Sacred Heart interlude: Twelfth Station - Jesus dies on the Cross (Balthasar)

[As an echo of Good Friday during Ordinary Time, the Church celebrates a Solemnity in honor of the Sacred Heart of Jesus on the Friday after Corpus Christi Sunday.  Here the mystery of God's love revealed in the Cross of Christ is drawn out of the penance and sadness of Lent, and placed before us in our every day lives which is constantly illuminated by the completion of the historical and liturgical observances of the  Resurrection, Ascension, and Descent of the Holy Spirit... taking us into our own age so in need of an awareness of the depths of God's love.  So on this day, in union with the spirit of the series I did during Lent, I offer one more tableau of the Twelfth Station, that given by Hans Urs von Balthasar and used for the pope's stations at the Colosseum in 1988, shortly before Balthasar died.  I looked all over the internet for this text to include it in the Lent series I did, but I couldn't find it in English... it must be out of print.  In recent weeks, I finally got hold of the text, which I share below for your prayer and meditation.]

 

Twelfth Station:  Jesus dies on the cross.

V/.  We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you.

R/.  Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.

"And when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.  And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, 'Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachtani?' which means, "My God, my God, why hadst thou forsaken me?'  ... And one ran, filling a sponge full of vinegar, put it on a reed, and gave it to him to drink... And Jesus uttered a loud cry, and breathed his last.  ...And when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that he thus breathed his last, he said, 'Truly this man was the Son of God'."  (Mark 15: 33-39 RSV)

   Jesus is suspended between heaven and earth, repudiated by men and forsaken by his Father, thus restoring the unity between them.  Extending his arms he reaches out to both the sinner who goes back to him and to the one who turns away from him and yet could not hinder Christ to reach out to him.  The vertical beam of the cross bridges the gap between God and man, while the horizontal one embraces the ends of the earth.  The Fathers of the Church therefore could aptly say that the Cross had the dimensions of the whole creation; it has the dimensions of the whole history of the human race because in those three long hours of Christ's agony, the sins of all -- from the first person to the very last -- have been gathered and remitted.  From now on the way to heaven is open to all: this is the teaching of the Church.

   The last words of the dying Jesus express his entire testament to the Church: that the Father will surely, indeed he must, forgive us, wretched and ignorant as we are; that Easter will be the great absolution, setting the seal on our final reconciliation with God; and that the sinless Mother is placed at the center of the Church which, despite the sinfulness of its members, preserves it core intact.

   Jesus' forsaken death on the cross opened for us the way to the Father.  The thirst of Christ's body, drained of every drop of blood, makes of it a spring from whence flow waters of eternal life.  Both the water of baptism and the blood of the Eucharist quench our thirst.  In the dying cry of Jesus, God reveals to us his infinite love which transcends the power of words.

   Bending his head, Jesus gives up the Spirit, the same Spirit whom he will breathe on the Church on the day of his Resurrection, and in this way all is truly accomplished.

 

Holy Mary, Virgin of the cross:

by the tree of life, you are humanity itself:

obedient and faithful, receptive to the word,

resolute and dutiful, open to the Spirit.

 

Reveal to us the mystery of the "Hour" of your Son:

of his glory in disgrace,

of his majesty in service,

of our life in his death.

 

But it is also you "Hour", O Virgin Mary:

the hour of birth -- in faith, in pain, in the Spirit;

for that new birth, Jesus, dying on the cross,

said: "Woman, behold your son."

Fr. Jean Corbon on Kenosis of the Incarnate Light

In the kenosis of the Incarnation, grace dawned; in the kenosis of the Cross it shines forth where the darkness is thickest.  These images are perhaps symbols, but they are not hyperboles, because the reality is even more overwhelming.  After all, when day dawns, what happens?  Night is scattered.  Night was simply an absence; it had no existence in itself; nothing produces night, and consequently when it is there nothing exists for anyone; people do not even recognize each other.  Night as such is empty of meaning and strips everything else of meaning.  Well, at the core of every human event, at the bottom of every human heart, there is a night of death and rupture, of nonmeaning and absence.  "Flesh and blood", or mere human nature (Jn 1:13, 1 Cor 15:50), cannot dissipate this night; nothing outside man can introduce light into that blackness.  It reigns in the heart and from that vantage point spreads its veil over everything, from the depths of the person to its most conscious structures.  Only he who is Light can assume the human without damaging any part of it.  And only this Man-God, in whom death finds no complicity with itself, can enter into the thickest darkness of death; that is what happens in the kenosis of the Cross.

 

The Wellspring of Worship, Jean Corbon (Ignatius 2005)

Twelfth Station: Lebanese Youth (2013)

The Twelfth Station: Jesus Dies on the Cross

V: We adore you O Christ, and we bless you,

R: Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world!

A Reading from the Holy Gospel according to Luke 23:46

Then Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said: "Father, into your hands I commend my spirit." And having said this, he breathed his last.

From the height of the cross a cry is heard a cry: a cry of abandonment at the moment of death, a cry of trust amid suffering, a cry accompanying the birth of a new life. Behold, hanging on the tree of life, you deliver your spirit into your Father’s hands, causing life to spring up in abundance and forming the new creation. Today we too face the challenges of this world: we sense the surge of fears which overwhelm us and shake our trust. Grant us, Lord, the strength to know deep within our heart that no death will conquer us, until we rest in the hands which have shaped us and accompany us.

May every one of us be able to cry out:
"Yesterday I was crucified with Christ,
today I am glorified with him.
Yesterday I died with him,
today I live with him.
Yesterday I was buried with him.
Today I have risen with him." (Gregory Nazianzen)

In the darkness of our nights,
we contemplate you.
Teach us to turn towards the Most High,
your heavenly Father.

Today, let us pray
that all those who promote abortion
may become aware that love
can only be a source of life.
Let us think also of those who defend euthanasia
and those who encourage
techniques and procedures
which endanger human life.
Open their hearts
to know you in the truth
and to work for the building
of the civilization of life and love.
Amen.

This year's stations to be celebrated by Pope Francis at the Roman Colosseum were composed by youth from Lebanon and compiled by his Eminent Beatitude Cardinal Bechara Boutros Rai, the Maronite Patriarch of Antioch.

Adoramus Te, Christe (Th. Dubois, 1837-1924)

Adoramus te, Christe
et benedicimus tibi,
quia per sanctam crucem tuam
redemisti mundum.
[Qui passus es pro nobis, Domine,
Domine, miserere nobis.]

We adore you, O Christ,
and we bless you,
who by your holy Cross
has redeemed the world.
[He who suffered death for us, O Lord,
O Lord have mercy on us.]

Twelfth Station: Blessed John Henry Newman (c. 1860)

The Twelfth Station
Jesus dies upon the Cross
V. Adoramus te, Christe, et benedicimus tibi.
R. Quia per sanctam Crucem tuam redemisti mundum.

Jesus hung for three hours. During this time He prayed for His murderers, promised Paradise to the penitent robber, and committed His Blessed Mother to the guardianship of St. John. Then all was finished, and He bowed His head and gave up His Spirit.

The worst is over. The Holiest is dead and departed. The most tender, the most affectionate, the holiest of the sons of men is gone. Jesus is dead, and with His death my sin shall die. I protest once for all, before men and Angels, that sin shall no more have dominion over me. This Lent I make myself God's own for ever. The salvation of my soul shall be my first concern. With the aid of His grace I will create in me a deep hatred and sorrow for my past sins. I will try hard to detest sin, as much as I have ever loved it. Into God's hands I put myself, not by halves, but unreservedly. I promise Thee, O Lord, with the help of Thy grace, to keep out of the way of temptation, to avoid all occasions of sin, to turn at once from the voice of the Evil One, to be regular in my prayers, so to die to sin that Thou mayest not have died for me on the Cross in vain.

Twelfth Station: Sr. Maria Rita Piccione (2011)

Twelfth Station
Jesus dies on the Cross

"I thirst." "It is finished." With these two phrases Jesus, looking first to humanity and then to the Father, bequeaths to us the burning passion at the heart of his Person and mission: love for man and obedience to the Father. His is a love both horizontal and vertical: in the shape of the Cross! And at the intersection of this twofold love, at the place where Jesus bows his head, the Holy Spirit wells up, the first fruits of his return to the Father.

This final breath which brings Jesus' life to completion evokes the work of creation, which now is redeemed. But it is also a summons to all of us who believe in him to "bring to completion in our own flesh what is lacking in Christ's afflictions" That all may be complete!

Lord Jesus, who died for our sake! You ask, that you may give, you die, that you may leave a legacy, and thus you make us see that the gift of self opens a space for unity. Pardon the gall of our rejection and unbelief, pardon the deafness of our hearts to your cry of thirst which echoes in the suffering of our many brothers and sisters.

Come, Holy Spirit, parting gift of the Son who dies for us: may you be the guide who "leads us into all the truth" and "the root which sustains us in unity"!

Twelfth Station: St. Alphonse Ligouri (1787)

The Twelfth Station:
Jesus Dies Upon the Cross

We adore You, O Christ, and we praise You.
Because, by Your holy cross, You have redeemed the world.

Consider how Your Jesus, after three hours of agony on the cross, is finally overwhelmed with suffering and, abandoning Himself to the weight of His body, bows His head and dies.

My dying Jesus, I devoutly kiss the cross on which You would die for love of me.  I deserve, because of my sins, to die a terrible death;  but Your death is my hope.  By the merits of Your death,  give me the grace to die embracing Your feet and burning with love of You.  I yield my soul into Your hands.  I love You with my whole heart.  I am sorry that I have offended You.  Never let me offend You again.  Grant that I may love You always; and then do with me as You will.

Twelfth Station: Cardinal Ratzinger (2005)

Via Crucis, Scuola Veneta - Sec. XVIII
Cattedrale - Padova

TWELFTH STATION
Jesus dies on the Cross

V/. Adoramus te, Christe, et benedicimus tibi.

R/. Quia per sanctam crucem tuam redemisti mundum.

From the Gospel according to John 19:19-20

Pilate also wrote a title and put it on the Cross; it read, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews”. Many of the Jews read this title, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; and it was written in Hebrew, in Latin, and in Greek.

From the Gospel according to Matthew 27:45-50,54

Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” That is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” And some of the bystanders hearing it said, “This man is calling Elijah”. And one of them at once ran and took a sponge, filled it with vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave it to him to drink. But the others said, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to save him”. And Jesus cried again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit”. When the centurion and those who were with him, keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe, and said, “Truly this was the Son of God!”

 

MEDITATION:  In Greek and Latin, the two international languages of the time, and in Hebrew, the language of the Chosen People, a sign stood above the Cross of Jesus, indicating who he was: the King of the Jews, the promised Son of David. Pilate, the unjust judge, became a prophet despite himself. The kingship of Jesus was proclaimed before all the world. Jesus himself had not accepted the title “Messiah”, because it would have suggested a mistaken, human idea of power and deliverance. Yet now the title can remain publicly displayed above the Crucified Christ. He is indeed the king of the world. Now he is truly “lifted up”. In sinking to the depths he rose to the heights. Now he has radically fulfilled the commandment of love, he has completed the offering of himself, and in this way he is now the revelation of the true God, the God who is love. Now we know who God is. Now we know what true kingship is. Jesus prays Psalm 22, which begins with the words: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Ps 22:2). He takes to himself the whole suffering people of Israel, all of suffering humanity, the drama of God’s darkness, and he makes God present in the very place where he seems definitively vanquished and absent. The Cross of Jesus is a cosmic event. The world is darkened, when the Son of God is given up to death. The earth trembles. And on the Cross, the Church of the Gentiles is born. The Roman centurion understands this, and acknowledges Jesus as the Son of God. From the Cross he triumphs – ever anew.

PRAYER:  Lord Jesus Christ, at the hour of your death the sun was darkened. Ever anew you are being nailed to the Cross. At this present hour of history we are living in God’s darkness. Through your great sufferings and the wickedness of men, the face of God, your face, seems obscured, unrecognizable. And yet, on the Cross, you have revealed yourself. Precisely by being the one who suffers and loves, you are exalted. From the Cross on high you have triumphed. Help us to recognize your face at this hour of darkness and tribulation. Help us to believe in you and to follow you in our hour of darkness and need. Show yourself once more to the world at this hour. Reveal to us your salvation.

Hidden wounds...

   The inspiration for the title of this blog comes from a meditation by St. Bernard of Clairvaux which I was introduced to by a friend who I'll call the "spiritual godmother" of this blog. This meditation has focused a lot of the thoughts and prayers which have sustained me in the midst of my recent personal crisis.
   St. Bernard is said to have asked Jesus what his greatest unrecorded suffering and the wound that caused the most pain upon the cross. He received the reply, "I had on my shoulder, while I bore My cross on the Way of Sorrows, a grievous wound which was more painful than the others and which is not recorded by men." A hidden wound... one that I have always overlooked. This wound, the wound of carrying his cross and bearing the weight of the world is rarely depicted in the figures of Jesus passion upon the cross or upon the resurrected body of our Lord.
   We all bear hidden wounds-- wounds that we hide from the world, and wounds that even, at times, we hide from ourselves. In asking the Lord to reveal his hidden wound, we are shown once again how deeply he loves us as his own beloved sons and daughters. We find yet again how precious the trail we follow when we take up his cross and follow him (cf Matt 16: 24-26). We find how his love is anticipated in our lives before we recognize even the need for his grace and mercy. We find the courage to find and expose our own hidden wounds to him for the healing that only he can give.
   The reply to Bernard continues: "Honor this wound with thy devotion and I will grant thee whatsoever thou dost ask through its virtue and merit and in regard to all those who shall venerate this wound, I will remit to them all their venial sins and will no longer remember their mortal sins."   And so, my discussions here are intended to not only be an apostolic outlet and a mode of healing in my own life and ministry, but a way of venerating this most precious wound that caused our savior to suffer so. My readers are invited to stand with me at the foot of the cross and to look at how God reveals his love for us, even in what is hidden and yet to be discovered.
   And so, a prayer, often attributed to St. Bernard of Clairvaux:
O loving Jesus, meek Lamb of God, I, a miserable sinner, salute and worship the most Sacred Wound of your shoulder on which you beared your heavy cross, which so tore your flesh and laid bare your bones as to inflict on you an anguish greater than any other wound of your most blessed body. I adore you, O Jesus most sorrowful; I praise and glorify you and give you thanks for this most sacred and painful wound, begging you by that exceeding pain and by the crushing burden of your heavy cross, to be merciful to me, a sinner, to forgive me all my mortal and venial sins and to lead me on towards heaven along the Way of your Cross. Amen.