After the Fourteenth Station the service concludes in this way,

We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you;

All: by your holy cross, you have redeemed the world. Christ committed no sin, no guile was found on his lips.

All: We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree

that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.

All: By your holy cross, you have redeemed the world. By his wounds you have been healed.

All: We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you;

by your holy cross, you have redeemed the world.

Let us pray,

O Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, set your passion, cross and death

between your judgment and our souls,

now and in the hour of our death. Grant mercy and grace to the living,

rest to the departed, to your Church peace and concord, and to us sinners forgiveness, and everlasting life and glory;

for, with the Father and the Holy Spirit,

you are alive and reign, God, now and for ever.

All: Amen The blessing follows,

The Lord be with you,

All: and also with you.

Christ give you grace to grow in holiness,

to deny yourselves, take up your cross, and follow him;

and the blessing of God almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, be upon you and remain with you always.

All: Amen

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Stations of the Cross

We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you;

by your holy cross, you have redeemed the world.

The Stations of the Cross have formed part of Christian devotion for many centuries because they enable us to engage actively with the path of suffering walked by Jesus.

They originated when early Christians visited Jerusalem and wanted to follow literally in the footsteps of Jesus, tracing the path from Pilates house to Calvary. They would pause for prayer and devotion at various points. Eventually those pilgrims brought the practice back to their home countries and ever since then Christians of differing traditions have used this form of devotion.

In the late fourteenth century the Franciscans were given the responsibility for the holy places of Jerusa-lem and they erected tableaux to aid the devotion of the visitors. These kinds of images are now com-monplace inside churches, and occasionally outside them.

Welcome and the opening prayer. In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

All: Amen

The Lord be with you,

All: and also with you.

Let us pray,

A lmighty God,

whose most dear Son went not up to joy but first he suffered pain, and entered not into glory before he was crucified: mercifully grant that we, walking in the way of the cross, may find it none other than the way of life and peace;

through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you,

in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

All: Amen

After this, we say the following canticle antiphonally (Isaiah 63.1-3a,7-9) making a little pause at the

diamond shape (), All: I will recount the gracious deeds of the Lord,

the praises of the Most High.

1Who is this that comes from Edom,

coming from Bozrah, his garments stained crimson?

2Who is this in glorious apparel, marching in the greatness of his strength?

3It is I, who announce that right has won the day,

it is I, says the Lord, for I am mighty to save.

4Why are your robes all red, O Lord,

and your garments like theirs who tread the winepress?

5I have trodden the winepress alone, and from the peoples no one was with me.

6I will recount the gracious deeds of the Lord, the praises of the Most High;

7All that God has done for us in his mercy, by his many acts of love.

8For God said, Surely, they are my people, my children who will not deal falsely,

and he became their Saviour in all their distress.

9So God redeemed them by his love and pity; he lifted them up and carried them through all the days of old.

All: Glory to the Father and to the Son

and to the Holy Spirit;

as it was in the beginning is now

and shall be for ever. Amen.

All: I will recount the gracious deeds of the Lord,

the praises of the Most High. After this canticle, we begin our journey towards Calvary with Jesus. At each station we say,

All: We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you;

by your holy cross, you have redeemed the world.

A short meditation is followed by,

All: Our Father,

who art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name,

thy kingdom come, thy will be done,

on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses,

as we forgive those who trespass against us.

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory,

for ever and ever. Amen.

All: Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee;

blessed art thou among women,

and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.

Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners,

now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

All: Glory to the Father and to the Son

and to the Holy Spirit;

as it was in the beginning is now

and shall be for ever. Amen.