Father John A. Hardon, S.J. Archives

Prayer

Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius

THE WAY OF THE CROSS

by Fr. John A. Hardon, S.J.

During many centuries pious Christians went as pilgrims to Jerusalem, but when the Holy land was taken over by the Moslems these pilgrimages ceased. As a result, in many parts of Europe the custom arose of placing pictures in churches, representing the journey to Calvary. Probably the first to do this was Blessed Alvarez, a Dominican, at Cordova in Spain. About 1350 the Franciscans adopted the practice in Italy and even today the privilege of erecting the stations of the Cross belongs by apostolic indult to the Order of Friars Minor.

The stations are fourteen in number, although in the past, in different places, the number varied from eleven to sixteen. They may begin on either side of the church.

The devotion has always been highly indulgenced to a point where in 1931 Pius XI annulled the existing indulgences, which had become incalculable. Instead the following were decreed: (1) a plenary indulgence each time for all the faithful who, at least with contrite hearts, either singly or in groups, perform the Way of the Cross. To gain this plenary indulgence - -. No special prayers are prescribed, nor is it necessary to leave and reenter the church in order to gain it repeatedly; (2) another plenary indulgence for those who receive Holy Communion on the same day on which they have made the Way of the Cross, or within a month from the time when they have completed in ten times (3) a partial indulgence of ten years for each of the stations, in case, having begun the exercise, they failed for any reasonable cause to finish it.

A Station Crucifix is a crucifix specially blessed for the indulgences of the Way of the Cross by a priest having the faculty, with a single sign of the cross. The conditions for gaining the indulgences of the Way of The Cross with the crucifix so bless are: (1) Persons impeded from visiting the stations by other causes than sickness must hold the crucifix in their hands, or, if any reasonable cause, prevents this, must carry it with them in some way, and must moreover recite twenty Paters, Aves, and Glorias (fourteen for the stations, five for the five wounds, and one for the Intention of the Holy Father, (2) the sick who cannot visit the stations may of course gain the indulgences as above described, but if they are unable without grave inconvenience to fulfill those conditions they can gain all the indulgences of the Way of the Cross if with a loving and contrite heart they either kiss or even look at any crucifix which has been blessed for this purpose, and which is shown to them by a priest or by any other persons, and recite some short prayer or aspiration (even Mentally) in memory of the passion and death of our Lord.

In making the station only two things are required: to move from one to the other without notable interruption between them, and to meditate on the Passion.

It is not required, although certainly proper, to meditate on the particular mystery of the Passion represented by the station one is visiting. Neither is it necessary to say vocal prayers while making the stations, or after making them to pray for the intention of the Holy Father. If one cannot move about because of a crowd, or if the stations are being made publicly, it is sufficient to turn toward each station.

As a person walks from one station to the next, he first identifies the station and then says, "We adore Thee O Christ and we bless Thee because by Thy Holy Cross, Thou hast redeemed the world." And genuflecting while making that aspiration. At the Stations you may close with an Our Father and a Hail Mary and even adding, "may the souls of the faithful departed through the mercy of God rest in peace. Amen."

According to Benedict XIV, the Way of the Cross is one of he best means for converting sinners, stirring up fervor in the hearts of the lukewarm, and leading virtuous souls on to perfection.

Act of Contrition

My Lord Jesus Christ, Thou has made this journey to die for me with love unutterable, and I have so many times unworthy abandoned Thee, but now I love Thee with my whole heart, and because I love Thee I repent sincerely forever having offended Thee. Pardon me, my God, and permit me to accompany Thee on this journey. Thou dost go to die for love of me. I wish also, my beloved Redeemer, to die for love of Thee. My Jesus, I will live and die always united to Thee. (St. Alphonsus Liguori)

At the cross her station keeping, stood the mournful Mother weeping, close to Jesus to the last.

The First Station

Jesus is condemned to death

V. We adore Thee, O Christ, and we bless Thee.
R. Because by Thy holy cross Thou hast redeemed he world.

Priest: Pontius Pilate was convinced that Jesus was innocent. But as St. John tells us, the Jews kept shouting, "If you release this man you are no friend of Caesar, anyone who declares himself a king, that person renounces allegiance." And Pilate tried desperately to save Jesus, he even took The Savior and stood Him in front of the crowd asking, "Am I to crucify your king?" But the multitude shouted back, "We have no king but Caesar." As a result the procurator handed Jesus over to them to be crucified. It is no wonder that Pilate's name has been commemorated over the centuries as the coward in the Apostle Creed. We say, we believe in Jesus Christ who suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried. Pilate is a lesson for all of us, he allowed himself to be intimidated by the crowd. He condemned a just man to death out of fear. He was a victim of human respect. He was a man in civil authority who became, I repeat, the most cowardly judge in history.

People: Lord Jesus, protect me from becoming a slave of human respect. Give me the courage to remain faithful to Your teaching and loyal to Your name. Keep me from being scandalized at the persecution of Your Church by those who claim they have no king but Caesar. Grant me the grace to be witness to You even to martyrdom by proclaiming before the world that You are my God who became man, that You might be able to die out of love for me. Amen.

Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory be to the Father, etc.

May the souls of the faithful departed through the mercy of God rest in peace. Amen.

Through her heart, His sorrow sharing, all his biter anguish bearing, now at length the sword had passed.

The Second Station

Jesus embraces the Cross

V. We adore Thee, O Christ, and we bless Thee.
R. Because by Thy holy cross Thou has redeemed the world.

Priest: Between the first and second stations lies the whole mystery of Christianity. Christ was unjustly condemned to death. The envy of the Pharisees, the hatred of the Scribes, the treachery of Judas, and the cowardice of Pilate, all explain on human terms why Jesus was sentenced to capital punishment for crimes He did not commit. But that is only the surface of the story of the Passion. God the Father was beneath it all. When He sent His only Son into the world, He did so in order that His Son might redeem the world. He was to do so by more than merely enduring the humiliating death of Calvary. He was to redeem a sinful human race by choosing to die for our sins. Even more, He chose to die at the hands, and the eyes, and lips of those who brought on His death. All of this is symbolized in the Second Station of the Via Crucis. It was not coincidental, but profoundly significant that the Savior told us that we are to carry our cross daily and follow Him. The key words are, `take up, take up' that's why we have a will. The most important gift of God to human nature is a free will. And the most generous gift we can offer God with this free will of ours is to give to Him in sacrifice by giving up what we like and by enduring what we don't like.

People: My Jesus, open my eyes to see as You did beyond the ingratitude and cruelty of human beings, touching my life and the lives of those who are dear to me. Help me to see, by the light of faith as You saw in vision how the patient acceptance of the pain caused by others is really my cooperation in Your redemption of a sin laden humanity. Give me the strength to take up my cross as You took up Yours on the way through Calvary to a happy eternity. Amen.

Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory be to the Father, etc.

May the souls of the faithful departed through the mercy of God rest in peace. Amen.

Oh, how sad and sore distressed, was that Mother highly blessed, of the sole begotten One!

Third Station

Jesus falls under the cross the first time

V. We adore Thee, O Christ, and we bless Thee.
R. Because by Thy holy cross Thou hast redeemed the world.

Priest: Three Stations of the Cross remind us of Christ's true humanity. As He falls three times under the weight of the cross, each of these falls of the Savior is a powerful manifestation of how literally He was made flesh and dwelt among us. Christ the second Person of the Trinity became man, man, real man, like us, in all things but sin. His falls under the cross en route to Calvary tells us more than meets the bodily eye. They teach us, that the Almighty because a helpless child at birth, and fell under the burden of the cross on the way to His death by crucifixion. These falls also tell us that if we are to become like Him, we too must be willing to endure whatever weakness God sends us: The secret into seeing the Divine will behind these humiliations, so far from complaining we should unite these experiences with our Lord as He collapses under the cross on that first Good Friday.

People: Almighty, Lord Jesus, I believe You are my God, but I also believe that out of love for sinful man, You assumed our human nature with all its limitations except for sin. As You fell the first time under the cross. You are teaching me a sinner, what I desperately need to learn. That I need the humility which makes me, not only accept my natural human weakness, but sees in this weakness a blessed opportunity of expiating my offenses against Your Divine Majesty. Amen.

Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory be to the Father, etc.

May the souls of the faithful departed through the mercy of God rest in peace. Amen.

Christ above in torment hangs. She beneath beholds the pangs, Of her dying, glorious Son.

Fourth Station

Jesus meets His afflicted Mother

V. We adore Three, O Christ, and we bless Thee.
R. Because by Thy holy cross Thou hast redeemed the world.

Priest: Tradition tells us that Mary was among the people who cried (out) for Her Son's crucifixion. When Pilate condemned Jesus to be crucified, we are told, Mary ran on ahead to a crossing in the street so that Jesus and she would meet on the way. She was close to Him as He reached the crossing. But so we are told, she was prevented, by the soldiers, from speaking to her Son. Their eyes met, but they spoke to each other only with their hearts. The Church calls Mary's role in cooperation with Jesus, her compassion. He suffered all the malevolent devices of His enemies, from being betrayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, to the scourging, crowning with thorns and now the agony of carrying the cross. She suffered internally, as only a mother can, by joining herself in spirit with her suffering Son. All of this was predicted by Simeon at, Christ's presentation at the temple. After he had sung his Benedictus thanking God for having seen the Messiah, he foretold that Mary would suffer deeply because her Son would be persecuted. Mary suffered intensely. This prophecy was fulfilled to the letter during Christ's mortal life on earth and it reached its peak during His Way of the Cross en route to Calvary.

People: Mary, Mother of Jesus and our mother, obtain for us something of your wisdom and in seeing the providential purpose of suffering in our lives. You've suffered intensely in union with the passion of your Son. You suffered out of love for Him and out of love for us. You foresaw by faith how many souls would be saved because Jesus made His Way of the Cross. Give us, dear Mother, the wisdom to unite our sufferings with those of Jesus and those of your heart for the continuing co-redemption of the world. Amen.

Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory be to the Father, etc.

May the souls of the faithful departed through the mercy of God rest in peace. Amen.

Is there one who would not weep, whelmed in miseries so deep? Christ's dear Mother to behold?

Fifth Station

Simon of Cyrene helps Jesus carry the cross

V. We adore Thee, O Christ, and we bless Thee.
R. Because by Thy holy cross Thou hast redeemed the world.

Priest: This by the way is the correct title of the Station. That Simon helped Jesus to carry the cross. This is clear from the statement in John's Gospel, quote "bearing His own cross, He went forth to that place which is called Calvary, but in Hebrew, Golgotha. Simon for a while helped, and helped Jesus under duress, but Christ carried the cross Himself. The first three evangelists all mention that a certain Simon from Cyrene was forced by the Roman soldiers to help Christ carry the cross after Jesus. The significance of Simon the Cyrenean cannot be exaggerated, he symbolizes our role in the redemption. Christ won the graces we need by His death on Calvary, but we must cooperate with these graces in order to merit or earn our salvation. Even the fact that Simon was ordered to help Jesus is important. Cooperating with the divine grace can be naturally unpleasant. We may not like to do what we know God wants us to do, so what? The important thing is that our wills choose to do what God wants.

People: Lord Jesus teach me as you taught Simon of Cyrene, to collaborate with You in the redemption of souls. They are redeemed by Your blood shed on Calvary but not without readiness to do our part, no less than Simon. We must believe that You want us, without actually speaking needing us, to carry our share of the cross as You sent to Your Calvary and we walk our way of the cross. Amen.

Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory be to the Father, etc.

May the souls of the faithful departed through the mercy of God rest in peace. Amen.

Can the human heart refrain, from partaking in her pain, in that Mother's pain untold?

Sixth Station

Veronica wipes the face of Jesus

V. We adore Thee, O Christ, and we bless Thee.
R. Because by Thy holy cross Thou hast redeemed the world.

Priest: Tradition tells us that a pious woman by the name of Veronica braved the Roman soldiers and offered a veil to Jesus to wipe His bleeding face. We are further told that Jesus accepted her offer, wiped His bleeding countenance and left a miraculous image of His face on Veronica's veil. The principle lesson this station teaches us is the need for showing others our loving sympathy in their suffering and trials. Christ's humanity was never more revealed than in allowing Himself to suffer, suffer the pain of bloodshed in the Garden of Gethsemane, in the scourging, crowning with thorns, and now on the Way to Calvary. This is God shedding blood. Simon of Cyrene was impressed into service to help Jesus physically in carrying the cross with his bodily limbs. Now Veronica voluntarily offers her veil to help Jesus spiritually in carrying the cross. Where Simon symbolized the corporal works of mercy. Veronica typified the spiritual works of mercy. Yet both works of mercy are to be practiced. And in both cases, and here is the key, we are to see Jesus in every needy person whose life we touch. That is the lesson of Christian charity. Christ tells us, "Whatever you have done to the least of these you have done to Me. "On the way to Damascus, Christ asked the persecuting Saul, "'Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me.?" This is the crowning motive for our practice of self-sacrificing charity. Everyone needs to be helped to carry the cross, and everyone needs our loving compassion for the sufferings and trials in their way of the cross.

People: Lord Jesus, give me the spirit of compassion for those who are suffering. Help me to see You in them so that I too may receive Your merciful compassion as a sinner in return. Amen

Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory be to the Father, etc.

May the souls of the faithful departed through the mercy of God rest in peace. Amen.

Bruised, derided, cursed, defiled, she beheld her tender Child, all with bloody scourges rent.

Seventh Station

Jesus falls the second time

V. We adore Thee, O Christ, and we bless Thee.
R. Because by Thy holy cross Thou hast redeemed the world

Priest: We may wonder why Jesus is reported as falling a second time under the cross. The reason is obvious; our Lord was truly human. Moreover, for our sake He chose to be weak. Indeed, weakened by the trials of the scourging, the crowning with thorns and the heavy weight of the cross to Calvary. His second fall, therefore, corresponds to His second return to the disciples in the Garden of Olives. He needed the moral support of His chosen disciples but they disappointed Him. How we need to stress the importance of recognizing Christ's humanity during the passion. Christ's human body was weakened in the extreme, His second fall under the weight of the cross brings out how deeply the Savior humiliated Himself for our sake. The collapse of His body to the ground symbolized the depth of humility that Jesus practiced in order to merit the grace of redemption from our pride

People: My Jesus, by Your second fall under the cross You expiated my repeated falls into pride. I beg of You, by Your witness of such humility, to give me the grace never to fall into mortal sin for the rest of my life. Amen.

Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory be to the Father, etc.

May the souls of the faithful departed through the mercy of God rest in peace

For the sins of His own nation, saw Him hang in desolation, till His spirit fourth He sent.

Eighth Station

Jesus comforts the women of Jerusalem

V. We adore Thee, O Christ, and we bless Thee.
R. Because by Thy holy cross Thou hast redeemed the world.

Priest: St. Luke gives the most extensive description of the Way of the Cross. He relates that a great crowd followed Jesus, how the people and the women who were bewailing and lamenting Him. But Jesus turning to them said, "Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for Me, but weep for yourselves and for one another." Our Lord continues. "Behold days are coming in which men will say, "Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bore, and breasts that never nursed." They will begin to say to the mountains, "Fall upon us, and to the hills, `cover us!' For if in the green wood they do these things, what is to happen in the case of the dry?" Unquote, Jesus. It was surely a most mysterious language to the women of Jerusalem. Christ is here predicting the destruction of Jerusalem, which took place just one generation later in the year 70 A. D. The Romans besieged Jerusalem, which had rebelled against the Roman rulers. Not only was Jerusalem destroyed, but the Jewish nation was all but annihilated. Tens of thousands were killed by the sword, other thousands died of starvation, thousands were crucified, thousands were sold into slavery. This was the same city over which Jesus had wept, as He said, because Jerusalem had not recognized its day of visitation. It rejected the Messiah when He came.

People: Dear Jesus, my Savior teach me the hardest lesson I need to learn in life. The humility of acknowledging my own sinfulness in order to obtain from You the mercy of your forgiveness and the restitution of Your grace. Amen.

Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory be to the Father, etc.

May the souls of the faithful departed through the mercy of God rest in peace.

O Thou Mother! Fount of love, touch my spirit from above. Make my heart with thine accord.

Ninth Station

Jesus falls the third time

V. We adore Thee, O Christ, and we bless Thee.
R. Because by Thy holy cross Thou has redeemed the world.

Priest: Only one station intervenes between the second and third fall of the Savior on His way to Golgotha. Christian tradition assures us the Simon of Cyrene helped Jesus part of the way in carrying His cross, yet most of the way Our Lord had to carry the cross alone. Moreover, Jesus would have, naturally speaking died long before He had reached Calvary. He had to sustain Himself miraculously, hear it, let me repeat Christ had to sustain Himself miraculously in order to survive The murderous drainage of blood caused by the scourging. His body would not have been able, naturally, to remain alive through the long Via Crucis. Admitting this however, let’s be sure that Jesus was very selective in the miracles that He performed. Christ wanted to make sure that we've got no illusions about the deep human character of His nature, about the agonizing pain He was experiencing, as He was dragging His cross to the Mount of Crucifixion. That is why He fell a third time in the last steps He took in His mortal life. As God, I repeat, He miraculously sustained His body through the deadly ordeal of the passion, but as man, He revealed His humanity, especially, on two occasions, in the agony in the garden and in the collapse under the burden of the cross. We need this lesson to teach us, as Jesus told us, we must carry our cross daily if we want to be His disciples. His example of falling under the cross should inspire us. It is simply human to find this, sometimes burdensome, life on earth so difficult to bear. But Our Lord assures us that by His grace, the Yoke is made easy and the burden becomes light.

People: Our Redeemer, You fell a third time under the cross to protect us from the folly of thinking we can follow You to glory without following You in suffering. We know that Your footsteps on the road to Calvary were stained with blood. But we also know that You will give us the grace, if need be, even to shedding our blood out of love for you. Amen.

Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory be to the Father, etc.

May the souls of the faithful departed through the mercy of God rest in peace.

Make me feel as thou hast felt: Make my soul to glow and melt, with the love of Christ, my Lord.

Tenth Station

Jesus is stripped of His garments

V. We adore Thee, O Christ, and we bless Thee.
R. Because by Thy holy cross Thou hast redeemed the world.

Priest: We know that Jesus was stripped of His garments before He was crucified. The evangelist testify to the fact of the soldiers, when they had crucified Him, took His garments and made of them four parts to each soldier a part and also the tunic. Now the tunic was without seam and woven in one piece from the top. They therefore said to one another, "let us not tear it, but let us cast lots for it to see who's it shall be." How the Scriptures might be fulfilled which say, "'They divided my garments among them, and for my vesture, they cast lots." Our Lord was stripped of His garments in order to expiate our sins of unchastity. He was thus humiliated on Calvary in His physical body and He is being thus humiliated today in the members of His Mystical Body. The world hates Christianity for preaching purity. The world seeks to destroy authentic Christianity for daring to stigmatize contraception as mutual masturbation, adultery as selfish indulgence of lust, and homosexuality as the destruction of human society. When Christ foretold that His followers would be persecuted, He especially meant, they would be persecuted by a sex, intoxicated world for their practice and profession of chastity.

People: Lord Jesus, You allowed Your holy body to be stripped of its garments on Calvary. By the grace You won for us on that first Good Friday, grant us the strength to remain chaste in our service of Your Divine Majesty. Amen.

Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory to be the Father, etc.

May the souls of the faithful departed through the mercy of God rest in peace."

Holy Mother! Pierce me through. In my heart each wound renew, of my Savior crucified.

Eleventh Station

Jesus is nailed to the Cross

V. We adore Thee, O Christ and we bless Thee.
R. Because by Thy holy cross Thou hast redeemed the world.

Priest: One of the mysteries of our faith is why the Son of God chose to be nailed to the cross in order to redeem the world. It is important to stress the choice, which God had in redeeming a sinful mankind. He need not have

become man, He need not have suffered and died, He need not have suffered and died by being, not just crucified, but crucified by being nailed, hands and feet to the cross. Not all criminals were nailed to the cross. Crucifixion by nailing was intended as a deepening of humiliation, an intensifying of pain, and a publicizing of the crime for which a person was executed. On all three levels, Christ being nailed to the cross was to emphasize the ultimacy of suffering that Jesus chose to undergo for the salvation of the world. It was also to be the acme of love. That God became man to manifest to us the highest form of suffering as a proof of the highest form of love.

People: Lord Jesus, teach me to never run away from the cross in my life. Teach me to cherish the blessed grace of uniting myself with You, by being nailed like You, to the cross that Your love choose to share with me in my life. Amen.

Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory be to the Father, etc.

May the souls of the faithful departed through the mercy of God rest in peace.

Let me share with thee His pain, who for all our sins was slain, who for me in torments died.

Twelfth Station

Jesus dies on the Cross

V. We adore Thee, O Christ, and we bless Thee.
R. Because by Thy holy cross Thou hast redeemed the world.

Priest: The death of Jesus Christ on Calvary is the single most important event in world history. The terms B. C. (before Christ), and A. D. (Anno Domini) are not just convenient labels. They now shape the calendars of all nations. These terms mark the turning point in the annals of mankind. The seven words of our Lord on the cross are the most eloquent sermon ever preached, how we need to hear them. They are words of mercy for His enemies, words of promise for the repentant, words of thirst for our love, words of satisfaction at completing the task assigned by the Father. And finally, words of entrusting His human spirit into the hands of the same Father who sent Him to redeem a sinful world.

People: Lord Jesus, as I look upon You hanging on the cross, there's only one prayer I am moved to make. It is the Anima Christi.

Soul of Christ sanctify me,
Body of Christ save me
Blood of Christ inebriate me.
Water from the side of Christ wash me,
Passion of Christ strengthen me,
O good Jesus hear me,
Within our wounds hide me.
Permit me not to be separated from you,
From the wicked foe defend me,
At the hour of my death call me,
And bid me come to You that with Your saints
I may praise You forever and ever. Amen.

Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory be to the Father, etc.

May the souls of the faithful departed through the mercy of God rest in peace.

Let me mingle tears with thee, mourning Him who mourned for me, all the days that I may live.

Thirteenth Station

Jesus is taken down from the cross and placed in the arms of His Mother

V. We adore thee, O Christ, and we bless Thee.
R. Because by Thy holy cross Thou hast redeemed the world.

Priest: This is the constant belief of the Church, that after He died, Jesus was taken down from the cross and placed in the arms of His mother. The Thirteenth Station is also identified with the Sixth Sorrow of the Seven Dolours of Mary. It was only fitting in God's mysterious plan that Mary, who gave her Son the body, which expired on the cross, would also have embraced this lifeless body from which the soul had left for redemption of the world.

People: Mary, Mother of Sorrows, you held in your arms the expired body of your Son. You expiated for all of us, as we unite ourselves with your Immaculate Heart, we promise to spend our lives in expiation to the Sacred Heart for the sins of the whole world. Amen.

Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory be to the Father, etc.

May the souls of the faithful departed through he mercy of God rest in peace.

By the cross with thee to stay, there with thee to weep and pray, is all I ask of thee to give.

Fourteenth Station

Jesus is laid in the tomb

V. We adore Thee, O Christ, and we bless Thee.
R. Because by Thy holy cross Thou hast redeemed the world.

Priest: The burial of Christ is crucial to a full understanding of our faith. This was the ultimate humiliation of God, who out of love for us began His earthly life in the womb of His Virgin Mother and closed His mortal stay by being buried in the tomb of the earth. Like Him, we too, must die and be buried, buried to the passing pleasures of this world, if we hope to join Him in the heavenly home on high, which He is preparing for us. This is at once the secret and the joy of our faith. If we have died and been buried with Christ here on earth, we shall be glorified with Him, and by Him, in the life to come. It was no coincidence that Jesus was buried in a donated tomb. Just as He was born in a stable because there was no room for Him in the inn, so He is buried in a plot of ground that a disciple freely gave as an act of charity. Humility from beginning to end characterizes the mortal life of Jesus Christ. Why, because humility is the one virtue that we most need to reach our eternal destiny.

People: Jesus, my Lord and my God, I beg You to wean my heart from all the toys and trinkets of this world. Give me such a deep love of You as to follow You in your footsteps, even to being buried to everything else, except to pleasing You and doing Your divine will. Amen.

Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory be to the Father, etc.

May the souls of the faithful departed through the mercy of God rest in peace.

Virgin of all virgins blest! Listen to my fond request: Let me share thy grief divine.

Return to the high altar, and say Pater, Ave, and Gloria, five times in honor of the Passion of Jesus Christ, to gain the other indulgences granted to those who recite them.

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