Eleventh Station: Jesus is Nailed to the Cross
We adore You, O Christ and we praise You, because by Your holy cross You have redeemed the world.
To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, every one who pierced him; and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen. (Revelation 1:5-7)
The station that most terrifies me is the eleventh station, Jesus getting
nailed to the cross. This is unfathomable. It is repulsive. I can handle hardly a hangnail, let alone something that is used to keep railroads ties together. I don’t know how Jesus could sustain this for a moment, let alone three hours, and two more nails beyond the first.
After meditating on this horrific station, we understand that Jesus’ love of me is bigger than his pain. He gave me everything he had, and held nothing back. He hung on that cross beaten to shreds, fully exposed, with nowhere to hide, friendless, reviled. To the naked eye, there were no consolations for this man Jesus The King of The Jews.
Meditating further, perhaps there were some consolations, invisible ones. Maybe I was there, the brave me, the committed me. (The cowardly me already ran on home and was now quaking under the bed.) Maybe I was there, along with countless others, and when He couldn’t sustain himself any longer, our love held him up. Maybe we carried him for a while, us, the ones who have finally figured out that truly is the Son of God, and we’d be there no matter what it cost us, for what our presence was worth. Come to find out, our presence was worth the soul of the Son of God, because, truly, this is who He is.
Through Baptism, we enter into the threefold mission of Christ: priest, prophet, king. “You shall be to me a kingdom of priests, a holy nation”
(Exodus 19:6). Pope John Paul II explains that “it is participation in the priesthood of Christ which denotes the simplest and most complete” (Sources of Renewal) aspect of the mission of the faithful. At the heart of the priestly mission is sacrifice on behalf of the people. Bishop Giaquinta calls this dimension of our mission Redemptive Love: “Even after we adhered completely to God’s will, we will have done much, but not everything. We must spontaneously and generously wish to journey toward the Cross, choose it, and embrace it” (Bishop Giaquinta, Formation and Apostolate). St. Paul, too, desired to enter into the death of Jesus for the sake of the resurrection – for himself and those to whom he preached. Everyone must be holy!
Let us ask for Jesus’ desire to offer ourselves with Him in His redemptive act so that every moment is a redemptive moment, that we may be All Saints, All Brothers and Sisters.
To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, every one who pierced him; and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen. (Revelation 1:5-7)
The station that most terrifies me is the eleventh station, Jesus getting
nailed to the cross. This is unfathomable. It is repulsive. I can handle hardly a hangnail, let alone something that is used to keep railroads ties together. I don’t know how Jesus could sustain this for a moment, let alone three hours, and two more nails beyond the first.After meditating on this horrific station, we understand that Jesus’ love of me is bigger than his pain. He gave me everything he had, and held nothing back. He hung on that cross beaten to shreds, fully exposed, with nowhere to hide, friendless, reviled. To the naked eye, there were no consolations for this man Jesus The King of The Jews.
Meditating further, perhaps there were some consolations, invisible ones. Maybe I was there, the brave me, the committed me. (The cowardly me already ran on home and was now quaking under the bed.) Maybe I was there, along with countless others, and when He couldn’t sustain himself any longer, our love held him up. Maybe we carried him for a while, us, the ones who have finally figured out that truly is the Son of God, and we’d be there no matter what it cost us, for what our presence was worth. Come to find out, our presence was worth the soul of the Son of God, because, truly, this is who He is.
Submitted by Barbara Gata, Pro Sanctity friend, New York
Through Baptism, we enter into the threefold mission of Christ: priest, prophet, king. “You shall be to me a kingdom of priests, a holy nation”
(Exodus 19:6). Pope John Paul II explains that “it is participation in the priesthood of Christ which denotes the simplest and most complete” (Sources of Renewal) aspect of the mission of the faithful. At the heart of the priestly mission is sacrifice on behalf of the people. Bishop Giaquinta calls this dimension of our mission Redemptive Love: “Even after we adhered completely to God’s will, we will have done much, but not everything. We must spontaneously and generously wish to journey toward the Cross, choose it, and embrace it” (Bishop Giaquinta, Formation and Apostolate). St. Paul, too, desired to enter into the death of Jesus for the sake of the resurrection – for himself and those to whom he preached. Everyone must be holy!Let us ask for Jesus’ desire to offer ourselves with Him in His redemptive act so that every moment is a redemptive moment, that we may be All Saints, All Brothers and Sisters.
Submitted by Jessi Kary, Apostolic Oblate, Nebraska
Holy Mother, impress into my heart the wounds of your Son.
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