A Way of the Cross

A.C.T. Novena of Love - Carrying Our Cross With Christ in Expiation
March 9 - March 17

In this time of conflict and turmoil in the world, we ask God : "United to You in your Holy Will, what do You want to do together?"
We reflect on the lives of the exemplars and victim souls such as: St. Faustina Kowalska, St. Maxilllian Kolbe, St. Padre Pio, Venerable Mother Concepion Cabrera, and the Servant of God Luisa Piccarreta who's sufferings united with our Savior's in His Will expiated sin, held back and lessened Wars.
For Love of God and His honor and glory, united in His Holy Will in the name of all souls - past, present, and future (especially the 'unborn' and the children) - we unite our crosses with Jesus' for the salvation of all souls and the expiation of all sin. We will more faithfully carry our crosses and together (A.C.T. and all who join with us in prayer in God's Holy Will) we will pray each day:

Stations of the Cross


Preparatory PrayerO Jesus, we come to join You on the way to Calvary. Through the intercession of your sorrowful Mother, help us understand the immense love with which You accepted death on the Cross. You have repaired the outrage done to the glory of your Father and to the redemption of the human family. May the meditation on your passion and death help us to become more like You in accordance to Your Will.Repeat at the beginning of each Station:V. We adore you, O Christ, and we praise You.R. Because by your Holy Cross You have redeemedthe world.I. Jesus is condemned to death"Yes, God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not be lost but may have eternal life". Jn 3:16O Jesus, you received the unjust sentence with peace and calmness because You knew that by dying on the Cross, You would obtain the glory of the Father and our salvation. Grant that we might be as generous as You were, accepting with love all the trials of our lives for the salvation of all.Mary, our Mother, bless us. As we remember your Son's passion, may we join Him with a fervent desire of imitating Him.Repeat at the end of each Station:V. O sweet Mother font of love.R. Touch my spirit from above, make my heart with yours accord.II. Jesus bears his Cross"If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and take up his Cross every day and follow me" Lk 9:23Jesus receives the Cross with Joy and Love. He thinks of his Father and embraces the Cross to fulfill the Divine will. Jesus, forgive our lack of faith and love with which we have received the crosses given to us. May we rejoice in presenting to you our struggles and difficulties.Mary, pray for us that we may always carry the Cross with the same spirit as your Son.III. Jesus falls the first time"We had all gone astray like sheep, each taking his own way, and Yahweh burdened him with the sins of all of us". Is 53:6Weakened by loss of blood in the scourging and unable to continue because of the weight of the Cross, Jesus falls, exhausted.Let us consider that the weight of the Cross represents our sins which caused Jesus' fall. Lord, we promise to avoid in our lives, not only sin, but any willful fault.Mary, help us with through your intercession fulfill this promise we have made.IV. Jesus meets his mother"All you who pass this way, look and see: is any sorrow like the sorrow that afflicts me?" Lam 1:12Jesus, because of the immense suffering You experienced in the encounter with your Mother grant us the grace that we may console her every day of our lives, joining her solitude remembering your sufferings.Mary, obtain for us the grace of consoling Him with pure love, especially in the mystery of His passion and death.V. Simon of Cyrene helps Jesus carry his Cross"I tell you solemnly, in so far as you did this to one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did it to me". Mt 25:40Jesus, our Savior, we don't want to carry the Cross by force as Simon; we accept all the crosses that You have prepared for us until the last moment of our lives, and we promise to work with all our strength, helping You in the great task of saving the world.Mary, obtain for us the grace of loving the Cross.VI. Veronica wipes the face of Jesus"To have seen me is to have seen the Father". Jn 14:9Engrave, O Jesus your image in our souls so that we may never forget the painful steps of your passion.Mary, impress in our souls the image of your Son.VII. Jesus falls the second time"Come to me, all you who labor and are overburdened, and I will give you rest". Mt 11:28Jesus, we deplore the countless falls of our lives. You offered for us the humiliations and the pains You suffered on the way to Calvary. Do not permit us to sin again and help us, by Your passion and death, to avoid infidelity and inconstancy in our lives.Mary, intercede for us that we may obtain these graces.VIII. Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem"Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, weep rather for yourselves and for your children. Lk 23:28Jesus, your goodness to the women who accompanied You moves us. Grant us, Lord, that like You, we may know how to forget ourselves, to console those who suffer, and to give them strength.Mary, be our comforter in our time of sorrow.IX. Jesus falls a third time"Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the man who humbles himself will be exalted". Lk 14:11Jesus has fallen on the ground beneath the weight of the Cross. Your love for us gives You new strength to raise again. Your heart burns with love for the salvation of the world.Mary, intercede for us that we may be faithful to our vocation: to love and to deny ourselves.X. Jesus is stripped of his garments"None of you can be my disciple unless he gives up all his possessions". Lk 14:33Jesus, You want to expiate our lack of modesty. We want to weep for our sins and love the virtue of purity.Mary, Queen of purity, grant that we may cultivate those virtues that blossomed in your heart.XI. Jesus is nailed to the Cross"I have come from Heaven not to do my own will, but to do the will of the one who sent me". Jn 6:38O Jesus, it is not enough to strip ourselves, but to unite ourselves closer to You, nailing ourselves with You on the Cross, receiving all the crosses You send us as a sign of Your love.Mary, grant us to share your suffering as Jesus is nailed to the Cross.XII. Jesus dies on the Cross"He became as men are; and being as all men are, he was humbler yet, even to accepting death, death on a Cross" Phil 2:7-8We surrender before this manifestation of Your love. You, the innocent one taking the place of us the guilty ones, grant that we might love You in life and in death as we remain united with You.Mary, as you were at the foot of the Cross, help us to endure our cross as Jesus did.XIII. Jesus is taken down from the Cross"Was it not ordained that the Christ should suffer and so enter into his glory"? Lk 24:26Sorrowful Mother, You contemplated with indescribable pain His pierced hands and open side. At that moment, You offered your pain for the sins of all. We pray that we might always accompany you in your solitude, and with you plead before our heavenly Father.XIV. Jesus is placed in the tomb"Unless a grain of wheat falls on the ground and dies, it remains only a single grain, but if it dies, it yields a rich harvest". Jn 12:24Mary, prepare our hearts so that when we receive the body of Christ we might have light, strength and life. May we be united with you in the later years during your solitude.Let us pray: Eternal and loving Father, we have finished accompanying Jesus on the Way of the Cross. Grant that through the intercession of the Virgin Mary we may always remember Jesus' Passion, Death and Resurrection. We want to be true disciples of Jesus crucified under the direction of the Holy Spirit.We will meditate on the sufferings of Jesus and Mary on earth. Please, enkindle in us the desire to be with them eternally in Heaven. Amen.
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APOSTLESHIP OF THE CROSS TRIUMPHANT - PRAYER OF INTENTION Heavenly Father, I unite all of my thoughts, words and actions with the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary in your Divine Will for your Honor and Glory. Merciful Father, I am truly sorry for the times I have sinned against You through disobedience, ingratitude and unfaithfulness. My Jesus, I want to embrace the Cross with love by uniting all my sacrifices and sufferings with yours for the salvation of souls and the relief of the souls in Purgatory. Holy Spirit, I want to abandon myself to You by offering my "Fiat" in the name of all souls, past, present and future, echoing the words of the dear Blessed Virgin Mary, my Mother: "Be it done unto me according to thy word." I promise to pray for our Holy Father, John Paul II, and to remain faithful to him as he shepherds his flock. Father, I love You! May your Kingdom come and your Will be done on earth as it is in Heaven. Jesus, You are the Way, the Truth and the Life. Holy Spirit, set our hearts on fire with your love and renew the face of the earth. Amen.Apostles CreedOur FatherHail MaryGlory BeWith Ecclesiastical Permission
The Apostleship of the Cross Triumphant is an apostolate of the John Paul II Institute of Christian Spirituality.
The website for A.C.T. is : http://home.bellsouth.net/personalpages/PWP-ACT
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Added for your Reflection - another beautiful Victim Soul :
Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross
History
Edith was born in Breslau, Germany, on October 12, 1891, the youngest of seven children in a prominent Jewish family. Edith abandoned Judaism as early as 1904, becoming a self-proclaimed atheist. Her brilliant intellect was seeking truth, and she entered the University of Gottingen, where she became a protégé of the famed philosopher of Edmund Husserl. She was also a proponent of the philosophical school of phenomenology both at Gottingen and Freiburg in Breisgau. She earned a doctorate in 1916 and emerged as one of Europe's brightest philosophers. One of her primary endeavors was to examine phenomenology from the perspective of Thomistic thought, part of her growing interest in Catholic teachings. Propelled by her reading of the autobiography of St. Teresa of Avila, she was baptized on January 1, 1922. Giving up her university post, she became a teacher in the Dominican school at Speyer, receiving as well in 1932 the post of lecturer at the Educational Institute of Munich, resigning under pressure from the Nazis, who were then in control of Germany.In 1934, Edith entered the Carmelite Order. Smmuggled out of Germany into the Netherland in 1938 to escape the mounting Nazi oppression, she fell into the hands of the Third Reich with the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands in 1940. Arrested in 1942 with her sister Rosa (also a convert) as part of the order by Hitler to liquidate all non-Aryan Catholics, she was taken to Auschwitz, and , on August 9 or 10, 1942, she died in the gas chamber there. Pope John Paul II canonized Edith on October 11, 1998.
[taken from John Paul II's Book of Saints, published by OSV 1999]

Passages From...
Volume IV of the Collected Works of St. Edith Stein (Sister Teresa Benedicta of the Cross Discalced Carmelite)

EXALTATION OF THE CROSS - September 14, 1941... Your will be done! This was the content of the Savior's life. He came into the world to fulfill the Father's will, not only to atone for the sin of disobedience through his obedience, but also to lead people back to their destiny by the way of obedience The created will is not destined to be free to exalt itself. It is called to come into unison with the divine will. If it freely submits itself to this unison, then it is permitted in freedom to participate in the perfection of creation. If a free creature declines this unison, it lapses into bondage. The human will continues to retain the possibility of choice, but it is constrained by creatures that pull and pressure it in directions straying from the development of the nature desired by God, and so away from the goal toward which it itself was directed by its original freedom. With the loss of this original freedom, it also loses security in making decisions. It becomes unsteady and wavering, buffeted by doubt and scruples or obdurate in its error. There is no other remedy for this than the following of Christ, the Son of Man, who not only promptly obeyed his heavenly Father, but also subjected himself to people who imposed the Father's will on him. The obedience enjoined by God releases the enslaved will from the bonds of creatures and leads it back to freedom. Thus, it is also the way to purity of heart.

LOVE OF THE CROSS
... The sight of the world in which we live, the need and misery, and an abyss of human malice, again and again dampens jubilation over the victory of light. The world is still deluged by mire, and still but a small flock has escaped from it to the highest mountain peaks. The battle between Christ and the Antichrist is not yet over. The followers of Christ have their place in this battle, and their chief weapon is the cross.
What does this mean? The burden of the cross that Christ assumed is that of corrupted human nature, with all its consequences in sin and suffering to which fallen humanity is subject. The meaning of the way of the cross is to carry this burden out of the world. The restoration of freed humanity to the heart of the heavenly Father, taking on the status of a child, is the free gift of grace, of merciful love. But this may not occur at the expense of divine holiness and justice. The entire sum of human failures from the first Fall up to the Day of Judgment must be blotted out by a corresponding measure of expiation. The way of the cross is this expiation. The triple collapse under the burden of the cross corresponds to the triple fall of humanity: the first sin, the rejection of the Savior by his chosen people, the falling away of those who bear the name of Christian.
The Savior is not alone on the way of the cross. Not only are there adversaries around him who oppress him, but also people who succor him. The archetype of followers of the cross for all time is the Mother of God. Typical of those who submit to the suffering inflicted on them and experience his blessing by bearing it is Simon of Cyrene. Representative of those who love him and yearn to serve the Lord is Veronica. Everyone who, in the course of time, has borne an onerous destiny in remembrance of the suffering Savior or who has freely taken up works of expiation has by doing so canceled some of the mighty load of human sin and has helped the Lord carry his burden. Or rather, Christ the head effects expiation in these members of his Mystical Body who put themselves, body and soul, at his disposal for carrying out his work of salvation. We can assume that the prospect of the faithful who would follow him on his way of the cross strengthened the Savior during his night on the Mount of Olives. And the strength of these cross-bearers helps him after each of his falls. The righteous under the Old Covenant accompany him on the stretch of the way from the first to the second collapse. The disciples, both men and women, who surrounded him during his earthly life, assist him on the second stretch. The lovers of the cross, whom he has awakened and will always continue to awaken anew in the changeable history of the struggling church, these are his allies at the end of time. We, too, are called for that purpose.
Thus, when someone desires to suffer, it is not merely a pious reminder of the suffering of the Lord. Voluntary expiatory suffering is what truly and really unites one to the Lord intimately. When it arises, it comes from an already existing relationship with Christ. For, by nature, a person flees from suffering. And the mania for suffering caused by a perverse lust for pain differs completely from the desire to suffer in expiation. Such lust is not a spiritual striving, but a sensory longing, no better than other sensory desires, in fact worse, because it is contrary to nature. Only someone whose spiritual eyes have been opened to the supernatural correlations of worldly events can desire suffering in expiation, and this is only possible for people in whom the spirit of Christ dwells, who as members [Glieder](62) are given life by the Head, receive his power, his meaning, and his direction. Conversely, works of expiation bind one closer to Christ, as every community that works together on one task becomes more and more closely knit and as the limbs [Glieder] of a body, working together organically, continually become more strongly one.
But because being one with Christ is our sanctity, and progressively becoming one with him our happiness on earth, the love of the cross in no way contradicts being a joyful child of God. Helping Christ carry his cross fills one with a strong and pure joy, and those who may and can do so, the builders of God's kingdom, are the most authentic children of God. And so those who have a predilection for the way of the cross by no means deny that Good Friday is past and that the work of salvation has been accomplished. Only those who are saved, only children of grace, can in fact be bearers of Christ's cross. Only in union with the divine Head does human suffering take on expiatory power. To suffer and to be happy although suffering, to have one's feet on the earth, to walk on the dirty and rough paths of this earth and yet to be enthroned with Christ at the Father's right hand, to laugh and cry with the children of this world and ceaselessly to sing the praises of God with the choirs of angels this is the life of the Christian until the morning of eternity breaks forth.