Joy of the Cross. Way of the Cross Meditation with Evangelii Gaudium

Joy of the Cross
“Cruci Gaudium”
Way of the Cross based on
Evangelii Gaudium of Pope Francis

Opening Devotions
In the Name of the Father, and of the
Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Lord, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.

Welcoming the Joy of Cross……
“The joy of the gospel fills the hearts and lives
of all who encounter Jesus. Those who accept
his offer of salvation are set free from sin,
sorrow, inner emptiness and loneliness. With
Christ joy is constantly born anew” (EG 1)
Let us pray
“Lord, I have let myself be deceived; in
a thousand ways I have shunned your
love, yet here I am once more, to renew
my covenant with you. I need you.
Accept me once again, Lord, take me
once more into your redeeming
embrace”. Amen.

(at the end of each Station)
Have Mercy on us, O Lord, have mercy.
May the souls in purgatory through the
mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.
(hymn)
…..to the next Station….

I. Jesus is condemned to
death

Priest:
We adore you,
O Christ, and we bless you!
All:
Because by your holy cross,
O Lord,
You have redeemed the world!

“The great danger in today’s world, pervaded as it is
by consumerism, is the desolation and anguish born
of a complacent yet covetous heart, the feverish
pursuit of frivolous pleasures, and a blunted
conscience. Whenever our interior life becomes
caught up in its own interests and concerns, there is
no longer room for others, no place for the poor.
God’s voice is no longer heard, the quiet joy of his
love is no longer felt, and the desire to do good
fades. This is a very real danger for believers too.
Many fall prey to it, and end up resentful, angry and
listless. That is no way to live a dignified and fulfilled
life; it is not God’s will for us, nor is it the life in the
Spirit which has its source in the heart of the risen
Christ” (EG 2)
First Station: Vanishing Joy of the Cross

Lord, wake up our conscience
and make us sensitive to the injustice
and inhumanity around us
and give us the courage to be the voice
of the voiceless and to defend your life
and love. Amen

SECOND STATION: Carrying the Cross
An evangelizing community knows
that the Lord has taken the
initiative, he has loved us first
(cf. 1 Jn 4:19). It gets involved by
word and deed in people’s daily
lives; it bridges distances, it is
willing to abase itself if necessary,
and it embraces human life,
touching the suffering flesh of
Christ in others. An evangelizing
community is also supportive,
standing by people at every step of
the way, no matter how difficult or
lengthy this may prove to be. It is
familiar with patient expectation
and apostolic endurance (EG 24).

Lord, as I thank you for the gift of this life,
help me to live it as a proclamation of your
Good News.
Help be to bear witness to your Cross not just
in Lent but right through the year, right
through my life.
Give me courage to do this Lord and be with
me in my journey of life. Amen

III. Jesus Embraces the Mother
Earth.

Being Church means being God’s
people, in accordance with the
great plan of his fatherly love.
This means that we are to be
God’s leaven in the midst of
humanity. It means proclaiming
and bringing God’s salvation
into our world, which often goes
astray and needs to be
encouraged, given hope and
strengthened on the way. The
Church must be a place of mercy
freely given, where everyone can
feel welcomed, loved, forgiven
and encouraged to live the good
life of the Gospel. Whenever a
THIRD STATION: Jesus Embraces the Earth

Lord, I do not properly appreciate the
wonderful power you have given me and our
Christian community through your Gospel of
love.
I am sorry to have failed to transform the
world through the power of your Good News.
Sorry for having let you down through my
anti-witnessing life.
Renew me Lord, and give me strength to walk
in your path. Amen.

Only from the affective
connaturality born of love can we
appreciate the theological life
present in the piety of Christian
peoples, especially among their
poor. I think of the steadfast faith of
those mothers tending their sick
children who, though perhaps
barely familiar with the articles of
the creed, cling to a rosary; or of
all the hope poured into a candle
lighted in a humble home with a
prayer for help from Mary, or in
the gaze of tender love directed to
Christ crucified. No one who loves
God’s holy people will view these
actions as the expression of a
FOURTH STATION: Encountering Joy in the
Other

Thank you, Jesus for your mother, who walks
with us as a co-pilgrim in our life journey.
Help us to realise that our devotion to her
should strengthen our efforts
to share your love with others as she herself
did generously.
May we learn from our mother to encounter
you in our suffering brothers and sisters.
Amen.

FIFTH STATION: Daring to be Different
I also think of the real joy shown
by others who, even amid pressing
professional obligations, were able
to preserve, in detachment and
simplicity, a heart full of faith. In
their own way, all these instances
of joy flow from the infinite love of
God, who has revealed himself to us
in Jesus Christ. Goodness always
tends to spread. Every authentic
experience of truth and goodness
seeks by its very nature to grow
within us, and any person who has
experienced a profound liberation
becomes more sensitive to the needs
of others. As it expands, goodness

Lord Jesus, Simeon is a wonderful example for
us in sharing your blessings with others.
In spite of our constraints and inimical
environment we can stand up against the sea
of indifference and stop spreading a culture of
selfishness and pragmatism by walking with
you.
Give us the courage Lord to follow in your
footsteps carrying our cross. Amen.

VI. Veronica Wipes the Face of
Jesus.

SIXTH STATION: Renewing the Face of
Joy “The Gospel offers us the chance to live
life on a higher plane, but with no less
intensity: “Life grows by being given
away, and it weakens in isolation and
comfort. Indeed, those who enjoy life
most are those who leave security on
the shore and become excited by the
mission of communicating life to
others”. The heart of its message will
always be the same: the God who
revealed his immense love in the
crucified and risen Christ. God
constantly renews his faithful ones,
whatever their age: “They shall
mount up with wings like eagles, they
shall run and not be weary, they shall
walk and not be faint” . Christ is the

Lord I am often vain about my appearance and
convenience.
Help me to come out of my comfort zones and
join those evangelizers of our present time in
wiping out the dirt of corruption and injustice
from the face of our society.
Help me to realize that my cowardice to
challenge the evil disfigures your face on the
earth. Amen.

The worship of the ancient golden calf
(cf. Ex 32:1-35) has returned in a
new and ruthless guise in the idolatry
of money and the dictatorship of an
impersonal economy lacking a truly
human purpose. A new tyranny is
thus born, invisible and often virtual,
which unilaterally and relentlessly
imposes its own laws and rules….. To
all this we can add widespread
corruption and self-serving tax
evasion, which have taken on
worldwide dimensions. The thirst for
power and possessions knows no
limits. In this system, which tends to
devour everything which stands in the
SEVENTH STATION: The Burden of Joy

Lord, we are really sorry that we have
plundered the earth and destroyed the
environment and worship false gods of vain
glory and greed.
Give us real conversion to get from the dust of
of consumerism and hedonism
and help us to lead a life-style that is also eco-
friendly, nurturing the entire universe as your
reign entrusted with us.
Amen.

VIII. Jesus Consoles the
Women

EIGHT STATION: Joy of Togetherness
Jesus, the evangelizer par excellence
and the Gospel in person, identifies
especially with the little ones. This
reminds us Christians that we are
called to care for the vulnerable of
the earth. I have always been
distressed at the lot of those who are
victims of various kinds of human
trafficking. How I wish that all of us
would hear God’s cry: “Where is
your brother?” . Where is your
brother or sister who is
enslaved? Where is the brother and
sister whom you are killing each
day in clandestine warehouses, in
rings of prostitution, in children
used for begging, in exploiting
undocumented labour? Let us not

Lord Jesus, we are sorry indeed that we,
though call ourselves Christians, but continue
to nurture hatred, enmity, dividing and
humiliating others in the name of gender, age,
education, caste, language, status, etc.
Help us to stop our lip-service to the
marginalized and exploited people, the abused
women and misused children.
Let us build a reign of God here on earth
where all live as the children of one family of
God. Amen

IX. Jesus falls the third
time.

Finally an evangelizing community
is filled with joy; it knows how to
rejoice always. It celebrates every
small victory, every step forward in
the work of evangelization.
Evangelization with joy becomes
beauty in the liturgy, as part of our
daily concern to spread goodness…
The parish is the presence of the
Church in a given territory, an
environment for hearing God’s
word, for growth in the Christian
life, for dialogue, proclamation,
charitable outreach, worship and
celebration. In all its activities the
parish encourages and trains its
NINTH STATION: Living by the River of
Joy

Lord, we are sorry that we part-take in our
liturgical celebration without real commitment
to live by it.
Help us to stop our superstitious practices of
piety and learn to live by the power of your
Eucharist and under the guidance of the Holy
Spirit.
May our parish community become a
witnessing church for your Good News.
Amen.

X. Jesus Stripped of his
Garments.

The Christian ideal will always be a
summons to overcome all the defensive
attitudes which today’s world imposes on
us. Many try to escape from others and
take refuge in the comfort of their privacy
or in a small circle of close friends,
renouncing the realism of the social
aspect of the Gospel. For just as some
people want a purely spiritual Christ,
without flesh and without the cross, they
also want their interpersonal
relationships provided by sophisticated
equipment, by screens and systems.
Meanwhile, the Gospel tells us constantly
to run the risk of a face-to-face encounter
with others, with their physical presence
which challenges us, with their pain and
their pleas, with their joy which infects us
in our close and continuous interaction.
TENTH STATION: Joy of Giving Fully…..

Lord, help us to encounter you in our brothers
and sisters
who are bruised and battered by injustice and
violence in our society
and step forward to alleviate their pain and
liberate them from their clutches.
Amen

XI. Jesus Nailed to the
Cross.

Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross is
nothing else than the
culmination of the way he
lived his entire life. Moved by
his example, we want to enter
fully into the fabric of
society, sharing the lives of
all, listening to their
concerns, helping them
materially and spiritually in
their needs, rejoicing with
those who rejoice, weeping
with those who weep; arm in
arm with others, we are
committed to building a new
world. But we do so not from
ELEVENTH STATION: Joy of Dying for Love

Lord, thank you for giving me an example on
how to make my life happy and meaningful.
Help me not to cling to my own selfish desires
and wants but surrender them for the good of
the others.
Let me do it freely as you did and joyfully to
save the world in that let me also realize the
fact that unless the wheat falls and dies it
cannot bear fruits.
Amen.

To be evangelizers of souls, we
need to develop a spiritual taste
for being close to people’s lives
and to discover that this is itself a
source of greater joy. Mission is
at once a passion for Jesus and a
passion for his people. When we
stand before Jesus crucified, we
see the depth of his love which
exalts and sustains us, but at the
same time, unless we are blind,
we begin to realize that Jesus’
gaze, burning with love, expands
to embrace all his people. We
realize once more that he wants
to make use of us to draw closer
TWELFTH STATION: Fountain of Joy

Thank you Lord for dying for my sins and for
enwrapping me with you boundless love.
Help me to be generous with other in sharing
your blessings. Amen.

XIII. Jesus’ Body in his
Mother’s Lap

On the cross Jesus left us his
mother to be our mother. Only
after doing so did Jesus know
that “all was now finished” . At
the foot of the cross, at the
supreme hour of the new
creation, Christ led us to Mary.
He brought us to her because he
did not want us to journey
without a mother, and our
people read in this maternal
image all the mysteries of the
Gospel. As mother of all, she is a
sign of hope for peoples suffering
the birth pangs of justice. She is
the missionary who draws near
to us and accompanies us
THIRTHEENTH STATION: A Missionary of
Joy

Hail Mary, full of grace!
Walk with me, dear mother and teach me to
share the joy of the Gospel even when I am
dejected and deserted by others.
May I sing with you the Magnificat with
undying trust in the infinite love of your Son.
Amen.

FOURTEENTH STATION: Seeds of Joy
“Those wounded by historical
divisions find it difficult to accept
our invitation to forgiveness and
reconciliation, since they think that
we are ignoring their pain or are
asking them to give up their memory
and ideals. But if they see the
witness of authentically fraternal
and reconciled communities, they
will find that witness luminous and
attractive. It always pains me
greatly to discover how some
Christian communities, and even
consecrated persons, can tolerate
different forms of enmity, division,
calumny, defamation, vendetta,
jealousy and the desire to impose

Lord Jesus, often we are discouraged and near
to despair.
We are sad and depressed by the evil of the
world; by cruelty, injustice and disaster.
But we don’t realize that we are also part of this
tyranny of evil spreading a culture of death.
Wake us up and infuse in our hearts your
compassionate love so that we’ll rise up and
resurrect our brothers and sisters buried in the
sea of injustice and violence. Amen.

We may be sure that none of our acts of love
will be lost, nor any of our acts of sincere
concern for others. No single act of love for
God will be lost, no generous effort is
meaningless, no painful endurance is wasted.
All of these encircle our world like a vital
force. Sometimes it seems that our work is
fruitless, but mission is not like a business
transaction or investment, or even a
humanitarian activity. Let us learn to rest in
the tenderness of the arms of the Father amid
our creative and generous commitment.
CONCLUDING MEDITATION

Let us keep marching forward;
let us give him everything,
allowing him to make our
efforts bear fruit in his good
time… (EG 276-279)……………

When we live out a spirituality of drawing
nearer to others and seeking their welfare,
our hearts are opened wide to the Lord’s
greatest and most beautiful gifts.
Whenever we encounter another person in
love, we learn something new about God.
Whenever our eyes are opened to
acknowledge the other, we grow in the
light of faith and knowledge of God. If we
want to advance in the spiritual life, then,
we must constantly be missionaries. The
work of evangelization enriches the mind
and the heart; it opens up spiritual
horizons;

……it makes us more and more sensitive to
the workings of the Holy Spirit, and it takes us
beyond our limited spiritual constructs. ….
A committed missionary knows the joy of
being a spring which spills over and refreshes
others. Only the person who feels happiness
in seeking the good of others, in desiring their
happiness, can be a missionary. (EG 272)

Concluding Prayer with Mary, Our Blessed
Mother:
Mary, Virgin and Mother,
you who, moved by the Holy Spirit,
welcomed the word of life
in the depths of your humble faith:
as you gave yourself completely to the
Eternal One, help us to say our own “yes”
to the urgent call, as pressing as ever,
to proclaim the good news of Jesus.
Star of the new evangelization,
help us to bear radiant witness to
communion,
service, ardent and generous faith,
justice and love of the poor,
that the joy of the Gospel
may reach to the ends of the earth,
illuminating even the fringes of our world.
Mother of the living Gospel,

Joy of the Cross. Way of the Cross Meditation with Evangelii Gaudium

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