GUIDING LIGHT
a Way of the Cross
with Oscar Romero
The First Station
Jesus is condemned to death
Forcibly after sentence, he was taken. Which
of his contemporaries was concerned at his
having been cut off from the land of the living,
at his having been struck dead for his people’s
rebellion? He was given a grave with the
wicked, and his tomb is with the rich, although
he had done no violence, had spoken no
deceit.
Isaiah 53:8-9
Romero said, ‘The most important meeting today
was one we had with lawyers and law students
we had brought together to explain to them the
difficulties the Church encounters and to ask
them for legal help with so many cases of
abuses of human rights. We have a small Legal
Aid office… but it is powerless in the face of so
many different kinds of cases.’
Let us pray:
Jesus, you stood before Pilate, defenceless,
without legal representation. We ask that you
stand beside those who are imprisoned without
trial or have been sentenced without a fair
hearing.
The Second Station
Jesus takes up his cross
Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering,
loaded it on Isaac, and carried in his own hands
the fire and the knife.
Genesis 22:6
Romero said, ‘We should not wonder that a
church has a lot of cross to bear. Otherwise, it
will not have a lot of resurrection. An
accommodating church, a church that seeks
prestige without the pain of the cross, is not the
authentic church of Jesus Christ.
Let us pray:
Jesus, like Abraham you were obedient to the
Father’s call, and by taking up your cross you
carried the burden of sin on behalf of us all.
Remove from us any love of prestige or status so
that we may help to carry your cross.
The Third Station
Jesus falls for the first time
A hard lot has been created for human beings, a
heavy yoke lies on the children of Adam from
the day they come out of their mother’s womb,
till the day they return to the mother of them
all.
Ecclesiasticus 40:1-2
Romero said, ‘Nothing is so important to the
Church as human life, as the human person,
above all, the person of the poor and the
oppressed. Besides being human beings, they
are also divine beings, since Jesus said that
whatever is done to them he takes as done to
him. That bloodshed, those deaths, are beyond
all politics. They touch the very heart of God.
Let us pray:
Jesus, as you struggled under the weight of your
burden you fell with all the frailties of human
weakness. Remember us in our weakness when
we stumble and when we fall.
The Fourth Station
Jesus meets his mother
A disaster for me, mother, that you bore me to
be a man of strife and dissension for the whole
country. I neither lend nor borrow, yet all of
them curse me.
Jeremiah 15:10
Romero said, ‘Even when all despaired at the
hour when Christ was dying on the cross, Mary,
serene, awaited the hour of resurrection. Mary
is the symbol of the people who suffer
oppression and injustice. Theirs is the calm
suffering that awaits the resurrection. It is
Christian suffering, the suffering of the Church,
which does not accept the present injustices but
awaits without rancour the moment when the
Risen One will return to give us the redemption
we await.’
Let us pray:
Jesus, your mother suffered as she watched you
on your journey to the cross. To this day she
suffers as she watches over people who are
excluded and kept in poverty by unjust political
and economic systems. We pray that we may
draw inspiration from her as we work for a better
world.
The Fifth Station
Simon of Cyrene helps Jesus
On their way out, they came across a man from
Cyrene, called Simon, and enlisted him to carry
his cross.
Matthew 27:32
Romero said, ‘If people want to look into their
own mystery – the meaning of pain, of their
work, of their suffering, of their hope – let them
put themselves next to Christ. If they
accomplish what Christ accomplished – doing
the Father’s will, filling themselves with the life
that Christ gives the world – they are fulfilling
themselves as true human beings.
Let us pray:
Jesus, following Simon’s example, we want to put
ourselves next to you and walk along with you.
Help us to be genuinely human by doing God’s
will, speaking out and taking action for the poor.
The Sixth Station
Veronica wipes the face of
Jesus
‘You see this woman?’ said Jesus, ‘I came into
your house, and you poured no water over my
feet, but she has poured out her tears over my
feet and wiped them away with her hair. You
gave me no kiss, but she has been covering my
feet with kisses ever since I came in. You did
not anoint my head with oil, but she has
anointed my feet with ointment. For this reason
I tell you that her sins, her many sins, must
have been forgiven her, or she would not have
shown such great love.
Luke 7:44-48
Romero said, ‘There is one rule by which to judge
if God is near us or is far away – the rule that
God’s word is giving us today: everyone
concerned for the hungry, the naked, the poor,
for those who have vanished in police custody,
for the tortured, for prisoners, for all flesh that
suffers has God close at hand.
Let us pray:
Jesus, the tenderness of Veronica came briefly to
your aid. May we take a share of that tenderness
in the knowledge that God is close at hand. May
we demonstrate our love through our actions as
well as our words.
The Seventh Station
Jesus falls a second time
It is, then, about my weakness that I am happiest
of all to boast, so that the power of Christ may
rest upon me, and that is why I am glad of
weaknesses, insults, constraints, persecutions
and distress for Christ’s sake. For it is when I
am weak that I am strong.
2 Corinthians 12:9-10
Romero said, ‘Brothers and sisters, what a
beautiful experience it is to try to follow Christ a
little bit and for that to receive the broadside of
insults, of disagreements, of slanders, of lost
friendships, of being suspect! All this was
prophesied.’
Let us pray:
Jesus, your weakness in falling a second time was
to become your strength as you gathered yourself
to pick up the cross and resume your journey.
Help us to face, with honesty, our own
weaknesses so that we may build our strengths in
fellowship with you.
The Eighth Station
Jesus speaks to the women of
Jerusalem
Large numbers of people followed him, and
women too, who mourned and lamented for
him. But Jesus turned to them and said,
‘Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me;
weep rather for yourselves and for your
children’.
Luke 23:27-28
Romero said, ‘Some want to keep a gospel so
disembodied that it doesn’t get involved at all in
the world it must save. Christ is now in history.
Christ is in the womb of the people. Christ is
bringing about the new heavens and the new
earth.’
Let us pray:
Jesus, we give thanks for all the women and men
who stand on the front line of protest to confront
injustice. We pray for their continued courage and
persistence; and that their sadness and anger be
turned into a powerful force for good.
The Ninth Station
Jesus falls a third time
My strength is trickling away, my bones are all
disjointed, my heart has turned to wax, melting
inside me. My mouth is dry as earthenware, my
tongue sticks to my jaw. You lay me down in
the dust of death.
Psalm 22:14-15
Romero said, ‘The Church, entrusted with the
earth’s glory, believes that each person is the
Creator’s image and that everyone who
tramples it offends God. As holy defender of
God’s rights and of his images, the Church must
cry out. It takes as spittle in its face, as lashes
on its back, as the cross in its passion, all that
human beings suffer, even though they may be
unbelievers. They suffer as God’s images. There
is no dichotomy between human beings and
God’s image.
Whoever tortures a human being, whoever
abuses a human being, whoever outrages a
human being abuses God’s image, and the
Church takes as its own cross, that martyrdom.’
Let us pray:
Jesus, under the weight of the cross your
strength ebbs as the hour of execution draws
near. We pray for a world free from torture,
abuse and outrage.
The Tenth Station
Jesus is stripped of his
garments
They offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he
refused it. Then they crucified him, and shared
out his clothing, casting lots to decide what
each should get.
Mark 15:23-24
Romero said, ‘In Potonico we celebrated a Mass
of atonement for the sacrilegious robbery of the
sacred hosts from that church… Before most of
the crowd had arrived, a group of children
approached me with signs in their hands and
with a letter in which they told me of their
solidarity with the many orphaned children,
victims of this situation of abuses of human
rights, and that they were asking me to support
their cause.’
Let us pray:
Jesus, stripped of your clothing, you are made
ready for the cross. May we be like the
parishioners and the children of Potonico,
stripped of their possessions, but still practising
forgiveness and compassion.
The Eleventh Station
Jesus is nailed to the cross
Jesus the Nazarene was a man commended to
you by God by the miracles and portents and
signs that God worked through him when he
was among you, as you all know. This man,
who was put into your power by the deliberate
intention and foreknowledge of God, you took
and had crucified and killed by men outside the
Law.
Acts 2:22-23
Romero said, ‘A church that doesn’t provoke any
crises, a gospel that doesn’t unsettle, a word of
God that doesn’t get under anyone’s skin, a
word of God that doesn’t touch the real sin of
the society in which it is being proclaimed –
what gospel is that?
Very nice, pious considerations that don’t bother
anyone, that’s the way many would like
preaching to be. Those preachers who avoid
every thorny matter so as not to be harassed,
so as not to have conflicts and difficulties, do
not light up the world they live in.’
Let us pray:
Jesus, bloodied and broken, you were nailed to
wood and hoisted up high. Fill us with courage as
we try to live the gospel in truth in face of conflict
and difficulties.
The Twelfth Station
Jesus dies on the cross
It was now about the sixth hour and, with the sun
eclipsed, a darkness came over the whole land
until the ninth hour. The veil of the Temple was
torn right down the middle; and when Jesus
had cried out in a loud voice, he said, ‘Father,
into your hands I commit my spirit.’ With these
words he breathed his last.
Luke 23:44-46
Romero said, ‘I have often received death
threats. I must tell you, that as a Christian, I do
not believe in death without resurrection… If
God accepts the sacrifice of my life, let my
blood be the seed of freedom and a sign that
hope will soon be a reality… If they kill me, you
can say that I forgive and bless those who do it.
Hopefully they will be convinced that it is a
waste of time. A bishop will die, but the Church
of God, which is the people, will never perish.
Let us pray:
Jesus, your life ended with violence. May we learn
how to combat violence today through our love of
peace and our work for a fairer world.
The Thirteenth Station
Jesus is taken down from the
cross
Joseph of Arimathaea asked Pilate to let him
remove the body of Jesus. Pilate gave
permission, so they came and took it away.
Nicodemus came as well… and he brought a
mixture of myrrh and aloes, weighing about a
hundred pounds. They took the body of Jesus
and bound it in linen cloths with the spices,
following the Jewish burial custom.
John 19:38-40
Romero said, ‘Let us not think that our dead have
gone away from us. Their heaven, their eternal
reward, makes them perfect in love; they keep
on loving the same causes for which they died.
Thus, in El Salvador the force of liberation
involves not only those who remain alive, but
also all those whom others have tried to kill and
who are more present than before in the
people’s movement.’
Let us pray:
Jesus, as you were laid to rest you were still with
us; your light continued to shine. Comfort us over
the loss of lives from hunger and war and lead us
in our work for peace.
The Fourteenth Station
Jesus is buried
Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean
shroud and put it in his own new tomb which he
had hewn out of the rock. He then rolled a large
stone across the entrance of the tomb and went
away.
Matthew 27:59-60
Romero said, ‘The Christian, the Christian
community, must not despair. If someone dies
in the family, we must not weep like people
without hope. If the skies have darkened in our
nation’s history, let us not lose hope.
We are a community of hope, and like the
Israelites in Babylon, let us hope for the hour of
liberation. It will come.’
Let us pray:
Jesus, you were laid to rest by your friends. We
understand their sadness and despair even
though we believe in the life to come.
We pray that we may be a community of hope
and faith, yearning and working for a better
world.
The Fifteenth Station
Christ is risen, Alleluia!
When they looked they saw that the stone –
which was very big – had already been rolled
back. On entering the tomb they saw a young
man in a white robe seated on the right hand
side, and they were struck with amazement.
But he said to them, ‘There is no need to be so
amazed. You are looking for Jesus of Nazareth,
who was crucified: he has risen, he is not here.
Mark 16:4-6
Romero said, ‘The Church cannot be deaf or mute
before the entreaty of millions of persons who
cry out for liberation, persons oppressed by a
thousand slaveries. Those who put their faith in
the Risen One and work for a world more just,
who protest against the injustices of the
present system, against the abuses of unjust
authorities, against the wrongfulness of humans
exploiting humans; all those who begin their
struggle with the resurrection of the great
Liberator – they alone are authentic Christians.’
Let us pray:
Jesus, you broke the shackles of death and
showed us the path to life. May we become
authentic Christians, united with our sisters and
brothers throughout the world to confront
injustice and end violence and poverty.
"Many would like the poor to keep on saying that it is
God's will for them to live that way. But it is not
God's will for some to have everything and others to
have nothing. That cannot be of God. God's will is
that all his children be happy."
Oscar Romero, homily, September 10, 1978
May the courage of Oscar
Romero inspire us to work with
integrity for an end to poverty.
Writer: Anthony Singleton
Photo Credits: Julio Etchart, SIPA Press, Marcella
Haddad, Carol Lee, Sean Sprague, Annie Bungeroth,
Mike Goldwater.