The Way of the Cross
The Canadian Catholic Organization for DEVELOPMENT AND PEACE
March 1998
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REFRAIN:
We adore you, O Christ and we bless you
Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.
The Last Supper
Consider Jesus gathering his special friends together for this last Passover meal, celebrating the people's freedom from slavery. He has headed this grassroots movement of people to form the Reign of God more fully on earth, but the powerful have rejected Him. He leaves his friends, giving them the Eucharist as a new way of being present to them.
Refrain
Where is the community of Jesus today?
In grassroots social movements for justice, peace, and love. With all who gather to work for the coming of the Reign of God in prayer and in the day-to-day activities of life.
1. Jesus is condemned to death
Consider the historical Jesus, the guiltless one, condemned by the powerful people of his society, to die as though he were a criminal.
Refrain
Where is Jesus condemned today?
In the countless community leaders who labour for oppressed workers to be freed. Too often people are condemned to misery by those who control the workplace and the country's economy. Efforts to organize are crushed; codes of conduct for dealing with workers are disregarded.
2. Jesus bears His cross
Look how Jesus accepts the rough cross on his shoulders, knowing that others also carry their particular 'cross.' Jesus gives an example of taking up the challenge, for our sake.
Refrain
Where is Jesus today?
With the fisherfolk and farmers of the Philippines who fish stocks are destroyed by commercial overfishing while more and more of their farmland is controlled by large agricultural businesses.
3. Jesus falls for the first time
Jesus, while bearing his cross falls under its bulk, and smashes into the ground. With pain, he slowly gets up to carry on.
Refrain
Where is Jesus today?
In the peasant people of Chiapas, Mexico, who are harassed and even killed by the military and the local powers and landowners.
4. Jesus meets His Mother
Look at the compassion of these two, Mary and Jesus, as they see the agony of the other person. Their wish is to be able to relieve each other's suffering
Refrain
Where is Jesus today?
With the women working in the maquila factories of Guatemala as they endure humiliating working conditions. Even a they try to organize, they are beaten down.
5. Simon helps Jesus
Simon is forced to help carry the cross. He gradually comes to accept this burden as a way to relieve the suffering of another man who does not deserve this pain.
Refrain
Where is Jesus today?
Among the landless peasants of Brazil who struggle to survive while 42 percent of privately owned land lies fallow.
6. Veronica wipes the face of Jesus
Veronica is one brave woman! She steps forward in spite of the jeers and scoffing all around, to wipe the face of Jesus. She understands love in action.
Refrain
Where is Jesus today?
With the Peruvian women in the community kitchens, as they come to mutually support the poorest among them.
7. Jesus falls for the second time
Jesus falls again under the weight of the cross. His way of the cross is a difficult path, one on which he stumbles, but continues in spite of the pain. He is ready to take on this pain for us.
Refrain
Where is Jesus today?
With the Haitians who are creating a just country after years of violence. To prevent recurrences of this evil, they are asking the government to bring violators of human rights to justice.
8. Jesus speaks to the women
The women of Jerusalem are quite a mixture. Some cry for him in his pain, and others scoff. Jesus challenges them to genuine compassion.
Refrain
Where is Jesus today?
With the fisherfolk of Senegal who are being pushed aside by the foreign trawlers. Their traditional fishing areas are emptied and their lives are impoverished.
9. Jesus falls for the third time
Once again Jesus falls under the weight of the cross. Once again he rises. He still has to live a little longer. There is one more challenge to face.
Refrain
Where is Jesus today?
In the Indigenous peoples of the Philippines whose ancestral lands have been stolen and deforested. The struggle for their rights seems to fail and fail again.
10. Jesus is stripped of his garments
The soldiers now fiercely rip the clothing off his back, leaving him naked before the crowd. They jeer at him, mocking him in his distress.
Refrain
Where is Jesus today?
In the peasant farmers of Brazil who were stripped of their lands. They sought a living in the cities but were lost without work, without a community, without their cultural ties.
11. Jesus is nailed to the cross
For three year Jesus freely taught the Reign of God. Now, as the soldiers nail him down with fierce hammer-blows, Jesus is imprisoned upon the cross. He gives up his freedom to set us free.
Refrain
Where is Jesus today?
In the Peruvian people falsely accused and unjustly jailed.
12. Jesus dies on the cross
Jesus hangs on the tree, the tree of life, for three agonizing hours. He cries: "My God, why have you forsaken me?" He feels alone, abandoned. He needs someone to be there with him as he gives up his life.
Refrain
Where is Jesus today?
In the innocent of Chiapas, butchered by those who wanted to maintain control over the poor. Some died at the hands of other peasants who, fearing for their own life, were pressured to kill youths falsely accused of being 'revolutionaries.'
13. The body of Jesus is taken down
Mary, John and Joseph of Arimathea take Jesus down from the cross, and caress his bruised and broken body, now lifeless. Can t be that He will live again?
Refrain
Where is Jesus today?
In the widows of Guatemala whose husbands were killed by the military. They had to accept this loss, to let go of it, and move on.
14. Jesus is laid in the tomb
The body is hurriedly wrapped in cloth, then placed for a time in the borrowed tomb. The proper preparations will have to wait until after the Sabbath.
Refrain
Where is Jesus today?
In the National Collective of Traditional Fishers. They know that individually they will accomplish little to regain their rights, but together in community they can re-establish their way of life.
Jesus rises from the dead
We know that the body is dead, yet new life springs eternal. There is a resurrection. The unexpected happens. Jesus is alive, alive in us.
Refrain
Jesus Christ is risen in all who believe in Him and love their neighbour. Today we know this requires individual acts of love, but it also requires the whole community working together in love for the common good.
Way of the Cross taken from the SHARE LENT 1998 kit produced by the Canadian catholic Organization for Development & Peace, 10 St. Mary Street, Ste. 420, Toronto, ON, M4Y 1P9. Toll free: 1-800-494-1401.
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