It is morning when Jesus appears before the governor, Pontius Pilate. Since the evening before and for most of the night, He had been dragged from one court to another. And in every one of those courts, an enraged crowd had shouted with hatred and contempt: “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!” This multitude – to whom Jesus had done so much good, for whom He had multiplied miracles, kindnesses, mercies – wanted His death. That is where pride, infidelity and contempt for grace led these men. Pilate, however, disagrees. He sees nothing deserving of death in the Man standing before him. The governor finds Jesus innocent, but out of cowardice he will have Him tortured. “I will have Him scourged,” he tells the crowd, “not because He is guilty, but to appease your rage, your hatred. Then I will release Him.” When Jesus returns, lacerated from the scourging and crowned with thorns, He is unrecognizable. They have numbered all His bones, says the prophet. Pilate presents Him to the crowd: “Behold the Man!” as if to say, “Have mercy on Him!” But, intensifying their rage, the Jews shout, “Crucify Him!” And Pilate, out of cowardice, delivers the Son of God into their hands. “Do as you please. Crucify Him, if you so will.” My Jesus, as we contemplate You in this station, we implore You to give our souls a little courage. We are so cowardly, so afraid of suffering! We fear the comments of men, we fear any kind of suffering. To avoid suffering, we would easily go so far as to let You be crucified... Good Jesus, engrave Your divine examples in our heart. May Your docility in allowing Yourself to be condemned touch our heart. Show us the power of this meekness, by which one accepts the plan of God and wants to accomplish it. We ask You to convert our heart. We ask this, Jesus, for ourselves and for all our brothers and sisters of the earth.

For Jews and Romans alike, the cross was the most infamous of torments. Not only was it an object of extreme torment, it was also the instrument chosen to despise and degrade the condemned. Normally, every condemned man is revolted on approaching the cross. But can it be? What do we see here? Jesus, who has already undergone so many torments, a terrible scourging and a cruel crowning with thorns, seems to come alive when He sees the cross. He goes up to the cross and embraces it; He presses it to His heart, like a desired, sought-after, beloved object. He sets it upon His shoulders. Let us contemplate our Saviour: this is not mere resignation; more than accepting the cross, He loves it. He holds it close to Himself, His entire being manifests love. Good Jesus, as we contemplate You taking up this cross, we ask You, through Your most Holy Mother, for the grace to love the cross. We have such a hard time resigning ourselves to carry the cross; we scarcely accept it. My Jesus, enlighten us, touch our hearts, convert us. Make us true Christians, following in Your footsteps, imitating Your example, desiring more than anything to identify ourselves with You. We want to love Your cross, Jesus, we want to love the cross that You give us.

In the entire history of humanity, is there a moment more sorrowful, more difficult to describe, than the encounter of Jesus and Mary at this moment? Not a word is exchanged between Them. In this intense silence where time is suspended, each One perceives in the Other an infinite, immeasurable suffering, a suffering which cannot be expressed, but which Their gaze understands in the Other. With His gaze, Jesus seems to say to His Mother: “I want this path of sorrow. It is for this that I have come.” And His Holy Mother replies, “I want it with You, My Son.” They are truly in unison. One day when Jesus was speaking to the crowd, someone congratulated the Woman who had the honor of being His Mother. But Jesus answered: Who is My Mother?... Whoever does the will of My Father in Heaven, he is My Mother! In this fourth station, we truly contemplate the Mother of Jesus, the Word of God. Behold Her there in the full force of the word. Mary does the will of God in every respect. She wants what God wants. Even in this extreme suffering, She wants what God wants. O Holy Mother of Sorrows, we ask You to convert our heart. May our heart want what God wants. May it be ready to follow Jesus, follow His will, follow this way of sorrow.

Jesus has already received countless blows. And though He had longed so much for the cross of our salvation, His body is exhausted... He collapses onto the stones in the road. This fall of Jesus is so painful! When we fall, we fall in such a thoughtless manner. My Jesus, we offend You so easily, and the supreme misfortune is that often it is almost without regret. My Jesus, forgive us! By Your first fall, we ask You, my Jesus, for the gift of fear of the Lord, the fear of offending You. Give us the grace to feel sorrow and grief every time we offend You, sadness over everything within us that displeases You. Was it not to merit for us this singular gift that You fell so painfully? Ah! if only I felt sorrow for my falls, my sins of all kinds: pride, gluttony, sloth, sensuality, selfishness, boasting... the whole long list. I beg You, my Jesus, for myself, for all our brothers and sisters, give us this sorrow for having offended You. But above all, give us the humility to acknowledge that we are sinners. May this sorrow not discourage us. My Jesus, You accept to fall under the weight of the cross because You know how weak we are. We ask you for the grace of humility, for You give Your grace to the humble. He who truly humbles himself receives help from God, and then he can rise from his fault.

Jesus has no more strength. His executioners fear that He will not make it to the summit of Calvary. So they commandeer Simon and force him to help Jesus. Little does Simon realize that the Man he is ordered to help is God Himself. Jesus has no resemblance to the God he venerates and worships in his heart. He no longer even looks like a man! Requisitioned by force, Simon murmurs; he is annoyed and perhaps even revolted as he comes to help Jesus carry the cross. But what a miracle! Walking at Jesus’ side, Simon sees the virtue of this Man reduced to nothing. When he sees His meekness, His humility, His acceptance of contempt and of all the woes and torments without a complaint or a murmur... Simon is touched. With the help of God’s grace, he is totally transformed within. When he will be told to leave the cross to Jesus, Simon will be a completely different man. He will become a saint. My Jesus, give us the grace to always look to You in our suffering. Give us the grace to see You in our trials and tribulations, whenever a cross presents itself. It is You, then, who is asking us to walk at Your side. As You did for Simon, change our rebellious, frustrated, complaining and perhaps even rebellious heart. Likewise, my Jesus, when You visit us, hidden in our neighbor who sometimes irritates and offends us, give us the grace to recognize You in him. Give us the grace to be at our neighbor’s side as Simon was for You.

For us, poor fallen creatures, falling is easy to understand, since most of our falls come from our negligence, our lack of love and zeal, our selfishness, our cowardice... But how is it possible that our Saviour should fall and fall again? He, the mighty God, He who holds the entire universe, who possesses us all? It was to repair our many falls that Jesus wanted to fall. With each of His missteps, instead of pitying Him for the extreme suffering that overwhelms Him, the executioners and the crowd indulge in further mockery. Jesus wanted to fall in front of these crude men. He truly wanted to accept these mockeries in order to repair our pride again and again. We maintain attachments to our sins, yet we would like those around us to think well of us, we would like to be perceived as innocent, virtuous, and if possible, even holy! We know that we are sinful, but we fear human judgment. The slightest judgment from our neighbor makes us suffer far more than sin. The mere thought that our neighbor might think something negative about us upsets us, agitates us, torments us. Let us contemplate Jesus in the midst of this crowd mocking Him, judging Him at every step. With each fall, these people increase their contempt, their insults, their invectives. My Jesus, by this second fall, we ask You to vanquish our terrible pride, which makes us dread the judgment of men. May we never work for the praise of men, for their fine appreciation. Did You not fall to obtain this grace for us? We ask it of You through Your Most Holy Mother. Above all, my Jesus, we ask You for the grace to love scorn and those who scorn us.

In this general chorus of hatred, malice and rage, here is this little woman, Veronica, hidden in the middle of the crowd. She is with Jesus, she wants to prove it. She wants to console Him. This poor little human wants in some way to give strength to Jesus, to comfort Him. Veronica has no human respect. She does not care what men will think of her; it is clear to her that these rebellious men are ready to commit extreme acts of wickedness. Nor is it to look virtuous, to make herself look good. No! Love alone drives her, guides her, makes her act. She cuts through the crowd and advances towards Jesus; her benevolent presence already comforts Him. With a cloth she wipes His face, as if to remove some of His infinite torments. And Jesus is so touched, so consoled, that He leaves His image imprinted on her cloth and in her soul. What a beautiful gift! It is the reward for her immense love for God. May we be that soul who comforts Jesus, who does the good for Him alone; not out of fear, not to have the praise of men and be well regarded, no! But for Jesus alone! My Jesus, by the merits of Your Passion, give us this supreme grace to act out of love for You, without any other consideration. Let this be the deepest and only intention of our heart. If this is truly our intention, my brothers and sisters, we will be rewarded like Veronica. Jesus will imprint His image within us; we will carry it within us. Oh, what a great gift!

Jesus falls, and falls, and falls again. It seems that He will never reach the summit of Calvary. Watching Him as He falls, one would think He was going to die on the spot, that it was all over... But when a human being is completely drained of energy, he still has love. In Jesus, it was I NFINITE L OVE . This love gives Him new strength. Because of His love, He rises again, He will go all the way. Oh, the power of love! It is easy for us humans to repeat: “Oh, it is over, I am no longer capable. My God, do not ask me for more. I am at the end of my rope, I cannot go any further, I can’t take it anymore. You are asking too much, my God.” This is the reasoning of my soul, of my heart which lacks the love to follow Jesus, of my selfish heart that still and always wants to have enjoyment on this earth. O my Jesus, by this third fall, we never tire of asking, asking and asking again for Your Infinite Love, for ourselves and for all our brothers and sisters. May Your good pleasure and Your will be the only guides in our life. My Jesus, give us Your love, which will enable us to follow You all the way to Calvary, in spite of all the obstacles, in spite of the incapacities, failures, falls and relapses, in spite of all the demons and the forces of evil bent on stopping us.

Here are more women, full of love, who come to console Jesus. But it is Jesus – He who is being martyred, who will be crucified in a few moments – who consoles and comforts. He completely forgets Himself. And what does He say to these women? “Do not weep for Me! I am not to be pitied. Do not weep for Me! I am carrying out My plan, My plan of love that I conceived so long ago. I have come to atone for your sins with this demonstration of infinite love, extreme love. Weep instead for yourselves and your children. Oh yes, weep! Weep for your sins, your ingratitude, your distractions; weep for the sins of your children, weep because in spite of My Infinite Love, so many of your children are lost. Do not weep over Love, weep over ingratitude. ” My Jesus, by this station, we ask You for the singular favor of weeping over our ingratitude and our sins, and those of our children. To better attain this, imbue us with the love that You manifest so eloquently to us on this Sorrowful Way. And since tears of repentance are the beginning of conversion, my Jesus, multiply them in our heart.

Jesus has accomplished the Redemption, the work of our salvation. But Mary remains. Let us contemplate Her at the foot of the cross. Her Son is loosed, the nails removed... What immense suffering when She receives the corpse of Her Jesus in Her arms, when She contemplates all His wounds. Of Jesus’ beauty, nothing remains. The victim is entirely consumed; the centurion’s lance has drained Him of the last drops of His divine blood. Jesus has given Himself completely. And Mary, holding Him in Her arms, contemplates His livid body. What greatness there is in Mary! It is as if, at the death of Jesus, She becomes the Coredemptrix even more. Following in the footsteps of Her Son, She remains on earth to continue suffering, an “infinite” suffering... In Her turn, She shows us the way. Jesus came down on earth to bring Redemption, but also to found His Church. On Good Friday that Church has all but disappeared. The men chosen by Jesus to establish it have fled. The first among them denied Him: “I do not know this man!” The others with the exception of Saint John, have vanished. But Mary is there. It is at the foot of the cross that She is truly the Mother of Salvation. Mary remains in order to establish the Church, to bring together these few fearful men – fearful to the extreme, terrorized, distraught, frightened. Gently, with a Mother’s love, She reminds them what Jesus had taught them, She brings them together in prayer, She calms their fears. O Mother of Salvation, Mother of the Church, pray for us, poor cowards that we are, poor cowards who are so afraid of the cross, the turmoil, the insults, the contempt, the blows. Pray for us and for all the members of the Church.

We have reached the summit of Mount Calvary; we are getting close to Jesus’ great victory. Let us contemplate the stripping of our Saviour. After the scourging, His inner tunic had been returned to Him; now it sticks to His torn flesh. The executioners tear it off violently. What pain! It was to teach us a lesson that Jesus allowed His executioners to strip Him with such violence. By this incredible torment, He wants to show us that, yes, stripping, detachment hurts, but it must be done, without argument, without hesitation, with some kind of violence. The kingdom of heaven suffers violence; only the violent bear it away. To follow our Saviour all the way, we need to be stripped bare, universally detached. Detachment means to no longer hold on to anything on this earth, to rid ourselves of everything. Just talking about it makes our heart, our soul, our entire being shudder. Anyone who does not renounce everything cannot be My disciple. In sluggishness, in complacency, we feed our attachments, our whims, our pursuits, even our sins. Since it was to obtain grace for us that You endured these torments, we ask You, my Jesus, for this grace of universal detachment. May we make it the violent act that costs and hurts, in order to be all Yours. O Holy Mother, we pray You, intercede for us, obtain for us this singular favor. Remove from our hearts this great obstacle: the love of attachments.

The executioners, mockingly and roughly, order Jesus to lie on the cross: He obeys. They demand Him to offer His hands to be nailed: Jesus obeys. They demand Him to offer His feet: He obeys. He says, I have come down from Heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. He delivers Himself up to the crucifixion to obey God His Father. We too want to obey God. Let us contemplate the example of Jesus, our Divine Model. This is how far we must go in our detachment from all things, but above all from our will, in order to want all that God wants. The will of God is often manifested to us by poor mortals who have all sorts of manners, who are coarse and crude; these are our colleagues, our supe­riors, our subjects, our neighbor... We must obey in union with Jesus, who obeyed to this point. That is the sacrifice God asks. Sanctity is self-sacrifice, it is the immolation to God of our entire being, especially our will. By this station, we ask You, Jesus, for the grace to be obedient souls. He says to us, I have given you an example, that as I have done, you also should do. We were lost through disobedience. That is why Jesus came to work out our Redemption through obedience. He became obedient unto death, even to death on the cross. My Jesus, for ourselves and for all our brothers and sisters of the earth, we ask for the grace to obey in order to work out our salvation.

During the whole sorrowful way, Jesus did not say a word, except to the holy women. Now that He is crucified and about to die, He utters seven solemn words. Father, forgive them; they know not what they do. He spoke this first word after all the torments inflicted upon Him: the blows, the scourging, the crucifixion... And while the crowd at the foot of the cross continued to blaspheme, scorn and ridicule Him, saying, “If You really are the Messiah, come down from the cross!” Jesus, who really is the Messiah, the Son of God, could have put on quite a show for them! We humans love a show. We watch for the slightest chance to demonstrate our physical, spiritual or intellectual power. We want to show off, stand out. While Jesus is being provoked in this way, He replies, Father forgive them, they know not what they do. Instead of showing off His strength and annihilating us, the wicked ones, He prays His Father to forgive us. At the foot of Your cross on Calvary, we ask You, my Jesus: may this prayer which You made not be in vain for our soul. The proud multitude does not hear Your prayer for pardon. The humble soul hears it in his heart, and, full of repentance, asks for forgiveness. And because he repents and humbles himself, he receives this forgiveness. The thieves crucified with Jesus also insult Him. But coming round, the Good Thief says to his companion, “We deserve these torments, but He has done nothing wrong.” Then, addressing Jesus, he says: “Remember me when Thou comest into Thy kingdom.” Jesus replies: Amen I say to thee, this very day thou shalt be with Me in Paradise. O what a beautiful promise! This criminal, this guilty bandit, is the only one on Calvary to proclaim Jesus for who He is. He proclaims that His Kingdom is not from here. My Jesus, we ask you for the grace never to be ashamed of You, but always defend You. When suffering visits us, may we recognize ourselves as guilty, that we too deserve to suffer. My Jesus, remember us, as You remembered the good thief. At the moment of departing from this world, in this extreme suffering, Jesus forgets His own pain. He knows the great need we are in. In the person of Saint John, He entrusts us to His most Holy Mother, the Virgin Mary, who is standing at the foot of the cross: Woman, behold Thy son. “Behold Your children. Take care of them. They need a Mother such as You.” Then He says to Saint John: Behold your Mother. Oh yes, good Mother, we need You. Remember that it was on the cross that Jesus gave You to us as our Mother. Allow us to always proclaim that You are our Mother. To follow Jesus on this sorrowful way, to resemble Him, we need You. My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me? Jesus is equal to God His Father, but as a man, the Incarnate Word felt forsaken. In His extreme necessity, when He most needed divine assistance, Jesus felt forsaken, not only by men, but even by God His Father!... Who could ever comprehend such immense, infinite sorrow? Good Mother, You witnessed this extreme suffering. These words of Jesus pierced You; You felt in Your heart this abandonment of Your Son. O my Jesus, it is now, nailed to this cross, that You are most powerful. Your Father who seems to have forsaken You, O how attentive He is! He has never been more attentive to His Son than at this moment. And so it is with us: sometimes we think we have been forsaken. But that is often the moment when God is most attentive to us. I thirst. Knowing that Jesus felt forsaken, we understand what sort of thirst He means. Jesus needed our presence, our love. O my Jesus, touch our hearts. Allow us to forget ourselves and give You what Your heart desires, to slake Your thirst for love, Your thirst for true service. You were willing to suffer this extreme torment in order to grant us this grace. All is consummated. All that the Father has commanded Me, I have accomplished. This is another grace that we ask of You, my Jesus. May we say these words every day: “Today, all is consummated. What God wanted of me today, I have accomplished.” And may we end our life saying as You did: Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit. At the moment of death, may our being, our mind, our soul be totally turned towards You, my God. At that supreme moment, may there be absolutely nothing to distract our soul from God. O the grace of graces: to die completely detached from everything, attached only to God. Jesus crucified, we ask You for ourselves, for all our brothers and sisters in the Church and on earth, for all souls of good will, the grace of the greatest possible detachment during our life, but above all at the moment of our death.

Here is the tomb, it is the end. The enemies of Jesus – those who wanted to do away with this so-called Prophet, this Man who went so far as to pass Himself off as God – are convinced of it. They are sure that they have won, that they have overcome Jesus by means of wickedness, malice, lies, hypocrisy. Yet they had seen the signs. They had seen the countless wonders worked by Jesus. Some miracles were undeniable, like the healing of the man born blind. But that blind man regaining his sight somehow increased their own blindness, their pride. And pride hardened them, blinded them more and more. They entered deeper and deeper into darkness until they hated Jesus to the death. But just like Satan, they do not know how God accomplishes His works, His designs. First He makes these works undergo a burial, by an apparently total loss, through death. Unless the grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone and sterile; but if it dies, it brings forth much fruit. That is how God acts. He even created nature in the same manner to further convince us of this great truth. Yet even today, Satan and the enemies of God are unaware of His divine strategy. My Jesus, make us accept Your divine ways. Give us an active grace so that our life, our thinking, may conform to it. We want to die with you, we want to be buried in the tomb with you. We want to do as You will. And You, good Mother, who – with Joseph of Arimathea, Nicodemus, Saint John and a few women – laid the body of Your Jesus in the tomb, You know very well that we must all go through it. Good Mother, obtain for us the grace to accept to follow Jesus all the way to Calvary and the tomb. We believe, good Mother, that this is the way taught by Your Son, who said: I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life. Jesus in the tomb is life. We will soon see this at Easter.