The Porziuncola Project
The Stations of the Cross
We adore You O'Most Holy Lord Jesus Christ,
Here and in all Your churches throughout the world,
And we bless You,
because by Your Holy Cross,
You have redeemed
the world!
History of the Stations
On the first of March the Franciscan Order celebrates the feast of the Mysteries of the Way of the Cross.
The Way of the Cross, or as it is more commonly known; The Stations of the Cross, is truly a Franciscan devotion. As early as 1219 Saint Francis went to Palestine and established some of his brethren there as guardians of the holy places. They have never left their post since that time. The beautiful devotion to the sacred memorials of Christ’s sufferings and death was subsequently introduced into Europe by the Franciscans.
Because of the great difficulties connected with visiting the holy places in Jerusalem after the twelfth century when the Turks (Muslims) violently took possession of them, the Franciscans, upon their return from Palestine, built replicas of these scenes in their churches and chapels and exhorted the faithful to foster devotion to the sufferings of Christ at Home.
The Holy See approved this devotion and in 1686 Pope Innocent XI granted them the same indulgences as were gained by visiting the holy places in Jerusalem.
There are fourteen Stations along the Way of the Cross, which it is why it is commonly known as “The Stations of the Cross”. Most of the stations are taken directly from the Sacred Scriptures, certain stations are drawn from the long standing traditions that trace themselves back to the days of the apostolic days. Mary meeting Jesus along the way to Calvary, Jesus falling three times, Veronica wiping the face of Jesus, and Jesus being laid in the arms of His mother are the six of the fourteen stations not found in Scripture. Because they are not in Scripture does not mean that they are not true or that they did not happen. These events have not only been handed down to us and are supported by centuries of tradition, they are also plausible and probable.
To Saint Francis, then, we owe it that the Way of the Cross is traced for us in church and chapel, in grove and cloister and cemetery in every quarter of the globe.
The Devotion to the Way of the Cross:
He who has received a great benefit knows how to value it at true worth joyfully remembers the favor, speaks of it, and aims in every possible way to manifest his gratitude. God’s Son, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, conferred on us the greatest benefit when He carried the cross to Calvary in order to redeem us with His death from the torment of hell. The grateful remembrance of this grace should urge us on to make the Way of the Cross frequently and with great devotion.
It is so easy for us to make the Way of the Cross, there is a rich indulgence offered for merely passing from one station to another of the fourteen stations. Even when we are ill or are otherwise hindered from visiting the Stations, we can perform the devotion if we hold a Crucifix and meditate upon the fourteenth station of the Cross at home. At the same time we can offer up to God the difficulties and sufferings of our life in gratitude for His love for us and to compensate for what other people endure in making a pilgrimage to the Holy Land.
Consider how beneficial for our life is the devout performance of the holy Way of the Cross. He who reflects on the bitter pains which Christ took upon Himself because of our sins, and sees Him carrying the Cross for us until He is exhausted even unto death, will shirk no effort in faithfully fulfilling the duties of a good Christian. St. Leonard of Port Maurice, who erected more than six hundred Ways of the Cross, testified that in parishes where this devotion was diligently observed, the morale of the people was on a much higher plane than in other places. May the disgrace suffered by Christ on His sorrowful way strengthen us also, especially in the practice of humility.
At the Sanctuary Shrine of La Verna, Italy, where our Seraphic Father St Francis received the holy stigmata, the Friars celebrate the Way of the Cross daily. At 3:00pm, after celebrating the Divine Office, the Friars process from their Friary chapel to the Chapel where Saint Francis was transformed into a living crucifix. Along the way the Friars make the Stations of the Cross with great devotion.
Many people today pray the Divine Mercy Novena at 3:00pm. This is the hour of our Lord’s death and so it is the “Hour of Mercy”. Our Lord also asked Saint Faustina to make the Way of the Cross at this hour. If a person’s daily schedule allows, it is recommended to pray at the 3:00 pm Hour the Divine Mercy Chaplet followed by the Way of the Cross. If not, some other time would be justly appropriate.
Most parishes have the tradition of praying the Way of the Cross during the Fridays of Lent. This is a wonderful and honored tradition that should be maintained, honored and promoted. However, nothing can prevent us from making the Way of the Cross privately every Friday of the year, or daily if your schedule allows.
It has become somewhat traditional to sing or recite a song written by Br. Joachim of Todi, a Franciscan, called the Stabat Mater. Between each station a verse of the song is recited. The song in English is referred to as “At the Cross her station keeping”. This song was written as a reflection on Mary’s suffering along the Way of the Cross. It is a way of making the Stations with Mary, the Mother of Jesus, who was told by Simeon the prophet: “And a sword shall pierce your heart so that the thoughts of many may be laid bare.” In meditating upon the sufferings of Christ through Our Lady’s eyes and heart, our hearts, as promised by the prophet, will be laid bare before the Lord.
The Stations of the Cross
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Opening Prayer:
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O’Most Holy Lord Jesus Christ, You have suffered the most agonizing death for my redemption and salvation. It was your holy desire and that of the heavenly Father and the Holy Spirit that You should give your life for me, a miserable sinner so undeserving of such a great act of love. Jesus, You are Mercy and these Stations of the Cross are a revelation of Your most incredible and amazing act of Mercy. What words can I use to express the deep and profound gratitude I have in my heart for the sufferings that you bore for love of me?
Allow me to accompany You along the way of Your passion and death. As I make this Way of the Cross may I grow in a deeper desire to love You and be devoted to You. May I live my life in grateful praise for all that You have done for love of me. May I never forget the Truth that You have told me from this Cross: I am worth the death of the Son of God! O’ What dignity I have in You!
Since I cannot be a Christian without loving my neighbor as myself and by loving others as You have loved me, grant me the grace to love others as I have been loved by You. Form within my heart love of my neighbor and my enemies. Grant me the grace to forgive as I have been forgiven, to be merciful, even and the heavenly Father is merciful. May my life be, like Yours, a total self gift of love.
At the cross her station keeping,
Stood the mournful Mother weeping,
Close to Jesus to the last,
The First Station
Jesus is Condemned to Death
We adore you, O’Most Holy Lord Jesus Christ
here and in all Your Churches throughout the world.
And we bless You,
Because by Your Holy Cross You have redeemed the world.
Scourged, beaten, spit upon and crowned with thorns our Lord Jesus Christ is presented to the people of Jerusalem for judgement. Pilot escorts Jesus to Gabatha, the Stone Pavement, and cries out “Ecce Homo” (Behold the Man). Jesus, son of Joseph of the royal house of King David, has been charged with proclaiming Himself “King of the Jews”. The Saturday before this Friday, the very same people before whom Jesus now stands in judgement, welcomed Him into Jerusalem crying out: “Hail King of the Jews! Hosanna to the Son of David!” Now, seeing Him so sorely beaten they cry: “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!”
Pilate, a Roman pagan who would have been a believer in a multiplicity of gods, is now afraid. He does not want to be the one to condemn Jesus. So, he asks Him: “Will You not speak to me. Don’t You know I have the power to release you and the power to have you crucified?” Jesus gentle response unveils the divine mystery hidden from man since our fall into sin so many centuries before: “You would have no power over me had it not been given to you from above. That is why the one who has handed me over to you is guilty of the greater sin. For this reason I was born to bear witness to the truth.” Pilot asks: “What is truth?” but doesn’t wait for an answer. Saint John the Beloved tells us in his letter: “The truth is this, that while we were sinners He died for us.” The truth is that “God so loved the world that He gave us His only begotten Son so that all who believe in Him might have life.”
It will be Jesus’ death that will give us life. The people’s desire is heeded. Pilot condemns Jesus to death and washes his hands saying: “I am innocent of this man’s blood.” and the people shout: “Let His blood be upon us and upon our children!”
Trule Jesus I have sinned. It was for me and for my redemption that You such agony and gave up Your Life. I was there in that crowed, by my willful sinfulness I called out for Your death. Now I ask You to forgive me. With a firm resolve I promise to follow You unreservedly, no matter what! May your precious and sacred blood be upon me and upon all whom I pray for. Wash me in Your blood so that I may be free of sin and guilt. As King David prayed: “Have mercy on me God in Your Kindness...Wash me more and more from my guilt and cleanse me of my sin. My offenses truly I know them. My sin is always before You. Against You alone have I sinned. What is evil in Your sight I have done. Make me hear rejoicing and gladness that the bones you have crushed may revive. In your compassion blot out my offense and cleanse me of my sin.” (Psalm 51)
Jesus, I trust in You!
Our Father… Hail Mary… Glory be…
Through her heart, His sorrow sharing,
All His better anguish bearing,
Now at length the sword has passed.
The Second Station
Jesus Takes Up His Cross
We adore you, O’Most Holy Lord Jesus Christ
here and in all Your Churches throughout the world.
And we bless You,
Because by Your Holy Cross You have redeemed the world.
To the Roman soldiers this is just another execution of a condemned man. They have done it a thousand times before. No different than any other day for these executioners. Little do they realize the man Whom they have in custody is giving His life even for them and for their salvation. This man is no ordinary man, He is true God and True man, begotten of the Father and consubstantial with the Father. It is through Him that all things were made. Now, He seeks to redeem all that He has made. It is time for Jesus to replant the tree of life that was denied to him after the fall of Adam. It is time to offer to man the fruit of the tree of life, Jesus’ very own Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity as the food that will give man eternal life: “He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood will live forever.”
The wood of the Cross is something beautiful to Christ. It is the means of our salvation. The means by which He will redeem us, His beloved. It is the altar upon which He, the High Priest, will offer Himself as the one pleasing sacrifice that will take away the sins of the world. It is this cross which is placed upon His back that Jesus embraces, kisses and greets as an object of desire.
Happily He is tied to the cross and led through the streets like a common criminal, a murder, a thief a sinner worthy of death. It is a symbol of our sins, our guilt, our blame and our shame. He bears it with a willing and gracious heart. It is something He chose so long ago when He decided that we should be redeemed from our sins and become adopted children of His Father in heaven.
Lord Jesus. I say with Saint Francis: “Who are You? And What am I? What am I but a poor miserable wretch of a sinner? Who are You that You love me so much?” What love and mercy is this that makes You so willing to lovingly and graciously accept and carry the cross for me? It is my guilt that You bear. It is my sins that You have taken as Your own. It is my blame that You have accepted. It is my shame that You seek to take away. You so desire that I should be a child of Your heavenly Father that You are so willing to die for love of me. As I reflect upon Your desire I am filled with awe and gratitude. I am humbled by such an act of love and I am forever indebted to You, not as a servant or a slave, but as a beloved who has been so loved by love Himself. Give me the grace to always live in gratitude by ever picking up my cross to follow You.
Jesus I trust in You!
Our Father… Hail Mary… Glory be...
O how sad and sore distressed,
Was the Mother highly blessed,
Of the sole begotten One!
The Third Station
Jesus Falls the First Time
We adore you, O’Most Holy Lord Jesus Christ,
Here and in all Your Churches throughout the world.
And we bless You,
Because by Your Holy Cross You have redeemed the world.
It is now around nine in the morning on that Good Friday. Jesus has spent the night being tortured by the Pharisees who hit Him, spit on Him, reviled Him and plucked His beard. He was then treated even worse by the Romans who scourged Him, beat Him with reeds and placed a crown of thorns on His head. The whole cohort of soldiers mocked and laughed at Him, treating Him like a fool. Herod too mocked Him and treated Him with disrespect and dishonor. Jesus has had no sleep, no food, only ill treatment and revilement. It is no wonder that He so easily fell beneath the weight of the cross. Although He is God, he assumed a real and true human nature. His body was allowed to be frail, weak and capable of suffering. Jesus must rally His strength as the soldiers pressure Him to get up and keep going, to press on to Calvary.
Jesus needs no pressing to move on. His body is need of a short rest, but His will is set on Calvary. No soldiers whip could increase His desire to reach that hill that will be forever known as the place of our redemption. Little do they know that, although His body struggles to move, His heart, His divine love and mercy is pressing Him on so that He can offer Himself as the Lamb of Sacrifice.
Not only physical suffering exhausts Him, but spiritual as well. The reality that there will be many who will not accept His love weighs heavily. Ungrateful souls who, although know of His love for them and all that He has done to redeem them, will still choose the world and all it’s allurements. How many souls will abandon the Truth for the lies that world has to offer; money, power riches. These false goods will lead many astray and entice once faithful souls to abandon the gospel and embrace a life of sin. How it must have grieved the Sacred Heart of Jesus knowing that some would prefer the world over His love? The weight of that choice of souls sends Him to the ground.
Lord Jesus, I have often been ungrateful for the gift of Your Cross. Too often I have prefered the things of this world to the things of heaven. I have been guilty of storing up treasures here where thieves can break in and steal. I have been so foolish to not store up treasures in heaven. I have been foolish in seeking after the first place, seeking power and control over others. I have so often abandoned Gospel principles in order to be about myself. Lord Jesus, I renounce these foolish endeavors. I choose again the way of meekness, humility and love. I choose again the narrow path that leads to heaven. I choose the path of joy, peace and self-gift. When I fall beneath the weight of my own foolishness and sinfulness, I will remember Your mercy. I will turn to You for mercy. I will rise, pick up my cross and press on, drawn by Your love.
Jesus I trust in You!
Our Father… Hail Mary… Glory be…
Christ above in torment hangs,
She beneath beholds the pangs,
Of her dying glorious Son.
The Fourth Station
Jesus Meets His Blessed Mother
We adore you, O’Most Holy Lord Jesus Christ,
Here and in all Your Churches throughout the world.
And we bless You,
Because by Your Holy Cross You have redeemed the world.
Coming through the crowd is Mary, the mother of Jesus. For thirty three years she lived with the agonizing prophecy that Jesus would “be a sign that will be contradicted”. How often did she reflect upon the words of Isaiah: “He was scourged for our iniquities, bruised for our offenses, like a lamb led to the slaughter”? Finally, the moment has come “the hour” that would bring salvation to the whole world and a sword of sorrow to pierce the heart of Mary.
As they meet and embrace she beholds the face that she had so often kissed, the body that she had clothed, washed and cuddled in her arms. The child she sang to, who was adored by Kings and worshiped by shepherds is not rejected by His own people. As her own heart freaks and is in agonizing pain for Him, she is also suffering for love of us! She is no onlooker, no bystander, she is a participant in the passion. Just as Eve cooperated in our fall so Mary, the new Eve, is cooperating in our redemption. On the altar of her heart she offers the Son of God to the Heavenly Father for love of us. She asks for our forgiveness, for our pardon, and for our redemption. Uniting her sufferings to His she offers herself with Him for us.
In the heart of Mary is the perfection of the gospel command to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul and strength, But also within the her heart is the gospel command to love her neighbor as she loves herself. She loves us and she wants our redemption and our salvation. She knows that it can only be accomplished through the death and resurrection of her son. Mary knows that this is the will of the Father and so, even though it is the greatest suffering ever, she willingly enters into it. She so loves the world that she accepted the only Son of the Father into her womb so that He could make us sons and daughters of God, and Mary. In my heart I can hear her say to Jesus: “Go my son! Go yo Calvary! Offer Your life for your people! For this reason You were born. For this reason I brought you into the world, that they might have life through You! My heart will be on the cross with You! Go!”
O’ Jesus, Your Holy Mother greeted You along the way to Calvary. How watching her suffer Your passion must have grieved You even more, still she wanted to console You, comfort You and profess her unity with You. From the cross You have made me an adopted child of God Your Father and of Mary Your Mother. What a precious gift I have been given. Too often I have shied away from the cross, more willing to have comfort than participate in Your Passion. As a member of Your Body I too can “make up for what is lacking”, like Mary I can now offer my sufferings in union with Yours for the salvation of souls, for the spread of the Gospel and for the outpouring if grace upon sinful humanity. O’ Lord, grant me the grace to stand by You and Mary, ever willing to enter the passion as an act of love for You and my neighbor.
Jesus I trust in You!
Our Father… Hail Mary… Glory be...
Is there one who would not weep
Whelmed in misery so deep
Christ dear Mother to behold?
The Fifth Station
Simon of Cyrene Helps Jesus Carry His Cross
We adore you, O’Most Holy Lord Jesus Christ,
Here and in all Your Churches throughout the world.
And we bless You,
Because by Your Holy Cross You have redeemed the world.
What humility is this that man is called upon to assist God in the work of redemption. Simon, a Cyrenian, a father of a family, is called upon to help Jesus carry His cross. From all appearances Simon was simply minding his business, coming in from the fields, when he comes upon Jesus being led out to Calvary. Perhaps he stopped by to see what the spectacle was all about. Maybe he was just caught up in the crowd, whatever the reason for his place in the crowd he was chosen from among all to assist our Lord. Did he even know who Jesus was? Was he there when they hailed Jesus as Messiah? Was he one of the ones that cried out “Crucify him!”? We don’t know. All we know is that this father of Alexander and Rufus was chosen from among all to help carry the cross. At first He was an unwilling participant, but, as evidenced from Christians tradition, he became not only willing, but later a Christian.
What would have happened had not Simon come to help our Lord? How much more arduous the journey to Calvary would have been? How more often would He have fallen? Sure, Jesus could have rallied twelve legions of Angels to help Him. But He chose not to. Besides it wasn’t the burden of their sins that He was carrying, it was our. It was only right that He should invite sinful man to help Him carry the cross that rightfully belonged to us. Simon represents us all. Each and everyone of us called to participate in our salvation. Saint Peter has told us: “Work out your salvation in fear and trembling” and Saint Augustine reminds us: “The God Who made you without you will not save you without you.” He wants our help.
My Lord, how often have I been unwilling to carry the cross in my own life. How often I have chosen to seek comfort rather than help someone in need. How shy I have been to “go the extra mile” when someone was in need. How many times have I complained because my neighbor asked a favor. How many times did I grumble because I had to put aside my own interests or preoccupations for another person. How selfish I have been! So much like Simon of Cyrene I have had to be pressed into service, an unwilling participant in the service of others and my own salvation. My selfishness, self-centeredness and self-preoccupation has stood in the way of my charity and the living out of my Christian dignity. From henceforth, good Jesus, I promise to live as a true child of the Father, as Your sibling. As one willing to carry the cross of others and for others. Grant me the grace to accept my Christian dignity by living out my faith in such a way that people will know that I am a Christian by my love.
Jesus I trust in You!
Our Father… Hail Mary… Glory be…
Can the human heart refrain
From partaking in her pain,
In that Mother’s pain untold?
The Sixth Station
Veronica Wipes the Face of Jesus
We adore you, O’Most Holy Lord Jesus Christ,
Here and in all Your Churches throughout the world.
And we bless You,
Because by Your Holy Cross You have redeemed the world.
His sacred face is covered in spit. It is bruised and bleeding from the slaps and punches He endured at the hands of the Pharisees and Roman soldiers. Blood is pouring down His face from the thorns that have been piercing into His scalp. His eyes are tired and blood shot from a lack of sleep and from the tears that have been rolling down His cheeks. Sweat beads across His forehead as He continues to bear the intense weight of the cross. His beard is sparse from it being plucked by the Pharisees. Finally, what was spoken about Him by the prophet Isaiah some seven hundred years before is fulfilled: “There was no stately manner that we should look upon Him...We considered Him as one despised, smitten by God.”
A woman whom we know to be Veronica presses through the crowd. Her heart is stronger than the legion of soldiers guarding the path. Love, compassion and a heart filled with tenderness gives her the courage of a hundred men. Seeing His face, so disfigured, so tormented, she removes her veil, and what was once used to cover her head as an act of humility is now an object of gentleness, compassion and mercy. With that veil she wipes the sweat, blood and spit off the face of Jesus. She wanted Him to feel comfort, she wanted the world to see His face. She could see Him, she could recognize Him and she wanted all the world to see Him to. This was no ordinary face she cleaned, it is the face of God. The face of God that Moses was forbidden to look upon is loving touched by a simple woman filled with love. Jesus, in turn, as an act of gratitude leaves His Sacred Image on her veil. No one who touches the face of God goes untouched themselves.
O’my Lord, how I often I have not seen You hidden under the suffering of the poor. How often I passed by when I saw You hungry, thirsty, naked, sick, imprisoned and homeless. How often I passed by You when You came to me in the distressing disguises of the poor. My own self care kept me absorbed in myself, my time, my cares. I didn’t see You disfigured and suffering. There are those around me who are suffering in their own hearts, who just need someone to talk to, someone who will listen, someone to tell them that they are worth something, that their life has purpose and meaning. Lord, how You want my attention and my love. Forgive for not seeing You there, waiting for me. Send Your Holy Spirit upon me so that I may no longer pass You by and that You may leave Your impression on my heart and in the lives of others.
Jesus I trust in You!
Our Father… Hail Mary… Glory be…
Bruised, derided, cursed, defiled,
She beheld her tender child,
All with bloody scourges rent.
The Seventh Station
Jesus Falls the Second Time
We adore you, O’Most Holy Lord Jesus Christ,
Here and in all Your Churches throughout the world.
And we bless You,
Because by Your Holy Cross You have redeemed the world.
Even with the help and assistance of Simon of Cyrene Jesus falls beneath the weight of the Cross. O’ How terrible sin is! The weight of it is practically unbearable. How many souls are wrapt in lives of sin. Not only does the world take hold of us and ofer us so many temptations to turn aside from the path of grace and light, but the concupiscence, the inclination towards evil, that we bear in our own souls due to that first sin of Adam continues to pull us down and desire those things that are destructive to our own salvation. The sins of the flesh, lust, gluttony, sloth and all of their many forms turns our hearts and heads away from following the one Who truly loves us. The sins of the flesh offer us false joy, temporary pleasure and and an illusion of happiness. Disordering our affections and disording our lives. For these sins Jesus falls a second time. The weight is too heavy to bear.
With a burning love to recapture these souls for His heavenly Father, Jesus rises again, pressed on y the love He has for each one of us trapped in the prison of our own desires and whims. By the suffering of this fall He gains for us the grace to rise up and out of our passions, to properly order our desires and to gain the virtue of temperance. By His gift of perseverance we receive the grace to persevere in His grace no matter the strength of the temptation, no matter the power of the desires. As Jesus fell and rose, so we, who are locked down by vice can rise again with Him.
Jesus, the allurements of the flesh that burn within me so easily take hold of me. Too often have I been a victim of my own passions. Too often have I given into to lust, gluttony and sloth. No matter how many times I have fallen I get up and trust in Your mercy. I look to You Jesus, on Your way to Calvary You fell, three times You fell, I look to You rising and I am confident that I too can rise and continue on to the glory that awaits me. As You never lost site of Calvary and the glory that You would win for me on that hill, so never allow me, good Jesus, to lose site of that glory that You won for me. May I be there in heaven with You in glory.
Jesus I trust in You!
Our Father… Hail Mary… Glory be...
For the sins of His own nation,
She saw Him hang in desolation,
Till His spirit forth He sent.
The Eighth Station
Jesus Speaks to the Weeping Women of Jerusalem
We adore you, O’Most Holy Lord Jesus Christ,
Here and in all Your Churches throughout the world.
And we bless You,
Because by Your Holy Cross You have redeemed the world.
Amidst the jeering crowd calling for His hurried crucifixion and death is a crowd of women who have followed Him for three years. Women who saw to His needs and those of the apostles, among them Martha and her sister Mary, the servant of Pilots wife, and the Mother of James and John. Now there is nothing they can do for Him, no service they can give Him. In their love and charity they are rendered powerless. All they can do now is weep for Him. In their deep love and grief they weep for the one they had so humbly served for three years.
Jesus hears their cries and their weeping. He knows their hearts and the love they bear towards Him. He feels their sorrow and their pain. He has chosen this path, He has chosen the cross. He seeks no pity and He desires no comfort. He foresees that their is a greater evil which they must grieve for, a worse threat that will come upon those who love Him. And so He speaks to them: “Women of Jerusalem. Weep not for me, but for yourselves and your children. For the days are coming when they will say hills fall on us, mountains cover us. In those days they will say; ‘Blessed are the barren, the breasts that never nursed the womb that never bore.’ For if this is what they do with the green wood, what will they do to the dry?” Our Lord’s words were soon fulfilled. Not long after His ascension into heaven the persecution of the Church began. Men, women and children were hunted, tortured and put to death for their faith in Christ. Many suffered for the sake of the Christ and His holy name. Two thousand years later and we Christians still suffer persecution and death for the sake of Christ. How many millions of martyrs have given their lives in proclamation of the love of Christ Jesus?
O’good Jesus, how often I have failed to give You witness. How often I have shied away from admitting that I too am a disciple of the Lord. I preferred to be loved by the world than to be pushed aside because I was one of Your followers. The world has hated You Jesus, and, as You prophesied, it also hates us. You told me not to be afraid when the time came to speak on Your behalf because the Spirit of my Father, Your Father, would be speaking through me. Jesus, I have been afraid. I have not allowed the Holy Spirit speak through me. Instead I have spoken as the world speaks. Like Peter and the apostles, by my words and/or actions I ran, confessed that I didn’t know You and abandoned You. Forgive me Lord for cowering. From now on I promise to remain by Your side and to be ever ready to proclaim that I am a child of the Father, a follower of Jesus Christ.
Jesus I trust in You!
Our Father… Hail Mary… Glory be…
O thou Mother font of love,
Touch my spirit from above,
Make my heart with thine accord.