, your story is doubted 

but valuable. 

You did what you could 

even though it was very little. 

May we do the same even

 when we doubt. 

Amen. 

Station 7. Jesus falls the second time 

God of the Fall, 

You felt the fall when your body 

fell to the ground a second time. 

Gather all who fall. 

Gather all our fallings. 

Gather the voices. 

Gather the breath 

that’s forced from our bodies. 

Because falling, too, has a story. 

Amen. 

Station 8. Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem 

Women of Jerusalem, 

while you mourned, 

Jesus saw you and spoke to you − 

he in his sorrow seeing you in yours. 

May we see each other, 

even when we feel unseen. 

Because when we see each other, 

we are seen ourselves. 

Amen.

Station 9. Jesus falls the third time 

Jesus of the dirt, 

you were led to death 

because of how you lived. 

Help us live like this; 

walking and falling, 

and walking and falling, 

like you, 

in the ways of the living 

and the dead. 

Amen. 

Station 10. Jesus is stripped 

Jesus of the flesh, 

Naked you came from the womb 

and naked you were made for the cross. 

What was designed 

for indignity and exposure 

you held with dignity and defiance. 

May we do the same 

Because you needed it 

Because we need it. 

Amen. 

Station 11. Jesus is nailed to the cross 

Jesus of Nazareth, 

This cross was a torture. 

It only gives life 

because you made it hollow. 

Bring life to us, Jesus, 

especially when we are in the places of the dead. 

Because you brought life 

even to the instruments of death. 

Amen. 

Station 12. Jesus dies on the cross 

Jesus of the imagination, 

You never grew old, 

always a young man, 

and most of us 

grow older than you did. 

When lives are cut short 

the living question the meaning of living. 

May we live with meaning, 

even when meaning fades, 

making meaning 

so that we have something 

to live for. 

Amen. 

Station 13.  jesus is placed in the arms of his mother 

Mary, Mother of Death, 

You held the corpse of your young son −

the worst of fears − 

in your arms, 

as he went where we have not yet gone. 

We mark this with silence and art. 

May we also learn from fear, 

because fear won’t save us 

from anything. 

Amen. 

Station 14. Jesus is placed in the tomb 

Jesus of the unexpected, 

for at least some of your life 

this was not how you imagined its end. 

Yet even at the end, 

you kept steady in your conviction. 

Jesus, keep us steady. 

Jesus, keep us steady. 

Because, Jesus, 

keep us steady. 

Amen.

— Daily Prayer with the Corrymeela Community by Padraig O Tuama

https://a.co/168k9qA

Station 15. Jesus Rises from the Dead

“Peace be with you,“ you say

as you rise from the dead. 

Jesus, we fear.  

Our burdens. 

Our failings and falls. 

Being stripped of all that

we know and we love. 

Jesus, we fear. 

Jesus of rising through 

all that we fear,

hold us. 

Amen.