Via Crucis 2006: Stations 13 & 14

From combined Stations 13 (His Body Taken Down from the Cross) & 14 (His Body is Laid in the Tomb) at The Corner:

"For me, there is no more true statement of faith than 'the Gospel is bad news before it is good news'. The son of God was killed by those he lived with, those who awaited his glorious reign. The authorities looked for a way out, for a loophole that would allow them to let this prophet go free. But we villagers would have none of it. So we killed him. And now he is dead."

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Via Crucis 2006: Stations 11 & 12

From Station 11 (His Crucifixion) at sententiae et clamores:

"The man on the cross. The man nailed to the cross. Flesh pierced and tearing as the cross is raised. The battle of the lungs against the weight of his own body. The thirst. Gasping.The mockery continues. Who mocks a dying man, even if he is a criminal?Even a dying criminal taunts him.But another speaks with faith. Condemned justly to death for his crimes, he alone seems to see a man who has a kingdom to come into. He asks the broken, dying man to remember him. Another of the first Christians.

We are near the end."

From Station 12 (His Death on the Cross) at Cirque de moi:

"On this Good Friday, I remember why He died. I remember his agony in the garden. Why must we meditate upon his suffering? Why not just recall the Resurrection? For me that answer is simple. I need to recall my part in His death. I need to 'see' again my sins that cost Him his life. I need to 'feel' the pain that our Lord chose to endure to help me to amend my life and resolve to not commit that sin again, with God's grace. Thank you Lord for all that you have done for me. Help me to live my life completely for you and to embrace the crosses that you have blessed me with."

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Via Crucis 2006: Stations 9 & 10

From combined stations 9 (His Third Fall) & 10 (He is Stripped of His Garments) at The Corner:

"Jesus falls, his body more than likely bloodied, humiliation taken to an almost illogical extreme. Jesus is stripped, all things of value taken from him in a mugging by an angry mob that has dogged his every step. Even if we question Jesus's divinity, as a fellow human being, this degradation and abuse is visceral, it grabs us.

I long to step away from that bloody, humiliated man. I want nostalgia, or better yet the sort of cool distance that modernity brought. I am Johnny, telling Pony Boy, stay gold, stay as I have you in my memory, stay as you are on the crushed velvet painting.

Put some clothes on, for God's sake, and wipe up that blood.� You are embarrassing me. I gave my life to you."

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Via Crucis 2006: Stations 7 & 8

From Station 7 (His Second Fall) from Jason Clark:

"How many of us have grow weary and fallen down in the act of following Jesus, into his mission, through his body, the Church. From being overwhemed with the need to experience the %u2018life%u2019 the world sell us, with it%u2019s nevery ending stream of sales pitch images that fill our minds and souls, whilst we struggle for signifance."

From Station 8 (He Meets the Women of Jerusalem) at Dry Bones Dance:

"I guess if you are being led away to your own crucifixion, you tend to be in an apocalyptic mood. I don't know everything that Jesus meant by all of that, but I imagine it had something to do with the way that evil doesn't stay contained in one place very well. They thought they could just kill one man, and that would be the end of it, but then people started talking resurrection and they had to keep going with the killing.

Jesus knew that his death would lead to resurrection, but there's a whole lot of death that just leads to a higher body count. Maybe He was saying, 'You think this is bad? Darlins, this ain't the half of it, and if you want to mourn it all, you'll be wailing until your throats are raw and all you can do is whisper out your grief. And you still won't be done, because all this death isn't going to stop for a long long time.'"

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Via Crucis 2006: Station 6

From Station 6 (Christ's Face is Wiped by Veronica) at Crossroads Dispatches:

"No one knows for sure whom this woman was, but the veil she used to wipe His face, according to the Catholic Encyclopedia, was said to bear the likeness of the image of Christ's face, and the revered relic 'was called vera icon (true image), which ordinary language soon made veronica.' The Basilica of St. Peter's in Rome and a Capuchin monastery in the village of Manoppello, Italy both claim possession of the authentic veil.

The woman now known as Veronica knew a true image, vera icon, of God in human form when she saw Him: a human and a Being. His Presence was so radiant that it was not totally obliterated in her eyes by the current situation."

Read more posts at Via Crucis 2006.

Station 5: Simon of Cyrene is Made to Bear the Cross

Jesus never asked Simon to carry the cross.

Roman soldiers did.

Nor was Simon asked all that politely.

He was compelled, a verb Matthew uses at 5:41: and if anyone compels you to go one mile, go with him two miles.

This was the law. A roman soldier could make you carry something if he wanted, and you didn't really have a choice.

Discipleship, shall we say, is not always a walk in the park.

But it might be a walk to Golgotha.

The call to serve our Lord may not seem to come from him, or the kindly rector, or your best friend. The call might seem so distorted as to apparently come from an armed oppressor, in an unfamiliar accent, in the form of an order rather than a request.

You will know the call to be true not because of whom the call comes from, or the manner in which the call is solicited.

You will know the call to be true because you will see the striped, bleeding body of our Lord just behind the one standing in your face, demanding your service.

And you will be compelled to relieve his burden, if only for a while.

Click ahead to station 6, Christ's face is wiped by Veronica: Renee, Mike, Argent, Best & Worst, Shawn, Joseph, Kat, Rick, Stephanie, Trepanatus, Karen, Crossroad Dispatches.

Or, click back to station 4, He meets His Blessed Mother: Renee, Mike, Argent, Best & Worst, Shawn, Joseph, Kat, Rick, Stephanie, Trepanatus, Karen, Jean, U2Sermons, Maggie, Elena, Jennifer.

Via Crucis 2006.

Via Crucis 2006: Stations 3 & 4

Stations 3 & 4 are up at Via Crucis 2006.

From station 3 (Jesus falls for the 1st time) at ianua:

"Imagine the holiest, most perfect of beings, the one bigger than the stars, the planets, and all of space, encapsulated in human form, stumbling under the weight of the cross, gasping, and falling to the ground with a thud.

Imagine the silence that follows."

From Station 4 (Jesus meets his blessed mother) at sententiae et clamores:

"We have spent some time thinking about the suffering of Jesus on the way to Calvary. Human life, however, is never about the suffering of one person, and the cruel death of Jesus did not require only his resolve and capacity for faith in suffering. Mary, the handmaiden of the Lord, would too be pierced, forced to suffer the brutal murder of her son. The extraordinary faith of Mary made her not only an essential participant in the Incarnation, but made her a necessary participant in the Crucifixion as well. After Christ himself, the human being who most suffered in this drama of redemption was Mary, a mother given to all of us by Christ as he hung on the cross."

I'll be reflecting on "Station 5: Simon of Cyrene is Made to Bear the Cross" tomorrow, in a different vein from my sermon this Sunday, so check back if you can.

Via Crucis 2006: Stations 1 & 2

Stations 1 &2 are up at Via Crucis 2006.

From station 1 (Christ is condemned to death) at World of Your Making:

"Jesus, our brother, we stand in silence and observe your confrontation with the powers of those who ruled your world. We stand in silence as you are condemned. Standing in silence is not something new to us. We have stood silent in the face of overwhelming poverty. We have stood silent in the face of countless victims of terrorism, disaster, and war. We have stood silent in the face of those who are powerless and who seek refuge in our own communities. Like Pilate, we often stand in silence, bowed, broken, and afraid. Break the chains of our silence! Give us a holy courage, a stirring passion for the way of justice and peace, and grace to walk in the truth of who we really are."

From station 2 (the cross is laid upon him) at argent by the tiber:

"Ah, my Lord, You who are Heaven's Darling, now take on the sting of whip's cord, the prick of thorny crown, and the humiliation of mortal man's mockery. This bitter cup of suffering which was mine by right you willingly drink. Now the rhythmic descent of cruel whip lacerates the human frame with which you cloaked yourself for love of creatures. Little did we know of Father's pierced heart and angels' tears as pain wracked your sacred body. Then upon your battered shoulders the wood was laid. Yet sweet and blessed it is for Eden's wood defiled is now to be redeemed by Calvary's tree."

Via Crucis 2006

Check back here, next week, for links to posts from around the world on the stations of the cross.

And, if you are so compelled - join in.