The Seventh Station: Jesus Bears the Cross

Location: overlooking Birling Gap

Leader: We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you.

Genuflect

People: Because by your holy cross, you have redeemed the world.

Stand

Reader: A reading from the Gospel according to John (19:6,15–17)
When the chief priests and the officers saw him, they cried out, “Crucify him, crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves and crucify him, for I find no crime in him.” They cried out, “Away with him, away with him, crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar.” Then he handed him over to them to be crucified. So, they took Jesus, and he went out, bearing his own cross, to the place called the place of a skull, which is called in Hebrew Golgotha.

Sit/Kneel

Leader:
We are called to take up our cross every day. God will send every one of us his cross, not as a burden but out of his love for us. We all experience suffering and that burden can at times be painful. However, with God’s grace that suffering is transformed into something beautiful in a sinful world. Rather than being lost we find meaning in this world and the next.

Let us pray:
Heavenly Father, that you took up your cross so we may be saved, help us to gain strength from your teachings so we can pick up our cross daily. As you began your journey with the cross, as you bore your cross, help us to bear ours. Amen.

All stand

Leader: Lord, have mercy. People: Lord, have mercy.
Leader: Christ, have mercy. People: Christ, have mercy.
Leader: Lord, have mercy. People: Lord, have mercy.

 

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Additional prayers: p17

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