Contents

Cover

The Way of the Cross Today

St Alphonsus

The Stations of the Cross

Prayers by St Alphonsus
 Images courtesy of www.AgnusImages.com

All rights reserved. Revised edition 2015; first published 1959 by The Incorporated Catholic Truth
Society, 40-46 Harleyford Road London SE11 5AY Tel: 020 7640 0042 Fax: 020 7640 0046. © 2015
The Incorporated Catholic Truth Society.
ISBN: 9781784690724
Ebook Edition © May 2017 ISBN: 9781784692247
Version: 2017-04-21
 THE WAY OF THE CROSS TODAY

L ike all our Catholic devotions, the Way of the Cross is deeply rooted in
the history of the Church. From the earliest centuries, Christians loved
to visit the places in Jerusalem where Jesus spent his last days on this earth.
They prayerfully retraced the steps he took from the Mount of Olives,
where he experienced his agony in the garden, to the Mount of Calvary,
where he died on the Cross. But only a very few privileged pilgrims could
make their way across Europe to Jerusalem and experience the holy places
for themselves.
The devotion that we know as the Stations of the Cross began to evolve
in the Middle Ages through the inspiration of great saints like St Bernard of
Clairvaux and St Francis of Assisi. They realized that we don’t have to
travel to Jerusalem to follow Christ on his way to Calvary. We can join him
in spirit, in our local church or indeed in our own home. Our fourteen
Stations of the Cross gradually evolved as the great means for prayerfully
meditating on the Passion of Jesus. Each of these “stations” reminds us of
some painful stop, or fall, or encounter which Jesus had as he walked the
Via Dolorosa to his death on the cross.
Not all of the “traditional stations” are mentioned in the Gospel account
of Jesus’s final journey to Calvary. In 1991, Pope St John Paul ll, while
leading the Way of the Cross in the Colosseum in Rome on the evening of
Good Friday, replaced those “stations” not mentioned in the Gospel with
other “stations” that do appear in the Gospel account. So, he omitted the
Lord’s three falls (the third, seventh and ninth stations), Jesus meeting his
Mother (the fourth station) and Veronica wiping the face of Jesus (the sixth
station). Instead of these traditional stations, we have Jesus’s agony in the
garden, the unjust sentence passed by Pilate, the promise of paradise to the
Good Thief and the presence of the Mother and the Disciple at the foot of
the Cross. But the Holy See said, “With the biblical Way of the Cross, the
intention was not to change the traditional text, which remains fully valid,
but quite simply to highlight a few important stations which in the
traditional text are either absent or in the background. And indeed this only
emphasises the extraordinary richness of the Way of the Cross which no
schema can ever fully exhaust”.1
St Alphonsus took up the practice of “making the Way of the Cross”
with enthusiasm. It was the devotion in which he could in spirit personally
accompany Jesus on his last painful and sorrowful journey. At the
beginning of the Stations he prayed for that grace: “My Jesus, pardon me,
and permit me to accompany you in this journey”.
Alphonsus gives us the reasons why he loved the Stations of the Cross
and why meditation on the Passion of the Lord is so beneficial for our
spiritual growth and sanctification.

Who can deny that, of all devotion, devotion to the passion of Jesus Christ
is the most useful, the most tender, the most agreeable to God, one that
gives the greatest consolation to sinners, and at the same time most
powerfully enkindles souls? Whence is it that we receive so many
blessings, if it be not from the passion of Jesus Christ?2

Making the Stations of the Cross gives us a systematic, structured

format for meditating on the Passion of Christ as we accompany him on his
last painful journey. Without such a format, it is much more difficult to
remain focused on Jesus in his Passion and to see in it the greatest act of
love.
St Paul, in one line, sets the tone for our meditations. He said, “Jesus
was put to death for our sins and raised to life to justify us”. (Rm 4:25)
When we accompany Jesus to Calvary and stand beneath his cross, with his
Mother, we do so in the awareness that the suffering and death of Jesus,
while being the cruellest form of execution that a man could undergo, was
also the greatest act of love that Jesus could make for our salvation. As he
said of himself, “The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to
give his life as a ransom for many” (Mt 20:28).

Christ is the “divine bridegroom” and the Church is his bride. On the cross,
as he poured out the last drop of his blood, Christ formed with the Church,
his bride, an unbreakable and an everlasting “marriage bond”. As the
Second Vatican Council teaches: “It was from the side of Christ as he slept
the sleep of death on the Cross that there came forth the wondrous
sacrament of the whole Church”.3

As we follow Christ along the Way of the Cross, we are accompanying

him not just to his terrible, agonising death, but to the final consummation
of his extraordinary love from which his Church, his mystical Body on
earth, is born. We remember and celebrate the mystery of this love each
time we celebrate the Holy Mass. Making the way of the Cross doesn’t end
for us on Calvary. Rather, the sacrifice of his life, which Jesus offered for
our salvation, becomes present to us as we celebrate Holy Mass. As Pope St
John Paul II said:

When the Church celebrates the Eucharist, the memorial of her Lord’s death
and resurrection, this central event of salvation becomes really present and
“the work of our redemption is carried out”. This sacrifice is so decisive for
the salvation of the human race that Jesus Christ offered it and returned to
the Father only after he had left us a means of sharing in it as if we had
been present there.4

Making the Stations of the Cross prepares us for a more profound

participation in the celebration of the Holy Mass.
 ST ALPHONSUS

S t Alphonsus Liguori, the Founder of the Redemptorist Congregation,

who died in 1787, bequeathed to the Church a vast treasure of spiritual
and theological writing. Pope St John Paul II summed up his life and
mission in this way:

St. Alphonsus is a gigantic figure, not only in the history of the Church, but
for the whole of humanity as well. Even people who would not follow his
vision, still see in him “the teacher of the Catholic soul of the West”. He did
for modern Catholicism that which Augustine accomplished in ancient
times.5

Alphonsus was born in Naples in 1696. As a young man he studied law

and very quickly became a well-known lawyer in that bustling city. God,
however, had another plan for his life and by divine providence Alphonsus
gave up his legal profession and began, much to the displeasure of his
aristocratic father, to live humbly in the service of the poorest in Naples. He
prepared for the priesthood and was ordained at the age of thirty in 1726.
After six years of intense missionary work among the poorest in the city
of Naples, he became convinced that the Lord wanted him to form a new
missionary community to bring the Gospel to the most abandoned,
especially to those who lived in the rural and mountainous areas outside the
city of Naples. With a few companions he founded the Redemptorist
Congregation in 1732. Today, the Redemptorist Congregation numbers
around 5500 priests and brothers and has missionary communities in
seventy-nine countries.
Alphonsus was a very popular preacher, always communicating the
Gospel in simple and direct language. He insisted that the Word of God
must be preached in a language that each person, especially the uneducated,
can easily grasp and understand. He impressed on his companions that “the
aim of each sermon is to leave the listeners bound to the love of Jesus
Christ”.
 Alphonsus was a brilliant theologian. He wrote constantly to oppose the
rigorism and legalism that were very prevalent in the moral theology of his
day. Any theologian of his time, and there were many, who obscured the
joyful message of Christ’s redeeming love, met with vigorous opposition
from Alphonsus, the friend of the weak, the uneducated and the abandoned.
His opponents gave him the scornful title of “the prince of laxists”. After
his canonization, however, the Church honoured him with the title of
Doctor of the Church, patron saint of moral theologians and confessors; he
is known as the Doctor of Prayer.
Alphonsus wrote over a hundred theological and spiritual books. His
sole aim was to help the faithful grow in holiness of life by cultivating the
affections of the heart while meditating on the mysteries of Christ,
especially on his Passion and on the Eucharist. He gave this direction to his
preachers:

I recommend that you speak often of the love which God has shown us in
the person of Jesus Christ, as seen especially in his Passion and in the
institution of the Eucharist, also speak of the love that we must have for our
most holy Redeemer, which we should often recall in these two great
mysteries of love. It is certain that all that is done only out of fear, and not
out of love, will have no lasting effect6

Alphonsus was the preacher of the love and the mercy of God in an age
when many preachers had recourse to instilling the fear of hell as the
motive for avoiding sin. As Alphonsus says in his Stations of the Cross, “It
is your love more than the fear of hell that causes me to weep for my sins”.
His ardent devotion to the Passion of Christ led Alphonsus to most reverent
adoration of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.
Devotion to the Passion leads, by its very nature, to devotion to Jesus
present in our midst in the Blessed Sacrament. In one of his most popular
little books, Visits to the Blessed Sacrament and the Blessed Virgin Mary,
Alphonsus in his very first reflection reveals the reason for his devotion:

Behold the source of every good, Jesus in the most Blessed Sacrament, who
says, If any man thirst let him come to me (Jn 7: 30). Oh, what torrents of
grace have the saints drawn from the fountain of the Most Blessed
Sacrament, for here Jesus dispenses all the merits of his Passion.

St Alphonsus was one of the great Marian saints of the Church. His
most popular book was The Glories of Mary. This book has been translated
into over eighty different languages and appeared in over 800 known
editions. In his introduction he tells us modestly, “I leave to other authors to
praise the other prerogatives of Mary and I confine myself, for the most
part, to her mercy and the power of her intercession”.7
In his devotion to the Passion, to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament and to
Our Blessed Lady, St Alphonsus was filled with an overwhelming sense of
the inexhaustible love and mercy of God. When it came to choosing a motto
for his Congregation he chose a line from psalm 30: With him there is
plentiful redemption. There is more than enough to go round! He trained his
preachers to see and understand that the mercy of God is limitless. This was
the Gospel that they were sent forth to preach, the Gospel of God’s
unfailing mercy for us poor sinners.
Two hundred years before the Second Vatican Council proclaimed the
universal call to holiness, St Alphonsus by his preaching and his writing
was insisting that all the faithful, each according to his or her state in life,
are called to holiness.
Pope John Paul I, writing to his priests while still archbishop of Venice,
said,

A saint’s life is but the living translation of the Gospel, so I shall be

explaining the Gospel when I speak about St Alphonsus Liguori. Of all the
Doctors of the Church he is the one who has received the title “Most
Zealous Doctor”. And he is a unique Doctor. Today, of course, we would
regard him as a “pastoral” Doctor. But he was also a man of humour and
easy joy8.

As you use this little book to mediate on the Stations of the Cross, you
will imbibe something of St Alphonsus’s great love and you will be invited
into a deeper, personal relationship with Our Lord Jesus Christ.
 THE STATIONS OF THE CROSS

M y Lord Jesus Christ, you willingly walked this painful

journey to your death on the Cross with unconditional love
for each one of us, and I, how often have I ungratefully abandoned
you. But now I love you with my whole soul, and because I love
you I am sincerely sorry for having offended you. My Jesus, pardon
me, and permit me to accompany you on this journey. You are going
to die for love of me, and it is my wish also, my dearest Redeemer,
to die for love of you. My Jesus, in your love I wish to live. In your
love I wish to die.
FIRST STATION
 JESUS IS CONDEMNED TO DEATH

(genuflecting) We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you.

Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.

Consider how Jesus, after having been scourged and crowned with thorns,
was unjustly condemned by Pilate to die on the Cross.

M y loving Jesus, it was not Pilate; no, it was my sins that condemned
you to die. By the merits of this agonising journey, I implore you,
help me on my journey towards eternity.

I love you, Jesus, my love, above all things; I repent with my whole heart of
having offended you. Never permit me to separate myself from you again.
Grant that I may love you always; and then do with me what you will.

Our Father. Hail Mary. Glory be to the Father.

Stabat Mater dolorósa, At the Cross her station keeping,

Iuxta crucem lacrymósa, Stood the mournful Mother weeping,
Dum pendébat Fílius. Close to Jesus to the last
SECOND STATION
 JESUS RECEIVES THE CROSS

We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you.

Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.

Consider how Jesus, in making this journey with the cross on his shoulders,
thought of us, and offered for us to his Father the death he was about to
undergo.

M y most beloved Jesus! I embrace all the sufferings and

disappointments that will come my way in this life. By the merits of
the pain you suffered in carrying your cross, help me to carry mine with
perfect patience and resignation.

I love you, Jesus, my love, above all things: I repent with my whole heart of
having offended you. Never permit me to separate myself from you again.
Grant that I may love you always; and then do with me what you will.

Our Father. Hail Mary. Glory be to the Father.

Cuius ánimam geméntem, Through her heart his sorrow sharing,

Contristátam, et doléntem, All his bitter anguish bearing,
Pertransívit gládius. Now at length the sword has passed.
THIRD STATION
 JESUS FALLS FOR THE FIRST TIME

We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you.

Because by your holy cross you have redeemed
the world.

Consider this first fall of Jesus under his cross. His flesh was torn by the
scourges, his head was crowned with thorns; he had lost a great quantity of
blood. He was so weakened that he could scarcely walk, yet he had to carry
this great load on his shoulders. The soldiers struck him roughly and he fell
several times.

M y Jesus, it is not the weight of the cross, but of my sins, which has
made you suffer so much pain. By the merits of this first fall, save
me from the misfortune of falling into mortal sin.

I love you, Jesus, my love, above all things; I repent with my whole heart of
having offended you. Never permit me to separate myself from you again.
Grant that I may love you always; and then do with me what you will.

Our Father. Hail Mary. Glory be to the Father.

O quam tristis et afflícta Oh how sad and sore distressed

Fuit illa Benedícta was that mother highly blessed
Mater Unigéniti! of the sole begotten One!
FOURTH STATION
 JESUS IS MET BY HIS BLESSED MOTHER

We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you.

Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.

Consider the meeting of the Son and the Mother, which took place on this
journey. Their looks became like so many arrows to wound those hearts
which love each other so tenderly.

M y most loving Jesus, by the sorrow you experienced in this meeting,

grant me the grace of a devoted love for your holy Mother. And you,
my Queen, who were overwhelmed with sorrow, obtain for me a tender and
frequent remembrance of the Passion of your Son.

I love you, Jesus, my love, above all things; I repent with my whole heart of
having offended you. Never permit me to separate myself from you again.
Grant that I may love you always; and then do with me what you will.

Our Father. Hail Mary. Glory be to the Father.

Quae moerébat, et dolébat, Christ above in torments hangs;

Pia mater, dum vidébat She beneath beholds the pangs
Nati poenas ínclyti. Of her dying glorious Son.
FIFTH STATION
 THE CROSS IS LAID UPON SIMON OF CYRENE

We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you.

Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.

Consider how exhausted Jesus had become. He was on the point of death.
But, as his cruel tormentors wanted him to die the shameful death on the
cross, they forced Simon of Cyrene to carry the cross behind Our Lord.

M y most beloved Jesus, by your grace I will not refuse to carry the
cross; I accept it, I embrace it. I accept in particular the death you
have destined for me, with all the pains which may accompany it; I unite it
to your death, I offer it to you. You have died for love of me; I will die for
love of you. Help me by your grace.

I love you, Jesus, my love, above all things; I repent with my whole heart of
having offended you. Never permit me to separate myself from you again.
Grant that I may love you always; and then do with me what you will.

Our Father. Hail Mary. Glory be to the Father.

Quis est homo qui non fleret, Is there one who would not weep,
Matrem Christi si vidéret, Whelmed in miseries so deep,
In tanto supplício? Christ’s dear Mother to behold?
SIXTH STATION
 VERONICA WIPES THE FACE OF JESUS

We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you.

Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.

Consider the courage and compassion of the holy woman named Veronica.
Seeing Jesus so ill-used, and bathed in sweat and blood, she wiped his face
with a towel, on which he left the impression of his holy countenance.

M y most beloved Jesus! Your face was beautiful before, but by the
agony of your scourging, crowning with thorns and the carrying of
your cross, it has lost all its beauty, and wounds and blood have disfigured
it. Through your abundant grace of baptism, my soul was also once
beautiful. But, alas! I have disfigured it by my sins; you alone, my
Redeemer, can restore it to its former beauty. Do this by your Passion, O
Jesus!

I love you, Jesus, my love, above all things; I repent with my whole heart of
having offended you. Never permit me to separate myself from you again.
Grant that I may love you always; and then do with me what you will.

Our Father. Hail Mary. Glory be to the Father.

Quis non posset contristári, Can the human heart refrain,

Christi Matrem contemplári, From partaking in her pain,
Doléntem cum Fílio? In that Mother’s pain untold?
SEVENTH STATION
 JESUS FALLS FOR THE SECOND TIME

We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you.

Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.

Consider the second fall of Jesus under the cross. This fall renews the pain
of all the wounds in his head and limbs.

M y Jesus, how many times have you pardoned me, and how many
times have I fallen again, and begun again to offend you. By the
merits of this second fall, help me to persevere in your grace until death.
Grant me the grace in all the temptations which will assail me, to turn to
you in prayer for your unfailing help.

I love you, Jesus, my love, above all things; I repent with my whole heart of
having offended you. Never permit me to separate myself from you again.
Grant that I may love you always; and then do with me what you will.

Our Father. Hail Mary. Glory be to the Father.

Pro peccátis suae gentís, Bruised, derided, cursed, defiled,

Vidit Jesum in torméntis, She beheld her tender Child,
Et flagéllis súbditum. All with bloody scourges rent.
EIGHTH STATION
THE WOMEN OF JERUSALEM MOURN FOR OUR LORD

We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you.

Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.

Consider the courage of these women of Jerusalem. They wept with

compassion when they saw Jesus in such a pitiable state, streaming with
blood as he walked along. Jesus spoke to them and said, ‘Daughters of
Jerusalem, weep not for me, but for yourselves and for your children’.

M y Jesus, laden with sorrows! I weep for the offences I have

committed against you because of the pains they have deserved, and
still more because of the displeasure my sinful ingratitude caused you, who
have loved me so much. It is your love more than the fear of hell which
causes me to weep for my sins.

I love you, Jesus, my love, above all things; I repent with my whole heart of
having offended you. Never permit me to separate myself from you again.
Grant that I may love you always; and then do with me what you will.

Our Father. Hail Mary. Glory be to the Father.

Vidit suum dulcem Natum, For the sins of his own nation,
Moriéndo desolátum, Saw him hang in desolation,
Dum emísit spíritum. Till his spirit forth he sent.
NINTH STATION
 JESUS FALLS FOR THE THIRD TIME

We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you.

Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.

Consider the third fall of Jesus Christ. His weakness was extreme, and the
cruelty of his executioners excessive: they tried to hasten his steps when he
could scarcely move.

M y outraged Jesus, by the merits of the weakness you suffered in

going to Calvary, give me strength to conquer all human respect,
and my wicked passions, which have led me to despise your friendship.

I love you, Jesus, my love, above all things; I repent with my whole heart of
having offended you. Never permit me to separate myself from you again.
Grant that I may love you always; and then do with me what you will.

Our Father. Hail Mary. Glory be to the Father.

Eia, Mater! fons amóris! O thou Mother! fount of love!

Me sentíre vim dolóris Touch my spirit from above.
Fac, ut tecum lúgeam. Make my heart with yours accord.
TENTH STATION
 JESUS IS STRIPPED OF HIS GARMENTS

We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you.

Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.

Consider the violence with which Jesus was stripped by the executioners.
His inner garments had stuck to his torn flesh. The soldiers dragged his
clothes off so roughly that the skin came with them. Have compassion on
your Saviour, thus cruelly treated.

M y most innocent Jesus, by the merits of the torment you have felt,
help me to strip myself of all affection to things of earth, that I may
place all my love in you, who are so worthy of my love.

I love you, Jesus, my love, above all things; I repent with my whole heart of
having offended you. Never permit me to separate myself from you again.
Grant that I may love you always; and then do with me what you will.

Our Father. Hail Mary. Glory be to the Father.

Fac ut árdeat cor meum; Make me feel as you have felt;

In amándo Christum Deum, Make my soul to glow and melt,
Ut sibi compláceam. With the love of Christ my Lord.
ELEVENTH STATION
 JESUS IS NAILED TO THE CROSS

We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you.

Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.

Consider how Jesus is roughly thrown down upon the Cross. He willingly
extends his hands and offers his life to his Eternal Father as the sacrifice for
our salvation. Those barbarians nail his hands and his feet to the wood and
then raise the cross and allow him to die in anguish.

M y Jesus, loaded with contempt, nail my heart to your feet, that it may
ever remain there, to love you, and never more to leave you.

I love you, Jesus, my love, above all things; I repent with my whole heart of
having offended you. Never permit me to separate myself from you again.
Grant that I may love you always; and then do with me what you will.

Our Father. Hail Mary. Glory be to the Father.

Sancta Mater! istud agas; Holy Mother! pierce me through;

Crucifíxi fige plagas, In my heart each wound renew,
Cordi meo válide. Of my Saviour crucified.
TWELFTH STATION
 JESUS DIES ON THE CROSS

We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you.

Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.

Consider how Jesus, after three hours of agony on the cross, is consumed
with anguish, abandons himself to the weight of his body, bows his head
and dies.

O my dying Jesus! I kiss devoutly the cross on which you died for love
of me. I have merited by my sins to die a miserable death, but your
death is my hope. By the merits of your death, give me grace to die
embracing your feet, and burning with love for you. I commit my soul into
your hands.

I love you, Jesus, my love, above all things; I repent with my whole heart of
having offended you. Never permit me to separate myself from you again.
Grant that I may love you always; and then do with me what you will.

Our Father. Hail Mary. Glory be to the Father.

Tui nati vulneráti, Let me share with you his pain,

Tam dignáti pro me pati, Who for all my sins was slain,
Poenas mecum dívide. Who for me in torments died.
 THIRTEENTH STATION
JESUS IS TAKEN DOWN FROM THE CROSS

We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you.

Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.

Consider how, after Our Lord had died, two of his disciples, Joseph and
Nicodemus, took him down from the cross, and placed him in the arms of
his afflicted Mother. His mother Mary received him with unutterable
tenderness, and pressed him to her bosom.

O Mother of Sorrow, for the love of this Son, accept me for your
servant, and pray for me. And you, my Redeemer, since you have
died for me, permit me to love you; for I wish but you, and nothing more.

I love you, Jesus, my love, above all things; I repent with my whole heart of
having offended you. Never permit me to separate myself from you again.
Grant that I may love you always; and then do with me what you will.

Our Father. Hail Mary. Glory be to the Father.

Fac me tecum pie flere, Let me mingle tears with you,

Crucifíxo condolére, Mourning him who mourned for me,
Donec ego víxero. All the days that I may live.
FOURTEENTH STATION
 JESUS IS LAID IN THE SEPULCHRE

We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you.

Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.

Consider how the disciples, accompanied by his holy Mother, carried the
body of Jesus to bury it. They closed the tomb, and all came sorrowfully
away.

M y buried Jesus – I kiss the stone that entombed you. But I believe
that you rose again on the third day. I beseech you, by your
resurrection, to make me rise in glory with you at the last day, to be united
with you always in heaven, to praise you and love you for ever.

I love you, Jesus, my love, above all things; I repent with my whole heart of
having offended you. Never permit me to separate myself from you again.
Grant that I may love you always; and then do with me what you will.

Our Father. Hail Mary. Glory be to the Father.

Iuxta crucem tecum stare; By the cross with you to stay;

Et me tibi sociáre, There with you to weep and pray,
In planctu desídero. Is all I ask of you to give.

In conclusion, say one Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory be to the Father,
for the intentions of the Holy Father.
Prayer to Our Lady of Sorrows

O most holy Mother, Queen of sorrows, who followed your beloved

Son through all the Way of the Cross, and whose heart was pierced
with a fresh sword of grief at all the stations of that most sorrowful journey,
obtain for us, we beseech you, O most loving Mother, a perpetual
remembrance of our Blessed Saviour’s cross and death, and a true and
tender devotion to all the mysteries of his most holy Passion. Obtain for us
the grace to hate sin, even as he hated it in the agony in the garden; to
endure wrong and insult with all patience as he endured them in the
judgement hall; to be meek and humble in all our trials as he was before his
judges; to love our enemies even as he loved his murderers, and prayed for
them upon the cross; and to glorify God and to do good to our neighbour,
even as he did in every mystery of his suffering. O Queen of Martyrs, who
by the sorrows of your Immaculate Heart on Calvary, merited to share the
Passion of Our Most Holy Redeemer, obtain for us some portion of your
compassion, that for the love of Jesus crucified, we may be crucified to the
world in this life, and in the life to come may, by his infinite merits and
your powerful intercession, reign with him in glory everlasting. Amen.
PRAYERS BY ST ALPHONSUS
St Alphonsus’s advice for seeking Holiness
(Our resolution must be wholehearted)
Let us fix our minds on the ways of God.
Let us resolve to meditate each day on the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Let us resign ourselves in peace to God’s plan for us.

Let us endeavour, in the time remaining to us, to give all to God.

Jesus has given himself to us; may God help us to give ourselves to him.
Prayer for grace to live my resolution
Jesus, my saviour, help me.
I am resolved truly to love you and to leave all to please you.

Help me to free myself from everything that hinders me from belonging to

you who have loved me so much.

By your prayers, O Mother Mary, which are so powerful with God, obtain
for me this grace to belong wholly to God.
The Mystery of the Eucharist
Contemplating this mystery, St Alphonsus Liguori exclaimed:

I f anything could shake my faith in the Eucharist it would not be the

doubt as to how bread and wine could become flesh…because I should
answer that God can do everything; but if I ask myself how could he
love us so much as to make himself our food, I can only answer that this is
a mystery of faith above my comprehension, and that the love of Jesus
cannot be understood.9
Prayer of thanksgiving after Holy Communion
(The language of love)

O my Jesus, this is what I seek of you, and what I will always seek of
you in the Holy Communion: “Let us be always united, and never
more be separated”. I know that you will not separate yourself from me, if I
do not first separate myself from you. But this is my fear, lest I should in
future separate myself from you by sin, as I have done in times past. O my
blessed Redeemer, permit it not: suffer me not to be separated from you. As
long as I am alive, I am in danger of this; oh, through the merits of your
death, I beseech you let me die, rather than repeat this great injury against
you. I repeat it, and pray you to grant me your grace always to repeat:
“suffer me not to be separated from you, suffer me not to be separated from
you”. O God of my soul, I love you; I love you, and I will always love
you.10
Act of Spiritual Communion
(which can be made at any time)

M y Jesus, I believe that you are present in the most holy sacrament. I
love you above all things, and I desire to receive you into my soul.
Since I cannot now receive you sacramentally, come at least spiritually into
my heart. I embrace you as if you were already there, and unite myself
wholly to you: never permit me to be separated from you. Amen. Amen.
Amen.
Visit to the Blessed Sacrament

M y Lord Jesus Christ, who, for the love you have for us, remain night
and day in this Sacrament, full of compassion and of love, awaiting,
calling and welcoming all who come to visit you. I believe you are present
in the Sacrament of the Altar. I adore you from the depth of my nothingness
and I thank you for all the graces you have bestowed upon me, especially
for having given me yourself in this Sacrament, for having given me your
most holy mother Mary as my advocate and for having called me to visit
you in this church. My Jesus, I love you with all my heart. I am sorry for
having offended your infinite goodness. I am resolved never more to offend
you for the time to come, and now, although unworthy, I give myself
completely to you. I renounce my own will, my affections, my desires and
all that I possess. From now onwards, do you dispose of me, and of all that I
have, as you please. All I ask of you and desire is your holy love, final
perseverance and the perfect fulfilment of your will. Amen.
Prayer to the Holy Spirit

M ost Holy Spirit, the Paraclete, Father of the poor, Comforter of the
afflicted, Light of hearts, Sanctifier of souls; behold me prostrate in
your presence. I adore you with profoundest homage: I bless you a thousand
times, and with the seraphim who stand before your throne, I also say:
“Holy, holy, holy”.
I firmly believe that you are eternal, consubstantial with the Father and
the Divine Son. I hope in your goodness that you will deign to save and
sanctify my soul. I love you, O Divine Love, with all my affections above
all the things of this world, because you are infinite goodness, alone worthy
of all love.
And since in my ingratitude and blindness to your holy inspirations, I
have so often offended you by my sins, with tears in my eyes I beg your
pardon a thousand times, and am more sorry for having offended you, the
Sovereign Good, than for any other evil.
I offer you this most cold heart of mine, and I pray you to pierce it with
a ray of your light, and with a spark of your fire, which shall melt the hard
ice of my iniquities.
You filled the soul of the most holy Mary with immense graces, and you
inflamed the hearts of the Apostles with holy zeal; inflame, I beseech you,
inflame my heart also with your love.
You are the Divine Spirit; give me courage against all evil spirits. You
are Fire; enkindle in me your love. You are Light; enlighten my mind with
the knowledge of eternal things. You are the Dove; give me innocence of
life. You are the gentle Breeze; disperse the storms of my passions. You are
the Tongue; teach me how to bless you always. You are the Cloud; shelter
me under the shadow of your protection.
And lastly, you are the Giver of all heavenly gifts; animate me, I
beseech you, with your grace; sanctify me with your charity; enlighten me
with your wisdom; adopt me by your goodness as your son, and save me in
your infinite mercy; so that I may ever bless you, praise you, and love you;
first during this life on earth, and then in heaven for all eternity. Amen.
Dedication of Oneself to Mary

M ost Holy Virgin Mary, Mother of God, I am not worthy to be your

servant. But moved by your marvellous compassion and my own
desire to serve you, here and now, in the presence of my guardian angel and
the whole court of heaven, I choose you as my Lady, Advocate, and Mother.
I firmly purpose to love and serve you always, and to do all I can to inspire
others to love and serve you.
O Mother of God and my own most compassionate Mother, I beseech
you, by the Blood which your Son shed for me, to receive me into the
number of your servants as your child and servant forever. Assist me in all
my thoughts, words, and actions in every moment of my life, so that every
step I take, every breath I draw, may be directed to the greater glory of my
God.
Through your powerful intercession, may I never again offend my
beloved Jesus. Help me to love and glorify him in this life. Help me to love
you also, dear and beloved Mother, and to go on loving you forever in the
happiness of heaven.
My Mother Mary, I commend my soul to you now, and especially at the
moment of death. Amen.
Dedication of a Family to Mary

M ost Blessed Virgin Mary, Immaculate Queen and Mother, the refuge
and consolation of all troubled souls! I kneel here before you with
my family and choose you for my Lady, Mother, and Advocate with God.
I dedicate myself and all who belong to me to your service forever. I
beg you, O Mother of God, to receive us into the company of your servants.
Take us under your protection. Help us in life and at the hour of our death.
Mother of Mercy, I name you Lady and Queen of my family and
relatives, my interests and all my undertakings. Take charge of them;
dispose of everything as it pleases you.
Bless me and all my family. Never let any of us offend your Son. In
every temptation defend us; protect us in every danger; provide for us in the
necessities of life; counsel us in doubt; comfort us in every sorrow, in every
sickness, and especially in the final sorrow of death.
Never let the powers of hell boast that they have enslaved any of those
who here consecrate themselves to you. Grant that we may all enter into
heaven to thank you and, in your company, to praise and love Jesus our
Redeemer for all eternity. Amen. Thus may it be.
 Endnotes
1 Archbishop Piero Marini, Office for the Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff.
2 St Alphonsus, The Practice of the Love of Jesus Christ. (translation from Joseph Oppitz C.Ss.R.,
Alphonsus Liguori: The Redeeming Love of Christ, New York, North City Press, 1995, p.30).
3 Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, para.5
4 Pope St John Paul II, encyclical letter Ecclesia de Eucharistia, para. 11
5 Alphonsus Liguori (Classics of Western Spirituality), New York, Paulist Press, 1999, p.51
6 Joseph Oppitz C.Ss.R., Alphonsus Liguori; Selected Writings, New York, New City Press, 1995, p.
25
7 St Alphonsus de Liguori, The Glories of Mary, Liguori, MO, 2002, xxv
8 Cit. Joseph Oppitz C.Ss.R., Alphonsus Liguori: The Redeeming Love of Christ, New York North
City Press,,1995, p.10
9 St Alphonsus de Liguori, The Holy Eucharist, Centenary Edition 1887, p.239
10 St Alphonsus de Liguori, The Holy Eucharist, Centenary Edition, 1887
 CTS Publications

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 website: CTSbooks.org

Cover image: The Crucified Christ with the Virgin Mary, Saints and Angels (The Mond Crucifixion),
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