THE SECOND STATION
Jesus is betrayed by Judas and Arrested
Antiphona
Unus ex discipulis meis tradet me hodie:
Vae illi per quem tradar ego:
Melius illi erat si natus non fuisset.
Antiphon
One of my disciples will betray me today.
Woe to him by whom I am betrayed.
It were better for him had he never been born.
Kyrie eleison.
Christe eleison.
Kyrie eleison.
Pater noster ...
Lord, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.
Our Father ...
Mark 14:43-46
While Jesus was still speaking, Judas, one of the Twelve, arrived, accompanied by a crowd with swords and clubs, who had come from the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders. His betrayer had arranged a signal with them, saying, "the man I shall kiss is the one; arrest him and lead him away securely." He came and immediately went over to him and said, "Rabbi." And he kissed him. At this they laid hands on him and arrested him.
Responsoria
V. Amicus meus osculi me tradidit signo:
R. Quem osculatus fuero, ipse est, tenete eum:
V. Denariorum numero
R. Christum Iudaeis tradidit.
Responsory
V. The sign by which my friend betrayed me was a kiss:
R. He whom I kiss, that is he: hold him fast.
V. For a number of dinarii,
R. He betrayed Christ to the Jews.
Reflection
They came with armed soldiers to arrest the Prince of Peace, but there was no struggle to evade the suffering laid out before him, only the words “I am he”. Many blame God for the suffering they see in the world and experience in their own lives, believing it contrary to the love and compassion of the Creator, as if it were something inflicted by God himself out of spite. They fail to remember that God did not create a fallen world but one with the full freedom of love. But that freedom was abused and its love spurned in the selfish indifference that spawns pride, greed, lust, wrath, gluttony, envy, and sloth, and which is the root of suffering and death. Yet God, seeing the suffering of his creation, was not untouched by it but embraced it in Christ so as to place, beyond mortal death, the original destiny of man: life in union with the eternal love of God – a hope in the vision of God’s suffering love for man that enlightens our path through the suffering of this world with humility, charity, chastity, patience, temperance, kindness, and diligence; suffering the consequences of sin with love and for love. The Way of the Cross continues with the correct disposition towards suffering. That we must encounter suffering in this life is a given; that we endure it with Christ is entirely in our hands.
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.
