The Way of the Cross for Our Enemies

First Station: Jesus is Condemned to Death

Nineteen hundred years ago Pilate condemned Jesus to death on three false charges: that He was perverting the na­tion, that He refused to give tribute to Caesar, and that He called Himself a King. The modern Pilates condemn Him to the cross on exactly the same false charges. The Caesar that set himself up as the judge of God then, is today declaring that God and His Church derive their authority from the State. Thus it is that today, as yesterday, the words of the Creed ring true: Jesus Christ is still "suffering under Pontius Pilate."

0 Jesus, by Thy submission to the un­just judgments of these new Pilates, Thou dost suggest that Thy Mystical Body, the Church, must also suffer under the Pon­tius Pilates of the State. But in Thy Mercy, grant these States, even at the moment they condemn us, an understand­ing of what Thou didst tell Pilate: “There is no power but from God." But let us also see the more sad and tragic truth, that if we who profess to be Thy Disciples had lived more by Thy Love, these very States would want less to live by hate and to crucify.

Second Station: Jesus Takes His Cross

Not even Divine Innocence escaped a cross. Why then should human sinfulness ever hope to escape it? The Son of God came to earth to revolutionize it by love, but His revolution meant not violence to His neighbor, his property, his rights, his religion, but rather violence to ourselves, our selfishness, our egotisms, our in justices and our greed.

Dear Saviour, Thy cross is a reminder that nothing will ever be perfect here below - not even after a revolution. The greatest cross mankind can carry is the attempt to build an order without the cross. The sickle and the hammer mean we have no other destiny than to cut grass and pound iron, but Thy cross means that when we have reaped our harvests, and beaten ploughshares into swords, a greater task awaits us still: we must be so unselfish as to be ready to lay down our lives for our fellow-men - even for those who give us our cross.

Third Station: Jesus Falls the First Time

The burden of the world's deceit is too great, and Jesus falls for the first time under its weight. Deceit was almost universal. Men worshiped Him with their lips, but their hearts were far from Him. Judas dipped his hand in the dish in token of friendship, went out into the night, sold Him for thirty pieces of silver, and in response to the salutation, "Friend," blistered His lips with a kiss and delivered Him over to enemies.

In this very hour, dear Jesus, there are those who assure us they would not burn Thy tabernacles, murder Thy people nor desecrate Thy sacred Presence. But these words are like the kiss of Judas, a gesture of peace until they are strong enough for war; a breaking of bread at our tables until they can steal our bread. Holy Saviour, by this, Thy first fall, teach us to call them friends even when they deceive, that all the world may know we live by love, even when we fall by their deceit.

Fourth Station: Jesus Meets His Blessed Mother

In the world's new Calvary where Jesus goes out to be re-crucified, it is the family which suffers most. The revolutionary spirit which led Thee to Golgotha had as its greatest casualty the broken heart of Thy sorrowful Mother. The re-crucifixion of Christ today, and the glorification of the worker as the unit of society, has the same tragic effect: the destruction of motherhood.

Mary, Immaculate Mother, thou didst protest against Caesar's unjust invasion of thy parental rights by stationing thyself on the road to Calvary to embrace thy sorrowful Son, and to declare to all the world that thou wert still His Mother. Do thou now inspire all Christian mothers to glory in their motherhood, even when Caesar would say they were only nurses. Thou didst raise thy Son to be a laborer, but thou didst also raise Him to be a Redeemer. Workers, then, need not be atheists, for thy Worker was the Son of God; but mothers must always be mothers, even if they have to claim their children as they march through the door of death to meet their God.

Fifth Station: Simon of Cyrene Helps Jesus

Bloodshed and revolution, though inspired by leaders, are not always executed by them. The leaders acting as ''vanguard of the masses" generally find others to carry out their nefarious designs. As it is now, so it was on the first Way of the Cross. Fearful lest Jesus might die on the way, and thus deprive them of the brutal thrill of crucifixion, His enemies pushed out of the mob a carpenter by the name of Simon of Cyrene, whom they forced to help Jesus carry His cross. 

Divine Redeemer, before Simon saw Thee face to face, he believed the evil Thy enemies had spoken against Thee; but once he came close enough to know Thee, he began to love Thee. Thus Thou didst teach the masses of this day that it is only ignorance of religion that makes men hate religion, and that in Thee alone will workers find their true Friend; for it was on the road to Calvary that Simon, the carpenter of Cyrene, met the Carpenter of the Universe.

SIXTH STATION: Veronica Wipes the Face of Jesus

Human beings were not all meant to carry tools as workers. Some are meant to carry towels - to wipe away the beads on the feverish brow, to stroke the aching head, to touch the worn face as with healing wings. Such was the mission of Veronica, who dared brave a violent mob to refresh the Saviour, and in reward received on her towel the imprint of the Face that saved the World.

By that miracle Thou didst testify, Divine Saviour, that society has a place not only for toilers but also for mourners, whose delicate sympathies lighten the burden of those who also must carry a cross. Grant unto the world, which is rapidly becoming so violent, an army of Veronicas to wipe away the tears of the victims of violence. And do Thou also let them see that when they do it to the least of their brethren, they, like Veronica of old, do it unto Thee.

Seventh Station: Jesus Falls the Second Time

The first fall was from the world's deceit: the second was from the world's injustice. Not one of the four judges proved his case against our Lord, nor could they agree on the charges. Before two of the judges He was accused of blaspheming God, and before two others He was accused of betraying Caesar. Such gross injustice was too much for the Heart of Justice, and under this weight He fell with His cross a second time.

Even in this day, Thou dost fall again under the weight of the world's injustice. Thy enemies cannot agree why Thou shouldst be condemned, they can only agree on condemnation. Like Pilate and Herod, nations which are political enemies become friends only over Thy torn and bleeding Body. Through Thy rising after the second fall, teach us that Truth crushed to earth will rise again. Inspire us also to preach unto death the double piety to God and country: to render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.

Eighth Station: Jesus Meets the Women of Jerusalem

Along sorrow's trail consoling women wept at the sight of a Man with a cross. But to Jesus that was their mistake. The greatest evil to them was pain; to Him it was sin. That is why He turned to them and said, "Weep not over Me, but weep for yourselves, and for your children": that is, weep for the next generation who come after you, who will bear the accumulated burden of guilt. Shed no tears for My wounded body, but shed tears for the sin which made these wounds possible.

How we need that lesson today! Round about us, merciful Redeemer, are those who weep over the economic, political and financial failures, as the women wept over Thy wounds. Speak to them as Thou didst speak to the women of Jerusalem, and remind them that our ills are not economic and political but moral and religious; and that if we had sinned less, we would have been troubled less. Remind our false reformers that property is not the cause of our ills, but rather the greed of those who own, and the envy of those who want to own. Let us weep for sin, and then we shall not have to weep for pain.

Ninth Station: Jesus Falls the Third Time

Deceit caused the first fall, injustice the second; but the last of all crosses to fall upon the shoulder of Jesus was the cross of persecution. The constant beatings of the executioners, the piercing burning of the crown of thorns, the flowing rivulets of open wounds, brought Jesus for the third time to the earth He had made.

We see Thee, dear Jesus, fall again to the earth today under the weight of the world's violence. Men cannot dethrone Thee in Thy glory, so they dethrone Thee in Thy ambassadors. They cannot scale the heavens, so they profane Thy temples, “liquidate" those consecrated to Thy service, and, as Thou hast prophesied, rejoice in their violence as though they had done a service to God. But as Thou didst rise from Thy third fall to forgive, so give us strength to rise after a persecution, not to avenge ourselves on our enemies, but to embrace them; for an enemy is conquered only when he is forgiven and loved.

Tenth Station: Jesus is Stripped of His Garments

At that time also there were those who believed in violent dispossession of property; and in order that even that injustice might be visited upon the Poor Man of Galilee, the executioners stripped Him of His garments - the last vestige of privacy and liberty. The courts had robbed Him of His rights, and now the mob robbed Him of His clothing. Naked He stands, without any possession; and still He is hated.

Thus Thou didst teach us, 0 Saviour, that Thy followers will be hated, not only when they possess, but even when they are dispossessed. Even those with vows of poverty will be hunted as Thou, Poverty Itself, wert crucified. But give us strength to see that even though they take away what we have, we still have left, like Thee, the greatest possession of all which no man can take away, namely, what we are - Thy property, Thy possession.

Eleventh Station:  Jesus is Nailed to the Cross

The sickle mowed down the weeds on Calvary's hill, and the hammer drove the nails; and above both was unfurled the Banner of the world's salvation, Whose First Word from the Cross was a prayer for the wielders of the sickle and the drivers of the hammer: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."

Does that mean, dear Jesus, that we must forgive even the Communists who drove Thee out of Russia, massacred Thy religious in Spain, and closed Thy churches in Mexico? Thy words can mean nothing else, for on another mount we heard Thee say: “Do good to them that hate you." It will be hard, dear Jesus; but make it easy for us to forgive by seeing -as Thou dost see so clearly -that they know not what they do. We do forgive them, for if we had wrongly believed all the evil they did about Thee, we would probably have done worse!

Twelfth Station: Jesus Dies on the Cross

Religion, they say, is the opium of the people, charging that it teaches that men should not be concerned with economic injustices, because there is a future life wherein these injustices are righted. The answer to that lie was given at this hour, when Jesus refused the opiate offered Him on the cross, so that He might surrender His life in full possession of His faculties for the redemption of men who were still living in this world and would live in it until the crack of doom.

Thy religion, 0 Redeemer of the human race, instead of making this world unimportant makes it all-important; for didst Thou not leave heaven for earth and eternity for time? Didst Thou not say that, if we are unjust here below, happiness will be denied us hereafter; and that, if we live only for what we can amass here below, even that little shall be taken away? Thou hast made this world of so much value that, by loving the poor in it and forgiving our enemies, we can exchange it for another world where there is Peace because there is Love.

Thirteenth Station:  Jesus is Taken Down From the Cross

For the perfect, the end is always the same as the beginning. Fittingly, then, when Jesus finishes the work given Him to do, and commends His soul to His heavenly Father, He is taken down from the cross and laid in the arms of His blessed Mother. It was from there He began to run His course, and now that it is finished, He goes back again to that same embrace.

Dear Mother of Jesus, as we contemplate Him, white in Bethlehem as He came from God, and now red on Calvary as He came from us, we cannot help but see that children belong primarily to mothers and not to the State. The power which crucified has forgotten Him now, but not the Mother who gave Him birth. Hold thy Son close to thy breast and let the world see that only mothers really care. By that love preserve all children under thy protection, in order that all the world may love the mother with a cradle more than the woman with a hammer.

Fourteenth Station: Jesus is Laid in the Sepulchre

It was a rich man who gave Jesus a sepulchre; for having heard our Lord say, “Woe to you that are rich," he understood that riches are given by God to be used in stewardship. Into that tomb our Lord was laid for the first kind embrace the earth gave Him since the day of His birth. The tomb was sealed, soldiers were set on guard, and the enemies rejoiced at their victory: Religion was crushed and would never rise again.

0 God, how foolish are the ways of Thy enemies! Ten thousand times since that day they have sealed Thy tomb, and each time Thou hast burst forth in the glory of Thy Resurrection. Rome buried Thee under ten persecutions, but Thou didst rise to convert Europe. Russia now has her Good Friday of seeming victory, but she may be within three days of her redemption and her peace. We do not ask Thee to condemn our enemies: we pray Thee to bless them, for we too have been Thine enemies because we hated. Make us all to rise above class struggle and hatred, above that world where we call merely one class “Comrade," unto that greater unity of love wherein we shall call God “Our Father," Thee “Our Brother," the Holy Ghost “Our Sanctifier,” and Mary “Our Mother."