Chemin de la Croix de la Salette

JESUS IS SENTENCED TO DEATH
Biblical text:
Lk 23, 23-25 Yet they continued to cry out with all their might, demanding that he be crucified. And their cries grew louder and louder. Pilate therefore decided that his request would be granted. He freed those they wanted, who had been imprisoned for rebellion and murder. As for Jesus, he delivered him to his will.

MEDITATION
The Judge of the world, who will one day return to judge us, is there, crushed, disgraced and defenseless before the judge of the earth. Pilate is not totally evil. He knows that this condemned man is innocent; he is looking for a way to free him. But Pilate is indecisive. And in the end, over the law, he makes his position prevail, he makes himself prevail. Nor are the men who vociferate and demand Jesus' death totally evil. Many of them, on the day of Pentecost, will be "stirred to their very core" (Acts 2:37), when Peter tells them: "Jesus of Nazareth - this man whose mission God had made known - ... you have put him to death by having him nailed to the cross by the hands of the pagans..." (Acts 2:22f). But right now, they are under the influence of the crowd. They vociferate because the others vociferate, and they vociferate like the others. And so, justice is trampled underfoot out of cowardice, out of weakness, out of fear of the diktat of the dominant mentality. The faint voice of conscience is drowned out by the vociferations of the crowd. Indecision and human respect give strength to evil.

PRAYER
Lord, you have been condemned to death because fear of the gaze of others has stifled the voice of conscience. Throughout history, innocent people have been mistreated, condemned and killed. How often have we too preferred success to truth, our reputation to justice! Give strength, in our lives, to the tenuous voice of conscience, to your voice. Look at me as you looked at Peter after his denial. Let your gaze penetrate our souls and give our lives direction. To those who ranted against you on Good Friday, you gave heartfelt emotion and conversion on the Day of Pentecost. And so you gave us all hope. Give us too, ever anew, the grace of conversion.

"Then the governor's soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole guard around him. They stripped him of his clothes and covered him with a red cloak. Then, using thorns, they wove a crown and placed it on his head; they put a reed in his right hand and, mocking him, knelt before him saying: "Hail, King of the Jews! And after spitting on him, they took the reed and struck him on the head. When they had laughed at him, they took off his cloak, put his clothes back on him, and led him away to crucify him."

MEDITATION
Jesus, condemned as a would-be king, you are mocked, but in the mockery the truth is cruelly revealed. How often are not the insignia of power worn by the powerful of this world an insult to truth, justice and human dignity! How often are their ceremonies and grand speeches in truth nothing more than pompous lies, a caricature of the task that is theirs: to place themselves at the service of good! Jesus, the one who is mocked and who wears the crown of suffering, is precisely for this reason the true king. His scepter is justice (cf. Ps 45:7). The price of justice is suffering in this world: he, the true king, does not reign by violence, but by the love he suffers for us and with us. He carries the cross, our cross, the weight of man, the weight of the world. This is how he goes before us and shows us how to find the path to true life.

PRAYER
Lord, you let yourself be mocked and insulted. Help us not to join those who mock the suffering and the weak. Help us to recognize your face in those who are humiliated and cast aside. Help us not to be discouraged by the mockery of the world, when obedience to your will is mocked. You carried the cross and invited us to follow you on this path (cf. Mt 10:38). Help us to accept the cross, not to run away from it, not to mourn and not to let our hearts be overwhelmed by life's sorrows. Help us to walk the path of love and, obeying its demands, to reach true joy.

From the book of the prophet Isaiah 53:4-6
"In fact, it was our sufferings that he bore, our pains with which he was burdened. And we thought he was stricken, bruised by God, humiliated. But it was because of our rebellions that he was pierced, because of our faults that he was crushed. The chastisement that gives us peace has weighed on him: through his wounds, we are healed. We were all wandering like sheep, each following his own path. But the Lord has laid on him the iniquities of us all.

MEDITATION
Man has fallen and falls again: how many times is he nothing but a caricature of himself, and no longer the image of God, making a mockery of the Creator? Is he not the image of man par excellence who, on his way down from Jerusalem to Jericho, was attacked by robbers who stripped him and left him half-dead, bloodied by the roadside? Jesus' fall from the cross is not just the fall of the man Jesus, already exhausted by the scourging. As Paul says in his letter to the Philippians: "He who was in the condition of God did not see fit to claim his right to be treated as God's equal, but instead stripped himself and took on the condition of a servant. In the likeness of men ... he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross" (Phil 2:6-8). In Jesus' fall under the weight of the cross, his whole journey is revealed: his voluntary abasement to take away our pride. And at the same time, the nature of our pride is revealed: the arrogance with which we want to emancipate ourselves from God and be nothing but ourselves, the arrogance with which we believe we have no need of eternal love, but with which we want to master our lives all by ourselves. In this rebellion against the truth, in this attempt to be gods ourselves, to be creators and judges of ourselves, we fall and end up destroying ourselves. Jesus' abasement is the overcoming of our pride: by his abasement, he lifts us up. Let him lift us up. Let us shed our self-sufficiency, our mistaken desire for autonomy and, instead, learn from him, from him who lowered himself, to find our true greatness, by lowering ourselves and turning to God and to our humiliated brothers and sisters.

PRAYER
Lord Jesus, the weight of the cross has knocked you to the ground. The weight of our sin, the weight of our pride has struck you down. But your fall is not the sign of a hostile destiny, it is not the pure and simple weakness of one who is outraged. You wanted to come to us, we who, because of our pride, lie on the ground. Lord, help us because we have fallen. Help us to abandon our destructive pride, learning through your humility to rise again.

He will be a sign of contradiction - and you, your soul will be pierced by a sword -: thus will be revealed the thoughts that come from the hearts of many.
He went down with them to Nazareth, and was submissive to them. His mother kept all these events in her heart."

MEDITATION
On Jesus' Way of the Cross, we also find Mary, his Mother. During her son's public life, she had had to stand aside, to make way for Jesus' new family, the nascent family of his disciples. She had also had to listen to his words: "Who is my mother and who are my brothers? ... He who does the will of my Father in heaven, he is my brother and sister and mother." (Mt 12:48-50). We now see that she is the Mother of Jesus, not only in body, but in heart. Even before she had conceived him in her body, she had conceived him in her heart, thanks to her obedience. It was said to her: "Behold, you will conceive and bear a son... He will be great...; the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David" (Lk 1:31f). And yet, shortly afterwards, she had heard other words from the mouth of old Simeon: "And your heart will be pierced by a sword" (Lk 2:35). In this way, she was reminded of the words of the prophets, words similar to these: "Ill-treated, he humbles himself, he does not open his mouth: like a lamb led to the slaughter" (Is 53, 7). Now everything was coming true. In her heart, she had always kept the words the angel had spoken to her when everything had begun: "Do not be afraid, Mary" (Lk 1:30). The disciples had fled, she had not. She remains there, with her motherly courage, with her motherly fidelity, with her motherly kindness and with her faith, which stands firm in the darkness: "Blessed is she who believed" (Lk 1:45). "But will the Son of Man, when he comes, find faith on earth?" (Lk 18:8). Yes, at that moment, He knows: He will find faith. In that hour, that is his great consolation.

PRAYER
Holy Mary, Mother of the Lord, you remained faithful when the disciples fled. Just as you believed when the angel told you the incredible - that you were to become the mother of the Most High - so you believed at the hour of his greatest humiliation. So, at the hour of the cross, at the hour of the darkest night in the world, you became Mother of believers, Mother of the Church. We pray to you: teach us to believe, and help us so that our faith becomes the courage to serve, and the gesture of a love that comes to help and knows how to share suffering.

MEDITATION
Simon de Cyrène is on his way home from work when he comes across this sad procession of condemned men - no doubt a familiar sight to him. The soldiers use their right of coercion and put the cross on him, a sturdy man from the countryside. How embarrassed he must have been to find himself suddenly involved in the fate of these condemned men! He does what he has to do, certainly with great reluctance. However, the evangelist Mark also names his sons, who were known to be Christians and members of the community (Mk 15:21). From this involuntary encounter, faith was born. By accompanying Jesus and sharing the weight of his cross, the Cyrenian understood that walking with and assisting the Crucified One was a grace. The mystery of the suffering, mute Jesus touched his heart. Jesus, whose divine love alone could and can redeem all humanity, wants us to share his cross, to complete what is still lacking in his sufferings (Col 1:24). Every time we kindly reach out to the suffering, the persecuted and the weak, by sharing their suffering, we help Jesus to carry his own cross. In this way we obtain salvation, and we ourselves can cooperate in the salvation of the world.

PRAYER
Lord, you opened the eyes and heart of Simon of Cyrene, giving him the grace of faith through the sharing of your cross. Help us to come to the aid of our suffering neighbor, even if this call is contrary to our plans and inclinations. Give us to recognize that sharing the cross of others, and experiencing that in so doing we walk with you, is a grace. Help us to recognize with joy that it is precisely by sharing your suffering and the sufferings of this world that we become servants of salvation, and can thus contribute to building up your body, the Church.

"Before him, the servant grew like a stunted plant, a root in barren soil; he was without appearance or beauty to attract our eyes, his appearance had nothing to please us. Despised, abandoned by men, a man of sorrows, familiar with suffering, he was like one before whom one veils one's face; and we despised him, counted him for nothing."
"My heart has repeated your word to me: "Seek my face". It is your face, Lord, that I seek: do not hide your face from me. Do not turn away your servant in anger: * you remain my help. Do not leave me, do not forsake me, God, my salvation!"

MEDITATION
"It is your face, O Lord, that I seek: do not hide your face from me" (Ps 26 [27], 8-9). Veronica - Berenice, according to Greek tradition - embodies the aspiration common to all pious men of the Old Testament, the aspiration of all believers to see the face of God. On Jesus' way to the cross, at first, she performs only a service of feminine kindness: she offers Jesus a towel. She is neither won over by the brutality of the soldiers, nor immobilized by the fear of the disciples. She is the image of the kind-hearted woman who, in the turmoil and darkness of hearts, maintains the courage of kindness, and does not allow her heart to grow dark. Blessed are the pure in heart," said the Lord in the Sermon on the Mount, "for they shall see God" (Mt 5:8). At first, Veronique sees only an abused and suffering face. But the act of love imprints in her heart the true image of Jesus: on his human face, covered in blood and wounds, she sees the face of God and his goodness, which accompanies us even in the most profound suffering. Only with the heart can we see Jesus. Only love enables us to see, and makes us pure. Only love makes us recognize God, who is love itself.

PRAYER
Lord, give us the restlessness of the heart that seeks your face. Protect us from the darkening of the heart that sees only the appearance of things. Give us the sincerity and purity that enable us to see your presence in the world. When we lack the capacity to do great things, give us the courage of humble kindness. Impress your face on our hearts, so that we can meet you and show the world your image.

MEDITATION
The tradition of the triple fall of Jesus and the weight of the cross recalls the fall of Adam - the fact that we are fallen human beings - and the mystery of Jesus' participation in our fall. Throughout history, the fall of man takes on ever-new forms. In his first letter, Saint John speaks of a threefold fall of man: the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes and the pride of wealth. Thus, against the backdrop of the vices of his time, with all its excesses and perversions, he interprets the fall of man and humanity. In more recent history, however, we may also think that Christians, by turning away from the faith, have abandoned the Lord: the great ideologies, such as the trivialization of man who no longer believes in anything and simply lets himself go, have built a new paganism, a worse paganism, which, by wanting to set God aside once and for all, has ended up getting rid of man. Man thus lies in ashes. The Lord carries this weight, falling and falling, so that he can come to us; he looks at us so that our hearts may awaken; he falls to lift us up.

PRAYER
Lord Jesus Christ, you have carried our weight and you continue to carry us. It is our weight that makes you fall. But let it be you who lifts us up, for alone we cannot rise from the ashes! Instead of a heart of stone, give us again a heart of flesh, a heart capable of seeing. Make us feel your presence again. Make us sober and attentive to resist the forces of evil, and help us to recognize and support the inner and outer needs of others. Lift us up, so that we can lift others up. Give us hope in the midst of all darkness, so that we may become bearers of hope for the world.

Behold, the days are coming when they will say, "Blessed are the barren women, those who have not borne, those who have not nursed!"Then they will say to the mountains, "Fall on us," and to the hills, "Hide yourselves. For if we treat the green tree like this, what will become of the dry tree?"

MEDITATION
Listening to Jesus as he reproaches the women of Jerusalem who follow him and weep over him makes us think. How are we to understand him? Aren't these reproaches addressed to a purely sentimental piety, which does not become conversion and lived faith? It's no use weeping over the sufferings of this world, with words and feelings, when our life continues unchanged. That's why the Lord warns us of the danger we ourselves are in. He shows us the seriousness of sin and the gravity of judgment. For all our fearful talk of evil and the suffering of the innocent, aren't we too inclined to trivialize the mystery of evil? When all is said and done, perhaps all we retain of the image of God and Jesus is the gentle, lovable aspect, while the aspect of judgment is quietly evacuated? We wonder whether God can still take our weakness tragically. After all, we're only human! But when we look at the Son's sufferings, we see the full gravity of sin, and how it must be atoned for to the very end if it is to be overcome. Evil cannot continue to be trivialized before the image of the suffering Lord. To us too, the Lord declares: Do not weep for me, weep for yourselves ... for if you treat the green tree this way, what will become of the dry tree?

PRAYER
To the weeping women, you spoke, Lord, of penitence, of the Day of Judgment, when we will find ourselves in the presence of your face, the face of the Judge of the world. You show us the gravity of our responsibility, the danger of being found guilty and sterile on the Day of Judgment. Help us not to be content to walk beside you, or to offer only words of compassion. Convert us and give us new life; don't let us stand there like a dry tree, but let us become living branches in you, the true vine, and bear fruit for eternal life (cf. Jn 15, 1-10).

9th Station: Jesus falls for the third time

U: We adore You, O Christ, and we bless You.
R: Because Thou hast redeemed the world by Thy holy Cross.

From the book of Lamentations. 3,27-32
"It is good for man to bear the yoke from his youth. Let him sit, solitary, in silence, as long as the Lord imposes it on him; let him hold his mouth to the ground: perhaps there is hope! Let him turn his cheek to those who strike him, let him be saturated with insults. For the Lord does not reject forever; if he afflicts, he will show mercy according to the abundance of his grace."

MEDITATION
What can Jesus' third fall under the weight of the cross tell us? Perhaps it makes us think more generally of the fall of man, of the fact that many are drifting away from Christ, towards a secularism without God. But shouldn't we also think of what Christ must suffer in his Church itself? How often do we abuse the Blessed Sacrament of his presence, into whose empty and evil hearts he often enters! How often do we celebrate only ourselves, and not even become aware of his presence! How often his Word is distorted and misused! What a lack of faith in so many theories, how many empty words! How many defilements in the Church, especially among those who, in the priesthood, should belong totally to him! How much pride and self-sufficiency! How little attention we pay to the sacrament of reconciliation, where Christ waits to raise us from our falls! All this is present in his passion. The betrayal of the disciples, the unworthy reception of his Body and Blood are certainly the Redeemer's greatest sufferings, those that pierce his heart. All that remains is for us to cry out to him from the depths of our souls: Kyrie, eleison - Lord, save us (cf. Mt 8:25).

PRAYER
Have mercy on your Church: in her, too, Adam falls again and again. By our fall, we drag you down. But you have risen from the dead and can raise us too. Save your Church and sanctify it. Save us all and sanctify us.

When they had crucified him, they divided his garments among them by casting lots; and they sat there guarding him."

MEDITATION
Jesus is stripped of his clothes. Clothes give man his social position; they give him his place in society, they make him somebody. For Jesus, to be stripped in public means to be nobody, to be nothing but an outcast, despised by all. The moment of stripping also reminds us of the exclusion from paradise: the splendor of God has disappeared in the man who now finds himself there, naked and exposed, stripped and ashamed. In this way, Jesus once again assumes the situation of sinful man. This stripped Jesus reminds us that we have all lost our "first garment", the splendor of God. Beneath the cross, the soldiers cast lots to divide up his poor possessions, his clothes. The evangelists recount this with words from Psalm 22, verse 19, and thus tell us what Jesus would say to the disciples at Emmaus: everything happened "according to the Scriptures". Nothing here is pure coincidence; everything that happens is contained in God's Word and willed by his divine purpose. The Lord experiences all the stations and degrees of human perdition, and each of these degrees is, with all its bitterness, a stage in the Redemption: this is how he brings the lost sheep back into the fold. Let's not forget that John states that the object of the lottery was Jesus' tunic, "woven in one piece from top to bottom" (19:23). This is an allusion to the high priest's garment, which was "woven in one piece", without seams (Flavius Josephus, Jewish Antiquities, III, 161). He, the Crucified One, is indeed the true high priest.

PRAYER
Lord Jesus, you were stripped of your clothes, exposed to dishonor, excluded from society. You took on Adam's dishonor, and healed him. You took on the sufferings and needs of the poor, those excluded from the world. But this is how the word of the prophets is fulfilled. This is how you give meaning to what seems meaningless. This is how you make us recognize that your Father holds you in his hands, as he does us and the world. Give us a profound respect for man at every stage of his existence and in every situation we encounter. Give us the garment of light of your grace.

The passers-by reviled him, shaking their heads and saying, "You who destroyed the Sanctuary and rebuilt it in three days, save yourself, if you are the Son of God, and come down from the cross! In the same way, the chief priests mocked him with the scribes and elders, saying: "He saved others, and he cannot save himself! He's king of Israel: let him come down from the cross now, and we'll believe in him!"

MEDITATION
Jesus is nailed to the cross. The Turin shroud gives us an idea of the incredible cruelty of this procedure. Jesus does not drink the anaesthetic beverage offered to him: he consciously takes upon himself all the suffering of crucifixion. His whole body is tormented; thus the words of the Psalm are verified: "And I am a worm, not a man, mocked by the people, rejected by the people" (Ps 21 [22], 7). "He was despised ... like a leper who is turned away ... Yet it was our sufferings that he bore, our sorrows with which he was burdened" (Is 53:3ff). Let us pause before this image of pain, before the suffering Son of God. Let us look to him in those moments when we are presumptuous and prone to enjoyment, to learn to respect limits and see the superficiality of all purely material goods.

Let us look to him in times of calamity and anguish, to recognize that it is then that we are close to God. Let us seek to recognize his face in those we tend to despise. Before the condemned Lord, who does not want to use his power to come down from the cross, but rather endures the suffering of the cross to the end, yet another thought may arise. Ignatius of Antioch, himself chained because of his faith in the Lord, praises the Christians of Smyrna for their unshakeable faith: they were as if nailed by flesh and blood to the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ (1, 1). Let us allow ourselves to be nailed to him, yielding to no temptation to pull away and indulge in the mockery that would encourage us to do so.

PRAYER
Lord Jesus Christ, you got yourself nailed to the cross, accepting the terrible cruelty of this suffering, the destruction of your body and your dignity. You got yourself nailed, you suffered without fleeing or compromising. Help us not to run away from what we are called to do. Help us to let ourselves be bound tightly to you. Help us to unmask the false freedom that would keep us from you. Help us to accept your bound freedom and to find, in this close bond with you, true freedom.

"Pilate had drawn up a sign which he had placed on the cross; it read: "Jesus the Nazarene, King of the Jews. Many Jews read this sign, because the place where Jesus had been crucified was close to the city, and it was written in Hebrew, Latin and Greek." From the sixth hour (i.e. noon), darkness fell over the whole earth until the ninth hour. About the ninth hour, Jesus cried out with a loud voice, "Eli, Eli, lema sabactani?" which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" When some of those standing by heard him, they said, "There he is, calling the prophet Elijah!" Immediately one of them ran and took a sponge and dipped it in a vinegar drink; he put it on the end of a reed, and gave him a drink. The others said, "Wait! We'll see if Elijah comes to save him." But Jesus cried out again and gave up the ghost. At the sight of the earthquake and these events, the centurion and those with him guarding Jesus were seized with great fear and said, "Truly, this was the Son of God!"

MEDITATION
On Jesus' cross, in the two languages of the world at the time, Greek and Latin, and in the language of the chosen people, Hebrew, an inscription expressing who he is: the King of the Jews, the Son promised to David. Pilate, an unjust judge, became a prophet in spite of himself. In front of world public opinion, Jesus' kingship is proclaimed. Jesus himself had not accepted the title Messiah, as it could evoke a false and purely human idea of power and salvation. Now, the title can be written there, publicly above the Crucified One. This is how he is truly the king of the world. He is now truly "exalted". In his descent, he ascended. Behold, he has radically fulfilled the commandment of love, he has fulfilled the offering of himself, and so he is the manifestation of the true God, of that God who is love. Now we know who God is. Now we know what true kingship consists in. Jesus prays with the words of Psalm 21, which begins: "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (21[22]:2). He takes upon himself all the suffering of Israel, the suffering of all mankind, the drama of God's obscurity, and he also allows God to manifest himself where he would seem to be definitively defeated and absent. Jesus' cross is a cosmic event. The world goes dark, when the Son of God suffers death. The earth trembles. And beside the cross begins the Church of the Gentiles. The Roman Centurion recognizes and understands that Jesus is the Son of God. From the cross he triumphs, again and again.

PRAYER
Lord Jesus Christ, at the hour of your death, the sun was eclipsed. Again and again, you are nailed to the cross. Precisely at this hour in history, we are living in the darkness of God. It was precisely on the cross that you made yourself known. Precisely because you are the one who suffers and loves, you are the one who is lifted up. From there you triumphed. In this hour of darkness and turmoil, help us to recognize your face. Help us to believe in you and to follow you, especially in hours of darkness and distress. In this hour, show yourself again to the world. May your salvation be made manifest. SILENCE

There were many women there, watching from afar. They had followed Jesus from Galilee to serve him."
MEDITATION
Jesus died, his heart was pierced by the soldier's lance, and blood and water immediately flowed out: a mysterious image of the river of the sacraments of Baptism and the Eucharist, through which, because of the Lord's pierced heart, the Church is continually reborn. His legs were not broken, as they were for the other two crucified; so he shows himself to be the true paschal lamb, whose bones must not be broken (cf. Ex 12:46). And now that he has borne it all, despite all the turmoil that stirs hearts, despite the power of hatred and cowardice, behold, he is not left alone. There are the faithful. By the cross, there was also Mary, his Mother, Mary his Mother's sister, Mary of Magdala and the disciple he loved. And here comes a rich man, Joseph of Arimathea: this rich man finds a way to go through the eye of a needle, because God gives him the grace. He buries Jesus in his new tomb, in a garden: where Jesus is buried, the cemetery is transformed into a garden, the garden from which Adam was driven when he broke away from the fullness of life, when he broke away from his Creator. The tomb in the garden tells us that the power of death is coming to an end. A member of the Sanhedrin, Nicodemus, to whom Jesus had announced the mystery of rebirth by water and the Spirit, is also approaching. Even among the Sanhedrin, who had decided on his death, there is someone who believes, someone who knows and recognizes Jesus after his death. Beyond the hour of great mourning, thick darkness and despair, however, mysteriously remains the light of hope. The hidden God is nevertheless the living and near God. The dead Lord remains Lord and Savior, even in the night of death. The Church of Jesus Christ, his new family, is beginning to take shape.

PRAYER
Lord, you descended into the darkness of death. But your body was gathered by good hands and wrapped in an immaculate shroud (Mt 27:59). How often it seems to us that you are asleep! Grant that in this difficult time, we may be able to recognize that you are there. Give us a fidelity that resists disarray, and a love that knows how to welcome you in moments of extreme distress, as did your Mother, who received you back into her arms. Make us capable of offering you our abilities, our hearts, our time, to prepare the garden where the resurrection can take place.

MEDITATION
Jesus, the object of scorn and contempt, is laid with all honors in a new tomb. Nicodemus brings a hundred pounds of a mixture of myrrh and aloes, which is to spread a precious perfume. Here, as at the anointing in Bethany, the Son's offering reveals an excess that reminds us of God's generous love, the "superabundance of his love". God generously offers himself. If God's measure is superabundance, then for us too, nothing should be too much. This is what Jesus himself taught us in the Sermon on the Mount (cf. Mt 5:20). But we must also remember St. Paul's words about God who, "through us, spreads everywhere the fragrance of his [Christ's] knowledge. For we are indeed ... the good fragrance of Christ" (2 Cor 2:14f). In the midst of decaying ideologies, our faith should once again be the perfume that puts us back on the path of life. At the moment of burial, Jesus' words begin to be fulfilled: "Amen, amen, I say to you: if a grain of wheat falls into the earth and does not die, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit" (Jn 12:24). Jesus is the grain of wheat that dies.
From the dead grain of wheat begins the great multiplication of bread that lasts until the end of the world: this is the bread of life capable of satisfying the whole of humanity and giving it nourishment in a superabundant way: through the cross and the resurrection, the eternal Word of God, who for our sake became flesh and also became bread. On the tomb of Jesus, the mystery of the Eucharist shines forth.

PRAYER
Lord Jesus Christ, by your entombment, you made the death of the grain of wheat your own; you became the dead grain of wheat that bears much fruit throughout time, until eternity. Through the Incarnation and death, the eternal Word became the Word close to us: you put yourself in our hands and in our hearts, so that your Word may grow in us and bear fruit. Help us to love and venerate your Eucharistic mystery ever more, to live truly of you, Bread from heaven Just as the grain of wheat rises from the earth, forms a stalk and then an ear, so you could not remain in the tomb: the tomb is empty, because he - the Father - did not "abandon you to death, nor did your flesh know corruption" (cf. Acts 2:31; Ps 15:10 LXX). You rose from the dead and, to transformed flesh, you opened a space in God's heart. May we rejoice in this hope and joyfully bring it to the world, making us witnesses to your resurrection.

PSALM 87

Lord, my God and my Salvation in this night when I cry out in Your Presence let my prayer reach You open your ear to my complaint

For my soul is full of woe my life on the edge of the abyss I am already seen going down to the pit I am like a finished man

My place is among the dead with those who have been killed, buried those whom You no longer remember who are excluded and far from Your hand

You've put me deep in the pit in sunken, dark places the weight of Your wrath crushes me You pour out Your floods against me

You take my friends away from me made me abominable to them locked up I have no way out suffering so much my eyes are going out

I call on You, Lord, all day long I stretch out my hands to You Do You perform miracles for the dead? do their shadows rise up to acclaim You?

Who will speak of Thy love in the grave of Thy faithfulness in the realm of death? Do we know Your miracles and Your Justice in the land of oblivion?

I cry out to You, Lord, from the morning my prayer seeks You Why reject me, Lord? Why hide Your Face from me?

Unhappy, stricken to death since childhood, I can no longer endure Your scourges Your storms have swept over me Your fears have silenced me.

They encircle me like water all day long, closing in on me You drive friends and family away from me my companion is darkness.

The Path to the Cross

STATION 1: Jesus is condemned to death

2nd Station: Jesus takes up the Cross

3rd Station: Jesus falls for the first time

4th Station: Jesus meets his Mother

5e Station : Jésus est aidé par le Cyrénéen à porter sa croix

6th Station: Veronica wipes Jesus' face

7th Station: Jesus falls for the second time

8th Station: Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem who weep over him

9th Station: Jesus falls for the third time

10th Station: Jesus is stripped of his clothes

11th Station: Jesus is nailed to the Cross

12th Station: Jesus dies on the Cross

13th Station: Jesus is taken down from the Cross and handed over to his Mother

14th Station: Jesus is laid in the tomb

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