Jesus is stripped of his garments

© PFARRKIRCHEN STIFTUNG ST. LAMBERT SEEON
Via Crucis, Felix Anton Scheffler - 1757
Church of Saint Martin - Ischl, Seeon (Diocese of München) - Germany

TENTH STATION
Jesus is stripped of his garments

V/. Adoramus te, Christe, et benedicimus tibi.
R/. Quia per sanctam crucem tuam redemisti mundum.

From the Gospel according to John. 19:23-24

When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his garments and made four parts, one for each soldier; also his tunic. But the tunic was without seam, woven from top to bottom; so they said to one another:
Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to see whose it shall be.
This was to fulfil the Scripture: They parted my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.

MEDITATION

The soldiers take Jesus tunic from him
with the brutality of thieves;
they also try to rob him
of his modesty and his dignity.

But Jesus is the modesty, Jesus is the dignity
that belongs to man and the human body.

And the scorned body of Christ
becomes the indictment of all the scorn
ever shown to the human body,
which God created as the mirror of the soul
and the language to speak of love.

Today bodies are constantly bought and sold
on the streets of our cities,
on the streets of our televisions,
in homes that have become like streets.

When will we realize that we are killing love?
When will we realize that, without purity,
the body can neither be alive nor life-giving?

PRAYER

Lord Jesus,
purity has everywhere fallen victim
to a calculated conspiracy of silence: an impure silence!
People have even come to believe
a complete lie:
that purity is somehow the enemy of love.

But the opposite is true, O Lord!
Purity is necessary
as a condition for love:
a love that is true, a love that is faithful.

In any event, Lord,
if we cannot be the master of ourselves?
how can we give ourselves to others?

Only the pure are capable of love;
only the pure can love without cheapening love.

Lord Jesus,
by the power of your blood poured out in love,
grant us pure hearts,
so that our world may see a rebirth of love,
that love for which our hearts so deeply yearn.

All:

Pater noster, qui es in cælis:
sanctificetur nomen tuum;
adveniat regnum tuum;
fiat voluntas tua, sicut in cælo, et in terra.
Panem nostrum cotidianum da nobis hodie;
et dimitte nobis debita nostra,
sicut et nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris;
et ne nos inducas in tentationem;
sed libera nos a malo.

Fac ut ardeat cor meum
in amando Christum Deum,
ut sibi complaceam.