T H E S T A T I O N S O F T H E I N C A R N A T I O N
By Patrick O’Donnell
O most merciful Jesus, I approach your Incarnation, in profound
humility, laden with my own fears and shame for those occasions that I
turned away, not always trusting your Divine Providence in caring for me
in all circumstances of my life, good as well as evil.
In my own solitude, I have turned from love and gave into fear,
having chosen self-will; dividing me against myself, against my neighbor
and, most especially, against you, my God, who is love itself.
I consider hiding as I am shamed before you and neighbor, but where
can I go from your spirit? From
your presence where can I go? If
I go to the heavens, you are there; if I sink to the nether world you are
there. If I settle at the
farthest limits of the sea, even there you are.
I look up at your heavens, shaped by your fingers, at the moon and
the stars you set firm – what are human beings that you spare a thought
for them, or the child of Adam that you care for him?
I will meditate on your Incarnation and visit the stations of Thy
Passion in company with Thy joyful and hopeful Mother and my guardian
angel, with the intention of promoting Thy honor and saving my soul.
First Station
Trinity
Leader: Though
He was in the form of God
Jesus did not deem equality with God something to be grasped at,
All:
+
Rather, He emptied Himself
And took the form of a slave (Phil
2:7)
One, eternal, living and true God has been revealed, to us, in terms of relationship: That He is three persons living in a life-giving communion of persons. The Father is totally self-gifting to, Jesus Christ, the Son, who is totally self-gifting to the Father and that the love exchanged between them is expressed as the third person, the Holy Spirit. (Naked Without Shame {NWS}, Page 4)
Our Father…Hail Mary…Glory be to…
Second Station
Creation: The Wedding
Feast of the Lamb
Leader: Though
He was in the form of God
Jesus did not deem equality with God something to be grasped at,
All:
+
Rather, He emptied Himself
And took the form of a slave (Phil
2:7)
That we may have life and life in abundance. (John
10:10)
All is created, in time, through Jesus Christ, that He may present
to himself His Bride, the Church, who has readied herself for the wedding
day of the Lamb. With the
dowry of His own life to be paid in time, the Bridegroom, Christ, and
His Bride, the Church, shall be joined to his bride, and the two shall
become one, with the church as His body and Christ as the head. (cf.
1
Our Father…Hail Mary…Glory be to…
Third Station
Creation of Man: male and female He made them: Marriage
Leader: Though
He was in the form of God
Jesus did not deem equality with God something to be grasped at,
All:
+
Rather, He emptied Himself
And took the form of a slave (Phil
2:7)
That we may have life and life in abundance. (John
10:10)
After putting Adam, the first man, into a deep sleep; the Lord
removed a rib from his side and, with the rib, formed for him a suitable
helper, a woman. When He
brought her to the man, the man said: “This one, at last, is bone of
my bones and flash of my flesh; this one shall be called ‘woman,’ for
out of ‘her man’ this one has been taken.” (Gen
2:18-25)
“From the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and
female’ and said, “For this reason a man shall leave his father and
mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’?
So they are no longer two, but one flesh.
Therefore, what God has joined together, no human being must separate.” (Mt
19:4-6)
They see and know each other with all the peace of the interior
gaze, which creates the fullness of the intimacy of persons. (TOB,
With the help of the Lord, husband and wife shall produce
offspring; fulfilling the command of the Lord: Multiply and cover the face
of the earth.
It is in this manner that Man, not only through his humanity, but
also as male and female in a communion of persons, are made in the image
and likeness of God; to be in life-giving communion of persons. (TOB,
Our Father…Hail Mary…Glory be to…
Fourth Station Original Sin: The Great Divorce
Leader: Though
He was in the form of God
Jesus did not deem equality with God something to be grasped at,
All:
+
Rather, He emptied Himself
And took the form of a slave (Phil
2:7)
That we may have life and life in abundance. (John
10:10)
Man questioned the gift of God’s love and grasped for the false
surety of likeness or equality to God in order to possess that gift
themselves. This denial of the
gift of God and their creature ness brought about a denial of God’s
imprint within. The peace of
the interior gaze upon the other gives way to shame and lust; a
dis-integration of Man The
human body has almost lost the capacity of expressing the love in which
the person becomes gift. (TOB,
As a result, the difference of the male sex and the female sex was
suddenly felt and understood as an element of mutual confrontation of
persons [rather than communion of persons].
(TOB,
The result is division: between soul and body; spirituality and
sexuality; man and woman; and between God and
Our Father…Hail Mary…Glory be to…
Fifth Station Salvation: God’s Promise
Leader: Though
He was in the form of God
Jesus did not deem equality with God something to be grasped at,
All:
+
Rather, He emptied Himself
And took the form of a slave (Phil
2:7)
That we may have life and life in abundance. (John
10:10)
The
penalties for sin included a rupture between the spiritual and the bodily,
male and female, body and soul: intense pain in childbirth; providing for
yourself will be painful work; and the serpent shall eat dirt of which man
and woman are made. But,
amidst the penalties brought about by self; Man is extended a promise that
“enmity will be placed between the serpent and the woman, and between
its seed and hers; she will bruise your head and you will strike her
heel.” (Gen 3:14-19)
Within this single sentence is the rescue of Christ’s Bride, the
Church. Through the
sacrifice of his own body and life, the spilling of his blood through the
cross, Christ shall restore unto Himself all that is divided; the two
shall again be one.(cf. Eph 2:13-16)
Our Father…Hail Mary…Glory be to…
Sixth Station Immaculate Conception: Mary the Mother of God and Church
Leader: Though
He was in the form of God
Jesus did not deem equality with God something to be grasped at,
All:
+
Rather, He emptied Himself
And took the form of a slave (Phil
2:7)
That we may have life and life in abundance. (John
10:10)
For
a moment, perfect love in the communion of persons; a union of husband
and wife with the help of God and “the woman” is conceived.
(cf. Gen 3:15, cf. Gen 4:1, cf. John 19:26)
The two become one flesh union of love between St Joachim
and Good St Anne leads to the union of sperm and egg and in an instant is
conceived the Mother of God and the Mother of the Church, Mary.
An incarnation of loving marital union, Mary was chosen before all
time and spared from Original Sin by the redemption actions of her seed,
Jesus Christ, the Bridegroom.
Our Father…Hail Mary…Glory be to…
Seventh Station Betrothal of Mary to Joseph
Leader: Though
He was in the form of God
Jesus did not deem equality with God something to be grasped at,
All:
+
Rather, He emptied Himself
And took the form of a slave (Phil
2:7)
That we may have life and life in abundance. (John
10:10)
Reflecting
the love and life of the Trinity as well as the love and life of Christ
and His Church, Mary, an avowed virgin, and Joseph answer God’s calling
to enter into a covenant to marry. Mary’s
virginity through marriage is a visible sign of her anticipating the
heavenly marriage as well as a fulfillment of the nuptial meaning of the
body. (NWS, page 14)
Mary’s espousal to Joseph is preceded by Mary’s espousal with
the Holy Spirit. The marriage
of Mary and Joseph conceals within itself, at the same time, the mystery
of the perfect communion of persons, of the man and woman in the conjugal
pact, and also the mystery of that singular continence for the kingdom of
heaven: a continence that served, in the history of salvation, the most
perfect ‘fruitfulness of the Holy Spirit’. (TOB,
Our Father…Hail Mary…Glory be to…
Eighth Station Annunciation: The Incarnation
Leader: Though
He was in the form of God
Jesus did not deem equality with God something to be grasped at,
All:
+
Rather, He emptied Himself
And took the form of a slave (Phil
2:7)
That we may have life and life in abundance. (John
10:10)
Upon the declaration of Mary’s fiat, a consummation of love takes
place, between Mary and her spouse, the Holy Spirit. A “communion of
persons” and the Word of God becomes flesh, dwelling amongst us. (Luke
1:38, John 1:14) In
an instant, there is a miraculous fertilization, the Incarnation of Jesus,
who is fully God and who fully assumes human nature as a complete, single
cell person; in the form of a zygote embryo.
Mary begins her pregnancy of Jesus Christ, Son of God, and, for
nine months, the Word of God will remain silent within her womb.
He is the image of the invisible God. (Col
1: 12-20) He, the
Bridegroom, has accepted willingly all the sufferings and humiliations of
His Life, for his Bride the Church, and all his sufferings are always
before him. (cf. Psalm 37:18)
The Second Person of the Blessed Trinity is a uniting of the
divinity and humanity, body and soul, God and humanity.
It is of this body, beginning as one cell that Jesus will later
say, “This is my body, I give it up for you.” (Luke
22:19) From this
moment, Jesus, in a human body, exercises all virtues, knowledge and
understanding. As a presence,
Jesus in zygote form, is the living, “I AM”. (John
Our Father…Hail Mary…Glory be to…
Ninth Station Jesus’ body grows to two cells; Joseph is confused
Leader: Though
He was in the form of God
Jesus did not deem equality with God something to be grasped at,
All:
+
Rather, He emptied Himself
And took the form of a slave (Phil
2:7)
That we may have life and life in abundance. (John
10:10)
Within thirty hours from God’s creation of this new human person,
Jesus, in the form of a single cell embryo, a zygote; Jesus’ body
doubles in size as two cells, no longer to be referred to as a zygote, but
as simply an embryo, a complete person.
From the instant of fertilization onward, this new human person
begins to affect the whole world, reflected in any parent’s response
upon the first hearing of a new pregnancy; everything has changed.
Joseph, upon hearing of Mary’s pregnancy and recognizing
“the other”, shared this sense of everything having changed and
decided to quietly divorce her. (cf. Mt
But, as Jesus later declares, “They are no longer two,
therefore, but one flesh. So
then, what God has united, human beings must not divide. (Mt
19:6)
Though Jesus’ body is two cells, but one flesh; as Joseph and
Mary are no longer two, but one flesh in the manner we are all called to
in the heavenly marriage of the Lamb.
In neither case, what God has united, human beings must not
divide. (cf. Mt 19:6)
Upon the intervention of an angel during a dream, Joseph is
instructed to name the newly formed child; the confirmation that God has
united. (cf. Mt
Our Father…Hail Mary…Glory be to…
Tenth Station As a Blastocyst, Jesus is taken to the Visitation
Leader: Though
He was in the form of God
Jesus did not deem equality with God something to be grasped at,
All:
+
Rather, He emptied Himself
And took the form of a slave (Phil
2:7)
That we may have life and life in abundance. (John
10:10)
Jesus Christ, (who) is the same yesterday, today and always, (Heb
13:8) is now in his blastocyst stage.
Appearing as little more than a ball of cells within a sphere, this
is the body of the Bridegroom who will hang on a cross as a dowry for his
Bride, the Church. Barely to
be seen, it is His arrival within His Mother’s womb and her greeting
which prompts a fetus, John the Baptist, to leap in the womb of his
mother, Elizabeth, and be consecrated to the Lord.
(cf. Luke 1:41-56) It
was with haste that Mary left for the hill country to meet Elizabeth,
blessed with a child in her old age. (Luke
1:39-40) Two
mothers, a classic example of two become one.
A communion of persons with the two as one traveling to visit
another two as one. It was
Elizabeth who declared her child leaping in the womb and confirming the
fulfillment of Mary’s conception of the Lord. A conception described by
Mary as a magnifying of the Lord within her soul.
(cf. Luke
Our Father…Hail Mary…Glory be…
Eleventh Station The Implantation of Jesus within the Womb
Leader: Though
He was in the form of God
Jesus did not deem equality with God something to be grasped at,
All:
+
Rather, He emptied Himself
And took the form of a slave (Phil
2:7)
That we may have life and life in abundance. (John
10:10)
Jesus is the same yesterday, today and always (Heb
13:8); now with his body in blastocyst form, implants within
the lining of Mary’s womb by the fourteenth day of his conception.
The first thing Jesus does after His conception, most likely within one of
Mary's two Fallopian tubes, He makes haste to Mary, to implant himself
within her womb to be with Mary.
Implanted, Jesus will receive the nourishment, oxygen and
protection from the womb that is needed for him to grow during the
remainder of the nine months. Humble
and dependent, Jesus, though God, has embraced poverty and obedience to
the Father for the sake of the Father’s glory and the redemption of his
Bride. In all ways powerless,
yet with presence enough to change everything.
The body of the Bridegroom continues to grow, starting from the
single cell, it is now forming the heart that will begin to beat by the
eighteenth day and later to spill blood and water confirming his ultimate
death. Mary, a mother, is a
true tabernacle of the Lord; a temple of the Lord
(1 Cor
Our Father…Hail Mary…Glory be…
Twelfth Station Jesus’ body grows from Embryo to Fetal stage
Leader: Though
He was in the form of God
Jesus did not deem equality with God something to be grasped at,
All:
+
Rather, He emptied Himself
And took the form of a slave (Phil
2:7)
That we may have life and life in abundance. (John
10:10)
Jesus, the same yesterday, today and always (Heb 13:8); the person having not changed, He now has an eight to twelve week old body that has developed to a stage where all bodily systems are present, albeit in rudimentary form for most. His outward appearance so similar to our own adult form with arms, legs, hands and fingers, feet and toes. The very hands and feet that have been prepared to receive the nails of the cross in exchange for his love. With measurable brain waves, beating heart and distinctive fingerprints, this person, Jesus, is having a body prepared for him, (cf. Heb 10:5) His sacrifice for His Bride and the Marriage Feast of the Lamb.
Our Father…Hail Mary…Glory be…
Thirteenth
Station The
Census and “No room in the
Leader: Though
He was in the form of God
Jesus did not deem equality with God something to be grasped at,
All:
+
Rather, He emptied Himself
And took the form of a slave (Phil
2:7)
That we may have life and life in abundance. (John
10:10)
By
edict of the government, to be counted in the census a pregnant Mary
travels with her husband, Joseph to
Our Father…Hail Mary…Glory be…
Fourteenth Station Mary Labors until Christ is formed in you. (Gal 4:19)
Leader: Though
He was in the form of God
Jesus did not deem equality with God something to be grasped at,
All:
+
Rather, He emptied Himself
And took the form of a slave (Phil
2:7)
Each member of His Bride, the Church, are "temples of the
living God". (2 Cor 6:16) We
are spouses, when by the Holy Spirit the faithful soul is united with our
Lord Jesus Christ; we are brothers to him whom we fulfill “the will
of the Father who is in heaven” (cf. Mt
12:50). Whoever
is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him.(1
Cor
Our Father…Hail Mary…Glory be…
Endnotes:
Pope John Paul II, Original Unity of Man and Woman,
Daughters of