Station IV.
Jesus carrying the Cross, meets His most afflicted Mother.
V. We adore Thee, O Lord Jesus Christ, and bless Thee.
R. Because by Thy holy Cross Thou hast redeemed the world.
The Mystery.
HE fourth Station represents to your contemplation the meeting of the desolate Mother and her bleeding Jesus, staggering under the weight of the Cross.
Consider what pangs rent her soul, when she beheld her beloved Jesus
covered with blood, dragged violently to the place of execution, reviled and
blasphemed by an ungrateful, outrageous rabble. Meditate on her inward feelings, the
looks of silent agony exchanged between the Mother and the Son; her anguish in not
being permitted to approach, to embrace and to accompany Him to death. Filled with
confusion at the thought that neither the Son's pains nor Mother's grief have softened
the hardness of your heart, contritely join in the following.
Prayer.
MARY! I am the cause of thy sufferings. O refuge of sinners! let me participate in those heart-felt pangs, which rent thy tender soul, when thou didst
behold thy Son trembling with cold, covered with wounds, fainting under the
Cross, more dead than alive! Mournful Mother! fountain of love! let me
feel the force of thy grief that I may weep with thee, and mingle my tears with thine, and
thy Son's blood. O suffering Jesus! by Thy bitter passion, and the heart-breaking compassion of Thy afflicted Mother, grant me the efficacious grace of perseverance! Mother
of Jesus, intercede for me! Jesus, behold me with, an eye of pity, and in the hour of my
death receive me to the arms of Thy mercy! Amen, Jesus.
Our Father, &c. Hail Mary, &c. Glory, &c.
Jesus Christ crucified, have mercy on us!
Exhausted, spent, see Jesus onward go,
With feeble step, in anguish faint and slow.
At last His grief-worn Mother He can see
Exclaiming: My Son, my heart is rent for Thee.
