The 12th, 13th, and 14th Stations

Good Friday

The Twelfth Station:  Jesus Dies on the Cross

Darkness covered the whole land as Jesus hung upon the cross, His detractors demanding that He come down and prove His power.  Long before this moment Jesus had warned His followers:  “If the world hates you, realize that it hated me first.  If you belonged to the world, the world would love its own; but because you do not belong to the world, and I have chosen you out of the world, the world hates you.  Remember the word I spoke to you, ‘No slave is greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.  And they will do all these things to you on account of my name, because they do not know the one who sent me" (John 15:18-21).  If you are a follower of Christ, the World hates you even now.  It cannot help but hate you because it does not understand the source of your Faith, Hope and Love.  Christians often latch on tightly to the idea of carrying the cross; let us not forget that the point of carrying the cross is that we should also die upon it, and that the World will not understand.

As we spiritually gather around the base of the cross to witness Our Lord who has died for our sins, let us remember that this is what Christ's victory looked like.  Let us not be afraid of what victory may look like in our own lives.  How much time, thought and effort do we put into being successful in earthly things instead of heavenly things?  Do we realize how often we must betray God in order to receive the affirmation of the World?

Lord, help us to remember and gain strength from Your crucifixion when the World has turned against us.


The Thirteenth Station:  Jesus Is Taken Down from the Cross

The body of Jesus was taken down from the cross and laid in the lap of His mother.  Michelangelo's famous Pieta depicts Mary in this scene as disproportionately large in relation to her son Jesus.  She is powerful in that moment of profound distress.  Jesus is our example of perfect humility in love and submission to the Will of God; Mary too is our example of humility expressed in her constant presence and indefatigable grace.

One of Jesus' last actions upon the cross was to entrust Mary to the keeping of John, and John to the keeping of Mary (John 19:26-27).  We too have been entrusted to the care of our Mother Mary as a powerful intercessor before her son Jesus.  Mary became the Mother of God through her exemplary acceptance of God's plan for her life; let us not forget that in the midst of our struggles we have been given so powerful an ally to call upon and from whom we may receive comfort and encouragement in the darkest hours.  Who do we allow to teach us how to live a good and fulfilling life--the holy ones of God, or someone else?  Do we have so much pride in our own ability to pray that we forget to ask others to pray for us? 

Lord, help us to remember all the saints--and especially our Mother Mary--who stand ready to lift us up to God the Father.

The Fourteenth Station:  Jesus Is Laid in the Tomb
The body of Jesus was placed in a tomb provided by Joseph of Arimathea.  A great stone was rolled before the entrance, and a guard was placed before the stone.  Few expected that the story of Jesus had not yet ended.  Jesus had given them all they would have needed to keep hope alive through the whole ordeal.  He knew, however, that words were not enough.  He would rise from the dead and show His followers that the grave is not the place that the Father had prepared for them.  

"Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we shall be has not yet been revealed" (1 John 3:2).  As Christians, our hope lies beyond this world.  Jesus did not just leave us with words, but with an empty tomb and a resurrection.  In humbling Himself to become a man, Jesus committed Himself to to all the stages of human life and death that He might point to something greater yet to come.  How often do we find ourselves putting our Faith away to take back out at a more convenient time, forgetting that the resurrection cannot come without the cross?  How seldom do we quench our pride in who and what we have become in this world which is even now passing away (1 Corinthians 7:31)?

Lord, help us to always place our hope in You, unafraid of the mystery which the Father has in store for us.