Praying The Stations of the Cross with St. Joseph - The Eleventh Station

Praying the Stations of the Cross with St. Joseph

 

The Eleventh Station - Jesus is Nailed to the Cross

His hands are held down so that five-inch iron spikes can be driven into them.

• Yet are these not the hands of the Incarnate One, God in human flesh?
• Are these not the hands that touched, women, children and outcasts with welcome and acceptance?
• Are these not the hands that rubbed mud on the eyes of the blind to open them and give them sight?
• Are these not the hands that touched the ears of the deaf that allowed them to hear and to listen?
• Are these not the hands that touched the stretchers of the lame and brought healing to crippled, mangled limbs?
• Are these not the hands that dared to touch the diseased skin of lepers and made them clean?
• Are these not the hands that held the stiffened hands of the dead and restored them back to life?
• Are these not the hands, outstretched over sinners, conferring absolution to them?
• Are these not the hands that blessed and broke the bread and lifted the cup just two days before, transforming them into his Body and Blood?
• Are these not the hands that reach out for all eternity to embrace us?

And His legs are held down so that nails may pierce through the skin, sinew and muscle of Jesus’ feet.

• Yet are these not the same feet that ran, skipped and jumped through the adventures of His childhood?
• Are these not the feet that walked into the Jordan River to receive John’s baptism?
• Are these not the feet, blistered by hot desert sands for forty days of fast, prayer and temptation?
• Are these not the feet that walked the shoreline of the Sea of Galilee and invited twelve to come follow Him.
• Are these not the feet that strode the dusty roads in Galilee and Judea carrying the Good News of Salvation?
• Are these not the feet that entered the homes of the sick, the rich, the sinners, the tax collectors, the faith-filled and the faith-less?
• Are these not the feet that walked on water?
• Are these not the feet that straddled a donkey amidst “hosannas” and waving palm branches?
• Are these not the feet that still walk our earth, accompanying us on whatever roads life takes us?

Let us pray . . . They saw Him give sight to the blind, cleanse the lepers, free the possessed, cure every disease and every infirmity, raise the dead. They had heard Him preach a sublime doctrine, silence his adversaries, speak as man never did. He had read their thoughts, fulfilled their prophecies, proved Himself their long-expected Messiah. But they shut their eyes to His miracles and their ears to His invitations and His warnings. And they rejected Him, tortured Him, crucified Him. St. Joseph, I too have heard His word. I too have seen miracles done in His name. Are their sins any greater than mine? My sins - the evil things I have thought, the hurtful things I have said, the unloving things I have done, the good that I left undone - are these not a crown of thorns I cram on his head, a cross I lay upon His back, the nails I pound into His hands and feet? What I have done to one of his least ones, I have done to Him.

St. Joseph, Most Just, St. Joseph, Most Obedient, pray for us.