Stations of the Cross at St Bene't's

STATIONS OF THE CROSSS A I N T B E N E ʼ T ʼ S C A M B R I D G E

Stations of the Cross is an ancient devotion, based on following the journey travelled by Jesus Christ from the time that he was condemned to death until he was placed in the tomb.

It is a personal and internal journey, but also a public and political one. The Stations illustrated on the pages which follow are on the walls of St Beneʼtʼs, Cambridge, UK. The meditations follow the themes of Liberation Theology in concern for and solidarity with those who are oppressed and powerless throughout the world, of every faith and none.

First Station Jesus is condemned to death

We adore you, O Christ, and we bless youbecause by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.

Pilate realises that there will be a riot if he lets Jesus go, so he hands Jesus over to the soldiers to be crucified.

Silence

We pray for all who are arrested and condemned, remembering especially all political prisoners, all those held without charge, all those who have disappeared.

I love you Jesus, my love above all things; grant that I may love you always, and then do with me what you will.

Second Station Jesus takes up his cross


The soldiers hand the cross to Jesus. He must carry it alone through the streets of Jerusalem.

Silence

We pray for those who suffer alone in the cities of the world, all those people from whom we turn our faces: the poor and those with drug problems, the young and the homeless.


Third Station Jesus falls for the first time


Jesus is not strong. He has been kept standing up through the night and the soldiers have hurt him. He now falls under the weight of the cross.

Silence

We pray for all who are downtrodden and feel that they cannot go on.We pray for all who are crushed by want and illness, remembering especially those affected by HIV.


Fourth Station Jesus meets his mother


Jesus sees his mother at the side of the road. She has always been with him in good times and bad.

Silence

We pray for all mothers throughout the world, particularly those who are unable to rescue their children from danger.


Fifth Station Simon of Cyrene helps Jesus carry the Cross


Jesus isn’t really strong enough to carry the cross, so the soldiers force a man called Simon to help him. Simon is a stranger in Jerusalem. Do the soldiers choose him because he is alone? Or because he is black? Or because he just happens to be there, at the side of the road?

Silence

We pray for all people compelled to do hard labour.


Sixth Station Veronica wipes the face of Jesus


Jesus is hot and his face is dirty with dust.A woman called Veronica bravely steps out from the crowd and wipes his face for him. Her kindness is so like his kindness that she takes an imprint of his identity, an image of Christ.

Silence

We pray for all those who respond to savage situations with bravery and kindness; those who feed prisoners and take in refugees; those who stand outside government buildings and ask why such cruelty is allowed to happen.


Seventh Station Jesus falls for the second time


This journey is not over quickly. Jesus falls to the ground again,stumbling in his pain.

Silence

We pray for all people who see no end to their suffering, especially those who have no land or resources to call their own.

I love you Jesus, my love above all things;grant that I may love you always, and then do with me what you will.

Eighth Station The women of Jerusalem weep for our Lord


The women of Jerusalem stand at the side of the road, crying for Jesus.Their tears are prophetic, because they dare to disagree with the judgement passed against him. But Jesus tells them not to cry for him, but to cry for themselves and to cry against the evil which will soon be unleashed in the world.

Silence

We pray for all affected by guns, drugs and gangs; for all young people who feel pressurized to commit crimes, for all families divided by evil.


Ninth Station Jesus falls for the third time


The pain and weakness of Jesus continues and he falls again. Like the three dippings of baptism, like the three moments of a blessing, Jesus falls three times, crashing to the ground in pain and yet rising with the same attitude of love and sorrow.

Silence

We pray for those for whom the hardness of the street is their only home, for street children and for homeless adults all over the world.


Tenth Station Jesus is stripped of his clothes

We adore you, O Christ, and we bless youBecause by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.

The soldiers know how to do this: they know how to humiliate and how to make the prisoner powerless, how to take his identityand make him vulnerable beyond anything that the soul can bear.This is their job, their standard operating procedure.

Silence

We pray for all who have been stripped and humiliated in prisons and detention centres throughout the world.And we pray for the soldiers and guards who have come to see this treatment as normal and acceptable.


Eleventh Station Jesus is nailed to the Cross

We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you. because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.

This extreme crisis of pain must surely destroy consciousness, paralysing the mind as well as the body.

Silence

We pray for all those injured in unsafe factories and mines, all those disabled by the greed and ruthlessness of others.


Twelfth Station Jesus dies on the cross

We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you.,because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.

The moment comes when God is crucified, when God dies within his own creation, at the hands of his own creation.

Silence

We grieve for all the dead and dying parts of creation - for rainforests cut down, for polluted seas and rivers, for climate damage. We pray for all who seek to bring lifein place of death and destruction.


Thirteenth Station Jesus is taken down from the Cross

We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you, because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.

Your body is held once more in the hands of those who love you.

Silence

We pray for all those who have died unrecognised and un-named: all victims of mass accidents and disasters, of conflicts, wars and crimes.We pray for their families and friends and all who grieve for them.


Fourteenth Station Jesus is placed in the tomb


The body of Jesus rests in the hollow rock of the earth.

Silence

We pray for all who are powerless to change their lives, yet wait in hope.


Lord Jesus, by your passion protect us.by your wounds heal us. by your death raise us up and bring us to life eternal. Amen.

Stations of the Cross at St Bene't's

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