Stations of the cross
1st Station - Jesus is condemned to death
Consider how Jesus Christ, after being scourged and crowned with thorns, was unjustly condemned by Pilate to die on the cross.
2nd Station - Jesus carries his cross
Consider Jesus as He walked this road with the cross on His shoulders, thinking of us, and offering to His Father in our behalf, the death He was about to suffer.
3rd Station - Jesus falls for the first time
Consider the first fall of Jesus. Loss of blood from the scourging and crowing with thorns had so weakened Him that He could hardly walk; and yet He had to carry that great load upon His shoulders. As the soldiers struck Him cruelly, He fell several times under the heavy cross.
4th Station - Jesus meets His mother Mary
Consider how the Son met his Mother on His way to Calvary. Jesus and Mary gazed at each other and their looks became as so many arrows to wound those hearts which loved each other so tenderly
5th Station - Simon of Cyrene helps Jesus carry the cross
Consider how weak and weary Jesus was. At each step He was at the point of expiring. Fearing that He would die on the way when they wished Him to die the infamous death of the cross, they forced Simon of Cyrene to help carry the cross after Our Lord.
6th Station - Veronica wipes the face of Jesus
Consider the compassion of the holy woman, Veronica. Seeing Jesus in such distress, His face bathed in sweat and blood, she presented Him with her veil. Jesus wiped His face, and left upon the cloth the image of his sacred countenance.
7th Station - Jesus falls for the second time
Consider how the second fall of Jesus under His cross renews the pain in all the wounds of the head and members of our afflicted Lord.
8th Station - Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem
Consider how the women wept with compassion seeing Jesus so distressed and dripping with blood as
he walked along. Jesus said to them, "Weep not so much for me, but rather for Your children."
9th Station - Jesus falls for the third time
Consider how Jesus Christ fell for the third time. He was extremely weak and the cruelly of His executioners was excessive; they tried to hasten His steps though He hardly had strength to move.
10th Station - Jesus is stripped of his clothes
Consider how Jesus was violently stripped of His clothes by His executioners. The inner garments adhered to his lacerated flesh and the soldiers tore them off so roughly that the skin came with them Have pity for your Savior so cruelly treated and tell Him
11th Station - Jesus is nailed to the cross
Consider Jesus, thrown down upon the cross, He stretched out His arms and offered to His eternal Father the sacrifice of His life for our salvation. They nailed His hands and feet, and then, raising the cross, left Him to die in anguish.
12th Station - Jesus dies on the cross
Consider how Your Jesus, after three hours of agony on the cross, is finally overwhelmed with suffering and, abandoning Himself to the weight of His body, bows His head and dies.
13th Station - Jesus is taken down from the cross
Consider how, after Our Lord had died, He was taken down from the cross by two of His disciples, Joseph and Nicodemus, and placed in the arms of His afflicted Mother. She received Him with unutterable tenderness and pressed Him close to her bosom.
14th Station - Jesus is placed in the tomb
Consider how the disciples carried the body of Jesus to its burial, while His holy Mother went with them and arranged it in the sepulcher with her own hands. They then closed the tomb and all departed.
