The Way of the Cross

February 21, 2018

L.: O God, it is 4:53 p.m., Wednesday, February 21, 2018. Today, together with the brothers and sisters that are on the phone as well as the brothers and sisters that are here, we respectfully lift up to God as we start the 14 Stations of the Cross.

The First Station: Pilate Condemns to Death the Lord Jesus

O God – life has been going on for years; the world has reached a century in which over 2,000 years ago, God has come into this world. History still leaves behind the traces of love, the traces of salvation, the traces among traitors, and many actions that were and are offenses. People offend God, people reject Him, and people still have many imperfections that we recognize today in the truth. God came to save us, He came to suffer all the penalties caused by our sins, for us to still have the opportunity – the opportunity to understand, the opportunity to receive heaven’s bliss as the Lord Jesus led and is guiding us back to Him. May we remove everything that belongs to the realities in life, especially in the days of Lent, for us to look back at ourselves to see what still remains within us: greed, jealousy, pride, arrogance, and many weaknesses in our wretchedness – to beseech Him to have mercy on us, to forgive us. God, please have mercy, for us to recognize that we are very blessed, because we still have the opportunity to apologize to Him, to meditate on the 14 Stations of the Cross today, and still have the opportunity to pray for the souls who yearn. When they departed, they understood and they regretted, but they no longer had the time, they no longer had the opportunity, but today, we still have the opportunity; let us recognize this opportunity while we are still breathing and our hearts are still beating, which is a blessing from the grace God grants and bestows. The Supreme Being still loves and has mercy, still waits for each person’s growth and maturity, to kindle each soul, to soften each hardened heart to recognize the truth and what is evoked in Lent that we need to reflect upon – each one of us.

The Second Station: The Lord Jesus Carries the Cross

O Lord Jesus – He carried the Cross, because of human iniquity; He carried the Cross for the human sins of indifference, stubbornness and betrayal. Because of freedom, we end up with sin and death, but the Cross brings us close to Him, the Cross leads us and helps us recognize that the Lord still cares for us, still walks with us, still endures everything and accepts, in order to redeem us in life, with the days of exile in the world, the days in which mankind has the right to decide and distinguish between right and wrong in order to come to the Lord whom we trust, the Lord whom we worship, and the Lord who shed His Blood for sinners like us. Please, let us be decisive in this Lent to recognize what in life has piled up for years in age – yet regarding depth with grace, depth with experience, we are still very immature, with still many falls; may God have mercy and forgive those stumbles, those weaknesses, those indifferences, and those neglects. Today, please accept our plea for people who were and are on the way back, for those who have left their homes – those who have separated themselves from the Church, those who have erred. They are God’s children, but today, they are indifferent toward Him, they reject Him, and they are perpetuating with their actions, with their gestures. His Heart is suffering, grieving and agonizing with Lent; today, the Church is reminding everyone to return, for everyone to recognize themselves in order to come back to God. A Lent in silence, a Lent in reflection, a Lent in which we recognize the presence, to still have this day for us to decide to come back to Him. May the souls also benefit with the moments we return, the moments we sacrifice, the moments we truly enter into Lent with the recognition that the Lord suffered for our sins. May God forgive us; may God open our eyes, open our ears, and open our hearts to experience what has been and is in our life, to put an end to all passions, to put an end to human reasoning, to become people who have reflection, who have feeling, and who have a heart to come back to His Divine Mercy.

The Third Station: The Lord Jesus Falls for the First Time

O God – the Third Station; Jesus fell to the ground because of the weight, because of the shoving, because of all the people’s stares, because of the curses, the cruel words, the scorn, the rocks that keep being hurled. The Lord grieved; He grieved not because His Body was wounded, but He grieved for our souls that were so stubborn, so hardened, and so obstinate. Today, the world has still not recognized, has still not acknowledged the Lord, who out of love for mankind, died for them. He fell to the ground to sustain us, He fell to the ground to be with us, He fell to the ground to endure the sins we committed; He endured – to help us, to lead us, and to give us hope in His fortitude. Today, O God, there are many people in purgatory, because either they disbelieved, they ignored, or the days of their life, when they were still breathing, were days neglecting a great and immense salvation that was granted to them, loved them, and was very poignant – to lead us into each of the Stations of the Cross. Please allow us who still remain in this world, to be the people who still have the opportunity to decide, to still have a choice, to have feeling, to have fervor, from a true heart, to respectfully lift up to God, especially in this Lent, to beseech God to have mercy and forgive each sinner who is still in this world; each culprit, each penitent, each victim who has departed and no longer has the chance to turn back. May God have mercy on the souls in purgatory, where our loved ones were and are; it was too late when they understood, but He still loves, He still looks for ways, and He allows for this meditation today to commemorate what He has accomplished; may the souls benefit from our prayers and our reflections (1).

The Fourth Station: Blessed Mother Meets the Lord Jesus Carrying the Cross

O Lord, our God – the Fourth Station of the Cross depicts Blessed Mother meeting the Lord Jesus when He carried the Cross. When just born, tenderly held in Mother’s loving arms, elatedly jubilant was the joy and exultation of the angels and saints, but when meeting the Lord Jesus on the Way of the Cross, the body was marred beyond human likeness, drenched in blood, traces of blood sprinkled on the way taken and being taken. On the way the executioners led her Son to be killed, Mother did not utter any complaints; her eyes filled with tears, Mother comforted her Son, the Lord Jesus’ Heart; two hearts that beat as one, wounded over the abuses that the body of Her Son, the Lord Jesus, had to endure. Today, the world is redeemed; everyone may repent and return as that trace still lingers in the silence, in the meditation of Mother Mary who continues to beseech the Almighty to forgive humanity, waiting for mankind’s maturity, waiting for contrition and repentance. Let us ask Mother Mary to help us truly recognize – with a compassionate heart, with a caring heart – that we were redeemed by the sacrifice and the agony of the carrying of the Cross, which Mother and the Lord Jesus accepted. Today, we cannot continue with days separated from Him, we cannot continue to be uncaring; we cannot continue with indifferent and cold days, and still lack respect. Today, what Mother wants us to do is to let our soul return to the moments of meditation, to be a reflective soul, to recognize that our existence still lasts from Her Son’s price of Blood. From her cooperation to help us mature, we still have the opportunity to restore what was lost within, for us to return to God; besides, we have the responsibility to help the brothers and sisters in purgatory, because they are also His children and Mother’s children. The Lord died and endured the Way of the Cross for them, but today, they are still unable to come to the place God granted, so we have the duty and responsibility to pray and fast in this Lent, so that the sacrifice we offer may comfort Him as we beseech Him to have mercy upon the souls in purgatory.

The Fifth Station: Simon Carries the Cross to Help the Lord Jesus

O Lord – in the days He went to the synagogues, He taught, He traveled in and out of Galilee and in the vicinity, to teach, to heal. There were so many deeds He did, but when walking on the Way of the Cross, He was alone, by Himself; all those around Him ran away; there was no one, only Mother and St. John remained, while those close to Him were somewhere else. When in dire need, when Jesus was extremely exhausted and no longer had the strength to carry the Cross, the executioners feared that He would die along the way, so they chose a man named Simon. This was written in the 14 Stations of the Cross when the Passion was recorded into history, but Simon was not the person who recognized and knew the Lord Jesus, so he was indifferent and reluctant. We can see human beings, between one man and another, without the doctrine of God, without compassion, without love, so when they face sufferings, they neither have feelings nor see a person suffering, beaten, bleeding, falling, to have a compassionate heart to help. The human heart must show compassion, must love, must bond, because people need to have a conscience, which was inherently created by God, but we see that in Simon’s condition, it was said that he was reluctant to carry the Cross for the Lord and so what he did was forced; it was not because of compassion or love. The state of our world today is treating God in the same way; our actions are proof of the obstinacy, the hardness, the stubbornness, and the rejection of His wait. For countless years, we reject blessings; we do receive graces, but we do not fully understand how to respond to love through His teachings; we refuse to let our hearts understand what we need to do and what we must do.

In this world, indeed, too few people live by the heart – people who truly live with love to recognize the suffering of others, to share or recognize the need of others, to give away what we currently have. Indeed, selfishness was innate and continues from the very first period, so the Lord Jesus – He came to change this attitude, He came to change this behavior, He came to change everything that is in our ordinary and mediocre life to kindle in us love, to stir in us life, to prompt between men the many good ways that He taught us from His doctrine. Let us meditate upon this to recognize that we are also ones among the people who are reluctant, ones among the people who are still unfeeling, also ones among the people who live in days of indifference, in days of neglect, in days when we simply live under rules and regulations. Let us enter into this Lenten Season to understand what to meditate on in Lent, what we have done, for us to decide; may God have mercy and help us reflect this Lent, for our soul and heart to learn to change, to be more compassionate, to love more, and to be more generous when dealing between men. With present and past matters, throughout the days that He taught us, He tolerated, because of us; He endured, because of us.

The Sixth Station: Veronica gives the Veil for the Lord Jesus to Leave the Imprint

O Lord – the entire way was so lengthy; many people were eager, many people were lamenting, and many people watched and mourned the Supreme Being whom they had seen daily as He performed good deeds, as He helped and granted; there were sublime and extraordinary deeds from the Person that the executioners were brutally torturing and beating. Indeed, a large crowd was there, but only one brave woman wiped the face of the Lord, a gesture coming from the heart; a woman – in the past, in fact, people looked down on women – but that woman herself did it. She saw how Jesus had quietly carried the Cross, with heavy steps; she recalled that every day, Jesus had gone to the places she recognized, but today that face had become a different one – bloody. Certainly, with blood running down over the eyes, He did not see which way to go, so He stumbled over and over, but there was no one nearby; even the trusted and chosen ones ran away. A woman came; she was very courageous and wiped His face. Only those little gestures, but He rewarded her by recording her gestures onto history books, and she was the only person to whom Jesus left the imprint on that veil.

O Lord, our God – the mighty Supreme God, the God full of love, the God who did all the extraordinary and wonderful deeds, the God who set the example for the human world, on the paths that people took and are taking. That was the occasion for us to rush to stand up for the truth; that was the chance for people who have received His grace to step up to speak out about what they were witnessing – a brutality, a cruelty, an injustice to the innocent. Thus, let us reflect; we are also people who are very brave at times, but we are not bold enough and we are still shy people who do not dare testify to the truth. We receive so much from what God grants and bestows, but we are not brave enough to talk about God to others and not courageous enough to stand before Him to wipe His face like Veronica, in this form as well as other forms.

Please allow us especially in this Lent, to recognize in ourselves what we do unwittingly, and deliberately. There are many things we can learn from this woman; let us reflect upon the Blood that continues to flow through the Blessed Sacrament, still witnessing the human world in a life of denial – a life in which people still do not embrace, still do not understand, and still offend the Lord. Let us allow ourselves the moments of belonging to Him spiritually, for us to meditate, for us to experience, and for us to recognize that we still have the opportunity.  Let us pray for ourselves, pray for the people who live in this world, pray for the ability to decide, pray for a society full of people that unfortunately, still cannot offer what God most desires, which is the heart and thoughtful gestures in a normal and ordinary life. So, today, rather than just a veil, let us offer something to the Supreme Lord as we enter into this Lent, because He has granted and is granting, helping the deceased, the souls, and also helping us today to be courageous to wipe the Blood as Jesus still bleeds through the wounds that today’s humanity inflicts upon Him. Humanity still denies Him; humanity still remains indifferent to His suffering and waiting.

The Seventh Station: The Lord Jesus Falls the Second Time

O Lord – He fell to the ground one more time, agonizing with the weight of the Cross, the wounds were completely covered with dirt on the way He walked, dirt smeared all over His Body, and suffering even more when hitting His head on the ground covered with stones. Who could describe all these sufferings? We simply heard that Jesus fell to the ground for the second time, but we do not know how that fall was, how He endured, how much He had to suffer. With extreme agony, He still did not give up, because He knew that we were very shallow, very foolish, and decidedly heartless in betrayal. If He did not complete the Way of the Cross then how can we have the promise today, how can we understand His feeling in teaching us thoroughly to guide us in the midst of the world, with days of trials, days in which all generations continue to ignore, continue to follow the way of living with a human view, which is very narrow. Nonetheless, He has kindled something in our souls, He has loved and still loves; He knew that though many people did return, they still stumbled. In our lifetime, we keep stumbling over and over many times in life, so He chose both ways: first, He endured everything for us, then He fell one more time, and still, He struggled to keep on walking to redeem us – that achievement belongs to us in the salvation with the ultimate agony and all the sacrifices in life.

Let us meditate, reflect, urge our hearts to awaken to see what was in the past and still remains today. The world is in a state of danger with today’s people completely rejecting an immeasurable benevolence, rejecting the God who loved them, who died for them, who fell down many times to remind them that God still loves and forgives, but they ignored that valuable gift, they neglected what they had and have that God bestowed and granted. Only God can deliver and only God gives us a glorious day as this day; only with God do we have the opportunity to choose; only with God do we have the opportunity to pray for our relatives and the deceased. When they died, they were aware, but they no longer had the chance, it has become too late, and the wailing still echoed with the pleas that we heard (2). Today, we clearly understand the path that the Lord Jesus was waiting for and fell once more to help us stand up; He fell one more time to get close and bring souls back with Him. A love so gracious, so profound, so stirring; may we experience to truly live with what God gives and bestows to us; may each person lessen the reasoning, lessen the conflict, lessen all the selfishness, the pride, the greed, and lessen everything that life incites in us, to understand what Lent is. May our soul understand that God Himself once again helped us stand up by His fall; His extremely painful fall, to help us once more encounter Him, recognize Him, and receive the forgiveness and the infinite Divine Mercy of the Supreme Lord who endured tortures for us to be set free.

The Eighth Station: The Lord Jesus Stops to Console the Women of Jerusalem

O Lord – in every era as well as every generation, there are people who can experience, there are also people who truly listen to and practice what He has taught; they witnessed the deeds that He did. Those were the people in Jerusalem, the women, the little children, who saw the traces of blood on the Person carrying the Cross with weary steps, with such pain that He Himself had no strength to go on. The human eyes must have seen something urging, because a human being must have a conscience, because a human being must have a loving heart, because a human being must have feeling for what others are suffering, let alone the Lord. However, as we can see, most distressing were the executioners, the scribes, the Pharisees, who were educated, knowledgeable, who were people who understood, who were those in power, but they were unable to see the innocent Supreme Lord, unable to see the Supreme Being who was completely alone, but beaten by so many people, abused by so many people. With the sarcasms of life, the insults of those on the side of the road, of those who have received blessings, of those who have been healed – indeed, it was so pitiful, unfortunate, and regrettable for a world remaining in evil along with a merciless heart in the iniquity that was and is inherent in humanity, thus unable to see the bitter pain of those who suffered. The Lord Jesus walked through the paths; He saw the betrayal, saw what people did, but His Heart still loves, His Heart still cares for the people who bemoaned Him, the people who shed tears when they saw His sufferings, who wept like the women of Jerusalem.

O God, indeed, this world looks upon [earthly] reality. Thus, many people are completely indifferent to God; they reject God, they have no interest in what was recorded in history, though this is the subject of meditation particularly in Lent. Nevertheless, O God, there are still people like the women in Jerusalem; there are still children, there are still people who recognize the love and, today, they still repent, they still lift up toward God, they still visit God, they still revere God, they still worship God, and they continue to acknowledge the God who is living in the midst of this century. Therefore, whatever happens for generations, there still are righteous people, there still are people who see the truth, there still are people of God, there still are people who love God, and there still are people faithful to God. O God, today, human beings like us are ordinary people, humble and weak, but O God, now we recognize that we were people who were indifferent, who were unfeeling, who were traitors, who followed their own will. Today we understand, because we are insensitive, because we are negligent, we commit sins, but the Lord still forgives benevolently, still loves unconditionally, still supports genuinely, still brings us back wholeheartedly, and endures with the passing days, in a revealing and humble way.

Today, we have the brothers and sisters who bow down doing the Stations of the Cross, to reflect and meditate on what God grants and gives, the God we recognize as He is: the King of the universe, but on the Way of the Cross, He was extremely pitiful, because of the indifference, the betrayal, the ignorance, and the rejection of mankind. Nonetheless, He did not let people watch with a pitying look; God is the Lord; with His power, He was still majestic, looking and showing mercy to those children of Jerusalem who were and are weeping, saying, Do not weep for Me, but weep for your children; we are the people who were and are lamenting; let us be touched by those words. This crowded world is being allured by so many enticements in the sophisticated and ingenious ways of a civilized age that has lured us away, and we have gone too far astray, but that love, that reminder, and the Jerusalem of that year is still present through the people from whom today, we quietly listen to God’s words. He is giving us the opportunity to return to Him, to recognize Him; may our voices resonate for the world.

Today, although the world has lived through the course of history with indifference, rejection and coldness, we – as the descendants – we have been reminded by God: “Pity your children.” Today, thanks to that pity, we return to a life knowing God, recognizing Him, and believing in Him; though insignificant, though there are still imperfect days, though there are still wretched and weakened days, we believe in the God who loved us, in the God who died for us, in the God who entered into history, and today is still lively, to soften the cold and indifferent hearts, and to help us on the way back to the justice and truth that God has granted us on earth. Today, as we continue with our meditation, may we mature and understand the meaning of Lent; may we lift up what we are doing, the little sacrifices, to pray for the souls, to pray for people who no longer have the opportunity, to pray for those who are sorry, who are repenting, with lamentations. God, please have mercy and grant what we are able to do, because He loves the living and even the deceased, loves those agonizing souls, even those who are on the way back yet still do not know how to return to Him. God, please have mercy, accept our prayers, give us the opportunity to continue to lift up; God, please hear our pleas, receive our flow of tears, and help us on our path to become more complete, worthy of the love that He has offered us. Amen.

The Ninth Station: The Lord Jesus Falls for the Third Time

The Church’s description reminds us with words that are very intimate, very simple, yet express the depth and the breadth for all of history. We are Adam’s descendants; in the beginning, our first parents betrayed and disobeyed, so we have fallen into a state of sin and death; for that reason, He has come. He knew what will happen and still happens in the world if He had not come or if He did not come to lead us into meaningful days; we had and have days that continue, in hardness, in stubbornness and obstinacy, in a life in which people continue with evil. Today, there were and are circumstances that many times in our lives, we did turn back; many times we did experience; many times we did understand that it was the hand of God Himself that intervened and protected us. It is the hand of God Himself that helps us; it is that invisible hand that supports and guides us through accidents, disasters, and so many trials in life, but we cannot stand up by ourselves, to affirm, to believe and return with a deserving life, as God redeemed us; so God, once again, fell on the ground for the third time. We know that all things have meaning; today, let us reflect: the third time; three times falling to the ground; three days the Lord Jesus will be known in the end times, three days of the triumphant glorious resurrection; also three: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit; and Jesus, in His days with the Apostles, once asked Peter: “Do you love me?”; also three times. These three times have many meanings and the number three is also a very special number, because He is the Lord who had plans in history that are still evolving in the common world of humanity, full of meaning with numbers and what was promised through the important matters that today we learn about.

On the way the Lord Jesus walked, as He approached, everyone noticed that He was utterly exhausted – the Blood was all shed; He no longer had the strength, and regardless of all the abuse, He knew only in the last moments to ask, to ask God the Father to forgive, concerned only of the unfortunate things that were completely unknown to people. Today is still the same, so many things have been reiterated from history, but there is still hardheartedness, stubbornness, because in the world only one-third recognizes, but in that one-third, there is still division, still separation. Where are the other two-thirds? They are people redeemed by God, they are people bestowed upon by God – God died for them to live – but today they do not recognize Him, they do not seek to return to Him, and they do not recognize the Supreme Lord who has granted to them from the beginning, because He redeemed them Himself in order for them to have this day. How pitiful for mankind, how unfortunate for each person; we devote everything that belongs in this day to luxury, to all things that we seek: success and so many things in life with fleeting days. We build up, we enrich what is useful as we look out for our future, but we fail to see our future in His loving embrace; we cannot see the transient nature of life, and we do not recognize the Supreme Being who sacrificed for us to live with Him always in a place that never ends.

Today, regarding foolishness, it is said: “Do not leave weak children to their folly.” Today, foolishness remains, hardness remains, obstinacy remains; how can we recognize if we are not truly repentant? Let us spend these decisive moments in a life in which we begin our journey into Lent, for us to reflect, experience, and live while we still have the opportunity. Let us live in contentment with the Lord; let us surrender and entrust what belongs to a foolish, shortsighted, narrow perception, to be able to embrace what God has granted us on the path where He fell to the ground for the third time, to understand the meaning, to call upon His Name. Only He will free us, only He can bring us a happy smile, peace, and meaning of life.

The Tenth Station: The Executioners Remove the Garment of the Lord Jesus

O God – the garment that He wore and wears is to put on all the torments and sorrows of human iniquity. The garment He is wearing teaches us what is in a mortal lifetime, a fleeting lifetime; a lifetime with a life in which we are vain as we are seeking, as we are impassioned and enticed, which leads us into a very narrow way of thinking. Still wrong, still shortsighted, still selfish, still judging, deceiving, people remain in the days that we used to be and are in life; He gave us the garment to wear, but the hour has come, all things were near completion; that garment was the one He gave back for the human kindness toward Him. So many years with the world, so many months, in order to grant the best of everything, to completely dress mankind in a new garment, in grace, through the teachings, the stirring words, and a horrific death to redeem mankind, but that garment, people have returned to Him by the price of Blood, with scourges all over His Body, with crowns of thorns, with abuses, with which people ignored, disbelieved, and were totally heartless, due to wickedness. Let us meditate on this; He was wearing a garment and that garment was offered back to mankind, through the nails, through the Blood, through the wounds, through the crown of thorns, through the heavy cross, for mankind to be unburdened, to be delivered, to be set free, and to have days in the light – the light of the Good News, the light of love, the light of heaven, the light of grace.

But O Lord, our God, up to this century, we still do not understand that garment, which is the garment of kindness that God gives, because the garment that today people wear is one of defilement, of filthiness, of wretchedness, of disgrace, of coldness and indifference. We still do not understand the value of the garment that He wears, for Him to grant us a new one by His death. May we allow ourselves alert moments, to not let the devil deceive, to not let the devil tempt, to not let the indifference to what is evil to keep piling up, and continue with the months in which we remain in stubborn and hardened days – in which we remain in the days of the real world, demanding only what belongs to us, in arrogance, in denial, and unable to recognize the depth, height and width. When we reflect and meditate, completely empty, with everything that has become a habit, without emotion, we speak very eloquently and lead a life capable of doing many things, because of knowledge, of education, but it is only the appearance, only the theory, because inside, we are still unfeeling, still hardened, and still stubborn. May we understand that the garment we are wearing is a narcissistic one; the garment that the Lord Jesus gave, we still do not understand its value; today, let us awaken, let us not remain in days being allured, in days with our selfish, shortsighted view, in judgment, in doubt, in disobedience, in unrighteousness. When our lives encountered and are encountering challenges, then we seek, but when we succeed, then we no longer recognize God and we never offer a word of thanksgiving and gratitude; that is how we are.

Let us meditate on this and look back at what we have done; let us be awakened so that we may recognize that we are alive today from His salvation, redeemed by the price of Blood, by His consent, and by a tender love that still waits for us to awake, still waits for us to return, still waits for us to grow in the Lord Jesus Christ’s love and salvation. Do not let our hearts become hardened, do not allow many motives in our thoughts demand and request divine signs; we expect things from our restricted view, but love is absolutely immeasurable with the good deeds God has granted and given. Let us mature and recognize ourselves in the present time; we still have a conscience and a sense of right and wrong with the obligation to remember the deceased, to remember the souls, to do penance by achieving what we have done and what we are doing in the reflection of the Tenth Station of the Cross that we lift up to Him.

The Eleventh Station: The Executioners Nail the Lord Jesus

O God – the cross was connected to the nails as the Lord Jesus completely reconciled with mankind, for mankind; that was the ultimate sacrifice to conquer death, to conquer all the tortures caused by mankind; He endured everything for sins. The hour has come. He was agonizing and the sound of the nails was like a hammer blow to the head; the joints, the fibers, in the hand, in the chest, and in the whole body, were in agony, awaiting the final moment of death; all this for me, and with me, still having hope in me. In the world of mankind, because our view is too narrow, too shallow, we have become habitual, we have become hardened, we have become obstructed with a life that today is still selfish, still divided, still differentiating between this sect, the other sect, still with all the desires to simply achieve what we consider justified. Everyone wants to obtain what they themselves think is right, but God is the Lord of heaven, He came and was resolute, determined to die so that we may be redeemed and amend our view in that limitation, a view in that shortsightedness, a view in ordinariness and mediocrity, with dispute among each other, with jealousy toward each other, with arrogance, and still many habits belonging to the self.

O God – the nail marks that He accepted proved one thing; He did not abandon mankind; He did not abandon the world; He was determined to give us life, He was determined to help us, He was determined to redeem us, He was determined to remain with us at any cost, because the nails have been nailed into the cross. As we often say in this world: “Say it as a hammered nail.” The nail marks, once nailed, are never forgotten, by the profound love as God is waiting, still waiting, waiting for mankind to mature to understand this. However, today have we truly understood yet? Have we truly experienced yet? Or do we still let our God remain lonely in the tabernacle, to continue to look at us with grief, due to our refusal, indifference, and offense? We look solely into the shallowness of the present time, and we make demands, seeking only all things of the world, seeking all that belongs within human limitations that still depends upon wants, and forgetting one’s duty and responsibility, neglecting the mission and the ministry that God has assigned and gives. Finally, He continues to remind us that the nails will never be removed, because the day we still have not awakened, the day we still have not returned, the day we still have not understood this, God still waits, still perseveres, and still allows us to experience what we have had the opportunity to reflect upon in this year’s Lent. There are so many things; please help us step out of the circle of thinking about oneself, about needs, about wants. In the life of service, we only think about ourselves instead of thinking about the heart that He needs, to hear us with heartfelt words; a heart that feels, a heart that knows to thank, that knows to be grateful to the Lord who bestowed and granted, who died for us, and who has never forgotten the mark, never forgotten the seal of that love offered to us – every sinner, every culprit, every penitent, like us now.

The Twelfth Station: The Lord Jesus Dies on the Cross

O Lord – the Twelfth Station of the Cross; the strength has gone, the water inside has run dry; the blood has dried up, only one lacerated, bloody, and broken body. Before the Cross when raised high, let us contemplate, for us to recognize the Lord who – out of love for mankind, out of a desire for mankind to be reformed and restored to receive the heavenly light – sacrificed. Till the last moment, He still loved, still asked: Father, please forgive them, because they do not know what they do; He showed mercy to the good thief, as to us, whose entire life was faithless, but at the last minute repented and was promised heaven. O Lord – how immeasurable is His mercy, how endless is His love; how can sinners like us describe all that, throughout all generations? Today, we still exist; the death of the Lord on the Cross was accomplished with the doctrine and the truth so today, each one of us meditates on the way of the 14 Stations of the Cross to be able to understand. Today, how many remember this, how many remember the Lord who is still waiting for them? How many can understand that He died for me, that He died for the world, that He died for every single person in the world of humanity to live, to be redeemed, and to forever and ever be with Him? He endured unfathomable pain, because of the desire to redeem our soul, to bring us back to be cleansed in grace and blessing; with the triumphant death of the Lord Jesus Christ in the coming days, let us open our hearts, with the hardness, obstinacy, immature thinking, stubbornness and rebelliousness. In the era that has sown and made us proud, arrogant, and self-reliant, we have been redeemed by Him to still be able to exist.

Let us take the time to separate from this busy life to return to the ending that today we clearly meditate on to understand the meaning of Lent, to understand the days when we left Him, to understand the betrayal that we committed and are committing, for us to stop, for us to be redeemed, because the soul must totally pay the price. We cannot escape from the justice that God has set for us; we must know that in the final hour, we have no one who can accompany us, even spouses, even parents who love their children. The final path of our life is to be face-to-face with God, to be face-to-face with the Lord Jesus Christ; He died and He took that path to secure life for us. Thus, we must awaken now to recognize what is valuable that still invites us in the world of humanity, so that we may understand that our souls need to be entrusted into His hands. Let us not live an entire life in misery and eventually be locked up in places where we absolutely no longer have the opportunity to receive the light, or never end up with a place where we can receive the light of salvation.

 Let us give ourselves the opportunity and immediately choose in the moment we are practicing, so that we may understand what God gives and bestows; we have Mother Mary, the Lord entrusted us to Mother Mary. Indeed, what today is not yet familiar will be familiar, what is still unknown will be known; allow our souls to quiet down, to be removed from the struggles in life, to be removed from the chores in life. Let us quiet down; Mother Mary will guide us into days with the opportunity to understand what are the regrets, the repentance, the return, and the prostration. Today, we receive that gift; let us lift up our gratitude, our thanksgiving, and our apology for us to understand the Twelfth Station of the Cross. God died. What are we? We have only one, broken soul, one wretched soul with wickedness, with weakness; in prostration and submission, let us apologize to God, beseech God to forgive us, and apologize to Mother, because we have been extremely inconsiderate, absolutely uncaring, totally indifferent, and we have let the world control us in sin and death. Please help us clearly understand this; the only thing is to return to God, the only thing is to trust God, to listen to Mother, and we will be redeemed. There will be days of prospect, of hope; there will be meaningful days when we start the Twelfth Station of the Cross, for us to have the opportunity to be restored and still have the opportunity – by praying, by practicing, by sacrificing – to help our brothers and sisters in purgatory. There still are many people who are crying, waiting for help, for them to return with God through grace; today, we sacrifice; we complete the Twelfth Station of the Cross to help them.

The Thirteenth Station: The Taking Down of the Lord Jesus from the Cross to Place into the Arms of Blessed Mother

O Lord – when they removed the nails and placed the Lord Jesus into Mother Mary’s arms, that was the conclusion of the death the Lord Jesus accomplished on the cross with the last breath, but it was the beginning for Mother Mary. Embracing His motionless Body, she continued to honor His Eucharist, which, before He went into the Passion, became an act of salvation for mankind, a second time. She remains, to silently continue a great and immense program through the salvation of the Lord Jesus Christ, bringing His doctrine and that truth to the world, by the teachings that the Supreme Lord, the transcendent Lord gives and bestows to us, through the Church. Let us reflect on the fact that today, through the Thirteenth Station of the Cross, we see how our Mother was absolutely admirable, how our Mother wept in her heart yet there was not one blame, not one complaint, because she knew the purpose Her Son came was to redeem mankind in the world, to redeem the sins of the world, to help them receive the light and give them a place promised through Her Son. What mother could tolerate, when her son was still covered with blood and there was no longer any unscathed spot on the body of the son whom She loved, respected and treasured? Do we see any mother in this world who grieved and suffered as our Mother Mary? Do we see the suffering of a mother when her son is the person who never did anything to hurt her? Mother loved God even more, whom She revered, cherished, and respected, because She knew that He is God, yet today, throughout generations, human treatment, human injustice, human iniquity, human stubbornness, human hardness, are increasingly serious, daily offenses to God.

Do we truly know what we are doing? Do we know what we are like with a life of freedom in which we cannot find justice and truth? We only know about present matters, we are very shortsighted, we misuse what we have, and sometimes we squander God’s grace, and we completely ignored the great and immense significance with the justice that we must face in the truth. Because we are too shortsighted, too foolish, too insane, too superficial, and too oblivious, our conscience and morality have been covered up and have concealed everything from human eyes, to simply live in pretense and theory, and so many frightening and repulsive things that inside are indeed terrible. Today, Mother Mary wants us to testify when we truly understand that God brought us life and that God died for us to have this day so that we must let things be fulfilled with what is spiritual. Endless heaven belongs to us through the death of Her Son, through Her fortitude, and through the co-redemption of our sins, for us to be redeemed and live happy and peaceful days that we presently have in the world. Let us live being mature; let us not follow the habits of life, not let the control be the intellect, knowledge, learning, and education bind us within the restraints of the regime of law from of old, which is still subject to that control. We do not recognize what is divine, we do not perceive what is wondrous, we do not distinguish what God’s abundant blessings are in the human world, so that on our own, each heart can seek to experience, because God encounters each person, one by one.

We have been blessed to have Mother, to be with Mother. Today, She wants us to improve, to become perfect, to become people who learn to pray and learn to honor God and come to Her Heart; a Heart fully consecrated to God; the Heart of a Mother who completely lived a life in obedience and sacrifice, a life belonging to God. Today, we receive Her teaching and closeness, and receive the great graces She offers us; She points us to Jesus; She guides us to the Eucharistic Jesus; She leads us to Jesus, Her Son; She brings us to Jesus who died for our sins. Thus, we must live through His Blood, which is the most joyful part of the meditation in this Lent, for us to understand what is needed in faith, what is needed for us to mature to understand what belongs to us. We must abolish our own wishes in life, for us to live with days growing in God’s grace, with Mother’s message, the experience of meditation with the tears that Mother shed – because of the indifference, because of the betrayal, because of mankind’s disobedience. Mother greatly yearns for us to understand that the death of the Lord Jesus brings us life, brings us hope; let us not allow anything in this world to entice us to lose the best in the spirituality that we need, that we must have and must recognize, to decide soon. Do not let it be too late, and do not let it be too tardy, because the life of our soul must answer to justice before God.

The Fourteenth Station: The Burial of the Lord Jesus in the Sepulcher

O Lord – throughout these 14 Stations of the Cross, in this Station of the Cross, we can see His glory; He is the Lord. No matter what happens in the way people view, what He allowed us to see is for us to decide, to understand that what inherently belongs in righteousness, in goodness, and in the great work of salvation that was to help us overcome the ordinary and limited human laws to lead us onto higher and wider steps to clearly understand what belongs to Him. He does not talk with the lips, He does not preach as in past days, but He personally came into the world in the flesh, to triumph over the nails, the wounds, and the atrocious tortures, to affirm the important value of an everlasting doctrine throughout all generations. He also allowed us to see that whatever happens, He was still the Lord while so many executioners looked for ways to inflict abuse till the last moment. He died; and at the end, we saw St. Joseph, St. Nicodemus, and St. John were the ones who recognized the doctrine and the truth and they knew that our God was still the Lord. The most wonderful teachings, the most merciful deeds, what belongs to Him remain different from ordinary and mediocre people in this world. To the world He was a criminal sentenced to death – because of our sins, but He was still the Lord and He was buried in a new sepulcher prepared for Him. Moreover, these people, who took His Body down and buried Him in the new sepulcher, were those selected in secrecy.

Today, that new sepulcher resurrects everything inherent in people’s narrow view and completely replaces it with what are the best, the most mysterious, sublime wonders. What is impossible, to God has been and is: to lead us in the days of meditation, to experience the days of Lent, the days of death, and the days with the work of salvation. In the end, we will see the triumphal glory of the Lord whom we must believe in, whom we must worship, praise, honor. Let us not look with a pair of eyes according to our habit throughout many generations, because this is the Lord, because today with what we have received, He still remains; the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ are still Present; this is a great phenomenon that He planned and instituted before the Passion was to happen. Thus, today, with what we experience, we must recognize that His love was already granted to us; He has used all kinds of ways to make us understand that all things are in His plan, if we believe, if we walk in His way, if we remove all the wickedness that we are still bound to and still foster. In a time when we live in shallowness, we must have certain moments of separation from life to recognize the depth and the breadth that God has granted through the Holy Spirit for us to clearly understand that the Way of the Cross offered a glorious teaching, for us to live and be worthy as the human being whom He redeemed.

God still waits and chooses us, one by one, for us to truly understand, for our hearts to truly decide, for our hearts to truly experience the height and the breadth that He granted us in His death. Though we are people limited in knowledge, we know these are the moments as we see Mother Mary perseveres and continues after the ways of the crosses; we already know what is next in the Gospel and the Good News, what has been and is. Today, the divine presence of God remains; He is still with us; He remains with us, in the great mysteries, in the miracles, in the supernatural deeds, in the graces that we receive today in order to proceed on the path for us to belong to Him, to call upon His Name, to glorify Him, to believe in Him, for our lives to be renewed days in life. In the endings of the last days, everyone becomes the people who prostrate, who surrender and worship God, because all the sorrows, the days of darkness are over; God is the glorious and triumphant Supreme Being to whom people must submit, must surrender, must worship, and they must repent to be forgiven at the end of history. Today, we meditate; especially in this year’s Lent, let us not live in despair, let us not look with a typical view, and let us not follow our old habit that has made us become hardened, stubborn, obstinate, and become people who are unmoved, unfeeling. The Lord still invites, the Lord still calls, and the Lord still wants to give us the opportunity to encounter Him.

So, if we truly meditate on the Fourteenth Station of the Cross, we can be in the role of Joseph, of Nicodemus, and St. John, to continue to the end, to be with Him, to be nearby with a repentant and contrite heart, to understand the meaning of the depth, of the breadth, and become the aromatic spices, become what was used as the cloth to wrap when Jesus died. He will resurrect in triumphant glory; with everything that we are hearing, seeing and receiving, today, the miracle – though 2,000 years ago – has resurrected with us in this moment, resurrected with the moments we beseech. We are still ordinary human beings in the flesh, but the great, divine signs are still present, still come to us in a divine way, still come to us in a personal way, still come for us to receive what is present and precious that God has given us in the end times. God grants so that in our lives we may resolutely practice as we still have the choice to reverently offer, to present, and to respectfully lift up to Him for the souls that we long for – for them to have the opportunity to return. Perhaps when they departed, they did not have the opportunity to receive; they did not have the time to recognize that they were the people who most need to return to God, but it was due to our faith throughout all generations. All things have come to a time of blessing and grace, which unfortunately, we have not sought, and we seek what is not ours; and as our knowledge remains limited, we are tightly bound by sin, tightly bound to all the passions and pleasures, tightly bound to all the wretchedness and weakness.

Today, let us enter into the stations of the 14 Stations of the Cross, to meditate and reflect, for us to hear the voice, the guidance, the motivation of the Holy Spirit, and the teaching of Mother Mary. Let us turn back; let us return with our hearts, return with the prostration; repent by soul and heart – to lift up all that is left in the time we still have to offer to God, because we alone decide for ourselves, we alone beseech God to have mercy to forgive us, for us to return to Him. As for the present world, if we continue with a normal and mediocre view, then we will never be touched or know how to soften the heart or know how to decide or know how to live in a life with faith, by work, by what is best, by trust, by faith, by hope and charity, by an essential doctrine, attested to by the 14 Stations of the Cross. Let us meditate carefully so that each one of us will mature and grow in God and continue with the path God plans for us, and with the experience that the brothers and sisters receive especially during Lent. Let us not tear our garments, but open our hearts, to meditate, to be grateful, to thank and apologize to God; and let us be determined to return, worthy of what He grants and bestows, be determined to return to the light, be determined to ask Him to help us push away the darkness in our lives. There are so many things that we cannot even stand up to, so relying upon God, with Him, the Holy Spirit’s grace will help us become righteous, become the worthy people as God intended us to be. In the Holy Name of Jesus Christ our Lord, now until forever and ever, I praise God, I glorify God, and I honor God.

At this moment, I thank God for the conclusion of the 14 Stations of the Cross. We lift up the contrition prayer to ask God to forgive us and forgive our brothers and sisters when they confess and desire to repent. God, please have mercy on us and allow us to have a profound experience with Lent as God has given us through the Holy Spirit’s inspiration, teaching us to be more zealous, more knowledgeable, and more understanding as we live with common days as well as personal days in a contemporary era, for us to further reflect on what is taught through the Holy Spirit – with a stirring in the conscience, a heart belonging to God, worthy with the Lent that we lift up to Him.

O God – at this moment, I thank God, and thank the Holy Spirit for helping me fulfill my mission with the brothers and sisters on the day we pray for souls, particularly through the 14 Stations of the Cross. I also ask Mother to remain with us and help us in this evening to be zealous with the moments we attend Holy Mass and adoration tonight. Especially in the days we start Lent, may we mature and grow through the messages, for us to live more virtuously, to eliminate everything that is besieging us through irritating and annoying matters or other imperfections and weaknesses, for us to truly meditate in Lent, to sacrifice, and to eliminate what is in that wretchedness, for us to become people who are worthy and mature, in Mother’s love, teaching, and support.

We thank God immensely, thank the Holy Spirit, and thank Blessed Mother. L. along with the brothers and sisters in the group, conclude at 6:22 p.m., on Wednesday, February 21, 2018, at home, on the third week, on the Wednesday that we usually pray. Today, we remain at home, to pray in particular for the world, for the brothers and sisters especially starting Lent, as well as for the souls in purgatory, our relatives and our loved ones, and also continue with the mission in which we travel everywhere to testify to the Six Kowtows. We thank God immensely, praise God, glorify God, and thank Mother. In the Holy Name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. Amen. Amen.

The anonymous messenger, L., is an American immigrant from Vietnam. L. leads an intense prayer life that focuses on attending the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and adoration of Our Lord in the Most Blessed Sacrament. L. receives the messages by way of interior locutions and is able to capture miraculous images of the Eucharist on her cell phone’s camera. When Jesus gives L. messages, it is as a loving Father to His children (for more on this please see the homepage of www.nrtte.net). 

1. Though the word “reflections” is used, this in no way means that these are human reflections; these are messages received via interior locutions.
2. Rarely, L. receives non-public messages from persons in heaven (non-canonized) and purgatory. This is an extraordinary gift, but it is not without precedent: St. Bridget and St. Lutgardis are among the saints who received messages from persons in purgatory; even St. Paschasius, while in purgatory, appeared to a bishop and spoke to him. These are all solidly documented. If these can happen via visions, there is no reason they cannot happen through interior locutions, which is how L. receives.

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