10th Station: Jesus is Stripped of His Garments
Nature is stripped of its dignity and beauty
Meditation
As Jesus is prepared to be crucified, he was stripped of his clothing, and mocked as an assault to his dignity. Today the Earth is stripped of rich soils and carved into for mineral wealth and fossil fuels. Wildlife habitat is lost, watersheds are reshaped in our image, and potable water is endangered, all in the name of capital. Communities in rural and low-income parts of our Church suffer the visual, ecological, and physical health effects of Earth’s exploitation. “Crises are driven by fragility and conflict, amplified by climate change and the impact of COVID-19; extreme poverty or destitution has risen for the first time in 22 years. Global humanitarian needs are at an all-time high and continues to grow.” [OCHA 2021]
We Pray
God of those stripped of dignity, the current situation is stripping away what little belongs to those experiencing poverty, just as you were finally stripped of your bloodied garments. Stir us with empathy and help us to seek sustainable lifestyles that restrain our own impulses of consumer frivolity, so that your creation will not be stripped of beauty and life-giving resources. Amen.
♫ HYMN
Were you there when they stripped away his clothes?
Oh, sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble;
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
11th Station: Jesus is Nailed to the Cross
We are responsible for Christ's pain and Earth's exploitation
Meditation
Just as Jesus suffered the anguish of nails piercing his hands and feet as his mother and beloved disciple absorbed the scene of injustice and mockery, many people throughout the world have been pierced by the effects of climate change, violence, and war. As we carry our cross of guardianship, we make a commitment to be anchored to the beams of justice, not of convenience, to suffer in solidarity with innocent victims. Our hands must prudently use precious resources and our feet must work tirelessly for ecological conservation.
We Pray
God of sacred space and nature, our obliviousness to the wonder and universal destiny of your creation, and our misguided models of progress are like nails with which we crucify you today. Help us to recognize the wounds of our brothers and sisters throughout the world. May our realizations and reawakening’s in the Spirit bring us to repentance and to your abiding presence in which everything lives, moves, and has its being. Amen.
♫ HYMN
Were you there when they nailed Him to the tree?
Oh, sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble;
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
The above is excerpted from a booklet prepared by the Franciscan Friars Conventual JPIC commission and a combined adaptation from a Catholic Climate Covenant (CCC) parish resource (from the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis’s 2022 ACCT) and a Jesuit Refugee Service resource (JRS Renew the Earth—Stations 2022).
The Stations will be posted individually over the next weeks of Lent. Check out our Resources page if you would like to view the entire document.
