1st STATION OF THE CROSS
Jesus is condemned to death.
2nd  STATION OF THE CROSS
Jesus takes his cross.
3rd  STATION OF THE CROSS
Jesus falls for the first time.
4th  STATION OF THE CROSS
Jesus meets his mother.
5th  STATION OF THE CROSS
Simon of Cyrene helps Jesus.
6th  STATION OF THE CROSS
Veronica wipes Jesus' face.
7th  STATION OF THE CROSS
Jesus falls for the second time.
8th STATION OF THE CROSS
Jesus comforts the women of Jerusalem.
9th  STATION OF THE CROSS
Jesus falls for the third time.
10th  STATION OF THE CROSS
Jesus is stripped of his garments.
11th  STATION OF THE CROSS
Jesus is nailed to the cross.
12th  STATION OF THE CROSS
Jesus dies on the cross.
13th  STATION OF THE CROSS
Jesus is taken down from the cross and is given to His mother.
14th  STATION OF THE CROSS
Jesus is laid in the tomb.
V/. We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you.
R/. Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.
PRAYER
Lord Jesus Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit, you were drawn by the Father from the darkness of death to the light of a new life in glory. Grant that the sign of the empty tomb may speak to us and to future generations and become a wellspring of living faith, generous love, and unshakeable hope.  To you, O Jesus, whose presence, hidden and victorious, fills the history of the world, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.
Our Father ...
Stabat Mater:
While my body here decays, may my soul your goodness praise, safe in paradise with you. Amen.
OPENING PRAYER
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
“If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me” (Mt 16:24).
What does it mean to have a part in the Cross of Christ? It means to experience, in the Holy Spirit, the love hidden within the Cross of Christ. It means to recognize, in the light of this love, our own cross. It means to take up that cross once more and, strengthened by this love, to continue our journey...  To journey through life, in imitation of the one who “endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God” (Heb 12:2). Brief  pause for silence.
Let us pray.
Lord Jesus Christ, fill our hearts with the light of your Spirit, so that by following you on your final journey  we may come to know the price of our Redemption and become worthy of a share in the fruits of your Passion, Death and Resurrection. You who live and reign forever and ever. Amen
V/. We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you.
R/. Because by your holy Cross you have redeemed the world.
PRAYER
Lord Jesus Christ, you accepted an unjust judgment. Grant to us and to all the men and women of our time the grace to remain faithful to the truth. Do not allow the weight of responsibility for the sufferings of the innocent fall upon us and upon those who come after us. To you, O Jesus, just Judge, be honor and glory forever and ever.  Amen.
Our Father...
Stabat Mater:
At the Cross her station keeping stood the mournful Mother weeping, close to Jesus to the last.
V/. We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you.
R/. Because by your holy Cross you have redeemed the world.
PRAYER
Lord Jesus Christ, who accept the Cross at the hands of men to make of it the sign of God’s saving love for humanity, grant us and all the men and women of our time the grace of faith in this infinite love. By passing on to the new millennium the sign of the Cross, may we be authentic witnesses to the Redemption. To you, O Jesus, Priest and Victim, be praise and glory forever.  Amen.
Our Father...
Stabat Mater:
Through her heart, his sorrow sharing, all his bitter anguish bearing, now at length the sword had  passed.
V/. We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you.
R/. Because by your holy Cross you have redeemed the world.
PRAYER
O Christ, as you fall under the weight of our faults and rise again for our justification, we pray, help us  and all who are weighed down by sin to stand up again and continue the journey. Give us the strength of the Spirit to carry with you the cross of our weakness. To you, O Jesus, crushed under the weight of our faults be our praise and love for ever.  Amen.
Our Father...
Stabat Mater:
Oh, how sad and sore distressed was that Mother highly blessed of the sole begotten One!
V/. We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you.
R/. Because by your holy Cross you have redeemed the world.
PRAYER
O Mary, who walked the way of the Cross with your Son, your mother’s heart torn by grief, but mindful always of your fiat and fully confident that He to whom nothing is impossible would be able to fulfill his promises, implore for us and for the generations yet to come the grace of surrender to God’s love.  Help us, in the face of suffering, rejection, and trial, however prolonged and severe, never to doubt his love. To Jesus, your Son, honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.
Our Father ...
Stabat Mater:
Christ above in torment hangs, she beneath beholds the pangs of her dying, glorious Son.
V/. We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you.
R/. Because by your holy Cross you have redeemed the world.
PRAYER
O Christ, you gave to Simon of Cyrene the dignity of carrying your Cross. Welcome us too under its weight, welcome all men and women and grant to everyone the gift of readiness to serve. Do not permit that we should turn away from those who are crushed by the cross of illness loneliness, hunger or injustice. As we carry each other’s burdens, help us to become witnesses to the gospel of the Cross and witnesses to you, who live and reign forever and ever. Amen.
Our Father . . .
Stabat Mater:
Is there one who would not weep, whelmed in miseries so deep, Christ’s dear Mother to behold?
V/. We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you.
R/. Because by your holy Cross you have redeemed the world.
PRAYER
Lord Jesus Christ, you accepted a woman’s selfless gesture of love, and in exchange ordained that future generations should remember her by the name of your face. Grant that our works and the works of all who will come after us will make us like unto you and will leave in the world the reflection of your infinite love. To you, O Jesus, splendor of the Father’s glory, be praise and glory forever. Amen.
Our Father . . .
Stabat Mater:
Can the human heart refrain from partaking in her pain, in that Mother’s untold pain?
V/. We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you.
R/. Because by your holy Cross you have redeemed the world.
PRAYER
Lord Jesus Christ, you fall under the weight of human sin and you get up again in order to take it upon yourself and cancel it. Give to us, weak men and women, the strength to carry the cross of daily life and to get up again from our falls, so that we may bring to future generations the Gospel of your saving power.  To you, O Jesus, our support when we are weak, be praise and glory forever.  Amen.
Our Father ...
Stabat Mater:
Bruised, derided, cursed, defiled, she beheld her tender Child, all with bloody scourges rent.
V/. We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you.
R/. Because by your holy Cross you have redeemed the world.
PRAYER
O Christ, you came into this world to visit all those who await salvation. Grant that our generation will recognize the time of its visitation and share in the fruits of your redemption. Do not permit that there should be weeping for us and for the men and women of the new century because we have rejected our merciful Father’s outstretched hand. To you, O Jesus, born of the Virgin Daughter of Zion, be honor and praise forever and ever. Amen.
Our Father ...
Stabat Mater:
Let me share with you his pain who for all my sin was slain, who for me in torments died.
V/. We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you.
R/. Because by your holy Cross you have redeemed the world.
PRAYER
Lord Jesus Christ, through your humiliation beneath the Cross you revealed to the world the price of its redemption. Grant to all people the light of faith, so that, as they recognize in you the Suffering Servant of God and man, they may have the courage to follow the same path which, by way of the Cross and self-emptying, leads to life without end. To you, O Jesus, our support when we are weak, be honor and glory forever. Amen.
Our Father ...
Stabat Mater:
O you Mother, fount of love! Touch my spirit from above, make my heart with yours accord.
V/. We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you.
R/. Because by your holy Cross you have redeemed the world.
PRAYER
Lord Jesus, who, with supreme dedication, accepted death on the Cross for our salvation, grant to us and to all the world’s people a share in your sacrifice on the Cross, so that what we are and what we do  may always be a free and conscious sharing in your work of salvation. To you, O Jesus, Priest and Victim,  be honor and glory forever. Amen.
Our Father ...
Stabat Mater:
Make me feel as you have felt; make my soul to glow and melt with the love of Christ our Lord.
V/. We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you.
R/. Because by your holy Cross you have redeemed the world.
PRAYER
O Christ lifted high, O Love crucified, fill our hearts with your love, that we may see in your Cross the sign of our redemption and, drawn by your wounds, we may live and die with you, who live and reign with the Father and the Spirit, now and forever. Amen.
Our Father ...
Stabat Mater:
Holy Mother, pierce me through; in my heart each wound renew of my Savior crucified.
V/. We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you.
R/. Because by your holy Cross you have redeemed the world.
PRAYER
Lord Jesus Christ, in the moment of your agony you were not indifferent to humanity’s fate, and with your last breath you entrusted to the Father’s mercy the men and women of every age, with all their weaknesses and sins. Fill us and the generations yet to come with your Spirit of love, so that our indifference will not render vain in us the fruits of your death.  To you, crucified Jesus, the wisdom and the power of God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.
Our Father ...
Stabat Mater:
She looked upon her sweet Son, saw him hang in desolation, till his spirit forth he sent.
V/. We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you.
R/. Because by your holy Cross you have redeemed the world.
PRAYER
Hail, holy Queen, Mother of Mercy! Our life, our sweetness, and our hope! To you do we cry, poor banished children of Eve, to you do we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this valley, of tears. Turn, then, most gracious advocate, your eyes of mercy toward us; and  after this our exile show unto us the blessed fruit of your womb Jesus; Implore for us the grace of faith, hope and charity, so that we, like you, may stand without flinching beneath the Cross until our last breath. To your Son, Jesus, our Savior, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, all honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.
Our Father ...
Stabat Mater:
Let me mingle tears with you, mourning him who mourned for me, all the days that I may live.
The images of the stations on this webpage are photos of  the beautiful, bas-relief Stations of the Cross from St. Joseph Church, 1107 N. Orleans Street, Chicago, IL 60610.

Photos by Guy Anderson


Stabat Mater (stä'bät mä'tĕr) [Lat., sorrowful mother]: 13th-century hymn of the Roman Church attributed to Jacopone da Todi. A prayer meditating on the sorrows of the Virgin Mary in her station at the Cross.
The Way of the Cross