The Mystery

THIS Station represents the place where Christ's most sacred body was taken down from the Cross by Joseph and Nicodemus, and laid in the bosom of his weeping Mother.

Consider the sighs and tears of the Virgin Mother, with what pangs she embraced the bloody remains of her beloved Jesus. Here unite your tears with those of the disconsolate mother. Reflect that your Jesus would not descend from the Cross until He consummated the work of redemption and that at his departure from, as well as at His entrance into the world, He would be placed in the bosom of His beloved Mother. Hence learn constancy in your pious resolutions; cleave to the standard of the Cross. Consider with what purity that soul should be adorned which receives, in the blessed Sacrament of the Eucharist, Christ's most sacred body and blood.

Prayer

At length, O Blessed Virgin, Mother of sorrow, you are permitted to embrace your beloved Son. But, alas, the fruit of your immaculate womb is mangled into one continuous wound. Yes, O Lord, the... fury of the [Jewish leaders] has at length triumphed yet we renew their barbarity, crucifying You by our sins, inflicting new wounds. Most afflicted mother of my redeemer, I ask you by the pains and torments thou suffered because of Salvation, to obtain for me, by thy powerful intercession pardon of my sins, and grace to weep with a Sympathizing feeling yours and thy Son's afflictions. As often as I appear at the Holy Sacrifice of the mass, let me embrace You, my Jesus, in the bosom of my heart. May I worthily receive You as the sacred pledge of my salvation. Amen, JESUS.

Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory be..., Etc. ...
Jesus Christ crucified, have mercy on us!

When from the Cross they took the blessed form,
His Mother cries, my Son, I am forlorn;
My child is dead, you virgins join with me,
Bewail in tears my love's sad destiny.