The Lord takes the holy cross on His shoulders, at the foot of Calvary,
and carries it up to the summit. What a journey that was, full of sorrow
and pain! He falls several times; He meets His holy Mother on the way and
exchanges some words of consolation with her. He meets the weeping women
of Jerusalem, and bids them weep over themselves and over their children.
Simon the Cyrenean is compelled to help carry the heavy weight of the
cross. Veronica, a devout woman, offers a handkerchief, that the Lord may
wipe His sacred countenance. Two malefactors are also to be crucified with
the Saviour. He does not despise their company: He wished to be numbered
among the most abject of sinners, for He carries in His cross all the sins
of mankind. He has to make reparation to the heavenly Father for them all.
At this sight let us no longer grumble at our crosses, but let us bear
them lovingly and cheerfully.
Prayer.
Look down upon me, good and gentle Jesus, etc., etc.
Thirty‐first Day.
After terrible exertion in consequence of His exhaustion, loss of blood,
want of food and rest, Our Lord arrives at the summit of Mount Calvary,
called Golgotha, the place of execution, the mount of skulls. Our Lord
would have died in consequence of the terrible punishment He had received,
only the power of His heavenly Father kept Him alive. Arriving on the
spot, His clothes are cruelly torn off His sacred body, the wounds are
reopened and bleed afresh. He kneels down, and at the command of His
executioners He extends His arms and feet to the places to which they were
to be attached. The soldiers take nails and hammers, and drive nails into
the palms of His hands, fixing them to the cross; then His feet are nailed
also. When all this has been done they raise the cross to an erect
position and set it in the ground. Mary, the Mother of Jesus, is present;
she hears the strokes of the hammer—every sound pierces her heart. O
Mother of sorrows! make me feel the dreadful crucifixion in my soul;
divide thy sorrows with me. Mary Magdalen, the penitent woman, hastens to
the foot of the cross. St. John, the beloved disciple, is there also.
Prayer.
Look down upon me, good and gentle Jesus, etc., etc.
Thirty‐second Day.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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