St Josemaría Escrivá - The Way of the Cross

The Way of the Cross

JOSEMARA ESCRIV

The Way
of the
Cross

The illustrations in this book are taken, by kind permission, from the Via Crucis of Antwerp Cathedral. They are inspired by the Flemish schools of the 15th and 16th centuries. The paintings are by Leon Luis Hendrix (18271888) and Franz Vinck (18271903). Stations 5 to 12 are the work of the latter.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Escriv de Balaguer, Jos Mara, 19021975.

[Via crucis. English]

The Way of the Cross / Josmara Escriv.
p. cm.

ISBN: 1889334537 (alk. paper) ISBN 1889334545 (pbk.: alk. paper) 1. Stations of the CrossMeditations. I. Title.

BX2040 .E7313 2002
232.96dc21

2001058207

THE WAY OF THE CROSS
Translated from Via Crucis (Madrid: 1981).

English translation copyright 1982, Scepter Ltd (London).
First published 1983, Scepter Ltd, London

ISBN 1889334545
eBook ISBN 978-1-594171-04-8

This edition copyright 2002 Scepter Publishers Inc.
New York / Princeton, New Jersey
www.scepterpublishers.org
All rights reserved

Typeset in ITC Garamond fonts

Printed in the United States of America

FOREWORD

Enter into the wounds of Christ Crucified.

When Monsignor Josemara Escriv de Balaguer proposed this way, to those who asked him for advice on how to deepen their interior life, he was doing no more than pass on his own experience, pointing out the short cut he had been using throughout his life, and which led him to the highest peaks of spiritual life. His love for Jesus was always something real, tangible and strong; it was tender, filial and very moving.

The Founder of Opus Dei used to say, with such encouraging persuasiveness, that being a Christian comes down to following Christ: that is the secret. And he would add: We must accompany him so closely that we come to live with Him, like the first Twelve did; so closely, that we become identified with Him. That is why he advised people to meditate constantly on the passages of the Gospel, and those who have had the good fortune to hear him comment on some of the scenes of the life of Christ, have felt themselves reliving those scenes, actually there, and they have learned to take part in those passages as just one more person there.

Among all the Gospel narratives, Msgr. Escriv used to dwell with special attention and love on those which tell of the Death and Resurrection of Jesus. There, among many other considerations he made, he would contemplate the Sacred Humanity of Christ, who in his great yearning to come close to each one of usreveals himself to us with all the weakness of men and with all the magnificence of God. That is why, he would say, I have always advised people to read books on Our Lords Passion. Such works, full of true piety, bring to our minds the Son of God, a Man like ourselves and also true God, who in his flesh loves and suffers to redeem the world. Truly, a Christian matures and becomes strong beside the Cross, where he also finds Mary, his Mother.

The founder of Opus Dei prepared The Way of the Cross as a result of his contemplation on the scenes of Calvary. His desire was that it should serve to help people meditate on the Passion of Jesus, but he never wished to impose it on anyone as a text with which to carry out this very Christian devotion. This was because of his great love for the freedom of peoples consciences and the deep respect he felt towards the interior life of each soul, so much so that he never obliged even his own children to adopt specific ways of piety, except, naturally, those which form an essential part of the spirituality that God has wanted for Opus Dei.

This new posthumous work of Monsignor Escriv, like the previous ones, has been prepared to help people to pray and, with the grace of God, to grow in a spirit of reparationof love-sorrow and of gratitude to Our Lord, who has rescued us at the cost of his Blood. For this same reason, there have been included, as points for meditation, some words of Monsignor Escriv, taken from his preaching and his conversation which reflected his zeal to speak only about God and about nothing but God.

The Way of the Cross is not a sad devotion. Monsignor Escriv taught many times that Christian joy has its roots in the shape of a cross. If the Passion of Christ is a way of pain, it is also a path of hope leading to certain victory. As he explained in one of his homilies: You should realize that God wants you to be glad and that, if you do all you can, you will be happy, very, very happy, although you will never for a moment be without the Cross. But that Cross is no longer a gallows. It is the throne from which Christ reigns. And at his side, his Mother, our Mother too. The Blessed Virgin will obtain for you the strength that you need to walk decisively in the footsteps of her Son.

Alvaro del Portillo

Rome, September 14, 1980
Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross

Ibid.

Friends of God, 141.

The Way of the Cross

I.

Jesus is condemned to death

What am I to do then, with Jesus? (Mt 27: 22).

They all reply: Crucify him!

The judge insists: Why, what evil has he done?

Once again they respond, shouting: Crucify him! Crucify him!

Pilate is frightened by the growing uproar. So he sends for water, and washes his hands in the sight of the people, saying as he does so:

I am innocent of the blood of this just man; it is your affair (Mt 27: 24).

And having had Jesus scourged, he hands him over to them to be crucified. Their frenzied and possessed throats fall silent. As if God had already been vanquished.

Jesus is all alone. Far off now are the days when the words of the Man-God brought light and hope to mens hearts, those long processions of sick people whom he healed, the triumphant acclaim of Jerusalem when the Lord arrived, riding on a gentle donkey. If only men had wanted to give a different outlet to Gods love! If only you and I had recognized the day of the Lord!

Points for meditation

1. Jesus prays in the garden. Pater mi (Mt 26: 39), Abba Pater! (Mk 14: 36). God is my Father, even though he may send me suffering. He loves me tenderly, even while wounding me. Jesus suffers, to fulfill the will of the Father. And I, who also wish to fulfill the most holy will of God, following in the footsteps of the Master, can I complain if I too meet suffering as my traveling companion?