There are many ways to participate in the Holy Week Traditions and among them would be Church Visit and doing the Stations of the Cross. This year I was able to spend Holy week here in Metro Manila and I had the chance to do the traditional 7 church visit in Cavite with two stations of the cross and 7 readings at each church.
When we make the Stations of the Cross, we think of the sufferings of Jesus. We accompany him from Jerusalem to Calvary. Jesus suffered and died so that he might save us from sin. Let us make the Stations of the Cross with devotion. Let us think of Jesus and how much he loves us.
FIRST CHURCH
Bacoor, Cavite – St Michael the Archangel Parish
Stations 1 & 2
Jesus is Condemned to Death
Jesus Takes up His Cross
From the Gospel of John. (14, 1-7)
“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.”
Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”
Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”
Prayer:
Lord Jesus, you truly are the Way, which leads us to the Father. You are the Truth, where we find all knowledge and wisdom we need to face everyday’s struggles. You are the Life, for without you we are nothing. We praise you this night and thank you for the gift of your Eucharistic Presence.
You never leave us alone. You shared with us this sacred meal for us to partake, and share with others, for our salvation. Transform us to your image, and help us to live continually according to your law. May we continuously show our love for the holy Eucharist, which is our way, truth and life in our daily struggles until we come to see you in eternal glory. Amen.
SECOND CHURCH
Kawit, Cavite - St. Mary Magdalene Parish
Stations 3 & 4
Jesus Falls the First Time
Jesus Meets His Mother
From the Gospel of John. (15, 1-8)
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
“I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.
Prayer:
We are truly connected to you, Lord Jesus. Like the vine and its branches, we continually receive the grace and life from you alone. We especially remember this in the Holy Eucharist. Your body is the food which nourishes our spirit and makes us live more according to your will.
We pray, Jesus! Continue to nourish us in body and spirit through the Bread of Life which you provide us in every Mass we attend. Enliven in us the sacredness of this Sacrament that we may continuously live as what you will. Amen.
THIRD CHURCH
Rosario, Cavite – Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary
Stations 5 & 6
Jesus Is Helped to Carry His Cross by St. Simon of Cyrene
Jesus' Face Is Wiped by St. Veronica with Her Veil
From the Gospel of John. (15, 9-17)
“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. This is my command: Love each other. “
Prayer:
You loved us, Lord Jesus. You loved us until your death. You loved us as friends. You loved us with an ultimate love. This is far greater than anything we can feel or imagine! You commanded us to extend the same love to others, without anything in reserve. Your love remains with us in the Eucharist, this love we receive in every Communion when we eat your precious Body and drink your sacred Blood. This is the great manifesto of your love for us.
Teach us to show greater love for you in the Holy Sacrifice. Make us receive you in a greater disposition, prepared and in the state of grace. Every time we sin against you, help us to be sorry first for our iniquities before we accept you in Communion. Make every moment a loving one with your divine presence in us. And when the priest tells us, Ite, Missa Est, guide us as we become a living Eucharist of love to our brothers and sisters, even to the point of offering our lives for you and for them. Amen.
FOURTH CHURCH
Tanza, Cavite – Holy Cross Parish
Stations 7 & 8
Jesus Falls the Second Time
Jesus Speaks to the Holy Women of Jerusalem
From the Gospel of John. (17, 1-5)
Jesus lifted his eyes toward heaven and prayed: “Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.”
Prayer:
Jesus, we feel your great glory in the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist, the sacrament of “Thanksgiving”. In your death and resurrection, you gave new life to the world, and likewise you manifested your glory over all things. You never left us empty-handed for in the Holy Mass you continue to manifest this glorious wonder to all believers.
May we be continuously strengthened by this glory – the Glory of God in our midst through the Sacrament of Divine Love. May you continue to shine in glory in ever Mass we attend, in every sacred host we receive. May we be glorified as well when we take you into ourselves. Transform our weak bodies into glorified bodies like yours. And when death comes, call us to be in total happiness with you in the Kingdom in Heaven where you live and reign forever. Amen.
FIFTH CHURCH
Naic, Cavite – Diocesan Shrine of the Immaculate Concepcion
Stations 9 & 10
Jesus Falls the Third Time
Jesus is Stripped of His Garments
From the Gospel of John. (17, 1-5)
Jesus lifted his eyes toward heaven and prayed: “Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.”
Prayer:
Jesus, we feel your great glory in the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist, the sacrament of “Thanksgiving”. In your death and resurrection, you gave new life to the world, and likewise you manifested your glory over all things. You never left us empty-handed for in the Holy Mass you continue to manifest this glorious wonder to all believers.
May we be continuously strengthened by this glory – the Glory of God in our midst through the Sacrament of Divine Love. May you continue to shine in glory in ever Mass we attend, in every sacred host we receive. May we be glorified as well when we take you into ourselves. Transform our weak bodies into glorified bodies like yours. And when death comes, call us to be in total happiness with you in the Kingdom in Heaven where you live and reign forever. Amen.
SIXTH CHURCH
Trece Martires, Cavite – St Jude Parish
Stations 11 & 12
Jesus Is Nailed to the Cross
The Crucifixion
From the Gospel of John. (17, 6-19)
Jesus lifted his eyes toward heaven and prayed: “I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word. Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you. For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me. I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours. All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them. I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name—the name you gave me—so that they may be one as we are one. While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled.
“I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.”
Prayer:
Lord Jesus, you are the eternal High Priest. In your sacrifice in Calvary, you gave a perfect sacrifice which is sufficient for every time and place. Through the hands of the priest, you continuously give yourself to us, and at the same time offer yourself to the Father.
We now pray and offer to you all your priests who tirelessly give us your Body and Blood in every Mass we attend. Unworthy as they may be, keep them pure and worthy in mind, word and deed for them to really celebrate the Sacrament of Love in persona Christi Capitis. Deliver them from every possible temptation, and may they and their ministry inspire others to live a holy and pure life as you did here on Earth. Amen.
SEVENTH CHURCH
General Trias, Cavite – St Francis of Asisi
Stations 13 & 14
Jesus Is Taken Down from the Cross
Jesus Is Placed in the Sepulchre
From the Gospel of John. (17, 6-19)
Jesus lifted his eyes to Heaven and prayed: “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.
“Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world. “Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.”
Prayer:
Lord Jesus, you are in the Father, just as he is in you. In the Holy Eucharist, you continuously manifest your total unity with us. This is one big grace that no mere mortal can understand, except for those enlightened by your Word and Grace.
We pray you, Lord! May we be one with you and the Father in every Mass we participate. May we feel that we are never alone when we receive you in Communion; that you dwell deep within us. Make us feel loved, strengthened, sanctified. Never leave us after which, and guide us that you may be manifested in us every time we communicate and work with others. May we be Eucharistic People, a people of glory chosen for your service and divine mission here in Earth. Amen.
May each and everyone of us find this Holy Week meaningful. God Bless us all.
