Alexandrina and Youth

April 06

 

THE WAY OF THE CROSS

This Way of the Cross was compiled by Fr. Umberto and is based in a larger book, The Passion of Jesus in the Works of Alexandrina Maria da Costa.  For those who know that the Beata of Balasar relived the Passion so many times, in both a visible and in an interior way, the title of this book doesn’t seem at all strange. 

In Italy, Alexandrina’s Way of the Cross ran to at least two editions, one in hardcover and another one in paperback.  But the enthusiasm for it went even further, and there now exists a choral version, with very beautiful music and words. 

So this is a good time to reproduce it to readers in the several different languages in which this site is published even though this may be only a temporary exposure on this site.

The Portuguese version and the Italian, French and Japanese translations can already be found on the Official Site.  We are currently waiting for the publication in book form of the English and Spanish editions. 

Maria Rita Scrimieri Pedriali published another Way of the Cross made up of  texts taken from Blessed Alexandrina; this version was much more comprehensive, and was also amply illustrated. 

Next month we will take up the subject of the Holy Cross of Balasar once more.

Pages 2 and 3 of Alexandrina’s Way of the Cross in Japanese 

Prologue

How much did His life on earth cost Jesus? 
It was not only Gethsemane with the three hours suffering on Calvary:
All Jesus’ life was Gethsemane and Calvary.
As He grew in age and wisdom,
the cross grew with Him, and in Him too. 

He was not separated from it for so much as an instant:
In it He grew, in it He suffered,
But always with a smile and with kindness.

 

1st Station
Jesus is condemned

Pilate delivered Him over to them to be crucified, so they took Jesus… (Jo 19, 16-17)

I see and I hear the great multitude
That unanimously, with no mercy for me,
Cries out for my crucifixion.

My ears hear their scream:
"Die!  Let Him be condemned!”
What shouts, those of the multitude!
I receive the death sentence. 

Glory be to the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost,
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

2nd Station
Jesus carries the cross

And He went out, bearing His own cross, to the place called the place of a skull, which is called in Hebrew Golgotha. (Jo 19, 17)

The weight is so great that I feel myself crushed under the earth.
I not only carry the cross, but the entire world.
So few friends... almost only enemies.

Glory be to the Father... 

3rd Station
Jesus falls for the first time

I looked, but there was no one to help, I was appalled, but there was no one to uphold. (Is. 63, 5)

I fall under the weight of the Cross.
It seems me that I lose the life.
To lose it to give the life
to all gives force to me.
I recommence to walk. 

Glory to the Father... 

4th Station
Jesus meets His Blessed Mother

Jesus sees His Mother standing nearby. (Jo 19, 26)

My Mother comes to my meeting.
We look at ourselves intensely.
I walk always. 

She also walks, guided by my look
That wounded Her
and attracted Her heart and soul.
I do not load only the cross, but also Her pain. 

Glory to the Father...

5th Station
Jesus is helped by the Cyrene

And as they led him away, they seized one Simon of Cyrene, and laid on him the cross. (Lk 23, 26)

At each step it seems to me that I shall die.
I want somebody to lift the cross with me.
There are those who take some of the weight,
Not for love,
but because it is imposed on them.
However, I have put so much love into it
That when they take the cross from me,
I feel as if I still carry its weight. 

Glory be to the Father... 

6th Station
Veronica wipes the face of Jesus

Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me. (Mt 25, 40)

A woman comes to my meeting who has compassion of my pain.
With how much delicacy and love
she cleans my face
Of the sweat, the blood, the dust!
Wow much I would like
that this heroic gesture was spread!
My face and the love of my heart
remain printed in the screen. 

Glory to the Father... 

7th Station
 Jesus falls for the second time

He poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the sinners. (Is 53, 12)

At half of the way, the fall is serious.
My lips remain full of blood
And I kiss the land in which I hurt myself.
The looks of my soul see
the whole the humanity. 

Glory to the Father... 

8th Station
Jesus meets the holy women of Jerusalem

Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. (Lk 23, 28)

Some women follow me; they cry bitterly.
I look them with compassion and I murmur for them:

"Do not cry for me, but for you;
Cry your blames:
they are the causes of my pains". 

Glory to the Father... 

9th Station
 Jesus falls for the third time

Dogs encompass me; a company of evildoers encircles me. (Ps 22, 16-17)

It is the world, and Heaven is against me!
I fall.
A new fury of the executioners
drags me with force.
However, from my heart drains
only love and compassion for them. 

Glory to the Father... 

10th Station
Jesus is stripped of His garments

They divided His garments among them, casting lots for them, to decide what each should take. (Mk 15, 24)

They undress Me with a fury capable
To pull out me meat bits:  how violent pains!
To be undressed in public!
The parrel laugh are many. 

I feel that the mother
wants to cover Me with its mantle. 

Glory to the Father... 

11th Station
Jesus is nailed to the cross

They crucified Him, and the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. (Lk 23, 33)

They extend to Me on the cross.
I offer them hands and feet to be crucified:

It is one perpetual hug to the cross,
to the redemption work. 

Glory to the Father... 

12th Station
Jesus dies on the cross

When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “Everything is consummated," and He bowed His head and gave up His spirit. (Jo 19, 30)

Darkness covers the Calvary.

- Father, forgive them,
because they do not know what they do!
- Father, my Father, even you abandon me!
- My children, I am thirsty of you!
- My Mother, accept the world:  it is yours!

It is son of my blood, is son of your pain. 

- Everything is consummated.
- Father, I deliver my spirit to you:
it is for you my last sigh. 

Glory to the Father... 

13th Station
Jesus is put down in the lap of His Mother

And Joseph of Arimathee took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen shroud.  (Mat 27, 59)

The Mother, with Jesus died in Her arms!
It was the love that took Jesus to give the life. 

Mother continues the same mission of love: 

To love us as Jesus. 

Glory to the Father... 

14th Station
Jesus is laid in tomb

And Jose laid him in a tomb cut in stone, where no one had ever yet been laid.  (Lc 23,53)

The love, joined to the grace and the divine life,

Won on pain and death.

Glory to the Father... 

Epilogue

Oh glorious Calvary!  Oh salvation cross!
The blood irrigates the earth:  fruitful rain, love rain,
That reconciles Heaven and the Earth!
The Heavens is reconciled with the Earth!