How to make the Stations of the Cross

There are many ways to perform this devotion, privately or publicly. At the Cathedral it is traditionally held after the evening Mass on each Friday of Lent.

When made publicly, the following response is said at each Station as we genuflect:
V: We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you.
R: Because by your Holy Cross you have redeemed the world.

Each station is visited and prayed at, in turn. This guide is based on the traditional form by St Alphonsus’ Stations.

The following Act of Contrition may be used at each Station:
I love you, Jesus, my love above all things. I repent with my whole heart of having offended you. Never permit me to separate myself from you again. Grant that I may love you always and then do with me what you will.

Each station is completed by reciting the Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory be and a verse of the Stabat Mater is prayed or sung when moving from one station to the next.

Stations Of The Cross

1st Station: Jesus is condemned to death

Consider how Jesus, after having been scourged and crowned with thorns, was unjustly condemned by Pilate to die on the Cross.

Act of Contrition
Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory be

At the Cross her station keeping,
Stood the mournful Mother weeping,
Close to Jesus to the last.

2nd Station: Jesus receives His Cross

Consider how Jesus, in making this journey with the Cross on his shoulders, thought of us, and offered for us to his Father the death he was about to undergo.

Act of Contrition
Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory be

Through her heart, His sorrow sharing,
All His bitter anguish bearing,
Now at length the sword has passed.

3rd Station: Jesus falls the first time

Consider the first fall of Jesus under his Cross. His flesh was torn by the scourges, his head was crowned with thorns; he had lost a great quantity of blood. So weakened he could scarcely walk, he yet had to carry this load upon his shoulders. The soldiers struck him rudely, and he fell several times.

Act of Contrition
Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory be

Oh, how sad and sore distressed
Was that Mother highly blessed
Of the sole Begotten One!

4th Station: Jesus meets His Mother

Consider this meeting of the Son and the Mother, which took place on this journey. Their looks became like so many arrows to wound those hearts which loved each other so tenderly.

Act of Contrition
Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory be

Christ above in torment hangs
She beneath beholds the pangs
Of her dying, glorious Son

5th Station: The Cross is laid upon Simon of Cyrene

Consider how his cruel tormentors, seeing that Jesus was on the point of expiring, and fearing that he would die on the way, whereas they wished him to die the shameful death of the Cross, constrained Simon of Cyrene to carry the Cross behind our Lord.

Act of Contrition
Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory be

Is there one who would not weep,
‘whelmed in miseries so deep
Christ’s dear Mother to behold
.

6th Station: Veronica wipes the face of Jesus

Consider how the holy woman named Veronica, seeing Jesus so ill-used and bathed in sweat and blood, wiped his face with a towel, on which was left the impression of his holy countenance.

Act of Contrition
Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory be

Can the human heart refrain
From partaking in her pain
In that Mother’s pain untold?

7th Station: Jesus falls the second time:

Consider the second fall of Jesus under the Cross; a fall which renews the pain of all the wounds in his head and members.

Act of Contrition
Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory be

Bruised, derided, cursed, defiled
She beheld her tender Child
All with bloody scourges rent.

8th Station: The women of Jerusalem mourn for our Lord

Consider how these women wept with compassion at seeing Jesus in such a pitiable state, streaming with blood as he walked along. ‘Daughters of Jerusalem’, he said, ‘weep not for me, but for yourselves and your children’.

Act of Contrition
Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory be

For the sins of His own nation
Saw Him hang in desolation
Till His spirit forth He sent.

9th Station: Jesus falls the third time

Consider the third fall of Jesus Christ. His weakness was extreme, and the cruelty of his executioners excessive, as they tried to hasten his steps when he could scarcely move.

Act of Contrition
Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory be

O sweet Mother! Fount of Love,
Touch my spirit from above
Make my heart with yours accord.

10th Station: Jesus is stripped of his garments

Consider the violence with which Jesus was stripped by the executioners. His inner garments adhered to his torn flesh, and they dragged them off so roughly that the skin came with them. Take pity on your Saviour thus cruelly treated.

Act of Contrition
Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory be

Make me feel as Thou have felt
Make my soul to glow and melt
With the love of Christ, my Lord.

11th Station: Jesus is nailed to the Cross

Consider how Jesus, having been placed upon the Cross, extended his hands, and offered to his Eternal Father the sacrifice of his life for our salvation. His executioners fastened him with nails and then, securing the Cross, allowed him to die with anguish.

Act of Contrition
Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory be

Holy Mother, pierce me through
In my heart each wound renew
Of my Saviour crucified.

12th Station: Jesus dies on the Cross

Consider how Jesus, being consumed with anguish after three hours’ agony on the Cross, abandoned himself to the weight of his body, bowed his head and died.

Act of Contrition
Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory be

Let me share with you His pain,
Who for all our sins was slain,
Who for me in torments died.

13th Station: Jesus is taken down from the Cross

Consider how, after our Lord had expired, two of his disciples, Joseph and Nicodemus, took him down from the Cross and placed him in the arms of his afflicted Mother, who received him with unutterable tenderness and pressed him to her bosom.

Act of Contrition
Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory be

Let me mingle tears with thee
Mourning Him who mourned for me,
All the days that I may live.

14th Station: Jesus is placed in the sepulchre

Consider how the disciples, accompanied by his holy Mother, carried the body of Jesus to bury it. They closed the tomb, and all came sorrowfully away.

Act of Contrition
Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory be
 

By the Cross with you to stay
There with you to weep and pray
Is all I ask of you to give.