The statues are bronze and are life size. They are on the campus of the National Chapel of Divine Mercy, Stockbridge, Mass.
The photos are courtesy of Skip Trombetti.
Preparatory Prayer
O Jesus, our adorable Savior, we now contemplate Your sacred passion. Help us to understand that the sufferings of our life are the continuation of Your passion. We ask for strength of our souls to go through our passion, in the spirit with which You went through Yours. Amen.
Before each station:
V. We adore You, O Christ, and we bless You.
R. Because by Your holy Cross, You have redeemed the world.
After each station, recite a personal prayer followed by
V. Have mercy on us, O Lord.
R. Have mercy on us.
Leaving the house of Caiaphas, where he had been blasphemed, and the house of Herod, where he had been been mocked, Jesus is dragged before Pilate, his back torn with scourges, his head crowned with thorns; and he, who on the last day will judge the living and the dead, is himself condemned to a disgraceful death.
A heavy cross is laid upon the bruised shoulders of Jesus. He receives it with meekness and with a sense of commitment, for it is the instrument with which he is to redeem the world and to accomplish the mission for which his heavenly Father has sent him.
Bowed down under the weight of the cross, Jesus slowly sets forth on the way to Calvary, amidst the mockeries and insults of the crowd. His agony in the garden has exhausted his body. He is lacerated with blows and wounds; his strength fails Him. He falls to the ground under his cross.
Still burdened with his cross, and wounded yet more by his fall, Jesus proceeds on His way. He is met by his loving mother. What a meeting that must have been! What a sword of anguish must have pierced the mother’s heart! What must have been the compassion of that Son for his holy mother!
As the strength of Jesus fails, and he is unable to proceed, the executioners seize and compel Simon of Cyrene to carry His cross. The grace of that cross changes the Cyrenean’s heart and from the compulsory task, it becomes a privilege and joy.
As Jesus proceeds along the way covered with the sweat of blood, a woman, moved with compassion, makes her way through the crowd, and wipes his face with a handkerchief. As a reward for her piety, the impression of His sacred countenance is miraculously imprinted upon the handkerchief.
The pain of his wounds; and the loss of blood increasing at every step of his way, weakens him; and Jesus falls to the ground for the second time.
At the sight of the sufferings of Jesus, some holy women in the crowd were so touched with sympathy that they openly bewailed and lamented for Him. Jesus, knowing the things that would befall Jerusalem because of its rejection of him, turned to them and said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, weep for yourselves and for your children”.
Jesus has almost arrived at the summit of Calvary, but before he reaches the spot where he is to be crucified, his strength again fails Him, and he falls the third time.
Jesus at last arrives at Golgotha and they prepare to crucify Him. They strip Him of His garments and mock Him.
The cross is laid upon the ground and Jesus is stretched upon His bed of death. With divine dignity and forgiveness, he lets himself be nailed to the cross. The blows are struck! The blood gushes forth!
For three hours, Jesus has hung upon His pierced hands. His blood has run in streams down his body, and onto the ground. In the midst of excruciating suffering, he has pardoned his murderers, given heaven to the good thief, and committed his blessed mother to his beloved disciple’s care. His mission of love has been accomplished. He bows his head and gives up his Spirit to God.
The multitudes have left the hill of Calvary. There is no one except the beloved disciple of Jesus and the holy women with Mary, the mother of Jesus. Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus take down the body of Jesus from the cross and place him in the arms of his afflicted mother.
The disciples take the body of her dear beloved Son Jesus from his mother, and place it in the tomb. The tomb is closed and in it the lifeless body remains until the hour of its glorious resurrection.
