Catholic during the Great Apostasy

STATION I
Jesus is condemned to death.

“He was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.” (Isaiah 53:7)

V. We praise You, O Lord Jesus Christ, and we bless You.
R. Because by Your holy Cross, You have redeemed the world.

The Lord of heaven and earth, our sweetest Savior, stands as the greatest criminal and offender before Pilate! He who will come to judge the whole world in glory and majesty has humbled Himself to be judged by one wicked man! O my dear Jesus, where is Your glory and majesty? A crown of thorns and a scepter of reed! And the people, gathered in crowds, shout and scream: “Crucify Him, crucify Him!” And the Savior does not open His mouth, He listens and… is silent! And Pilate pronounces the sentence of death—a cruel, painful, shameful death, the death of the Cross! And the Savior is silent, and without complaint or murmuring, He accepts this most unjust sentence, this most wicked verdict! O shame and disgrace to us all! Christ suffers at the judgment of man and is silent! And we, at the judgment of God, do not want to suffer and be silent! Jesus, the most innocent and holiest, suffered, and we sinners cannot bear even one unpleasant word in silence!

Even if someone justly accuses us of some fault, we immediately become indignant, angry, curse, and our mouths and hearts are full of malediction and hatred—yet no one scourges us, slaps us, or nails us to a cross. We are gentle only as long as no one provokes us, but we cannot bear even one unpleasant word from our superiors, parents, husbands, or wives! Is this how we imitate the example of the Savior? His lips were always open to the glory of God, to teach and comfort our neighbors, but they closed in silence when it came to His own glory and life. Our lips are always closed when it comes to the glory of God, to teaching and comforting our neighbors, but always open to anger, curses, and malediction! He who cannot be silent when necessary cannot speak when necessary. Looking at the silent Christ before Pilate’s judgment, cry out from a humbled heart:

O Lord Jesus Christ, our dearest Savior, model of patience and gentleness, who without complaint or murmuring, as if one of the greatest criminals, accepted in silence and humility the sentence of a shameful death, so that through Your holy Cross You might save us from eternal death, we beg You, by Your innocent condemnation to death, that You would deign to judge us not according to our iniquities, but according to Your great mercy, on the day of the final judgment. Grant us the grace to never judge our brothers without necessity or frivolously, and when an unjust human judgment falls upon us, that we may accept it in patience and silence, following Your example. We ask this through Your merits, You who live and reign as God, one in the Holy Trinity, forever and ever. Amen.

Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be.

V. Have mercy on us, O Lord.
R. Have mercy on us.
V.Who suffered wounds for us,
R. Jesus Christ, have mercy on us.

Resolution.

Never to be indignant or angry with anyone, even if they wrong or unjustly judge us.

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STATION II
Jesus takes up His Cross.

“If anyone wants to come after Me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me.” (Matthew 16:24)

V. We praise You, O Lord, and we bless You.
R. Because by Your holy Cross, You have redeemed the world.

Who places this Cross upon Jesus? Man, that wretched, miserable creature, that dust, that worm of the earth, places the Cross upon Jesus, God-Man, his Creator and Savior! Jesus performed miracles for these people, multiplied bread, healed the sick, raised the dead, forgave sins, and in return, they place a heavy Cross upon Him.

You are indignant at this thought, but let each of us ask our own conscience: have we done any better? You, too, have experienced these miracles of Christ. Who multiplied the seed you cast into the earth so that it sprouted in full ear? Who blessed your fields so that they yielded an abundant harvest? Who saved you in misfortune, consoled you in sorrow, fed you in hunger, or did so through human mediation? Who restored your health when you were sick, saved you from death? Who has forgiven your sins time and again and nourished your soul with His Body and Blood? And how have you repaid Him for all this? With a hard Cross, your sin; for every time you repeat your sin, you place the Cross upon your Savior! O, what evil has this sweetest Savior done to you, that for the meanest thing, for a glass of vodka, for a moment of bestial license, for a few paltry coins, you dare to renew His bitter Passion? And you laugh and rejoice, looking at His sufferings, of which you are also a cause! They place the Cross upon Christ, and He is silent and does not excuse Himself from this burden, but humbly accepts it. When God sends us the smallest cross for our good and salvation, we immediately complain, lament against God, saying He does not remember us, while we forget Him, do not know how to give thanks for His benefits, and complain about the smallest cross! God gives you bread in abundance, and you do not want to share with the poor; and when God punishes you with a poor harvest for this, you complain. God gives you some happiness, and you do not share it with anyone; you do not want to share your happiness with anyone, but when God gives you a cross, you would gladly shift it onto another. Look at how patiently Jesus bears the heavy Cross, and with what impatience you bear the light cross, and cry out from a humbled heart:

It is I, not You, Lord, who deserves this Cross, for it is not You, O Jesus Christ, but I who have sinned! But in Your incomprehensible love, You took upon Yourself the sins of men and became a propitiatory sacrifice to the eternal justice of Your Father. May I, looking at You, learn to bear my cross, thanking and blessing You for allowing me, through the penitential cross, to draw near to You, from whom I have been separated by sin. Grant me the grace never to complain or murmur, but to accept every cross from Your hands with great humility. Grant me the grace that, by faithfully bearing my cross throughout life, I may, through the cross, attain glory after death! We ask this through Your merits, You who live and reign as God, one in the Holy Trinity, forever and ever. Amen.

Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be.

V. Have mercy on us, O Lord.
R.Have mercy on us.
V.Who suffered wounds for us,
R.Jesus Christ, have mercy on us.

Resolution.

With the help of God’s grace, I will bear all afflictions and tribulations that God sends upon me, without complaint or murmuring.

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STATION III
Jesus falls the first time under the Cross.

“Zeal for Your house consumes me, and the insults of those who insult You fall on me.” (Psalm 119:139)

V. We praise You, O Lord, and we bless You.
R. Because by Your holy Cross, You have redeemed the world.

How painful was the road that Christ walked to Mount Calvary! Exhausted, bloody from scourging, He bends under the weight of the Cross of our sins! By His omnipotence, He created the wood from which men fashioned a Cross for Him. Everything you have, you have by His grace and omnipotence, and you have used it all to make a Cross for Him. God gave you abundance and wealth, and you, to the hungry Lord Jesus in the person of the poor, did not want to give even a piece of bread, but with that money, you fashioned a Cross for Him through drunkenness, debauchery, cursing, and deceit! God gave you speech and words, and you blasphemed with them; He gave you thought, and you defiled it; He gave you a heart, and you hated with it, and through your sin, you became like a Cross for Christ. You follow Christ through baptism and faith, but not to make His Cross lighter, but to make it heavier! Christ falls under the Cross, and you stand proud and haughty, unwilling to humble yourself! Remember, Christ will rise and come in judgment with this Cross in glory and power, but then you will fall under the weight of the sentence He will pronounce upon you, never to rise again! You follow Christ, mocking like the Jews and pagans, but they did not know Christ as you do, nor were they enlightened by holy baptism as you were; and having faith, you have become worse than the unbelievers. They crucified Christ once, but you crucify Him almost every hour. You look at the suffering of your father, mother, brother, sister, and friend, and you hasten to help and comfort them; but this is more than a father, mother, brother, sister, and friend—this is your Lord and God, and you have no pity for His suffering! You pity your enemy, seeing him in distress, and forget all the evil he has done to you, but here you do not pity your Friend, your Benefactor, and forget all the good you have received from Him! And when you fall under the Cross of suffering, how far you are from imitating Christ falling under the Cross! He rose from His fall and continued on that hard road in humility and silence! You will fall and rage, complaining against God and men, and when you rise, you will not go forward, but backward. O, look at the fall and rising of Christ, and at your own. You fall into sin and rejoice in your fall; you fall in suffering and complain; the fall under the Cross of suffering is not terrible, but the fall under the weight of sin is. Recognize this and cry out from a humbled heart:

O my Jesus! You fall out of love for me, to save me, and I fall to condemn myself. How many such falls could I count with shame and sorrow! And You have always lifted me up, but was it so that I might offend You anew and even more painfully? Is it because You are infinitely good that I will persist obstinately in my wickedness? Is it because You love me that I will hate You? Let me fall under the Cross of labor, poverty, and persecution, but let me not fall under the Cross of debauchery, idleness, and impiety. O Lord Jesus Christ, protect me from such misfortune, hold me so that I may not fall, lift me up so that I may rise. I want to carry Your Cross in my heart. We ask this through Your merits, You who live and reign as God, one in the Holy Trinity, forever and ever. Amen.

Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be.

V. Have mercy on us, O Lord.
R. Have mercy on us.
V. Who suffered wounds for us,
R.Jesus Christ, have mercy on us.

Resolution.

In my falls, I will rise, placing all my trust in Jesus, who fell for me under the Cross.

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STATION IV
Jesus meets His Mother.

“To what can I compare you, or to what can I liken you, O daughter of Jerusalem?” (Lamentations 1:2)

V. We praise You, O Lord, and we bless You.
R. Because by Your holy Cross, You have redeemed the world.

When all the closest abandoned Jesus, and none of those to whom He had shown kindness was found to share in all His sufferings, His Mother did not abandon her Son; Mary did not abandon Jesus. She wanted to share in all His sufferings, and by looking at the sufferings of Jesus, she shared in them. What great comfort for us that this Mother of the Savior is now our Mother. As she did not abandon her Son on this sorrowful road, so she will not abandon us on the sorrowful road of our life. She looks at us suffering and will teach us how to bear the Cross; she looks at us straying under the Cross of iniquity on the wrong paths and will guide us to the right path! For there is a Cross of suffering and a Cross of sin; with the first comes blessing, with the second comes curse; the first leads to Heaven, the second to hell. O, may Mary, like a bright star, guide our life; we have nothing to fear! O, let us seek her; she waits for us on this Cross road in sorrow and grief, and will greet us with a sorrowful greeting, and show us her Son falling under the Cross, and ask us: What has my Son done to you, what have I, His Mother, done to you? You call me Mother; is it so that you may inflict a greater wound on the heart that must suffer such sorrows from its children? O, let us not abandon Mary, for without her, the road of our life will remain dark, hard, and painful! Every sin by which we renew the sorrow of Christ renews the sorrow of Mary, and if God threatens such severe punishments to every child who does not honor his mother, what punishments has He prepared for those who offend and dishonor this Mother of the Savior, this Mother of the whole human race? Jesus looked at Mary, and in that look there was so much comfort for her heart! May Mary look at us and thus calm, quiet, and convert our hearts. But let us also look at Mary, let us look at her with faith as our Mother, with hope as our Protectress, and cry out from a moved heart:

O Mary, be my Mother! The mother who gave me birth taught me to know your Son and you, but you teach me how I can love Him and you with the hottest love! Though I constantly repeat: I love Jesus, I love Mary, this word will not warm the heart unless your grace comes to my aid. As you looked with pity on your Son falling under the Cross, so look also on me, falling under the Cross. As you looked with mercy on those who placed the Cross on your Son, so look also on me, for I belong to their number! But I no longer want to belong to them! With your help, I want to work on myself, and as many tears of sorrow as I have wrung from you, so many tears of repentance I want to bring you as an offering! You did not turn away from me when I avoided you. You will not reject me when I return to you! I do not ask: free me from the Cross, but I beg you, free me from sin! O Mary, calm the sorrows of my soul, or rather, through sorrow, let me come to love. We ask this through the merits of your Son, who lives and reigns as God, one in the Holy Trinity, forever and ever. Amen.

Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be.

V. Have mercy on us, O Lord.
R. Have mercy on us.
V.Who suffered wounds for us,
R. Jesus Christ, have mercy on us.

Resolution.

Under the protection of the Sorrowful Mother and following her example, I desire to bear all sufferings, however great, with which it pleases God to chastise and test me.

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STATION V
Simon of Cyrene helps Jesus carry the Cross.

“May I never boast except in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Galatians 6:14)

V. We praise You, O Lord, and we bless You.
R. Because by Your holy Cross, You have redeemed the world.

O my dear Jesus, where is that Angel who in the Garden strengthened Your weak soul and wiped the bloody sweat from Your most holy face? Why does he not now descend from heaven to help You bear the heavy Cross, to strengthen Your fainting powers? But what need is there of an Angel? Is there not in this crowd of people even one man who would willingly render Him this loving service? After all, it is the same people whose sick He healed, whose hungry He fed, whose dead He raised, who joyfully sang Hosanna to Him. Alas, today there is no one to hasten to His aid. All have conspired to mock, insult, and torture Him, but to help, a stranger, Simon of Cyrene, had to be compelled. And this was not done to relieve Christ’s suffering, but so that He would not end His life on this road. It was not out of pity, but out of malice, that this mercy was done. And today, Christ is in the midst of us with the Cross, and we are His people today, not the people fed with manna in the desert, but the people nourished with His Body and Blood.

Each of us has received so many graces from Him, and none of us has reason to complain, and yet how many are ready to render this loving service? For as every sin increases, so every good deed according to God decreases the weight of the Cross. And let us count both sins and good deeds according to God! How many times have we wronged, and how many times have we consoled our neighbor, how many tears have we wiped away, and how many have we caused, how many words for the glory, and how many for the offense of God. Not only do we not lessen, but we increase the weight of the Cross; not only do we not help Christ bear the Cross, but we ourselves do not know how to bear our own Cross! Whatever you did for one of the least of these, you did for Me. Be a Simon of Cyrene for Jesus, in the person of the poor, the sick, the sorrowful, the persecuted! But what he did out of compulsion, do you do willingly! Christ helps you with His grace to bear your cross; help your brothers and neighbors. Be a Simon of Cyrene for your brothers, and as he experienced, so you will experience the blessing of the Cross. Your brother bears the Cross of hunger, feed him; bears the Cross of sorrow, console him; bears the Cross of persecution, defend him! But alas, we not only do not help others bear the Cross, but often we shift ours onto them, and worse, we ourselves are a Cross for them! Seeing our wickedness and weakness, let us cry out from a humbled heart:

O Lord, Lord! So many people burden Your Cross with their sins, and I am among them, but with Your help, I no longer want to belong to them; I will go with the Cross after You, and You Yourself will help me bear my Cross! If I still do not know, cannot love the Cross, behold, teach me at least not to hate it; if I do not yet hasten after it, grant that I may not flee from it. Between hatred and love of the Cross is the transition of patient and humble endurance. O Lord, grant the grace that I may become a Simon for each of my brothers, that my heart may never know what anger, hatred, envy, etc., are. And if I cannot be a comfort to anyone, at least let me not be a Cross to anyone. O Lord Jesus Christ, rather suffer everything than offend You; and if I learn to bear the Cross in humility and patience, I hope that I will be able to bear it in joy as well. Love placed the Cross upon You, and he who does not love the Cross cannot love You either. But the Cross without Jesus will not save us, and suffering without love will not sanctify us. Let us suffer in time, so that we may love for all eternity! We ask this through Your merits, You who live and reign as God, one in the Holy Trinity, forever and ever. Amen.

Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be.

V. Have mercy on us, O Lord.
R. Have mercy on us.
V. Who suffered wounds for us,
R. Jesus Christ, have mercy on us.

Resolution.

If I can help a neighbor bear the Cross, comfort him in misfortune, or guide him to God with good advice, I will not fail to do so

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STATION VI

Veronica wipes the face of Jesus.

“Let us go forth therefore to Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach.” (Hebrews 13:13)

V. We praise You, O Lord, and we bless You.
R. Because by Your holy Cross, You have redeemed the world.

Veronica, with love, humility, and courage, pushes through the godless crowds and approaches the Savior to wipe His most holy face, covered in sweat and blood. When everyone, even the disciples, had abandoned Him, among all those to whom He had done good, only one soul was found who showed gratitude not only in feeling but also in deed. Oh, how often Christ is insulted and mocked even today! Is there even one city, one village in our entire country that is so blessed that Christ would not be offended there for a year, a month, or even a single day? Is there even one house, one cottage? But what can we say about human homes when even the houses of God are not safe from such insults? All the greater is the joy for the heart of Jesus if someone is found who shows gratitude both in deed and feeling! Simon helps Christ bear the heavy Cross; Veronica wipes the bloody sweat. Why do you not want to be that Simon, that Veronica? Are you afraid, or perhaps ashamed of the world? Oh, if so, then you still do not know how to love! For true love fears only offending the beloved! The love of God takes away the love of the world and gives strength for good. Mary Magdalene washed the Savior’s feet with her tears and received the grace that the Lord appeared to her first after the Resurrection! Saint John, at the Last Supper, rested sorrowfully on the breast of his Master and drew from that Heart great light in the mysteries of faith. Saint Peter confessed that Christ is the true Son of God and became the head of the Church. Veronica wiped the sweat from the Savior’s face and received on the cloth the imprinted likeness of that most holy face. Thus, Christ rewarded even the smallest service done in love and with love! And not wanting to deprive us of the opportunity to serve Him, He left us His poor and assured us that whatever we do for one of the least of these, we do for Him!

Every day you have the opportunity either to honor or offend Christ in your neighbors. When you sin or are hard and unkind to your neighbor, do not say: “But others do the same!” If Veronica had thought that way, she would not have rendered this merciful service to Christ. Christ will never remain in debt to love. As Christ left Veronica with the imprint of His face on the cloth and gave her soul the grace of sanctification, so He will give you His grace when you wipe the bloody sweat of Jesus from the faces of your neighbors! Oh, let us not fear to confess our faith before the whole world, for what can the malice of the whole world harm us if God is with us? And if God is against us, who will deliver us from the hands of His justice? A lie needs human strength to sustain itself, even for a short time. Truth stands by the power of God and will stand forever! Jesus was so grateful to Veronica for such a small service; how grateful should we be to Christ for so many graces received from Him. She wiped the blood from the face of Christ, but it was that most holy Blood which He shed for her and for all of us. Christ gives us two lessons here: how ready we should be to serve our neighbor and how grateful we should be for what we have received. Veronica did not do this service to Christ in hope of reward, but out of love; so we, too, should do good to our neighbors not for the sake of gain, but out of love for Christ. Christ saved the world, and the world crucified Him; is it any wonder that we, doing good to people, receive ingratitude? Is it not enough reward for us that for the love of Christ we can do something good? Let us cry out to Him:

Lord Jesus Christ, imprint Your image on my soul; may my eyes see only You, may my ears hear only You, may my thoughts remember only You, may my mind know only You, may my will fulfill only Your will, may my heart love only You! In You, I have everything; without You, I have nothing! Give me the courage and love of Veronica, that I may not be ashamed of Your name in word or deed! May the image of Your Passion be continually before my eyes, that I may never complain that I have so little patience and love! Lord, give me love for Your Cross, that I may learn to love and bless my cross! We ask this through Your merits, You who live and reign as God, one in the Holy Trinity, forever and ever. Amen.

Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be.

V. Have mercy on us, O Lord.
R. Have mercy on us.
V. Who suffered wounds for us,
R. Jesus Christ, have mercy on us.

Resolution. In doing good to others, I will not look for their gratitude.

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STATION VII

Jesus falls the second time under the Cross.

“How narrow the gate and constricted the road that leads to life. And those who find it are few.” (Matthew 7:14)

V. We praise You, O Lord, and we bless You.
R. Because by Your holy Cross, You have redeemed the world.

The pain increases, the strength weakens, the blood flows, and our sweetest Lord and Savior falls a second time under the weight of the Cross! So it is often with us: the further we go in life, the darker and more painful it becomes; the weight of the Cross seems to grow and increase, and worldly comforts diminish! But if we follow Christ, let us fear nothing! Though it is dark on the right and on the left, and the abyss on both sides is threatening and terrible, and the path of life is hard and narrow, yet on this path, Christ and His Blood have well marked the steps we must follow, and from the Cross that He bears before us comes light; let us follow this light of the Cross, for only in it is truth, for only it will not betray. But this light of the Cross shines either more brightly or more dimly, according to our disposition and how we bear our cross. By natural strength, we cannot love the Cross, for how can we love what causes us pain? But God pours into us supernatural strength not only to endure but also to love the Cross.

There are people who have inner light: humility, purity, mercy, piety, but externally, the night of affliction, poverty, misery, persecution, and sickness surrounds them! To others, God sends inner crosses, sorrows, anxieties, and dryness, while externally blessing them with natural gifts; the ways by which God leads people are various, and every way by which God leads a person is good! But there is no way without a Cross, for without the Cross, no one will reach Heaven! God will not spare us; sooner or later, each must pass through the fire of tribulation! Ah! The very lack of a Cross, for souls that love God, is a great Cross. There is no happiness in the world to which a small cross is not attached; there is no small cross without comfort for one who loves God. This uncertainty of happiness is a cross; this certainty of death, in which the Cross well borne will be glorified, is comfort and joy! Christ passed through all sufferings that a person can endure, for He took upon Himself all sins, which are the beginning of these sufferings, and wanted to give us an example of how we should behave in sufferings! The Savior was troubled and afraid in the Garden and said, “My soul is sorrowful even to death,” so that in a similar case of inner terror, we would not give in to despair but seek consolation in prayer; the same Savior asked for the removal of the cup of suffering, but always submitting His will to the will of His Father, so that we, too, asking for deliverance from temporal sufferings, would always submit to the will of God! Christ fell under the Cross and rose and went forward on the painful road, so that when we fall under the weight of the Cross of adversity, we would not despairingly think that all is lost for us, but gathering strength, rising, we would continue on the hard road of destiny, and if we fall under the weight of sin, we would rise with sorrow and penance! For he who does not want to bear the Cross in love, let him bear it at least in penance and sorrow. And how do we bear our cross? Probably poorly! Let us cry out, then, from a humbled heart:

O Lord Jesus Christ! Teach me how to bear the Cross, and when I fall, extend Your hand to help me rise. You bore it in patience, and I in murmuring and complaining. And when I fall, I have no strength to rise, for as rust destroys iron, so sin has destroyed the strength of my soul. You are my strength, and having rejected You, I have become poor, weak, and helpless. You rose in silence and continued on the thorny path, knowing that at the top of this mountain, the sacrifice was to be fulfilled on the altar of the Cross, and You were the sacrificial Lamb. And I, when I fall, do not want to rise; I do not trust my own strength, I forget You, I do not trust in Your mercy, and halfway to heaven, I stop, doubting You and myself! Behold, it is not to stand but to walk with the Cross that the Savior commanded, for only he who endures to the end will be saved! O Jesus! Grant me the grace of perseverance; we ask this through Your merits, You who live and reign as God, one in the Holy Trinity, forever and ever. Amen.

Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be.

V. Have mercy on us, O Lord.
R. Have mercy on us.
V. Who suffered wounds for us,
R. Jesus Christ, have mercy on us.

Resolution. In inner anxieties, dryness, and sorrows with which it pleases God to visit me, I will repeat with all my heart, after my heavenly Leader: “Not my will, but Yours be done!”

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STATION VIII

Jesus consoles the weeping women.

“Every soul that is not afflicted on that day shall perish from among his people.” (Leviticus 23:29)

V. We praise You, O Lord, and we bless You.
R. Because by Your holy Cross, You have redeemed the world.

A group of women, seeing such suffering and torment of Him whom they had so dearly loved, stood at a distance and wept bitter tears. The Savior, in these most terrible moments of His Passion, thought only of how to relieve and ease the suffering of others, and forgetting Himself, He noticed these tears and had pity on them, and broke His silence, which no insult or mockery could break. He did not open His mouth in His own defense, but He opened His mouth at the sight of the sorrow of these women, to give them a word of comfort and teaching. Veronica wiped the face of Christ, and He, in return, gave her His face imprinted on the cloth; the women wept bitter tears over Him, and He gave them a word of comfort. No service in love to Jesus or for Jesus will remain unrewarded. No tear of sorrow over one’s own misery, a tear of penance, love, will remain without reward. Christ admonishes these women to weep not for Him, but for themselves and their children!

Ah! If we love Jesus, let us weep for ourselves and our sins, for our sins have become the cause of His sufferings! Oh, these same words Christ repeats today: Weep, masters, servants, mothers, fathers, wives and husbands, superiors and subordinates, weep for yourselves and your sins, for your sins have become the cause of your misfortunes! Weep for your children, for living in iniquity and forgetfulness of God, you have opened paths for them that lead to eternal perdition! Weep, mother, for your daughter, for perhaps you were the first to sow the cockle in her heart with your negligence, insensitivity, and bad example, or you allowed others to do so! Weep, father, for your son, who today has become the shame and disgrace of the whole community, for you laughed when he offended God and wronged people, for you yourself introduced and confirmed him on the evil paths of life! Weep, you unnatural son, and you unworthy daughter, over the grave of your father and mother, into which your wickedness has cast them too soon. Weep, master, for the sins of your servants, for you only watched that they be faithful to you, but you did not strive that they be faithful to God, and therefore they betrayed God and you! You wronged them in soul, not allowing them to go to church, or to catechism, or to confession, and they, for that, wronged you in your work! You rejoice in the money you have gathered; oh, perhaps it would be more fitting for you to weep over it! If the wrong of others is connected to it, if you gathered it by violating the holy law of Sunday and feast days! The more you are rich in money, the more you may be poor in grace. But your tears will not help if repentance does not follow them. Repair the scandal, restore the wrong, reconcile with God, with people, and with yourself, and then God will have mercy on you! If you have not walked the path of love until now, begin to walk the path of penance. The tears of the women of Jerusalem moved the heart of Jesus with pity; may our tears obtain His grace and pity for us, and for that, let us cry out from the depths of our soul:

O Lord and Savior! We no longer ask You for what people call happiness, but we ask You for the gift of tears and that You teach us how to weep, so that with these tears we may not defile but cleanse our soul, so that with them we may not arouse but calm our passions. Both love and hatred, humility and pride, have their tears; the first will be counted by the angel, the second by the devil at the judgment of God. Some will lead to salvation, others to damnation. O look, Lord, into the depths of our heart, straighten what is crooked, soften what is hard, enlighten what is dark, strengthen what is weak, teach us how to weep, how to love, we ask this through Your merits, You who live and reign as God, one in the Holy Trinity, forever and ever. Amen.

Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be.

V. Have mercy on us, O Lord.
R. Have mercy on us.
V. Who suffered wounds for us,
R. Jesus Christ, have mercy on us.

Resolution. I will never allow myself to be overcome by excessive sorrow; I will never submit to sorrow that arises from earthly motives, which does not bring me closer to Jesus but leads me away from Him.

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STATION IX

Jesus falls the third time under the Cross.

“They repay me evil for good, and hatred for my love.” (Psalm 109:5)

V. We praise You, O Lord, and we bless You.
R. Because by Your holy Cross, You have redeemed the world.

Jesus Christ, our Savior, falls a third time under the Cross, and the cause of these frequent, bloody falls are our frequent falls into sin. Oh, if we understood our life well, we could at least partially understand the Passion of Christ, for His Passion arose from our sins. To atone for all our judgments without mercy and understanding, our harsh and vengeful judgments, God-Man submitted Himself to the judgment of man; and as the judgment, so the sentence. And we stand at the judgment of God, and from this judgment will come the sentence of the Judge, and deservedly, He will place upon us the Cross of atonement; a holy judgment, a holy sentence. Christ does not complain about the most unjust judgment, and we murmur against this judgment of mercy. Oh, in vain, sinner, do you exalt yourself in your pride and boast of your iniquities; the roses with which you crown your head are the thorns with which, for you and by you, the most holy head of your Savior was crowned; they will one day turn into thorns for you, if only not forever, but into thorns of penance, not of despair! Christ was judged and sentenced to death to save us from death and judgment, for which we have already deserved many times through our sins. And He has already saved us not once or twice. Oh, count, count only how many times you have confessed your sins before God, how many times God has forgiven you; how many times, bathed in tears, have you solemnly promised amendment, and as soon as you received absolution, you returned to your evil ways! And these repeated falls of yours were the cause of this third fall of the Savior. Is it not time to turn to God? You rely on mercy, but you forget justice. You have fallen so many times, and God has extended His hand to lift you up, but will He do so again? And if not, you will certainly not rise by your own strength. Christ fell three times under the Cross, and perhaps you, too, have already been brought to the ground by sorrow more than once, but remember that, walking with the Cross after Christ, even if it becomes darker and sadder with every step, with every step you are closer to heaven. Gather your last strength, look back at how much of the road of life you have already traveled, count your tears on it; perhaps the whole road is strewn with them like pearls, and among them, many are holy tears, and many are vain, and many are wicked? Is it not a pity for so many wasted tears? Will the experience of the past not teach us wisdom for the future? Look ahead; perhaps only a short distance remains to be traveled, and being so close to the end, will we stop shamefully and lose, through our weakness, what we have gathered so far with the bloody sweat of our brow? Oh, let us carry the Cross to the top of the mountain; a few more steps, a few more tears, and eternal glory! Oh, the fall is not as terrible as the love of the fall! For him who wants to remain in the fall, there is the judgment of God! Judas and Peter fell; the first betrayed, the second denied Christ, but the second wept and rose, the first despaired and perished! The tears of the first kindled the fire of hell for the soul, for pride wept them; the tears of the second extinguished it, for humility wept them. Despair has never converted anyone; penance has healed all. Oh, beware lest you fall, and if, alas, you fall, rise as quickly as possible. Christ does not wait with the Cross; follow Him, saying:

Lord Jesus Christ! My repeated sins have been the cause of Your falling three times under the weight of the Cross! O Lord! Grant me the grace to cast off the Cross of sin that bends me to the ground and to accept from Your hands the Cross of penance, and with it to hasten after You. My sins are many, but Your mercy is greater! May the memory of my sins awaken sorrow in me; may the memory of Your mercy restore confidence to my troubled soul. Lord, I fled from You, and You sought me; today I seek You, do not hide from me; O, we ask this through Your merits, You who live and reign as God, one in the Holy Trinity, forever and ever. Amen.

Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be.

V. Have mercy on us, O Lord.
R. Have mercy on us.
V. Who suffered wounds for us,
R. Jesus Christ, have mercy on us.

Resolution. I will judge myself justly, so that God may be a merciful judge to me; I will judge others mercifully, so that I may hope for a merciful judgment from God.

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STATION X

Jesus is stripped of His garments and given vinegar and gall to drink.

V. We praise You, O Lord, and we bless You.
R. Because by Your holy Cross, You have redeemed the world.

There are two kinds of sins that, alas, have become so widespread among us, in villages and cities, and have become so common and universal that people hardly consider them sins anymore, as if because many commit the same sin, sin has ceased to be sin. And yet, these two sins become the source of much evil. The sins of impurity and drunkenness; for these so foul and shameful sins, the Savior had to suffer such painful torments, shameful stripping, and being given gall to drink. Oh, consider what pain it was for the most holy Savior when His garments were torn from His wounded body, when gall and vinegar were given to Him to drink. And all this to atone for the sins committed against temperance and chastity. How highly God values this virtue, He showed when He chose a Virgin as the Mother of His Son, and yet you so easily allow yourself this sin and seek accomplices in your crime; and in doing so, you renew all the sufferings that Christ endured in His stripping. This virtue is so fragile that the slightest breath can stain or destroy it; one feeling, one thought voluntarily admitted, is enough to stain and defile your heart in the eyes of God. Oh, how vigilant, cautious, and careful we should be not to lose this precious treasure. You carry your enemy with you, for your body is your enemy; you can flee from another enemy, but with this one, you must constantly struggle; but you can flee, you must flee from all occasions that could provoke this struggle. You are in the body, you are in constant danger, but remember, it is not he who is in danger, but he who loves danger, who will perish in it. The three young men in the Babylonian furnace did not burn; in the midst of the fire of passion, you will not perish if your will, supported by the grace of God, is strong and humble. The caterpillar crawled onto the white lily; cast it off, and it will not stain the whiteness of the lily, but if you leave it, it will make its nest in the chalice of the lily and defile and gnaw the flower, so that only a withered stalk will remain. Even if your heart is as white as a lily, such a caterpillar of evil thought creeps in, against your will and knowledge; cast it off, and your heart will remain pure; but if the thought makes its nest in your heart, wicked desires, words, and deeds will hatch from it, and they will gnaw, destroy, and stain the whole beauty of your soul; the body will remain without spirit, like a dry stalk without a flower! And the Savior cried from the Cross: “I thirst!” And they mockingly gave Him gall and vinegar! And today He calls to you: “I thirst for your salvation and conversion!” And you give Him the gall of malice and hardness in sin! The Savior thirsts from you for love of neighbor, humility, mercy, piety, and you give Him hatred, deceit, pride, and impiety. He thirsts from you for sobriety, and you live in drunkenness! Your drunkenness is that gall which you give to the Savior in return for that most holy Blood which He shed for your salvation, with which He nourished your soul! But remember, the gall that you give to the Savior today will be for you the gall of despair on the Cross of eternal damnation. Oh, enter into yourself and cry out from a humbled heart:

O my dearest Jesus! When, when will I cease to sin, when, instead of the gall of sin, will I give You, to cool Your thirsty lips, a tear of penance, which will become a sweet and saving drink for You and me! The world for a long time fed me with the sweetness of its dreams, and that sweetness turned into gall for me; You nourish me with the bitterness of Your Cross, and that bitterness will turn into sweetness for me! O Jesus! Looking at Your stripping, I must confess that it is my doing. I tore that garment from Your body, with which You clothed me with the garment of grace; this is how I repaid You! But You are in glory today, and I stand before You, naked in the sin of guilt! O Lord, cover me with the garment of Your mercy before the judgment of Your angry Father; we ask this through Your merits, You who live and reign as God, one in the Holy Trinity, forever and ever. Amen.

Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be.

V. Have mercy on us, O Lord.
R. Have mercy on us.
V. Who suffered wounds for us,
R. Jesus Christ, have mercy on us.

Resolution. I will avoid, as carefully as possible, with the help of Jesus and through the intercession of the Mother of Jesus, all occasions that I know lead to sins of the flesh.

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STATION XI

Jesus is nailed to the Cross.

“Love for Your house consumes me, and the insults of those who insult You fall on me.” (Psalm 119:139)

V. We praise You, O Lord, and we bless You.
R. Because by Your holy Cross, You have redeemed the world.

The great, important, holy moment has arrived, in which the work of the salvation of the human race was to be accomplished. Men nailed God to the Cross? For what? For loving them, they pierced with thorns that head from which the most holy blood was oozing; they nailed to the Cross those hands that fed and blessed them; they pierced those feet that walked through cities and villages, everywhere teaching, everywhere doing good! They opened with a spear that Heart that so ardently loved people! The Lord of heaven and earth hangs on the Cross, and man, looking at this work of hellish malice, mocks and blasphemes! But this God-Man, insulted, mocked, bloodied, from this Cross will reign over the world, and under this Cross, the whole world will fall to its knees and bless this wood of our salvation! For on the Cross, the work of our salvation was accomplished. And this Cross of Christ is fixed in our midst, and this sacrificial offering of the Cross is renewed daily throughout the Catholic world. And the love and mercy of God endure without interruption, while our malice and hardness do not yield for a moment. And in this large crowd of people surrounding the Cross, there were many indifferent, many rejoicing at the sight of Christ’s sufferings, and very few of those for whom this sight wrings tears of sorrow from the heart. The Gospel tells us of the Blessed Virgin Mary, of St. John, of Mary Magdalene, and a few other women. And of those who crucified Christ, many were converted and believed in Him at the sight of the miracles manifested at His death! The night that covered the world at the death of Christ became for many the dawn of a new day; the veil in the temple was torn, and with it, the veil that still mysteriously concealed faith was torn; stones are shattered, and hearts harder than stone are shaken; the earth trembles, and the power that shook the earth shook consciences; graves open, and the dead rise; the graves of pagan and Jewish unbelief open, and the dead rise to the life of grace and faith. And today, the same thing happens among us as on Mount Calvary. Children of the Church of Christ, behold, we are all around His Cross. Some are indifferent to everything that concerns the Church, faith, truth, and God; they look with cold and hard hearts at everything that happens in the Church of God. They need only money, entertainment, and glory! Others mock and scoff at everything that is holy, at God, at faith; they persecute the Church and those who want to remain faithful to God. And these are the new crucifiers of Christ, who weave for Him a crown of thorns, hew a hard Cross, and sharpen iron nails of blasphemous words, and with a spear of impious deeds, they pierce the Heart of Jesus. Oh, how few there are who, like John and Mary, would remain under the Cross. And therefore, there are few for whom the Cross will one day be glory. From His Cross, the Savior blessed the whole human race, entrusting it to the care of His Mother, for what would a Mother not do at the request of her Son? Moreover, He made her our Mother, placing on her the duty of maternal love, and on us, the duty of childlike trust, obedience, and honor! Mary most fully fulfilled her duty as Mother toward us, but have we fulfilled our duty as children toward her? Mary remained our Mother under the Cross, and we can only become her children by loving the Cross! Oh, how many times have we experienced her care and compassion, and yet we so easily forget her, so lightly esteem this great dignity of being children of Mary, children of her whom the eternal Father deemed worthy to be the Mother of His only-begotten Son. Terrible will be the judgment of God for every child who does not fulfill the fourth commandment with regard to Mary! Whenever you flee from the Cross of Christ, you flee from Mary; whenever you return to the Cross, you will find her there.

O Mary, Mother of Sorrows! My sins were the sword that pierced your most holy heart; may my penance heal this wound! O, grant me the grace of conversion, that I may no longer renew your sorrows; grant me love, that I may be able to say to you: O my Mother! I served the world, and the world betrayed me; I betrayed you, and you watched over me! O Mary, standing under the Cross, you can obtain everything from your Son; obtain for me the forgiveness of sins, for which I am heartily sorry. O Mary! I am ready to renounce everything, but from you, never, never again will I depart, for whatever I leave for you, I will find all in you. For you, I will leave the world, and in you, I will find Jesus! He who loves the earth longs for the earth; he who loves the Cross longs for the Cross, for on the Cross is the Savior, and under the Cross is the Mother.

Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be.

V. Have mercy on us, O Lord.
R. Have mercy on us.
V. Who suffered wounds for us,
R. Jesus Christ, have mercy on us.

Resolution. I will think about how I have fulfilled my duties toward God, toward myself, and toward my family; in what I should particularly improve; what means I should use for this purpose.

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STATION XII
Jesus dies on the Cross.

“And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all things to Myself.” (John 12:32)

V. We praise You, O Lord, and we bless You.
R. Because by Your holy Cross, You have redeemed the world.

Just as the last words of a dying father and mother should be sacred and precious to us, and the memories of those final moments of a father’s and mother’s life are the most salvific and painful for us, so the last words of our Savior, dying for us on the Cross, should be sacred and important, and the memory of the last moments of His life should be the most salvific and holy for us! Our Savior, out of infinite love for people, even in the midst of the most terrible sufferings, in this last, bitter struggle with death, looking at that ungodly crowd of Jews and pagans, hearing their blasphemies and mockery, did not forget us, and from the Cross still gave us a great lesson on the love of enemies! “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do!” They did not know what they were doing; they killed Christ as a man, for they did not want to recognize God in Him, but we crucify Christ when we confess Him to be our God! We crucify Him in people through anger, hatred, revenge, and all disorderly feelings of the heart. The entire life of Christ breathed only love; He gave us teaching and example on how we should love God and our neighbors, and on the Cross, He even more clearly unfolded and confirmed this teaching, praying for those who crucified Him. And when Christ prayed for His crucifiers, He thereby showed that there is no injury that we should not forgive. For it is easy to love those who love us and do good to us; but to love those who hate us and wrong us, that is difficult! It is difficult for those who do not want to look at the Cross, but easy for those who love the Cross! For he who loves the Cross understands the teaching of the Cross, he understands the mysteries of the Cross, and among these mysteries is the mystery of the love of enemies. Compare your unworthiness with the dignity of the Savior, His holiness with your wickedness, His sufferings with your suffering, and every voice of vanity, every feeling of pride must fall silent! Christ loved those who crucified Him, and we do not want to love even those who do good to us. Christ prayed for His crucifiers, and we curse those who do us the slightest, and perhaps unintentional, harm, and often we would like to bring about the ruin and destruction of those who have not sinned against us at all, solely because God has given them more temporal gifts than us—talents, wealth, significance, etc. You say: “This is my enemy,” but why do you not add: “This is my neighbor, this is my brother, whether good or bad, but always my brother!” Our sweetest Savior, seeing that all was now accomplished, commanded His spirit, and death became obedient to the commands of its Lord. Christ died because He Himself wanted to die, and with a strong voice, the voice of a victor, He cried: “Father, into Your hands I commend My spirit!” and expired, and taught us that if we want our death to be a victory, our life must be a struggle! Christ was born in poverty, lived in labor, and died in suffering, and we are born poor, live in labor, and die in suffering, but alas, we live, labor, suffer, and die without the love of God, for we have chosen the world, not Christ, as our teacher and guide! Let us live according to the example of Christ, so that at death we may be able to cry:

“Into Your hands, Lord, I commend my spirit!” Now, now, while health and life still serve, let us cry from a humbled heart: “Into Your hands, Lord, I commend my life and health! Everything I have and am, I commend my mind, that it may not cast me into the abyss of error; I commend my will, that I may never rise against You; I commend my memory, that it may not wander in vain dreams; I commend my labors, that You may sanctify them. Grant me the grace to love only You in all things, and all things in You and for You. Lord, rule me, guide me, lead me; I can do nothing without You, everything with You. You will wound the heart; may that wound praise Your name. You will draw a tear from the eye; may that tear tell of Your mercy! You will heal that wound, wipe away that tear, restore peace to the soul; I will praise and bless Your compassion! I thank You for life; I do not beg to be spared from death, for both life and death are Your gifts. You will place the Cross upon me; with the Cross, I will follow You! Poor, persecuted, slandered, I will follow my poor, persecuted, slandered Lord; scourged by the malice of the world, I will cling to Your Cross, so that by repeating in life Your prayer: “Lord, not as I will, but as You will,” I may, at the hour of death, cry with You: “Lord, into Your hands I commend my spirit.” Amen.

Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be.

V. Have mercy on us, O Lord.
R. Have mercy on us.
V. Who suffered wounds for us,
R. Jesus Christ, have mercy on us.

Resolution.

I will pray for those who have wronged me in any way; if I am angry with anyone, today, for the love of the crucified Jesus, I will be the first to extend my hand in reconciliation and cast out all ill will from my heart and mind.

—

STATION XIII
Jesus is taken down from the Cross.

“If anyone does not love the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be accursed. Maranatha.” (1 Corinthians 16:22)

V. We praise You, O Lord, and we bless You.
R. Because by Your holy Cross, You have redeemed the world.

Jesus Christ is dead; His lifeless, insensate body hangs on the Cross. And the whole world trembled at the sight of this terrible crime committed in its wickedness! The whole heaven looked at this Cross and at Him who passed through the gate of death to lead us through the gate of life! All prophecies were fulfilled; the work of our salvation was accomplished! Mary stood under the Cross, in this sea of sorrow, looking at the lifeless body of her most holy Son, looking at this great sacrifice laid on the wood of the Cross as if on an altar for the appeasement of the wrath of divine justice! And we, we who are the cause of this sacrifice of the Son, of these sorrows of the Mother, will we look with indifferent eyes at this Cross? Will the sight of the Cross not be for us a joyful and sorrowful memory of the death of our God? We look indifferently today at the Savior stretched on the Cross to save the world; will we look so indifferently at the same Savior when He comes in the glory of His majesty to judge the world? We do not want to see in the Cross the light of truth and life; we will feel in it the fire of judgment and divine vengeance! We do not want the Cross as a friend; we will have it as a judge. The Jews cried out to the Savior, mocking and scoffing, that He should come down from the Cross if He is the Son of God, but Christ was silent and endured to the end, and did not come down alive, but two of His disciples, Joseph and Nicodemus, took His dead body down from the Cross and laid it in the arms of Mary. Oh, and today people demand miracles to believe, but miracles will not be given to them. Our faith does not need miracles, for it is itself a miracle of mercy, wisdom, and divine power. Eighteen centuries of the life of the Church—this is the daily confirmation of this miracle! We have today the miracles of mercy, kindness, goodness, and patience of God toward us; do we want to see the miracles of wrath, impetuosity, and justice of God toward us? Oh, woe to us, for we will see them one day! If we do not honor the first coming of the Savior into the world worthily, His second coming into the world will be terrible for us. People nailed the Savior to the Cross, not angels, but people took His dead body down from the Cross. God has nailed us to the Cross; let us wait until He Himself takes us down from the Cross! People cried out to Christ: “Come down from the Cross!” Satan cries out to us: “Come down from the Cross of suffering; in dissipation, drunkenness, and wrongdoing, you will find comfort and help!” Oh no, no, do not come down, but endure faithfully in humility and patience to the end. God has prepared this Cross for you, suitable for your strength and needs. He knows best how long to leave you on it! You do not pluck fruit from the tree until it is ripe, and God will not take your heart from the tree of the Cross until it ripens in the ray of His grace, through love and suffering. He will choose for you, as help and comfort, Josephs and Nicodemuses, people who know and love God. None of the blasphemers and crucifiers took the body down from the Cross; and you, in affliction and sorrow, will not be comforted by one who blasphemes, but by one who loves God, and will comfort you in the name of God, will comfort you with the word of God:

Lord! You endured on the Cross until death; if it is Your most holy will, I want to endure until death on this Cross to which Your love has nailed me. I do not want, trusting too much in my own strength, to seek the Cross and ascend it of my own will; do not let me, of my own will, descend from the Cross! You know best what I need for salvation, and therefore I will secure my salvation in nothing more than by never, in anything, opposing Your most holy will. As a child never regrets following the good advice of father and mother, so I, Your child, want to follow Your advice and example. Who knows me better than You, who loves better than You? O Lord, grant me the grace to know and love You better every day; we ask this through Your merits, You who live and reign as God, one in the Holy Trinity, forever and ever. Amen.

Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be.

V. Have mercy on us, O Lord.
R. Have mercy on us.
V. Who suffered wounds for us,
R. Jesus Christ, have mercy on us.

Resolution.

I will consider how, by prayer, word, and above all, by the example of a truly Christian life, I can strive to ensure that as many souls as possible benefit from the Passion and death of the Savior.

—
STATION XIV
Jesus is laid in the tomb.

“What more was there to do for My vineyard that I have not done in it?” (Isaiah 5:4)

V. We praise You, O Lord, and we bless You.
R.Because by Your holy Cross, You have redeemed the world.

With this last station, we conclude the devotion of the Way of the Cross. Let us stand with hearts full of joy over this tomb in which the most holy body of our Savior was laid. The sight of death and the grave should always and everywhere awaken salvific thoughts in our hearts. But what shall we say, looking at the death of the Savior, what feeling should fill our hearts at His tomb? Who lies here in this tomb? God-Man! He descended from heaven into the purest Virgin’s womb as if into some grave; He was hardly born when He was laid in a manger; taken down from the Cross, He was laid in a tomb, and from this tomb, He rose not dead, but alive! He ascended into heaven, but He also remained on earth, and as if in a grave of love, He hid Himself in the Most Holy Host, and from the altar, as into a grave, He enters our hearts, so that this heart may rise in love! All the mysteries of the life of Christ on earth are mysteries of love, but to every mystery of love is joined a mystery of sorrow, as if Christ wanted to show us that there can be no true love without sorrow, and that only that sorrow is salvific which love sanctifies! One cannot love without suffering, but one can suffer without love, as the godless suffer on earth and in hell! For one cannot love God without longing to be united with Him, and in longing, there is sorrow! Christ passed through the Cross and the tomb to the glory of the Resurrection;

we, too, must go the same way, and in spiritual life, we have perhaps already gone this way more than once! We die daily, either to God or to the world. He who dies to God lays, as it were, in the grave faith, hope, and love, and rises to a life of dissipation, wickedness, and shamelessness. He who dies to the world lays, as it were, in the grave all his evil habits, and rises to a life of grace, comfort, and the glory of God. The first resurrection leads to eternal death; the second resurrection is the beginning of eternal life. As was the death, so will be the resurrection. If we want to rise with Christ, we must live and die with Christ.

Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be.

V.Have mercy on us, O Lord.
R. Have mercy on us.
V. Who suffered wounds for us,
R.Jesus Christ, have mercy on us.

Resolution.

I will reflect on what God especially demands of me and how, not only in word but in deed, I can best show the divine Savior that I love Him with my whole heart.

V.God did not spare His own Son.
R.But delivered Him up for us all.

Let us pray. We beseech You, O God, look mercifully upon this gathering of Your faithful, for whom Jesus Christ did not refuse to be delivered into the hands of sinners and to undergo the torment of the Cross. May we become partakers of His redemption, appropriating to ourselves His precious Blood. We ask this through the same Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.
V.Have mercy on us, O Lord!
R.Have mercy on us.
V. In every sorrow and distress,
R. Come to our aid, most holy Virgin Mary!

Let us pray. Lord Jesus Christ, we beseech You that Your most holy Mother, the Virgin Mary, may always intercede for us with You, especially at the hour of death, since Your death reminds us of all the sorrows that pierced her maternal heart like a cruel sword. You who live and reign with God the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, forever and ever. Amen.