The Hill of Death... and Life: The final moments are near - moments of suffering, death and New Life: the last six Stations of the Cross.

X. Jesus is Stripped of His Garments - "We all swim in an ocean of divine love and mercy. But we have to become aware of it. This can only happen when we let go of all that we cling to and abandon ourselves joyfully to that love and mercy. And the last thing we have to let go of is the self that clings. When at last we are able to do this, there is then nothing of us. There is only God and we are in God." - William H. Shannon, Silence on Fire: the Prayer of Awareness, Crossroad Publishing, NY, 1991.

XI. Jesus is Nailed to The Cross "Into the hands which broke and quickened the bread, which blessed and caressed little children, which were pierced with the nails; into the hands which are like our hands, the hands of which one can never tell what they will do with the object they are holding, whether they will break it or heal it, but which we know will always obey and reveal impulses filled the kindness and will always clasp us ever more closely, ever more jealously; into the gentle and mighty hands which can reach down into the very depth of the soul, the hands which fashion, which create, the hands through which flows out so great a love; into these hands it is comforting to surrender oneself, especially if one is suffering or afraid." - Teilhard de Chardin, Hymn to the Universe

XII. The Death of Jesus on the Cross "O Cross, ineffable love of God and glory of heaven! O Cross, eternal salvation; Cross, terror of the reprobate. O Cross, support of the just, light of Christians, for you, God became a slave in the flesh, here on earth; by your means, man in God is crowned king in heaven; from you streams the true light, victorious over accursed night. You are the soul of peace that unites men in Christ the mediator; you are the ladder for man to climb to heaven. Be always for us, your faithful, both pillar and anchor; watch over our homes, set the course of our ship. In the Cross may our faith remain strong, and there be our crown prepared." - Paulinus of Nola (4th century bishop and writer), In Praise of the Cross

XIII. Jesus is Taken From the Cross "Your sacrament, Lord Jesus Christ, gives Life and the remission of sins; you have suffered the passion for our sake. For us you have drunk gall to take from us all bitterness; you have drunk a bitter wine for us to life us from our weariness; you have been despised for us, that the dew of immortality might be poured upon us; you have been beaten with scourges to ensure to our frailty eternal life; you have been crowned with thorns that your faithful might be crowned with the evergreen laurels of love; you have been wrapped in a winding sheet that we might be clothed in your strength; you were laid in the tomb, that in a new age loving kindness might again be granted to us." - Fragment from an ancient Eucharistic liturgy, circa 3rd century.

XIV. Jesus is Laid in the Tomb "O night clearer than the day! O night more luminous than the sun! O night whiter than the snow! Giving more light than our torches, sweeter than Paradise! O night that knows no darkness; driving away our sleep, you make us keep watch with the angels. O night terror of the demons, paschal night so long awaited! Night in which the Heir brings the heirs into eternity." - Asterius of Amasea (5th century bishop), Easter Hymn from his Homily on Psalm 5.

XV. Jesus Rises From the Dead. - "All is different and all is the same for those who say 'Yes" to the news that is whispered through the ages from one end of the world to the other. Trees are still trees, rivers are still rivers, mountains are still mountains, and people in their hearts are still able to choose between love and fear. But all that has been lifted up in the risen body of Jesus. The prodigal child is placed in the loving embrace of the Father; the little child is put in its mother's arms; the true heir has been given the best robe and a precious ring, and brothers and sisters invited to the same table. All is the same, and all is made new. As we live our lives with a resurrection faith, our burdens become light burdens and our yokes easy yokes, because we have found rest in the gentle and humble heart of Jesus that belongs for all eternity to God." - Henri Nouwen, Walk With Jesus, Orbis Books, Maryknoll NY, 1990.

Station Photos by Gene Plaisted, O.S.C., Creative Communication for the Parish - 10300 Watson Rd., St. Louis, MO 63127

Resurrection Graphic: reproduction of a 13th century miniature taken from a French codex of the Psalter belonging to the Cathedral of Albens. The angel shows the empty tomb to the women. Mary Magdalene and the Risen Jesus.

Other referenced prayers can be found in Hymns to Christ, edited by C. Berselli, St. Paul Publications, Middlegreen Slough, England, 1982.