This evening, I’ll be doing a guided meditation with the Stations of the Cross. They all focus on the scripture readings. I invite you to sit and relax for a moment after we pray.
In the name of The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit. Amen.
Opening Prayer: Heavenly Father, as we come before you this evening during this season of Lent and we reflect on the Stations of the Cross, we ask that we may unite any suffering that we endure with yours so that we can take in and participate in Your suffering. May we be reminded of our union as we hear in the Gospel of John, I am in you and you are in me and as we hear St. Paul address the Colossians that we complete the sufferings of Christ. And so, Father, as we pray these Stations of the Cross together, may our suffering be completely united with yours. We ask this through Christ, Our Lord. AMEN
You have the books if you want to open your eyes to the scripture at any point, but I invite you to close your eyes and try to enter into these stations. I think it is good that once during the Season of Lent, we allow ourselves to realize the reality that Christ is suffering in us. In our Baptism, we have been united with Christ, and as I said before, St. Paul says that we complete the sufferings of Christ. As I pray through these with you today, I want you to allow Christ to be in you and you to be in Christ as we go through the Passion. While we are doing these meditations, as I guide you into the mystery of each of these fourteen stations, I want you to try to realize how you have been living in the Stations of the Cross. Since your Baptism, you have been so united with Christ that He is living in you and suffering in you. In each of the stations, I want you to be one with Christ. Look at everything that He sees with His eyes, and allow Him to look at everything you experience with His eyes.
I invite you to close your eyes, and I will lead you through the meditation, the prayers, and the scripture readings.
- We adore You, O Christ, and we praise You.
- Because by Your holy Cross, You have redeemed the world.
1st Station: Jesus is condemned
Again, the high priest began to ask him and said to him, “Are you the Christ, the son of the blessed one?” And Jesus said to him, “I am, and you shall see the son of man sitting at the right hand of power and coming with the clouds of heaven. But the high priest tore his garment and said, “What further need have we of witnesses? You have heard the blasphemy; what do you think?” And they all condemned him as liable to death.
In this 1st station, Jesus is condemned. Just as He was condemned before Pilate and the people, when you were baptized, you were baptized into Him, which means that you would be condemned and condemned by the world. I want you to think of times when you have experienced condemnation. Maybe it is a time that you got in trouble for something. Perhaps it was a time that you were wrongly accused. Maybe it was a time that you just felt judged. This could be something happening in your life right now or something from the past. I want you to realize that when you were condemned, you were not alone. Jesus was condemned in you because you and He are one. I want you to allow Him to take the pain of that condemnation and rejection and realize that He is being judged with you and in you.
The cross, as Jesus bore it, has become for us who share it. The jeweled cross of victory.
Continue reading the Guided Meditation with the Stations of the Cross
