There are many ways to perform this devotion, privately or publicly. At the our parish, it is traditionally held:
When made publicly, the following response is said at each Station as we genuflect:
V: We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you.
R: Because by your Holy Cross you have redeemed the world.
Each station is visited and prayed at, in turn. This guide is based on the traditional form by St Alphonsus’ Stations.
The following Act of Contrition may be used at each Station:
I love you, Jesus, my love above all things. I repent with my whole heart of having offended you. Never permit me to separate myself from you again. Grant that I may love you always and then do with me what you will.
Each station is completed by reciting the Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory be and a verse of the Stabat Mater is prayed or sung when moving from one station to the next.
1st Station: Jesus is Comdemned to Death
Consider how Jesus, after having been scourged and crowned with thorns, was unjustly condemned by Pilate to die on the Cross.
Act of Contrition
Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory be
At the Cross her station keeping,
Stood the mournful Mother weeping,
Close to Jesus to the last.
2nd Station: Jesus Receives the Cross
Consider how Jesus, in making this journey with the Cross on his shoulders, thought of us, and offered for us to his Father the death he was about to undergo.
Act of Contrition
Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory be
Through her heart, His sorrow sharing,
All His bitter anguish bearing,
Now at length the sword has passed.
3rd Station: Jesus Fall the First Time
Consider the first fall of Jesus under his Cross. His flesh was torn by the scourges, his head was crowned with thorns; he had lost a great quantity of blood. So weakened he could scarcely walk, he yet had to carry this load upon his shoulders. The soldiers struck him rudely, and he fell several times.
Act of Contrition
Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory be
Oh, how sad and sore distressed
Was that Mother highly blessed
Of the sole Begotten One!
4th Station: Jesus Meets His Afflicted Mother
Consider this meeting of the Son and the Mother, which took place on this journey. Their looks became like so many arrows to wound those hearts which loved each other so tenderly.
Act of Contrition
Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory be
Christ above in torment hangs
She beneath beholds the pangs
Of her dying, glorious Son
5th Station: Simon Helps Jesus to Bear the Cross
Consider how his cruel tormentors, seeing that Jesus was on the point of expiring, and fearing that he would die on the way, whereas they wished him to die the shameful death of the Cross, constrained Simon of Cyrene to carry the Cross behind our Lord.
Act of Contrition
Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory be
Is there one who would not weep,
‘whelmed in miseries so deep
Christ’s dear Mother to behold.
6th Station: Veronica Wipes the Face of Jesus
Consider how the holy woman named Veronica, seeing Jesus so ill-used and bathed in sweat and blood, wiped his face with a towel, on which was left the impression of his holy countenance.
Act of Contrition
Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory be
Can the human heart refrain
From partaking in her pain
In that Mother’s pain untold?
7th Station: Jesus Fall the Second Time
Consider the second fall of Jesus under the Cross; a fall which renews the pain of all the wounds in his head and members.
Act of Contrition
Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory be
Bruised, derided, cursed, defiled
She beheld her tender Child
All with bloody scourges rent.
8th Station: Jesus Speaks to the Women of Jerusalem
Consider how these women wept with compassion at seeing Jesus in such a pitiable state, streaming with blood as he walked along. ‘Daughters of Jerusalem’, he said, ‘weep not for me, but for yourselves and your children’.
Act of Contrition
Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory be
For the sins of His own nation
Saw Him hang in desolation
Till His spirit forth He sent.
9th Station: Jesus Falls the Third Time
Consider the third fall of Jesus Christ. His weakness was extreme, and the cruelty of his executioners excessive, as they tried to hasten his steps when he could scarcely move.
Act of Contrition
Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory be
O sweet Mother! Fount of Love,
Touch my spirit from above
Make my heart with yours accord.
10th Station: Jesus is Stripped of His Garments
Consider the violence with which Jesus was stripped by the executioners. His inner garments adhered to his torn flesh, and they dragged them off so roughly that the skin came with them. Take pity on your Saviour thus cruelly treated.
Act of Contrition
Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory be
Make me feel as Thou have felt
Make my soul to glow and melt
With the love of Christ, my Lord.
11th Station: Jesus is Nailed to the Cross
Consider how Jesus, having been placed upon the Cross, extended his hands, and offered to his Eternal Father the sacrifice of his life for our salvation. His executioners fastened him with nails and then, securing the Cross, allowed him to die with anguish.
Act of Contrition
Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory be
Holy Mother, pierce me through
In my heart each wound renew
Of my Saviour crucified.
12th Station: Jesus Dies on the Cross
Consider how Jesus, being consumed with anguish after three hours’ agony on the Cross, abandoned himself to the weight of his body, bowed his head and died.
Act of Contrition
Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory be
Let me share with you His pain,
Who for all our sins was slain,
Who for me in torments died.
13th Station: Jesus is Taken Down from the Cross
Consider how, after our Lord had expired, two of his disciples, Joseph and Nicodemus, took him down from the Cross and placed him in the arms of his afflicted Mother, who received him with unutterable tenderness and pressed him to her bosom.
Act of Contrition
Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory be
Let me mingle tears with thee
Mourning Him who mourned for me,
All the days that I may live.
14th Station: Jesus is Laid in the Tomb
Consider how the disciples, accompanied by his holy Mother, carried the body of Jesus to bury it. They closed the tomb, and all came sorrowfully away.
Act of Contrition
Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory be
By the Cross with you to stay
There with you to weep and pray
Is all I ask of you to give.