Stations of the Cross with Fr. Rob Galea

[Music] hi my name is father rob galia and on behalf of frg ministry and on behalf of st killian's parish here in bendigo victoria australia i'd like to welcome you to the stations of the cross this is a very special day good friday a day when we're reminded to turn to the cross to turn to jesus to give our hearts and lives to jesus at the cross we're welcome there in order to do that we're going to reflect on the stations of the cross there are 14 stations this is a catholic tradition which has been practiced for thousands of years it's a time where we reflect on the stages where jesus was led to the cross and placed into a tomb it's a very special moment it's a time where we don't participate by observing but we participate by meditating and this is why myself father jun ray who's the parish priest of saint killian's parish and john miguel as well who's a parishioner here and also works with our local catholic schools we're going to lead you in a time of scripture we're going to lead you in a time of reflection there's also a pdf which we are grateful um for another parish that lent us a youth services that lent us this this resource we're going to link it there so you can also follow with us so if you haven't already downloaded the pdf it's in the description below so we begin this time in as a time turning our hearts and our minds to the cross in the name of the father and the son the holy spirit amen first station jesus is condemned to death we adore you christ and we praise you because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world the high priest questioned him saying are you the christ the son of the blessed one and jesus said to him i am and you shall see the son of man sitting at the right hand of the power and coming with the clouds of heaven the high priest tore his robes and said what need of witnesses have we now you have heard the blasphemy what is your finding the verdict was unanimous he deserved to die some of them started spitting at him and his face hitting him and saying play the prophet the beginning of the symptoms of coronavirus will feel and for some like a condemnation to death breathlessness pneumonia and the need for a ventilator will be serious and life-threatening as jesus is condemned to die through innocent though innocent of any crime or charges we too may feel the injustice of death of innocent loved ones family members and friends it feels harsh brutal and inexplicable we notice to the detail of the gospel they spat in jesus face spitting has become a weapon in this pandemic spitting at police even health service workers as a sign of anger or frustration with the intent to spread the virus jesus knows exactly what it is like to be spat at exactly what it is like to be condemned to die and he walks with us so let us pause in a moment of prayer and reflection [Music] our father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come who will be done on earth as it is in heaven give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil amen second station jesus carries his cross we adore you christ and we praise you because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world here is your king said pilate to the jews but they shouted away with him away with him crucify him pilate said shall i crucify your king the chief priest answered we have no king except caesar so at that pilate handed him over to them to be crucified they then took charge of jesus and carrying his own cross he went out to the place of the skull or as it is called in hebrew golgotha jesus picks up his cross it would have been very weighty piece of wood enough to support a man some feet from the ground he had already been beaten and had a crown of thorns put to his head what crosses have we been carrying these days the cross of isolation the cross of living with people who are hard to live with the cross of a cramped apartment with no garden what crosses are others carrying those who are refugees or homeless those who have elderly relatives and they cannot visit those who are anxious about money and about jobs consider for a moment the particular cross that you are carrying into this pandemic do you have someone who you can talk to about this most certainly you can talk to christ in prayer jesus knows exactly what it is like to carry your cross so let us pause and reflect for a moment [Music] our father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil amen the third station jesus falls for the first time we adore you christ and we praise you because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world for my part i made no resistance neither did i turn away i offered my back to those who struck me my cheeks to those who tore at my beard i did not cover my face against insult and spittle it is not surprising that jesus falls over the cross is heavy he is weakened by the loss of blood and the midday heat in jerusalem is fierce the ground is uneven and the crowds press around it will not be surprising if we also fell over in these pressured days a moment when we snap at someone we are sharing a house with a moment where we lose patience in a supermarket cue a moment where we are reduced to tears by the sheer helplessness we feel in the face of illness death and confinement as we lie on the ground literally and metaphorically we can look to our side and see that jesus is there with us on the floor way down together with jesus we find extra strength to get up and carry on let us spend a moment in quiet reflection our father who art in heaven shall be thy name thy kingdom come they will be done on earth as it is in heaven give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil amen the fourth station jesus meets his mother mary we adore you christ and we praise you because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world near the cross of jesus stood his mother and his mother's sister mary the wife of cleophas and mary of magdala seeing his mother and the disciple whom he loves standing near her jesus said to his mother woman this is your son then he said to this disciple this is your mother and from that hour the disciple took her into his home how much mothers suffer when they see their children suffer it's hard to imagine the grief and the distress mary went through as she sees what is happening to jesus and in coronavirus wards in hospitals which mothers cannot enter while their children struggle for breath how deeply the pain and the sorrow are felt for children too who cannot visit parents at home or in hospital there is great stress and distress jesus understands mary understands and jesus shows us his care for mary as he entrusts her to john the beloved disciple it does not take away the fear and the pain but it does mean that she is not alone we are not alone jesus makes sure that we are never alone and so we'll pray hail mary full of grace the lord is with thee blessed art thou amongst women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb jesus holy mary mother of god pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death amen [Music] our father what in heaven hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come they will be done on earth as it is in heaven give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil amen [Music] the fifth station simon of cyrene helps jesus to carry his cross we adore you christ and we praise you because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world as they were leading him away they seized on a man simon from cyrene who was coming in from the country and made him shoulder the cross and carry it behind jesus simon is pulled from the crowd and enlists to help jesus consider the crosses that we are carrying and the others carrying that we reflected on earlier then think about what it means to help another person to carry their cross it could be as simple as a smile or a warm hello as you pass the window of a neighbor in isolation it could be a thank you to the supermarket assistant regulating the queue at the shop door or to the person at the checkout carrying their crosses of abuse as people are impatient with waiting or with missing goods it could be leaving a thank you card with the bins as the bin men continue their job it could be a donation to the poor or a long phone call to someone with no visitors or a generous listening ear for someone who is in despair to pick up the cross of another costs us time it costs us energy and sometimes money and it transforms us somehow our own chronic crosses diminish when we shoulder the burden of another jesus shows us what that looks like and simon shows us how we can step in to help for whom can you be simon of cyrene in this pandemic who needs help to carry their cross our father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come there will be done on earth as it is in heaven give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil amen the sixth station veronica wipes the face of jesus we adore you christ and we praise you because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world lord when did we see you hungry and feed you or thirsty and give you drink when did we see you a stranger and make you welcome naked and clothe you when did we see you sick or in person and go to see you and the king will answer in truth i tell you insofar as you did this for one of the least of my sisters and brothers you did it for me what a moment of blessed relief in the heat dust and pain of the journey to calvary this is a brief instant of soothing tenderness veronica comes from the crowd and wipes the face of jesus the image of his face remains on the cloth in coronavirus wards a nurse brings a sip of water to a patient with a dry throat another holds the hand of a dying woman consoling her just as by her presence in the blocks of apartments a young child writes a letter to an elderly neighbor reaching out to them through the isolation these are veronica moments moments of relief and kindness tenderness and concern and these moments make all the difference allowing the fog of pain loneliness and sorrow to lift and offering hope that even in cruel circumstances love is present [Music] our father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come there will be done on earth as it is in heaven give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil amen the seventh station jesus falls for the second time we adore you christ and we praise you because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world down in the dust i lie prostrate true to your word revive me i tell you my ways and you answer me teach me your wishes i am melting away for grief true to your word raise me up again jesus falls lying on the road tasting the dust even as the shoulder soldiers shout out and beat him to stand up to carry on again we fall consumed by grief of a person whose funeral we're not permitted to attend despairing as our children try to continue their lessons in a cramped apartment with no wi-fi frustrated and angry as the death toll rises and we feel powerless we fall and we too taste the dust the bitterness of despair anguish and grief and again as we look to our side we see that jesus is there and again as we see him roughly hold from the ground and pushed on along the road as he stackers forward so too we have the strength to get up and carry on for we know that jesus understands our father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil amen the eighth station jesus meets the women of jerusalem we adore you christ and we praise you because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world large numbers of people followed him and women too who mourned and lamented for him but jesus turned to them and said daughters of jerusalem do not wait for me weep rather for yourselves and for your children the tears of the woman stream down their faces they are bereft consumed by sadness of aching hearts by the loss of someone so dear jesus response seems very odd don't weep for me but for yourselves and for your children by the time luke's gospel was set down in writing the listeners would have known that the jewish temple at the heart of jerusalem had been destroyed in 70 a.d with children killed and much of jerusalem in ruins jesus prophesies this and he shows us that even as he journeys to calvary his thoughts are not about himself but about others as we weep in these days of coronavirus we can also look beyond our own grief and our own suffering our own broken hearts and weep for those who are alone weep for those in countries with few hospitals and scarce medical supplies we for those who have no more tears to cry weep knowing that even in these moments of great agony jesus is thinking about us consoling us grieving with us [Music] our father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come they will be done on earth as it is in heaven give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil harmony ninth station jesus falls for a third time we adore you christ and we praise you because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world ill-treated and afflicted he never opened his mouth like a lamb led to the slaughterhouse jesus falls for the third time and in this moment he must have wondered if he would ever get up every part of his body is shattered and even with simon carrying the cross he can barely put one foot in front of the other we see the images of the nurses with faces marked with chafed and chafed by the elastic masks exhausted after 12 14 16 hour shifts we see them slumped in hospital corridors defeated by the amount of suffering they are witnessing and we see the single mother living with three children in one room in a fl in an apartment worn down by trying to cope as we look perhaps we can make out the faint outline of a person sitting in the corridor with the nurse and on the carpet of the apartment with the mother they don't say anything but just accompany them in their despair that figure is christ fallen for the third time with us in our moments of greatest despair understanding exactly how we feel never leaving us on our own our father what in heaven hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven give us to stay our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil the tenth station jesus is stripped of his clothes we adore you christ and we praise you because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world they took his clothing and divided it into four shares one for each shoulder shoulder his undergarment was seamless woven in one piece from neck to him so they said to one another instead of dividing it let's throw dice to decide who is to have it when jesus dies on the cross he is naked it's the final humiliation all dignity stripped away as his clothes are stripped away becoming an object for soldiers to bet on with the throw of a dice christ comes into the world naked on a stable floor he dies naked on a wooden cross what sort of king is this what sort of god is this jesus fully god fully human enters our darkest moments and is present at the times when we are humiliated when we are robbed of our dignity coronavirus robs us of our dignity of our human contact of work and of chance to play freely it strips us back to the barest essentials what do we find in these moments that look so bleak we discover and rediscover just how much love matters and how important it is to be loved on the cross jesus may be bereft of clothes he may be stripped and humiliated but he's never robbed of the greatest garment of all the essence of who he is pure love our father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil 11th station jesus is nailed to the cross we adore you christ and we praise you because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world when they reached a place called the skull they crucified him and the two criminals one on his right the other on his left jesus said father forgive them they do not know what they are doing jesus final words are words of forgiveness what would we want our final words to be to our loved ones and close friends when we leave the house to briefly shop to exercise what are our last words how do we end the phone call or our online chat take a moment to consider if there is someone who needs to hear some fresh final words from you words of love words of peace words of forgiveness our father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come to will be done on earth as it is in heaven give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil amen 12th station jesus dies on the cross we adore you christ and we praise you because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world it was now about the sixth hour and the sun's light faded so the darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour the veil of the sanctuary was torn right down the middle jesus cried out in a loud voice saying father into your hands i commend my spirit with these words he breathed his last if it's possible we kneel silently or stand with our head bowed the death of jesus christ transforms the very fact of death forever as we pray in the funeral mass death is life changed but not ended but for some days months or even years the truth of faith does not take away the raw anguish of grief at the loss of a close friend parent or child our aching heart our despairing cry our sense of radical emptiness and loss by now we all know people who have died from coronavirus or have been affected by it very often no words adequately express how we feel so the open arms of the crucified christ can be seen as god's embrace of all that is most raw and difficult as we grieve and for as long as we need we can simply allow ourselves to be held in that embrace silently with pure love our father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come they will be done on earth as it is in heaven give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil [Music] the 13th station the body of jesus is taken down from the cross we adore you christ and we praise you because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world joseph joseph of arimathea who was the disciple of jesus though a secret one because he was afraid of the jews asked pilate to let him remove the body of jesus pilate gave permission so they came and took it away nicodemus came as well and he brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes weighing about a hundred pounds they took the body of jesus and banned it in linen cloths with the spices following the jewish spirit jewish burial custom there are so many across the world who will never be able to cradle the body of their loved ones in their arms in this time of the virus this is a moment to pray for those who will do that for us the nurses who will wash the body and carefully prepare it the undertakers will wrap it in a shroud and the season and season the coffin with oils and other preparations for burial or cremation the priest who will be at the graveside or the crematorian chapel praying with and for those who cannot be present through each of these people jesus is there and with each of these people jesus cradles the body of our loved one our father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come there will be done on earth as it is in heaven give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil the 14th station jesus is laid in the tomb at the place where he had been crucified there was a garden and in this garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been buried since it was the jewish day of preparation and the tomb was nearby they laid jesus there joseph of arimathea then rolled a stone against the entrance to the tomb there's a great silence on earth today a great silence and stillness the whole earth keeps silence because the king is asleep these words are from the ancient homily of holy saturday jesus pierced bloodied and cold body is in the tomb and there is silence we wait for this is not the end of the story and just as the springtime buds blossom on the once bare trees so too the hope of the resurrection stirs up in the tomb hewn from the stone there is sorrow as we leave the gravesite but with the women and the disciples we return to the tomb the next day and we will find it empty the coronavirus will pass in the risen lord perfect love casts out all fear read this in john 1 john 4 18 and neither death nor any created thing whatsoever will be able to come between us and the love of god known to us in jesus christ our lord and this is taken from romans 8 38 and 39 so let us pause for a moment in reflection our father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come they will be down on earth as it is in heaven give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil amen hail mary full of christ the lord is with thee blessed are thou amongst women and blessed is the fruit of thy world jesus holy mary mother of god pray for us sinners now and at the hour by death the lord be to the father and to the son and to the holy spirit as it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be world without end amen on behalf of saint killian's parish and frg ministry i thank you for joining us for this on good friday a time of reflection on the cross of christ you know the story doesn't end here sunday we're celebrating a big big celebration remember that god is a god of joy but over today and tomorrow i recommend that you just stop stop and sit in the tomb sit with christ sit in the sadness you might be feeling because god is there and god is going to work in your heart sit with christ let the cross work in your heart and in your life again thank you for supporting this ministry again there's a link there of how you can below of how you can continue to support this ministry and i'm just going to pray god's blessing over you the lord be with you and may almighty god bless you the father the son and the holy spirit amen frg ministry presents a new online course school of prayer throughout this course you will be guided by teachings testimonies and practical examples of prayer over six weeks you will gain an understanding of what prayer is and how prayer will improve your life and deepen your relationship with jesus christ you will receive videos and testimonies from father rob bishop shane mckinley sister judy bo and father ken barker from the missionaries of god's love and even father rob's mother and galia with this course you will be able to receive beautifully designed wallpapers and prayer cards to remind you of the commitments you are going to make through prayer frg ministry courses are eligible for catholic school teachers personal development accreditation within australia whether you are seeking to deepen your existing prayer life attempting to begin one or are just curious about prayer this course school of prayer will enlighten and bless you enroll now at frgministry.com school of prayer

Channel: Fr Rob Galea

Views: 12,456

Keywords:

Id: wROz28MXk30

Length: 35min 15sec (2115 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 01 2021