Twelfth Station. Jesus dies upon the Cross. V. We adore thee, &c. R. Because, &c. Priest. FOR OR three hours has Jesus hung upon His transfixed hands; His blood has run in streams down His body, and bedewed the ground; and, in the midst of excruciating sufferings, he has pardoned His murderers, promised the bliss of paradise to the good thief, and committed His blessed Mother and beloved disciple to each other's care. All is now finished; and meekly bowing down His head, He gives up the ghost. Prayer. O JESUS! we devoutly embrace that honoured cross where Thou didst love us even unto death. In that death we place all our confidence. Henceforth let us live only for Thee; and in dying for Thee, let us die loving Thee, and in Thy sacred arms. Act of Contrition, &c., as before. O come and mourn with me awhile Ah! look how patiently He hangs : How fast His hands and feet are nailed, Seven times He spoke, seven words of love, Death came, and Jesus meekly bowed; Thirteenth Station. Jesus is laid in the arms of His Sacred Mother. V. We adore thee, &c. R. Because, &c. Priest. THE multitude have left the heights of Calvary, and none remain save the beloved disciple and the holy women, who, at the foot of the cross, are striving to stem the grief of Christ's inconsolable Mother. Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus take down the body of her Divine Son from the cross, and deposit it in her arms. O Prayer. THOU, who drankest to the dregs the cup of Thy passion, and when all was finished didst bow Thy head and give up the ghost, and who at the evening hour wast taken down from the cross and laid in Thy Mother's lap, grant unto us rest and sweet repose after we have finished our course and worked the work Thou hast set us to perform. Act of Contrition, &c., as before. A broken heart, a fount of tears, Fourteenth Station. Jesus is laid in the Sepulchre. V. We adore thee, &c. R. Because, &c. Priest. THE body of her dearly beloved Son is taken from His Mother, and laid by the disciples in the tomb. The tomb is closed, and there the lifeless body remains until the hour of its glorious resurrection. Prayer. WE too, O God, will descend into the grave whenever it shall please Thee, as it shall please Thee, and wheresoever it shall please Thee. Let Thy just decrees be fulfilled; but do Thou, in Thy great mercy, receive our immortal souls, and when our bodies have risen again, place them likewise in Thy kingdom, that we may love and bless Thee for ever and ever. Amen. Act of Contrition, &c., as before. O Love of God! O sin of man! In this dread act your strength is tried ; Jesus, our Love, is crucified! The Benediction is then given, after which the following antiphon and prayer are sung. Ant. Christ was made for us obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. ALMIGHTY God, we beseech Thee graciously to behold this Thy family, for which our Lord Jesus Christ was contented to be betrayed, and given up into the hands af wicked men, and to suffer death upon the cross, who now liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen. APPENDIX. Meditations before Communion. Emmanuel, God with us," such was the name by which Christ's Incarnation was described in prophecy. Before Christ's coming men could not realize the presence of an infinite God, and they made to themselves idols or images to be to them perpetual reminders of God and objects through which they could offer worship to God. Christ entered the world, and His faithful surrounded Him, ministering to Him of their substance, worshipping Him, loving Him, hearing Him, and praying to Him. They could see Him with their eyes and handle Him with their hands. But after thirtythree years he went up into Heaven. Is He then no more our Emmanuel? Is He no more amidst us? Are we left as were the people before His coming, without His sensible presence? No. He was to be our Emmanuel unto the end of the world; to be always with, and in His church, |