Stations of the Cross Lived with Jesus
Lourdes Pinto — February 27, 2020
Let us enter this season of Lent as a time of mourning, as a time to delve into a deep purification of heart and to a sincere repentance before God. Only by coming to know our true misery, can we begin to be transformed more perfectly in Love. Let us not just pray the Stations of the Cross, but like Mary, live the Stations as ONE with Jesus, in His agony, His cry, His silence, and in His humility.
Living the Stations of the Cross with Jesus
Given in LC Cenacle- 2/27/20.
This is an invitation for lent:
Live each station pondering Christ and allowing Him to draw you to what He lives.
1st Station – Jesus is Condemned to Death
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What is PURE LOVE?
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“Mortify yourself in silence.”
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Pray the Stations of the Cross
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LC Examination of Conscience
11/3/17 at Holy Sepulcher before the altar and mosaic of 10 & 11th stations of the cross, Jesus is stripped and nailed to the cross:
Words from Mary as the Mother of Sorrows (mourning): It is a time of mourning, mourning for Jerusalem and the entire world. My Son has not been contemplated hanging on the wood of the Cross; His gaze of love has been ignored; His cry for Jerusalem has been ignored. The blood of the martyrs unites to the Blood of the Lamb of God and cries out to Abba, Father, justice. Soon, and very soon, every eye will be forced to contemplate the Lamb of God crucified for love of mankind and they will have to choose to believe or turn away. I desire for the Mothers and Missionaries of the Cross to unite to my mourning through prayers and sacrifices, for many souls will be lost to the fires of Gehenna. Remain with me and pray the stations of the Cross so that many hearts will be open, will see and be converted. After this great grace from God, will come the final tribulation. God’s little mustard seed has been born upon the earth to prepare souls for these decisive times. Pray also for my shepherds, for their hearts too have become dry and brittle, unable to see the God who gave them life hanging from the Tree of Life. Pray, my little ones, pray, for the justice of God is upon the world. I bless you with my tears of love.
1st Station of the Cross – Jesus is Condemned to Death
Mt 26:57-68 Jesus before the High Priest
57 Those who had arrested Jesus took him to Caiaphas the high priest, in whose house the scribes and the elders had gathered. 58 But Peter was following him at a distance, as far as the courtyard of the high priest; and going inside, he sat with the guards in order to see how this would end. 59 Now the chief priests and the whole council were looking for false testimony against Jesus so that they might put him to death, 60 but they found none, though many false witnesses came forward. At last two came forward 61 and said, “This fellow said, ‘I am able to destroy the temple of God and to build it in three days.’” 62 The high priest stood up and said, “Have you no answer? What is it that they testify against you?” 63 But Jesus was silent. Then the high priest said to him, “I put you under oath before the living God, tell us if you are the Messiah,[a] the Son of God.” 64 Jesus said to him, “You have said so. But I tell you,
From now on you will see the Son of Man
seated at the right hand of Power
and coming on the clouds of heaven.”
65 Then the high priest tore his clothes and said, “He has blasphemed! Why do we still need witnesses? You have now heard his blasphemy. 66 What is your verdict?” They answered, “He deserves death.” 67 Then they spat in his face and struck him; and some slapped him, 68 saying, “Prophesy to us, you Messiah![b] Who is it that struck you?”
“Peter follows at a distance” 26:58 – Simple Path 3-B, pp.130-135
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What is the distance that remains between Jesus and I?
What are my fears that continue to paralyze me? Fear keeps Peter from PERFECT LOVE. Fear keeps him from COURAGEOUS LOVE. Fear keeps him from laying down his life as one with Christ.
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God teaches St. Catherine of Siena about this imperfect love: (Simple Path p.133)
If they serve Me with a view of their own profit, or the delight and pleasure which they find in Me, [their love] is imperfect. Do you know what proves the imperfection of this love? [When I] withdraw the consolations … This I do so that, coming to perfect self-knowledge, they may know that of themselves they are nothing.
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What close friends throughout the years have betrayed me? Is that wound still contaminated in me with resentment? Unite that pain into Jesus’ silence as He suffers Peter’s betrayal with pure love and pray for each person that has betrayed our trust. GROWTH IN PURE LOVE!
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11/2/17 at Gethsemane before the rock at the foot of the altar:
Love Crucified has been called to REMAIN with Me as I continue to shed tears for Jerusalem, to remain with Me in My continuous agony for souls, to participate with Me in the salvation of the world, as you choose daily to receive the brokenness of the souls I have placed in your lives and to suffer with Me for them. The time of the great destruction draws near, many souls will be lost, you will hear the wailing of Jerusalem throughout the world. Bring Me victim souls to suffer with Me in order to obtain graces of conversion for many souls, who otherwise will be lost. Believe in the power of your hidden lives of suffering with Me.
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Coronavirus – fear > anxiety > confusion > despair
“Jesus was silent.” 26:63
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His silence was the opposite of Peter. It was not rooted in fear but in power. The power of knowing who He is, His mission on earth and where He is going—to the Cross. Jesus did not defend Himself nor justify Himself. He was not attached to what others think of Him, so he was fully centered on fulfilling in perfect obedience the Will of the Father. In His silence He was redeeming souls; He was suffering their hardness and was interceding for them. Our redemption was being fulfilled in Jesus’ silence—the martyrdom of His Sacred Heart. The work of redemption was mostly done in the silence of Jesus’ Heart. It is a silence of intense interior work—receiving the hardness, sin and darkness of all those souls and of all of humanity and suffering intensely for them in God’s silent cry. That silence reveals what is happening in Jesus’ Heart, and therefore, reveals His gaze—the gaze of His tenderness in mercy—the gaze of PURE LOVE. I realize that I cannot “mortify myself in silence” without ENTERING JESUS’ SILENCE.
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“…he gave up his life for our sake. We hand “our imperfect self over to the One who responds by handing us back our true self through his gift of self on the cross.” (Pope Benedict XVI)
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This is who you have become, but it is not who you are. I see you as who you are and suffer who you have become.
The Simple Path is a constant dying to self, to our egos. Being consumed into Christ happens ONLY through each little daily death of self.
Who am I? What is my mission in Christ? Where am I going?
Jesus then speaks the TRUTH - “You have said so. But I tell you, From now on you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven.” 26:64
He speaks with power from the truth of who He is and His mission on earth. We too will speak truth only to the extent that we live more-and-more anchored in our true identity and mission in Christ.
“Then they spat in his face and struck him; and some slapped him,” 26:67
My self-love is rooted in deep desires to be liked, accepted, affirmed, recognized, loved, yet Christ was hit, slapped, spat on… rejected, humiliated, ignored, abandoned, betrayed…. To be a MOC and MC these deep desires must die in us and this crucifixion can only be done by Christ, therefore, we must BEG for this grace and we will receive it.
Diary of a MOC, 30/1/18 “Mission of the 12”
My little one, I have chosen you to bear fruit for the Kingdom of God on earth. The mission is not easy, for the ways of God are never the ways of the world. All who are chosen by God to fulfill his plan on earth are hated by some, rejected by others, ill-treated, persecuted, for I came upon the earth to set one against another, for the ways of God will never be accepted nor appreciated by those who live for the things of this world. You have been asked by God to bring Him victim souls. A victim soul must fix his eyes on Christ, must desire with all his being to become one with his Master, must be willing to learn from Him and imitate Him. He must be willing to fight against all his disordered desires. This requires certain disciplines for my disciples:
1) ”take no gold, nor silver, nor copper”- that means detached from the riches of this world, trusting that God will provide.
2) ”no bag for your journey” that means that My disciples must allow My spirit to detach them from all disordered attachments. (my Lord how do we know what is a disordered attachment?) Anything that weakens your desire for Me, distracts you from loving Me, takes your gaze from Me.
3) ”nor two tunics”- My disciples must live simply as I did, poor, never in excess.
4) ”nor sandals”- a life dedicated to sacrificial love, penance, renunciation.
5) ”nor a staff”- My disciples lean on Me; I become their support; I lead the way.
My disciples wear My yoke-the wood of the Cross, united to Me. I am their All. My disciples are the men and women consumed in love and desire for Me. They choose to live this way of life for love of Me and the consuming desire to be made perfect- which is to become Love. Only in this way, will My disciples reflect the face and light of God in the world. These are my victim souls that possess the power of God on earth.
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Examination of Conscience Through The Simple Path to Union with God; Am I living the love of Christ in my daily life?
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Pray the Litany of Humility – Simple Path p.450