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First Station The Last Supper with the Disciples V. We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you. R. Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.
Then he took the bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is my body, which will be given for you; do this in memory of me.’ And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which will be shed for you. (Lk 22:19-20)
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Meditation Before taking the bread in his hands, Jesus welcomes with love all those who are seated at his table. He doesn’t exclude anyone: not even the traitor, or the one who will deny him, nor those who will flee. He has chosen them as a new people of God. They are the Church and are called to be one body. Jesus dies to unite the dispersed children of God (Jn 11:52). ‘I pray not only for them, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, so that they may all be one’ (Jn 17:20-21). Love strengthens unity. And he says: Love one another (Jn 13:34). Faithful love is humble: you ought to wash one another’s feet (Jn 13:14). United in the prayer of Christ, we pray that in the Holy Land the Church may live united and in peace, that all persecution and discrimination because of faith may cease, and all who
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believe in one God may live in justice and fraternity until God grants us the grace to sit together at his table.
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Our Father – Hail Mary – Glory be
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Second Station Judas betrays Christ with a kiss V. We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you. R. Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.
So he dipped the morsel and handed it to Judas, son of Simon the Iscariot. After he took the morsel, Satan entered him. (Jn 13:26) Immediately he went over to Jesus… and he kissed him. Jesus answered him, ‘Friend, do what you have come for’. (Mt 26:49-50)
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Meditation The breeze of a sacred mystery can be felt in the Last Supper. Christ is serene, pensive, suffering. He had said: ‘I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer’ (Lk 22:15). And now, quietly, he lets his deepest sentiment escape: ‘Amen, amen, I say to you, one of you will betray me’ (Jn 13:21). Judas feels bad; his ambition has traded “for the price of betrayal” the God of Love for the idol of money. Jesus looks at him and he turns aside. Jesus calls his attention offering him bread with sauce. And he says: ‘What you are going to do, do quickly’ (Jn 13:27). Judas’s heart has been hardened and he goes to count his money before handing Jesus over with a kiss. And Christ, feeling the coldness of the traitor’s kiss, doesn’t reproach him but says: ‘friend.’
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