STATIONS OF CROSS
WITH
ALEXANDRINA MARIA DA COSTA
Prologue
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How
much did His life on earth cost Jesus? It was not only Gethsemane with the three hours suffering on Calvary: All Jesus’ was Gethsemane and Calvary.
As He
grew in age and wisdom, |
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He
was not separated from it for so much as an instant: In it He grew, in it He suffered, But always with a smile and with kindness. |
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1st Station Jesus is condemned Pilate delivered Him over to them to be crucified, so they took Jesus… (Jo 19, 16-17)
I see
and I hear the great multitude
My ears
hear their scream: What shouts, those of the multitude! I receive the death sentence.
Glory be to the Father, and the Son, and the Holy
Ghost, |
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2nd Station Jesus carries the cross And He went out, bearing His own cross, to the place called the place of a skull, which is called in Hebrew Golgotha. (Jo 19, 17) The weight is so great that I feel myself crushed under the earth. I not only carry the cross, but the entire world. So few friends... almost only enemies. Glory be to the Father... |
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3rd Station Jesus falls for the first time I looked, but there was no one to help, I was appalled, but there was no one to uphold. (Is. 63, 5) I fall under the weight of the Cross. It seems me that I lose the life. To lose it to give the life to all gives force to me. I recommence to walk. Glory to the Father... |
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4th Station Jesus meets His Blessed Mother Jesus sees His Mother standing nearby. (Jo 19, 26 My Mother comes to my meeting. We look at ourselves intensely. I walk always. She also walks, guided by my look That wounded Her and attracted Her heart and soul. I do not load only the cross, but also Her pain. Glory to the Father... |
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5th Station Jesus is helped by the Cirenee And as they led him away, they seized one Simon of Cyrene, and laid on him the cross. (Lk 23, 26) At each step it seems me that I shall just die. I want somebody that takes the cross. There is who goes on taking it not for love but for imposition. However I put in it so much love. They take off me the cross, but I feel I as if I always took its weight. Glory to the Father... |
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6th Station Veronica wipes the face of Jesus Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me. (Mt 25, 40) A woman comes to my meeting who has compassion of my pain. With how much delicacy and love she cleans my face Of the sweat, the blood, the dust! Wow much I would like that this heroic gesture was spread! My face and the love of my heart remain printed in the screen. Glory to the Father... |
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7th Station Jesus falls for the second time He poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the sinners. (Is 53, 12) At half of the way, the fall is serious. My lips remain full of blood And I kiss the land in which I hurt myself. The looks of my soul see the whole the humanity. Glory to the Father... |
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8th Station Jesus meets the holy women of Jerusalem Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. (Lk 23, 28) Some women follow me; they cry bitterly. I look them with compassion and I murmur for them: "Do not cry for me, but for you; Cry your blames: they are the causes of my pains". Glory to the Father... |
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9th Station Jesus falls for the third time Dogs encompass me; a company of evildoers encircles me. (Ps 22, 16-17) It is the world, is the Heaven against me! I fall. A new fury of the executioners drags me with force. However, from my heart drains only love and compassion for them. Glory to the Father... |
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10th Station Jesus is stripped of His garments They divided His garments among them, casting lots for them, to decide what each should take. (Mk 15, 24) They undress Me with a fury capable To pull out me meat bits: how violent pains! To be undressed in public! The parrel laugh are many. I feel that the mother wants to cover Me with its mantle. Glory to the Father... |
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11th Station Jesus is nailed to the cross They crucified Him, and the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. (Lk 23, 33) They extend to Me on the cross. I offer them hands and feet to be crucified: It is one perpetual hug to the cross, to the redemption work. Glory to the Father... |
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12th Station Jesus dies on the cross When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “Everything is consummated," and He bowed His head and gave up His spirit. (Jo 19, 30) Darkness covers the Calvary. - Father, forgive them, because they do not know what they do! - Father, my Father, even you abandon me! - My children, I am thirsty of you! - My Mother, accept the world: it is yours! It is son of my blood, is son of your pain. - Everything is consummated. - Father, I deliver my spirit to you: it is for you my last sigh. Glory to the Father... |
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13th Station Jesus is put down in the lap of His Mother And Joseph of Arimathee took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen shroud. (Mat 27, 59) The Mother, with Jesus died in Her arms! It was the love that took Jesus to give the life. Mother continues the same mission of love: To love us as Jesus. Glory to the Father... |
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14th Station Jesus is laid in tomb And Jose laid him in a tomb cut in stone, where no one had ever yet been laid. (Lc 23,53) The love, joined to the grace and the divine life, Won on pain and death. Glory to the Father... |
Epilogue
Oh glorious Calvary! Oh salvation cross!
The blood irrigates the earth: fruitful rain, love rain,
That reconciles Heaven and the Earth!
The Heavens is reconciled with the Earth!
What it is now my life of prayer? It is almost only mental, but I can say that it is almost continuous. I say to Jesus that I deliver myself in His arms, that it is in them that I want to pray, that in them I want to suffer and to live even during my fast sleep.
How many times the visits speak next to me and my prayer continues! Disinterested of the talk if it does not interest me, I am joined to Jesus, even if I do not feel, nor see Him with the blackout of the darknesses. But Jesus knows that I am with Him and that I only want what He wants.
