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JOSEPH FÜHRICH
(1800-1876)
WAY OF THE CROSS 1844-46
CHURCH OF ST JOHN NEPOMUK -
VIENNA
ELEVENTH STATION
Jesus is nailed to the cross
V/. We adore you, O Christ, and we
bless you.
R/. Because by your holy cross you have redeemed
the world.
From the Gospel according to Mark 15:25-27
And it was the third hour, when they crucified him. And the inscription
of the charge against him read, “The King of the Jews.” And with him they
crucified two robbers, one on his right and one on his left.
MEDITATION
Jesus is nailed to the cross. An appalling form of torture. And as he hangs
on the cross, many of the passersby mock him and even try to provoke him: “He
saved others; he cannot save himself! … He trusts in God; let God deliver him
now, if he desires him; for he said: ‘I am the Son of God!’” (Mt 27:42-43). Not
only is his person mocked, but also his saving mission, the mission that Jesus
was bringing to fulfilment upon the cross.
Yet deep within, Jesus knows an incomparably greater suffering, which causes
him to cry out, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Mk 15:34). These
are the opening words of a Psalm which concludes with a reaffirmation of
complete trust in God. At the same time they are words to be taken completely
seriously, as expressing the greatest test to which Jesus was subjected.
How many times, when we are tested, we think that we have been forgotten or
abandoned by God. Or are even tempted to decide that God does not exist.
The Son of God, who drank his bitter chalice to the dregs and then rose from
the dead, tells us, instead, with his whole self, by his life and by his death,
that we ought to trust in God. We can believe him.
All:
Pater noster, qui es in cælis:
sanctificetur nomen tuum;
adveniat regnum tuum;
fiat voluntas tua, sicut in cælo, et in terra.
Panem nostrum cotidianum da nobis hodie;
et dimitte nobis debita nostra,
sicut et nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris;
et ne nos inducas in tentationem;
sed libera nos a malo.
Tui Nati vulnerati,
tam dignati pro me pati
poenas mecum divide.
© Copyright 2010 - Libreria
Editrice Vaticana
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