The Third Station: Jesus Falls the First Time
We adore you O Christ and we praise you.
Because by your Holy Cross you have redeemed the world.
Remember
In this station we remember the homeless.
Reflect
Here is the one who had nowhere to lay his head (Mt 8:20).
He walks and stumbles along the stony path.
He is ‘the stone rejected by the builders’ (Matthew 21:42; Psalm 118:22).
The cheeky devil had asked Jesus to change stones into bread,
but Jesus ‘lives on every word that comes from the mouth of God’ (Matthew 4:3).
Jesus opts for the path of pain, passion and patience. 
Here divinity bites the dust.
Humanity humiliated.
He sets his face like flint (Isaiah 50:7),
showing a stony resolve in the face of scorn.
He falls with us and for us that he
might break all our own
falls and failures.
Stabat Mater Hymn
‘By that bitter cup of pain,
When your strength began to wane;
In your pity grant our plea,
Hear our solemn litany.’
(# 20 Hymn in the Divine Office, Volume 2)
Pray
Glory be to the Father
and the Son,
and the Holy Spirit.
As it was in the beginning,
is now
and ever shall be.
Wold without end.
Amen
Sing Psalm 22
The Lord Is My Shepherd
there is nothing I shall want
He makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside still waters.
He restores my soul.
He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
