Stations of the Cross
First station Jesus is condemned to death
Pilate said to the
people, “Here is
your king!”
They shouted back,
“Kill him! Kill him!
Crucify him!”
Pilate asked the crowd, “Which one of these
two do you want me to set free for you?”
“Barabbas!” they answered.
“What, then, shall I do with Jesus called the
Messiah?” Pilate asked them. “Crucify him!”
they all answered.
When Pilate saw that
it was no use to go on,
but that a riot might
break out, he took
some water, washed
his hands in front of
the crowd, and said,
“I am not responsible
for the death of this
man! This is your
doing!” The whole
crowd answered,
“Let the
responsibility for his
death fall on us and
our children!”
Second Station Jesus receives the cross
The soldiers put a
purple robe on Jesus,
made a crown out of
thorny branches, and
put it on his head.
Then they began to
salute him: “Long live
the King of the Jews!”
(Mk 15:16-20)
Jesus went out, carrying his cross and came to “The Place
of the Skull”, as it is called. (In Hebrew it is called
“Golgotha”.) There the soldiers crucified him.
Pilate wrote a notice and had it put on the cross. “Jesus of
Nazareth, the King of the Jews”, is what he wrote.
Jesus endured abandonment, tortures, mocking, to be
shoved about by others and finally going into his own
suffering.
Third Station Jesus falls the first time
Jesus has never abandoned his
cross although he suffers both
spiritually and physically. He is
willing to endure all these in order
to save people from their sins.
The uproar of the
people, the coarse
soldiers and the
angers of the crowd
splashed their fury
upon Jesus.
Fourth Station
Jesus meets His Mother
Standing close to
Jesus' cross were his
mother, Mary.
Jesus saw his mother
and the disciple he loved
standing there; so he said
to his mother, “He is
your son.” Then he said
to the disciple, “She is
your mother.” From that
time the disciple took her
to live in his home.
When Jesus was going to the execution ground,
Mary looked at him without hatred and
wailing. From Bethlehem to Calvary, Mary’s
heart magnified God.
Fifth Station
Simon of Cyrene carries Jesus’ cross
On the way they
met a man
named Simon,
who was coming
into the city from
the country, and
the soldiers
forced him to
carry Jesus' cross.
(Mk 15:21)
Sixth Station
Veronica wipes Jesus’ face with her veil
Through Jesus’ tears, blood and death, people is
granted to meet the Almighty God face to face.
Seventh Station Jesus falls the second time
Judas betrayed him, Peter denied
him, Herod and Pilate scourged
him, his beloved people insulted
him, his broken heart and the
wearily body made him fell down
again.
Eighth Station
Jesus meets the daughters of Jerusalem
Some women who
were weeping and
wailing for him.
Jesus turned to them
and said, “Women of
Jerusalem! Don't cry
for me, but for
yourselves and your
children.
Ninth Station Jesus falls the third time
Jesus fell down
again and again,
there is nobody
who would give a
helping hand, only
a cruel whip came
down on him
mercilessly.
“We are healed by the punishment he suffered,
made whole by the blows he received…”
Tenth Station
Jesus is stripped of His garments
After the soldiers had
crucified Jesus, they took
his clothes and divided
them into four parts, one
part for each soldier. They
also took the robe, which
was made of one piece of
woven cloth without any
seams in it. The soldiers
said to one another, “Let's
not tear it; let's throw dice
to see who will get it.” This
happened in order to make
the scripture come true:
“They divided my clothes
among themselves
and gambled for my robe.”
They put a purple robe on Jesus, made a crown out of thorny
branches, and put it on his head. 18 Then they began to salute
him: “Long live the King of the Jews!” 19 They beat him over
the head with a stick, spat on him, fell on their knees, and bowed
down to him. 20 When they had finished mocking him, they took
off the purple robe and put his own clothes back on him. Then
they led him out to crucify him.
Eleventh Station
Crucifixion-Jesus is nailed to the cross
Above his head they put the written
notice of the accusation against him:
“This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.”
Then they crucified two bandits with
Jesus, one on his right and the other on
his left. People passing by shook their
heads and hurled insults at Jesus: “You
were going to tear down the Temple and
build it up again in three days! Save
yourself if you are God's Son! Come on
down from the cross!” In the same way
the chief priests and the teachers of the
Law and the elders jeered at him: “He
saved others, but he cannot save himself!
Isn't he the king of Israel? If he comes
down off the cross now, we will believe
in him! He trusts in God and claims to
be God's Son. Well, then, let us see if
God wants to save him now!” Even the
bandits who had been crucified with
him insulted him in the same way.
Jesus was
crucified with
nothing, he
abandoned his
dignity and
rights, he
endured all the
insults nakedly.
Twelfth Station
Jesus dies on the cross
At about three
o'clock Jesus cried
out with a loud
shout, “My God,
my God, why did
you abandon me?”
Jesus knew that
by now everything
had been completed;
and in order to make
the scripture come
true, he said, “I am
thirsty.” A bowl was
there, full of cheap
wine; so a sponge was
soaked in the wine,
put on a stalk of
hyssop, and lifted up
to his lips. Jesus
drank the wine and
said, “It is finished!”
It was about twelve o'clock
when the sun stopped shining
and darkness covered the
whole country until three
o'clock; and the curtain
hanging in the Temple was
torn in two. Jesus cried out in
a loud voice, “Father! In your
hands I place my spirit!” He
said this and died. The army
officer saw what had
happened, and he praised God,
saying, “Certainly he was a
good man!”
Thirteenth Station
Jesus’ body is removed from the cross
“Not one of his bones will be
broken.”
The Jewish authorities
asked Pilate to allow
them to break the legs of
the men who had been
crucified, and to take the
bodies down from the
crosses. They requested
this because it was Friday,
and they did not want the
bodies to stay on the
crosses on the Sabbath,
since the coming Sabbath
was especially holy.
When the soldiers came
to Jesus, they saw that he
was already dead, so they
did not break his legs.
One of the
soldiers,
however,
plunged his
spear into
Jesus' side,
and at once
blood and
water poured
out.
Fourteenth Station
Jesus is laid in the tomb
After this, Joseph,
who was from the
town of Arimathea,
asked Pilate if he
could take Jesus'
body. Pilate told
him he could have
the body, so
Joseph went and
took it away.
(John 19:38)
The two men took Jesus'
body and wrapped it in
linen with the spices
according to the Jewish
custom of preparing a
body for burial. There
was a garden in the place
where Jesus had been put
to death, and in it there
was a new tomb where no
one had ever been buried.
Since it was the day
before the Sabbath and
because the tomb was
close by, they placed
Jesus' body there.
(John 19:40-42)