THE EIGHTH STATION
Jesus is helped by Simon of Cyrene
Antiphona
Nos autem gloriari oportet in Cruce Domini nostri Iesu Christi, in quo est salus, vita et resurrectio nostra, per quem salvati et liberati sumus.
Antiphon
It befits us to glory in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, in whom is our salvation, who is our life and resurrection, and through whom we are saved and delivered.
Kyrie eleison.
Christe eleison.
Kyrie eleison.
Pater noster ...
Lord, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.
Our Father ...
Mark 15: 21
They pressed into service a passer-by, Simon, a Cyrenian, who was coming in from the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to carry his cross.
Responsoria
V. Mihi autem absit gloriari, nisi in Cruce Domini nostri Iesu Christi.
R. Per quem mihi mundus crucifixus est et ego mundo.
V. Crux fidelis inter omnes, arbor una nobilis.
R. Nulla silva talem profert, fronde, flore, germine.
Responsory
V. God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.
R. By whom the world is crucified to me, and I to the world.
V. O faithful cross, O peerless tree!
R. No forest yields the like of thee, leaf, flower, or bud.
Reflection
When our sufferings are for Christ and with Christ for the salvation of others, we are never alone in the pain that we endure. Suffering for the Body of Christ, the Church, is suffering with her and her head. The Church has always first been a people of the Cross – for sure in firm hope of the resurrection, but always aware of the redemptive character of suffering love, hence the Apostle Paul’s words, “Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I complete what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church,” (Colossians 1:24). Our Church, and indeed our churches, are built on the bones of the martyrs who have shed their blood for Christ, not so as to earn themselves any special favour in the eyes of God but as a sacrifice in union with their Lord’s for the salvation of the world. In the shadow of the Cross just as in the glory of the resurrection, it is as the Church, the communion of saints, that we stand. And it is in this communion of saints that we find those who would help ease the burden of our cross. The witness of the saints is a beacon of hope in the darkest days of suffering, and their intercession is powerful in obtaining God’s grace to persevere. And in our turn, the sufferings we bear become for the faithful departed and those in life most in need of Christ’s mercy, a source of his redeeming love through his Body, the Church.
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.
