THE ELEVENTH STATION
Jesus promises his kingdom to the repentant thief
Antiphona
Velum templi scissum est,
et omnis terra tremuit:
Latro de cruce clamabat, dicens:
Memento mei, Domine, dum veneris in regnum tuum.
Antiphon
The veil of the temple was rent
and all the earth trembled.
The robber from the cross cried out, saying:
Remember me, Lord, when you come into your kingdom.
Kyrie eleison.
Christe eleison.
Kyrie eleison.
Pater noster ...
Lord, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.
Our Father ...
Luke 23: 39-43
Now one of the criminals hanging there reviled Jesus, saying, "Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us." The other, however, rebuking him, said in reply, "Have you no fear of God, for you are subject to the same condemnation? And indeed, we have been condemned justly, for the sentence we received corresponds to our crimes, but this man has done nothing criminal." Then he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." He replied to him, "Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise."
Responsoria
V. Viri justi tolluntur
R. Et nemo considerat.
V. In pace factus est locus ejus
R. Et in Sion habitatio ejus.
Responsory
V. Righteous men are taken away
R. And no one considers.
V. In peace is his place
R. And in Sion is his homestead.
Reflection
“Indeed, we have been condemned justly, for the sentence we received corresponds to our crimes” – Nothing we do earns us heaven, and the day that we believe ourselves worthy of it, we lose it. Salvation is given to us as the free gift of the Crucified Lord; of our own efforts, even the best of us deserve eternal death. Our approach to Christ on the Cross defines our whole Christian life. Some reach this point on the Way of the Cross, and seeing Christ Crucified exclaim, “I am saved!”, and then go on their way. Others encountering Christ here plead, “Save me!”, and are forever changed. If there is anything to be learned from Saint Dismas, it is that our approach to the Cross is one of contrite supplication; not something easy for twenty-first century man, who is more used to sound bites like, “take me as I am” and “love the good and the bad”. The Cross should leave no man unchanged and no man unsaved, yet only one of the thieves received eternal life. True contrition for sin attempts no excuses, does not speak of reduced culpability, and does not desire permissive loopholes in the law to save them. The truly contrite do not challenge God to save them as they are. One way or another it is possible to see ourselves in the two thieves that were crucified beside Christ. All have sinned; all are deserving of death. The question for us is the manner in which we die: at peace with Christ or riling against him.
V. Domine, exaudi orationem meam.
R. Et clamor meus ad te veniat.
Oratio
DOMINE Iesu Christe, qui de caelis ad terram de sinu Patris descendisti, et sanguinem tuum pretiosum in remissionem peccatorum nostrorum fudisti: te humiliter deprecamur, ut in die iudicii ad dexteram tuam audire mereamur: VENITE BENEDICTI. Qui vivis et regnas cum Deo Patri in unitate Spiritus Sancti, Deus per omnia saecula saeculorum. Amen.
V. Lord, hear my prayer.
R. And let my cry come before you
Prayer
O LORD Jesus Christ, who out of the bosom of the Father descended from heaven to earth, and shed your most Precious Blood for the remission of our sins; we humbly beseech you, that in the day of judgment we may be found worthy to stand at your right hand, and to hear you say to us, "Come, blessed ones." You, who live and reign with the Father, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God forever and ever. Amen.
