Way of the Cross
for Retreatants

Suggestions for preparation:  Each evening over the next two weeks take one of the waypoints on the Way and use it for your mediation and reflection. 
If you need more time with a particular station, stay with it as long as it draws you.  Let it speak to you and in the quiet of your heart listen to what God might be saying to you.  It may help to light a candle and begin with an opening prayer to focus on God's presence.  Some quiet, non-verbal music may help focus your attention.

At the end of each meditation, ask yourself the questions presented.  Let the questions draw you.  If you desire you may wish to let your response come through writing in a journal.

Know at all times that God
is with you
and wraps you in love and care.

1. Condemnation: Jesus stands  before Pilate

I stand with the mob, judging, condemning others. I stand with Jesus, judged by circumstance, gender, race, age. I am one of those who refuse or can not act. I am one of the invisible wounded in search of healing. They shouted: "Crucify him! Crucify him!"   (John 19:6)

The Lord said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness."  Therefore, I am content with weaknesses for the sake of Christ; for whenever I am weak, then I am strong.   (St. Paul 2 Cor 12:9-10)

Where am I today, Lord, part of the mob or with the wounded? What wounds do I have? What wounds have I caused? What can I do to begin the healing?

2.  Acceptance: Jesus accepts / takes up the cross

I sometimes willingly embrace challenges, at other times, I run. I long for strength, courage to accept my cross, for answers, for resolution."So they took Jesus, and carrying the cross by himself, he went out to Golgotha." (John 19:17)

Have patience with all things, but chiefly have patience with yourself. Do not lose courage in considering your own imperfections but instantly set about remedying them every day begin the task anew.     (St. Francis de Sales)

What must I face right now to give me the courage to embrace the minutes and hours in my days? How can I stop running and stand firmly in the shadow of the cross?


3. Struggle: Jesus falls the first time

My family, my job, my relationships weigh heavily on me. I collapse under the burdens of pain, of loss, of confusion, of life itself.

 The Lord is a stronghold for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble.
 And those who know your name put their trust in you, for you, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you.  (Psalm 9: 9-10)

What can I do to reduce the busyness, bring quiet space to my life?

4. Hurts: Jesus meets his mother

 I see hurt, anger, sadness in the eyes of another. It is like a mirror for me, a reflection of my own inner turmoil.

(B)e patient toward all that is unsolved in your  heart and to try to love the questions themselves.  Do not now seek answers which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer.  
(Rainer Maria Rilke)

Whom have I hurt? Who has hurt me? How can I accept these hurts, embrace the loss, and continue the journey, a stronger, gentler more peaceful person?

5. Alone: Simon helps Jesus

I am pressed into service, sometimes unwillingly, to see others' burdens, to ease their suffering. I must stand with them or lose myself. I am only one person.

There is no wilderness so terrible, so beautiful, so arid and so fruitful as the wilderness of compassion. It is in the desert of compassion that the thirsty land turns into springs of water, that the poor possess all things.   (Thomas Merton)

What cross do I carry? Is it light or heavy? Is there more than one cross in my life? How can I respond?

6. Care: Veronica wipes Jesus' face

I always seem to be caring for others, but I am needy, Lord. Care for me, ease my sadness, notice me, Lord. I want someone to choose me.

To live a spiritual life we must first find the courage to enter into the desert of our loneliness and to change it by gentle and persistent efforts into a garden of solitude.    (Henri Nouwen)

Why does being alone seem so sad? Why do I feel neglected? Who is alone in my life? Who needs me to care for them?

7. Energy: Jesus falls the second time

I am so tired, drained. My head is down; my shoulders hunched. I struggle to go on. I can't seem to help being negative; I am lost in my own small world.

Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted.
Relieve the troubles of my heart, and bring me out of my distress.
Consider my affliction and my trouble, and forgive all my sins. (Psalm 25:16-18)

How can I recover my energy, my enthusiasm? What do I need to change to see the world in a new way?

8. Comfort: Jesus meets and comforts the women

I am helpless; my own cares overwhelm me. I am woman, man, child alone. Reach out to me, please. Touch me.

(W)e will find healing and wholeness by touching the Body of Christ and, as members of the Body of Christ, we are called upon to dispense Godıs healing and wholeness by touching others. (Ron Rolheiser)

What overwhelms me today? How can I touch or be touched by another?

9. Fear: Jesus falls the third time

Even as I pull myself up, I fail. I am afraid of darkness overwhelming me, of a crushing emptiness.

Surely God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid, for the Lord God is my strength and my might; he has become my salvation.  (Isaiah 12:2)

What frightens me? What will calm this fear? How do I speak to God in prayer?


10. Truth: Jesus is stripped of his clothes

My arms hang loosely at my sides; my hands are open, empty. Everything must fall away to reveal the core that holds the truth of who I am.

The value of life does not depend upon the place we occupy. It depends upon the way we occupy that place. (St. Therese of Lisieux)

What is a truth I can name and claim about myself? How can I use my truth to make a difference?

11. Detachment: Jesus is crucified.

I am disengaged, indifferent. I can't care about these people, this world. Too many, too much. The shadow of the cross weighs heavy on me.

The shadow of the cross falls upon each of our lives, although we are not usually aware of it each day the cross has become my constant companion, a reminder of my upcoming encounter with my new friend, death, who will lead me home to God.  
(Joseph Cardinal Bernardin)

When have I been indifferent or failed to include others in my life? When have I been hurt, excluded?

12. Darkness: Jesus hangs/dies on the cross

I am spent with worry, with too much of all that pulls me in so many directions. I turn to the light that knows no darkness, to the Spirit that refuses to be broken.

O send out your light and your truth; let them lead me; let them bring me to your holy hill and to your dwelling.
Then I will go to the altar of God, to God my exceeding joy; and I will praise you with the harp, O God, my God.  (Psalm 43:3-4)

What is it or who is it that I need to let go? Where do I see a glimmer of light?

13. Loss: Jesus is taken down from the cross

The world has devoured my spirit, numbed my senses, hardened my heart. The cross stands, and I am on my knees.

It is not the nagging, coercing and denigrating of my spirit that will bring change. It is the knowledge that I am capable of much greater goodness that creates a desire in me to change.  (Joyce Rupp)

How can I embrace the cross? How can I walk in this experience? Will You walk with me?

14. Silence: Jesus is laid in the tomb.

I am quiet, waiting, listening at last. The darkness, the silence comfort, console and warm me. It is almost time. Change will come. I must accept this present.

Death is not putting out the light. It is extinguishing the candle because the dawn has truly come.  (Rabindranath Tagore)

Where is my tomb? How do I quiet the restlessness, find the patience for this time of waiting?

15. Resurrection: Jesus is risen.

Tempered in the fires of pain and loss, I find strength. I hear the voice of  Hope, of Love. You reach out to me as I reach out to another. The death of night brings life to a new day.

 The Lord lives! Blessed be my rock, and exalted be the God of my salvation.  Psalm 18:46

Where do I find hope? Who/what gives me life? 
  

Copyright 2004