way of the cross
with Blessed Mary of the Passion

Introduction:  « ...it seems to me that the hour has come to invite all of you to a greater love of Our Lord … Study Jesus! When you know him more perfectly, you will not be able to prevent yourself from giving your heart entirely to him. » CR/1, 87
I stopped at: “May your will, not mine, be done”. It seems to me that I am entering more and more deeply into the Passion of Jesus. … And now, I lovingly kiss the cross that is coming to pierce my heart …At each dart of the Passion, I want to say: Thank you, for sending, without asking me if I want it. NS 115
Through the Lamb everything sings adoration of God, that is, love and sacrifice. He must increase and I must decrease. NS 147

Those who are persecuted by the powers of evil derive strength when they look upon Jesus, who was rejected because he did good. MD 766
Happy the soul who knows how to keep silent and remain without murmuring, or complaining, on the cross of life. NS 247

PrAYER
O Christ, you who accepted an unjust condemnation, grant us the grace to be faithful to the truth; do not allow the weight of responsibility for the suffering to fall again on us or on those who come after us. To you, Jesus, just Judge, be honour and glory forever and ever.

… it is the Cross, which is the way to Heaven … MD 602
… it is not sufficient to understand the Passion, the Cross of Jesus and his love, we must share that Passion, help to carry that Cross, give back to our Saviour love for love. MD 111

PrAYER
O Christ, you accepted the cross from the hand of men, so as to make it a sign of the saving love of God for man, grant us the grace of faith in this infinite love in order that passing on to others the sign of the cross we may be authentic witnesses of the Redemption. To you, Jesus, priest and victim praise and glory for ever.

It was the cross that gave us life; all Christians are children of the Cross, but we, more than others, since we are victims with the Crucified. Today, let us try to understand that trials are precious stones, formed by love in the form of a cross. Let us prepare the jewels for our eternal nuptials by allowing Him to do as He wills. MD 561

PrAYER
O Christ, you who fell under the weight of our faults and who rose again for our justification, we beg you to help us, so that all those who have been crushed by sin, through us may stand up again and continue on the way. Give us the strength of the Holy Spirit, to carry with You, the cross of our weakness. To you, Jesus, crushed under the weight of our sins, our praise and our love for ever.

Mary did not shrink from following her Divine Son to Calvary. The distance between the fourth Station on the Dolorous Way to the place of crucifixion was long and sorrowful; it was bathed by the blood of Jesus and the tears of Mary … ; let us like her be generous. MD764

PrAYER
O Mary, you who travelled the way of the cross with your Son, your mother’s heart pierced with sorrow, but with the memory of your fiat and the intimate conviction that He to whom nothing is impossible would be able to fulfil his promises, implore for us and for all humanity the grace of abandonment to the love of God. Grant that, face to face with, even prolonged and violent, suffering, rejection and trials, we will never doubt his love. To Jesus, your Son, be honour and glory for ever.

  Jesus is helped to carry the cross

O Love! You are crushed by the weight of our crimes. Shall I leave you alone to carry the burden of the Cross? I wish to expiate my faults, I wish to expiate for sinners. Draw me even to the Cross; You have sought someone to share your sufferings. I will be that someone. I will suffer with you, and console you. MD 737

PrAYER
O Christ, who conferred on Simon of Cyrene the dignity of carrying the cross, accept us also under its weight, accept all men and give each one the grace of disponsbility. Grant that we may not look away from those who are weighed down by the cross of illness, loneliness, hunger and injustice. Grant that, bearing the weight of each other, we may become witnesses of the Gospel of the Cross, truly credible witnesses to You, who live and reign for ever and ever.

« … look at Love and say: for You; imprint your likeness on me, every one of your features. Little by little you will feel a serene joy … be love like Jesus who is Love, and then you will be his consolation » CR/2,4

PrAYER
Lord Jesus Christ, You who accepted this gesture of unselfish love from a woman and who in return saw to it that generations would remember her name with the image of your face, grant that our actions and those of all who come after us, may make us resemble you and leave to the world the reflection of your infinite love. To you Jesus, the splendour and glory of the Father, praise and glory for ages unending.

Let us humbly and peacefully support our exile on earth, the doubts that assail us and the uncertainties that crucify us. Let us make use of everything that can inspire us with greater zeal …, keep us wary of our natural inclinations, correct our faults and be sincerely sorry for all those that we have committed. MD 558
Sometimes Jesus allows us to share in his Passion, and there are times when his divinity seems to be concealed... Henceforth, at these hours of trial, I wish to expiate my ungrateful denials of the past and remain faithful … MD774

PrAYER
Lord Jesus Christ, You who fell under the weight of man’s sin and who rose again to take it upon yourself, give us , we who are weak, the strength to carry the cross of each day and to get up again after our falls, so as to pass on the Gospel of your saving power to coming generations. To you, Jesus, support in our weakness, unending praise and glory .

«Unless you do penance you shall all likewise perish». Let us then courageously enter upon the path of penance and besides mortifying our bodies, let us also sacrifice our hearts.
Do not forget that the spirit of penance is inseparable from our vocation; we have promised Jesus to become voluntary victims for the expiation of the sins of the world. Are we worthy of this vocation? Do we walk with a humble contrite heart in the path that leads to that end? MD 740

PrAYER
O Christ, you who came into this world to visit all those waiting for salvation, grant that our generation may recognise the time of its visit and that they may have a share in the fruits of the Redemption. Do not allow there to be weeping over us and over the men of the new century because we have rejected the hand of the merciful Father. To You, Jesus, born of the Virgin Daughter of Sion, honour and glory for ages unending.

  Jesus falls the third time

The cross will come: is it not God’s seal upon every good work? If humility and patience are lacking, then the ardent hopes which sustained them at the beginning, will give place to discouragement. MD 534
Victims by vocation, do we know how to make our sufferings fruitful by offering them for the Church, for sinners … MD 576

PrAYER
Lord Jesus Christ, you who, by your humiliation under the cross, revealed to the world the price of its redemption, give the light of faith to all of us , so that recognising in you, the Suffering Servant of God and of man, they may have the courage to follow the same way which, through the cross and the stripping, lead to eternal life To you, Jesus, support in our weakness, honour and glory  for all ages.

  Jesus is stripped of his garments

Divine Poor One, God annihilated, Love humiliated, for the triumph of the truth of love, protect me to save me; may I die to all that is not you, so that the work of love and of truth for which you came to invite us to follow your example, may operate in my soul. MD754

PrAYER
Lord Jesus, You who, with total dedication, accepted to die on the cross to save us, grant that we, as well as all the men in the world may share in your sacrifice on the cross, so that our life and actions may express our free and conscious participation in your work of salvation. To You, Jesus Priest and Victim, be honour and glory for unending ages.

The Saviour was nailed to the Cross, Mary stood below, offering the Victim. MD 764
  … the vows … they are the beloved nails which fasten us to the cross of our Jesus. JO 503
O my Crucified Saviour, enable me to understand Your thirst for love and grant that I, too, may thirst for Your love. MD 738

PrAYER
Christ raised up, Love Crucified, fill our hearts with your love, so that, in your Cross, we may recognise the sign of our redemption and that, drawn by your wounds, we may live and die with you, who reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, now and for ever.

Let us also try to discover the true cross of Our Blessed Lord, in other words, the mystery of Calvary to reproduce it in ourselves, and fill up, according to the words of St. Paul, what is wanting to the Passion of Our Lord. That is our vocation as victims in all its beauty and in all that this consists of. JO 449
O thorn-crowned King, from now on may I love mortification and sacrifice. MD 742

PrAYER
Lord Jesus Christ, You who, in hour of your agony, did not remain indifferent to the condition of man and who, with your last breath confided the men and women of all time with their weaknesses and sins to the love and mercy of the Father, fill us with your Spirit of love, so that our indifference will not render in vain the fruit of your death. To you, Jesus crucified, wisdom and power of God, honour and glory to all eternity.

« … a Missionary of Mary ought to be a victim of reparation, contributing, as far as possible to the reign of God and the salvation of souls. CR/1, 2
« Holy Mother, pierce me through, in my heart each wound renew of my Saviour crucified » MD 860

PrAYER
Mary, obtain for us the grace of faith, hope and charity, so that, like you, we too maybe able to persevere at the foot of the cross till the last breath. To Your Son, Jesus, our Saviour, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, all honour and glory for ages unending.

Humiliated by death on a cross, You offered the world the sight of this lifeless humanity, wrapped in a shroud and buried in a borrowed tomb. Lord Jesus, what annihilation! MD753
Those who love You are weeping over You, my buried Jesus. Love has separated your soul from your body.… As the winding sheet of your sepulchre, I wish to enfold you in a pure conscience, and I offer You the fragrance of my love like the sweet spices of your burial. I wish to remain near your sepulchre until you have truly risen again in my soul by completely uniting myself to You. MD 782

PrAYER
Lord Jesus Christ, you, who, in the power of the Holy Spirit, were led by the Father from the darkness of death to the light of a new life in glory, grant that the sign of the empty tomb will speak to us, to us and that it may become the source of a living faith, generous charity and firm hope. To you, Jesus, hidden and victorious presence in the history of the world, honour  and glory for eternal ages.

O my Crucified Saviour, help me to understand your thirst for love, and grant that I, too, may thirst for  your love …  as a missionary, I wish to seek out hearts for You, and ask of them, O Jesus, the love for which You thirst. O Jesus, be our peace and our joy, our life and our reward. Be our guide and the light of our footsteps here below, and one day our crown in our eternal home. MD 738