Theology of the Body Stations of the Cross

by Fr. Vincent Gulikers. [email protected]

THEOLOGY OF THE BODY from Theology of the Body by Christopher West: Chpt. 2 God wants to marry us. The entire biblical revelation unfolds between the marriage of the first Adam and Eve and the marriage of the final Adam and Eve, Christ and the Church. God’s mysterious and eternal plan is to espouse us to himself forever. Christ left his Father in heaven; he left the home of his mother on earth – to give up his body for his bride, so that we might become one flesh with him. We consummate our marriage with Christ ultimately in Heaven, but here on earth we consummate it sacramentally in the Eucharist. The deepest truth of human sexuality is revealed through the Eucharist. The holy communion of man and woman in “one flesh” is a great mystery that is meant to signify the holy communion of Christ and his Church consummated in the Eucharist.

MALE CIRCUMCISION Why? Every time a man descended from Abraham consummated his marriage, he and his wife would be reminded of God’s promise of fruitful love. Circumcision foreshadows Christ’s ultimate sacrifice of flesh and blood. God’s generous love involved the sacrifice of one’s own flesh (right where it hurts). Spousal love indicates a total self-giving, a total self-donation. It is our bodies that make visible the call to self-giving love. Love involves the gift of self. The relationship of spouses is the context in which self- giving love is experienced. The relationship of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is the source and model of all self-giving love.

WE ARE IN A SPIRITUAL BATTLE In the beginning everything was created through the Word. All of creation echoed this Word. God willed that man remain under the control of his own decisions. If we are created for ‘our own sake’ then we are not meant ‘to live’ for ‘our own sake’. In their nakedness Adam and Eve loved each other as God loved because they lived the truth of their sexual giftedness at least initially. Satan is the “anti-Word”. Unfortunately many Christians consider Satan to be a mere symbol. If there is an enemy who wants to keep us from heaven, and if the union of man and woman is the foundational way God reveals his plan, what and where is the enemy going to attack? Satan seeks to counter God’s plan by plagiarizing the Sacraments. It is through the Sacraments that God accomplishes his plan for man. In them we find the meaning of life and true happiness. In the beginning there was only one sacrament – the union of man and woman in marriage. This is where Satan attacks. God revealed himself to the first man and woman as the God of love; the God of the covenant. God’s Word was inscribed in the sacrament of their bodies, and their call was to become one flesh. Satan’s goal is to have man deny God. He shot straight at the covenant relationship trying to convince man that God is not to be trusted, and is not a loving Father. All that Satan can do is take what God has created and twist it. So if we are looking for what is most sacred in our world, all we need do is look for what is most often profaned. The gift of the body and sexuality is under violent and unrelenting attack.

SYMBOLIC AND DEMONIC Symbolism: means to bring together, gather up, and unite. Diabolic: means to scatter, break apart, and rupture. The Devil’s plan is to diabolize us through our body and bring us death. God created the body and the mystery of sexuality with a sacramental language that speaks his own Word. Satan twists this holy ground to scramble the body’s language so that it contradicts the Divine Word. We face the threat of spiritualism today. We are disembodying our call to holiness. The body and spirit together proclaims the Word.

Angels are spiritual persons, but they are not bodies, and hence, are not sexually differentiated. Animals are bodies and are sexually differentiated, but they are not persons who think outside of themselves. Humans are beings with a combination of the two. This means that we can neither be reduced to the material world, not divorced from it.

The original harmony of body and soul, sexuality and spirituality was lived in the original harmony of man and woman. When man accepted the anti-Word his sin shattered these harmonies. A fallen world is a world of estranged spouses; estrangement between divinity and humanity, heaven and earth, soul and body, spirituality and sexuality, sacredness and sensuality, masculinity and femininity. Such alienation leads to a culture of death.

When we lack an integration of spirit and flesh we inevitably lean toward one side of the divide or the other: Angelism or Animalism. Angelism promotes a spiritual life divorced from the body. It denies the body’s personal dignity and tends toward prudishness and Puritanism. It considers anything to do with the body as unspiritual. It sees sexuality as impure. Animalism springs from a materialistic world. It views and promotes a carnal life divorced from the spirit. It tends toward the indecent and shameful. It encourages man and woman to indulge in their fallen sexual impulses without restraint. It is pure permissiveness and condemns temperance as a way to freedom.

INCARNATIONAL INTEGRATION There is no pure angelist, nor a pure animalist. Each suffocates the other. The Incarnation teaches us another way. We are created to be integrated incarnationally. We are in pressing times. Our tendency to separate spirit and flesh, coupled with the modern will to power, leads us to the gas chamber, to the abortion mill, and to a culture of death. Pope John Paul II notes the signs of the times. It seems the ancient clash between the symbolic and diabolic is coming to a head. We may be experiencing the highest level of tension between the Word and the anti-Word in the whole of human history. The deceiver has worked in stages since the first fall till now. He seeks to induce man to an ultimate denial of God. The denial of God is at the heart of all the man-made hells of this twentieth century.

STATIONS OF THE BODY PREFACE

These passion stations have taken several years to develop and be formed as you see them today. Through my priesthood I have constantly reflected on who I am as priest, and on our relationship with Christ in and through our flesh, our sexuality. I have been praying these stations daily since they began to be formed that April of 2008.

These stations started with my reading Christopher West’s commentary on Pope John Paul II’s reflections on the theology of the body. While on retreat my spiritual director led me to reflect on the Stations of the Cross. To the retreat I brought in my heart the brokenness of the people who came to me in confession that year. Oh, how I felt the burden of their hearts as they struggled with their flesh. The few stations I prayed on that week came out in a poor poetic form. It was my desire in my writing to help others come to healing and peace with their broken flesh and addiction issues. Reflecting daily on these stations helps me tremendously as well.

These stations are a love journey, of falling in love with Christ and embracing him in his suffering love for us. It is in and through this embrace that we truly find our healing. The Stations of the Cross have become so much more now. The Lord only reveals in small pieces, or pictures so we can grasp, after our reflection, all he has to offer us.

These stations are a journey of surrendering our broken flesh to Christ’s broken flesh so that we can be filled with his perfect spousal love and resurrect in him with a new heart, a new spirit and a renewed flesh. These stations are truly a bridal relationship that ends with our wedded promises given to our God. In the embrace of this marital love Christ sends us out to bring that love to the world.

I must admit in my early years it was not easy for me to pray the Stations of the Cross. They are now for me a delight and joy to pray. They have allowed me to understand suffering love more deeply. They have given me strength and a deep deep peace in my body, mind and heart. It is when we surrender everything to our beloved, whoever that may be, especially our beloved Lord, that we find the deepest freedom.

These stations make a perfect retreat and mission format. Having made a 30 day retreat I see so many parallels in these stations to the Ignatian retreat format. It parallels the journey of surrender in the Alcohol Anonymous 12 step program. It is also a perfect reflection format for marriage preparation.

I pray you too may find many treasures in reflecting on these stations.

The Divine Mercy Chaplet is perfect to pray along-side each station. Pray a decade after each station. You can choose to take one station each day and pray the entire Chaplet of Divine Mercy over that one station. You may decide to take all week on a singular station by using the adjoining scripture passages that are footnoted in the poetry and following reflection.

STATIONS OF THE BODY

DIVINE MERCY PRAYER OUR FATHER, GLORY BE, AND APOSTLE’S CREED

Introduction. These Stations of the Cross are our journey of healing. We were created in the most wholesome beauty with freedom being man’s first gift from God. Love wrapped our flesh to give love, receive love, and through this flesh communicate with God and each other. It was not without a cost. We were meant to wait in obedience for God’s blessing before sharing in this gift of flesh love. This flesh of ours is truly the garden centered tree of Eden. Even if Adam and Eve did not fall every person thereafter would still have had to endure the test of obedient love.

God always expresses His love. It is part of His nature. Our incarnate love also needs expression. It cannot be hoarded, or kept for one’s self or its expression will be self- serving. It must be lovingly shared with and for others. It must be creative. A husband’s and wife’s love cannot be kept for themselves it must always be open to the gift of life, and be shared with the world, ‘poured out upon the earth’, so must every individual do the same. Jesus shows us the way to spousal love through his passion death and resurrection.

We all crave to fill our bodies with an embrace of love. We unfortunately, too often, seek an empty love and fill our flesh with that which only makes us less whole. The drink, the drugs, the lusting, the material things etc. give us momentary pleasure, but soon after they rob us of any joy or love we have. This is Satan’s lie! His promise is only an illusion to rob us of God’s love.

These stations touch the heart of every person, no matter the vocation we live in. Priests, religious, married, single, the healthy, the broken and the addicted can all find a renewal of their own promised love in these stations. They are our bridal procession to that garden mountain top where we will commit once again our baptismal (marriage) vows with our King and Groom Jesus.

The first five stations reflect on God’s renewed courtship with us in his taking on our humanity. The next five stations reflect on our engagement period preparing us for our wedding day and our marriage to God. The last five stations reflect on our marriage with the Lord, into eternity. The Resurrection is included in the last five stations. It invites us to the ongoing healing and mission given us and the Church.

The below stations (3rd, 7th, and 9th) have several levels of reflection. The three falls remind us first of our primary relationship with the Trinity. Our secondary relationships are those with humanity. Christ’s desert temptations seem to be paralleled in the 3 falls. They grow in intensity just as his falls on the way to Calvary. The three falls also parallel our marriage promises (freedom, faithfulness, and openness to life). The other two groupings with each fall or temptation are the Theological Virtues and Evangelical Counsels.

FIRST FALL SECOND FALL THIRD FALLL Sins against:: Father, Son, Holy Spirit Self love, Brotherly love, Communal love DesertTemptations: flesh hungry, Faithfulness, Worship of God alone Evangelical Counsels: Obedience, Poverty, Chastity Theological Virtues: Hope, Faith, Love Marriage Vows: Freedom, Faithfulness, Openness to life

Come walk with me, your Christ, through these stations. On this bridal path to Calvary I invite you to surrender your heart, your mind, and your flesh to me in a marital embrace. On this bridal path journey to Calvary we die to ourselves so to find ourselves once again made whole.

LIES OVER LIES At garden’s heart my fleshy tree1 Creation’s gift made good in me.2 Accept Love’s good, … receive it free3 A Godly love You mould in me.4

Creation’s fall, leaves us asleep Wanting love with wants to keep.5 Love poured o’er us from heaven’s girth Must be poured out upon the earth.6

Self pouring held, and love kept in Drives flesh to need expression.7 Lies over lies, love unfulfilled Is poor in me till it is given.8

Carry my flesh through bridal’s aisle9 Where rivers flow with spiced blood.10 To mountain’s garden altar Lord,11 Reflesh me in heaven’s river flood.12

There we’ll embrace, me one in Thee,13 A love fulfilled as meant to be. Remould in me humanity’s Garden-centered fleshy tree.14

Scripture Passages: 1.Gen.1:26-30 2.Gen.1:31; Gen. 2:15 3.Deut.6:5; Mt.22:37 4. Job 33:6; Is. 44:2; Gal.5:1 5. Ps 63; Ps 107:9; Ps 119 6.1Jn.4:ff 7.Gen.4:1-7; 2 Sam.11:1-26 8.Jn. 15:13 9.Is.53:4 10.Gen. 2:10-14; Rev.22:ff 11.Mk.1:5 12.Rev.21:6, 22ff; Jn.21:33-34; Song4:15 13.Song 2:6; Song3:4 14.Is.65:17,1

THE FIRST STATION: JESUS IS CONDEMNED

FREEDOM’S HOPE

Innocent and Godly made, was I,1 Yet burdened with Adam’s lustful guilt.2 Manhood’s power wrestles control o’er me, And I fall.3 Now the gates are closed, think I.4

‘Here is the man.’ Flesh shred with shame.5 No dignity untouched by Satan’s lustful whips, Naked and torn, revealed to the world.6

‘Crucify Him, He deserves to die for his sins.’7 A Lamb’s bleating silence screams,8 “He will be redeemed. I will carry him.9

These stripes of mine, on wounded tree Of flesh and blood, will carry thee.10 Surrender your heart and flesh to me. I will set you free.”11

It is nearly impossible to imagine that God would become one with our flesh. He takes on the fullness of our humanity. Look at him whipped and crowned with humiliation. Sadly, look at what our flesh has become; vile with the ugliness of sin. Yet how great is Jesus’ love for mankind that he would freely become so torn in the flesh and then tenderly carry that flesh, as a gift, back to His Father.

Jesus comes as King and Groom seeking his bride, you and I. In our sin we hardly fit the bridal picture. He waits for us to ask him to carry us to the mountain top where spousal union will be accomplished. He has already offered the wedding banquet, the paschal meal. Now he seeks to complete the covenant. Jesus must be adorned as the worthy groom as he is dressed now in his sacrificial gown. No love is complete without sacrifice.

Every bridal couple is questioned with three promises on their wedding day. Freedom is the first promise given. Jesus comes freely in our flesh to this relationship to set us free. We too must choose freely. We must freely admit that our first love has not been God but rather our flesh desires and addictions. We must first freely admit that we have forsaken our first love, God, and replaced Him with our own ego, things, desires and empty emotions. This brokenness needs to be surrendered and sacrificed before we can begin our journey to freedom.

Though your sins condemn you, I your beloved Lord Jesus never condemn you. You condemn yourselves. Now surrender your flesh to me and I will carry thee. I will set you free.

Lord, you invite me to look deep within to see my true self. Help me for I cannot do this alone! I long to live in the freedom of Your Love! You willingly took on our flesh and endured so much to save me. Help me now to surrender everything to You (my …sins and addictions…..) so that I may live in the freedom of Your love. Thank you for your love that unites me to You.

DIVINE MERCY PRAYERS

Scripture Passages: 1.Gen.1:26-31 2.Gen. 3:7, 16-24 3.Mk.14:66-72 4.Gen. 3:23,24 5.Is.52:13-14 6.Jn.19:1-7 7.Jn.18:30; Mk.19:8-12; Mk.15:12-14 8.Is. 53:7 9.Is.46:3,4 10.Is.53:5 11.Is.58:6; Jn.8:32; Rm.5:15-21

REFLECTION QUESTIONS

1. What phrase or line strikes you? Why? 2. What does this say to you of God’s love for you? 3. Where does this challenge you? 4. What things still influence your total surrender to God or your spouse? 5. What sacrifices asked of you holds you back in fear? 6. What do you need to do now to move to the next step of your total surrender?

STATION TWO: JESUS CARRIES THE CROSS

AMONGST THE RUINS

Carry my flesh, O Christ,1 To that Skull-placed holiness With hen-winged tenderness.2 As I was created once to be.

Lust’s heavy weight On Innocence, shouldered be,3 Embraced with wholefull sensuousness4 For love of me, … for love of me.

Longing for love, and love’s touch I search amongst the ruins.5 Earth’s refuge; disgusted and isolated Leaves me never satisfied.6 ‘No one looks at me.’7

Life’s long journey to Calvary be An endless battle of love’s longing. Made only possible when Christ carries me Only, … for Christ carries me.

How frightened we are to admit our own brokenness. We are every leper, every blind and crippled person crying out for mercy.8 We all long in our hearts that the groom, Christ, will notice us, his bride, and pick us up like the frightened child who is lost, and carry us home.9 Much of our brokenness is in our inner child, our childhood history, crippling us from being the mature and loving adults we should be.

Seeking for love in our broken spirit leaves us seeking only the illusion of true love. The lusts never satisfy the heart’s longing. The drink never takes away the pain. The material horde never seems to fill or complete us.

How deeply does that cross embed itself on Jesus’ shoulder! How tenderly does Jesus accept the cross seemingly forced on Him! He accepts it with the freedom of love. He knows that this cross is not just some timber, but a symbol of mankind’s broken body and spirit. You! Me! The cross is truly my flesh, your flesh, and Calvary is the destiny where our longing for love, and Christ’s longing for our love to be renewed, is completed.

“Come my beloved, to that Skull-placed holiness. I will perfect your humanity again so to love in freedom as you were created once to be.”

Lord I commit myself to walk this road to spousal union with You. I understand it is a road of suffering love. I know through all of this journey it is You who carry me. How can I be grateful enough for the love You have for me? Help me to cling to You as You cling to me!

DIVINE MERCY PRAYERS

Scripture Passages: 1. Mk.10:46-52; Mt.7:7-11; Mt.15:21-28; Is.53:12; Is.43:3-4 2.Mt.23:37- 39 3.Lk. 7:36-50 4.Song2:6,8:3 5.Ez.21:24-27; Jn.8:1-1 6.Lev.26:21-26 7.Na.3:3-7 8.Lk17:11-19

REFLECTION QUESTIONS

1. What phrase or line strikes you? Why? 2. What does this say to you of God’s love for you? 3. Where does this challenge you? 4. Where is your deepest brokenness? 5. How far back does this brokenness go into our past? 6 Can you accept that the Lord Jesus wants to carry you like a spouse to Calvary with him to espouse himself to you?

STATION THREE: JESUS FALLS THE FIRST TIME

GARDEN’S PROMISE

Womb-centered tree,1 Garden loved and beauty surrounded,2 Innocence, free, Till Satan’s lustful finger arouses curiosity in me.3

Forbidden fruit till Fatherly Sanctified4 This curiosity becomes a bitter-sweet longing, With serpent-toothed wounds, An inner aching for love never satisfied.5

Remember Eve That garden promise of an offspring Redeemer.6 Your promised fidelity and cock-crowed sadness7 Imparts a shame, and with His glance8 Your night begins.9

O night filled with confusion! Despair not o’er pointed accusation. Cross denials deny flesh’s goodness,10 And Echoes refrain,

‘Get behind me. … Follow me. Rise we go to Jerusalem!’11

Every act and every word of Christ has cosmic implications. This first fall of Christ draws us to reflect on the first fall of mankind in the Garden. This first fall is a fall against obedience to God the Father, our Creator. It is a fall against Eros love, a fall against one’s flesh and a fall against FREEDOM. Every couple preparing for marriage, and on their wedding days is asked, ‘Do you come to this marriage freely with no hesitation or expectations?’

Having freely accepted the cross of our flesh Jesus seeks out all of mankind. He begins with His first created love, Adam and Eve. In Adam and Eve’s fall all hope seems to be lost. The Divine virtue of hope keeps us directed and focused on our final goal, God. Hope is the foundation that Faith and Love is built upon. When we take our eyes off of God our inner appetites seek to take control.

The cross is more truly our flesh than just some piece of timber that Jesus carries. The tree in the center of the garden is also a symbol of something much greater. It is truly the heart of all God’s creation. It is our body, and it is from this tree that the fruit is taken. The very heart of our being is our sexuality. Our sexuality is who we are and from it we relate to each other as male and female. How beautiful God has created our flesh. It is meant to be offered as a sacrificial gift of love to each other and to God.

Satan tempts us to see our flesh as a means in itself, to be used only for itself. Christ’s first temptation in the desert was to satisfy his flesh’s hunger by turning stones into bread. In seeking out only a flesh love we are never satisfied. It etches on our flesh and in our minds memories and urges that continue to seek satisfaction. This is the burden of every addiction. We must acknowledge our brokenness and surrender it to Jesus. Left alone in our brokenness we despair and feel the accusation of God on us where we feel all hope is lost.

Yet God does not accuse us. He only longs to forgive. We accuse ourselves, and Satan echoes that refrain in us until we believe the lie that we are alone, accursed and unworthy of God’s love.

Christ’s gaze on us is one of profound love. When we lie in sin that gaze can seem such a heavy weight that it makes us want to run away like Peter and Judas. Oh, how dark that night can be. Jesus your first fall shows us how heavy this burden is for you and us.

Today and every day I invite you to put Satan and his temptations behind you. ‘Learn from me to deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me. Take courage and remember the promise given from Creation’s beginning in Eden. I am your offspring redeemer. Now let us rise, we go to Jerusalem.’

Eternal Father, Your creative love fashioned me in Your likeness to eventually share Divine Union with You. I have fashioned myself to be far from Your likeness in my sins. You have recreated and refashioned me in baptismal love. Help me to keep this baptismal garment always beautiful for the day I share eternity with You.

DIVINE MERCY PRAYERS -BEFORE EACH DECADE: ‘Eternal Father, I offer you the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of your dearly beloved Son our Lord Jesus Christ in atonement for our sins and those of the whole world.’ -THE DECADE: ‘For the sake of His sorrowful passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world.

Scripture Passages: 1.Gen.2:15 2.Gen.2:18-25 3.Gen.3:1-7 4.Gen.3:11 5.Gen.3:22-24 6.Gen.3:15 7.Mt.26;20-22 8.Mt.26:31-35,69-75; 9.Jn.13:30 10.Mt.16:24-26 11.Mt.16;23; Mt.20;17-19

REFLECTION QUESTIONS

1. What phrase or line strikes you? Why? 2. What does this say to you of God’s love for you? 3. Where does this challenge you? 4. Do you come to Christ in your vocation in true freedom? 5. Have you truly surrendered your flesh, your being to Christ? 6. What part do you hold back?

STATION FOUR: JESUS MEETS HIS MOTHER MARY

LILY AMONG THE THORNS

Ivory-bodied, sapphired and rubied1 With cross-carried bruises,2 The King meets his bride.

Divinely abandoned! My broken flesh seeks a lover’s gaze.3 Forbidden to touch, till Fatherly blessed,4 Two lovers caress from windowed lattices.5

Drinking deeply from those welled pools So thirsting for love are they. Amongst hyenaed growls, what words, ask we Are shared on Calvary’s lime-stoned weave.6

Mary “My Beloved, I look for you.7 I see my King wearing his crown Mother placed, as for a wedding day.8 Your love delights me, my Beloved, I am yours.”9

Christ “Come to me,” … Christly said, “For you are my lily amongst the thorns.10 My Passion, is powerful, for you, know, As strong as death.11 Come to me to the garden, mountain top Where the spices grow.”12

The Song of Songs, as John of the Cross notes, is an intimate portrayal of Christ’s love for us, his bride, completed on Calvary. The King seeks out his bride so to wed her and share in a Divine and Eternal love with her on that mountain garden top.

See how the groom is dressed in such finery. His bruises are sapphires. His drops of blood are rubies. He is crowned as a true King. But for one who does not know love Christ’s finery is hard to gaze upon and see as beautiful. We can hardly look upon ourselves in our sin and not blush with shame.

Mary is that bride so pure. She represents us. In the Song of Songs, the King seeks out his bride, hungry just to gaze on her so to ease his deep longing for His love’s gaze in return. On their meeting we hear of no words spoken, but what volumes can be written in those longing gazes from these pure lovers.

After gathering Adam and Eve and all of their children Christ now seeks out the New Eve and Perfect Bride. He comes to renew for all of mankind a love and marriage promise as was meant to be fulfilled in that first garden.

It is here that Christ, the new Adam, proposes to the new Eve. “Come to me, my Lily, come to that garden mountain top where the spices grow.” The garden is Calvary where the Church is formed. The spices are the joys and blessings of Married Love, and the sacraments of Christ’s love in and through the Church.

Mary speaks for us all with the deepest love. “Your love delights me, my Beloved, I am yours.” She is not repulsed by the tortured body of her King. She sees only her beloved Son’s love poured out for her, for us.

Reflect on this, my intimate meeting with creation’s perfect bride. Renew your own promise of love to walk with me, your Beloved, to Calvary. Be mindful of your weak and broken flesh. I see your wounds as sapphires and rubies too, if you would surrender them with love to Me.

Blessed Mother Mary, You are the Perfect Bride, the New Eve. Your Yes begins our redemption, first in the Incarnation and now it leads us to Divine Spousal love. Thank you for your Yes. We consecrate ourselves to your Immaculate Heart. Lead us to the Sacred Heart of your Son. Help us to offer anew our lives to Christ in a Yes as pure as your love that will never be denied.

DIVINE MERCY PRAYERS

Scripture Passages: 1.SS.5:14 2.Is.53;4-5 3.SS.2:14 4.Gen.2;15; 3:1-4; Rm.8;1-11; 1Thes.4;1- 8 5.SS.2;9 6.Mt.27:38-44 7.SS.3:1-3 8.SS.3:11 9.SS.6:3 10.SS.2:2 11.SS.8:6 12.SS.6:2-3

REFLECTION QUESTIONS

1. What phrase or line strikes you? Why? 2. What does this say to you of God’s love for you? 3. Where does this challenge you? 4. Can we see ourselves as Mary, so beloved by God? 5. Can we see our wounds as rubies and sapphires; gifts to be returned to Christ in love? 6. Are you ready to accept Christ’s proposal of wedded love, and willing to walk with Him to Calvary?

STATION FIVE: JESUS AND SIMON

A STRANGER FORCED

Alone, pushed, and jeered on Bridal’s Path Carrying humanity’s heavy weight You avert your eyes, lest Compelled my flesh to sate.1

To rooted vine I am fleshly bound.2 My best man is a stranger forced3 To carry you my bride to mountain’s ground. I am weak for love of you4 Crushed by flesh’s longing for consummation.5

Let us carry each other, arm in arm, Embraced as lovers; as the crutch to the cripple.6 One step at a time; we climb to mountain’s top. Each step a new epistle.7

Let my voice echo yours Lord,8 My heart to beat as thine.9 ‘Abide in me’, says the Lord.10 And you Lord abide in mine.11

Encourage each other when down. Rejoice in victories gained.12 Life must be shared arm in arm Till finished in crowns attained.13

As Simon is forced to carry the cross, he gazes upon Jesus so ripped and torn from man’s cruelty. He is disgusted with what he sees. Do we see what we have done to ourselves and Christ through our flesh addictions? Now Simon must take up his own flesh and carry it. This repulses him even more. Are we not disgusted and repulsed by what we do to ourselves and others in our flesh, in our sexual lusting and other addictions? Simon must learn to embrace with love his flesh as Christ willingly and lovingly embraces and carries our flesh. We must freely choose to embrace and carry our cross, our flesh, so to become truly free.

“Abide in me, as I abide in you. Apart from me you can do nothing.” Christ has renewed our flesh and longs for us to live in Him as He lives in us. Christ … lives … in … us. He tells us that our flesh is good … all of it. Then why do we run away from it and hate it so! Hating our own flesh also leads us to hate other’s flesh and use it for selfish purposes.

Jesus reminds us to take strength from him. Grafted to Christ the Vine is where we find our strength. We cannot carry our own flesh alone. The journey to victory over sin can only be accomplished in Jesus. Our cross journey must be shared with others openly so to keep us from living in the dark. Only when we live in the light can we find true freedom. We must walk and live in the redemptive love of Christ. It is through this Cross, our flesh, that we are redeemed.

Jesus carries us to the mountain top where he completes the covenant marriage promises with us before the Father. All couples who have proposed love to each other intend a promise of faithfulness to each other, to abide in each other’s love. Together, with Christ, we begin a journey of faithful love, arm in arm, heart to heart, carrying each other to the garden mountain-top. Life’s journey cannot be accomplished without the gift of beloved friends who will not abandon us when times are difficult. Even the Christ needed love’s assistance.

So ends the courtship! The time of our Engagement now begins, a time to look deeply at our relationships. Here you prepare for your marriage to God and to each other. A sorrow shared is only half the sorrow, and a joy shared becomes a joy doubled. I invite you to walk with me and let me walk with you through your life. I will ease your sorrow an d fill you with heavenly joy. If you abide in my heart, know that I will rejoice in abiding in your heart. Together we will be victors and gain Calvary’s crown.

Lord, you ask me to befriend and walk with those on the journey like me. I know I cannot do it alone. Help me to cling to You the Vine so to remind myself and to help others to know we need Your grace. Spousal love invites me to walk together, not alone. With You I can conquer all things.

DIVINE MERCY PRAYERS EFORE EACH DECADE: ‘Eternal Father, I offer you the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of your dearly beloved Son our Lord Jesus Christ in atonement for our sins and those of the whole world.’ -THE DECADE: ‘For the sake of his sorrowful passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world.’ -HOLY GOD, MIGHTY GOD, IMMORTAL GOD, have mercy on us and on the whole world. (three times) O Blood and water that gushed forth from the heart of Jesus I trust in you.

Scripture Passages: 1.Lk.6:27-36; 10:25-37; Ps.118:6-9 2.Jn.6:44-51; Jn.15:1-17 3.Lk.23:26 4.Lk.22:14-16 5.Jn.15:13; Rm.8:35 6.Jn.10:15-18, 27-30 7.1Cor.9:24-27 8.Rm.10:8-11 9.Jn.20:20-26 10.Ps.15 11.Lk.19:1-10; Jn.15:4 12.1Cor.15:50-58 13.Ps.21:1-6; Phil.1:19- 26;1Pt.5:3-11

REFLECTION QUESTIONS 1. What phrase or line strikes you? Why? 2. What does this say to you of God’s love for you? 3. Where does this challenge you? 4. Name the times when your burdens were too heavy to go on, and when manageable? 5. Were they times when you did it alone or when you were assisted? 6. What kept you going on?

STATION SIX: VERONICA AND JESUS

A BREAK IN THE STORM

I have lost Your face, oh Lord1 Gazing at the world that be. All I see is sin Gazing back at me.2

I have sought You all my life.3 Lord, show me Your face.4 Till sea’s furthest end I’ve longed for Your grace.5

A break in the Storm,6 Refreshment’s drop of dew,7 Healing balm for worldly wounds Is for me a gaze from You.8

Seal me on your heart.9 Imprint Your face on mine.10 Mould me in Your likeness11 That we may never part.12

What keeps you committed to your cause? It is the goal that you keep always before you in your sight, on your mind and in your heart! This is the great gift given to Veronica.

With Veronica we are invited to always keep the face of Christ before us. What great love this takes! With Eternal love God has fashioned you in his image and keeps the image of you always before Him. Your image and your face are imprinted on his heart. This is what keeps Jesus totally committed to you as he carries you to Calvary.

Jesus always kept the face of His Father before him. The face of God, His promises and faithful love is imprinted on your heart. This image was sealed upon you in your first creation. It must never be replaced by anything or anyone else.

Our broken lives long to be satisfied and completed. Too often we forget the promise of our love, and the face of our beloved, and replace it with images of empty gratification. Jesus shows us that without the face of our beloved before us we cannot accomplish what seems to be impossible. How we all long to see the face of God! Abraham, Moses, David and each of us cry out to God, ‘I long to see your face.’

Jesus has committed himself totally to us. He has taken on the beauty of our flesh and now reminds us of our promises of love, and encourages us in our failed promises. How difficult it is to look upon the face of perfect love when we have failed in our love!

Does not a newly engaged couple have the face of each other sealed on their minds and on their hearts? It is this image they carry to their hidden rooms like treasures to be kept safe and untarnished. Do they not carry them in joy, and remind themselves always of the sweet words of promise they have made to each other?

Come, my Beloved. Thank you for your loving kindnesses, my sweet Samaritans. You have seen the face of God in the broken little ones and tend to their wounds. Be the face of love for each other as I am for you. Let us ascend the mount together with Love’s face imprinted on our hearts.

Lord, I commit myself to keep the beauty of your face, and the face of those I am committed to, always before me. Help me with your grace, when tempted to look away from you, to return again. I know you wait for my return with a gaze that only heals our broken lonely hearts.

DIVINE MERCY PRAYERS

Scripture Passages: 1.Gen 4:13-14; Ex.33:17-23; Mt.7:21-23 2.Ps.51 3.Ps 63; Ps 13 4.Ex.33:12-16 5.Ps.139 6.Mat.8:23-27; Jonah1:11-2:1-10; Ex.15:1-18 7.Lk.2:25-32 8.Num.6:22-27 9.SongS8:6 10.SongS1:2-4 11.Gen:2:7; Is.43:1-7 12.Ps.119:89-96; Jn.6:35- 40

REFLECTION QUESTIONS

1. What phrase or line strikes you? Why? 2. What does this say to you of God’s love for you? 3. Where does this challenge you? 4. Do we truly long to see our Beloved’s face? 5. Do we dare to see Christ’s face in those we find difficult loving, in our own face? 6. Recall a time when someone’s face was refreshment’s drop of dew?

STATION SEVEN: JESUS FALLS THE SECOND TIME

OCEAN’S MIRTH

Pinned by sin’s heavy weight1 I stand before God and man accused.2 On cliff’s edge of judgement I wait Stone ready and mercy refused.3

Unrepentance saddens a God-man’s face.4 Falling on LOVE softens my fall from grace.5 Your steadfast love, it holds me true.6 Restore me to my righteous place anew.7

I am a prisoner of my own undoing Drawn in by life’s undertow and surf.8 A pebble I am, tossed on Sea’s girth Gently washed in Heaven’s Ocean Mirth.9

Turn to me I will calm your storms.10 Know thyself and your weakness too.11 I will rebuild you in Cross form, As I have become for you.12

Each step becomes heavier as the Christ moves forward. Our flesh is no easy burden to carry. Yet love spurs Jesus on!

Mindful of our first fall in the flesh we look at how it now leads others to fall with us. This second fall of Christ reminds us of our sins against our neighbour in our filial love and in marriage covenant’s second promise; faithfulness. Our commitment to renew our faith and faithfulness is the heart of this second fall. We must embrace the poverty of our own flesh. It is sin that truly makes us poor. True poverty in spirit relies on God’s bounty to provide for us. How quickly we loose sight of our beloved when temptation comes our way.

Christ’s temptation in the desert was also a temptation against trusting in God and to be unfaithful. Our promised love calls us to faithfulness; to the end. Yet we are unfaithful to each other and our beloved in our thoughts, in our words, and in our deeds.

We always influence others to fall when we sin. No one likes to stand alone in their sin, yet the true burden of sin leaves us in utter isolation. Love always invites us to be with each other. Our flesh and our hearts must be embraced and wrapped in love to withstand our fall in sin. True filial love commits us to faithfulness.

My faithfulness, My Beloved child, holds you true. This is why you need to cling to Me as I cling to you. My love for you, and My embracing your flesh, breaks the fall of your flesh so that your sin’s heavy weight will not crush your spirit. I ask you to believe in Me, and trust in My love for you. I call you to be faithful in your flesh. I invite you to help break the fall of others when they sin. If you know My love for you, even in your sin, you can be that support and encouragement for your brothers and sisters too.

You desire my faithfulness Lord. In my sins I hurt You, my brothers and sisters, and myself. I commit myself anew to see your face in every person around me so to be mindful of Your Divine Presence surrounding me. When I am hurt by others help me to be like You. Help me to not crush others by my sin but rather help me to soften the blow when others fall.

Scripture References: 1.Ps51:3, Ps32:3,4 2.Ps32:5 3.Jn.8:1-20 4.Lk.19:41-44 5.Rm.5:1-11 6.Lk.9:51 Lk.1:46-55 7.Ps 23:3, Ps51:11-13, Jer.30:17-19, Joel 2:18-27, Mt.17:9-13 8.Ps.22, 56, Rm.1:18-32 9.Ps.18:13-17 10:Ps107:29,30; Lk8:22-25, Mk 4:37-41 11.Ps.139:1-6; Mt. 7:15-20 12.Mt.7:27; Mt.16:18; Mt.16:24-28

REFLECTION QUESTIONS

1. What phrase or line strikes you? Why? 2. What does this say to you of God’s love for you? 3. Where does this challenge you? 4. Recall and name a time when you led another to fall in sin? 5. Recall a time when you helped or softened the blow when another had sinned? 6. What helps you to calm the storms in your life?

STATION EIGHT: JESUS MEETS THE WEEPING WOMEN

PRISMS OF MERCY

Weep not for yourselves But for your abusers.1 Your wounds can save you If you would weep for your offenders!2

The world says ‘Crucify them.’ …3 Leave that justice to me.4 I plead your tears to save who …?5 As my tears of mercy save you.6

In the world’s eyes I am accused With man’s most grievous crimes.7 My flesh is stained with man’s accusation,8 Yet I could accuse you of equal sin of mind.9 My wearied tears will they turn your hearts?10 Will you too be a prism of God’s love kind?11

No pain is ever healed Till it is forgiven.12 Let our tears join together So to heal all God’s children.13

Jesus encounters the bridal party, the weeping women. Every wedding has weeping women. Weeping for him, the perfect one, Jesus reminds these women that their tears must be directed differently. We always weep for the victims! In truth, if a victim’s suffering is offered to God it already saves them. Weep for the victim if they are not able to forgive, but the abusers are the ones who really need our tears. How many times do we weep for the abuser? … Too often, … if not always, … they are condemned by us. In condemning them we condemn ourselves.

Our bodily sickness and brokenness is often a result of unresolved issues in our minds, and hearts, and broken pasts. Our brokenness is a result of our own sin and often from someone else’s sin placed on us. Forgiveness is key to our inner freedom and healing. It is the key to other’s freedom as well. We must accept the forgiveness given us, forgive ourselves, and then we must forgive others.

To say ‘I forgive you’ is a profound statement. Our response to others too often is ’that’s ok’, when we really need to say ‘I forgive you.’ I forgive you says ‘yes you are responsible for what you did but I set you free so that I too can be free.’ This requires a divine strength. With Jesus holding us, carrying us, and strengthening us, we can conquer even this difficult task. It is now time to give this burden to Christ. This will take time. Surrender it again, and again, and again until the pain is bearable.

‘Our wounds will always leave scars but if you forgive I will turn them into stars.’ The women on the Calvary road were weeping for Me. The women weeping are part of all whom I came to save. I was weeping for them. I was weeping for all sinners. You cannot do it alone! With Christ you can be instruments to pour out God’s love upon all who suffer and cause suffering. Like prisms you can reflect God’s love into a rainbow of beauty so that all will want to find the treasure hidden at rainbow’s end; My mercy and peace!

Forgiveness is impossible without you Lord. Sometimes the pain is too great to make even the first step to forgive. I commit myself to surrender every day all that needs to be forgiven so that I can begin to feel also Your Mercy.

DIVINE MERCY PRAYERS

Scripture References: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14.

REFLECTION QUESTIONS

1. What phrase or line strikes you? Why? 2. What does this say to you of God’s love for you? 3. Where does this challenge you? 4. Are there still people in your life whom you need to forgive? 5. Are you able to see the relationship between your own sickness and the pain of your unforgiven relationships? 6. Have you ever shed tears of love and mercy for the person who has wounded you?

STATION NINE: JESUS FALLS THE THIRD TIME

HELP ME TO BE

I am created by Love; To receive love, To be nourished by love, To be love, and see through love, To gaze on love, And to give love in return to You.

God of Love recreate me Into what You want me to be: A Temple strong as first Garden’s Tree, An intellect free to serve You true, An Altar pure that burns in love for You.

Be my source and strength In all I do, That I can lay down my life For love of You.

No breath is worth its take! No effort has meaning, I see, Unless given for Your sake Your love, help me to be.

Love is at the heart of this fall: Agape love, worship of our God particularly of the Holy Spirit who is Love, chaste love, and our openness to what love offers – life itself.

Mankind’s failure to love God and all that love encompasses becomes a weight that seems to crush the Christ. Even God the Father seems to stand aside to let His Son carry the full weight of Adam’s sin in his perfect humanity to perfect humanity. We have forgotten what love is and what love calls us to. We were created in love to love others and love God with all our bodies, minds and souls.

In His third temptation Christ was offered the world if He would worship Satan. We have often worshipped things instead of worshipping the God who created us. He deserves all our bodies, minds, and souls, and only our praise! Have we not tried to make ourselves into gods, not using our bodies as temples but brothels? Have we not kept ourselves from being open to the creative gift of our bodies, saying, ‘It is my body, and I can do with it what I want’? We may have even chosen to discard the gift of love (life) from our bodies in the gift of our children. Our bodies belong to God and He deserves our bodies and spirits to be temples of purity and goodness.

In our worldly marriages we need to offer ourselves to our spouses always and every day as chaste. Even in marriage we can lust after each other. Naturally our bodies long for relationship and commitment. God also longs to touch us with his love. Have we kept our distance from him out of fear of him, shame, or from the fear of what this relationship might ask of us? We belong to God specifically from our Baptism where our souls have been given to God in a marital commitment of faith. We were washed in those cleansing waters and recreated to be the pure lovers He deserves. God desires for us to not only know and experience an agape love, but mystical love united through Christ in a cross held love.

Tomorrow you get ready for the gowning for your marriage. I want only the purest of brides. You are spouses of the Holy Spirit. It is never too late to surrender your hearts, your minds, and your flesh to Me your Beloved. Surrender and renew your love to Me, day in and day out; as often as you can. You do this not so much for Me your Beloved, but for yourselves so to hold yourselves in commitment. Every earthly spouse loves to hear and see the pure love of their beloved. I love to hear and see your pure spousal love too. Come to Me, my beloved, come. Even if your sins are red as scarlet, I will make you white as snow.

O, Holy Spirit, I commit my whole being to You who are Pure Love. Reflesh me as the true temple I was meant to be. Fashion my heart as an altar where Your Flame of Love burns as an everlasting offering. May my intellect be as the priest that tends my temple and altar. May I be open to every prompting of Your love to surrender to and serve You always.

REFLECTION QUESTIONS 1. What phrase or line strikes you? Why? 2. What does this say to you of God’s love for you? 3. Where does this challenge you? 4. What do you consider a sin against the Holy Spirit? 5. Can you name the different levels of love against which you have sinned? 6. Do you truly see your body as a Temple, your heart as an altar where love is offered, and your intellect as the priest that must govern the gift of your temple? 7. How can couples in marriage live in the purity of love?

STATION TEN: JESUS IS STRIPPED

GATEWAYS Gateways we are, you and I 1 Doorways to the Divine. Body formed and beautiful, Key-opened that is mine. 2

I see my beloved 3 Ivory-bodied, sapphired, and rubbied. 4 My lover is radiant and ruddied 5 Waiting for my love.

Under the apple tree I awakened you 6 Lay with me in naked truth. 7 You have ravished my heart with one glance, 8 Let me ravish your heart with mercy. 9

Be one with me On Cross’s altar mystery To share Love’s Promised Completion. 10

1Song 4:12, 2 Song 4:16-5:1, 3Song 2:8, 4 Song 5:4, 5 Song5:10, 6 Song 8:5, 7 Song 6:5, 8 Song 4:9, 9 Jn 4:1-42 (40), 10 Gen 3:15, Jn 19:30 , Jesus speaks often of the Wedding Banquet, and our need to be prepared in our wedding garments. Tomorrow is our wedding day. We all should long to present ourselves as a pure and spotless gift for our beloved.

Our bodies are gifts of love; spirits wrapped in the flesh of love, so to give love and receive love. In the garden, before the fall, no shame was felt in nakedness, and our hearts were always open doors to the Lord and each other. Today we flaunt our flesh and live our lives in secrecy, afraid that someone might see the deep sadness of our lives?

We have forgotten how to protect what is important, and have left open to the wolves that which should be kept safe. The world wants to ravage our bodies and leave us feeling abused and unworthy of love. Real body beauty begins from within the heart. It is said our eyes are open windows to our soul.

We have become so fixated today on our outer bodies that we try to make them look perfect. Thin is in we are told. How many thin, large, and in between people have broken hearts and souls and bodies? We take such little time to care for our souls! If we make our souls beautiful we will do what we need to make our bodies beautiful outwardly too. Our bodies need to be clothed in a spiritual humility, simplicity and purity, protected for our Beloved alone. I, your Christ, your Groom, your King, felt no shame in my nakedness yet I was covered to protect your minds from making sin of My body. Your bodies are holy gifts to be shared only in a promised love, kept safe and beautiful for your beloved alone. Reveal your deepest nakedness in confessing your sins to Me in the Church’s Sacrament of Mercy. Only then will I make you feel beautiful again and dress you for your Great Wedding Promises. I know your inner beauty for I have created you beautiful. Now go and dress yourself spiritually for the great promises of spousal love.

Lord, dress me anew each day so to be able to present myself as your perfect and chaste bride. Help me to appreciate the graces of the Sacrament of Confession that dress me with humility and a renewed purity of heart. I long to always be your spotless bride ready for Your Mystical Union of Love.

DIVINE MERCY PRAYERS

-BEFORE EACH DECADE: ‘Eternal Father, I offer you the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of your dearly beloved Son our Lord Jesus Christ in atonement for our sins and those of the whole world.’ -THE DECADE: ‘For the sake of His sorrowful passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world.’ -HOLY GOD, MIGHTY GOD, IMMORTAL GOD, have mercy on us and on the whole world. (three times) -O Blood and water that gushed forth from the heart of Jesus I trust in you.

REFLECTION QUESTIONS

1. What phrase or line strikes you? Why? 2. What does this say to you of God’s love for you? 3. Where does this challenge you? 4. How is it that our bodies are gateways, or doorways to others? 5. Are you aware of how others see you? To what are they being welcomed? 6. How has Christ shown us the way to present our bodies as a welcoming gateway?

STATION ELEVEN: JESUS IS NAILED TO THE CROSS

TOTAL SURRENDER

Here we surrender our lives to each other, Flesh to flesh, and bone to bone. On this cross, our marriage bed We make our marriage vows. Offer yourself to me forever and now.

There is little love without sacrifice. There is no merit in sacrifice without love. Surrender everything to me. You have been mine from that day baptismal. Now I long for you to say to Me I am yours forever. I surrender all.

An altared love is not complete Till its final consummation be. My pure love has redeemed you. You have always been beautiful to me Nailed by love as we were meant to be.

This is the day that many young couples dream of; their Wedding Day. Our world plans for this day with so much emptiness. Do you truly understand what is happening here on Calvary?

From our earliest years we were promised to God in our Baptism. That is our true Wedding Day. That day has come and gone, yet every day is a day to renew our wedding promises. Only in our total surrender can we find the freedoms we need.

So many times we have fallen. In our sinful egos we look for love, falling with and against each other in our hunger for love. In sin we separate our selves also from our Loving God who Alone deserves all our love. We must surrender everything to God. God longs to heal the depths of our being so we can enter into a heavenly mystical love with Him.

As Jesus is nailed to the cross He embraces that cross saying to us, ‘I take you as my bride, my cross, for the rest of my life’. We too must respond to our beloved with the same total surrender. It is in this embrace of each other that we find our total freedom and joy.

Surrender your will to Me in freedom so to know true freedom. Surrender your mind to Me so you can know faithfulness. Surrender your heart to Me so you can experience true love and life. Surrender your dreams to Me. I will give you a spiritual poverty that brings a heavenly wealth. Surrender your bodies to the Cross’ embrace. I will give you a new purity. Surrendering your suffering to the Cross you will learn to grow in obedience.

Though you may struggle in your faith, and lose hope, know that if you offer all in Love it will last forever. When nailed to the Cross you are nailed to love, by love and for love. Love will never end. What is it that has kept Me going and surrendering everything here on the cross? It is My love for you, and My love for the Father. There is no love without sacrifice, and there is no perfect sacrifice without love. Sacrifices offered with love bring a joy that only My Father can give. Apart from Me you can do nothing. With Me all things are accomplished.

I renew today my Baptismal Promises of Faith. I surrender again my heart to You in Spousal Freedom, Faithfulness, and I give You my heart open to fruitful love. Help me to nail my heart to Yours Lord, for I know that only then will I be truly free and love with a Divine Love.

DIVINE MERCY PRAYERS

REFLECTION QUESTIONS

1. What phrase or line strikes you? Why? 2. What does this say to you of God’s love for you? 3. Where does this challenge you? 4. How is this station connected to our baptismal promises? 5. Are you ready to surrender everything to God? 6. What are you holding back? 7. What do you find easiest to surrender, and what is most difficult?

STATION TWELVE: JESUS DIES ON THE CROSS

RIVERS SACRAMENTAL

My marriage bed is “garden spiced” Of earth and heav’n, Flesh and bone; A Covenant’s embrace.

O Christ You wed yourself to me On Calvary’s bed Vowing love sacrificially. Asking my covenantal promise in stead.

Below my cross of pierced feet I crush purity’s sorrowing beat And samewise caress those creature’d souls Whose hearts I long to meet.

A Woman shriven, and son begiven And few of life’s journey’s aides: Love’s companions stand beneath my feet Awaiting covenant love to be complete.

Few words, to Father from Son, are spoken: ‘Forsaken’, ‘I thirst,’ It’s done,’ ‘Forgiven.’ For humanity’s flesh and all creation Must be freely received when freely given.

I am worldly cocooned Yet heavenly embraced on this crossed helm. My life’s companions hold me in love Awaiting my birth to be Butterflied into Heaven’s realm.

On Garden’s Hill That Legion’s lead, for pagans all, Moves to faith in Christ Baptismal. Love’s lance ruptures Heaven’s womb Giving birth, orgasmic, to Rivers Sacramental.

Jesus’ dying on the Cross is truly the final consummation. In Marriage does not a couple lose themselves to each other in consummation’s embrace? Do they not say to each other those Eucharistic words of preparation, ‘I am not worthy to receive you, but only say the word and I will be healed’, or as we now pray ‘I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof’. Does not this love embrace always imply forgiveness and healing? In Love’s embrace on the cross we are no longer left in isolation, we now belong to Christ as spouse. If our love for God and each other is a total surrender of love then it must be in a willingness to love sacrificially. True love is sacrificial. Marriage is not meant to be a ‘pleasure ever after’, or must never be held together by a ‘fairy tale kind of love’ sustained only by pleasant emotions. This kind of love never endures.

The event of Jesus’ dying on the cross implies many things. Love forgives. The Paschal sacrifice is ‘finished’ on the cross, as Jesus notes after drinking the last cup of the Passover Meal called the cup of Consummation. Now in our Eucharistic Communions we share a truly Mystical Wedded Communion with our Lord. We are also given to Mary, the Mother, as sons and daughters. Mary is the Icon of the Church to whom we are given as her children. The Church is conceived with Jesus’ heart being pierced, as blood and water pour out, to be born in its fullness at Pentecost. How much more can be said here!

My dearly Beloved, how I long that you know love’s embrace as it was meant to be. Ease My sorrow and pain by giving me your total surrender. Everything, absolutely everything you have has been given to you by Me … except sin! I want not only your good deeds and good heart I want your misery and sin. Sin is the only truly human thing we can offer to God. Place your broken flesh, your mind, your heart and your soul into the open wound of My heart. Rest there! Only there can you know peace and healing. When you find yourself tempted, and when you have sinned against love rush to My open wounded heart. I wait for you! It is mankind’s only refuge! In My heart you will find all temptation and sin washing off of you. There is no place for sin in My heart, only love, … love, and only perfect love. It is impossible to sin in My love’s embrace. Come, My beloved. Come, and learn to know what is true Covenant, Consummate, and Mystical love. It is found in the suffering and dying of yourself to Me in embracing the Cross. To embrace the cross is to embrace Me, your Lord, and embrace your very self, your now redeeming flesh.

I consecrate my heart to Your Most Sacred Heart Lord on this mystical marriage bed the cross. Help me always to rest on Your heart to bring You joy, to run to Your heart when tempted, and to live in Your heart with my every heart beat.

REFLECTION QUESTIONS 1. What phrase or line strikes you? Why? 2. What does this say to you of God’s love for you? 3. Where does this challenge you? 4. How is our dying to ourselves truly Eucharistic? 5. How is true love sacrificial? 6. Can you see the connection between Christ’s death on the Cross and the gift of marital, consummate love? 7. How does love makes suffering easier, and sometimes even pleasurable?

STATION THIRTEEN: JESUS IS TAKEN DOWN FROM THE CROSS

BELOW FREEDOM’S GIBBET

Passion ended … begun. Pried from earth’s embrace, off bitter tree. A battle Cosmic of earth and Son, Won final, “finished”, flesh free.

Now heavenly placed in feminine’s cradle Arms ready to receive heaven’s bread, Redeemed and washed With Love’s blood, red.

Caresses kiss those bitter wounds Gaping with spousal purity. Your motherly kisses can no longer heal Your Son’s wounded flesh.

Kiss mine, O Mother, Now earth’s only pure lover, And heal this broken flesh Longing for love.

Parting is only for a time my love. Three days, an eternity seems, Awaiting flesh’s resurrection, Below Freedom’s Gibbet.

Now that we are one in marriage we are placed in Mary’s arms. Everyone turns to their mother in the burden of their suffering. So great is Mary’s pure heart of love. She embraces us all so to bring us to Jesus. Mary is the Icon of the Church. It is the Church who kisses us with her Sacraments of love. Wedded to God we now belong to the great family, the Church.

Our Marriage is for the Church not for itself alone. This means our lives are no longer our own. We belong to Christ to serve Him in each other so to give honor to the Father. We need to seek Mary our Mother’s help always to stay close to her Son. She is the perfect pure bride who teaches us to be perfect spouses. She always points us to her Son.

Mary anguishes over what we have done to her Son’s flesh. Mary also anguishes over what we have done to our bodies and souls. Her kisses are real and are a healing balm for our still tender wounded hearts. Mary’s kisses are more deeply a symbol of the kisses of the Church in Her Sacraments of Love.

May we always appreciate the love of the Church in her Sacraments: - in our new birth, - in the Eucharistic nourishment we are offered by Her, - in Her mercy given, - in the strengths of Her Spirit, - in Her beautiful Order, - in Her creative love of marriage, - in the peace She brings as we need her healing, - and as we approach Heaven’s blissful and eternal love.

Come to My Beloved and Pure Spouse Mary and My Beloved bride the Church. So much love is offered to you in Her. At every turn of your life My Bride the Church waits for you to let Her transform these moments into a Supernatural grace. She only longs for you to love Me your God, and for Me to love you, and prepare you for Heaven your Eternal Home. Mary and My Church are the love that carries you to me. I long and wait for you, My Beloved, as you wait for Me.

We commit ourselves to seek an ever deeper love with you Christ my Lord, and know Your healing love through the Sacraments of the Church. Thank you, Mary, for your steadfast love. Intercede for us and lead us ever closer to the Heart of God.

DIVINE MERCY PRAYERS

REFLECTION QUESTIONS

1. What phrase or line strikes you? Why? 2. What does this say to you of God’s love for you? 3. Where does this challenge you? 4. What is it that makes Mary the Icon of the Church? 5. Are there issues with your maternal past that needs to be healed? 6. How have the sacraments helped in the healing of your past and present? 7. What in your relationship with Mary Mother of God strengthens your relationship with Christ and the Church?

STATION FOURTEEN: JESUS IS LAID IN THE TOMB

SWEET REST

Sleep now sweet lover. Your wounds will heal overnight. Some need the resurrection To come again to light.

You need time to reflect On past misgivings. I will teach you once again to Dance with the living.

Resting in My pure love Will make your own love pure. Let us dance now face to face Till we become Cross embraced.

Rest my sweet lover In my wound’s embrace For Resurrection morn is near When we will live in grace.

As Jesus is laid in the tomb we too are laid down to rest, to be still, and to reflect. What have we just been given in this mystical embrace of the Cross? So much love! It takes time to assimilate how this is changing us, and it takes time and much reflection and prayer.

Prayer is at the heart of this station. Prayer is sitting in the quiet of our thoughts. It is seeking and finding our very true self in all its ugliness and goodness. When we see ourselves in its truth it is then that we find the God who loves us and then learn to love ourselves as God loves us. This is when the real transformation of our life begins.

How painful it is to wait in our grief for our resurrection. How difficult it is to wait on the Lord in the quiet of our hearts. Our world hates quiet. Elijah too found the quiet of the Lord at Mount Horeb unnerving. In the quiet we must look at ourselves. Too often we do not like what we see in that quiet.

Sadly today, in marriage, prayer is the last thing couples learn to do with each other. Prayer needs to be the first things couples (we) learn to do with each other as they (we) begin relationship. From a simple Our Father they begin to bond to each other through their intimacy with God.

Now is the time to surrender. Prayer is surrender. It is not the work that we do in prayer that is important. God does all the work. All we need do is desire Him who loves us. In prayer we await the Spirit’s gift of life. It is the Spirit who renews our hearts, refreshes our bodies, and connects us back to the family of God and each other. In this station we await our Pentecost and learn to live with grateful hearts. Now is the time to set aside all your preconceived ideas of what God is all about. Let Me, your Lord, be in control. I have shown you how to trust in the Father’s love, even to the death. Your task is not so daunting, frightening, or painful. You must merely let go and fall into your Father’s arms who loves you. Come and rest with me. I will teach you to dance in the Spirit.

Lord, I commit myself to enter more deeply into the heart of prayer. I know all I receive is a gift from You Lord. Lead me to have an ever grateful heart, always open to the promptings of Your Holy Spirit. Come Holy Spirit.

DIVINE MERCY PRAYERS

REFLECTION QUESTIONS

1. What phrase or line strikes you? Why? 2. What does this say to you of God’s love for you? 3. Where does this challenge you? 4. What occupies your mind and heart when you come to prayer? 5. How has your prayer changed over the years? 6. What needs to be surrendered in you to find peace?

STATION FIFTEEN: THE RESURRECTION

UPPER ROOMS

In hidden upper rooms you cannot stay. My gloried flesh breaks into your world decayed. Your lustful wounds are a glory means To show others the bridal way.

My peace is with you for “I am Risen.” Mercy and Wisdom you bring O Breath of God. Put your finger, your hand here ... This is My Body. This is My Blood.

Your new marriage bed is an altar pure Where spousal love’s procured. Lord we are not worthy to receive you … Be now messengers of my love assured.

My Kingdom is now established. It is now time for you to go out into the world. You cannot stay hidden any longer. Your healed flesh now needs to be strengthened. You will only find this strength in facing the demons out there. I need you in the world to help Me change it. You are now my hands and my pierced side for others to place their fingers into. Your healed flesh will be the means to help others believe and trust in Me.

Tell them your story of how I have loved and saved you. It is your little gospel that must be proclaimed. Through it the broken in the world will be able to come to Me. Know that as My wounds now shine with a glory so too yours will be a light that draws others who have suffered like you to Me.

You have my peace always with you. I have poured out over you the Spirit’s gifts to love your broken brothers and sisters.

I said I will be with you always to the end of the world. I have kept this Promise! Come to me daily to be fed and loved in My Flesh and in My Blood. Come to me often to know my forgiving love. Come rest in Me and I will rest in you in your daily prayer. When you doubt turn to My Word that is Living and True. Never be afraid to approach Me for I am Mercy.

As I anointed My Apostles so I anoint you with Power from on high. Now go into the world as my messengers of healing love.

Jesus, I trust in you.

Lord, I consecrate myself to the mission you have for me. I appreciate so deeply your healing love. Live in me and walk with me. Form the words I need to say and direct my every action so to bring others to you. Send me forth always in Your joy and love and with your blessings. I long for the day eternal when I will be with you.

DIVINE MERCY PRAYERS

-BEFORE EACH DECADE: ‘Eternal Father, I offer you the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of your dearly beloved Son our Lord Jesus Christ in atonement for our sins and those of the whole world.’ -THE DECADE: ‘For the sake of His sorrowful passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world.’ -‘HOLY GOD, MIGHTY GOD, IMMORTAL GOD, have mercy on us and on the whole world.’ (three times) -‘O Blood and water that gushed forth from the heart of Jesus I trust in you.’

REFLECTION QUESTIONS

1. What phrase or line strikes you? Why? 2. What does this say to you of God’s love for you? 3. Where does this challenge you? 4. What still holds you back from approaching your Risen Jesus? 5. Are you able to tell your story of suffering and redemption to others? 6. What needs to be done in you and by you to begin your service as an evangelizer for Jesus?

O CONSUMMATE LOVE

What is in your kisses, Your tender embraces, That opens my heart to You And azures life itself?

O Sweet Consummation That sheds commingling blood And fuses Divine and human flesh as one.

O Wedded bliss That dares to make me Divine And tear me from this earthly tomb.

How might I serve You . . . embrace You? O but in Love, in love Through this flesh of mine.

Your kisses betray, Your embraces crucify, And Consummation becomes an enduring Passion.

O Passionate Love I endure all For love of You, Into Eternity.

Your jealous love Demands everything of me - unto death. . . . my yes, . . . my All.