"Oración del Vía Crucis, San Juan 1763"

  XI The bells of San Juan set us free And bind us in community A hammer’s blow consigned you to your fate The ringing resonates in me   At the ninth Station of the Cross Jesus is nailed to the cross.   “When they had crucified him, they divided up his clothes by casting lots. And sitting down, they kept watch over him there. Above his head they placed the written charge against him: this is jesus, the king of the jews .   Two rebels were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left” (Matthew 27:35-38). “And they crucified him. Dividing up his clothes, they cast lots to see what each would get.   It was nine in the morning when they crucified him.   The written notice of the charge against him read: the king of the jews .   They crucified two rebels with him, one on his right and one on his left” (Mark 15:24-27). “When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him there, along with the...

  X   My loom and shuttle swift create Colors bold and perfect weight The soldiers’ hands stripped cloth and dignity My weaving cannot mend the hate   At the tenth Station of the Cross, Jesus clothes are taken away.   All four gospels record Jesus’ final possession being taken away from him.   “When they had crucified him, they divided up his clothes by casting lots” ( Matthew 27:35).   “And they crucified him. Dividing up his clothes, they cast lots to see what each would get” (Mark 15:24).   “Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided up his clothes by casting lots” (Luke 23:34). “‘Let’s not tear it,’ they said to one another. ‘Let’s decide by lot who will get it.’ This happened that the scripture might be fulfilled that said, ‘They divided my clothes among them and cast lots for my garment.’ So this is what the soldiers did” (John 19:23). Ref...

  IX Others work a slower pace Their weakness signifies disgrace A final time you fell beneath the weight Pride with tolerance replace   At the ninth Station of the Cross Jesus falls for the last time. In the traditional Stations of the Cross, Jesus falls three times, although there is no reference to his falling in the Gospels. Perhaps these stations were included to accentuate the humanity of Christ. Isaiah 53 reminds us of the price Jesus paid for our sin.   “Yet it was the Lord ’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,      and though the Lord make his life an offering for sin, he will see his offspring and prolong his days,      and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand. After he has suffered,      he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many,      and he will bear their in...

  VIII No thought for others; I complain Demanding shares of all the grain And still you spoke with selflessness and grace I trust your power to sustain   At the eighth Station of the Cross Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem. Luke records this encounter. Jesus directs their sorrow away from himself and toward their own plight. “A large number of people followed him, including women who mourned and wailed for him. Jesus turned and said to them, ‘Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep for yourselves and for your children.   For the time will come when you will say, ‘Blessed are the childless women, the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!’ Then ‘they will say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us!’   and to the hills, ‘Cover us!’   For if people do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?” (Luke 23: 27-31). Reflection Question: Can you recall a time when you openly expressed...

    VII The work is hard, the weary pace The discipline within this place You felt your body conquered by the strain Your weakness is my hiding place   At the seventh Station of the Cross Jesus falls for the second time. In the traditional Stations of the Cross, Jesus falls three times, althought there is no reference to his falling in the Gospels. Perhaps these stations were included to accentuate the humanity of Christ. Isaiah 53 reminds us of the price Jesus paid for our sin.   “He was oppressed and afflicted,      yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,      and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,      so he did not open his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away.      Yet who of his generation protested? For he was cut off from the land of the living;      for the transgr...

  VI Youth and innocence are slain Their blood, it leaves a stubborn stain Another wiped the blood that hid your face I need a cloth to ease my pain   In the sixth station of the cross Veronica wipes the face of Christ. Veronica is not mentioned in the Bible. The tradition may have arisen around the miracle of the unnamed woman who was healed by touching the hem of Jesus’s garment (Luke 8:43–48). She is named in the apocryphal Gospel of Nicodemus as Berenike. The name Veronica is a Latinization of that name. Luke does record that   “A large number of people followed him, including women who mourned and wailed for him” (Luke 23:27).   Reflection Question: Have you ever wished that someone would come and wipe all your tears away?   Prayer: Lamb of God who shepherds us and leads us to the springs of living water and wipes away every tear from our eyes, give us a heart that rejoices with those who rejoice and mourns with ...

  V   With crucifix and book they came They want our gods to be the same You watched a stranger free you from your chain   I let the stranger know my name   At the fifth Station of the Cross Simon of Cyrene helps Jesus carry his cross. This episode cross is recorded in three gospels.   “As they were going out, they met a man from Cyrene, named Simon, and they forced him to carry the cross” (Matthew 27:32).   “A certain man from Cyrene, Simon, the father of Alexander and Rufus, was passing by on his way in from the country, and they forced him to carry the cross” (Mark 15:21).   “As the soldiers led him away, they seized Simon from Cyrene, who was on his way in from the country, and put the cross on him and made him carry it behind Jesus” (Luke 23:26).   Reflection Question: Have you ever had to welcome an unexpected and challenging experience in your life?   Prayer: God, who made us not stra...

  IV I watch the little children play Their eyes hold on to me the way Your eyes caressed the one who gave your name Compassion, fill my face I pray   At the fourth Station of the Cross, Jesus meets his mother. John records that Mary was at the crucifixion of her son.   “Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to her, ‘Woman, here is your son,’   and to the disciple, ‘Here is your mother.’ From that time on, this disciple took her into his home” (John 19: 25-27).   The gospels do not record that Jesus saw Mary along the way to the cross, but it is a probability. She was in the city and at the crucifixion.   “Many women were there, watching from a distance. They had followed Jesus from Galilee to care for his needs. Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mot...

  III Around me I see sick and lame Strength and weakness bear no shame When powerless to stand, your strength gave way To love them blindly is my aim   At the third Station of the Cross Jesus falls for the first time. In the traditional Stations of the Cross, Jesus falls three times, although there is no reference to his falling in the Gospels. Perhaps these stations were included to accentuate the humanity of Christ. Isaiah 53 reminds us of the price he paid for our sin.   Surely he took up our pain      and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God,      stricken by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions,      he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him,      and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray,      each of us has tu...

II No words compel the breaking day Creation loves the quiet way With no defense you shouldered all the blame With silence I will work today   At the second Station of the Cross Jesus takes up his cross.   “ Then the governor’s soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole company of soldiers around him. They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand. Then they knelt in front of him and mocked him. “Hail, king of the Jews!” they said. They spit on him, and took the staff and struck him on the head again and again. After they had mocked him, they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him” ( Matthew 27: 27-30).     Reflection Question: Can you remember a time when you silently bore the blame for something or someone else?   Prayer: God, who spoke “Peace” and calmed the...

For the next fourteen days I will be posting short devotionals on the Stations of the Cross. The posts contain an image from the banner relating to the station, the corresponding stanza of the poem, “Oración del Vía Crucis, San Juan 1763,” reflecting that Station, a short explanation of the Station, a reflection question, and a prayer. I The cottonwoods enveloping My path to hear the river sing You held the guilt that Pilate washed away I hold the river’s offering   At the first Station of the Cross Jesus is condemned to death.   “Meanwhile Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor asked him, ‘Are you the king of the Jews?’ ‘You have said so,’ Jesus replied. When he was accused by the chief priests and the elders, he gave no answer. Then Pilate asked him, ‘Don’t you hear the testimony they are bringing against you?’ But Jesus made no reply, not even to a single charge—to the great amazement of the governor. Now it was ...

  Stations 13 The thirteenth line of the sonnet, “Those who remained took all that they could save,” recalls Jesus body being taken down from the cross. As Jesus’ followers gathered up his lifeless body, they must have felt so empty and hopeless. They did what they could to honor the one who had been so dishonored over the last few hours. Their action of wrapping the body in linen cloth was at least something they could do at a time when they felt so lost.   We here in the South do something similar. We have a funeral meal. I recall the words from “Death in the Family” by James A. Autry about a time not so long ago that some of us can still recall.   Saying all the things to be said Doing all the things to be done Like orderly spirits Freshening beds from the grieving night Poking up fires gone cold Filling the table and sideboard Then gathering there to urge and cajole As if the dead rest easier on our full stomachs  ...

  Station 11 “A hammer’s blow consigned you to your fate” remembers the eleventh Station of the Cross. The gospels do not specifically say that Jesus was nailed to the cross, but Thomas says after he misses Jesus’s appearance to the disciples: “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe” (John 20:25). Peter also accuses the Jews during his Pentecost sermon by saying “and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross” (Acts 2: 23).   We are told in Mark 6:3 that Jesus was a carpenter. Hammers and nails would have been the tools of his trade. How ironic that they would be used to pierce his own flesh.   I've chosen to use images of a hammer and nails from the very first papercut banner I ever made. It was for my son and his wife, a wedding banner. At the time of their marriage my son was working as a carpenter. The images ...

  Station 9 The ninth line of the sonnet is “A final time you fell beneath the weight.” This is the third time in the traditional Stations of the Cross that Jesus fell while carrying his cross. Threes permeate the story of Jesus’ last week on earth. Traditionally three represents completion. Jesus took three disciples with him to Gethsemane. He prayed three times there in the garden. Three times he returned to his disciples only to find them sleeping. Pilate appealed to the crowd regarding Jesus’ innocence three times before finally washing his hands of the matter and giving him over to his accusers. Peter denied Jesus three times. There were three crosses on Golgatha. Three women went to the tomb to prepare Jesus’ body. Jesus was in the tomb three days. The images on the pane of the banner for the ninth station will again be cross stencils. There is a sample of three crosses at the top of the blog.   Station 10 “The soldier’s hands stripped cloth an...

 Station 7 The seventh line of the sonnet is “You felt your body conquered by the strain.” In the traditional Stations of the Cross, Jesus falls three times. Station 7 remembers the second fall. In our empire world view it is difficult to imagine that weakness is an asset. Jesus teaches us that in the kingdom of God the first shall be last. He teaches in the Sermon on the Mount that the meek, not the powerful, will inherit the earth. He draws our attention to children, sparrows, flowers, yeast, the tiniest of seeds, and the widow’s mite. He stops to heal the leper, the blind beggar, a crippled man, a woman sick with a condition for twelve years. He disparages those who seek the seat of honor, and praises those who choose to be last. He loves the weak. He, himself, chose to humble himself to death on a cross, submit to the pain and humiliation of torture, and fall beneath the weight of the cross.   “But God chose what the world thinks foolish to shame t...

The events of the last days of Jesus are sometimes referred to as the Passion of Christ. The word “passion” means suffering. The prefix “com” means together or with. Our word “compassion” then is a suffering with someone. These two people, one historical and one traditional had compassion on Jesus. They shared his suffering. Station 5 The fifth station of the sonnet is “You watched a stranger free you from your chain.” This story is recorded in Matthew 27:32, Mark 15:21, and Luke 23:26. From these passages we learn that Simon was from Cyrene on the north African coast, what is present day Libya. He was headed from the country into Jerusalem. He was forced to carry Jesus’ cross for him. He was a stranger to the country. We can only imagine the non-verbal and perhaps verbal exchange between the two. Mark records that he was the father of Alexander and Rufus. We don’t know how Mark knew about his children, if Simon was moved by his encounter to become a follower of Christ, or the re...

  Station 3 The third line of the sonnet is “When powerless to stand your strength gave way.” The third, seventh, and ninth stations of the cross commemorate places where Jesus fell along the path from the place where he was condemned to Golgotha, the place of the skull, where he was crucified. There are no records of these falls in the gospels. Psalm 75:3 reminds us “When the earth and all its inhabitants dissolve in fear, I make its pillars secure.” I’m sure there have been many times this year when we were afraid that the pillars of the earth were shaking. It was hard to imagine that the Lord held them securely. It is difficult to imagine that the all-powerful God would divest himself of power in such a way to taste our humanity. Isaiah 53 gives us a glimpse into that suffering. He was despised and rejected by people, one who experienced pain and was acquainted with illness; people hid their faces from him; he was despised, and we considered him insigni...