MEDITATION AND PRAYERS OF HIS
HOLINESS
POPE JOHN PAUL II
Jesus is stripped and offered gall and vinegar to drink
V/. We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you.
R/. Because by your holy Cross you have redeemed the world.
“When he tasted it, he would not drink it” (Mt 27:34).
He did not want a sedative, which would have dulled his consciousness during the agony.
He wanted to be fully aware as he suffered on the Cross, accomplishing the mission
he had received from the Father.
That was not what the soldiers in charge of the execution were used to. Since they had to
nail the condemned man to the Cross, they tried to dull his senses and his consciousness.
But with Christ this could not be. Jesus knows that his death on the Cross must be a
sacrifice of expiation.
This is why he wants to remain alert to the very end.
Without consciousness, he could not, in complete freedom, accept the full measure of
suffering.
Behold, he must mount the Cross, in order to offer the sacrifice of the New Covenant.
He is the Priest. By means of his own blood, he must enter the eternal dwelling-places,
having accomplished the world’s redemption (cf. Heb 9:12).
Conscience and freedom: these are the essential elements of fully human action.
The world has so many ways of weakening the will and of darkening conscience.
They must be carefully defended from all violence.
Even the legitimate attempt to control pain must always be done with respect for human
dignity.
If life and death are to retain their true value, the depths of Christ’s sacrifice
must be understood, and we must unite ourselves to that sacrifice if we are to hold firm.
| PRAYER Lord Jesus, R. Amen. All: Our Father ... Stabat Mater: Make me feel as you have felt; |
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The soldiers took his clothes and divided them into four parts, one for each soldier. They also took his tunic; now the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from the top. So they said to one another, "Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to see who will get it." This was to fulfill what the scripture says, "They divided my clothes among themselves, and for my clothing they cast lots." (John 19:23-24) The Ethiopian Christians could not afford to pay the heavy taxes in Jerusalem under the Ottoman empire in the 16th century and they were stripped of their possessions and forced to live as beggars here on the roof of the south transept of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Their fellow Christians were quick to exploit and the Copts, the Greeks and the Latins moved into their chapels and colluded with their expulsion. Today Jesus is still stripped as people collude and turn away while whole nations and races are massacred in their homelands. Today Jesus is still stripped as the weak who cannot speak out for themselves are ignored or abused while the strong turn a blind eye. Today Jesus is still stripped as we mock or reject those who are already fallen. |
Heavenly Father, whose children suffered at the hands of Herod, though they had done no wrong: give us grace neither to act cruelly, nor to stand indifferently by, but to defend the weak from the tyrrany of the strong in the name of Jesus Christ who suffered for us, but is now alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever, Amen. St. Chad's College Home Page Passiontide 1996 © Dominic Barrington and Paul Kennington |
| Opening Prayer | Station 1 | Station 2 | Station 3 | Station 4 | Station 5 |
| Station 6 | Station 7 | Station 8 | Station 9 | Station 10 | Station 11 |
| Station 12 | Station 13 | Station 14 | Station Closing Words by Pope John Paul II | Stations of the Cross 2000 |
The Stations of the Cross in Jerusalem Via Crucis - Main
The Church of the Holy Sepulchre
- InformationThe Tenth Station
- HERE Jesus is stripped of His garments