ENCOUNTERS

ON THE WAY
TO THE CROSS
 INTRODUCTION

The Stations of the Cross, together with the Rosary, is probably the most widespread
and practiced devotion in the Christian tradition. Associating with Jesus led to be cru-
cified generates strong emotions and allows for creative ways to represent how Jesus’
last hours resonate in everyone’s heart.

This suggestion was written some years ago but it fits well in the theme chosen for
this year by the General Chapter: the encounter. This way of the cross is structured
as a journey where we meet those who were part of the last days of Jesus life. Every
encounter (except the one with Jesus) is organized in two moments: the first concerns
the reflection of the character on the encounter he or she had with Jesus; the second, is
the message of the same character for us encountered as we are walking the way of the
cross.

The Stations of the Cross can be done privately or as a community, with the people of
God. It can also be staged, in particular in a celebration with the youth. Every char-
acter can be re-enacted as appropriate. The purpose is to allow ourselves to be met by
those who were with Jesus in those days and most of all by Jesus, whose decision to
die on the cross constitutes, with the resurrection, the definitive act of our salvation.

Lent 2019
 ENTRANCE

Entrance song

P. In the name of the Father…

Dear brothers and sisters, as we begin this journey to the cross, let us allow
Christ to meet us as he intends to lead us to salvation through the abundance of
his love.

R. Let us begin our way to the cross with Jesus.

The narration, we know it fairly well. The way, probably less.
However, we know very well the way of our crosses, whether big or small.
And we feel so tired, so overwhelmed.
Let us place ourselves on Jesus’ way to the cross to better understand our own way.
Along the journey, we will meet many people.
They were with Jesus in those days, they are here with us now.
And their experience tells us that we could be any one of them
in one moment or the other of our life.
While listening to their voice, let us interrogate our history.
Most of all, let us probe our desire to continue the way with Jesus,
because we will stumble on other crosses in our life
but with Jesus they can become the way to salvation.

Song
 First encounter: Judas

P. While he was still speaking a crowd came up, and the man who was called
Judas, one of the Twelve, was leading them. He approached Jesus to kiss him, but
Jesus asked him, “Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?”

Judas: I did not intend to betray the Nazarene.

To me the main issue was the liberation of Israel.
For this reason I joined the Nazarene
and for a long time I thought it was going to happen.
However, in the last days he was often speaking of death waiting for him in Jerusalem.
And he always spoke of love.
How is it possible to win a revolution with love?
The revolution requires organization, fighting, eliminating the enemy.
If you love your enemy, when will freedom come?
And fighting is expensive, it requires resources.
How can that be done if everything has to be given to the poor?
The Nazarene had to be handed over because he had become a liability
for our cause, for the freedom of Israel.

To you, walking today on the way to the cross

and judging me because I betrayed Jesus, I ask:
Have you ever betrayed someone? Have you ever handed Jesus over?
Perhaps not to the enemies. Perhaps you are not an activist.
It is difficult to have passion for politics today.
But perhaps you handed him over to indifference, to disengagement.
Your only objective is success.
It is impossible not to pursue it.
And success requires disregarding everything else.
Even friends are used, used to become successful.
You kissed success, hoping to gain from it,
and Christ has become nonsense to you.
Ultimately, you also have remained alone with your thirty pieces of silver.

P. For those who betrayed God and man, that they do not become lost in despair
but turn to Jesus and regain confidence on the future that he opens in front of
them, let us pray.

Song
 Second encounter: Peter

P. While Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the servant girls of the high
priest came by. When she saw Peter warming himself, she looked closely at him.
“You also were with that Nazarene, Jesus,” she said. But he denied it. “I don’t
know or understand what you’re talking about,” he said, and went out into the
entryway. When the servant girl saw him there, she said again to those standing
around, “This fellow is one of them.” Again he denied it. After a little while, those
standing near said to Peter, “Surely you are one of them, for you are a Galilean.”
He began to call down curses, and he swore to them, “I don’t know this man
you’re talking about.” Immediately the rooster crowed the second time. Then
Peter remembered the word Jesus had spoken to him: “Before the rooster crows
twice you will disown me three times.” And he broke down and wept.

Peter. I was so sure of myself. After all I was one of the first he called.
I left everything and followed him.
I spent three years with him, three years wandering around
up and down the roads of Galilee.
I think I also gained his trust.
When he had to speak of something confidential, he spoke with me.
And I was totally conquered by this man.
So many times I said I was going to give my life for him. I said it even yesterday.
He told me that in the time of danger I would betray him.
But I did not believe him. Perhaps all the others would betray him, but not me.
Instead it happened. I denied I ever knew him. What a shame.

To you, walking today on the way to the cross

and judging me for denying Jesus, I ask: Have you ever denied Jesus?
Perhaps you never experienced being in danger because you are a Christian.
But how many times you pretended not to be one.
In business, when profit demands to forget ethics;
with your friends, when everyone competes on who is bolder;
in discussions, when you did not have the courage to state your convictions.
Courage. Before the events we all feel very courageous,
but at the right moment we forget our promises.
You denied Jesus when you abandoned the desire to become a better person,
when you did not trust that his forgiveness would be greater than your sins.
I realized that in time and cried bitter tears.
When is the last time you wept for forgetting Jesus?

P. That the Lord may give us the courage to acknowledge our Christian identity
and to accept his forgiveness when we fall into cowardice, let us pray…

Song
 Third Encounter: Jesus’ guards

P. Then they spit in his face and struck him with their fists. Others slapped him
and said, “Prophesy to us, Messiah. Who hit you?”

Jesus’ guards: They brought him to us to keep him.

They gave us free hands.
After all, no one cares about a prisoner.
If something happens to him, no one seeks for the culprit.
On the contrary, the suggestion was precisely to beat him up.
I have to acknowledge that we went too far.
It was unnerving to see him being struck and remaining quiet.
He was known as a miracle maker
and we wanted to know if it was true.
Once in our hands, what miracle could he make?

You, walking today on the way to the cross,

did you ever think of those entrusted to your care?
Perhaps you are a parent with responsibility for the children,
perhaps a teacher, with some students,
perhaps a group leader,
perhaps a priest with a community.
Probably you never hit someone, or blindfolded him, or slapped him on the face.
Probably you have been formally irreproachable.
However, did you really take care for those entrusted to your keep?
Did you seek their goodness, first, or your own,
your peace and tranquillity?
And when you imposed yourself with the violence of your authority
and they remained silent,
how did you interpret that silence?
The silence of Jesus screams louder than our insults.
Do you know how to listen to the silence of the innocents?

P. That the Lord may give us the strength to carry our responsibilities to the end
and to listen to those entrusted to our care, let us pray…

Song
 Fourth Encounter: Pontius Pilate

P. For the third time he spoke to them: “Why? What crime has this man com-
mitted? I have found in him no grounds for the death penalty. Therefore I will
have him punished and then release him.” But with loud shouts they insistently
demanded that he be crucified, and their shouts prevailed. So Pilate decided to
grant their demand.

Pilate: That Galilean disturbed me.

I thought it was one of their typical religious quarrels,
something to adjudicate quickly.
Instead I realized that the one in front of me was an innocent man.
But he did not leave me any choice.
I had to condemn him because the issue was too risky.
He proclaimed himself king and that complicated everything.
If the news got to Rome that I let an insurrectionist go, my career was ruined.
It was better to eliminate that Galilean and keep the crowd quiet.
He could not do me any damage, the crowd instead could.
He was so meek and so proud at the same time
that he conveyed respect, but he could not create me problems.
He was innocent, I realized it immediately.
However, better to condemn an innocent than to have problems with the emperor.
And I became a symbol, the symbol of one who washes his hands in front of prob-
lems.

You, walking today on the way to the cross,

think about justice in this world.
Trials that last forever,
lawyers that prolong procedures to increase their income,
judges more concerned with their career than to do justice,
innocent people unjustly condemned.
And you, what do you do in regard to small and big injustices?
You say that it is not your business, you shake your head, blame the system.
For sure you think that in my place you would have done better.
Are you sure of that?
Watch your hands: how many times did you wash them?

P. Jesus, servant of God, gave his life for the ultimate triumph of justice in the
world: so that we overcome disinterest and indifference and become involved in
the search for justice and peace, let us pray…

Song
 Fifth Encounter: Simon from Cyrene

P. As they were going out, they met a man from Cyrene, named Simon, and they
forced him to carry the cross.

Simon: I did not understand why me.

I was going home after a day of work in the fields.
I never put my nose in other people’s affairs,
Particularly on matters of politics.
And I was tired. Working in the fields is hard and tiring.
But I did not have much choice. Soldiers have weapons and little scruples.
Better to do what they were asking of me.
Besides, I felt pain for that poor guy.
It was obvious that they had beaten him up
and he was very weak.
I helped him, although it is difficult to speak of help
when help is to go to the cross.
Later I heard about him
and I was happy that in a little way I lessened his pain.

You, walking today on the way to the cross,

ask yourself if you ever had the chance
to alleviate the sufferings of someone else.
Since no one forced you, did you decline to do it?
Did you refuse, saying that you were tired,
that you had nothing to do with it,
that you were just passing by,
that you were a foreigner, a stranger?
When someone is suffering, none of us is a stranger to him.
When the suffering of someone is lessened,
the whole humanity is suffering less.
It is not possible to avoid the way to the cross.
But it is possible to avoid leaving someone walking alone.

P. So that every man and woman feels comforted by Christ when helping others,
in the little every day gestures and in the circumstances when the life of many
depends on the courage of a few, let us pray…

Song
 Sixth Encounter: Veronica

P. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance

that we should desire him.

Veronica. The gospels do not speak of me.

I would have never imagined that after so many years
people still remember me.
I just did what I thought it was necessary.
Blood, sweat and tears on that face
that I had admired when he was talking to the crowds.
Many had listened to him and had known him,
many were now watching as he was led to the cross.
And no one was doing something for him.
It came natural to me, by instinct, to do something.
No face deserves to be disfigured.
And he gave me a great gift. He left me his image.

You, walking today on the way to the cross,

what image of Christ do you have?
Is it a classic image, one taken from a painting
that you keep on the wall?
Is it a little image
that perhaps you keep in a book or in your wallet?
The real image of Christ is the one of those
whose face is covered with blood and mud
and that you were able to wipe, even for a moment.
The real image of Christ is the one that you contemplate
when you rediscover your dignity
after receiving forgiveness.

P. For those who lost respect for themselves and for others, for those who were
disfigured by violence and vice, that they may find welcoming persons, capable of
accompanying them on the way of return, let us pray…

Song
 Seventh Encounter: The Women of Jerusalem

P. A large number of people followed him, including women who mourned and
wailed for him. Jesus turned and said to them, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not
weep for me; weep for yourselves and for your children.”

Women of Jerusalem: We were weeping.

It was not just the compassion that one feels
when seeing someone condemned to death.
It was not just the commotion that we women feel
when seeing someone suffering.
It was despair because hope was vanishing,
The possibility of a change
by someone who did not use women,
did not despise them, did not condemn them.
The children, he told us, be concerned with the children.
What else can we do for our children?
We gave them life, we showed them the way
and we no longer saw them.

You, walking today on the way to the cross,

have you seen our children?
They died on the road, too much speed and too much alcohol;
they died in the factories, too many work accidents;
they died in the discos, too much drug and too much emptiness;
they died in the house, too much boredom and too little hope.
Crying will not bring them back,
But crying helps us understand how to be good mothers,
how to be good children.
The Son taught that to us,
the Son for whom we cried in vain.

P. For the new generations searching for meaning in life, that they may find pas-
sionate believers narrating them the story which gives meaning to every event, let
us pray…

Song
 Eight Encounter: The soldiers

P. When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes, dividing them into four
shares, one for each of them, with the undergarment remaining. This garment
was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom. “Let’s not tear it,” they said
to one another. “Let’s decide by lot who will get it.”

Soldiers: The one dying on the cross does not need clothes.
Instead, we can use them.
After all, the salary of a soldier is meagre.
The undergarment, we assigned it by lot.
The Nazarene was left naked, like all the other criminals.
For us, all convicts were the same.
If they were dying on the cross, it means they had done something wrong.
Why feel compassion for someone who has done wrong?
Just a few hours on the cross and then no one will remember him.
And life continues as usual.

You, walking on the way to the cross,

perhaps you feel disgusted by our attitude.
However, are you sure you did not strip anyone?
You live in a society which advertises nudity,
which exploits and earns on nudity.
You stripped the poor of what they need for living,
you stripped the migrants of the possibility to remain,
you stripped the youth of hope for their future,
you stripped the culprits of the possibility of redemption,
you stripped the planet of its resources.
We gambled on the undergarment.
You are gambling on the survival of humanity.
We did not know much about that Galilean who was crucified.
But you know: why do you keep disrobing
those who are only dressed of the dignity that Christ has given them?

P. For the victims of natural disasters, for those deprived of what is necessary,
for the victims of violence and abuse, that they may find among the believers the
solidarity which comes from being brothers and sisters of Christ, let us pray…

Song
 Ninth Encounter: The Leaders of the People

P. In the same way the chief priests and the teachers of the law mocked him
among themselves. “He saved others,” they said, “but he can’t save himself!”

Leaders: Finally our time has come.

That Galilean gave us many troubles with his message so different from ours,
with his attitude of compassion and mercy,
with his miracles and his goodness.
We told him many times to be careful,
that he was upsetting the whole system.
Enough with alms, sacrifices, temple. He said to pray in spirit and truth.
However, how do you support a religion without organization, collections, ceremo-
nies?
We had to stop him in time and luckily we did it.
At the end we called his bluff.
We challenged him to come down from the cross,
but he was nailed on it and did not come down.
And so everything went back to normal.

You, walking today on the way to the cross,

You have to admit that we were right.
Sure, only a few have remained of our tradition.
The temple is no more nor are sacrifices.
Now you are the majority, the Christians, the disciples of the Nazarene.
However, you did not follow his words.
You also have set up an organization,
churches, ceremonies, priests
and a system of sustenance.
Don’t you think that the Nazarene died on the cross in vain?
Did you not understand that he did not come down from the cross
not because he could not do it, but because he did not want to do it?
Because only if he remained on the cross
the crosses of others could become less unbearable?
We thought we won by putting him on the cross and instead we lost.
Why do you keep putting others on the cross
instead of helping each other to carry it?

P. So that all leaders on earth feel called by Christ to work for the common good,
stopping war among nations and discrimination against the poor, let us pray…

Song
 Tenth Encounter: The Criminals

P. One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the
Messiah? Save yourself and us!” But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you
fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? We are punished
justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing
wrong.” Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”
Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

The Criminals: We deserved it.

It is not possible to live a life of violence and abuse,
and hope to get away with murder.
Finally they caught us and there was no mercy.
It is right. Mercy encourages committing violence.
The one who does wrong must be punished
so that all understand what is right and what is wrong.
We also knew that we could get caught
and the sentence was a capital one, but it was not sufficient to stop us.
However, why did they crucify that Nazarene?
We knew all the criminals of our time and he was not one of them.
On the contrary, we heard that he only had done good.
What justice is the one that punishes innocents and culprits together?
And then I heard him forgive those who put him on the cross.
I also had cursed those who were terminating my life so early.
But then I said: if he can forgive those who crucified him,
then he could forgive me too. And I asked for forgiveness.

You, walking today on the way to the cross,

stop and reflect.
When do you feel more righteous: when you punish those who have done wrong,
or when you feel forgiven of your sins?
Why are you always asking punishment for others and forgiveness for yourself?
Or do you doubt that you could be forgiven?
But if he forgave those who crucified him, if he forgave me, a criminal, why not you
too?
I think that perhaps this is the reason why I died with him.
To continue to tell all those on the way to the cross
that it is a way to learn how to be forgiven.

P. For all the victims, for those who keep resentment, for the families where there
is no dialogue, that they may understand that a gesture of mercy can transform
life, let us pray…

Song
 Eleventh Encounter: Mary

P. Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of
Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple
whom he loved standing nearby, he said to her, “Woman,[b] here is your son,”
and to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” From that time on, this disciple took
her into his home.
Mary: For many years I kept my thoughts to myself.
Thoughts on what was happening to my son,
the preoccupations for the road he was taking,
the things I was hearing about him.
Increasingly I heard of threats
and I could not understand why.
I knew my son, I knew he could not have done anything bad to anyone.
And then it happened.
My son to be killed like a criminal.
What should I say about my past thoughts,
of when he was born, how he grew up, when he left the house?
I kept them for myself, as I keep now the pain to seeing him die.
I cried, but I no longer have tears to cry.
And now that he is dying, once again he shows his tenderness to me.
He did not leave me alone.

You, who have arrived at the end of the way to the cross,
listen to the mother of the man on the cross.
There is no greater suffering than seeing a son die.
That suffering authorizes me to say:
do not suffer alone, trust in me.
If your heart is heavy because you feel abandoned, trust in me.
If your heart is broken because you feel betrayed, trust in me.
If your eyes are dry because you cried too much, trust in me.
If you are too tired and do not want to arrive at the foot of the cross,
keep going, because under the cross you will find me.

P. For the sufferings experienced within the families, for the couples that split up,
for the parents forgotten by the children, for the children led astray, that they
find in Mary the comfort of a mother and hope for a better future, let us pray…

Song
 Twelfth Encounter: Jesus dying on the cross

P. Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spir-
it.” When he had said this, he breathed his last.

Jesus: You, who have arrived at the end of the way to the cross,
stay a while with me, the man on the cross.
If you felt that the way was too harsh,
because it has unravelled your anxieties, your doubts, your contradictions,
remember that I was with you,
that you would not feel too alone.
You must have learned by now that the way to the cross is the way of life.
If you think that the way of life is full of injustice,
think of the injustice I have suffered
and try to be fair toward others.
If you think that the way of life is meaningless,
remember all the encounters I offered you
to help you understand.
If along the way you tempted to stop,
think of all those who are walking with you,
think that I have walked the way before you.
If you would like to walk the way without the cross,
think that the cross you are leaving behind
must be carried by someone else.
If you feel that your cross is too heavy,
think that in carrying it you are helping me carrying my cross.
At the end, if you would like to come down from the cross,
think that I have remained on it
to wait for you and stay with you.
If from the cross everything would seem so dark,
be certain that light will come
because I have risen before you.
I gave you my spirit,
that you may follow me every day with your cross.

P. Challenged by some much suffering, we ask ourselves whether life has mean-
ing: so that we come to believe that wherever there is a cross Jesus’ resurrection
is also taking place, let us pray…

Song
 Thirteenth Encounter: The Centurion

P. And when the centurion, who stood there in front of Jesus, saw how he died, he
said, “Surely this man was the Son of God!”

Centurion: What an experience.

It looked like one of the many executions,
but obviously it was not.
Too many people along the way,
too many leaders participating in it,
too many interests involved in it.
It is not up to us to ask questions.
We are soldiers, we execute orders.
However, this was a gross mistake,
even worse, it was a gross injustice.
A just man was put to death.
I do not believe in God,
but this was an extraordinary man.
I want to say this also to you

Who have arrived at the end of the way to the cross.

He was an extraordinary man for the way in which he died.
Death is the great enemy
from which everyone tries to escape without succeeding.
Therefore, instead of escaping, it is better to face it properly.
For this, one has to be ready.
However, not ready like us soldiers
prepared to face death
by taking life from others.
You should be prepared instead like the Nazarene
who beat death by giving his life.
Be prepared to win against death,
which is the negation of meaning,
by giving meaning through gift.
Giving to the one who wants to take,
filling emptiness not by taking but by giving.

P. For all those who are sick, for those who are lying in bed for a long time with
a disease, that they bear the anxiety of death and accept it with the heart fixed
toward heaven, let us pray…

Song
 Fourteenth Encounter: Joseph of Arimathea

P. Now there was a man named Joseph, a member of the Council, a good and
upright man, who had not consented to their decision and action. He came from
the Judean town of Arimathea, and he himself was waiting for the kingdom of
God. Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus’ body. Then he took it down, wrapped it
in linen cloth and placed it in a tomb cut in the rock, one in which no one had yet
been laid.

Joseph of Arimathea: I took him down from the cross.

He was dead. No one cared about him any longer.
He had suffered too much,
now he had to rest forever, like everyone else.
I put him in a tomb
closed by a stone
where light goes off and the great darkness begins.
Where everyone ends up, where everyone meets again.
Darkness is not the end, it is the preparation.
The grain of wheat fallen into the ground
prepares itself in the darkness to become sally.
The darkness that scares is the darkness that gives no hope.
It is the darkness of one who does not want to walk the way to the cross,
the darkness of one who gets lost on the way to the cross.
I am the last encounter

For you who have ended the way to the cross.

Look into yourself, is there more darkness or light in you
after all the encounters you found along the way,
after the voices you heard,
after seeing the one who was raised on the cross?
Look into yourself, in the darkness a light is about to shine,
the light of the one who has descended into darkness to liberate light,
the light generated by the cross,
the light generated by gift, generated by love.

P. For every person on earth: may she love life with passion to discover that a
seed is hidden in it, the seed planted by the risen Christ, let us pray…

Song
 Conclusion

R. We are now entering the time of waiting.

It is the waiting for mystery to be fulfilled,
for the Father to raise up the Son
and for the community to proclaim him Lord.
It is the waiting also for our new life,
a constant process that gives us hope.
Now that we have finished the way to the cross
we can become a point of reference
for others who begin the way.
The narration of our faith
can explain the reasons for our hope.
The Eastern morning may find us vigilant
so that we may recognize the Author of life,
the one who has given meaning and purpose to our life.

Our Father…

P. Let us pray:

Our Father...

O Lord, the way to the cross

is for us a way of hope,
because we are certain that life is stronger than death,
because we are sure that we are made for resurrection.
Waiting for your Easter,
make us capable of rising from our mediocrity
and give us the possibility to be instruments of resurrection
for those we encounter along the way.
Through Christ our Lord.

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