TOMMASO DI CRISTOFORO FINI CALLED MASOLINO DA PANICALE (1383-1440 ca.)
TEMPERA ON WOOD - Vatican Museum Picture Gallery

TWELFTH STATION
Jesus on the cross, his mother and his disciple
  

V/. We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you.
R/. Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.

From the Gospel according to John 19:25-27

But standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother,
and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.
When Jesus saw his mother, and the disciple whom he loved standing near.
He said to his mother, "Woman, behold, your son!"
Then he said to the disciple, "Behold, your mother!"
And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home.

MEDITATION

Around the cross, cries of hatred,
at the foot of the cross, the presence of love.
There she is, steadfast, the mother of Jesus.
With her, other women,
united in love around the dying man.
Beside them, the beloved disciple, no one else.
Only love has been able to overcome all obstacles,
only love has persevered until the end,
only love generates love in others.
And there, at the foot of the cross, a new community is born,
there, in the place of death, emerges a new space of life.
Mary receives the disciple as a son,
the beloved disciple receives Mary as a mother.
He took into his own home (Jn 19:27),
an inalienable treasure of which he has become the guardian.
Only love can guard love,
only love is stronger than death (Song 8:6).

PRAYER

Jesus, beloved Son of the Father,
to the sufferings endured on the cross
is added the pain of seeing beside you your mother afflicted with sorrow.
We entrust to you the desolation and rebellion
of parents bewildered in the face of pain or the death of a child;
we entrust to you the dejection of so many orphans,
of solitary or abandoned children.
You are present in their sufferings
as you were on the cross, near to the Virgin Mary.
May the day of meeting come
when all tears will be wiped away,
and joy will be without end.

Jesus,
dying on the cross you entrust your mother to the beloved one,
the virgin Apostle to the pure Virgin who carried you in her womb.

R/. To you be praise and glory for ever.

All:

Pater noster …

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